Chapter 98

5V voltage was still too weak, so Zheng Fa opened his phone and searched online for a long time.

He finally found a cultivation treasure—a variable transformer!

After placing an order with a local merchant, Zheng Fa left for his classroom.

As soon as he stepped inside, he noticed a slight change—the notice board near the blackboard by the door now read: “Only XXX days left until the Gaokao!”

Tang Lingwumin stood beneath the notice board, holding a stack of white cards with red numbers.

The classroom was full, students gathered in small groups chatting.

But most classmates kept glancing at the numbers in Tang Lingwumin’s hands, as if these tiny squares held some profound significance.

When Zheng Fa reached his seat, his best friend Wang Chen was slumped over his desk, not even greeting him—his expression matched most others in the room, tinged with quiet anxiety.

Tang Lingwumin picked out the three digits “100” and placed them neatly on the board.

Wang Chen suddenly sighed, staring at the notice board and lamenting: “Suddenly feels so long.”

Zheng Fa glanced around; most faces were more serious than usual, yet Tang Lingwumin remained calm, reading her book—Zheng Fa recognized it: a university undergraduate math course, “Modern Algebra.”

From her expression, she seemed utterly unaffected by the approaching Gaokao.

“Only a hundred days left…” Wang Chen plopped down beside Zheng Fa. “So long! My parents are even more nervous than I am! My mom cooks me soup every day, won’t even turn on the TV at home, says it’s too noisy for my studying—I can’t even play games with sound on!”

“Worst part? She doesn’t even scold me when she catches me gaming—she says I’m good at it!” His face bore an overwhelmed kind of happiness: “Now I feel guilty playing!”

Zheng Fa said nothing, feeling like he’d just been flaunted at.

“I read online that after graduation we’ll miss this time… miss it my ass!” Wang Chen muttered, as if trying to ease his own inexplicable tension: “This is the most painful period of my life!”

He talked for a long while, still getting no response from Zheng Fa, so he turned to look at him.

“What about you? Do you think you’ll miss it?”

“Me?” Zheng Fa looked around the classroom: “I’m already missing it. Yeah, seven days a week.”

The Jiushan Sect had shattered his image of immortal sects.

Angry bottom-tier cultivators.

Disciples from two branches fighting in the Talisman Hall.

Zhuang Shixiong unwilling to cultivate, Zhang Shijie with no path forward.

It left him with a strange sense of despair.

Looking at this group of classmates anxious and uneasy over the Gaokao, Zheng Fa instead felt… kind of cute.

Wang Chen blinked, looked at him, then at Tang Lingwumin’s back, and after a long silence said:

“...If I had Tang Lingwumin to miss, I’d miss her too.”

His slightly strained expression suggested he felt he’d just been flaunted at.

…

The transformer arrived quickly; the one Zheng Fa bought output 0V to 300V, with 30V increments.

He installed it, gripped the two copper wires, and slowly adjusted the output voltage.

At 30V, he felt a slight tingle, but still nowhere near the intensity of training with Xuan Lei Stone in the Xuanwei Realm.

At 60V, still not enough.

Only at 90V—a familiar tingling shock made his hands tremble!

His spiritual power began flowing spontaneously.

His skin quivered slightly, a strange mix of numbness and itchiness.

Exactly as described in the “Five Thunder Body Technique” for skin tempering.

…

It was another day to visit Old White.

Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwumin walked together when he suddenly asked curiously: “Tang Lingwumin, you don’t seem nervous at all?”

Among everyone in class, only he—with his unusual experience—and Tang Lingwumin remained calm.

What puzzled Zheng Fa more was that most of the time, Tang Lingwumin wasn’t studying high school textbooks, but university courses—

Including reading math during English class and doing exercises during Chinese class.

Even teachers turned a blind eye.

“Nervous about what?”

“The Gaokao.”

Tang Lingwumin seemed to understand, nodded: “Didn’t I tell you? I don’t have to take the Gaokao.”

“?”

“I got early admission.”

She said it as casually as if saying “I ate.”

“...Then why are you even at school?”

This time, Tang Lingwumin fell silent longer.

Just as Zheng Fa thought she wouldn’t answer, her soft voice came:

“Don’t want to go home.”

Zheng Fa turned to look at her face.

She turned to him, a rare mischievous smile on her lips:

“Just kidding. You know what’s the best thing after early admission?”

“What?”

“Sitting in class, doing nothing, watching you all study hard.”

“...”

Zheng Fa watched Tang Lingwumin walk ahead of him, her ponytail swaying, as if trying to block his skeptical gaze.

…

In the teaching building’s office, Zheng Fa’s homeroom teacher, Old Chen, watched their backs, frowning as he smoked.

The female teacher across from him, curious, followed his gaze and saw Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwumin.

“You’re frowning over those two kids?” the female teacher laughed. “Didn’t the principal praise you?”

“Praise is praise… but now I can’t even mention their romance,” Old Chen sighed.

“So what’s wrong with young love?” the female teacher scoffed, sounding almost jealous: “If I had a pair like this in my class, I’d blast it from my office speaker every day.”

“You don’t get it. The more Zheng Fa invests in love, the harder the fall when it ends—he’s already had a hard life. I’m afraid he won’t survive the blow.”

“Why not hope they’ll be happy? Maybe they’ll go from school uniforms to wedding dresses—so romantic!”

“They won’t last,” Old Chen took a deep drag, exhaled fully before speaking: “You haven’t met Tang Lingwumin’s mother. She’d never allow her daughter to date. Before, when other boys harassed her, I handled it myself—otherwise her mom would’ve stormed the school.”

“So strict?”

“It’s not about strictness…” Old Chen hesitated, then finally muttered: “Her mom has… a paranoid protective instinct.”

The female teacher nodded, watching the two walk farther away, a car trailing them at a steady distance.

She seemed to understand Old Chen’s worry, smiling to comfort him:

“Who knows what the future holds? Right now, these two are fine—enjoying their sweet romance. If I weren’t a teacher, I’d binge-watch them daily!”

“Zheng Fa has no parents—I, as his teacher, have to worry…” Old Chen crushed his cigarette, swearing harshly: “Damn it! They’re enjoying sweet love, but why am I the one swallowing all the bitterness?”

…

At Old White’s house.

Zheng Fa listened carefully to Old White’s lecture—he felt his mind seemed sharper than before.

Whether from entering cultivation or his spirit being unusual, he didn’t know.

His thinking speed and memory had improved slightly.

At least Zheng Fa was confident high school exams were no longer difficult for him.

Now, listening to Old White, he could keep up with the concepts easily—

Yeah, no longer listening to gibberish.

Old White noticed his progress, but instead of smiling, he frowned: “You’re improving fast. Have you been studying topology lately?”

Zheng Fa nodded.

He’d mostly finished his high school curriculum through classroom learning alone.

His free time, including parts spent in the Xuanwei Realm, was devoted entirely to topology.

“That won’t do,” Old White’s face darkened. “The Gaokao’s coming soon. Whether it’s topology or martial training, make room for the Gaokao first.”

Zheng Fa didn’t argue—he had his own plans, but saw no need to oppose.

Still, he knew Old White meant well.

Besides, he still didn’t know how to explain—

Should he just shout, “I’m a cultivator now”?

And the Ling Shan Technique couldn’t even be practiced until Qi Refining seventh layer.

Actually, no rush.

Old White, sensing Zheng Fa had his own intentions, grew sharper: “Don’t copy Tang Lingwumin. She could’ve gone to Beijing University long ago—can you? Focus on the Gaokao first… or when she’s in Beijing and you fail, I want to see how you cry!”

“I understand.”

Zheng Fa took his words more seriously now—after all, the old man was genuinely concerned for him.

After Old White finished speaking, Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwumin prepared to leave, gathering the scattered draft paper and books—

Their fingers accidentally touched—

Tang Lingwumin stiffened, her books and papers scattering like snowflakes onto the desk.

"What's wrong?"

"It's numb."

Tang Lingwumin glanced at Zheng Fa and spoke softly.

Zheng Fa froze, looking at his own hand.

These past few days, while cultivating the Five Thunder Body Scripture, he had felt subtle changes in his body, even tiny sparks of electricity within his spiritual power—this was likely just the beginning of skin tempering, and he still couldn’t fully control this electricity.

But he had never realized his body was charged.

"Numb?"

Bai Huzi frowned at Zheng Fa, then at Tang Lingwumin: "Static electricity?"

Tang Lingwumin shook her head: "More numb than static electricity."

She carefully extended her finger and tapped the back of Zheng Fa’s hand—another shiver ran through him.

"It feels like... an electric shock."

"Pfft! You youngsters." Bai Huzi snorted. "It’s just static electricity—electric shock? Why don’t you also get your little deer jumping around and your delicate body trembling?"

He imitated Tang Lingwumin, extending his hand to touch Zheng Fa’s backhand—and then fell silent, trembling.

"Numb?"

Tang Lingwumin shot a sidelong glance at the old man.

"Numb."

Bai Huzi nodded dumbly, staring at his own finger, then at Zheng Fa, a deep look of confusion crossing his face.

"Does your old deer jump around? Does your withered body shake?"

"..."

"You mean you’ve been practicing a... martial art?" Bai Huzi frowned, staring at Zheng Fa with astonishment. "That’s a bit miraculous!"

"Aren’t the previous martial arts miraculous?" Zheng Fa blinked—he thought he’d made it obvious enough.

"..." Bai Huzi scratched his head. "I thought something felt off, but I figured it was just training. Still, how could you possibly confirm it? Turning a person into an electric shock rod is just too unscientific."

"..."

"Zheng Fa, I know a way you can skip the college entrance exam and go straight to Beijing University!"

"Huh?"

"The Beijing University Medical School welcomes you!"

"Wait a minute, old man... is this path for me to be a student—or a specimen?"