Applied Immortality

Argent Apex’s inner city had quite the many teahouses, and while cultivators had little need of food like mortals, it did not mean they could do without. Who said an immortal couldn’t appreciate a good cup of tea either?

White Stallion was a teahouse on the eastern side, a well-known location, always buzzing with people. The owner was a friendly man. He sold famous blends like Dragon Well and many others, but he mostly catered to the average population with his affordable teas. The teahouse had a small stage as well, for comedians and short plays. With time, the owner had earned a fortune by selling the cheaper blends.

Wang Qi was sitting at a table, glaring at the blue cultivator.

He had the perfect angle earlier and wanted to expose the blue cultivator’s actions to the mob hunting him down. However, the blue cultivator seized him and then slinked away with him to this teahouse.

The blue cultivator took a casual seat across from Wang Qi and looked through his haul of cards.

Escape never crossed Wang Qi’s mind, even as the blue cultivator let go of him. Zhen Chanzi sent him a message about how the other was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, at least. As long as the other didn’t want him gone, there would be no hope of ever escaping.

He preferred to keep a low profile as well.

Xiang Qi would just come looking for him once she quit her job. With the Immortal Alliance having issued a law that forbid fights, he wasn’t that worried for his safety.

However…

“Bro, what’s up with you…” Wang Qi looked at the cultivator browsing through his cards and knocked on the table.

The blue cultivator jolted, “Eh?”

“I mean, this is the third stand-up comedian, and even the tea got cold…”

The cultivator exclaimed, “Oh! How time flies. What are you still doing here?”

Wang Qi smiled, “Well shit, you grabbed me and now ask me to leave?”

The cultivator gasped, “I stopped you from giving me away, not grabbing you. Besides, haven’t I let go of you already?”

[Eh?] Wang Qi looked at the blue cultivator’s puzzled look with a blank face, “Come on, you call propping me in the chair letting go? That action totally means ‘stay put.’ My bum still hurts.” 

The two got to chatting and Wang Qi poured tea. The blue cultivator laughed, “Little brother, don’t give me that look. That’s my mistake, true, but isn’t it because you wanted to make a scene?”

Wang Qi grinned, rubbing his rear, “You got an impressive skill.”

“A-ha-ha-ha.” The cultivator laughed, “What a wonderful relation of karma.”

“Karma?” Wang Qi was about to get up when he heard his odd words, “There’s karma in modern cultivation?”

Zhen Chanzi said that only high cultivators would pay attention to this aspect.

The cultivator gave him an odd look, “Little brother, what sect is your master from? You don’t even know this?”

Wang Qi answered, “I’ve only been a rogue cultivator till recently. Then I met a peacekeeper and came for the admission trial.”

The cultivator went wide-eyed, “Y-you’re cultivation shows you’ve passed Reaching Heaven! A rogue cultivator attaining Reaching Heaven before trial?” He gave his full admiration, “A genius, hands down.”

Wang Qi said, “Bro, enlighten me, what has modern cultivation discovered about karma?”

The blue cultivator turned friendly on the spot, “Come, sit first. Little brother, what’s your name? It’s awkward not knowing your name. I’m Su Junyu.” 

“Wang Qi.”

Su Junyu sat Wang Qi down back in his chair, smiling, “Wang Qi, you don’t know since you’ve yet to train in modern cultivation, but there are many modern words that are based on the ancient system’s words, while their meaning is different.” 

Wang Qi said, “Tell me more.”

“Ancient system’s karma, you reap what you sow, stresses on destined encounters. Because what you give is what you receive. Karma can’t be measured, but the gist of it is that good and evil are rewarded accordingly — this is the ancient way.” Modern cultivators sure got excited once you got them going about their field of study. Su Junyu was no exception. He had one foot up on the chair and started gushing, “The modern cultivation calls it bullshit. Wang Qi, do you understand Heavenly Variations?” 

Wang Qi nodded, [Aren’t they just functions?]

Su Junyu resumed, “Let’s take the most basic Heavenly Variations. One added to heaven is earth. You with me so far?”

Wang Qi nodded. [x+1=y. The most basic function on Earth.]

“This represents two groups, heaven and earth. Any element of the heaven group that it is added one to it is equal to an element in the earth group.”

Wang Qi translated his speech in Earth’s math, [The X set and Y set…]

“If we call heaven cause, then earth would be the effect. Adding one is the way for the cause to generate the effect. The modern cultivation is precisely seeking this way.” Su Junyu took a sip of his tea, “The ancient system’s karma, or cause and effect, speaks of some vague and abstract fortune, luck, destiny, and so on. while the modern cultivation karma is all about what triggers the cause to generate that particular effect. In your case, ‘I forced you on the chair’ is the effect, but what are the causes? What rule triggered this effect? How do you calculate it with math? This aspect is far more interesting.” 

[Determinism?]

Wang Qi’s mind flashed, [That means that this world rejects determinism?]

With little to go by, Wang Qi wasn’t hasty to judge Divine Province cultivators’ level in math and physics. But one thing was for certain, since Elusive Palace was one of the best five, it meant they had established quantum mechanics. It was the basic requirement to prove or disprove determinism.

Wang Qi probed, “It sounds amazing. Using it to develop a mystical skill for battle, that will give you a clear advantage in all fights.”

Su Junyu laughed, “Right? This is the peak art of my Myriad Arts Sect, White Marsh Algorithm!” 

[I just knew it was determinism and Laplace!]

Wang Qi gave a skeptical look, “The peacekeeper who brought me mentioned that Elusive Palace’s way…” 

Su Junyu cut him off with a frown, “That cultivator must’ve lost it. Never mind, just don’t believe everything you hear since you’ve yet to know the specifics. When you meet with a strange and baffling situation remember this, because you can’t see a cause to an effect just means you haven’t looked enough.” 

Wang Qi perked up. He had learned a whole lot from Su Junyu with just one small word.

First, quantum mechanics were established in this world but were still being ironed out. At the very least, Schrödinger’s wave function collapse had yet to be found. Su Junyu’s insist on determinism’s ‘every effect has a cause’ showed his partiality towards hidden-variable theory and the neglected research on the wave function collapse. This proved two things: chaos theory wasn’t developed, and that Bell inequalities in relation to quantum mechanics weren’t discovered.

[Looking at the missing chaos theory and Bell inequalities, this world’s science is around 1950s on Earth. Wait, something isn’t right. Five Army Purger and Earth’s scientist, Qian Xuesen, are related. Then it’s more accurate to place it in the ’70s… No, wrong again. From what I know of immortal cultivation’s history, there are some glaring inconsistencies. Evolutionary Divine Lord, who corresponds to Darwin, was the first modern cultivator, a predecessor to Transcendent Newton. But Earth’s history is the opposite. Darwin came 150 years after Newton…]

[Can it be that this is just an exception? But what caused it? Does it have any connection with me crossing over?]

Su Junyu noticed Wang Qi in thought and thought his words caused it. He laughed, “You’ll know about them once you join us. Understand that modern cultivation is about breaking your worldview view then putting it back together.”

Wang Qi didn’t mind it. His worldview had been patched over and over again in his studies back on Earth. By crossing over, nothing could faze him.

He got to know a lot of things today. Having pinpointed Divine Province’s scientific level, he could determine the correct math he needed to parse Daoist Proscribe’s works. As for the next step, as long as he knew which iconic theories Elusive Palace had, he could find the thread connecting the works.

He needed to do some experiments, including the black body radiation, and get their data. That was the way to fully decipher the works. If he acquired modern cultivation methods, understanding how the theories and arts were combined… 

[He-he, I just can’t wait!]

Su Junyu took out two Cultivation the Gathering decks from his bag, placed some cards from the expansion pack he just bought inside them, and gave one deck to Wang Qi, “You know how to play? Here’s a deck.”

Wang Qi smiled, “Senior Brother Su, you truly love this gave.”

Su Junyu beamed, “This is my cultivation.”

Wang Qi raised an eyebrow, “White Marsh Algorithm?”

Su Junyu nodded, “Right! From my perspective, a game of Cultivation the Gathering is a system with more and more new causes being introduced. I am using those causes to calculate victories in any situation. That is my cultivation.” 

Wang Qi looked over the deck from Su Junyu and his hand shook, “T-there are so many 8th rarity cards!”

Xiang Qi’s deck’s highest rarity was the only 8th rarity card, Black Gold Discharge Art.

Su Junyu gave a carefree laughter, “With strong drawing comes a powerful miracle. That’s how I got all of my 108 rarity 8 cards.”

“Shit, a whale! Let’s be friends, moneybags!” 

“Beat me and we’re friends.”

Wang Qi gave a sour look, “Not likely. I don’t even know most of the cards in the deck.”

A bloke like him who only played with the basic deck had no chance to win against a moneybags.

Su Junyu took out a book from his storage bag, “Here’s the rulebook and all the cards.”

Wang Qi flipped it, “The details of the base deck, Sacred Soul Infant Bane of Heaven and Imperial Global Shock expansion packs, the arts from Sacred Soul Coven and Imperial Celestial Rift Sect. Damn, Ephemeral Tranquility Palace’s expansion pack, Unrivaled Supreme, and then there’s the rares… Eh!?”  

Wang Qi went wide-eyed and cracked up, “Wa-ha-ha-ha, that’s just what I needed!” 

He had just flipped over to Elusive Palace’s rare cards.”