How to Make the Homeland Strong

Meanwhile, at Bile Red Valley Outpost, the center of the dispute between the Xia Kingdom and the Buddha Country...

Treatment of the wounded had already been completed. With Zhang Hongxing taking part, the outcome of this battle had surpassed anything an ordinary person could imagine.

The Xia Kingdom had repelled the Buddha Country's assault without a single death.

They had even wiped out 386 enemy troops, including two generals.

This battle alone deserved a place in the history books.

Only after treating the last wounded soldier did Zhang Hongxing finally find time to seek out his son, Zhang Bing.

"Comrade Zhang Bing, there's something I need to discuss with you privately."

"What is it? Just say it."

"This isn't really the best place to talk."

"There's nothing we can't discuss here. These are all my comrades."

"Are you sure?"

"Just spit it out. We're grown men. Why all the fuss?"

"Actually, I'm your father."

"Holy shit!"

Zhang Bing stood stunned. If not for Zhang Hongxing's earlier performance, he would have been tempted to throw a punch right then.

The nearby soldiers who had also heard those words went red in the face as they struggled to hold back their laughter. This was the first time they had seen someone "mess with" their captain, and in front of so many people, too.

Wasn't this just asking for a beating?

But when they remembered Zhang Hongxing's ferocious performance on the battlefield, they came to the merciless realization that their captain might not be able to beat the man standing before him.

"I'm not joking. Here's my phone. If you don't believe me, call home and ask."

Seeing that Zhang Bing did not believe him, Zhang Hongxing handed over his phone.

Although they were carrying out an important mission, making a call to his family to confirm someone's identity was still permissible. Ultimately, the reason Zhang Bing had not called home before was that he did not want to be distracted.

"Hello, Hongxing? How are things with Professor Yang? Dagang just called. Yingzi is going back tomorrow. Will you come back to see her off?"

The moment the call connected, his mother's voice came through. Her words made it clear that the man before him really might be his father—the father who had disappeared thirty years ago.

The father he had never seen again since shortly after his birth.

"Mom, it's Xiaobing. Is he... is he really my dad?"

"Xiaobing, where are you? It's been over six months. Why haven't you called home?"

"Mom, tell me first. Is this man really my dad?"

"Yes. He's your dad."

Click.

Zhang Bing hung up, then swung his fist at Zhang Hongxing's face. Zhang Hongxing reflexively reached out and caught it.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Hongxing demanded, his eyes widening.

"What do you think I'm doing? You disappeared for thirty years without a word! Do you know how we got through all those years? Do you know what Mom went through?"

Zhang Bing roared furiously. Once the surrounding soldiers understood what was happening, they exchanged glances and withdrew.

Only Zhang Hongxing and his son remained inside the outpost.

"I'm sorry. I understand how much your mother suffered, but I had no control over what happened."

"No control? Even if you had no control, couldn't you at least have sent word home?"

"You've heard of transmigration, haven't you? Tell me, if I'd ended up in another world, how was I supposed to send word back?"

"I..."

Zhang Bing fell silent. Faced with such an outlandish explanation as transmigration, he truly did not know how to answer. But Zhang Hongxing did not stop there.

"And what about you? Why haven't you sent any word home in over six months? You've got the nerve to lecture me? I really had no choice. What about you? Can you honestly say you couldn't find a single chance to call home?"

"I..."

Zhang Bing, who had been roaring about teaching his father a lesson, found himself being lectured instead.

In the end, he could only lower his head and concede.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong."

"All right. I didn't come here to scold you. How much longer do you have to stay? Your mother and the others all miss you. If you can, go home soon."

"You've seen the situation here. I probably won't be able to go home anytime soon."

"Ah..."

Zhang Hongxing shook his head and sighed. People of his generation would never object to their sons joining the military to defend their homeland. But as a father, he did not want to see his son kept away from home for so long.

"That fucking Buddha Country. Wasn't one painful beating enough?"

Zhang Hongxing roared, venting his frustration.

"You can say that again. Dad, did you have some extraordinary encounter when you transmigrated? After seeing you on the battlefield, I was wondering whether you'd learned some advanced martial arts. Could you teach them to me, and to our whole unit?

"If every one of our soldiers were as powerful as you were just now, then who cares whether it's the Buddha Country or America? They'd all have to lie down and behave in front of us."

Zhang Bing looked excitedly at Zhang Hongxing.

That look filled Zhang Hongxing with pride, but also put him under immense pressure. Immortal cultivation certainly could not be taught to everyone. If it were that simple, ordinary people would not still make up the majority of the Immortal Cultivation World.

When it came to Immortal Cultivation, perseverance mattered, but individual aptitude and comprehension mattered most.

Perhaps I should find some way to raise the Xia Kingdom's overall strength. Only when our country is so powerful that even all the other nations combined cannot match it will citizens like them face fewer separations from their loved ones.

And when it came to improving the country's overall strength...

Scientific and technological methods were clearly more practical than the methods of immortal cultivation.

Back in the Immortal Cultivation World, his strength as an Immortal Venerable had only just been enough to give him access to information about planes. That had also been one of the reasons he was able to return to Earth.

This world was filled with countless Planes, with roughly half following the path of Immortal Cultivation and half following the path of technology. In a copy of Cultivation Miscellany he had obtained by chance, he had even read descriptions of the most advanced technological Planes.

Even the cultivation world he had lived in was no match whatsoever for technological planes of that caliber.

Perhaps I should try combining Immortal Cultivation with technology.

Perhaps this is a path worth exploring.

The idea suddenly occurred to Zhang Hongxing.

"Dad, what's wrong? Do you not want to teach us, or is it something you can't teach?"

Zhang Bing interrupted Zhang Hongxing's thoughts.

"No, my mind just wandered. But it's true that not everyone can learn what I know. When I was home, I taught your mother, your brother, and the others, but none of them has managed to learn it yet."

Since coming to Earth, Xu Qinian was the only person who had truly learned anything from Zhang Hongxing, and even that was a stripped-down version.

"Is it really that hard?"

A flicker of disappointment crossed Zhang Bing's eyes.

"You can find out for yourself whether it's hard. Come on, close your eyes and sit cross-legged. I'll teach you now, and we'll give it a try."

Zhang Bing closed his eyes and sat cross-legged.

Zhang Hongxing pressed his palm against his son's back, then circulated his true qi to begin guiding Zhang Bing's energy, while steadily reciting the Cultivation Formula to him.

The entire process was exactly the same as when he had helped Zhang Jun and the others cultivate at home.

But less than half an hour later, Zhang Hongxing suddenly opened his eyes. He had never expected Zhang Bing to truly be suited to Immortal Cultivation—and to have remarkably high aptitude at that.