Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World-Chapter 38 - Comprehension
Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Comprehension
Chapter 38 -38: Comprehension
The documentary is fantastic.
Tang Lingwu must have put a lot of thought into it, selecting high-quality documentaries.
The clarity is maximized, the production team is top-notch, and every frame has the aesthetic of spent budget.
Some of them have high ratings online and are hailed as the bible for bird lovers.
What pleased Zheng Fa more, the photographers would conceal the camera in trees, beside bird nests, and even on cliff edges, or even more extreme, mounted on the birds themselves.
They tried their best to close in on the natural lives of these subjects.
Even without the intention of discerning the secrets of the “Spiritual Crane Body,” these meticulously produced documentaries were enough to attract Zheng Fa, the unsophisticated man.
One, two…
Every night, Zheng Fa watched these documentaries.
Watching the birds in the footage, observing their daily lives.
Watching them soar, fly high, and land.
Hunting, feeding, frolicking.
He felt as though he saw some familiar scenes, which seemed somewhat similar to the patterns in the third volume of “Spiritual Crane Body,” the “Spiritual Crane Heart Scripture.”
But exactly what it was still seemed obscured by a thin layer of rice paper, leaving Zheng Fa unable to figure it out.
Even as he was about to finish watching these documentaries, he still couldn’t connect the two.
That evening, he carelessly clicked on a series he hadn’t watched yet, “The Lost Sky Dominator — Winged Dragon,” and its opening remarks made him pause.
“Among the many hypothesis about the origins of birds, the conjecture that birds descend from dinosaurs is most accepted by mainstream scholars.”
“So some say, birds are close relatives of dinosaurs.”
Zheng Fa was stunned for a moment and then came back to his senses with a bit of surprise.
It really is about birds!
“Winged dragons have long been extinct in our world, we cannot know how they lived, but we can model their appearance and movements by researching fossil evidence and observing bird habits.”
Zheng Fa stared at the screen where a winged dragon model was created using special effects, strange images flashing through his mind!
This is it!
The author of “Spiritual Crane Body” seemed to have the same idea as this documentary, observing various birds’ movement patterns and habits, modeling, no, creating a non-existent creature—Birdman?
The images in the book gradually matched the winged dragon image on the screen.
Zheng Fa really wanted to grab the person by the collar and ask:
You draw animations, won’t you write a note?
…
Zheng Fa spent several days and nights watching documentaries, especially after truly comprehending the mysteries of the “Spiritual Crane Heart Scripture,” he rewatched those documentaries he had seen before, decomposing and reassembling every image from the “Spiritual Crane Heart Scripture” and comparing them with the birds’ actions in the documentaries to deepen his understanding.
Having stayed up several nights in a row like this, even with his physical conditioning from the Songhe Stance, he appeared haggard and had faint dark circles under his eyes at school.
“Zheng Fa, what have you been up to lately?” Wang Chen asked with a bit of concern seeing his appearance.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, haven’t you been sleeping well at night?
Why do you look so out of spirits?
Are you sick?”
“Oh, I’ve been watching videos at night these past few days,” Zheng Fa touched his face and explained.
“Watching videos, what kind of videos…
you, uh?”
Wang Chen’s face suddenly turned odd as if he thought of something.
“It was given by Tang Lingwu.”
“Given by Tang Lingwu?” Wang Chen seemed to fall into deep incomprehension.
“That day, the day Mr.
Chen confiscated your phone.”
Wang Chen twitched the corner of his mouth, that day was too memorable, and he indeed remembered that Tang Lingwu had indeed sent a message to Zheng Fa that day.
But he wasn’t interested in talking about that now, instead, his face full of gossip: “Don’t tell me, let me guess!”
“?”
“Is it those…
without clothes?”
“Why would they wear clothes?”
Zheng Fa was puzzled, not understanding why he would ask such a question.
“The kind with very few people?”
“Um…
I guess so.”
Wang Chen’s eyes flashed with an inexplicable excitement.
“Indoors?”
“No, mostly outdoors.”
“Tang Lingwu actually likes this?”
Wang Chen muttered, as if he had discovered some incredible secret.
He patted Zheng Fa on the shoulder and said leisurely, “The adult world is fascinating, but you still need to take care of your health!”
Zheng Fa didn’t say anything, just looked at Wang Chen with eyes that suggested he thought Wang Chen was seriously ill.
Then Wang Chen sighed, “Tang Lingwu in our class has good grades, is pretty, and even Mr.
Chen keeps a close eye on her.
The boys in the class wouldn’t dare to talk to her, but from what I’ve observed, at least half of the boys have a crush on her.”
“That many?” Zheng Fa really hadn’t noticed this, as who liked whom in class was never within his concerns.
“You’re all about studying.
I bet it’s much more than you think, and unexpectedly, her private hobbies are quite thrilling…” Wang Chen stroked his chin, looking knowledgeable, “If all the boys in the class knew, man…”
“Man what?”
“It would mesmerize the other half of the boys!”
Zheng Fa looked at Wang Chen, who was utterly convinced of his own words.
Somehow, his words seemed contradictory: both low-brow but also logical.
…
Seventh Young Master looked even more haggard when he saw Zheng Fa in his study.
“What happened to you?”
Zheng Fa had spent the last two nights of the modern era watching those documentaries, almost without sleep.
“I pondered over the ‘Spiritual Crane Body’,” explained Zheng Fa.
Seventh Young Master and Gao Yuan exchanged glances, obviously not believing him.
After all, Zheng Fa had even returned the books, so how could he ponder?
Seventh Young Master shook his head, pulled a book from the shelf behind him, and handed it to Zheng Fa.
“What is this?”
“Forget the ‘Spiritual Crane Body’; martial arts have no future.
Learn talismanic magic with me!” Seventh Young Master sighed.
Zheng Fa looked at the book in front of him, the cover read: “Complete Understanding of Talisman Diagram – Volume One”
“What is this?”
“Didn’t I tell you before?
Talismanic diagrams.”
Zheng Fa flipped through it, finding indeed all those complex and abstract patterns.
Having just been tormented by Birdman, Zheng Fa felt a bit of a headache and put down the book, asking, “By studying this book, can one understand the talismanic Dao?”
“Heh, finish studying it?
Do you know how many volumes are in this series?”
“I don’t know.”
Seventh Young Master held up one finger.
“Ten volumes?”
Seventh Young Master shook his head.
“A hundred volumes?”
“A whole room!” Seventh Young Master pointed to a room on the side of his study, slightly anguished, “All these are!”
Zheng Fa turned his head and saw the rows of bookshelves stretching up to the ceiling in that room, he swallowed.
“And, this series keeps adding new volumes every year!
I started learning from a young age and even now, there are more and more books I haven’t seen!”
Seventh Young Master’s tone was aggrieved enough to make one feel sympathetic.
Zheng Fa really understood; it truly was a boundless sea of learning.
“Young Master, what exactly is a talismanic diagram?”
“I don’t understand it either.” Seventh Young Master shook his head, “According to this book, all talismanic diagrams originate from the Immortal Cultivator’s comprehension of heaven and earth, containing great truths.
In fact, many of the earliest talisman papers were drawings of such diagrams.”
“But later, some people discovered that although some talismanic diagrams looked different, they had the same effects, so Cultivators proposed the concept of the ‘Primordial Talisman’, trying to find similarities among them.”
“As for these, it’s because Immortal Cultivators are still comprehending new talismanic diagrams every day…”
Zheng Fa suddenly realized, finally understanding all those books in the house.
“It’s an exhaustive method, huh…”
