Chapter 240: The First Lesson: What Makes a God?

Xiao Qing's academic performance was not good.

Though she was small and slender, she was already seventeen—having spent over a decade with no idea what studying even meant, and now suddenly being asked to begin learning—

It was truly difficult for her.

Watching Xiao Qing's head nodding slowly beneath the statue, Zheng Fa stopped his lecture and asked Zhang Shijie, "Am I… that boring?"

He had some teaching experience—he had taught the Seventh Young Master.

Oh, the Seventh Young Master was also a sleep-lover…

This only deepened Zheng Fa's doubts about himself…

"It's not that your teaching is bad," Zhang Shijie said, "but this girl… or rather, enlightening someone from the Heaven Stele Realm is a long and arduous path…"

Zheng Fa looked at Xiao Qing and agreed with Zhang Shijie's words.

He had started teaching Xiao Qing partly to test how resistant people from the Heaven Stele Realm were to knowledge hypnosis.

Now it seemed… not promising…

…

Down in the river valley, the soil had been tilled; away from books, Xiao Qing was happily leading women and children around to sow seeds.

The seeds themselves had varied origins—

Wild vegetables gathered from the mountains.

Wild rice pulled from the marshes.

And some fruit-bearing wild trees.

Zheng Fa found it astonishing:

The Heaven Stele Realm had no proper farmland, but that didn't mean Xiao Qing's people had a narrow diet—in fact, they ate a wide variety of things and knew over a hundred edible plants.

When Zheng Fa suggested planting edible plants, the things they brought him opened his eyes.

Later, he realized why—they ate so little that they tried everything…

If you died eating it, no big loss.

If you didn't die… you expanded your diet.

"Shijie…"

Watching them plant all sorts of things, Zheng Fa whispered to Zhang Shijie through spiritual sense.

The next moment.

A blinding laser shot from above the shrine.

The mountain peak where Banshan City sat glowed like an impossibly bright candle, illuminating the gloomy sky.

Xiao Qing looked up.

It was a sky she had never seen before—a thousand li of clear blue, not a single cloud.

She had never felt such generous sunlight; the sun warmed her skin, stirring an inexplicable urge to cry.

Beside her, a woman slightly older than her groaned.

"Auntie?"

"I just…" the woman rubbed her knees, "I feel the pain in my body has eased. This must be the Thunder God's grace."

…

"Is that enough?"

Zheng Fa heard Zhang Shijie say.

He tapped his spiritual soul against the bronze seal and realized Zhang Shijie's Rain-Stopping Thunder precisely matched the "weather forecast" etched on the seal.

The difference was…

Zheng Fa's weak Foundation Establishment cultivation could only maintain clear skies over a tiny area.

But Zhang Shijie was a genius Nascent Soul!

Xiao Yuying had previously said her own cultivation was too low, and using Heaven Merit would put her at a disadvantage…

Yes, I'm Foundation Establishment.

But who doesn't have a thoughtful, hardworking Nascent Soul shijie?

Zheng Fa gazed at Zhang Shijie's statue; now, he felt as if the statue's head kept flashing: Heaven Merit +1, +1…

Zhang Shijie seemed to understand his silence; she let out a soft laugh, tinged with quiet pride.

Nearby, Yuan Shijie couldn't hold back:

"Zhang Shijie, can't we at least wait for Zheng Shidi to compliment you before you laugh?"

Zheng Fa quickly praised: "Yuan Shijie, your Heavenly Tribulation Thunder is also excellent!"

"Really? Leave this to me, Shidi—you can rest easy!"

…

Zheng Fa stared at the plants in the valley, channeling spiritual power through his spiritual sense—a thunderclap echoed across the sky.

It startled Xiao Qing and the others in the valley.

This was the Spirit-Tree Thunder Zheng Fa had just tested in the modern world—a technique Zhang Shijie couldn't master…

The main issue was her insufficient control over thunder.

Rain-Stopping Thunder and Heavenly Tribulation Thunder also required control, but their main challenge was raw power—something even a Golden Core Yuan Shijie had no shortage of, let alone Zhang Shijie.

But Spirit-Tree Thunder, this exquisitely precise thunder technique, Zheng Fa believed, was beyond even the Nine Mountains Sect—except perhaps his own master.

After three thunderclaps…

Zheng Fa's gaze locked onto the plants in the valley, focusing especially on several wild legumes.

Sure enough, one type of bean began slowly, slowly absorbing spiritual energy—and began transforming into a spirit plant!

"This… this is a spirit plant?" Yuan Shijie asked dazedly, "We've cultivated a new spirit plant?"

"Sort of."

Zheng Fa thought it over; he had never heard of such a spirit plant in the Xuanwei Realm.

"So simple… then why did Qianhe Sect guard their Yellow Sprout Rice so tightly?"

Yuan Shijie's tone carried the bitterness of betrayal—she adored Yellow Sprout Rice and had even hoped to get seeds from Qianhe Sect to grow herself.

Of course, Qianhe Sect hadn't granted her that favor.

Yuan Shijie still harbored resentment over it.

"Could it be… not that Qianhe Sect is stingy, but that Zheng Shidi is exceptionally skilled?"

Zhang Shijie understood better than anyone the true value of those three Spirit-Tree Thunders; she said to Zheng Fa, "You've just mastered a secret method for cultivating spirit plants…"

"Shijie, we've mastered a secret method."

Zheng Fa suddenly said.

Zhang Shijie fell silent for a moment, then softly replied, "Yes. We."

… In Banshan City, Hong Jie was cooking at home; her child Bao'er circled her feet, staring at the fish soup in the clay pot and licking his lips.

Since the weather turned clear, fishing was no longer difficult.

Even with only two women in the household, they ate fish every day—Bao'er had grown taller; the mark on the wall now showed half a finger's length more than before.

Thinking of this, she smiled.

Suddenly, voices came from outside; she heard Xiao Qing's voice, loudly saying something.

She glanced at the pot and called to the inner room, "Mama, watch Bao'er and the fire—I'm going outside to see."

"See what?"

"Xiao Qing's here—she seems to have something important. I'll see if I can help."

She stepped outside and heard Xiao Qing standing at the street corner say, "The Thunder God says: children aged five to ten must go to the shrine every day."

"To the shrine?"

"Why the shrine?"

"Every day?"

Questions came one after another from the crowd.

Hong Jie stood at a distance, listening carefully.

This didn't concern her own Bao'er—he was only one or two years old—but the Thunder God suddenly issuing such an order made her curious.

After all, the Thunder God had never liked people entering the shrine before.

"The Thunder God says they're going to study."

"Study?"

These two words left the crowd even more confused.

"Study…"

People exchanged glances; after a long silence, someone asked Xiao Qing, "Xiao Qing, tell me honestly—is studying good or bad?"

Xiao Qing's face showed clear inner conflict.

"G-good!"

Even Hong Jie, who was close to her, didn't believe her expression.

Let alone the others.

The crowd exchanged glances and fell silent.

After a while, someone spoke again: "Then… will our children come back?"

"Come back?" Xiao Qing blinked. "They come home every noon!"

"Back is good, back is good…"

No one asked anything else; everyone simply dispersed.

…

The next day, Zheng Fa stared at the small children gathered outside the shrine, deeply puzzled…

Why did all these children wear expressions of heroic sacrifice?

And why did their parents look so reluctant to let them go?

Zheng Fa's spiritual sense stirred, and the children's inner thoughts chimed chaotically in his mind:

"Dad said not to cry… don't cry!"

"Thunder Lord gives fish! I'll make Thunder Lord happy!"

"Mom! Mom! I'm scared!"

Occasionally, the parents' thoughts also surfaced.

"Xiao Qing said they'll return by noon—Thunder Lord probably won't eat children."

"The child may suffer a bit, but after all, it's Thunder Lord…"

"We can always have another…"

Wait, I'm just starting a school—I never meant to bully kids!

He turned his gaze toward Xiao Qing—how had this person spread the word?

But Zhang Shijie let out a soft laugh and spoke:

"Younger brother, even though these people don't understand what reading is, and even some think you're using children for amusement, they still willingly send their children here…"

Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment.

"I thought they wouldn't understand—that establishing a school in the Heavenly Stele Realm would be difficult. Yet…" Zhang Shijie's voice held a hint of surprise, "you've earned such profound trust in their hearts."

Yuan Shijie spoke up: "Sister, I told you—Younger Brother Zheng's ability to draw people in is utterly unreasonable!"

Zheng Fa said nothing, only fixed his gaze on the bewildered children.

Compared to modern children, let alone those from the Xuanwei Realm, these kids seemed more mature.

Some must have understood their parents' worries—they held back tears, yet didn't cry.

They only stared at Zheng Fa's statue, their faces uneasy.

Zheng Fa's spiritual sense stirred, and a luminous screen appeared before the statue, displaying characters one by one.

As the characters appeared, a majestic voice rang out:

"From today on, you will study with me and learn knowledge."

The children fell silent.

They clearly didn't understand.

"I know you don't understand, but I hope you remember what I say today…"

Zheng Fa paused. Honestly, he felt a touch of nervousness for his first lesson; on another level, he wanted to plant a seed in these children's hearts.

"From today on, you will learn how to think, how to observe the world, and how to help your parents and build Banshan City."

The children's eyes remained blank, yet they listened with intense focus.

"I've had many teachers and read many books," Zheng Fa continued. "They said countless wise things, but I know only three phrases were what they truly wanted to convey… Now I tell you."

"Learn from me."

"Become me."

"Surpass me."

Zheng Fa's voice echoed through the shrine, repeating again and again, as if carving those nine characters into the children's uncomprehending hearts.

"Zhang Shijie…" Yuan Shijie's wistful voice whispered beside her. "Now I understand why they came—even if he wanted to eat them."

(End of Chapter)