I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times
Book 2: Chapter 183: A Bit Too Self-Sufficient

Vol 2 Chapter 183: A Bit Too Self-Sufficient

Zheng Fa didn’t have time to play God—he was currently acting as protector for Tang Lingwu—she was about to break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

It had taken her almost a year to reach the fourth level, which wasn’t particularly fast or slow.

Compared to Zheng Fa reaching Foundation Establishment in less than a year, Tang Lingwu naturally couldn’t compare.

But compared to people like Han Qi, she was progressing pretty quickly—after all, she had a Single Spiritual Root.

If you considered the fact that the spiritual energy in the nursing home wasn’t exactly abundant—then Tang Lingwu’s effort was obvious.

Among the few people at the nursing home, Zheng Fa actually thought the most highly of Tang Lingwu:

She was simple-minded thanks to her privileged background, had high aptitude, and learned things quickly—if she were in the Xuanyi Realm, Martial Uncle Pang would be dying of envy.

Now, she was also the first to break through to the middle stage of Qi Refining.

Seated outside the cultivation chamber, Zheng Fa sensed the fluctuations of spiritual energy inside. Reaching out with his Divine Sense, he spotted Team Leader Yang leading two men up the mountain.

...

Team Leader Yang turned to the two behind her and said, “You two coming here shows the higher-ups trust you. But on the other hand, it’s also your opportunity.”

The two men exchanged glances, nodding, both looking a bit tense.

They’d been discussing things the whole way here, and the more they talked, the more uneasy they felt.

Just the idea of cultivation was enough to scare most people.

And now there was something about nuclear fusion too.

Science and superstition both flourishing—completely giving faith no room to breathe.

With Team Leader Yang repeatedly reminding them like this, they were only getting more nervous.

“You don’t need to be so nervous,” she said with a reassuring smile. “That Director Zheng really isn’t some bad-tempered guy. I just hope you two can try to help answer some of his questions.”

They exchanged another glance. This was probably a political mission... the higher-ups clearly valued this man far more than expected.

Their faces tightened even more.

After a while, the younger man asked, “Director Yang, do you think... I could learn cultivation?”

Team Leader Yang looked back at him and saw that even the middle-aged man beside him had a faint look of anticipation.

She nodded at them.

“What do I have to do then?” The young man’s eyes lit up, chasing the question, “Test my aptitude? A trial of temperament? Some kind of lucky chance?”

“Write a paper.”

“?”

“Not joking. You know Elder Hou, right? He wrote an agricultural overview under a spiritual energy environment—now he’s practicing some kind of Farmer Stance.”

As she spoke, Team Leader Yang even looked a little envious.

But Tang Mu Dao had also said—they were still refining the contribution system.

Even though she didn’t produce any research results, she was considered a liaison.

Later, she could probably get herself listed as a third or fourth author.

With steady accumulation, even academic freeloaders had a shot!

...

Zheng Fa stood waiting at the entrance of the nursing home’s main building for the three of them.

“Mr. Zheng!”

Seeing him personally come out to greet them, Team Leader Yang couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

Now she was sure—Zheng Fa had a soft spot for academics.

When Elder Hou visited last time, Zheng Fa had come all the way out to the gate to meet him.

She didn’t get that kind of treatment.

She silently took note of this to add to Zheng Fa’s intel file when she got back.

The higher-ups’ attention toward Zheng Fa was way beyond what anyone had imagined.

His profile had been growing thicker by the day.

What bugged Team Leader Yang the most was that even Zheng Fa’s old test papers were being collected and examined by a group of analysts.

They claimed a person’s handwriting revealed their character, and that you could read a personality from those tests.

She didn’t buy it.

But some of the analysis did hit the mark—

Zheng Fa was a bit averse to trouble, valued relationships, and had an intense passion for knowledge.

In some ways, he was more straightforward and easier to work with than any of her previous targets.

Lately, she’d even felt like working with Zheng Fa was genuinely pleasant—

He had a great personality, and her own position was highly influential; even a word from her could get attention up and down the chain.

That feeling... how could “serving a high-ranking old lord” even compare?

So whether it was personal or professional, she really didn’t want to upset Zheng Fa.

Thinking about that, she couldn’t help but regret it deeply—

Who would’ve thought that the relationship she had back in high school—the classes she skipped, the tests she didn’t take—

Would turn into an arrow years later.

Costing her Zheng Fa’s favor...

...

With the trio’s arrival, the Golden Core Project Seminar at the nursing home officially began in the main conference room.

The two newcomers sat in their seats, staring at the PPT at the end of the room—it was titled “Analysis of Twelve Golden Core Structures”...

Their minds went numb.

Wait, cultivation was this modernized?

Zheng Fa glanced at the two of them and began explaining the essentials, rationale, and key points of the twelve Golden Core types.

More importantly, he explained it all in a way the two could understand, replacing the original cultivation terminology with terms the room full of people could follow.

“Out of these twelve Golden Cores, I know the structure of eight.”

This was info Zheng Fa had gathered by interviewing four Nascent Soul cultivators from the Jiushan Realm, plus over ten Golden Core disciples.

He’d studied the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend within their cores. Even though he didn’t have modern testing tech, with Void-Seeking Spirit Eyes and basic density analysis, he could still confirm some of his earlier guesses:

Heavenly Gang Qi was composed of lighter atomic nuclei.

Earthly Fiend Qi, on the other hand, had very heavy nuclei.

Beyond that, he’d consulted with his master and others about how Golden Cores operated.

His master’s Shenxiao Golden Core confirmed something for him—that the Golden Core process did involve both fusion and fission.

But each person’s core produced different products, likely due to their differing cultivation methods.

If he’d talked about Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Qi or spiritual energy circulation, these two probably wouldn’t understand a thing.

But thanks to translations by Zheng Fa, Old Bai, and others, he’d even drawn several process diagrams of Golden Cores.

Then the two finally got it—that was one of Old Bai’s major roles these days, more like part of a translation team.

After Zheng Fa finished, he looked at them expectantly.

“Director Zheng,” the middle-aged man thought for a bit and said, “I don’t have a definite answer to your question yet—but I think you know, a hydrogen bomb also uses both fusion and fission.”

Zheng Fa nodded.

They had already guessed that.

But deep down, he wasn’t satisfied with that explanation—

Hydrogen bombs used fission to power fusion, sure, but based on his diagrams, spiritual energy seemed capable of sustaining fusion on its own, no need for fission.

Yin-Yang Fusion was exactly like that.

Besides, Zheng Fa had always believed—cultivators didn’t form Golden Cores to generate energy.

At that moment, the younger man spoke up.

“Well, Director Zheng, earlier you said you didn’t get why a Golden Core would generate energy—but what if it’s material instead? Looking at these diagrams, the resulting particles seem different—there might be variations.”

“Material?”

Zheng Fa blinked.

Then suddenly turned to Tang Mu Dao.

Tang Mu Dao slapped his thigh, face full of regret: “I actually got stuck thinking about controlled fusion! Isn’t this cosmology? This stuff can produce all kinds of particles too!”

Zheng Fa shook his head—he’d seen “fusion” and instantly thought of nuclear reactors, but really—this was the process that birthed the universe.

The early universe started as quark soup, then fused step-by-step, producing all kinds of matter.

Which meant, through this most fundamental reaction, you could generate a whole universe!

Old Bai got it too. He summed it up: “So you’re saying, the Golden Core is actually a particle generator?”

Tang Mu Dao nodded. “That also explains why there are two modes of reaction—materials heavier than iron are hard to make via fusion, but much easier through fission.”

“So—what are the Golden Cores generating matter for?”

Old Bai frowned.

“Probably has to do with forming a Nascent Soul...” Zheng Fa said while thinking, “I just didn’t expect that in the so-called ‘Soul Formation’—the particles are actually self-produced...”

It was honestly kind of speechless.

He knew the Xuanyi Realm ran on a small-scale economy, all about self-sufficiency, but this... even this had to be self-produced?

Way too self-sufficient.

But on the flip side, that was probably also why a cultivator underwent a fundamental transformation starting from the Nascent Soul stage.

The new particles created by the Golden Core made up the Nascent Soul, and even became the vessel for Soul Formation later on—it was basically an evolution of life itself.

“What’s your name?”

Looking at the slightly dazed young man, Zheng Fa asked kindly.

The young man looked up, staring blankly at Zheng Fa, then turned to see Team Leader Yang watching him with envy.

Did this mean... he just got himself a heavenly favor?

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