Chapter 242: Heavenly Venerable's Lu Yaoyuan, Sun and Moon Revolve (4K)

Half a month later.

"Is it enough for those children to come only half a day each day?"

Looking at the children leaving in a daze, Senior Sister Yuan asked.

According to Zheng Fa's rules, these children come to the temple to study in the morning and return before lunch; that is only two hours a day.

Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment and said, "Senior Sister Yuan, the people of Banshan City already have short lifespans. Not to mention five-year-olds, ten-year-olds can already be seen as strong laborers... If they stay in the temple all day, their families probably won't be able to manage."

Zheng Fa, who grew up on a farm, knew deeply that full-time study was actually an extremely luxurious thing.

Even when Zheng Father had not yet passed away, he would help his family with quite a bit of work every day.

Let alone the fact that the conditions in Banshan City are now not even as good as the Zhao Family Farm.

Judging by the average lifespan in Banshan City being just over thirty, ten years old could already be considered a young adult...

Most children in Banshan City either have to help their families cook or follow them up the mountains and down to the rivers.

It was Senior Sister Zhang who understood worldly affairs a bit better than Senior Sister Yuan; she spoke up, "It's just that there is too little grain."

Zheng Fa agreed in his heart.

To have some people exempt from production, the fundamental requirement is sufficient food.

Although the yield of edible mushrooms exceeded Zheng Fa's expectations, it was still limited, and they were not a staple food.

Any development plan must be implemented on the foundation of having a full stomach—

This point, in turn, relies on domesticating crops and cultivating spiritual plants.

Zheng Fa was quite open-minded about it: "Let's take it slowly. As the saying goes, it takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to raise people. Education and farming are not matters to be rushed."

Senior Sister Yuan, standing nearby, spoke with a tone of some disdain: "These children are also rather silly..."

On this point, even Zheng Fa had to shake his head.

He did not expect any geniuses among these few hundred children...

But speaking reasonably, making them make Xiao Qing look like a genius was a bit too much.

Senior Sister Zhang, however, was open-minded:

"This cannot be blamed on them. First, after all, they have never read books."

"Second, they do not understand what benefits reading brings."

"Having neither a foundation nor a purpose, it is naturally difficult to make progress." Senior Sister Zhang's voice paused, and she looked toward Xiao Qing outside the temple, "As for this girl, although her foundation is poor, she excels in diligence."

Xiao Qing was holding a book in one hand and a tree branch in the other, writing and drawing on the muddy ground in front of the temple.

Among all the "students," she was considered extremely hardworking.

At least, she was the only one who reviewed after class.

Her brows were tightly furrowed; she was clearly confused about something and was pondering deeply.

It seemed she could not figure it out; she threw down the withered branch, pouted her small mouth, squatted on the ground in a daze, and showed a bit of giving up on herself.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said:

"Xiao Qing."

"Eh?"

"Are all those beans planted?"

Zheng Fa asked.

The Spirit Wood Thunder he had researched in the modern era could promote the growth of a type of bean in the Heavenly Stele Realm.

Zheng Fa had previously instructed Xiao Qing to specially open up a plot of land to plant this thing.

"Done!"

"From now on, these beans will serve as rewards."

Xiao Qing asked, not understanding: "Rewards?"

Zheng Fa explained: "Rewards for children who study well."

In the end, it was just a kind of physical scholarship.

Zheng Fa would not use ordinary crops for distribution; these are the basis for most people's survival, the necessities of life.

But the yield of spiritual plants is relatively scarce; it is impossible for everyone to have some.

Earlier, when Senior Sister Zhang said that this group of children had no longing for reading, he had thought of this point.

Xiao Qing clearly understood.

"Then..."

She stammered.

"Hmm?"

"Do I have any?"

"Of course!"

Hearing this, Xiao Qing immediately picked up the tree branch again with enthusiasm.

Seeing her enthusiastic appearance, Senior Sister Zhang's tone became somewhat strange: "Junior Brother Zheng, you always have some strange but useful ideas."

This time, Zheng Fa did not take credit for himself; he just smiled and said, "It is not that others cannot think of it; it is that no one in the Xuanwei Realm is willing to invest so much in education."

Senior Sister Zhang fell silent.

This point was very obvious; putting aside other things, even the Jiushan Sect's own spiritual plants were not enough to eat, let alone giving them to this group of children without cultivation?

Hearing this, Senior Sister Yuan seemed to think of something and suddenly spoke up:

"Junior Brother Zheng, actually, I also love studying very much!"

"Senior Sister..." Zheng Fa was somewhat speechless, "You should at least compare yourself with someone who can read..."

"Nonsense, I have to be able to compare with someone who can read..."

……

Zheng Fa led his two senior sisters toward the Hundred Treasures Hall.

There had originally been four or five cultivators in the hall exchanging spiritual materials, their faces full of enthusiasm, chatting with one another.

But the moment Zheng Fa stepped inside, those cultivators exchanged glances and, as if by unspoken agreement, lifted their feet and walked toward the door. The smiles they gave him as they passed were polite yet distant, even carrying a faint trace of fear.

As if they were unwilling to stay in this Hundred Treasures Hall at all.

Senior Sister Yuan asked curiously, "Junior Brother Zheng, are they very afraid of you?"

"Senior Sister Yuan, if you had a hundred shi of Yellow Sprout Rice in your hands, would you be happy?"

"Of course I'd be happy!"

"Then if you suddenly met someone who said he had ten thousand dan, would you still be that happy?"

Senior Sister Yuan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly seemed to understand: "Out of sight, out of mind!"

Zheng Fa nodded, feeling a touch of emotion in his heart — this time this group had truly been very wise to leave, otherwise he was afraid their Dao hearts would have collapsed…

On his previous visits to the Heavenly Stele, Zheng Fa could still say he had earned his own keep.

This time was different — this time he had brought his two senior sisters along!

The more than twenty thousand Heavenly Merit in the bronze seal was the finest tribute to his two senior sisters!

Before, he had earned just over ten thousand Heavenly Merit in total; with his two senior sisters putting in a little effort, they had given him a super double…

Of course, part of this was because he had researched and developed the two major categories of thunder techniques — Heavenly Tribulation Thunder and Cloud Rain Thunder — but the care and effort his two senior sisters had put in, Zheng Fa could see as well.

"Senior sisters, what do you want?" Zheng Fa turned his head and asked, a little embarrassed.

By Zheng Fa's estimate, of the roughly twenty thousand Heavenly Merit, about twenty thousand was Senior Sister Zhang's contribution; Senior Sister Yuan probably accounted for a fraction; as for Zheng Fa himself…

Probably a fraction of a fraction.

Mainly because most of his energy had been spent educating the little ones; the only source of a little Heavenly Merit might have been the spirit-plant beans accelerated by Spirit Wood Thunder.

Senior Sister Zhang shook her head and said, "These spiritual materials are of no use to me."

Zheng Fa pressed his lips together — in this Xuanwei Realm, who would ever complain about having too many spiritual materials?

Senior Sister Yuan, on the other hand, didn't seem inclined to stand on ceremony with Zheng Fa. She swiped eagerly across the jade stele, and whenever she spotted some rare spiritual fruit she would even pause and gulp down a mouthful of saliva…

She didn't even look just once, but went over it again and again.

As if she were a little torn.

Zheng Fa waited beside her as she made her selection.

After a while, Senior Sister Yuan lifted her finger and said, "I've made up my mind!" "Mm, Senior Sister, which ones are you choosing?"

"I'm not choosing anything."

"……"

"I just wanted to look! Looking is enough!" Senior Sister Yuan said with perfect self-righteousness, "Never been here before, curious, just playing around!"

"……"

Zheng Fa looked at the slightly dimmed jade stele, as if he could hear it cursing Senior Sister Yuan as a scoundrel.

Looking at his two senior sisters, who refused to spend even a single point of Heavenly Merit, Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment and spent some time making his own selection on the jade stele.

Twenty thousand Heavenly Merit really was quite a lot… even Zheng Fa took quite a while to choose.

What puzzled Zheng Fa a little was — after the jade stele flickered a few times, it actually didn't produce any spiritual materials!

"What's going on?" Senior Sister Yuan scratched her head, "Did I break it from playing? Is it angry?"

Zheng Fa was also a little puzzled, but the next moment, he saw a burst of silver-white light suddenly appear on his bronze seal, and a sudden realization struck his heart — this thing was about to upgrade again!

Sure enough, that silver-white light drew the three of them as it flew toward the main hall; the main hall's doors opened of their own accord, then slowly closed behind the three of them.

This time, the hall had become brightly lit.

The hall was very large. Beyond nine tiers of golden jade steps stood a high platform, and on the platform rose the tombstone Zheng Fa had seen last time.

What was below the steps, however, Zheng Fa had not seen last time — twenty-four low tables, paired off facing each other, with cattail hassocks placed behind them.

"Are these the seats for the twenty-four divine statues from that side hall?"

Senior Sister Zhang said thoughtfully after looking around.

Zheng Fa nodded, then added, "You can tell that although the master of this hall held a rank above these twenty-four people, he still treated them with the utmost courtesy."

"So then, it was they who skimmed our Heavenly Merit?"

Senior Sister Yuan spoke up.

Zheng Fa shook his head, looking at the bronze seal before him, which was still radiating brilliant light.

A wisp of silver, like a drop of ink in water, gradually spread out, overtaking the somewhat dim bronze color from before.

When the entire seal had taken on a silver appearance, a voice echoed through the main hall:

"After the Dharma-Ending Tribulation, the Heavenly Court was sullied, the Immortal Emperor lost his throne, and the ten thousand Daos collapsed and scattered."

"Now there is Lei Shen Zheng Fa, with thirty thousand Heavenly Merit; he is bestowed the Silver Seal and the right to walk the Tiangong. May you assist the Tianzun, rebuild the Heavenly Court, and re-establish the Heavenly Dao."

Zheng Fa glanced at Senior Sister Zhang — there was quite a lot of information packed into those few sentences…

As the words fell, the fully evolved silver seal charged toward Zheng Fa, and the three of them were involuntarily flung out of the hall once more.

"This is…"

Standing outside the hall, he looked around.

The Tiangong of the Heavenly Stele Realm had originally consisted of just three great halls; beyond them lay a stretch of void, white fog billowing, nothing to be seen at all.

Some curious people had explored before — walking three zhang into the white fog would unknowingly return them to their starting point, making it impossible to go deeper.

But now it had changed.

The three great halls where Zheng Fa stood still resembled an isolated island in the white fog, but the fog was no longer empty — there seemed to be several other islands, their shadows faintly visible through the mist.

"So this is what 'walking the Tiangong' means?"

Just as he had a sudden realization, the silver seal began to flash and jump, as if inviting him.

Zheng Fa tapped the seal with his finger and suddenly felt a gentle wind rise beneath his feet.

This wind lifted him up, carrying him toward one of the "islands."

He was caught off guard, but then turned his head and saw Shijie Zhang and the other two behind him, which made him feel a bit more at ease.

They hadn't flown for long before the group landed on the nearest island.

"This is..." Shijie Yuan widened her eyes, feeling as though her horizons had been expanded.

Shijie Zhang said, "It looks like a herb garden."

At the center of this island stood a bare little hill, not very high, surrounded by all kinds of spiritual herbs.

No, not just spiritual herbs; Zheng Fa also saw many spiritual beasts moving within it.

All the various spiritual materials he had seen on the jade stele were growing there.

"So the spiritual materials Shidi Zheng wants to exchange are all grown here?" Shijie Yuan scratched her head. "But these are all seedlings..."

Zheng Fa was also very puzzled.

Although this herb garden was large and contained many types of spiritual materials, there was one thing: whether spiritual materials or demon beasts, they were all quite young, far from reaching the level of the hundred-year or even ten-thousand-year spiritual materials displayed on the jade stele.

Just as the group was wondering about this.

The silver seal before Zheng Fa suddenly flew up into the air above the herb garden and emitted a complex chorus of human voices:

"The immortal mushrooms bestowed by Lord Lei Shen are truly delicious!"

"Thanks to the blessings of Lord Lei Shen, we caught fish again today..."

"It's another sunny day; my body feels much more comfortable..."

"Tomorrow, I'll go to Lord Lei Shen's temple to pay my respects again..."

"Good and evil have their retribution; one must not do evil..."

"..."

The voices were full of gratitude, reverence, or fear toward Zheng Fa. What made the three even more surprised was that as these sounds rose, the previously unremarkable little hill trembled slightly and slowly began to rise.

Stones and soil gradually fell away from the hillside, and golden light began to seep out from beneath the earth.

They finally understood: this little hill was actually a giant golden bell, its walls seemingly engraved with patterns of the sun, moon, and stars.

The great bell flew higher and higher, growing larger and larger, until it finally covered the entire island.

The various human voices emitted by the silver seal seemed to resonate with this great bell, causing it to tremble gently in the void.

Dong!

Dong!

Dong!

The sound of the bell echoed in all directions.

With the sound of the bell, the sun, moon, and stars on the bell walls seemed to come alive, rotating around the great bell.

One toll of the bell meant the sun set, the moon rose, and the stars cycled.

With each cycle, some of the plants and spiritual beasts in the herb garden grew a year older!

Not only Zheng Fa, but even Shijie Zhang beside him stared blankly at this scene.

"So this is how they grow..." Shijie Yuan murmured to herself, as if she finally understood.

The so-called Heavenly Merit exchanged for spiritual materials was actually using these "human voices" within the silver seal as fuel to drive this treasure bell, thereby using the bell to accelerate the growth of spiritual plants and beasts.

Zheng Fa gradually fell silent.

At first, he always felt that this so-called Heavenly Merit and so-called exchange were far too ethereal, even giving him the feeling of playing a game at the very beginning.

Now he finally understood the source of this exchange.

Heavenly Merit...

He thought of the various records and classics he had seen in the modern world. Could it be the so-called incense offerings?

He looked at Shijie Zhang beside him; she too frowned tightly, as if pondering something.

"Shijie?"

Shijie Zhang paused for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "You should still remember that I told you at the very beginning that the Xuanwei Realm has experienced at least five declines of spiritual energy..."

Zheng Fa suddenly froze, understanding the implied meaning in Shijie Zhang's words.

The claim of five declines of spiritual energy was something Shijie Zhang had mentioned when they first met. At that time, Shijie Zhang had said that the last two were recorded in history—

The fourth ended with the demon sects destroying the world.

The fifth ended with Tianhe Zunzhe raising his sword to split the heavens.

Only the first three were unrecorded.

"Shijie, are you saying this must be a remnant of the first three declines of spiritual energy?"

Shijie Zhang nodded: "If there were only five, then based on the phrase 'calamity of the end of magic' from that great hall earlier, it should be the second or the third..."

Zheng Fa nodded and said:

"Although the language in the Heavenly Stele Realm has some accents, its grammar is extremely similar to that of the Xuanwei Realm; they must share the same origin."

"Although we don't know if it's the second or the third..." Zheng Fa looked at the treasure bell in the sky and seemed to understand why Shijie Zhang was frowning so deeply.

This treasure could even interfere with the flow of time; in the Xuanwei Realm, Zheng Fa had never heard of such a supreme treasure...

It showed how powerful the so-called Huorong Tianzun must have been.

The problem was...

That tombstone, those twenty-four empty chairs, clearly told them—they had also failed.

(End of this chapter)