Chapter 175, Battle Prelude

Translator: Tamon

Riemannian geometry was proposed by the German mathematician Riemann at the University of Gottingen. It expanded Euclid’s fifth postulate, generalizing Euclidean geometry. 

Due to the two world’s mysterious correlation, or maybe some Heavenly Dao’s sick hobby, the curvature deviation in geometry in Divine Province was still Riemannian geometry or Ri clan geometry. Myriad Arts Sect’s Warped Demon Riemann leveraged this geometry to attain his path and become Unfettered.

Riemannian geometry was the ground on which the math behind Einstein’s theory of gravity was based, used to describe the spacetime continuum. ‘Gravity as curved spacetime’ referred to Riemannian geometry’s curvature.

Thus, Ai Changyuan integrated Riemannian geometry into the Heaven Fall Palm so he could train the godlike skill in the Qi Refining Realm.

Wang Qi had little confidence in beating the overpowered dude, at first, but yesterday’s fight gave him ideas.

“You’re using Heaven Fall Palm with Riemannian geometry to lower the difficulty of learning it while also boosting its power. Nice. Although this forces you to go around making fricking balls!”

Universal Pull, transformed from gravity, was formless and invisible, making it that much harder to counter. One thing was certain, the fact that it affected the blood flow was no joke. Impulse meant lively as an adjective, while in the form of a verb or noun, stripped of ornament, it became a death sentence.

Universal Pull didn’t have a Qi Refining Realm version and the Arts Archive didn’t have it up for selection either. Cracked Peak Ai clan, or Transcendent’s descendants, had to have this art in their heritage. Since Wang Qi didn’t know the mental art’s specifics, it was hard to find any weaknesses.

Nevertheless, Riemannian geometry was a good lead. Especially for a certain someone mastering it in his prior life.

“What I must do now is take Riemannian geometry and integrate it into my blade arts. The move set doesn’t have to be based on Riemannian geometry alone, just getting the blade moves to incorporate about twenty percent of its principles should do the trick.”

Wang Qi wasn’t going to make a new blade art, but include some of the Riemannian geometry in White Marsh True Array Divider and Thunder Resonance Blade Art.

Riemannian geometry had a tight connection with differentiable manifold, partial differential equation, and function of several complex variables. Thunder Resonance Blade Art and White Marsh True Array Divider also followed calculus. It never crossed Wang Qi’s mind to use this kind of blade art all because he couldn’t add calculus’ concept of limit, infinity, to mention a few, into martial arts.

The more basic a concept was, the harder it became to have a profound application of it. It would’ve taken anywhere from a few months to years for Wang Qi to reach this point, but the incident a few days back saved Wang Qi from all that pain.

Upper Clarity Fractal, a mysterious fractal now affixed to his soul, contained the marvel of infinity. In the three days he spent soothing his inner demons, he touched upon some of the fractal’s ingenious features. It helped dawn on him the perfect trick to use calculus in blade arts.

Emphasis on trick. Wang Qi had a long way towards true mastery. Be that as it may, compared to the average person who would still be fumbling around, he was leagues ahead.

As Wang Qi worked hard in calculating the blade art to crush Heaven Fall Palm, Ai Changyuan was doing the same. He was looking for a counter for Grand Ripple Enigma and Celestial Entropy.

The youth was completely focused on his research in the study. Like Wang Qi, Ai Changyuan was prideful, but would never hold back even against a weakling. What was more praiseworthy, he wasn’t suicidal, something one particular impulsive expert might have something to learn from.

In Transcendent’s time, the clans had a strong attachment to cause and effect, karma. Cracked Peak Ai clan kept their practices from that time. Lord White Marsh’s famous saying couldn’t rank truer to Ai Changyuan, his childhood bearing a strong influence from his clan: ‘The outcome was already decided before a cultivator fight even began.’

After Elusive Palace formed the elusive path, determinism gained traction, with more and more cultivators having discussions like, “Addressing all aspects saves you from being wiped along with your adversary in the midst of battle fervor by an incoming meteor,” and other meaningless topics, and then coming to the conclusion that ‘a fight’s outcome is probabilistic.’ Ai Changyuan never believed any of that. He would always give his all in covering any and all aspects.

It was just after the winter solstice, when the days were the shortest. Lu Qianqian, who stayed with Ai Changyuan, triggered the illuminating array in the room. Seeing his furrowed brows, her worry mounted. “Changyuan, is the opponent that tricky?”

Ai Changyuan nodded. “He is. It took me a long time to find a foolproof way to beat him. The only tactic I found so far is to avoid melee at all costs.”

Lu Qianqian gasped, “Why, Changyuan? Your punches and kicks are your strengths!”

“It’s not about martial superiority, but mental art.” Ai Changyuan lay down the brush. “Remember his first fight?”

Lu Qianqian gave a tense nod. “Yeah, with Kun Zhongxuan.”

“He just tapped with his fist and Kun Zhongxuan’s earth shield crumbled from the inside. This is Celestial Entropy’s overpowering aspect. Struck with entropy amplification, at best, it’ll only unbalance your inner energy, at worst, go crazy and die. Though the most common way to die is spontaneous iridescence.” Ai Changyuan said. “I’m good at attacking and poor at defending. Letting my energy turn chaotic is the worst that could happen.”

Lu Qianqian blinked her big eyes. “Why not use Universal Pull to affect his blood from range?”

“I’ve never fought a Grand Ripple Enigma cultivator, and I’m not aware of its skills. Though even ripples should be able to affect gravitational forces.”

“You’re going with Heaven Fall Palm from the start?”

“I’m considering it, but still uncertain.” Ai Changyuan closed his eyes. “There’s also his blade arts I should be avoiding.”

[He’s just like me, specialized in offense while neglecting defense. Could I use a rushed assault to take him down? Wait, ‘neglected defense’ is subjective. I’ve never heard of anyone breaking the ripple shield one forms around themselves…]

Ai Changyuan’s complete focus filled Lu Qianqian with utter confidence. “No matter what, Changyuan, you’re still the strongest! Tomorrow, you’re going to win for sure!”

Ai Changyuan patted the girl’s head, his mind elsewhere.

[Tomorrow… don’t disappoint me.]