Applied Immortality

Seeing Su Junyu enjoying novels amidst a trial rubbed Wang Qi the wrong way.

Nevertheless, Su Junyu lived up to his filthy, rich name. That mat he was on had guaranteed quality, following the four without a doubt.

As for reading detective novels… [It’s a kind of cultivation as well, maybe?]

Wang Qi’s reasoned his guess on Su Junyu’s main interest in the White Marsh Algorithm. The art came from Lord White Marsh, who stated, ‘Knowing enough circumstances, you can determine the cause and effects.’ Su Junyu had to be gathering hints by reading between the lines when predicting the detective novel’s outcome.

Of course, it was all just a mere guess. Wang Qi was more inclined to believe this was the hobby of a shut-in. Then again, since there was a chance he was training, he couldn’t just interrupt, could he?

Wang Qi used his spiritual power to move along, following the others into the forest.

The vegetation hinted at it being a subtropical climate, in discrepancy with the Argent Mountain’s location in the center of the continent. The only reason such a forest could grow here was due to Immortal Alliance cultivators changing the climate to fit the flora.

The four moved closer to the first study area.

They all used the basic footwork arts the Immortal Institute taught them. The basic series of martial arts was beyond average, with nothing standing out while also being revised to perfection. This was why they weren’t very fast, and due to the different cultivation methods each practiced, their movements changed with them.

Wu Fan had the most normal movement, having only recently passed Reaching Heaven. He was seen moving close to the ground with a rare jump after hitting a tree. Wu Shiqin had Celestial Hymn Odyssey for mental art, stimulating her limbs with electricity and using much more force. It allowed her to keep on jumping from tree to tree. Wang Qi and Mao Zimiao were the type to use all parts of their bodies. Mao Zimiao’s cat-demon heritage revealed its superiority in such an environment. She moved with grace and precision through the many trees and leaves.

As for Wang Qi, he felt put on the spot, having to just run on the ground. His spiritual power was limited to the undeduced Evolution Chart’s level, far weaker than that of Wu Shiqin. Since he trained many mental arts in parallel, his Celestial Hymn Odyssey didn’t compare to her progress. He felt his genius for Reaching Heaven faster than anyone else was degraded by having to use similar footwork as Wu Fan. 

Wu Fan just entered Qi Refining, weak and with little stamina. However, since they entered the sampling target area, the group stopped gathering.

The sample tasks were of two types. One was about large, yet few, plants. The task involving them was about recording their specific number in a larger area. The second type targeted varied and numerous flora. For such a task, the Immortal Alliance randomly designated several rectangular areas around five feet wide, and the objective was to count the number of plants within each of them.

Mao Zimiao and Wang Qi were in charge of the latter. They worked fast at identifying the areas and got to work counting. Mao Zimiao’s math was a bit better than finger-counting, yet even that wasn’t without mistakes. She was lucky a cultivator of Myriad Arts Sect’s art, Wang Qi, was there to mend her results.

Wu Shiqin jumped around the place, counting the bigger trees around. Once done, she hopped on the tallest nearby tree, scanning the area for fauna.

Wu Fan rested for a moment before giving the ground some scrutiny to make up for anything the other three might’ve missed.

There were plenty of mosquitoes around these broad-leaved trees, making it only a matter of time before the party drew them with their scents. The group used spiritual power to shield themselves from their bites, with only Wu Fan having it worse since he didn’t know how to use it this early, ending up bitten many times over.

The incessant buzzing was getting to them, exhausting the meager patience Wu Shiqin had. The disciplinary officer’s eyes turned savage as she flared Celestial Hymn Odyssey’s power to mow down the mosquitoes in her field and cover the ground with their corpses.

Before long, they heard a mournful cry: “Cockroa-, Little Wen, what’s wrong? Don’t die, Little Wen! We’ve shared good and bad for so many seconds. I always saw you as my brother and raised you with Junior Brother Wu’s blood… To think this day would come…”(Tamon: mosquito in Chinese is called wenzi, hence the name.)

All eyes focused on Wang Qi, who was wailing as he held a pile of electroshocked mosquitoes. It just so happened that Wang Qi and Mao Zimiao stood downwind of Wu Shiqin and witnessed the carbonized mosquitoes.

Mao Zimiao jumped in fright, “Little Qi… nya? What’s wrong?”

Wu Shiqin was uncaring. “Are you mocking me?”

Wu Fan joined the gag, dramatizing, “Senior Brother Wang, you might’ve overdone it a bit.”

Wang Qi’s crushed look switched to a casual one: “I was only trying to make you aware.”

“Aware of what, nya…”

“This, of course.” Wang Qi pointed at the burned remains in his hand and said, “Just knock them out. We can’t collect samples with them in this state.”

Wu Shiqin scoffed. “With so many of them, we’ll catch some in the end.”

Wang Qi shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

Mao Zimiao cocked her head. “Why, nya?”

“Senior Brother Su put a great emphasis on the Three Principles and Eight Guidelines. I fear this trial is also a means to test them.” Wang Qi was grave: “The Imperial Alliance’s second principle is to show restraint in culling the world. You’re not to destroy anything unless absolutely necessary. That might apply to killing this many mosquitoes as well.” 

Wu Shiqin frowned. “Even mosquitoes? You know the Immortal Institute has people specializing in removing bugs.”

“This place is a grandmaster’s experiment, a special environment. The rules here are far more stringent.” 

Wang Qi made a very good point. The experimental area was a small-scale, independent ecosystem. Its small scale made its ecology fragile when compared to a natural ecosystem. And with Spirit Beast Mountain’s arts placed here to spur the fauna and flora’s evolution, all cultivators barging in were bound to disrupt it. 

Yet the Immortal Alliance designated this place for the trials. It was so that the cultivators would see through this fact and carry out the Three Principles and Eight Guidelines. By Practicing them here, they would mean they would follow the same rules outside as well.

Wu Shiqin bit her lip.

Wang Qi ended with, “In conclusion, you’re not to shock inhuman beings! Just that discharge alone might’ve deducted us more merits than we can spare!”