Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 287 - 173: Ten Thousand Years of Hardship, The Secret of the Spirit Plant

Chapter 287: Chapter 173: Ten Thousand Years of Hardship, The Secret of the Spirit Plant

"Computation?"

Zhang understood Zheng Fa’s idea immediately as she had really dealt with computers before.

She frowned slightly, lost in thought, and after a while, she began to speak, "This matter requires creating new circuits within the Mountain and River True Form Talisman... I am not capable; we must ask the Ancestor for help."

The ’Ancestor’ she mentioned refers to the divided spirit of the original Ancestor, the current Jiushan Ancestor.

Hearing this, Zheng Fa felt joy in his heart. Zhang was not one to speak without certainty; there might indeed be a good chance of success.

Seeing the smile on his face, Zhang shook her head and said, "Don’t get your hopes too high at the beginning, I have just grasped some understanding of this aspect."

"No rush, I think it might be simpler to start with the Affair Hall task system we discussed earlier," said Zheng Fa, who had his own reasons for this suggestion.

On one hand, compared to actually creating artificial intelligence, this was nothing more than a minor app—a good practice for Zhang.

On the other hand, it was indeed an important matter, as it was an integral part of the new Jiushan Sect system envisaged by Zheng Fa.

It could even be considered a work credit system.

Zhang also seemed to understand his meaning and nodded, "This is simple, the most important aspect is actually the setting of the values."

"Zhang, do you think we should teach the spiritual power circuit theory to our fellow disciples?" Zheng Fa hesitated to ask.

Previously, he actually did not want to teach it—not because he cherished his own wisdom, but because it seemed related to Divinity Transformation and the consequences of spreading it were unpredictable.

However, if they wanted to build a Jiushan computational platform, then cultivating programmers was very important...

"Teach, but not everyone should learn it."

"You want to reform the Discussion Talisman Pavilion, I think it’s a good idea, but as to what to teach... I think you must consider it further, don’t forget the incident where the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor barged into the Jiushan Realm and struck down a Heavenly Venerate," she said.

"Moreover, the sudden withdrawal of the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor from the Great Freedom Heaven also makes me doubtful..."

Zhang seemed to have thought this through, unleashing many of her ideas at once.

"Only two possibilities could make the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor make such a sacrifice: a great opportunity or a great crisis."

"Either of these... bodes ill for us," Zhang sighed lightly, "Our Jiushan Sect has many conflicts with him. If the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor gains an opportunity and grows stronger, we become more endangered."

"If it’s a great crisis... even the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor, who possesses the Great Freedom Heaven, is scared of it, can the Jiushan Realm avoid it?"

"Little brother, do not lose caution because you have the Jiushan Realm."

Zheng Fa was somewhat silent.

He had many thoughts about the Jiushan Realm, and it seemed that Zhang had noticed.

Now she was giving him a reminder.

Yuan, who was next to them, seemed to understand as well and looked at Zheng Fa with concern.

"Zhang, our Jiushan Sect is a world of its own, and it’s quite easy to keep secrets," Zheng Fa said with a smile.

He had truly considered this – why not implement immigration control?

However, something else occurred to him.

"Sister, when our Master and uncles return, I plan to organize and classify the Sect’s scriptures and secret techniques," Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said, "I want to systematically summarize our existing knowledge, preferably with a clear categorization."

"Categorization?"

"Basic theories and practical applications," Zheng Fa explained, "Basic theories, such as topology, such as the electromagnetism in this ’Introduction to Thunder Skills’, such as agriculture..."

"These should be as openly accessible to all disciples as possible."

"On the other hand, some research findings and applications derived from these basic theories... need certain thresholds and resources."

"For example, the spiritual energy circuit, I think, should be considered a research finding."

"For instance, our Master’s talisman formations, the Consecutive Talisman Skill, and so on... all count as applications."

What Zheng Fa was discussing was essentially the difference between science and technology.

He further explained his idea; such a categorization had two benefits in his view.

On one hand, it facilitated the spread of knowledge, ensuring the scientific progress of the Jiushan Realm would not be impeded for fear of consequences.

On the other hand, Zheng Fa also wanted to offer more rewards to those innovators – like Li Nuo’s talisman, he was even thinking of something like patent rights.

It could even prevent some sensitive knowledge from spreading out.

Zhang thought for a while and actually found no major issues with the idea. She looked at Zheng Fa, her eyes filled with puzzlement and incomprehension.

"Sister?"

"How long... do you plan to be the Sect Leader?"

"???"

...

"Master Zheng... it’s my incompetence..."

Standing before Master Zheng was his agricultural champion, the surviving widow of Qianhe Sect, Master Qian.

He looked sorrowful and mournful, no different than if his spouse had died.

Zheng Fa looked past him.

The disciples he brought with him all appeared a bit disheartened and somewhat reluctant to accept the situation.

"Master Zheng... I don’t know where to begin with the three tasks you assigned me."

"We can’t experiment with the Spirit Tree Thunder right now... we don’t have anyone proficient in Thunder Skill."

"That’s not a problem."

Zheng Fa had anticipated this as the Spirit Tree Thunder was not that simple; probably only Zheng Fa and another unimportant Sect Leader within the entire Jiushan Sect had this ability right now.

"We can teach agriculture, but what exactly to teach... we are not sure. And about cultivating new species..." Master Qian hesitated before saying, "I really didn’t know where the Qianhe Sect’s spirit seeds, including the Yellow Rice seeds, came from before... It was after you gave the order that I went to look through some remaining scriptures."

"It turns out that the seeds of Qianhe Sect, including those of Yellow Rice, had either been passed down in the Xuanwei Realm or were discovered unintentionally by our predecessors..."

"Discovered unintentionally?" Zheng Fa asked.

"That is, through generations of cultivation, sometimes a few seeds would differ from the others, and our ancestors would pick out these anomalies."

Zheng Fa understood immediately.

This was similar to the process of agricultural domestication before genetic experiments.

"Nowadays, Master, you want us to cultivate new species..."

Master Qian didn’t say a word, but his face might as well have been written with the words: We don’t have that capability, you know!

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said, "In three days, come to the Medicine Garden, and I will teach you how to cultivate new species..."

Upon hearing this, Master Qian was stunned, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, he did not.

Watching him leave with a group of disciples, Zheng Fa knew, in his heart, Master Qian probably lacked confidence in him.

It was mainly because of a clear view of the situation that they chose not to speak...

Then Zheng Fa himself went to the Medicine Garden.

His first sight was the Sun and Moon Clock floating mid-air. The Sun and Moon Clock and the flying sword of Blood River Ancestor had been in a stalemate for a long time, making Zheng Fa dare not rashly descend to the lower realm.

In the past few days, it seemed as if a winner started to emerge between them.

After all, the flying sword of Blood River Ancestor was on away turf, and its level was clearly inferior to the Sun and Moon Clock, so as the fight continued, it became more subdued.

Now it was being crushed and tormented by the Sun and Moon Clock, the blood-black blade even showed some golden lines, as if it had been tainted by the Sun and Moon Clock...

Zheng Fa looked at the flying sword, his heart full of hesitation—

He didn’t dare to use the Positive and Negative Five Elements Divine Light; after all, Blood River Ancestor was still there. How could he dare to be so reckless?

But there was no way he was going to let that flying sword go—Blood River Ancestor nearly obliterated the Jiushan Sect.

More importantly, he was considering the future.

He now had two high-level Magical Treasures in hand: one was that bronze coffin, and the other was the flying sword.

Both were the devoted offerings of cultivators from the Great Freedom Demon Sect.

Using these two objects, firstly, Zheng Fa wanted to probe the depths of the Great Freedom Demon Sect.

The second reason was to prepare for his own Golden Core Stage—when forging the Lifebound Magical Treasure is required, it is well-known that the Jiushan Sect has much room for improvement in Artifact Refining.

These two objects could serve as references.

The Sun and Moon Clock seemed to sense Zheng Fa’s arrival, humming softly as if in joy.

Zheng Fa swept a beam of Positive and Negative Five Elements Divine Light over it.

The Sun and Moon Clock shook lightly twice, looking extremely satisfied. Following Zheng Fa’s thoughts, it whirled and shrank, coming to rest beside Zheng Fa’s hand.

Zheng Fa stroked the Sun and Moon Clock with his hand, eyes closed, and his Divine Soul descended into Half Mountain City of the mortal world.

"Xiaoqing."

In the temple, Xiaoqing was idly by when she heard Zheng Fa’s call.

"Lord of the Thunder God?"

"Execute my command and collect plants of this kind."

A light screen appeared in the temple, displaying various types of rice.

"Yes!"

Wild rice could be found in the valley, and naturally, Xiaoqing recognized it. She hurriedly ran out of the temple and went towards the city.

But it wasn’t just Half Mountain City.

In every surviving temple throughout the Jiushan Realm, the same command from Zheng Fa was heard...

Half a month later.

Xiaoqing held several bundles of red rice seeds, laid out on the offering table of the temple.

The rice seeds were tied with red cloth and possessed a kind of coarse beauty.

Behind Xiaoqing was a dense crowd of Half Mountain City residents.

Their eyes were filled with curiosity and confusion, not knowing what Lord Thunder God intended to do.

But Zheng Fa did not say anything. He opened his eyes and looked at the Sun and Moon Clock in front of him, his mind moved.

Dong!

Dong!

Dong!

The sound of the bell resonated from the Medicine Garden and spread throughout the Heavenly Palace,

Then drifted to the mortal world from the Heavenly Palace.

"Look!"

Suddenly, a series of exclamations came from behind her, and Xiaoqing, frowning slightly, felt a bit displeased—making noise in the temple, was a bit too disrespectful to the Lord Thunder God!

But when she turned her head, her mouth dropped open in shock too.

The sky was filled with the enormous phantom of a divine being whose face could not be seen, holding a golden bell, the sound of which resonated ring after ring.

Within this sound, the birds in the sky scattered in alarm, the clouds dissipated, the rain vanished, leaving only beams of light rising from various places, converging under the feet of the divine being.

Xiaoqing looked up to see a column of light above her own temple’s roof.

Within the column, the rice seeds on the offering table seemed to be drawn by something, slowly rising and flying up into the sky, falling into the golden bell.

"Lord Thunder God..."

Xiaoqing, dazed, finally confirmed the identity of the divine figure, not knowing why tears began to flow from her eyes.

The people all knelt to the ground.

Not just in Half Mountain City, but all mortals in the lower realm bowed towards the sky.

Many, many of them cried until their faces were drenched...

For them, it represented the suffering of many generations, the long-expected hope in the gods...

Today, they finally saw a tangible, real hope.

...

Zheng Fa looked at the Medicine Garden, now with dozens of newly added different rice species, shook his head, and then turned to look at the flying sword, his eyes showing some appreciation.

The Sun and Moon Clock had been damaged in the battle with this flying sword; more importantly, it allowed Zheng Fa to see through the facade of this Medicine Garden—

Before, he had no idea where the Spirit Plant seeds in this Medicine Garden came from, and how they seemed inexhaustible.

But with his abilities, he couldn’t see through it in the past.

But as the Sun and Moon Clock battled the flying sword, perhaps unable to maintain its disguise, Zheng Fa discovered—this Sun and Moon Clock was actually periodically collecting Spirit Plant from the mortal world!

The previous Divine Tao civilization... was probably built upon the exploitation by the Sun and Moon Clock.