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The bus stopped at the platform. Zheng Fa stepped out of the vehicle and followed the map on his phone toward the zoo.

He had checked online and discovered that his prefecture-level city actually had a zoo—though the reviews on the map app weren't very high.

Tang Lingwu had spoken without thinking, but he had taken it to heart.

Seventh Young Master had told him before that the secret to mastering the Crane Body Technique lay in the first volume.

But the two of them had studied the first volume inside and out without finding any hidden messages.

Seventh Young Master figured that since the Crane Body Technique was a copy, perhaps some crucial part had been missed during the transcription.

But... what if the secret was within this autobiography?

Of the four volumes of the Crane Body Technique, only the first had the most content. If one excluded the possibility that the author was extremely narcissistic—alright, that was hard to exclude.

If this author, besides being narcissistic and boastful, had other intentions.

Then the most likely one would be the author's account of his journey traversing a thousand mountains and observing a thousand birds during the creation of the technique. This was the content most closely related to the Crane Body Technique martial art.

In the Xuanwei Realm, Old Man Bai was actually right; this author was definitely a person of great perseverance, or perhaps even great eccentricity.

The Xuanwei Realm was not like modern times. Mountains were often the territory of powerful demonic beasts, and climbing them was often a life-or-death endeavor, barely short of extreme sports.

As for observing a thousand birds...

You want to look at birds, but do the birds want you to?

How do you know if they have cultivation? Even if it's just an ordinary bird, how do you know if it has demonic beast parents?

And considering the Crane Body Technique and even the concept of Entering the Dao through Martial Arts, it was still just a mortal martial art. Why would you risk your life for it?

Therefore, even if someone had the same idea as Zheng Fa, it would be almost impossible for them to test it.

But the Xuanwei Realm was out, modern times were too simple!

Zheng Fa arrived at the zoo entrance. While called a zoo, it was essentially a large park enclosed by a fence.

At the main entrance, there was a table with peeling red paint. Behind it sat a woman in her forties wearing a red armband.

A piece of paper was posted on the wall behind her, which read: Admission Fee Fifteen.

"Twenty."

Zheng Fa obediently paid the money.

He had come during his lunch break from class, so time was tight. Otherwise, he would have definitely saved five yuan.

The interior of the zoo, much like the table at the entrance, looked quite old.

At noon, there weren't many people in the park... nor many animals.

As soon as he walked in, he saw a sign about a person's height, labeled "Treasure of the Zoo," with a bright arrow pointing the way.

Zheng Fa, unable to contain his curiosity, walked a couple of steps further.

Indeed, outside a building, he saw a sign that read: Panda.

There was such a thing here?

Zheng Fa excitedly craned his neck to look inside. Sure enough, two black and white furballs were happily running and rolling on the ground... barking.

He looked back again. Next to the large characters "Panda" on the sign, there was a tiny character "Dog."

Zoo administrator, if you're so sneaky, why don't you paint yourself black and white and squat inside!

Deeply disappointed, Zheng Fa headed straight for the area supposedly called "Bird Paradise" within the park.

Even though he had lowered his expectations, seeing a flock of pigeons pecking at the ground and the large black net overhead.

He fell into a long silence.

The moment he walked out of the zoo, he took out his phone and left a scathing review for the establishment.

Back at school, Zheng Fa slumped over his desk, feeling a bit dejected.

The zoo experience was one thing, but more importantly, that net made him realize a problem—birds can fly.

That's why zoos and pet markets alike were eager to keep flying birds like they were beasts.

Even the most high-end zoos would have birds that had lost their natural instincts.

It was probably impossible to gain insight into the Crane Body Technique through these birds.

His phone vibrated twice inside his desk.

Zheng Fa quietly took out his phone. A little cat avatar was blinking.

"Who's that?" A large face poked over Zheng Fa's head. Wang Chen, curious and gossipy, leaned on Zheng Fa's shoulder, staring at the cat avatar. "Looks like a girl!"

"Tang Lingwu."

Zheng Fa replied and tapped the avatar.

Tang Lingwu had sent two messages.

The first was a link.

The second was a rather long message: "I saw you said you were going to the zoo? Are you going to see birds? Our city's zoo isn't great, so I found a few documentaries for you."

He clicked the link, revealing a cloud drive folder with several subfolders inside.

After saving them, he felt something was off: Wang Chen, standing beside him, was staring intently at his face.

His eyes were full of confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"You have Tang Lingwu as a friend?"

"Is there a problem?"

"A big problem! You've been scammed!" Wang Chen stated with certainty. "She doesn't have an account!"

Zheng Fa blinked. "She added me in person."

Wang Chen couldn't hold back. "Didn't you see the class group chat?"

"I muted it."

Their class did have a group chat without the teacher, only students.

But a few people were particularly active, constantly spamming the chat, and Zheng Fa, finding it too noisy, had muted it directly.

Wang Chen pulled out his phone, practically shoving it in Zheng Fa's face.

He opened the class group chat interface.

The group was eerily quiet.

The last message was sent two months ago.

"Tang Lingwu, I added you as a friend, why didn't you accept?"

The message was from a boy in the class who was usually very active in the group.

"She doesn't have an account," replied someone with the name Tang Lingwu.

"? Then who are you?"

"I'm her mom."

Then, everyone in the group went silent, and no one had spoken since.

"We have a new group now, I'll add you," Wang Chen said softly, seeing Zheng Fa's expression and knowing he was completely unaware. "I don't know which idiot added Tang Lingwu's mom, this group is ruined!"

Zheng Fa finally understood why Wang Chen said Tang Lingwu didn't have an account. He scrolled back through his chat history with Tang Lingwu. They hadn't exchanged many messages. The very first one Tang Lingwu sent him was:

"Small cup, five parts sugar, add pearls, no ice."

Followed by:

"Make it a large cup!"

And then a red envelope.

"You guys even drink milk tea together?" Wang Chen looked at the messages with amazement. He hadn't seen the previous two messages and was still asking, "What did Tang Lingwu want with you just now?"

"She sent me..."

"Teacher's here!" From the back of the classroom, a brave soul who wished to remain anonymous announced in a low voice.

Old Chen appeared at the back door, his face stern. His eyes first swept across the classroom, then fixed on Wang Chen.

"Wang Chen! What are you doing with your phone!"

Wang Chen stared blankly at his phone, then turned to look at Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa was holding his textbook, his brow furrowed, deeply engrossed in the ocean of knowledge.

"Look at Zheng Fa, he's reading and studying during break time. Why don't you learn from him?"

Wang Chen: "..."

Zheng Fa: As a martial artist, I value keen observation, sharp hearing, and quick reflexes for emergency avoidance.

The videos Tang Lingwu found were very comprehensive, even excessively so.

Domestic and foreign, Chinese and English.

Over a dozen documentaries about birds lay in the cloud drive, giving Zheng Fa a blissful sense of indecision.

However...

"Pterosaur: The Vanished Sky Tyrant - Is that thing even a bird?"

Zheng Fa frowned, thinking Tang Lingwu might have made a mistake.