I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 314Book 2: : More Orthodox Than Orthodox, Clients from Heaven
Vol 2 Chapter 314: More Orthodox Than Orthodox, Clients from Heaven
Zheng Fa was truly loaded now… or rather, he had money and nowhere to spend it.
Right now, Jiushan Grain Company's star products—Jiushan No. 2 and Lingmai No. 1—had rolled out nationwide.
The sales scenes were like something out of a festival: teeming crowds, beating drums, blaring fireworks…
The reasons were complicated.
That documentary’s publicity role was not to be underestimated. As Team Leader Yang knew, tons of online sellers of deity statues had started offering a new item—
After all, in the vast pantheon of divine figures, a new surname—Zheng—had joined the ranks.
How to describe it?
Feudal, but not superstitious.
Because this one… was a real cultivator.
But the real reason these two crops went viral… was effectiveness.
Jiushan No. 1 rice had already shown remarkable nutritional value—it just didn’t make waves due to lower yield.
Once Jiushan No. 2 solved that, its reputation exploded naturally.
Lingmai No. 1 had a similar arc.
And because they weren’t expensive, most people could afford them. Zheng Fa had to impose purchase limits—people kept trying to stockpile them.
Combined with other fruits and vegetables, Jiushan Grain Company had become a certified cash cow.
The problem?
The force behind the retirement home was too powerful—so powerful that they didn’t even need money to access resources.
Most of the time, money was irrelevant.
…
“So now you’re saying you’re too rich to know what to do with it?” Old Bai looked at Zheng Fa with disgust. “Only here could you say something like that and not get smacked.”
Tang Lingwu, usually serious-faced, actually snapped back at the old man for once: “That’s exactly why Zheng Fa wants to spend it.”
Old Bai was stunned.
“Actually, Team Leader Yang said… it wasn’t necessary,” he muttered, still confused, and looked to Zheng Fa, who only smiled.
Tang Lingwu, still defending Zheng Fa, added:
“Zheng Fa told me—conditions in Rainbow Mountain are limited. Spiritual energy is insufficient and can’t support too many people cultivating.”
“So instead of hoarding the money, why not use it to reward researchers who can’t enter Rainbow Mountain?”
Hearing this, the look Old Bai gave Zheng Fa changed slightly.
“No, no, that’s Lingwu filling in the blanks. What I meant was… at least let’s not have people work for nothing.”
“The money’s just sitting there anyway.”
“Maybe in the future we’ll even train some of the talent the retirement home needs.”
“It’s a form of reinvestment.”
“And since I’m already in the spotlight, I can’t keep relying on Team Leader Yang forever.”
Zheng Fa’s thinking was actually pretty straightforward:
He didn’t need money—he needed talent and technology.
Before, it had been manageable. Most research was focused on talismans and agriculture, so it was doable.
But with the launch of the first Fifty-Year Plan, everything changed. This was now a full-scale engineering project.
You could even say it was a national-level effort to support the Xuanyi Realm.
The demand for talent would only grow.
In Zheng Fa’s view, the core researchers in the future could enter Rainbow Mountain to study and cultivate.
But the outer circle—the broader research community—would be their talent pool.
So, all the money the retirement home earned would likely go into training talent and funding external research.
“To be honest, it’s still not enough…” Zheng Fa admitted, even feeling a little poor. “Good thing we’re only asking for design drafts for now.”
What Zheng Fa needed most now was technology for resource extraction and refinement.
The foundation of industrialization was massive consumption of resources.
He hadn’t considered this when first designing the plan.
Even the spiritual materials in the Jiushan Realm were starting to run low—External Pills were incredibly resource-hungry. Now that Zheng Fa had launched both pill factories and shipyards, the stored spiritual materials were quickly drying up. ℞𝘈ℕɵ𝖇ƐṢ
Add to that his push to expand the education system and train more cultivators.
Senior Sister Zhang’s ledgers were already deep in the red.
The reason she went on that inspection tour among mortals wasn’t just to get accurate data—it was also to find mineral deposits!
All the spiritual plants in the Jiushan Realm had long been collected by the Sun and Moon Bell and replanted in the Herb Garden.
Among the remaining resources, the most valuable were a few spirit ore mines.
Three of them were special thunder-type mines, and according to preliminary estimates by Senior Sister Zhang and Xiao Yuying, they had massive yields and high value.
Additionally, there were still plenty of undeveloped resources in the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s territory.
For example… Zheng Fa clearly remembered when the Great Freedom Demonic Sect emerged, they accidentally blew open a spirit stone mine!
That’s all money!
Now, in the First Fifty-Year Plan, the top priority had become: how to develop the mineral resources of Jiushan Realm and the Hundred Immortals Alliance’s territory faster and better.
Zheng Fa’s idea was to integrate modern mining technology—exploration, extraction, refinement—then combine it with Madam Xuanhua’s artifact refining methods to create new techniques that would surpass Xuanyi Realm’s efficiency.
In his plan:
Modern design institutes would submit blueprints.
The retirement home would screen and select them.
Then using External Pills, they’d build test models.
Madam Xuanhua and the Heavenly Works Pavilion would replicate them in the Jiushan Realm.
The goal: give those neglected spirit mines the ultimate two-world supply chain experience!
Ironically, his initial focus on shipbuilding and textile technologies had become lower priority—much simpler by comparison.
But spiritual ore didn’t exist in the modern world. Its properties were vastly different from non-spiritual minerals, making the technical challenge immense.
After hearing all this, Old Bai and the others suddenly fell silent.
They looked at Zheng Fa with complex expressions.
If before they only had a vague feeling… now, Zheng Fa’s intentions were crystal clear:
He had a whole other domain under his command.
Otherwise, why mine?
Those shipyards and textile factories… they had no use in Rainbow Mountain.
“Is it… Jiushan Sect?” Old Bai finally asked after a long pause.
He remembered—Zheng Fa had always said he was a disciple of Jiushan Sect. That Jiushan was a secluded sect.
They’d imagined it was hidden in some secret realm, protected by formations, full of mysterious masters.
Turns out this “seclusion”… was a hidden world?
So Zheng Fa—was he really the same Zheng Fa they thought he was?
Zheng Fa met the slightly unfamiliar gazes of Old Bai and Tang Lingwu.
He had already prepared for this. At this point, there was no need to keep secrets.
Especially not from Old Bai and Tang Lingwu.
“That world is called the Xuanyi Realm.”
The three of them listened intently.
“There are many powerful cultivators there, and formidable sects.”
“More importantly, aside from having spiritual energy, that world… is exactly like ours.”
“Human anatomy, material structure… within margins of error, it’s completely identical.”
“Just like Rainbow Mountain?” Tang Mu Dao’s eyes sparkled—he was an astrophysicist, and this clearly intrigued him.
“Yes…”
“Then that’s another universe!”
Tang Mu Dao slapped his leg.
Old Bai blinked, scratching his frizzy head. “So you’re saying, Zheng Fa… probably still counts as human?”
“……”
The logic was airtight. The wording was garbage.
“Jiushan Sect isn’t very safe in the Xuanyi Realm,” Zheng Fa said, struggling to explain some things. “Actually, even the Xuanyi Realm itself isn’t very safe.”
“The modern world may be entangled with a forbidden figure.”
“So… I don’t want you to be discovered by them.”
Zheng Fa didn’t dare explain too much, but Old Bai and Tang Lingwu exchanged a glance and nodded.
They understood what he meant—
In a way, Zheng Fa had been shielding them all along.
And that was true:
If the Yin-Yang Fish Jade Pendant in Zheng Fa’s mind was exposed, he’d be in danger—but so would the modern world.
The mood grew a bit heavy. Tang Lingwu looked at Zheng Fa, pouting, her eyes suddenly red with emotion.
They’d long noticed how often he looked weighed down with worry.
Now they finally understood where that pressure came from.
Zheng Fa wasn’t just concerned for his own safety—he was constantly worrying about theirs too.
Which meant… his own situation had to be even worse.
He must’ve been shouldering everything alone.
Old Bai gave an awkward laugh, trying to lighten the mood:
“Too bad… I was hoping to go travel the Xuanyi Realm. Guess that’s off the table.”
“I wouldn’t dare bring you right now, and I can’t anyway,” Zheng Fa shook his head. Then, looking at Tang Lingwu’s furrowed brows, he smiled. “But Jiushan Sect disciples… they do know about you.”
“They know us?”
Zheng Fa chuckled, pulling out two books:
“In the Talisman Canon, the first listed author is you, Professor Bai.”
Jiushan Sect’s Talisman Canon was unlike any other talisman manual in the Xuanyi Realm—it was rooted in topology, and derived original techniques like the Three-Sub-Talisman Theorem, Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans, and Compound Talisman Methods.
Systematic, unique—and its foundation came from what Old Bai had taught Zheng Fa back then.
Old Bai picked up the Talisman Canon. Seeing his name first in the author list, he couldn’t put it down and laughed, “Look! Lingwu’s name is in here too!”
Tang Lingwu had made major contributions to Jiushan’s talisman arts too. Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans, Divine Name Sub-Talismans—she was involved in both.
But…
“In the Jiushan Agricultural Canon, Lingwu is listed as the chief editor.”
That canon had been updated since, incorporating many of Zhenren Qian’s research and techniques.
But the first edition?
It had been a little surprise from Tang Lingwu to Zheng Fa—she had asked Elder Hou to help, and worked with talent from Jiushan Grain Company to compile the first version.
So she’d earned the title of chief editor.
Zheng Fa had brought these books to the modern world as educational materials for the retirement home.
And now?
Jiushan Sect was finally in a position to give back.
Tang Lingwu took a glance at the Jiushan Agricultural Canon, and her expression softened noticeably.
Old Bai was dumbfounded: “With my level of cultivation, they still want to study what I wrote?”
He was only at the eighth level of Qi Refining now and saw himself as a little shrimp.
“Professor Bai, let’s put it this way—in Jiushan Sect, your minimum rank is Nascent Soul, and there’s no upper limit!”
Old Bai’s jaw dropped—so he was the hidden master all along?
Zheng Fa had gone off to speak with the group of professors out front about how to apply Shenxiao External Pills—after all, External Pills were still the cornerstone of Jiushan Sect’s industry.
And if modern technology was to be transplanted into the Jiushan Realm, External Pill development was key.
Watching Zheng Fa’s figure fade into the distance—
Tang Mu Dao clicked his tongue and muttered under his breath, “So he really was an alien…”
Even if they were technically the same universe, the Xuanyi Realm still felt more distant than another planet.
“Alien?!” Old Bai spat. “You’re the alien!”
“……”
“Do you even get what Zheng Fa is doing?”
“What?”
Old Bai tilted his head dramatically, struck a pose, and intoned with flair:
“Let a portion of the scientists get rich first~”
“……”
Tang Mu Dao looked thoroughly speechless.
“Let a portion of the scientists… start cultivating first~”
“...I don’t know about rich, but Old Bai, you’re definitely sick.”
“See?” Old Bai looked at him with disdain. “You’re just a fake foreigner who went overseas and doesn’t get it. Zheng Fa’s vision—way more orthodox than yours.”
Tang Lingwu couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Old Bai saw her laugh and instantly beamed, thinking he had thoroughly impressed her.
But to his surprise, Tang Lingwu quickly reined in her smile, didn’t pause for a second, and headed straight back to her room.
“Lingwu, where are you going?”
“To cultivate!”
“……”
Old Bai tilted his head, confused, but after a moment, a thought popped into his mind:
“You’re not thinking… of hurrying to get stronger, so you can charge into the Xuanyi Realm and lend Zheng Fa a hand, are you?”
Tang Lingwu looked a little shy. She didn’t dare turn around, but she still gave a small nod.
Watching her enter her room, Old Bai stroked his chin and sighed: “No wonder she’s young—daring and driven!”
With that, he turned and walked toward a small room at the side of the retirement home.
Tang Mu Dao knew that room—it was a power exchange station, used to cultivate the Five Thunder Body Technique.
“…You too want to secretly cultivate and stun the entire Xuanyi Realm?”
“What choice do I have?” Old Bai looked down at the Talisman Canon in his hand, a proud yet wistful expression on his face.
“If one day someone from the Xuanyi Realm really does come… and finds that the legendary Bai Nascent Soul only has this much cultivation…”
“……”
“Wouldn’t that ruin the legend?”
…
In Shannan Province, at the Institute of Mining Machinery Research, a new statue had suddenly appeared.
“…Is that… Zheng Fa?”
A young staffer looked at the half-height Zheng Fa statue by the front gate, completely puzzled.
“What’s this for?”
A middle-aged, balding man answered matter-of-factly:
“To worship, of course.”
“……”
“I bought it! You can’t even get one online—I had to drive out personally to beg a master sculptor and cut the line to get it made.”
“Why go through all that? Is it even appropriate to put that here?”
“The director approved the expense!”
“……” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
“You don’t think our institute’s luck’s been kinda bad the last few years?” the balding man said in a low voice. “I heard… more people are about to leave.”
The young man pursed his lips and didn’t respond.
Their research institute had once been part of a state-owned mining group and focused on technical R&D.
Those early years were glorious.
Shannan was a major mining province, and the group was the biggest local player. Riding the mining boom, they were rolling in money back then. The research institute? Prestigious as hell.
But he’d missed those golden days.
By the time he joined, the group’s performance was already declining.
Now the institute had to operate independently, even though they were still under the group in name. But subsidies had been drying up fast.
And without someone footing the bill, they were like orphans—left to fend for themselves. It was brutal.
“What did the director say?”
“What else? He said to try overseas… There just aren’t many domestic opportunities left.”
“You think that’ll work?” the young man muttered. The overseas market was highly competitive now. And they couldn’t even compare to national research institutes—let alone compete with foreign peers.
Several of their projects had crashed and burned.
“That’s why people are leaving… This isn’t the iron rice bowl era anymore, and the pay isn’t exactly great.”
The young man stayed quiet again.
“Wait a sec, that look on your face… Are you thinking of leaving too? Our institute hasn’t treated you badly—we fought to get you onboard…”
The young man gave a bitter smile. “I’m just thinking about it… There’s a chance abroad…”
“Corporate overlords, huh…”
“Well, to us… if a corporate overlord pays that much, that makes them a divine client.”
The balding man stared at him for a long time, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed one over. He lit one for himself.
“You decided yet?”
The young man lowered his head and took a drag—choked twice. “My girlfriend’s pressuring me to get married…”
“And marriage means buying a house.”
“In the provincial capital, no less.”
The balding man puffed his cigarette and listened.
The young man coughed again and muttered:
“In this situation, don’t even talk about making money abroad.”
“If going overseas could actually bring in cash, even I’d consider it…”
No one spoke after that.
They quietly finished the whole pack of cigarettes.
Finally, the balding man said, “Make sure you talk to the director. He personally recruited you—hasn’t treated you badly.”
“Yeah. You’re not leaving?”
“I’m done with the grind. I like it here.”
The young man looked a little ashamed.
“You’re single. I’m married… Didn’t you know?”
“Know what?”
“My wife’s family had their house demolished a few years ago.”
“...What about the director?”
The young man lifted his head and glanced toward the office, visibly impatient… He couldn’t stand this broken institute for another minute.
The research institute was a two-story building, and it had grown dilapidated long before the institute itself started declining.
“He went to a budget meeting at the group, but he should be back soon…” The balding man clicked his tongue. “Probably slapping the table with someone again—our office tables are already down a few. Next time we should get stainless steel. Cheaper in the long run, just a bit rough on the hands.”
The young man chuckled, but realized he couldn’t even force a proper laugh.
An old car screeched to a halt at the gate.
“Yep, guess he lost that slap fight.”
Before the car even came to a full stop, the director leaped out from the driver’s seat, rushing toward them—with a grin on his face, no less.
“Director!”
The young man called out, hoping to ask about the meeting. If the director was in a good mood, he could bring up the resignation then.
“Is everyone here?” the director asked hastily, barely giving him a glance.
“Yeah…”
“Clean up the desks! Tidy up the office!” the director shouted. “Make this place look halfway decent!”
The balding man was shocked. “What, someone still wants to visit this dump?”
The director glared at him, then gave a look at the statue of Zheng Fa by the gate. His face immediately softened, even showing a faintly sweet smile. “That statue you bought? Not bad. Lucky!”
“……”
The two men were baffled.
Then the director added:
“Not a government official—but a client!”
“…That’s even rarer than an official!”
“A big client!” the director beamed. “They said—money is no issue!”
“No budget limit!”
“And they specifically came looking for our institute!”
The balding man froze. Cigarette dangling from his lips, he watched as the director rushed through the gate. Then he leaned toward the young man and whispered:
“Our director’s getting old…”
“Huh?”
“He’s getting targeted by scammers.”
The young man looked at him for a long moment, then suddenly realized—this guy probably hadn’t left because he couldn’t cut it at other companies either.
Still, he agreed. This so-called big client… was probably a hoax.
Mainly because their research institute simply didn’t deserve one.
Yet the director remained overjoyed. He even got personally involved, helping clean up the entire institute. Everyone had no choice but to do a full-scale cleanup. And the more they scrubbed, the more curious they became about this mysterious “client.”
By the time they were done, it was already afternoon. Everyone sat in the office, ears perked.
The director even stood guard at the entrance, craning his neck with anticipation.
Suddenly, his cheerful voice rang out from the front: “Welcome! Welcome!”
The balding man blinked and turned to the young man. “Did you hear a car?”
“Nope.”
“No car… What, scammers these days run low-cost operations now?”
Everyone turned to look toward the door—and saw the director walking in, leading two young people.
One of them looked exactly like the statue by the gate.
Staring at Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu, the young man’s jaw dropped:
So it really was a divine-level client…
Only…
This divine one… probably didn’t know much about engineering.
