I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 340Book 2: : A Thousand Bows at the Mountain, Dao Fruit Transforms Again
Vol 2 Chapter 340: A Thousand Bows at the Mountain, Dao Fruit Transforms Again
"I can!"
After hearing Zheng Fa's request, Tang Lingwu eagerly raised her little hand, face full of excitement and cuteness.
"Tch, never seen someone so eager to do work."
Old Bai had a strange look on his face and muttered under his breath.
The sun was about to set, and the flush on Tang Lingwu's pretty face looked just like the evening clouds. Teacher Tian’s mouth curled into an auntie smile as she gritted her teeth and gave the old man a couple of hard slaps on the back. Her eyes practically screamed:
Can you shut it?
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu. Little Lingwu had studied computer science—maybe not extensively, but under the retirement home's educational resources, she was definitely no slouch.
By all logic… this job should go to her.
"I was planning to have Group Leader Yang handle it."
Tang Lingwu's hand twitched, as if she wanted to speak, but she didn’t want to argue with Zheng Fa. The word wronged was written all over her eyes.
"Hey! Zheng Fa?"
She stayed silent, but the previously sarcastic Old Bai suddenly jumped to defend her:
"Little Lingwu wants to help—why not let her?"
Zheng Fa looked at her, all pouty and quiet, and chuckled with a shake of his head. "This workload is way too much."
"Too much?"
"I’ve got at least two formations that need to be analyzed and restructured."
Old Bai’s dissatisfaction eased a bit when he realized it was serious business. "Two sets?"
"One is the Heaven-Earth Godfiend Grand Formation, and it’s the most urgent. For me, this formation is deadly."
The threat posed by the Heaven-Earth Godfiend Grand Formation was immense.
Now that he was atop Divine Fire Mountain, his life was constantly at risk.
Though the Ninth Elder had shown some goodwill, Zheng Fa was always cautious—never one to entrust his life to others. That only made it more urgent for him to break the formation.
Zheng Fa was currently only responsible for a very small part of the Heaven-Earth Godfiend Grand Formation, and trying to control it would be near impossible.
What he needed to do now was to analyze the formation and embed certain modules—or rather, secret methods—into the spirit stones he was carving.
Even if he couldn’t gain full control of the grand formation,
At least he’d be able to interrupt it and get himself out of mortal danger.
When Old Bai heard the word "deadly", his eyes sharpened, and he dropped the jokes. Frowning, he asked, "And the other one?"
"The other one isn’t the most urgent, but it’s arguably more important. It's a formation used for computation."
The origin of the formation Zheng Fa mentioned went back quite a while—back when Senior Sister Zhang had studied programming and other computer science topics, she’d created a talisman system for computational purposes. 𝑅ÁℕổꞖĚŚ
But due to limitations of her Founder's Method-based Dao body, it wasn’t as effective as Zheng Fa had hoped.
Now with spirit stones in the picture, that talisman system could evolve into a spirit stone computer model.
Having been exposed to modern technology, Zheng Fa understood all too well what this meant.
In fact...
Maybe the Immortal-Slaying Sword Formation was terrifying, but in Zheng Fa’s eyes, this was the true core of Jiushan Sect’s future power.
He had always wanted to develop the computer industry in the Xuanyi Realm and Jiushan Realm, but given that computers were the pinnacle of modern civilization, the challenges in manufacturing and material sourcing in those worlds were monumental.
It wasn’t until he discovered the utility of spirit stones that he finally saw hope for realizing his vision.
"Computation formation?"
The Creation Jade Slip inside Zheng Fa’s body flew out from the crown of his head and shot a beam of glowing light onto the table nearby. Within that beam, spiritual energy surged and particles quickly assembled.
In less than ten minutes, a thick book appeared on the table.
"Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation?"
Old Bai scratched his head, looking confused as he read the cover. "Weird name. Related to the Nine-Chapter Mathematical Treatise?"
Not exactly... It was named after Zhang Wuyi of Jiushan.
Zheng Fa glanced at the slightly puzzled Tang Lingwu but said nothing.
Old Bai flipped through the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, frowned, then passed it to the eager Tang Lingwu. He turned to Zheng Fa with a nod of admiration:
"Whoever made this formation is a real talisman master. What are you planning to do with it?"
Senior Sister Zhang’s accomplishments in talisman techniques spanned the best of both realms.
Old Bai and the others might’ve had the edge in topology, but when it came to talismanic knowledge, she far outpaced them.
So the moment he saw it, Old Bai knew the author was a heavyweight.
"This formation was largely developed by one person. There may be flaws or redundancies. I want to use programming principles to formalize and simplify it."
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Senior Sister Zhang—Zheng Fa just preferred to grind through problems in multiple ways.
And let’s face it, in a world where programming was mainstream, Senior Sister Zhang... was probably way out of her depth.
In the Xuanyi Realm, spirit stones came in different grades. High-grade stones and low-grade ones varied in how many talisman diagrams they could hold and how long they could sustain formations.
Simplifying the calculation formation would, in a way, save spirit stones and reduce resource consumption.
Not to mention that once it was standardized, it’d lower learning and maintenance costs significantly.
"If possible, I’d like to write an artificial intelligence algorithm on top of this formation."
Simply put, Zheng Fa hoped to rebuild the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation with the mindset of modern programming and start developing AI programs.
As skilled as Senior Sister Zhang was, her era and worldview came with limitations.
The current version of the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation was still stuck on ‘calculation’.
"Two formations… yeah, that’s a big job." Old Bai nodded slightly, then suddenly got defensive again. "But why not let Little Lingwu do it? You think she’s not capable?"
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu, whose lips had involuntarily curled up, and laughed: "I’ve reached Nascent Soul."
"Huh?"
"Rainbow Mountain’s spiritual energy might become more abundant soon. I want Lingwu to use the opportunity to cultivate more."
Tang Lingwu blinked, and Zheng Fa added:
"After her cultivation improves, she’ll have more longevity... which is better in the long run."
Though Zheng Fa didn’t elaborate, the others understood. To him, Tang Lingwu cultivating properly and walking the immortal path alongside him was worth a hundred times more than just being ‘useful’.
Old Bai looked at the now-goofy-smiling Tang Lingwu, quietly hugged himself, and sank back into his chair. The evening wind felt chilly against his skin, making his nose itch. When he focused, he realized—
His nose was actually red.
…
Three days later, night had fallen. The sky over Jingcheng had no stars, but the office buildings on the ground were brighter than any galaxy.
Reflections of lights on glass windows flickered across monitors, making the eyes on those faces seem even more dull.
"Still not heading out?"
A middle-aged man's chair was tapped. He turned to see a colleague asking.
This coworker was especially sociable and well-informed, always quick on the uptake.
They’d joined the company together, worked for years, and had a solid relationship.
"Still getting errors. Gotta keep working even if I go home—commuting just wastes time."
"You’re burning yourself out!"
"It’s better than before. At least our company’s 996 became 995."
While the code was testing, the middle-aged man stood up, took a sip of his goji berry iced coffee, stretched, and his joints cracked like firecrackers.
That sound made the colleague think of something. He said:
"There’s a massage studio opening next door. Supposedly good hands. Wanna try it when it opens at the end of the month?"
Hearing that, the middle-aged man was shocked: "Who’s got business sense like that? It hasn’t even opened and you already know?"
"Who am I? Heard the guy used to be a programmer in our building, got laid off, pulled himself together, and self-studied massage..."
The man fell silent. He felt like he learned something—but maybe it was already too late.
"I’m actually thinking of taking the grad school entrance exam—maybe in mechanical engineering."
"Huh?"
The middle-aged man was surprised. A career switch?
"You haven’t heard? My mechanical engineering classmates are doing great."
He had heard whispers about that.
"That Zheng Immortal from Rainbow Mountain?"
"Yeah! Heard they pay well. Still intense, but if you do well, you can cultivate immortality! Career prospects are wide open!"
The man was tempted, and his coworker added:
"Back then, computer science grad scores were higher than engineering. I bet it’ll flip soon. Coding… might also lead to cultivation, but our path to immortality is full of sudden death!"
The man pressed his chest, thinking the coffee suddenly tasted more bitter.
"Like that massage guy—it’s better to switch early!"
Two days later, rumors broke out in the company:
"A special project team?"
"Yeah! Heard it’s being set up by the higher-ups. All companies involved. Universities too."
"Seriously? These projects are a pain. We just got a break."
The man, who’d just pulled two all-nighters, nodded quietly.
"They say it's voluntary sign-up, and you need to pass a skills test."
"Voluntary? You buying that?"
The middle-aged man frowned. When he turned, he saw his colleague from two days ago, nose buried in a massive book.
Really studying for grad school?
He felt a twinge of sadness. He looked again and something felt off.
"Aren’t you going for mechanical? Why are you reading language design?"
"Mechanical? What mechanical? I love programming—my life belongs to code!"
As his friend, the middle-aged man instantly sensed something fishy. He stared intently and asked:
"What’s going on?"
"That project team..."
"Yeah?"
"It really lets you cultivate."
The man was still confused, until his friend flipped to the book’s front page—there was a drawn face on the inside cover—
"Rainbow Mountain’s Zheng—"
"Shhh! I heard it from a friend! Several companies are flipping out over this!"
"Bro, you’re the best!"
The middle-aged man quietly jotted down the name of the book his colleague was reading, then looked toward Rainbow Mountain.
Huh?
Was he just imagining it out of excitement?
Why did it look like there was a face of Immortal Zheng floating above Rainbow Mountain too?
...
"Looks like Zheng Fa really pulled it off this time..."
Old Bai tilted his head up, staring at Zheng Fa’s Nascent Soul seated cross-legged above Rainbow Mountain, his face openly filled with envy.
The sun hung high in the sky, and the shadow of the Fusang Tree was growing clearer. Sunlight streamed down from the heavens, infused with spiritual energy, illuminating the phantom of Zheng Fa’s Nascent Soul.
The Nascent Soul looked about eighty percent like Zheng Fa—its features were youthful, its proportions like a chibi character with a huge head and small body, yet it stood thousands of meters tall, seated in mid-air like a young but divine giant.
Beneath the Nascent Soul knelt a black tortoise and a white snake, coiled together. It wasn’t clear whether they were submitting or standing guard.
Group Leader Yang stood beside Old Bai, visibly excited as she looked up at the spectacle.
This vision—of the blazing sun shining across all of China, and an immortal seated on Rainbow Mountain—had lasted for days, visible to nearly half of Jingcheng.
But what thrilled her wasn’t the miraculous sight itself, but rather…
"Zheng Fa is giving a Dao lecture?"
Old Bai nodded with a smile and said, "Zheng Fa said now that he’s a Nascent Soul cultivator, Rainbow Mountain can accommodate more cultivators. So today, he’ll be taking in those who have contributed in the past."
Group Leader Yang’s breath grew faster.
Zheng Fa had always said people could earn cultivation opportunities through contributions, and she never doubted him. But due to the limited spiritual energy at Rainbow Mountain, she’d always been waiting.
Now that Zheng Fa was formally taking in meritorious people…
As one of the second-generation veterans of the retirement home, how could she miss this!
And it wasn’t just her.
At the foot of Rainbow Mountain, the crowd surged. Over a thousand people from all walks of life looked up at Zheng Fa’s Nascent Soul manifestation.
The majority were researchers like Cheng Yun, who had worked at the retirement home for years and made significant contributions.
There were also instructors from the Jiushan Martial Arts Hall run by Old Bai, employees of the Jiushan Grain Company under Tang Lingwu’s leadership,
And even folks from top universities and research institutes who had helped design the “Nezha” prototype.
Not everyone could make it, of course, but there were still plenty of people.
In all their eyes, there was nothing but awe—like they were dreaming.
Zheng Fa looked down at all these eager faces, and his Nascent Soul’s youthful expression curled into a smile. Then it opened its mouth, and its voice boomed like a giant bell across the land:
"Everyone, please enter the Lecture Hall."
The crowd below bowed in unison toward the Nascent Soul, then swiftly and quietly flowed into the newly constructed Lecture Hall—a grand auditorium built on Rainbow Mountain, since the old classroom couldn’t possibly fit so many people.
Zheng Fa’s divine sense returned from the Nascent Soul and reentered his physical body. He looked up at the image of his Nascent Soul in the sky, still amazed.
When he advanced to Nascent Soul and performed the Lingshan Method again, the resulting phenomena at Rainbow Mountain had exceeded his expectations—
His newly formed Nascent Soul had suddenly emerged from his body, glowing brilliantly in the sky, while the spiritual veins of the mountain actually formed the shapes of the tortoise and the snake.
It seemed Rainbow Mountain’s spiritual energy had not just increased—it had become much more vibrant and lively.
Zheng Fa steadied his mind, stepped out of the retirement home, and in the next step, appeared in front of the Lecture Hall.
Inside, there was no elevated stage—just over a thousand meditation cushions.
Zheng Fa walked to the front and sat on the first cushion, facing the crowd.
In the vast hall, with thousands in attendance, there wasn’t a single sound.
Old Bai, Tang Lingwu, and the others sat side by side in the front row, all waiting eagerly.
"Starting today, I will give a month-long Dao lecture here."
"This lecture will cover topics from the Qi Refining stage up to the Foundation Establishment stage, with talismanic knowledge as supplementary material."
"If there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to interrupt—no need to stand on ceremony."
With that, Zheng Fa began the lecture, starting from the basics of breathing techniques and meditation.
As he looked over the audience, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of anticipation—
These weren’t just random folks.
Researchers like Cheng Yun, and those from universities and research institutes, were clearly bright and well-read—Zheng Fa considered them top candidates for disciples.
As for the people from the grain company and the martial arts hall, they weren’t ordinary either:
Some excelled at business, others had incredible martial talent.
All in all, they were the cream of the crop among regular folks.
Zheng Fa’s reason for opening up the sect so widely was twofold. One, now that he was at Nascent Soul level and Rainbow Mountain’s spiritual energy had surged, it was no longer difficult to support new cultivators—he could finally fulfill his promise.
The second reason… was something else he was hoping for—the Fusang Tree.
Originally, the Fusang Tree had been the Dao Fruit of the Great Freedom Demon Emperor, but in Zheng Fa’s hands, it had mysteriously started to change, moving further away from that demonic legacy.
Now that Zheng Fa understood more about Dao Fruits and their wielders, he had begun to suspect something about the Fusang Tree—
For instance, in the modern world, he had vaguely earned the title of "Dao Ancestor".
And if he followed the ritual of how the Great Freedom Demon Emperor had achieved enlightenment, then Dao Fruits needed a ceremonial process—essentially a recognition by heaven, earth, and the people.
The changes in the Fusang Tree had started after it merged with the modern sun and brought spiritual energy into this world.
In other words—this Dao Fruit might now be linked to the title of “Dao Ancestor”.
The only issue was that the Fusang Tree had been changing very slowly—almost not at all. That worried Zheng Fa.
After all, Haori Mountain was watching closely, and the Trapping Immortal Sword was practically at his doorstep. Zheng Fa’s biggest trump card against rival Dao Fruits was the Fusang Tree.
The Trapping Immortal Sword Technique wasn’t in his hands yet—and even if he had it, he couldn’t be sure he could control the sword.
After thinking it over—and referencing various novels and myths—Zheng Fa had a theory: maybe being a Dao Ancestor had something to do with giving lectures, perhaps on a massive scale!
He hadn’t had the cultivation or spiritual resources to do that before.
But now that he had his Nascent Soul and Rainbow Mountain was flourishing, it was time to open the gates wide—or rather, conduct an experimental grand lecture!
…
Filled with hope, Zheng Fa began teaching the new disciples, starting from breathing and meditation.
Every day the lecture began at 6 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m.—without pause.
By now, the Jiushan Realm’s cultivation system was fairly complete. Even without Condensing Yuan Pills or access to the Talisman Foundation Establishment Technique, Zheng Fa had a solid grasp of all pre-Nascent Soul methods and techniques.
He taught with ease.
But after twenty days, the Fusang Tree still hadn’t changed.
Did he guess wrong?
Zheng Fa sighed inwardly, thinking maybe he was just being delusional. Still, he showed no disappointment on his face. After covering cultivation techniques, he moved on to talismanic methods—or spells, really.
The Jiushan talisman system now rested on a topological foundation, so Zheng Fa demonstrated by drawing talismans as he lectured.
Most of the disciples looked frustrated—clearly topology was frying their brains.
But there were still many scholars present, including math experts, who were actually quite excited.
As Zheng Fa lectured, thoughts began to flood his mind—
Could this talisman diagram be broken down further?
That topological transformation—was that wrong? No, it’s wrong!
Wait, no—this talisman is completely different from the last one! Totally unrelated!
At first, he thought these were just new insights brought on by teaching. But soon he realized something was off— 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
The ideas were coming too fast, too chaotic—almost like they were popping into his head from nowhere.
He suddenly looked up. His gaze pierced through the Lecture Hall’s ceiling—
And saw that, high in the sky, the Fusang Tree inside the blazing sun...
Was trembling. Almost imperceptibly. But it was growing.
