Book 2: Chapter 209: Sights at the Nursing Home, The First Experiment |
Vol 2 Chapter 209: Sights at the Nursing Home, The First Experiment
A group of new guests had arrived at the nursing home.
They stood outside the courtyard gate—men and women, young and old—all gazing at the main building with curiosity, doubt, and unease in their eyes.
Zheng Fa had been discussing the structure of the alchemical furnace with Cheng Yun and the others when a sweep of his divine sense revealed the new arrivals. He glanced at Team Leader Yang and gestured toward the gate.
Yang was momentarily stunned, then slapped her forehead. “I got so caught up listening to you all, I nearly forgot. Didn’t we say? Today’s martial arts candidates are arriving…”
Zheng Fa wasn’t surprised—he just nodded toward Old Bai.
Old Bai perked up and cheerfully trotted off toward the entrance.
“You’re putting Professor Bai in charge of them?”
“Mm. Everyone has their specialty… and he has both experience and a high level of professional enthusiasm.”
“Experience”... as in, a con man who slipped through the cracks?
“High enthusiasm”... as in, a seventy-year devotion to showing off?
Still, Zheng Fa really didn’t have time to personally train these newcomers.
No one else was interested.
Only Old Bai had eagerly volunteered…
As Old Bai led the group into the main building, Zheng Fa tapped his fingers lightly, and dozens of Great Dream Talismans flew from his fingertips like golden butterflies, fluttering toward the building…
Yang now understood what they were and smiled.
“Following your idea, Dean Zheng, we selected people of varying ages and genders.”
“They come from different professions, but all either have martial arts experience or have trained in some form of combat. They’ve all passed multiple rounds of background checks.”
“No one who shouldn’t be here, is here.”
Her tone was firm, the subtext clear: no one dared to interfere in this selection.
Zheng Fa gave a slight nod and said nothing, just drew a few symbols in the air. A watery screen appeared before them, displaying the people inside the main building slumped in chairs, dreaming.
Above each person’s head, their dreams floated into view.
After a while, Zheng Fa pointed at the building and said, “These people—have them leave.”
Yang’s expression turned sour…
She had just vouched for these people moments ago, but now, nearly half of them had been eliminated by Zheng Fa.
She didn’t blame him—she blamed herself, and the judgment of the screening team…
From their dreams, it was obvious.
They had learned martial arts—and instantly let loose.
Not exactly assaulting the innocent, since guns still existed in this world.
But underground fighting, fleeing overseas, skirting the law? Very common…
In short, after gaining superhuman strength, they immediately sought to profit, even at the cost of breaking the rules.
Yang understood clearly: Zheng Fa’s first batch of recruits would likely become the first wave of martial arts instructors.
People who valued personal gain that highly simply weren’t suited for that role.
Perhaps sensing her frustration, Zheng Fa’s tone softened: “This isn’t your fault… Many people’s so-called kindness is just a result of their circumstances forcing them into it.”
Yang stayed silent as the failed candidates were escorted out.
…
Chen Sheng opened his eyes to see half the room empty—forty people had come in, now fewer than thirty remained.
He couldn’t help but feel nervous.
He’d grown up watching martial arts movies and wuxia dramas—he’d always fantasized about real martial arts.
As a teenager, he’d pulled strings and spent money to apprentice under a real sect master—with a legit lineage.
That dream had shattered fast.
In recent years, he became a short-video creator, focusing on traditional martial arts. He didn’t have many followers—most comments were criticisms. After all, traditional martial arts had taken a hit in reputation these past few years.
“This is Chen Sheng,” said Team Leader Yang, pointing to him. “His following among traditional martial arts creators isn’t large, but he’s known for having a decent reputation.”
“He doesn’t do flashy edits—just teaches honestly and posts clips of himself training.”
Zheng Fa recalled the dreams this guy had during the screening and nodded.
“We figured, since you want to promote martial arts… we should tap into various talents. Short videos have massive influence nowadays…”
“You gave it thought.”
Whether or not the strategy was perfect, Zheng Fa could tell that Yang and her team had truly aligned themselves with his goals.
He turned his gaze back to the water screen.
…
Inside the dreamscreen, Chen Sheng was glancing around the room.
He’d been contacted by some government department. They immediately mentioned a martial arts training program and asked if he was interested…
Chen had come with some doubts, but then noticed—everyone else here had credentials.
He saw martial arts seniors he’d heard of and even greeted one as “Uncle-Master.”
Some sat ramrod-straight in their chairs, backs not touching the rest—clearly military types.
Several women looked like athletes—he recognized them from taekwondo livestreams.
He quietly observed both the people and environment, knowing full well that others were observing him too.
“Ahem!”
Old Bai, who had brought them in, cleared his throat.
He was all smiles, radiating warmth: “You all probably know why you’re here—it’s to learn martial arts…”
Everyone listened, but the skepticism was plain on their faces—they were insiders, after all, and everyone knew the sorry state of traditional martial arts.
“But don’t get me wrong, what I’m teaching today… isn’t that trash you’ve learned before!”
“…”
As if seeing their disbelief, Old Bai stood up, gave a little shoulder shake—his jacket slipped off smoothly, revealing his bare torso.
In front of the screen, Teacher Tian slapped a hand over her eyes, looking utterly pained.
“He practiced that jacket-drop ten times.”
“…”
Onscreen, Old Bai’s upper body rippled with muscle. Having already entered the Five Thunder Body Technique, his skin was flawless.
He struck a pose—feet square, one hand up, one hand down—and said to the stunned group: “No matter what I say, you won’t believe me… so let’s settle it with action.”
“One minute—I’ll still be standing, and you’ll all be down.”
The old man glowed with confidence, his presence dazzling.
Zheng Fa looked up at the ceiling, then glanced toward Teacher Tian, who nodded with a painful expression. “That line… twenty rehearsals.”
Even Team Leader Yang was stunned. She murmured, “How did Professor Bai pass the Great Dream Talisman screening…”
Zheng Fa opened his mouth, took a beat, then finally said: “…emotions cloud judgment.”
…
To Chen Sheng and the others, Old Bai might be a show-off—but he could really fight.
Forty seconds in, no one was still standing.
Chen Sheng stared hard at Old Bai, recalling the encounter—
He hadn’t just failed to land a blow. He hadn’t even seen the old man’s movements.
Compared to those over-edited clips online, this guy was like a real-life movie character.
Though he wasn’t badly injured, Chen Sheng’s legs had gone soft—he literally couldn’t stand.
Old Bai calmly put his jacket back on. Turning around, he saw the group staring at him with a mix of fear and admiration, and felt deeply satisfied.
He asked, “So? Want to learn?”
Everyone nodded frantically.
“Then get up already. Time to learn some real martial arts!”
Chen Sheng stood with the others, eyes bright, heart pounding—finally, the real deal!
“I’ll say this first—martial arts at the nursing home ain’t free…”
Old Bai added.
“…”
Everyone listened closely.
“If you want to train, you have to sign this contract.”
He pointed at a folder on the table.
“You’ll join the Jiushan Martial Hall, and become instructors. You’ll be paid—but you won’t be free.”
This was something Zheng Fa and Team Leader Yang had discussed.
Just like Jiushan Grain Company, Jiushan Martial Hall was a joint venture between the nursing home and higher authorities, meant to promote martial arts.
It was actually Yang’s own suggestion—basically a move to make it clear that the rights and reputation of this martial art belonged to Zheng Fa and the nursing home.
Clearly, she’d been thoroughly intimidated by Zheng Fa earlier.
Zheng Fa had long become a hands-off boss, leaving most of the responsibility to Old Bai—who had now been promoted to the Head Instructor of Jiushan Martial Hall.
And he was thrilled to death about it.
“Um… Professor Bai’s martial arts… they’re not ordinary martial arts, right?”
Team Leader Yang hesitated before asking.
And she was right—Old Bai’s foundation came from the Five Thunder Body Technique, which was way more OP than your standard Dao-Infused Martial Arts.
“Well, it’s like praying at a temple…” Cheng Yun, ever the smooth talker, chimed in. “If it doesn’t work, you just weren’t sincere enough…”
Yang rolled her eyes.
She looked up and saw another three or four people walking out on the water screen.
Her face soured a bit, but Zheng Fa remained unbothered.
Cheng Yun added, “Actually, Professor Bai… didn’t even mention the most important part.”
“Hm?”
“This job… comes with a government position.”
Yang nodded subconsciously, thinking to herself—no wonder. Old Bai was old; he probably didn’t understand what young people cared about these days…
Cheng Yun, on the other hand? Definitely been on a few blind dates.
…
Chen Sheng signed the contract.
He knew one thing for sure: whatever Jiushan Martial Hall turned out to be…
That old man’s skills were real.
But more than that—it was the official connection that had reached out to him…
That meant something, and the thought alone made him excited.
Sure enough, when everyone had signed the contracts, Old Bai nodded and said, “You are now the first batch of employees of Jiushan Martial Hall… And I can now officially tell you what our martial hall stands for.”
He looked at the group before him and spoke with weight in his voice:
“Strengthen the nation, strengthen the people—usher in a new golden age of martial arts!”
Bulls-eye!
“You are the first wave of martial arts instructors! In the future, history will remember your names!”
Say what you want about Old Bai being a show-off—he really could fire people up.
…
Half a day later, Old Bai finished his first-ever lesson and saw the group off from the nursing home.
After a few hours of training, Chen Sheng and the others had gotten a decent feel for Old Bai’s personality—casual conversation was much easier now.
Several of the young female students were looking at him with sparkling admiration, calling him teacher with every breath.
They were either athletes or had trained in martial arts; whatever one might say about their looks, their bodies were fit, flexible, and youthful.
Calling him “Teacher” so sweetly, Old Bai couldn’t help but smile till his face wrinkled up.
“Teacher, so… are you the head of Jiushan Martial Hall?”
Old Bai paused, then burst out laughing:
“The Hall Master is way more powerful than me!”
“…”
Everyone exchanged glances, a bit shaken.
Old Bai’s martial skills had already exceeded their wildest expectations—was someone stronger than him really walking among them?
“What’s that!”
Chen Sheng suddenly pointed to the mountain forest behind the nursing home and cried out.
The sun was just beginning to set, casting golden rays over the mountaintop.
The crowd saw a figure, backlit by sunlight, gliding over the treetops with her toes barely brushing the branches—walking midair as if taking a stroll.
It was Tang Lingwu, returning from her play.
There were rarely outsiders around here now, and even if there were, Zheng Fa wasn’t afraid anymore.
So Tang Lingwu had been freer lately.
The sunlight sparkled behind her, and the mountain breeze fluttered her clothes.
Even though she was wearing modern clothes…
Everyone couldn’t help but think of the same word—“like an immortal.”
“Is that… the Hall Master?”
One of the female students asked, voice trembling.
The others all wore the same expression—dazed, dreaming, yearning.
Old Bai glanced sideways, feeling like Tang Lingwu had totally stolen his thunder.
But he understood. Walking on air like an immortal beat having bulging muscles any day.
He thought about it for a second, then said, “No.”
Everyone turned back toward him.
He said slowly, “Whether it’s me, or her… our abilities today were all granted by the Hall Master.”
Chen Sheng felt like he’d been punched straight in the soul…
That radiant figure under the setting sun—already practically divine in his heart—
And her strength… had actually been passed down by the Hall Master?
The others looked like they wanted to ask, but didn’t dare.
Old Bai simply smiled and said no more.
…
As they descended the mountain, they all paused halfway, instinctively turning to look back at the nursing home.
A cloud hovered just over the mountain, obscuring their view.
Only the faint outline of the building was visible.
For some reason, to Chen Sheng, that place now looked… like a celestial palace from a dream.
“Who do you think the Hall Master really is?”
That same female student asked again.
No one answered.
Chen Sheng looked again at the nursing home.
He had practiced martial arts since he was a kid. Honestly, he was never very good.
But just now, out of nowhere, a line of poetry from his childhood floated into his mind:
Only within this mountain, where clouds grow deep, no one knows the way.
…
“Too much smoke!”
Back in the Xuanyi Realm, on a barren mountain, Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang were standing beside a massive crater, silver light flashing in their eyes as they recorded observations.
Three Supreme Elders stood nearby, keeping watch.
A few disciples from the Golden Core Engineering artifact crafting group were outside the crater, casting rapid spells, closely monitoring a three-legged cauldron at its center.
Senior Sister Yuan sat cross-legged beside it, face tight with focus.
At the bottom of the crater, her Life-bound Spiritual Flame blazed fiercely.
Everyone was busy—
Except for the most famously idle person in all Jiushan Realm these days—Xiao Yuying.
She crouched nearby, glancing at this and that, clearly intrigued.
She gently tapped Zheng Fa on the shoulder. “You guys are forging a cauldron for crafting External Pills?”
Zheng Fa didn’t hide anything. He nodded lightly.
After discussing with Senior Sister Zhang, they had laid out a two-step plan:
First, following the method described in Boundless Sea External Pill, they’d try forging one the traditional way—mainly to see whether the analysis he and Cheng Yun made back in the modern world held up.
If the first test worked, Zheng Fa planned to move straight into refining the Shenxiao External Pill.
It wasn't that he didn’t want to experiment more times—of course he did. But refining even one External Pill consumed a massive amount of resources.
If it succeeded? Great, they’d hit the jackpot.
But if it failed… well, Jiushan Sect was flat broke these days.
Unfortunately, they ran into a problem at step one: many of the spell techniques from Boundless Sea External Pill didn’t function within the Jiushan Realm.
After all, Jiushan Realm currently could only use Thunder Techniques.
Shenxiao External Pill, on the other hand, had no such issue. In Cheng Yun’s design, every reaction required for the pill was based on thunder-based techniques.
Future External Pill concepts would likely follow that same model.
But Boundless Sea External Pill was a legacy method—so incompatibility was to be expected.
That’s why they’d picked an isolated corner of the Xuanyi Realm to run this experiment.
Far from where the Hundred Immortals Alliance used to be, and not yet within the reach of the Great Freedom Demonic Sect, the place was relatively peaceful—though that was mostly because there was nothing valuable here.
The cauldron in the crater began to show fine, vein-like patterns on its surface, like meridians on a human body.
These lines merged and diverged, densely covering the inside and outside of the cauldron.
There were nine converging nodes—representing the so-called Nine Apertures.
Internally, the cauldron was divided into three separate chambers—the Three Gates as described in Boundless Sea Golden Core.
According to Cheng Yun and Zheng Fa’s analysis, the Three Gates referred to three production zones:
The Tailbone Gate, where innate primordial energy was said to reside—Cheng interpreted this as where light and heavy particles (Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiend) were stored.
The Spine Gate, the junction of Yin and Yang—this would be the actual nuclear reaction site.
The Jade Pillow Gate, said to be where energy flows complete their cycle—this was harder to verify, but Cheng guessed it to be where reactions stabilized and began repeating.
In short, the Nine Apertures were nine production nodes, each housed within one of the Three Gates, the production “workshops.”
That was all theory, of course. To verify it, they needed real-world testing.
That’s why Zheng Fa insisted on first refining a pill using traditional methods—to see if his and Cheng Yun’s modern analysis held water.
Xiao Yuying, over the last couple of days, had finally gotten a sense of what Golden Core Engineering was all about.
It wasn’t something useful to her personally—she was already a dignified Nascent Soul cultivator, after all.
But she had to admit—she was very interested.
Eyes gleaming, she grinned as she stared at Zheng Fa.
This guy’s ideas… might actually be more fun than the inheritances hidden in ancient secret realms.
For the first time, she realized—living people might just be more interesting than dead ones!
…
Zheng Fa couldn’t shake the feeling that Xiao Yuying was looking at him a bit… inappropriately.
Still, he ignored it, eyes locked on the cauldron in the pit.
Sure enough—
Crack!
Zheng Fa’s mouth twitched. He knew it—those disciples in the artifact crafting team just weren’t up to the task.
At that moment, Xiao Yuying casually spoke: “I’ve got a friend who’s an artifact refiner… one of the kind who can make External Pill cauldrons.”
Zheng Fa’s head whipped up, staring at her in surprise.
Suddenly, Xiao Yuying felt his expression was inappropriate.
This man’s face was practically screaming:
“Fairy Xiao, you… actually have friends?”
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