Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 104 - 10 Carrot

Chapter 104: Chapter 10 Carrot

Zheng Fa felt he had been schemed against.

He looked at Senior Sister Zhang, always feeling that the smile on her face was somewhat wicked.

Senior Sister Zhang seemed like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, looking somewhat deserving of a beating.

"This Cultivation Technique... Does Senior Sister have it too?"

"I won it from a bet," Senior Sister Zhang said candidly, "Only after I saw it did I understand why Master Pang says he never loses a bet."

"Why?"

"Because practicing this Cultivation Technique requires a spiritual material called thousand-year-old purple bamboo tears." Senior Sister Zhang tossed the jade tube to Zheng Fa: "In the entire Jiushan Sect, only Master Pang has a thousand-year-old purple bamboo plant, and as for trying to buy it in the workshop—let alone it being expensive, this spiritual material is also extremely rare, I didn’t manage to buy it either."

"..."

Zheng Fa catching the jade tube was also speechless.

The top echelons of the Jiushan Sect are all about scheming!

If I really agreed to Master Pang, obtaining the ’Void Spirit Eye’ without spiritual material would be a wasted effort, wouldn’t it?

"I’ve also studied this Cultivation Technique for some time now," Senior Sister Zhang shook her head and said, "With my knowledge, I also find this Spirit Eye Technique extremely mysterious and very suitable for a Talisman Master’s cultivation, it should be very useful to you. But to master it, you absolutely can’t bypass the thousand-year-old purple bamboo tears."

Zheng Fa fell silent, but he wasn’t too disappointed in his heart.

"No wonder Master Pang specifically chose this Cultivation Technique as a gambling stake," Senior Sister Zhang shook her head, "He wanted me to exchange the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ for his thousand-year-old purple bamboo tears, he really puts great effort into Junior Zhou."

Zheng Fa was somewhat confused.

"I was a bit hesitant at first," Senior Sister Zhang looked at him and said: "But exchanging two people’s amounts, it indeed could be considered. The prerequisite is that you must practice the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ well."

"Ah?"

"He wants Master Pang to test the goods."

"..."

"Otherwise I can’t arbitrarily set a high price."

"... ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ can double the speed of cultivation," Zheng Fa said puzzledly, "Is such a powerful technique really not tempting to Master Pang?"

"Double?" Senior Sister Zhang looked puzzled, looking at Zheng Fa, "Who said practicing the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ can double the cultivation speed?"

"After I condensed the Right Stand No Shadow Talisman, I found that my cultivation speed increased by a tenth, wouldn’t ten such talismans double it?" Zheng Fa said surprised.

Did he think too optimistically?

"..." Senior Sister Zhang looked at Zheng Fa, remained silent for long before finally saying softly, "When I condensed my first Primordial Talisman, the speed of cultivation only increased a little, not even half of a tenth. Even after establishing the Primordial Spirit Dao Foundation, the speed only increased by thirty percent."

Her expression was complex—if Zheng Fa had to translate it, it could only be—

Was there anyone more capable of exploiting loopholes than herself?

"..." After some thought, Zheng Fa had an epiphany; it still came down to his own divine soul being too strong, attracting more corresponding talismanic diagrams—even a genius like Senior Sister Zhang wouldn’t surpass him in this aspect.

"You keep practicing!" Senior Sister Zhang clapped her hands and told Zheng Fa, "I’ll ask Master Pang for more thousand-year-old purple bamboo tears."

"What if Junior Zhou couldn’t achieve the same level of progress as me?"

"Did you lie? Can’t the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ double your cultivation speed?"

"No, but I reckon Junior Zhou probably won’t achieve this effect," Zheng Fa was a bit worried about how Master Pang might react if he found out they were falsely advertising.

"Then he’s foolish."

"..."

"Remember, a genius needs no explanation. If they can’t do it, it’s because they aren’t sufficiently genius."

Senior Sister Zhang said with experienced tone, patting Zheng Fa on the shoulder, "You practice well, let’s earn a big batch of spiritual material from Master Pang!"

Zheng Fa felt something was off, I’m the one practicing, and you’re making money?

Not to mention, you’re relying on me planting this carrot myself?

"So, Senior Sister, you..."

"Dare you bargain with Master Pang?" Senior Sister Zhang asked.

"I dare not."

...

Modern day, at Old Man Bai’s home.

Zheng Fa and the three of them sat around the desk.

The ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ Zheng Fa had transcribed was on the desk.

The first group study session of the Cultivation Study Group began!

Underneath Old Man Bai’s eyelids was all bluish black, yet his face was filled with anticipation.

Tang Lingwu’s beautiful eyes also flickered with a hint of excitement.

Zheng Fa could understand their emotions—after all, it’s about cultivation!

But after the two of them finished reading the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’, Old Man Bai’s face fell.

"That’s it?"

"That’s it," Zheng Fa nodded lightly.

"It’s too little, can’t make out much from it."

Old Man Bai placed the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ on the table, seeming to feel it was a letdown.

Zheng Fa very much agreed with him; this technique was initially conceived by the Jiushan Ancestor on a whim and preliminarily refined by Senior Sister Zhang.

Not like the other cultivation techniques of the Jiushan Sect, such as the ’Chi Xiao Technique,’ which had been passed down generation after generation, with extensive annotations and analysis.

The ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ in total was only a little over a thousand words.

"It is indeed too little." Zheng Fa slowly nodded, "Many questions aren’t clearly explained."

"Why do the talismans exhibit the characteristics of the Yin Yang Five Elements?"

"More importantly—why is it feasible to establish the Primordial Talisman Foundation with the concept of the Yin Yang Five Elements?"

This was his most direct confusion after obtaining the ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method.’

To Senior Sister Zhang, being a person from the Xuanwei Realm, using the Yin Yang Five Elements to explain talismans was very normal and didn’t require much questioning.

But it was not the same for Zheng Fa—modern education forced him to ask a few more whys.

"... Still can’t tell now." Upon hearing Zheng Fa’s questions, Old Man Bai thought about it and also said with a frown, "The sample size is too small; we must look at other talismanic diagrams."

Senior Sister Zhang only needed to experiment with her own Primordial Spirit Dao Body.

But the three of them had to consider more.

Firstly, whether the Yin Yang Five Elements categorization method was feasible, whether all talismanic diagrams could be classified this way, and then to explore their essence.

"Best to use a computer." Old Man Bai glanced at Zheng Fa and said this before shutting his mouth.

Zheng Fa understood his meaning. To handle such a large amount of data, a computer was the best choice—but this meant exposing the secrets of cultivation to another person.

"But the person who wrote this ’Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method’ indeed confirmed a suspicion I had before," Old Man Bai suddenly said. "Those Primordial Talismans you showed me before—there were too many."

"?"

"If they can be classified by Yin Yang Five Elements, then most likely, Primordial Talismans are still not the most essential thing of talismanic diagrams."

"Primordial Talisman can be divided?"

"Yes, that’s the most straightforward explanation." Old Man Bai nodded.

This was also one of Zheng Fa’s guesses—but now the question was how to verify this guess.

After discussing, the three of them still felt that to solve this problem, they, of course, had to rely on topology.

On the other hand, to handle such large data, they still needed someone who understood computers.

As the three were talking, Zheng Fa watched as Old Man Bai’s head nodded bit by bit.

"What’s wrong with you? Didn’t sleep last night?" he asked curiously.

"...I was engrossed in studying and slept late," Old Man Bai explained as he rubbed his face with both hands.

Seemingly embarrassed about nodding off while studying, he shifted the blame: "Also, this thing—it’s boring, just makes one want to sleep!"

He pointed at the "Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method" on the table.

"Boring?"

"Was that human body electric generation you showed me before more exciting?" Old Man Bai curled his lip and said, "Bioelectricity, magnetic field rotation, a punch to burst stars!"

"Wait, what were you studying last night?"

Zheng Fa felt something was off and glanced suspiciously at the old man.

"Cough cough, comics!"

"..."

"I noticed you were electrifying and thought you were showing us those things, got curious, and searched online," Old Man Bai confessed somewhat sheepishly. "Don’t mention it, those comics are pretty good!"

"You’re quite trendy!"

"That’s right!" Old Man Bai threw back his head proudly, then a bit dissatisfied, he continued, "And then look at the stuff in this book, drawing after drawing all these talismanic diagrams, not fancy at all!"

"..."

Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu; Tang Lingwu also wasn’t nodding off but her expression wasn’t as excited as before.

After all, reading a "Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method" was indeed a lonely affair for them.

"How about you electrify me again?" Old Man Bai suddenly said hopefully, "Let me experience the magic of cultivation again?"

...I suspect you’re using the name of cultivation to satisfy some unspeakable hobbies of yours.

But Zheng Fa knew what Old Man Bai meant—they had some more beautiful and magical imaginations about cultivation, and it certainly wasn’t just a mundane book.

Simply put, the carrot wasn’t enticing enough, and the donkey was considering striking.

Zheng Fa had a thought, and the Right Stand No Shadow Talisman inside his Dantian gently trembled.

"Huh?"

Old Man Bai and Tang Lingwu watched as Zheng Fa, who had been sitting next to them, suddenly vanished, leaving only an empty chair.

"Zheng Fa?"

Old Man Bai shuddered, completely waking up.

Tang Lingwu’s eyes emitted a curious sparkle, her fingers reaching towards where Zheng Fa had been sitting, touching here and there.

"You can’t touch this!"

Zheng Fa revealed his figure, holding Tang Lingwu’s fingers in terror, looking helplessly at her flushed face.

This sister, why does it seem like her curiosity is a bit too strong?

"Zheng Fa! This is..."

"What you called boring."

"How is it boring?"

"It’s not as fancy as the comics."

"Not fancy, but it’s practical!" Old Man Bai exclaimed excitedly: "When I was young, I always thought how great it would be to be invisible!"

"How would that be great?" Zheng Fa watched Old Man Bai, who seemed too excited.

"When I was young and poor! I thought about being invisible and going to the other side of the ocean, becoming a big thief!" Old Man Bai fell into a fantasy: "What about bank vaults, wouldn’t they be at my mercy?"

"To the other side of the ocean?"

"Of course, and definitely not inside our country!"

Zheng Fa’s tone was a bit complex: "You want to be an outlaw beyond the law, but still quite patriotic."

"Actually..." Old Man Bai’s face turned red, suddenly a bit embarrassed: "Back then I was young and not married... you know, young people have vigorous energy. I also thought, if I could be invisible, would go to the women’s bathhouse..."

Tang Lingwu’s eyes widened in shock as she instinctively moved her chair further away from Old Man Bai.

"I was just thinking!"

"Bathhouses on the other side of the ocean?" Zheng Fa asked.

"In our country! What’s there to see in the foreign ones!"

Zheng Fa nodded earnestly: "You are indeed quite patriotic."

...

Slap!

Tang Lingwu threw her bank card on the table.

"I want to learn this!" Her eyes gleamed.

"You also want to sneak into bathhouses?"

Zheng Fa was startled; this person doesn’t seem to lack money, right?

"Sometimes, I just want my mom not to see me..."