Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 262 - 151: Conjectures About the Nature of Spirit Plants

Chapter 262: Chapter 151: Conjectures About the Nature of Spirit Plants

Zhang turned her gaze towards Zheng Fa’s expression, as if she saw through his joy, and inquired, "Is this secret technique very precious?"

Zheng Fa handed the jade tube he held over to her; Zhang’s divine sense swept through it, and she frowned slightly, her face spelling out two words: "That’s it?"

Zheng Fa could understand the skepticism in Zhang’s eyes. To tell the truth, there weren’t many techniques within the Qianhe Secret Skills—

After all, the Qianhe Sect was just a Golden Core Sect, and their specialty was Yellow Rice, so most of their secret skills were related to the cultivation of Yellow Rice:

What spells could increase the yield of Yellow Rice.

What concentrations of spiritual energy were more suitable for the growth of Yellow Rice.

From sowing to harvesting, they had a complete set of cultivation methods involving the selection of various spells and environmental requirements.

There were also techniques related to other spirit plants.

However, they were not systematic.

Zhang probably couldn’t understand why Zheng Fa was so happy—after all, to most people in the Xuanwei Realm, learning these things seemed to only result in knowing how to grow Yellow Rice.

Zheng Fa pointed at the jade tube and said, "This secret technique is nothing special; it has just resolved many of my doubts."

"What doubts?"

"Since I began researching Spirit Tree Thunder, I’ve had a suspicion..." Zheng Fa explained, "You probably also know, Zhang, that I have farmed ordinary crops on the farm, and generally speaking, their growth relies on the harmony of the right climate, land advantages, and human efforts."

"The right climate refers to the weather, and the land advantage obviously denotes whether your soil is fertile. As for human efforts, it largely means whether you know how to farm..."

"But Immortal Law is too magical... Some spells can actually make plants bloom and bear fruit directly; it seems like spiritual energy has changed these rules."

Zhang frowned, seeming not to quite grasp what Zheng Fa was trying to say.

"The problem is, past agricultural experience seems not to quite match the cultivation of spirit plants."

This problem, Zheng Fa thought of it in modern times—

For instance, when Zheng Fa used the Evergreen Talisman, he could promote the growth of most crops that were not spirit plants, which led to a phenomenon—the farming system of cultivators in the Xuanwei Realm doesn’t seem to rely on past agricultural experience because spirit talismans are too overpowered.

Spirit talismans being powerful is, of course, not a bad thing.

But the problem was that Zheng Fa found it hard to find an effective method to cultivate spirit plants, he could only rely on research on Spirit Tree Thunder, and then make observations.

This made the research very slow.

"But this Qianhe Secret Skills is different... It has raised some new questions for me regarding the cultivation of spirit plants:"

"Why does the season affect the production of spirit plants?"

"Why is the concentration of spiritual energy so important?"

"The most important question, what exactly is the difference between spirit plants and ordinary plants?"

Zhang rubbed her head, seemingly a bit overwhelmed, "Junior Brother, why not go talk to Yuan?"

"Isn’t she still evolving, fast asleep, unable to hear me talk?"

"Exactly, so she won’t get a headache listening to all your ’whys’."

...

Modern times, nursing home.

"These techniques..." Mrs. Tian looked at the Qianhe Secret Skills that Zheng Fa copied down, she gently furrowed her brow and then said, "Actually, they boil down to two points—"

"Uh?"

"Seasons, spiritual energy."

"For instance, choosing the appropriate spirit land, and preferably planting on a Spirit Vein, actually boil down to one issue—controlling the concentration of spiritual energy."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa nodded gently.

"You’re right, this is quite different from our agricultural system; we often have to consider sunlight, temperature, humidity, soil nutrients, and so on... But these techniques don’t really emphasize those, in the end, they just focus on these two points."

Old Man Bai nodded and said, "This is probably because the effect of spiritual energy is so strong that it has turned these factors into secondary ones."

"Then why is the season so important?" Tang Lingwu joined in from the side, "Zheng Fa, you said before, Spirit Tree Thunder might be related to the twenty-four solar terms... Why are the solar terms so important to spirit plants?"

This question confused even Tang Mudao.

Although he had just joined the nursing home, he knew the cultivation of spirit plants was very important to them—to say nothing of the fact that if they could grow spirit plants, their own cultivation would improve much faster.

"This matter... I have quite a... " As Zheng Fa spoke, he seemed a bit hesitant and not very confident, "Quite an outlandish idea."

"What idea?"

Seeing him like this, the other four couldn’t help but become curious.

Zheng Fa often has many ideas, but never once was he this hesitant.

Actually, he had this idea when in front of Zhang, but probably Zhang wouldn’t quite understand, so he didn’t mention it.

"You know, when we humans cultivate, we only consider two things — the density of Spiritual Energy and the Cultivation Technique."

Old Man Bai blinked, seeming to suddenly grasp his meaning, "Are you suggesting that a plant becoming a Spirit Plant is also a process of cultivation?"

"Exactly, to be precise, it’s a process of passive cultivation," Zheng Fa spoke softly, "The density of Spiritual Energy naturally goes without saying; it’s an essential condition for cultivation."

"But if we consider the Spirit Tree Thunder and the changes in the solar terms to be variations in the electromagnetic field..."

Zheng Fa said softly:

"Our human bodies are too complex, and our sensitivity to solar terms might not be that strong, but some plants may be more sensitive..."

"The external changes in the magnetic field lead to changes in the bioelectric current within these plants, Mrs. Tian, our own thinking is in fact related to neural electricity, or brainwaves, hence — I boldly hypothesize that this change in bioelectric current is actually a form of primitive thinking, or you could say, a Cultivation Technique..."

Mrs. Tian slightly furrowed her brow, "You mean, the twenty-four solar terms throughout the year actually represent twenty-four changes in ’thought’, akin to when we control the flow of Spiritual Energy during cultivation?"

"Right!" Zheng Fa said with a smile, "We talk about Circulation when cultivating, but in reality, the twenty-four solar terms are also natural periodic changes, year after year, twenty-four times per annum."

"This..." Old Man Bai also understood, "Are you saying that Spirit Plants are essentially plants that can cultivate? Only that this cultivation process could be seen as unconscious, influenced by heaven and earth?"

Zheng Fa nodded, glancing at the others.

He was actually not very confident about this conjecture — after all, there was no concrete evidence for this idea.

"This could explain many phenomena..." It was Mrs. Tian who spoke up, "For example, the discussion of spirit fields and Spirit Veins in the Secret Techniques, could actually be providing Spirit Plants with a better cultivation environment..."

"For instance, why Spirit Plants, apart from the condition of Spiritual Energy, don’t care much about other material conditions — this is just like us humans, who can Fast with cultivation."

"On the other hand, it also explains why we have only managed to create one type of Spirit Plant, the pea sprouts."

Mrs. Tian continued:

"First, this kind of cultivation itself is a process, such as us needing at least one complete Circulation in cultivation before Spiritual Energy accumulates within the Dantian, while for those plants, wouldn’t they require a combination of several kinds of Spirit Tree Thunders to create a Spiritual Energy structure within the cells? Pea sprouts can change with just one type of Spirit Tree Thunder, they are likely the exception."

"Second, perhaps the density of Spiritual Energy at our retirement home is not enough."

"There’s also another point, which is that perhaps some plants simply cannot grow into Spirit Plants," Old Man Bai chimed in, "This is like the part of humanity without the qualifications."

"Only, I don’t know how we could verify such a conjecture..." Tang Lingwu joined the conversation from the side.

"There is actually a way, the density of Spiritual Energy is restricted by the Spirit Mountain Technique, we can’t improve that," Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said, "But the changes in the magnetic field, we could actually simulate in the laboratory."

As he said this, the rest understood.

"Right!" Mrs. Tian nodded, "As long as we know how the magnetic field on the ground changes during the twenty-four solar terms...then we can simulate it."

However, Old Man Bai was not very optimistic.

"Growing Spirit Plants requires time...it will be hard to see effects with short-term simulation..."

Zheng Fa also felt somewhat helpless.

At this moment, he missed the large bell dearly...

"It will have an effect, at least it will verify Zheng Fa’s idea that Spirit Tree Thunder and the twenty-four solar terms are related," Mrs. Tian shook her head and said, "Even if it doesn’t produce Spirit Plants, we can still observe the changes in Spiritual Energy."

"I think it’s better for us not to hold such high hopes..." Old Man Bai was still opposing, "We’ve also been farming for almost half a year now, speaking of solar terms, we’ve already been through over ten, and yet, we haven’t seen any Spirit Plants."

This point was indeed valid.

From the beginning, Zheng Fa wasn’t very confident about this idea, and with Old Man Bai saying so, he also felt there was some truth to it.

Seeing everyone silent, Old Man Bai seemed to realize his words were too demoralizing and spoke up, "It’s not that I don’t want to try, but rather if this theory holds true, then we probably won’t cultivate any Spirit Plants in a short period of time..."

"Cultivation for people also requires time..."

He glanced at Zheng Fa and then said, "Did something happen to you?"

Zheng Fa paused, then realized why optimistic Old Man Bai would speak like this.

To be honest, the situation is putting a lot of pressure on Jiushan Sect, Master Tongming might not truly alleviate Jiushan Sect’s predicament — he naturally prefers control over the Heavenly Stele Realm.

The attitude toward Spirit Tree Thunder indeed became increasingly urgent.

It’s not that they are researching slowly, it’s that the situation truly grows more critical by the day.

Listening to Old Man Bai continue, "The experiments, we still have to do, just that I mean, don’t harbor too great expectations..."

Mrs. Tian also came to a realization: "Yes, the growth of Spirit Plants first needs time, also a corresponding density of Spiritual Energy, more importantly, not every type of plant can be cultivated into a Spirit Plant..."

Zheng Fa nodded slightly, acknowledging Old Man Bai’s reminder.

"However, how do we know about the intensity of the electromagnetic field on the ground on the days of the solar terms?" Tang Lingwu raised an overlooked issue.

Zheng Fa was taken aback; indeed — this data, without even checking, was known to be very obscure...

Beside him, Tang Mudao thought for a moment and suddenly spoke up, "I might have a way to figure this out!"