History

Earth and Shenzhou, two worlds that should have been completely unrelated.

For instance, Shenzhou's "Heavenly Order Table" bore a striking resemblance to Earth's periodic table, both featuring seven periods and one hundred and eighteen elements with similar chemical properties. However, as far as Wang Qi remembered, the atomic mass values on the Heavenly Order Table differed subtly from those on the periodic table. This implied that the mass and properties of protons, neutrons, and electrons in Shenzhou were different from Earth's.

Among these numerous differences, the most significant was a physical quantity known as "spiritual energy."

In Earth's physics, "spiritual energy" had no place. For theories that were self-consistent and could explain all known phenomena, spiritual energy was merely an unnecessary entity, easily excised by Occam's Razor.

But in Shenzhou, even ordinary people could sense a trace of spiritual energy from heaven and earth through cultivation mantras and martial arts. Furthermore, rare treasures with bizarre physical properties were endlessly produced.

Based on this alone, Wang Qi could conclude that this was not the spacetime of Earth, but another universe.

However...

Improper Taoist Haishenbao, Quantum Grandmaster Bo Er, Unreasonable Taoist Po Li, Laser Lady Ma Juli, Five Masters' Extinction Qian Xueshen, Crown of Ten Thousand Laws Chen Jingyun, Sword's Roar in the Firmament Deng Jiaxuan, Gay, oh no, Mechanical Old Man Turing...

These carefree cultivators, whose names seemed like a prank by some Heavenly Dao brother, served as a reminder to Wang Qi. This world was connected to Earth.

And since both worlds possessed "scientific logic," this connection must be investigable! Perhaps his transmigration was related to this.

The initial method to investigate this connection was to find its patterns.

Wang Qi meticulously extracted all the major figures from the history of immortal cultivation and compiled them into a timeline.

"The ancient period is so messy," Wang Qi shook his head. "The universally acknowledged founder of the modern school of cultivation in Shenzhou is the Primordial Heavenly Lord Bigoci, who is the otherworldly counterpart of Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician. This aligns with Earth's scientific history. Devil Master Jimide, Archimedes' otherworldly counterpart, also fits. But why are there no records of other members of the Pythagorean school?"

"Next, 'Heavenly Calculator' Zu Zhongzhi? The otherworldly counterpart of Zu Chongzhi, the true founder of the Ten Thousand Laws lineage, who later integrated the legacies of Bigoci and Jimide. The only issue is, his birth date predates the founder of Shanhe City, Zhang Heng, the 'Earth Tremor' Devil Master -- Zu Chongzhi lived during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, so he should have lived after Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty."

"One of the predecessors of Wanhuagu, a branch of Tianlingling, was founded by Sun Simiao and Li Shizhen, from the same era... I know that Sun Simiao was from the Tang Dynasty and Li Shizhen from the Ming Dynasty..."

"Many of the founders of the modern school of cultivation in the ancient period are otherworldly counterparts of Earth's scientists, but their timelines are all jumbled."

After reaching this conclusion, Wang Qi turned his attention to the founding period of the modern school. "This phase began with Xuanxing Temple re-establishing the celestial system and Ge Bai defecting from the Sacred Infant Cult. The biggest problem lies with Darwin, the God of Heaven's Choice -- I have to say, the person who translated 'Darwin' back then was quite talented... A surname 'Da' and a name 'Erwen', it's completely seamless."

Darwin, the God of Heaven's Choice, the first carefree cultivator in Shenzhou. Although there were a few elders in the Ten Thousand Laws Sect who had transitioned from the Great Vehicle stage of ancient cultivation to become carefree cultivators, their transition undoubtedly occurred later than the Heavenly Chosen Lord's enlightenment.

"The Darwin on Earth was born much later than Newton, but this Heavenly Chosen Lord is surprisingly senior."

Then came the era of the first genius explosion in the modern school.

"Newton, Boyle, Hooke, Leibniz, all the way to Euler... The otherworldly counterparts of these figures were born relatively 'orderly'. The convergence of history between the two worlds grew stronger."

"By the generation of Old Man Hai, it was almost identical to Earth's history," Wang Qi muttered. "Then, the historical relevance began to sharply decrease."

If this world's development truly mirrored Earth's, then based on differing interpretations of the principle of "Schrödinger's wave function collapse" in quantum mechanics, the Misty Palace should have at least branched out into several factions by now. However, from the descriptions of the Misty Palace's techniques he had heard, Shenzhou currently only had a single Copenhagen interpretation of the observer theory.

"After that, the similarity between the two worlds' histories drastically weakened. Few scientists who emerged in the sixties and seventies on Earth had otherworldly counterparts in Shenzhou. Their theories also appeared infrequently... The last cultivator with an Earthly counterpart was the Immovable Dharma King Hawking of Xuanxing Temple."

"And the beginning of all this..." Wang Qi's gaze shifted to a point on the timeline he had drawn. "The difference between the Shenzhou cultivator Suo Mofei and the Earth scientist Arnold Sommerfeld."

The Misty Palace cultivator Suo Mofei was not famous in Shenzhou's history, with only a record of "died unexpectedly, entrusting his disciples Po Li and Haishenbao to his senior brother Bo Er."

The problem lay in this "unexpected death"!

Arnold Sommerfeld only left his disciples Pauli and Heisenberg to Bohr because it was a normal job transfer. Afterward, Sommerfeld continued to teach and mentor students. Furthermore, Sommerfeld himself had been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics dozens of times, making him far from someone to be glossed over.

"In other words, compared to his Earthly counterpart, Suo Mofei truly met an untimely end. Moreover, the cause of death was omitted. There must be a colossal secret behind this!"

Wang Qi rubbed his head, crumpling the paper on which he had compiled the timeline into a ball. "Why is this happening?"

According to records, Suo Mofei was already a grandmaster in the Nirvana stage when he died. Given the insane weighting system of the Misty Palace's laws, Suo Mofei could not have been killed unless he was besieged by cultivators in the Mahayana stage or attacked by a carefree cultivator.

Wang Qi scratched his head, pondering deeply. The effects of the Thousand Plague and Ten Thousand Poisons Needle made him feel alternately hot and cold, and his head throbbed as if it would split open.

Finally, he sighed, "Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I'll put it aside for now. Hmm, a high-level cultivator in the Nirvana stage has fallen. Me, at the Qi Refining stage, getting involved would be a bit overconfident."

With that, he grabbed the bedsheet, covered himself, and fell asleep.

Before drifting off, a smile curved Wang Qi's lips. "However, this world is indeed quite interesting!"

Wang Qi was unaware that in mid-air, a pair of eyes had been watching him the entire time.

Seeing that Wang Qi had fallen asleep, Chen Jingyun, who was suspended in mid-air, flickered. Then, a crumpled piece of paper appeared in his hand. Chen Jingyun carefully unfurled the paper with Magical Power and examined it closely. It was the very paper Wang Qi had used to organize the timeline of Shenzhou's immortal cultivation history!

Traversing the cosmos! Chen Jingyun used a spatial escape technique to retrieve the paper from Wang Qi's room without Zhen Chanzi noticing!

Suddenly, the grandmaster on the verge of becoming a carefree cultivator's Adam's apple bobbed. "He's actually investigating the death of True Person Suo Mofei?"

On the timeline, the event of "Suo Mofei's death" was heavily marked.

Chen Jingyun's gaze shifted as he surveyed Wang Qi's bedroom.

Finally, he shook his head, as if trying to convince himself, and whispered, "This is not necessarily the case. Do not overstep your bounds."

When Wang Qi woke up again, it was already the evening of the next day. The symptoms of a low-grade fever caused by the Thousand Plague and Ten Thousand Poisons Needle had subsided, but his body was still somewhat weak. What displeased Wang Qi the most was that his clothes and sheets were soaked with sweat, but he had been transported to Xinyue by Xiang Qi, Yan Heyi, while unconscious, so there were no spare clothes prepared.

Wang Qi grinned, putting the task of acquiring new clothes on his agenda.

Fortunately, he was a cultivator, and his Magical Power was still functional. He first surveyed the room and unexpectedly discovered something resembling a faucet, with a small seal script on it. Inputting Magical Power would cause water to flow out. He washed his **pants under the "faucet," then used Magical Power to steam them dry, and finally put on the magic robe issued by the Immortal Alliance, making himself presentable enough to go out.

At this moment, Wang Qi's stomach protested. He temporarily abandoned the idea of washing clothes and decided to head to the mess hall for dinner.

The mess hall was not far from the dormitory; Wang Qi reached it in a few minutes. The mess hall of the immortal academy was not as luxurious as those in the inner city commercial districts, with bluestone floors and long tables with benches. The reporting period for disciples from noble families had not yet arrived, so there weren't many people eating. The mess hall, illuminated by fluorescent lamps, felt somewhat empty.

Those enrolling now were either recommended by the lecture hall supervisors due to their talent or were rogue cultivators like Wang Qi, discovered by chance. They were not familiar with each other and sat far apart in small groups. At the entrance to the mess hall kitchen, a cultivator in blue sat with a large pile of food boxes beside him. Wang Qi estimated the person to be at the Foundation Establishment Realm and figured he was the cafeteria worker he often dealt with in his previous life, so he walked over. The blue-clothed cultivator, seeing someone approach, got straight to the point and handed Wang Qi a food box. "Remember to return the food box to the mess hall after you're done."

Wang Qi casually found a spot to sit, opened the food box, and was immediately stunned.

The surname Da originated from the Ji surname and was a descendant of Emperor Zhuanxu. Although rare among the Han Chinese, it was a surname with a traceable lineage.