Xiuxian: I studied abroad in modern times

Chapter 546 The Current State of Nine Mountains, Divine Firmament Drill

If Zheng Fa were to comment, he would also say that Lord Shuyulong's question was excellent and hit the nail on the head.

Zheng Fa's pancakes are big and fragrant, but there's only one problem—you can't get your hands on them.

Leaving aside how long it would take Zheng Fa to cultivate to the Golden Immortal level, just the task of cultivating a completely new dragon race is something that cannot be accomplished in a few decades or even a few hundred years.

Judging from Xuanwei's current situation, the Nine Mountains Sect certainly doesn't have that much time.

It's hard to refute.

Seeing that Zheng Fa remained silent, the Dragon Lord Shuyu chuckled softly, seemingly with a hint of mockery.

"The Dragon Lord doesn't believe me?"

"Whether you believe or not is not important. You may have faith, but I cannot entrust my life and fortune to your faith."

"Then I would like to ask the Dragon Lord to come with me to see something."

"what?"

Zheng Fa flew towards the palace entrance, leaving only two words that echoed within: "Faith".

Hearing the resolute tone in his voice, the Dragon Lord Shuyu couldn't help but feel curious. She also had to admit that although Zheng Fa's words were vague and unrealistic, they were very tempting to her.

Seeing Zheng Fafei leave the Heavenly Palace, she followed behind him along with the elders of the Nine Mountains Sect.

The group flew out of the Purple Palace of the Nine Mountains Sect and descended from the sky towards the mortal realm of the Nine Mountains Realm.

Lord Shuyulong has visited the Nine Mountains Realm many times, but has never left the Three Enclosures and Four Mansions, mainly because he is not interested.

However, she was now quite curious about the Nine Mountains Sect, so she secretly observed it along the way.

Although she had been staying at the bottom of the sea, she was not completely unaware of the situation in the Xuanwei Realm.

In her early years, in order to find her fellow clansmen, she traveled to various places in Xuanwei and visited all the major sects, but this was unknown to others.

Therefore, she actually had a fairly good understanding of how ordinary mortals lived.

But the scenery before him was so new and exciting that Shuyu Dragon Lord was overwhelmed with wonder.

A divine flying boat flew past them, and through the windows, they could see that it was packed with people.

Compared to their speed, the Divine Sky Flying Boat was incredibly slow, yet most of the people riding it were mortals!

Looking into the distance, one can see divine flying boats shuttling through the air in all directions.

In total, there were as many as twenty ships.

This was all she had seen in that short moment. Judging from the area of ​​the mortal realm of the Nine Mountains, the total number of these Divine Sky Flying Boats was probably in the hundreds or thousands.

She turned to look at Zheng Fa, puzzled. This flying boat was as fast as a Golden Core cultivator, yet Zheng Fa allowed these mortals to ride it.

Lord Shuyu Dragon didn't speak, but carefully observed the mortals and buildings on the ground.

The group happened to fly over a large city.

Despite being called a large city, it had no city walls. Instead, it was a densely packed array of buildings spread out in concentric circles from the city center in all directions, making it larger than any city she had ever seen before.

The city streets are wide and crowded, especially the streets lined with shops on both sides, where people are bustling about.

The clothing worn by the mortals was also quite different from the customs of Xuanwei. The sleeves were narrow, and both men and women mostly wore trousers. The material of the clothes looked sturdy and rough, and the colors were not very bright, mostly blue and black.

If we're talking about poverty, the men are strong, robust, and quite tall.

The woman had a rosy complexion and jet-black hair, and she even had a somewhat imposing presence as she walked down the street.

Are the mortals of these Nine Mountains Realm only concerned with food and not with clothing?

Even with just a casual glance, Lord Shuyu could tell that the lives of these mortals in the Nine Mountains Realm were far, far better than those under the rule of the Four Sects.

“My Nine Mountains Sect has been operating in the Nine Mountains Realm for decades,” Zheng Fa suddenly said. “The Dragon Lord may not know what the situation was like here when I first came to this realm.”

"what's the situation?"

"The entire Nine Mountains Realm has a population of less than ten million. The people I see are practically skeletons. Anyone who lives past thirty is called a longevity star."

"Ten million?" Lord Shuyu was taken aback, then looked at the city beneath his feet. "I reckon this city has a population of over a million!"

"This is one of the larger cities in the Nine Mountains Realm. Because the Nine Mountains Realm has relatively developed and convenient transportation, the population has been gathering in the city, which is why it appears to be so large."

Lord Shuyu asked curiously, "How many people are there in the Nine Mountains Realm right now?"

"Nearly 320 million people."

Senior Sister Zhang answered this question.

Lord Shuyu was slightly taken aback: "More than thirty times?"

"It's much less than expected."

"Isn't this enough?"

Zheng Fa shook his head; three hundred million was indeed less than they had calculated before.

In the early years, the population growth rate of Jiushanjie was close to 8%.

If this growth rate had been maintained, the population would have reached at least 600 million by now, fifty or sixty years later.

However, the population growth rate of Jiushanjie later plummeted.

It's not that the Nine Mountains Realm can't afford to support them—although the Nine Mountains Sect isn't large, it has the aid of immortal techniques and abundant resources, so its population capacity is actually quite high.

The problem is—they don't want to have children!

Zheng Fa hadn't expected this, but he later figured it out.

Over the past fifty years, the Nine Mountains Sect has taken two measures in the mortal realm that have significantly impacted population growth:
Industrialization and widespread education.

These two factors enabled most people to earn a living.

When a person can support themselves on their own, having children is no longer a necessity.

But this is not the only reason for the decline in population growth, nor is it even the main one.

The fundamental factor is the popularization of the cultivation culture.

Most mortals in the Nine Mountains Realm, when they are young, are focused on cultivating immortality and are unwilling to lose their primordial yin or primordial yang in their early years.

The increase in life expectancy has led everyone to tend to marry and have children later in life.

In addition, since cultivators tend to be self-disciplined and have few desires, mortals take cultivators as role models, which has led to some new trends of thought.

To be honest, this was not in Zheng Fa's plan, but he had to admit that it was actually in line with the development pattern of the Nine Mountains Realm. After discussing it with Senior Sister Zhang and others, he decided to wait and see, since the Nine Mountains Realm was indeed not short of people.

He felt it was too little, but the Jade Dragon Lord felt it was too much. Looking at those robust mortals, she felt even more that they were rare indeed.

In the past, she wouldn't have cared so much.

But Zheng Fa's words about cultivating her own dragon race were already etched in her heart.

"Dragon Lord, as I said, when it comes to managing the world, benefiting the people, making money, and developing, my Nine Mountains Sect is second to none."

"Is this what you call confidence?"

She understood, of course, that the lives of these mortals under the rule of the Nine Mountains Sect had undergone earth-shattering changes, which was enough to prove the Nine Mountains Sect's governing ability.

Although there is a huge gap between dragons and mortals, making money is not a race-based activity.

"Of course not. This is just to let the Dragon Lord know that we have the ability to create wealth." Zheng Fa smiled and pointed ahead. "And that is our ability to protect wealth."

Shuyu Dragon Lord looked in the direction Zheng Fa pointed, her gaze immediately becoming serious. She seemed not to believe her eyes, turning her head to look at Zheng Fa again, then looking back ahead, scrutinizing him repeatedly. After a long while, she finally spoke: "Two of you?"

In the void ahead, the Heavenly Emperor smiled and gently cupped his hands towards the Jade Dragon Lord.

"Let me introduce myself. This is my clone, named the Heavenly Emperor's Body."

"A clone?!"

The way the Jade Dragon Lord uttered the words "clone" was filled with ups and downs, containing confusion, surprise, and even disbelief. It wasn't that she was being overly dramatic or ignorant; the only problem with the Dao Fruit in the Xuanwei Realm was that the method of creating clones had always been quite sensitive.

It's not that there are no methods for creating clones, but all methods deliberately suppress the strength of the clones to prevent them from being overpowered. Moreover, most of them lack intelligence and are like fools.

However, judging from the Dragon Lord Shuyu's perception, the aura emanating from this Heavenly Emperor was no less than that of Zheng Fa's true form.

The Heavenly Emperor flew closer, and the Jade Dragon Lord's eyes gleamed with blue light as she carefully examined him. She was a True Immortal, and the Heavenly Emperor didn't seem to conceal his presence, so she could immediately deduce—

This is a cultivator from a celestial sect who has reached the Corpse Dissolution Realm. In terms of cultivation alone, he is indeed no less powerful than Zheng Fa in his original form.

But in terms of actual combat strength, it's certainly not as good as...

wrong!

Suddenly, the Jade Dragon Lord turned his head and asked Zheng Fa, "Is this avatar of yours the Lord of the Nine Mountains Realm God Path?"

"Dragon Lord, you've figured it out?"

"I recognize this incense power. Most of what I saw before was probably the Heavenly Emperor's form, right?"

The Heavenly Emperor landed in front of the two, bowed to the Dragon Lord Shuyu, and said, "Dragon Lord, please forgive me. My true form was in seclusion at the time, so I had to receive you."

Seeing his lively expression and fluent answers, the Dragon Lord Shuyu was even more impressed: "Having met you so many times, I never realized you were an avatar. Sect Leader Zheng's avatar technique is truly astonishing."

Zheng Fachao gently cupped his hands in greeting.

Revealing the Heavenly Emperor's body was partly to demonstrate some strength, but also because the formation of the Sword Dao Body gave the Nine Mountains Sect a new trump card, allowing them to peel back a layer of the onion.

Moreover, the Dragon Lord Shuyu is indeed one of the people who can be trusted—part of the reason she clashed with the Dragon King Cangming was because of the Nine Mountains Sect. The Dragon Lord Shuyu herself is aloof and would not mention this, but Zheng Fa has not forgotten it.

"If that's the case, then you, the Heavenly Emperor, being in the Nine Mountains Realm, are probably equivalent to a Loose Immortal or even a True Immortal?"

“A rogue immortal,” Zheng Fa nodded. “Perhaps close to a true immortal, but not quite.”

"The Grotto Heaven Technique is indeed wondrous," the Jade Dragon Lord sighed, then added, "A mere avatar with the cultivation of a Loose Immortal—is this all the confidence you have?"

Lord Shuyu secretly calculated in his heart.

After Zheng Fa killed Luo Sanxian of Haori Mountain, the Xuanwei Realm had already reached a consensus on his strength, regarding him as a true immortal.

The Nine Mountains Sect also has Zhang Wuyi and Xie Qingxue, two beings who can be considered invincible below the Dao Fruit level.

Now there's another immortal clone.

In terms of strength, it's not much different from the Cangming Dragon Palace. If I were to join them, I would definitely surpass the Cangming Dragon Palace.

But to say that a mere immortal clone would give her much confidence is a bit of an exaggeration.

"No, this body of the Heavenly Emperor is a tool to demonstrate faith."

"Oh?"

The Dragon Lord Shuyu grew increasingly curious, and then pointed ahead, saying to her, "Dragon Lord, please look."

Following the direction Zheng Fa pointed, the Jade Dragon Lord paused slightly, then asked in confusion, "The Thick Earth Magnetic Array?"

The scenery ahead looked rather familiar.

The barren mountain peaks and the dark blue, reflective rocks were almost identical to what she had seen before entering the Nine Mountains Realm.

The only difference is that the top of this mountain is flat, with several rows of houses and some very large magical artifacts on it.

"It is the Thick Earth Magnetic Array, and also the newly established Divine Firmament Legion of my Nine Mountains Sect."

"The Divine Firmament Legion?"

"The Divine Firmament Legion is composed of the disciples of my Nine Mountains Sect who are most skilled in thunder magic. In fact, they could all be considered your grand-disciples, Dragon Lord."

Shuyu Dragon Lord turned to look at Xiao Yuying and saw that his disciple's face was full of pride, so he secretly shook his head.

"So, you want the Divine Firmament Legion to preside over the Thick Earth Magnetic Array."

"The Dragon Lord has discerning eyes."

That's absolutely right.

The Tianhe and Shenxiao legions are the two major forces. The Tianhe legion, needless to say, is the strongest armed force and a trump card for survival.

The Shenxiao Legion, however, has a different role.

Their focus is on defense, reconnaissance, and transportation, which not only aligns perfectly with the Thick Earth Magnetic Array, but also, in essence, are all applications of lightning magic.

It's a perfect match.

"They are my source of confidence."

Upon hearing this, the Jade Dragon Lord was puzzled. She had seen the Thick Earth Magnetic Array before, and although it was quite extraordinary, how could it compare to a loose immortal avatar?
Seemingly sensing her doubt, Zheng Fa chuckled, slightly bent his middle finger, and flicked it lightly into the air.

A long red rainbow streaked across the sky.

Before the Jade Dragon Lord could figure out what was happening, the Heavenly Emperor beside him was already rushing forward with the rainbow.

With each step he took, he grew ten zhang taller. By the time he reached the Divine Firmament Legion, the Heavenly Emperor was already ten thousand zhang tall, and his knees alone were taller than the black mountain peak.

Nine golden suns surrounded him, and even his breath carried a scorching heat that could burn everything.

The Heavenly Emperor unleashed a punch that pressed down on the disciples of the Nine Mountains, its power causing the Jade Dragon Lord to exclaim in surprise, "What is this?"

"This is a drill by the Divine Firmament Legion."

"exercise?"

"Oh, I just wanted them to try and deal with a rogue immortal."

Lord Shuyu was taken aback and looked at the group of disciples, feeling a pang of pity in his heart.

What kind of lives are my disciples and grand-disciples living...?

To her surprise, while she was worried about the Divine Firmament Legion, these disciples seemed to have become accustomed to facing such a powerful enemy.

They ran swiftly across the hillside, lined up in an orderly fashion, and took out their special weapons.

The disciples' natal magic weapon appears to be a drum.

The drumbeats resounded, carrying a blue light, and spread rapidly in all directions.

The other group of disciples possessed a similar magical mirror.

They simultaneously threw the precious mirrors into the air, forming a wall that faced directly at the Heavenly Emperor's fist.

The other disciples seemed to be manipulating the Yuan Magnetic Array.

"His willpower is unwavering, but his strength..."

The Jade Dragon Lord still didn't have a high opinion of the Divine Firmament Legion. In her view, even if this group of people could control the Yuan Magnetic Array, they were only at the Dharma Body level.

Compared to the Dao Fruit, it is worlds apart.

Beside him, Zheng Fa remained silent, gazing into the distance.

Lord Shuyu couldn't help but look over, and then he noticed something unusual.

Countless beams of light surged toward this place from all directions.

Amidst the blue light, the sound of drums echoed, seemingly responding to the disciples on this side.

"There are other Divine Firmament Legions? No, there's also the Earth Vein Elemental Magnetic Power from afar?" The Jade Dragon Lord immediately understood, but became even more incredulous. "How big is your Thick Earth Elemental Magnetic Array?"

Although she was asking Zheng Fa, her gaze was fixed on the mirrored wall.

Hundreds of beams of light condensed on the mirror wall into a nearly solid white pillar, which, after being reflected by the mirror, collided with the fist of the Heavenly Emperor.

As the two met, the Jade Dragon Lord watched in disbelief as the Heavenly Emperor seemed to be unable to control himself and was overwhelmed, taking three steps back.

A group of disciples at the most advanced Nascent Soul stage actually managed to defeat a rogue immortal by using the Thick Earth Magnetic Array.
(End of this chapter)