Book 2: Chapter 231: Spell Hypothesis, No Spiritual Aptitude |
Vol 2 Chapter 231: Spell Hypothesis, No Spiritual Aptitude
Tang Lingwu was feeling dejected outside, and inside the lab, Tang Mu Dao and Zheng Fa weren’t doing much better.
Tang Mu Dao sat in front of the computer, staring at the image of the Golden Core material under the electron microscope.
Zheng Fa’s vibe was a bit strange.
He stood to the side, gesturing in the air—drawing the two shielding talisman diagrams to prevent the spiritual energy in Hongshan from interfering with the electron microscope and computer.
To put it plainly, he was casting buffs on the computer…
This had become one of the biggest post-Golden Core problems—Hongshan was saturated with spiritual energy, making all electronic equipment basically unusable. It was extremely inconvenient.
Now, unless others were cultivating, Zheng Fa wouldn’t use the Lingshan Method anymore.
The reason he hadn’t shut it off this time was to see if spiritual materials produced under spiritual energy had any unique properties.
“……”
Zheng Fa wanted to clap back, but after thinking it over—he didn’t know materials science, couldn’t even use the electron microscope well.
He held back!
“So, Professor Tang, have you figured anything out?”
He asked with a cheerful smile, not the least bit bothered by the jab.
“Nope!”
Tang Mu Dao shook his head.
Zheng Fa’s smile gradually disappeared.
“I’m an astronomer! Not a materials scientist! This stuff’s more related to chemistry!” Tang Mu Dao spoke confidently. “Besides, this lump you’ve got here—it’s all mixed together. What do you expect me to see?”
What he said made sense:
Zheng Fa was basically saying—“Hey, I recently made a pill. Can someone tell me what’s in it…”
“So, Xiao Tang, you can’t figure out what this thing is, and you can’t even do spiritual dances?”
“…Dean, I’ll try harder!”
…
Zheng Fa simply deactivated the Lingshan Method, leaving Tang Mu Dao to grit his teeth at the computer screen, while he stepped out of the lab.
Old Bai and the others looked over.
“How’d it go?”
“I think we just don’t know enough about materials science. I’m planning to divide up the Golden Core material and ask Team Leader Yang to find some capable labs to analyze it.”
After a moment of thought, Zheng Fa decided to send the material directly to major laboratories.
Just sending images wasn’t intuitive enough, and experimental technique could skew the visuals—experiments required not just tools, but trained hands.
At least Zheng Fa wasn’t there yet.
“No more secrecy?”
Old Bai was surprised.
“No need for secrecy anymore.”
Upon hearing that, Old Bai turned to look at the sky.
The morning sun was rising, dazzling as ever, utterly indifferent to how the world viewed it.
…
Zhao Yan was a PhD student in materials science at Jingcheng University, working under a renowned professor researching superconductive materials—one of the nation’s top experts.
Early that morning, she bought a steamed bun at the canteen, holding it in a plastic wrapper while munching and heading to the lab.
When she reached the building, something felt off.
Something was missing… and something extra had appeared.
She was the lazy type, always arriving just in time… Normally, the building should’ve already been buzzing with people.
But today, it was eerily quiet—as if the building were empty.
Was it a holiday?
No one told me!
And the “extra” was obvious—cars and people.
A line of black sedans with no plates was parked in front of the building.
Next to the cars stood five or six men, dressed differently but with equally cold expressions—their eyes seemed to glow as they swept over their surroundings.
Their upright postures and faintly visible arm muscles…
They definitely didn’t look like they belonged here.
Maybe she stared too long or too obviously, but one of the men suddenly turned to look at her. That gaze—like a blade.
Zhao Yan froze on the spot, and her steamed bun fell—tragically and effortlessly—right onto her own foot…
“……”
“What’s your business here?”
“I… I’m going to the lab…”
Though heartbroken over her bun, she somehow didn’t dare make a fuss in front of these men, answering honestly.
“Which lab?”
“Professor Lin’s.”
The man turned back and took a folder from another person. Inside were several profile sheets with photos.
Zhao Yan’s was among them.
“Zhao Yan, right? It’s fine. Go on in!”
Zhao Yan was filled with questions, but didn’t dare ask.
She walked into the lab building, looking around—completely silent, no voices on any floor, every door closed.
Even every stairwell had a strange man standing guard.
When she reached her lab, two men were standing right outside!
They didn’t stop her. They seemed to know she was coming and even nodded politely.
Zhao Yan pressed her lips together and entered the lab, shutting the door behind her.
Her senior brothers, junior students, and professor were all there.
She exhaled in relief and flopped into a chair. “Something big’s going on!”
“…Big? You mean they get a holiday and we don’t?”
Her senior brother joked.
But no one laughed.
“Those people outside… are terrifying.”
Zhao Yan whispered, pointing toward the door.
“Look at our advisor.”
A junior muttered.
Zhao Yan looked over. Professor Lin was yelling into his phone but soon gave up and turned to the group.
“A special project—we’ve been assigned a sample to analyze.”
Professor Lin smiled at his students, trying to reassure them.
“Don’t worry. It’s a classified project. Stay calm.”
“……”
After a while, a light knock came at the door.
Team Leader Yang appeared, her smile far more friendly than the men stationed outside.
“Professor Lin, thank you for taking this on.”
“…I’m curious what this thing even is.”
Professor Lin was clearly annoyed.
“All I can say is—it’s very important,”
Yang said calmly.
Zheng Fa wasn’t worried about secrecy.
But Team Leader Yang knew better—not everyone was patriotic, even in academia.
She didn’t want any slip-ups.
“I’ll need everyone to hand in all electronic devices—”
“That includes phones, cameras, personal laptops…”
“……”
Professor Lin’s jaw tightened, but though Yang’s tone was gentle, her gaze said clearly—this isn’t optional.
After everyone handed in their devices, a man and woman came in with instruments to inspect the room. They even installed surveillance equipment—clearly not taking any chances.
Zhao Yan couldn’t help but feel a little angry.
Yang smiled slightly. “I know this is an inconvenience. But let me repeat—this sample is extremely important.”
“Please back up your data. After the experiment, all your lab’s instruments and computers will be taken away as well.”
Zhao Yan snapped, “Then how are we supposed to run experiments? I haven’t even finished writing my dissertation!”
Professor Lin was so furious he stood up.
“We’ll replace everything…” Yang smiled and looked at him, “You’ll provide the list, Professor.”
“My list? What’s the budget cap?”
Professor Lin froze.
“There’s no cap.”
Professor Lin slowly sat back down.
…
Yang handed over the sample and tactfully stepped out.
Looking at the fragment—neither quite metal nor quite stone—Zhao Yan and her labmates stared at each other in silence.
After a long while, someone said:
“What do you think this is?”
“No idea.”
“I have a theory…” one junior suddenly spoke, “They’re taking this so seriously—it can only mean one thing!”
“What?!”
“Aliens have invaded!”
“……”
Professor Lin, however, seemed to have thought of something. He frowned and waved a hand: “Enough guessing. Start the experiment.”
“Boss, once we run this experiment… will we still have our freedom?”
Senior Brother suddenly asked.
Everyone went quiet.
That earlier display… was honestly terrifying.
“I think I’ve heard some rumors about this,” Professor Lin shook his head. “Should be fine… it’s just—how is this even possible?”
Professor Lin sighed and stopped talking, only directing everyone to begin the experiment.
…
“Professor Lin, this…”
Team Leader Yang looked at how he was shielding the sample behind him and sighed.
Standing beside him, Zhao Yan and the others were also subtly shielding the sample, all looking deeply reluctant to give it up.
Now they understood… why this group had been so cautious.
“Room-temperature superconductivity! Do you even realize what that means?!”
“Give me a bit more time! I’ve already figured out the material’s structure…”
“Nobel Prize aside! Do you know how huge this breakthrough is for the country and the people?”
“How huge?”
“You probably won’t get it, so let me put it simply—controllable nuclear fusion!”
Professor Lin picked the hottest and most thrilling research field.
“…That’s it?”
“……”
Professor Lin couldn’t take it anymore—that’s it?
Like you’ve seen controllable nuclear fusion before!
Seeing him still refusing to step aside, Team Leader Yang sighed. “Professor Lin, I’ve already heard this speech a few times… but we still need to recover the sample.”
“The more important it is, the more we have to recover it. You understand that, right?”
Professor Lin froze for a moment, then suddenly seemed to understand and stepped aside.
Several people behind Team Leader Yang entered the lab, sorting and packing up samples, instruments, computers—even papers on the desk. Nothing was left behind.
As they were about to leave, a junior beside Zhao Yan suddenly asked, “Aliens really did land, huh?”
“……”
Team Leader Yang paused, glanced at the ceiling, and actually nodded. “Close enough.”
As they walked away, the entire research group felt as if they’d just woken from a dream… their hearts all hollow and empty.
“Professor, that thing…”
Zhao Yan couldn’t help asking.
“…So the rumors were true after all.”
Professor Lin didn’t answer her directly.
“What rumors?”
“A city’s top scorer entered our university, dropped out halfway, took over a mountain, and started acting like a celestial enforcer.”
“……”
Zhao Yan felt like her professor had lost it.
Well, to be fair, losing a room-temperature superconductive material could make anyone lose it.
…
“All those materials scientists have gone nuts!”
Team Leader Yang sighed to Zheng Fa and the others.
“Hmm?”
Zheng Fa didn’t quite follow.
“They’re saying physics is obsolete…”
“Saying this stuff is worth ten Nobel Prizes…”
“They’re throwing around so many big terms—I don’t understand half of it. I just brought you their analysis results.”
After explaining, she suddenly remembered something and added with a bit of sarcasm:
“Oh, and one of them was ranting about controllable nuclear fusion—that part I did understand!”
Team Leader Yang handed a hard drive to Zheng Fa, then turned to Old Bai, “Should I have those Martial Hall disciples come to the nursing home in the next couple of days?”
Old Bai glanced at Zheng Fa. Seeing he had no objections, he nodded.
This group of Martial Hall disciples were among the more talented ones selected earlier.
Their trip to the nursing home was to let Zheng Fa review the newly developed calisthenics routine.
Since it was going to be promoted nationwide, it had to pass his review.
After Team Leader Yang left the nursing home,
Zheng Fa, along with Old Bai and the others, plugged in the hard drive and began reading through the lab reports.
There were many reports. Some were useful, but more were pretty much meaningless.
On one hand, the materials from his Golden Core were highly mixed—each fragment had different properties.
On the other hand, the researchers were pursuing all sorts of directions—not necessarily ones Zheng Fa needed.
What he wanted was to uncover the essence of spiritual materials.
At the very least, to understand the true nature of his Golden Core products.
He flipped through one report after another, while Tang Mu Dao explained by the side—though his own experiment failed, he had since doubled down on studying materials science and could now give decent explanations.
“Superconductivity…”
Zheng Fa lingered on the report from Professor Lin’s group.
He was genuinely interested in this—regardless of anything else, it might be useful in the Jiushan Realm.
At the very least, it would be significant for energy transmission.
Cheng Yun, who was also present, sighed and said, “If this were before I met you, Dean, and I found out room-temperature superconductivity was real… I’d be jumping with joy.”
“But now… it’s just whatever.”
…Fair enough. These materials were produced by a Golden Core—that’s basically a nuclear reactor.
Chasing controllable fusion after that was kind of laughable.
If it were ordinary materials, fine.
But these were spiritual materials!
Never mind what came after—Zheng Fa currently had no intention of turning himself into the mother of superconductive materials for nuclear fusion…
Wait.
I think I already am?
Zheng Fa shook his head and moved on to the next set of experiment logs.
Time passed quickly. With Tang Mu Dao’s help, Zheng Fa spent two days going through more than half the reports.
But still, he came up empty-handed.
At best, he learned that spiritual materials were a new class of substances never before seen in this world—which was kind of stating the obvious.
He also learned that these materials displayed many of the dream characteristics that material scientists had always hoped for…
But that didn’t help him understand spiritual materials any better.
In other areas, these labs didn’t discover much either.
At least from his perspective, his understanding was still very superficial.
He was initially a little disappointed, but later came to terms with it—research required patience.
He was still a cultivator!
Time wasn’t an issue!
He clicked the mouse again. A new report popped up on the screen.
Zheng Fa glanced at the title and his eyes lit up.
…
Chen Sheng had returned to Hongshan.
His last trip here had been for evaluation at the nursing home. After signing the agreement… he became a disciple at Jiushan Martial Hall.
He used to be a traditional martial arts influencer. Having practiced since childhood and with a strong interest in martial arts, he worked hard after joining the Martial Hall.
And it turned out, Chen Sheng had decent talent, so Old Bai now saw him as a somewhat promising disciple.
This time’s performance review… he and four others were selected to participate.
Chen Sheng couldn’t help but feel nervous—he’d heard that the Master of Hongshan, the dean of the nursing home, the very founder of this martial system… was an immortal!
And this time, they’d be meeting that immortal!
Just the thought made his breathing heavier.
As he approached the nursing home gate, his heart was filled with both awe and anxiety—every step felt like walking on clouds.
From inside came waves of chatter.
Everyone talking at once—it sounded messy.
The five of them exchanged glances and walked toward the courtyard. Once they passed the main building, they saw a group of people gathered around several printed reports, pointing and debating…
Chen Sheng recognized Coach Bai, who only taught them martial arts—but the kind that sparked lightning with a punch!
He’d also seen Tang Mu Dao before.
As for the others, he didn’t recognize them.
But judging by the vibe—they must be immortals who could cast spells!
So… could it be that they were debating the Dao right now?
Chen Sheng perked up his ears.
…
When Chen Sheng and the others arrived, Zheng Fa and the rest saw them too, but were in the middle of a heated discussion—especially Zheng Fa, who was in the midst of a major inspiration burst.
He simply nodded toward them and pointed at some chairs, signaling them to sit and wait.
“What does it mean—metallic behavior in a non-metal?”
Old Bai pointed at the paper in Zheng Fa’s hand. “Lao Tang, what’s the difference between metal and non-metal?”
“Well… there isn’t exactly a strict definition,” Tang Mu Dao explained. “Some say elements with fewer than four outer electrons are usually metals, but that’s not always true.”
“Metals usually refer to elements that form special crystals through metallic bonds. That’s what we call metal…”
“Of course, some define it by electron affinity or conductivity.”
Old Bai frowned and smacked his lips. “Still don’t really get it.”
“I can’t fully explain it either—it’s more related to chemistry,” Tang Mu Dao admitted.
“So what’s the point of this paper?”
Zheng Fa had brought it to them looking unusually excited—clearly, something had sparked an idea.
Everyone looked at him, and Zheng Fa pointed at a line in the paper:
“The Divine Thunder Golden Core produces five particle types, right?”
“Mm…”
“Three of them are conventionally defined metals, like iron. But the other two… aren’t classified as metals in modern science. Like this one—oxygen atoms!”
“So what?”
Old Bai and the others weren’t clueless—they could read scientific papers.
Besides, they’d already known that oxygen atoms were part of the Divine Thunder Golden Core’s byproducts.
“This paper says that among the particles produced by my Golden Core, there’s actually a metallic structure made of oxygen atoms…” Zheng Fa began explaining his idea. “We all know that spiritual energy heavily affects electrons…”
Old Bai and the others looked at him, clearly not understanding what he was getting at.
“So how exactly does it affect them…” Zheng Fa continued, “We’ve figured out thunder techniques, but we’ve never really understood the Five Elemental spells…”
“You mean this is the effect of a spell?”
“The Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Among these, there’s one that… resembles the structure of this metallic oxygen quite a lot.”
As Zheng Fa spoke, a Frost Blade Talisman flew out, slicing the branches off a tree in the courtyard.
“This seems like… metallic water molecules.”
“……” Tang Mu Dao’s eyes lit up slightly as he suddenly understood what Zheng Fa was getting at: “You’re saying this metallic structure formed by oxygen atoms… is essentially the metal-element spell solidified on oxygen atoms?”
Everyone exchanged glances—now they understood why Zheng Fa was so excited.
If that were true, then the essence of spiritual materials just became much clearer.
“…And that’s not all.” Zheng Fa furrowed his brow, eyes gleaming, “I’m thinking… what if each of the Five Elemental spells is constructing a unique spiritual-energy bond?”
“Spiritual-energy bond?” This time, it was Teacher Tian who spoke: “You mean something like a molecular bond?”
“We know that material phases are roughly divided into solid, liquid, and gas—and within that, there are metals and non-metals.”
“This classification, at its core, comes from molecular structure, spacing, or bonding…”
“And in the Five Elements, metal-element spells essentially make substances that shouldn’t exhibit metallic properties form metal-like crystals.”
Old Bai finally understood:
“You mean… water-element spells are turning things into liquid form, even when they shouldn’t exist as liquids at room temperature and pressure?”
“Exactly. For example…”
Zheng Fa waved his hand, and the wooden chair beside him suddenly melted into a pool of liquid the color of raw wood.
“Then earth-element would be forming non-metallic solids?”
“And fire—turning things into gas?”
Zheng Fa shook his head.
“That one might be… more like forced oxidation—or rather, a forced energy-release process.”
“As for turning into gas, I think it’s more like what wind-element spells do.”
Zheng Fa frowned as he spoke. After all, this was still just a hypothesis. The hardest part was…
“I really can’t figure out wood yet…”
Tang Mu Dao nodded. “At the very least, metal, water, and earth make sense to me—altering molecular structures to change the physical phase.”
Old Bai thought for a moment and sighed:
“In the hands of an immortal, the hardest metal can be turned into the softest water.”
“The lightest gas can become the sharpest blade…”
“It does… kind of make sense.”
“So… spiritual materials are solidified interactions between spiritual energy and molecules or atoms? Or in other words, solidified spiritual-energy bonds?”
Zheng Fa nodded, though his expression held some uncertainty—
After all, with only one paper, a lot of this couldn’t be proven.
…
The expressions on Old Bai and the others still held traces of doubt—clearly they too felt this theory lacked enough real-world evidence.
As for Chen Sheng and the others on the side? Even more so.
They heard terms like “Five Elemental spells,” and naturally got curious, listening intently, not wanting to miss a word.
But after a while, they started glancing at each other in total confusion.
“Did you understand any of that?”
Everyone shook their heads, their expressions a little downcast.
After a moment, Chen Sheng sighed, “Immortals discussing the Dao… we’re just not spiritually enlightened enough to get it.”
A girl beside him asked, “What does ‘spiritually enlightened’ mean?”
“Hmm…” Chen Sheng furrowed his brows, “Uh… like having a… college degree?”
“……”
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