The branches of the Fusang Wood trembled slightly, scattering golden light that streamed through the windows of the Sermon Hall and fell upon Zheng Fa and his disciples.
Zheng Fa's sea of consciousness stirred up waves without any wind, with all sorts of thoughts surging forth like a tidal wave.
Dao Ancestor Dao Fruit...
Zheng Fa looked at the people below the stage, and was somewhat surprised:
Perhaps the increase in the number of people preaching has brought about some changes to the Fusang Wood; preaching has actually become somewhat effective.
The sunlight seemed to have built a one-way bridge between him and these people's minds, or it seemed to have given him eyes that could see through the thoughts of all living beings, allowing him to sense the various insights in their minds.
A thought struck him, and he temporarily stopped teaching the Talisman Arts, instead turning back to explaining the basic cultivation methods.
This time, however, he no longer focused on the listeners, but instead began to focus on the thoughts arising in his own mind:
This Cultivation Method seems to have similarities to the previous one?
Meridians? Meridians and Talisman Diagram seem to be somewhat related.
Why can one only choose one of the Five Phases Spiritual Qi to cultivate? Is it related to the state of matter?
Sure enough, he also had some scattered ideas in his mind.
These thoughts simply didn't arise as frequently as when he was discussing Talisman Arts, which is why he had previously overlooked them.
Having figured this out, Zheng Fa's eyes suddenly lit up as he looked at the audience.
The Old Man Bai in the audience felt a chill run down his spine, unconsciously scratching his curly hair, and muttering to himself, "This feeling... why does it seem so familiar?"
Zheng Fa's gaze swept over the heads of these disciples, one thought running through his mind:
The Enlightenment skill is here!
Through the brief experiment, Zheng Fa had managed to figure out the subtle changes in the Fusang Wood:
When Zheng Fa preached, he was able to sense the insights of those listening.
These insights now seem both good and bad:
The advantage is that these ideas are novel and not baseless speculations; in other words, they can bring Zheng Fa different perspectives.
He only discovered the bad prescription:
Having too many thoughts can actually disrupt his thinking and make it difficult for him to distinguish between what is important and what is wrong.
Fortunately, the listeners in front of him were all elites with relatively clear minds, and their numbers were not large. Zheng Fa's Divine Sense was strong, so dealing with these thoughts was not too difficult.
In Zheng Fa's view, the benefits of this change outweigh the drawbacks:
He has always relied on others' intellect, and this Dao Ancestor Dao Fruit is exactly what he likes.
However, the drawbacks are not insurmountable, and he has now come up with some potentially feasible solutions:
Those who listen to the sermon are carefully selected.
For example, practicing some Secret Method of Divine Sense.
Or perhaps, Zheng Fa looked at the Creation Jade Disc in his Dantian —his Life-bound Dharma Treasure —and wondered if it could help him deal with these thoughts.
But setting aside its drawbacks, the evolution of this Dao Fruit has brought it far too many benefits.
He was excited, but he didn't stop preaching. However, at four o'clock in the afternoon, when the sermon was about to end, he suddenly said, "The rest of you go back and cultivate diligently. The following people, please stay."
His gaze swept across the audience, and he immediately recited many names.
Cheng Yun sat in his seat, listening to Zheng Fa call out his name. He was a little confused. He turned his head and saw that those who had been kept by Zheng Fa were all scientific researchers, especially scholars in physical chemistry.
Those who didn't hear their names called stood up, glanced at them enviously, and walked out of the Sermon Hall.
Those who remained, including Cheng Yun, were secretly delighted.
It seems Dean Zheng is going to give them special tutoring!
Everyone says that researchers are Dean Zheng's most precious treasures.
It seems the rumors were true!
Zheng Fa watched them sitting happily in their seats, and without saying anything, he whispered to Tang Lingwu.
Tang Lingwu looked puzzled, but immediately stood up and flew towards the door.
After a while, she returned to the Sermon Hall with a tablet and several reference books in her hand.
Cheng Yun and the others watched Zheng Fa accept the things Tang Lingwu brought, their curiosity growing even stronger, and then they heard Zheng Fa say:
"Now let's talk about the structure of pure iron in nature..."
"Iron ions are formed by..."
In a body-centered cubic structure, the interatomic spacing of iron atoms is approximately...
The excitement on Cheng Yun and the others' faces slowly faded. They opened their mouths, their expressions blank, staring listlessly at Zheng Fa, their faces all conveying the same message:
Do we need you to teach us these things?
Zheng Fa looked at the unspoken silence in these people's hearts and chuckled inwardly:
sermon?
Stealing techniques!
After understanding what changes had occurred to the Fusang Wood, Zheng Fa immediately had this idea:
Essentially, the Fusang Wood Dao Fruit allows Zheng Fa to perceive the various ideas and insights of the listeners while preaching, thus achieving the goal of mutual learning.
This is also extremely beneficial for preaching—being able to perceive the other person's insights and doubts allows for tailored instruction.
On the other hand, the benefits to Zheng Fa are also obvious:
In a sense, these people's enlightenment is equivalent to their enlightenment!
My future self will possess extraordinary comprehension!
However, these people's cultivation levels are too low now, and their understanding of cultivation is quite superficial, so they don't bring Zheng Fa much benefit.
The problem is... who said we have to talk about cultivation?
I'm going to talk about physics!
The principles of the " Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation " are simple, but the details are extremely complex, requiring almost the most extensive knowledge Zheng Fa had ever seen.
This Cultivation Method is now roughly divided into four levels:
The first level is the transformation of the Cultivation Method.
The second layer is becoming a Spiritual Qi, spiritless object.
The third level is the transformation into Spiritual Qi, inanimate object—that is, becoming spiritual material.
The fourth level is the ultimate achievement, transforming into various forms of life.
Now that the Cultivation Method have changed, Zheng Fa has become quite adept at them.
The second layer, however, has been slow to be completed. The most important reason is his lack of knowledge of various physical and chemical theories, and his limited understanding of modern science.
Now, using the Fusang Wood Dao Fruit, Zheng Fa begins to teach physics...
Whether you understand or not doesn't matter!
After all, it's not a big deal if you're right.
If they make a mistake or overlook a detail, these scholars will naturally reflect on it and even refute it themselves.
With dozens of well-known domestic scholars here, it's almost as if they are simultaneously teaching and correcting Zheng Fa —the problem is that this knowledge is being directly implanted into his mind.
It's somewhat like Zheng Fa approaching these academic luminaries, tapping them on the forehead, and saying, "Your physics knowledge is quite good; it's mine now."
Several days later, as dawn broke, the air on Rainbow Mountain carried a dampness.
Cheng Yun and his teacher, Professor Wang, walked along the mountain path, both looking somewhat haggard.
Team Leader Yang walked up behind them, passing by the two men, and said with a smile, "Why do you all look so listless?"
Which group?
"So that's the kind of person the dean keeps behind for special treatment every day!" Team Leader Yang's tone was full of envy. " Tang Mudao told me a long time ago that the dean favors those who do scientific research the most, and now I know why!"
Cheng Yun was speechless. He exchanged a glance with his teacher, both feeling exhausted, and sighed.
Seeing this, Team Leader Yang was naturally puzzled. "What? Is the dean's private tutoring too profound? Is it difficult to understand?"
"You do not know?"
"Have no idea?"
"Nobody told you?"
"Say what?"
Professor Wang nodded, glanced at Cheng Yun, and understood: living in Nursing Home requires a certain level of tact and the ability to avoid offending those in power!
Was the dean's private tutoring session too profound?
That's too shallow.
Every night, they stayed in the Sermon Hall, neither daring to leave nor to sleep, just listening to Dean Zheng lecture on physics and chemistry.
It's not that the dean's lecture was bad; on the contrary, they all agreed that the dean was making rapid progress.
The problem is, they don't want to listen!
These things were far less appealing to them than cultivation, especially since they already knew much of the knowledge.
Thinking of this, Professor Wang suddenly uttered a sigh, "The pursuit of truth is truly difficult..."
Cheng Yun nodded heavily upon hearing this.
Upon hearing this, Team Leader Yang turned and scrutinized them for a long time before shaking his head and slowly walking away, seemingly unable to understand the teacher and student duo.
Watching her walk away, Cheng Yun whispered:
"Boss, why do you think the dean is?"
How would I know?
"Guess?"
"Perhaps it's a passion," Professor Wang said after a moment's thought.
Cheng Yun was stunned, and asked in surprise, "Passion?"
"I heard that the dean previously wanted to study physics at Capital University."
Cheng Yun seemed to understand. "Boss, you mean the dean dreams of becoming a physics professor? So he did some cosplay..."
"Um."
"What's so great about physics? I love cultivating immortality!"
Cheng Yun muttered something to himself, and Professor Wang shook his head as well, seemingly unable to understand Zheng Fa's thoughts either.
Five minutes to six, the two arrived at the Sermon Hall.
The Sermon Hall was already full of listeners.
"It's the last day..."
As soon as he sat down, Professor Wang sighed softly, looking somewhat wistful.
Upon hearing Cheng Yun was also somewhat reluctant to part with them. Although listening to the dean talk about physics and such was quite tiring, through this period of listening to the teachings, their basic theoretical foundation in cultivation had been laid extremely solidly.
I learned a lot.
Thinking about the logic behind it, Cheng Yun couldn't help but feel grateful to Zheng Fa. He felt that he had been a bit inappropriate to mutter about the dean earlier—if the dean wanted to cosplay, let him cosplay; they just needed to cooperate!
Where is the dean?
Thinking of this, Cheng Yun looked ahead and found that Zheng Fa, who was never late, had not yet arrived today.
"Was something held you up?"
Professor Wang also asked with doubt.
Inside the Sermon Hall, the crowd noticed something amiss and began to whisper among themselves.
Like everyone else, Cheng Yun looked towards the door, searching for Zheng Fa.
It was past 6:10, and Zheng Fa still hadn't appeared.
Cheng Yun knew that Zheng Fa was by no means an unpunctual person, so he couldn't help but feel a little worried at this moment.
But then he suddenly realized something was wrong—the door to the Sermon Hall was moving!
"An earthquake?"
Cheng Yun looked up blankly and saw a two-story Sermon Hall, covering more than 3,000 square meters, slowly taking off and rapidly changing shape in the air.
The beams and pillars became limbs, the bricks and tiles transformed into clothing, and the enormous Sermon Hall became a person!
"Dean!"
Looking at Zheng Fa standing in the air, and feeling the mountain breeze filled with the fragrance of grass and trees, everyone was bewildered and amazed.
Illusion?
The Old Man Bai in the front row, seemingly unaware of the truth, jumped up and looked around.
"No." Zheng Fa smiled and landed in front of them. "Transformation technique."
The Old Man Bai's curly hair twitched, as if he remembered something. "< The Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation >? Was that house you transformed?"
Zheng Fa nodded slightly and said, "Now my < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation > can be considered to have achieved minor success."
Old Man Bai couldn't help but step forward and touch Zheng Fa's arm, his eyes full of curiosity. "Just now, in that Sermon Hall, I really didn't notice anything wrong with it."
"That's natural. The art of transformation and illusion are fundamentally different," Zheng Fa explained. "Illusions mostly utilize light and hormones to interfere with biological perception."
This is clearly evident in the various Secret Method left behind by the Great Freedom Devil Ancestor.
"The method of change is, in fact, a substantial existence built upon the laws of physics."
"In a way, it is the truth."
Cheng Yun stared at Zheng Fa with his mouth agape, thinking to himself, "He really is a cosplayer!"
The dean dressed up as a Sermon Hall!
It can be said that the fundamental difference between this technique and illusion is the reason why Zheng Fa attaches such importance to the " Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation."
In his view, this was not only the best way to disguise himself.
It is also the foundation upon which he can accommodate various teachings.
Even... in his vision, the function of the < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation > was actually more about studying the Dao Fruit:
In his understanding, cultivation beyond the Nascent Soul involves using different Method Formula to create different life forms.
The Dharma Body of the Demonic Sect, the Yang Spirit of the Supreme Dao, and even the Union Method of the Tianhe Sect are vastly different.
He couldn't say for sure which was better or worse.
Others might only have one path to choose from, but the real-world transformative power of the < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation > gave Zheng Fa a new ambition:
He intends to use the method of transformation to simulate various schools of magic, and even to become various Spirit Transformation cultivators, in order to find the most perfect method!
The more Zheng Fa learns about the world, the greater his ability in the " Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation " will become, and the greater the possibility of realizing this vision will be. Therefore, the fact that he has achieved a minor success in the " Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation " today is truly a joyous occasion for Zheng Fa.
What else can you become?
The Old Man Bai asked again, looking very curious.
Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then moved, transforming himself into an iron longsword, the blade piercing into the rocks, standing upright in front of the Old Man Bai.
The Old Man Bai clicked his tongue in amazement, running his hand over the hilt of the sword, saying, "You can't tell it's a person at all!"
With a flash of the long sword, Zheng Fa stretched out his arm, his eyes filled with helplessness, blocking the Old Man Bai that wanted to touch him a few more times.
The Old Man Bai grinned, lowered his arm, and asked again, "Anything else?"
Zheng Fa turned his head and glanced at Tang Lingwu. His body swayed slightly, and he transformed into Clearwind, flying towards the forest behind Rainbow Mountain.
A moment later, the Clearwind carried a pale yellow flower that had just bloomed in the morning back from the mountains, circled around Tang Lingwu Tang Lingwu, and tucked the flower into the end of her hair.
"The wind... it's boring."
"That's quite interesting..."
Professor Tian chimed in, glancing enviously at Tang Lingwu's head before looking at Old Man Bai, her expression unmistakable.
Tang Lingwu smiled with narrowed eyes and carefully touched the little flower on her head.
A dewdrop landed on her fingertip.
The dewdrop slid from her fingertips, dripped onto the ground, and burst into tiny golden sparks.
In the golden light, Zheng Fa's figure reappeared.
"Dewdrops?" The Old Man Bai's eyes widened in surprise. "Isn't it the wind?"
"All phenomena and forms exist within my mere thought; no one else can perceive them."
Zheng Fa shook his head and smiled.
He didn't demonstrate again, but stood in front of everyone and said to Cheng Yun and the others:
"I've been trying to teach you all a lesson these past few days, and it must have been quite a hassle... What just happened was, in a way, my report to you."
"This Cultivation Method is built upon the foundation of Physics. Without you all, I would have found it difficult to even achieve a basic level of mastery in the < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation >."
Cheng Yun, who had been dazzled just Cheng Yun before, was now filled with excitement, needless to say.
Although he didn't understand why Zheng Fa thanked them, he did understand the relationship between Physics and this miraculous transformation method.
"... Physics?" he heard Professor Wang mutter softly, "The physics I studied seems a little different..."
Upon hearing Cheng Yun nodded inwardly.
No wonder the dean is so passionate about physics... If he could study it, he would love it too!
"After a month of preaching, you should have a sufficient understanding of how to cultivate." After demonstrating the < Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Transformation >, Zheng Fa turned the topic back to Cheng Yun and the others' cultivation.
"Perhaps some of you have already tried cultivating, or perhaps you haven't found a suitable Cultivation Method for yourself yet."
Cheng Yun nodded silently.
Cultivation requires Spirit Root, Spirit Root in turn restricts the choice of Cultivation Method.
Cheng Yun, for example, tried two Cultivation Method this month, but neither seemed to suit his Spirit Root, so he hasn't officially started Qi Refinement Realm yet.
Seeing that many people looked somewhat depressed, Zheng Fa closed his eyes, and his nascent Nascent Soul flew out from the top of his head. In his chubby little hands, Spiritual Qi surged, and after a while, a jade token appeared between the Nascent Soul's palms.
Zheng Fa opened his eyes, drew the token into his palm, and said:
"This item is Spirit-Testing Jade, which can be used to measure Spirit Root."
"Take it and try it."
The Old Man Bai looked at the token curiously and asked, "What's the principle behind this?"
"It's simple," Zheng Fa said with a smile, handing the token to the Old Man Bai. "You'll see once you try it."
The Old Man Bai held the token in his hand, and a rainbow light shot out from it.
"This is?"
"The principle behind this Spirit-Testing Jade is to measure the amount of the Five Phases Spiritual Qi within a cultivator's Spiritual Qi."
Zheng Fa explained.
"We all know that the Five Phases Spiritual Qi are actually changes in the position and function of electrons... and these changes in electrons themselves emit various kinds of light."
Most of the people here have studied some physics, so they understood it.
Simply put, this Spirit-Testing Jade involves inputting Spiritual Qi into a cultivator's body, circulating it through the meridians, and finally emitting photons through changes in electronic energy. This process measures which of the Five Phases Spiritual Qi Spiritual Qi, thereby determining the cultivator's Spirit Root.
"In the past, this kind of measurement was more qualitative; I hope... it can be quantitative."
Cultivators in the Xuanwei Realm are unaware of the relationship between electrons and photons, so they can only determine Spirit Root through simple color analysis.
But the Modern World is not like that...
"Spectrometer?"
Tang Mudao understood immediately.
"Yes! I hope to use spectral analysis, as well as your genetic analysis, to thoroughly understand what Spirit Root are."
Looking at the people before him, Zheng Fa knew that the issue of Spirit Root had to be addressed.
On the one hand, the Fusang Wood Dao Fruit now requires listeners with higher comprehension, but high comprehension does not equate to good aptitude.
However, if one cannot change their aptitude, some highly perceptive scholars may remain at a low level of cultivation throughout their lives, and the insights they can bring to Zheng Fa will be too little.
On the other hand... Zheng Fa had an even bolder idea:
Clearly, the number of people listening to the teachings of the Fusang Wood Dao Fruit is extremely important!
Lowering the threshold for Spirit Root would increase the number of cultivators—the vast number of people in modern times would provide him with boundless wisdom.
This Modern World will be his Dao Field!
(End of this chapter)