Chapter 113

Zhang Shijie’s home.

Zhang Shijie sat seated beside her study desk, a pen in her right hand, swiftly writing something on paper.

In her left hand was the practice problem booklet Zheng Fa had previously submitted.

The study was not empty—Yuan Shijie stood beside her, talking nonstop, brimming with boundless energy.

Both looked relaxed, as if this were their usual way of passing leisure time.

Zhang Shijie showed no sign of annoyance at Yuan Shijie’s chatter.

Yuan Shijie didn’t seem to need any reply—her lips kept moving, spouting random, meandering remarks.

Suddenly, Yuan Shijie’s question pulled Zhang Shijie back from her sea of problems: “I heard you and Master Pang are still haggling?”

“Mm.”

"Why not lower your requirements, Sister?" Yuan Shijie frowned. "I heard there are hardly any thousand-year purple bamboo tears left—even Master Pang’s disciples might not get any."

“No.”

“What if Master Pang refuses?” Yuan Shijie pouted.

“He won’t refuse.” Zhang Shijie sounded confident: “The longer we wait, the more likely they’ll agree.”

“Why?”

“Because of Zheng Fa.” Zhang Shijie glanced at the handwriting in the booklet, as if recalling Zheng Fa’s face: “He’s perfectly suited for the Symbolic Foundation Establishment Method—more so than I am.”

Yuan Shijie nodded, as if understanding Zhang Shijie’s meaning: “You mean, once they see Zheng Fa’s progress, they’ll be tempted.”

“Sister Zhang, how long do you think it’ll take before they agree?”

Yuan Shijie asked curiously.

“Master Pang’s lineage…” Zhang Shijie’s tone was complex: “They love using the Void-Sight to spy everywhere—probably that Sun disciple is still lurking near Zheng Fa’s house.”

“Hehe, they don’t know all this escapes Sister’s notice.”

“Watch too long, you get good at it. If the top beam’s crooked, the bottom ones will be too.” Zhang Shijie muttered coldly.

“Sister, aren’t you planning to fleece Master Pang? How long will they watch?”

“At most ten days to half a month—Zheng Fa’s cultivation speed isn’t fake.”

"...Sister really trusts Zheng Fa." Yuan Shijie shook her head, doubtful that such a short time could convince Master Pang: "But I heard Master Pang values the thousand-year purple bamboo tears more than ever."

Just as Zhang Shijie opened her mouth to reply, a golden talisman shot through the study window.

She reached out and caught it; a voice filled with resignation and reluctance emerged from the talisman: "Zhang niece, two portions of thousand-year purple bamboo tears are ready."

“Sister Zhang was right after all!” Yuan Shijie exclaimed in surprise: “Master Pang actually agreed!”

Zhang Shijie’s tone was complex: “I didn’t predict it. Zheng Fa did.”

“Huh?”

“The goods are too good—the price had to drop.”

A mixed expression flickered across Zhang Shijie’s face—uncertain whether to be pleased or not.

…

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

Their probing stares made him uneasy.

“Zheng Fa, have you gained any insights from the Symbolic Foundation Establishment Method?”

“I’ve had some realizations,” Zheng Fa nodded, a hint of hesitation on his face.

He had indeed been looking for a chance to discuss with Zhang Shijie the so-called First Law of Bai’s Symbolic Dao—

He had to discuss it.

This was purely derived through topology and computational modeling.

Whether it truly aligned with the Symbolic Dao system of Xuanwei Realm still needed experimental verification.

As for how to experiment—

Wasn’t there a better human lab than Zhang Shijie?

But he didn’t know how to bring it up.

After all, he’d only received the Symbolic Foundation Establishment Method for one or two months—how could he say, “I have some ideas, may I borrow your body for an experiment”?

Not only would Zhang Shijie doubt he’d developed any insights in such a short time,

But using her as a test subject was outright disrespectful.

No matter how much trust or kindness Zhang Shijie showed him, she was still a Jin Dan True Person—he was merely a new disciple. Between major realms in Xuanwei Realm lay a chasm; Zheng Fa didn’t believe Zhang Shijie had such tolerance for him.

Yet today, Zhang Shijie had come to him first.

Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Shijie asked:

“Do you have any difficulties?”

“Sister Zhang, I have some ideas—I need you to verify them,” Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and spoke.

After all, this had to be done sooner or later; since she asked now, it was a good opportunity.

“Go on.”

“May I borrow your Yuanling Dao Body?”

“...”

Yuan Shijie glanced at Zheng Fa slowly, her face clearly saying: You’ve got guts, kid!

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

But then, as if remembering something, she gave a slight nod.

Zheng Fa froze—did Zhang Shijie trust his discovery this much?

“What do you want to do?”

“I’d like you to help verify the elemental attributes of some talisman diagrams.”

To test the accuracy of the Five Phases Sub-Symbol classification was simple:

Take talisman diagrams sorted by sub-symbols, and have Zhang Shijie verify them—check whether the classification was correct.

Zhang Shijie rose, a pale blue light flashing over her body.

A delicate, transparent human form appeared before Zheng Fa.

“Please check the elemental attribute of the Qingyun Talisman.”

He saw a pair of lotus platforms, their stems joined, slowly forming in her dantian; then one petal’s talisman faded, replaced by the Qingyun Talisman’s diagram.

It didn’t seem to match the lotus—both platforms trembled slightly and vanished within her dantian.

Zhang Shijie showed no ill effects, and formed another pair of lotus platforms...

He finally understood how she determined elemental attributes of talismans—the replacement method.

It was like having a circuit board and an unknown component.

To find out what the component did,

You’d remove a part from the board and install the unknown one—if the board worked, you knew its function.

If not, you’d swap in another part and try again.

The only difference: doing this could break the circuit board.

But Zhang Shijie—couldn’t be broken!

“...Water.”

Zheng Fa nodded—this matched the Five Phases Sub-Symbol judgment.

“Jinguang Talisman.”

“Earth.”

“Jiamǎ Talisman.”

“Earth.”

…

Having finally found a human lab, Zheng Fa was excited and tested hundreds of talisman diagrams in one go.

All results matched the Five Phases Sub-Symbol classification.

Just as he prepared to continue, he felt his sleeve tugged.

“Huh?” He turned to Yuan Shijie, puzzled.

“...”

Yuan Shijie said nothing, only pointed upward, signaling him to look at Zhang Shijie’s face.

Zheng Fa turned back—and saw that though Zhang Shijie’s face was transparent, her lips were pressed flat, as if she were angrily holding back.

He glanced outside—the sun had been high when he arrived; now it was nearly set.

Zhang Shijie was too convenient a tool—he’d gotten too carried away.

He’d lost some of his reverence for her.

Even experimental instruments need cooling breaks.

How could Zhang Shijie not have complaints after being ordered around like this?

Especially given their vast status gap—and she was a peerless genius.

She’d probably never been commanded like this before.

Zheng Fa looked at Zhang Shijie, then back at Yuan Shijie.

Yuan Shijie stepped back two paces, putting distance between them, her face clearly saying: I don’t want any blood on me.

Yuan Shijie stepped back two paces, putting more distance between herself and him, her expression as if afraid of getting splattered with blood.

No sense of loyalty!

“Any more?”

Zhang Shijie’s tone revealed no emotion, but Zheng Fa dared not push further and immediately replied: “No more!”

“Tell me what you were just doing.”

Zheng Fa sensed anger in Zhang Shijie’s voice, though she was holding it back.

“Brother is testing a hypothesis,” he said, head bowed, voice low.

“What hypothesis?”

“The five-element attributes of talisman diagrams are determined by the five-element sub-talismans.”

Zheng Fa picked up the brush on the desk and drew the shape of the five-element sub-talismans on paper.

“Five-element sub-talismans?” Zhang Shijie slowly furrowed her brow.

“Yes!”

Zheng Fa drew a Water-element primordial talisman: “Sister, look—doesn’t this part resemble the Water-element sub-talisman?”

He drew a Metal-element primordial talisman: “Here—this is the Metal-element sub-talisman.”

“Wood-element sub-talisman.”

“...”

Zheng Fa analyzed each primordial talisman one by one, circling the presence of the five-element sub-talismans on each.

Zhang Shijie gradually understood Zheng Fa’s meaning; the anger on her face faded, replaced by eyes that lit up.

“You just...”

“I was testing this classification method.”

“What was the result?”

“All correct!” Zheng Fa put down the brush, rubbed his head, and added: “Brother was merely absorbed in verification—not disrespecting Sister.”

Zhang Shijie nodded slightly, still saying nothing.

“Also, Sister, the five-element sub-talismans are originally one whole, but when I condensed the primordial talismans using the Foundation Establishment Talisman Method, I found the Earth-element and Metal-element sub-talismans didn’t fully align.”

“One whole?”

Hearing this, Zhang Shijie seemed to realize something and suddenly fixed her gaze on Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa drew on paper the combined form of the five-element sub-talismans.

“...”

Zhang Shijie stared at the pattern in silence for a long while, then softly said: “Disrespect is allowed.”

“Huh?”

Zheng Fa froze.

“If you make more such discoveries—disrespect me however you like.”

He snapped his head up, staring at Zhang Shijie.

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

A free, unguarded smile, shedding all pride.

Or rather—a smile no longer aloof, no longer holding herself above others.

Zheng Fa’s heart surged with joy—

Think of it: a genius of the Hundred Immortal Alliance, a Primordial Spirit Body.

A world-class, top-tier experimental lab.

Let me tinker freely!

This was the dream of a researcher!

Beside him, Yuan Shijie blinked and suddenly said: “I want to play with Sister’s body too!”

“?”

Zheng Fa felt Zhang Shijie’s smile freeze; her expression turned hesitant.

What a stupid mouth!