Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 203 - 101 Heavenly Merit 2

Chapter 203: Chapter 101 Heavenly Merit 2

"Vitality?"

"Right, for example, the spring thunder during Jingzhe can stimulate the growth of Spirit Plants," Yan Wushuang explained. "But for us to use Thunder Skill to replicate this spring thunder, we are completely clueless—the spells in the Sealing God Book also seem to be of little use."

...

Zheng Fa suddenly remembered the problem of modern cultivation of Spirit Plants—Mrs. Tian said it lacked a certain environment, if what Yan Wushuang said was true.

So, does this environment seem to be related to some kind of Heavenly Thunder?

The evidence for this speculation is rather weak, making it hard for Zheng Fa to be certain of its truth.

But Yan Wushuang stated it with certainty, raising Zheng Fa’s interest in the Heavenly Stele.

"Although we can’t accomplish these things, it is not difficult to accumulate some Heavenly Merit on ordinary days and exchange for spiritual materials suitable for our cultivation in the Hundred Treasure Hall," Yan Wushuang continued. "There aren’t many dangers in the Heavenly Stele Realm, so we come here every month."

"Can this Heavenly Merit only be exchanged for spiritual materials?"

Zheng Fa asked.

"Of course not, accumulating Heavenly Merit allows us to expand our territory firstly, and secondly, to exchange for some Thunder Skills—The few types of Thunder Skills in the Sealing God Book are the most basic, and there are other Thunder Skills in the Hundred Treasure Hall that we need to exchange with Heavenly Merit."

"So Mr. Zheng, when we first started, we were envied for having five thousand miles of territory," Yan Wushuang smiled. "The larger the territory, the more people, the faster the accumulation of Heavenly Merit."

After speaking with Zheng Fa for a while, Yan Wushuang seemed to be busy accumulating Heavenly Merit and bid him farewell.

Following Yan Wushuang’s instructions, Zheng Fa channeled Spiritual Power into the Sealing God Book.

The Sealing God Book absorbed his Spiritual Power, then suddenly butted against his forehead, turning Zheng Fa’s physical body ethereal while his Divine Sense was transported to a space between heaven and earth.

Before he had a chance to observe his surroundings, the scene above caught Zheng’s attention.

It looked as if the Thunder Pool was upturned in the sky, with erratic Heavenly Thunder roving carelessly through heaven and earth.

The sky was gloomy, as if caught in an eternally unbreakable cloudy day.

Such weather naturally brought ceaseless rain; the rain in front of him seemed never to stop.

The ground beneath his feet, instead of soil, resembled a swamp, all mushy with muddy water.

Is this his five thousand miles of territory?

Looking at the wetland below, Zheng Fa guessed: if there were people living in this world, they probably wouldn’t have it too good.

...

His Divine Soul wandered across the territory for several days, walking and estimating the size, which was indeed substantial.

Judged by modern measurements, this region was nearly a million square kilometers—a size no less than a medium-sized modern country.

But... there were no people.

In such a vast area, there were only about a dozen human settlements, adding up to a population of less than 500,000...

That’s understandable—from what he observed over the past few days, 99.9% of the land was unfit for human habitation, let alone crop cultivation.

One day, his Divine Soul came across a mountain, and looking up at the mountain was a city built by the small mountain; through the Sealing God Book, Zheng Fa learned that the population was about seventy to eighty thousand, making it one of the largest cities in his territory.

The small town had no city gate, to say the least, just a residential area.

The construction of the houses was peculiar; they were rather low, mostly buried underground, with only thick, slanted roofs which seemed designed to fend off lightning and drain water.

Most people in the city wore hemp clothes made from aquatic vines, with thin bodies and pale faces devoid of sunlight, their expressions either numb or enduring.

These hemp clothes were probably quite precious.

Men mostly went shirtless, exposing their skinny, bony ribs.

For women, it was just a slight covering over the chest. Truth be told, most of the women couldn’t be considered beautiful—

They were even thinner than men, many of whom had indistinct gender features.

At the innermost part of the town, leaning against the cliffside, there was a house with the highest and widest roof, high and wide, but actually only about one and a half meters high and three to four meters wide.

This was a temple, inside which the colorful paint on the deity statues had long peeled off, and the facial features were blurred.

There weren’t many people in the temple, but there was a continuous flow of them.

They knelt on the ground praying, but their faces showed little devotion, more like going through the motions or even grasping at straws.

Zheng Fa’s Divine Soul entered the deity statue.

He felt a chirping in his ears, all the inner voices of these worshiping people.

Perhaps due to the Sealing God Book, he understood the language of this world.

"Lord Thunder God hasn’t manifested for many years..."

"Hope I can catch a few more fish today..."

"Wish for less rain..."

"My son was struck by lightning, he was a good child, may Lord Thunder God be merciful..."

Various thoughts flashed by his ears, making it quite noisy.

What chilled his spirit more was that they only prayed and didn’t make offerings.

It seemed they lacked some trust in their very own Lord Thunder God.

Honestly, with such an attitude, even Gods would find it difficult to work...

But Zheng Fa listened to Yan Wushuang—this was their main way of accumulating Heavenly Merit, listening to the believers’ prayers, discerning good and evil.

Then they would strike a few wicked people.

It was just necessary to control the intensity of the Tribulation Thunder, according to the rules of the Sealing God Book, different misdeeds needed different Tribulation Thunder punishments.

Of course, Yan Wushuang and the others couldn’t achieve such precision, blindly striking, but as long as they struck many, there would be times when it was just the right moment.

This is also why Zheng Fa chose this city; the more people, the easier it was to accumulate Heavenly Merit.