Chapter 113: Experiment

At Zhang Shijie's home.

Zhang Shijie sat upright beside the desk in the study, a brush in her right hand, lightly writing something on the paper.

In her left hand, she held the exercise book Zheng Fa had previously submitted as an offering.

The study did not hold only her; Senior Sister Yuan stood beside her, talking nonstop, chirping away with boundless energy.

Both women's expressions were relaxed, as if this were their leisure activity during spare time.

Zhang Shijie did not mind Senior Sister Yuan talking too much.

Senior Sister Yuan seemed to need no response from Zhang Shijie either; she just kept her little mouth moving, rambling on about this and that.

Suddenly, a question from Senior Sister Yuan brought Zhang Shijie back from the sea of problems: "I heard Senior Sister and Junior Uncle Pang are still haggling?"

"Mm."

"Why don't you lower your conditions, Senior Sister?" Senior Sister Yuan frowned and suggested, "I heard Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears are scarce now; even Junior Uncle Pang's disciples might not get a share."

"I won't lower them."

"What if Junior Uncle Pang refuses?" Senior Sister Yuan pouted and said.

"He won't refuse." Zhang Shijie seemed confident: "The longer we drag it out, the more they will agree."

"Why?"

"Because of Zheng Shidi." Zhang Shijie glanced at the handwriting on the exercise book, as if recalling Zheng Fa's face: "He is extremely suited to the 'Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method,' even more so than I am."

Senior Sister Yuan nodded, as if understanding Zhang Shijie's meaning: "You mean, once they see Zheng Shidi's progress, they will be tempted."

"Zhang Shijie, how long do you think it will take before they agree?"

Senior Sister Yuan asked curiously.

"Junior Uncle Pang's branch..." Zhang Shijie's tone was somewhat complex: "Likes to use the Void-Seeing Spiritual Eye to look around everywhere—that Junior Brother Sun is probably still squatting near Zheng Shidi's house."

"Hee-hee, how would they know? None of this can fool Senior Sister."

"Watched long enough, one gains experience; if the beam above is crooked, the beam below will be crooked too." Zhang Shijie cursed expressionlessly.

"Senior Sister, aren't you planning to swindle Junior Uncle Pang? Then how long will they watch?"

"At most ten days or half a month; Zheng Shidi's cultivation speed isn't fake."

"... Senior Sister really has confidence in Zheng Shidi." Senior Sister Yuan shook her head, seeming to doubt such a short time would suffice for True Person Pang to make up his mind: "But I heard Junior Uncle Pang cherishes Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears now."

Zhang Shijie opened her mouth to say something when a golden talisman shot in through the study window.

She reached out and caught it; a voice filled with helplessness and reluctance came from the talisman: "Senior Niece Zhang, two portions of Thousand-Year Purple Bamboo Tears are ready."

"You really guessed right, Zhang Shijie!" Senior Sister Yuan's tone was full of surprise: "Junior Uncle Pang actually agreed!"

Zhang Shijie's tone was somewhat complex: "I didn't guess right; it was Zheng Shidi."

"Hm?"

"The goods were too good, so the price had to be lowered."

Zhang Shijie's face showed an expression she couldn't tell whether it was happy or unhappy.

When Zheng Fa entered the study, both Zhang Shijie and Senior Sister Yuan fixed their gazes on his face.

Their probing looks made his heart tremble uneasily.

"Zheng Shidi, have you gained anything from cultivating the 'Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method'?"

"Indeed, I have some insights." Zheng Fa nodded, a hint of hesitation appearing on his face.

He truly wanted to find an opportunity to discuss the so-called First Law of Bai Talisman Dao with Zhang Shijie—

Discussing it was unavoidable.

This thing was purely derived through topology and computer calculation.

Whether it truly fits the Talisman Dao system of the Xuanwei Realm still depended on experimental results.

As for how to experiment.

Was there anyone better than Zhang Shijie as a human laboratory?

He just didn't know how to bring it up.

After all, he had obtained the 'Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method' only one or two months ago; saying he had some ideas and wanted to borrow Zhang Shijie's body to conduct experiments?

Whether Zhang Shijie could believe he had ideas in such a short time was doubtful.

Just the act of using Zhang Shijie as an experiment was somewhat offensive.

Even if Zhang Shijie trusted and treated him well, she was after all a Jin Dan True Person, while he was merely a newly entered disciple—the gap between major realms in the Xuanwei Realm was like a heavenly moat; Zheng Fa did not think Zhang Shijie had such tolerance for him.

He never expected Zhang Shijie to seek him out today.

Seeming to see the hesitation on his face, Zhang Shijie asked.

"Do you have any difficulties?"

"Zhang Shijie, I have some ideas—I need you to verify them." Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said.

After all, this matter had to be done sooner or later; since Zhang Shijie asked today, it counted as a good opportunity.

"Speak."

"May I borrow your Yuan Spirit Dao Body?"

"..."

Senior Sister Yuan, standing aside, slowly glanced at Zheng Fa; her face clearly wrote one sentence: You little rascal have a lot of nerve!

Zhang Shijie looked at Zheng Fa for a long while, seeming somewhat hesitant.

But as if thinking of something, she then nodded lightly.

This left Zheng Fa stunned—did Zhang Shijie trust his discovery so much?

"What do you intend to do?"

"I would like to ask Senior Sister for your help to verify the Five Elements attributes of some talisman diagrams."

It is actually very simple to check the correctness of the Five Elements Sub-Talisman classification method:

Take the talisman diagrams sorted by sub-talisman and have Zhang Shijie verify them—see if the classification is correct or not.

Zhang Shijie stood up, and a water-blue light flashed across her body.

A delicate, transparent human figure appeared before Zheng Fa.

"Trouble you, Senior Sister, to check the Five Elements attribute of the Green Cloud Talisman."

He saw a pair of lotus thrones with tails connected to tails slowly condense within Zhang Shijie's dantian; then the talisman diagram on one half of a lotus flower slowly vanished, and the Green Cloud Talisman diagram appeared on the blank petal.

Seeming not quite to match this lotus, the two lotus thrones trembled lightly at the same time and vanished within Zhang Shijie's dantian.

Zhang Shijie seemed unaffected, and instead condensed another pair of lotus thrones...

He finally understood how Zhang Shijie determined the attributes of Five Elements talisman diagrams—the substitution method.

It is equivalent to having a circuit board and a circuit component whose function you do not know.

To find out what this component is actually for.

You take the parts off the circuit board and install this component in their place—if the circuit board runs, you know what this thing is for.

If it doesn't work, you take off another part and try installing this component in its place.

The only difference is—doing this to a circuit board easily breaks it.

Zhang Shijie—cannot be broken!

"... Water Element."

Zheng Fa nodded; this also matched the judgment of the Five Elements Sub-Talisman.

"Jin Guang Talisman."

"Earth Element."

"Jia Ma Talisman."

"Earth Element."

Having finally found a human laboratory, Zheng Fa was somewhat excited and tested several hundred talisman diagrams in one go.

The results all matched the classification of the Five Elements Sub-Talisman.

Just as he was preparing to redouble his efforts and continue experimenting, he felt his hem suddenly tugged.

"Hmm?" He turned to look at Senior Sister Yuan who had tugged his hem, his face showing confusion.

"..."

Senior Sister Yuan said nothing, simply pointing her finger upward, signaling him to look at Zhang Shijie's face.

When Zheng Fa turned back, he discovered—although Zhang Shijie's face was transparent, the curve of her lips was very flat, as if she was pressing her lips together in anger.

He looked at the sky outside, and his heart sank again.

When he arrived, the sun was still hanging overhead; now it was almost setting.

Zhang Shijie, this tool person, was too useful, making him play too happily.

He inevitably lost some of his reverence for Zhang Shijie.

Even experimental instruments need to cool down and rest after being used too much.

Zhang Shijie, being commanded by him like this, how could she have no objection?

Moreover, the gap in status between the two was enormous, and Zhang Shijie was a peerless genius.

She had probably never been commanded like this before.

Zheng Fa looked at Zhang Shijie, then turned back to look at Senior Sister Yuan.

Senior Sister Yuan stepped back two paces, moving farther from him, with an expression as if she feared blood would splash onto her.

Unloyal!

"Are there any more?"

Zhang Shijie's tone revealed neither joy nor anger, but Zheng Fa did not dare to overstep, and immediately replied: "None!"

"Tell me, what were you doing just now?"

Zheng Fa heard it; there was anger in Zhang Shijie's tone, but she was still restraining it.

"Junior Brother was verifying a hypothesis." He lowered his head and said in a low voice.

"What hypothesis?"

"The Five Elements attributes of talisman diagrams are determined by the Five Elements Sub-Talisman."

Zheng Fa picked up the pen from the desk and drew the appearance of the Five Elements Sub-Talisman on the paper.

"Five Elements, Sub-Talisman?" Zhang Shijie slowly furrowed her brows.

"Yes!"

Zheng Fa drew a Water Element Yang Yuanfu on the paper: "Senior Sister, look, does this part resemble the Water Element Sub-Talisman?"

He then drew a Metal Element Yang Yuanfu: "Here is the Metal Element Sub-Talisman."

"Wood Element Sub-Talisman."

"..."

Zheng Fa analyzed the Yang Yuanfu one by one, circling the existence of the Five Elements Sub-Talisman on each Yang Yuanfu.

Zhang Shijie seemed to gradually understand Zheng Fa's meaning; the anger on her face slowly vanished, replaced by those two bright eyes.

"You just now..."

"I was verifying this classification method."

"And the result?"

"All correct!" Zheng Fa put down his brush, rubbed his head, and added an explanation: "Junior brother is merely obsessed with verification; it is not disrespect toward Senior Sister."

Zhang Shijie nodded lightly, but still said nothing.

"Also, Senior Sister, the Five Elements Child Talismans are originally one body, but when I used the 'Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method' to condense the Yang Yuanfu, I discovered the Earth-Element Child Talisman and the Metal-Element Child Talisman did not fully align."

"One body?"

Hearing this, Zhang Shijie seemed to recall something and suddenly looked at Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa drew the appearance of the Five Elements Child Talismans combined on the paper.

"..."

Zhang Shijie gazed at this pattern in silence for a long time before speaking softly: "You may be disrespectful."

"Ah?"

Zheng Fa was stunned.

"If you make such discoveries again—be as disrespectful as you like."

He suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhang Shijie.

He had never seen such a smile on Zhang Shijie's face before.

A carefree smile, one that had set aside pride.

Or rather, a smile that was no longer lofty, no longer pretentious.

Zheng Fa felt delighted in his heart—

Just imagine, a genius of the Baixian Alliance, a Spirit-Body of the Dao.

Comparable to a world-class laboratory with top-tier equipment.

Letting me tinker with it!

This is a scientist's dream!

Senior Sister Yuan, standing nearby, blinked her eyes and suddenly said: "I also want to play with Senior Sister's body!"

"?"

Zheng Fa felt Zhang Shijie's smile freeze; her expression seemed to become hesitant.

What a bird's beak!