Chapter 592: Chapter 289: Extraordinary to Saint, Zhang Jiuzhen! Zhongnan Mountain’s Number One Expert (2)

That night marked the last glory of South Zhang, and also the beginning of its final darkness.

"Are you saying the year my brother was born was the year South Zhang was destroyed?" Zhang Fan’s gaze turned cold, revealing an unusual expression.

"Zhang Lingzong was only seventeen that year. Seventeen and his family was torn apart..." Ye Beichen said calmly.

"Wait a moment, could you wait?"

Zhang Fan raised his hand, seemingly unable to register what he just heard.

"Do you mean... my dad fathered my brother at seventeen? But back then he hadn’t yet met my mom, right!?"

Zhang Fan’s eyes were wide open, his face carrying a strange look.

According to the timeline Ye Beichen suggested, Zhang Lingzong would have had to sow the seed at sixteen to have Zhang Sheng.

Five years later, Zhang Lingzong then got together with Li Linglong, and the following year Zhang Fan was born.

Zhang Fan gaped at Ye Beichen, feeling a bit disoriented.

"It’s not... It’s not..."

At this moment, Zhang Fan vaguely understood why whenever he asked Liu Fusheng or Bai Yujing about their family matters, they always hesitated and were unwilling to say more.

With such tangled family affairs and relationships, it truly wasn’t something that could be unraveled with just a few sentences.

"I asked you here today not to discuss your family’s ethics or everyday affairs."

Ye Beichen waved his hand, interrupting Zhang Fan’s thoughts.

"Then why did you call me here..."

Zhang Fan hesitated, still unsure of the Celestial Master’s intent.

"There’s someone who wants to see you."

"Huh!?"

Zhang Fan was bewildered, having been summoned by Meng Qiwu to see Ye Beichen, now Ye Beichen said there was someone else wanting to meet him.

"Since when did I have so many acquaintances here in Zhongnan Mountain?"

Zhang Fan’s heart couldn’t help but whisper.

"Let’s go!"

Ye Beichen took a step forward, not waiting for Zhang Fan to react, he leapt with him.

In an instant, Zhang Fan heard the wind whistling by his ears, Ye Beichen rose like a great eagle, rushing up along the cliff face.

The cliff is as smooth as a mirror, with no real ledges to grasp, truly like a crane unable to fly over, and a monkey hesitating to climb.

But Ye Beichen’s figure was carefree and elegant, with fierce winds whipping around, clouds gathered, transforming into an invisible force lifting him skywards.

At this moment, the only phrase in Zhang Fan’s mind was: riding the wind and commanding the air.

"It’s truly the skill of the Celestial Master!" Zhang Fan marveled internally.

Whoosh...

In the blink of an eye, the two reached a place atop a cliff, with no ladder nor ropes, behind them a deep abyss, a place where typically few could reach.

"Senior, where is this place..."

Zhang Fan had just spoken up when suddenly, his gaze trembled, as there ahead on the cliff was a giant claw print, ancient and ominous. Suddenly, Zhang Fan seemed to see a giant beast rampaging across mountains, soaring in the skies, its claws clearly defined, leaving such a terrifying mark.

"Senior, what creature left this claw print?" Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask.

The five claws were mysterious, unlike any animal he had seen before, but closely resembling those mythical beings in ancient paintings that could summon rain and storms.

A dragon!?

"It’s not left by an animal, but by a person." Ye Beichen said indifferently.

"A person!?"

"Are you familiar with the creature known as the dragon?" Ye Beichen suddenly shifted the conversation.

The dragon is the most significant totem in Hua Country civilization, with antlers like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, a neck like a snake, a belly like a clam, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, paws like a tiger, and ears like an ox.

It is said that in ancient times, when tribes conquered one another, they would take a part of the totem from the conquered, eventually assembling the dragon.

"Gathering the advantages of all creatures, forming the divine dragon of creation..." Ye Beichen stated quietly.

This is the origin of dragons.

Dragons are said to be the strongest creatures, formed by gathering the strengths of all beings.

"In ancient times, there was also a technique within the Daoist sects that explored the mysteries of the physical body, aiming for ultimate evolution, with the Five Elements in reverse, existing beyond tribulations..." Ye Beichen said softly.

Zhang Fan’s gaze narrowed into a focused line, realizing exactly what Ye Beichen was referring to.

"Five Elements Mistaken King!?"

"Eight hundred years ago, an Ancestral Master of Zhongnan Mountain perfected this technique, the rebel becomes immortal, the mistaken becomes king..."

"That palm seal was left by him."

"Five Elements Mistaken King... It turns out Zhongnan Mountain had an ancestor who mastered this technique." Zhang Fan pondered.

In the end, he had underestimated the ten great Daoist sects’ sacred mountains. As Profound Sect’s orthodox, transmitted for over a thousand years, how could it not be moved by the Nine Great Inner Elixirs!?

Through the years, surely predecessors came forth to delve into its mysteries.

"Didn’t that predecessor leave the cultivation method for Five Elements Mistaken King in Zhongnan Mountain?" Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask.

But that’s one of the Nine Great Inner Elixirs.

"Skillful Method exists, Daoist Non-action doesn’t." Ye Beichen said indifferently.

"You’ve trained the Divine Demon Holy Embryo, you should know, at the level of elixir techniques there’s no detailed cultivation method."

Upon these words, Zhang Fan instinctively nodded.

Initially, there are methods to guide one, but as one progresses...

Honestly, until now he didn’t even know how he managed to cultivate the Divine Demon Holy Embryo.

"The Ancestral Master once said, if there are those with destined fate in the future, they can comprehend the secrets of Five Elements Mistaken King from this palm seal." Ye Beichen lamented.

"Alas, for eight hundred years since, no one in Zhongnan Mountain has mastered this technique."

"Including you?" Zhang Fan asked casually.

Ye Beichen paused slightly, nodded, "Including me."

"Heaven’s will be done, Five Elements Mistaken King ultimately does not reside in Zhongnan."

As he spoke, Ye Beichen took a step forward, walking past Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan turned back, taking a deep look at the large palm print carved into the rock before tightly following Ye Beichen’s steps.

The two climbed up the stairs, soon reaching the cliff’s edge.

At the top of the stone wall, there was a figure sitting cross-legged. His body was skinny and shrunken, like a desiccated corpse, void of moisture, even less like than the dried meat hanging on Zhang Fan’s balcony.

"Senior, why is there a dead person here?" Zhang Fan instinctively asked.

"Master, he has come."

With these words, Zhang Fan’s eyes widened, looking incredulously at the dead body.

Whoosh...

At this moment, the desiccated corpse suddenly moved, his chest gently rising and falling, subtly accompanied by the sound of a heartbeat, beginning faintly and gradually growing stronger.

"He’s breathing!?"

With each breath the desiccated corpse took, his skin gradually filled, as if absorbing moisture from the surrounding air, the previously shrunken skin becoming full and lustrous, faintly visible veins flowing beneath.

"Living Dead!?" Zhang Fan was moved.

He knew Zhongnan Mountain had an extremely powerful elixir technique created by one of the Northern Five Ancestors of Quanzhen Dao, Wang Chongyang, called Living Dead.

Living like the dead, achieving enlightenment as an immortal, no thoughts of life arise, achieving carefree alchemical technique.

Since Wang Chongyang, those training this technique in Zhongnan Mountain became fewer, as entering death was easier, resurrecting from the dead was hard.

Most who trained in this technique ultimately had their Primordial Spirit extinguished, corpses like dried bones, unable to awaken.

Yet, the person before him actually revived.

"Senior, this is..."

"This is Zhongnan Mountain’s top expert, also my master, his venerable self also bears the name Ye..." Ye Beichen spoke earnestly.

His master was named Ye Jinciao.

Ye Beichen was an orphan from a young age, adopted by his master, thus also carrying the surname Ye.

"Celestial Master’s mentor?" Zhang Fan felt rising waves within.

He knew Zhongnan Mountain’s Sect Leader was Zhou Kong Zen.

But the living dead before him was the claim to be Zhongnan Mountain’s top expert, presumably his Cultivation Realm surpassed Zhou Kong Zen.

Whoosh...

At this moment, the figure on the mat finally revived, though still skinny, no longer retaining the appearance of a desiccated corpse.

His eyes slowly opened, full of vitality, his gaze like electricity, looking deeply at Zhang Fan.

"Zhang the Second’s grandson..." Ye Jinciao expressionless, gestured slowly.

Zhang Fan was about to step forward when he suddenly noticed a revered ancient painting behind Ye Jinciao, incense smoke swirling, candlelight unending, the painting depicting Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin.