I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 292Book 2: : The Modern Future, and How to Express Gratitude

Book 2: Chapter 292: The Modern Future, and How to Express Gratitude

Vol 2 Chapter 292: The Modern Future, and How to Express Gratitude

Leaving the smart crowd to their debates and arguments, Zheng Fa walked out of the nursing home, transformed into a streak of rainbow light, and arrived at the foot of Hongshan in an instant.

This used to be a village—Zheng Fa had been here before. Back when he and Tang Lingwu were scouting for suitable mountains, they had stayed at a guesthouse in this very village.

By now, the villagers had long been relocated. Word was, they got quite a bit of compensation—Old Bai still kept in touch with that guesthouse owner. Speaking of those relocated folks, their tone now even carried a hint of envy.

Especially after seeing that owner’s showy, extravagant social media posts...

Not to boast, but their sudden wealth probably had something to do with Zheng Fa. After all, relocating them had been part of keeping Hongshan secret.

Now, many of the village houses were gone, but the farmland outside the village hadn’t been abandoned. As far as the eye could see, from the foot of the mountain to the distance, it was neat and lush.

These days, this area had basically become the agricultural research base of the Hongshan Research Institute.

Agricultural research at Hongshan had always had two branches—spiritual and non-spiritual crops.

Spiritual crops were cultivated inside Hongshan, where spiritual energy was abundant and the growth efficiency was high.

Non-spiritual crops were handled by Elder Hou’s team. They used spiritual crops as breeding stock to develop high-yield, nutritious, and tasty new varieties that didn’t rely on a spiritual energy environment.

That was before. Now, things were different.

Ever since the Great Sun phenomenon and the Fusang Tree had become linked with the modern world, spiritual energy had started appearing outside of Hongshan!

The difference between inside and outside was now just a matter of degree—inside, the spiritual energy was dense;outside, it was only a thousandth—no, a ten-thousandth of that.

But that was already enough to transform Hongshan’s agricultural research system.

Walking along the field ridges, Zheng Fa soon saw a group of people standing in the fields.

Elder Hou was squatting in the field, seemingly inspecting the wheat ears.

Teacher Tian stood beside him, asking something in a low voice.

Tang Lingwu had her head slightly bowed, listening attentively.

Behind them was a group of agricultural researchers, murmuring among themselves.

Zheng Fa approached quietly, and none of them noticed.

He passed through the crowd and stood beside Tang Lingwu. She seemed to sense someone too close and, thinking it was just another researcher, stepped aside with a frown, only to glance over and see it was Zheng Fa. ＲἈℕÖꞖЁ𝙨

She quietly stepped back, shoulder-to-shoulder with him, and looked toward the field.

Seeing that Elder Hou and Teacher Tian were deep in discussion, Zheng Fa didn’t want to interrupt. He leaned toward Tang Lingwu and asked in a low voice, “How’s it looking?”

Tang Lingwu nodded slightly and brought her lips close to Zheng Fa’s ear, deliberately whispering, “Very good!”

Well, that level of secrecy wasn’t really necessary.

Still, her actions drew the attention of the other two. When they noticed Zheng Fa, Elder Hou broke into a laugh: “This Lingmai No. 1 is better than any variety we’ve studied before!”

His voice was loud and full of energy—nothing like the frail man who first arrived at the nursing home. He even leapt to his feet and strode up to Zheng Fa with vigor.

“That revised Jiushan Agricultural Canon you gave us saved us a ton of trouble! That Zhenren Qian is truly a genius!”

Elder Hou wasn’t just praising the newly bred Lingmai;he was also giving high praise to the revised Jiushan Agricultural Canon.

The original version was compiled by Elder Hou and modern agricultural scholars, based mainly on modern academic research, though it focused on spiritual plants.

But the revised version had much more—most of it added by Zhenren Qian’s team.

In terms of theoretical sophistication, they hadn’t yet reached the level of modern biology.

But in practical application, especially in spiritual plant knowledge, Elder Hou and his team couldn’t compare.

Especially after they had bred the Tranquility Bamboo and the Fusang Tree—if Jiushan Sect could claim top honors in any domain—

Then without a doubt, it would be Zhenren Qian’s team and their perfected Jiushan Agricultural Canon (Revised).

Even Head Seat Mingde, Zhenren Chengkong, and the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor could testify to that!

When Zheng Fa presented the revised Canon to the modern world, it was the first real fusion of Jiushan Realm and modern scientific technique.

You could even say—it was Jiushan Sect’s first technological feedback to the modern world!

And the result was the Lingmai No. 1 wheat right in front of them.

“Lingmai No. 1 yields up to 2,200 jin per mu, minimum 1,800 jin, with an average of 2,000 jin per mu!”

Zheng Fa had looked into domestic wheat yields—average was about 800 jin per mu, with high-yield areas reaching maybe 1,200.

This new wheat far surpassed that.

“In terms of nutrition, Lingmai No. 1 contains high protein, minerals, and other essential nutrients.”

“It even appears to reduce cardiovascular disease risk,” Elder Hou added, then paused, “though so far we’ve only done animal testing. Actual results need more human trials.”

They were cautious when it came to food.

Before any new species hits the market, they’d run the necessary human trials—but with high-level support, the process usually moved quickly.

“In terms of cultivation, due to the presence of spiritual energy, this variety isn’t picky—it adapts to most wheat-growing regions in the country.”

As he spoke, Elder Hou’s face broke into a radiant smile.

Even the agricultural research team behind him couldn’t hold back.

Some clapped, some gasped softly.

But most of their eyes landed on Zheng Fa.

Everyone understood what this meant:

China’s north eats wheat, the south eats rice. Though there were other staples, they weren’t mainstream.

Now, with the success of Jiushan No. 2 rice, and now Lingmai No. 1 wheat, Hongshan Research Institute had created high-yield, tasty, and nutritious versions of both major grains.

Back in ancient times, this would’ve been a miracle.

Even today...

“Food security…” Elder Hou couldn’t suppress the emotion in his voice. “We’ve been talking about food security for years—but why?”

“Because the memory of hunger runs deep.”

“Because global grain markets are too dominated by foreign traders… one sentence from them might mean thousands go hungry.”

“This is the most advanced age of science, yet there’s still famine in the world…”

Teacher Tian added, “It’s scary.”

Zheng Fa understood—same principle for people. The more one talks about safety, the more threats must exist.

For example, Zheng Fa felt fearless in the modern world, yet in the Xuanyi Realm, he still treasured the mundane.

“With these two varieties, our food goals far exceed just being ‘secure.’”

Zheng Fa turned his gaze to Tang Lingwu.

Grain—it was the most overlooked, yet most vital product in the world. The profits weren’t small either.

He handed the responsibility to Tang Lingwu.

Tang Lingwu nodded, “Jiushan No. 2 is already being distributed nationwide. Yield’s no problem.”

“If Lingmai No. 1 passes testing, it can hit the market as early as next year.”

She went on to report on Jiushan No. 2’s planting area, actual output, market price, and profit.

Though Zheng Fa had no interest in making money off this, the Jiushan Grain Company…

Let’s just say, with this month’s profits alone, they could demolish and rebuild this village several times over—and not just once or twice.

Tang Lingwu added:

“Some people have been targeting the seeds. Aunt Yang and her team caught a few.”

That wasn’t surprising. Zheng Fa and the others had anticipated it and had countermeasures in place.

One, of course, was catching them—like Tang Lingwu said.

The other was a standard move in the seed industry—Zheng Fa’s team only sold sterile seeds.

In simple terms: they controlled seed reproduction.

After hearing about the profits, Elder Hou and Teacher Tian exchanged looks—both clearly amazed—but didn’t interrupt. They kept listening to Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu.

“The money in the account…” Zheng Fa thought for a bit. Honestly, for him, modern money had little value. Keeping it in hand was basically pointless—to him, money was just a number now.

Frankly, he just wasn’t interested in it.

“First, buy whatever the research labs still need—help out with the purchases.”

He said to Tang Lingwu. Hongshan’s construction still relied on Team Leader Yang and government funding.

Zheng Fa wasn’t worried about tensions now, but with money in hand, he’d pay his dues.

Tang Lingwu nodded—no objections.

“Second, I want to give the people in the research institute bonuses and funding.”

“Pay them?”

Hearing that, Elder Hou frowned slightly, even a bit disapproving: “Director Zheng, being able to learn martial arts, and later even cultivation—that’s already enough. There’s no need.”

“Besides, no one in this nursing home is short on money.”

“I’m not doing this for now—it’s for the future.” Zheng Fa shook his head. “Right now, everyone here has already made their mark—they’re not hurting for money.”

“But in the future, when we train new talent, some may face financial difficulty. This money could help them focus on research.”

“And funding is necessary too.”

At this point, Zheng Fa’s tone held a touch of concern: “All the research projects here start with my ideas, then everyone studies them together.”

“That’s fine, but it may unintentionally suppress creativity and breed dependence.”

“In the future, if someone has an idea, they can apply for funding and resources to pursue their own project.”

That clarified things for Elder Hou.

The current research setup really was a bit autocratic—whatever Zheng Fa proposed, they researched.

But science often thrives on accidents. The more goal-oriented it is, the more likely it can go off track.

Seeing that he understood, Zheng Fa added:

“I brought in these brilliant minds—but don’t let them explore freely…”

“Wouldn’t that be a waste?”

With that logic, Elder Hou had nothing to oppose.

He just watched Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu walk away, then shook his head, his expression full of emotion—and relief.

“Elder Hou?”

“To be honest, I was worried before.”

Elder Hou thought for a moment and spoke honestly.

“Worried?”

“Director Zheng, he’s too young. Ever since he appeared on TV, his reputation, achievements, ability, and wealth have already put him at the top of the world.”

Teacher Tian was momentarily stunned, then suddenly realized.

Having worked closely with Zheng Fa, she’d vaguely sensed something, but hadn’t given it deep thought.

“You were worried… he’d get arrogant?”

“Yes.” Elder Hou smiled, frank and open. “Right now, I even know people who worship him at home like a god, offering daily prayers.”

“I ask myself—at his age, with his accomplishments, wouldn’t I think no one in the world could be stronger than me?”

“Wouldn’t I start thinking that the world should run by my word alone?”

“But he… still shows respect to others, reverence for science, and self-awareness.”

Elder Hou looked at the fields that had once haunted his dreams and said:

“Compared to that, this Lingmai No. 1… is nothing.”

“It was only a matter of time.”

…

Zheng Fa had no idea Elder Hou was singing his praises.

His generosity came from his own reflections—he’d noticed how much importance the Five Sects of Xuanyi placed on territory and population.

All of them seemed obsessed with establishing some kind of Dao Kingdom or Buddhist Paradise.

Zheng Fa still didn’t fully understand why, but... why couldn’t the modern world become his Dao domain?

By accident, he’d begun spreading Daoist teachings in the modern world, and now, without even realizing it, he had a uniquely stable, massively populated territory—billions strong!

As far as Zheng Fa was concerned now, the entire modern world… belonged to him!

How could he not give it his all?

Plus, money meant little to him, but the wisdom in these brilliant minds—now that was useful.

Take this for example—those brilliant minds had already helped Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation begin to take shape!

With the Jiushan Golden Core Method and the Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans, the principles weren’t hard.

What was hard, was figuring out how to map the structures of all things onto cultivation techniques—and memorize them.

As of now, the version of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation being developed at the nursing home had two parts:

The first part: Cultivation Method Transformation—which meant changing one's aura. This section was led by Cheng Yun’s team, built on the twelve Golden Core methods and recent research by Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang.

This part was relatively short.

But...

The second part was Non-living Matter Transformation—

This part was complex—because it relied on enumeration.

Even though non-living structures were simpler, there were practically infinite types. Parsing each one and simulating them via spell techniques was way harder than Zheng Fa had expected.

To put it bluntly:

Even with Zheng Fa’s super memory, staring at hard drives stuffed with structure models and spell diagrams, he could only think one thing—mental breakdown.

And those weren’t even complete. The team was still compiling more structures.

Seeing his pained expression, Old Bai suddenly remembered something, his eyes lit up, and he said, “Don’t you have that Jade Slip of Creation?”

Zheng Fa nodded lightly.

Using the Jade Slip to record these things wasn’t difficult. Later, he could just search it when casting spells.

The problem was...

“This method... is too complicated.”

He sighed to Old Bai, lowering his voice. “I can train it with the Jade Slip—but what about everyone else?”

He couldn’t help thinking of Senior Sister Zhang.

No matter how smart she was, memorizing all this seemed unrealistic.

So did that mean Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation was a solo act?

Even if he didn’t consider her—

Given Zheng Fa’s guess that a Dao Fruit needed widespread practice to gain strength, such a convoluted technique that no one else could learn would be a problem.

Tang Lingwu frowned for a moment, then seemed to think of something and said,

“There’s actually a workaround.”

“Hm?”

Zheng Fa looked at her.

“One way is to just memorize a few—like rock, water, those common and simple things.”

“In daily life, 80% of what we see is made from just a few materials.”

Old Bai’s eyes lit up and he clapped, “Little Lingwu’s sharp!”

Zheng Fa thought it was a great idea too. What Tang Lingwu meant was: Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation was too massive, so just make a simplified version. A beginner’s edition. Or a ‘lite’ version.

“That’s the simplified route. Another option...” Tang Lingwu smiled sheepishly. “Is to cultivate a type of spiritual vision—or a scanning method.”

“Like making a photocopy: scan first, then replicate.”

Zheng Fa’s eyes brightened.

He instantly got it.

If you couldn’t memorize, then whenever you wanted to transform, you’d just scan the target first using spiritual vision, then perform the transformation.

This was quite similar to how Zheng Fa had used the Five-Element Divine Light to analyze structures for Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation.

Right now, the Void-Seeking Spirit Eyes couldn’t yet resolve things at the atomic level—but this idea opened a path forward, one with enormous potential.

With this concept, to practice Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation, you only needed to grasp the core principles.

The method’s difficulty dropped dramatically, but its practicality skyrocketed!

Like Old Bai said—one turn of Tang Lingwu’s bright little mind, and she really had offered a game-changing idea.

If Senior Sister Zhang knew, she’d probably thank Little Lingwu too!

…

In the Xuanyi Realm, Zheng Fa walked into Senior Sister Zhang’s courtyard, his voice brimming with joy: “Senior Sister, I’ve made progress on Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation!”

Seeing her look up, Zheng Fa handed her a jade slip.

It contained the portion of the method developed through modern research.

Senior Sister Zhang held the jade slip in front of her and read it for a while. Spiritual energy surged around her, five-colored light blooming above her head like rosy clouds, casting a glow on her pale face that made her look like sculpted jade.

“This part on cultivation transformation… no problem.”

Zheng Fa immediately smiled. With her approval, Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend Transformation had officially taken its first step.

“You try it.”

“Huh?”

Zheng Fa glanced at the meditation cushion beside her, stunned. “Here?”

“Right here. I’ll watch you—to prevent any issues during practice.”

Well, that made sense. Hearing this, Zheng Fa sat down cross-legged on the cushion and, under her guidance, began channeling spiritual energy, slowly adjusting his technique and Golden Core.

After a while…

“Senior Sister?”

“You…”

Senior Sister, you really ought to thank Little Lingwu!

Then again…

Little Lingwu probably doesn’t care anyway.