Chapter 236: The Businessman

Zheng Fa truly felt Tang Lingwu's description was very vivid.

The old man Bai Lao beside him nodded repeatedly, also saying: "This Tianhe Zunzhe has some great boldness, but it's a pity you say this Tianhe New Method has already been lost."

"If it hadn't been lost, this New Method would probably have some problems too," Zheng Fa said after thinking for a moment, "As far as I know, this New Method itself was not perfected."

Tang Lingwu said, "It's truly a pity. To be honest, facing a 'shit-heap code,' the best solution is to delete it and rewrite from scratch..."

Zheng Fa shook his head and sighed, "The problem is, I feel he didn't manage to rewrite it..."

According to what Han Lao said, the Tianhe New Method seemed to hit a bottleneck at the end—Zheng Fa guessed in his heart that Tianhe Zunzhe, like Tang Lingwu, probably wanted to break through before establishing something new.

It's just...

He probably did break through.

But he didn't establish anything.

"Actually, this Tianhe New Method is quite useful to us..." Bai Lao spoke up from the side, "In the theory of the Three Sub-Symbols, we have never found the commonality of the third category of sub-symbols."

"This is probably because the creators were different, and perhaps they borrowed from each other."

"If we can grind away the Divine Name sub-symbols, I would like to see if that third category of sub-symbols still exists."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa thought for a while about those spiritual energy traces he had seen in the soil earlier.

"It seems there are no obvious patterns. I will draw them for you later."

His memory was extraordinary; those traces were easy to reproduce—but he didn't hold out much hope.

Because those spiritual energy traces were far more chaotic than talisman diagrams; in Zheng Fa's view, the influence of the Extermination Sword Strike was probably also involved.

While the group was discussing, Bai Lao's phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?"

"Mu Dao?"

"Wants to visit me? Hmm, hmm, let me ask."

After hanging up the phone, the group looked at Bai Lao.

"Do you remember that qigong fanatic we talked about before?"

"Mu Dao?" Tang Lingwu asked curiously, "Is that his name?"

"He changed it." Speaking of this, Bai Lao also smiled, seeming to find it somewhat interesting, "His surname is Tang. He went abroad early on and took an English name, Tom. Later, he simply changed his name to Mu Dao."

"That's quite coincidental."

"Exactly, he just said he wants to come visit us." Bai Lao looked at Zheng Fa, as if seeking his opinion.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Now that we have some self-defense capabilities, there's no need to hide. If he wants to come, let him come."

He had originally planned to get the nursing home operational.

Now that he had all the necessary means, if a crisis truly arose, without mentioning anything else, he still had ways to protect the few people below him.

"Alright, then I'll let him come over and see what he wants to do," Bai Lao nodded, "I asked around in the circle a few days ago. Although this person is a bit strange, his reputation is good, and his academic ability is no problem—it seems he is doing very well abroad."

Bai Lao thought for a moment and added another sentence: "He also seems to be the chairman of some Daoist Association abroad..."

Zheng Fa didn't pay much attention to this Tang Mu Dao.

He was thinking more about the problem of the Spirit Wood Thunder now.

"I have now cultivated a Wind-Thunder Body, and my ability to control magnetic fields has improved another level—I have some capital now to research the Spirit Wood Thunder."

Bai Lao sighed lightly, "Xiao Tian and I have discussed the Spirit Wood Thunder, but we really have no leads."

"We all know it involves using a magnetic field."

"How strong a magnetic field?"

"In which direction?"

"For how long?"

"Is it a constant magnetic field or a changing one?"

"You see, this time there are no papers to refer to."

What Bai Lao said was also the biggest problem with the Spirit Wood Thunder.

Putting aside Zheng Fa's control ability over thunder techniques.

They were completely fumbling in the dark regarding the Spirit Wood Thunder, or rather, they hadn't even touched the elephant yet.

"I actually have an idea," Tang Lingwu spoke up at this moment, "Can we start from those newly appeared talismans?"

"Hmm?"

Zheng Fa was stunned, understood Tang Lingwu's meaning, and said with realization, "You mean, since those talismans have already caused the pea seedlings to become spirit plants, we should research which of those talismans caused magnetic field changes?"

Tang Lingwu nodded timidly, saying somewhat insecurely, "I was just thinking randomly while recording those talismans. Maybe these talismans have nothing to do with electromagnetic fields?"

Zheng Fa nodded vigorously like a pestle pounding garlic, "I actually think it's very likely!"

Once Tang Lingwu mentioned it, he had some other ideas.

In ancient legends, the Fusang Tree was closely related to the sun—and sunlight is essentially an electromagnetic wave.

Although those talismans could only make the pea seedlings become spirit plants.

But at least now there is a direction!

Inside the laboratory.

Several hundred talisman diagram patterns were laid out before Zheng Fa. He closed his eyes, used his divine sense to control the spiritual energy within his body, and circulated it according to the spiritual energy traces on the talisman diagrams.

Far away, there were several precise magnetic field sensing devices.

Tang Lingwu sat in front of a computer next door, staring at the sensor signals on the screen.

Of the several hundred talisman diagrams, some had no effect at all, and some even didn't consume much of his spiritual energy.

Some, however, have effects that are too obvious!

"Fire!"

The old man Bai nearby shouted, scrambling and crawling out without even looking back at Zheng Fa once.

Zheng Fa hurriedly flicked out a Frost Blade Talisman, extinguishing the flames before him; fortunately, the instruments in the laboratory were not much damaged.

"It's not working well... this is already the third accident."

Tang Lingwu walked over from next door, her face full of frustration.

Zheng Fa also nodded.

This was his first trial of such a talisman diagram whose function was unknown—only then did he realize this behavior was extremely dangerous.

These three times were fine; no one was hurt.

If it were a large-scale, powerful talisman diagram—the nursing home might even fly into the sky.

"Besides safety issues, there is another problem that is fatal," Tang Lingwu spoke up. "The changes in electromagnetic force are too frequent."

"Are you saying?" "Almost every talisman diagram produces a certain magnetic field."

Tang Lingwu explained.

Zheng Fa was stunned, then immediately understood—almost all energy changes produce a magnetic field...

If it were heavenly tribulation lightning or cloud-rain lightning, they could certainly exclude some tiny magnetic field changes.

But Lingmu lightning was different...

The electromagnetic changes corresponding to this thing might be very tiny.

Then these hundreds of talisman trials probably could not exclude any single one...

No wonder Tang Lingwu was so frustrated.

The few of them slowly walked out of the laboratory, all somewhat at a loss.

"Just record every single one?"

The old man Bai suggested.

"That's not impossible..." Zheng Fa said, frowning slightly, "It's just... not very safe."

He was not worried about himself.

He was worried about Tang Lingwu and the old man Bai couple before him.

Of course, there was also the nursing home that had gradually been perfected with great difficulty.

"Yes, if the commotion is too loud, people downstairs might discover some clues," the old man Bai frowned. "No one knows what will happen."

Just as the few of them could think of no solution.

Several trucks suddenly arrived at the nursing home entrance again.

"You bought something again?"

Zheng Fa turned and asked Tang Lingwu.

"No?"

The old man Bai nearby rubbed his chin, then suddenly asked Zheng Fa: "Do you know any other rich women?"

Tang Lingwu's eyes narrowed at once.

Zheng Fa felt inexplicably guilty—because he really did know some...

That's not right; they aren't in this world!

"Professor Bai!" a truck driver at the head shouted from outside; seeing the nursing home was large and empty, he took out his phone and made a call.

"... This seems to be a rich woman you know."

Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then said to the old man Bai.

Beside them, Tian Laoshi gripped the shovel in his hand; his hand seemed a bit itchy.

"They must have gotten the wrong person!" The old man Bai hung up the phone.

"I heard clearly; he seemed to be calling you, oh, your phone is ringing again."

The old man Bai scratched his head, dared not look at Tian Laoshi, and simply dashed to the nursing home entrance, spoke a few words with that driver, then walked back.

When he returned, his face was full of confusion.

"What's going on? Who sent it?"

"The one I told you about before, Tang Mudao."

"Him?" Zheng Fa was even a bit surprised. "What did he send?"

"He... sent some medical equipment."

"Hmm?"

Zheng Fa was stunned just hearing it.

The old man Bai also seemed to not understand; he took out his phone and started calling: "Hello? Mudao?"

"Yes, yes, yes, received!"

"This won't do; you've spent money!"

"Didn't ask for money?"

"Oh, oh, let me ask."

The old man Bai hung up the phone; his expression was strange.

"What's going on?"

"He said this medical equipment is free; it's just being sent for our nursing home to use."

Zheng Fa was stunned and asked too: "How did he know we didn't buy this?"

To be honest, since the nursing home didn't rely on medical treatments, Zheng Fa hadn't really bothered to acquire any of these instruments.

"He doesn't know," Bai Lao Tou said, shaking his head. "They just sent them."

"..."

Zheng Fa looked toward those trucks.

The instruments in these trucks seemed to have dedicated personnel responsible for them; they appeared to be here to assist with the installation.

"What should we do?"

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then shook his head.

For one thing, these instruments were indeed useless; keeping them was merely for show.

For another, he wasn't very familiar with Tang Mudao; regardless of whether the other party claimed these instruments were worthless, they were certainly valuable.

There was no need.

Bai Lao Tou also understood Zheng Fa's meaning; he nodded and prepared to call the other party back.

An SUV rushed to the nursing home entrance as if its rear end were on fire; a somewhat fat man got out of the car, exchanged a few words with those drivers, then waved toward the inside of the nursing home.

"Well, no need to say it over the phone; the person has arrived."

Only then did Zheng Fa realize that this fat man was Tang Mudao.

He had previously imagined what this qigong enthusiast might look like; the images that came to mind were all of unconventional figures, perhaps even someone dressed in the guise of a Daoist Priest.

He hadn't expected this person to have a round face, a smile at the corner of his mouth, looking rather—somewhat slick.

As soon as he walked in, this person first nodded to Bai Lao Tou, then greeted Tian Laoshi.

Turning around, he shook hands earnestly with Zheng Fa, and naturally, did not skip Tang Lingwu.

The smile on his face was warm and approachable, yet entirely free of any offensive intent.

Zheng Fa became even more certain in his heart—this person resembled neither a scholar nor a Daoist Priest, but rather a smooth and versatile businessman.

(End of Chapter)