Chapter 214: Me Too

The weather nearby has been poor these past few days; even at night, layer upon layer of dark clouds hung over the nursing home, blocking out any trace of starlight.

Zheng Fa set down the book in his hand, gazed at the dark clouds in the sky, and could not help but recall the two famous dark clouds in the history of physics that the book had just discussed.

If one regards both Xuanwei immortal techniques and physics as methods for understanding and utilizing objective laws.

Then physics has only two dark clouds.

As for immortal techniques, one could call it an endless long night.

The Setting Sun Sword Immortal was likely a die-hard fan of Tianhe Zunzhe, describing things with a strong bias.

Admittedly, after hearing his account, Zheng Fa also felt a surge of admiration and regret for Tianhe Zunzhe in his heart.

But Zheng Fa had not forgotten the fact—Tianhe Zunzhe's new method had failed.

He did not believe that all cultivators were willing to become something other than themselves.

Nor did he believe that if the new method were truly superior to the old, everyone would be blind to it.

Since the old method still ruled the Xuanwei Realm today, there must be objective reasons for it.

Even though the old method had myriad shortcomings, Zheng Fa still suspected that Tianhe Zunzhe's failure likely had its own inevitability.

But this did not frighten Zheng Fa; was not science precisely about advancing by inheriting and negating the achievements of predecessors?

What Zheng Fa worried about was another hidden concern—

Those people had extinguished even the transmission of the new method; was this to cover up their betrayal of Tianhe Zunzhe?

Or was it because, in essence, the new method and the old method could not coexist?

Even now, with the Zizaimo Sect hunting down so-called geniuses everywhere, were they afraid of another Tianhe Zunzhe emerging, or of another new method?

These two questions would determine whether Zheng Fa's path ahead led to Einstein or to Bruno.

Conducting research while risking one's life—frankly speaking, Zheng Fa felt somewhat hesitant.

Just as the Setting Sun Sword Immortal had said, his talent was quite good nowadays, his Dao Body level appeared extremely high, and his prospects following the old method were quite promising.

The rain finally fell, heavy and hard, pattering against the eaves.

Zheng Fa had been sitting in the courtyard; seeing this, he was just about to rise and move the table and chairs indoors when he realized that no raindrops were landing on him.

Looking up, he saw Tang Lingwu holding a large umbrella, shielding him from the wind and rain overhead.

Zheng Fa smiled gratefully at Tang Lingwu, raised a hand, and the lounge chair in the courtyard flew to the veranda; Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu also walked to the veranda, standing shoulder to shoulder watching the raindrops, neither of them speaking.

Zheng Fa's mind was still occupied with the matter of the new method versus the old method.

Researching the new method certainly aligned with his wishes, but one careless step could make him an enemy of the entire world, not to mention that even Tianhe Zunzhe had failed.

Cultivating the old method would naturally bring endless future troubles, but for a considerable period, he probably would not face any major danger.

Given his personality, both options had gains and losses, proving quite troublesome, with no perfect choice available.

He glanced at Tang Lingwu beside him, knowing that compared to other cultivators of the Xuanwei Realm, he faced an additional risk—the modern world!

He did not know why he could travel to the modern era.

But if it was as the Setting Sun Sword Immortal described, that after reaching Soul Transformation, a cultivator cultivates the non-self.

Then if he truly turned into another person in the future—would that not mean rampaging unchecked in the modern world?

The impact on the modern world and on the people around him would be unpredictable.

Most directly, this concerned Tang Lingwu, Bai Lao, and Tian Laoshi.

Thinking of this, his heart unknowingly began to lean in a certain direction.

Suddenly, Tang Lingwu beside him began to sing, and it was a foreign song:

"When you walk through the storm..."

"..."

"... with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone..."

The howling of the fierce wind passing through the forest and the pattering of raindrops falling before the courtyard could not mask the girl's clear and beautiful voice.

Zheng Fa listened quietly, making no sound.

He had heard this song before.

In high school, his close friend Wang Chen, a football fan, had played this song for him—its translated title was roughly "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Behind them, Bai Lao and Tian Laoshi emerged together, watching the two of them with smiles.

After finishing the song, Tang Lingwu said nothing else, as if she had already said all she needed to say.

Instead, Bai Lao asked with great interest, "Little Lingwu, do you also like watching football?"

"I don't watch," Tang Lingwu shook her head, tilted her head slightly, and said, "When I was little, before my mother fell ill and before my father became so busy."

"My father loved watching football, and my mother would take me along to keep him company; I didn't understand the game, so I just learned this song."

"Back then," Tang Lingwu glanced at Zheng Fa and said softly, "I sang this song for the two of them, and they were so happy."

As Tang Lingwu spoke of this, her eyes held a smile, as if recalling something.

Zheng Fa felt a slight pang of pity in his heart; this was likely Tang Lingwu's most beautiful memory regarding family—

Now that they had arrived in Jingcheng, Auntie Ye, Tang Lingwu's mother, visited often, of course, for the purpose of seeking treatment.

But Tang Lingwu's father always seemed too busy; apart from the start of the school term, he had never visited.

Tian Laoshi also noticed this; pushing Bai Lao aside, she embraced Tang Lingwu and said, "Just consider us your family."

Bai Lao scratched his head, looked at Zheng Fa nearby, and smiled, "Figured it out?"

"Not entirely clear, but..." Zheng Fa looked at Tang Lingwu and smiled slightly, "This song gave me the courage to choose becoming an enemy of the entire world."

"..." Bai Lao stared blankly:

"This... you're already in university, shouldn't you be reading books that aren't so chuunibyou?"

"Why don't you reconsider?"

"One song really isn't worth it!"

……

Inside the newly built physics laboratory, Zheng Fa's divine soul directed his spiritual power, slowly circulating it along the trajectory of the Cloud-Rain Lei Fu recorded in the Investiture of the Gods.

"Stop!"

Tang Lingwu's command came through.

"The humidity sensor is showing changes! Humidity has risen significantly!"

Zheng Fa nodded, drew the trajectory he had just traced, and handed it to Bai Lao standing nearby.

The Cloud-Rain Lei Fu was far more complex than the previous Heavenly Tribulation Lei Fu.

This was a set of talisman diagrams with entirely different functions.

For instance, what Zheng Fa was currently recording was a trajectory capable of generating water vapor and condensing clouds.

……

"This talisman diagram generated clouds."

"This talisman diagram altered the magnetic field strength."

"This talisman diagram generated a laser..."

"This talisman diagram generated a stream of positive charged particles..."

As Bai Lao continued summarizing, he became completely bewildered.

"How can this thing be so complicated?" He frowned at those talisman diagrams. "No, wait, why are the divine name sub-characters inside all different?"

Zheng Fa shook his head; in his heart, he had already expected this.

Based on his current understanding of talisman arts, these spirit talismans likely had different origins, or rather, were created by different great experts.

The Heavenly Tribulation Lei Fu was somewhat better; it seemed the Investiture of the Gods had selected the one with the greatest power.

Because these Cloud-Rain Talismans were too complex, those existences each had their own ideas—resulting in the spirit talismans embodying entirely different lines of thought, yet each possessing its own logic.

But on the other hand, this also indicated that unlike the Heavenly Tribulation Lei Fu, the Investiture of the Gods had not figured out which of these lines of thought was superior or inferior, so it had simply drawn them all onto the Investiture of the Gods in one go.

"The one that generates rain clouds must definitely be kept."

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then added, "As for the rest, let's each find our own papers to review."

……

Zheng Fa held several stacks of papers, reading them while simultaneously discussing with Bai Lao and others beside him.

Just as that elderly gentleman from the Meteorology Department at Jingcheng University had pointed out, research in this area regarding laser-induced rain and snow experiments was the most abundant, and the data was the most complete.

The principle behind this method of rainfall was not extremely difficult; at least for Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu, it was still understandable.

Not only abroad, but there were also many related studies domestically.

"The advantage of laser-induced rainfall is that the laser's frequency and wavelength are relatively fixed, the conditions are relatively simple, and the energy intensity is higher."

"The principle of laser-induced rainfall involves using a laser to excite plasma, capturing charged raindrops within the clouds, and accelerating the growth and merging of cloud droplets."

"Several research institutions have already achieved relative artificial rainfall and snowfall using this method."

Tang Lingwu summarized.

Bai Lao nearby nodded: "Lasers are good; this laser thing is simple..."

Zheng Fa also nodded.

Essentially, a laser is a type of electromagnetic wave, or even light emitted during electron transitions.

"Among the previous Cloud-Rain Talismans, there were some trajectories capable of generating lasers," Bai Lao recalled. "Lasers are indeed easier to control than other methods, it's just... the requirements for lightning arts are also much more detailed."

Having said this, he looked at Zheng Fa, a hint of doubt in his eyes, as if asking whether he could do it.

Since the laser's wavelength is identical, even a tiny change in energy creates a huge difference.

The selection of the laser's direction also involves great subtlety; even to control the amount of rainfall, the control over the time and space of the lightning arts requires extremely high precision.

This required Zheng Fa to employ the lightning arts with even greater delicacy—this was far more difficult than the Heavenly Tribulation Lei Fu, which only required concern for energy intensity.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment; he had already mastered the "Heavenly Net Lightning Armor," so his control over lightning arts was much higher than before.

"Let's try!"

Zheng Fa nodded to Bai Lao and the other two, then began replicating the experiment in its immortal dao version according to the experimental procedure in one of the papers.

……

Down the mountain, inside the homestay.

The homestay owner gazed at the continuously rainy and gloomy weather, his face filled with worry.

With such bad weather, the homestay had hardly any guests.

Even the background of the live stream was gloomy and dark, and the number of viewers had decreased significantly.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but think of that old man from the nursing home again—that old man's arrival had brought the live stream's popularity soaring!

"Are you free right now?" The owner's grandmother suddenly walked over and asked.

"Grandma?"

"If you're free, drive me to the Hongshan Niangniang Temple; I'm going to pray!"

"Grandma! Why do you want to go again?"

"You saw Hongshan Niangniang manifest her divine power last time!" His grandmother insisted. "If we don't go, won't Hongshan Niangniang think we are not devout?"

The homestay owner's face remained unmoved; he seemed unwilling to move.

"Besides, just look at the business in this shop!" Seeing he was still unwilling, his grandmother spoke up. "Maybe things will improve if we pray! Just look at the Wang family; after they built their temple, how flourishing they became!"

"I'll go get the car!"

"Doesn't Grandma know you?"

(End of Chapter)