Jobs was gone, and Zuckerberg remained. He began to diligently follow Zhang Jintao in learning the cultivation techniques of the Zheng Yi lineage. Every morning at six, he would meditate and cultivate under the first rays of sunlight.
According to his master, this first light of morning was a rare purple qi between heaven and earth. At this time, as all things revived, the qi in the world was particularly abundant and pure, making it suitable for cultivation.
However, Zuckerberg failed on his first attempt, as he could not yet enter a stable meditative state. He harbored doubts until the third day when he finally succeeded in entering a meditative state. He then discovered that during his meditation, the points of light around him became exceptionally abundant, many more than before. The cultivation effect was more than ten times that of usual, which made Zuckerberg overjoyed. He then sighed that coming to China was indeed a very correct choice, otherwise, he would absolutely be unable to master such techniques.
But, is it possible that this was because he was cultivating under the sunlight, and the light was exceptionally strong, leading him to see more light points?
Well, anyway, our ancestors passed it down like this, so there must be a reason!
However, this wonderful time only lasted for about an hour before his senior brothers called him awake. This was because their master had specifically instructed them that cultivating under sunlight was also a very dangerous thing, as it was very easy to let yang energy enter the body, causing a disorder of yin and yang. Therefore, they could only cultivate for one hour every morning and must not exceed it, otherwise, it would be harmful rather than beneficial.
After the morning cultivation, they would proceed with morning classes, mainly reciting various Daoist classics, and then cleaning the Tianshi Mansion, until around 11 AM when they were allowed to have their meal.
Afterward, many tourists visiting the Tianshi Mansion would be surprised to see a group of foreigners wearing Daoist robes sweeping the ground, weeding, or explaining things to tourists in broken Chinese, which was quite fantastical.
Some people, recalling later, seemed to remember seeing the CEO of Weibo, Zuckerberg, who was deified on the internet, sweeping the ground, but they were not sure. They thought it was just someone with a similar appearance, as foreigners generally looked alike.
In the afternoon, there were two hours for afternoon classes. Zhang Jintao would explain cultivation techniques to all his disciples, and the disciples could also raise their doubts to their master. It wasn't until after 3 PM that it was finally free activity time.
However, despite being called free activity, it actually meant activities near the Tianshi Mansion. Unless there were special tasks, they were not allowed to leave the scope of the Tianshi Mansion.
But during this period, there was an even more interesting place to go, which was to practice Daoist martial arts. At this time, the Tianshi Mansion would open its training hall and dispatch several disciples to teach Daoist martial arts in the training hall, such as Tai Chi Chuan and Tai Chi Sword. Of course, these were just examples. The Tianshi Mansion would absolutely not teach its disciples the skills of the damned Wudang sect.
The Tianshi Mansion naturally had its own Tianshi Fist and Tianshi Sword, which were also superior Daoist martial arts, and they also required coordination with the internal qi to be effective. Zuckerberg practiced a few times and became very fascinated, as Zuckerberg had also been a martial arts enthusiast in the past.
If I don't want to practice martial arts, I can also go to the Elixir Hall, where there are people who teach alchemy.
Yes, it's really alchemy, where various herbs and materials are added to produce immortal elixirs. However, they no longer use ancient alchemical furnaces. This thing's heat control was really difficult, so they directly used modern temperature-controlled ovens, which could also bake all sorts of elixirs.
Of course, what came out of the oven was not directly elixirs. Sometimes it was soup, sometimes it was mud, or sometimes it was hard stones. Anyway, it wasn't like the elixirs in TV shows that came out of the alchemical furnace as round, chocolate-like pills.
This required further processing. If the result was soup, then flour would be added and mixed, and then baked into elixirs.
If it was mud, then starch would be added and mixed, and then baked into elixirs.
If it was a hard object, then it would be pounded into powder in a medicine mortar, and then viscous flour would be added to form elixirs.
Well, anyway, it needed some further processing to be taken smoothly, as this was not a fantasy novel, after all. Zuckerberg was also very fond of alchemy. These three hours were the few times he could enjoy happiness in the Tianshi Mansion.
This continued until dinner at 6 PM.
After dinner, they would cultivate for another two hours, and then the lights would be turned off for sleep. It was around 8:00 PM.
Zuckerberg was going mad living this kind of life. Sleeping at 8 PM and waking up at 5 AM, what kind of ridiculous schedule was this? How could Mr. Zuckerberg, who was accustomed to living in a big city, tolerate such a schedule? Wasn't this killing him?
So, in the first week, Zuckerberg couldn't help but want to escape several times. He even took action a few times, but was caught by the elusive senior brothers nearby. Only after Zhang Jintao directly questioned him whether he wanted to be expelled from the Chi Men sect did he become obedient.
However, after a month, Zuckerberg's mindset changed.
Firstly, he had gradually adapted to such a schedule and didn't feel as uncomfortable as he did at the beginning.
Secondly, Zuckerberg found that his body was getting better and better, his energy was becoming more and more abundant, and his entire body seemed to have entered a state of vigorous growth, filled with vitality.
Thus, Zuckerberg became even more trusting of cultivation, transforming from a somewhat resistant mindset to fully cooperating with the life in the Tianshi Mansion.
Of course, is there also a possibility that this was because his life had become regular, his diet lighter, and he was living with four people, making it inconvenient for... well, anything, thus maintaining a pure state, and therefore his whole person naturally became full of vitality?
Of course, no matter what, Zuckerberg gradually fell in love with such a life, and the Tianshi Mansion did not just make them suffer.
By the end of March, the Tianshi Mansion unusually announced a day off for everyone, allowing them to go to a nearby city to rest for a day.
According to the master, this was called balancing work and rest. One couldn't just cultivate constantly, otherwise, problems would arise over time.
This made Zuckerberg and the others very happy. So, the five disciples decided to go out and have fun together. As the two local Chinese disciples, Ma Siyu and He Ma, naturally acted as guides, taking them around nearby.
But, weren't they the Seven Disciples of Zheng Yi? Why were there only five left?
This was naturally because the second senior brother, Jobs, had returned to the United States to manage his company, and the youngest junior sister, Leng Zhiting, was still a junior high school student. She said she came to visit during winter break and happened to encounter the Grand Opening Ceremony. So, she jokingly registered and was actually selected, becoming the youngest junior sister among everyone.
However, she only stayed at the Tianshi Mansion for half a month before school started, and she had to return to attend classes. But every Saturday and Sunday, she would rush back to rest. As it was currently class time, she was not here.
The Tianshi Mansion was located in Yt City, Jiangxi Province, about 25 kilometers away. This city was not large and not too prosperous, so they had essentially finished exploring it by morning.
As everyone pondered how to relax in the afternoon, they heard third senior sister Ma Siyu suggest, "Why don't we find an internet cafe and watch 'Floating in the Mist and Rain' together!"
Ma Siyu and He Ma were graduates of prestigious universities, so their English was naturally fluent. The foreign disciples had no communication problems. However, a group of Chinese people speaking English on Chinese soil felt exceptionally strange.
But Zuckerberg and the others were also working hard to learn Chinese, because they realized that if they could not master Chinese, they would never be able to read the ancient classics of their sect. After all, most of these classics were written in classical Chinese and were full of content that could only be understood by those familiar with Chinese. Therefore, a foundation in Chinese was essential.
"Sure, I haven't watched it for over a month. I guess the finale has already aired, so we can watch it all at once!" He Ma immediately agreed.
Hearing their words, the eldest disciple, Zuckerberg, couldn't help but say somewhat proudly, "You guys haven't watched 'Floating in the Mist and Rain' yet? I've already finished watching it in the United States!"
"Oh, right, it was released earlier in the United States!" Ma Siyu suddenly realized.
"Hmph, it's really infuriating! This is clearly our China's legend, and it was invested and filmed by Chinese people. Why was it released in the United States first!" He Ma said resentfully.
"Junior brother, you don't understand. This is due to capital considerations!" Zuckerberg was in a good mood, so he explained, "The United States is the largest market in the world, so of course, it had to be released in the United States first. Otherwise, if it were released in other regions first and the plot was exposed, how would that affect the movie's box office?"
"Hmph, I think this Jiangnan Group is a scoundrel who colludes with foreign countries!" He Ma said with great indignation.
"Cough cough!" Zuckerberg coughed, and He Ma then reacted, realizing that the foreigners were right beside him. He quickly added, "Senior brother, I wasn't talking about you guys. You came all the way to our China, you are our own people!"
"Alas, you can't say that. Actually, if it weren't for 'Floating in the Mist and Rain,' I probably wouldn't have come to China in my life!" Zuckerberg sighed, and the other foreign disciples nearby nodded in agreement. They were all attracted by 'Floating in the Mist and Rain'!
"Let's go. Senior brother will accompany you to watch the movie today, and senior brother guarantees not to give you any spoilers, even though I've memorized all six hours of content from the three movies!" Zuckerberg said proudly.
"Movie? Isn't 'Floating in the Mist and Rain' a TV series?" Ma Siyu suddenly asked with confusion.