Chapter 159: Mutation

Bai Lao sat in a chair, wearing a pair of black gloves on his hands, with two wires from the gloves connected to a transformer nearby.

He was rather restless, twisting left and right, and occasionally raising his hands to inspect the metal conductive plates on the gloves.

"Really no problem?"

He couldn't help but mutter to Zheng Fa.

"Rest assured, Elder," Zheng Fa replied. "This magical artifact is my secret transmission; you are only the second person under heaven to enjoy it!"

"... I searched; it costs less than two hundred."

"..."

"A positive review gets you ten yuan back."

"... Are you scared, Elder?"

Zheng Fa looked at him askance.

"Who's scared?" Bai Lao curled his lip. "I was just asking."

"The voltage starts low, quite safe. Besides, didn't I teach you the first layer of the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body'?"

Zheng Fa comforted him.

Bai Lao pressed his lips together and fell silent.

Zheng Fa plugged the transformer into the power source.

"Tell me, if something happens to me, does it count as an accident? Will insurance cover it?"

Bai Lao suddenly asked.

"..."

"How about letting me think it over? I suddenly realized I'm not that interested in electromagnetic rotation anymore..."

Zheng Fa twisted the knob on the transformer.

Bai Lao's lips trembled slightly, his tongue went stiff, and he could no longer speak.

"Circulate the spiritual energy within your body according to the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body'!"

Zheng Fa reminded him from the side while staring intently at the old man, his hand still resting on the transformer's knob, ready to cut the power at any moment.

He was also somewhat worried.

On one hand, he feared that although the old man had cultivated the 'Spiritual Crane Body', his physical constitution ultimately could not compare to his own due to his age.

On the other hand, since this was Bai Lao's first time cultivating the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body', Zheng Fa feared he might be unfamiliar with it.

What put Zheng Fa at ease was that the old man indeed seemed very interested in the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body'; although slightly afraid just now, he quickly entered a state of cultivation.

After watching for a long while, Zheng Fa quietly left the room, leaving the old man to cultivate alone.

"Eh? Where is Zheng Fa?"

Bai Lao walked out of the room with a waddling gait, looking quite proud of himself.

He searched for Zheng Fa for a long time but only saw Tang Lingwu.

"Have you finished cultivating, Elder?"

"Yes! Although it was my first time, I feel I am very suited to this cultivation technique!"

"I heard from Zheng Fa that you were a bit scared..."

"Who was scared? That was just unfamiliarity! Fear of the unknown!" Bai Lao immediately interrupted her. "Let me tell you, after practicing, I felt completely clear and unobstructed; I even thought the voltage was too low!"

"..."

"Voltage too low?" Zheng Fa arrived carrying a large cardboard box. "Perfect, the high-voltage DC power supply I bought has arrived; would you like to try it?"

"..."

Seeing Bai Lao keep his mouth shut and say nothing, Zheng Fa couldn't help but shake his head, then set down and opened the box in his hands.

Inside was a white metal casing.

On it were several small display screens and buttons.

"What is the maximum voltage of this high-voltage DC power supply?"

"Maximum 30KV," Zheng Fa said after carefully reading the manual.

"This voltage is too high... Do you really intend to use this?"

A trace of worry involuntarily appeared on Bai Lao's face.

"We will adjust from low voltage to high; I will stop if I feel it is too high. In a moment, I'll trouble you, Elder, to help me make the adjustments."

The maximum output voltage of the previous transformer was only 300V, which could no longer meet Zheng Fa's needs for cultivating the 'Five Thunders Dharma Body'.

For Zheng Fa, this new high-voltage DC power supply was equivalent to upgrading a spiritual treasure; the main issue was that adjustable high-voltage transformers were hard to buy—not because they couldn't be made, but because demand for such items was low.

Zheng Fa asked several shops, but they either said they didn't have any or said it would require custom ordering.

He had originally planned to have one custom-made, but then he discovered this type of high-voltage DC power supply.

So he simply bought one to try.

Zheng Fa put the gloves on himself, sat cross-legged on the chair, and turned to look at Bai Lao.

Bai Lao nodded, turned on the power switch, and began adjusting the output voltage.

Soon, the voltage displayed on the screen exceeded 400V.

Bai Lao turned and looked at Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa shook his head.

800V.

Zheng Fa's hands trembled slightly, yet he still shook his head.

When it reached 1500V.

Bai Lao and the other man could already hear Zheng Fa's teeth chattering.

"A bit... a bit higher."

Zheng Fa spoke, his words not entirely clear.

When the voltage reached 2100V, the two finally saw Zheng Fa nod lightly and sink into the cultivation of the Five Thunder Divine Body technique.

"Grandpa Bai, why do I feel that Zheng Fa has been a bit off these past two days?"

Looking at Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu suddenly said.

"... You noticed it too?"

"What's wrong with him?"

"I'm afraid he encountered some difficulty and is a bit anxious."

Bai Lao stroked his chin and guessed.

"Difficulty?" Tang Lingwu looked somewhat confused: "What difficulty could there be?"

Bai Lao looked at the numbers on the screen, his brows also furrowed tightly, and suddenly said:

"When a man is this ruthless to himself, there is generally only one situation..."

"What situation?"

"He's heartbroken!"

"?"

Inside Zheng Fa's inner vision.

The bones in his body trembled in waves, undergoing some miraculous changes.

As the powerful electric current flowed through, the surface of the bones Zheng Fa could see inevitably developed a layer of charred black, as if carbonized by instant high temperatures.

In the next moment, Zheng Fa's spiritual power circulated according to the Five Thunder Divine Body technique, slowly nourishing these charred spots.

Gradually, tiny points of Jin Guang suddenly flashed within the blackness.

At first, this Jin Guang was very faint, like insignificant cracks in that pitch-black expanse.

Later, this gold slowly expanded, growing into a dense spiderweb.

Until finally, the black was completely covered by gold—Zheng Fa's bones seemed to have a layer of golden film.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Bai Lao and Tang Lingwu in front of him were staring at him tensely.

"How is it?"

"It succeeded!"

With the appearance of that golden film, Zheng Fa understood that he had already achieved the third layer of the Five Thunder Divine Body technique—Bone Forging.

Bai Lao and the other man exchanged a glance, and joy appeared on their faces as well.

Zheng Fa stood up from the chair and carefully felt his own body.

He felt there was some change, but couldn't say where.

"Huh? You've grown taller?"

As Bai Lao spoke, he opened his palm, held it level with his own forehead, then compared it to Zheng Fa; after seeming to confirm it, he nodded:

"You have grown taller."

Zheng Fa was stunned, walked into the bathroom, and stood before the mirror.

His change was significant.

Before practicing the Spiritual Crane Body, Zheng Fa wasn't short, but he was very thin, looking like someone who had suffered malnutrition in childhood.

Later, as he practiced martial arts and cultivated the Dao, his appearance gradually changed.

His skin improved.

His body also became more muscular.

But a person's body proportions, such as the ratio of head to shoulders, or legs to torso, are very difficult to change from birth.

Zheng Fa's previous body proportions could only be described as ordinary.

But now...

Looking at himself in the mirror.

His legs seemed a bit longer than before, and his shoulders a bit wider.

His entire person possessed an unusually harmonious beauty.

"Come, come, let me measure you!"

Bai Lao walked in holding a roll of soft tape measure; he also seemed to have noticed this issue and was quite curious, measuring up and down Zheng Fa's body.

Tang Lingwu on the side also had bright, shining eyes.

After Bai Lao finished measuring and did a quick mental calculation, he suddenly said: "This cultivation technique... actually trained you into the golden ratio?"

"..."

"Are there any changes elsewhere?"

Bai Lao asked with great interest.

"Why are you, old sir, curious about this?"

"Don't I also practice the Five Thunder Divine Body technique?"

"..."

"Why don't you take your clothes off so I can measure you!"

"I still have matters to attend to..."

"Ai, ai, ai!" Seeing Zheng Fa flee in disarray, Bai Lao's face seemed to hold some regret. He turned his head and found Tang Lingwu still staring nonstop at Zheng Fa's retreating figure.

"What are you looking at?"

"Legs... no, I wasn't looking at anything."

"... Tsk." Bai Lao glanced at her sideways, making tsking sounds.

"Grandpa Bai, what are you doing?"

"I'm thinking, with this fellow cultivated like this, it'll be hard for him to remain single in the future."

"Cultivation is like a controllable evolution of life."

After confirming the changes in his own body, Zheng Fa and Bai Lao discussed it.

"Evolution of life..." Tang Lingwu, listening nearby, suddenly slapped her forehead as if remembering something: "I discovered something earlier!"

"What?"

"Follow me!"

Tang Lingwu ran out of the room with a clatter of footsteps.

Zheng Fa and Bai Lao exchanged a glance and ran outside after her.

This was an open space.

Tang Lingwu had previously said that the purchased garden plants had arrived, and they would fence this area off to better hide their whereabouts.

Therefore, the place had been kept quite clean.

Previously, Zheng Fa had practiced the Lingshan Art here.

"Look!"

Tang Lingwu pointed and said.

Zheng Fa and Bai Lao looked over and saw several weeds growing there, seemingly left uncleaned by the workers at the time due to laziness.

"What about this?"

Bai Lao asked.

"These grasses are different!" Tang Lingwu stated confidently: "I carefully searched the surroundings. For the same type of grass, these few grow taller and larger."

"..."

Zheng Fa and Bai Lao exchanged a glance and immediately understood Tang Lingwu's meaning.

The two leaned in to closely examine the few unknown little grasses before them.

Then they found a few other plants that looked like the same species to compare.

They were different.

Overall, the few growing here were sturdier, with larger, greener leaves and slightly deeper root systems.

"Is this... mutation under a Qi environment?"

Bai Lao voiced Zheng Fa's guess.

Zheng Fa nodded lightly.

The same hill, almost the same environment, and the same species.

The only difference was probably that he had been practicing the Lingshan Art here, and this place should have been enveloped by the Qi Zheng Fa emitted.

"In such a short time... such obvious changes?"

Bai Lao frowned and said: "We don't know if this change is good or bad. In the future, when you practice the Lingshan Art, you must still be careful."

"... Hmm."

"We're lacking an agriculture expert here!"

Bai Lao muttered as if by accident.

"..."

"Tell me, who do we know in this field?"

Seeing the two remain silent, Bai Lao spoke again.

"... You old one should be thinking of Tian Laoshi." Zheng Fa shook his head and said.

"Right, Tian Laoshi sent me a message two days ago..." Tang Lingwu suddenly took out her phone and said: "I said I was in Jingcheng, and she said to come to her house for a meal."

"I also said I was in Jingcheng." Bai Lao was stunned, seeming somewhat incredulous: "Why didn't she invite me?"

"..."

"... Tell me, why don't we know any agriculture experts?"

Bai Lao fell silent for a moment, then asked again.

As if forgetting an old lady surnamed Tian.