I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 345Book 2: : Eunuch Technique, the Nature of the Yang Spirit

Book 2: Chapter 345: Eunuch Technique, the Nature of the Yang Spirit

Vol 2 Chapter 345: Eunuch Technique, the Nature of the Yang Spirit

Did his cheap master study face-changing?

Zheng Fa stared at Elder Nine’s face, feeling she was far more cunning and flexible than he had imagined.

Elder Nine seemed to realize she had flipped too quickly to be trustworthy, so she explained a little awkwardly:

“Alliance Leader, if I were to join Taishang Dao, I’d be a stranger there. Besides, I actually have a large clan… If I only bring a few dozen with me, it means abandoning ninety percent of my kin.”

Her tone held some helplessness.

“You’ve really got it all figured out.”

For cultivators, being rootless wasn’t a good thing—just ask Madam Xuanhua. In her view, the struggles of rogue cultivators often stemmed from having no foundation.

What’s more, Elder Nine had clearly chosen the best disciples from her clan to protect. After all, with Haori Mountain watching, it would’ve been nearly impossible to take everyone.

But a Nascent Soul cultivator could live for at least a thousand years. If they were serious about building a clan, the number of descendants would be massive.

“The Xuanyi Realm is dangerous, and reaching Soul Formation is hard. I only wish to keep my family alive now,” Elder Nine said honestly. “Since the Alliance Leader now controls the Heaven-Earth Godfiend Grand Formation, living in familiar Zhongxuan Sect territory is naturally much better.”

Zheng Fa gave her a once-over.

Elder Nine was a little tense, hands pressed to her skirt, eyes slightly downcast.

When he didn’t speak for a while, she added:

“Alliance Leader, I mean every word…”

“I know,” Zheng Fa nodded. “And I understand what you want.”

Looking at her now, she actually seemed like one of those people who just wanted to settle down and live quietly—no grand ambition, just hoping to survive with her clan intact.

People like this were rare in the Xuanyi Realm, but Zheng Fa could understand. As for how much of it was true or fake…

Honestly, with his current control over the Heaven-Earth Godfiend Formation, it didn’t matter if he trusted her character—he just had to trust her intelligence.

Elder Nine looked up at Zheng Fa, puzzled that he now seemed more hesitant than before.

After all, her current request didn’t even require Zheng Fa to call in favors with Taishang Dao—it was practically a no-strings-attached ask.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then said, “If you want to leave, I won’t stop you. But if you want to stay, there are some things we need to be clear on.”

Elder Nine was speechless. Was he… rejecting her?

Come on, she was still a Nascent Soul cultivator!

“You’ve probably heard about what I’m doing in the Hundred Immortals Alliance,” Zheng Fa said.

Elder Nine nodded gently.

“Then you should know, there are still many sects within the Alliance with divided loyalties.”

“I know… the Sect Master said many sects are secretly sending us messages.”

“So, Elder—are you willing to accept the new rules of the Hundred Immortals Alliance? In the future, neither sects nor clans will live as comfortably as before.”

Elder Nine froze, her expression dawning with realization.

What Zheng Fa referred to as “new rules” was the introduction of various guilds, open markets, and even shared development of spiritual materials.

In other words, the start of merging technology and commerce—moving toward full integration of the Hundred Immortals Alliance.

Sects and clans were naturally formed within the Xuanyi Realm. They aligned with the society’s development trajectory.

Zheng Fa didn’t oppose their existence per se.

But in Uncle Pang’s investigations, the reality was that most of the Alliance’s resources were monopolized by sects and clans.

That, Zheng Fa couldn’t tolerate.

Jiushan Sect would change that.

Zheng Fa looked at Elder Nine and spoke sincerely, “If you’re willing, that’s great. If not… leaving might be better for both of us.”

Elder Nine pursed her lips and stayed quiet for a long time before letting out a bitter smile. “Alliance Leader, you’re very honest.”

“You’ve helped me a lot.”

She understood: if Zheng Fa hadn’t said this today and instead turned on her later, she wouldn’t have had any way to fight back.

Better to have the ugly truths laid out now—at least he wasn’t the kind to punish without warning.

“Shi Nandang still mocks you,” she muttered. “Says you’re hesitant, always overthinking things.”

… Compared to Haori Mountain’s brutal style, his methods really did seem “gentle.”

“Who would’ve thought you’re actually more overbearing than Haori Mountain.” Elder Nine looked at Zheng Fa as if she saw through his ambition. Her expression turned a little bitter. “Sects and clans have existed in the Xuanyi Realm for more than one era.”

“Even the Five Sects are powerless to change that. I’ve heard Shi Nandang himself comes from a clan background.”

“And you, Alliance Leader… do you not realize this means going against the majority of cultivators?”

The Five Sects couldn’t do it because, at their core, they were no different from other sects. Many of their members came from clans.

And the Demonic Sects? They practically were big clans.

How did that saying go—most things in this world go wrong because you’re in me and I’m in you.

“This isn’t about what I want or don’t want,” Zheng Fa said calmly. “This is the inevitable path for Jiushan Realm.”

One of Jiushan Realm’s long-term goals was distribution based on contribution:

The more you contribute, the more resources you receive.

But most of the Xuanyi Realm’s clans and sects fundamentally relied on force to claim social resources.

Zheng Fa didn’t look down on martial strength—but that was for external threats.

Internally, he would not tolerate such a system.

That was the core, irreconcilable contradiction.

Though Zheng Fa’s face carried a smile, his eyes were unwavering. Elder Nine opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say and fell silent.

“If you can’t decide now, that’s fine. You can take your time. Whenever you want to go to Taishang Dao, I’ll send a message.”

Zheng Fa smiled.

Elder Nine nodded quietly and obediently pulled out a green jade tube.

“This is the jade tube Shi Nandang gave me.”

Clearly, after seeing Zheng Fa’s control over the Heaven-Earth Godfiend Grand Formation, she’d decided to go through with the trade.

Zheng Fa felt a jolt of joy. He accepted the tube and sent his divine sense into it—then his smile froze.

“This is it?”

Elder Nine nodded honestly.

“It only goes up to Soul Formation?”

“Shi Nandang told me to first convert my cultivation method and advance to Soul Formation. Only then would he give me the rest.”

“……”

This was more than what he had gotten directly from Shi Nandang before—Zheng Fa had only received up to Nascent Soul at the time.

But it was still far less than he’d hoped.

So that guy wasn’t as generous as he pretended to be!

He was just dangling a carrot.

Seeing Zheng Fa’s expression, Elder Nine gave a bitter smile and said, “Shi Nandang… he was ready to sacrifice 99% of Zhongxuan Sect’s disciples with a single thought. How could he ever see me as one of his own?”

Zheng Fa frowned, gripping the jade tube in thought.

Come to think of it, this might not be about Shi Nandang being stingy.

Even if someone was born in Haori Mountain, they probably couldn’t get a complete true inheritance technique at the Nascent Soul stage…

He’d been overly optimistic. Now things were trickier.

Would Sect Master Yan be satisfied with this "eunuch technique"? He wasn’t sure.

“Alliance Leader?”

“No worries…” He glanced at the uneasy Elder Nine and smiled. “There’s no danger here on Divine Fire Mountain. We’ve got time—let’s take it slow.”

Elder Nine’s lips twitched. Right now, Divine Fire Mountain was probably one of the safest places in the entire Xuanyi Realm—for Zheng Fa, anyway…

“Alliance Leader, why not just…”

Zheng Fa sighed:

“My Jiushan Sect… is broke. Refining the Trapping Immortal Sword takes a lot of spiritual stones.”

Elder Nine’s eyes went wide. Apparently, she felt Zheng Fa had stopped treating Haori Mountain like real people—he wanted the Trapping Immortal Sword, and now he expected to get it for free?

Zheng Fa looked toward the summit, his eyes full of amusement and anticipation:

A treasure like the Trapping Immortal Sword… even Haori Mountain had taken an entire era to find a way to refine it.

And that was with massive resources.

Haori Mountain was rich—let them pay for it!

Besides, if his identity was ever exposed, Haori Mountain probably wouldn’t do business with him anymore. No rush.

…

“Why’d you hit me?”

Yan Wushuang was indignant.

On University Island, he rubbed his head and looked at Zheng Fa with confusion.

“Your dad’s too stingy.”

Zheng Fa shook his head in frustration. From his perspective, there were two main uses for getting the Trapping Immortal Sword method:

One—it might help him control the sword on Divine Fire Mountain.

Two—to enrich Jiushan Sect’s Soul Formation-level cultivation base.

The Great Freedom Demon Ancestor had left behind two techniques, but both leaned toward the dharmic body path and didn’t mesh well with Jiushan Sect’s existing methods.

Too bad the technique he now had from Haori Mountain wasn’t good enough for Sect Master Yan either.

“My dad? What’d he do to you?”

Yan Wushuang looked even more aggrieved.

“He beat me half to death in Tianhe Sect, and now that I’ve left, he’s still causing me problems?”

“If you want to curse him out, I’ll help!”

“……”

Zheng Fa was speechless. Forget it—with a son like Yan Wushuang, Sect Master Yan had already gotten his comeuppance.

“Wait—late-stage Golden Core already?”

This kid was advancing fast.

“Hehe!” Yan Wushuang rubbed his head again, looking smug. “I’ve been cultivating the Jiushan Golden Core Method—made huge progress! I’m getting ready to form my Nascent Soul soon!”

Not surprising. He already had good talent and was using one of the Five Sects’ top-tier methods. The Jiushan Golden Core Method was first-rate, and once the Five-Elemental Sub-Talismans were complete, it acted like an accelerator.

No wonder he’d been laying low—probably off cultivating hard.

Watching Yan Wushuang nearly wag his tail with pride, Zheng Fa chuckled and turned to see Senior Sister Zhang in the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, using the jade tube from Elder Nine to run simulations.

Three incense sticks later, Senior Sister Zhang emerged from the calculation formation holding the jade tube.

“How was it?” Zheng Fa asked.

She lightly exhaled, fingers pressing against the jade.

“The Yang Spirit technique... it aligns incredibly well with my Dao path.”

“I already have some ideas for breaking into Soul Formation!”

“The Chixiao Jade Manual’s Nine Luminary Primordial Soul... is quite extraordinary.”

Zheng Fa was overjoyed—if that was her evaluation, then the deal with Elder Nine had definitely yielded results.

“You say you’ve gained some insight into Soul Formation—are you serious?”

“From my simulations… I’d say I have a thirty percent chance.”

“Thirty percent?”

Before Zheng Fa could speak, Yan Wushuang blurted out in surprise.

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang turned to look at him, only to hear Yan Wushuang explain, “In our Tianhe Sect, a thirty percent chance at Soul Formation is basically a sure thing…”

Sword cultivators were this bold?

“According to Elder Han, if you have over thirty percent certainty, that’s already considered setting foot into the Soul Formation threshold. When he said he was taking the first step toward Soul Formation, he meant just that.”

If Elder Han said that, it added credibility.

That old man’s brain was full of all kinds of ancient gossip and secret knowledge.

Now that Senior Sister Zhang had the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation, the Great Freedom Demonic Sect’s techniques for reference, and now Haori Mountain’s Soul Formation technique, she had caught up to someone like Elder Han—a long-established Nascent Soul of the Five Sects—in terms of Soul Formation insight.

She was about to speak.

“Thirty percent is too low!” Zheng Fa cut her off, as if already guessing what she was going to say. “Senior Sister, you absolutely must not rush.”

Senior Sister Zhang opened her mouth, still wanting to speak.

But Zheng Fa began his analysis:

“We still have plenty of preparations we can make. I’ll find a way to obtain the rest of Haori Mountain’s true inheritance technique. That alone will increase your odds.”

“……”

“There’s also the Tianhe Sect’s techniques—they might help you too.”

“Your cultivation has only just progressed. You need time to stabilize. And you only just got the Chixiao Jade Manual. A bit more time studying it might yield even more insight.”

Zheng Fa went on and on, clearly refusing to let her leap forward recklessly.

He knew that with Haori Mountain pressing harder each day, Senior Sister Zhang wanted to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

But… thirty percent?

Even ninety percent would make Zheng Fa nervous!

Senior Sister Zhang looked at him. The burning desire for breakthrough in her eyes quietly softened into a warm spring tide.

“Uh…” Yan Wushuang suddenly felt the spot on his head that Zheng Fa had slapped go cold and immediately snapped to attention. “I just had a realization—off to form my Nascent Soul!”

…

At Myriad Immortals Island, in a small courtyard, Zheng Fa absentmindedly played with the soft baby hairs on Senior Sister Zhang’s forehead. A thought struck him and he asked:

“Senior Sister, why did you say the Yang Spirit technique fits your path so well?”

She snuggled her head against his chest and replied lazily, “The Yang Spirit technique… has similarities to the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation.”

“Similarities?”

Seeing his curiosity, she waved her hand, drawing a circle in the air. A water mirror appeared beside them.

“This is the structure of the Nine Luminary Primordial Soul.”

In the water mirror, a golden translucent human-shaped figure appeared.

“The most important part is this.”

With a flick, the mirror enlarged, revealing countless intricate lines inside the figure.

Zheng Fa stared at the structure, then frowned deeply. After a moment’s thought, he suddenly exclaimed, “Nervous system?”

“Nervous system?”

Now it was Senior Sister Zhang’s turn to be confused.

She looked at him, curiosity flashing in her eyes.

Zheng Fa examined the lines more closely and became more certain.

Most of the structure mirrored the layout of the human nervous system!

But Zheng Fa didn’t explain. He didn’t fully understand it himself.

In his view, demonic dharma-body techniques aimed to construct a body of immense power through specific methods.

But the Yang Spirit technique…

Was it simulating the nervous system?

That would make it even simpler than dharma-body methods!

He scrutinized the mirrored figure again and realized that the diagram was not a full nervous system—especially in the brain area, which was quite simplified.

Now he understood why Senior Sister Zhang said the Yang Spirit technique and the Nine-Chapter Formation were similar.

Fundamentally, the nervous system transmits information via electrical impulses at synapses. This method of data processing was, in essence, no different from the Nine-Chapter Calculation Formation.

In fact, the modern world had already begun developing neuromorphic computing based on biological neural networks.

For the first time, Zheng Fa felt that the Xuanyi Realm’s research had accidentally intersected with modern science.

In some ways, the Yang Spirit technique might even be more advanced.

“Junior Brother?”

“Mm?”

“Why are you smiling?”

“I was just thinking… the predecessors of the Immortal Sects are way more incredible than I gave them credit for.”

Now it made sense—given a cultivator’s observational skills, discovering the function of the nervous system wasn’t that hard.

What was hard… was how to simulate it with techniques.

More importantly, most Immortal Sect cultivators probably didn’t even understand how it worked—they were just mimicking.

But this mimicry was astoundingly accurate and powerful.

Modern artificial intelligence algorithms were still immature, yet the neural simulation in the Yang Spirit technique aligned more closely with the essence of sentient life.

“So that’s how spiritual artifacts have spirits…”

Zheng Fa murmured.

He used to find it implausible—how could the Xuanyi Realm, with no deep understanding of consciousness, create spiritual tools with such high intelligence?

Now it seemed likely: they were simply simulating the nervous system.

Zheng Fa suddenly sat upright, eyes gleaming: 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Senior Sister, the Yang Spirit technique is far more valuable than I ever imagined.”

“The complete Chixiao Jade Manual… is incredibly precious!”

“It could even help perfect the Nine-Chapter Formation!”

To Zheng Fa, the Yang Spirit technique was a fully developed artificial intelligence algorithm.

Even in the modern world, it would be invaluable.

It could dramatically enhance the intelligence layer of the Nine-Chapter Formation.

The oversimplified brain portion likely indicated the Chixiao Jade Manual was incomplete.

Others might covet the manual for its power—as Haori Mountain’s true inheritance.

But in Zheng Fa’s eyes, the real treasure was the condensed knowledge and conceptual foundation it contained.

Before, he wanted the Chixiao Jade Manual just to trade for the Trapping Immortal Sword method with the Tianhe Sect.

Now… he was very, very interested in the manual itself.

…

Under the night sky at the peak of Divine Fire Mountain, only seven Soul Formation cultivators remained.

They sat cross-legged in mid-air, performing incantations as they refined the Trapping Immortal Sword buried in the volcano.

Flames surged upward, sulfurous heat billowing in waves at the seven of them.

Shi Nandang, though a Soul Formation cultivator, wasn’t immune to irritation. Day after day stuck on the mountain, unable to leave, worrying constantly about the sword going haywire—it made his temper flare hotter than the volcano itself.

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew in from outside the mountain, making him feel refreshed and briefly calming his brows.

Seeing this, a Soul Formation nearby chuckled quickly, “Good breeze!”

Shi Nandang glanced at him and gave a small nod.

He didn’t say anything, but the Soul Formation cultivator, encouraged, smiled even wider and said:

“Sitting here day after day, unable to step away for even a moment—truly exhausting.”

“Especially for someone like you, honored one. Your time is so valuable, yet you endure this for the sect… Surely, when you return, the sect will reward you heavily.”

Hearing that, a slight smile finally crept across Shi Nandang’s face.

Hovering behind him as a wisp of wind, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but reflect:

He hadn’t seen Shi Nandang’s “dedication,” but his mastery of social niceties was on full display.

The other five Soul Formations also cast subtle, fawning looks toward Shi Nandang, and Zheng Fa finally understood something:

Even among Soul Formations, there was a massive status gap between true inheritors and the rest in Haori Mountain.

Just then, Shi Nandang smiled and spoke:

“We only have to endure a little longer. That Zheng Fa… doesn’t have much time left!”

Huh?

“You might think it’s boring here—but just imagine: if it weren’t for this immortal sword, would Zheng Fa not have attacked already?”

“Even if we invited him now—would he dare come?”

The others burst into laughter at this, nodding in agreement, as if convinced by Shi Nandang’s reasoning.