I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 258 Rebel Netizens, Nine-Turn Hypothesis

Yan Wushuang glanced at the forum, his expression extremely strange.

"Senior Sister, you... said Zheng Fa isn’t good enough on Jiushan Sect’s forum..."

Wasn’t that asking to get flamed!

Seeing her face, he didn’t dare finish the second half of the sentence.

If Senior Sister couldn’t hit the Jiushan people, she could definitely hit him.

Xie Qingxue’s expression was a little frustrated too. She said angrily:

"When did I say Zheng Fa wasn’t good enough?"

"The Ancestor had already forged an invincible reputation during his Golden Core stage."

"Being compared to the Ancestor, for anyone else, would never be considered an insult!" Yan Wushuang nodded slowly. Well... that was indeed true.

After all, the Ancestor had truly dominated Xuanyi, peerless in the world, the strongest figure of the last era.

Compared to ordinary cultivators, it definitely wasn’t an insult.

But... this was the Jiushan forum.

Just like Tianhe Sect took pride in the Tianhe Ancestor, Jiushan Sect had now almost turned into Zheng Fa’s shape, top to bottom.

He browsed through his Senior Sister’s comments on the forum.

How to say it...

Well, she didn’t curse anyone, but there was an air of condescension hidden in her tone.

Senior Sister was a Soul Formation cultivator, after all, and from Tianhe Sect too. That subtle superiority was hard to mask.

Even when she spoke of Zheng Fa, it sounded like an elder appraising a junior.

This...

Naturally made it even easier to get flamed.

Yan Wushuang lifted his head, feeling helpless—after all, Senior Sister wasn’t from Jiushan Sect and didn’t understand Zheng Fa’s status here.

"Senior Sister, if the forum is so aggravating..." Yan Wushuang suppressed a smile and kindly suggested, "maybe, you could give the Tongjian back to me..."

Whoosh!

A gust of wind slammed into him, sending him staggering,

and the Tongjian in his hand flew straight into...

Xie Qingxue’s hands.

Looking at his Senior Sister, who guarded the Tongjian with vigilance, Yan Wushuang blinked wide-eyed, feeling deeply puzzled:

Why is Senior Sister even more unwilling to part with the Tongjian the more she gets scolded?

...

This Tianhe fan really was a chatterbox.

Zheng Fa flipped through the guy’s posting history and found that he hadn’t been on the forum for very long—definitely not among the first batch of disciples.

But his number of posts... was almost the highest on the entire forum!

This person was like a curious baby, first mixing in gossip threads, then appearing everywhere.

Zheng Fa checked the timestamps and realized—

This guy was active twelve hours a day, every hour...

High-intensity posting!

If someone responded, he could chat for days without stopping...

If he got into an argument, it became an endless war.

We got ourselves an internet addict in Jiushan Realm?

Reading further into his posts, Zheng Fa grew even more surprised:

This person was pretty sharp!

There were many threads seeking advice on cultivation problems, and he often chimed in.

While he rarely gave specific methods, his insights were often spot on—clearly someone who knew his stuff.

Talent!

Zheng Fa opened the post discussing whether he or the Tianhe Venerable was stronger and found that this guy’s comments were actually pretty reasonable.

He was being cursed way too much.

After thinking for a bit, Zheng Fa decided to step in and posted:

"Since they can’t actually fight, who can say whether Zheng Fa could surpass Tianhe Venerable? Besides, Zheng Fa’s cultivation methods today owe something to Tianhe Venerable’s legacy. Isn't it unfair to compare them this way?"

He felt he was being quite objective.

Strength aside, speaking fairly—compared to Tianhe Venerable, he had benefited from the progress of the times.

Newton didn’t know relativity either;

could he say he was better than Newton at physics?

Standing on the shoulders of giants—wasn't that the idea?

Besides, if not for that jade pendant, Zheng Fa might not have learned any modern concepts at all.

In a way, without Tianhe Venerable, there would be no him today.

He was fully aware of that...

Very soon, someone replied.

Zheng Fa clicked it open—and nearly burst out laughing:

"Another rebel!"

"Eating Jiushan Sect's food but smashing Jiushan Sect’s bowl!"

"So what if Tianhe Venerable was the strongest last era? If I were Sect Master, I’d just regret not being born a generation earlier, so I could challenge him head-on and show Tianhe Venerable who’s truly number one in Xuanyi!"

I’m not, I didn’t, I’m perfectly fine now...

These Jiushan disciples were getting a little cocky...

Zheng Fa started worrying—maybe he had protected them too well?

This kind of arrogance was not a good thing.

With that worry, Zheng Fa tried to reason with the disciples.

After a while, he put down his Jade Slip of Creation, grinning wryly—

he, Zheng Fa, had officially been labeled a black fan of Zheng Fa on the forum!

He wasn’t angry—just felt the whole discussion was pointless, and more importantly, it revealed a lot of underlying problems.

Looking at it this way, Jiushan Forum actually needed to be more open.

Frowning, Zheng Fa thought—

it was good to discover this now, when the problems were just seedlings.

He feared that in the future, everyone would become arrogant and stagnant.

He had created the forum for mutual exchange,

not for Jiushan disciples to become a bunch of self-important snobs.

As for solutions, Zheng Fa wasn’t without ideas:

After advancing to mid-stage Golden Core, his Divine Soul and magic power had grown, and so had the Jade Slip of Creation.

Now it could support far more Tongjian connections.

Besides Jiushan disciples, there was even surplus capacity.

Later, he could distribute some externally, letting Jiushan disciples broaden their horizons.

After thinking for a bit, Zheng Fa reopened the forum.

As soon as he entered, he found a private message waiting for him—it was from that same Tianhe fan, the so-called "Zheng Fa black fan."

Clearly, the guy had been relentlessly fighting in that thread, but, outnumbered and worn down, he had come looking for backup.

"Daoist friend, it’s so hard to speak honestly here!"

Zheng Fa chuckled and even spoke up a bit for the disciples:

"They mean no harm."

Although he worried about their arrogance, he understood—

it was, after all, born from admiration for him.

"I know! Sigh, this place is still pretty good—speaking freely, no one knows who you are."

The Tianhe fan replied, then added,

"Normally, constrained by status... I barely dare to speak. Here, I can say whatever I want. It’s really freeing."

No wonder you’re such a chatterbox.

But that was exactly why Zheng Fa insisted on anonymity from the start.

Behind the mask, who knew if a fellow netizen was human or demon?

Say whatever you want—as long as it wasn’t too anti-sect or anti-humanity, he wouldn’t interfere.

Unexpectedly, this guy seemed to have found a kindred spirit and sent another message:

"Honestly, Zheng... Sect Master is great. Not even talking about other things—this forum alone is wonderful."

The way he commented on Zheng Fa felt strangely lofty.

"It’s a pity there’s only one forum like this..."

He added regretfully,

"Otherwise, I could hang out in more places."

No wonder he stayed glued to the forum even after getting flamed.

Still, Jiushan Forum’s atmosphere was pretty good so far.

This was the first real group beatdown.

And frankly, the victims...

seemed to be just the two of them.

No wonder this guy felt so close to him.

"You’re also a fan of Tianhe Venerable?"

Seeing no reply, the Tianhe fan changed the topic—

clearly, he was really enthusiastic about making friends online.

"Tianhe Venerable deserves the world’s respect."

Zheng Fa replied.

He didn’t know enough about that era yet, much less have personal feelings toward Tianhe Venerable.

But judging by his achievements and ideals alone—

respect was deserved.

"Exactly!"

The guy seemed delighted that Zheng Fa responded,

"The world underestimates Tianhe Venerable—today’s appraisals don’t even capture a fraction of his greatness!"

A true die-hard fan.

Zheng Fa responded:

"Sounds like you know quite a bit?"

"I wouldn’t dare say I know everything, but definitely more than most."

Meanwhile, Xie Qingxue withdrew her spiritual sense from the Tongjian and turned to see Yan Wushuang’s puzzled face.

"What’s wrong?"

"Senior Sister... you're not angry anymore?"

Xie Qingxue snorted softly and said,

"The ignorant are not worth arguing with. Why would I be angry?"

"Then Senior Sister, you’re..."

"There are still clear-headed and humble people in Jiushan Realm."

Waving him off disinterestedly, she buried herself back into the Tongjian, clearly losing all interest in her junior brother.

Upon entering the forum, she immediately saw a message from Zheng Fa:

"I'm very interested in Tianhe Venerable, but I don’t know much. Why don’t you tell me about him?"

Xie Qingxue hesitated a moment, then replied:

"I don’t know everything... but just speaking of Tianhe Sword Dao—it’s much stronger than the world believes. No, a hundred times stronger!"

Zheng Fa was stunned.

He had already had a vague feeling before,

but now he was even more certain—

This person... probably wasn’t a Jiushan disciple.

To be honest, Jiushan disciples didn’t have this kind of knowledge.

There was only one Tongjian that had leaked out...

Yan Wushuang?

Yan Wushuang wasn’t this chatty...

Then it had to be someone else from Tianhe Sect?

He hadn’t been to the Taishang Dao’s quarters yet, and didn’t know exactly how many people had come.

The only ones he was aware of were Yan Wushuang... and Xie Qingxue.

Curiosity surged in his heart, and he asked again, "Then what was the original Tianhe Sword Dao like?"

"...The original Tianhe Sword Dao was the ancestor of all sword paths. Before Tianhe Venerable, the sword was merely an ordinary magical tool, but after Tianhe Venerable, swordsmanship became a Dao in itself."

There was quite a bit of information packed into these words.

He continued, "Why was it so?"

"Because the Tianhe Sword Dao wasn’t just a set of sword techniques—it encompassed everything, changing endlessly, even able to derive myriad spells from a single sword—this was only the entry level."

"Change is the true essence of the Tianhe Sword Dao!"

"The world speaks of swordsmanship but sees only the sword, not the Dao—they are like blind men touching an elephant."

"The current technique of turning sword qi into rainbows is actually just a petty art."

That was a bold statement.

The technique of turning sword qi into rainbows was currently the signature skill of Tianhe Sect, renowned across Xuanyi for its power.

"Is it really that amazing?"

"Of course!"

The other person, afraid he wouldn’t believe it, quickly added,

"I read it in ancient records—there’s no falsehood in them!"

By now, Zheng Fa was almost certain of this person’s identity, and asked:

"Then what’s so special about the true Tianhe Sword Dao?"

But the other party seemed to realize something and, after a long pause, only replied,

"I don't know much. All I can say is, it’s related to the strongest Golden Core method in all of history..."

And then, no more replies.

Xie Qingxue stared at Yan Wushuang, frowning as she asked, "You said, apart from you, Zheng Fa didn’t give this Tongjian to anyone else?"

"No!"

Hearing that, Xie Qingxue immediately pursued, "Then who else knew you had a Tongjian?"

Yan Wushuang thought for a moment and said, "At the time, it should have been just me and Zheng Fa. Zheng Fa isn’t the type to gossip."

"Good..."

Xie Qingxue nodded lightly, "If that’s the case, then if this person isn't Zheng Fa himself, he probably can’t guess my identity."

"What if it is Zheng Fa?"

"If it’s Zheng Fa..." Xie Qingxue shot him a glance,

"Then shouldn’t he be helping the others flame me?"

Yan Wushuang froze, then nodded slowly.

"Senior Sister, you didn’t accidentally reveal our sect’s secrets, right?"

Yan Wushuang suddenly widened his eyes, secretly gloating—

Senior Sister, even you, with your serious face, slipped up?

"Do I look like you?"

Xie Qingxue snorted and said,

"I was careful not to say too much and expose myself."

"This topic can’t be pushed any further."

She showed the Tongjian to Yan Wushuang confidently and said,

"These few sentences aren’t secrets in our sect anyway."

"Who could possibly comprehend our supreme techniques from just a few casual remarks?"

"By the way, if anyone asks, just say that person was you."

"...Senior Sister?"

"Insulting a Soul Formation cultivator is no small matter..."

Xie Qingxue stared at Yan Wushuang and said,

"If you don’t want me storming Jiushan Realm, you better take the blame."

At first, Yan Wushuang thought it sounded reasonable, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized—Wait, why is it okay for me to get cursed?

After chasing away her junior brother, Xie Qingxue happily resumed playing with the Tongjian.

In truth, she wasn’t particularly worried about those few words—

Could someone actually comprehend the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method from that?

If that were possible, then Tianhe Sect had been nothing but a joke for all these years.

Her ancestors would have been utterly useless!

...

Zheng Fa put down the Jade Slip of Creation, not caring that the Tongjian had ended up in Xie Qingxue’s hands.

When he gave it to Yan Wushuang, he had already considered this risk and thus set up a cipher channel separately.

Judging by Xie Qingxue’s obsession with it, the Tongjian really had market potential—

maybe it could even become a new revenue stream...

Recently, the idea of earning spirit stones had been constantly circling his mind.

Senior Sister Zhang’s words were very true:

Now that Jiushan Realm was connected between mortals and immortals, the demand for resources was higher than ever.

Jiushan Sect’s system definitely consumed more resources than ordinary sects.

Aside from developing their own production, they had to create new revenue streams.

Currently, Zheng Fa pinned the main hopes on the Golden Core Project and the spirit material production derived from it.

He walked toward the laboratory.

Madam Xuanhua was leading the Golden Core Project disciples, busily refining various External Pills—

On one hand, they were working on simplified External Pills.

With mortal-immortal connection now open, developing the mortal world meant two things:

spreading new crops, and

providing enough energy sources.

The demand for simplified External Pills was massive.

On the other hand, just as Zheng Fa had planned, Madam Xuanhua had shifted her focus toward spirit material manufacturing.

As soon as she saw Zheng Fa, she came over and said,

"Sect Master, I have an idea."

"What is it?"

Madam Xuanhua rummaged through her storage bag and pulled out a cloud-like mass.

"This is?"

"This material is called the Breath of the Mirage Dragon—a type of spirit material."

Zheng Fa accepted it and immediately understood the name—

The Mirage Dragon was a legendary divine beast, best known for its mastery of illusions.

This Breath of the Mirage Dragon was restless in his hands, sometimes appearing as a mist, sometimes condensing into a cloud, sometimes turning into a pool of water, and sometimes solidifying into a block of ice.

It truly changed endlessly.

"This is a spirit material too?"

Zheng Fa couldn’t help but be amazed—

The form of this material was far more varied than anything he had seen before.

Madam Xuanhua nodded and thoughtfully said,

"This material’s natural transformations make it one of the most favored spirit materials for cultivators who practice charm techniques or illusions. It’s extremely rare."

"Mm... in other words, this thing is expensive, and most people have never even heard of it."

Zheng Fa pressed his lips together.

Understood—it wasn’t that the material was too obscure, it was that he was too poor.

"Then why are you showing me this?"

Zheng Fa already had a guess.

"I was thinking, if we are to manufacture spirit materials, the more valuable, the better.

If the material we produce already floods the market or is cheap in Xuanyi Realm..."

Zheng Fa had thought about this too.

The biggest benefit of Jiushan Sect being able to manufacture spirit materials was that they could be self-sufficient during future disasters.

But while the external situation was still stable,

the biggest immediate benefit was—making money!

One great advantage of manufacturing spirit materials:

no matter how rare something was,

as long as they found the right method, they could produce it!

And the rarer the material, the higher the profit.

"So you’re recommending this?"

Madam Xuanhua nodded:

"I don’t have many rare materials in my possession—this Breath of the Mirage Dragon is the most valuable."

"As far as I know, there are plenty of cultivators out there searching for this material to craft treasures."

"They’re willing to pay a hefty price."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa was genuinely moved—

Madam Xuanhua had basically found the buyers for him already!

Seeing how thorough her thinking was, Zheng Fa naturally had no objections.

He held the Breath of the Mirage Dragon in his hand, swept it once with the Five Elements Divine Light, and froze.

Apparently skeptical of the Divine Light’s miraculous power, he swept another beam of Five Elements Divine Light over the Breath of the Mirage Dragon.

Madam Xuanhua saw his strange behavior and asked in confusion, "Sect Master? Is there something wrong with the Breath of the Mirage Dragon?"

"No..." Zheng Fa suddenly looked up sharply, "There’s something wrong with me!"

"Ah?"

"No, something’s wrong with the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory!"

Madam Xuanhua blinked—

There’s something wrong with the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory?

I just finally understood that thing!

And now you’re telling me it’s wrong?

Zheng Fa could feel the murderous aura coming from her.

When he turned his head, he saw Madam Xuanhua glaring at him, her face practically shouting one thing—

"You, the guy who invented the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory, what do you know about Spirit Particle Cycle Theory?" Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel⁂fire.net

Wait, are you... a hardcore fan of the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory?

Apparently, yes.

Right now, the biggest supporter of the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory wasn’t anyone else—it was Madam Xuanhua herself!

The more you knew about artifact refining, the more you realized how beautifully simple the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory was!

But Zheng Fa had no time to explain to her.

Instead, he summoned Martial Uncle Pang and Senior Sister Zhang.

Seeing him make such a fuss, everyone looked a bit puzzled.

"Just now, when I scanned the Breath of the Mirage Dragon with the Five Elements Divine Light, I discovered something..."

"What?"

"The particles within the Breath of the Mirage Dragon—one atom corresponds to two sub-talismans!"

Zheng Fa’s words immediately made Madam Xuanhua realize why Zheng Fa would say there was something wrong with the theory—

According to the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory, one atom should correspond to exactly one Five-Element Sub-Talisman!

"Two?"

"Yes, one Earth-Elemental Sub-Talisman and one Water-Elemental Sub-Talisman."

"In mist and clouds, there are often water droplets, and sometimes ice crystals or other solids."

"The Water and Earth Sub-Talismans correspond exactly to these two states."

As Zheng Fa explained his reasoning, he added,

"The problem is, I had never realized that a single atom could correspond to multiple Five-Element Sub-Talismans."

"This also explains why the spirit materials we previously analyzed, the relatively less rare ones, didn’t show this phenomenon."

Senior Sister Zhang and the others exchanged glances, still looking doubtful.

This discovery, while revising part of the Spirit Particle Cycle Theory, didn’t seem serious enough to warrant such a big fuss.

"Senior Sister, what if... the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method is related to this?"

Zheng Fa’s words made Senior Sister Zhang suddenly freeze.

She lifted her head to look at him, eyes full of confusion—

How did you jump to that?

"The Nine-Turn Golden Core Method, no matter how profound, is still a Golden Core method—it cannot escape the basic principles of the Golden Core," Zheng Fa said, laying out his thoughts.

"In essence, it’s still about the combination of spiritual energy and Five-Element Sub-Talismans."

Senior Sister Zhang slowly nodded.

"If one particle can bind to multiple sub-talismans, what’s the maximum number?"

"Five?"

Madam Xuanhua blurted out.

"No! Ten!"

Senior Sister Zhang’s eyes lit up as if understanding something,

"Yin Five Elements and Yang Five Elements! They’re actually different!"

"Exactly—ten kinds!" Zheng Fa nodded vigorously, and continued,

"During Core Formation, normally, each particle in our body only binds with one sub-talisman. If we were to bind ten sub-talismans to each particle, then..."

"There would need to be nine more transformations!"

This time, Madam Xuanhua could do the math, and as soon as she spoke, she suddenly understood:

"So that’s why it’s called Nine-Turns?"

"So that’s why it’s Nine-Turns?"

Zheng Fa gently nodded.

"Just because of nine transformations?"

Martial Uncle Pang shook his head on the side,

"That sounds a bit far-fetched."

"Actually, it’s not just that," Zheng Fa shook his head, unsure how to explain it more clearly.

It wasn’t simply because nine plus one equaled ten that he reached this conclusion.

"This idea... actually came from an unnamed friend, who said Tianhe Sword Dao is about deriving myriad methods—or rather, infinite transformations."

"Whether it’s 'One Sword Derives Ten Thousand Spells' or 'One Sword Spawns Ten Thousand Methods,' the essence is the same—change."

Looking at the Breath of the Mirage Dragon in his hand, Zheng Fa smiled,

"And isn’t this... change?"

"And isn’t this change rooted in the Five-Element Sub-Talismans?"

Everyone stared at the ever-shifting mist, dazed—

Yet, they had to admit, this explanation made much more sense than before.

Martial Uncle Pang thought for a while and said,

"I don't know if your theory is right, but... even if I stared at this material a hundred times, I wouldn't have thought of that..."

Madam Xuanhua nodded fiercely.

She stared at the Breath of the Mirage Dragon, a bit dejected—

This thing had been in her hands for a hundred years,

and she hadn’t comprehended any Nine-Turn Golden Core insights!

Suddenly, she pulled out a Tongjian and sank her spiritual sense into it, doing something unknown...

Soon enough, Zheng Fa found out:

Because on the forum, someone suddenly joined the flame war,

started blasting Xie Qingxue, saying she was short-sighted,

that she didn’t understand Zheng Fa’s comprehension and talent—

that he could casually figure out all the Tianhe Venerable’s techniques!

That person flamed Xie Qingxue, then turned to flame Zheng Fa...

Zheng Fa lightly shook his head.

In truth, some things that seemed like "comprehension" were fundamentally a matter of whether you had the right conceptual framework.

He was still standing on the shoulders of giants.

The inspiration for understanding the Nine-Turn Golden Core Method didn’t really come from Xie Qingxue—it came from modern knowledge.

There was a discipline in the modern world that specifically studied all kinds of bonds—

exactly corresponding to the Five-Element Sub-Talismans.

In Zheng Fa’s heart, the name of that discipline could be interpreted simply as—

The Science of Change!