I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 374Book 2: : Modern Development, Since Ancient Times
Vol 2 Chapter 374 Modern Development, Since Ancient Times
The Xuanyi Realm was stirring with hidden unrest, yet the modern world grew increasingly peaceful.
It was autumn again in Rainbow Mountain.
Zheng Fa strolled through the forest behind the nursing home, accompanied by Tang Lingwu.
A few steps behind them, Old Bai and Teacher Tian walked side by side.
The autumn atmosphere in the woods was bleak.
Beneath their feet, broad withered yellow leaves rustled softly, and the autumn wind slipping through the branches brushed against Zheng Fa’s face, bringing a wave of coolness.
The mountain path was difficult, but as cultivators, it was no trouble for them.
Tang Lingwu and the others seemed to know he just wanted to walk, so they spoke little.
Though they remained silent along the way, Zheng Fa’s restlessness gradually faded, and he settled into quietude.
The Xuanyi Realm was on the verge of change;the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor’s intentions were unpredictable, and Haori Mountain watched like a lurking tiger.
The Jiushan Sect was weak, and Elder Yu harbored silent worries;even Zheng Fa found it hard to be calm.
Fortunately, he had grown used to treating the modern world as a temporary harbor—whether resting for a few months or remaining on high alert, it was always a place to organize his thoughts.
Tang Lingwu and the others had also grown accustomed to this. They hadn’t known the details before but now understood that Zheng Fa had a foundation in “another world,” naturally becoming more understanding.
Though none of the four used magic, as cultivators they moved nimbly. In less than half an hour, they stood atop the main peak of Rainbow Mountain.
Looking out over the vast view, the entire modern Rainbow Mountain lay beneath their gaze.
“The changes are really huge...”
Old Bai sighed with an unmistakable pride in his voice.
Teacher Tian smiled, “That’s all thanks to Lingwu.”
Tang Lingwu shook her head firmly, “It’s Zheng Fa’s credit.”
Compared to when they first arrived at the nursing home, the scenery here was completely different:
Back then, Rainbow Mountain, though close to the capital city, was generally remote, with only a small village at the foot, and otherwise a barren expanse.
Now, where the village once stood, buildings were scattered like a city.
Besides the original highway, three new roads had been built in recent years, bringing vehicles converging from all directions to the mountain’s base.
Between these roads were patches of medicinal herb fields and wheat fields.
Within the city at the foot of the mountain were dormitories for the families of scientific researchers working in the mountains.
Apart from them, the Jiushan Grain Company and the Jiushan Pharmaceutical Company headquarters were also gathered here.
As these companies’ domestic status grew increasingly vital, their operations busied up and the population swelled.
Later, when Old Bai’s Jiushan Martial Arts Academy and other companies relocated here, almost all the core industries of the Rainbow Mountain nursing home concentrated at the mountain’s base.
Ř𝐀ɴǑ𐌱ËṤ
The mountain’s height mattered little;with immortals, it gained fame—the residents at the foot of the mountain increased day by day. A new shopping mall was even built last year, reputed to be doing well.
Team Leader Yang once joked: if not for worrying about disturbing Zheng Fa, Rainbow Mountain might have become a second-tier city by now.
The four gazed down at the city, vaguely recalling how desolate this place looked when they first arrived, a feeling of pride swelling in their hearts.
“Old Hou told me that after the large-scale planting of Lingmai No. 4 this year, it will basically satisfy the domestic market. For more than a billion people, not only will no one go hungry, they’ll even eat the best grain,” Teacher Tian said, looking at the wheat seedlings in the fields. “He’s so focused on this lately that he’s lost interest in cultivation.”
Zheng Fa also looked toward the wheat fields, where nursing home researchers were recording observations.
Teacher Tian continued, “At that time, our focus should be heavily on spiritual plants.”
Jiushan Grain Company’s current products still did not qualify as true spiritual plants—although they had high nutritional value, large yields, and good taste, they could not absorb spiritual energy, thus offering little cultivation benefit.
Of course, this was not because Zheng Fa cared for the world so much;it was mainly due to difficulties in cultivating spiritual plants. To create spiritual grains, he had no choice but to produce some spiritual byproducts.
Now, whether it was Jiushan’s rice varieties, Lingmai wheat varieties, or various vegetables, their taste, yield, and nutrition were outstanding. Further emphasis on this was approaching diminishing returns, with little benefit.
Old Bai nodded, “Speaking of which, I checked the martial arts academy data. The children enrolling in the past two years have shown significant physical improvement compared to previous students.”
Old Bai’s Jiushan Martial Arts Academy now handled nationwide broadcast calisthenics for primary, middle, and high schools. His words were authoritative.
Tang Lingwu added, “The average lifespan has increased rapidly these past two years, but according to Team Leader Yang, medical expenses are decreasing.”
Even Zheng Fa felt a bit of joy hearing this:
These data boiled down to two words: stronger breeds.
And there were two reasons:
The nourishing crops from Jiushan Grain Company.
The promotion of broadcast calisthenics.
Old Bai stood, hands on hips, proudly declaring, “Unknowingly, we’ve done a lot.”
Though Zheng Fa never thought he had great ambitions, hearing this and seeing the pride on Old Bai and Tang Lingwu’s faces gave him a small sense of satisfaction.
Or rather, even though he did nothing intentionally, many things had changed because of him, invisibly.
“Zheng Fa, when does our Rainbow Mountain Research Institute start recruiting?” Old Bai changed the subject. “Whenever I go to universities, people keep asking.”
Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then murmured:
“When I reach the Nascent Soul stage.”
“Nascent Soul?” Old Bai was confused. “I haven’t even formed my core, and you’re already aiming for Nascent Soul?”
Zheng Fa glanced at the three others. After these years, Old Bai was still in early Foundation Establishment, Teacher Tian was slightly better in mid Foundation Establishment, and even the most gifted Tang Lingwu was stuck in early Golden Core.
Their cultivation was slower than Jiushan Sect disciples of similar aptitude—and the gap only widened further along.
This was partly due to Zheng Fa’s insufficient strength and the limited spiritual energy in Rainbow Mountain.
On the other hand, the modern world lacked various spiritual medicines and spirit materials.
“Yeah, after I reach Nascent Soul, with spiritual energy in Rainbow Mountain increasing, the graduate school can recruit new students. You won’t have to struggle so much with cultivation.”
Teacher Tian felt somewhat guilty hearing this, “The research into spiritual medicines has held us back.”
“Not just spiritual medicines, also spirit materials,” Old Bai shook his head. “If we had spirit materials, Lingwu could try refining her innate treasure, and wouldn’t slow down as she cultivates.”
Zheng Fa looked at Tang Lingwu helplessly.
Innate treasures were crucial at the Golden Core stage, not only for battle power but also for accelerating cultivation.
However, Tang Lingwu did not want to absorb the Heavenly Fiend and Earth Fiend energies stored in his Nascent Soul...
Especially after seeing Zheng Fa’s increasing pressure lately, this obedient little girl had stubbornness like nothing else.
...
Of course, the Heavenly Fiend and Earth Fiend energies stored in Zheng Fa’s Nascent Soul were insufficient to supply the entire modern world—meaning the modern world had to find a way to produce spirit materials and spiritual medicines on its own.
Otherwise, development would be difficult.
Still, for Zheng Fa, the modern world was his last trump card—
Its development related not only to the Fusang Wood Dao Fruit.
Moreover, Zheng Fa had a wild fantasy:
If things really came to the end, even if the Jiushan Realm could not hold on, as long as he lived, once he cultivated a large number of practitioners in the modern world, he could counterattack!
But without spirit materials and spiritual medicines, that fantasy would remain forever out of reach—truly a fantasy.
The four began walking down the mountain. Teacher Tian seemed to notice Zheng Fa’s worry and said, “We’ve found many species similar to those spiritual plant genes you gave earlier, but many are ambiguous, and some genes have disappeared from history.”
“Also, the environment—especially spiritual energy—limits spiritual plant cultivation.”
Zheng Fa nodded slightly, understanding their difficulties:
Cultivating spiritual plants first required finding specific species, which was a minor problem.
The other was that the modern world’s spiritual energy was insufficient, especially outside Rainbow Mountain where it was extremely scarce.
Spiritual plants able to survive in such an environment were few, and selecting genes from various extinct species made it even harder.
“Spirit materials are the same.” Old Bai frowned, “According to your theory, spirit materials are the result of spiritual energy’s long-term influence on ordinary particles, but spiritual energy has existed too briefly.”
His words hit the mark.
Whether spiritual medicines or spirit materials, in the Xuanyi Realm, they seemed to arise naturally, unlike the painstaking effort Zheng Fa and others had to put in.
According to the Jiushan Sect’s theory on spirit material decline, as spiritual energy wanes, spirit materials degrade into ordinary matter, and spiritual medicines naturally cannot survive.
But when the next era comes and spiritual energy reappears, spiritual medicines and materials will slowly return:
The key was time.
One era in the Xuanyi Realm lasted hundreds of thousands of years—long enough for countless generations of creatures to evolve and for various spiritual medicines to emerge.
The modern world, meaning Rainbow Mountain, had seen spiritual energy for barely ten years.
If the Xuanyi Realm situation wasn’t so tense, Zheng Fa could wait.
But he dared not waste time—forget Haori Mountain’s threat;he had not forgotten the Demon Ancestor and ancient immortals.
“After Nascent Soul, if Rainbow Mountain’s spiritual energy grows, there might be some breakthroughs.”
After thinking a long while, Zheng Fa had no better ideas, only comforted Teacher Tian, then added:
“Actually, the research on spiritual root growth hormone has some progress.”
Old Bai’s face lit up: “Really?”
He was the least talented among them and most interested in spiritual root modification.
Progress on spiritual medicines was slow, but Mu Qingyan was learning modern pharmacy quickly. Now she was collaborating with her senior brother Gu Chang and seemed close to producing a drug called spiritual root growth hormone, apparently in final experiments.
Still, the modern world lacked spiritual medicines.
Old Bai immediately understood the issue, looking at Zheng Fa with a frustrated expression: “I keep wondering why you don’t become an immortal overnight or simply open the path between the two worlds and bring all those spiritual medicines here?”
Zheng Fa was speechless:
Do you think I don’t want to crush Haori Mountain with one palm?
...
Crushing Haori Mountain was a long and arduous task, but Zheng Fa’s most important mission in the modern world this time was one—refining the Yellow Court Scripture.
The Yellow Court Scripture was not only crucial for Zheng Fa reaching Nascent Soul, but more importantly, if perfected, future breakthroughs during seclusion would take less time, giving him more leeway against Haori Mountain.
Moreover, constrained by spiritual energy, once he reached Nascent Soul, he could better nourish the modern world.
Thus, perfecting the Yellow Court Scripture was of immense importance.
In the lecture hall, the Yellow Court Scripture’s draft lay spread out before Zheng Fa’s knees.
At its core, the Yellow Court Scripture simulated the human body, but it was more complex than the Demonic Method or the Yang Spirit Method.
For ordinary Xuanyi cultivators, fusing three cultivation methods was already difficult. Creating the current Yellow Court Scripture was a source of pride.
Now, before any Dao Fruit stage cultivator, it was shockingly profound!
Yet Zheng Fa was unsatisfied.
The Yellow Court Scripture came from the Jiushan Sect’s Nascent Soul method, integrating three methods—its brilliance needless to say.
However, limited by Xuanyi cultivators’ thinking and vision, it was impossible to be perfect and still had fatal flaws.
For Zheng Fa, presenting the Yellow Court Scripture to these scholars in the lecture hall had a first purpose: to absorb their views on it.
Especially scholars in human science, biology, and medicine.
Their understanding of human anatomy and functions was sometimes even deeper than Nascent Soul cultivators.
When it came to principles, they were stronger by far.
Simply put, the Yellow Court Scripture needed not only to integrate the three methods but also combine knowledge from both worlds—science and metaphysics flourishing together. Only then could it live up to its name.
Another purpose was naturally to cultivate disciples.
The Yellow Court Scripture had become a relatively complete cultivation system:
Foundation Establishment was built with the Talisman Foundation Establishment Technique.
Core formation used the Golden Core Engineering.
The Nine-turn Golden Core Method condensed the Nascent Soul, combined with the Heavenly and Earthly Fiend Transformations.
All integrated into the Yellow Court Scripture.
It was said to strike at the essence and be uniquely versatile.
Zheng Fa dreamed of leading these modern world scholars in a counterattack and was not stingy with them. In fact, he eagerly anticipated what surprises these brilliant minds combined with the profound methods might bring him.
Zheng Fa lectured on stage.
Down below, Huntington and others listened attentively. Though their cultivation was insufficient, their knowledge was ample—some had insights into medicine and biology surpassing Zheng Fa’s.
Therefore, many were deeply enlightened by the Yellow Court Scripture’s mysteries.
As they listened, their eyes toward Zheng Fa changed, filled suddenly with admiration—this immortal truly possessed a genuine cultivation method!
Zheng Fa looked at them approvingly—these scholars really knew how to use their brains!
For a time, both lecturers and audience felt they had gained greatly—truly a win-win.
Because of the Yellow Court Scripture’s complexity and Zheng Fa’s limited time, fearing he wouldn’t finish, he lectured for five straight days, barely stopping except to eat.
As the Yellow Court Scripture improved day by day, Zheng Fa felt his Nascent Soul become livelier, almost bursting from his dantian, with surrounding spiritual energy surging accordingly.
In the small city at the mountain’s foot.
“What is that?”
At the shopping mall entrance, a man pointed at Rainbow Mountain, exclaiming.
Everyone followed his finger.
At the mountain’s midsection, a purple mist floated like a belt, wrapping the lecture hall and undulating.
“Newcomers, huh?”
“Yeah, I came here to stock up.”
“Then you don’t know—this is the immortal’s lecture phenomenon!” The respondent was a local born and raised for eight months. Meeting outsiders, he couldn’t help but feel a bit proud. “My son told me that these past days, they’ve all been listening at that lecture hall.”
“From morning to night, that place is full of purple energy. We locals aren’t surprised anymore.”
The middle-aged man nodded, then looked enviously at the elder, asking, “Who’s your son?”
“He’s in nuclear engineering! Doesn’t know anything else, just studies!”
“Studying is good... studying is good! Who doesn’t know Immortal Zheng loves those who study well?” The man nodded. “I’ll tell my girl to study harder. Maybe she can get into Rainbow Mountain, and I can move here too.”
The elder smiled softly, “That’s true. You envy us, but others envy you. I’ve heard foreigners find it much harder to get in than locals.”
The man nodded repeatedly, laughing, “I know that. Take Lingmai for example. Though the domestic market is competitive, it’s still available... other countries have export restrictions. People have tried for a long time but just can’t buy it.”
While they chatted about foreign countries, a car drove past the mall entrance. Team Leader Yang sat inside, holding a document, her expression strange.
“Director!”
Seeing Zheng Fa finish lecturing, Team Leader Yang hurried over.
“Yes?”
“We found spirit materials!”
Zheng Fa was stunned. Old Bai and the others gathered around, eyes filled with surprise.
They had put great effort into finding spiritual medicines and materials over the years but gained little.
Unexpectedly, Team Leader Yang brought good news.
“What spirit materials? How did you confirm?”
“Don’t we have spirit energy detectors?” Team Leader Yang smiled. “We installed two even on the submarine to search everywhere for spirit materials and medicines.”
Zheng Fa knew about this.
Spirit energy detectors were widely used in the Jiushan Realm, especially during mineral exploration, with high accuracy.
Using them to detect spirit materials was a professional match.
“So you found some?”
“Yes! In the sea!” Team Leader Yang handed over a document, smiling. “The spirit level is only in the single digits, but this is the first spirit material we’ve found!”
Zheng Fa looked at the data in the document, eyes bright with joy.
Low spirit level was fine. With spirit material transformation techniques, once they had it, other issues were just costs—the key was the modern world finally had the ability to produce spirit materials independently.
Innate treasures, magical instruments, even controllable core devices like Divine Firmament Outer Pills—at least now there was hope.
“Where is this place?”
Team Leader Yang’s expression grew stranger as she flipped a page, pointing at coordinates.
“...Abroad?”
“Yes, a remote island country.”
Zheng Fa frowned slightly but didn’t care much—it was just a bit more trouble.
Old Bai looked at the location and sighed, “If it were closer, we could check ancient texts and maybe make it officially recognized as ‘since ancient times.’”
Team Leader Yang’s expression became even stranger. She looked at Old Bai and suddenly burst out laughing. “You and some others think alike.”
“I’m joking. Does anyone really do that?”
“They even carved a monument! Saying Zheng He went there and even bestowed a local king.”
Old Bai was stunned, blinking, seeming to measure the distance, then cursed, “That’s sloppy. If Zheng He went there, why not just sail around the world?” 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
“...”
“Who would believe that story?”
Team Leader Yang tilted her head, trying to suppress laughter. “They made it up themselves. The monument was just unearthed yesterday. Why wouldn’t they believe it?”
