Chapter 96: Return to Peace

Su Jingzhen once again sat on Luo Yuebai’s folding fan.Soon, they returned to the Huayang Branch Sect, or perhaps it should now be called the Evil Moon Sect Branch.

Along the way, Luo Yuebai didn’t ask any more questions about Shuang Jiang.

Smart people don’t dig too deeply into such matters.

He dropped Su Jingzhen off at the plaza.

At this moment, the cultivators of the Evil Moon Sect were coming and going, looking quite busy.

Many of the iconic buildings of the Huayang Sect had to be dismantled and replaced with those bearing the style and symbols of the Evil Moon Sect.

Upon arriving here, Su Jingzhen smiled at Luo Yuebai and said, “Daoist Luo, it seems your sect will be quite busy these next few days. I won’t disturb you any longer.”

Luo Yuebai smiled and nodded.

At this time, he certainly wouldn’t force Su Jingzhen to stay.

After all, the Evil Moon Sect had just taken over this place, and there were indeed many matters waiting for his command.

His attitude towards Su Jingzhen had always been one of patience: there’s always time in the future.

“There are indeed many things to handle, so I won’t see you off, Daoist Su. However, in two days, my Evil Moon Sect might hold a celebration. You must not be absent then.”

Su Jingzhen cupped his hands again, “I will definitely attend.”

However, a thought suddenly struck him. The Evil Moon Sect was the most powerful demonic sect in Qingzhou.

Demonic cultivators were generally shunned by the majority of righteous cultivators.

To openly hold a celebration for establishing a branch sect—did this imply that the Evil Moon Sect intended to challenge the current order of Qingzhou?

With these thoughts, he walked towards the grand gate in the distance.

“One, two, three… boom!”

Before Su Jingzhen reached the gate, he heard several evil cultivators shouting in unison.

The next moment, with a collective effort, they pushed down the grand and imposing gate of the Huayang Branch Sect.

Su Jingzhen felt a strange sensation in his heart once again.

The Huayang Branch Sect was the first sect he encountered upon transmigrating into the cultivation world.

From today onwards, it would become history.

Although he knew that countless sects perished and arose daily in the cultivation world, witnessing such an event for the first time still stirred deep emotions within him.

As he walked along the still-intact bluestone steps to the main street, a group of people suddenly surrounded him.

It was the eight children from the Enlightenment School and their parents. Seaʀch* The nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Su Jingzhen was slightly surprised.

These people had apparently been waiting here for him.

“Mr. Su, thank you so much.”

“Mr. Su, could these little ones continue their studies at your school?”

“……”

As they crowded around, their eyes shone brightly.

The parents pushed the eight children towards Su Jingzhen.

Su Jingzhen raised an eyebrow but maintained his smile, “The enlightenment ceremony is over. Although it’s a bit regrettable, the results are clear now. They no longer need to come to the school.”

Seeing the looks in the parents’ eyes, Su Jingzhen understood their intentions.

But from today onward, Su Jingzhen felt as if he had been reborn.

He couldn’t see his own path clearly, let alone become a pillar of support for others.

“It’s getting late, and the city has been unstable lately. You should head home.”

After smiling and saying this to them, Su Jingzhen strode forward along the main street.

Seeing this, a hint of disappointment flashed in the parents’ eyes.

As people at the bottom of the cultivation world, their only hope for a turnaround was either to invest in the next generation or to attach themselves to influential figures.

Su Jingzhen’s actions today had shown that he might have some say in the Evil Moon Sect.

To these ordinary people, this made him a lofty figure.

Maintaining some kind of relationship with him might make survival a bit easier.

But this plan, in the end, failed.

Returning from the end of the main street to the Enlightenment School on Peach Blossom Alley, Su Jingzhen encountered many people along the way.

However, compared to before, everyone now looked at him with a mix of curiosity and fear.

Many, like those children’s parents, also wanted to establish some connection with him.

But he merely greeted them with a polite smile, not engaging in deep conversations.

The world is bustling with activity, all for profit; the world is full of commotion, all for benefit.

Except for certain specific personal relationships, all sudden enthusiasm comes intertwined with interests.

Having lived two lifetimes, Su Jingzhen understood this very well.

Returning to the school and closing the door, he looked at the courtyard’s peach tree, now completely devoid of blossoms.

Su Jingzhen felt a wave of complex emotions once again.

“From today, everything will be a new challenge.”

Shuang Jiang was gone, and sister-in-law Zhang Xiu was no longer around.

The future depended solely on him.

The night was dark as ink. Su Jingzhen looked up at the sky; tonight, the moon was waning, and the light was dim.

He instinctively started practicing the movements of the “Python Scales Power”.

After a few rounds of intense practice, Su Jingzhen managed to dispel the worries from his mind, regaining his usual calm.

He then opened the door and entered his meditation room. Despite the recent events, life had to return to normal.

He placed the alchemy furnace in the center of the room as usual.

“To accumulate points quickly, I still need to interact more with that woman, Feng Qingya,” Su Jingzhen muttered to himself with a bitter smile.

He then took out the remaining twenty portions of Green Spirit Pill ingredients from his storage bag.

By refining pills to earn spirit stones, he could also interact with Feng Qingya. Maybe he could even get some points from her; this was his only goal for the near future.

Oh, and he might have to interact with Luo Yuebai too. To train in the canyon in the depths of Clear Wind Mountain, he might still need Luo Yuebai to take him there.

Even if he reached the Flesh Body Spiritual Embryo level, he might not be able to fly using a magic weapon. Walking there on foot would take a lot of time.

As for everything else, he could only let things take their course.

Starting the furnace, lighting the fire, and sensing the ingredients, everything followed the usual routine.

Soon, Su Jingzhen entered the state of alchemy.

One by one, the Green Spirit Pill ingredients were thrown into the furnace, and soon the fragrance of medicine filled the room.

During this session, Su Jingzhen noticed that after reaching the eighth level of Flesh Body Mysterious Embryo in his Body Cultivation, his control over himself had become much stronger.

This enhanced control even made his alchemy movements smoother.

In this state, it took him about an hour to successfully turn twenty portions of Green Spirit Pill ingredients into twenty perfect Green Spirit Pills!

He still had fifty portions of Qi-replenishing pill ingredients that he hadn’t had time to refine.

But after thinking about it, he decided not to continue.

He remembered Shuang Jiang’s advice to progress steadily and take breaks.

Extinguishing the fire in the furnace, he returned it to the corner.

Then, Su Jingzhen noticed the two jade bottles on the bedside.

These were the body tempering liquids he had bought; one bottle was still full, and the other had about a third left.

After a glance, he put them into his storage bag.

“Tomorrow, I should visit the Treasure Gathering Pavilion and get a better storage artifact. This one is too small; it can’t even fit the alchemy furnace, which is really inconvenient.”