Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 226 - 119: I’m One Too

Chapter 226: Chapter 119: I’m One Too

The weather around here hasn’t been great these past few days; even at night, the nursing home is blanketed by layers of dark clouds, obscuring any trace of starlight.

Zheng Fa puts down the book in his hands and gazes at the dark clouds in the sky, his mind inadvertently recalling those two famed dark clouds in the history of physics.

If both Immortal Law and physics are seen as methods to understand and utilize objective laws,

then physics has its two dark clouds.

But when it comes to Immortal Law, that could be described as an endless night.

The Sunset Sword Immortal is probably a die-hard fan of the Tianhe Sovereign, with a highly biased description.

Indeed, after hearing his account, Zheng Fa also felt a surge of admiration and regret for the Tianhe Sovereign.

But Zheng Fa hasn’t forgotten the fact—the Tianhe Sovereign’s new methods failed.

He doesn’t believe that every cultivator is willing to become someone they are not.

Nor does he believe that if the new methods were truly superior to the old, everyone would be oblivious.

The old methods still reign supreme in the Xuanwei Realm, and there must be objective reasons for this.

Even if the old methods have countless flaws, Zheng Fa still suspects that the Tianhe Sovereign’s failure may have been inevitable.

But this isn’t something that frightens Zheng Fa, isn’t science all about progressing by inheriting and then refuting the findings of predecessors?

What Zheng Fa worries about is another hidden concern—

Those people extinguished the inheritance of the new methods either to cover up their betrayal of the Tianhe Sovereign.

Or is it because, fundamentally speaking, the new and old methods cannot coexist?

And now, with the Great Freedom Demon Sect chasing so-called geniuses all around the world, are they afraid of another Tianhe Sovereign appearing, or is it another new method?

These two questions will decide whether Zheng Fa’s path ahead resembles Einstein or Bruno.

Conducting research yet risking one’s life—rationally speaking, Zheng Fa is somewhat hesitant.

Just like the Sunset Sword Immortal said, with his current talent and the high level of his Taoist Body, even following the old path, his prospects would be vast and great.

...

Finally, the rain starts pouring down, heavily drumming against the eaves.

Zheng Fa, who was sitting in the courtyard, sees this and is about to stand up to move the table and chairs inside, but he finds that not a single drop of rain has fallen on him.

Looking up, Tang Lingwu is holding an umbrella over his head, shielding him from the wind and rain.

Zheng Fa gives Tang Lingwu a grateful smile and with a gesture, the lounge chairs fly under the eaves; Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu also move under shelter, side by side, watching the rain, both remaining silent.

Zheng Fa still has the issue of new versus old methods on his mind.

Researching the new methods certainly aligns with his intentions, but a slight misstep could make him the enemy of the world, not to mention that even the Tianhe Sovereign failed.

Cultivating the old methods certainly has endless pitfalls, but for a long time to come, he’ll probably be safe from significant danger.

With his personality, both choices have their pros and cons, making it a rather troubling situation, with no perfect option in sight.

He glances at Tang Lingwu beside him and knows that, compared to other cultivators from the Xuanwei Realm, he faces an additional risk—the modern world!

He does not know why he was able to travel to the modern era.

But if it is like what the Sunset Sword Immortal said, after the Divinity Transformation, cultivators work on becoming "not themselves".

Should he truly become someone else one day—wouldn’t that mean wreaking havoc in the modern world?

The impact on the modern world and on the people around him is unpredictable.

The most direct impact would be on Tang Lingwu, Old Man Bai, and Mrs. Tian.

Thinking this, his heart unwittingly begins to lean in a certain direction.

Beside him, Tang Lingwu suddenly starts singing a song in a foreign language:

"When you walk through the storm..."

"..."

"With hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone..."

The sound of the wind whistling through the trees, the pattering of raindrops at the front of the courtyard—none could drown out the girl’s clear voice.

Zheng Fa listens quietly, without speaking out.

He has heard this song before.

In high school, his close friend Wang Chen was a soccer fan who played this song for him—its translated name is probably "You’ll Never Walk Alone".

Old Man Bai and Mrs. Tian emerge together from behind, smiling as they watch the two of them.

After the song ends, Tang Lingwu doesn’t say anything else, as if everything has already been said.

But Old Man Bai, intrigued, asks, "Little Ling Wu, so you like watching soccer as well?"

"I don’t watch it," Tang Lingwu shakes her head, tilts her head and says, "Back when I was little, before my mom got sick and my dad wasn’t so busy."

"My dad loved watching soccer, and my mom would bring me along with him. I didn’t understand soccer, so I learned this song."

"At that time," Tang Lingwu looks at Zheng Fa and softly adds, "when I sang for the two of them, they were really happy."

When Tang Lingwu talks about this memory, her eyes are smiling, as if recalling something.

Zheng Fa feels a twinge of pity; this must be Tang Lingwu’s most precious memory of her family—

Now that they are in Beijing, Tang Lingwu’s mother Mrs. Ye often visits, likely with the intent of seeking treatment.

But Tang Lingwu’s father seems always too busy to visit, apart from the start of the school term.

Seeing this, Mrs. Tian steps forward, pushing Old Man Bai aside and embracing Tang Lingwu, saying, "Just think of us as your family."

Old Man Bai scratches his head, looks towards Zheng Fa and laughs, "Figured it out yet?"

"Not really, but..." Zheng Fa looks at Tang Lingwu and smiles, "This song gives me the courage to make a choice that may make the whole world my enemy."

"..." Old Man Bai is momentarily stunned:

"This... you’re in university now, shouldn’t you be reading something less... adolescent?"

"Why not think it over a bit more?"

"A song, really not worth it!"

...

Newly built physics laboratory.

Zheng Fa’s Divine Soul was directing his Spiritual Power, slowly rotating according to the trajectory of the Cloud Rain Thunder Talisman from the Sealing God Book.

"Stop!"

An order from Tang Lingwu came.

"The humidity sensor is changing! There’s a significant increase in humidity!"

Zheng Fa nodded, drew down the trajectory he had just executed, and handed it over to Old Man Bai standing by.

The Cloud Rain Thunder Talisman is much more complex than the previous Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Talisman.

It’s a set of talismanic diagrams with different functions.

Like Zheng Fa is doing now, he was recording a trajectory that could generate water vapor and condense clouds.

...

"This talismanic diagram is generating clouds."

"This talismanic diagram is changing the magnetic field strength."

"This talismanic diagram is generating a laser..."

"This talismanic diagram is generating a stream of positive particles..."

Old Man Bai was summarizing until he became confused.

"How can this thing be so complicated?" he frowned looking at those talismanic diagrams; "Wait, how come all the God Name Sub-characters here are different?"

Zheng Fa shook his head, he had expected this.

Based on his current understanding of talismanic magic, these Spirit Talismans are probably of different origins, or rather, created by different powerful beings.

The Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Talisman was still manageable, as it seems the Sealing God Book had chosen the most powerful one.

The Cloud Rain Talisman, due to its complexity, represented different ideas from these beings—resulting in different thought processes embodied by the Spirit Talismans, but with their own reasoning for each.

On the other hand, this also indicates that unlike the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Talisman, the Sealing God Book did not clarify which ideas were superior so it documented them all.

"The ones generating rainclouds must be kept."

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then added: "As for the rest, let’s look at the research papers."

...

Zheng Fa was holding several stacks of research papers, reading them and discussing with Old Man Bai and others by his side.

Just like what that old professor from the Meteorology Department of Beijing University had pointed out, the most research in this area was about experiments involving laser precipitation and snow making, with the most complete data sets.

The principle of this type of precipitation is not overly difficult, at least for Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu, it was still understandable.

Not just internationally, even domestically there were many related studies.

"The advantage of laser-induced precipitation is that the laser frequency wavelength is relatively fixed, the conditions are relatively simple, and the energy intensity is higher."

"The principle of laser-induced precipitation involves using lasers to excite plasma, capturing charged raindrops in the clouds, and accelerating the growth and merger of cloud droplets."

"Several research institutions have already used this method to achieve artificial rain and snow."

Tang Lingwu summarized.

Old Man Bai next to her nodded: "Lasers are good, lasers are simple..."

Zheng Fa also nodded.

Lasers are essentially a form of electromagnetic waves, even just light emitted by electron transitions.

"In the Cloud Rain Talisman from before, there were some trajectories capable of generating a laser." Old Man Bai recalled: "Indeed, lasers are a bit easier to control compared to other methods, it’s just... the requirements for Thunder Skill are also more detailed."

After saying this, he looked at Zheng Fa, his eyes filled with a hint of doubt, apparently questioning his ability.

The laser’s wavelength is uniform, and a tiny energy variation can make a huge difference.

Choosing the direction of the laser also requires great care, even controlling the amount of rainfall demands high precision over time and space in deploying the Thunder Skill.

It would require Zheng Fa to use the Thunder Skill with greater finesse—this is much harder than just caring about the energy levels in the Heavenly Tribulation Thunder Talisman.

Zheng Fa pondered for a while; he had already mastered the "Heavenly Net Thunder Armor," which increased his control over Thunder Skill substantially.

"Let’s try it!"

Zheng Fa nodded to Old Man Bai and proceeded to replicate the experiment according to one of the research papers, starting the Immortal Dao version of the replication experiment.

...

Down the mountain, at the guesthouse.

The owner of the guesthouse looked at the continuous gloomy weather, his expression somewhat worried.

Bad weather meant few guests for the guesthouse.

Even the background of the livestream room was gloomy, and the number of viewers had dropped.

Thinking of this, he recalled the old man from the nursing home—he had been quite a sensation in the livestream room!

"Do you have anything on?" the owner’s grandmother suddenly walked over and asked.

"Granny?"

"If you’re not busy, drive me to the Goddess Temple, I want to pay my respects!"

"Granny! Why do you want to go again?"

"You also saw the Goddess manifest herself last time!" His grandmother insisted: "If we don’t go, won’t the Goddess think we’re not devout?"

The face of the guesthouse owner remained indifferent, seemingly reluctant to move.

"And think about the business of our shop!" His grandmother continued as he still appeared unwilling: "Maybe things will get better if we pray! Look at the Wang family, their temple has been so prosperous since they built it!"

"I’ll go start the car!"

"You think I don’t know you well?"