Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 123 - 29 Teach Me

Chapter 123: Chapter 29 Teach Me

Zheng Fa’s home, Zheng Fa sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, his spiritual power circulating within his body in accordance with the Chi Xiao Technique.

He had been cultivating for three hours now—much longer than his usual practice sessions.

Suddenly, his face flushed with color,

The next moment, a vortex of spiritual energy appeared above his head.

When he opened his eyes, there was a trace of delighted smile in them.

"Breakthrough?" The voice of the Sect Leader suddenly sounded beside his ear: "Come see me."

He wondered when this old man started watching him, discovering his breakthrough the moment it happened.

When Zheng Fa arrived at the straw hut, the Sect Leader was sitting on the meditation cushion, wearing a smug smile, as if he had something urgent to boast about.

"Master?"

"Qi Cultivation fourth level? Not bad."

The Sect Leader glanced at him and said with a happy demeanor.

Zheng Fa bowed his head in acknowledgment.

"Since you’ve called me Master, I should teach you something."

Zheng Fa looked at his master expectantly.

"But for the Divine Sky Thunder Control True Method, you need to achieve the Five Thunders Body and reach Foundation Establishment level before you can practice it."

The Sect Leader shook his head.

"..."

"As for the Spirit Mountain Technique, you also need to reach the seventh level of Qi Cultivation to begin learning it."

"..."

"With your current cultivation, it’s difficult for me to teach you!"

Zheng Fa now understood why his previous fellow disciples seemed so tricky.

But when the Sect Leader spoke to his disciple like this, he understood.

Don’t doubt, it’s simply revenge!

"Actually, Disciple is not really lacking in cultivation techniques, just lacking..."

Zheng Fa looked up at the Sect Leader, the meaning in his eyes clear.

Master Pang had said he would take him as a disciple, and had prepared spiritual materials that could take him all the way to Nascent Soul.

You, the great Sect Leader of the Jiushan Sect, can’t be outdone by your junior brother.

"..." The Sect Leader pointed to his own straw hut: "This hut will be passed on to you in the future."

Zheng Fa looked at the house.

Apart from two meditation cushions, there was nothing else in the house.

How should I put it, this house, on the farm, is fit for cows to live in.

"...You know, I wasn’t originally planning to take any more disciples."

The Sect Leader seemed to feel that the house was a bit too simple, somewhat embarassing Zheng Fa, and explained in a low voice.

...So, you mean being poor is justified?

"Disciple suddenly feels that Master Pang is quite generous." Zheng Fa’s tone was somewhat regretful.

"See, he had everything prepared, just take it from him!"

The Sect Leader clapped his hands cheerfully.

"...Take?"

Zheng Fa remembered the four thousand-year-old purple bamboo tears,

Then looked back at the gentle and encouraging smile on the Sect Leader’s face.

Now he understood the reluctant yet generous expression Master Pang had at the time.

"Master, I can’t learn the cultivation techniques, and I need to trick Master Pang out of spiritual materials... What about you?"

This address of ’Master’, it feels like it was in vain!

"It’s not like I wanted to take you as a disciple!" the Sect Leader argued righteously.

"...So, Sect Leader, did you call me here for something else?"

"Right, I called you to take a look at this ’Rescue Little Cultivator Zheng Fa’."

The Sect Leader mentioned this, his face beaming with pride—clearly the work had just been completed, and he specially called Zheng Fa to flaunt it.

Zheng Fa twitched his lips: "Master, can we change the name of this drama?"

Indeed, it was named a drama by Sister Zhang—a play adapted from tales, perfectly reasonable.

To show he really had a lot of tales, Zheng Fa not only adapted several domestic novels or movies into the Xuanwei style,

He also wrote a collection of ideas—

That is, recording the outlines of some modern classic literary works.

Included were many foreign works that had won awards or were very popular.

When choosing the first drama of the Jiushan Sect, Sister Zhang immediately picked the script that was later called "Rescue Little Cultivator Zheng Fa".

According to Sister Zhang, the script could demonstrate our Jiushan Sect’s united spirit, sparing no effort to rescue lower-level disciples!

But from Zheng Fa’s understanding, Sister Zhang probably thought—

Although our Jiushan Sect discriminates based on Spirit Root, has wealth disparity, constantly fights between sects, and seems divisive,

We still need to promote the beautiful dream of Jiushan.

"This script name is great, straightforward and easy to understand!"

Clearly, the Sect Leader was also quite satisfied with the script.

"Why not change the protagonist’s name then!" Zheng Fa pleaded.

If this thing really took off, how socially dead would he be?

"...Alright, I hate naming the most." Perhaps seeing his unwillingness, the Sect Leader frowned tightly, pointed at the script cover, and the words ’Zheng Fa’ on it slowly changed to Pang Qian.

"Pang... Qian?"

Zheng Fa suddenly thought of someone.

But... that shouldn’t be right?

"It’s your Master Pang, his family got his fortune told when he was little, saying he should use a female name to suppress... Later, he changed his name himself because he didn’t want to use it."

The Sect Leader confirmed Zheng Fa guessed right, it was that unlucky fellow!

So, old man, you just pick on those around you to cause trouble, right!

"Master Pang might not be too willing for you to use his name, right?"

"I didn’t use his name! He doesn’t want this name anymore, so isn’t it just right for me to use it?"

"...Master’s wisdom!"

Zheng Fa followed the Sect Leader to watch "Rescue Little Cultivator Pang Qian" for a while, and the more he watched, the more he frowned.

After all, as a pioneering work, the film lacked any mastery in narrative techniques such as perspective, shot sizes, montage... There was none of that; in fact, it looked more like a documentary with a continuous stream of thoughts, coupled with lots of internal monologue.

Of course, Zheng Fa didn’t understand these either.

But he had seen the original film and had a good memory.

"Master, this thing might need to be slightly revised."

Zheng Fa said after a moment of silence.

"Where should we start improving?" The Sect Leader seemed amenable to advice.

"From the beginning."

"...From the beginning?" the Sect Leader said somberly, "Do you mean the thing I produced—is unwatchable?"

"...Yes."

The Sect Leader suddenly stood up and said, "You two, come up!"

Soon, Zheng Fa saw Zhang and Yuan coming up the mountain together.

"First, you two watch this stage play!"

The Sect Leader played "Rescue Little Cultivator Pang Qian" for them again.

"How is it?"

"...It’s very enjoyable!" Yuan exclaimed with bright eyes: "Quite interesting, I found it quite touching!"

Zhang also nodded on the side.

"He says it’s unwatchable! Needs major changes!"

Zhang and Yuan then looked at Zheng Fa with eyes that seemed to reproach him for his lack of appreciation.

Zheng Fa was a bit puzzled.

Was his taste really not in line with the mainstream aesthetic of the Xuanwei Realm?

People here all seem to have a penchant for documentaries, don’t they?

"See, I’m giving you a chance!" the Sect Leader scoffed, "Say now, how should it be changed? I’ll change it right away based on your suggestions!"

...As expected of a Nascent Soul, such efficiency in altering a play.

Zheng Fa, having no choice, had to rely on his memory to recount the original film scene by scene.

Zhang and Yuan didn’t quite understand these things, but the Sect Leader seemed quite proficient—he had, after all, played in Lu’s World for many years.

In less than two hours, the Sect Leader clapped his hands and said, "Okay!"

"Come, you two, watch again!"

Curious, Zhang and Yuan sat on their cushions and watched Zheng Fa’s version of "Rescue Little Cultivator Pang Qian."

After it finished, they became silent.

"How is it? Which version is better?" the Sect Leader asked.

"Yours, Sect Leader!" Yuan was the first to respond.

Zhang also nodded, "I think the Sect Leader’s is better."

Zheng Fa was plunged into deep self-doubt.

What is it with the tastes of people in the Xuanwei Realm? Do they all have a peculiar preference for documentaries?

"Look!" the Sect Leader said to Zheng Fa with a triumphant smile, then turned to Zhang and Yuan, "Then I’ll play my version again for you!"

It was clear he was still very proud of his work.

"I want to see... Zheng’s version again," Yuan suddenly said quietly.

"?"

The Sect Leader paused, slowly turning to Zhang.

Zhang gently nodded, explaining to the Sect Leader, "Mainly to see what deficiencies are in the disciple’s play, to better appreciate the excellence of your version!"

...What kind of high EQ judges are these?

Zheng Fa glanced at the Sect Leader, and confusion slowly emerged in his eyes.

Obviously, the old man also discerned their true opinions.

But it seemed he truly believed his version was better.

"I’ve spent over a thousand years in Lu’s World..."

Zheng Fa understood immediately—

In the trendy words of the Xuanwei Realm, this is called "knowledge obstruction."

Over a thousand years, this old man had developed his own system and aesthetic.

The problem is, this aesthetic has not been tested by the market.

There’s a chasm-like gap between it and normal people.

It’s like someone who has been writing alone their whole life, desiring to write a masterpiece, but never publishes or reads others’ works, or even receives feedback—while he might be a genius, ninety-nine percent likely, what he writes is gibberish.

Furthermore, for Zhang and Yuan, the Sect Leader’s first version was already thrilling enough, a pioneering work in itself.

But then here comes Zheng Fa, who has experienced the explosion of modern entertainment.

"You two, tell me the truth, which one is better?" the Sect Leader asked Zhang and Yuan.

"..."

They both remained silent.

And silence often speaks volumes.

The Sect Leader looked at them and suddenly said to Zheng Fa, "What do you think, teach me."

"Ah?"

Zheng Fa looked at the Sect Leader, not expecting the old man to concede so quickly.

It was clear, the old man truly loved Lu’s World, or should say, the theater—so quickly dropping his stubbornness to humbly learn from his disciple.

Seeing the old man’s eager eyes, Zheng Fa cleared his throat, "It’s really hard for me to teach you anything about this play right now!"

The Sect Leader paused, feeling like he had heard similar words before.

Didn’t he himself say something similar earlier?

"Suddenly I feel that, with your cultivation, there are some things I can indeed teach you..." After a long silence, a smile of a willing teacher spread across the Sect Leader’s face.