Chapter 172, Poem Wrought by Heaven

Translator: Tamon

 

Wu Shiqin was even more fired up. As all the electric field was within herself, her strength was focused in her forty, ahem, girl’s body. Due to her studies in the electromagnetic path, she could control her electric potential, preventing the electromagnetic spiritual power from leaking. But the more she did it, the more pressure she released.

 

Ai Changyuan felt the dreadful force and nodded. “Good, good. A Four Heaven-opening Forces’ cultivation method is the best in any aspect. Just strike me with your strongest move.”

 

Wu Shiqin felt odd. “You’re… giving advice?”

 

The youth with the light-colored hair nodded. “Yes. Stop using illusions and just come crushing.”

 

“Why?” Wu Shiqin didn’t oblige him.

 

She’d never met with such a situation before. Wang Qi had reminded her a few times in their not-so-friendly spars, but she just ignored it. She and Wang Qi were still friends, but Ai Changyuan wasn’t.

 

Or maybe, being a funny weirdo wasn’t much different from being a nutjob.

 

Ai Changyuan smiled. “Now don’t misunderstand, I don’t look down on you at all. It’s the opposite, I find you a worthy opponent, honest to heaven. There aren’t that many who train in a Four Heaven-opening Forces cultivation method like you and I, and even fewer that succeed.”

 

Wang Qi clapped. “Now I get it! I figured out why he’s so friendly with Shiqin!”

 

Zhen Chanzi was curious. “For the Four Heaven-opening Forces’ cultivation methods to be so strong, there must be very few who train them, yes?”

 

Wang Qi shook his head. “It weighs heavily on the talent and cultivation method. First off, that guy wants to fight those with ‘special cultivation.’ And there’s a severe shortage of such people in the Qi Refining Realm. How many parts do you think there are to the Four Heaven-opening Forces?”

 

Zhen Chanzi was blunt. “Four?”

 

“Wrong, it’s two.” Wang Qi shook his head. “Only gravity’s Universal Pull and electromagnetism’s Celestial Hymn Odyssey.”

 

“Strong flux and weak flux have no corresponding mental art, only some powerful arts based on them, Star Destroying Sword and Heaven’s Mirror. These are all arts requiring Golden Core cultivation to grasp. Also, the changes brought about by the Celestial Hymn Odyssey at the Golden Core Realm would touch upon strong flux and weak flux.

 

“It’s all due to Unified Arts Maxwell, a genius of worldly proportion, that modern cultivation could we train Celestial Hymn Odyssey in the Qi Refining Realm. Universal Pull started off as being trained only at the Primordial Spirit Realm! If not for Supreme Lord Einstein’s comparative path revealing further insight into gravitational force’s essence, it wouldn’t have been possible to train it even in Foundation Establishment Realm.”

 

As for why Ai Changyuan pulled it off at Qi Refining Realm, he’d been stuffing himself with Newton’s apples every single day. It’d be a miracle if he didn’t learn it.

 

So when he said something like ‘there’re few cultivators training in Four Heaven-opening Forces’ cultivation methods and even less succeeding,’ it was all so he could show off! Wang Qi kept that last part for himself.

 

Wu Shiqin’s eyes shone at Ai Changyuan’s words. “Is that so? Though I do have one attack I’ve yet to grasp. But hearing your words, it has to be worth it!”

 

As she finished the mood changed on the arena.

 

Wu Shiqin’s aura rose higher and higher, giving the feeling lightning was about to strike. As for the casual Ai Changyuan, he erupted with incredible power, like a mountain, no, like a celestial body, pressing down on the world. He was just a thin kid, yet he gave the impression he weighed a million tonnes! All bowed before him in respect.

 

Universal Pull was akin to a star, pulling in all in creation.

 

Feeling even her blood flow affected, Wu Shiqin set her jaw and gathered her spiritual power for a palm strike.

 

The palm was mighty alright, but that was it. It failed to showcase the power and expertise expected of one such as Wu Shiqin, a true Qi Refining battle expert. But against this palm, Ai Changyuan, along with Wang Qi and a few others, looked on with glittering eyes. Ai Changyuan chose caution, replying with a punch of his own.

 

As the electromagnetic and gravitational spiritual powers met, it triggered a violent boom, as if a world exploded into existence upon the point of contact.

 

The electromagnetic spiritual power scattered, while Ai Changyuan, becoming a gravity well as strong as the planet, didn’t budge. Wu Shiqin was sharp to step back, only to come back with another palm.

 

Boom!

 

A new world once again exploded into being upon contact.

 

Boom~

 

Wu Shiqin struck four times in total, each one sublime yet lacking substance. As the girl unleashed her fifth palm, it was devoid of any great force, as ephemeral as a passing musical note. However, as the palm was unleashed, it changed. The scattered electromagnetic spiritual power surged like a dragon and the power of all the previous strikes was gathered into this one. All the disjointed attacks showed their true purpose with this final strike.

 

Ai Changyuan chose to… punch! Newton’s descendant’s punch turned into an over-encompassing mountain that swallowed the entire world.

 

The majestic force pulled them apart. Wu Shiqin staggered a few steps, almost driven into the ground by the force. As for the unshakable Ai Changyuan, he was sent flying.

 

More electromagnetic spiritual power gathered as flashes of silver flickered off Wu Shiqin. The sea of electromagnetic spiritual power gathered in the girl’s palm. Then it happened. The overflowing silvery electromagnetic spiritual power began to shed its original nature in her hand.

 

It was a transparent electromagnetic force!

 

That was the motion of microscopic particles, the silver serpents in thunderclouds, the primal magnetism of the earth—it was the very essence of all electromagnetic phenomena, the most fundamental, original force of this world!

 

Dost thou not see, the rift and thunder everlasting since time immemorial…

 

Wu Shiqin’s full-powered strike flowed quietly about her right hand. Formless and shapeless, the electromagnetic spiritual power shimmered, transformed, and danced—mirroring all phenomena of electromagnetism in the world, like a breathtaking and divine ballet.

 

At this sight, all who watched were involuntarily reminded of a certain phrase—words once used to praise the Celestial Hymn Odyssey.

 

[Is this not a poem wrought by Heaven itself?]

 

High in the air, Ai Changyuan swept his hands through space, sketching a curved surface. Gravitational spiritual power flowed between his palms, folding and collapsing upon itself. As the force intensified, the once-invisible power began to take visible form—a dark sphere materialized in his grasp.

 

From stars above to grains of dust below, all bowed to its will, moving in accordance with that one force.

 

Gravity!

 

Wu Shiqin struck first. She sprinted toward the spot where Ai Changyuan was descending, thrusting her right hand toward him.

 

Ai Changyuan, in turn, let out a resonant cry. Channeling his strength, he hurled the dark sphere straight at Wu Shiqin.

 

The instant their powers collided, the entire stage seemed to freeze for a moment. Then—the light vanished. A sudden, absolute darkness engulfed them both.

 

In that fleeting moment, Wang Qi truly felt as if he had glimpsed the birth of the cosmos, the evolution of particles…

 

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A/N: “Is this not a poem wrought by Heaven itself?” — a tribute lifted from Boltzmann, who himself was referencing a line by Goethe: “Is this a poem written by the hand of God?” It is used here to praise the elegance and beauty of Maxwell’s theoretical framework.