The Su Family's evening banquet ended.
All the prominent figures of Nan City had left. Before leaving, every one of them had taken the initiative to greet Chen Zheng, to which he had merely responded with a faint smile. Now, in Su Ziming's study, Yu Canghai stood respectfully beside Chen Zheng.
"May I ask, Senior, was the Heavenly Tribulation phenomenon that appeared in Nan City yesterday caused by you undergoing Tribulation Transcendence?"
Yu Canghai pondered for a moment, but asked the question in the end.
He was a Great Grandmaster of China's Ancient Martial Arts World, publicly acknowledged as its foremost practitioner. He could sense stirrings of Qi that ordinary people could not, and that was precisely why he had addressed Chen Zheng as Senior the moment he saw him upon entering the Su Family residence. He had sensed a transcendent stirring of Qi from Chen Zheng, something only a legendary Terrestrial Immortal could possess.
But after everything that had just happened, he had learned Chen Zheng's age and identity. His identity was unimportant; what mattered was his age. Chen Zheng really was just a young man in his early twenties. This... this was somewhat hard to believe!
A Terrestrial Immortal in his early twenties. This... this was no longer a legend. This was a myth, and a myth among myths at that!
If he could not sense that transcendent stirring of Qi from Chen Zheng, Yu Canghai himself would never have believed it-never have believed that a twenty-year-old had reached the realm spoken of in the myths of China's Ancient Martial Arts!
"Heavenly Tribulation?"
Chen Zhi was also in the study, and she looked at Chen Zheng with even greater bewilderment.
Just what had this half brother of hers, whom she had not seen in three years, experienced? How had he gone from an ordinary person three years ago, a mortal who could not possibly have practiced Ancient Martial Arts, to a realm that made even China's foremost Ancient Martial Grandmaster address him as Senior?
"Nan City had a sudden thunderstorm yesterday."
Jiang Rou reminded Chen Zhi. Her beautiful eyes remained fixed on Chen Zheng. If Great Grandmaster Yu Canghai had not been there, she would have gone straight up, hugged Chen Zheng's arm, and forcibly dragged him onto an overnight flight to Jincheng.
Jiang Rou's hometown was Jincheng. The ancient jade and scroll painting passed down by the Jiang Family's ancestor, Jiang Ziya, were hidden in the family's old residence. Jiang Rou now strongly suspected that this brother of Chen Zhi's had an extraordinary connection to the person in the ancient inscription and scroll painting left behind by their ancestor Jiang Ziya!
Su Cheng and An Jing exchanged a glance. Both knew perfectly well what Heavenly Tribulation Great Grandmaster Yu Canghai was referring to. In fact, Chen Zheng had taken out a qipao yesterday, and when An Jing put it on, her cultivation had soared, bringing down Heavenly Tribulation.
So it was not Chen Zheng who had brought down Heavenly Tribulation. It was An Jing, because of that immortal-garment qipao!
An Jing had been about to speak, but then a thought occurred to her. She actually knew very little about Chen Zheng. Why not take this opportunity to let Great Grandmaster Yu Canghai draw a little more out of him?
"No."
Chen Zheng shook his head and gave An Jing a meaningful look.
"What are you looking at? What does it have to do with me?"
An Jing snorted and glared at Chen Zheng, meaning: Wasn't yesterday's Heavenly Tribulation triggered by that immortal-garment qipao you took out? You took the immortal-garment qipao back, so don't pin it on me!
"Well..."
Yu Canghai also glanced at An Jing and saw through her cultivation at once. She had not even reached the Transformation Realm, so she could not possibly be a Terrestrial Immortal. In China's Ancient Martial Arts World, the ability to project True Qi outward qualified one for the Transformation Realm. Above the Transformation Realm was Innate, above Innate was Great Grandmaster, and only beyond the Great Grandmaster level was one a Terrestrial Immortal. Thus, no matter how he looked at it, An Jing could not possibly have been the one to trigger Heavenly Tribulation. Her cultivation level was far too low.
Yet Chen Zheng had not given a direct response, so Yu Canghai could hardly press him further for the moment.
"Grandmaster Yu Canghai, I know what you want to ask, and I know what you want to see. Your character and conduct are both good. Today, I'll show you something. How much you comprehend will depend on your own good fortune."
Chen Zheng seemed to know what Yu Canghai was thinking, and smiled faintly.
"This junior thanks you, Senior!"
At those words, an expression of immense excitement appeared on Yu Canghai's face. He cupped his fists toward Chen Zheng and bowed deeply.
"..."
Seeing this, Chen Zhi found it utterly strange. Why did this brother of hers speak like an immortal who had lived for hundreds of years? He was clearly only twenty, just two or three years older than she was!
In fact, Yu Canghai's disciple Wen Tailai also found the sight more than a little strange. Chen Zheng was a few years younger than him, yet he was now instructing his master, the man publicly acknowledged as China's foremost martial Great Grandmaster!
This... what an indescribably strange feeling! Wen Tailai could not help sighing inwardly.
"Go."
Chen Zheng raised his right hand and casually pointed at Yu Canghai. A ray of mysterious light flashed into being and shot straight into the space between Yu Canghai's brows.
"This is..."
Yu Canghai froze, then his body trembled. A moment later, nothing remained in his eyes but shock. At that instant, he seemed to have become a stone statue, completely motionless!
"Was that light just now a magic trick...?"
Chen Zhi asked rather dazedly. Although she, too, belonged to the Ancient Martial Arts World, she felt that the move Chen Zheng had just displayed was a little too fantastical.
"..."
Yu Canghai's disciple Wen Tailai sank into complete silence, because that ray of mysterious light Chen Zheng had casually unleashed was enough to explain a great deal! A method like Chen Zheng's was definitely not a method of Ancient Martial Arts. It was the method of the legendary Terrestrial Immortals!
"This... how is this possible!"
"Heavens! Senior, you! This is simply too hard to believe!"
"Heavens! This... this, this, this!"
Suddenly!
Yu Canghai moved. The moment he did, his eyes were filled with shock and his mouth with cries of astonishment. As he gazed at Chen Zheng, tears actually appeared in the eyes of this Ancient Martial Grandmaster!
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior!" Yu Canghai bowed deeply to Chen Zheng once again. "To think that I, Yu Canghai, would actually get to see that legendary realm. If not for you, Senior, I fear I would never have seen that realm even by the day I died!"
Yu Canghai was now immensely excited!
"It's merely the beginning of cultivation."
Chen Zheng chuckled, gave Yu Canghai a slight nod, then turned and left Su Ziming's study.
"Merely the beginning of cultivation..." Yu Canghai gazed at Chen Zheng's retreating figure and murmured for a while. When he saw Chen Zheng leave the room, he let out another heavy sigh. "That realm is the beginning of cultivation to Senior, but to us, it is already the pinnacle of cultivation. Ah!"
"Come on! Let's go find your brother!"
Jiang Rou grabbed Chen Zhi's hand and chased after him.
"We won't disturb you any longer, Great Grandmaster."
An Jing also gave Su Cheng a look, then pulled her away.
Thus, only Yu Canghai and his disciple remained in the study.
"Master... Chen... Young Master Chen's ray of mysterious light just now... what exactly was in it...?"
Wen Tailai thought for a while before asking.
"The pinnacle of the martial path, the beginning of the immortal path." Yu Canghai's face was full of emotion. After a pause, he continued, "And a legend utterly beyond imagination. I fear even those mythical beings of myth could never imagine that an existence like Senior Chen could be found between heaven and earth!"
"This... an existence even immortals could not imagine..."
Wen Tailai was completely dumbfounded by what he heard.
Immortals were already legends, unseen by anyone in the world. Yet his master said Chen Zheng was an existence even immortals could not imagine. Then... just what sort of wondrous existence was he?