Chapter 266: Light Bulb

Within the borders of Luolong County, points are almost equivalent to money; everyone can use points to purchase daily necessities like clothing, firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, or to purchase cultivation resources such as Pills.

Because supplies are managed uniformly, points are even more useful than silver within Luolong County.

That young man named Zhao Tiedan is a blacksmith's apprentice; he secretly made up his mind to work even harder in the future and become a formal blacksmith as soon as possible, so that he could earn more points and accumulate enough contribution value early to exchange for a Light Bulb.

"Lord Meng said that in three days, the school will organize an examination for the students, and the top three will be able to obtain a Light Bulb," said Liu Dengke.

People were incredibly excited upon hearing this news; they knew that a strong laborer could only earn one point after a full day of work, and a Light Bulb required one hundred points to exchange for, which meant a strong laborer would have to work for over three months to trade for one Light Bulb.

The problem is that strong laborers are the pillars of their families, and they have a whole family to support; the points they earn are barely enough to have any left over, so for ordinary people without any special skills, even if they scrimped and saved, it would take a year to afford a Light Bulb.

Yet in three days, as long as their child could place in the top three in the exam, they could obtain a Light Bulb; this reward was truly too generous, and the common people were moved. Those with children at home stopped crowding around the Light Bulb and hurried home one after another to urge their children to study hard.

After finishing his day of training, Zhang Shagen also hurried home to urge his son, Zhang Mancang, to study.

Zhang Mancang had been reading at school all day, and upon returning home, he wanted to play with his building blocks for a while; Zhang Shagen walked up and slapped him, cursing, "The exam is in three days, and you still have the heart to play with blocks? Study hard for your father; if you don't study, I'll beat you to death."

Zhang Shagen's wife, Wang Xiuzhi, felt sorry for her son and said, "Master of the house, Mancang has been studying all day; let him play for a while when he gets home at night. Didn't the teacher also say to combine work with rest?"

"Womanly kindness, what do you know?" Zhang Shagen told his wife the news that the top three in the exam in three days could get a Light Bulb.

Upon hearing this news, Wang Xiuzhi was also moved and scolded, "Mancang, study hard for your mother and earn a Light Bulb back."

To urge her son to study, Wang Xiuzhi put away all of Zhang Mancang's building blocks and stood behind him with a feather duster, glaring like a tiger; if he dared to slack off, she would whip him hard.

Zhang Mancang was on the verge of tears and looked for help toward his grandparents who doted on him, but he didn't expect the old couple to be on the same side as Zhang Shagen and his wife regarding the matter of studying, and they also joined the ranks of urging Zhang Mancang to study.

"Mancang, going back three generations, our family has been illiterate; Lord Meng is running a school for free to let you study, so you must work hard and not let down Lord Meng's expectations."

"That's right, especially this exam organized by Lord Meng; if you can come back as the top scholar and bring back a Light Bulb, even if I, your grandfather, died right now, I would die smiling. When I see your great-grandfather and the others, I can proudly tell them that I raised a top scholar for our family."

Zhang Mancang's miserable study life began; four adults watched him study, and if he slacked off even a little, he would have to endure the "mixed doubles" from his parents and the scolding of his grandparents.

There were many other students like Zhang Mancang; the students at the school were all tying their hair to the beams and pricking their thighs with awls to study hard.

That night, when the Ghost Soldier was patrolling the city, Zhang Erwa passed by his own door and saw his son, Zhang Shitou, also studying hard by the table. Before he died, Zhang Shitou was a mischievous brat; it was as if there were nails in his bottom, and he couldn't sit still at all. No matter how Zhang Erwa beat or scolded him, Zhang Shitou just couldn't learn anything.

But after Zhang Erwa died on the battlefield, the six-year-old Zhang Shitou seemed to grow up all at once; he didn't need his mother to urge him, and he was very conscious about reading and writing, repeatedly pondering the knowledge in his books, which made Zhang Erwa very gratified.

Zhang Erwa was afraid that the Yin Qi would affect Zhang Shitou, so he didn't dare to get too close and could only stand fifteen meters away, murmuring, "Son, you are a good one. When Dad advances to a Fourth-rank Ghost Cultivator, I will be able to go from death to life and from void to substance; then our whole family will be able to meet."

Zhang Erwa is currently only a First Grade Ghost Soldier; wanting to advance to a Fourth-rank Ghost Cultivator is certainly a very difficult thing, but in order to reunite with his family, no matter how bitter, difficult, or dangerous it is, Zhang Erwa is willing to strive for it.

Meng Yifan installed infrared cameras on the city wall; he is now a Fourth-grade Immortal Cultivator with keen ears and eyes. Standing on the city wall, he could clearly hear the discussions of the common people in the city about the Light Bulb, as well as the sounds of students studying late into the night.

The LED energy-saving light bulbs that are taken for granted on Earth are seen as rare Dharma Artifacts by the common people of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty. If students on Earth knew that in another world, many peers were struggling for a single Light Bulb, they would certainly laugh their heads off.

And if the students of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty knew that in another world, light bulbs only cost a few dollars, every household could use them, and they could even use mobile phones that could communicate over thousands of miles and make video calls, they would certainly think that was the life of immortals.

At night, those two Wind Power Generator Units were still rotating continuously. There were over seventy Second Grade Martial Artists in Luolong County; Meng Yifan arranged for twenty-four people to take turns cranking the turbine blades of the generators. One person only needed to crank for one hour to ensure the Wind Power Generator Units continued to generate electricity without interruption.

Meng Shuangdao and the other four are heavy electricity users, with 220V voltage of regular electricity constantly being channeled into their bodies.

After Meng Shuangdao refined the Nine Nether Evil Qi and the Demon Essence Liquid, his strength greatly increased, and even his resistance to electricity was enhanced. The normal 220V voltage no longer satisfied his body-tempering needs, so Meng Yifan used a transformer to provide him with 380V industrial electricity.

Just like that, the vitality gestated within the bodies of Meng Shuangdao and the other four grew more and more, and they became increasingly accustomed to electric shocks.

It was late at night; Meng Yifan sat cross-legged in the Practice Chamber, circulating his cultivation technique. Ever since he advanced to a Fourth-grade Immortal Cultivator, he almost no longer needed to sleep.

The Fourth-grade is a watershed; after advancing to the Fourth-grade, the body is evolved once again and is already very different from ordinary people. For him, sleeping is a waste of time and serves no purpose at all.

To restore Spiritual Power, one only needs to sit cross-legged in meditation and circulate Spiritual Power along a specific trajectory to quickly recover it, which is much more efficient than recovering through sleep.