I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 168Book 2: : The Unique Cultivation Path of Jiushan

Vol 2 Chapter 168 The Unique Cultivation Path of Jiushan

“Fairy Xiao, thank you.”

Zheng Fa handed a few books to Xiao Yuying.

They were popular science books on electromagnetism—well, children’s science books.

He had chosen them carefully.

It wasn’t that Zheng Fa was being stingy. After spending so much time around Xiao Yuying, he deeply understood her... level of knowledge.

These books were probably...

Xiao Yuying flipped through the books with excitement, a slight frown on her brow, murmuring, “This secret technique is really profound...”

As expected!

“Fairy Xiao, you’re welcome to visit Jiushan Realm again anytime.”

Lately, Zheng Fa had been busy teaching Senior Sister Zhang and didn’t have time to copy books for Xiao Yuying.

She hadn’t pressed him about it, which made Zheng Fa feel rather grateful.

“You really don’t plan to leave Jiushan Realm?”

Xiao Yuying asked in surprise.

“Mm.”

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

In fact, even without the threat of the Great Freedom Demonic Sect, Zheng Fa had little interest in going out.

Xiao Yuying frowned. The books in her hand flashed and vanished.

She was silent for a long time before speaking. “Fellow Daoist Zheng, you’re someone with great potential.”

“Mm?”

Zheng Fa blinked, unsure why she suddenly brought that up.

But Xiao Yuying’s next words made everything clear.

“But when it comes to cultivation, shutting yourself off isn’t the way.”

“Fairy Xiao.”

“You know, among all the hidden realms I’ve explored, do you know what I’ve seen the most?”

“What?”

“Cultivators who secluded themselves for ages, never communicating with the outside world. Some went mad, some reached a dead end, and in the end... they died.”

Zheng Fa gave a soft nod.

“Often, in contemporaneous realms or ancient abodes, I’d find that the problems those cultivators struggled with had already been solved by those before them... They just didn’t know, either because they were cut off from information or blinded by sectarian bias.”

Xiao Yuying turned to look at Zheng Fa. “So it is with cultivators, and so it is with sects. Closing yourselves off may offer temporary safety, but often leads to decline.”

“Of course, being able to enter Jiushan Realm is a good thing. Now that the Great Freedom Demonic Sect has emerged, a great calamity looms over Xuanyi. Having Jiushan Realm is certainly an advantage.”

“But in my eyes, times of calamity are also times when heroes rise, when immortal techniques explode into brilliance.”

“With your talent, you shouldn’t waste it.”

After she finished speaking, Xiao Yuying nodded to Zheng Fa and vanished from the Jiushan Realm.

Zheng Fa bowed in the direction she disappeared. In truth, he was quite grateful for Xiao Yuying’s words—

In fact, he even felt that she had the mindset of a historian.

He agreed with her observations.

Take Tianhe Venerable for example—

the design of his life-bound treasure likely originated from earlier divine-path techniques.

What’s more, times of war are when weapons advance the fastest. In a chaotic cultivation world, with cultivators cross-testing and secret arts blending, immortal techniques would naturally progress rapidly.

For Xiao Yuying to grasp this... she was impressive.

Her words to Zheng Fa were, he believed, genuinely well-intentioned.

...

After seeing Xiao Yuying off, Zheng Fa walked toward the Rainbow Bridge.

Now, the Heavenly Palace had been divided by him into nine major sections, each with a main island.

The island where the Heavenly Palace stood was connected to the other eight by rainbow bridges.

One of those islands was specifically reserved for Nascent Soul cultivators.

Zheng Fa hadn’t thought of this himself—it was Han Qi who reminded him—

If they all lived together, maybe Senior Sister Zhang and the others wouldn’t mind, but the junior disciples like Han Qi sure did...

The place where Senior Sister Zhang lived used to be a palace of a deity. It had fallen into disrepair, but after some renovations, it was now decent enough to live in.

Zheng Fa had chosen that palace for her because it was located midway up the mountain, next to a stunning mountain lake—

and Senior Sister Zhang loved water.

As he reached the lakeside, the palace’s reflection shimmered clearly on the surface.

His heart suddenly felt calm.

The great battle from two days ago felt like a distant memory.

Just as he entered Senior Sister Zhang’s residence, his eyes widened in shock.

Senior Sister Yuan was leaning against the bed, kneading Senior Sister Zhang’s face...

Senior Sister Zhang had been severely injured this time. She had been unconscious for several days, her aura incredibly weak.

She lay there, face pale, looking more delicate than Zheng Fa had ever seen her.

Of course—

Her cheeks were currently flushed from Senior Sister Yuan’s persistent squishing.

Seeing Zheng Fa enter, Senior Sister Yuan cleared her throat and awkwardly pulled her hand back.

“Senior Sister used to pinch me when I was little...” she mumbled. “I’m just paying her back.”

The more she spoke, the higher she held her little head—like she was absolutely in the right.

Zheng Fa couldn’t help but laugh.

A few days ago, Senior Sister Yuan had been worry-ridden every day. She wouldn’t have dared act like this.

Clearly, she had finally relaxed.

“Feels good?”

He suddenly asked.

“Huh?”

Zheng Fa reached out, pinched Senior Sister Zhang’s cheek once, then retracted his fingers, gently rubbing his fingertips.

As he murmured, “Not bad.”

“Right?!” Senior Sister Yuan lit up. Seeing Zheng Fa do it too, she immediately grabbed at Senior Sister Zhang’s face again. “Since when has Senior Sister ever been this obedient? Why should she be the only one allowed to bully me? Today I—”

“Senior Sister Zhang!”

Zheng Fa suddenly called out.

Senior Sister Yuan froze, slowly turning her head.

Senior Sister Zhang had opened her eyes, silently staring at the hand on her face.

Her expression was calm... and terrifying.

“Senior Sister!” Senior Sister Yuan jolted and instantly withdrew her claws, chuckling awkwardly. “Zheng Shidi did it too!”

“...I did,” Zheng Fa said, glancing at Senior Sister Yuan, as if he wanted to say more but held back, then sighed.

Looking helpless.

“...”

Senior Sister Zhang looked at him, then turned her head to glare at Senior Sister Yuan, her eyes full of suspicion.

Senior Sister Yuan: “???”

“…Pulling back is the right move,” Senior Sister Zhang admitted frankly. “Right now, it’s not just the problem with the Great Freedom Demonic Sect. My injuries won’t heal for at least a year or more.”

Zheng Fa frowned. “It’s that serious?”

“The Ancestor’s true body… seems to have been extinguished,” Senior Sister Zhang explained softly. “If Ancestor of the Blood River hadn’t broken through the mountain-protecting formation and revealed the truth about the Ancestor, I wouldn’t have been able to access Soul Formation-level power.”

“The truth?”

“We were right. The current Ancestor is actually the Ancestor’s spiritual treasure—a very special spiritual treasure. It’s formed from the grand formation, the nine peaks, and the spiritual veins within them. So even though the Ancestor’s true body has perished, this version of the Ancestor is mostly unaffected.”

“I used myself as a medium to connect the current Ancestor with the True Form Talisman of Mountains and Rivers. By substituting the current Ancestor for the missing true body, I gained Soul Formation-level power.”

“But my soul is too weak… I can’t control that power.”

Zheng Fa now understood why her injuries were so severe.

This method was something she had comprehended in the moment—it was inherently flawed.

And to wield such a massive power, the price of just one to two years of recovery was already high.

Senior Sister Zhang made perfect sense.

On one hand, she had suffered a huge loss in strength.

On the other, Zheng Fa’s Sun and Moon Bell was still deadlocked with that immortal sword.

Both of Jiushan Sect’s “Soul Formation” powers couldn’t fight.

So what was the point of hanging around?

“Senior Sister Zhang, can we move the nine peaks into the Jiushan Realm?”

To Zheng Fa, this was critically important.

It was practically a Soul Formation-level plug-in!

“It should be possible,” Senior Sister Zhang said after some thought. “If the Ancestor’s true body still existed, I wouldn’t be able to. Different paths to Soul Formation tend to clash until one is completely destroyed.”

“But now that the Ancestor is gone, it’s a lot easier.”

Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa immediately thought of that immortal sword.

There was probably still some of Ancestor of the Blood River’s consciousness within it—hence the struggle.

“So that means, life-bound spiritual treasures are extremely important to Soul Formation cultivators.”

Senior Sister Zhang nodded. “Tianhe Venerable was truly extraordinary. Fate-bound spiritual treasures from divine-path techniques were originally traps left by predecessors—cultivating them would make you more and more like someone else. But he managed to modify that, and now it’s become the key to awakening one’s true self.”

Zheng Fa fell into thought.

“The more you cultivate, the more you resemble someone else…” he murmured. “So the life-bound spiritual treasure is like a backup of your true nature, stored in advance. And when your self gets eroded by spiritual energy, the treasure helps you ‘cultivate into someone else’—but that someone else is actually your original self? That’s… a pretty brilliant concept.”

Senior Sister Zhang nodded too.

This thing—sounded like a system restore!

Or maybe… an anchor?

If fate-bound spiritual treasures were anchors for the return of powerful beings—

then life-bound spiritual treasures might be anchors to return to your own nature.

“If not for the fate-bound treasure, Tianhe Venerable might not have created such a world-shaking method.”

Senior Sister Zhang sighed.

Zheng Fa recalled what Xiao Yuying had said.

He spoke up: “Senior Sister, what Xiao Yuying said wasn’t without merit. Even though we’re now safe within the Nine Realms, if we cling to the old ways and stop progressing, we’ll eventually fade away.”

Senior Sister Zhang looked at him and gestured for him to go on.

“Senior Sister, once the disciples are settled, I want to change some of Jiushan Sect’s rules.”

“How so?”

Senior Sister Zhang simply asked.

“I want to reform the Talisman Hall. First, ban internal conflict. Second, we need to rewrite our materials—set aside sectarian bias and teach all significant achievements, whether they’re from Martial Uncle Pang or discovered by us, to the rest of the sect.”

“The Administrative Hall needs reform too. I want our fellow disciples to promote our research achievements in the mortal world—train the kind of talent we need, gain incense offerings, and grow spiritual plants in return.”

Senior Sister Zhang nodded lightly at those two points—she didn’t seem opposed.

“Senior Sister, I want to encourage disciples to pursue all kinds of research, and reward them for it.”

Zheng Fa’s words made her frown slightly.

“How will you reward them?”

“First, with honors—like if an outer disciple makes certain research breakthroughs, they can be promoted to inner disciple status. Inner disciples with achievements could be named core disciples, or even honored as elders.”

Zheng Fa had been thinking about this for a while.

“Second, of course, are material rewards—spiritual materials from the herb garden, or sect resources, should be directed toward this purpose.”

Senior Sister Zhang thought for a moment, then slowly nodded. “You mean, aside from cultivation level and talent, you want to establish another path—for the smart ones?”

“Yes.”

That had been Zheng Fa’s hesitation all along—this would establish a new evaluation system very different from traditional ones in the Xuanyi Realm, and it would shift how resources were distributed.

Truth be told, intelligence doesn’t equal talent. Take Senior Sister Yuan, for example…

But to grow, he had to raise the status of researchers.

It was a move that would be hard for people to understand.

He had brought it up to Senior Sister Zhang first to win her support—

and also because she had far more experience managing the sect than he did. He wanted her to help him identify any weak points in his plan.