I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 267Book 2: : Industrial Mother Machine, Cultivation World Overtake
Vol 2 Chapter 267: Industrial Mother Machine, Cultivation World Overtake
"The correspondence between particles and the Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans changed from one-to-one to one-to-many... This isn't my area of expertise."
Tang Mu Dao frowned and shook his head, looking toward Cheng Yun beside him.
Cheng Yun also looked helpless: "I’ve got nothing."
At the table, Old Bai was also studying the data provided by Madam Xuanhua. He nodded as he read: "This experiment wasn’t badly done. They tried dozens of Golden Core refinement methods, ran through them all."
It was true. Madam Xuanhua was a master of artifact crafting, and after undergoing training in the Golden Core Project, she might not yet have fully grasped scientific thinking, but she certainly understood some basic lines of reasoning.
From the steps involved in forming a Golden Core, it boiled down to three steps—fusion, fission, and finally, synthesis, which was the combining of the Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans and the particles.
Madam Xuanhua’s approach was simple: repeat the third step.
That is, try to add another Five-Elemental Sub-Talisman into a single particle that already contains one.
But no matter what she did, it didn’t work.
Madam Xuanhua had tried over a dozen Golden Core techniques from within the Jiushan Sect, and even some cultivation methods she personally practiced—she tested those for quite a while too.
Not a single one succeeded.
After reading through the experiment records, everyone present was at a loss. Zheng Fa saw that no one could offer any good suggestions and didn’t want to waste time, so he stood up and said to Old Bai and the others, "Alright, let’s all think about it some more on our own. I’ll also go consult with Team Leader Yang."
As he walked out the door, he noticed footsteps behind him. Turning his head, he saw it was Old Bai.
"Professor Bai?" Zheng Fa couldn’t help but be curious. Did the old man have an idea?
"Zheng Fa, I think it’s time we expanded the size of the nursing home."
Zheng Fa stopped and turned to look at the serious-looking Old Bai, waiting for him to continue.
"You probably feel it too—our current knowledge isn’t enough to push this research forward..."
Zheng Fa silently nodded.
Take the current dilemma, for instance—this was already beyond the capabilities of the nursing home’s core team. Even Zheng Fa himself couldn’t tell what academic field this even belonged to anymore. It might not even fall within the scope of any current discipline. ṘÁＮȏꞖΕś
Ultimately, it came down to a lack of talent.
"Even if we consult through Team Leader Yang, to be honest, the most they can offer is theoretical analysis."
The two of them walked into the nursing home's pavilion. The old and the young stood side by side, looking at the fish swimming outside the pavilion.
With the abundance of spiritual energy at the nursing home these days, these fish had grown fat and large, their scales glittering in the sunlight.
Old Bai continued, "But we both know, theory and reality are always separated by a layer. Many things—only through experimentation, I mean, only through experiments conducted in a spiritual energy environment—can we truly understand."
What Old Bai said made sense.
The similarity between modern principles and the foundational rules of the Xuanyi Realm had greatly benefited Zheng Fa’s earlier research and might bring even more advantages in the future.
But on the other hand, spiritual energy was by no means an optional variable.
The deeper one explored the path of cultivation, the greater the influence of spiritual energy, and the more the theoretical framework diverged from modern science.
Consulting Team Leader Yang was still just scratching the surface—sooner or later, they’d hit a dead end.
Expanding the nursing home—getting more people involved in cultivation research and conducting experiments directly in spiritual energy environments—might be the real solution.
"If spiritual energy had still been scarce, that’d be one thing. But now I think the time has come," Old Bai’s final words earned Zheng Fa’s agreement. His cultivation had advanced, and the amount of spiritual energy in Rainbow Mountain had multiplied several dozen times.
Even Tang Lingwu was nearly at Foundation Establishment.
...
"Dean Zheng!" Team Leader Yang came rushing over, beaming. "You’ve decided to recruit more people?"
"Yes, the nursing home needs more talent."
Old Bai’s suggestion was spot on. From the start, the nursing home was established to serve as a cultivation research lab.
Back then, spiritual energy wasn’t sufficient. But now, with high spiritual energy density and the ability to manufacture spiritual materials, the conditions were ripe.
Zheng Fa looked at Team Leader Yang. The two had worked well together in the past. Besides, handpicking every new recruit himself would be troublesome—better to use Team Leader Yang’s channels.
Team Leader Yang nodded and pulled out two large folders from behind him.
"These are?"
Zheng Fa was curious.
Team Leader Yang pressed his lips together and admitted honestly, "Dean Zheng... these are contingency plans we prepared."
"...Contingency plans?" Zheng Fa had a feeling. "How many contingency plans have you made about me?"
"..."
Team Leader Yang let out an awkward laugh and just stayed quiet—unclear whether he couldn’t answer or didn’t know the exact number.
Old Bai, standing to the side, gently shook his head. It was obvious—Zheng Fa’s presence brought both joy and unease to many.
Seeing their strange expressions, Team Leader Yang explained, "Actually, most of them are extrapolations following the diffusion of spiritual energy..."
"Dean Zheng, you could say that ever since the nursing home was established, these kinds of contingency plans have been increasing..."
That was understandable.
Zheng Fa took the two folders.
Then he heard Team Leader Yang whisper, "I heard some people say that your personality, Dean Zheng, might be one of the best-case scenarios..."
Old Bai agreed. Zheng Fa wasn’t exactly without desire, but he certainly posed no threat to modern society—if anything, he was a bit of a homebody.
Zheng Fa understood the implication. He looked at Team Leader Yang for a moment, then turned to Old Bai, then to Tang Lingwu who was feeding fish in the pavilion, and couldn’t help but laugh: "Maybe it’s because I’ve met some truly good people."
Team Leader Yang was stunned. He glanced at Old Bai, his face also showing a trace of relief.
Old Bai stood still for a few seconds, then slowly straightened his back—his face now filled with the pride of a savior.
But Zheng Fa had spoken from the heart—crossing into the modern world during a time when he was cold and hungry had been a blessing... for both him and the modern world.
Modern welfare let him know, for the first time, what it meant to eat meat until full...
Back on the estate, things hadn’t been good—due to Steward Wang, not many people close to him had been well off either.
By contrast, the help he’d received, the people he’d met, and the warmth he’d seen in this era felt all the more precious.
On the other hand, his understanding of the Xuanyi Realm had also deepened.
The turmoil stirred up by the Great Freedom Demonic Sect wasn’t considered significant by Zhenren Chengkong. At the recent celebration banquet, many Nascent Soul and Soul Formation cultivators only expressed relief—it was clear they didn’t view that battle as a serious loss.
But Zheng Fa still remembered Gao Yuan, remembered Chen Prefecture, and remembered the nameless dead.
A world with spiritual energy was like that—and looking back at the modern world, he couldn’t help but be cautious. From his perspective, he wasn’t sure if his impulsive changes could actually make the world better.
But in the end, he’d met his high school homeroom teacher Mr. Chen, met Old Bai, met Tang Lingwu—and that made him deeply cherish this world.
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, he looked at the two contingency plans from Team Leader Yang:
"Nursing Home Plan..."
Zheng Fa opened the file, read for a while, then looked up. Unsure what to say, he handed the file to a curious Old Bai beside him.
Old Bai read for a long time. After a while, he looked at Team Leader Yang with an odd expression.
"You mean, whoever Zheng Fa picks—list their names—and these people... will be forcibly retired? Oh no, just retired?"
Team Leader Yang explained, "Dean Zheng, this is the method that draws the least public attention."
"We’re fully leveraging the nursing home’s title—outsiders don’t know what’s really going on at Rainbow Mountain."
"This way, we avoid a lot of trouble."
This plan... really did fit his old personality.
He disliked trouble and cared a lot about the nursing home’s environment—he didn’t care about secrecy per se, but he didn’t like attracting too much attention either, or having a bunch of random people cluttering the place.
Team Leader Yang and the others had indeed tailored this to suit him.
Seeing him silent, Team Leader Yang seemed to misunderstand and said, "If you think it’s not low-profile enough, Dean Zheng, we can just have them die..."
"..."
"Joking! Joking!" Team Leader Yang quickly waved his hands. "It’d be like the old top-secret projects—use aliases, cut off external contact, restore identity later!"
Old Bai’s face twisted a little.
Good or not, this approach was something he’d heard of before... in missions that could truly affect a nation’s fate, there were indeed people like this.
The problem was, Team Leader Yang was suggesting Zheng Fa just casually pick people—whoever he chose, they’d be erased...
And not even asking what Zheng Fa planned to do with them...
The resources and sincerity offered here were downright terrifying.
Zheng Fa thought for a moment and still declined: "No need for that. I just want some peace, not to that extent."
Then he looked at the second plan and couldn’t help laughing: "Cultivation Research Institute Plan..."
Just from the name, Zheng Fa got the gist. Opening the file confirmed it:
"Take graduate school entrance exams, then cultivate?" Old Bai laughed too. "Cultivation grad students?"
Team Leader Yang explained, "What you need most, Dean Zheng, is researchers."
"The first plan is to bring the nation’s top scientists directly to Rainbow Mountain."
"The second plan is different—it’s in case you want to train new people, but not total rookies. At least they need to have received relatively good university education..."
"Dean Zheng, however many you want, I can bring you the nation’s top scholars and best students!"
Zheng Fa and Old Bai exchanged a look—Team Leader Yang and her team had certainly thought this through.
"Let’s go with both... newcomers aside, arrange for experts in key fields as soon as possible."
Right now, Zheng Fa cared most about the research into the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method.
Team Leader Yang took back the two plans and looked at Zheng Fa, then suddenly sighed.
"What is it?"
Team Leader Yang smiled and said, "I was just thinking—from this point forward, the entire education system, no, the entire research system, might be changed by this nursing home..."
Before Zheng Fa could respond, Team Leader Yang added, "Dean Zheng, do you know how many people in the past two years have asked how to join the nursing home..."
At this, Team Leader Yang suddenly looked awkward: "Maybe... we should change the name of the nursing home? Otherwise, if it becomes the nation’s top institution, ‘nursing home’ just doesn’t sound right..."
"After all... who wouldn’t want to cultivate?"
As Team Leader Yang hurried down the mountain, Old Bai suddenly looked toward Tang Lingwu in the pavilion. She was feeding the fish—tiny hands sprinkling food as the big fat fish fought each other fiercely, some even leaping out of the water in front of her, as if trying to show off.
The pond water churned wildly, no longer clear as before, but brimming with vitality.
Old Bai dazed for a moment—he suddenly felt that today’s fish pond looked a bit like tomorrow’s world.
...
The nursing home expansion would still take a few more days.
Zheng Fa wasn’t just sitting around waiting. He created an alchemical furnace—or rather, he refined one using the spiritual material particles generated within his body.
To produce spiritual materials in the modern world, he needed the help of a Golden Core.
But to form a Golden Core, it wasn’t feasible for Zheng Fa to condense another one himself—at least, he’d never heard of a double-yolk Golden Core in the Xuanyi Realm.
So he had to adopt the External Pill approach, which required an alchemical furnace.
That made this thing the mother machine of modern cultivation industry.
With the furnace complete, Zheng Fa didn’t waste time and immediately used it to refine a Divine Thunder External Pill.
Refining this type of pill was no challenge to him now, but looking at the finished External Pill, Zheng Fa still felt a pang of heartache:
In the end, the real mother machine of immortal industry was himself.
Whether it was the furnace or the External Pill, both consumed the spiritual material particles in his body—or in other words, consumed his Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi.
Fortunately, the amount of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi in his body was a hundred times greater than the average cultivator, so the consumption wasn’t too bad.
But it couldn’t go on like this forever.
As it stood, a Golden Core could only convert one type of spiritual material into another, so in the modern world, all spiritual materials still had to come from Zheng Fa himself...
Strictly speaking, even the spiritual energy was being released by him—he was practically nursing the cultivation world into being.
The current problem was that if the nursing home was to continue developing, he’d need a way to transform ordinary materials into spiritual ones.
Seeing the External Pill complete, Old Bai and the others gathered around.
They looked at the Divine Thunder External Pill floating in midair, eyes full of curiosity and awe.
"This is the External Pill?"
Old Bai’s face was written with curiosity, and he even reached out a hand, as if wanting to touch it.
Zheng Fa nodded and smiled, "You could say that. It’s also a controllable nuclear reactor."
Old Bai instantly retracted his hand. Change the name and he didn’t even dare touch it.
"It’s not actually that unstable."
Tang Lingwu, standing to the side, smiled and said, "We have the spiritual energy and the materials—now we just need the smart brains..."
Old Bai, however, thought of what Team Leader Yang had said: "Whether or not the research system changes, I don’t know. What I do know is... some people’s destinies are going to change!"
...
Half a month later, Cheng Yun hurried to the airport to pick up a middle-aged man. This man was nearly fifty, his face weathered. As he stepped off the plane and stood among the crowd, his expression was one of utter confusion.
"Professor!"
Cheng Yun waved at him. The man turned at the sound, and upon seeing Cheng Yun, seemed to come back to life.
He got into the passenger seat and let out a bitter smile, "Two days ago I was still preparing for an ignition test. Just yesterday I found out the entire research group was dissolved!"
"They said the project—canceled!"
As he spoke, he clenched his right fist and punched the seat beneath him, clearly still fuming from the sudden turn of events.
"How much money, how much time, how many people did we put into this?"
He kept ranting, but Cheng Yun quietly pursed his lips.
This middle-aged man’s surname was Wang—he’d been Cheng Yun’s PhD advisor. The two had a great relationship, and even Cheng Yun’s later jobs were partly thanks to this mentor.
Professor Wang was a rising force in the field of nuclear physics and had been leading a major nuclear engineering project for years.
The project had indeed cost a lot—money, manpower, time.
But ever since Zheng Fa’s External Pill succeeded, that entire research direction was obsolete—not that it was impossible, but unnecessary.
At least, no national funding would be directed that way anymore.
In the country, aside from those at the top, no one else had the power to launch such a project. For scientists in Professor Wang’s field, future funding would likely be scarce.
That’s precisely why Cheng Yun recommended him to Zheng Fa.
The nursing home’s expansion was significant this time. Given how strange the whole thing was and how tight the timeline was, Team Leader Yang and the others didn’t have time to explain everything in detail.
People near the capital had heard some rumors.
But Professor Wang had been doing research in the northwest and was the type who paid no mind to anything beyond his lab window—naturally, he didn’t understand.
"Professor..."
Cheng Yun wanted to explain something.
"Sigh, I’m planning to go abroad..."
"..."
Cheng Yun looked at Professor Wang, and saw his eyes were red. The professor gave a smile and said, "I didn’t sleep a wink last night. Coincidentally, a foreign university had invited me to be a visiting scholar..."
"I don’t know why the higher-ups want to see me, but I’ve decided—I’m done! After I see you, I’ll go abroad for a change of pace."
From his tone, it seemed he had hit rock bottom.
"Professor, nuclear fusion has succeeded!"
"..."
Professor Wang froze, staring wide-eyed at Cheng Yun.
"It succeeded?"
"It succeeded!"
Cheng Yun nodded vigorously.
"..." Professor Wang closed his eyes. After a long moment, he opened them again. "Say that again?"
Judging from his expression, he seemed to think he was hallucinating due to sleep deprivation.
"I said, controlled nuclear fusion—has succeeded!"
Cheng Yun enunciated clearly.
Only then did Professor Wang realize he hadn’t misheard. But he looked like he still didn’t get it. He frowned and asked, "How did it succeed so suddenly?"
"Where did the materials come from?"
"When was the technological breakthrough?"
"Which project? Which institute did it?"
"I haven’t heard anything in the country or abroad! How could this be a leapfrog overtake? No... this isn’t even overtaking—this is like the Monkey King jumping out of a rock..." One question after another spilled from him. Clearly his mind was more muddled than before, but his meaning was clear: he didn’t believe it.
"Professor, I’m here to take you to that institute! Your project’s gone, but theirs needs you!"
Professor Wang perked up, eyes wide as he stared ahead. He seemed to think the car was moving too slowly. The whole ride, he twisted and fidgeted in the passenger seat, like there was a thorn in it.
"Are we there?"
He got out of the car, turned his head, and looked at the sign at the entrance of the nursing home. He didn’t seem to believe it. He even closed his eyes and opened them again, and upon seeing that it still read “nursing home,” he turned to Cheng Yun with a doubtful look.
"You’re saying... this place? Achieved controlled nuclear fusion?"
Cheng Yun nodded.
"A nursing home?"
"Professor, I can’t really explain it to you clearly right now. You’ll understand once you’re inside."
Cheng Yun sounded helpless—some things really had to be seen to be believed.
Professor Wang, half-convinced, followed Cheng Yun into the courtyard and headed straight for the conference room.
The main building of the nursing home now had many outsiders, and especially in the conference room—it was packed.
As soon as Professor Wang entered, he froze.
"Academician Zhou?"
"Old Chen?"
"Sigh... What are you doing here, sir?"
Professor Wang nodded and bowed his way in, greeting people along the way in a daze, eventually finding his seat in the corner. His eyes swept over the room before he leaned toward Cheng Yun and whispered, "What’s going on?"
"Same as you, Professor..."
"Same how?"
"Either forcibly retired, or laid off..."
Professor Wang froze, looking at the circle of respected senior experts around him. Strangely, the frustration in his chest seemed to ease quite a bit...
Then he heard Cheng Yun quietly say, "Professor, don’t say your student never looked out for you. Trust me—this is the biggest opportunity of your life..."
Professor Wang looked at him with suspicion, then glanced around at all the big names in the room, falling further into silence.
Team Leader Yang walked in shoulder to shoulder with Tang Mu Dao. After turning on the projector, she finally addressed the room full of scholars:
"A quick introduction, my surname is Yang..."
"Some of you may have heard certain rumors. Others may know nothing at all."
"As for those rumors, some may believe them, others may doubt. But I swear on my own reputation, and in the name of the country, everything I’m about to say—is true..."
Everyone in the room listened silently.
They weren’t fools. Who else but national authorities could gather such a room full of people on such short notice?
Team Leader Yang started from the beginning, telling them about the nursing home. As she spoke, slides displayed the various results and accomplishments from the institution.
At first, when she mentioned cultivation, most of the people in the room wore expressions that practically screamed "nonsense."
But then she moved on to things like Jiushan No. 1, the new rice strain.
Then the new set of broadcast exercises.
And then, all kinds of newly developed spiritual medicines.
The first two had already been circulating in society—most of the attendees had at least heard of them—so murmurs began to ripple through the room. With actual proof out there, more people started to believe.
Finally, Team Leader Yang began to talk about the Golden Core.
Gradually, Professor Wang’s eyes widened. It was as if his eyeballs were too tired to read the text on the slides—his neck stretched forward, his whole body leaning over the table, eyes full of shock.
He wasn’t alone.
There were quite a few nuclear engineering and nuclear physics researchers in the room.
At this moment, they all looked like him—necks stretched out like geese, afraid to miss even a single word.
When Team Leader Yang finally finished, silence filled the room.
No one spoke.
It was as if no one knew what to say.
"You're telling me... cultivation... led to nuclear fusion?"
Someone finally shouted. His voice even cracked, like it was about to explode.
Indeed, this was even more ridiculous than a monkey jumping out of a rock.
"Yes!"
"Seriously?"
"If you pass the Director’s assessment, you’ll get to see the real thing."
"And if we don’t pass?"
"Not much, really—just that you’ll lose all memory of this meeting..."
At that, murmurs and chatter spread through the room again.
Professor Wang suddenly turned to Cheng Yun and whispered, "You... you participated in this Golden Core project?"
Cheng Yun nodded, his expression proud.
"It’s all real?"
"Every word of it!"
"So uh..." Professor Wang immediately lowered his voice, quietly whispering in Cheng Yun’s ear, "That test—got any tricks to it?"
"..."
Cheng Yun looked at Professor Wang. Seeing him come back to life, all fired up and itching to return to work, he couldn’t help but laugh inwardly. His tone was teasing: "Professor, I thought you were going abroad?"
"Abroad my a*! What do they know about cultivation?"
