Chapter 72 - 34 So It Is Said, Beauty Brings Trouble [Second Update]

After confirming that Mao Zimiao was unharmed, Wang Qi found himself with nothing to do. Su Junyu asked, "Do you have any plans for today's itinerary?" Wang Qi replied, "I should be able to reach Jiachen Lake tonight." The small lakes in the Trial Land were not individually named by the Immortal Alliance; instead, they were named using stem-branch combinations. "Jiachen..." Su Junyu's expression turned reminiscent. "That's the habitat of the Thundering Giant Antelope. I've done that task before when I was at the Immortal Institute." Wang Qi asked, "Did you also come from the Xinyue Immortal Institute?" Su Junyu shook his head. "The instructors at Xinyue Immortal Institute are all quite good, but none are particularly outstanding. The instructors at Leiyang aren't skilled in the Life Path, but because there is a Wanfa Sect cultivator stationed in Leiyang, the academic atmosphere for Mathematics there is much stronger than here. My family has been disciples of Wanfa Sect for generations, which is why they sent me there." Fucking hell, they even have 'specialized disciplines'... This guy probably even paid school choice fees... For a moment, Wang Qi was reminded of his own experiences with middle and high school entrance exams in his previous life. "The Leiyang Branch is in Thunder Dream Swamp, quite far from Xin Mountain." Su Junyu smiled, "That's the benefit of being Immortal Institute Disciples; you can freely use many of the perks provided by the Immortal Alliance. Back then, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator used a Teleportation Array to bring me and my friends there." Wang Qi suddenly smiled, "So Brother Su, you're from a noble family as well?" With a self-deprecating smile, Su Junyu said, "For several generations, my ancestors were just servant disciples of Wanfa Sect; that can hardly be considered noble. My grandfather was fortunate to be favored by a predecessor and became a further-transmitted disciple of the Bai Ze God Monarch, which is when our family started to fare better." His smile then took on a touch of irony, "Besides, the term 'noble family's child' is practically an insult in the ears of those truly ambitious." Wang Qi was curious, "What do you mean?" "'Noble family,'" Su Junyu chuckled sarcastically, "This concept emerged during the Ancient Method era. The Ancient Method placed more emphasis on innate talent in one's constitution, which could be inherited through bloodlines. Modern Cultivation emphasizes comprehension, which is an innate talent of the mind, not much helped by ancestry. Those who still uphold noble family traditions now are mostly Ancient Method Practitioners who surrendered during the war between the Modern and Ancient Methods. We modified their Cultivation Techniques, shifting them from solely drawing nature's spiritual energy to partly drawing and partly Borrowing Heaven and Earth, in order not to harm Heaven and Earth. But fundamentally, they still practice the Ancient Method. We privately refer to such cultivators as 'Intermediate Skill Cultivators' or 'Ruo Method Practitioners'—the idea being they fall somewhere between Swordsmanship and the Ancient Method. Those with aspirations to the Great Dao would not hold them in high regard." Wang Qi suddenly realized, "So that Du Bin is one of them, right?" Su Junyu nodded, "Ignore those kinds of noble family's children. Modern Cultivation pays more attention to master-disciple tradition rather than lineage. What you hear more about these days in the Immortal Dao are tales of illustrious master-disciple relationships, not the strength of certain clans. Take Wanfa Sect for example; we have teacher Wei Er and predecessor Su Feiya, Master of Calculation Xi Baiche and Fairy Ruoche..." Hold on, which Earth mathematician's Otherworldly Analogue is this Wei Er again? And there are two women? "There really aren't many female mathematicians; just a handful." Wang Qi thought to himself: "Xi Baiche, that corresponds to David Hilbert. Hilbert's female disciple... Noether?" "So that Su Feiya... must correspond to that common foreign name, Sofia... Damn it, Brother Tiandao, couldn't you make these correspondences a bit easier to guess?" With this in mind, Wang Qi asked Su Junyu, "What's Wei Er's full name?" "Just Wei Er—don't laugh, not everyone's parents are thoughtful enough to give their children good names!" Wang Qi thought again. Could Wei Er correspond to... Will? I don't remember anyone with Will in their name... Wait a minute, Wei Er, Weierstrass? Holy crap, Brother Tiandao, you're really saving on letters! So could Wei Er's student be Sofia Kovalevskaya's Otherworldly Analogue? Wang Qi was choked with exasperation; it took him a moment to remember another thing he was curious about: "Why are all your examples women?" Su Junyu coughed, his face reddening a bit for once: "Our sect has few women... and Fairy Ruoche truly is a paragon of respecting one's teacher and honoring the Dao! She even changed her name to Ruoche after becoming a disciple of the Master of Calculation, to show her respect for her teacher—the 'Che' in her name is the same 'Che' in her teacher's name! Furthermore, Fairy Ruoche is one of the few top experts in Wanfa Sect, and only a handful can defeat her." Wang Qi looked at him with puzzlement, "Senior Brother, don't tell me you have a thing for older women?" "What?" "It's the kind where if there's not a crow's foot at the corner of the eye, you wouldn't even glance twice..." "Scram!" Soon, Wu Fan, with his shallow mana, had also fully replenished his mana. Seeing that Mao Zimiao still showed no signs of awakening from meditation, Wang Qi didn't rush to leave either. Instead, he closed his eyes again and resumed his seated meditation. Confirming the counterpart relationships between Shenzhou's Great Cultivators and Earth's scientists was also an important task for Wang Qi. Not all scientists had a corresponding Otherworldly Analogue in Shenzhou. After figuring out which of Earth's scientists were included among the Great Cultivators of Shenzhou, Wang Qi could also roughly determine which of Earth's theoretical results were viable in Shenzhou and had already been transformed into practical spells, where Shenzhou was still lacking and where he needed to forge new paths, and which areas where Shenzhou had surpassed Earth, necessitating a reevaluation on his part. Recalling the theories of people like Weierstrass, Wang Qi smiled wryly, "Memory really isn't that reliable, huh." More than a decade had passed, and he could barely remember the history of science on Earth. If he hadn't encountered Modern Cultivators and learned about the profound connection between this world and the Earth he lived in his previous life, he feared that in a few more years these memories would fade away with the wind. Oh Brother Tiandao, the protagonists of those plagiarism-heavy books either have a soul library in their heads or an interstellar library in their hands. Why do I have to rely solely on memory? After a wry smile, Wang Qi reentered meditation. But this time, a tingling sensation on his skin woke him from his trance. Even Mao Zimiao "meowed" and sprang up in alarm. Together with Su Junyu, all four of them turned to look at Wu Shiqin. Wu Shiqin's face turned red, "What are you looking at me for?" Wu Fan said somewhat awkwardly, "Senior Sister Wu, I totally understand your annoyance with mosquitoes, but..." Wang Qi finished his sentence, "You're overdoing it, woman! There's nearly ten meters between us, and even I got shocked! How much mana did you use with that last zap?" Wu Shiqin's face turned an even deeper shade of red, "All of it." "Ha?" "I was getting so irritated by the buzzing that when I was cultivating, I lost control of my breath and released all my mana..." Spells that provided long-lasting protection against mosquitoes did exist, but they weren't within the grasp of a Qi Cultivation Early Stage practitioner. When faced with such a situation, it was a bit of an inevitable mess. Wu Shiqin was about to resume meditation when a beastly roar sounded. Su Junyu cocked his head to listen, "Ghost-Faced Ape, a Yin Attribute Demon Beast that's like fire and water with the Thunder Attribute Demon Beast, the Thundering Giant Antelope. You guys are in trouble." Wang Qi shook his head and sighed, "This is why I say, the fairer sex is disastrous." "What?" "You woman, I told you not to discharge electricity all willy-nilly! But no, you went ahead and even attracted a male primate! Or is it that you only have eyes for burly primates as a Martial Fool, huh?" —————————————————————————————— The number of recommendation tickets this week is a lot less than last week QAQ The favorites are also fluctuating around 90 Did poor Daoist write poorly this week? QAQ If you have any comments, please make sure to leave them in the reviews QAQ Lastly, please recommend and favorite TAT