Chapter 128 True Martial Talisman!

"..." Seeing Jiang Chen remain silent, the phantom of Zhang Daoling appeared quite regretful.

"I have a plan that could make this matter clear," he suddenly said.

Jiang Chen said, "Please speak, Ancestral Master."

Zhang Daoling was uncharacteristically embarrassed. He said, "Why don't you, little Fellow Daoist, take me as your Revered Master? That way, it would be only natural for me to impart the scriptures to you."

Jiang Chen was speechless. "I appreciate your kindness, Ancestral Master, but this Disciple already has a Revered Master and cannot switch to another sect."

"Sigh, I knew you would say that. But taking two Revered Masters shouldn't count as betraying one's sect, right?" Zhang Daoling asked in a negotiating tone.

"Rest assured, you would only be my Disciple, not a member of the Way of the Celestial Masters. We can just keep our relationships separate—you call me Revered Master, and I will call you Fellow Daoist. How about that?"

"I'd rather not," Jiang Chen politely declined.

At this moment, he truly felt like the two of them were doing business here, haggling over terms.

"Fine, actually..." Zhang Daoling said helplessly.

Jiang Chen listened carefully to what he would say next.

"I was just tricking you. I can impart it without taking you as a Disciple."

"..." The phantom of Zhang Daoling kept refreshing Jiang Chen's perception time and again, leaving him at a loss for words.

He didn't seem like the Ancestral Master of a sect at all; instead, he was more like an old urchin wandering the world.

Of course, he didn't look old either.

Yet, precisely because of this, Jiang Chen felt that Ancestral Master Zhang Daoling was more authentic.

"The Daoist religion is not the teachings of a single family or surname. These scriptures were obtained through my own insights into the Dao, so naturally, I will not be stingy with sectarian prejudices."

Since things had been said to this point, what reason did Jiang Chen have to be coy?

He bowed deeply and clasped his hands. "How could this Disciple dare to disobey what the Ancestral Master imparts?"

But this time, as Jiang Chen bowed, the phantom of Zhang Daoling suddenly showed a strange expression. He exclaimed in surprise and slightly sidestepped, avoiding the bow.

"Strange, truly strange..." Zhang Daoling couldn't help but mutter.

"If my calculations are correct, you are twenty-three years old this year, born in the Year of the Jiawu, but..."

Zhang Daoling's voice became quieter and quieter, eventually fading into a sound so faint that only he could hear it.

"But why can I not calculate your Karma for that year? Moreover, this bow actually gave me a feeling of unease. It is truly strange."

The bow Jiang Chen had just performed was different from before. Previously, it was a Junior paying respects to an elder.

Zhang Daoling had not felt anything unusual then.

But this time, it was a Daoist Disciple performing the rites of a Disciple to an Ancestral Master.

In the dark, Zhang Daoling had a sudden premonition, feeling that he could not accept it. It was as if accepting this bow would bring immense Karma upon him.

At his Realm, such a premonition could almost be considered a Divine Ability, one that stood up to scrutiny.

"To think that I would feel unable to accept it—is there someone in the Daoist sect with a higher seniority than me? Could he be the Reincarnation of some powerful figure from a certain sect? But the notion of Reincarnation is ethereal and illusory..."

"Difficult, difficult, difficult. I never thought that one day I would be troubled by a Junior Disciple."

"If I were in my prime, I should have been able to calculate this escaped Karma."

Seeing that the phantom of Zhang Daoling had stopped speaking, Jiang Chen just stood still, waiting for him to return to his senses.

After a long while, the phantom of Zhang Daoling looked at Jiang Chen with a strange expression and asked:

"Fellow Daoist Jiang, were you born with the Purple Registry Immortal Talisman?"

Zhang Daoling had studied this before. He believed that if an Immortal of the Daoist sect or an existence from the source of the lineage were to reincarnate and descend to the world, they should be born with the Purple Registry Immortal Talisman, which was incomparably noble.

The Dharma Seal represented a person's Karmic status within the Daoist sect. If the Dharma Seal were lost, then even if one were an Immortal's Reincarnation, they would be no different from an ordinary Mortal.

"Why does the Ancestral Master say this? This Disciple only received the Register within the Three Pure Ones Hall after joining the Maoshan Sect and receiving guidance from my Revered Master. It is not the Purple Registry Immortal Talisman the Ancestral Master speaks of."

Although Jiang Chen denied it, he already had some vague guesses as to why the phantom of Zhang Daoling had such a huge reaction, though he could not be certain yet.

"Is that so..." Zhang Daoling also felt that the theory of Reincarnation was not very credible, so he didn't think too much about it.

Thus, he said casually, "In that case, the sooner the better. I will now impart to you my Dao scriptures."

After speaking, he raised his left hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and pointed at Jiang Chen's forehead.

Jiang Chen's pupils constricted. If he hadn't sensed that this finger posed no threat, it would have been difficult for him not to react.

The fingertip of Zhang Daoling's phantom gently touched Jiang Chen's forehead. In an instant, a massive torrent of information, beyond the control of Jiang Chen's will, surged into his mind.

In an instant, all the insights of this scripture were mastered and integrated, as if he had been studying them since birth.

This scripture had no name. If one had to give it a name, it would be called Dao. The various principles within it all spoke of the Sea of Human Nature and Will.

Although human nature and will were related to cultivation and the Realm of the Divine Soul, they did not depend entirely on them; rather, they were more like a form of idealistic power.

Furthermore, there were various expositions regarding the Primordial Spirit Realm, but these parts were too profound for Jiang Chen to fully understand.

Currently, the only thing he could understand and apply was the development of the Sea of Nature and Will.

And the moment Zhang Daoling came into contact with Jiang Chen's nature and will, his body trembled violently!

However, he suppressed the terror in his heart and focused on imparting all the scriptures to Jiang Chen.

For a long time, the phantom of Zhang Daoling finished imparting the knowledge to Jiang Chen. His expression did not change in the slightest, but Jiang Chen could feel that his form had become even more illusory.

This left him with mixed feelings, for after learning this scripture, Jiang Chen realized that one had to reach the Primordial Spirit Realm to be able to impart it to others in the form of transmitting power.

Because the content was too profound and complex, everyone's understanding of it was different.

If one were to impart it based on their own understanding, then the listener would misunderstand at the first hearing and make mistakes at the first attempt at learning!

When Jiang Chen looked at Zhang Daoling, he found him looking at himself with an extremely complex gaze, containing confusion, shock, shame, and even a hint of respect.

"Alright, the Profound Truth behind this scripture is truly deep and subtle. Even I only understand it superficially. You must cultivate it cautiously... never mind, cultivate it boldly!"

After saying this, Zhang Daoling asked cautiously, "May I see the Dharma Seal you received?"

Jiang Chen was silent. As expected, the strangeness of Zhang Daoling's phantom was precisely because of his own Dharma Seal.

In fact, on the very first day he received the Dharma Seal, Jiang Chen already knew it was extraordinary. Later, he even used the status of this Dharma Seal to easily suppress Daoist Minghua.

"Ancestral Master, are you sure you want to see it?"

"I am sure!" Zhang Daoling gritted his teeth.

Thus, Jiang Chen nodded and, without further hesitation, instantly connected his inner and outer landscape.

Within the inner landscape, the power of a scarlet light Dharma Seal that blotted out the sky was instantly drawn out by Jiang Chen.

Under the complex gaze of Zhang Daoling's phantom, Jiang Chen's figure at this moment was also undergoing a tremendous change!

...

(Believe it or not, the author caught a cold today!)