Book 2: Chapter 208: First Principles, Modern Martial Arts |
Vol 2 Chapter 208: First Principles, Modern Martial Arts
On Letu Island, Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang were overseeing the “National Health Survey.”
Xiao Yuying, likely with nothing better to do—and never having seen anything like this before—stood beside them, curiously staring at the two long lines.
The lines were divided by gender, and at the end of each was a courtyard used for the check-ups. Mu Qingyan and the others were waiting inside.
The most important people in the process were two disciples who had cultivated Void-Seeking Spirit Eyes—or rather, in the Xuanyi Realm, anyone who had trained in this technique was basically a top-notch diagnostic tool.
Zheng Fa’s little sister Zheng Shan stood in the women’s line with their mother, beaming foolishly at Zheng Fa.
But she knew that Zheng Fa was the “Sect Master” now, so she didn’t approach—just obediently stood in the crowd.
“You’re doing this for Golden Core Engineering?”
Senior Sister Zhang asked beside him.
So she had never even heard of Golden Core Engineering.
“Yeah.” Zheng Fa didn’t mind Xiao Yuying being there and answered straightforwardly, “There are a few things I’ve been wondering about…”
Xiao Yuying blinked and subtly perked up her ears.
Senior Sister Zhang, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to cover hers.
“The alchemical furnace is said to simulate the human body—what exactly is it simulating?”
“Why simulate the human body at all?”
“This so-called Three Gates and Nine Apertures… what’s the point of it?”
Xiao Yuying was getting lost just listening—Zheng Fa’s questions were getting harder and harder to answer.
Mainly because this stuff… wasn’t it just part of inherited knowledge in the Xuanyi Realm?
“…” Senior Sister Zhang seemed used to this by now and only asked, “What’s your thinking?”
“I want to throw out this whole idea of simulating the human body. If we want to craft an External Pill from scratch—what kind of equipment would we need?”
“Throw it out?”
“Yeah!”
Under Senior Sister Zhang’s puzzled gaze, Zheng Fa nodded lightly.
He’d been thinking about this for a while—in modern times, he had read about something called first principles. It sounded sophisticated, but in essence, it meant stripping everything down to the core and questioning every assumption behind a piece of knowledge.
Take his current question: what’s the connection between crafting an External Pill and the human body?
Whether it's an External Pill or Golden Core Engineering, the names differ, but to Zheng Fa, their essence was the same—creating a Golden Core.
In terms of modern nuclear engineering, this was basically like building a reactor—it didn’t involve human anatomy at all.
So the idea in External Pill methods—that the furnace mimics the human body…
Is that really true?
What’s the point?
Once Senior Sister Zhang understood Zheng Fa’s meaning, she opened her mouth, as if to refute him, but didn’t know how. In the end, she just gave a wry smile and said, “But all the External Pill texts you’ve read say that, don’t they?”
Xiao Yuying, listening from the side, finally got it—this Zheng Fa… wanted to rewrite the ancestral methods of External Pill refining!
She knew the External Pill techniques herself.
In fact, the two External Pill methods in Zheng Fa’s hands were ones she had given him.
Realizing this, her gaze toward Zheng Fa turned strange—she had always thought herself proud, but faced with someone like Zheng Fa, who would try to overturn the entire tradition of pill refinement without batting an eye…
She suddenly felt a little small-minded in comparison.
…
Zheng Fa’s goal wasn’t to overthrow anything—at least not just for the sake of it.
He was simply used to questioning everything.
The health checkups were just one way for him to find answers.
What Zheng Fa really wanted to understand was one thing—the physical makeup of people in the Jiushan Realm, including spiritual roots, meridians, acupoints, muscles, bones, and skin.
He wanted to construct a relatively standardized model of the human body.
Then he could compare it with the bodily changes in Senior Sister Zhang’s simulations of three cultivation methods, and analyze the similarities and differences in three External Pill techniques, to uncover the truth.
“Honestly, even if there was no Golden Core Engineering, I’d still carry out this health survey.”
Zheng Fa added.
“Mm?”
“I’m planning to promote Dao-Infused Martial Arts in the Jiushan Realm,” Zheng Fa continued, sharing his earlier idea. “Using martial arts to enhance the physical condition of the mortals here.”
Senior Sister Zhang nodded. “That could help the Jiushan Realm flourish spiritually. But the health survey—what’s it for?”
“To measure the results,” Zheng Fa said. “I want to create one or several widely accessible entry-level martial arts… I’ve already selected a few easy-to-learn ones. After these mortals start training, we’ll check their health again. Based on their progress, we can figure out which techniques are more effective and which aren’t.”
Even Senior Sister Zhang—and Xiao Yuying beside her—understood what that meant: Zheng Fa wanted to use these mortals for experiments.
But honestly, Xiao Yuying felt these mortals were lucky.
Zheng Fa wasn’t doing these experiments for himself, nor even for Jiushan Sect… but to help these people gain better cultivation methods.
She’d explored so many hidden realms and read far more ancient texts than most.
But thinking back… she couldn’t recall anyone else who cared about common cultivators like Zheng Fa did.
There was another purpose to the health survey that Zheng Fa didn’t say—because he figured even Senior Sister Zhang wouldn’t understand.
What he valued most… was the data.
Having lived through the age of big data, Zheng Fa understood the value of that data better than anyone in the Xuanyi Realm.
…
In the modern world.
Inside the conference room of the nursing home’s main building, a flowchart of the three External Pill methods was projected on the screen—based on observations made through Senior Sister Zhang.
The part Zheng Fa focused on most was the alchemical furnace.
“Simulating the human body? Three Gates and Nine Apertures?”
At the conference table, Cheng Yun furrowed his brows. “We don’t understand these terms at all!”
“I do!”
Tang Mu Dao suddenly spoke up, “The Three Gates refer to the Tailbone Gate, Spine Gate, and Jade Pillow Gate. The Tailbone Gate is where innate Qi is stored, the Spine Gate is the meeting point of Yin and Yang, and the Jade Pillow Gate is…”
“As for the Nine Apertures, different schools have different interpretations…”
Having once served as the president of a Daoist association, he was back in his element, and his explanation sounded incredibly professional.
Old Bai even nodded repeatedly.
Tang Mu Dao couldn’t help but look a little pleased with himself.
“Didn’t expect this…” Old Bai grinned at him, “Old Tang, your cultivation may be low, but you sure know a lot!”
“…”
Tang Mu Dao rolled his eyes and ignored the old man.
Tang Lingwu said from the side, “But doesn’t this all just make us more confused?”
The room fell silent—honestly, everyone could recite Daoist terminology. The problem was understanding it.
Zheng Fa looked around at the group and saw their expressions full of confusion.
He tapped on the table lightly.
Everyone looked up at him.
“Don’t get intimidated by the terminology. Let’s return to the core idea—forget these terms, forget the furnace—what if we look at the External Pill from its essence?”
His words stunned everyone at the table.
“You mean?”
Zheng Fa finally voiced the thought that had been brewing for a long time: “What kind of reaction is actually taking place inside a Golden Core?”
“Fusion, fission, maybe both…”
Old Bai frowned, trying to summarize.
Cheng Yun nodded and said, “Based on our analysis of the Shenxiao Golden Core, it starts with a fusion reaction, producing new particles and excess neutrons, which then bombard heavy nuclei to trigger fission…”
“Then what is the alchemical furnace?” Zheng Fa asked again.
“A manufacturing tool…” Cheng Yun answered instinctively. Then he suddenly looked up at the diagram of the furnace on the projector screen and had an epiphany: “Dean Zheng, you mean the so-called Three Gates and Nine Apertures are actually assembly chambers?”
“I think that’s the most likely explanation,” Zheng Fa replied, recalling the changes Senior Sister Zhang underwent while cultivating those three methods, then glancing at the structure of the three furnaces. Suddenly, he added:
“I think it’s not that the furnace mimics the human body, but rather that the cultivation process is about refining the human body to resemble a furnace. Each technique strengthens certain apertures to facilitate the Golden Core crafting process…”
Analyzing the differences between Senior Sister Zhang and those ordinary mortals, Zheng Fa shared his insight with the nursing home team:
“Saying the furnace simulates the human body—I think that’s a logical error.”
Everyone, including Old Bai, turned to him with puzzled expressions.
“In our previous research, every step in cultivation has a purpose. Core Formation is about producing new particles. Nascent Soul represents an entirely new form of life…”
“Every cultivation method is rooted in that ultimate goal.”
Old Bai immediately caught on: “You mean, cultivation methods are designed top-down—stronger cultivators created Golden Core techniques?”
“Exactly!” Zheng Fa nodded. “So instead of saying the furnace simulates the human body, it’s more accurate to say that the cultivation process refines the body into a kind of furnace.”
Zheng Fa paused, then said, “I’ve been wondering… perhaps Golden Core techniques originated from the pill-refining process itself. In other words, the furnace came first, and then Golden Core techniques were developed. So instead of the furnace simulating the body, the body is being shaped to simulate the furnace.”
That was what Zheng Fa truly doubted.
None of the techniques in the Xuanyi Realm had existed from the beginning.
For example, Tianhe Venerable probably created the Life-bound Treasure method based on a divine spiritual artifact.
…
Zheng Fa’s theory was rooted in one key belief—that the Golden Core is essentially a form of nuclear reaction.
The human body was merely a specialized reaction chamber.
Put simply, Zheng Fa believed that the great cultivator who first invented Golden Core techniques was basically thinking: “I want to turn the human body into a nuclear reactor!”
He had actually confirmed this through observing Senior Sister Zhang. Each of the three methods she practiced strengthened specific apertures.
That enhancement was clearly deliberate—for example, every method emphasized the same number of apertures, corresponding to the so-called Three Gates and Nine Apertures on the alchemical furnace.
But passed down through the ages, it had become: “You must simulate the human body to create a nuclear reactor!”
“In that case, this whole thing gets a lot simpler!” Cheng Yun’s eyes lit up.
“So all we need to do is design a proper reactor?” Tang Lingwu had also caught on and asked directly.
Zheng Fa nodded. The greatest benefit of this new approach wasn’t anything mystical—it was that by discarding the restriction of mimicking the human body, they could now approach External Pill crafting entirely from an engineering perspective.
Cheng Yun grinned, “With these three External Pill techniques as references, plus the Shenxiao Golden Core, creating a new External Pill method shouldn’t be hard at all…”
Everyone started smiling.
To be honest, once the “body mimicry” restriction was removed, designing a reactor vessel was child’s play for someone like Cheng Yun, who specialized in nuclear engineering.
…
“Team Leader Yang?”
After the meeting adjourned, Zheng Fa called out to her.
She turned and saw him handing her several books.
She took them with some confusion and noticed they were handwritten, with no titles on the covers.
Opening one, she found diagrams of human postures inside.
“What’s this?”
“Martial arts manuals.”
It wasn’t difficult for Zheng Fa to get these. In the Xuanyi Realm, ordinary martial arts manuals were basically worthless.
Now that he was head of the Jiushan Realm, he didn’t even need to leave the sect. He just issued a task within the sect and received dozens of donated manuals from the disciples.
These were the simplest ones in terms of technique.
Team Leader Yang flipped through a few pages and couldn’t hide her excitement.
“Dean Zheng…” she said sincerely, “I thought I’d have to wait much longer.”
“These manuals aren’t much,” Zheng Fa said honestly, “but… before promoting them, anyone who wants to train must come to the nursing home first.”
“This…”
Zheng Fa looked at her, gaze unwavering.
Team Leader Yang gave a bitter smile.
She understood what he meant—once it was widely adopted, Zheng Fa likely wouldn’t oversee it anymore, nor would he have the energy to.
But if anyone tried to hoard or monopolize these techniques for personal gain…
Zheng Fa wouldn’t stand for it.
“Dean Zheng… why go this far?”
In a way, that question confirmed Zheng Fa’s fears.
He looked at her and replied, “Jiushan No. 1 sold so well—not just because of the so-called virility effect. Some people… aren’t being honest. But they haven’t gone too far, so I let it go.”
“But I’m not working with those people. I’m working with this country. And what I care about… was never them.”
“Do you understand?”
His tone was gentle, his face calm. After speaking, he didn’t wait for her response and turned back toward the nursing home.
But Team Leader Yang stood frozen in place.
The “virility” claim about Jiushan No. 1 was partly true—but she knew some of the behind-the-scenes details. In fact, a large portion of the Jiushan No. 1 supply wasn’t even bought by ordinary people.
She had heard whispers, but could do nothing.
She hadn’t expected Zheng Fa to suddenly bring it up again—and even use it as a reason to restrict the spread of martial arts.
She stood there, lips pressed tight, feeling a bitter taste in her mouth.
Just then, Zheng Fa turned back, gave her a slight nod—and smiled.
Team Leader Yang suddenly straightened her back—she knew Zheng Fa still trusted her. His dissatisfaction was directed at others.
Which meant… someone else was about to get into trouble.
But she—she was still the nursing home’s little angel.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but feel a little smug.
Wait—
Hold on—
Was I just PUA’d?