Chapter 208: Advertisement

In the nursing home, Tang Lingwumin's computer Foundation Establishment panted as it ran, its fans whirring loudly before finally falling silent.

Seeing the computer quiet down, the group gathered around the screen; after clicking the mouse a few times, Tang Lingwumin spoke:

"Following the logic of a certain programmer—or rather, a certain being—corresponding to the second-class sub-symbol, I temporarily call it a Divine Name Sub-Symbol. If we classify the previously discovered glyph patterns using different Divine Name Sub-Symbols," Tang Lingwumin explained while dragging the results on-screen, "we can see that there are already thousands of these Divine Name Sub-Symbols—even without inputting more glyph patterns."

"Does that mean countless powerful beings have written their own rules?"

"Countless might be an exaggeration, but there are certainly many," Tang Lingwumin nodded, then tapped the keyboard again. "But further study reveals that each Divine Name Sub-Symbol corresponds to a different number of glyph patterns."

"If you look at these dozen or so Divine Name Sub-Symbols with the most glyphs, they account for eighty percent of all glyph patterns."

"If you look at these three hundred-plus Divine Name Sub-Symbols, they account for nearly ninety-nine point nine percent of all Divine Name Sub-Symbols."

"If we treat this entire glyph system as a project," Tang Lingwumin concluded, "a dozen or so individuals contributed eighty percent of the code… they are the project's core team."

Tang Lingwumin spoke, her expression slightly downcast: "But I don't know what use this discovery has…"

"It's useful," Zheng Fa analyzed. "Let's make a reasonable assumption: the stronger a powerful being, the more cosmic rules they can write. That suggests…"

"Among those who created these glyph patterns, there are a dozen or so extraordinarily powerful beings," Zheng Fa slowly continued. "They are the strongest, and their created spirit glyphs are the most refined—if we study the final class of sub-symbols, we should pick one of these to focus on."

Tang Lingwumin and the old white-haired man gave slight nods.

"And…" Zheng Fa stared at those dozen Divine Name Sub-Symbols, his tone tinged with speculation: "These might be connected to the secret of Soul Transformation."

"Soul Transformation?"

Zheng Fa shook his head slightly, offering no explanation to the old man or the others.

…

The Divine Name Sub-Symbols were still too distant for Zheng Fa and his group.

Their current research focus remained on heavenly tribulation lightning.

"Zheng Fa, come take a look," the old man called to him. "Lingwumin and I simulated on the computer—we've roughly modeled a few primal symbols of heavenly tribulation lightning."

Zheng Fa walked over; ten glyph patterns appeared on the screen.

If any cultivator who had entered the Heavenly Stele Realm saw this, their spiritual core would likely shatter.

After all, transforming a technique into glyph art requires immense time—even centuries of gradual trial and error by generations.

Even after finding a usable glyph pattern, turning it into a primal symbol takes unknown amounts of time.

And they didn't even know how heavenly tribulation lightning was generated in the first place.

Yet Zheng Fa's group had already created perfect primal symbols…

Once Zheng Fa's team had not only deciphered the three classes of sub-symbols but also nearly fully understood the Divine Name Sub-Symbols and the Five Elements Sub-Symbols, deducing the spirit glyph for heavenly tribulation lightning became relatively simple.

To use an inappropriate analogy: they were still rubbing sticks together to make fire, while Zheng Fa was nearly inventing a lighter…

"Look," the old man pointed at the screen. "We tested each Five Elements Sub-Symbol, and with yin-yang configurations, we got about ten."

Zheng Fa nodded, committing the ten glyph patterns to memory.

Since modern times lack materials to craft spirit glyphs, they'd have to test these heavenly tribulation glyphs again in the Xuanwei Realm to determine which one is correct.

But selecting the correct glyph pattern from these ten was too simple…

"By the way, later, guard me."

"Guard you?"

"I'm about to break through!"

Zheng Fa froze, staring at the old man. When Tang Lingwumin broke through Qi Refining Second Layer, the old man had been thoroughly shaken—was the effect really this immediate?

"My Five Thunder Body Technique is about to break through Flesh Strengthening!"

The old man said proudly.

"... ou really are diligent."

This breakthrough came far faster than his cultivation base had advanced.

The old man still mumbled about that dream of magnetic rotation, one punch shattering a star.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment…

Given the current situation, it didn't seem like a dream anymore…

…The next morning, Zheng Fa was jolted from his cultivation by a rumbling noise. He stepped outside to see two excavators working in the courtyard.

He wasn't surprised.

Ever since the nursing home started making money selling vegetables, Zheng Fa had asked Tang Lingwumin to contact a construction team to build two laboratories.

One for Teacher Tian's agricultural lab.

One for a physics lab—more precisely, an electromagnetism lab.

As the excavators worked, Zheng Fa felt inexplicably drawn, standing nearby for a long while.

"I don't get what's so fascinating," Teacher Tian muttered. "Old Bai got up early and squatted beside them for hours, even said he wanted to learn how to operate one."

"How to put it…" Zheng Fa scratched his head, unable to explain why. "This… maybe it's just in our genes."

"..."

"Where's Old Bai?"

"He broke through his Five Thunder Body Technique last night and didn't sleep a wink," Teacher Tian said, frowning slightly. "I don't know what he's up to this early."

"I know!"

Tang Lingwumin suddenly appeared, holding up her phone. "He's downstairs at the guesthouse owner's livestream."

"Huh?"

Zheng Fa and Teacher Tian leaned in—sure enough.

The guesthouse owner was livestreaming, and the old man was somehow beside him, chatting.

As they chatted, the old man suddenly unzipped his jacket, revealing what was underneath.

This flashy old man had somehow acquired a fitness tank top; as he shed his jacket, the smooth, defined muscle lines from his Five Thunder Body Technique's advancement sent the livestream audience into a frenzy.

Even the guesthouse owner's livestream Redu surged.

Zheng Fa stared, dumbfounded, then slowly turned to Teacher Tian: "... eacher Tian, what do you think…"

"Divorce," Teacher Tian said flatly, voice hollow.

…

"You don't understand!" That night at dinner, Old Bai declared confidently. "Our nursing home is finally getting started. My physique, my aura—aren't I a perfect live advertisement?"

"I already gave the guesthouse owner my number! He'll promote me on his livestream!"

At that moment, his phone rang.

"Hello? Oh, it's me. No, no, we're a nursing home, not a gym… You're a gym? Inviting me to advertise?"

Old Bai hung up with a forced laugh.

A while later, his phone rang again.

"Not a gym! No advertising… What?" His voice dropped suddenly. Zheng Fa watched him rise quickly and step into the courtyard, curious to hear what he was saying.

"Senior dating? Interested, very interested."

"What? Same-sex dating?" The old man paused. "Pfft!"

"..." Zheng Fa turned to Teacher Tian. "I vote yes on the divorce."

"..."

"But Old Bai's right—we need to get the nursing home running," Zheng Fa thought. Now that he had healing abilities and vegetables nourished by spiritual energy: "Once the labs are ready, we can start recruiting residents."

Opening the nursing home would increase income.

Second, of course, to recruit members for the cultivation research team.

Zheng Fa most hoped to find someone who understood meteorology…

He still had no idea how to research the Cloud and Rain Glyph.

(End of Chapter)