PCJ – Chapter 491 The Scientific View of Cultivation

Fu Cha Hao Yue understood Zhang Jiaohua’s situation more clearly. Initially, she had thought Zhang Jiaohua was a troubled youth from a wealthy family, but after understanding the full story, even she couldn’t help but scratch her head. As a researcher at the Biochemical Institute, she was curious about the connection between Zhang Jiaohua’s strange behavior and his physical structure.

“Other people drop out of school because they can’t afford the tuition. Why did you drop out?” Fu Cha Hao Yue asked.

Zhang Jiaohua didn’t think there was anything wrong with his choice. “Others go to school to change their fate. I think my fate is already quite good. I can’t learn what I want to learn at school, so I dropped out.”

“Can’t learn what you want to learn? What do you want to learn?” Fu Cha Hao Yue felt that Zhang Jiaohua’s answer was completely against her expectations.

“I’m a cultivator, so naturally, I want to learn Taoist techniques. Can the teachers at school teach me Taoist techniques? The teachers say the world is materialistic, but they can’t explain what I saw with my own eyes—the Ghost King. Do you really think the dozen people who went missing in the haunted house died of suffocation? If I tell you that when we went down there, they were still attacking us, would you believe me?” Zhang Jiaohua smiled.

“How is that possible?” Fu Cha Hao Yue couldn’t believe it. She didn’t know that Zhang Jiaohua had entered the haunted house, so she was first puzzled, then angry. “What? You said you’ve been to the haunted house?”

Fu Cha Hao Yue immediately turned to look at Zeng Lei. As soon as Zeng Lei heard that Zhang Jiaohua had entered the haunted house, he turned around and left, but Fu Cha Hao Yue caught up with him. “Zeng Lei! What’s going on? How did Jiaohua end up in the haunted house?”

“Well, Jiaohua did go into the haunted house, but this has nothing to do with me. He went on his own. He even ran into an acquaintance outside the haunted house. I couldn’t afford to offend that person. They were accompanied by people from National Security, and those people asked Jiaohua to go with them. Do you think I, a small police officer, could stop him?” Zeng Lei explained.

“Jiaohua, is that true?” Fu Cha Hao Yue asked.

“Yeah, that person is from the same path as me. I met him in Panjiayuan. I didn’t expect to run into him again at the haunted house. They were about to go inside, and I also wanted to go in and see, so I went with them.” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“You just said that when you entered, those dozen people were still alive?” Fu Cha Hao Yue asked.

“They were dead, but they could still move,” Zhang Jiaohua shook his head.

“How can they be dead and still move?” Fu Cha Hao Yue naturally found it hard to believe. If she believed it, her worldview would be completely overturned.

“According to Taoist theory, a person has three souls and seven spirits. When someone dies, not all their souls leave the body; only part of the soul leaves. Under certain conditions, miraculous things can happen. For example, the legendary ‘corpse-raising grounds’ can turn a body into a zombie, and when the zombie evolves into a Ghost King, the remaining soul in the body can awaken. The situation we encountered this time was different. These people died under certain circumstances, and their bodies were controlled,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Who controlled their bodies?” Fu Cha Hao Yue pressed, wanting to get more details, making Zhang Jiaohua feel a bit embarrassed.

Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head. “Actually, I didn’t see it. After we went in, we encountered two attacks but never met the main person. We were pretty exhausted, so we gave up midway.”

“You went with them despite the danger? Are you stupid?” Fu Cha Hao Yue’s thinking seemed to leap ahead.

Zeng Lei, however, asked worriedly, “What are you guys planning to do next?”

“I think they’ve given up. The risk is too high. We are cultivators, not police officers. The haunted house has been there for hundreds of years, and nothing serious has happened. As long as no one goes there to seek death, nothing will happen. Why should we risk going inside?” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“You cultivators are so selfish,” Fu Cha Hao Yue muttered.

“We cultivators only seek immortality. We have no time to deal with mundane matters,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Your parents are ordinary people. Your relatives are ordinary people. Don’t you care about them?” Fu Cha Hao Yue retorted. “That’s why you need to study. Only by reading can you understand the principles. Without understanding, what’s the use of cultivation? Throughout history, why hasn’t anyone achieved true immortality? That means their methods are wrong. If you want to live forever, you need to find a more correct path. You should study more. I’m telling you, cultivation needs a scientific system…”

Fu Cha Hao Yue linked cultivation with her scientific system, and it was enough to convince Zhang Jiaohua.

Zhang Jiaohua was stunned, feeling like what Fu Cha Hao Yue said made sense, but he couldn’t quite grasp how to optimize his cultivation process or identify the control factors within it. It seemed like she had opened up a whole new world for him.

“Hao Yue, what was that thing you just said?” Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head.

“You don’t understand, do you?” Fu Cha Hao Yue was very pleased with her results.

Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“Exactly. You should go back to school. If the traditional methods of cultivation were correct, it wouldn’t have come to this point. That means cultivation needs to keep up with the times. The path to immortality is one no one has walked before. You need to feel your way through. Since that’s the case, why not try going back to school, study systematic scientific theories, and cultivate more scientifically in the future?” Fu Cha Hao Yue pressed her advantage.

Zhang Jiaohua felt that Fu Cha Hao Yue’s argument made so much sense that he was left speechless. It seemed that the only right path was to go back to school.

“But I don’t want to go back to school in Xintian County,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“That’s not a problem. I’ll arrange for your school records to be transferred to Beijing,” Fu Cha Hao Yue said.

Zhang Jiaohua inadvertently fell for it and was completely led by Fu Cha Hao Yue. The reason was that she had grasped his weakness. Although Zhang Jiaohua was fully immersed in cultivation due to his dreams, he wasn’t from the same era as those in his dreams. Since birth, he had been influenced by this era. So when Fu Cha Hao Yue mentioned her scientific system, it awakened a doubt in Zhang Jiaohua’s heart. Sometimes he would wonder what the ultimate goal of cultivation was. With his parents gone, his relatives gone, what kind of existence had he become? Would he become an immortal Ghost King like Chengdao, a thousand-year-old undead?

Suddenly, Zhang Jiaohua felt that his pursuit of cultivation, which had caused him to leave his parents and hometown, was foolish. He had abandoned the tangible warmth of family for the elusive path of immortality. After being away for so long, maybe his parents were worried about him?

A mist seemed to cloud Zhang Jiaohua’s eyes.

Far in the south, in Meizi’ao Village beneath Mount Mei, Zhang Youping and Liu Qiaoye were busy with their own work every day. A family without a child’s laughter had no vitality. When they were together, it was very quiet, and reminiscing about Zhang Jiaohua’s childhood became their greatest comfort.

“Qiaoye, I went to the bank today to check Jiaohua’s card records. That kid is in Beijing now. He made us worry that he couldn’t even afford food or clothes, but he’s living quite freely. By the way, Liu Dage mentioned that someone from the education bureau checked on Jiaohua’s situation,” Zhang Youping said.

“Do you think this kid got into trouble in Beijing?” Liu Qiaoye asked with concern.

“Let me finish. It seems they are preparing to transfer Jiaohua’s file. He’s probably planning to go to school in Beijing,” Zhang Youping said, not very sure.

“Then why didn’t Jiaohua call us to let us know?” Liu Qiaoye asked, puzzled.

“He must be too embarrassed to let us know. Do you think we should go over there?” Zhang Youping knew that Liu Qiaoye missed their son.

“I’m not going. If that kid doesn’t want us, I don’t want to see that brat either,” Liu Qiaoye muttered angrily.

In fact, Zhang Youping was just casually suggesting it. Now that Biyu Xianyin was growing bigger and bigger, the products Zhang Jiaohua created, Biyu Xianyin and Hongyu Xianyin, remained core products, but their share in the total profits was decreasing. Mid-range products had started entering the homes of ordinary people. Biyu Xianyin was no longer content with the high-end market and used the brand effects created by Biyu Xianyin and Hongyu Xianyin to push their mid-range products into the domestic and international tea drink markets.

Similarly, the tourism group Liu Qiaoye managed was also making tremendous profits, and the sightseeing tea plantation project had become very successful, turning into one of the most famous tourist destinations in the country.

So, the two of them only said they would drop everything and run to Beijing, but it was just talk.

When Liu Qiaoye finally got news of their son, she could finally relax.

“Aunt, have you heard from Jiaohua?” Zhang Yuanbao asked whenever he came back.

“Yuanbao, don’t worry about your younger brother. He’s in Beijing now and is preparing to go to school there. You study hard and maybe you can go to school with Jiaohua,” Liu Qiaoye said.

Zhang Yuanbao scratched his head. He had already completed two years of middle school, and it wasn’t easy to even get into a high school in the county, let alone a university in Beijing.

Fortunately, Zhang Yuanbao had exceptional confidence and said confidently, “Aunt, don’t worry. I’ll definitely get into a university in Beijing.”

Zhang Yuanbao brought the news to Yidushui Middle School. Mute, Qi Xia, and Nie Tong were all extremely excited, and they studied like crazy for several days, wishing they could take the university entrance exam immediately.

All of this, Zhang Jiaohua in Beijing would never know. He suddenly realized that Fu Cha Hao Yue had tricked him into returning to school. He finally woke up, but it seemed a bit too late.

“Jiaohua, I worked so hard to transfer your school records. If you ditch me now, I’m not letting you off easily.”