Chapter 254: Looking Towards the Future
After he had taken out the famed once-in-a-century genius disciple of the Tielao planet, Han Yuzheng, Zhou Donghuang’s reputation within the Lightning Sword Sect soared!
And when the people of the Lightning Sword Sect found out that Zhou Donghuang was no older than 24—that is, he was as old as Han Yuzheng—they could not help but be surprised.
“Han Yuzheng, the once-in-a-century martial arts genius of the Tielao planet? He’s nothing much in the face of Junior Brother Zhou Donghuang!”
“Exactly! They’re both only 24 years old, but if you look at our core disciple, Zhou Donghuang and then at him… it’s truly embarra.s.sing!”
…
Zhou Donghuang had little to no regard for his sudden popularity within the sect.
In his previous life, he had dealt with a similar situation on a larger scale.
This bit was really not much at all. To him, it was nothing worth mentioning.
His life was just as it had been before, revolving around inner core and training… The only point worth bringing up was that he had managed to gather a batch of rare herbs that even He Jin would struggle with collecting, all because of the promise that the sect leader, Yu Yucheng, had made to him that day.
The core drug that he could craft with these herbs would help not only him but also his third senior sister, He Mengxi to raise their level of training at an astonis.h.i.+ng rate.
Although the Lightning Sword Sect leader Yu Yucheng had specially permitted for Zhou Donghuang to become a core disciple and for him to train at the Lightning Peak, Zhou Donghuang had never once stepped foot into that area.
To him, there was little to no difference between training in the Autumn Valley and training at the Lightning Peak. Both spots were within the grounds of the Lightning Sword Sect, and he genuinely could not be bothered to make the move.
Also, there were a lot of things that were easier for him to deal with if he stayed in the Autumn Valley.
At the very least, he had the support and a.s.sistance of Autumn Valley Head He Jin. This was something no one else in the Lightning Sword Sect could provide with him.
He Jin had taken to keeping a close eye on Zhou Donghuang these days. As soon as he stepped out of his house, the Valley Head would immediately go to him for a quick chat.
This was all because of a chat they had once, where He Jin had unintentionally brought up a question related to training.
And he regretted asking the question as soon as it left his lips.
How was a question about a Primordial Soul adept’s training one that a Dharma adept like Zhou Donghuang could answer?
Despite that, Zhou Donghuang had a perfect solution for the man that left him enlightened, so much so that He Jin was now one step closer to the Divine Transformation stage.
“Maybe I’ll be the first out of the four internal Valley Heads to move on to the Divine Transformation stage.”
This was a thought that had crossed He Jin’s head more than one.
Ever since that encounter, He Jin had taken to looking for Zhou Donghuang frequently to consult him on issues about training, like a student modestly and humbly sitting in a lecture.
He Jin had never once left empty-handed.
He Jin could not help but look at Zhou Donghuang in respect every time he saw the younger man, as if he were looking at his own teacher.
“Valley Head, is there only one Divine Transformation adept in the entire Lightning Sword Sect?” Zhou Donghuang asked He Jin.
“Officially, it’s just the sect leader,” He Jin said with a smile.
“However, there’s still someone else who’s also at that stage… Here’s the thing: that person’s existence is something few are aware of. To quite a few people, he’s someone who’s already left the Lightning Sword Sect many years ago, someone who left the Hengliu galaxy to roam another one.”
Zhou Donghuang had an epiphany.
He knew, instinctively, that there were many sects as traditional as the Lightning Sword Sect in this vast universe.
If this sort of tradition was something great enough to be respected in one galaxy, it went without saying that the opposite was true somewhere in another galaxy. That is, that there was a galaxy somewhere out there that had training resources and environments which were extremely substandard.
In such situations, a lot of people looked towards greater heights. There were also adepts who would even go one step further and try to break the longevity limit, and these were the people who would choose to leave their planet their sect was based in and move to a greater and more abundant galaxy.
Those people either wound up dying in a foreign galaxy or return to their home planet to escort the people closest to them over to the new planet after they found their footing.
With the pa.s.sage of time, they would slowly lose touch with the sect they had originally hailed from.
There were actually quite a few adepts at the Divine Transformation stage who walked out of the Lightning Sword Sect and left the planet, but not many of them returned. After all, the world outside was filled mystery, so there was no way for anyone to know what they would face if they stepped into the unknown.
Some people would perish not long after leaving the Hengliu galaxy.
All of them knew of the risks that came with their departure.
Despite all of that, they still chose to leave because they knew that there was a limit to what they could do if they decided to stay in the Hengliu galaxy. They had to leave if they wanted to move forward with their lives!
But never mind the tales of strangers—let’s talk about Zhou Donghuang.
Why did Zhou Donghuang leave the Ziyun planet, and why did he leave the Kaiyuan galaxy where the Ziyun planet was?
This was all because the Ziyun planet and the Kaiyuan galaxy, even was too small a playing field for him. The training resources were limited and exhaustible; they were simply inadequate for his growth.
Zhou Donghuang’s continued stay in the Ziyun planet would restrict him to the Primordial Soul stage, and a thousand years’ worth of memories from his previous life be d.a.m.ned.
“That person is probably stronger than the sect leader, right?” Zhou Donghuang probed.
“Mm.”
He Jin nodded, and his eyes filled with a fire. “The old sect leader exists at the mid Divine Transformation stage.”
Martial arts training was increasingly difficult the further one progressed.
Before he obtained the Thousand-Star Sword Technique from Zhou Donghuang, a practice method at the level of Deity’s Tribulation, the latter had claimed to be top-notch in the entire universe, this doubt had crossed He Jin’s mind more than once:
Could he move up to the Divine Transformation stage in this life?
Until he could fully adapt to training with the Thousand-Star Sword Technique, he wouldn’t be able to believe that the Divine Transformation stage was not too far away.
The mid Divine Transformation stage he had once been afraid to dream of—even the late and ultimate Divine Transformation stage—would no longer be a dream if he just had enough time.
“The mid Divine Transformation stage?”
Zhou Donghuang nodded.
In a conversation with his third senior sister, He Mengxi in his previous life, they had once discussed which stage the strongest adept in the Hengliu galaxy was at. As such, he had quite a good understanding on the situation in the Hengliu galaxy.
The peak of offensive power in the Hengliu galaxy was basically at the mid Divine Transformation stage.
Given the existing structure of the Hengliu galaxy, it was difficult for a stronger power to appear.
Even if there was an adept at the late Divine Transformation stage in the Hengliu galaxy now, those were probably few and far between. Of course, all of this was merely conjecture on Zhou Donghuang’s part.
However, his third senior sister had told him in his past life that she had never heard of any adept in the Hengliu galaxy that was at a stage higher than the late Divine Transformation stage.
“Valley Head, I’m not entirely sure about the specifics regarding when the crisis will hit the Lightning Sword Sect.”
Zhou Donghuang looked at He Jin as he took the initiative to bring up this matter. “In my dreams, Third Senior Sister told me that it hit not long after she moved to the late Dharma stage.
“However, I’m not too sure when exactly it was that she moved to that stage.
“She’s switched to training using the Thousand-Star Sword Technique now. With that, and the help of the core drug I’ve created, she’s obviously training at a much quicker rate.
“It might be possible that the crisis might not actually happen even when she’s at the Primordial Soul stage,” Zhou Donghuang said.
“There’s probably still some time left… I only hope that I have the power to keep the sect intact when the time comes.”
He Jin’s face seemed to fall. After all, he was one of the people who perished in the destruction of that sect that Zhou Donghuang had dreamt of.
Zhou Donghuang chuckled bitterly.
Initially, the best solution to this problem was to let the father-daughter pair leave the Lightning Sword Sect. This way, they would naturally escape the crisis.
They were, after all, not the source of the crisis.
The only problem with this was that after spending some time with them, Zhou Donghuang had realized that there was no way He Jin would leave the Lightning Sword Sect and escape… Especially not after he had switched to training using the Thousand-Star Sword Technique. He Jin was sure to try and protect the sect using his own abilities.
“Alright, let’s not think about it anymore… We’ll just roll with the punches.”
Zhou Donghuang had already steeled himself to prepare for the worst. If worse came to worst, he would think of another solution himself to force the father-daughter pair to leave with him when the time comes.
And then he would stage a comeback at a later time.
“Even without my help, my third senior sister would definitely be able to move on to the mid Dharma stage within this year… With her innate martial arts talent, the training resources you’re providing her with, and the consistency of her training, the longest she would take to move on to the late Dharma stage would be around ten years.
“This is a prediction I’m making on the a.s.sumption that there are no unforeseen incidents.
“If something were to happen, such as her receiving certain core drugs or spirit fruits that could elevate her rate of training, you can be certain she wouldn’t even need the full ten years.”
Zhou Donghuang had planned on meticulously keeping track of the happenings within the Lightning Sword Sect, but he realized that there were too many variables in this period of time that made impossible for him to do so.
There was no way he could do so.
“Had I known, I would have gone back to a thousand years ago and properly ask my third senior sister right from the get go who the Lightning Sword Sect was destroyed by… At that time, my third senior sister had only told me that the Lightning Sword Sect was destroyed by the greatest power, and the source of it was the Summer Valley Head!” Zhou Donghuang thought and felt a little remorseful.
Of course, the sheer idea of remorse made him shake the feeling off in the blink of an eye because he knew there was no point wallowing in his regrets. In his previous life, there was no way he would have known that he would someday be returning to a point in time a thousand years back and restarting everything.
“Or we could have the Summer Valley Head leave the Lightning Sword Sect?”
The thought left Zhou Donghuang’s head as soon as it appeared, because it was simply unrealistic. Not everyone was like He Jin and his daughter, willing to play along with him like this.
Of course, He Mengxi was willing to go along with his nonsense because he knew things about her that only she knew.
As for He Jin, the man was only playing along since Zhou Donghuang had handed over the Thousand-Star Sword Technique.
There was no way he could hand the Thousand-Star Sword Technique over to the Lightning Sword Sect leader and have him kick the Summer Valley Head out of the sect, right?
No, that would never happen.
Besides, he did not trust the Lightning Sword Sect leader either; he was not too sure what kind of a person the man was. There was no way he would risk putting the fate of his family in the hands of that man.
He would rather force his third senior sister, He Mengxi to leave with him and seek shelter elsewhere should He Jin insist on trusting the sect leader.
This was, of course, just hypothetical.
Knowing He Jin, the man would likely not go ahead with a plan that Zhou Donghuang did not agree to.
“I didn’t even realize it, but it’s already been more than a year since I’ve left the Ziyun planet…”
Zhou Donghuang sat at the stone table after He Jin took his leave, staring out at the gra.s.s and flowers in the yard. He heaved a sigh as a figure appeared in his head.
His mother, Lin Lan, his younger sister, Yun Lu, as well as Yang Zixi, Ren Jiapei, Fu, and the rest of them…
He took some time to count. It was already November, Year 1235, and he had left the Ziyun planet in September, Year 1234.