Chapter 227: Not Worth a Sigh

"I saw at a glance that you kid aren't human!"

Bai Lao pointed at Zheng Fa, shouting as he looked at the cell diagram on the computer screen.

Zheng Fa opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but didn't know how.

On the screen, the skin cells of four people were lined up in a row.

Those of Tang Lingwu and the other two were no different from ordinary humans.

Only Zheng Fa—within his cells, there was also a cluster of completely different cellular structures!

"Can it be magnified?"

Zheng Fa asked Tian Laoshi.

Something had grown inside his body; he wanted to see what exactly this thing was.

Tian Laoshi shook his head.

Bai Lao frowned at the screen, no longer joking, and simply said, "Why have none of us changed, yet only you have? And why does it resemble the structure in those pea sprout cells so closely?"

Zheng Fa shook his head.

The initial speculation that appeared in his mind was naturally that, after all, he was a transmigrator, and this might be a difference between creatures of the two worlds.

But as Bai Lao said—there was also something similar in those pea sprouts.

Pea sprouts are a modern variety.

This more or less ruled out that speculation.

Another possibility was Zheng Fa's cultivation level; Bai Lao and the others were still at the Qi Refining stage, while he had already reached Foundation Establishment.

Perhaps this change occurred after Foundation Establishment.

But the pea sprouts possessed only faint Qi, no spiritual intelligence, and certainly no cultivation level, yet they had already produced this structure.

The idea that this thing was related to cultivation level also seemed untenable.

"Zheng Fa, has your cultivation undergone any changes recently?"

Tang Lingwu suddenly asked.

"Changes?"

Zheng Fa didn't understand Tang Lingwu's meaning.

Tang Lingwu ran out of the lab, returned with a tablet, and pointed at the talisman diagrams on it, saying, "As you know, to study the Three-Seed Talisman, I have been using the Spirit Eye Technique to collect talisman diagrams from the Qi in the nursing home."

Zheng Fa nodded.

"Just these past two days, I discovered that hundreds of new types of talisman diagrams have appeared in the nursing home's Qi!"

"More?"

"Yes, we originally collected thousands of divine name seed talismans—but the divine name seed talismans in these hundreds of new diagrams were never recorded in my database."

"..."

Zheng Fa looked at that tablet.

Indeed, the divine name seed talismans within these hundreds of diagrams were all the same, yet very unfamiliar.

"The quantity of hundreds of talisman diagrams is already very large!" Tang Lingwu added, "We couldn't possibly fail to collect them."

"Newly appeared?" Bai Lao also leaned over, looked for a long time, and said, "I've never seen them either."

Zheng Fa understood Tang Lingwu's meaning: "You mean the appearance of these pea sprouts might be related to these hundreds of new spiritual talismans?"

Tang Lingwu nodded lightly, saying, "Though I am not certain either."

Zheng Fa's heart stirred, and his divine sense sank into his dantian.

The greatest change that had occurred in him recently was this Fusang Tree.

If the Green Yang Dao Body was truly related to the so-called Eastern Lord, then it probably did have some connection to spiritual plants—after all, he also had the alias 'Wood Duke'.

His expression couldn't help but become somewhat strange.

Could this thing have some peculiar quirk?

Back then, after cursing the Green Yang Dao Body, a Fusang Tree had appeared.

Now, after cursing that the Fusang Tree was useless, he could cultivate spiritual plants?

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and muttered silently in his heart:

"Useless piece of wood, why can't it let someone achieve Soul Transformation in a day and ascend to immortality in three days?"

The Fusang Tree trembled three times again—Zheng Fa always felt it was cursing him, and cursing him very foully.

Xuanwei Realm.

Nowadays, most disciples of the Jiushan Sect live right by Lei Chi—if anything changes, a group can directly dive into Lei Chi.

Zheng Fa's courtyard was among them, right next to Zhang Shijie's; Uncle Huang's courtyard was also nearby.

Without the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace, Zhang Shijie was unwilling for Zheng Fa to live too far from her.

After all, the array formations in the Lei Chi market were very basic, and safety could not be guaranteed.

These days had been peaceful; the capture of the square-faced youth seemed not to have alarmed the Demon Race, and with two Nascent Soul elders, Zhang Shijie and Uncle Huang, stationed at the Jiushan Sect, ordinary people dared not provoke them.

Zheng Fa walked into Zhang Shijie's courtyard holding several books.

Uncle Huang was also there; she and Zhang Shijie each sat at a desk, chatting.

Zhang Shijie held a cup of clear tea in her hand.

And Uncle Huang held a tall green porcelain bottle.

The rich aroma of wine released from the bottle's mouth rushed straight into Zheng Fa's nose.

Zheng Fa couldn't help but glance at Uncle Huang again; in his impression, Uncle Huang often wore a cold face, with plain features, and when looking at people, it was as if she regarded them as nonexistent.

He couldn't even remember if he had ever seen her smile.

But in front of Shijie Zhang, Shishu Huang had changed his demeanor.

Zheng Fa hesitated slightly; he hadn't expected Shishu Huang to be here as well.

Shishu Huang lounged on a low table, wine stains still on the corner of his mouth, his brows and eyes brimming with spring, his gaze drifting.

She seemed not to care that Zheng Fa had entered, drinking her own wine as if she hadn't seen him at all.

"Shijie?"

Shijie Zhang's eyes lit up; looking at the book in Zheng Fa's hand, she asked hopefully, "What is that in your hand?"

Zheng Fa spread the book in his hand before Shijie Zhang.

"Coding."

"From Logic Circuits to Logical Computation."

"Principles of Neural Networks."

These books were ones Zheng Fa had asked Tang Lingwu for.

Shijie Zhang's research on the composite diagram of the Shanhe True Form Talisman was not proceeding smoothly; the biggest problem lay in this—she found it very difficult to understand why changes in circuits could produce wisdom.

Although Zheng Fa had some understanding in this area.

But Shijie Zhang was already a mature Nascent Soul; how could she not learn to evolve into a computer on her own?

Shijie Zhang gently flipped through a few pages, her eyelids twitching slightly; she stole another glance at Shishu Huang before saying to Zheng Fa, "I will come find you after I've read them."

Zheng Fa nodded, bowed to Shishu Huang, and took his leave.

Shishu Huang didn't look up. Only after Zheng Fa had walked far away did Shishu Huang turn his head and say to Shijie Zhang, "What, you can't let me see them?"

"Shizun..."

Shijie Zhang felt a bit embarrassed.

She wasn't foolish; if seeing topology had only made her slightly suspicious.

Then seeing these books, she understood in her heart that much of Zheng Fa's knowledge came from other sources, at least not something a Nascent Soul True Person could master.

"I am your Shizun; are you going to hide things from me?"

Shijie Zhang shook her head and said, "Shizun, if it were anything else, I naturally wouldn't hide it from you, but this might concern Shidi Zheng's secrets."

"... Everyone has secrets," Shishu Huang said, shaking his head. "If he isn't hiding it from you, then your feelings haven't been wasted on a dog."

Shijie Zhang smiled slightly, gently stroking the book cover.

"You..." Shishu Huang sighed. "He is only at the Foundation Establishment stage; if something happens to him in the future... think about the days I've spent these past years."

Shijie Zhang pressed her lips together and said nothing.

"I don't want you to be like me... There is a saying in the mortal world: deep love does not last long."

"This disciple... accepts it with joy," Shijie Zhang said, lowering her eyes and looking at the few books before her.

"... How did I take on a disciple more stubborn than myself!"

"Shizun, this disciple still begs you for one thing."

"You don't need to say it; I will definitely protect your Shidi Zheng! If he dies, this Jiushan Sect will just have one more of me!" Shishu Huang gritted his teeth and said, "What sin have I committed!"

Outside the Heavenly Stele.

"Brother Yan?" Looking at Yan Wushuang before him, Zheng Fa actually found it hard to recognize him.

Mainly because Yan Wushuang had changed his attire.

He was no longer wearing that crane cloak, but had changed into a plain white Daoist robe.

The greater change was his expression.

The trace of frivolity from days past was gone from his eyes; instead, there was a sense of calm.

Yan Wushuang glanced at Chu Tianque and Xue Zhenchuan behind him, then suddenly pulled Zheng Fa a few steps away, throwing out several sound-blocking spiritual talismans, as if he had something to say to Zheng Fa.

"Brother Zheng, I have thought it through."

"Ah?"

Zheng Fa was somewhat dazed.

"I wish to inherit the Patriarch's will, sweep the universe clean, and set the chaos right!"

"Wait..." Zheng Fa reached out, stopping his words, and thought for a moment before saying, "The Tianhe Sect betrayed Tianhe Zunzhe."

"Yes."

"Your father, the Tianhe Sect Leader."

"Yes."

"So you want to kill your father?"

"That also... isn't certain."

"You really mean it?"

Seeing Zheng Fa ask this, Yan Wushuang was also bitter: "Actually, I just want to reform the Tianhe Sect; if my father is willing to join me, that would be even better..."

"Brother Zheng, you don't know. Since childhood, I have grown up hearing the Patriarch's name; I have always been proud to be a descendant of the Patriarch."

Yan Wushuang's voice was full of exhaustion.

"But Han Lao told me that our Tianhe Sect are traitors..."

"So before..." Zheng Fa recalled that Yan Wushuang hadn't come to the Heavenly Stele last time.

"Not hiding it from you, Brother Zheng, I previously had thoughts of ending my own life."

"..."

Zheng Fa felt some sympathy in his heart; this was the drawback of the Tianhe Sect's educational model.

Every Tianhe Sect disciple finds it hard not to be proud of Tianhe Zunzhe.

But once they discovered the truth—well, that would really shatter their entire worldview.

"Still, Han Lao kept advising me, and I've thought it through clearly now!" Yan Wushuang's tone rose again: "Our Tianhe Sect's forebears made mistakes, and I'll be the one to correct them!"

"The founding patriarch's forgotten legacy—I'll be the one to inherit it!"

"I'm going to reform the Tianhe Sect, research new methods from scratch, and blaze a new path for the Xuanwei Realm."

Zheng Fa listened, nodding repeatedly, and praised: "Brother Yan, your words have my blood boiling—I wish I could…"

"Then come with me."

"Huh?"

Zheng Fa closed his mouth, his face perfectly calm.

"I've thought it out. At first we can't make a big fuss, but I happen to have a small organization and some fellow Daoists I'm on good terms with. We'll work subtly—on one hand searching for the founding patriarch's legacy, on the other seeking like-minded people."

Zheng Fa thought it over—this guy's meaning was—

He wanted to take that organization of his and transform it from a perverts' club into a vanguard of courting death?

"Brother Zheng, you were the very first person I came to!"

Yan Wushuang looked at Zheng Fa with absolute sincerity.

"I just have one question."

"Please, go ahead."

"How many masters—no, how many Soul Transformation cultivators do you have?"

"None."

"How many Nascent Soul cultivators?"

"None either…"

Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then asked: "How many people do you have right now?"

"Counting you, two!"

"Farewell!"

To be honest, although Zheng Fa and Yan Wushuang's ideas differed in the details, there was still room for cooperation.

At the very least, they were on the same side!

But this Yan Wushuang…

If the Tianhe Sect came after them,

seeing Yan Wushuang they might say a few words: the Sect Master's son can still be salvaged, take him back and educate him properly.

Seeing Zheng Fa, though, it would be—

"Evil heretic, death is too good for you!"

……

(End of chapter)