Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 190 - 90 Interpretation

Chapter 190: Chapter 90 Interpretation

Zheng Fa was witnessing a Nascent Soul conflict of such magnitude for the first time.

Even while standing in the Thunder Pool, amid incessant thunderous roars, he could still hear the sounds of fierce battle coming from above.

Zheng Fa looked up, activating his Void Spirit Eye, and peered through the sky outside the Thunder Pool.

The Five Dragons Heavenly Palace was suspended above the Thunder Pool.

Around the perimeter of the Heavenly Palace, the five originally majestic golden dragons had grown over a hundred times bigger. Zheng Fa roughly estimated that each dragon was a thousand zhang in thickness and ten thousand zhang in length. Their heads and tails were connected, slowly revolving around the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace, using their bodies to guard Master Pang within.

Outside the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace, there were streaks of blood-red and black intertwined, emanating from magical treasures, matching the grandeur of the Heavenly Palace itself.

"Zheng, where is Master’s reinforcements?" Sun Daoyu also observed the battle with his Void Spirit Eye and couldn’t help but ask upon seeing Master Pang alone.

Zheng Fa shook his head.

He didn’t know either.

Those Nascent Soul Daoists that Master Pang had summoned earlier were now nowhere to be seen. Only Master Pang himself remained, relying solely on the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace for support.

Zheng Fa could see that Master Pang’s complexion was rather poor, much paler than usual, as though showing signs of mana exhaustion.

The five golden dragons surrounding the palace also seemed to be in a sorry state.

One dragon was missing a large patch of scales, while the eyes of another seemed to have been injured by some evil Daoist skill, emitting black smoke from its eye sockets.

There appeared to be four people from the Great Freedom Demon Sect besieging Master Pang.

An emaciated elder with a pale, green face, sitting upon a copper coffin.

A skimpily clad female cultivator, with a thick and long Red Training Snake wrapped around her.

There was also a middle-aged man, accompanied by a child.

The child had hands like lotus roots and a face like a full moon, appearing extremely adorable at first glance.

Upon closer inspection, one would discover that the child’s eyes were void of pupils, completely white, and Zheng Fa himself was not sure if he could still be considered human.

"Jiushan Sect, Five Dragons Daoist," the elder spoke to Pang Qian, "With eyes that observe the universe and talismans that dictate life and death, you truly are extraordinary."

Zheng Fa was somewhat stupefied.

Did Master Pang possess such a reputation?

Glancing at Sun Daoyu beside him, he noticed a similar expression of bewilderment.

It seemed they were unaware of their Master’s former glory.

"It’s merely a vanity title." Master Pang’s tone was calm, "I truly did not expect..."

"Copper Coffin Elder."

"Red Training Immortal."

"And... Thousand Slaughter Sword Immortal."

He glanced at the child, anger flickering in his eyes, and continued, "Though your actions are unorthodox, the Immortal Sect was unaware that the three of you belonged to the Great Freedom Demon Sect..."

Suddenly, a charming giggle sounded.

Zheng Fa initially thought it was the female cultivator known as the Red Training Immortal who spoke, but to his surprise, it was from the face on the Red Training Snake that lacked even a bridge for a nose, "Not just us, among those Nascent Soul you invited, weren’t there also our people?"

The voice was delicate and girlish, as if it belonged to an eighteen-year-old maiden.

So the snake was the actual Red Training Immortal?

"Mystic Turtle Master originally intended to scheme against you, but you turned the tables on him," the Red Training Immortal continued, "Five Dragons Daoist, your eye for detail is indeed exceptional—however, the allies you summoned, seeing the two of you struggling within your own ranks, unable to discern friend from foe, they ultimately chose to stand by idly, and then fled altogether."

"Leaving you alone here, Hundred Immortals Alliance..." The Red Training Immortal’s light laugh, filled with disdain, trailed off.

Zheng Fa then realized why Master Pang was currently on his own.

Those who had offered their fists in aid were insincere from the start, so when Master Pang struck down the Mystic Turtle Master, they were naturally even less willing to remain in the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace.

...

While the several of them exchanged words, their confrontation did not cease.

Zheng Fa observed from the Thunder Pool and noticed that the Nascent Soul conflict seemed neither hurried nor intense, even somewhat lacking in drama, as both sides still had the leeway for verbal sparring.

However, the world seen through the Void Spirit Eye was more than that.

The spiritual energy in the sky split into two streams.

The spiritual energy around those three people was red amidst black.

Around Master Pang, spiritual energy alternated among the Five Elements.

These two streams of spiritual energy were probing each other, each seeking an opportune moment.

Gradually, Master Pang, outnumbered, began to lose ground. The five-colored spiritual energy shrank around the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace, and the sky was nearly overtaken by the intertwining black and red spiritual energy.

Master Pang’s Five Elements Heavenly Palace was like a dim lantern in the night sky.

Perhaps due to the defensive power of the Heavenly Palace, the Spiritual Mechanism around Master Pang gradually stabilized, though it appeared to be a one-sided situation still.

But it had also turned into a battle of attrition.

Time slowly passed.

Although the five golden dragons beside the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace remained robust, their golden sheen started to dim.

However, Master Pang didn’t seem to be in any hurry.

As if he could withstand until the end of time.

The three besieging the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace were calm, and their faces even bore smiles.

"People of the Hundred Immortals Alliance say you’re more of a turtle than Mystic Turtle Master’s millennia-old one, and I see they’re not wrong," the Red Training Immortal continued with a laugh.

Upon hearing this, Master Pang did not get angry but instead manipulated the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace, defending against the three attackers’ assaults.

A full day and night passed in a flash.

Even for a Nascent Soul, such tense combat could be exhausting, and moreover, the situation appeared virtually unchanged.

Even Zheng Fa was starting to feel tired from watching.

"How daring!"

He heard the elder on the coffin issue a furious shout, and on looking again, Master Pang actually leaped into the air, flashing in front of the Red Training Immortal.

The Red Training Immortal seemed to be lost in thought and had not expected Master Pang to suddenly abandon the defenses of the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace.

Master Pang precisely seized this sliver of opportunity.

In his hands, he first flashed a heavenly-grade Cloud Rain Talisman, followed by a Wind Summoning Talisman, and finally, he tossed out a heavenly-grade Thunder Fire Talisman.

Zheng Fa recognized this technique—

It was Master Pang’s signature move, the Consecutive Talisman Skill, which was essentially a method to strengthen the power of Spirit Talismans by utilizing the generative cycle of the Five Elements.

But the actual operation was not so simple.

The timing of each Spirit Talisman’s release, and how they coordinated with each other, all required the observation of the Five Element Spiritual Energy changes through the Void Spirit Eye to seek the right opportunity.

The Cloud Rain Talisman and the Wind Summoning Talisman had no real offensive power on their own.

But once the Thunder Fire Talisman was released, thunder borrowed the momentum of rain, and fire borrowed the force of wind.

The thunder and fire lit up nearly half of the sky.

The Red Training Immortal was already showing an opening. Now caught off guard by Master Pang’s Consecutive Talisman Skill, she had no time to react.

But the other two were not so easy to deal with.

With a ’bang’, the lid of the bronze coffin beneath the old man sprang open, and its dark interior was as if an abyss.

As the coffin rotated, its mouth directly faced Master Pang. From within it, countless greenish-purple arms reached out towards Master Pang in a grasping motion.

Even across the void, Master Pang seemed to be caught, unable to move for a moment.

Meanwhile, the previously silent Evil Sword Immortal finally made his move!

The child beside him suddenly flew up, his tender skin instantly withering, his plump muscles in the blink of an eye dissolving, leaving behind only a small skeletal frame.

This skeleton transformed into the shape of a bone sword in mid-air, stabbing towards Master Pang. As the bone sword thrust forward, a series of crying echoes began to resound, as if countless children were weeping together.

It caused a bitter ache in one’s heart.

...

Zheng Fa felt Sun Daoyu gripping his shoulder, his fingers trembling.

He did not turn his head, still staring intently at Master Pang.

Now that Master Pang was fixed in place by the Copper Coffin and the bone sword was impending, the situation was extremely perilous.

Sun Daoyu’s tension, even without looking back, he could imagine.

At this moment, the five golden dragons behind Master Pang suddenly surged forth, charging directly into the old man’s bronze coffin.

The old man let out a cold laugh: "The defense of your Five Dragons Heavenly Palace is passable..."

Boom!

He had only spoken half a sentence when Zheng Fa saw one of the five golden dragons swell into an inflated, somewhat pointed sphere, which then exploded.

"Are you mad!"

The elder was caught off guard, not expecting Master Pang to be so ruthless.

But Master Pang was even more ruthless than he imagined.

The Five Dragons Heavenly Palace seemed to be his Lifebound Magical Treasure; self-detonation was clearly not easy for Master Pang, but now the remaining four dragons were also beginning to slowly inflate, seemingly having no desire to live any longer.

The old man hastily retracted the bronze coffin and dived into it, the lid closing tightly, not leaving any gap.

Without the bronze coffin, Master Pang lightened, and another Thunder Fire Talisman was released from his hand.

The Red Training Immortal was already harried by the previous Thunder Fire Talisman.

Now completely unable to defend herself, the scantily clad woman was burned to ash, and the Red Training Snake, appearing to be her true form, was also riddled with injuries, clearly severely harmed and on the brink of death.

"...Master Pang, is this fighting style typical?"

Zheng Fa was stunned; this was a reckless way of fighting.

"In ’Great Dao Competition,’ yes."

Sun Daoyu went silent for a moment, then answered.

’Great Dao Competition’...

That meant not fearing death.

And this time...

Master Pang glanced at the Thunder Pool, seemingly seeing the astonishment on the faces of Zheng Fa and the others, a hint of smugness creeping onto his lips.

"Jiushan Sect’s Pang Qian, today I slay the Hundred Immortals Alliance traitor, Mystic Turtle Master, and the Great Freedom Demon Sect’s Red Training Immortal here!" he declared, then burst into a long laugh, "To die with no regrets!"

"Disciples of the Jiushan Sect listen, no need for sorrow. In the Thunder Pool, endure hardships, and cultivate diligently for the future!"

"Zheng Fa, you and Nephew Zhang, must one day exterminate the Great Freedom Demon Sect and avenge me!"

Having said that, he looked down at Zheng Fa and the others, his eyes suddenly softening, then with a smile looked towards the bone sword flying above his head.

Now, with the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace damaged and all talismans used up,

And having self-destructed his Lifebound Magical Treasure, he no longer had the capacity to evade.

Yet his face was utterly calm.

"Mr. Yan!"

Zheng Fa turned and shouted.

"Elder Han!"

"What’s the hurry? You’re not dying!" a voice responded, "This Mr. Pang is quite touching; let him speak a bit more, it’s good."

In the sky appeared something akin to another rising sun, but upon closer inspection, it was actually a flying sword.

That flying sword was one moment on the horizon, the next instant directly above the Evil Sword Immortal’s head. With one strike, the Daoist’s Nascent Soul didn’t even have time to react and was obliterated.

The bone sword in the sky, having lost its master, fell from the clouds.

By the side of the Thunder Pool, an elder yawned, looking distastefully at the bone sword that landed next to him, "Holding such a disgusting-looking sword and daring to call oneself a Sword Immortal?"

Master Pang glanced at this elder, then at his own battered Five Dragons Heavenly Palace.

Finally, he seemed to remember what he had said earlier.

This expression—

He seemed even more willing to die a heroic death.