Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 138 - 43 Guess

Chapter 138: Chapter 43 Guess

Zheng Fa finished speaking and saw the complex expressions in the eyes of the Foundation Establishment Stage lecturers in the classroom.

These people weren’t wrong.

He was indeed scolding them right to their faces.

In fact, he had intended to give these people a warning from the start.

Speaking of which, these senior brothers were truly courteous, not needing Zheng Fa to look for them, as they came to him on their own—almost as if they feared their junior brother Zheng Fa would have to walk an extra few steps.

Zheng Fa was not one who generally liked to initiate conflicts with others.

For example, he had also helped Sister Zhang manage the workshop, but he was very polite to the senior brothers there.

In doing things, he generally discussed and negotiated with them.

Of course, under Sister Yuan’s watch, it usually meant Zheng Fa was in charge of negotiating, and those senior brothers were in charge of agreeing.

But to be fair, Zheng Fa did hold great respect for those senior brothers.

However, he was not prepared to continue this same approach in the Talisman Magic Pavilion.

The reasons were complex, first and foremost because he was to take charge of the Talisman Magic Pavilion in the future, needing to establish his own authority, whereas in the workshop he was merely acting as Sister Zhang’s subordinate, essentially an executor, or even an advisor.

On the other side, he genuinely felt that these lecturers were nearly ruining the entire Talisman Magic Pavilion.

The conflict between the two branches of Jiushan Sect, from the perspective of Sister Zhang and Master Pang, wasn’t a big deal at all.

It was merely a matter of different philosophies.

Master Pang never opposed Sister Zhang out of personal enmity.

Sister Zhang wasn’t someone who couldn’t tolerate differing opinions.

They were mostly just competing for resources.

From the perspective of the lower ranks, what would these new disciples know?

They were merely indoctrinated with the idea that the two branches were incompatible as soon as they were admitted, following their senior brothers step by step.

But in the "Great Dao Competition," they actually ended up killing each other!

To Zheng Fa, the biggest problem was these lecturers.

Perhaps they didn’t act out of self-interest, but the atmosphere within the Talisman Magic Pavilion could not be separated from them.

If Sister Zhang wasn’t planning to pass the Talisman Magic Pavilion to him, then that would be another matter, but since he was set to take over this position—he had to display his stance like today, even if it meant overcorrecting.

Swept by his gaze, these Foundation Establishment stage senior brothers all lowered their heads, not daring to retort.

This was why Zheng Fa used the "Great Dao Competition" as a form of intimidation—the facts did not lie.

The performance of the Qi Cultivation Stage disciples in the trials was so subpar.

Such cringe-worthy performances were passable.

But the act of attacking one’s own comrades, that was indefensible.

The harm of the two branches fighting was clearly evident, leaving these senior brothers with no room to argue.

Actually, not only these lecturers, but the Qi Cultivation Stage disciples also understood the implications of Zheng Fa’s words.

Some of their faces showed dissatisfaction—they had been inducted so long ago and had the old grudges of the two branches etched into their bones.

Zheng Fa also noticed these dissatisfied expressions.

"Starting today, I will select some students each day to experience the ’Great Dao Competition,’" Zheng Fa said slowly.

Unsurprisingly, Zheng Fa saw eagerness on the faces of these students.

"But not everyone can participate," Zheng Fa said with a smile: "I will randomly divide you into several groups, only those with the best performance in their group each day will have the chance to participate."

The expression on everyone’s face was somewhat speechless.

Could your intentions be any more obvious?

What does "randomly" dividing groups mean?

Here, there were no fools; obviously, Zheng Fa intended to disrupt the usual clique distinctions among the disciples.

"Any objections?"

Seeing their expressions, Zheng Fa laughed even more heartily.

He had never thought of hiding his intentions—he didn’t have such cunning.

But how does the saying go? Adults, they only select, not educate.

Those who want to play the game, or want to improve their combat skills, must agree with his philosophy.

"None!" a group of disciples shook their heads.

This scene, watched by the nearby lecturers, left them with complex feelings, yet nothing to say.

"Good, today the first thing I want to talk about is the immobilization charm..."

Zheng Fa waved his hand, and a water screen appeared in front of everyone.

On the screen appeared the images of several disciples present.

"Look, this junior brother, he is currently attempting to draw an immobilization charm—do you see it?"

"..."

"Can’t tell? Right, he didn’t succeed."

A disciple present blushed, seemingly embarrassed, but Zheng Fa didn’t mock him, instead nodding at him encouragingly:

"This junior brother’s thought of using the immobilization charm now was a clever idea."

The disciple was startled, his embarrassed expression faded, and his gaze turned serious.

"The only problem is—this stroke broke here," Zheng Fa continued. "The Primordial Talisman of the immobilization charm is not difficult, but everyone must be careful, there are two places where it can easily break, and you must keep it connected."

He looked at the disciple as if he had taken in the lesson, and with a gesture, the screen showed a few other disciples and he began to discuss the most noticeable issues.

This method of teaching talismanic magic using real examples captivated the attending disciples.

Previously, those lecturer senior brothers also told them some precautions about talismanic magic.

But what impresses more than personal experience?

Moreover, they had just learned that these mistakes, when made, could genuinely result in death.

...

As the sun gradually set, hanging on the horizon, dyeing the clouds at dusk red, the attendees realized that Zheng Fa had been lecturing for a full day.

Seeing that it was getting late, Zheng Fa said to everyone: "Today’s discussion on talismans ends here, fellow senior brothers and junior brothers, see you next month."

After he finished speaking, the disciples spontaneously stood up and saluted him with cupped hands.

Zheng Fa was a bit surprised to see that several instructors had also risen to their feet.

Zheng Fa felt a bit gratified in his heart—at least these disciples knew that he had taught with dedication.

After returning the salute to everyone, he left the Talisman Magic Pavilion.

The instructors who remained in the classroom looked at each other and were momentarily at a loss for words.

Seeing those new disciples still yearning for more, they felt even more disheartened and ashamed.

"Why did you stand up and salute just now?" someone suddenly asked the person next to them.

"Zheng Fa spoke well!" The person next to him replied, "He resolved many of my doubts, and I saw you nodding repeatedly just now! Shouldn’t we salute?"

The person’s face went red: "But he... was a bit discourteous."

"Enough!" Suddenly, an older instructor said, "Haven’t you all understood the character of this Junior Brother Zheng?"

"People play fair and square, and overpower with momentum! Not to mention the allure of the ’Great Dao Competition’, just take the skill of the Return Image Talisman he showed, the idea of using the disciples’ performance in real battles to teach, and his talismanic Dao cultivation during the lecture, where is he not stronger than us? He’s more than qualified to be an instructor, and even fit to be a Pavilion Master with only a bit of cultivation lacking!"

With that, the older instructor sighed and walked out, adding, "At least I have no objections to him being the Pavilion Master in the future."

Watching the man slowly walking away.

The group of instructors looked at each other and suddenly felt that the familiar Talisman Magic Pavilion was like the sunset on the horizon—seemingly ordinary, but also marking the end of a cycle.

...

Zhou Qianyuan walked along the path leading to the Eighth Peak, his brows slightly furrowed.

He was thinking about the jade tube that his master had entrusted to him.

His master had said—if Zheng Fa could reconcile the differences between the two branches, he would hand over the jade tube to Zheng Fa.

This made him somewhat undecided.

He had also seen Zheng Fa’s attitude in the Talisman Magic Pavilion.

Zheng Fa was resolute, even aggressively pushing his own ideas.

He also believed that Zheng Fa would be able to accomplish what his master had mentioned in the near future.

His hesitation was whether he should hand over the jade tube to Zheng Fa now, especially since Zheng Fa had only introduced the ’Great Dao Competition’, and he was not very confident that this alone could reconcile the two branches.

"This is too vague," he couldn’t help feeling depressed.

As he reached mid-mountain, he suddenly heard arguing voices coming from the hall where his master resided, like several fellow disciples yelling at someone.

"Buff me! Buff me!"

"Don’t charge! There’s an ambush!"

"Dead again?"

Among these urgent voices, a few uncontrollable curses were occasionally mixed in.

But Master Pang’s voice was not heard.

The master wasn’t there, and these brothers are behaving so recklessly now?

What puzzled him even more was that Sun Daoyu was squatting at the door, seemingly unwilling to enter.

"Sun, what’s this...?"

"Oh, the Sect Leader sought out our master and learned the ’Great Dao Competition’," Sun Daoyu explained.

"Isn’t that only playable by disciples in Qi Cultivation stage?"

"As long as you seal your cultivation and Divine Sense," Sun Daoyu explained.

"So... Master isn’t in there?" Zhou Qianyuan asked.

"He is! The Sect Leader specifically instructed only our master could learn it, it shouldn’t be passed on to us," Sun Daoyu regretfully said, "Master is really enjoying it."

Zhou Qianyuan listened carefully again.

In the voices of those cursing, indeed there was no sign of his master.

"I didn’t expect the master to be so patient," Zhou Qianyuan felt a bit emotional, "With these brothers shouting and even swearing, he wasn’t angry."

...

"Who do you think they are scolding?"

...

"The master’s innate talent is extraordinary, why would he cooperate with others? Besides, he often forgets that he’s just in the Qi Cultivation stage."

Zhou Qianyuan still didn’t quite understand Sun Daoyu’s words.

Sun Daoyu used a very tactful expression: "Our master is... overly brave."

Understood.

Likes to feed!

Zhou Qianyuan looked at the grand hall, then suddenly turned around and left.

"Junior brother, where are you going?"

"To deliver the jade tube!"

Can the ’Great Dao Competition’ reconcile the disputes between the two branches?

From the master’s willingness to be scolded just to play—absolutely possible!

...

Zheng Fa was in the workshop receiving a middle-aged cultivator from Qianhe Sect.

"Master Qian," Zheng Fa greeted with a smile, "How does our Jiushan Sect’s workshop compare to your sect’s?"

...

The middle-aged cultivator’s face looked a bit displeased, but still said, "Jiushan Sect’s workshop has a Guiding Ship and theatres; it’s much livelier than ours."

...

"Have I heard that Master Qian wants a Guiding Ship too?"

...

"Yes, but does Jiushan Sect have an objection?" the middle-aged cultivator asked with a frown, showing more resistance upon seeing Zheng Fa’s expression.

"No objections," Zheng Fa shook his head, "But I want to remind Master Qian that currently, cultivators all around prefer to come to our Jiushan Sect. If your sect deploys a Guiding Ship, I’m afraid not many cultivators will visit... you might even make a loss."

The middle-aged cultivator’s face worsened, he looked at Zheng Fa and asked, "What do you suggest, Master Zheng?"

"I intend to cooperate with your Qianhe Sect," Zheng Fa clarified his reason for inviting this person, "Look, the flow of customers at Jiushan Sect’s workshop is so large, if Qianhe Sect’s spirit grain could be sold here..."

The middle-aged cultivator’s eyes lit up.