Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 215 - 109 True Brothers

Chapter 215: Chapter 109 True Brothers

After taking control of the Sealing God Book, Zheng Fa could see the good and evil in the people of the Heavenly Stele Realm.

Around the good people, there was a hint of golden light, while the evil ones had a faint aura of blood.

In his eyes, the members of the Thunderbolt Sect appeared dark red, their deeds unknown; many women’s lives had cost, but even by the measure of the Sealing God Book, these were gravely evil people, deserving of a fate utterly shattered and crushed.

To become core members of the Thunderbolt Sect, none of these men were fools; they scattered like birds and beasts. Zheng Fa activated his Divine Soul, unleashing ten bolts of Heavenly Thunder in quick succession until his Divine Soul was nearly depleted.

Now, several clumps of black ash lay on the ground in front of the temple, left by those robust men.

Xiaoqing stood in the temple, her face frozen in shock, involuntarily turning to look at the deity statue inside the temple. The statue remained featureless, yet at that moment, she felt as if eyes were watching her, trembling with an inner ecstasy.

She looked toward the outside of the temple.

Originally there to seize control of the temple, the devotees from the Thunderbolt Sect had run away in large numbers; those still present were probably too scared to move, kneeling on the ground, their heads pressed to the earth, tentatively bowing towards the temple.

The onlookers from the city, who had followed to watch, also knelt down—they were slightly bolder than the Thunderbolt Sect devotees and could lift their eyes towards the temple.

Aside from Xiaoqing, no one else was standing; her small figure suddenly became the tallest among all the people in the city.

"Lord Thunder God?" She looked somewhat baffled by the scenario, softly murmuring, "What should be done now?"

Zheng Fa thought before replying:

"To venerate me is to do good; to offend the divine is to commit evil. You all may leave."

Hearing Zheng Fa’s words, the people exchanged glances, seemingly eager yet fearful to enter the temple, they could only silently retreat.

...

Half Mountain City was quiet for five days.

No, to be precise, aside from the sound of Zheng Fa’s Heavenly Thunder, no one in Half Mountain City stepped outside.

The main reason he hadn’t slain all those robust men that day was actually due to himself—his Divine Soul and Spiritual Power were insufficient. Unleashing about ten Heavenly Tribulation Thunders a day was his limit.

He wasn’t in a rush, even mentally jotting down a schedule, ten bolts a day for those lucky ones.

The robust men initially hid in their homes, but the power of the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder was immense and no thickness of roof could help.

Some tried to flee Half Mountain City, but for thousands of miles around it was Zheng Fa’s domain, they truly had nowhere to flee. In fact, to avoid accidents or them dying in unseen corners, he even arranged for them to skip ahead in queue.

Frankly, Zheng Fa found these days quite dull—

It was just thundering, recovering, thundering, recovering...

A bleak sense of a working man’s plight.

But Xiaoqing’s days were lively—although Zheng Fa was indifferent to the faith of the people of Half Mountain City, daily episodes of ten Heavenly Thunders deepened their loyalty.

Initially, only one or two daring individuals entered the temple to pray.

Then, seeing these people unharmed, more followed suit.

Xiaoqing saw the temple thriving more each day, her face smiling more widely with each passing day.

Zheng Fa even felt—the more he detached himself, the more devout these people became.

Only after studying their inner voices did he realize—they thought the Thunder God was angry.

They wanted to reconcile after a fallout.

...

After nightfall, Xiaoqing looked at the fully laden offering table, her eyes darting around.

Now, she was not worried about lacking food.

As the only one able to communicate with Zheng Fa, sometimes people coming to pray in Half Mountain City would also slip Xiaoqing something—not much, as Half Mountain City was indeed poor, but enough for a half meal.

However, the offerings for her and for the Thunder God were not of the same quality.

The offering table was filled with fish and meat, tempting her eyes to linger.

Hungry?

She suddenly heard Lord Thunder God speak.

"I don’t want it! This is an offering for you, Lord Thunder God!" Xiaoqing frantically shook her head. "It’s not for me to enjoy!"

"But didn’t you enjoy eating before?"

...

Zheng Fa saw Xiaoqing fall backwards, her face filled with terror, seemingly not expecting Lord Thunder God to know about this.

She was at a loss for words, hands covering the sides of her head as if fearing that a thunderbolt might strike her dead.

But in her heart, she was frantically shouting: "This... has Lord Thunder God truly manifested?"

Zheng Fa found it amusing but didn’t mind, continuing: "Go ahead and eat."

"Eat?" Xiaoqing murmured softly.

"Consider it a favor."

"A favor?" Xiaoqing put down her hands and hopped to the offering table, asking, "Then... may I eat a little?"

The last time Zheng Fa visited, he had tested—he seemed unable to enter the mortal world of the Heavenly Stele Realm, or at least had not found a pathway, only able to descend through the Sealing God Book.

The array of offerings on the table was of no use to him.

So, casually, he said: "You can eat it all."

"All... everything?"

Xiaoqing stared blankly at the offering table, suddenly a bit hesitant to start.

Zheng Fa didn’t answer.

During these days, he had reflected on his attitude towards the Heavenly Stele Realm—this realm, to him, was like a modern online game.

The items on the Sealing God Book were like daily tasks in the game...

For the people in the Heavenly Stele Realm, he mostly viewed them as NPCs.

He didn’t wish to harm them, but also didn’t feel any personal connection.

A truly divine sense of detachment.

Now, he had no particular thoughts about Half Mountain City, and only a bit of sympathy for the people of the Heavenly Stele Realm—

Their kneeling did not really bring him any honor.

He didn’t even need any offerings of incense.

Talking with Xiaoqing, on one hand, was to pass time and alleviate boredom while recovering his spiritual power, and on the other hand, was also due to his stingy nature—he hated to see the offerings on the table go to waste.

He stayed silent, but Xiaoqing suddenly spoke again: "Then... can I take some of this to others?"

"Hmm?"

"Half Mountain City... so many people are starving."

Zheng Fa looked at Xiaoqing and fell silent for a moment.

"Alright."

Xiaoqing, holding food, happily ran out.

After a while, he heard the dense footsteps at the entrance of the temple.

These were probably the poorest people in Half Mountain City, their shadows on the ground resembled thin bamboo poles.

Holding the food brought out by Xiaoqing, they devoutly kowtowed on the ground.

Zheng Fa hadn’t done anything.

Yet the fire in their eyes was somehow brighter than those of the Thunderbolt Sect followers a few days ago.

...

A month later, Yan Wushuang and Chu Tianque walked out of the Heavenly Stele.

He was unenthusiastic, unable to muster any joy.

"Brother Yan, did you gain great insights from the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder this time? You actually earned thirty Heavenly Merits!" Chu Tianque said in a congratulatory tone.

"Um."

Yan Wushuang responded with no interest showing on his face.

"And the Hundred-Year Cloud Fruit in the Hundred Treasure Hall, Brother, you must almost have collected enough Heavenly Merits by now?"

Chu Tianque switched topics.

"Um."

"..."

Seeing him like this, Chu Tianque opened his mouth, glanced at Xue next to him, and both didn’t know what more to say.

They both knew why Yan Wushuang was like this, even being careful not to mention that person’s name along the way, but Yan Wushuang’s expression...

"Ling Ye Fairy is out!"

Yan Wushuang trembled suddenly, snapping back to awareness, "Where?"

"..."

Both Chu Tianque and Xue looked at him.

Yan Wushuang stared for a long time before realizing these two were tricking him, his shoulders gradually drooping down, his face growing more bitter.

"Brother Yan, over a Fairy Xiao... is it worth it?"

Chu Tianque, seeing his reaction, really felt a mix of frustration and empathy.

"I don’t want this either!" Yan Wushuang bitterly said, "But do you understand, if I were inferior in skills that’d be fine, I, Yan Wushuang, admit I have the breadth of mind... but I just don’t understand how Ling Ye Fairy..."

"..."

"This... is so irritating." Yan Wushuang recalled, "There’s something I haven’t told you before, that Fairy Xiao, probably used to good fortune, after gaining a treasure in the Hanhai Desert, she even said something to us..."

"What did she say?"

"She asked..." Yan Wushuang’s expression twisted a bit, "What we were doing there..."

"..."

Chu Tianque thought about that scenario, finally understanding why seeing Ling Ye Fairy made Yan Wushuang as disturbed as facing a Heart Demon—it seemed his Heart Demon might just be Fairy Xiao!

"To be honest, since Ling Ye Fairy arrived, I actually wanted to leave the Heavenly Stele..." Yan Wushuang continued, "Not gaining the Heavenly Stele, I can handle. But this Ling Ye Fairy... I can’t take it."

"Not..."

Chu Tianque, frowning, said, "How can such a person as Fairy Xiao... be unharmed?"

"I went to my father back then..." Yan Wushuang said.

"..."

"After listening to my complaint, my father beat me up." Yan Wushuang’s face was hard to read.

"This person... has a big backing?"

"Yes, she was early taken in by a reclusive person of great importance, most importantly..." Yan Wushuang thought for a moment, "My father said, such good fortune, she must have a great destiny... told me to respect her in the future."

"..."

Chu Tianque felt Yan Wushuang was unlucky.

It’s not dignified to complain to parents after being mocked, but what’s worse is finding out you kicked a steel plate.

"Since then, I’ve been traveling outside..."

Only then did Chu Tianque understand, why Yan Wushuang cared so much about this Fairy Xiao—it had changed Brother Yan’s life.

"I made you guys see a joke."

"Actually, it’s not just you, Brother Yan. Ever since that Ling Ye Fairy came, those outside betting on our rankings, everyone started betting on her..." Chu Tianque still tried to comfort him, "This fairy’s renowned fame, those people surely have heard of it."

...

When the group reached the base of the Heavenly Stele, Yan Wushuang hung his head, speaking, "No need to look, let’s go."

But Chu Tianque was particularly determined, still consoling him, "Ling Ye Fairy is new here, it’s natural she might not understand the situation..."

Yan Wushuang felt grateful, feeling Chu’s trust in him, but he was more convinced of Ling Ye Fairy’s strangeness and still didn’t want to look up at the ranking on the stele.

After a long time, he hadn’t heard Chu Tianque speak, he felt even more dejected: "I’m ranked second now, right?"

"Not."

Chu Tianque’s voice was dreamlike.

"Uh?" Yan Wushuang suddenly looked up. "Am I still first?"

"Third..."

Hearing this, Yan Wushuang looked up towards the top of the Heavenly Stele—indeed he was in third place, but the first wasn’t Xiao Yuying, it was a name he hadn’t expected:

Zheng Fa.

"Mr. Zheng?" He stared blankly at the name Zheng Fa, then burst into laughter: "I really didn’t misjudge Brother Zheng!"

Beside him, Xue couldn’t help but ask, "Zheng Fa first, Brother Yan not even second... and you’re happy?"

"You don’t understand, the revenge my father didn’t seek for me, Brother Zheng sought it!"

"..." Xue twitched her lips, feeling that the Tianhe Sect Leader should have been harsher, then turned back to see Chu Tianque’s expression stunned, as if in disbelief.