I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 283Book 2: : Enrollment Plan, Diluted Dao Fruit

Vol 2 Chapter 283: Enrollment Plan, Diluted Dao Fruit

"You said you cultivated some kind of inner strength—if you get a master, does that mean you could become an immortal someday?"

Zhao's mom also saw the top comment and suddenly asked.

Seriously, Mom? Weren’t you just saying academics come first?

No one knows a son better than his mother. Zhao Yi didn’t say a word, but his mom already understood what he was thinking. She clicked her tongue and said, "You want to practice martial arts and not go to school? No way."

Zhao's mom pointed at the screen. "Is this the same thing?"

Definitely not.

Practicing martial arts won’t help you launch satellites!

Besides, from what the Seeking Immortality documentary showed, cultivation isn’t just about power—it’s also connected to scientific research achievements.

If martial arts is like an antique from the past, already outdated,

then the path of cultivation… seems to lead to the future!

Zhao Yi hit the play button again.

Onscreen, Zheng Fa first took the host around the satellite for a look, then called Team Leader Yang to arrange for someone to take it away and disassemble it.

A wild and ownerless cutting-edge satellite—definitely a rare sight!

Then he took the camera crew on a tour of the nursing home, walking and talking as they went:

"Director Zheng, I prepared a few questions before I came. If you don’t mind..."

In the shot, Zheng Fa gave a small nod.

"First question, what’s your opinion on some people now being able to cultivate inner strength?"

"It’s a good thing." Zheng Fa smiled, "When Jiushan Martial Arts Hall launched the radio calisthenics, the goal was to strengthen the body and improve the population’s overall fitness."

"If they can cultivate inner strength, it shows the calisthenics are effective."

"They're also very talented. Hmm… there's a good chance they have talent for learning immortal techniques."

When Zhao Yi heard that, something clicked—so the calisthenics came from this Director Zheng!

In recent days, the emergence of inner strength had completely upended Zhao Yi’s life—and many others'.

The source actually traced back to Director Zheng.

The figure in the sun, the Jiushan No. 1 rice that's flying off supermarket shelves, the legendary inner strength.

When he looked at Zheng Fa’s face again, he didn’t think it looked young and naive anymore. Instead, it seemed…

profound and mysterious!

Even Zhao's mom was a little excited and tried to make a connection: "Director Zheng said you have talent!"

"Maybe you really can become his disciple in the future."

Zhao Yi’s eyes lit up too.

He couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild.

The host continued to ask:

"As far as I know, many people are extremely curious about immortals and cultivation. I’ve heard there are immortal techniques taught in the nursing home too. Will you be taking disciples in the future?" ṛＡ𐌽ỘBÊＳ

That question made Zhao Yi and his mom both tense up.

In the footage, Zheng Fa nodded again.

The two of them broke into matching smiles.

"Taking disciples, not for now. But in Hongshan, we’ll be establishing a Cultivation Research Academy."

"Research Academy for cultivation? Once someone joins this academy, will you teach them the way of cultivation?"

The host voiced Zhao Yi’s very thought.

"Yes."

"Then how does one join this academy?"

Zhao Yi held his breath, his mind racing through all sorts of possibilities—like testing for spiritual roots, testing aptitude, assessing temperament… maybe even crossing through some great formation…

"…Just go to college."

Huh?

Wait a sec…

Go where?!

Zhao Yi’s jaw dropped.

Then Zheng Fa continued, "Starting next year, the Cultivation Research Academy will partner with major universities and enroll students through guaranteed admission or graduate school entrance exams."

"Exams?"

"The specific exam subjects and number of students will be announced in a notice."

After hearing that, Zhao Yi couldn’t even focus on the rest of the video—his brain was in chaos.

What Director Zheng meant was crystal clear—

The path of cultivation is not for idiots!

It might even prioritize academic capability.

"You will go to school!" Zhao’s mom, having completely forgotten what she just said about dropping out, declared with certainty, "If you dare skip school, I’ll send you straight to a construction site to work tomorrow…"

Zhao Yi thought about it. He wasn’t exactly hardworking, but his grades were decent. Top fifty in his grade was steady, and with a bit of luck, maybe even top twenty—

Especially since developing inner strength, he felt his memory and energy had improved.

With this body, if he puts in the effort, getting into a top university would be easy. He could even aim for the top 10.

He sorted through what Director Zheng said and realized what the show was really implying—

Inner strength is great and all, but there are already big-shot cultivators in this world. Don’t get cocky.

So just keep doing what you’re doing. Keep studying.

He opened the group chat and, sure enough, everyone was talking about the documentary. They’d even changed the group name to "Cultivation Recruits."

All the previously excitable guys in the group had been hyped up for days, chatting about moves and martial arts techniques.

Their posts made it sound like they were ready to roam the jianghu and use iron fists to bring justice to the world.

At the very least, they wanted to be livestream martial arts gods.

Now…

"Anyone doing study livestreams or check-ins? Let’s do it together!"

"Grad school countdown: 1,256 days!"

"Any math geniuses? I’m looking for a tutor, paid! I’m a girl—this is me, unfiltered!"

It was very…

positive and uplifting.

As he scrolled, he realized someone who used to be very active—Brother Wushuang—was gone.

"Where’s Brother Wushuang?"

"Left the group."

Someone replied.

Zhao Yi paused, then understood immediately.

As someone always at the bottom of the rankings, Brother Wushuang… probably couldn’t handle this vibe.

He likely hit a breaking point.

…

Zheng Fa was lurking in a group chat too.

Not just any group—his high school class group chat.

It had been years, most of the classmates were about to graduate, some job-hunting, some studying for exams.

Honestly, the high school group chat was basically dead.

But today…

"WTF…"

"WTF…"

"…"

Everyone suddenly came alive, but only as echo chambers.

One user with a bald avatar chimed in too: "WTF… is that Zheng Fa?"

Isn’t that Old Chen?

Once Old Chen spoke up, the other classmates joined in:

"Has to be!"

"A bit taller and paler than before, but still surnamed Zheng, and I even saw Tang Lingwu—that confirms it!"

"No wonder Tang Lingwu…"

Suddenly everything made sense.

Why Tang Lingwu had been close to Zheng Fa back then.

Everyone used to think Zheng Fa had something going for him…

But now—it was clear Tang Lingwu had serious foresight!

They had all missed out on a massive opportunity!

The group kept chatting for a long time, then Old Chen went silent again. He came back hours later with a photo—

It was of the old-style apartment building where Zheng Fa had lived for years.

A new black marble plaque had been mounted on the wall by the entrance, with gold-inlaid characters:

"Former Residence of Zheng Fa"

Zheng Fa had no words… it looked like he’d died or something.

He hadn’t even sold that apartment yet.

Though he didn’t plan to live there anymore, it had belonged to his original body’s parents. Now that money wasn’t an issue, he just kept it.

Tang Lingwu’s mom, Aunt Ye, still hired someone to help clean the place regularly.

Sometimes Zheng Fa couldn’t help but marvel—

When everyone thinks bigshots are aloof, maybe they’re just better at winning people over.

The chatter in the high school group chat also showed just how wide and fast the documentary had spread—and how huge the impact was.

His initial reason for agreeing to film the documentary was to respond to the changes brought by the Fusang Tree.

More importantly, it was a kind of experiment—to see if he could trigger further transformation in the Dao Fruit of the Demon Emperor.

As for things like fame or old residence plaques, he honestly didn’t care much.

He shut off his phone, immersed his divine sense into his body, and looked at the Fusang Tree that still hovered between reality and illusion, wanting to see if anything had changed.

Didn’t seem like much had changed?

Zheng Fa was puzzled and a little disappointed.

After all, he really wasn’t that interested in the Demon Emperor’s Dao Fruit.

But after a while, he noticed something off—there was a change!

It was extremely subtle, so subtle that even Zheng Fa hadn’t noticed at first.

The Fusang Tree was special—it had only ever produced one flower, with golden patterns on its petals.

Now, when he looked again, he saw faint traces of purple on the petals.

These purple lines were very unclear—he hadn’t even seen them before.

Zheng Fa focused his divine sense on the petal, and only then vaguely made out that these purple patterns resembled some kind of new talisman diagram—but it looked incomplete.

As he drew closer, his divine sense was flooded with countless images—

There were young boys practicing martial arts under the morning sun.

There were girls studying hard under the lamplight.

And then… there were old men and women who had printed out photos of themselves and pasted them on the wall, kneeling and worshiping them.

…

There were so many people—even some foreign faces appeared.

The aura of the Fusang Tree also seemed slightly different.

The original Fusang Tree was warm, brimming with vitality, and carried a trace of dominance.

Now the Fusang Tree seemed to possess an added layer of mystique and lofty nobility.

Seriously?

Zheng Fa couldn’t help but feel joy.

He scanned his body internally—nothing else had changed, only the Fusang Tree appeared to still be growing, becoming quite different from before.

…

Besides the Fusang Tree, there actually was something else that had changed.

When Zheng Fa returned to the Xuanyi Realm, Senior Sister Yuan took one look at him and exclaimed softly, “Junior Brother Zheng, you’ve changed!”

He glanced at Senior Sister Yuan, who leaned her head in and started rubbing against him nonstop, getting close and clingy, which made Senior Sister Zhang behind her… her gaze turned noticeably colder.

Senior Sister Yuan seemed to feel a chill on her back, her neck stiffened, and she turned to look behind her at Senior Sister Zhang, muttering in a low voice, “He really has changed…”

The little Golden Crow next to her nodded too, looking at Zheng Fa with puzzled, even slightly unfamiliar eyes.

But judging by Senior Sister Zhang’s gaze, she hadn’t noticed any changes in him.

Zheng Fa’s heart stirred—so the changes in the Fusang Tree were more apparent to demonkind?

“What’s different?”

“For a few days, I didn’t even dare speak to you,” Senior Sister Yuan frowned in deep thought, like she’d finally figured it out. “I wanted to talk to you, but the moment I saw you, I didn’t dare open my mouth.”

“It was killing me!”

Senior Sister Yuan even sounded kind of bitter about it.

“What about now?” Zheng Fa asked, clearly interested.

“Much better now!” Senior Sister Yuan rubbed up against him twice more, her face very satisfied, even with a kind of blissful nodding, “Now you’re not so scary anymore.”

Senior Sister Zhang’s gaze became pensive. When she locked eyes with Zheng Fa, they both came to the same thought—

The Demon Emperor Dao Fruit had mutated!

…

Zheng Fa didn’t like the Demon Emperor Dao Fruit, but the Great Freedom Demon Emperor did.

In the sea palace, all the delegations and preparations for the enthronement ceremony were in place. All that remained was for the auspicious hour tomorrow to begin the event.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor looked at the gradually decorated palace, then at the demonkind gathering in the nearby seas. Though a Dao Fruit himself, he couldn’t help showing a hint of joy.

Wuzhi understood his thoughts.

“Though the Four Sects of Xuanyi haven’t come, no one has tried to stop it either… I suppose I can congratulate Your Majesty the Demon Emperor.”

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor nodded slightly—that was indeed one of the things he was pleased about.

“I’m not afraid of those immortal sects,” he said calmly, “but I have no interest in entangling with them either.”

Wuzhi understood—afraid or not, it wasn’t his place to comment.

But clearly, the Five Sects of Xuanyi were indeed turning a blind eye to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor’s bid to become the Demon Emperor.

As a disciple of Leiyin Temple, he knew some of the inside story:

At the root of it, while the demonkind had their strength, the Five Sects didn’t have much stake in it. They cared more about the human race.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s attempt to prove the Dao and become the Demon Emperor essentially meant withdrawing from the larger competition.

Naturally, the Five Sects were happy to see that happen.

“But the Jiushan Sect… is keeping its cool.”

Wuzhi brought it up again.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s enthronement ceremony was being held with great fanfare. Demons from across the sea and the eastern and western continents were converging.

There was no hiding it.

Nor did the Great Freedom Demon Emperor want to hide it.

The Jiushan Realm was still near Mount Tongming, not far from the sea, so they likely heard the news early on.

And yet, there had been no reaction.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor chuckled with a hint of sarcasm in his tone: “What good is keeping calm? And what if they don’t?”

Wuzhi nodded slightly—this was indeed a dead end for Zheng Fa:

If he acted first because of this enthronement ceremony, he’d be throwing away his biggest advantage—he might as well be marching to his death.

But if he did nothing…

Wuzhi glanced at the Great Freedom Demon Emperor. Once this man truly achieved Demon Emperor status, his power would likely increase significantly.

Even hiding in the Jiushan Realm, Zheng Fa might not escape death.

In hindsight, the Great Freedom Demon Emperor was playing an open conspiracy.

“My only concern is the people of Taishang Dao, but based on the rumors…” the Great Freedom Demon Emperor laughed lightly, “it seems that Zheng Fa has rejected all those sects.”

“…Seems there’s already bad blood between them.”

“Otherwise, why would they turn a blind eye to me proving the Dao as Demon Emperor?”

Wuzhi nodded slightly.

By now, the fact that Zheng Fa possessed the Demon Emperor Dao Fruit wasn’t a secret.

He knew, Leiyin Temple knew.

More importantly… the Great Freedom Demon Emperor was spreading it everywhere, like he was desperate for people to find out.

This enthronement ceremony posed a huge threat to Zheng Fa.

Naturally, the Taishang Dao sects knew.

And their inaction clearly indicated—something had gone wrong between them.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s broadcasting of the Dao Fruit was, in fact, a test of the Five Sects’ stance…

Wuzhi couldn’t help but sigh:

With such cunning, if this man hadn’t been killed once by the Tianhe Venerable, he would never have been the weakest among the Dao Fruits.

On the flip side, all of the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s strategies were aimed at Zheng Fa!

Which meant… Zheng Fa was in serious danger.

…

The next day, at the appointed hour.

Wuzhi hid in the shadows, waiting for the enthronement ceremony to begin.

He knew that who-knows-how-many forces had been drawn to this event and were probably watching in secret. As a Leiyin Temple disciple, he had to keep a low profile.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor rose slowly from the palace, standing in the void.

He held the Ten-Thousand-Beast Banner, dressed in plain white robes, with no particularly regal attire.

On the sea surface, thousands—no, billions—of demons looked up at him. Their eyes were filled with fear and reverence, but more than that, excitement and fervor.

Wuzhi could understand their feelings—

What stirred the demonkind wasn’t the Great Freedom Demon Emperor himself, but the idea of a Demon Emperor.

They knew the danger of being fragmented, but for hundreds of thousands of years, no one had ever managed to subdue all demonkind and prove the Dao as Demon Emperor.

Now the Great Freedom Demon Emperor was already a Dao Fruit cultivator and had presented the Ten-Thousand-Beast True Scripture, a method all demonkind could cultivate.

In terms of power and contributions, he was entirely worthy of the title—and to demonkind, this was a moment of great celebration.

Among the demons, the Great Freedom Demon Emperor was extremely… well, let’s say he had presence.

Now, about thirty to forty percent of Xuanyi’s demonkind had come.

The rest—over sixty percent—didn’t abstain out of unwillingness. Most simply had low cultivation and were too far away.

Some others were still being kept by the immortal sects as mounts or the like—and naturally couldn’t come.

So the thirty percent that made it essentially represented all of Xuanyi’s demonkind.

The Great Freedom Demon Emperor said nothing. He merely raised the Ten-Thousand-Beast Banner and pointed to the sky!

Billions of demons silently, uniformly, prostrated themselves across the sea surface.

They lay side by side, forming an unbroken mass. From above, Wuzhi couldn’t even see the end of them.

Beneath the Great Freedom Demon Emperor’s feet, the palace that had been hidden under the sea suddenly parted the waters and rose into the sky.

Only now did Wuzhi get a full view of the palace—

Thirty-three layers of palaces stood like a towering mountain, suspended in midair.

The one he had entered before was only the topmost level. Beneath it lay thirty-two more, all submerged before and only now emerging!

Beyond the main palace, there were 360 smaller palaces encircling it, like stars orbiting the sun.

Wuzhi suddenly looked up.

Though it was daytime, stars had appeared in the sky. The sun and moon shone together, echoing the palace in the heavens.

Wuzhi immediately understood—the palace must be part of the ritual. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Only now did the Great Freedom Demon Emperor speak:

“Ancient sorrow, the demons in despair.

Cold moon lights bones, on desolate mounds they lay bare.

True method now forged, pride pierces the air.

Scales rise in fury, their might none shall dare.

Heaven and earth shattered, I claim Demon Emperor’s chair.

Hundred races kneel, ten thousand spirits swear.”

As his voice fell, the demons beneath him raised their heads and chanted in unison:

“Demon Emperor!”

The vow and momentum made Wuzhi’s expression change dramatically, yet a question rose in his heart: “Letting the Great Freedom Demon Emperor prove the Dao… is this really right…”

But at this point, it was clearly too late to doubt.

The sun, moon, and stars above cast down their light.

Moonlight condensed into a jade seal.

Starlight transformed into a silver robe.

And the most dazzling sunlight subtly formed a golden crown.

Only then did Wuzhi understand why the Great Freedom Demon Emperor had dressed so plainly—when one proves the Dao as Demon Emperor, the heavens themselves crown him!

The golden crown, silver robe, and jade seal flew toward the Great Freedom Demon Emperor.

A hint of proud joy appeared on his face.

But in the next moment, the not-yet-solidified golden crown suddenly stopped—and exploded in midair.

“……”

With the crown gone, the jade seal and silver robe flickered twice—and dimmed noticeably.

“……”

The cheers of billions of demons came to a halt.

They stared in confusion, looking up at the Great Freedom Demon Emperor in the sky, only to feel like his expression was screaming—

Who watered down my Demon Emperor Dao Fruit?!