I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 141: Businessman

Zheng Fa really thought Tang Lingwu's description was quite vivid.

Old Man Bai on the side kept nodding as well and said, "This Tianhe Venerable had quite the grand vision. It's a pity you said that the Tianhe New Method has already been lost."

"If it weren’t lost, there might still be some issues with it," Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, this new method itself was never perfected."

Tang Lingwu said, "Such a shame. Honestly, when facing a mountain of sh*t code, the best solution is just to delete it and rewrite it from scratch..."

Zheng Fa shook his head and sighed, "The problem is, I don't think he managed to rewrite it..."

According to Old Han, the Tianhe New Method seemed to have hit a bottleneck at the end—Zheng Fa speculated that the Tianhe Venerable might have been trying to break down the old to establish the new, just like Tang Lingwu.

Except...

It probably broke down.

But never got re-established.

"Actually, this Tianhe New Method is quite useful for us..." It was Old Man Bai who spoke this time. "In the Three-Sub-Talisman Theory, we’ve never found a commonality in the third type of sub-talisman."

"That’s probably because the creators were different, and they may have borrowed from each other."

"If we could strip away the Divine Name Sub-Talisman, I’d like to see if the third type of sub-talisman would still exist."

Hearing this, Zheng Fa thought for a moment about the spiritual energy traces he had seen in the soil earlier.

"They don’t seem to follow any obvious patterns. I'll draw them for you later."

His memory was excellent, and those traces were easy to reproduce—but he didn’t hold out much hope.

Because compared to talisman diagrams, those spiritual energy traces were far messier. In Zheng Fa's view, the influence of that Slaying-Immortals Sword probably played a role as well.

As they were discussing, Old Man Bai's phone suddenly rang.

"Hello?"

"Mu Dao?"

New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on ƒгeewebnovёl.com.

"You want to visit me? Hmm, hmm, let me ask."

After hanging up the phone, everyone looked toward Old Man Bai.

"Remember that qigong fanatic we talked about before?"

"Mu Dao?" Tang Lingwu asked curiously. "Is that really his name?"

"He changed it." Old Man Bai chuckled, as if he found the matter amusing. "His surname is Tang. When he went abroad years ago, he took the English name Tom, and later, he just directly changed it to Mu Dao."

"Quite the coincidence."

"Right? He just said he wants to come visit us." Old Man Bai looked at Zheng Fa, as if seeking his opinion.

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and nodded. "Now that we have some ability to protect ourselves, there’s no need to hide. If he wants to come, let him."

He had planned to get the nursing home up and running anyway.

Now, with his skills fully developed, if a crisis really arose, at the very least, he had ways to protect the people in front of him.

"Alright, then I'll let him come and see what he wants." Old Man Bai nodded. "I asked around in our circles these past few days. This guy is a bit eccentric, but he has a good reputation, and his academic abilities seem solid—apparently, he's doing quite well abroad."

Old Man Bai thought for a moment and added, "He even seems to be the chairman of some Taoist association overseas..."

...

Zheng Fa wasn’t too concerned about this Tang Mu Dao.

Right now, he was more focused on the problem of the Spirit Wood Thunder.

"I'm currently cultivating a Wind Thunder Body, and my control over magnetic fields has improved significantly—studying Spirit Wood Thunder is now within reach."

But Old Man Bai sighed lightly and said, "I've discussed this Spirit Wood Thunder with Xiao Tian, and we're completely clueless."

"We know it requires a magnetic field."

"But how strong?"

"In what direction?"

"For how long?"

"Should it be a constant magnetic field or a changing one?"

"You have to understand, this time, there are no research papers for reference."

What Old Man Bai said was precisely the biggest issue with Spirit Wood Thunder.

Setting aside Zheng Fa’s ability to control thunder techniques, they were completely fumbling in the dark when it came to Spirit Wood Thunder—barely even touching it.

"I do have an idea." Tang Lingwu spoke up at this moment. "Can we start by looking at the newly emerging spirit talismans?"

"Hmm?"

Zheng Fa was stunned for a moment, then realized what Tang Lingwu meant. He suddenly understood. "You're saying, since those talismans have already turned pea sprouts into spiritual plants, we should study which of them caused changes in the magnetic field?"

Tang Lingwu nodded timidly, a little unsure. "It was just a random thought I had while recording those talismans... Maybe they have nothing to do with electromagnetic fields?"

Zheng Fa nodded like a pecking chicken. "I actually think it’s very possible!"

Tang Lingwu’s words gave him another train of thought.

In ancient myths, the Fusang Tree was closely related to the sun—and sunlight, in essence, is a form of electromagnetic wave.

Although those talismans only managed to turn pea sprouts into spiritual plants, at the very least, they now had a direction!

...

Inside the laboratory.

Hundreds of talisman diagrams were spread out in front of Zheng Fa. He closed his eyes, guiding his spiritual energy through the pathways shown on the talisman diagrams.

In the distance, several precise magnetic field sensors were in place.

Tang Lingwu sat in front of a computer next door, staring at the sensor signals on the screen.

Among the hundreds of talisman diagrams, some had no effect at all, barely consuming any of his spiritual energy.

Some, however, had effects that were way too obvious!

"Fire!"

Old Man Bai shouted and scrambled out, not even sparing Zheng Fa a glance.

Zheng Fa quickly flicked out a Frost Blade Talisman, extinguishing the flames in front of him. Fortunately, the lab equipment wasn’t too damaged.

"This isn’t working... That’s the third accident already."

Tang Lingwu walked over from the next room, her face full of frustration.

Zheng Fa nodded as well.

This was his first time experimenting with talismans whose effects were completely unknown—only to realize how dangerous it was.

They had been lucky these three times, with no injuries.

If it had been a high-powered talisman affecting a large area—the entire nursing home might have been blasted into the sky.

"Besides safety issues, there's another fatal problem," Tang Lingwu said. "The electromagnetic fluctuations—are way too frequent."

"You mean?"

"Almost every talisman generates a magnetic field."

Tang Lingwu explained.

Zheng Fa was stunned for a moment before immediately realizing—almost every form of energy change produces a magnetic field...

If it were something like Heaven’s Tribulation Thunder or Cloud Rain Thunder, they could, of course, ignore small fluctuations in the magnetic field.

But Spirit Wood Thunder was different...

This electromagnetic variation might be extremely subtle.

That means these hundreds of talisman experiments might not be able to rule out any of them...

No wonder Tang Lingwu looked so dejected.

...

The group slowly walked out of the lab, all feeling a bit lost.

"Why don’t we just record every single one?"

Old Man Bai suggested.

"It's not impossible..." Zheng Fa frowned slightly. "It's just... not very safe."

He wasn’t worried about himself.

He was more concerned about Tang Lingwu and the Bai couple in front of him.

And, of course, the nursing home that had finally started running smoothly.

"Yeah, if things get too loud, even the people down the mountain might start noticing something." Old Man Bai frowned as well. "Who knows what could happen."

Just as they were struggling to come up with a plan, several trucks suddenly pulled up at the entrance of the nursing home.

"You bought more stuff?"

Zheng Fa turned to ask Tang Lingwu.

"No?"

Old Man Bai stroked his chin, then suddenly turned to Zheng Fa. "Do you know any other rich ladies?"

Tang Lingwu's eyes immediately narrowed.

Zheng Fa inexplicably felt a little guilty—because he actually did know some...

Wait, no, they weren’t even in this world!

"Professor Bai!" The lead truck driver called from outside. Seeing how spacious and empty the nursing home was, he pulled out his phone and started making a call.

"...Looks like this is a rich lady you know."

Zheng Fa was silent for a moment before turning to Old Man Bai.

Beside them, Teacher Tian clenched the shovel in his hand, as if itching to use it.

"It’s definitely a mistake!" Old Man Bai quickly declined the call.

"I heard it clearly. He was definitely calling for you. Oh, and your phone is ringing again."

Old Man Bai scratched his head, not daring to look at Teacher Tian. He bolted straight to the entrance, spoke with the driver for a moment, then came back.

When he returned, his face was full of confusion.

"What’s going on? Who sent it?"

"That guy I mentioned before—Tang Mu Dao."

"Him?" Zheng Fa was a little surprised. "What did he send?"

"He... sent over some medical equipment."

"Huh?"

Zheng Fa was stunned just hearing that.

Old Man Bai seemed just as confused. He pulled out his phone and made a call. "Hello? Mu Dao?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it!"

"Oh, come on, you shouldn’t have gone through the trouble!"

"What? No charge?"

"Oh, okay, let me ask."

Old Man Bai hung up, his expression looking even weirder.

"What’s the deal?"

"He said the medical equipment is free—just thought it’d be useful for our nursing home."

Zheng Fa paused and asked, "How did he know we didn’t buy any?"

To be fair, the nursing home wasn’t exactly relying on medical facilities, so Zheng Fa hadn’t really bothered to get any.

"He didn’t know." Old Man Bai shook his head. "He just sent it anyway."

"..."

Zheng Fa looked toward the trucks.

It seemed like the equipment had dedicated personnel with them, possibly to assist with installation.

"What now?"

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and shook his head.

First, these machines weren’t particularly useful—having them was more for show than anything.

Second, he didn’t really know Tang Mu Dao. Whether or not the guy actually paid for the equipment, it was definitely valuable.

There was no need for this.

Old Man Bai understood Zheng Fa’s thoughts, nodded, and was about to call him back—

When suddenly, an SUV sped toward the nursing home entrance like its tail was on fire.

A slightly chubby man stepped out of the vehicle, spoke briefly with the truck drivers, then waved toward the nursing home.

"Well, forget the phone call, he’s here in person."

Zheng Fa finally realized—this chubby man was Tang Mu Dao.

Before, he had imagined this qigong fanatic as some eccentric, possibly even dressed like a Daoist priest.

But the man before him had a round face, a constant smile on his lips, and gave off an entirely different impression—

He looked... slick.

As he walked in, he first nodded to Old Man Bai, then greeted Teacher Tian.

Turning around, he shook Zheng Fa’s hand firmly, and naturally, he didn’t forget Tang Lingwu either.

His smile was warm and friendly but without the slightest hint of overstepping boundaries.

At that moment, Zheng Fa was even more certain—

This man neither looked like a scholar nor a Daoist.

He looked like a smooth-talking businessman.