I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 359Book 2: : Creation as the Craftsman, Tongjian Smuggling
Vol 2 Chapter 359: Creation as the Craftsman, Tongjian Smuggling
The paper "Investigation into the Decline of Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi" wasn't lengthy.
Zheng Fa quickly finished reading it once, raised his head to glance at Senior Sister Zhang, but surprisingly said nothing. Instead, he picked up the Creation Jade Slip and read it again.
Seeing this, Senior Sister Zhang grew even more curious.
"I never expected this disciple to actually give me a pleasant surprise."
After finishing the paper a second time, Zheng Fa remained silent for several breaths before sighing with emotion.
His eyes looked somewhat vacant as he spoke, his mind still recalling the paper's contents:
This paper was written by a Foundation Establishment disciple, though it couldn't truly be called a research paper since it lacked any definitive conclusions.
In essence, while titled as an investigation, it was merely an observational report.
The valuable part was what he had observed:
Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi.
This was a type of Heavenly Yang Qi, not particularly rare, with its uniqueness lying in one fact: it didn't exist in the Jiushan Realm.
Not only was it absent, but Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi couldn't even persist within the Jiushan Realm:
This was the disciple's most valuable discovery.
The discovery process was actually quite simple. The disciple had somehow obtained some Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi but never used it. After keeping it in the Jiushan Realm for several years, he noticed its spiritual energy had completely dissipated.
Eventually, it turned into a purplish-red solid powder that could spontaneously combust at slightly higher temperatures.
The disciple seemed uncertain about what this substance was, but Zheng Fa recognized it immediately:
Isn't this just red phosphorus?
Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi wasn't particularly rare, and red phosphorus was even more common. What was uncommon was this transformation process.
ɽ𝐀₦ОBЁś
What interested Zheng Fa more was the reason behind this change.
"Senior Sister, reading this paper made me think of a question."
"Hmm?"
Senior Sister Zhang looked at Zheng Fa's profile, noticing he wasn't actually looking at her but staring blankly into space, speaking slightly faster than usual.
She realized her junior brother wasn't really talking to her.
He had thought of something and was unconsciously thinking aloud, organizing his thoughts.
"If spiritual energy is so variable, why is this world so stable?"
Senior Sister Zhang looked at Zheng Fa, puzzled.
What did he mean by world stability?
Zheng Fa continued speaking to himself:
"After reading this paper, I think I understand a bit."
"Understand what?"
"Non-spiritual materials are this world's foundation, which is why they're identical..."
Senior Sister Zhang felt increasingly confused: "Identical? What's identical?"
Of course, it was the striking similarity between the modern world and the Xuanyi Realm.
To Zheng Fa, this seemed rather unreasonable:
If spiritual energy was understood as world laws, then the Xuanyi Realm's laws were actually quite redundant and complex.
Zheng Fa said the Xuanyi Realm was overly stable precisely because of this: with so many rules, some even contradictory, it should have collapsed long ago.
Yet the Xuanyi Realm had not only existed for several eras but also shared countless similarities with the modern world.
Without spiritual energy as a variable, these two worlds would be nearly identical.
This suggested that spiritual energy's existence didn't seem to affect the Xuanyi Realm's fundamental laws.
Most materials still operated according to modern physical laws.
This wasn't simple: this phenomenon indicated that modern physical laws were more fundamental than spiritual energy.
To use an analogy, spiritual energy was like a virtual machine, while the modern world was the underlying operating system.
Zheng Fa had harbored some doubts before, but after reading this paper, he truly understood:
The reason for Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi's change was actually easy to deduce—even with Tranquility Bamboo, the Jiushan Realm's spiritual energy composition wasn't complete.
Because the corresponding spiritual energy was absent, Crimson Feather Heavenly Yang Qi couldn't persist.
From this, Zheng Fa reached a somewhat surprising conclusion:
Without spiritual energy, all spiritual materials would likely degrade into common substances from the modern world.
In other words, spiritual material particles would return to a stable state.
And this stable state was the matter of the modern world.
That's why human structures were identical between both worlds, and most materials showed little difference.
Seeing this, Senior Sister Zhang couldn't help but ask:
"Junior Brother?"
"Senior Sister, don't you think this is what would happen after spiritual energy declines?"
"...It does seem similar. Without specific spiritual energy, spiritual materials can't form or even exist?" Senior Sister Zhang pondered, "Then if all spiritual energy disappeared..."
Zheng Fa quietly finished her thought:
The Xuanyi Realm would become identical to the modern world.
Seeing how happy he looked, Senior Sister Zhang frowned: "But is this really worth being so happy about?"
"Senior Sister, I've got ideas for the next step of 'Heavenly and Earthly Fiend Transformations.'"
"..."
Senior Sister Zhang took out her Tongjian, found the paper, and read it over several times before frowning:
Had she become stupid?
......
"What do you want me for?"
The Jiushan Ancestor stood in Zheng Fa's courtyard, expression cold, refusing to sit.
"Ancestor, are you still angry?"
"Angry? Why would I be angry? What do I have to be angry about?" The Jiushan Ancestor shouted loudly, "It's just that I, a grand ancestor, couldn't even get a Supreme Elder position, completely losing face! Why would that make me angry?"
The little Golden Crow followed behind him, chiming in: "Exactly! Why can't the Ancestor be a Supreme Elder?"
Senior Sister Yuan also nodded vigorously beside them.
Seeing their support, the Jiushan Ancestor's demeanor became even more imposing: "See? This is what we call popular support!"
Currently, like Madam Xuanhua and others, the Jiushan Ancestor held only an elder position.
But Supreme Elder...
It wasn't that Zheng Fa distrusted his character—he mainly doubted the Ancestor's intelligence.
The Ancestor seemed rather unreliable. Entrusting the Jiushan Realm to him might genuinely lead to its destruction.
Originally, Zheng Fa had hesitated, wondering if he should give the Ancestor a chance to prove himself.
But seeing these three "brilliant" minds gathered together, perfectly matched in their foolishness,
He exchanged a glance with Senior Sister Zhang, feeling their previous caution had been extremely prescient.
"Ancestor, I called you here to enhance the spiritual energy of Immortals' Island."
"No!" The Jiushan Ancestor stood firm, "After all my years of hard work for the Jiushan Sect, what have I gotten? No!"
"..."
Zheng Fa looked at the Ancestor's "I'm going on strike" expression and felt a headache coming on.
"Ancestor..."
"No!"
"Fine. Ancestor, how about we make a deal?"
"A deal?"
"I need you to enhance the spiritual energy because I'll be testing a cultivation method later."
"Cultivation method? What cultivation method?"
"One derived from 'Heavenly and Earthly Fiend Transformations.' It just consumes a lot of spiritual energy during cultivation, hence why I need your help."
"Still not doing it!"
"Then I promise that if you help me cultivate for one month, I'll recommend you as a Supreme Elder!"
The Jiushan Ancestor brightened: "Really?"
"Senior Sister Zhang as witness!"
Senior Sister Zhang nodded slightly beside them.
The Jiushan Ancestor looked at Zheng Fa suspiciously: "Just one month?"
"One month?"
"That simple?"
"Of course, I have one condition—if you give up during that month, you'll have to keep helping me cultivate afterward."
The Jiushan Ancestor immediately became alert, scrutinizing Zheng Fa up and down.
Zheng Fa glanced helplessly at Senior Sister Zhang—the Ancestor wasn't completely foolish after all!
Frowning, the Jiushan Ancestor took two steps back before turning to wave at Senior Sister Yuan and the little Golden Crow.
The three huddled together to discuss.
"What do you two think?"
"I think Senior Sister seems to be secretly laughing!" Senior Sister Yuan whispered.
"A trap? Then I shouldn't agree?"
"Agree!" The little Golden Crow shouted, "How can you not agree?"
"...Ancestor, think about it—persist for one month, and you'll be a Supreme Elder! Then you can do whatever you want?"
"That's true..."
"Besides, you're at the Nascent Soul stage, formed from spiritual veins with abundant spiritual energy. Zheng Fa's only at Golden Core—what are you afraid of?"
The Jiushan Ancestor nodded repeatedly.
"And even if you lose, so what? You'd just be helping Zheng Fa cultivate—no big deal! No loss!"
The little Golden Crow patted the Ancestor's shoulder with its wing, looking utterly confident in him.
"Makes sense!"
The Jiushan Ancestor turned back abruptly and declared loudly to Zheng Fa: "I accept!"
What he didn't see was the little Golden Crow behind him, fluttering its wings at Zheng Fa with unmistakable loyalty.
With these two advisors, the Jiushan Ancestor was as good as his word.
......
Zheng Fa sat in the pavilion at the courtyard's center, with Senior Sister Zhang standing guard nearby.
The Jiushan Ancestor had transformed into the Mountain River True Form Rune, floating ethereally in the courtyard's center.
The spiritual energy throughout Immortals' Island had become five to six times denser than before.
After meditating and regulating his breath for several incense sticks' worth of time, a rainbow light gradually began flickering across Zheng Fa's body.
When the light faded, Zheng Fa had completely vanished.
"Where's Junior Brother?" Senior Sister Yuan shook her head, looking around in confusion, "Wasn't he supposed to be cultivating?"
"He is cultivating."
"Huh?"
Senior Sister Zhang pointed at the sky, her eyes also showing amazement: "He's there."
Senior Sister Yuan followed her finger, squinting for a long time but seeing nothing.
Rubbing her eyes and looking again, her mouth fell open as she gazed skyward.
In the sky, the Great Sun True Fire blazed fiercely, turning the entire sky above Immortals' Island into a vast golden sea of flames.
Zheng Fa's Nascent Soul sat cross-legged amidst clusters of golden flames, like an immortal child descending to the mortal realm.
The spiritual energy of the entire University Island flew toward Zheng Fa's Nascent Soul like frenzied moths to a flame.
The previously visible dense spiritual energy was completely devoured by the Great Sun True Fire in moments.
"So fast?"
The Mountain River True Form Rune emitted the Jiushan Ancestor's panicked cries as streams of spiritual energy surged forth to replenish the island's depleted reserves.
But it wasn't enough!
Nowhere near enough!
Every wisp of spiritual energy that appeared was instantly swallowed by the Great Sun True Fire.
"Slow down! Slow down!"
The Ancestor's voice grew increasingly distraught, even carrying hints of sobs.
Senior Sister Yuan counted on her fingers: "It's only been half an hour, right?"
Senior Sister Zhang nodded slightly.
"Will the Ancestor survive until the month is over?"
Senior Sister Yuan looked at the Mountain River True Form Rune, which had fallen silent, emanating only despairing stillness.
Zheng Fa's Nascent Soul devoured spiritual energy voraciously within the true fire, visibly growing larger.
Gradually, his Nascent Soul transformed from a child's form into that of an eleven or twelve-year-old youth.
"Mid-stage Nascent Soul already?"
The Jiushan Ancestor's voice emerged from the Mountain River True Form Rune again, unable to resist crying out.
"It's normal—Junior Brother was already nearing the peak of early-stage Nascent Soul."
"Normal?!" The Ancestor retorted while desperately channeling spiritual energy, "This is hundreds of times faster than normal! What kind of cultivation method is this?"
"Junior Brother calls it the Heaven-Earth Crucible."
"Heaven-Earth Crucible?"
......
The Heaven-Earth Crucible didn't actually originate from that paper but had been an idea of Zheng Fa's for some time.
Nascent Soul stage cultivation essentially involved absorbing spiritual energy to construct spiritual material particles within the body, allowing the Nascent Soul to grow.
His previous emphasis on the material transformation aspect of "Heavenly and Earthly Fiend Transformations" had this reason:
Being able to transform into spiritual materials wasn't particularly useful.
After all, he couldn't exactly refine himself.
But if he could transform into spiritual materials, naturally he could produce corresponding spiritual material particles—this was the essence of the Nascent Soul. Zheng Fa valued material transformation to explore cultivation more deeply.
However, spiritual materials were too diverse and extensive.
Due to spiritual energy's existence, the Xuanyi Realm's spiritual materials numbered dozens of times more than non-spiritual materials—according to Zheng Fa's research, while spiritual material types were abundant, their individual quantities were scarcer.
The excessive variety made material transformation difficult to systematize.
This idea had lacked a clear direction until now.
The Heaven-Earth Crucible was different. Currently transformed into a gentle breeze swirling with Great Sun True Fire, Zheng Fa madly devoured and refined the spiritual energy provided by the Jiushan Ancestor, converting it into nourishment for his Nascent Soul.
The paper's inspiration could be summarized in eight words:
"Heaven and earth as the crucible, creation as the craftsman."
Or more bluntly:
Zheng Fa was no longer merely absorbing spiritual energy—now, this very heaven and earth had become his dantian!
Previously, he had selected spiritual energy suitable for his Nascent Soul.
Now he accepted everything indiscriminately—suitability didn't matter;he'd devour it first and refine later.
Then he'd use the Great Sun True Fire's properties to remove impurities from the spiritual materials.
Simply put, most cultivators' practice was like treasure hunting in the ocean.
Zheng Fa was different—he drained the ocean.
The spiritual energy tsunami was truly terrifying. A streak of light arrived from the rainbow bridge, landing beside Senior Sister Zhang.
Uncle Pang's figure emerged from the light, his expression initially worried but turning dumbfounded upon seeing Zheng Fa's Nascent Soul in the sky.
After a long pause, he stiffly turned to Senior Sister Zhang and asked:
"This is the cultivation method Zheng Fa wanted to test?"
Senior Sister Zhang nodded slightly.
"...How did Zheng Fa's Nascent Soul grow so large so quickly?"
Before Senior Sister Zhang could respond, he added: "My Nascent Soul was about the same size as his!"
Opening her mouth to speak, Senior Sister Zhang stopped when Uncle Pang continued mournfully:
"...Now it's smaller than his."
Her mouth closed again.
At this moment, no consolation could alleviate Uncle Pang's sorrow.
Except perhaps...
"Ancestor, how did you become so... small?"
Staring at the emaciated, skeletal figure of the Jiushan Ancestor, Uncle Pang's eyes nearly bulged out—he could barely recognize him.
The Ancestor looked up at Zheng Fa's increasingly robust Nascent Soul in the sky, then down at his own body that had shrunk considerably in just half a month.
Wordless grief flowed across his face, his expression screaming one thing:
Total loss!
Uncle Pang understood:
Every ounce of flesh on Zheng Fa's Nascent Soul came at a price.
Senior Sister Zhang looked at Uncle Pang, puzzled.
Why did she feel that seeing the Ancestor had made Uncle Pang considerably happier?
......
"What's happening on Immortals' Island?"
The changes on Immortals' Island were so intense that even through the mist, one could sense the turbulent spiritual energy and boiling true fire.
"Zheng Fa said he wanted to try a cultivation method," Xie Qingxue replied.
She, Yan Wushuang, and Elder Han were currently strolling through the market.
"Why is it so noisy?"
Yan Wushuang frowned slightly, somewhat uncomfortable.
The group looked ahead where a new shop had formed an enormous line, stretching past them and even turning a street corner.
The clamor came from inside the shop.
A Jiushan Sect disciple emerged, shouting to the crowd:
"Stop lining up! No more Tongjians in stock! Come back tomorrow!"
"Out again? I've waited seven days!"
"Exactly! I didn't leave last night—meditated right here! How can there still be none?"
Complaints erupted from the line, the collective frustration hotter than the Great Sun True Fire on Immortals' Island.
"I can't help it! The Artificer Pavilion can only make so many per day!" The disciple, accustomed to such complaints, explained loudly, "Don't complain—even some of our own Jiushan Sect disciples haven't gotten theirs yet!"
"Not to mention orders from Hundred Immortals Alliance sects—heard if you order now, you'll wait six months!"
"Seven days isn't long at all!"
The crowd immediately turned toward the docks.
The Divine Thunder Warships had just landed when a group of disciples rushed aboard.
Han Qi shouted to the captain: "Is the cargo accounted for? Anything missing?"
"Nothing!"
"Any extra Tongjians? Urgent requests!"
"Senior Brother, just kill me instead!"
Han Qi looked disappointed but seemed in too much of a hurry to disembark, immediately flying the fleet out of the Jiushan Realm.
Watching this, the cultivators blocking the shop entrance exchanged glances, realizing the Tongjian's production truly couldn't meet demand, and gradually dispersed.
Yan Wushuang asked curiously: "Are these all Hundred Immortals Alliance cultivators?"
"Mostly independents," Xie Qingxue, now a Jiushan Sect elder with good connections, explained, "Tongjian production can't meet demand yet—priority goes to sect disciples."
"Then why are they..."
"They're paying exorbitant prices."
Xie Qingxue watched the reluctant dispersing crowd with admiration: "Sect Tongjians have more features but are sold at cost."
"Theirs are not only simpler but marked up tenfold or more."
"Hundred Immortals Alliance sects are worse—some openly say that if they get enough Tongjians, they'll buy fifty percent more pills and artifacts!"
Yan Wushuang gasped: "They can do that?"
"Zheng Fa calls this 'bundling'..." Xie Qingxue shook her head, "I don't really understand, but he later decided to limit daily sales to the market and Hundred Immortals Alliance."
"Extremely limited quantities, yet they grow increasingly popular—lines get longer daily, it's insane."
Elder Han suddenly laughed: "These people aren't losing out."
Yan Wushuang looked at him questioningly.
"Some genuinely want them, others... do you know they buy Tongjians just to resell at eight to ten times the price?"
Even Xie Qingxue was shocked.
"Really?"
"Of course! Would I say so without reliable information?"
Elder Han seemed certain, but this was hard to believe.
"They're already expensive here—how can reselling them at ten times the price work? Are buyers stupid?"
Elder Han gave him a deeply knowing look: "Some buyers aren't from the Hundred Immortals Alliance and don't dare enter the Jiushan Realm."
Yan Wushuang realized: "Zhongxuan Sect members?"
"Some are from Zhongxuan Sect, some are Nascent Souls secretly buying from Haori Mountain, and others' origins even I don't know."
Yan Wushuang grew anxious: "They're the ones buying? Does Zheng Fa know?"
Elder Han also looked puzzled: "Of course—I told him immediately..."
"And he still sells to them?"
"He smiled so mischievously at the time..."
