Applied Immortality

Mao Zimiao got used to Wang Qi’s occasional flair for weirdness. She ignored the foreign words, ‘shocker’ and ‘pick-up hand,’ saying, “I get the feeling you’ve learned more than you’re showing.” (Tamon: reference to the anime A Certain Magical Index, whose main character has the same ability on his right hand, which also happens to be how he gets girls.) 

Wang Qi raised an eyebrow. “What gave it away?”

Mao Zimiao pouted, “Even I reached the entry level of the Evolution Chart, nya. Next would be a slow but constant improvement with consistent effort. You’ve learned more than me, Little Qi. There’s no way you’ve only mastered one magical art, right, nya?” 

Wang Qi gaped. [Is this the power of intuition?]

Recently, he’s been focused on studying Spiritual Energy’s Nature Theory, with a casual interest in electromagnetism. Thunder Cell was ‘as long as it’s electric, even an ascending tribulation is nothing’ kind of cheating art. Since the discovery of Thunder Cell, he never heard of anyone failing a lightning tribulation. But the principle of this magic art was Faraday Cage, a discovery of the 18th century on Earth. It wasn’t even considered that advanced. Wielding it came easy to Wang Qi, the problem was the limmited computing power stopping him from using it fully.

In today’s modern cultivation society, math was beyond paramount, critical even.

The deeper Wang Qi’s understanding of spiritual energy’s nature became, the more he grasped his cultivation methods. Many of the mental arts exhibited great improvements. As he sorted out his past-life math knowledge, his martial prowess increased alongside it.

Instead of figuring out Wang Qi’s strength, Mao Zimiao asked, “Little Qi, are you confident in passing the tests, nya?”

“Tests?”

The monthly examination was held at the start of every month. They went on for three whole days—two for academic tests and one for martial examinations. 

Wang Qi showed pride. “Who do you think I am?”

He went through more tests than he could count on Earth. Some monthly examination was nothing.

Mao Zimiao was worried: “Little Qi, you’re after the five best’s true disciple spot. They say that to be admitted, you need excellent grades in each monthly examination. 

“I’m on another level than most people. You should be worried about yourself, Ah’Zimiao.”

Mao Zimiao’s mouth twitched. “Senior Brother Su told you to give up on Myriad Arts Sect, to not contend with the Bernoulli family’s disciple.”

Wang Qi shook his head. “You’re overthinking it. The Bernoulli disciple is beneath me.”

In all honesty, Wang Qi didn’t downplay Divine Province’s geniuses. On the contrary, he believed the Bernoulli disciple was as frightening of a genius as him. His confidence, however, came from having a head start compared with his Immortal Institute peers.

Divine Province’s math trailed behind Earth’s. To be more specific, it was around the 60s level. Except for number theory and systems theory, which topped Earth’s, while probability sorely lacked, lagging as far as Earth’s 19th century.

That was the environment leading Wang Qi’s math studies for two decades. Two lifetimes of experience were the ultimate advantage. 

He had nothing but admiration for Bernoulli’s disciple’s talent; however, the only way for him to take the true disciple spot was if Wang Qi gave it up.

The two made small talk before withdrawing to their rooms.

Back in the dorm, Wang Qi noticed the time and sighed, “I didn’t even notice it took half an hour longer than usual.” 

Zhen Chanzi taunted, “Time flies when a young man and a girl hit it off.”

“Be that as it may, I can’t skip private practice.” Wang Qi sat at his desk.

Some cultivations were either revolutionary or used unexplainable knowledge from Earth.

Wang Qi picked up a brush to write on the draft paper; he had it ready. He used the most familiar symbols he knew, Earth’s, as he detailed the famous Schrödinger wave function.

It was his way of sinking into meditation. To move spiritual energy, one needed to meditate and focus on sensing spiritual energy alone, which was why closing the eyes and taking a steady breath were the usual practices. In Wang Qi’s case, there was no better way to focus and relax than a good math problem. When doing math, the consciousness mapped the cultivation process, and spiritual power cycled faster than when following the cultivation method’s path.

A golden wave of light shot from him, illuminating his room. The light wave felt real and not, unstable and quick; Waveform Essence. 

A month was too short of a practice time to make it come out naturally, but the initial process of guiding the spiritual power became easier.

The math meditation didn’t last long. Wang Qi experienced a halt in his calculations, slowing down further as he continued. He sighed, being forced to fall back to the cultivation method’s way of cultivating.

The fourteen years spent after crossing over came with forgotten memories. If he knew this immortal fantasy world was theory-themed from day one, daily practice of Earth’s knowledge would’ve let him declare with pride, “With staunch belief comes results.” Alas, he did forget stuff, important stuff. 

Having grasped ‘harmony in self, endurance in purpose’ the calm Wang Qi could finally begin doing what he should’ve done ages ago—sorting out past life’s math. The process took him the better half of a month. 

In the middle of it, he found the advantage of calculating meditation.

[That’s why Su Junyu said a challenging math problem is better than an immortal pill!]

Wang Qi trained in Waveform Essence for a long time. Then he switched to solving a couple of Maxwell’s equation problems to practice the Celestial Hymn Odyssey, followed by Plank’s constant for the Grand Discrete Unity Treatise. By the time he was done cultivating some of the cultivation methods, it was midnight.

Wang Qi glanced at the spirit clock. “It would seem I need to make a trade-off between the cultivation methods.”

Dabbing in so many of them was time-consuming.

With cultivation done for now, he picked up a book instead of sleeping.

Gottingen Collection Vol. 1 was a model example of integrating math into cultivation. The book was quite pricey to borrow.

Sleep for a cultivator was a way to ease the burdens of the mind and heighten cultivation’s effect. Three unslept days for a Qi refining cultivator were nothing.

Two hours later, inspiration struck. He rushed to the desk and was furiously calculating. After a few formulas written, he read a cultivation method he copied some time ago with great detail. 

The mental art came from the ancient Elemental Sect. It fell to ruins at the hands of Zhen Chanzi’s Ephemeral Tranquility Palace, with their mental arts taken as well. A week ago, Wang Qi asked Zhen Chanzi for a five-element cultivation method for academic reasons. 

As he read the mental art, Wang Qi was doing math in the meantime. Once the result came, Wang Qi eased a long breath. “This is one huge project. I’ll spend three merits tomorrow on Integration Exalted Leibniz’s Yin Yang Exchange Thesis. That should get this project started.”