Chapter 150: Master and Servant

In the examination hall.

Several classmates sitting around Zheng Fa, hearing him gently set down his pen, couldn't help but steal a glance at him.

The expressions on their faces were nearly identically devastated—It's only been an hour since the exam started, bro, you've finished again, again, and again?

Even the female proctor couldn't resist walking over to sneak a peek at Zheng Fa's paper, and only slowly left after seeing it filled with writing.

For Zheng Fa, the college entrance exam was indeed no longer difficult.

Especially after gaining cultivation, his reaction speed and memory had become much stronger than before.

If a test paper contained no biased or extremely difficult questions, he could finish it in less than an hour, with time left even to check it over.

Since it was not yet time to hand in the paper, Zheng Fa sat in his seat and had already begun thinking about his plans for the future.

Previously, because he was illiterate, in order to keep up with his studies.

He had studied extremely hard for at least five years:

In the Xuanwei Realm, even when working in the fields under the scorching sun overhead, he felt nothing, merely reciting the textbooks he had memorized.

In the modern world, for five years he hardly ever stepped out of his home, had very little entertainment, and could be said to have lived a life isolated from the world.

The college entrance exam was an account of his day-after-day efforts up to this point.

But university was a different matter.

He had no compelling reason to attend university; or rather, he did not care about the things others cared about.

He did not need a diploma to obtain wealth and status in the modern world—just as Tang Lingwu had said, I don't need a diploma.

Zheng Fa's purpose in attending university, to put it narrowly, was to truly learn how to conduct research and how to organize a laboratory, thereby maximizing the value of the nursing home.

To put it broadly, he wanted to truly cultivate his scientific thinking to analyze true Immortal Dao—Zheng Fa had always understood that the greatest advantage the modern world could give him was only thinking.

He hoped to learn more.

Of course, there was also the idea of attracting more scholars to join the nursing home.

Now that Zheng Fa was cultivating the Lingshan Method, the thought of establishing the nursing home had become increasingly urgent—The "Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method" had now encountered two rather troublesome research topics:

First, after the discovery of the Three-Child Talisman Law, it was now necessary to conduct research on the two unknown types of child talismans, Type A and Type B.

Especially after studying the child talismans inside Lin Lin Bu Fan's body, Zheng Fa had already gained some inspiration:

As for Type A child talismans, he still had no clue for the time being.

But regarding Type B child talismans, Zheng Fa had two conjectures—

First, these are directional child talismans; for example, among the two child talismans inside Lin Lin Bu Fan's body, one might point to the Demon Ancestor of the Great Zizaimo Sect, and the other might point to himself.

This was what Tang Lingwu had proposed: that this type of child talisman is interactive—equivalent to saying that all things in the world are computer hardware.

The biggest problem with this conjecture lies in—the number of targeted objects is too large.

If this were the case, then Type B child talismans would be endless.

Second: this is a type of child talisman similar to an interaction, where they interact with something more fundamental.

This was a conjecture Zheng Fa made based on the model of the four fundamental forces.

The benefit of this conjecture is that it might be sufficiently concise.

The drawback is—it is pure conjecture, with absolutely no evidence.

The second topic is actually older—what exactly is the essence of the Yin-Yang Talisman Diagram, which had also troubled Zheng Fa for a long time.

He still could not understand this thing called mutual generation of Yin and Yang.

At this time, he was already at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation.

Judging by his current cultivation speed, before August he would likely reach the seventh layer of Qi Condensation and truly begin to initially implement the Lingshan Method.

When the college entrance exam ended and Zheng Fa walked out of the examination hall, he was slightly surprised—he did not see Tang Lingwu waiting for him.

In the past two days, every time he finished an exam and came out, Zheng Fa would see Tang Lingwu waiting for him at the entrance.

But now that the exam was over, Tang Lingwu was nowhere to be seen.

The one who came to pick him up had become Bai Lao.

"What are you looking at!" Bai Lao, seeing him searching around, patted his shoulder and said, "What's wrong? Isn't me coming to pick you up enough?"

Zheng Fa shook his head and did not say much more.

He followed Bai Lao onto the bus.

The bus swayed as it moved along.

There were many examinees on the bus again; at this moment, their faces all showed some relaxation, gathering in small groups and chattering casually.

"How did the exam go?" Bai Lao also asked Zheng Fa.

"It was alright."

"Is Jingcheng University a sure thing?"

With just one sentence from Bai Lao, the surrounding students were silenced; they all turned to look at Bai Lao, with only three words on their faces—

So bold!

"It should be possible."

Zheng Fa nodded; the probability of the top three students from Qingshui High School entering Jingcheng University was still quite high.

Then he saw the group of people on the bus silently staring at him, with another three words on their faces—

So full of hot air!

After getting off the bus, Zheng Fa and Bai Lao exchanged a glance and both burst into laughter; during that last stretch of the ride, neither of them had dared to say a single word.

"So when shall we go to Jingcheng? Wait for the admission notice to arrive?"

"Go earlier; the nursing home is the most important."

"Then when?"

"I still have some matters to attend to at home; let's say early July."

"What matters?"

"Some miscellaneous tasks: to thank those teachers and staff who looked after me all these years, and also... to sweep my parents' graves."

To be honest, he himself did not know what relationship he truly had with this body, but since the parents had raised this body, they had shown him kindness as well.

Now that he was about to leave his hometown, both sentiment and reason dictated that he should go pay his respects to them.

"... All right."

The two walked silently into the residential quarter of Qingshui Middle School, when Old Bai suddenly said, "Come to my place to eat; the meal is already ready."

Zheng Fa turned his head to glance at him and nodded.

As soon as he entered Old Bai's home, he was somewhat surprised—

What surprised him was not that Tang Lingwu was here.

It was that Tian Laoshi was also present.

The two were in the kitchen; Tang Lingwu stood before the stove, holding a spatula as if facing a great enemy.

Tian Laoshi stood beside her, seemingly giving instructions.

Upon seeing the two return, Tian Laoshi actually walked out from the kitchen.

Tang Lingwu, as if shy, instead hid inside and did not come out.

"Tian Laoshi, how come you are here?"

"Old Bai said that now that you have finished the college entrance exam, other families hold reunion dinners to celebrate, and he wanted to organize one for you too," Tian Laoshi said with a smile. "But... this man doesn't know how to cook!"

"So he called you over?"

"I happened to be free."

Tian Laoshi waved a hand, laughing quite heartily.

Zheng Fa glanced at Old Bai, who was smiling sheepishly—the old man had wanted to give him a surprise and had even gone out of his way to plead with Tian Laoshi.

On the other hand, despite having met only once, Tian Laoshi was willing to come specially to cook this meal for him; Zheng Fa indeed felt deeply indebted.

As for whether Tian Laoshi knew that he might be able to cure her illness—based on his understanding of Old Bai, this old man actually knew very well how to observe proper boundaries.

"And her?" Zheng Fa looked toward the kitchen, where Tang Lingwu was still hiding inside.

Tian Laoshi gave Zheng Fa an amused glance and said, "As for her, for some reason, she seems to have suddenly developed an interest in cooking."

This tone suggested she knew exactly what was going on.

During the meal, Zheng Fa understood why Old Bai had invited Tian Laoshi over—she truly possessed skill!

Even a simple plate of green vegetables tasted not only free of any grassy odor but also fresh with a hint of sweetness.

"Aunt Tian, your cooking is better than any hotel dish I've ever eaten!"

Tang Lingwu praised her thus; given her family background, this evaluation was truly high.

"The place where I used to conduct research was extremely remote," Tian Laoshi said with a laugh. "There were no restaurants, so I had no choice but to train myself into this."

"Wait a moment, you call him Grandfather, yet you call her Aunt?" Seeing the two seemed to have become familiar, Old Bai felt both gratified and somewhat puzzled: "The generational ranking is off!"

"Do you have any objection?" In this regard, even the usually hearty Tian Laoshi would not yield an inch; she gave a slight sideways glance, and Old Bai immediately shut his mouth and dared not speak.

Watching Tang Lingwu lean against Tian Laoshi while whispering this, Zheng Fa discovered another trait of this young lady: she was a treasure in the hearts of the elderly.

In such a short time, these two had actually become so intimate.

As he watched, Zheng Fa noticed Tang Lingwu's little maneuver—she quietly shifted the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes that she had stir-fried to in front of herself, shielded it with her hand, and began eating voraciously alone.

While eating, she frowned, yet also showed a touch of dejection.

To be honest, this dish was not bad for a beginner; at least it was cooked through.

But compared to Tian Laoshi's craftsmanship, many flaws emerged—the tomatoes were too hard, the eggs too tough, and most importantly, there was too much salt.

No wonder Tang Lingwu felt somewhat ashamed; after all her effort, she was being secretive and reluctant to let others eat it.

Zheng Fa reached out and rescued that plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes from beneath Tang Lingwu's arm.

"It's salty!" Tang Lingwu exclaimed anxiously.

Zheng Fa used his chopsticks to scoop the eggs into his own bowl while nodding, saying without even lifting his eyes, "It's fine; I prefer strong flavors."

Tang Lingwu froze for a moment, then pressed her lips together and smiled.

Old Bai, watching this scene from the side, chewed the green vegetables in his mouth and asked Tian Laoshi in confusion, "Did you put sugar in this dish?"

"... No sugar added."

"Then why do I feel so cloyed?"

Xuanwei Realm.

Zheng Fa stood before Lin Lin Bu Fan, examining a ring made of black jade on his right hand.

This was Lin Lin Bu Fan's soul seal; as long as Zheng Fa wished, a mere movement of his divine sense could decide Lin Lin Bu Fan's life or death in an instant.

Lin Lin Bu Fan lay on the bed, his face pale and his eyes somewhat bewildered—as if he did not know whether today's choice was right or wrong.

"Please, Young Master, bestow a name upon me."

He said softly.

It was evident that this was a person who knew how to read the situation.

After confirming the master-servant relationship, having the master bestow a name was a relatively common practice in the Xuanwei Realm.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I am indifferent to this matter; besides, your uncle also bears the surname Lin, so changing it would not be appropriate."

Lin Lin Bu Fan's eyes flickered slightly, and much of the bewilderment in them faded; he seemed to feel that Zheng Fa thinking this way at least proved he was not a harsh person.

After pondering for a long while, he suddenly said, "Then I'll change my name to Lin Fan. Didn't Young Master say before..."

"Don't!"

"?"

Seeing Lin Lin Bu Fan's bewildered expression, Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment before saying, "That name... it's a bit ominous for its master."

"..."

"By the way." Zheng Fa pulled out a white porcelain bottle from behind his back. "Will you do it yourself?"

Lin Lin Bu Fan looked at the porcelain bottle, which was even larger than before, then looked at Zheng Fa—

His eyes began to grow bewildered once more.