Applied Immortality

Wang Qi couldn’t contain his frantic heart and wild mind.

“Senior Li, your Heavenly Sword… might it be also called, Fat Man, Thin man, or Little Boy?” 

Li Ziye started and frowned, “It sounds nothing like how a flying sword should be called. How did you come up with them?”

“Because they’re names of nukes. You’re nuclear sword immortals!”

“Eh?” Xiang Qi was the next to be stumped.

Zhen Chanzi sighed, “The kid is being his weird self again. Just ignore him.” 

Xiang Qi probed his noggin with a question, “Is that… so?”

Wang Qi whined, “Hey, don’t label others insane just because you didn’t get the reference!”

Zhen Chanzi, “That’s just how you act.”

Xiang Qi grimaced, “Ancient cultivators believe they have to go… cuckoo to get enlightened? You’re sick!” 

Zhen Chanzi howled with all his spiritual sense, “At least I’m normal!”

Li Ziye came to his senses at long last. He mediated the argument between Zhen Chanzi and Xiang Qi while putting away the Heavenly Sword, “Junior Sister, the four seniors are pursuing Daoist Proscribe. What do you think we should do next?”

Wang Qi asked, “What’s the mission?”

Li Ziye chuckled, “Speaking of, Junior Brother, you’re part of it. Elusive Palace makes thorough investigations, down to the last detail. Even Unfettered experts will find it hard to sneak inside Elusive Palace. Daoist Proscribe won’t be caught as long as he isn’t trapped, thanks to his special movement art. Immortal Alliance’s plan was to have a representative with low cultivation to approach him and distract him.” 

Wang Qi pointed at Xiang Qi, “So Fairy Xiang came here to draw his notice? Using looks to get the old man distracted?”

A sharp sound echoed as Xiang Qi’s flying sword popped in front of Wang Qi, pointing at his neck.

Xiang Qi’s hissed, “Some things are better left unsaid.”

“A-ha-ha-ha, it was just a harmless joke, Fairy!”

Li Ziye sighed, “You guys… But we were troubled as to how to enter the village without drawing Daoist Proscribe’s suspicion.”

Xiang Qi huffed, putting away the flying sword.

Wang Qi felt his neck in relief, “Why not have Fairy Xiang act like a deserter that ran into the village with Senior Li chasing her?”

Li Ziye shook his head, “It occurred to us as well, but to not let Daoist Proscribe become aware of everything and prevent his sympathizers inside Immortal Alliance from leaking the information, Junior Sister Xiang and I were thus transferred here. I am a Myriad Arts Sect disciple.”

Zhen Chanzi asked, “What’s so special about this sect?”

“Its disciples are best at running calculations and infer into thousands of arts.” Li Ziye’s eyes shone with a bit of pride at his declaration, “When Myriad Arts Sect disciples fight, they’re either defeated or the enemy would never escape them, ever.”

Xiang Qi continued, “Precisely, there was a shift in the spiritual energy in the air and Senior Brother Li calculated it to be coming from an ancient cultivator in Albion Village beginning his path. Wait, doesn’t the ancient system have something like Spirit Body? The Immortal Alliance happens to have a way of picking out cultivators having taken up the ancient systems from a legacy they found. So here I am.” 

Zhen Chanzi asked, “How did you find my stealth art?”

He found it awkward to call his idea brilliant again.

Xiang Qi sneered, “You call that stealth? Just sealing your spiritual power from leaking or showing? Humph, while you think you’ll play the perfect role of a rock or a rotten branch, but what you don’t know is that everything in the world has even a minute amount of spiritual energy. By cutting yourself off, you’ll become the most conspicuous rock in a river.” 

Wang Qi’s eyes went wide, “So when you found me and had gotten you to slip out info, it was just a ploy to keep you there for longer?”

Xiang Qi nodded, “You’re catching on.”

[Who the hell was the moron that said old cultivators only had an IQ of 9?]

Li Ziye said, “Anyway, thanks to Junior Brother, we can say we finished our mission. Junior Sister Xiang, should we wait here for Seniors then go together to Immortal Alliance’s hub and report or just go to a branch? There’s also the matter with Junior Brother Wang Qi.” 

Xiang Qi’s eyes spun around in thought, “I think waiting here is best.”

Li Ziye asked, “Why?”

“We’re here to assist the Seniors. Going back to report when they led the mission isn’t right. Also, Albion Village must be in a state of panic after this. We can do some good by staying over a couple of days and placate them.”

Li Ziye chuckled, patting her head, “Tell the truth.”

Xiang Qi stuck out her tongue, “Wouldn’t be cool to go back to the hub along with the four mighty Unfettered Seniors? Besides, staying here for a bit longer will only make me miss the hustle and bustle of the hub.” 

“And Junior Brother Wang Qi?”

“Go by the book, at worst it’ll only be a year at most.”

Wang Qi couldn’t sit still now that he was mentioned, “Hey, what do you mean by that?”

Li Ziye explained, “Per Immortal Alliance’s regulations, any encounter with cultivators following the ancient systems are to be assisted in transitioning to the modern way. Ancient cultivators at and below Foundation Establishment Stage are required to join an annual trial held by the Immortal Alliance, taking place in June, along with other people seeking immortality that joined the alliance. On the 16th of the first lunar month, various branches and sects will hold testing grounds for those that wish to be imparted immortal knowledge.”

Wang Qi said, “I feel like I know this system, odd…”

Li Ziye said, “It is now the end of spring. Junior Brother Wang Qi has not a moment to lose…”

Xiang Qi waved, “Senior brother Li, just teach him the basics. Any of us can do that.” 

Li Ziye mulled, “True. What do you think, Junior Brother? I’ll tell you now that I and Junior Sister aren’t any worse than the lecturers teaching this information in the alliance.” 

Wang Qi muttered to himself. If the Immortal Alliance’s testing ground was like he expected, then he had nothing to fear. He was quite good in his past life at taking tests and exams. As for placating the villagers…

Wang Qi nodded, “Sure.”

Li Ziye nodded, “Junior Brother, where could we stay over?”

Wang Qi said, “I still have a wide house thanks to my ancestors. You can stay there.”

“Sorry to impose.”

Li Ziye used a floating art to lift Wang Qi and fly off to Albion Village. Xiang Qi was following on her sword light.

Wang Qi asked, “Senior Li, you keep mentioning ancient cultivators and modern cultivators. How are they different?”

Li Ziye chuckled, “There’s no rush so I can give you the full story.

“Ancient cultivators are all about seizing the world’s essence, saints stealing from the heavens, with the purpose of absorbing the world’s spiritual energy and building their own world. The modern cultivator is different, we pay attention to nature and borrow its strength instead.” 

“Borrow?” Wang Qi gasped, “If borrowed then it must return. Is this scattering your spiritual power and giving it back to the world?” 

Li Ziye shook his head, “Hardly. Didn’t Junior Sister Xiang tell you? Everything in creation participates in the natural flow of spiritual energy across the world. Do you know where it came from?”

Wang Qi gestured no.

Xiang Qi butted in, “Breath of the world.”

“Breath of the world?”

Li Ziye explained, “The world exchanges energy and other elements with what lies beyond it. Assuming the world is a person, if this isn’t breathing, what is? The perfect example is the sun and stars, their energy coming from beyond.”

Wang Qi nodded, [This world actually has concepts like planet, universe and celestial bodies.]

“Modern cultivation is about joining this flow, borrowing the world’s breath to take in the boundless and pure spiritual energy from beyond. Not only it doesn’t harm the world, but also strengthens it. In turn, the stronger the world becomes, the easier it is for us to absorb spiritual energy.

“Upon reaching the highest stage, we can directly master nature, forging a perfect inner world instead of going through such trials of enlightenment like the ancient system.”

Wang Qi nodded. Cultivation was about making a miniature world within you, outside of the real world’s influence so that you would live for as long as the world lasted. Taking the world for a peasant woman and spiritual energy for eggs, the ancient cultivators would shove the woman aside to take the eggs. While modern cultivators would help the woman’s chickens to get eggs of their own…

[Why does that sound so nasty and crude?] While Wang Qi was thinking of big picture stuff, [Well, I’ll still be taking the woman’s eggs either way.] 

Zhen Chanzi sighed, “Incredible, the modern system has been amazing from the start. Who is its founder? Did he become immortal?” 

Li Ziye shook his head, “The creation of the modern system isn’t limited to one person. Did Sir ever hear of the two ancient cultivators, Phythagoras and Archimedes?”

Zhen Chanzi’s tone was unsure, “They sound like ancient Great Ascension cultivators.”

[Phythagoras and Archimedes!] Wang Qi thought. Bombarded by the insane script at every step, this simple guess became obvious to him. 

“Primordial Heavenly Lord Phythagoras and Computation Demon Lord Archimedes were great scrying pioneers of their time. Their paths led to the same place, also the foundation of Myriad Arts Sect. Myriad Arts Sect’s cultivation method is seen as a genuine modern art. This led to all modern sects’ cultivation methods to have some influence from Myriad Arts Sect.

“However, Myriad Arts Sect might be the first to research the modern system, it is not the first modern sect. The very first sects accepting a rough version of the modern system was Mystical Star Temple and Heavenly Spirit Range.

“Mystical Star Temple is one of the strongest sects of modern cultivation in the west, expert in meditating under the starlight and moonlight. Beginning with Daoist Mystic Heart, Copernic, founder of the sect – Mystical Star Temple, which has been on the constant rise. In his younger days, Master Copernic was a low guard in the strongest ancient sect, Sacred Soul Coven. With time, he came to see the errors of following the ancient systems, deviating from the Heavenly Dao. After a lifetime of depression, he decided to go against Sacred Soul Coven in his late years, forming the Mystical Star Temple to pursue his theory. The Mystical Star Temple had been persecuted constantly in those times, with many early disciples, like Bruno, achieving enlightenment in death. (Tamon: reference to Giordano Bruno)

“On the other hand, the sects that gradually established the modern system of cultivation are the Spirit Beast Mountain and Myriad Flowers Valley. Their core principle is to stop robbing the world of its life. Until Evolutionary Divine Lord Darwin appeared. Evolutionary Divine Lord is a legend in the Spirit Beast Mountain. Like Master Copernic, Divine Lord Darwin is a legend of Sacred Soul Coven who later found the ancient system unacceptable and defected to Spirit Beast Mountain. 

“Due to Myriad Arts Sect being made of people from many walks of life, they combined the arts from Spirit Beast Mountain, Myriad Flowers Valley and Mystical Star Temple into the modern cultivation system. Because of this, the sects following the modern system and the ancient sects clashed. But in those days, no matter how amazing the modern system was, it could not fight the flood of ancient cultivators. The modern cultivators went through harsh times.”  

Xiang Qi picked up, “Later, the modern cultivation was met with great fortune. Rift Island in Divine Province’s far west had experienced the birth of an exceptional talent. Transcendent Newton! Transcendent was originally one of the ancient system’s power cultivators…

Zhen Chanzi said, “The same one who didn’t practice magical arts but specializes in raw strength and martial arts?”

Xiang Qi nodded, “Right, but Transcendent Newton was aware of his shortcomings and entered the Myriad Arts Sect. Rising the power cultivation skills to imitate Dao, creating a whole branch. Legend has it, Transcendent Newton was the world’s favorite, passing on to him three great principles through a fruit!

“With those laws, Transcendent Newton created the Transcending Sect in the Divine Province’s center. Transcendent Newton’s good friend Boyle established Scorching Metal Valley. His rival, the rogue cultivator Hooke, used the basic transformation art to unite Spirit Beast Mountain and Myriad Flowers Valley, forming Heavenly Spirit Range of today. Later on, the noble-born Searing Heaven Kelvin, assembled prominent individual to form Searing Heaven Manor.” 

Li Ziye closed his eyes, his thoughts going to all those moder system seniors that gave their lives and soaked the earth with their blood in those trying times, “Transcendent turned the table on the war with his genius, now being modern cultivators’ time to push back the ancient cultivators, taking over the Divine Province!”