Chapter 198: Add Money

Seeming to realize his attitude was too resolute, Qian True Person immediately explained, "My Qianhe Sect has enjoyed much better days lately thanks to your sect. If Daoist Zheng wishes to ask about other matters, I can speak. But this matter truly cannot be casually revealed."

Zheng Fa nodded lightly, feeling no anger in his heart.

When inviting someone over, the original intent was to seek counsel; it is common for the other party to be unable to reveal things due to their sect's constraints.

"Qian True Person, our two sects cooperated well some days ago. The Huang Ya Rice is also greatly favored by my Jiushan Sect disciples... I intend to purchase some other spiritual plants and grains."

"... That would be wonderful!" Qian True Person said joyfully, "Do not think my sect is only famous for Huang Ya Rice; that is because Huang Ya Rice is unique to our sect. We Qianhe Sect also cultivate other spiritual plants."

Zheng Fa smiled without speaking.

He merely watched as the joy on Qian True Person's face slowly faded, turning into a bitter expression.

"Daoist Zheng, your meaning is..."

Zheng Fa nodded.

His meaning was very simple—I will add money!

Buying more spiritual grains and plants was truly not a whim of Zheng Fa's; now that the Lei Chi market leverages its geographical advantage, it earns more than the Jiushan Sect market, and the vegetable basket project should be appropriately enriched.

But whether these orders go to the Qianhe Sect naturally depends on the other party's attitude.

Qian True Person was not foolish; he seemed to instantly understand Zheng Fa's unspoken meaning.

His face changed rapidly, as if he had struggled for a long time, before he finally gritted his teeth and said, "This matter... still cannot be done."

Zheng Fa heard him continue, "Daoist Zheng, I will not hide it from you; earning more spirit stones from the Jiushan Sect benefits me greatly."

This should be the truth.

Qian True Person had previously been responsible for the Qianhe Sect market, always playing the role of the Qianhe Sect's moneybag.

His current status within the sect should be highly tied to orders from the Jiushan Sect.

"But if I reveal everything to the outside..." Qian True Person showed a faint bitter smile, "then what difference is there between me and a traitor to the sect?"

Hearing this, Zheng Fa could not help but feel some respect.

When he first met this person, he always felt the man was somewhat slick; he did not expect him to now behave in a way that made him look at him differently.

"Since Qian True Person is unwilling, let us consider this matter as if I never mentioned it."

Zheng Fa did not force anyone; he merely said with a smile.

"Then good... then the Huang Ya Rice..."

"Everything remains as before." Zheng Fa saw he seemed worried about offending him and said with a smile, "Qian True Person, the fact that you took the time to come is already something for which I am grateful."

Qian True Person sized him up twice, saw his tone was sincere, sighed with relief, and lifted his foot to bid farewell to Zheng Fa.

Before leaving, he seemed somewhat unwilling and asked again, "Then... regarding the other spiritual grains..."

"I have not only invited you, Qian True Person; within the Baixian Alliance nearby, there is another sect that specializes in spiritual plant cultivation..."

Qian True Person's face froze.

"Xuan Dao Sect?"

"Yes."

Zheng Fa nodded with a smile, as if he knew nothing about the fact that the Qianhe Sect and the Xuan Dao Sect were bitter enemies.

"... What good things could they have?" Qian True Person did not leave; in fact, he stood his ground and said hatefully, "Their few items, which one in our Qianhe Sect is not better than theirs?"

"Mm, mm."

Zheng Fa agreed upon hearing this.

"Then... perhaps..." Qian True Person said, thickening his skin.

"Oh, they should be more generous than you."

One sentence from Zheng Fa left Qian True Person speechless; he did not even feel Zheng Fa was bluffing him.

The Xuan Dao Sect was doing worse than the Qianhe Sect was before—the Qianhe Sect at least had the unique Huang Ya Rice, while the Xuan Dao Sect had nothing.

Therefore, facing the temptation of a large order plus the chance to latch onto the Jiushan Sect's thigh.

It was very likely the Xuan Dao Sect would reveal everything!

"This... actually, it is not that it cannot be said," Qian True Person's expression changed for a long time before he finally stammered, "The relationship between heavenly thunder and spiritual plants, when stripped bare, comes down to two words."

"Which two words?"

"Timing!"

"For example, with melon and fruit-type spiritual plants, the Bilings Gu must be sown when the first spring thunder breaks during the Jingzhe season, and if irrigated with Spring Dew Talismans, their growth will be extremely good."

"The summer thunder during Xiaoshu is most suitable for spiritual plant growth; sometimes, if there is no summer thunder, many spiritual plants will even lack spiritual energy."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa was stunned; this sounded a bit like the problem he was currently facing.

"Autumn thunder and winter thunder each have their own functions. Spiritual farmers actually have many secret methods regarding how to coordinate thunder and rain to nourish spiritual plants." Once Qian True Person opened his mouth, he no longer hid anything; instead, he even told Zheng Fa a few rudimentary secret methods.

After listening to him finish, Zheng Fa felt gratitude and also a bit of worry for him: "Qian True Person, if you say these things and return to the Qianhe Sect... will you be punished?"

"That will not happen!"

Qian True Person waved his hand and said carefree.

Zheng Fa felt slightly relieved, then heard Qian True Person say, "I did not say our Qianhe Sect's secret methods!"

"Ah? Then those before..."

"They were all from the Xuan Dao Sect." Qian True Person said frankly.

"..."

"Well then, no need for them to be generous." Qian True Person smiled, "I will be generous on their behalf."

"..."

This person is very... promising!

"Those orders..." Qian True Person, seeing Zheng Fa silent, asked cautiously.

"Send some spiritual plants you are good at, let..." Zheng Fa looked at Shijie Yuan beside him and said, "let Shijie Yuan appraise them."

"Brother Zheng is Sister Zhang's, and Sister Zhang is unbeatable—stay calm!" Looking at the distant figure of True Person Qian, who had bowed and thanked them profusely, Sister Yuan whispered again.

"…"

…

Modern times.

Nursing home.

"Tian Laoshi, I've looked up some materials. There's a theory that the key to spiritual plant growth lies in lightning."

"Lightning?"

Tian Laoshi frowned, looking slightly bewildered.

Zheng Fa briefly explained the Xuandao Sect's secret method as described by True Person Qian.

"Lightning from different seasons?" Tian Laoshi paused to think, then nodded: "That's not impossible."

Zheng Fa's eyes lit up as he listened to Tian Laoshi's idea.

"For plants, lightning is naturally an important source of nitrogen," Tian Laoshi said, thinking aloud.

Zheng Fa nodded slightly.

He knew this already, but it didn't resolve his doubt: "Our nursing home doesn't lack nitrogen fertilizer."

If spiritual plant growth depended only on the presence or absence of nitrogen, Zheng Fa and the others would have cultivated them long ago.

"Yes, there's also the famous Miller-Urey experiment," Tian Laoshi continued. "They simulated early atmospheric conditions and used electric arcs to mimic lightning, producing several amino acids."

"Amino acids? Origin of life?"

"Just a hypothesis, but it does suggest lightning may be connected to life itself."

Zheng Fa couldn't help recalling the Xuánwēi Scriptures' description of lightning techniques—power of creation and destruction.

In this experiment, it seemed remarkably accurate.

"Tian Laoshi, are you suggesting that under spiritual energy conditions, lightning might generate special substances that influence the emergence of spiritual plants?"

"Yes, that's one conjecture," Tian Laoshi nodded slowly, then shifted to another direction: "Another possibility I can think of is the magnetic field effect of lightning."

"Magnetic field?"

"This is a relatively new research direction. Wait a moment."

Tian Laoshi returned to her room and came back holding a tablet computer.

"Take a look—these are several papers."

She pointed to the documents on the tablet and explained one by one:

"This paper used cancer cells as material, placed them in different magnetic fields, and found that low-intensity magnetic fields promoted cancer cell development, while high-intensity fields suppressed it."

"This one studied the effect of static magnetic fields on Arabidopsis growth. It found that a 6,000-gauss magnetic field significantly promoted the growth of the main root. Further research showed that the magnetic field enhanced auxin transport in root-tip cells, accelerating cell division and increasing cell count in the meristematic tissue."

"And this one examined the effect of magnetic fields on the mycelial growth of enoki mushrooms. It suggests magnetic fields may influence not only plants but also other organisms like fungi."

Zheng Fa flipped through each paper Tian Laoshi had given him, gradually understanding her point.

"Teacher, are you saying the magnetic field generated by lightning might affect plant growth—or even drive evolution?"

"Yes, that's what I think is most likely."

Tian Laoshi nodded.

Zheng Fa knew that by now, they had only two hypotheses.

To truly determine whether lightning could produce spiritual plants, more experiments and data were needed.

He suddenly realized he hadn't seen Old Bai.

This old man had been clinging to Tian Laoshi lately.

"Where are Old Bai and Tang Lingwu?"

"Them? Up front," Tian Laoshi explained. "Tang Lingwu's father introduced a chef from a high-end restaurant in Jingcheng. They're cooking right now—apparently spent quite a bit of money."

"Cooking?"

"Yes, very professional—they brought all their own pots, pans, and utensils. We just supply the ingredients."

Zheng Fa froze.

Weren't they planning to sell vegetables?

Why hire someone to cook?

He walked toward the main building of the nursing home. Sure enough, in the kitchen of the first-floor dining hall, several unfamiliar men were working enthusiastically.

Old Bai and Tang Lingwu were gathered together in the dining hall, talking.

"Old Bai?" He walked toward them and saw Tang Lingwu waving: "Come quick—we'll eat soon."

"Why hire someone to cook?"

"Ah… this was Lingwu's clever idea," Old Bai chuckled, lowering his voice. "If we want to sell vegetables, empty words won't do—we'd be owing favors. That's not business."

Zheng Fa began to understand.

He glanced at Tang Lingwu; the girl smiled sweetly, showing no hint of being a fisherwoman.

In the kitchen, Zheng Fa watched the middle-aged man, presumably the head chef, finish stir-frying a dish of greens. His expression was slightly dismissive—probably thinking the ingredients too simple.

He instinctively popped one into his mouth.

…… And he was hooked!

The head chef stared at his hands, then glanced around at his own pots and pans, as if suddenly wondering whether he'd unintentionally achieved a massive breakthrough and become invincible.

After cooking a few more dishes, he understood.

After finishing the meal, the chef didn't leave. Instead, he smiled and blocked Old Bai, who had just eaten his fill, assuming the oldest man was the head of the nursing home.

A muffled argument echoed between them.

"It's hard to explain—it's our institute's secret."

"I understand, I'll add more money!" the head chef said firmly. "This meal is on me, for my older brother!"

"..."