I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 302Book 2: : Fallen Genius, Changing Fate
Vol 2 Chapter 302: Fallen Genius, Changing Fate
The Demon Ancestor's secret technique is really something!
Three days later, Zheng Fa finally walked out of his small courtyard, but he was still savoring it in his mind.
Creak~
The door of the neighboring courtyard suddenly opened. Senior Sister Yuan’s round head poked out from the crack in the door, her eyes full of deep wisdom staring at Zheng Fa, looking a bit upset.
"Senior Sister?"
"How's your cultivation going?"
"……"
Zheng Fa didn’t know how to describe it, so he simply raised his hand and gave a light pat on her big head.
Sensing the slightly stronger spiritual power than last time, Senior Sister Yuan’s little face scrunched up, looking like she was about to burst into tears.
"Junior Brother, you're cheating!"
Clearly, Zheng Fa’s rapid improvement in cultivation had struck a nerve with this silly, cheerful senior sister.
"……"
Senior Sister Yuan started to whimper.
"I used to live with Senior Sister!"
"I want to dual cultivate with Senior Sister too!"
Senior Sister Zhang walked out from inside—clearly, she’d heard that line.
Senior Sister Yuan looked at her expectantly, but Senior Sister Zhang ignored her.
"Senior Sister, only men and women with yin and yang attributes can dual cultivate…"
Zheng Fa explained with a laugh.
"That what’s-it-called transformation thing," the clueless Senior Sister Yuan suddenly got clever, "Can I turn into a guy? Or maybe Senior Sister turns into…" 𝖗АƝŐBĚS
Senior Sister Zhang stared at her, the refusal written all over her face.
"Senior Sister, you’re so biased!"
Zheng Fa actually started thinking—could the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation really change one’s gender?
Or rather, is gender really that strict a requirement for dual cultivation?
Why can’t the Xuanyi Realm be a bit more inclusive?
But clearly, Senior Sister Zhang wasn't the inclusive type. She just stared silently at Senior Sister Yuan, letting the chirpy little Yuan Xiaoniao gradually quiet down. Disappointment showed on her face, but she didn’t say anything else.
Senior Sister Zhang nodded at both Yuan and Zheng Fa, then flew off toward Heavenly Palace Island.
"Senior Sister is so busy, she won’t even talk to me."
Senior Sister Yuan mumbled.
Zheng Fa silently nodded as well.
With Martial Uncle Pang out traveling, it wasn’t really appropriate for him and Senior Sister Zhang to keep enjoying themselves every day either.
In truth, he considered himself pretty busy:
Compared to the Hundred Immortals Alliance's old lands and the seas, the Jiushan Realm was their real foundation.
In the first fifty-year plan, the Jiushan Realm took up two-thirds of the layout.
He and Senior Sister Zhang were mainly tasked with reorganizing the Jiushan Realm.
In terms of division of labor, Zheng Fa, with help from the modern world, focused more on research and education. Most of the time, he was on the Nine Islands of the Heavenly Palace.
As for Senior Sister Zhang, nearly ninety percent of her attention was on the mortal world of Jiushan Realm.
According to the first fifty-year plan, Zheng Fa had quite different roles for these places:
The Nine Islands of the Heavenly Palace were mainly for talent cultivation and research.
The mortal world of the Jiushan Realm ran on two tracks:
One was agriculture, crucial for the population of Jiushan Sect and the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
The other was industry—this was what Zheng Fa valued most. Even if he had all the confidence in the world, he still preferred to base it inside the Jiushan Realm.
As for the Hundred Immortals Alliance and the sea region, at first, Zheng Fa could only see them as markets and sources of raw materials.
Basically, it was like a three-layer cake.
Zheng Fa managed the Nine Islands—he was like the brain of the Hundred Immortals Alliance.
Senior Sister Zhang was its limbs—or more accurately, the Chief Accountant of Jiushan Sect, the executor.
If we’re talking about who's the busiest, she was probably number one in the sect.
Watching Senior Sister Zhang leave in a rush, Zheng Fa also prepared to head to University Island. But suddenly, he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned his head and saw Senior Sister Yuan looking at him with her intelligent eyes.
"Hmm?"
"Junior Brother, did you just reach Golden Core Perfection?"
Zheng Fa nodded.
Senior Sister Yuan suddenly asked, "How was I to you before?"
Zheng Fa looked even more confused, staring at her in puzzlement.
"Senior Sister Zhang won’t agree, but if you form your Nascent Soul… can you help me?"
Her voice suddenly grew quiet.
But Zheng Fa’s eyes widened.
Senior Sister Yuan was going for the roundabout approach?
Senior Sister Zhang had her fun with him, and now Senior Sister Yuan wanted to…? Was he just some kind of cultivation springboard?
Could it be that Senior Sister Yuan was a hidden genius?!
Seeing his stunned expression, Senior Sister Yuan felt quite smug. "Senior Sister Zhang is smart, finding such an easy path to cultivate…"
"Don’t worry, that Demon Ancestor secret technique—I'll learn it too!"
"If she won’t help me, you can, right, Junior Brother?"
Zheng Fa took a deep breath.
"Senior Sister?"
"Hmm?"
Senior Sister Yuan came back to her senses, only to see Zheng Fa staring behind her, silent.
"Zhang…"
Looking behind Yuan Xiaoniao at the cold-faced Senior Sister Zhang, Zheng Fa nodded quietly, eyes full of innocence.
But Senior Sister Yuan shrieked:
"Junior Brother, save me!"
Zheng Fa wouldn’t dare.
No matter how good Senior Sister Zhang had been to him before, he knew that if he opened his mouth now, she could show him just how fearsome the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s former number one Talisman Dao genius could be.
He had used the Rainbow Transformation technique many times in his life—but never had he been so grateful to have this divine ability!
……
Flying all the way to University Island, finally out of earshot of Senior Sister Yuan’s desperate cries, he let out a sigh of relief.
Turning his head, he saw a true genius—Gu Chang.
Gu Chang was a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy. When he saw Zheng Fa, he respectfully saluted, "Sect Master."
"Why didn’t you go out with Martial Uncle Pang?"
Zheng Fa frowned and asked.
He remembered Gu Chang well:
This boy had entered Jiushan Sect at the same time as his little sister Zheng Shan—and he was the top scorer in mathematics back then.
Keep in mind, even after years of Zheng Fa’s personal tutoring, his little sister still lost to this guy.
At that time, Zheng Fa had already taken note of him.
Gu Chang’s background was also interesting. He came from a regular farming family and had ended up on Letu Island in the Jiushan Realm by sheer chance.
Since he had no background there, his life had been pretty mediocre.
But his math talent was extraordinary. After just half a year of school, he stood out and eventually got admitted to Jiushan Sect—he really had changed his fate.
In Zheng Fa’s eyes, this guy was kind of like a mix of himself and Senior Sister Zhang, so he always remembered him well.
Later on, Gu Chang also displayed a rare and pleasantly surprising talent—topology.
Although Senior Sister Zhang wasn’t bad at topology, her main strength probably lay in computation or algebra.
Topology, being so abstract, often gave her headaches.
Zheng Fa could totally relate!
But Gu Chang’s performance in topology even made Senior Sister Zhang feel ashamed. In all topology exams, he was always at the top.
Gu Chang has such talent in math—shouldn't Martial Uncle Pang have taken him along?
So seeing him here left Zheng Fa a bit puzzled. But after thinking about it, he remembered—among those three hundred disciples, Gu Chang really wasn’t one of them.
“My cultivation is too low…” Gu Chang lowered his head, speaking with some shame. “The Supreme Elders thought this mission was too dangerous and only allowed disciples at the third level of Qi Refining or above to go.”
Hearing that, Zheng Fa realized Gu Chang was still at the first level of Qi Refining.
That was a pretty slow pace.
“I'm… a four-root type,” Gu Chang added in a low voice when he saw Zheng Fa's dawning expression. “And I’ve always been too obsessed with math, barely earned any Merit Points.”
Zheng Fa didn’t have much to say to that.
To be honest, the only reason a four-root cultivator could get into Jiushan Sect was due to his outstanding talent in mathematics. You could say this man used his natural gifts and hard work to change his fate.
But that kind of change always has its limits.
Zheng Fa looked Gu Chang over carefully. His clothes weren’t exactly ragged, but they were definitely old.
Among Jiushan Sect disciples, he was probably in the lowest tier in both cultivation and wealth.
Zheng Fa understood—Gu Chang faced the same dilemma all cultivators would eventually face after entering Jiushan Sect: the limitation of spiritual roots.
Jiushan Sect wasn’t strict about root types;in fact, in any other sect of the Xuanyi Realm, Gu Chang wouldn’t have had a chance to cultivate at all.
But Jiushan Sect still couldn’t escape the reality of the Xuanyi system—mixed-root cultivators would always struggle more, always be poorer, compared to those with single roots or Dao Bodies.
Gu Chang kept his head low, clearly feeling inferior.
Zheng Fa didn’t say much either.
It was true he favored disciples with a knack for math or those with comprehension talent. But even so, he refused to offer rewards or help out of favoritism.
“You didn’t go out. So what have you been doing lately?”
Gu Chang hesitated for a while, then said, “I was thinking… of becoming a teacher on Letu Island.”
Zheng Fa noticed he hadn’t finished what he wanted to say, so he stayed quiet and just listened.
“Cultivating costs a lot, and my talent’s bad. I thought I’d earn some Merit Points to support my own cultivation… maybe get married and have kids…” Gu Chang’s face turned a little red as he continued, “I’m getting to that age, and my family’s arranging a marriage for me.”
This choice… wasn’t a bad one.
Even if Gu Chang lived a tough life in Jiushan Sect, he still had the status of a full disciple.
A teacher like him could still earn plenty of Merit Points.
Zheng Fa could even imagine that the marriage his family was arranging wasn’t with some random girl from a poor household. Most likely, it involved some offshoot family connected to a Jiushan Sect disciple.
But on the other hand, this choice likely meant placing the hope of changing fate onto the next generation—
In other words, if he could have a talented child, he’d pour all his saved resources into that child, hoping to uplift the whole family.
It was a viable path, and honestly, it was how many families in the Xuanyi Realm survived.
But from Gu Chang’s expression, Zheng Fa could see this decision wasn’t easy—after all, it was basically giving up on his own Dao path.
Seeing Gu Chang hang his head in silence, Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then said:
“Come with me.”
“Huh?”
Zheng Fa didn’t explain. He just led him to a quiet two-courtyard compound.
This place was deep within University Island, very secluded.
At the entrance, a wooden plaque was nailed up, with a line of ink-brush characters:
‘Xiandao Editorial Department’
Inside the main hall, there was a very long, dark wooden table. So big it practically split the whole room into a strange rectangle.
On the table were all sorts of jade slips and envelopes—manuscripts sent in by disciples.
Gu Chang stood there in the hall, completely lost, unsure what to do.
Zheng Fa tidied up some clutter on the desk, pulled out a sample issue, and handed it to Gu Chang.
“Sect Master… this is?”
“Ever heard of Xiandao?”
Zheng Fa asked.
“I have…” Gu Chang replied awkwardly, “I can’t afford it. And they say Qi Refining cultivators don’t understand it anyway.”
Xiandao was a paid journal—and it wasn’t cheap.
The money mainly went to pay contributors, and more importantly, they received Merit Point bonuses from the sect. But still, the journal was never free.
In Zheng Fa’s view, the idea that knowledge has value and that it needs to be shared aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, only when people recognize that knowledge has value will they be driven to learn the old and create the new—thus spreading knowledge even further.
On the other hand, most articles in the journal had little to do with the Qi Refining stage.
Zheng Fa didn’t support forced advancement. In his eyes, early cultivation should be about strengthening foundations and learning methods.
So giving this issue to Gu Chang was more of a personal sentiment—due to Old Bai and Tang Lingwu, he had a soft spot for students with math talent.
“I paid for this one.” Zheng Fa said.
“Understood. Thank you, Sect Master.”
Gu Chang took the sample, still a little dazed. Zheng Fa continued:
“I’m giving you this because I want you to understand two things—”
Gu Chang looked at him.
“First, talent isn’t everything in Jiushan Sect. Wisdom and knowledge matter more to me than innate gifts. Relying on luck to have a gifted child and then changing your family’s fate is too vague a hope. I want you to treasure your gift for math… Whatever profession you choose, don’t give up on learning. Sometimes, knowledge can change your fate.”
Gu Chang opened his mouth and whispered, “…Yes.”
He seemed moved—he, with such poor aptitude, was being lectured so earnestly by the Sect Master himself.
But just as he was getting emotional, Zheng Fa’s tone suddenly turned stern:
“Second, being a teacher shouldn’t be your fallback option.”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to earn Merit Points through teaching. That’s perfectly valid… but your attitude doesn’t meet the standard I expect of teachers on Letu Island.”
Gu Chang stammered, “Sect Master…”
“Whether it’s me, Senior Sister Zhang, or even the Supreme Elders—we’re all teachers at University Island. Have any of us ever looked down on it?”
Gu Chang pressed his lips together and lowered his head. He seemed to be thinking, but didn’t dare speak.
“I know what you’re thinking—Letu Island is full of mortals… That’s why I gave you this journal.”
“Many of the articles in here show that thought and wisdom matter far more than cultivation or aptitude,” Zheng Fa explained. “If you can fully grasp the research methods here, and if you can pass these ideas down to the disciples of Letu Island—”
“That is the foundation of Jiushan Sect.”
“It matters more than having a single root or a Dao Body.”
Zheng Fa never hid how much he valued education. Especially after the first fifty-year plan was laid out—the number of professionals needed across every field was like a bottomless pit.
Education was the most important, most fundamental part of that first fifty-year plan. It was something Zheng Fa intended to oversee personally.
His instructions to Gu Chang were partly due to that.
Seeing that Gu Chang seemed to have understood something, Zheng Fa added, “You may not know this, but in the future, the sect will invest even more resources into education. Your roles will be far from ordinary.”
Gu Chang straightened his expression and said seriously to Zheng Fa, “I understand, Sect Master.”
Zheng Fa nodded. “You can go.”
Watching Gu Chang slowly walk away, he felt a twinge of regret—
No matter how you looked at it, this disciple was being held back by his spiritual roots.
And that was something that really affected the development of Jiushan Sect… but there had never been a good solution.
……
On Letu Island, Gu Chang hunched over a lamp, reading the journal Zheng Fa had given him.
Truth be told, he couldn’t understand most of it. But once he looked past the unfamiliar terms, many of the ideas inside were incredibly straightforward.
“Knowledge…”
Tired from reading, he looked out at the distant streetlamp beyond the window, eyes dazed.
“Can it really change fate?”
“Can spiritual roots be changed?”
He shook his head and laughed, clearly not believing it.
But soon after, he couldn’t help himself—he picked up Xiandao again and kept reading, article after article.
