"How could this be?!
"It's one thing for someone else to practice the exact same technique, but their cultivation is actually higher than mine?!"
He Zhenghao was struck speechless, instantly sinking into profound doubt about his very life.
*Disaster has struck!*
In a flash, countless thoughts flooded his mind. In the end, he decided to flee to Wanxian Island to lie low for a while. But just as he was about to activate the teleportation formation—
"I know you're hiding inside! Why don't you dare come out and face me?!" The enraged shout echoed once more, rumbling like thunder.
The entire Liuli Island seemed to tremble beneath the roaring bellow. He Zhenghao's cheek twitched. Not daring to utter a sound, he frantically set about opening the teleportation array.
Who could have guessed that the newcomer would somehow detect his movements?
"Trying to run? Hmph!"
A wave of spatial fluctuations instantly enveloped the sky above Liuli Island.
To his horror, He Zhenghao discovered that the Liuli Island teleportation formation had lost its connection to Wanxian Island.
"Spatial lockdown?!"
Cold sweat immediately dripped down his forehead.
Yet a moment later, He Zhenghao realized something.
*No, it's not lockdown. He just used some unknown method to temporarily disrupt the connection between the teleportation nodes...*
Just as he breathed a quiet sigh of relief, he was startled to see the cultivator who had come knocking on his door transform into a streak of light, plunging straight down toward the Island-Protecting Grand Formation below.
He Zhenghao was delighted. *Turns out he's just a reckless brute! My Mountains and Rivers Starry Array is no pushover. Even with your Golden Core cultivation—*
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a scene played out that left him utterly flabbergasted. The man treated the grand formation as if it did not exist at all, brazenly flying straight in.
His flight path seemed casual, yet every move fell precisely on the weakest nodes of the formation's defenses.
Moreover, he moved with terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, before He Zhenghao could even react, the man landed right before him.
The newcomer glared at him with bone-chilling intensity, his eyes brimming with murderous intent. "Are you the brat who stole and practiced my sect's technique?"
He Zhenghao's mind went completely blank.
There was no time to ponder how the man had breached his proud Mountains and Rivers Starry Array so effortlessly.
A chilling, tangible killing intent blanketed him, and He Zhenghao's heart pounded wildly against his chest.
"Misunderstanding! This is completely a misunderstanding!
"Fellow Daoist, please don't strike!"
Faced with the imminent threat of death, He Zhenghao cried out repeatedly.
"Fellow Daoist?" The ferocity in the other's eyes deepened. "A mere Foundation Establishment junior dares address a Golden Core Master as a Fellow Daoist?! Have the cultivators of today lost all sense of propriety?!"
A crushing pressure vastly surpassing that of ordinary Golden Core cultivators erupted from him.
In an instant, He Zhenghao felt as though a mountain were weighing down upon his shoulders. His knees went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground on the spot.
A surge of grievance welled up inside him.
*Forget Golden Core cultivators—even when dealing with Nascent Soul experts, I, He Zhenghao, still address them as Fellow Daoists!*
Yet with a ruthless powerhouse looming over him, He Zhenghao had no choice but to bend to force for the sake of his little life.
Forcing an awkward smile, he managed with great difficulty, "A misunderstanding... it really is a misunderstanding! Senior, please, let's talk this through!"
The visitor swept a cold gaze across the surroundings and temporarily reined in his spiritual pressure. "I ask, you answer!
"If you lie to me...
"You die!"
He Zhenghao's heart leaped into his throat at those words. He nodded like a pecking chick, signaling his obedience.
"Where did your Mountain-Sitting Art come from?" the man demanded.
"Junior obtained it by chance while exploring an immortal's cave during my youth! It was definitely not—"
Before He Zhenghao could finish, the man cut in with another question. "An immortal's cave? Where was it located? Why would it hold my sect's legacy?"
He Zhenghao hurriedly described the location and internal layout of the cave from back then.
The man narrowed his eyes and fell silent for a moment.
Then, to He Zhenghao's astonishment, he reeled off several intricate details of the cave's interior, asking whether they were accurate.
Overjoyed, He Zhenghao nodded vigorously.
Sensing that the man's killing intent was gradually dissipating, He Zhenghao breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing that the other seemed lost in memory, he gathered his courage and asked, "Observing Senior's manner and speech, you seem quite different from ordinary cultivators.
"Might Senior have only recently awakened from a deep slumber?"
One could hardly blame He Zhenghao for guessing as much.
What modern cultivator would still constantly harp on about their 'sect'? Moreover, there had been precedents in the past of ancient cultivators waking after sleeping for thousands of years.
He Zhenghao was not terribly surprised by the idea.
He only felt that his luck was exceptionally foul.
The man did not confirm it outright, but his expression grew somewhat solemn.
"I would rather ask you: what on earth has happened all these years?"
"Why would cultivating a technique inexplicably trigger a resonance?
"And Heaven and Earth feel somewhat different as well..."
He Zhenghao grew increasingly certain of his conjecture.
Without hesitation, he recounted everything that had transpired in the Xuanhuang Realm since the Heavenly Venerables bestowed the Dharmas and the Great Tribulation descended.
As the man listened, his expression shifted repeatedly.
Through subtle probing during the conversation, He Zhenghao finally gleaned the other's identity.
His name was Li Fan, an ancient cultivator of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect.
Due to an accident, he had fallen into a deep slumber.
Upon awakening, not only had his cultivation fallen back to the Golden Core realm, but a strange resonance had arisen in his heart.
Unsure of the cause, Li Fan had followed the feeling all the way to Liuli Island.
Only after discovering that He Zhenghao, who also practiced the Mountain-Sitting Art, was not a disciple of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect did the confrontation from earlier unfold.
"How was Senior able to tell that I wasn't a disciple of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect?" Although He Zhenghao lamented his rotten luck internally, doubts still lingered.
Li Fan sneered. "A thousand years have passed, and cultivators have become this ignorant?
"That question is like asking why a cultivator can tell at a glance that a demonic beast isn't human.
"We cultivators of the Heavenly Mechanism Sect pursue the unity of Heaven and man. Every technique in our sect is intertwined with qi mechanisms. Naturally, I possess secret arts capable of telling the difference."
Hearing his disdainful tone, He Zhenghao felt his old face flush slightly. Just as he was about to say something more, he noticed Li Fan staring intently at him.
"Senior, you...?" He Zhenghao could not help but grow tense.
"How long have you been cultivating the Mountain-Sitting Art?" Li Fan asked.
He Zhenghao paused. "Over a hundred years..."
"For such a divine technique as the Mountain-Sitting Art, you've cultivated it for so long, yet you're only at Foundation Establishment?"
Li Fan looked at He Zhenghao with suspicion. "Could it be that you, too, suffered injuries and fell in realm?"
At these words, He Zhenghao's face flushed bright red.
"Senior may not be aware, but this Mountain-Sitting Art..."
He was about to defend himself, but suddenly remembered that the man before him was an ancestor who mastered the very technique.
For a moment, words failed him.
Stammering and flustered, he stood frozen on the spot.
Yet it was Li Fan who broke the awkwardness.
As if recalling something, Li Fan wore a look of sudden realization. "Ah, of course. You don't know the method of sensing the heavenly mechanism. No wonder your cultivation progresses so slowly.
"To merely 'sit upon a mountain' without 'sitting upon an immortal'... Difficult, difficult..."
Chapter 422