Starting Cultivation During a Trip

From the moment Zhang Fan and Li Miaoyin met, their bond gradually deepened.

Not to mention, when Zhang Fan successfully achieved Divine Fusion, Li Miaoyin played a crucial role, risking life and death by entering the Great Night to bring out Zhao Jie Xuan’s primordial spirit.

Moreover, later in Yujing City, during the rendezvous with Ge Shuangxiu, Zhang Fan recklessly used the Divine Splitting Technique, almost triggering the Three Corpses Calamity. It was also Li Miaoyin who, facing danger, merged her primordial spirit with his, becoming inseparable.

From then on, the relationship between Zhang Fan and Li Miaoyin became extraordinarily delicate and unique.

”Don’t talk nonsense,” Zhang Fan said sheepishly.

”What are you feeling guilty about? What’s mine is yours...” Li Yishan said, hooking his arm around Zhang Fan’s shoulder with a smile.

As soon as these words were out, Meng Qiwu looked at their primordial spirits with an even stranger expression.

”Women only slow down my grave digging!” Li Yishan shook his head.

Originally, the match with Li Miaoyin wasn’t arranged for him.

”When you guys get married, I’ll give you a big gift.”

”That’s getting more absurd,” Zhang Fan rolled his eyes and said.

”Have you decided on the child’s name?”

”...”

”Let’s go!”

Zhang Fan quickened his pace.

Moments later, under Meng Qiwu’s guidance, the two arrived in front of a shop. Although the facade wasn’t large, the sign prominently displayed the words ”Treasure Pavilion.”

”Treasure Pavilion...”

Li Yishan looked up at the sign, feeling that the characters exuded an extraordinary air, faintly hiding a sharp edge, much like the silhouette of the Zhongnan Mountain Range, imparting a lasting impression the more he observed it.

”This store is quite interesting, even the sign isn’t ordinary stuff.”

”No wonder... you have a keen eye,” Meng Qiwu paused before saying.

”Who wrote these characters?”

Just as Li Yishan asked, he noticed an inscription in the corner of the sign, clearly reading:

Void Meditation Daoist!

”Void Meditation Daoist... Zhou Kong Zen... Zhongnan Mountain Sect Leader?”

Li Yishan displayed a look of amazement.

The sign personally inscribed by the Zhongnan Mountain Sect Leader carried significant weight, indicating that the shop owner was no ordinary person.

”The shop owner’s surname is Zhao. His father also cultivated in Zhongnan Mountain in his early years, being of the same generation as the Sect Leader. Sadly, his Dao fate was shallow, so he returned to mortal life, opening this shop,” Meng Qiwu stated solemnly.

”Shallow Dao fate!?” Zhang Fan mused.

This was an interesting expression. In truth, Meng Qiwu was being polite; simply put, it meant lacking talent.

In reality, for most cultivators, their entire lives yield no significant achievements, and many can’t even awaken their primordial spirit, naturally having no affinity with the Dao.

Don’t be fooled by Zhang Fan’s current Great Master Ninth Realm status; he’s encountered many experts and even seen Celestial Masters more than once.

In fact, the heights he has reached are ones that most cultivators can only dream of their entire lives.

As Meng Qiwu mentioned about that senior, there are many like him. They realize they have no affinity with the Dao, so they return to mortal life, enjoying their time in the world, not making their journey in vain.

This also indirectly shows that their Dao hearts aren’t firm enough.

A weak Dao heart naturally leads to no affinity with the Dao.

No affinity with the Dao leads to a weak Dao heart.

They are both cause and effect, each being the cause of the other, as if predestined by some mysterious force.

Perhaps this is a tribulation of the great Dao’s test, with no distinction between cause and effect, no precedence or sequence.

”The Sect Leader cherished their kinship, so he wrote the sign,” Meng Qiwu continued.

Even wealthy families have a few poor relatives.

If the great Dao is wealth, then with Void Meditation Daoist’s cultivation, he must be exceedingly wealthy.

The father of this Treasure Pavilion owner was the brother-in-arms that the Void Meditation Daoist bonded with during his youth when he was not yet prosperous. Upon attaining wealth, he naturally had to help his poorer brother.

In earlier years, when the shop owner’s father was alive, the Void Meditation Daoist visited in person, becoming a notable figure in the black market at that time.

However, after his father’s passing, the Void Meditation Daoist visited less frequently.

For this reason, although the shop may look small, its business is extensive, even ranking among the top in the black market.

”Let’s go.”

Meng Qiwu pushed the door open and went in. Although the shop was small, it was quite untidy, with cluttered goods piled on shelves or stacked to the side. It looked less like a shop, more like a warehouse.

”This is too careless,” Zhang Fan couldn’t help but say.

Suddenly, from the corner of his vision, Zhang Fan noticed a scroll hanging on a worn-out shelf to the right. The silk paper was already yellowing, with wavy figures of strange talismans painted on it, resembling a blazing fire.

”Is this... the Maoshan Red Dragon Fire Talisman!?” Zhang Fan was taken aback and then recognized it.

The Red Dragon Fire Talisman is a treasured Maoshan relic.

According to legend, in ancient times, a divine fire descended from heaven, falling upon the vast lands of the West Mountain. When the Maoshan Ancestral Master passed by this place, he saw a red glow shooting into the sky and heard a dragon’s roar in the deep mountains. Entering an ancient cave, he found this object, shaped like a dragon, made of jade with a profound seal talisman, and thereafter took it back to the mountain, where it was venerated as a generational incense offering.

This treasure had long been inherited by Fang Changle, integrated into his primordial spirit, exquisitely extraordinary.

The scroll depicted the talisman of the Red Dragon Fire Talisman. If placed in the hands of a master of Talisman Dao, it could surely be refined into a very powerful fire talisman using profound cultivation and top-notch talisman materials.

Though it couldn’t compare to the real Red Dragon Fire Talisman, it was still valuable enough to be a family heirloom.

”It’s indeed it, but incomplete.”

Zhang Fan crouched, examining each brushstroke of the talisman carefully.

He had seen Fang Changle’s Red Dragon Fire Talisman a few times, and there were some differences between the two.

The talisman on this scroll was only about sixty to seventy percent complete when compared to the Red Dragon Fire Talisman.