Applied Immortality

“Believe me, believe me, believe me!”

“Ah~! Leave me alone!”

“Believe me… ah!”

“Get off me, creep!”

Xiang Qi huffed out of breath in an attempt to wiggle her leg out of Su Junyu’s grasp. Su Junyu, however, showed a carefree smile on his battered face and said, “Not unless you hear my explanation of what really happened!”

Xiang Qi was disgusted, turning to Wang Qi who watched the show from the sidelines and said, “Great work, you prick.”

Wang Qi spread his arms and said, “Senior Brother Su did all the work.” 

What was the surefire way to prove that a guy was not batting for the other team or liked crossing swords with the fellow man? 

Easy, by hitting on girls.

Wang Qi’s idea fit perfectly with Myriad Arts Sect’s debating style and convinced Su Junyu to use it. To prove he didn’t swing the wrong way, Su Junyu went beyond the call of duty in preserving his honor as he threw himself at Xiang Qi. 

Based on Wang Qi’s prior knowledge, Su Junyu wasn’t adept at brawls, leading to the defendant ending up punching a bag in the process of proving himself against someone tempered in Scorching Metal Valley and Heavenly Spirit Range’s ways.

Wang Qi saw Su Junyu’s swift reason to act in another way: “In my personal opinion, Brother Su might just be too obsessed in this regard.”

After Su Junyu made a scene, Xiang Qi calmed down enough to stop inflicting blunt-force trauma on the poor guy and regain the necessary patience to hear their explanation.

Xiang Qi gave a curious look. “Wang Qi, just what epiphany did you have to be excited enough to… to follow ‘his’ tradition?” 

Wang Qi laughed, “Life.”

Xiang Qi shook her head, knowing he was jocking, and didn’t push him for answers.

Xiang Qi’s main job at the Immortal Institute was to guide last year’s freshmen in alchemy and refining. This had her so busy that Wang Qi only got to see her every few days. She happened to come this time to the storeroom to pick up materials on her way to see an old friend. The trio shot the breeze for a while, then Xiang Qi said her goodbyes. Wang Qi bid left for his afternoon class moments later as well. 

During sword practice, Geng Peng called out Wang Qi’s mistakes enough times to not seem too distant or too pushy. Wang Qi wasn’t dumb enough to get angry over it; he was happy to follow the instructions. Geng Peng grumbled instead, having no reason to pick on the diligent student.

After class, Wang Qi finished his dinner in double time and checked his schedule. He then came up with a simple reason for the assistant teacher and skip the Basic Pill Theory. 

His aim was the Arts Archive.

Entering the back area, Wang Qi sat before the Evolution Chart. He didn’t jump straight to cultivating, scrutinizing the cultivation method engraved on the wall instead.

Only when he achieved peace of mind did Wang Qi recall the cultivation methods he was training in.

Wang Qi specialized in physics and math on Earth and was not about to relinquish that advantage. What’s more, this field was his passion. Math meant Myriad Arts Sect’s Divine Hexagram Computation and Book of Geometry. While the closest equivalent to quantum physics on Divine Province was none other than Elusive Palace’s Grand Discrete Unity Treatise.

The foundation of quantum physics was the concept of wave-particle duality. Wang Qi thus believed he had to grasp the cultivation method Wave-particle Duality, and the easiest way to comprehend it was by training in Solar Flare alongside Heavenly Light Transmutation. As for the Grand Ripple Enigma, it was derived from the mental art Wave-particle Duality.

The Grand Discrete Unity Treatise stated that this cultivation method amplified a light, electric, or magnetic cultivation method to twice its power. The best cultivation method in the photo-electronic field was none other than Celestial Hymn Odyssey.

Wang Qi had Daoist Proscribe’s works as well, their content aligning with matrix mechanics, yet Elusive Palace didn’t use matrices at the core of their cultivation methods. To understand Daoist Proscribe’s skills, Wang Qi needed an extrapolation art. In the case of matrices, only Elusive Palace’s Grand Heavenly Chart and Myriad Arts Sect’s Way of Alignment came to mind. The former was a compendium of magic treasure diagrams for refining, obtainable only as a Golden Core cultivator. The latter required plenty of merits to be exchanged in the Immortal Alliance. However, Earth scientists proved that wave mechanics and matrix mechanics were equivalent from a mathematical aspect. This forced Wang Qi to train in the basic wave mechanics cultivation method, Waveform Essence.

Last, but not least, coprehending entropy required Wang Qi to take on Celestial Entropy as well.

The modern system had a measure in place to prevent disciples of the Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core from letting power get to their heads by the swift increase in cultivation exhibited in these realms. The measure consisted of deliberately filling a disciple’s schedule with tons of training and practice to hone his mind; hence Secular Stage. 

From others’ descriptions of the Secular Stage, Wang Qi found it totally natural to postpone his cultivation for a year, which he initially planned to spend on trying different mental arts. It came as a surprise, however, how severe the conflict between his cultivation methods was. He had to be extremely cautious about maintaining them in perfect balance. This made it impossible to sink his complete focus on cultivation or renounce his spiritual power. 

Now, Wang Qi finally had the answer to break out of this impasse.

Checking once more to see if he got the Evolution Chart’s details right, he cleared his mind and meditated.

As random thoughts were silenced one by one and his mind focused, his meridians adjusted per the Evolution Chart’s instructions, and soon Wang Qi felt the stirring of energy. The first strand of spiritual power came through the meridian on the top of his head.

What made humans so different from demons was their innate intellect. Human intellect, or sentience, did not improve through cultivation, but through age. The Evolutionary Divine Lord believed the defining trait of humanity was evolving a brain. The Evolution Chart, dedicated to humanity’s cultivation, began gathering spiritual power at the head.

Wang Qi’s hands flowed through gestures, guiding the spiritual power. The various acupoints throughout the body connected with the breath of the world and gathered spiritual energy, expanding the frail thread.

Despite the minute addition of spiritual power, it was enough to throw Wang Qi’s inner balance out the window.

Celestial Hymn Odyssey and Heavenly Light Transmutation clashed, with the Grand Discrete Unity Treatise even working against it. Furthermore, it was also at odds with the Grand Ripple Enigma and Waveform Essence. The Celestial Hymn Odyssey’s spiritual power was at its breaking point. With the balance destroyed, the powerful electromagnetic spiritual power ran amok.

Wang Qi felt his abdomen numb at first, leading into Celestial Hymn Odyssey’s spiritual power degenerating and turning into lightning roaming throughout his body. Wang Qi’s body tingled as it spread, making even his hair stand up.

He remained unphased in his focus, resolved to guide the Evolution Chart’s spiritual power to perform a complete revolution.

Celestial Hymn Odyssey’s electromagnetic field triggered the Grand Discrete Unity Treatise’s spiritual power. The quantized spiritual power stampeded out of his acupoints. The uneven spiritual power twisted the electromagnetic field around Wang Qi. The sudden pain in his meridians led to Evolution Chart’s spiritual power deviating!