I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 393Book 2: : Shocks and Surprises - The Immortal Dao Federation
Vol 2 Chapter 393: Shocks and Surprises - The Immortal Dao Federation
Zheng Fa's figure slowly descended upon Rainbow Mountain, his eyes still filled with astonishment.
His recent contact with the sun had inadvertently revealed an unexpected secret: the Fusang Wood was actually reviving itself using solar energy.
To put it simply, the Fusang Wood wasn't like Old Man Bai—it wasn't one for pretentious displays.
Its manifestation within the sun served its own purpose, fundamentally similar to the Divine Path method in essence:
People across the world gazed upon it, worshipped it, even developed faith in it.
Some regarded it as a sun deity, others as a divine tree, while some saw it as an omen of apocalypse.
Various secret cults had already sprung up around it.
Since then, this newly born supreme spiritual root had been absorbing the power of incense offerings, slowly growing:
Although Zheng Fa's teachings had influenced its transformation, it was simultaneously accumulating strength to maintain its existence and grow even stronger.
This couldn't even be called sentience—it was more like an innate biological instinct.
"What just... happened?"
Old Man Bai and the others gathered around, with Tang Lingwu being the first to ask.
After some thought, Zheng Fa explained: "Using the Lingshan Method, I transferred the Fusang Wood's spiritual energy into major spirit veins worldwide."
Old Man Bai and the others exchanged glances, their expressions puzzled, clearly not understanding Zheng Fa's reasoning.
"The Fusang Wood's spiritual energy is currently too dispersed, which hinders the production of spirit materials and medicines. It's not very helpful to us in this state, so concentrating it in specific locations would be better."
"With my current Nascent Soul cultivation and the Fusang Wood's loose immortal status, concentrating the energy in spirit veins will create remarkably dense spiritual energy."
As they spoke, Teacher Tian crossed the mountain ridge and landed beside them, her face alight with excitement. The moment her feet touched ground, she announced: "Just now—within the past half hour—two new spiritual plants appeared in the experimental fields!"
Zheng Fa was momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected such immediate results.
Old Man Bai murmured: "But the spiritual energy concentration hasn't changed much..."
"It's the Fusang Wood..." Zheng Fa realized, "Highly concentrated Fusang Wood spiritual energy greatly benefits spiritual plant growth!"
Truth be told, Zheng Fa had mixed feelings about the Fusang Wood now—both fondness and fear.
He had initially thought possessing the Yellow Court Scripture would prevent the Fusang Wood from controlling him.
But now he realized that if his Nascent Soul breakthrough had been delayed by centuries, the Fusang Wood might have used modern worship to reverse their roles.
ŕÀ₦Ｏ₿È𝙎
Even now, Zheng Fa couldn't guarantee the Fusang Wood carried no risk of losing control.
Yet on the other hand, the Fusang Wood was truly miraculous.
Living up to its reputation as a supreme spiritual root, it assisted Zheng Fa in countless ways.
Zheng Fa's activation of global spirit veins was originally intended to create areas with richer spiritual energy—exceptional treasures required special spiritual environments.
He never expected such immediate positive results.
Nodding at Teacher Tian, he turned to Team Leader Yang and said: "There are 108 spirit veins producing spiritual energy this time."
"The 32 domestic ones are manageable, but for the international ones, I need you to negotiate."
Team Leader Yang's expression shifted, her posture straightening as she asked seriously: "What are our terms?"
"I need administrative control over those locations—deciding who can enter, with all resulting spiritual medicines and materials belonging to me."
Tang Lingwu and the others fell silent, sensing Zheng Fa had become more assertive than before.
Zheng Fa had no choice—while Rainbow Mountain had its Turtle-Snake Vein, its singular type was sufficient before but would soon be inadequate.
Activating global spirit veins using the Lingshan Method was the optimal solution.
Moreover, after the Fusang Wood incident, Zheng Fa couldn't allow other nations to experiment recklessly.
If a Fusang cult actually emerged, Zheng Fa would have nowhere to vent his frustration.
Team Leader Yang understood completely.
"Any additional requirements, Director?"
After consideration, Zheng Fa added: "We may need joint efforts to suppress certain cults."
Team Leader Yang immediately nodded decisively: "I'll coordinate with them!"
Zheng Fa gave a slight nod. He wasn't particularly concerned—having Team Leader Yang handle this was simply convenient.
Truthfully, given his current power, this approach was already considerate.
Besides, all this spiritual energy belonged to him...
Turning back to Teacher Tian, he instructed: "Prepare seeds. Once Team Leader Yang secures agreements, your team will establish experimental fields to cultivate spiritual medicines."
Teacher Tian nodded gently: "Understood."
Ultimately, Zheng Fa activated these spirit veins precisely to cultivate spiritual medicines and harvest materials.
Many projects at the nursing home research institute were currently bottlenecked by material shortages.
However brilliant these scholars were, without spiritual medicines and materials, they were like skilled cooks without ingredients.
......
What Zheng Fa hadn't anticipated was that given just a little rice, these scholars could prepare a royal banquet.
"What is this..."
Zheng Fa stared blankly at several metal contraptions before him.
"Didn't you previously instruct us to experiment with Xuanming Sha?"
Cheng Yun stood nearby explaining.
Zheng Fa glanced at him, thinking this long-time nursing home resident had delivered quite the surprise.
Of course he remembered Xuanming Sha:
A low-grade spirit material discovered underwater that held little value for Zheng Fa personally, so he'd let the researchers experiment freely.
Never expected...
They'd created machine tools!
These compact, relatively simple machine tools didn't appear particularly advanced.
Their only distinctive features were certain components faintly glowing with spiritual energy, some even engraved with talismanic diagrams.
"We reasoned that magical tools are essentially devices that automatically cast spells," Cheng Yun explained. "Fundamentally, they're just highly condensed, solidified talismanic diagrams."
Zheng Fa nodded.
This represented the materials team's new theoretical framework.
Re-examining spirit materials and magical tools through talismanic diagrams, they proposed an intriguing interpretation:
Magical tools utilized the five-element spiritual energy within materials to form special circuits—essentially solidified talismanic diagrams.
Because spirit materials contained abundant energy, they could accommodate more diagrams than talisman paper, producing more powerful, longer-lasting effects.
Somewhat analogous to semiconductors and circuit boards.
This theory had gained considerable support. Zheng Fa found no major flaws, though the exact interactions between spirit materials remained unclear, leaving debate about the nature of these energy circuits.
In other words, nobody fully understood why spiritual energy flowed certain ways.
Thus the theory remained incomplete—merely one possible explanation.
Clearly, Cheng Yun was a proponent.
"We thought—if magical tools can function like talismans, and talismans can create magical tools," Cheng Yun pointed at the machine, "why not create machines that manufacture magical tools?"
This sounded convoluted.
But everyone present understood.
Old Man Bai darted to the machine's side, excitedly asking: "What can it make?"
Cheng Yun suddenly looked embarrassed: "Street lamps."
"What?"
"Due to... Xuanming Sha's limitations, plus some magical tools requiring extremely complex crafting techniques," Cheng Yun stammered, "currently we can only produce simple spirit tool street lamps."
Old Man Bai's expression fell with disappointment.
Zheng Fa, however, grew more intrigued: "Show me the manufacturing process?"
Spirit tool street lamps—originally designed within Jiushan Realm to complement Shenxiao external pills—were arguably the simplest magical tools imaginable.
Their presence across Heavenly Palace's Nine Islands and key Jiushan Realm locations testified to their low cost and simple production.
At Cheng Yun's nod, a female researcher pressed a button, activating mechanical sounds.
Zheng Fa watched as a half-meter square of spirit metal was melted, forged, and polished.
Most fascinating was how spellcasting steps were handled—a researcher simply placed a hand against a talismanic diagram on the machine, which then automatically executed the required technique to refine the material.
Minutes later, Zheng Fa examined a small spirit street lamp in his hand.
He immediately grasped the implications.
This production line couldn't even be considered highly automated—since magical tools always required a cultivator's divine consciousness to function (unless they developed their own sentience).
Thus these machines couldn't operate independently.
But that didn't make them useless.
On the contrary, requiring only divine consciousness—not manual spellcasting—not only conserved spiritual energy but, more importantly, lowered worker skill requirements!
Moreover, eliminating manual incantations significantly reduced production time.
The machines' precision would also improve Jiushan Sect's quality control.
The benefits were too numerous to list.
The humble street lamp in Zheng Fa's hand might seem insignificant.
But to him, it illuminated Jiushan Sect's industrial future.
Storing the lamp, he regarded Cheng Yun's team with undisguised admiration: "Excellent... You've given me a tremendous surprise. Professor Tang will record your contribution points."
The researchers exchanged glances, grinning from ear to ear.
Everyone at Rainbow Mountain had witnessed Zheng Fa's solar feat, which remained vividly imprinted in their minds.
To them, Zheng Fa was practically divine—his praise carried extraordinary weight.
Moreover, they all knew about Rainbow Mountain's contribution system—Zheng Fa's promise guaranteed substantial future benefits.
......
Leaving Cheng Yun's workshop, Tang Lingwu looked curiously at Zheng Fa, seemingly questioning his enthusiasm.
Zheng Fa waved the street lamp, smiling: "This holds tremendous future significance, and offers immediate benefits too."
Tilting her head, Tang Lingwu appeared confused.
"I'm currently short-handed," Zheng Fa explained frankly to her. "While this only automates basic steps, it's extremely helpful."
Admittedly, Cheng Yun's innovation was still nascent with many challenges ahead:
Most obviously, some magical tools required extremely complex techniques—replicating these via machines would be prohibitively expensive if not impossible.
The machines' flexibility and precision couldn't match skilled cultivators.
To use an analogy: master craftsmen could hand-produce items these machines might never replicate.
Currently, these magical tool machines could only replace lower-end manufacturing processes.
But Zheng Fa desperately needed personnel!
His efforts to capture Hundred Immortals Alliance defectors aimed to address Jiushan Realm's labor shortage.
He'd planned extensive training to teach even non-artisans basic forging techniques.
Now, with suitable machines, recruits could directly operate production lines as power sources without compromising quality.
Furthermore, this technology itself conserved manpower.
Tang Lingwu nodded slowly, seeming to understand.
......
Over half a month later.
Zheng Fa stood in spiritual fields, examining a device resembling an automatic irrigator, then looked questioningly at Tang Lingwu.
"Teacher Tian's idea!"
Tang Lingwu tugged at Teacher Tian beside her.
Teacher Tian's mouth twitched as if suppressing exasperation: "My idea."
"What does it do?"
Teacher Tian suddenly smiled, turning to Tang Lingwu: "What was it again?"
Tang Lingwu flushed crimson: "Automatically casts Minor Cloud-Rain Technique!"
"Oh right, the Minor Cloud-Rain Technique."
Teacher Tian nodded slowly as if recalling.
"There's another version," Tang Lingwu urgently added, pulling Teacher Tian's sleeve.
"Another version?" Teacher Tian feigned surprise. "Is there?"
"Yes!" Stamping her foot, Tang Lingwu rapid-fired: "One that casts Evergreen Technique!"
"Ah yes, my old age must be affecting my memory."
Listening to their exchange, Zheng Fa struggled not to laugh. Noticing their suppressed amusement, Tang Lingwu tossed her ponytail and ran off.
Watching her depart, Teacher Tian finally shook her head: "These will significantly aid spiritual medicine cultivation."
Zheng Fa nodded gently.
While the Minor Cloud-Rain and Evergreen Techniques were simple, their benefits—especially for spiritual plants—were substantial.
"Little Lingwu collaborated with Jiushan Grain Company and our agriculture team to develop these," Teacher Tian admitted. "Partly for cultivating spiritual medicines across spirit veins."
Zheng Fa nodded again.
These devices would indeed address urgent needs.
The agriculture team was small and relatively weak cultivation-wise, yet responsible for over a hundred spiritual fields—an impossible workload.
These automated spellcasters simplified everything—while still requiring divine consciousness, they eliminated manual casting, allowing even non-specialists to assist.
"Also, she said you needed manpower—these conserve significant labor."
"Why would she..."
Zheng Fa seemed perplexed.
These devices would prove even more valuable in Jiushan Realm, already renowned for agriculture, now further enhanced.
They'd also facilitate Hundred Immortals Alliance development.
But Tang Lingwu... why credit Teacher Tian for her own ideas?
Teacher Tian scrutinized him before remarking dryly:
"A silly girl's little scheme."
Zheng Fa looked blank.
"She doesn't want contribution points."
"What?"
Zheng Fa grew more confused.
"She wants... to stand apart." Teacher Tian gazed toward Tang Lingwu's distant figure, shaking her head.
......
After Teacher Tian prepared seeds and Tang Lingwu's team developed several agricultural automation devices, Team Leader Yang finally returned.
"Director, negotiations are complete."
She handed Zheng Fa a document.
Old Man Bai and others crowded around, visibly curious.
They weren't fools—they understood these global agreements carried monumental implications.
"The Immortal Dao Federation?"
Old Man Bai blinked, seemingly surprised by the name.
"Yes, these are just principles. Finalizing details will take considerable time," Team Leader Yang explained as Zheng Fa reviewed the document. "We've preliminarily agreed that nations with secret realms will federate."
"Domestic affairs remain autonomous, but inter-state disputes fall under... federal jurisdiction, with mandatory compliance."
Zheng Fa nodded, largely indifferent to the structure, focusing instead on spirit vein provisions.
"Spirit vein management rights transfer to the federation, with outputs belonging to the nursing home."
"Member states may send students to study at the nursing home."
Every word in this document could reshape the world, yet its contents were straightforward—a framework agreement requiring Zheng Fa's approval before detailed negotiations.
Essentially, it established a supranational authority primarily governing immortal dao affairs.
After brief review, Zheng Fa closed the document: "I have no objections."
Old Man Bai, however, asked curiously: "How did this structure emerge?"
Team Leader Yang sighed: "Not our idea—many nations wanted to emulate that island country's arrangement..."
"......"
Old Man Bai's eyes widened: "Why not agree?"
"Frankly, we didn't dare—nor wanted to."
"Huh?"
"You may have missed recent news," Team Leader Yang sighed. "After accepting that island's proposal... well, public backlash was intense."
"Backlash?"
"People complained about increased competition for nursing home admissions."
Old Man Bai paused before realizing: "Makes sense—competing for cultivation slots, they wouldn't accept fake ancestors, let alone real ones..."
Team Leader Yang agreed: "Beyond public sentiment, many officials also opposed mass immigration."
Old Man Bai summarized: "Different priorities now."
Zheng Fa found this amusing: "So the federation?"
"Their request," Team Leader Yang smiled at Zheng Fa. "Had I not known you intended to teach them anyway, I'd have opposed it too."
Zheng Fa chuckled lightly.
"We'll proceed step-by-step. The federation represents the simplest compromise—minimal restructuring, controlled student numbers, and reduced controversy."
Old Man Bai suddenly stroked his chin:
"This federation sounds oddly familiar."
When Zheng Fa looked over, Old Man Bai slapped his palm as realization struck: "Paying tribute with rare treasures and sending students—isn't this the tributary system?"
