I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 257 Turning Against Oneself, Forum Battle

"Xianfan Link..." Senior Sister Zhang looked at Zheng Fa, lifted her head, and smiled, "We finally waited for this day."

Yes, they finally waited for this day.

The separation between mortals and cultivators in Jiushan Realm had caused too many problems.

Like the various crops developed by Zhenren Qian—because of the separation, they couldn't be promoted among mortals, nor could they utilize the vast farmlands of the mortal world, resulting in production remaining low, and Jiushan Realm’s spirit plant exports staying small-scale.

Impacting exports was one thing.

Affecting mortal population growth was the real problem.

The Sun and Moon Bell depended on the development of Jiushan Realm. Although the mortal world was much better than before Zheng Fa’s arrival, it still hadn't reached his expectations:

The biggest reason was that Zhenren Qian and others' research couldn't be turned into industries because of the separation between mortals and cultivators...

If the industry segment was missing, then the combination of academics and research would become castles in the air, unsustainable. The disappearance of the separation was the final barrier to opening this cycle.

In Zheng Fa’s vision—

The mortal world of Jiushan Realm was the foundation of the entire system, providing incense power and talent reserves.

Jiushan Sect, using incense power, would conduct research and in turn feed back into the mortal world.

The two would complement each other, forming a virtuous cycle.

"Junior Brother, even so, lifting the separation isn’t all good," Senior Sister Zhang suddenly said seriously, "Universal cultivation would be too extravagant."

"I've calculated it. The resources needed daily by a Qi Refining cultivator are about equivalent to the incense power produced by a hundred mortals."

Since she oversaw Jiushan Merit Points, her words were backed by data. She continued, "We must control the numbers."

Zheng Fa agreed—

The Tranquility Bamboo was slowly pushing Jiushan Realm toward evolution, but the process was extremely slow, almost imperceptible to anyone but him.

"Senior Sister, I want to revise the education system of Jiushan Realm."

"Hmm?"

Zheng Fa clearly had been preparing for this;

he spoke in a well-organized manner:

"In my view, the future education system of Jiushan should have three layers—"

Senior Sister Zhang said nothing, just listened intently.

They appeared to be casually chatting, but Zheng Fa confiding in her first had its reasons.

Though three Supreme Elders still existed, he and Senior Sister Zhang were effectively the highest authority.

Most decisions were made by the two, with the elders later helping fine-tune details—meaning the elders typically wouldn't oppose but only assist.

"Primary education will still be among mortals, teaching three subjects: arithmetic, literature, and martial arts."

"Secondary education should be set on Letu Island..." Zheng Fa said slowly, "Outstanding students among mortals can enter Letu Island to study."

"In addition to the three subjects, their curriculum should be expanded."

"Expanded how?"

"First, they must learn Talisman Techniques—or more precisely, topology..." Zheng Fa had clearly thought this through. "Now it’s clear that the Way of Talismans is the foundation of the Immortal Dao. Every cultivator should study it." R𝙖ℕՕ𝐛Ęṩ

"Besides that, I want them to learn some agricultural knowledge, understand the customs of Jiushan Realm, maybe even learn how to be teachers—and most importantly... to learn the ideals of Jiushan Sect."

Senior Sister Zhang paused in surprise: "You want to train future governors of the mortal world on Letu Island?"

"Not just that," Zheng Fa explained, "The outstanding students from Letu Island can naturally proceed to University Island for further study, but those without such talents shouldn’t be wasted. After absorbing our ideas, they can return to govern mortals, teach agriculture, or educate others."

Senior Sister Zhang fell silent for a moment, then said, "In that case, Letu Island is the most crucial part of Jiushan’s education system?"

Zheng Fa smiled—

Her words hit the mark.

Letu Island would become the backbone, the link between upper and lower education.

A teacher could influence countless students.

A good governor could shape countless lives.

Zheng Fa had to be extremely cautious.

That was why he insisted on keeping these students under close watch.

"What about University Island?"

"I want to split University Island into two parts as well."

Senior Sister Zhang looked a bit stunned—

She hadn't expected he would even reform University Island’s structure.

"Senior Sister, although Jiushan Realm is undergoing reform, we can’t entirely reject the traditional model of Xuanyi Realm—"

Traditional geniuses: those with excellent cultivation potential, strong talent in spells, and outstanding combat abilities.

Under Jiushan’s current system, such individuals weren’t excluded, but there wasn't much space for them to shine.

Senior Sister Zhang’s eyes lit up as she nodded, "I was thinking about that too. Overturning everything from Xuanyi Realm could hinder Jiushan’s growth."

That was Zheng Fa’s point—he intended to reform the Immortal Sect system, but that didn’t mean it was all wrong.

The Immortal Sects had endured for generations for good reasons—at least practically speaking.

Zheng Fa wanted to integrate modern ideas with traditional realities.

"I actually thought of this after Master and the others developed Immortal Formations. I want to split the current university into two parts: one for research, and one for combat training, focusing on Immortal Formations."

In short: one research university, and one military academy.

One to nurture new types of talent for leading Jiushan forward.

One to cultivate traditional heroes for protecting Jiushan’s safety.

As for the power of Immortal Formations, no one knew it better than the people from the Great Freedom Demonic Sect—

And the study of Immortal Formations was just beginning;

its potential was immense, and Zheng Fa placed great hopes on it.

"I even plan to set the new school on Struggle-for-Dao Island."

Military academies and research universities had very different requirements:

Military academies demanded obedience.

Research universities required relative freedom.

Separating them would allow each to thrive without interfering with the other.

Senior Sister Zhang was silent for a long time before sighing, "Other sects still see mortals as burdens, but you... you really won’t let a single person go."

Zheng Fa smiled.

The population could be a burden or a blessing—

It depended on how one looked at it.

...

Little Qing had no idea Zheng Fa was contemplating changes to the future of Jiushan Realm’s mortal world.

She knelt on the meditation cushion in the temple, softly reciting prayers.

Outside the temple, the citizens of Half-Mountain City knelt in dense rows.

Although a few years had passed, the city’s population hadn’t increased much, but people’s appearances had changed greatly.

When Zheng Fa first arrived, most of the townsfolk were thin and haggard.

Now, not only had Little Qing become noticeably plumper,

but everyone’s faces had gained much more color.

Although Zhenren Qian’s crops had not yet been widely promoted, Zheng Fa had sent disciples to practice Cloud Movement and Rain Distribution.

The city had enjoyed good weather, with daily fishing harvests.

Coupled with the cultivation of fungi and the preliminary domestication of several wild crops, starvation had become nearly nonexistent.

Even though they knew Thunder God Lord didn’t necessarily care,

the incense offerings at the temple grew day by day.

They even developed a new custom: every three days, collectively presenting offerings to Thunder God Lord.

The less Zheng Fa cared, the more fanatical they became...

After the dramatic change of Heaven and Earth—the Nine Stars Circling the Sun—

the people came to pray every day, both to admire the Thunder God’s power and out of fear that the good days might be disrupted.

Thus, their prayers were exceptionally pious and earnest.

Tens of thousands of voices merged, shaking the temple’s dome.

Suddenly, the dome began to glow.

Little Qing looked up and saw the statue before her shining brightly, illuminating the entire temple!

Gradually, the light coalesced into a human shape—

a young man emerged from the radiance, floating in the temple’s air.

Zheng Fa looked down at his hands and feet, then at Little Qing before him, a faint smile appearing in his eyes.

"Thunder God Lord?"

Little Qing felt as if she had dreamed of that gaze before and cautiously asked.

"It’s me."

Zheng Fa said just two words—

and all the people standing upright outside the temple immediately prostrated themselves on the ground.

Little Qing followed suit—they hadn’t seen Zheng Fa before, but they all recognized his voice.

Many people banged their heads against the ground, loudly and earnestly.

Thunder God Lord had truly descended!

"Rise..."

They either didn't hear him or didn’t dare to move;

none rose.

Zheng Fa lifted his palm, and a gentle breeze swept through the temple.

Everyone felt a pair of large hands supporting their arms, forcing them to stand.

They looked up at Zheng Fa, seemingly overwhelmed by the divine power, the reverence in their eyes burning like a raging fire.

As the temple attendant most familiar with Zheng Fa, Little Qing mustered the courage to speak: "Thunder God Lord, do you have any instructions?"

"Instructions?"

Zheng Fa had indeed come to initiate the reforms for Jiushan Realm—

ideally, he would visit various places, answer the mortals' doubts, and encourage them to study hard.

But that wasn’t the real reason he came personally.

He glanced at the statue behind him and the grand decorations of the temple, then said:

"My surname is Zheng."

"Ah?"

"My name is Zheng Fa. Just like you, I have a name and a family. I have a father, a mother, and a younger sister..."

Little Qing’s eyes widened slowly.

Zheng Fa continued as if he hadn’t noticed her expression:

"I used to be a mortal, just like you."

At that, even the people outside the temple couldn’t help whispering among themselves.

They understood—the Thunder God Lord wouldn’t lie to them.

But... a mortal like them?

"Yet today, I can command lightning."

Zheng Fa pointed at the sky,

and the heavens bloomed with colorful thunderbolts, like fireworks, lighting up every face.

On those faces was a yearning—

In Jiushan Realm, countless generations had perished under thunder.

"I can bring abundant harvests."

Zheng Fa pointed at the valley,

and within a few breaths, countless flowers bloomed in myriad forms, and fruits hung heavily on the plants, creating a scene of prosperity.

In Half-Mountain City, someone began to cry—they remembered friends and family who had starved to death.

Watching their mingled grief and joy, Zheng Fa suddenly asked, "Do you want to learn?"

"Learn?" Little Qing looked dazed, as if she didn’t even understand the word, and said blankly, "How do we learn?"

The people outside the temple were all full of expectation.

Zheng Fa chuckled softly, and with that laugh, the books he had previously given Little Qing floated out and landed before the crowd.

"Start learning from these."

Little Qing’s mouth hung open as she stared at the textbooks she was so familiar with, her face saying one thing: I didn’t know what I learned was this amazing.

"Of course, just learning these won’t be enough," Zheng Fa, seeming to understand her confusion, added, "You must also do one more thing."

A trace of doubt appeared on Little Qing’s face.

Zheng Fa turned around, reached out toward the statue behind him.

Everyone watched with wide eyes as the statue, which had stood for countless years, began to topple slowly and unstoppably.

Boom!

A loud crash echoed.

The clay statue smashed against the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

That crash seemed to strike directly at the hearts of Half-Mountain City’s people, hitting them in their very guts, making them shocked, pained, terrified, and then furious.

That was the statue of Thunder God Lord!

But when they looked at Zheng Fa, they couldn't bring themselves to be angry—

because it was Thunder God Lord himself who had knocked it down.

"Thunder God Lord!"

Little Qing shouted.

Zheng Fa turned to look at Little Qing, then swept his gaze over the confused and lost citizens of Half-Mountain City, and spoke slowly:

"There may indeed be Immortals and Gods in this world..."

"But in our hearts, there must not be a supreme, untouchable deity..."

Little Qing listened to Zheng Fa’s final words in a daze.

Zheng Fa understood—

The so-called separation between mortals and cultivators was not only in the sky above, but also in the hearts of these people.

Breaking the separation in Jiushan Realm needed the Tranquility Bamboo, a nearly impossible task.

But...

Breaking the separation in people's hearts seemed just as difficult.

...

After spending half a day knocking down a statue in the mortal world, Zheng Fa returned to Ten Thousand Immortals Island and found that the forums had already exploded into personal worship.

A certain post had gone viral in recent days.

Its title was outrageously bold:

"After Seeing Sect Master Advance to Mid-Stage Golden Core, How Many Tianhe Venerables Could He Beat at the Same Realm?"

Zheng Fa: ......

Even though Madam Xuanhua had been working hard to refine Tongjian, and although Zheng Fa’s cultivation had greatly improved, the number of disciples with Tongjian in Jiushan Realm had now exceeded a hundred.

Yet this post... had already surpassed a thousand replies!

Mainly because they were arguing!

He glanced through the replies.

Whether out of genuine belief or bootlicking, around sixty percent said he could crush two Tianhe Venerables at once, one in each hand.

Another thirty percent thought the crowd was too conservative and claimed he could start at three!

The remaining ten percent mostly said that against a Tianhe Venerable one-on-one, Zheng Fa definitely wouldn’t be at a disadvantage.

Only a tiny minority—either brutally honest or die-hard fans of Tianhe Venerable—claimed the Tianhe Venerable was stronger.

I mean...

Are you guys really that interested in this question?

As for Zheng Fa himself, he wasn’t so sure—his greatest strengths were his two divine abilities and Jiushan Realm.

Leaving the divine abilities aside, the Tianhe Venerable apparently also had the Heavenly Monument Realm?

And Zheng Fa didn’t even know if the Tianhe Venerable could control it at the Golden Core stage... Fınd the newest release on n0velfire.net

In short, he didn't know much about the Tianhe Venerable.

The reply count on that post was still soaring.

Looking closer, Zheng Fa noticed one user, clearly a hardcore Tianhe Venerable fan, locked in a massive debate—or rather, being verbally gang-beaten by the other disciples.

The guy was stubborn, insisting that the Tianhe Venerable was unparalleled at the Golden Core stage.

But since he couldn’t provide any decent evidence, he just seemed pigheaded and unreasonable.

Not only did he gain no allies, he got thoroughly flamed.

...

"Actually, that guy makes a few points,"

Blood River Ancestor suddenly mentioned after Zheng Fa finished briefing Martial Uncle Pang and the others on the education reforms.

"Hmm?"

"The Tianhe Venerable... had a title, 'The Greatest Golden Core in Eternity.'"

"The Greatest Golden Core?"

"Yes. Not just in this era, or the last era, but... as far back as records go."

"Whose records?"

Zheng Fa asked the key question.

The history of Xuanyi Realm was incredibly patchy, and every sect had different versions—

In Jiushan Sect’s old records, there was no such thing as a Divine Dao Era, for instance.

But the Five Sects of Xuanyi might well know some things from the earlier eras.

"At least Taishang Dao recognizes the title," Blood River Ancestor shook his head, then added before Zheng Fa could ask more, "The Tianhe Sect that the Tianhe Venerable came from... hmm, might have been even weaker than the old Jiushan Sect."

"Hard to say if they even had any Nascent Soul cultivators."

Zheng Fa glanced at Blood River Ancestor.

Since Zheng Fa’s breakthrough to mid-stage Golden Core, the old ancestor had subtly changed, even voluntarily revealing bits of secret history.

Clearly, some parts of the Tianhe Venerable’s legacy had been deliberately erased, and only the Demonic Sects and the Five Sects might still know fragments.

After all, the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor had been killed by the Tianhe Venerable.

Naturally, he would have paid more attention.

It was only logical that Blood River Ancestor knew some things.

"In fact, the Tianhe Venerable wasn’t well-known in his early years. In that era, there were many young cultivators who seemed more talented or better connected..."

"But after forming his Golden Core, everything changed."

"Changed how?"

It was Senior Sister Zhang who asked.

And not just her—Martial Uncle Pang, Old Yuan, even Martial Aunt Huang were all crowding around, fully engrossed—

Clearly, gossip wasn’t just for the juniors.

"No one knows how he cultivated during his Golden Core stage, but after forming the core, he suddenly exploded onto the scene—unparalleled in combat, ascending straight to the top of Xuanyi!"

"His strength at that time, no one could properly gauge. But there are records in our Great Freedom Demonic Sect..."

"The Tianhe Sword Dao—the strongest killing method in Xuanyi Realm—was created by him during his Golden Core stage..."

Blood River Ancestor sighed a little as he spoke:

"It’s said that the highest techniques of Tianhe Sword Dao have even been lost to Tianhe Sect itself..."

"The highest techniques?"

Zheng Fa suddenly asked.

"Well... the Holy Ancestor mentioned it vaguely..." Blood River Ancestor shook his head, "Something called 'Refining Sword into Threads'?"

"And something like 'One Sword Spawns Ten Thousand Spells' or 'One Sword Shatters Ten Thousand Spells'?"

He truly seemed unable to remember, and just threw out a few phrases.

Martial Uncle Pang and the others were clearly baffled,

but Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang exchanged a glance, both thinking of the same thing—

They had seen those words before!

In that little booklet Yan Wushuang collected—

Xie Qingxue had once said that without mastering the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method, one could never achieve the realm of 'Refining Sword into Threads.'

And now they were hearing it again from Blood River Ancestor...

...

Meanwhile, Yan Wushuang thought his Senior Sister Xie Qingxue had gone crazy.

He watched her clenching her teeth at the Tongjian one moment, then pacing around with a flushed face the next, even raising her hand like she wanted to smash the precious artifact.

His heart ached just watching.

He thought it best to sneak away quietly.

But suddenly, Xie Qingxue turned around, glaring at him fiercely, eyes full of murderous intent.

"Da...Senior Sister?"

"Teach me."

"Huh?"

"You’ve got the sharpest tongue in the sect. Teach me."

"......"