Chapter 155, Adding Injury to Injury

Translator: Tamon

 

Zhen Chanzi was thrilled at Wang Qi’s development of the flame energy cloud pattern.

 

As he saw it, Wang Qi finally came around to pulling something out that he understood. Well duh, since the pattern had been written by ancient cultivators tens of thousands of years back. It would be an insult not to. [Ain’t modern cultivation’s motto that the world of cultivation is ever-expanding?]

 

All Zhen Chanzi got from Wang Qi when he asked for an explanation was an eye roll. “History means growth—modern cultivation was established in as little as two short thousand years, while ancient cultivation came out of nothing. Old man, keep in mind that your era is a great regression lasting for tens of thousands of years, if not the abyss of regression.”

 

Zhen Chanzi snapped in shame. “You math and I’ll watch.”

 

The bookworm scratched his head. “My disembodied geriatric friend, do you know of the great cultivator of the same generation as Computation Demon Lord, Geometry God Euclid?”

 

“Of course, Five Heaven Drawing Forms and Five Heaven Drawing Inquiries were famous in ancient times as well.”

 

“Do you know, then, Geometry God’s Five Heaven Drawing Forms’ math?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“Then there’s nothing more to discuss.” Wang Qi spread his arms. “The Five Heaven Drawing Principles, the Five Heaven Drawing Postulates, and 23 Problems are the basics of the basics. With no understanding of Euclidean space, don’t even think of tackling this one.”

 

Five Heaven Drawing Principles and Five Heaven Drawing Inquiries referred to Earth’s Euclid’s five postulates. Hyperbolic geometry, Hilbert space, fractals, and fractal dimension were all based on Euclidean geometry.

 

All fractals could be expressed through fractal geometry.

 

Zhen Chanzi didn’t give and Wang Qi sighed. “Look if you want, but don’t come crying later.”

 

The bookworm ignored his spirit grandpa, each left with their own thoughts on the matter.

 

“This has an area, and the topological dimension is two-dimensional for sure.” He bit the pen’s end. “By definition, if the number of fractal dimensions is greater than topological dimensions, the pattern is above two dimensions yet below three dimensions.”

 

Wang Qi wrote down above two scales and below three scales.

 

Scale was what Divine Province’s cultivation world called a dimension.

 

This was a recent habit of his, forcing himself to write down Divine Province’s math terminology.

 

Wang Qi wrote the following line that drove Zhen Chanzi man. Since he was always a plus one wherever Wang Qi went, he listened to plenty of classes at the Immortal Institute. He got a grasp on two scales and three scales. But what the hell does being between them mean? 2.5?

 

To keep his self-respect, the old guy didn’t ask, especially since Wang Qi already reminded him once of his faulty math.

 

Wang Qi used Divine Province’s terminology to write down: k(1/l)-df.

 

“If a pattern is composed of b self-similar copies of the original figure, each scaled down by a factor of 1/a, then a^d=b and d=(ln b)/(ln a). Now, to roughly divide it… Yes, and again…”

 

Wang Qi did the math, calculating the fractal’s fractal dimensions, function, and its every aspect.

 

The jade ring Math gave off a hazy glow. Even with logarithms being above its pay grade, it still cut a load off Wang Qi’s work.

 

He kept at it until the pale morning light.

 

After Wang Qi stretched and wrote the final formula, he woke up to realize how absorbed he was. “Crap, I over-calculated. Damn, I’m sleepy.”

 

Zhen Chanzi sighed. “You’ve already extracted the working parts from the Storing Thoughts pattern…”

 

The youth waved him off. “Not nearly enough. Upper Clarity Fractal is still a fractal. Direct observation falls short of giving an accurate depiction. In fact, the flame energy cloud pattern also paints a rough image.”

 

“And the complete one?”

 

Wang Qi pointed at the paper with conceit. “This right here! Where drawing fails to paint it, math will achieve it.”

 

Zhen Chanzi stared at Wang Qi’s formula. The old relic sighed in dismay. “I… don’t get it.”

 

“That’s why I say, there’s no need to fear mental exhaustion. The Upper Clarity Fractal can already calm my demons and refresh my spirit despite its incomplete form. There’s no way the full form can’t blow your mind away.”

 

The old man hesitated. “Cultivation isn’t to be taken lightly. You shouldn’t experiment with this new method you created at such a crucial time.”

 

“This is scientific cultivation, guided by theory!” Wang Qi never backed down, plopping down cross-legged and closing his eyes to use it.

 

Store Thoughts’ first step was to draw the pattern in one’s mind. With Upper Clarity Fractal’s formula down pat, Wang Qi completed the step even faster than drawing the familiar flame energy cloud pattern.

 

A complex pattern emerged in his mind. The feeling of being able to grasp his every thought returned.

 

No, it wasn’t just a mere grasp. The lad felt his ego and spiritual treasure turn into a vortex as they sucked in memories, his id and primal self.

 

“This…”

 

The ego expanded and Wang Qi felt his soul growing at crazy speeds.

 

A soul’s change triggered spiritual power’s change. His spiritual power blended with his soul.

 

A condensed spiritual power strand reached out of his Dantian. It shot for Wang Qi’s soul and into the vortex caused by the Upper Clarity Fractal.

 

“Book of Geometry? Heavenly Position axis?”

 

The Upper Clarity Fractal assisted in soul cultivation, something he predicted, but nothing pointed out that it would change his spiritual power as well.

 

Wang Qi knew it was bad and was about to stop. As the Heavenly Position axis spiritual power entered the vortex, he felt all his spiritual power and soul spin like crazy, out of his control.

 

A disturbed soul bred demons.

 

The scenery faded from Wang Qi’s eyes, one at a time until two sights remained. A twisted coastline, undulating mountains, rough and crude sections, transitory clouds, nine winding rivers, crisscrossing blood vessels… the sight left him in a daze.

 

The scenes were abstracted into geometric shapes through the Book of Geometry’s influence. All of the shapes were irregular and random.

 

The complex shapes were beyond what Euclidean geometry could solve. They were fractals.

 

The fractals kept simplifying, broken down, and fractioned, filling Wang Qi’s mind with concepts.

 

The youth felt the Heavenly Position axis spiritual power connected with the Upper Clarity Fractal converge.

 

The fractal was a fractal dimension, its axes converging naturally.

 

The bookworm felt a bone-deep chill. Book of Geometry’s first stage was based on Euclidean geometry. Only after he combined it with Divine Hexagram Computation to achieve the Heavenly Position could he hope to tackle more advanced geometry. Converging axes was incompatible with traditional Euclidean geometry.

 

As the axes converged, Wang Qi felt pain exploding from his Dantian. His cultivation crumbled and his many types of spiritual power clashed. Under his chaotic spiritual power, Wang Qi was forced to cough blood.

 

Mao Zimiao widened at the sight. Awakened by the erratic spiritual power in the room, she roused to witness such a sight. The shock froze her for a moment before crying out, “Little Qi!”