Applied Immortality

It was Geng Peng’s turn to guard the Arts Archive this fine evening.

The head died down toward this mid-September day, the evening breeze starting to feel chilly. The cozy and perfect mood had Geng Peng sit down in meditation.

He held a special spirit pool. A trickle of spiritual power drifted into the spirit pool, offering control over its spiritual energy. Like a toothpaste, Geng Peng squeezed out a particular spiritual energy. The black and white parts twisted together yet never mingled. Geng Peng breathed in and the spiritual energy entered through his nose.

The primordial yin-yang energy, a particular naturally occurring spiritual energy composed of but yin and yang. A top spiritual item had to absorb the purest of yang as well as hide a hundred million years from the world to contain the deepest yin, before a single dual thread could be formed. This was a great material not just for cultivation, but tool refining.

In ancient history at least.

Ever since Spiritual Energy’s Nature Theory expressed the makeup of spiritual energy, the modern system switched a spiritual energy’s form at a whim. As long as one solved a particular type of spiritual energy’s essence equation, anyone could do it. It was how the immortal energy of Immortal Alliance’s All-immortal Mirror and many others came to be.

Immortal Alliance disciples had full access to any spiritual energy their hearts desired, as long as their pockets permitted it.

Taking another yin-yang spiritual energy, Geng Peng was happy to find his cultivation in Divine Hexagram Computation improved. As the two breaths of spiritual energy reached their end, he also formed three yin-yang diagrams. It made him feel these 50 merits were well spent.

Sensing a freshman approaching, Geng Peng absorbed the last thread in haste and put away the spirit pool. But he wasn’t the only guarding Foundation Establishment teaching assistant who welcomed visitors.

Geng Peng sighed, taking out the spirit pool to resume training.

“You’re better off without that thing. Divine Hexagram Computation is fine with it, but what about the Book of Geometry? Primordial void true energy is even more expensive.”

The primordial void true energy was a miraculous spiritual energy that could only form in the firmament, imbued with the profound mysteries of time, space, and the universe. Ancient cultivators regarded a single strand as worth a whole treasury, too wasteful to use for cultivation. Instead, it would be made into a lifesaving tool to escape death.

Modern cultivation didn’t have it any easier to make it either, requiring a proficient Myriad Arts Sect cultivator in Cosmic Calculation and Celestial Harmony, or a Brilliance Palace cultivator with a deep understanding of the comparative path.

Geng Peng shook his head with a wry laughter. “Senior Brother Su, not everyone can train in Celestial Harmony. Being true disciples doesn’t mean other Senior Brothers also learned it. Even Senior Brother Li Ziye specialized in Divine Hexagram Computation at Golden Core.”

Su Junyu was holding a book and shaking his head. “You must understand, Senior Brother Li didn’t specialize in Divine Hexagram Computation after becoming a true disciple, but got promoted to true disciple having garnered the Heavenly Sword’s recognition.”

Ai Dinglan, Su Junyu, and Xiang Qi became true disciples at their admission trial, but that wasn’t the only way. Many true disciples walked another path—after joining a sect, or slowly showcasing their talent. The hard work of a decade garnered enough successes to be compared to the admission trial’s true disciples.

Li Ziye had a passion for ancient ways that in a stroke of fortune, he passed the Heavenly Sword’s heart trial and earned its approval. The Myriad Arts Sect promoted him as a result, from inner disciple to true disciple.

Geng Peng shook his head. “Cosmic Calculation is too hard. I can’t make any sense of it. I’m in no rush to pass that as well.”

Su Junyu lifted his head from the book to look at him with sadness. [Everyone has their ambition.]

Geng Peng asked, “Senior Brother Su, I heard that kid, Wang Qi, has been bothering you for training these days.”

Su Junyu returned to reading. “Not since three days ago, practicing with his schoolmates.”

Geng Peng laughed, “Ha-ha, you had to have smacked that insufferable brat hard, right?”

Su Junyu nodded. “It wasn’t a light one…”

“Ha-ha, is the kid still insisting on doing Senior Sister Ai’s way, of thrashing a Foundation Establishment teaching assistant at the Arts Archive? Ha-ha-ha, I might be weaker than you, but more than enough to smack him.”

“I’m starting to think you’re in danger. Well, let’s not talk about this.” Su Junyu eyed him. “Tell me, why do you hate Wang Qi?”

Geng Peng’s smile faded, scratching his head. “I just don’t see how we can be on the same page… Senior Brother Su, I know you’ve been in constant contact with him and he might have some talent tomorrow, but this isn’t so simple.”

“Because of Senior Brother Li?”

Geng Peng frowned. “Yes. Senior Brother Su, don’t be angry for speaking my mind. Among all of Myriad Arts Sect’s true disciples, I respect and look up to Senior Brother Li the most. His math might be lacking more than others, but by putting in the hard work, each experiment yielded results. Lacking the talent to comprehend deeper things is what it is. Senior Brother Li had average talent, but he reached your level one step at a time. He also passed Heavenly Sword’s heart trial, his future boundless…”

Su Junyu asked, “You don’t like Wang Qi because of talent?”

Geng Peng shook his head hard. “No, never. We’ve seen plenty of geniuses and freaks, so I’m not that petty. I just think it’s a shame for Senior Brother Li. A man like him, who had yet to seek Dao, had such a meaningless death…”

“Meaningless?” Su Junyu put away the book, giving him a hard stare. “You’re saying Senior Brother Li died for nothing? How?”

Geng Peng flinched. “Senior Brother Su, please calm down. I’m only telling the truth. Senior Euler’s three days of bitter and arduous calculations led to deviation and losing an eye. Senior Lobachevsky, over some new geometry, h-he… Anyway, if we can’t become eternal, we should at least fall in pursuit of Dao.”

Su Junyu retorted, “Which calculations are you training in?”

Geng Peng started. “Specializing in one is something I could never hope to achieve…”

“Do you know which Senior Brother Li specialized in?”

“Celestial Chess Computation.” Geng Peng knew that. “He mentioned once, that its strength isn’t obvious in the beginning, showing no clear increase in power. But one thing is clear, Celestial Chess Computation excels in human affairs and strategies…”

“That’s why Senior Neumann is called People’s Champion, due to making Celestial Chess Computation,” Su Junyu said. “Have you read Celestial Chess Computation?”