I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 146Book 2: : The Heavenly Venerate’s Medicine Garden, the Cycle of Sun and Moon

Vol 2 Chapter 146: The Heavenly Venerate’s Medicine Garden, the Cycle of Sun and Moon

Half a month later.

“Is half a day enough for these children?”

Watching the group of young children leave, still looking bewildered, Senior Sister Yuan asked.

According to Zheng Fa’s system, the children attended lessons at the temple in the morning and went home before lunch, spending only two hours per day in study.

After a moment of silence, Zheng Fa replied, “Senior Sister Yuan, the people of Half-Mountain City have short lifespans. A five-year-old is still young, but a ten-year-old is already considered a strong laborer… If they stayed in the temple all day, their families wouldn’t be able to manage.”

Having grown up on a farm, Zheng Fa understood all too well—full-time education was a luxury.

Even when his father was still alive, he had helped out with plenty of work at home every day.

Half-Mountain City’s conditions were even worse than the Zhao Estate.

Considering the city’s average lifespan of just over thirty years, a ten-year-old was practically a young adult.

Most children in Half-Mountain City either helped cook at home or followed their elders into the mountains and rivers to forage.

Senior Sister Zhang, having a broader understanding of the world, was more aware of these issues than Senior Sister Yuan. She remarked, “It all comes down to food—there just isn’t enough.”

Zheng Fa agreed.

For some people to stop working and focus on education, there had to be enough food to support them.

The edible mushrooms had yielded more than expected, but their supply was still limited, and they weren’t a staple crop.

Any long-term development plan had to be built on a foundation of full stomachs—

Which meant the key was still in domesticating crops and cultivating spiritual plants.

Zheng Fa, however, remained optimistic. “We’ll take it step by step. As they say, ‘It takes ten years to grow a tree, a hundred years to cultivate a person.’ Education and farming are both long-term endeavors.”

Senior Sister Yuan muttered in a slightly disdainful tone, “These kids are pretty dull…”

Even Zheng Fa had to shake his head in agreement.

He hadn’t expected to find geniuses among these hundreds of children…

But honestly, the fact that they made Xiao Qing look like a prodigy was just excessive.

Senior Sister Zhang, however, was more understanding.

“That can’t be blamed on them. First, they’ve never studied before.”

“Second, they don’t understand what studying will bring them.”

“With no foundation and no clear purpose, of course progress is slow.” She paused, then looked toward Xiao Qing outside the temple. “That girl, though… Her foundation may be weak, but she makes up for it with determination.”

Xiao Qing was holding a book in one hand and a tree branch in the other, scribbling on the dirt outside the temple.

Among all the “students,” she was by far the most diligent.

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

Her brows were furrowed in frustration, clearly struggling with a concept.

After a while, she gave up, tossing the branch aside and pouting as she squatted on the ground, lost in thought.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment before calling out—

“Xiao Qing.”

“Eh?”

“Have all the beans been planted?”

He had previously instructed Xiao Qing to set aside a plot of land specifically for growing the bean variety he had cultivated using the Spirit Wood Thunder he had developed in the modern world.

“They’re all planted!”

“From now on, those beans will be used as rewards.”

Xiao Qing looked confused. “Rewards?”

Zheng Fa explained, “For children who perform well in their studies.”

Essentially, a form of material scholarship.

Staple crops wouldn’t be distributed as rewards—those were essential for survival, basic necessities.

But spiritual plants were rare;not everyone could have them.

Senior Sister Zhang had pointed out that these children lacked motivation to study, and this was the solution Zheng Fa had come up with.

Xiao Qing quickly caught on.

“Then…”

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She hesitated.

“Hm?”

“Do I get some?”

“Of course!”

Hearing that, Xiao Qing immediately picked up the branch again, her enthusiasm reignited.

Seeing her so eager, Senior Sister Zhang’s tone carried a hint of amusement. “Junior Brother Zheng, you always come up with the strangest but most effective ideas.”

This time, Zheng Fa didn’t take credit. He simply smiled and said, “It’s not that others can’t come up with these ideas. It’s just that no one in the Xuanyi Realm is willing to invest in education like this.”

Senior Sister Zhang fell silent.

It was obvious—Jiushan Sect itself didn’t even have enough spiritual plants for its own people, let alone for a bunch of untrained children.

Senior Sister Yuan suddenly seemed to realize something and blurted out—

“Junior Brother Zheng, actually, I really love studying too!”

“Senior Sister…” Zheng Fa was speechless. “At least compare yourself to people who can read…”

“Of course! I can’t compete with them if they can read.”

…

Zheng Fa led his two Senior Sisters toward the Hundred Treasures Hall.

Inside, four or five cultivators were excitedly discussing among themselves while exchanging spiritual materials.

But the moment Zheng Fa stepped into the hall, the cultivators exchanged glances, then, as if by unspoken agreement, all turned and walked toward the exit.

As they passed Zheng Fa, their smiles were polite yet distant, and there was even a faint hint of fear.

It was as if they couldn’t wait to leave the Hundred Treasures Hall.

Senior Sister Yuan, curious, asked, “Junior Brother Zheng, are they afraid of you?”

“Senior Sister Yuan, if you had a hundred stones of Yellow Sprout Rice, would you be happy?”

“Of course I’d be happy!”

“And what if you suddenly met someone who had ten thousand carts of it?”

Senior Sister Yuan froze for a moment before realization struck. “It’s better not to see it at all!”

Zheng Fa nodded, feeling a bit sympathetic.

This time, the cultivators were wise to leave.

Otherwise, he was afraid their Dao Hearts might collapse…

During his previous visits to the Heavenly Monument Realm, Zheng Fa had at least appeared to be self-reliant.

But this time was different—this time, he had brought two Senior Sisters!

The twenty thousand Heavenly Merit points in his bronze seal were the best testament to their efforts!

Previously, Zheng Fa had earned just over ten thousand points in total.

With a little effort from his two Senior Sisters, they had doubled that amount…

Of course, part of the reason was that he had developed two major types of lightning techniques—the Heaven’s Tribulation Thunder and the Cloud Rain Thunder.

But his Senior Sisters’ dedication and effort hadn’t gone unnoticed either.

“Senior Sisters, what do you want?” Zheng Fa asked, feeling a little embarrassed as he turned back to them.

Based on his estimates, out of the twenty thousand Heavenly Merit points, about twenty thousand belonged to Senior Sister Zhang.

Senior Sister Yuan had probably earned just a tiny fraction.

As for Zheng Fa himself…

The remainder of his Heavenly Merit points was barely a fraction of a fraction.

Most of Zheng Fa’s efforts had been spent on educating the children. The only real source of merit he had left came from the Spirit Wood Thunder, which had accelerated the growth of spiritual bean plants.

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

Zheng Fa pursed his lips. In the Xuanyi Realm, who would ever say no to more spiritual materials?

Senior Sister Yuan, on the other hand, seemed much less reserved. She excitedly scrolled through the jade stele, her eyes lighting up whenever she saw a rare spiritual fruit—she even stopped to swallow a couple of times.

Not only did she go through the list once, but she kept flipping back and forth, clearly struggling to make a decision.

Zheng Fa simply stood by, waiting for her to make a choice.

After a while, Senior Sister Yuan finally withdrew her hand and said, “I’ve made my decision!”

“Oh? What do you want, Senior Sister?”

“I don’t want anything.”

“……”

“I just wanted to look! That’s enough!” Senior Sister Yuan declared righteously. “I’ve never been here before. I was just curious and having fun!”

“……”

Zheng Fa glanced at the jade stele, which had dimmed slightly, as if it were cursing Senior Sister Yuan for being a freeloader.

Seeing that neither of his Senior Sisters was willing to spend any of the Heavenly Merit points, Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment before making his own selection.

With twenty thousand Heavenly Merit points, the choices were overwhelming—even he took a long time deciding.

But then something strange happened.

After flashing a few times, the jade stele didn’t dispense any spiritual materials at all!

“What’s going on?” Senior Sister Yuan scratched her head. “Did I break it? Is it mad at me?”

Zheng Fa was also puzzled, but the next moment, he noticed his bronze seal emitting a radiant silver light.

A realization struck him—this thing was about to upgrade again!

Sure enough, the silver light enveloped all three of them, pulling them toward the main hall. The hall doors swung open on their own, and once they entered, they slowly closed behind them.

This time, the hall was brighter than before.

It was vast, and beyond a grand set of nine-tiered golden-jade steps, a raised platform stood at the far end, atop which rested the tombstone Zheng Fa had seen last time.

What he hadn’t noticed before was what lay below the steps—

Twenty-four low desks, arranged in pairs facing each other, each with a meditation cushion placed behind it.

“This must be the seating for the twenty-four divine attendants in the side halls.”

Senior Sister Zhang observed the arrangement thoughtfully.

Zheng Fa nodded. “It’s clear that the master of this hall had a superior rank to these twenty-four figures, yet still treated them with great respect.”

“So… are they the ones who stole our Heavenly Merit points?”

Senior Sister Yuan asked.

Zheng Fa shook his head, his eyes fixed on the bronze seal, which was still radiating a brilliant glow.

A silver hue spread across the surface of the seal, like an ink drop dispersing into water, overtaking the dull bronze.

The moment the transformation was complete, a solemn voice echoed throughout the main hall—

“After the Cataclysm of the End of the Dharma, the Heavenly Court fell into dust, the Immortal Emperor lost his throne, and the myriad paths crumbled.”

“Now, the Thunder God Zheng Fa, having attained thirty thousand Heavenly Merit points, is granted the Silver Seal and the authority to traverse the Celestial Palace.”

“May you assist the Heavenly Venerates in rebuilding the Heavenly Court and restoring the Heavenly Dao.”

Zheng Fa exchanged a glance with Senior Sister Zhang.

These words… contained a lot of information.

As the voice faded, the now fully evolved Silver Seal flew straight toward Zheng Fa, merging into his body.

The next instant, the three of them were forcibly ejected from the hall.

“…What just happened?”

Standing outside, Zheng Fa scanned his surroundings.

Originally, the Heavenly Palace in the Heavenly Monument Realm consisted of just three halls, beyond which was an endless expanse of white mist, obscuring anything beyond.

Many had tried to explore it before, only to find that if they ventured more than three zhang into the mist, they would inexplicably return to their starting point.

But now…

Things had changed.

The three halls still stood like a lone island in a sea of mist, but within that mist, faint outlines of other islands were now visible.

“…So this is what it means to ‘traverse the Celestial Palace’?”

As Zheng Fa pondered this, the Silver Seal pulsed, flickering like it was calling to him.

He extended a finger and lightly tapped the seal—

Immediately, a gentle wind rose beneath his feet, lifting him into the air and carrying him toward one of the distant islands.

The sudden movement caught him off guard. Turning his head, he saw Senior Sister Zhang and Senior Sister Yuan following behind him, which reassured him slightly.

It didn’t take long before the three of them landed on the nearest island.

“…This is…”

Senior Sister Yuan’s eyes widened in amazement.

Senior Sister Zhang observed the surroundings and remarked, “It looks like a medicine garden.”

At the center of the island stood a bare, rocky hill, not very tall. Surrounding it was a vast expanse of spiritual herbs.

No, not just spiritual herbs—spiritual beasts also roamed within the garden.

Zheng Fa even recognized several rare spiritual materials he had seen listed on the jade stele.

“So, all the spiritual materials Zheng Fa wanted to exchange for… actually grow here?” Senior Sister Yuan scratched her head. “But they’re all just seedlings…”

Zheng Fa was just as confused.

The garden was expansive, with a wide variety of spiritual materials, but everything was too young—

Neither the herbs nor the beasts had reached the hundred-year or thousand-year maturity levels shown on the jade stele.

Just as they were puzzling over this—

The Silver Seal suddenly flew into the sky above the medicine garden and emitted a cacophony of voices—

“The immortal mushrooms bestowed by Lord Thunder God are delicious!”

“Thanks to Lord Thunder God, we caught fish again today…”

“Another sunny day… my body feels so much better…”

“I’ll go to Lord Thunder God’s temple to pay my respects tomorrow…”

“Good deeds bring rewards, evil deeds bring punishment—we must not do wrong…”

The voices carried gratitude, reverence, and even fear toward Zheng Fa.

But what was even more astonishing was what happened next—

As the voices rang out, the seemingly unremarkable rocky hill in the center of the island began to tremble and slowly rise into the air.

The soil and rocks covering it crumbled away, revealing faint streaks of gold beneath.

It was then that they realized—

The "rocky hill" was actually a massive golden bell!

Engraved on its surface were images of the sun, moon, and stars.

As the bell continued to rise, it grew larger and larger, until it encompassed the entire island.

The sounds of human voices from the Silver Seal seemed to resonate with the great bell, making it hum in response.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Deep, resounding chimes echoed across the land.

With each toll, the celestial engravings on the bell came to life, rotating around it.

With each ring, the sun set, the moon rose, and the stars shifted.

With each full cycle, the plants and beasts in the garden aged by one year!

Even Senior Sister Zhang, usually calm and composed, was left speechless.

“So… this is how they mature…” Senior Sister Yuan murmured in awe.

The so-called exchange of Heavenly Merit for spiritual materials was actually using the voices of the people’s faith to fuel the golden bell, accelerating the growth of spiritual plants and beasts.

Zheng Fa fell into deep contemplation.

At first, Zheng Fa had always found the concept of Heavenly Merit and exchange to be strangely abstract, almost like a game.

But now, he finally understood the true source of these exchanges.

Heavenly Merit…

He recalled various records, texts, and even novels he had read in the modern world.

Could this Heavenly Merit be the so-called incense offerings of faith?

He turned to look at Senior Sister Zhang, who was also deep in thought, her brows furrowed tightly.

“Senior Sister?”

After a brief silence, Senior Sister Zhang finally spoke.

“You should remember—I told you before that the Xuanyi Realm has experienced at least five spiritual energy declines…”

Zheng Fa’s eyes widened slightly.

He instantly understood the implication behind her words.

The theory of five great spiritual energy declines was something Senior Sister Zhang had mentioned when they first met. Back then, she had explained that the last two could still be traced through historical records—

The fourth decline ended with the Demonic Sect's near annihilation of the world.

The fifth decline concluded with Tianhe Venerable wielding his sword to open the heavens.

But the first three declines had no historical records—completely lost to time.

“Senior Sister, are you saying… this must be a remnant of one of the first three spiritual energy declines?”

Senior Sister Zhang nodded.

“If there were indeed only five declines, then based on the mention of the ‘Cataclysm of the End of the Dharma’ in that main hall, this must be from the second or third decline…”

Zheng Fa nodded in agreement.

“The language in the Heavenly Monument Realm has some differences in accent, but its grammar is almost identical to that of the Xuanyi Realm. That suggests a common origin.”

He paused, gazing at the great golden bell in the sky.

Even if they couldn’t confirm whether this was from the second or third decline, one thing was certain—

This treasure could manipulate the flow of time.

Zheng Fa had never even heard of such a divine artifact existing in the Xuanyi Realm.

That alone spoke volumes about the immense power of the so-called Heavenly Venerates.

But the problem was…

That gravestone in the main hall, and those twenty-four empty seats, had made one thing abundantly clear—

They had failed.