I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 252: Uninvited, in the Name of Teacher

In the nursing home, the group walked while discussing the essence of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Roots.

"Replacing the cell nucleus with that kind of spiritual energy structure?" Zheng Fa's words made Teacher Tian suddenly laugh. She turned to Zheng Fa and said, "This technique is actually simpler than what I previously thought."

"You should’ve studied it back in high school."

Before Zheng Fa could respond, Tang Lingwu beside him suddenly realized, "Cloned sheep!"

"Exactly, the research on replacing cell nuclei has already gone quite deep," said Teacher Tian. "Especially with plant cells—it's even simpler. Plant somatic cells inherently possess potential totipotency, and with the help of cytokinins or auxins, they can develop into a complete plant."

"If this idea really works, then we just need to collect some root cells and shoot tip cells, culture them a bit, and we can start testing."

Earlier, when Zheng Fa mentioned researching the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Roots, Teacher Tian was somewhat daunted.

But now, her expression clearly said two words—that's it?

Teacher Tian sighed again, "Today I finally understand the saying, 'A true transmission comes in one sentence'... The only real difficulty here is realizing that those spiritual energy structures are equivalent to the cell nucleus of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Roots." Tang Lingwu shook her head beside her, slowly counting on her fingers:

"It’s not just one sentence."

"First, we had to figure out the Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans."

"Then, through the Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans, we needed to understand the relationship between Five-Element spells and Five-Element spiritual materials."

"Only after that could we grasp the possible function of the spiritual energy structures."

Listening to her, Zheng Fa nodded as well. This realization sounded simple, but it was built entirely on their previous days of research. Some things are easy for those who understand and impossible for those who don't.

Otherwise, even if they saw the cell diagram of the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Roots, they'd still be clueless—this could be seen from Zhenren Chengkong's reluctant attitude and his inability to save the Tranquility Bamboo.

It was clear that even within the Five Sects of Xuanyi, they hadn't figured out this principle.

In Zheng Fa’s view, they might very well have been able to see the cellular structure of the spiritual roots—though they didn’t have microscope formations, with various spirit eyes and spirit visions, Taishang Dao likely had ways to observe certain micro-worlds.

The real problem was... their basic knowledge was lacking.

For example, even if they saw the spiritual energy nucleus, if they didn’t understand the nucleus’s role in cellular growth, they wouldn’t know what to focus on.

Even if they understood that much, without a grasp of DNA replication and genetic information, they still wouldn't realize the underlying principle.

Spiritual energy structure equals cell nucleus—this seemingly simple sentence was backed by a massive and solid knowledge system.

Now that the connection between the modern world and the Xuanyi Realm was becoming increasingly close, the greatest help to Zheng Fa was, in fact, this knowledge system.

Tang Lingwu’s expression suddenly turned a bit strange, as if she remembered something, and she said:

"So the next experiment is to use the spiritual energy structure inside Zheng Fa's cells and fuse it with various mulberry tree cells? To see if we can cultivate a Fusang Tree? According to cloning theory, if we really succeed, that Fusang Tree would have to call Zheng Fa..."

"Mommy!"

Upon hearing that, Teacher Tian’s expression became even more ridiculous than Tang Lingwu’s. She held it in for a while before finally exclaiming:

"I don’t even have kids yet... and Zheng Fa's already one-upped me in the childbirth department..."

"..."

Wait, shouldn’t you be blaming Old Bai for this?

Zheng Fa didn't want to pursue that topic any further. Thinking of Old Bai, he turned his head to glance around and finally noticed something was off, so he asked the two of them, "Where’s Professor Bai?"

"Him? He went down the mountain!"

Zheng Fa patted his forehead, feeling a bit guilty. These days, his mind had been fully occupied with the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor, and he had completely forgotten—today was Old Bai's birthday.

He went down the mountain to celebrate with his daughter’s family.

"Why didn’t they come up here?"

Zheng Fa asked.

Teacher Tian averted her eyes, looking toward the spirit fields as she said, "Afraid I'd feel awkward, since I’m not familiar with his daughter and son-in-law."

Zheng Fa frowned slightly.

Teacher Tian had always been a very open and easy-going person.

Would she really feel awkward so easily?

Seeing that he wasn’t convinced, Teacher Tian laughed and said, "He just wanted to come back and celebrate again. Greedy old man!"

Her expression clearly betrayed that she was hiding something.

But this time, Zheng Fa wasn’t fooled: he didn’t believe that excuse either.

...

At this moment, the atmosphere at Old Bai’s daughter’s home was extremely awkward.

"Grandpa, Grandpa! Look how well I’m practicing!"

Old Bai’s grandson, like a little calf, stood in front of him, swinging his arms and legs energetically as he performed the new generation's "broadcast exercises"—the set created by the Jiushan Martial Arts Hall.

"Good! Good!"

Old Bai squinted his eyes and nodded approvingly, the curls on his head bouncing slightly, looking very pleased.

"Dad said you created this, Grandpa! He told me to learn it well!"

Old Bai lifted his head and looked at his son-in-law, who wore a flattering expression. Bai pursed his lips, his smile thinning, and only gave a slight nod.

"Dad! Dinner’s ready!"

His daughter looked a bit more dignified than before, wearing an apron over a trench coat. The brand logo on it made Old Bai squint slightly. He glanced at his grandson but said nothing.

Since it wasn’t a major birthday celebration, Old Bai hadn’t wanted to eat out;

he just wanted a simple meal at his daughter’s place.

At the dinner table, Old Bai and his grandson played and joked.

Meanwhile, his daughter and son-in-law kept exchanging looks, clearly wanting to say something.

"Dad..."

In the end, it was the daughter, being closer, who spoke first.

"Eat first. We’ll talk after."

Unexpectedly, Old Bai cut her off immediately.

His daughter looked dissatisfied but dared not object. The whole meal was eaten in awkward silence.

After dinner, once Old Bai sent his grandson downstairs to play, he finally turned to the daughter and son-in-law who had been holding back all evening and said, "Go ahead."

"Dad, you’re so biased..."

His daughter immediately started complaining.

"Biased?"

"Your own daughter, your own grandson, can’t live up on the mountain, but that stepmother of mine can... Fine, forget that."

"Today we wanted to come up the mountain to celebrate your birthday. Why not?"

Old Bai listened to her complaints without speaking, just nodding slightly.

"And?"

"And... they only gave my husband a low-level job..."

Apparently, she had been bottling up a lot of grievances, and now they were pouring out.

When she finally paused, Old Bai asked again:

"Anything else?"

"No..."

Having finished, she now looked a bit nervous.

Old Bai turned his eyes toward his son-in-law and said, "Did you complain to her about all this?"

"Dad, I didn’t..."

"Your job was assigned to the grassroots because I told them to."

"Dad?"

Both his daughter and son-in-law looked even more confused.

"Teacher Tian actually suggested letting you come up the mountain, but I said no."

"Dad!"

"Not letting you up for my birthday? That was my decision too."

"..."

Old Bai looked at his daughter, then at his son-in-law, his expression full of disappointment.

"You say I'm biased? I spent all my money to buy you a house in the capital. Xiao Tian gets to live on the mountain because she’s capable!"

"This..."

"Still not enough, huh?" Old Bai snorted coldly and continued, "You want to go to the nursing home—was it to celebrate my birthday, or to curry favor with Zheng Fa?"

"...What do you mean 'curry favor'? It’s not like I’ve never met him!"

Old Bai ignored his daughter’s rebuttal and turned to his son-in-law: "And you, how many proper days have you actually worked since moving to the capital?"

"Dad?"

The son-in-law was shocked.

"You think your little schemes are invisible?" Old Bai sighed. "Zheng Fa has been stressed and worried lately. If I let you go up there, you'd just be another burden."

"Dad, I’m your daughter. Why are you always thinking about Zheng Fa?"

"I’m healthy now, and you're all more 'filial' than ever, constantly clamoring to 'take care' of me—because of whom?"

Old Bai said it bluntly, without sugarcoating.

His daughter’s face turned red with embarrassment.

"If not for him, then for whom?"

Neither the daughter nor son-in-law dared speak now.

"You two were fine before, but now your hearts are too full of ambition. Always thinking about promotions..." Old Bai shook his head again. "You think you’re smart? Don’t know how many people are trying to use my birthday as an excuse to get into the nursing home. I came down the mountain to block them too!"

"All for Zheng Fa’s peace and quiet?"

"And for your own good!"

After saying this, seeing that his daughter and son-in-law clearly didn’t understand, Old Bai just shook his head and stopped explaining.

Meanwhile, his grandson, after playing downstairs for a while, returned and immediately sensed something was wrong.

He sneaked up to his grandpa and quietly asked, "Grandpa, are you unhappy?"

Old Bai looked up at the little boy and smiled: "You need to study hard and not be like your parents, always scheming about this and that."

The little boy looked a bit confused.

But Old Bai seemed only to be sighing, not expecting him to truly understand.

"Your parents still don’t get it. Zheng Fa could never like personalities like theirs..."

The little boy’s eyes flickered at the mention of Zheng Fa’s name.

"You’ve heard of him? Of course you have;

your parents must’ve told you," Old Bai said, ruffling his grandson’s hair. "No matter what they told you, they don't understand—the world’s changed, and they don’t understand Zheng Fa's character. They don’t even know how to flatter the right way!"

"You just focus on studying hard and practicing martial arts diligently. Don’t rush anything."

"Naturally, everything will come in time."

His grandson looked even more confused. "What's coming?"

Old Bai was just about to speak when suddenly there was a knock at the door.

He opened it with his grandson, and dozens of strong men and women bowed in unison and shouted, "Coach, we’ve come to celebrate your birthday!"

Old Bai smiled and waved them inside before saying, "It’s such a long way. I told you not to come. Why are you here?"

These were the heads of Jiushan Martial Halls from various provinces.

In name, they were all disciples of Old Bai, and now, for his birthday, they had come from all over the country.

"How could we ever forget the kindness of our teacher!"

"We even brought gifts!"

"Yes, yes, we brought gifts!"

They brought out gift boxes, some containing jade ornaments, others local specialties. Just one glance and Old Bai could tell these were all expensive.

The house was already cramped with dozens of people, and now, with these gifts, there was hardly any space left.

Old Bai glanced at the gifts and waved his hand. "Not trying to be polite, but take them all back."

"Coach! It’s just a small token of our appreciation!"

"If you're calling me 'Coach,' then you have to listen to me."

"……"

"Pack them up and take them back."

His daughter and son-in-law looked a bit regretful but dared not say anything at this moment.

The disciples, seeing that Old Bai insisted, didn't dare to push it either. They had no choice but to stay and chat with him, making the house lively and bustling.

After a while, there was another knock at the door.

When it opened, even Old Bai was a little surprised. "Old Dean?"

An elderly man and a middle-aged man entered. The old man nodded to Old Bai and then pointed at the middle-aged man, saying, "Let me introduce you. This is the Vice President of Capital University."

The middle-aged man's face was full of enthusiasm. "Professor Bai! Happy birthday!"

"Thank you!" Old Bai, seeing someone from his old workplace, was noticeably more courteous. He shook hands with the vice president, who immediately said, "I also brought you a gift!"

Old Bai was taken aback, and then he saw the man pull a certificate from a folder.

"Capital University would like to appoint you as our Honorary Principal..."

"Uh... I don't have the energy for that now."

"Being an honorary principal won't bother you with any work..." the vice president said earnestly.

...Since when did Capital University have such an obvious patronage position?

Old Bai opened his mouth, glanced at the old dean he had worked with for years, and seeing the faint pleading on his face, sighed and accepted the certificate.

Seeing this, the Martial Hall heads actually showed some envy towards the two visitors from Capital University.

After that, guests kept arriving nonstop.

People from all fields—academics, military, government—whether familiar or not, all used the excuse of celebrating his birthday to squeeze into his daughter's home.

Those with some status got a seat;

those without, after exchanging a few words and finding no place to sit, left regretfully.

Old Bai’s grandson looked at the full house, the gifts coming and going, and his young mind suddenly seemed to understand what "everything will come" really meant...

The house was full of chatter, most of it being Old Bai speaking while everyone else listened.

Then, there was another knock.

Old Bai's grandson toddled over to open the door and suddenly froze.

"Who is it?" Old Bai asked.

"A pretty big sister and a tall big brother!" his grandson shouted.

Old Bai stood up abruptly, and not just him—everyone in the house stood up, watching Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu walk in. Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI-Fire.ɴet

When Zheng Fa entered, he glanced sideways at the clueless little boy—how come Tang Lingwu got called pretty, but he was just tall?

They ignored everyone else and walked straight up to Old Bai, saying together, "Teacher, happy birthday!"

Old Bai blinked, and his eyes suddenly turned a little red.

That word "Teacher" brought all three of them back to the days at Qingshui High School.

Back then, Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu had been tutoring at Old Bai’s house.

There was no nursing home, no cultivation, no distinguished guests—just an old man and two youngsters under the lamp.

Not much time had passed.

But in their hearts, it felt like oceans had shifted and worlds had changed.

Actually, Old Bai hadn’t been too happy today:

Sure, it was livelier than before.

But the whole roomful of people—all came with ulterior motives, their smiles hiding ambitions of fame and fortune. How many were truly happy for his birthday?

Not even his daughter and son-in-law.

Now, with Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu visiting simply as students, with nothing but that simple "Teacher," and their two familiar, unchanged smiles—

It made Old Bai, who was usually laughing every day, feel like crying.

The others didn’t understand his emotions.

They just exchanged glances at Zheng Fa’s respectful address, seemingly evaluating the relationship between the three, especially considering Old Bai’s position in Zheng Fa’s heart.

Old Bai himself could feel it—just one word, "Teacher," made even those so-called big shots look at him with more respect.

"Why didn’t you wait until I came back?" Tang Lingwu looked at Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa smiled at Old Bai and said, "Didn't you give me a surprise before? I figured I should give you one too!"

Old Bai patted Zheng Fa’s shoulder without saying anything.

...

After his birthday, Old Bai suddenly became very busy.

He was almost never seen.

But Zheng Fa and the others were also busy, trying to fuse the spiritual energy structures from his cells with various types of mulberry cells—not just mulberry, but all kinds of plant cells—since they weren’t sure exactly what species Fusang belonged to, they decided to expand their scope.

The experiments proceeded slowly.

Meanwhile, Old Bai continued to be elusive, secretly busy with his own matters.

Until one night.

"Professor Bai?"

Seeing Old Bai put a tablet down in front of him with a proud expression, Zheng Fa looked a bit puzzled.

"Take a look!" Old Bai said mysteriously.

Zheng Fa tapped the screen. It was a reading app.

Inside was only one book, but it was huge—several hundred gigabytes.

On the cover was a long title: Topology in Talismans—Starting from the Little Rain Talisman.

As soon as he opened it, Zheng Fa understood why the file was so massive.

In this book, Old Bai had fully integrated topology with talisman knowledge.

The main framework was complete, structured topology knowledge, but every point was paired with corresponding talisman analysis methods.

It also incorporated all the talisman diagrams they had collected over the past few years—hence the enormous file size.

After flipping through a few pages, Zheng Fa understood:

Although the book didn’t offer fundamentally new knowledge, it was the culmination of their years of research on talismans!

By studying this book, one could not only learn a complete system of topology but also the most comprehensive collection of talisman diagrams, with an undercurrent of integration between the two fields.

For the Jiushan Realm, this book combined both practical use and theoretical depth!

He even felt that, whether in Xuanyi, Jiushan, or the modern world, there was probably no one else who could have written it except Old Bai.

"Professor Bai, when did you start writing this?" Zheng Fa asked, knowing this couldn't have been done overnight.

"Didn’t I mention before that I was writing a textbook?"

"Yeah."

"I gave up on that," Old Bai said with a smile.

Zheng Fa’s eyes widened slightly. Back then, Old Bai had said it was his life's ambition in mathematics—and now he just gave up?

Seeing his reaction, Old Bai chuckled, "I couldn’t just take that 'Teacher' title from you for nothing, right?"

Only then did Zheng Fa realize what Old Bai had been busy with lately, and he couldn’t help feeling a little touched.

"It’s no big deal. I can always write that other book later..." Old Bai said, waving dismissively. "I’m not dying anytime soon. I can wait."

Zheng Fa nodded.

Tang Lingwu suddenly asked, "Grandpa Bai, sure, you can wait—but can the editor from Capital University Press who asked you for a manuscript wait?"

"...Ahem!" Old Bai straightened his back and said proudly, "Allow me to introduce myself—Honorary Principal of Capital University!"

"……"