PCJ – Chapter 778 Heart Demon

Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. “I can’t be sure whether it really exists. Since we can’t find it, don’t waste any more strength searching. Notify the Battle Hall to suspend exploration deeper into the Immortal Beast Mountain Range. Stabilize the territory we currently control. All squads are to rest and recover. There’s no need to continue consuming our elite forces.”

Zhang Jiaohua wasn’t sure whether Wan Jiqing had told him the truth. But Wan Jiqing had no reason to lie—whether Zhang Jiaohua eventually returned to Earth or not made little difference to him. There was no benefit in deception.

But even if it hadn’t been a lie, Zhang Jiaohua didn’t plan to continue. Without someone to lead the way, finding that place was impossible. And finding Wan Jiqing again to guide him was near hopeless. He would have to find another method.

After ordering the Battle Hall to stop advancing and to rest, Zhang Jiaohua prepared to travel to Mount Descending-Immortal (Jiangxian Mountain). He remembered clearly the location where he had entered the Immortal Realm. He wanted to return and see whether there was still a barrier he could use to go back to Earth.

The Yuan Clan under Yuan Suihu, who had already relocated to Yanguicheng, had fully joined the Meishan Sect. Hearing that Zhang Jiaohua planned to return to Jiangxian Mountain, Yuan Suihu brought several clan members to accompany him.

After some days, Zhang Jiaohua once again stood at the mountaintop where he had entered the Immortal Realm.

But he could not sense any barrier leading back to Earth. Without the barrier, there was no way to break through it. He felt the frustration of having strength with no direction to use it.

“You all return first. I will cultivate here for a while,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Sect Master, I will stay nearby. If you need anything, just call and I will come immediately,” Yuan Suihu said anxiously.

“No. I don’t know how long this retreat will last. Go back and support the Battle Hall. If the Immortal Beasts become overwhelming, withdraw first,” Zhang Jiaohua instructed.

He sat on the mountaintop, directing all his awareness into sensing Jiangxian Mountain, searching for the barrier he had once encountered.

For a cultivator like him, eating and drinking were not necessary. Food entering the body would be refined instantly, and energy could be absorbed directly from spiritual qi. So he sat motionless for months, while his hair continued to grow long—his hair, beard, and even eyebrows growing long and unkempt.

At this point, if Yuan Suihu came up, he might not even recognize him.

The more Zhang Jiaohua meditated, the more deeply he sensed Jiangxian Mountain’s mysteries. He gradually realized that this mountain contained a naturally formed grand formation. The formation was woven so perfectly into the mountain that one might think it had been born with it. It was a natural illusion formation—so subtle that even he had fallen into it without realizing.

“Break!”

Zhang Jiaohua began navigating within the formation. Though formidable, it was ownerless. If someone had been controlling it, he wasn’t sure he could have escaped.

“The formation core is here!”

He located the core. Destroying it should break the formation.

But after he destroyed it, the illusion still remained.

“What’s going on? If the core was destroyed, how is the formation still running? Was that core fake?”

He found six or seven more formation cores—each seemingly correct—and destroyed all of them. Yet the illusion formation continued.

Something was very wrong.

“This formation is strange…”

Another month passed, yet the seemingly simple illusion remained unbroken. Worse, with each attempt to break it, the formation changed, adapting specifically to counter his techniques.

Zhang Jiaohua began growing impatient. Being trapped and frustrated again and again wore on his mental stability.

His state of mind began to shift—dangerously.

He was on the verge of falling into Qi Deviation.

“Not good—I’m about to be consumed by heart demons!”

He hadn’t expected the backlash to be so fierce.

Just then, a voice echoed in his memory:

“When the heart is as clear as ice, even the heavens falling cannot disturb it. Amid ten thousand changes, remain still; the spirit serene, the breath quiet. Unstained by worldly dust, untouched by mortal illusion…”

It was the teaching of the old Daoist master who had instructed him in his dreams—how to clear the mind, remove distractions, and enter deep meditation.

Zhang Jiaohua’s chaotic mental state calmed instantly. The scattered turbulence within him evaporated. And at that moment—the illusion formation dissolved completely.

The fog surrounding Jiangxian Mountain cleared, and suddenly—A snow-covered mountain appeared before him.

It was exactly like the one Wan Jiqing had described.

But didn’t Wan Jiqing say he saw it inside the Immortal Beast Mountain Range? Why was it here? And there were no herds of immortal beasts nearby. Zhang Jiaohua was momentarily confused.

“No matter. I’ll go there first and see for myself. It looks close, but the distance is actually still far.”

He rose into the air, flying toward the snow mountain.

“Chirp—!”

A piercing cry echoed from afar.

A pure white celestial crane flew toward him, its wings beating slowly. Unlike the first time Zhang Jiaohua saw a crane upon arriving in the Immortal Realm, the pressure it exuded no longer overwhelmed him—he could now bear it with ease.

This was only the second time he had seen a celestial crane in this abandoned region. He had once thought they would be common in the Immortal Realm, but in this wasteland they were incredibly rare.