I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 145: The First Lesson—What Makes a God

Xiao Qing’s learning progress was not ideal.

Though she was small in stature, she was already seventeen years old. Having never been exposed to education for over a decade, suddenly forcing her to study now…

It was indeed a bit too much.

Watching Xiao Qing’s head bobbing up and down under the divine statue, Zheng Fa stopped his lecture and turned to Senior Sister Zhang.

“Is my teaching… really that sleep-inducing?”

He had some teaching experience—after all, he had taught the Seventh Young Master before.

Oh, but the Seventh Young Master also loved to sleep…

This made Zheng Fa doubt himself even more…

Zheng Fa looked at Xiao Qing and couldn’t help but agree with Senior Sister Zhang’s words.

Teaching Xiao Qing first was actually a way for him to test how resistant the people of the Heavenly Monument Realm were to the “hypnotic effect” of knowledge.

And now, the results did not seem promising…

…

Down in the river valley, the land had already been tilled. Away from books, Xiao Qing was happily leading the women and children in sowing seeds everywhere.

The seeds came from various sources—

Wild vegetables picked from the mountains.

Wild rice pulled from the swamps.

Even some small trees that bore wild fruits.

Zheng Fa found it fascinating.

The Heavenly Monument Realm had no proper farmland, but that didn’t mean the people’s diet was limited. On the contrary, their food sources were incredibly diverse—they knew of over a hundred edible plants.

When Zheng Fa suggested planting food crops, the things they brought back even opened his eyes.

Later, he figured it out—

It was precisely because they had so little to eat that they were willing to try anything…

If they ate something and died, well, that was that.

If they didn’t die… their menu just expanded.

“Senior Sister…”

Watching as they planted all sorts of things, Zheng Fa sent a voice transmission to Senior Sister Zhang.

The next moment—

A blinding beam of light shot from the temple above.

The mountain where Half-Mountain City stood shone like a brilliant candle, illuminating the dark, overcast sky.

Xiao Qing looked up.

She saw a sky she had never seen before—a thousand miles of clear blue, without a single dark cloud.

She also felt a warmth she had never experienced before. The sun bathed her in its gentle rays, filling her with an inexplicable urge to cry.

Beside her, a slightly older woman groaned.

“Auntie?”

“I just…” The woman touched her knee. “I just feel like all the places that used to ache… they feel so much better now. This must be the Thunder God’s blessing.”

…

“Is that enough?”

Zheng Fa heard Senior Sister Zhang’s voice.

He focused his divine sense on the bronze seal and realized that when Senior Sister Zhang used the Rain-Stopping Thunder, she had done so in perfect alignment with the “weather forecast” on the bronze seal.

The difference was—

With his mere Foundation Establishment cultivation, Zheng Fa could only clear the skies over a small area.

But Senior Sister Zhang was a Nascent Soul genius!

Earlier, Xiao Yuying had worried about having too low a cultivation level to farm Heavenly Merit points efficiently…

Sure, Zheng Fa was only at Foundation Establishment.

But who didn’t have a diligent and reliable Nascent Soul Senior Sister?

Zheng Fa glanced at Senior Sister Zhang’s divine statue. At this moment, he could almost see the words floating above her head:

Heavenly Merit Points +1, +1…

Senior Sister Zhang seemed to understand his silence. She let out a soft laugh, a hint of pride in her tone.

Senior Sister Yuan couldn’t help but comment,

“Senior Sister Zhang, could you at least wait for Junior Brother Zheng to praise you before laughing?”

Zheng Fa quickly complied, “Senior Sister Yuan, your Heaven’s Tribulation Thunder was also really impressive!”

“Really? Then leave this matter to me, Junior Brother. You can rest easy!”

…

Zheng Fa watched the various plants in the valley as his divine sense, infused with spiritual energy, activated. A clap of thunder echoed across the sky.

Xiao Qing and the others in the valley jumped in fright.

This was the Spirit Wood Thunder—a technique Zheng Fa had just successfully experimented with in the modern world.

Even Senior Sister Zhang couldn’t master this lightning technique…

The main issue was that her control over lightning wasn’t delicate enough.

Rain-Stopping Thunder and Heaven’s Tribulation Thunder both required control, but their primary challenge was power—something that even a Golden Core cultivator like Senior Sister Yuan had in abundance, let alone Senior Sister Zhang.

However, the Spirit Wood Thunder was an extremely intricate technique. Aside from Zheng Fa, he suspected only his master in Jiushan Sect could execute it properly.

Three consecutive thunderclaps.

Zheng Fa’s eyes were fixed on the various plants in the valley, focusing on a few wild legumes.

Sure enough, one of the bean varieties began to slowly absorb spiritual energy—its transformation into a spiritual plant had begun!

“This… this is a spiritual plant?” Senior Sister Yuan asked in a daze. “Did we just cultivate a brand-new spiritual plant species?”

“I suppose so.”

Zheng Fa thought for a moment. It seemed that no one in the Xuanyi Realm had ever heard of this type of spiritual plant before.

“This was so simple… then why does the Qianhe Sect guard their precious Yellow Sprout Rice like some sacred treasure?”

Senior Sister Yuan’s tone was filled with frustration—she loved Yellow Sprout Rice. She had even considered getting her hands on some from Qianhe Sect to plant herself.

Of course, Qianhe Sect had refused to give her any.

Clearly, she was still holding a grudge over it.

“Could it be… that Qianhe Sect isn’t stingy, but rather, that Junior Brother Zheng is just too capable?”

Senior Sister Zhang understood the significance of those three Spirit Wood Thunder strikes better than Senior Sister Yuan. She turned to Zheng Fa and said,

“With this, you’ve essentially mastered a secret technique for cultivating spiritual plants…”

“Senior Sister, we have mastered a secret technique.”

Zheng Fa suddenly corrected her.

Senior Sister Zhang was silent for a moment before replying softly,

“Yes, we have.”

…

Half-Mountain City.

At home, Sister Hong was cooking. Her child, Bao’er, circled around her feet, staring at the fish soup in the clay pot and swallowing hungrily.

Ever since the weather cleared up, fishing was no longer a problem.

Even though there were only two women in the household, they could still eat fish every day—Bao’er had even grown taller. The mark on the wall showed that he had gained half a finger’s height since last time.

Thinking of this, Sister Hong couldn’t help but smile.

Suddenly, voices came from outside. She recognized Xiao Qing’s voice among them—she seemed to be saying something loudly.

Glancing at the clay pot, she called toward the inner room, “Mom, keep an eye on Bao’er and the fire. I’m going outside to take a look.”

“What’s going on?”

“Xiao Qing is here. She looks like she’s handling something. I’ll see if I can help.”

She stepped outside and saw Xiao Qing standing at the street corner, speaking to a gathered crowd.

“Lord Thunder God has decreed that from now on, all children between the ages of five and ten must go to the temple during the day.”

“To the temple?”

“What for?”

“Every day?”

The questions came one after another.

Sister Hong stood a little further away, listening closely.

This matter had nothing to do with her Bao’er—he was only one or two years old. But Lord Thunder God’s sudden order piqued her curiosity.

After all, Lord Thunder God had never liked people entering the temple before.

“Lord Thunder God says… they are to go there to study.”

“Study?”

These two words only confused the people even more.

“Study…”

The crowd exchanged puzzled glances. After a long silence, someone finally turned to Xiao Qing and asked, “Xiao Qing, tell me honestly… is studying a good thing or a bad thing?”

Xiao Qing’s face was filled with hesitation.

“G-Good… It’s a good thing!”

Seeing her expression, even Sister Hong, who was relatively close to her, wasn’t entirely convinced—let alone the others.

The crowd looked at each other but remained silent.

After a while, someone finally asked, “Then… will our children be able to come back?”

“Come back?” Xiao Qing was momentarily stunned before replying, “They’ll come back every noon!”

“As long as they can come back, that’s fine…”

The crowd didn’t ask anything else and soon dispersed.

…

The next day, Zheng Fa looked at the group of small children gathered outside the temple and found something very strange…

Why did they all have the expressions of warriors marching to their deaths?

And why did their parents look so reluctant, as if sending them off forever?

With a slight shift of his divine sense, the inner voices of the children filled Zheng Fa’s mind—

“Dad said I can’t cry… I can’t cry!”

“Lord Thunder God gives us fish! I have to make Lord Thunder God happy!”

“Mom! Mom! I’m scared!”

Occasionally, the thoughts of the parents would surface as well—

“Xiao Qing said they’ll be back by noon… so Lord Thunder God probably doesn’t eat children.”

“The kid might suffer a little, but… it’s Lord Thunder God, after all.”

“At worst, we’ll just have another one…”

Wait—what?! I’m just opening a school! I never planned on bullying children!

Zheng Fa turned to Xiao Qing—what exactly had she told them?!

Senior Sister Zhang chuckled and said,

“Junior Brother, these people don’t even understand what studying is. Some of them might even think you’re taking children for your own amusement… and yet, they’re still willing to send them here.”

Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment.

“I thought at first that, since they don’t understand, starting a school in the Heavenly Monument Realm would be extremely difficult. But I never expected…” Senior Sister Zhang’s tone held a trace of amazement. “That your authority over them would be this strong.”

Senior Sister Yuan chimed in, “Senior Sister, I told you, Junior Brother Zheng’s ability to attract people is simply unreasonable!”

Zheng Fa didn’t respond. Instead, he turned his attention to the bewildered children.

Compared to modern children—or even the children of the Xuanyi Realm—these kids seemed much more mature.

Some of them, understanding their parents’ concerns, had tears in their eyes but refused to cry.

They simply looked up at Zheng Fa’s divine statue, their expressions uneasy.

With a thought, Zheng Fa conjured a glowing screen in front of the statue. Words appeared upon it, and a deep, resonant voice rang out—

“From today onward, you will study with me and learn knowledge.”

The children remained silent.

It was clear they didn’t understand.

“I know you don’t understand now, but I want you to remember my words today…”

Zheng Fa paused. This first lesson made him a little nervous, but more importantly, he wanted to plant a seed in these children’s hearts.

“Starting today, you will learn how to think, how to observe the world, how to help your parents, and how to build Half-Mountain City.”

The children still looked confused, but they listened carefully.

“I have had many teachers and read many books,” Zheng Fa continued. “They have told me many wise things. But in the end, I know there are only three things they truly wanted to say. Now, I will tell you as well.”

“Learn from me.”

“Become me.”

“Surpass me.”

Zheng Fa’s voice echoed through the temple, repeating again and again, as if carving these nine words into the children’s minds.

“Senior Sister Zhang…” Senior Sister Yuan’s voice carried a hint of emotion as she whispered, “I finally understand now… why they would have come even if Junior Brother had intended to eat them.”