Applied Immortality

Since Mao Zimiao would be fine, Wang Qi stood up.

Su Junyu asked, “Do you have a route planned today?”

Wang Qi said, “We should reach Lake 41 by tonight.”

The trial area’s lakes weren’t given names, using the sexagenary cycle instead. (Tamon: a combination of two series of characters to record time in ancient China.)

“41…” Su Junyu reminisced, “Thunder Clap Stag’s habitat. I’ve done the same task in my day at the Immortal Institute.”

Wang Qi asked, “Did you also come from Argent Apex’s Immortal Institute?”

Su Junyu shook his head. “Argent Apex’s Immortal Institute’s teachers are all great, but they have nothing standing them out. Leyan’s teachers aren’t good at explaining, but due to a Myriad Arts Sect cultivator stationed there, the math academics are far better than here. Many of my family’s generations have been Myriad Arts Sect disciples, so they sent me there as well.”

[Holy crap, even specializations?! I bet this guy paid to be selected…]

The circumstances of enrolling in high school crossed Wang Qi’s mind.

“Leyan branch is located in Thunder Dream Pond, far from Argent Mountain.”

Su Junyu smiled. “Immortal Institute disciples have it a bit better in this aspect. The Immortal Alliance is liberal with welfare here. Back then, our Foundation Establishment leader used a Transfer Array to send me and my friends over.”

Wang Qi laughed. “Brother Su, so you’re a clansman as well.”

Su Junyu gave a self-deprecating smile. “Many of my distant ancestors have been Myriad Arts Sect’s labor disciples. You call that a clan? My grandfather deceive a senior, becoming Lord White Marsh’s direct disciple. Only then did our clan somewhat flourished.” His smile became a sneer. “Moreover, does the term clansman sound like a curse in the ears of an ambitious man?”

Wang Qi asked, “How so?”

“Clan, he-he, is a term coined by ancient cultivation. Ancient cultivation emphasizes roots and physique—a body’s talent that could be inherited through a bloodline. Modern cultivation focuses on talents of the mind, where bloodlines have little to no influence in.” Su Junyu explained, “Most of those still maintaining the clan traditions are ancient cultivators that surrendered to modern cultivation in wartime. We altered their cultivation methods, switching them from harvesting the world’s spiritual energy to half borrowing and half harvesting to prevent any harm from coming to the world. However, they are still training in ancient cultivation at their roots. These cultivators are usually called ‘inter-cultivators’ or ‘supposed cultivators’ because they hide behind our backs. I mean between sword cultivation and ancient cultivation. No aspirant of Dao will regard them well.”

Wang Qi exclaimed, “That Du Bin is the same, isn’t he?”

Su Junyu nodded. “That kind of clan disciple is better off ignored. Modern cultivation cares more about passing on their legacies from master to disciple than through blood. You hear more stories of masters and disciples in today’s immortal society than some random clan’s might. Take the Myriad Arts Sect I belong to; there’s Sir Weierstrass and Senior Sofia, Arbiter of Arithmetic Hilbert and Fairy Noether.”

[Back up, Sir Weierstrass, as in the same mathematician back on Earth? And two women as well?]

[There aren’t many women involved in math.] Wang Qi thought, [Then Hilbert’s disciple, and woman, is Noether.]

[But what about Sofia? That’s as common a name as you can get. Ugh, bro Dao, couldn’t you have picked up easier corresponding names?]

Wang Qi asked, “What is Sir Weierstrass’ full name?”

“That’s all there is. Don’t laugh; not every parent thinks of a good name for their child.”

Wang Qi sank into thought. [Weierstrass is most definitely that one from Earth, but holy crap, Dao bro, you’re so stingy with words. Then Sir Weierstrass’ disciple’s parallel world analogy has to be Sofya Kovalevskaya, right?]

Wang Qi stifled a joke, then something came to him: “Why do your examples always include women?”

“Ahem.” Su Junyu blushed. “There aren’t many women in my sect… and Fairy Noether is a model of respect for her master. After entering the Arbiter of Arithmetic’s tutelage, she even changed her name to Noether as a show of respect to include one of his characters. Also, Fairy Noether is among the few true experts in the Myriad Arts Sect, with even fewer managing to beat her.” 

Wang Qi gave him a doubtful look. “Senior Brother, please tell me you’re not into sophisticated types.”

“What?”

“The kind with crow’s feet.”

“Shove it!”

Wu Fan soon recovered his meager spiritual power as well. Wang Qi noticed Mao Zimiao was still meditating, so he closed his eyes as well, in no rush at all. 

Confirming the connection between Earth’s scientists and Divine Province’s major cultivators was of great importance to Wang Qi. Not all scientists had an analogy to the Divine Province. He needed to find out just who exactly had one so he could determine which theories and research had already turned into arts in the Divine Province. On the other hand, he would know which were left out for him to discover. There were also aspects in which the Divine Province had surpassed Earth’s that he needed to study. 

Recalling Weierstrass and the others’s theories, Wang Qi gave a wry smile and said, “Memory isn’t so reliable.”

Over a decade passed, and he has forgotten much of Earth’s scientific history. He was fortunate to have made contact with modern cultivation and found a connection between the two worlds to solidify the remaining memories, or he’d have lost it all in a couple of years.

[Dao bro, all those protagonists in plagiarized books either had a soul library in their heads or some interstellar library on their hands. So why the hell do I only have faulty memories to work with here?]  

Wang Qi sighed, just as he felt a tingle on his skin. Even Mao Zimiao jumped with a ‘nya’.

They all turned to Wu Shiqin.

She blushed and said, “Don’t look at me.”

Wu Fan hesitated. “Senior Sister Wu, I can understand your hate for mosquitoes, but…” 

Wang Qi was blunt: “You’re going overboard, woman! There’s ten meters between us, and I still felt it! Just how much spiritual power did you use?”

Wu Shiqin blushed harder. “All of it?”

“Say what?”

“The constant buzzing got to me and messed with my cultivation, leading to all spiritual power discharged.”

There were magical arts out there that could repel bugs, sure, but nothing an early Qi Refining cultivator could use.

Wu Shiqin was about to sit back down when a roar came.

Su Junyu’s ear twitched. “Ghost Ape, a yin demon, said to be incompatible with the lightning-attributed Thunder Clap Stag. You guys are in trouble.”

Wang Qi sighed. “That’s a deadly woman for you.”

“What?”

“Woman, I told you not to discharge all over the place! Yet you went ahead and attracted male primates! Or is it the stout primate that was charged with a sudden yearning for martial fanaticism?”