Chapter 335
Did the sect leader not notice anything amiss?
Certainly not.
But he seemed completely unconcerned.
To be honest, following the rules was a great relief for her—it felt a bit like having a treasure of immense value that everyone in the world desired, yet she had no use for it.
Now, Zheng Fa had told her, it’s not that I don’t care about your treasure.
It’s just that I’m willing to buy it at a certain price. If you think the price is too low and don’t want to sell, then so be it.
It was clear-cut, yet somehow reassuring.
Lost in thought, she found herself back home before she realized it.
She collapsed onto her bed, and for the first time in ages, she enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep.
…
Zheng Fa watched Mu Qingyan leave, fully aware that she was hiding quite a bit.
But… he didn’t really care.
He was certainly tempted by the secret realm of the Tianhe Zun, but he wouldn’t let that ruin the rules he had painstakingly established.
If only Mu Qingyan could provide some solid information, convincing Xiao Yuying would indeed be much simpler…
Just as he was pondering this, Xiao Yuying arrived.
She wasn’t alone; surprisingly, she was accompanied by Sister Zhang.
“Sister?”
Zheng Fa blinked, puzzled about how these two had ended up together…
“Xiao Xianzi asked me to come; we’ve been studying the communication talisman…”
“Hmm?”
Zheng Fa was quite surprised.
He had been interested in the communication talisman for a while, but most of his energy had been focused on the Golden Core Project, leaving him little time to spare.
However, he hadn’t forgotten about it.
It seemed that Xiao Yuying had either forgotten or didn’t care; she had merely mentioned it in passing, not realizing how much Zheng Fa valued it.
To his astonishment, Xiao Yuying had taken the initiative to seek out Sister Zhang to study the communication talisman…
He glanced at Xiao Xianzi, a thought forming in his mind—
Had Madam Xuanhua gotten involved?
“Sister Zhang and I have conducted a disassembly analysis of the communication talisman…” Sister Zhang explained. “According to the theory of the three-character talisman, the communication talisman contains a water-element child talisman. The divine name child talisman isn’t particularly special, but the last type of child talisman is ever-changing, seemingly corresponding to different cultivators.”
Zheng Fa nodded.
“But one of the structures is quite unique.” Sister Zhang drew a couple of shapes in the air. “When analyzed topologically, it turns out that every communication talisman contains this structure.”
“I had Xiao Xianzi sense it, and once I drew this structure, the electromagnetic field within the communication talisman seemed to stabilize and remain unchanged.”
After listening, Zheng Fa thought for a moment and began to understand Sister Zhang’s point:
“Sister, are you saying that this spiritual energy circuit can shield the electromagnetic field from interference by spiritual energy?”
Sister Zhang nodded and further explained, “In my analysis, the principle of the communication talisman should be that it transmits information through the electromagnetic field—where the runes serve two functions:”
“First, to shield the electromagnetic signal from external spiritual energy interference, preventing changes in the electromagnetic field during transmission.”
“Secondly, and most importantly, is encoding.”
“Encoding?” Zheng Fa suddenly realized, “You mean that different cultivators have different rune structures? The process of a cultivator receiving the communication talisman is essentially decoding?”
“Yes, that’s also what I thought when I read that book on encoding.”
Zheng Fa couldn’t help but stand up, grabbing Sister Zhang’s arm excitedly, “Sister Zhang, you’re going to be remembered in history!”
“?”
Sister Zhang slowly raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
She didn’t quite understand why Zheng Fa was so excited.
“Who knows, you might be called the mother of the internet in the future!”
“…”
Sister Zhang pouted, seemingly finding the nickname unappealing, while Xiao Yuying, intrigued, asked, “What about me? Don’t I deserve some credit for this research?”
Zheng Fa glanced at her, knowing that this so-called research required a solid understanding of talismans, electromagnetism, information theory, and topology—skills that only Sister Zhang possessed in the Jiushan realm.
As for Xiao Yuying, she was probably just there to cheer them on…
Under Xiao Yuying’s expectant gaze, Zheng Fa thought for a moment and said:
“Maybe you could be the internet… aunt?”
Sister Zhang looked up, suddenly finding her nickname quite pleasant.
(End of this chapter)
**Chapter 307: Network Concept, Archaeological Preparation**
Xiao Yuying fell silent—truth be told, she had contributed a lot too!
Why should there be a hierarchy?
It was one thing for Zheng Fa to overshadow her; she had genuinely lost out, but what about Zhang Wuyi…
She was not convinced!
Sister Zhang continued, “If I want to send you a communication talisman, I just need to change a few of these rune patterns…”
Holding her flying fairy pen, she conjured several golden patterns in the air.
“These rune patterns actually store spiritual energy—your spiritual energy, which contains your divine soul. Only by using this spiritual energy to activate the communication talisman can you see the messages within.”
“Divine soul…”
Hearing those two words made Zheng Fa’s head ache a bit.
He had achieved a certain level of success in his cultivation, and in terms of knowledge, he felt he was at least on par with an average Golden Core cultivator. If he were to be a bit arrogant, he believed that in certain areas, like mathematics, electromagnetism, and talisman studies, he could outshine many Nascent Soul cultivators.
But when it came to the divine soul, he still felt a bit lost.
The divine soul… this concept could be said to be one of the fundamentals of a cultivator, yet it was also incredibly perplexing.
In Zheng Fa’s view, the essence of its origin was even more ambiguous than that of spiritual energy.
Looking sideways, he saw Xiao Yuying’s innocent expression…
He couldn’t help but feel a bit comforted; she probably didn’t even understand what he was troubled about.
Sister Zhang, however, understood his meaning and nodded, “I hadn’t paid much attention to the communication talisman before, but the more I study it, the more I find that this rune is more complex and intricate than others. If it was indeed created by a person, that person… must be among the top-tier powers.”
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa glanced at the divine name child talisman within the communication talisman, but he realized he had no impression of this particular child talisman—previously, Tang Lingwu had summarized that a large portion of the divine name child talismans came from a very small number of powerful beings.
But the creator of the communication talisman was not among that select few…
After thinking for a long time, Zheng Fa didn’t come up with many ideas and decided to change the subject, “We’re still lacking in cultivation, so discussing this is a bit ambitious…”
“Sister, according to your explanation, the function of the runes in the communication talisman, simplified, is—encryption and interference resistance?”
Sister Zhang smiled at his summary, “Well said, Junior Brother.”
Xiao Yuying blinked; she understood those two terms but didn’t quite grasp their full meaning.
After all, aside from mathematics and electromagnetism, she had little interest in other subjects.
Zheng Fa had a basic understanding of the principle behind the communication talisman—essentially, it was about transmitting information using electromagnetic waves.
However, in a spiritual energy environment, electromagnetic waves would be damaged during transmission.
Thus, a rune structure to resist interference was necessary.
On the other hand, to ensure confidentiality or to deliver messages to specific cultivators, a rune structure to store corresponding spiritual energy was also required.
This was akin to a fingerprint lock.
Only by inputting the same spiritual energy into the communication talisman could it be unlocked.
He also understood why Sister Zhang said that the powerful being who created the communication talisman was extraordinary:
The threshold for using a communication talisman wasn’t high; even Qi Refining cultivators could use it, meaning the rune structure was relatively simple.
On the other hand, the principles behind it were quite profound.
He thought for a moment, setting aside his various speculations, and turned to Sister Zhang, saying:
“Sister, can this communication talisman be modified?”
“Modified?”
“For example… can we use this method to transmit news to every household?”
Sister Zhang frowned slightly, as if beginning to grasp Zheng Fa’s idea.
Today’s news was akin to the film projection teams of years past going to rural areas… not only did it require manpower, but each piece of news also had to use a talisman array.
It was quite limited.
What Zheng Fa proposed was to use the communication talisman in the direction of wireless broadcasting.
In other words, today’s communication talisman was somewhat like a mailbox, primarily designed for one-on-one communication.
Zheng Fa, however, wanted to create a news website.
Seeing Sister Zhang still deep in thought, he felt he was getting somewhere.
He added, “This is a one-to-many application; what about a many-to-many one?”
“Many-to-many?”
Now even Sister Zhang couldn’t quite understand.
“Just… establishing a place where the disciples of Jiushan can freely communicate.”
What Zheng Fa was describing was essentially a very conventional history of internet development…
But Sister Zhang still didn’t get it.
“For example, if I have a confusion in my cultivation and can’t find anyone to ask, then this place would allow me to pose my questions.”
Zheng Fa thought for a moment and described a forum model.
Sister Zhang’s eyes lit up.
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