Xiang Qi looked at Wang Qi. "Your moves have gotten better! Have you decided which cultivation technique to practice?"
Wang Qi asked, "How could you tell?"
He simply had not had the time to practice any mental cultivation method!
"The feel of that kick was different."
So kicking people was a skilled trade too? She had built up experience?
The moment Su Junyu entered, he pulled out a book of unknown content and sat down to study it. Hearing this, he smiled. "Actually, the violent girl dragged me here three times already, and you weren't around any of those times. Considering where you could go now, only Chuan Gong Hall fits, right?"
"Shut up!" Xiang Qi snapped at Su Junyu, then explained to Wang Qi, "The movement you used just now to shed force showed that you had at least organized your mana according to some technique. And judging by how immediate the effect was, it was most likely from the Myriad Dharma Sect."
Wang Qi had no choice but to admire Xiang Qi's eagle-eyed insight. He really had used the Yi Bi Suanjing to circulate his heavenly cycle just now.
Su Junyu finally looked up and gave a thumbs-up. "Good eye. Our Myriad Dharma Sect mental methods are orthodox golden standards and almost never conflict with other techniques. Even if you do not specialize in them later, they are good for supplementary or concurrent cultivation."
Xiang Qi continued, "The reason I came over now was because I forgot to tell you about the finer points of choosing a cultivation technique."
Wang Qi raised an eyebrow. "There are tricks to it?"
Xiang Qi nodded. "There are, but most disciples only arrive at the Immortal Academy half a month later, so no one teaches this until then. We were afraid you would rush into cultivation and choose the wrong technique."
"If I choose wrong, can't I switch?"
Xiang Qi shook her head. "Of course you can switch, but it is a thankless task that takes twice the effort. Besides, the Immortal Academy exists so that seekers of immortality can choose the right techniques based on their talents and temperament, rather than discovering only after entering a sect that they are better suited to another school's methods."
So the Immortal Academy's true face was career guidance for choosing a major!
Su Junyu added, "Modern methods understand the Great Dao more and more thoroughly. If you cannot study one aspect to its utmost peak, you cannot take that final step. If you force yourself to learn a subject incompatible with you first, then spend more energy switching paths, you are bound to fall far behind others."
Wang Qi nodded. "I see. Then what exactly are these finer points?"
Xiang Qi asked, "How many introductory books have you read? Which parts did you find easier, and which did you find interesting?"
Wang Qi pondered for a moment. Based on what he had learned in his previous life, the Myriad Dharma Sect and Misty Palace would have been his first choices. Judging from Unforgiving Taoist's manuscript, he ought to be bluffing Misty Palace. But if he told Xiang Qi right now that what he liked was Quantum Mechanics, which still carried quite the air of mystical charlatanism in the Divine Land, it would be far too shocking. He chose his words carefully. "After reading the mathematical texts here, I felt suddenly enlightened. I like mathematics too. And... I find the Path of the Misty very interesting."
Su Junyu cultivated Bai Ze Calculation, one of the staunchest supporters of determinism, and was deeply disgusted by Misty Palace's "misty uncertainty." "What is interesting about that mystical mumbo-jumbo? It is nothing but mud and sand piled into a city, liable to collapse at any moment."
Xiang Qi rebutted, "How can you deny the many wondrous methods of Misty Palace? At the very least, the Great Dao they explored solved heavenly-base bonds and orbital hybridization, greatly advancing the mental methods and spells of Burning Gold Valley."
"Heavenly-base bonds?" Wang Qi asked in confusion. "Orbital hybridization" resembled Earth's term "orbital hybridization," so it was not hard to understand. But what were "heavenly-base bonds"?
Xiang Qi gave him a rough explanation. In the Divine Land, atoms were commonly called the "foundation of heavenly things," shortened to "heavenly bases." The force linking two atoms together was called a "heavenly-base bond" because it functioned like a button—what Earth called a chemical bond.
Watching Su Junyu and Xiang Qi argue, Wang Qi fell into thought.
It was about what he had guessed. The basic theories of Quantum Mechanics had already taken shape in this world, but when it came to explaining wave function collapse, there was still only the Copenhagen School's observer effect; several other mainstream interpretations had yet to appear. And because of the Myriad Dharma Sect's existence and Divine Lord Bai Ze's influence, the hidden-variable school—which believed wave function collapse came from some physical quantity they had not yet observed—had not been thoroughly buried after de Broglie proposed it as it had been on Earth. Instead, it had a large body of unwavering supporters.
And one thing was certain: Bell's Inequality, which played a decisive role in the history of physics, had not yet appeared.
Unable to settle their dispute, Xiang Qi could only shake her head. "Enough! One day, Senior Bo'er will design an experiment to prove himself!"
Su Junyu immediately fired back. "That is if he can first find a way to break the Wave Heavenly Monarch's seal and rescue that spirit cat that is both alive and dead."
Xue Ding'e's cat...
Wang Qi silently mocked the similarity between the two worlds.
Xiang Qi stopped arguing with Su Junyu and continued speaking to Wang Qi. "Do not listen to him. In short, your attainments and talent in the path of mathematics are currently the highest, yet you are interested in the Path of the Misty? Then it is either the Myriad Dharma Sect or Misty Palace—personally, I recommend Misty Palace."
Su Junyu was dissatisfied. "Hey!"
"If you enter the Myriad Dharma Sect, you will become jumpy, taciturn, shut yourself indoors, and perhaps pick up all sorts of strange habits..."
Did that mean mathematicians were all shut-ins? Wang Qi instantly felt as though an arrow had struck his knee.
"Of course, you have to choose for yourself." Xiang Qi changed the subject. "Whether it is Misty Palace or the Myriad Dharma Sect, it is your own choice. Next, I need to tell you a few things to watch out for."
"First, the technique you choose must suit your temperament. A cultivation technique is a matter for a lifetime. If it does not fit your nature, it will only leave you with lifelong regret."
"Second, you must distinguish between primary and secondary..."
As Xiang Qi explained and Su Junyu supplemented her words, Wang Qi gradually came to understand some features of modern cultivation methods.
Modern methods all arose from the Great Dao of heaven and earth and the laws of all things, so they were fundamentally very similar. The mutual rejection between techniques was also slight. In theory, it was not impossible for someone to cultivate every modern technique at once.
But that was only in theory.
First, to cultivate a technique to a deeper level, one had to possess a profound understanding of the laws corresponding to that technique. A cultivator's energy was limited, after all. Trying to master everything would only leave one mediocre at everything.
Second, although modern methods all led directly to the Great Dao in essence, the scope of the "Great Dao" was simply too vast. Different applications revealed different laws. For example, the Maxwell's Equations behind Tian Ge Xing could explain electromagnetic activity in the macroscopic world, but they could not explain the photoelectric effect or delve into the microscopic realm. The Quantum Mechanics corresponding to Da Li San Cantong Qi, meanwhile, had never found a path from the microscopic to the macroscopic. Accordingly, Tian Ge Xing emphasized unbroken, continuous circulation of qi, while the movement of mana in Da Li San Cantong Qi was discontinuous. The two could never be cultivated together.
But this did not mean modern mental methods could not be cultivated concurrently. Cultivating both Yao Ding Suanjing and Geometry Book could yield the Myriad Dharma Sect's supreme canon, Xiangyu Tianwei Technique. And if Lieyang Boqi and Tianguang Huawu Jue were cultivated to profound depths, then combined with Particle-Wave Dual Form passed down by Taiyi Tianzun Ai Citam, one could truly glimpse the gateway to the Dao of light.
Besides two techniques that opposed and complemented one another advancing side by side, there was also the model of specializing in one while supplementing with several. For instance, cultivating Da Li San Cantong Qi alongside electromagnetic and light techniques such as Leiting Jue or Tianguang Huawu Jue could raise the power of electromagnetic techniques to another level. Yao Ding Suanjing and Tianyan Tulu were the most common supplementary techniques. These two mental methods basically did not conflict with other mental methods or external spells, and they could even increase the power of one's primary technique!
As the two spoke, the shape of the modern immortal path's skill tree gradually took form in Wang Qi's mind.
So the modern immortal path's skill tree was utterly different from that of ancient methods! In ancient methods, one cultivation technique was one independent skill tree, locking away all possibilities for development from the very start. But the modern skill tree was interwoven in every direction. Some skills existed on several different skill trees at once, while others could only be learned by investing in two skill trees simultaneously.
Damn it! That made choosing even harder! There were so many good techniques—he could not bear to give up any of them!
Wang Qi looked at Xiang Qi with some resentment.
At that moment, Xiang Qi gave her final warning. "Lastly, you must remember this to the death! If you discover that a technique is incompatible with you, stop cultivating it immediately!"
Wang Qi did not understand. "Why?"
"The Immortal Academy is where you are allowed to make mistakes! Here, you can come into contact with all sorts of techniques and make more attempts. Since you have not yet gone deeply into any field, switching paths costs comparatively little. But the Immortal Alliance will not grant such opportunities without end. Once you leave the Immortal Academy, if you want to change sects again, you will have to pass through layer upon layer of trials, and you will have to bear the cost yourself!"
Wang Qi's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The young man had not absorbed Xiang Qi's warning at all. Instead, her words gave Wang Qi a crazy idea.
Only after Xiang Qi and Su Junyu had left did Zhen Chanzi speak. "Kid, you are not about to go crazy again, are you?"
"Hahaha." Wang Qi laughed loudly. "That is right! I have terminal indecision. But... haha! Even the Immortal Alliance approves! Youth is for making mistakes!"
Before you continue