Wang Qi prepared to take a good look at the murals on the wall. Tianyan Tulu could evolve and would not conflict with any cultivation method. As a supplementary cultivation method, practicing it now and then would probably bring endless benefits.
He had been exposed to evolutionary theory since childhood. His understanding of evolution could not be called profound, but at least he possessed a scientific concept of it.
Zhen Chanzi seemed to sense Wang Qi's thoughts. "This cultivation method is not easy to practice. I advise you to think it over carefully."
"You think there's something wrong with it?"
Zhen Chanzi pondered for a moment. "If, ten thousand years ago, a disciple had brought this cultivation method to ask for my guidance, I fear I would have cursed him out on the spot."
Wang Qi asked curiously, "Why?"
"This is not a cultivation method at all—at least, not a complete one. Put it this way: in my eyes, it is like a cultivation method with a hundred incantations, from which someone randomly picked out twenty-odd lines and made a crippled method out of them."
Wang Qi was startled. "It can't be that much of a scam, can it? You couldn't cultivate any spiritual power from this at all. Even if you forced it, you'd most likely suffer a cultivation deviation."
"But this cultivation method can, relying on those twenty-odd incantations alone, guide spiritual power through a full circuit within the body." Zhen Chanzi said, "Then, the remaining seventy or eighty incantations can all be deduced on one's own. If every cultivation method forms a framework, then other methods have fixed frameworks, with the contents inside more or less complete. But this method can barely maintain even its framework, yet it has extraordinarily high freedom, allowing its practitioner to add whatever they please."
Wang Qi beamed. "Interesting!"
"This is not a question of whether it is interesting. If you choose this cultivation method, it means you must devote enormous effort to making Heavenly Eyes. Otherwise, it may not even compare to a second-rate method!"
Wang Qi shook his head. He was not a biologist. In this world, where one needed at least university-level knowledge and qualifications before one could cultivate, his understanding of evolutionary theory was not nearly enough.
More importantly, Haisenbao's manuscript concealed spells with weighted values exceeding thirty. If he could fully integrate them during the early Qi Refining stage, then in terms of combat strength, it was not impossible for him to overturn a Primordial Spirit cultivator with the standard passerby template—of course, that was only a beautiful fantasy. Still, it showed that Wang Qi's potential capital was quite substantial. This also matched his profession from his previous life, so he should focus on the cultivation methods of Misty Palace and Myriad Dharma Sect.
Wang Qi drew a breath and rose from his meditation cushion. He passed over Sky Spirit Ridge's Illusion Devil Seal Method and Twin Mysteries Scripture, Burning Gold Valley's Heavenly Things Canon and Heavenly Transformation Art, and let his gaze fall upon Returning to One Alliance's Tian Ge Xing.
"Tian Ge Xing, the foundational cultivation method of Mai Siwei, Wan Fa Guiyi, hailed as 'the sacred pinnacle of poetry'... Maxwell's Equations, 'God's poetry'? The culmination of classical physics. Electricity, light, and force as one, with ever-changing spells; hand-to-hand—pfah, combat—is also first-rate. What is rare is that it is so rich in literary temperament."
As Wang Qi read the introduction, his heart stirred somewhat.
On nineteenth-century Earth, people had once believed physics was about to reach its end. A palace of physics, built upon Newton's towering foundation and constructed by Maxwell, stood proudly upon the world. From the planets in the sky to the stones on the ground, all things moved in respectful obedience to the laws it had laid down.
And Maxwell's Equations were mathematically perfect to an unbelievable degree. The profundity, symmetry, and beauty they displayed intoxicated every scientist. Even in the twenty-first century, Maxwell's Equations were still universally recognized as a model of scientific beauty. In the macroscopic domain humans encountered in daily life, classical mechanics still ruled everything.
Wang Qi's gaze lingered on Tian Ge Xing for a long while before he finally shook his head regretfully. "What a pity. I work with those two little dark clouds. What I believe in is, 'Philosophy and God are dead; the universe has no laws or order.'"
The "two dark clouds" referred to "the two dark clouds hanging over the sky of physics," mentioned by the British scientist Kelvin in an address to the Royal Society. Of those two clouds, one gave rise to relativity and shattered the classical view of space and time; the other sparked Quantum Mechanics and denied classical determinism. By the twenty-first century, the scientist Stephen Hawking had even cried out, "Philosophy and God are dead; the universe has no laws or order."
In the end, three cultivation methods remained for Wang Qi to choose from.
Yao Ding Suanjing, Geometry Book, and Da Li San Cantong Qi. The first two were cultivation methods of Myriad Dharma Sect, while the last came from Misty Palace.
Da Li San Cantong Qi was Misty Palace's foundational cultivation method. Unlike all mainstream methods of the present age, the spiritual power it refined was not an unbroken flowing stream, but discontinuous. The spiritual power of Da Li San Cantong Qi operated through the practitioner's body in discrete portions, and countless secret methods of Misty Palace—including Misty Unfixed Cloud Sword and Unforgiving Electric Sword—strictly required this form of spiritual power for activation.
Yao Ding Suanjing caused a "Yin Yang Yao" to form in every acupoint of the practitioner's body, greatly increasing their computational ability.
Geometry Book was a cultivation method that placed greater emphasis on abstraction. Practitioners would learn fist techniques, kicks, weapons, talisman drawing, formation setting, pill refining, and artifact forging faster than others.
"Da Li San Cantong Qi is the foundation of all Misty Palace cultivation methods. After the Foundation Establishment Realm, one can also switch to cultivating Wuding Yun Jing." Wang Qi considered. "But for theoretical physics, computational ability is equally important."
Before the twentieth century, theoretical physics had also been called "mathematical physics."
In the end, Wang Qi decided to take a look first.
Having made up his mind, Wang Qi first headed toward the side chamber containing Yao Ding Suanjing. Unexpectedly, a translucent blue membrane of light blocked his way.
"What's going on?" Wang Qi was utterly baffled. Since they had displayed the cultivation methods, were they not letting people read them?
But he quickly understood that this was not the case.
Several lines of small characters appeared on the light membrane. They seemed to be a question.
It turned out that the cultivation methods in these side chambers required a certain degree of knowledge to understand. Without grasping their essential principles, forced cultivation would only lead to cultivation deviation and the collapse of one's cultivation foundation. Thus, the Immortal Alliance had set barriers at the doors of the side chambers; only those who solved the questions could pass through.
Zhen Chanzi quickly recognized the question. "The calculation of ten fingers on both hands?"
After replacing the world-specific terminology in the question with Earth terminology, Wang Qi reached the answer as well. "Mm, a problem involving conversion between decimal and binary."
Zhen Chanzi's tone was grave. "This calculation problem is not easy. And it is merely an entry test?"
Ten thousand years ago, this question would have counted as a first-rate difficulty in mathematics. Even he, who had never concerned himself with miscellaneous studies, had heard a little of it.
Wang Qi nodded, inwardly mocking, For elementary school mathematics, it isn't easy.
Even a middle school student could solve this thing correctly.
Before the emergence of modern cultivation methods, the land of Divine Province had valued only cultivation and dismissed everything else. Zhen Chanzi's computational ability at the Mahayana Stage was indeed terrifying, but in practical terms, the old man's mathematics only remained at the level of the four basic arithmetic operations.
Because the question was far too simple, Wang Qi did not answer it immediately. He tried approaching the other side chambers. Sure enough, every side chamber had a membrane of light before it.
The test for Geometry Book was a simple proof of Euclid's first four postulates—something a mathematician like Gauss could solve at the age of ten, and probably middle-school level even in exam-oriented education.
The question for Da Li San Cantong Qi was somewhat harder: using interpolation to combine two empirical formulas into one. So it really was the blackbody radiation formula. Should one say it was worthy of a super sect where any random spell had a weighted value above eight? Compared to the first two questions, this was the difference between calculus and the four basic arithmetic operations!
Wang Qi mocked the question in his heart. Yet it was not difficult for him. Planck had pieced together the correct formula in one afternoon; Wang Qi knew the answer, and his computational ability surpassed that of the vast majority of Earthlings. Even if the light membrane awarded points for the process, he would need only half an hour.
However...
Wang Qi looked at the sky outside. He had unknowingly spent several hours reading cultivation methods. Though he had slept for an entire day earlier and was not sleepy yet, maintaining a regular schedule was important.
I'll look at Yao Ding Suanjing first, then go back after I finish.
Having decided this, Wang Qi returned to the side chamber of Yao Ding Suanjing.
Zhen Chanzi spoke in a solemn tone. "This question is not simple."
Wang Qi raised his hand and tapped the light membrane. The spot he touched immediately turned red.
Oh, it was touch-screen too.
Wang Qi was mildly surprised, then began solving the question. After he swiftly wrote down several numbers, the light membrane shattered like a soap bubble poked by a finger.
"Wait!" Zhen Chanzi shrieked in Wang Qi's mind. "How could it be so fast?"
"Because of intelligence."
Was it fun for a mathematics graduate student to use math to bully elementary school students or the semi-literate? Was it fun?
The wicked smile at the corner of Wang Qi's mouth made his answer obvious.
Zhen Chanzi lost face once again and became sullen.
The side chamber also had a cultivation method carved into the wall directly opposite the door. More than ten meditation cushions were arranged on the floor. Wang Qi sat down and spent another half hour memorizing the cultivation method.
After confirming the markings, Wang Qi rose to leave. At that moment, Zhen Chanzi, who had said nothing since earlier, suddenly spoke to him. "I feel as though I have seen this cultivation method somewhere before."
Wang Qi frowned. "Old man, did I shock you into madness?"
Creating this cultivation method required an understanding of binary. In this world, the inventor of binary was Lai Buli, the Integral Venerable of Myriad Dharma Sect, and that Free and Unfettered Cultivator had lived in the same era as Lord of Yuanli. As far as Wang Qi knew, Zhen Chanzi had still been lying in the mountains behind Dabai Village at the time.
Zhen Chanzi said, "I have indeed never seen this cultivation method. But its routes for circulating qi, its methods of exerting force—I find them all somewhat familiar."
Wang Qi thought aloud, "There were cultivation methods in the ancient system that increased computational ability too, right?"
Zhen Chanzi said, "I considered that as well, but it doesn't seem right?"
"Myriad Dharma Sect has also been passed down from ancient times to the present. Maybe you saw it before?"
"Impossible. Ten thousand years ago, Myriad Dharma Sect was merely a small sect on the verge of dying out. I barely remember it at all, much less have any old ties with the patriarch of Myriad Dharma Sect."
Wang Qi scratched his head. "Then think it over slowly. We can talk again once you remember."
The old man was pitiable too. After ten thousand years of loneliness, he had discovered that the thing he had fought for all his life was a joke. Every so often, he was struck by the achievements of the present age. Now he could only rely on a little illusion to brush up his sense of existence.
There were supposedly quite a few remnants of ancient cultivators' souls sealed within magical artifacts. Should he find the old man an old lady in a ring? Wang Qi began seriously considering the matter.
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