Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 137 - 42 Disappointment

Chapter 137: Chapter 42 Disappointment

Zheng Fa looked at these uninvited lecturers, knowing they were here to test his mettle.

He had anticipated this — the news of Zhang suggesting him to take over the Talisman Magic Pavilion had already leaked.

This decision was actually a major one —

Within the Jiushan Sect, the Talisman Magic Pavilion, Discipline Hall, and Affairs Hall were known as the three key institutions, akin to the finance, law enforcement, and education departments.

The Discipline Hall was presided over by Nascent Soul Master Pang.

Affairs Hall was managed by Zhang, who in the Jiushan Sect was comparable to a Nascent Soul — generally regarded as the foremost authority below Nascent Souls, unquestioned by anyone.

And Zheng Fa, who was nearly at the same level in terms of position:

Was just a mere Qi Cultivation practitioner!

This huge gap in strength made it impossible for these lecturers not to have their reservations.

Be it the Sect Leader’s disciple or Zhang’s strong support.

It simply couldn’t dispel everyone’s doubts.

What puzzled Zheng Fa was — among these lecturers, there were more from Master Pang’s lineage, while fewer from Zhang’s lineage.

Like Senior Brother Zhuang, who taught him for the first time, wasn’t seen this time.

Not just Senior Brother Zhuang, but two other Senior Brothers who had also taught him before weren’t seen today either.

It wasn’t long before new disciples arrived for the lecture.

Initially, all were new disciples from Zhang’s lineage.

Later, Zheng Fa noticed some furtive figures, heads bowed as they sneaked in.

Zheng Fa recognized these few; they were new disciples from the same boat, but had chosen to follow Master Pang.

Shouldn’t this group be attending the lectures of Master Pang’s lineage?

Voices were heard at the doorway, one of which was quite familiar to Zheng Fa:

"Senior Brother Zhou, won’t the other senior brothers blame us if they know we’re attending Master Zheng’s lecture?"

"No worries! I told you, Master Zheng has prepared something good!"

"But...isn’t that being disloyal?"

"Don’t worry, Master knows too! As long as we keep it low-key, and not blatantly do this under the senior brothers’ watch, they won’t mind much..."

As soon as Zhou Qian Yuan stepped into the classroom, he halted.

In the classroom, a few senior brothers from Master Pang’s lineage were silently watching him.

Behind him, the disciple he had brought in paled, his voice trembling, "Senior Brother Zhou, why do I feel... like we’ve just walked under the senior brothers’ watchful eyes?"

Zhou Qian Yuan’s body stiffened, and after looking at the unfriendly faces of a few senior brothers, he shrank his neck and found a seat.

Zheng Fa then understood:

Perhaps to liven up the simulation trial, or perhaps to prevent his first lecture from being lackluster.

Zhou Qian Yuan seemed to have vigorously recruited for him...

Looking at the new disciples from Master Pang’s lineage, sitting in the classroom mute and motionless like quails.

Zheng Fa felt somewhat sympathetic.

Watching the classroom gradually filling up, Zheng Fa cleared his throat and said, "Among those present, some may not know me, while others do."

Before the eyes of those present, the world began to shift rapidly like a revolving lantern, finally settling in a dark, secluded canyon.

"So, I have prepared a new mode of learning as a way to introduce myself," Zheng Fa’s voice seemed to emanate from the air, shrouded in darkness: "I call it the ’Great Dao Competition.’"

In the eyes of those Foundation Establishment Stage lecturers, circles of light faintly appeared under the feet of the Qi Refinement Realm disciples.

The circles of light were divided into red and blue.

"Pay attention, disciples, you will be randomly divided into two teams. Please identify friends and foes based on the color of the light circle under your feet."

"In the ’Great Dao Competition,’ you can use your cultivation, Spirit Talismans, and Magical Treasures."

"You have two ways to win: first, kill all members of the opposing team. Second, shatter the plaques in the opponent’s base."

"Although death in the ’Great Dao Competition’ won’t truly end your life, your Divine Soul will suffer for a day or two."

The ’Great Dao Competition’ is a revised version of the simulation trial newly modified by the Sect Leader.

On one hand, he added a few maps.

On the other, it reduced costs, now only requiring a dozen or so yellow-grade talismans.

Of course, the yellow-grade talismans can only simulate Qi Refinement Realm cultivation.

The reason why previous simulation trials were expensive was that they needed to conceal the Divine Sense of the Sect Leader or Zhang, and simulate their cultivation.

Naturally, the requirements for Spirit Talismans were high.

But the ’Great Dao Competition’ does not have these needs since Zheng Fa’s teachings are for Qi Refinement Realm disciples.

As for the mechanics, Zheng Fa has actually not made many changes.

The first is the team division mechanism, evenly divided into red and blue teams, but not restricting the number of people per team — this is because Zheng Fa has still not figured out the best number of people for a team in the cultivation world.

Such things can’t be figured out at the drop of a hat, only through continuous trials and experiments.

After all, the ’Great Dao Competition’ is an initial version and can be modified later.

Another aspect is that Zheng Fa has made the game outcome into two modes.

Base mode and death mode.

Simply put, if an entire team dies or their tower is knocked down, they lose.

As for the weakening of the Divine Soul after death, it was deliberately added by the Sect Leader — only then can the game be more realistic and also prevent the disciples from neglecting their lives should they truly face a battlefield.

"This experience of the ’Great Dao Competition’, only the disciples in the Qi Refinement Realm present are allowed.

As for the lecturers at the Foundation Establishment Stage, just like Zheng Fa, they can only watch from the side.

From their perspective —

The newly inducted disciples who had just been pulled into the trial were mostly panicked.

If not for the previous tips from Zheng Fa, I’m afraid these disciples would be running around like headless flies.

Even with Zheng Fa’s tips, the performance of this group isn’t very good.

Zheng Fa saw a disciple swaggering through the woods; the leaves under his feet rustled loudly, showing no awareness of concealment at all.

As expected, the next moment, a fire snake struck from behind him.

Turning him into a pile of ashes.

What made Zheng Fa frown even more was — some of the disciples, who were supposedly on the same team, did not cooperate at all, often fighting independently.

For instance, when two disciples from Zhang’s lineage encountered a lone disciple from another lineage, they threw a Spirit Talisman at him without a second thought.

These three were actually from the same Red Team, yet they inexplicably started infighting.

They were directly eliminated by a disciple from the Blue Team waiting nearby, capturing all three in one fell swoop.

Amid such chaos, most of the disciples were quickly killed and directly eliminated from the game.

But there was one team that caught Zheng Fa’s attention —

Zhou Qianyuan led two disciples, hiding in a cave in the canyon.

One of these two was from Master Pang’s lineage, and the other from Zhang’s, both new disciples.

Among the three, Zhou Qianyuan had the highest strength — at the fifth level of Qi Cultivation, so the other two listened to Zhou Qianyuan’s commands.

"In this ’Great Dao Competition’, besides us new disciples, there are also some senior disciples participating," Zhou Qianyuan looked at the outside chaos and said: "We’ve been disciples for too short a time, our cultivation can’t match those of older disciples, going head-on won’t work."

The other two nodded, quite convinced.

"I have been taught by our Master, and have also heard Zhang and Zheng discuss talismans; both lineages actually have their own strengths," Zhou Qianyuan pondered: "Disciples from Zhang’s lineage excel in Primordial Talisman, their talismanic magic is powerful and effective."

"Our lineage, on the other hand, is good at observing opportunities, capturing the enemy’s traces and flaws."

"So, here’s what I’m thinking..."

Zhou Qianyuan whispered, "Let’s go invisible and directly find the enemy’s base."

"Along the way, Junior Brother, you will be responsible for observation," he said to his own lineage’s junior.

"And this Junior Brother, first store up your Spiritual Power, then the two of us will break the enemy’s token together."

After Zhou Qianyuan finished speaking, the other two thought about it and nodded, agreeing to his plan.

...

Zheng Fa watching Zhou Qianyuan’s performance, couldn’t help but feel somewhat gratified — Zhou Qianyuan’s plan was basic, but at least he truly treated everyone equally and thought about leveraging the strengths of each lineage.

Zheng Fa also had thoughts about the differences between Master Pang’s lineage and Zhang’s lineage.

Master Pang’s lineage, relying on the Void Spirit Eye, was actually very suitable for support.

Whether observing enemy situation or seizing the moment to apply healing Spirit Talisman.

Simply put, very suitable for being medics and scouts.

Their weaker point is, because their mastery in Primordial Talisman is not deep, their Spirit Talismans often lack sufficient power, making it hard to kill with one blow.

In this aspect, disciples from Zhang’s lineage did much better.

Those lecturers at the Foundation Establishment Stage, watching the illusion of the ’Great Dao Competition’, were also muttering to each other—no, they were furiously scolding their students.

"Are you dumb! Don’t you know how to use the Golden Armor Talisman!"

"Are you blind? Can’t you see there’s someone crouching right beside!"

"It’s not that, I taught the Shadow-following Talisman for a whole day, have you returned it all to me?"

"Throw the Fire Control Talisman, are you stupid!"

These people were originally sitting, but now they all stood up, rolling up their sleeves as if they desperately wanted to join in themselves.

...

The ’Great Dao Competition’ ended quickly.

As expected, Zhou Qianyuan’s team successfully snuck in and stole the opponent’s token.

After the illusion was lifted, excitement was still apparent on the faces of most disciples.

"Everyone, how do you feel about my self-introduction?"

Zheng Fa said with a smile.

"Master Zheng, I want to play again!"

"You should have been our lecturer earlier..."

"Brother, if I switch to Zhang’s lineage, would you accept me?"

Watching the enthusiastic responses from these disciples, Zheng Fa gradually put away his smile and said, "But I am very disappointed."

"..."

"My disappointment isn’t because, after studying talismanic magic for so long, you still don’t know how to draw the most basic Spirit Talismans when it comes to real combat— Jiushan Sect has been in peace for a long time, I don’t blame you for not being good at fighting."

"My disappointment isn’t because you only know how to charge at the enemy without thinking about how to use your brains to win the fight— Junior Zhou did very well in this regard."

"What disappoints me is — even though you are disciples of the same sect, once on the battlefield, you can’t trust and cooperate with each other, and even resort to infighting!"

"This, I am very disappointed."

In the classroom, those Foundation Establishment lecturers who had come to see Zheng Fa’s mettle looked at each other, their faces somewhat embarrassed, feeling they shouldn’t have come.