Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 255 - 147: The Vow in the Ruins

Chapter 255: Chapter 147: The Vow in the Ruins

Zheng Fa observed the growth of the spirit plants.

Spirit plants are different from ordinary plants—this point he had discovered at the nursing home.

For example, the Evergreen Talisman can promote the growth of ordinary plants, maturing them overnight, and shorten the cultivation time to an extreme.

But it was useless for the spirit peas he cultivated—Zheng Fa guessed that this was because they contained spiritual energy within them, and had a kind of "resistance" to Spirit Talismans.

To put it more simply, the effect of the Spirit Talisman was being interfered with by the spiritual energy within them.

He guessed that probably some sects also have secret techniques that can speed up the maturity of certain spirit plants.

But like this golden bell, which directly caused the entire medicine garden’s spirit plants and spirit beasts to grow rapidly—let alone Zheng Fa, even Zhang had never heard of such a thing.

"Time..." Zhang’s eyes were misty, "That Heavenly Venerate is probably more powerful than we imagined..."

The silver light flashed in Zheng Fa’s eyes as he looked at the various spirit plants in the medicine garden, seemingly observing something, and did not hear Zhang’s murmur.

"Junior Brother, what are you looking at?"

Zhang asked curiously.

"I’m looking at the growth of spiritual energy on these spirit plants... very strange..."

He had just had a thought, recalling the Spirit Tree Thunder.

More precisely, he was thinking of the previous experience, where by observing the growth of pea seedlings, he summarized a form of Spirit Tree Thunder.

Under the influence of the Spirit Tree Thunder, that kind of pea went from not containing spiritual energy to containing it—in simple terms, the pea seedlings underwent a mutation led by the Spirit Tree Thunder.

Therefore, he wanted to see if there was also such a mutation in this medicine garden.

Unexpectedly, he really found it!

"Strange?" Zhang frowned slightly, not understanding what he meant.

"Every spirit plant, within one cycle of the sun and moon, will experience a surge in spiritual energy all at once! This surge appears twenty-four times in one cycle!"

Zhang was stunned for a moment, then activated her Void Spirit Eye and looked towards the medicine garden.

After a while, she slowly nodded.

"Indeed." Zhang confirmed, "Although each spirit plant has different strengths of spiritual energy, are their spiritual energies truly changing simultaneously twenty-four times every sun and moon cycle?"

"Twenty-four?"

Yuan, who was beside them, suddenly said, "Isn’t that the number of deity statues we saw in that temple before? And those twenty-four chairs!"

Zheng Fa and Zhang exchanged glances, both nodding lightly.

The number twenty-four is not ordinary, and it was natural for Yuan to make such an association.

It was just that Zhang looked at Zheng Fa’s expression and suddenly asked, "Do you have another idea?"

Zheng Fa had no intention to hide from the two sisters and said, "Sister, do you remember what Master Han of the Qianhe Sect said about the Spirit Farmers’ Secret Techniques being related to the solar terms?"

"You mean the twenty-four solar terms?"

Zheng Fa nodded.

"So, these twenty-four are the gods who preside over the solar terms?"

"I don’t know that." Zheng Fa shook his head, "But now I have a feeling..."

"Hm?"

"Spirit Tree Thunder might also have twenty-four paths..."

"Twenty-four types? That makes some sense..." Zhang frowned slightly, obviously finding the number a bit much, "Well... you’ve got your research cut out for you."

Indeed, the discovery of the first path of Spirit Tree Thunder by Zheng Fa was somewhat serendipitous.

If there were twenty-four paths, relying on luck alone, one wouldn’t know how long the research would take.

Zheng Fa looked at the various spirit plants growing rapidly in the medicine garden and had a sudden thought in his heart:

Actually, if one were to measure the intensity of the magnetic field during the spiritual energy mutation in this medicine garden, then even twenty-four paths, or two hundred and forty paths would be very simple...

If it weren’t for the lack of an electromagnetic laboratory!

Ah?

Zheng Fa suddenly glanced at Zhang, his eyes full of thoughts.

Since Zhang can serve as a talismanic magic laboratory.

Isn’t Xiao Yuying’s Yuan Magnetic Dao Body the perfect electromagnetic laboratory?

At least measuring the strength of the magnetic field should be straightforward.

However, this lady is wealthy and influential, and it would probably not be easy to have her cooperate obediently.

Indeed, it’s hard to trick someone from a good background into becoming your oxen or horses...

...

When the golden bell fell, the spirit plants from the medicine garden rose from the ground and landed in front of Zheng Fa—exactly the ones he had previously selected from the Jade Stele.

As for the other spirit plants, they didn’t move at all.

As the golden bell seemed quite formidable, even Yuan did not dare to reach out and harvest the remaining spirit plants.

Clasping the silver seal in front of him, Zheng Fa had a thought and suddenly understood something. He said to Zhang and the others, "Shall we go see other places?"

The two sisters nodded their heads, evidently interested.

He tapped the silver seal with his Divine Soul, and the silver seal called forth three gentle breezes, carrying Zheng Fa towards the other "islands."

The first was the closest to the medicine garden.

"The shape of this plot..." Zhang spoke before they landed, "It seems to subtly match that medicine garden?"

Zheng Fa also looked closely at the edges of the "island" in front of him and slightly recalled the shape of the medicine garden they had just come from, and couldn’t help but nod.

Some ten courtyards stood before them.

There seemed to be a smell in the air, Zhang’s expression changed, as if she wanted to speak.

A beautiful light flashed from the silver seal, sweeping over the three of them, and the smell immediately dissipated.

"Zhang?"

"This place should be the site of alchemy in the Heavenly Palace," Zhang stated with a furrowed brow, "That smell from earlier must be medicinal materials or elixirs that have been left for too long, thus turning toxic. If it weren’t for this Silver Seal, we would be better off leaving immediately."

The three of them walked into a courtyard. This courtyard had only one exit, and within the main house there was a Pill Furnace, which was now empty.

The side rooms to the left held several rows of medicine shelves, which should have contained Spiritual Medicines, but now they’re all withered into fine lines of black.

The earlier smell was probably emanating from these substances.

The room to the right was filled with dozens of jade bottles and gourds, likely used for storing refined elixirs.

As expected, the jade bottles and gourds were empty, and the occasional leftovers appeared to have been inadvertently left behind, now eroded by time and thus unfit for consumption.

They moved on to other courtyards.

Inside, the scenes were fairly consistent, though some courtyards had collapsed Pill Furnaces and scattered gourds and jade bottles on the ground, suggesting that a struggle had taken place.

"It’s common for the alchemy rooms and Medicine Gardens to be in the same place."

Stepping out of the courtyard, Zhang suddenly spoke.

"So this Heavenly Palace was originally one entity?" Zheng Fa grasped Zhang’s meaning and said, "A great battle must have occurred here."

"Yes, judging from the state of this alchemy room, it seems the people here knew that danger lurked and had prepared to evacuate in time..."

The three circled around these courtyards once more, discovering nothing further.

They then proceeded towards other ’islands.’

The rest of the islands only resulted in greater disappointment.

These seemed like the caves of some powerful beings, yet they had long been deserted, leaving no treasures or secret manuals behind.

"Indeed, it seems these people must have evacuated ahead of time... which is why they left nothing behind."

"But what about that golden bell?"

Yuan was puzzled.

Zheng Fa understood her implication; the golden bell was clearly a valuable treasure. If one really had to flee, why not take it along?

"I’m not quite sure about this," Zhang pondered for a moment and said, "I think that it’s not that they didn’t want to take the golden bell with them, but rather they couldn’t."

Zheng Fa nodded, feeling that this speculation was quite plausible.

...

After visiting several ’islands,’ they came up empty-handed, which left Yuan looking somewhat bored.

The last island was the largest.

This was a grand yet dilapidated palace compound with around a thousand palaces, not a single one of them intact...

Collapsed palace walls were everywhere, jade columns shattered on the ground, broken into pieces of rubble.

"This appears to be the residence of the Heavenly Palace’s lord," Zhang said, "And possibly the site of the great battle."

The three made their way deeper into the palace compound.

Most of the palaces were bare, with nothing of value left behind.

Some palaces did contain a few Magical Treasures — but after being subjected to the erosion of time and lacking an owner’s nourishment, most had lost their luster and any remnant of power.

Having anticipated this after their earlier explorations, they weren’t disappointed and simply continued walking deeper inside.

Finally, they reached a palace at the very depths.

This palace originally was the largest, but it had suffered the most damage, leaving only its foundation.

While walking among the ruins, Yuan suddenly pointed to a corner of a courtyard wall and exclaimed, "What is that over there?"

Zheng Fa looked up. There, part of the courtyard wall, still standing more than one person tall, was shimmering with something.

Upon closer inspection, they saw two rows of green characters sparkling dimly, written on the wall with some unknown substance that had not only withstood the passage of time but also glowed faintly.

Zheng Fa took a closer look, only to confirm — he did not recognize these characters.

Or rather, he could only guess at their meaning.

"Zhang?"

"This is likely an ancient script from an era before the last epoch, one I have encountered in the records," Zhang explained, furrowing her brow. "Let’s see..."

She slowly started to recite:

"All beings are deluded and insufficient as a refuge. The Divine Tao serves as wedding attire, and the Heavenly Venerate is no longer oneself."

"Today Nine Nether..."

Zhang paused slightly in her tone, exchanging a look with Zheng Fa.

Nine Nether...

"Today Nine Nether wishes to open the grand path for Xuanwei, the gods obstruct, and I will slay them myself."

The two lines of text plunged Zheng Fa and Zhang into silence.

Even the usually oblivious Yuan asked hesitantly, "This Nine Nether, does it mean the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor?"

"It’s very likely..."

It’s not that others couldn’t be called Nine Nether.

But in this realm, a Heavenly Venerate should be exceptionally powerful. In the history of the Xuanwei Realm, how many Nine Nethers could have had the power to slay him?

The most probable is the current Nine Nether Demon Ancestor.

"Then... the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor... opening the grand path for all beings? Does that mean we’re out of a job?"

Yuan’s tone was filled with bewilderment.

Zheng Fa was somewhat at a loss for words — he had known before that the Demon Ancestor might not be the spokesperson of the old laws as he had once imagined.

This place now confirmed it.

And even... did the initial intentions of this Nine Nether Demon Ancestor and he, as well as Tianhe Venerable, not strikingly resemble each other?

But what about now?

Zheng Fa gazed into the heavens, pondering one thing — have these Demon Ancestors turned from dragon-slaying youths into dragons themselves, or has the youth died, leaving only the dragon alive?

Or perhaps, have the Demon Ancestors truly embarked on a different path?