Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 216 - 110: All Are Good People!

Chapter 216: Chapter 110: All Are Good People!

When Zheng Fa was about to leave the Heavenly Stele Realm, Half Mountain City was already somewhat different.

The backbone of the Thunderbolt Sect had mostly turned to ash.

It can’t be said that objects found on the road were unclaimed or that doors remained unlocked at night, but those who committed wrongdoings were probably trembling with fear.

The majority of the remaining people were judged by the Sealing God Book to be not deserving of death—although Zheng Fa would still bring down Heavenly Tribulation Thunder as punishment, its strength varied.

The severe ones would still leave people gravely injured, while the milder ones might merely be accompanied by a few peals of thunder:

It was largely to remind them that a deity watches over them from three feet above.

Zheng Fa didn’t do anything superfluous, merely harvesting Heavenly Merit at designated times each day.

But the offerings of incense in the temple continued to increase day by day.

Xiaoqing occasionally used the excess offerings to provide for the elderly and weak.

No, not the elderly.

Most people in Half Mountain City had short lifespans; past thirty-five years old one could be called an elder, and reaching forty was considered a ripe old age.

Someone like Xiaoqing could be considered middle-aged—Half Mountain City’s poverty was the kind that dried up the marrow in one’s bones.

That day, the townspeople once again came to the temple in groups, carrying baskets on their backs, filled with dried mushrooms, smoked fish and shrimp, bolts upon bolts of coarse cloth, and some delicate decorations.

These things would not be worth much money either in modern times or in the mundane world of the Xuanwei Realm.

But this was Half Mountain City...

It seemed the townspeople also knew that the current Lord of Thunder God didn’t like being disturbed much; they left behind more than ten baskets, bowed several times to the statue, and then left.

"Lord of Thunder God! Do you know who owns the things in these baskets?"

After some time spent talking, Xiaoqing seemed to understand that Zheng Fa wasn’t a harsh person, and she spoke without much restraint.

"I know."

Zheng Fa didn’t usually care about matters in Half Mountain City, but he couldn’t help but hear the heartfelt wishes of these people in the temple.

These items, of course, belonged to the property of the Sect Hierarch of the Thunderbolt Sect.

Only he could scrape together such a "massive wealth" in Half Mountain City.

"Lord of Thunder God really knows everything!" Xiaoqing nodded her head admiringly and then continued, "After the Thunderbolt Sect disbanded, we found these good things."

"Didn’t I tell you to communicate with them that offerings were unnecessary? As for these things, it would be better to have them distributed among the people."

Zheng Fa asked.

These people were so poor, yet they brought sustenance to the temple every day, which he didn’t quite approve of.

And he couldn’t eat it!

"I told them..." Xiaoqing said with a sense of grievance, "They didn’t want to!"

"..."

"Why?"

Zheng Fa truly couldn’t understand.

"They say..." the temple priest paused for a while before continuing, "they didn’t expect Lord of Thunder God to be so kind... They’re afraid Lord of Thunder God might disappear again."

"Kind?" Zheng Fa himself was a bit puzzled, "What have I done?"

"It’s because you, Lord, haven’t done anything—that’s why it’s good!"

Xiaoqing said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world, her eyes wide with certainty.

Zheng Fa carefully considered the logic of Xiaoqing and the people of Half Mountain City.

When the Sect Hierarch of the Thunderbolt Sect seized their waterways, he did nothing.

When the Sect Hierarch demanded taxes, he wanted none of it.

Furthermore, the Sect Hierarch also indulged in cannibalism, which Zheng Fa despised most deeply.

This Lord of Thunder God didn’t demand offerings and was willing to let the temple priest distribute the items to others...

Putting it this way, compared to the Sect Hierarch’s cultivation and actions, the expectations of the townspeople towards deities were lowered—apart from being inhumane, did this deity actually contribute a little?

Thinking of the nearly three hundred points of Heavenly Merit lying on the Sealing God Book.

His contribution was indeed not small.

"I will give you a few names, go and distribute these items to them."

After thinking for a while, Zheng Fa said with a mental shake of his head.

He listed a few people who previously emanated a faint aura of golden light, those who probably did many good deeds on a daily basis. Zheng Fa had some impression of them.

Zheng Fa had been thinking in recent days that the Sealing God Book’s idea of punishing the wicked and promoting the virtuous accrued Heavenly Merit.

Punishing the wicked, of course, was done with Thunder Skill.

Promoting the virtuous was a bit more difficult; rewarding them with these offerings was also a sort of test.

"Okay!" Xiaoqing’s eyes sparkled as she quickly nodded and agreed.

...

When leaving the Heavenly Stele Realm, Zheng Fa’s mood was quite relaxed, similar to the feeling of coming home after work—the Heavenly Stele Realm was a bit too boring for him, it felt more like he had been in meditative cultivation for a month.

Now, the Heavenly Merit had accumulated to almost three hundred, and those in Half Mountain City qualified for the enjoyment of the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder were almost gone.

With the remaining Heavenly Merit, Zheng Fa was planning to visit other gathering spots.

Half Mountain City was the most populous city under his domain, with other places being more scattered, some without even a temple.

These two entries into the realm, Zheng Fa also experimented:

Temples were very important to him; it was in the temples that he could recover Spiritual Power.

But in other places, Zheng Fa could only roam with his Divine Soul. Unless he used Heavenly Tribulation Thunder, one of the divine punishments from the Sealing God Book, he couldn’t sense his physical body at all, let alone recover Spiritual Power.

It even seemed that his ability to hear the heart’s voice of the people of Half Mountain City, or to discern someone’s good and evil nature, was all through the statues.

This seemed to be another manifestation of this world’s special rules, or perhaps, this was a characteristic inherited from the ancient Divine Tao civilization of this world.

In other gathering spots, there might not be as evil a person as the Sect Hierarch of the Thunderbolt Sect, but their total number surpassed that of Half Mountain City. Reaching five hundred points of Heavenly Merit to exchange for the Yang Thunder Spider inner core was not difficult: Currently, the only thing limiting Zheng Fa’s efficiency was his Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation.

Just as he stepped out of the Heavenly Stele, he encountered Yan Wushuang.

Rather, he met Yan Wushuang and many other Cultivators who had entered the Heavenly Stele Realm.

They seemed to be waiting for someone, gathering near the Heavenly Stele and not leaving.

As soon as Zheng Fa emerged, their eyes intently focused in his direction.

He couldn’t help but look back, finding no one behind him.

Then he glanced at the group of people, whose eyes were still fixed on him.

Zheng Fa couldn’t help feeling a bit creeped out...

"Mr. Yan..."

He greeted with a bow of his hands.

"Mr. Zheng! You finally came out!" Yan Wushuang suddenly approached: "We’ve all been waiting for you!"

"...Waiting for me?"

Zheng Fa paused, not understanding why they were waiting for him.

"Come and look!" Yan Wushuang pulled him into the crowd, towards the base of the Heavenly Stele. On the stele, the name Zheng Fa towered at the very top.

"..."

To be honest, Zheng Fa wasn’t too fond of this ranking.

The Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Spirit Energy Equation was like a dimension-reducing strike to the cultivators of the Heavenly Stele Realm; of course, accumulating Heavenly Merit was fast.

What he disliked was that the ranking made him too noticeable—there were no real benefits, yet it was easy to offend people.

Having the Five-Colored Divine Light had nearly scared Master Pang to death; he should have kept a low profile.

Yet this ranking was unique to the Heavenly Stele...

He looked worriedly around at the people present.

Factually speaking, these people were all his rivals.

What he hadn’t expected was that some indeed looked at him with wariness in their eyes.

But there were also many, looking at him with eyes brimming with goodwill!

Even the kind of goodwill laced with encouragement and admiration...

Seeing him looking their way, quite a few people smiled at him warmly with enthusiastic expressions.

Some even came forward to introduce themselves:

"My name is Cheng Tianxin, hailing from the Xuantian Sect... Zheng, it’s a pleasure to meet you!"

"I’m Yun Yang, from the Righteous Qi Sect..."

"My name is..."

Suddenly, many cultivators onsite introduced themselves to Zheng Fa, obviously wanting to get to know him.

Zheng Fa responded to them, all the while feeling a little confused.

What’s the deal, how did the atmosphere in the Xuanwei Realm improve so much all of a sudden? Do these people not harbor any jealousy or envy?

And even if they didn’t, why this friendliness?

...

As if seeing through Zheng Fa’s confusion, Yan Wushuang chuckled, glanced around cautiously as if afraid someone might eavesdrop, then whispered to Zheng Fa: "Mr. Zheng, take a look at who’s ranked second?"

Zheng Fa looked up and saw the name Xiao Yuying ranking right below his.

He was a bit surprised in his heart; he had anticipated ranking first by leveraging the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Spirit Energy Equation.

But Xiao Yuying...

Her talent was truly exceptional.

Keep in mind, she had only arrived in the Heavenly Stele Realm a month later than him; if comparing the Heavenly Merit of the first month alone, he was actually inferior to her.

On the other hand...

Was their enthusiasm for him also because of her?

"Mr. Zheng, you don’t know, this Fairy Xiao..." Yan Wushuang then recounted his experiences from thirty years prior.

"This..."

Zheng Fa began to understand Fairy Xiao’s character.

Hearing what Yan Wushuang said, others also spoke up:

"Ten years ago... an ancient cave dwelling emerged..."

"My senior brother also met her..."

"My master! It was after encountering her that he failed to overcome his Heart Demon Tribulation..."

As he listened, Zheng Fa suddenly felt... that Xiao Yuying was as much of a great person as the Sect Hierarch of the Thunderbolt Sect!

In the customs of the Xuanwei Realm, with his current top ranking, if it didn’t attract jealousy, it certainly wouldn’t be well-liked:

Who wouldn’t want to be in charge of the Heavenly Stele?

But with Xiao Yuying around, it was different...

She had made too many enemies, which made him gain a fanbase.

The intentions of these people were straightforward; we may not support you, but we will side with anyone who can beat Xiao Yuying!

Thinking of this, Zheng Fa actually gained a few favorable impressions towards this Fairy Xiao.

Just as everyone was in the midst of discussion, someone else appeared from within the stele; it was the Ling Ye Fairy, Xiao Yuying herself.

As soon as she showed up, everyone else instantly fell silent, and the previously lively atmosphere cooled down instantly.

Everyone looked slightly unnature, with a mix of awe and faint anger as they watched her.

No...

There was one exception, Zheng Fa found himself increasingly looking favorably at her.

Xiao Yuying seemed already accustomed to these gazes, even showing a hint of disdain, but Zheng Fa’s discernible goodwill in his gaze caught her attention and she looked at him a bit longer.

She didn’t seem to care much to scrutinize the rankings on the stele, simply walking out while casting a glance at the top of the list...

Just one glance, and she halted in her steps.

She slowly turned around, heading toward the Heavenly Stele.

The others silently moved aside, allowing her to get close to the stele and scrutinize the ranking for a long while.

There was an unmistakable glee in their eyes for the anticipated drama.

After looking, she frowned as if deep in thought, but failing to recall something.

After a moment, she suddenly lifted her head to look in the direction of the crowd, her gaze sweeping over the others before settling on Zheng Fa, as if she remembered the rare goodwill in his eyes:

"This Daoist friend, I have a question." Xiao Yuying spoke quite courteously: "May I inquire, who is this Zheng Fa?"

When mentioning the name Zheng Fa, her tone clearly conveyed her attention and unwillingness to concede.

"...I am Zheng Fa."

"..."