Exploring Immortality Cultivation

Due to Tie Zhu's intervention, Chi Lianxue and Wang Qi eventually decided to sit down and talk.

Chi Lianxue got straight to the point, "I'm only thirty-seven years old this year."

Wang Qi was taken aback. With the continual deepening of Modern Cultivators' research into Spirit Energy Theory and the human body, bottlenecks before the Primordial Spirit Heaven Barrier in the Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation phases had become increasingly rare. It had now reached the point where as long as one could achieve Heavenly Communication, Golden Core Formation was guaranteed. The cream of the crop even had a saying, "Three years for Qi Cultivation, six years for Foundation Establishment, and nine years for Core Formation is the most perfect." For a low-level Modern Cultivator like Chi Lianxue, breaking through to Qi Cultivation at the age of thirty-seven wasn't slow.

But his facial appearance was clearly over fifty. Cultivators aged slowly; a fifty-year-old cultivator often had the skin of a twenty-year-old. For Chi Lianxue to look like this... his time was clearly running short.

Chi Lianxue snorted, "I served as a Guardian Envoy in the Western Border. A year and a half ago, the West Sea Demon Clan went mad, and I followed other Guardian Envoys out to subdue demons but accidentally stumbled into a secret realm of the Demon Clan. In the end, I had to burn my life span using a secret technique to escape. This matter is on record with the Immortal Alliance; it cannot be faked."

Wang Qi pretended to nod, but secretly tapped his pinky finger lightly on the ring, signaling to Zhen Chan. Zhen Chan understood what Wang Qi meant and said secretly in his mind, "The Red Sun Sect does possess such secret techniques, called 'Thousand Years of Loneliness in a Moment of Charm,' which can exchange life span for great power, indeed one of the rarer fierce secret techniques."

Tie Zhu picked up the conversation, "My master sacrificed his life span for the Human Clan, and knowing his time was short, he could not bear to see his Daoist inheritance lost, so he returned to Jingxiang... After we learned of this, we felt that the master is a true man, so we voluntarily used our own vigorous blood to prolong his life."

Zhen Chan continued to commentate, "What's most distinctive about the cultivation of the Red Sun Sect is their vigorous blood. Aside from their mastery of Fire Skills, their laws related to blood energy are the most useful. Having a life-prolonging technique that complements 'A Moment of Charm' is not surprising."

Wang Qi looked at Chi Lianxue, then turned to look at Tie Zhu, and said, "I see, I have been presumptuous. However, secretly collecting human blood is also a violation of the Immortal Alliance's laws, and I will report this to the Immortal Alliance Branch. Excuse me." With that, he didn't wait for a reaction from anyone else and directly jumped out the window.

Tie Zhu let out a sigh of relief, "That was close... Master, please don't be angry! Wang Qi is just tactless, but he is following the rules of the Immortal Alliance."

Chi Lianxue looked at the retreating figure of Wang Qi and snorted, but his eyes contained a hidden smile.

Although some things were exposed, the most crucial part was still kept secret...

After Wang Qi landed, Zhen Chan asked, "Is that how you're handling it? There's more to this Sect Master of the Red Sun Sect than meets the eye."

"I know," Wang Qi's voice was still full of disdain. "He has at least ten years of life span left. Such a long time is definitely enough to pass on his Daoist inheritance; there's no need for him to rely on squeezing a little blood from seven or eight people every ten days to sustain his life. And if he were truly heroic, then there would be no need to specifically let Tie Zhu know about his condition to teach them the life-prolonging technique."

Zhen Chan also laughed, "After all, you are too naive—by the way, how did you figure out his time was running out? Honestly, even I didn't see it."

Wang Qi was surprised, "Didn't you once say that judging whether a person is about to die is an innate ability of Cultivators?"

"Uh..." Zhen Chan was silent for a moment. "I think you may have misunderstood."

A Cultivator nearing death would invariably carry a sense of despair, depression in their spirit. Mental state affects the soul, and the soul affects mana; a despairing Cultivator would emit an aura like "decay". Ancient Method Practitioners call it "Death Intent."

But even a Mahayana Cultivator like Zhen Chan couldn't tell at a glance how much life span someone else had left, let alone give a precise number like "ten years."

Zhen Chan said in a low voice, "Moreover, this guy is completely devoid of any sense of despair; on the contrary, he's abnormally buoyant and fervent... It's just like a 'Furnace Tripod' for a Divine Tao Cultivator! If it were up to me, I couldn't tell he was close to death at all!"

"I'll be damned! He's cultivating the Divine Tao!" Wang Qi exclaimed with delight, "Now we can truly finish him off!"

Before the rise of the Modern Immortal Path, the Holy Infant Sect was the largest Divine Tao Sect in the history of Shenzhou, and thus most Modern Cultivators deeply detest Divine Tao. Unauthorized private cultivation of Divine Tao is considered a more serious crime than illicit blood collection for the practice of Evil Techniques.

Zhen Chan shook his head, "No, I am not saying that he himself is a Divine Tao Cultivator, just that he resembles one—however, his Mana Power Intent truly feels familiar to me... Could the Red Sun Sect have made such a deep impression on me?"

Wang Qi stroked his chin in deep thought, "Old man, you've pinpointed the blind spot. A guy who is about to die, far from being afraid, is actually fanatical. What kind of spirit is that?"

"Indeed very suspicious," Zhen Chan affirmed, "Right, he has sneaked over here secretly."

"Keep an eye on him for me," Wang Qi said, "I still have some things to think about."

Zhen Chan expressed his surprise, "Someone is clearly looking for trouble, and you still want to work on 'calculations'?"

"It's not calculations, but something else," Wang Qi looked at his hands and said, "We've just overlooked a problem—how did I discern his remaining lifespan?"

"I cannot see it, but you can; it must have something to do with a certain cultivation technique," Zhen Chan guessed, "The mystery of lifespan is within the realm of the Life Path; it's due to the Heavenly Calculation Atlas, right?"

"If this is an innate ability of the Heavenly Calculation Atlas, which arises naturally, then the Immortal Institute would definitely have introduced it, and if this were a divine skill of the Heavenly Calculation Atlas, then it would be even less plausible—I haven't deliberately studied the theories regarding lifespan at all; even if the divine skills of the Heavenly Calculation Atlas were awakened at random, it couldn't be this coincidentally skewed."

The Heavenly Calculation Atlas is the power of evolution, a result of random mutations and natural selection, following certain rules. Herbivores won't develop large canines, nor will carnivores grow bony hooves on their paws, as the former would affect the herbivores' feeding efficiency, and the latter would deprive carnivores of their weapon, "claws". Likewise, the random generation of divine skills in the Heavenly Calculation Atlas must be linked to the cultivator's areas of expertise.

Wang Qi was sure that he had never specifically researched lifespan, but why then had he developed such an ability?

"I feel like I can't even eat well until I solve this puzzle," Wang Qi scratched his head anxiously.

After all, the Heavenly Calculation Atlas was his main study; he had to put his heart into it. However, as the saying goes, every profession has its own challenges, and unfamiliarity with a new field could very well lead a scientist to become the laughingstock outside their own domain. Countless scientists have tarnished their reputations by making erroneous judgments for just such reasons.

After pondering for a moment, Wang Qi clapped his hands, "I can totally ask someone else about this issue!"

His main research focus was still on closely integrated theoretical physics and mathematics; as for biology, as long as he could use it, that was enough!

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Chi Lianxue, who thought he was covertly advancing close to the area, was staring intently at Wang Qi's room—admittedly, having a Ring Grandpa was very bullying, but only in low-level cases. At that moment, he saw something unbelievable.

Wang Qi took out a magic artifact, and then, a mysterious Qi Intent emanated from the room.

Chi Lianxue's complexion instantly became extremely unsightly: "He has a calculator!"

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Many great scientists who ventured into unfamiliar fields have indeed foolishly turned themselves into citizen scientists. For example, Pang Jialai, invincible in the field of mathematics, was a citizen science researcher in psychology; Yang Zhenning, as another example, dabbled in linguistics as a hobby—it's not odd to hear that a pioneer in the electromagnetic field also studied Maya scripts—but none had the intention of using it as academic capital.

Compared with these two, Elder Qian Xuesen undoubtedly suffered much more—because he publicly engaged in Qi Gong during the Qi Gong craze, almost completely ruining his reputation. [I personally think that even if the laws of reality on this plane truly supported the Qi Gong MOD, it should still be a matter of biology or theoretical physics... why would Elder Qian, an aerodynamics expert, be involved in this? I can't figure it out, just can't.]