I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 173 Ten Thousand Years of Hardship, the Secret of Spiritual Plants

“Computation?”

Senior Sister Zhang had actually been a computer before.

She instantly understood what Zheng Fa was getting at.

Her brows furrowed as she sank into thought. After a while, she finally said, “To do that, we’d need to construct new circuits inside the True Form Talisman of Mountains and Rivers... I can’t do it. We’ll need to ask the Ancestor for help.”

By “Ancestor,” she meant the split soul of the original founder—now the Jiushan Ancestor.

Hearing this, Zheng Fa was delighted. Senior Sister Zhang wasn’t one to speak carelessly, so for her to say this meant there was likely a real chance.

Seeing the smile on his face, Senior Sister Zhang shook her head, “Don’t get your hopes too high just yet. I’ve only just started gaining some insights in this area.”

“No rush. I was thinking, maybe we should start by building the Administrative Hall’s task system we discussed before—that’d be simpler.”

On one hand, compared to actually developing artificial intelligence, this wouldn’t even count as a basic app—it was perfect for giving Senior Sister Zhang some practice.

On the other hand, this system was actually quite important—it was part of the new Jiushan Sect system he envisioned.

You could even say, it was a type of labor points system.

Senior Sister Zhang seemed to understand what he meant and nodded, “That’s simple enough. The tricky part is setting the values.”

“Senior Sister Zhang, do you think we should teach the theory of spiritual energy circuits to our fellow disciples?”

Zheng Fa asked hesitantly.

He had originally intended not to—

Not because he was being stingy, but because it seemed related to Soul Formation, and spreading it could lead to unpredictable consequences.

But if they were going to build the Jiushan computing platform, cultivating programmers was going to be important...

“Teach it, but not to everyone.”

“If you want to reform the Talisman Hall, I think it’s a great idea. But as for what to teach... I think you need to think it over. Don’t forget the time the Nine Nether Demon Ancestor broke into the Jiushan Realm and killed a Heavenly Venerate.”

“Also, the fact that the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor suddenly gave up the Great Freedom Heaven... that’s suspicious to me too.”

Clearly, Senior Sister Zhang had already been thinking about this and now just let it all out.

“For the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor to make such a huge sacrifice, there are only two possibilities—either a great opportunity, or a great crisis.”

“Neither of those... is good news for us.” She sighed. “Our Jiushan Sect has had plenty of conflict with them. If he got a great opportunity and became stronger, we’d be in more danger.”

“And if it’s a great crisis... if even he, with control over the Great Freedom Heaven, is afraid of it—can the Jiushan Realm escape it?”

“Junior Brother, don’t let the Jiushan Realm make you lose your caution.”

Zheng Fa was a little quiet.

He had a lot of ideas about the Jiushan Realm, and Senior Sister Zhang had clearly picked up on them.

Now she was reminding him to stay grounded.

Off to the side, Senior Sister Yuan seemed to understand as well, and looked at Zheng Fa with a hint of concern.

“Senior Sister Zhang, since our Jiushan Sect is its own realm, it’s actually pretty easy to keep secrets.” Zheng Fa smiled.

He really had thought this part through—just establish border control, simple as that.

But it reminded him of something else.

“Senior Sister, I was thinking—once Master and the others return, we should organize and catalog all the sect’s manuals and secret techniques.” Zheng Fa said thoughtfully, “I want to systematically compile our existing knowledge, and ideally create some categories.”

“Categories?”

“Foundational theory and practical applications,” Zheng Fa explained. “Foundational theory would include things like topology, the electromagnetism from Introduction to Thunder Techniques, and agronomy...”

“These things, we should try to make available to all disciples.”

“But on the other hand, research outcomes and applications developed from these theories... should have thresholds and resource requirements.”

“For example, spiritual energy circuits—I think that should count as a research outcome.”

“Or Master’s talisman formations, linked talismans, and so on... those would be applications.”

What Zheng Fa was really talking about was the distinction between science and technology.

He further explained his reasoning—he believed this kind of classification had two main benefits.

First, it would promote knowledge sharing, preventing an overreaction that might hold back Jiushan’s research progress.

Second, he wanted to offer better rewards to innovators—for example, he was even considering a patent system for things like Li Nuo’s Talisman Imprint.

And it would help prevent sensitive information from leaking.

Senior Sister Zhang thought for a bit and actually found no major issues. She looked at Zheng Fa with a confused expression, a bit baffled.

“Senior Sister?”

“You... how long have you been planning to become the Sect Master?”

“???”

...

“Zhenren Zheng... I’ve failed you...”

Standing before Sect Master Zheng was none other than his agriculture general—Zhenren Qian, the last remnant of the Qianhe Sect.

His face was full of misery and despair—he looked exactly like a widow in mourning.

Zheng Fa looked past him at the disciples he had brought.

All of them looked a bit disheartened, some even visibly dissatisfied.

“Zhenren Zheng... the three tasks you gave me, I couldn’t get anywhere with them.”

“We can’t yet experiment with Spirit Wood Thunder... we don’t have anyone skilled in thunder techniques.”

“That’s fine.”

Zheng Fa had already anticipated this—Spirit Wood Thunder wasn’t that simple. Currently, only he and another no-longer-relevant Sect Master could pull it off.

“We can teach agronomy, but we’re not sure what to teach. And as for cultivating new breeds...” Zhenren Qian hesitated, “I honestly didn’t know where the spiritual seeds of the Qianhe Sect originally came from... It was only after your instructions that I started looking into a few surviving records.”

“It turns out the seeds used by Qianhe Sect—including Yellow Sprout Rice—either came from ancient times in the Xuanyi Realm or were discovered by predecessors by accident...”

“Discovered by accident?” Zheng Fa asked.

“Yes, just planted generation after generation, and occasionally a few seeds would come out different. The elders would pick out those unusual ones.”

Zheng Fa immediately understood.

This was similar to the crop domestication process before genetic experiments.

“And now you want us to breed new varieties...”

Zhenren Qian didn’t say it out loud, but his face clearly read: We don’t have the skill for this, okay?!

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said, “Alright, three days from now, meet me at the medicine garden. I’ll teach you how to cultivate new breeds...”

Zhenren Qian froze for a moment when he heard that. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end kept quiet.

Watching him leave with his group of disciples, Zheng Fa knew—he probably had zero confidence in him.

And his silence was just a sign that he understood the times...

Zheng Fa, meanwhile, headed to the medicine garden.

The first thing he looked at was the Sun and Moon Bell floating mid-air. The Sun and Moon Bell had been in a standoff with Ancestor Blood River’s flying sword for quite some time now, and Zheng Fa hadn’t dared descend to the lower realm because of it.

In the past few days, the balance seemed to be tipping.

After all, the Blood River Ancestor’s sword was fighting on foreign ground, and its level was clearly lower than that of the Sun and Moon Bell. Eventually, it started losing steam.

Now it was being completely suppressed by the Sun and Moon Bell—its blood-black blade even showed traces of golden patterns, as if it had been tainted by the Sun and Moon Bell...

Zheng Fa looked at the sword, a flicker of hesitation in his heart—

He didn’t dare use the Reversed Five Elements Divine Light—after all, the Blood River Ancestor was still around, so how could he be so reckless?

But the flying sword? He wasn’t planning to let that go—

The Blood River Ancestor had nearly wiped out the Jiushan Sect.

More importantly, Zheng Fa was thinking long-term.

Right now, he had two high-grade magic treasures: one was the bronze coffin, the other was the flying sword.

Both had been generously donated by cultivators of the Great Freedom Demonic Sect.

With these two items, first, Zheng Fa wanted to probe the foundations of the Great Freedom Demonic Sect.

Second, he was also preparing for his Golden Core stage—after all, it’s widely known that one has to forge a life-bound magic treasure at that stage, and Jiushan Sect still had a lot of room to grow when it came to artifact refinement.

These two could serve as references.

The Sun and Moon Bell seemed to sense Zheng Fa’s arrival. It let out a soft hum, sounding pleased.

Zheng Fa swept a strand of Reversed Five Elements Divine Light across it.

The Sun and Moon Bell trembled twice, looking extremely satisfied. Responding to his thoughts, it shrank down and floated beside him.

Zheng Fa gently stroked the Sun and Moon Bell with his hand. Closing his eyes, his soul descended into Half-Mountain City in the mortal world.

“Little Qing.”

Inside the temple, Little Qing was idly doing nothing when she suddenly heard Zheng Fa’s voice.

“Lord Thunder God?”

“Relay my order: collect plants that look like this.”

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

“Yes!”

There were wild rice plants in the valley—Little Qing naturally recognized them. She quickly ran out of the temple and headed into the city.

And not just in Half-Mountain City.

Throughout the entire Jiushan Realm, in every remaining temple, the same order from Zheng Fa echoed...

Half a month later.

Little Qing placed several bundles of rice seeds wrapped in red cloth on the offering table of the temple.

The rice seeds were tied with red fabric, coarse but beautiful in a rustic way.

Behind Little Qing stood a crowd of Half-Mountain City residents.

Their eyes were filled with curiosity and confusion—they didn’t understand what Lord Thunder God intended.

But Zheng Fa said nothing.

He opened his eyes and looked at the Sun and Moon Bell before him. With a thought—

DONG!

DONG!

DONG!

The sound of the bell rang out from the medicine garden, spreading across the entire Heavenly Palace,

Then drifting from the Heavenly Palace into the mortal world.

“Look!”

Suddenly, shouts of amazement rose behind Little Qing. She frowned, clearly displeased—making a racket in the temple was disrespectful to Lord Thunder God!

But when she turned around, her mouth also fell open.

In the sky, a massive divine figure appeared—its face obscured, holding a golden bell that rang out in thunderous tones.

With each chime, birds scattered from the sky, clouds dispersed, and rain ceased. One after another, beams of light shot up from across the land, converging beneath the feet of that divine figure.

Little Qing looked up to see that above their own temple, a light pillar had also risen.

Within that pillar, the rice seeds on the offering table slowly floated upward, drawn by some unseen force, soaring into the sky and entering the golden bell.

“Lord Thunder God...”

Little Qing stared blankly, finally certain of the figure’s identity. Tears unknowingly rolled down her face.

The people behind her also dropped to their knees.

Not just in Half-Mountain City—the entire mortal realm bowed toward the heavens.

Many, many people were weeping...

To them, after countless generations of suffering, and generations of longing for divine grace...

Today, they finally saw real hope.

...

Zheng Fa looked at the dozens of new rice seed varieties that had appeared in the medicine garden and shook his head. He turned toward the flying sword, a trace of admiration in his eyes.

The Sun and Moon Bell had taken some damage from its battle with the sword. More importantly, it had allowed Zheng Fa to glimpse some of the deeper truths about the medicine garden—

He’d never known where the spiritual plant seeds in the garden came from, how they seemed inexhaustible.

But until now, with his level of power, he’d never been able to see through it.

During the battle between the Sun and Moon Bell and the flying sword, however, things were different.

Perhaps the strain had made it impossible to hide, and Zheng Fa discovered—

The Sun and Moon Bell was periodically collecting spiritual plants from the mortal realm!

So the previous divine civilization...

Had likely been built upon the Sun and Moon Bell’s harvesting.