Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 201 - 100 Granting Land_2

Chapter 201: Chapter 100 Granting Land_2

"Xue, do you think now that he has entered the Heavenly Stele, how large can his sealed territory be?"

At this moment, Chu Tianque suddenly asked.

Sister Xue pondered gently and slowly responded, "I see that at his age, he already has the cultivation of Foundation Establishment, even faster than Zhang Wuyi—probably possessing a Single Spirit Root and a Taoist Body. But his current cultivation is a bit low; we usually start with five hundred li, so maybe he gets fifty li?"

"I think so too..." Chu Tianque nodded and even cursed, "This Divine Position is really bizarre... what’s with controlling sealed territories with Thunder Skill, I still haven’t figured it out!"

Hearing this, let alone him, the faces of Yan Wushuang and two others were filled with bitterness.

Yan Wushuang, half comforting and half complaining, said: "If not for the Heavenly Stele, our Tianhe Sect wouldn’t have been puzzled by it for tens of thousands of years... Its rules are strange and truly elusive."

...

Zheng Fa was unaware of this conversation among the three. He slowly approached the Heavenly Stele, and only at this point did he notice that the Heavenly Stele was incomplete.

It was a majestic square jade pillar, but looking upwards, one could see that the top of the pillar seemed to be missing a piece, revealing a pointed tip facing the sky.

He moved closer, and the Heavenly Stele emitted a gleaming light, as if sensing his approach.

When he was about half a dozen steps away, a dazzling rainbow light bloomed from the pillar, enveloping him. When he opened his eyes again, he found the scenery in front of him had changed—

The path underfoot seemed to be made of gleaming white jade, within which traces of Spiritual Energy could be seen flowing, like a spiritual material seldom seen even in the Xuanwei Realm.

Looking ahead, a large hall obscured half the sky, its base seemingly floating in the air. Apart from three wide steps connected to it, there was no other support.

Many people were walking towards the hall on those steps; Yan Wushuang and the other two were among them.

Zheng Fa wanted to fly towards that palace, but when the Spiritual Power within him stirred, he discovered something strange—though he could still circulate his Spiritual Power, he couldn’t cast any spells.

In his Foundation’s Primordial Talisman, most of the Spirit Talismans seemed to have fallen dormant and stopped moving.

The only one still active was the Thunder Rope Talisman he had condensed.

Zheng Fa took out Spirit Talismans from his Storage Bag and found that apart from those of the Thunder type, the others had turned gray and dull, no longer shimmering with Spiritual Power; they seemed to have lost their efficacy.

Only then did he realize why those people were all walking properly.

"Rules..."

Recalling the two words Yan Wushuang had been listening to, Zheng Fa felt a stir in his heart:

Others might find these rules bizarre, but Zheng Fa saw a hint of familiarity in them.

If he were to conjecture based on his understanding of Spiritual Energy and Spirit Talismans, the rules here seemed to be—

Can Spiritual Energy only affect electromagnetic forces, and no longer other materials?

Thinking this, his interest in the world of the Heavenly Stele grew:

This seemed like a natural experimental field with controlled variables!

...

Since he couldn’t fly, relying on his legs, Zheng Fa quickly reached the entrance of the palace.

The palace was divided into three sections.

The middle one had its doors tightly closed.

The two on the left and right were open, but all the previous people had only gone into the left one, none to the right.

Zheng Fa was a bit hesitant when he ran into Yan Wushuang and the other two coming out from the left hall.

"Mr. Zheng, you should first go to the hall on the right to receive the sealed territory."

"Sealed territory?"

Yan Wushuang seemed to want to keep him guessing, merely waving at Zheng Fa, indicating him to follow.

The two behind him exchanged glances, seemingly curious too, and sizing up Zheng Fa.

Yan Wushuang was probably quite conspicuous among these people; as he moved, another five or six cultivators also came over.

Zheng Fa felt somewhat perplexed, but followed Yan Wushuang’s gesture and walked to the entrance of the right side chamber.

"These three great halls, we visit each time we enter the Heavenly Stele realm," Yan Wushuang explained with a smile as he saw him approach. "The left side chamber we call the Hundred Treasure Hall, and the right side chamber we call the Sealing God Hall."

"Sealing God?"

Zheng Fa asked with a hint of sensitivity.

"You’ll understand once you go in."

Yan Wushuang gently pushed Zheng Fa, who took a couple of steps along with the force and stood at the entrance of the right side chamber.

Looking up, he saw quite a number of divine statues standing tall within the chamber.

He counted up to twelve of them.

These divine statues were towering and majestic, each resembling a sky-supporting pillar, but upon closer inspection, Zheng Fa realized every face of the statues was blank, which appeared somewhat eerie.

Zheng Fa lightly stepped into the hall. As soon as he entered, he felt like these twelve eyeless divine statues were "staring" at him.

His steps became lighter and slower as he walked closer to the statues.

Before Zheng Fa could settle his stance, twelve beams of golden light suddenly shot out from the statues’ faces and interwove over his body.

He felt as though he was being scanned from top to bottom, inside and out, thoroughly seen by these beams of light.

What was even more startling was that the golden light entered his Sea of Consciousness, heading towards the Yin Yang Jade Pendant he possessed.

The jade pendant seemed to awaken, trembling gently and emitting slight luminescence. The light was nearly faint, but the golden beams retreated swiftly, looking almost defeated.

The twelve beams of golden light left Zheng Fa’s body and converged into a sphere of light before him, from which several dignified voices suddenly spoke in unison, articulating a passage.

"The Heavenly Court is clouded, the Immortal Venerable’s position is lost."

"Order between Heaven and Earth is in chaos, Yin and Yang are imbalanced, suffering afflicts all beings."

"Since you have received the inheritance of the Thunder Skill, blessed deeply with fortune, and your deeds surpass others, we now bestow upon you a Divine Position, to wield the thunder, correct the orders of Heaven, administer the clouds and rain, and nurture all peoples."

"Let it be thus ordained."

Zheng Fa listened blankly to these words, still unable to react.

The sphere of light before him gradually solidified and shrank, revealing the form of a scroll.

...

Outside the door, Yan Wushuang and two others also witnessed this scene.

"If it were fifty li of sealed land, would it be a bamboo slip?"

Chu Tianque said, while Xue, an inheritor of the Supreme Dao from Tianhe Sect, shook her head, seemingly unaware: "Both of us have divine positions of five hundred li, and received bronze certificates."

A bystander who had come to watch said, "It’s a bamboo slip; that’s what I received. Both of you are disciples of the Xuanwei Five Sects, entering the Heavenly Stele realm with an immediate five hundred li of sealed land, so naturally, you wouldn’t know."

The tone was not without flattery.

"Then we are certainly not on par with Mr. Yan," Chu Tianque remarked. "It’s unclear how the Sealing God Hall determines this; Mr. Yan received a silver certificate, controlling five thousand li of sealed land."

Yan Wushuang smiled slightly proudly but then gestured with his hand, "It’s all fate, after all, and it’s just the initial sealing. You too, with accumulated Heavenly Merit, can expand your sealed lands in the future."

"This is not easy," Xue contradicted with a pursed lip, shaking her head. "A larger initial land grant naturally means quicker accumulation of Heavenly Merit. Otherwise, how could Mr. Yan consistently top the Heavenly Merit List?"

Hearing this, everyone nodded and looked at Yan Wushuang, their faces showing envy.

"Silver... silver certificate!"

Someone who had been watching Zheng Fa suddenly exclaimed. Everyone turned around startlingly, only then noticing the silver quality of the certificate before Zheng Fa, leaving everyone in silent awe.

"...Is this why Elder Han regards him so highly?"

Even Yan Wushuang froze, murmuring to himself.