"So you're saying that things actually went like this, and I'm not mistaken, right?" Ai Qinglan asked Wang Qi, her mood seeming quite good.
Wang Qi looked at Chen Feng behind Ai Qinglan with a teasing glance and nodded, "Just as you have seen. I messed up, created a big mess, and then Divine Capital was targeted by Heavenly Sword. To deal with this crisis, I dragged Chen Feng into it, and then I dragged you in too."
"So that's it, that's it, drugging me and plotting against me was also for this reason."
Wang Qi quickly crouched defensively with his head in his hands, "Senior Sister, show some mercy! I was doing it for your own good, wasn't I? Look! The relationship between you childhood sweethearts has returned to its former sweetness, congratulations are in order!"
Ai Qinglan pulled Wang Qi to his feet, a smile she couldn't hide on her face: "For this matter, I don't blame you at all!"
Wang Qi sighed in relief, "That's good then—umph!"
Without warning, Ai Qinglan suddenly threw a punch and hit Wang Qi in the abdomen. Wang Qi felt a sweetness in his throat and nearly choked out blood. Ai Qinglan's terrifying punch was like stuffing a piece of dynamite inside him, as the ferocious power swept through his entire body in an instant. Every muscle was pocketing itself, all bones fractured, and nerves snapped one by one under such terrifying power.
It was unimaginable pain.
Wang Qi felt a strange sense of weightlessness, he was thrown high into the air, then crashed through a courtyard wall.
"Weren't you not angry…" Wang Qi felt as if countless ants were burrowing powerfully inside his body, he had never been in so much pain in his life. Although the injury was not serious, and his Life Flame restored his body to its original state in between breaths, the pain seemed to linger, continuously stimulating Wang Qi's consciousness.
"But there is something you did deserve to be beaten for!" Ai Qinglan's voice carried a hint of Evil Qi, "Not knowing life, how can you know death? If you do not understand life yet dabble with death, it is fitting to teach you with death. You have never understood the preciousness of life, never respected it, nor considered the possibilities it brings—you should never have gotten involved with the empirical verification of the Life Path in the first place."
The oppressive presence of the Golden Core Stage fully crushed Wang Qi's spirit. But even up to this point, Wang Qi still laughed, "I haven't killed without reason... It was all for verification..."
"You could not possibly be doing just this one verification in your lifetime. You should have considered the consequences from the beginning." Leaving these words behind, Ai Qinglan turned away, "Bring all the results and data you have obtained so far to me."
Wang Qi coughed up a bit of blood and quietly said to Chen Feng, "Your wife...she's quite something..."
Chen Feng could only express regret, "The rules that must be followed in empirical verification are there to ensure the significance of the results and the safety of those Seeking the Dao. You trampled on the accumulated wisdom of countless predecessors of Tianling Ridge, of course, she would be furious—and this time, you've also gotten a whole city of people involved."
The data that Wang Qi and the others had accumulated, along with the secret technology and cutting-edge papers provided by Feng Luoyi, was immense. Excluding parts relating to mathematical logic and open systems interconnection, which are closer to pure mathematics and less related to biology, Ai Qinglan took a good half a day to read through it all. It was only when Chen Youjia asked to have dinner did she put down the last piece of data, marveling, "Who would have thought... so many top-secret laws have been made available to you by Senior Feng..."
Chen Feng asked doubtfully, "Is there a problem?"
"You're from Tianling Ridge too, Xiao Feng. Think about it!" Ai Qinglan picked up a paper on infectious diseases, "This research on plague diseases is highly confidential, with a security level only second to Heavenly Sword. Wanting to study it, one must go through multiple layers of scrutiny. I remember running around so many places and undergoing so many reviews to learn about bloodline grafting [genetic transformation]—and there's even someone here who would never pass the review."
Spiritual Energy brought the distance between theory and technology infinitely close. In this universe, scientists can easily double as engineers. Viral biologists on Earth couldn't single-handedly create a world-destroying plague, but the plague-wielding Cultivators of Shenzhou's Tianling Ridge, each and every one of them could twist out a biochemical crisis with their bare hands. Therefore, wanting to study this field, one must first go through rigorous reviews and regularly visit the Yangshen Pavilion for mental evaluations. Someone like Wang Qi, a Banished Immortal, would never pass political scrutiny.
"And moreover..." Ai Qinglan turned her anger back to Wang Qi and pointed at another draft, "You're applying for this Plague Curse Technique, you're trying to enhance the lethality of the Heart Demon Great Spell, aren't you?"
Wang Qi claimed innocence, "The main thing is to increase the completeness of the Heart Demon Curse, to deepen the understanding of it and thus research countermeasures."
Chen Feng and Chen Youjia shook their heads in turn, "Who would believe that..." "So that's how it is."
"I always felt that Senior Feng giving you these things was like he had a lapse in judgment—does he actually want you to continue completing this malicious spell capable of exterminating the entire Human Clan? Generally speaking, researching countermeasures doesn't require this, right?" Ai Qinglan muttered, then picked up another piece of data, "Regarding the Spell Power of the Heart Demon Curse, there should be a way to refine it at the Spiritual Energy level, right?"
"There is, but producing a counteractive Spiritual Power neutralizer requires high control over Spiritual Power, which is not the most widespread method."
"I see." Ai Qinglan nodded, then picked up the latest version of the Refining God Demon Spell, "Using the Heavenly Calculation Atlas as a foundation, allowing this Cultivation Technique to improve itself in the face of the Heart Demon Curse. This idea is not bad, but it seems like you haven't played to the characteristics of the Heavenly Calculation Atlas at all!"
Wang Qi was surprised, "Senior Sister, the characteristic of the Heavenly Calculation Atlas is evolution, isn't it?"
"No, no, no, no." Ai Qinglan shook her finger, "The biggest difference between the Heavenly Calculation Atlas and other Cultivation Techniques is that it requires accumulation." This version is sourced from MV3L3MPYR.
"The great paths under the heavens all originate from the System of Yuanli Master. Yuanli Master made the Calculation of the Great Dao, the algorithms, and axioms clear, so all cultivators under the heavens can expound the Dao in one sentence. However, there is a concept that even Yuanli Master has neglected—the accumulation of Spirit Sense over time. This accumulation is the foundation that allows life beings to evolve from simplicity to complexity."
Mutation, pluralism, opportunity, uncertainty, purposeful procedures, historical information, and the imprecise replication at the genetic level provide more possibilities for life forms.
Wang Qi fell into thought. When he had constructed his Magic Foundation, he had made use of this feature of the Heavenly Calculation Atlas to act as a storage component in the structure of the calculator. But he still scratched his head and said, "You mention this, but who would understand... Can you explain specifically how to do it?"
Ai Qinglan extended her hand, "Give me all historical versions of this Refining God Demon Technique—whether they're pre-revision, post-revision, or the original versions."
"Jarvis, user registration, Ai Qinglan, set to level one permissions," Wang Qi called out. Immediately, a mechanical voice came from the void, "Body scan, confirmed... Iris scan, confirmed... Mana Qi Intent... Hello, Fairy Ai."
Wang Qi introduced, "This is an Acquired Will I created. Normally, I don't need it, and when there's some research data that's valuable, it will be stored by it."
Ai Qinglan curiously looked at the light screen that suddenly appeared in front of her, "Not bad, this thing is really interesting."
There were several experimenters at the beginning, so the Refining God Demon Technique had one or two new versions every day. Ai Qinglan quickly scanned through the more than twenty versions of the Cultivation Technique and then focused her attention on both the first and the latest versions. She held up her hands to the left and right, and countless milky mists emerged, condensing into talismans and then floating above her palms. As there were enough talismans, they began to gather and connect automatically.
Gradually, two double helix structures took shape in Ai Qinglan's palms.
She then represented that piece of Cultivation Technique in another "language" she was familiar with!
"This segment mimics the Bloodline Root, containing the Spirit Sense of the Cultivation Technique," Ai Qinglan did not forget to explain to the other three, "And then, I will use these things to deduce the essence of the Cultivation Technique itself."
Having said that, Ai Qinglan closed her eyes. The room grew brighter. Countless talismans appeared around her and then connected into the structure familiar to Wang Qi.
Numerous long chains appeared around Ai Qinglan. Each double helix chain was like a segment of a genome. And its base pairs were characters; each segment of the genome represented a version of the Cultivation Technique.
Surrounded by countless Life Chains, Ai Qinglan seemed even more transcendent.
These "genetic fragments" resembled the seeds of a dandelion, and also like some kind of jellyfish, softly fluttering around Ai Qinglan—simply beautiful. Chen Youjia even felt the urge to touch these ribbon-like long chains.
"So that's how it is... I see," Ai Qinglan murmured, leading with her Hand Mnemonics. The Life Chains around her, as if called by some force, drifted in the same direction, connecting and coupling.
Then, a real long chain coiled around Ai Qinglan, gently spinning.
Wang Qi was stunned, "Are you... combining several versions together? Uh, if I may be so bold to say, Senior Sister, we're currently simplifying things as it is..."
"Do you remember what Senior Sister taught you? 'Redundancy' is also a part of the Life Path. Harmful parts eliminated, harmless retained, beneficial emphasized; this is the law of evolution of life beings. Because 'redundancy' is the margin for mutation and a buffer. It's also because of the retention of the redundancy, which carried some of the Spirit Sense, that allowed for many hidden changes within the life beings," Ai Qinglan looked at Chen Feng finally: "Xiao Feng, this Cultivation Technique, wasn't it you who revised it? Not good enough."
"Of course, that's why I need your help," Xiao Feng said.
"Mmm, your senior sister will teach you well today!"
"Ahem," Wang Qi interrupted the flirtatious exchange between the couple, "By the way, Senior Sister, how do you resolve the issue of the complexity of the Cultivation Technique?"
Ai Qinglan countered, "Junior Brother, can you feel that over half of the Spirit Sense in your Bloodline is meaningless redundant data?"
"That's really... alright, you're the expert."
Ai Qinglan smiled, "Very well. So Junior Brother, that Heart Demon Demon God System of yours, let me have a look at it."
Wang Qi questioned, "What for?"
"Just to take care of that 'God' as well." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit to read.)