I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times-Chapter 151Book 2: . : A Hypothesis on the Nature of Spiritual Plants

Vol 2. Chapter 151: A Hypothesis on the Nature of Spiritual Plants

Senior Sister Zhang glanced at Zheng Fa’s expression. Seeing the joy on his face, she asked, “Is this secret technique that valuable?”

Zheng Fa handed her the jade tube in his hand. Senior Sister Zhang swept it with her divine sense, furrowed her brows lightly, and her face practically said two words:

That’s it?

Zheng Fa could understand the doubt in her eyes. To be honest, there weren’t that many techniques in the Qianhe secret manual—

After all, Qianhe Sect was only a Golden Core sect. Their specialty product was Yellow Sprout Rice, so most of the techniques focused on cultivating that:

Which spells could increase Yellow Sprout Rice’s yield.

What level of spiritual energy concentration was most suitable for its growth.

From planting to harvest, they had a complete cultivation system, involving the selection of various spells and environmental requirements.

There were techniques for other spiritual plants as well,

but not a coherent system.

Senior Sister Zhang probably couldn’t understand why Zheng Fa was so happy—after all, to most people in the Xuanyi Realm, learning these things basically meant you’d just be able to grow Yellow Sprout Rice.

Zheng Fa pointed to the jade tube and said,

“The techniques themselves aren’t much, but they resolved a lot of confusion I’ve had.”

“What confusion?”

“Ever since I started researching Spirit Wood Thunder, I’ve had a question…” Zheng Fa explained, “Senior Sister Zhang, you probably know I used to farm on the estate. With ordinary crops, their growth generally depends on timing, geography, and human effort.”

“Timing refers to the weather, geography to whether the soil is fertile, and human effort is basically whether you know how to farm…”

“But Immortal Techniques are just too miraculous… some spells can directly make plants bloom and bear fruit. You could say that spiritual energy has changed those laws.”

Senior Sister Zhang frowned, seemingly not understanding what Zheng Fa was trying to say.

“That leads to a problem—traditional farming experience doesn’t seem to apply to spiritual plant cultivation.”

This was something Zheng Fa had thought about back in the modern world—

For instance, when he used the Evergreen Talisman, it could accelerate the growth of most non-spiritual crops, which created a strange phenomenon—

The cultivation world's agricultural system in the Xuanyi Realm didn’t seem to rely on traditional agricultural knowledge, because spiritual talismans were just too OP.

Of course, powerful spiritual talismans weren’t a bad thing.

But the problem was, Zheng Fa had a hard time finding an effective method to cultivate spiritual plants. He could only research Spirit Wood Thunder and observe results.

Which made the research slow.

“But this Qianhe secret technique is different… it’s given me a few new questions about spiritual plant cultivation:”

“Why do solar terms affect the growth of spiritual plants?”

“Why is spiritual energy concentration so important?”

“And most importantly, what exactly is the difference between spiritual plants and ordinary ones?”

Senior Sister Zhang rubbed her forehead—she seemed a little overwhelmed: “Junior Brother, maybe you should go talk to Senior Sister Yuan?”

“She’s still evolving and asleep—she can’t hear me, right?”

“Exactly. That’s why she wouldn’t get a headache listening to all your ‘whys’.”

…

Modern era, nursing home.

“These techniques…” Teacher Tian looked at the Qianhe secret methods Zheng Fa had copied down and furrowed her brow slightly before saying, “They really only boil down to two things—”

“Hmm?”

“Timing and spiritual energy.”

“For example, choosing the right spiritual land, ideally planting on a spiritual vein—it all comes back to one issue: controlling spiritual energy concentration.”

Hearing this, Zheng Fa nodded lightly.

“You’re right. This is very different from our agricultural systems—we usually have to consider sunlight, temperature, humidity, soil nutrients, etc… but these methods barely care about any of that. In the end, it’s just about those two factors.”

Old Bai nodded beside her: “That’s probably because spiritual energy plays such a dominant role that everything else becomes secondary.”

“Then why is timing so important?” Tang Lingwu asked from the side. “Zheng Fa, you mentioned before that Spirit Wood Thunder might be related to the 24 solar terms… why are solar terms so crucial for spiritual plants?”

Even Tang Mu Dao looked puzzled at this.

Though he had only recently joined the nursing home, he already knew how important spiritual plant cultivation was—for them, and for the nursing home as a whole. Not to mention, if they could grow spiritual plants, everyone’s cultivation speed would improve.

“The thing is… I actually have a very…” Zheng Fa was hesitant as he spoke, seeming unsure of himself, “very wild idea.”

“What kind of idea?”

Seeing him like this, the other four couldn’t help but grow curious.

Zheng Fa often had bold theories, but he’d never hesitated like this.

Actually, he’d had this idea even when speaking with Senior Sister Zhang, but she probably wouldn’t have understood it, so he hadn’t brought it up.

“You know how, when we humans cultivate, we’re really only focused on two things—spiritual energy concentration and our cultivation method.”

Old Bai blinked, as if he suddenly got it: “You’re saying that when plants become spiritual plants, they’re undergoing a form of cultivation too?”

“Yes, or more accurately, a form of passive cultivation,” Zheng Fa said softly. “Spiritual energy concentration goes without saying—it’s a basic requirement for cultivation.”

“But if we treat Spirit Wood Thunder and seasonal changes as shifts in electromagnetic fields…”

Zheng Fa said quietly:

“The human body is too complex—maybe we aren’t very sensitive to solar terms. But some plants might be more reactive…”

“And external magnetic field changes lead to changes in bioelectric currents inside these plants. Teacher Tian, our thoughts are linked to neural currents, or brainwaves, so—here’s my bold assumption: this kind of bioelectric current change could be considered a primitive form of thought—or even a kind of cultivation method…”

Teacher Tian furrowed her brows slightly: “You’re saying the 24 solar terms in a year are actually 24 ‘thought’ transitions, like how we manipulate spiritual energy when cultivating?”

“Yes!” Zheng Fa smiled. “We talk about cyclical flow in our cultivation, but really, the 24 solar terms are a natural cycle—24 times every year, year after year.”

“That…” Old Bai seemed to follow, “So your theory is that spiritual plants are actually cultivating—just unconsciously, influenced by heaven and earth?”

Zheng Fa nodded, looking at the others.

He really wasn’t confident in this hypothesis—after all, there wasn’t any concrete evidence.

“This idea actually explains a lot…” Teacher Tian finally spoke. “For example, the parts in the secret manual about spiritual fields and spiritual veins—it’s basically giving spiritual plants a better environment for cultivation…”

“Also, why spiritual plants don’t rely much on other physical conditions aside from spiritual energy—just like how we cultivators can fast.”

“On the other hand, it also explains why we’ve only managed to grow pea sprouts as spiritual plants.”

Teacher Tian continued:

“First, this cultivation is a process. For example, when we cultivate, we need to complete at least one full cycle before spiritual energy gathers in the dantian. And those plants—maybe they need multiple types of Spirit Wood Thunder combinations to form a spiritual energy structure at the cellular level? Pea sprouts might be one of the rare ones that respond to a single Spirit Wood Thunder.”

“Second, maybe our nursing home’s spiritual energy concentration just isn’t enough.”

“There’s actually one more thing—some plants might simply be incapable of becoming spiritual plants,” Old Bai spoke up. “It’s like the portion of people who just don’t have the talent.”

“We just don’t know how to verify that kind of hypothesis…” Tang Lingwu added from the side.

“There is a way, actually. Spiritual energy concentration is limited by the Lingshan Method, so we can’t raise it,” Zheng Fa said after thinking for a moment. “But magnetic field changes—we can simulate those in the lab.”

As soon as he said that, the others immediately understood.

“Yes!” Teacher Tian nodded. “As long as we know how the ground’s magnetic field shifts during the 24 solar terms… we can recreate it.”

But Old Bai didn’t seem too optimistic.

“Spiritual energy cultivation takes time… if we simulate it over a short period, I doubt we’ll see results…”

Zheng Fa also felt a bit helpless.

At this moment, he really missed that big bell…

“It’ll still have results—we can at least test your theory about Spirit Wood Thunder being related to the 24 solar terms,” Teacher Tian shook her head. “Even if it doesn’t produce spiritual plants, we can still observe changes in spiritual energy.”

“I just don’t think we should get our hopes up too high…” Old Bai was still against it. “We’ve been farming for almost half a year. In terms of solar terms, we’ve probably passed over a dozen already, and we haven’t seen a single spiritual plant.”

He wasn’t wrong.

Zheng Fa hadn’t had much confidence in the idea to begin with, and hearing Old Bai say that, it started to sound even more reasonable.

When everyone fell silent, Old Bai seemed to realize he’d hit morale a bit too hard, so he added, “It’s not that I don’t want to try. I just think that if the theory’s right, then we probably won’t be able to cultivate any spiritual plants in the short term…”

“Even humans need time to cultivate…”

He glanced at Zheng Fa and said, “Did something happen to you?”

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Zheng Fa paused—only then did he realize why even the usually upbeat Old Bai was talking like this.

To be honest, the situation was putting a lot of pressure on Jiushan Sect. Zhenren Tongming might not be able to resolve the crisis they were facing—naturally, Zheng Fa wanted more control over the Heavenly Monument Realm.

His sense of urgency toward Spirit Wood Thunder had indeed been growing day by day.

It wasn’t that their research was slow—it was that the situation was becoming more dangerous by the day.

Then Old Bai continued, “We still need to run the experiment, I’m just saying—don’t get your hopes too high…”

Teacher Tian suddenly understood too: “Yes, spiritual plants need time to grow, and the right spiritual energy concentration. More importantly—not every kind of plant can be cultivated into a spiritual plant…”

Zheng Fa nodded lightly. He knew this was Old Bai’s way of reminding him.

“But how are we supposed to know the electromagnetic field strength on the days of the solar terms?” Tang Lingwu suddenly raised an important question.

Zheng Fa froze. She was right—you didn’t even need to look it up to know that kind of data would be extremely obscure…

At that moment, Tang Mu Dao thought for a bit, then suddenly said, “Actually, I might be able to figure something out for that!”