Applied Immortality

Wang Qi jumped into the river valley, not to kill himself, of course. Not like he could; his body was strengthened in the Qi Refining Realm.

He was looking for a place to refine the crabapple.

Refining couldn’t be easier, just sit down and cycle spiritual energy. Since this was Wu Fan, Mao Zimiao, and Wang Qi’s first visit to Jiongli City, they weren’t used to the meditation-focused ‘cultivation inns’ around the area to rent a room on the fly. Besides, Wang Qi’s main cultivation method, Evolution Chart, made it normal for him to integrate Gene Ancestor’s insights from the Mendel clan’s pea. Ai clan’s crabapple offered classical mechanics insights in this case. The heavens had no mercy, however, for Wang Qi’s cultivation method’s lack of foundation in classical mechanics would lead to deviation.

But a bookworm always had a way.

Since he couldn’t integrate it into his movements, he’d blend it with martial arts.

Martial training needed space, which this place lacked, but Wang Qi’s attention turned to the river valley.

The ‘dock’ and the surrounding buildings where Wang Qi was at, sat on an overhanging cliff, a hundred meters from the water. Once finished unloading, the spirit boats dropped into the water. The Jiongli river had many affluents and was far wider than deep, a whole hundred meters. This section of the river had a few spirit boats docked, but it didn’t feel crowded.

Coming to a decision, Wang Qi gave the bowl containing the hypothetical secret of the flame energy cloud pattern to the catgirl. “Zimiao, remember to give it back later.”

She tensed. “What for?”

He used a movement art and jumped off the cliff.

With the help of gravity, Wang Qi fell at increased speeds towards the water. The wind whipped his face, feeling oddly weightless as he fell.

F=GMm/R^2

A formula came to Wang Qi.

Every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.

Classical mechanics insight exploded in Wang Qi’s mind.

Universal gravitation equation!

Wang Qi’s perspective shifted. He felt as if he and Divine Province’s planet were becoming equal in existence, the same ‘particles.’ The feeling made him realize the might of the earth.

As water came closer and closer, Wang Qi turned. His arms and legs moved with practiced, yet foreign, motions as he adjusted from faceplanting to hitting the water feet first.

Intangible spiritual power gushed from his legs, changing the kinetic energy just as Wang Qi’s feet touched water. He stood on water, turning the falling force into a lateral force. With a swing of his feet, he was off, walking on water.

The first of the three great principles—Newton’s first law, the law of inertia.

The second of the three great principles—Newton’s second law.

Attaining Reaching Heaven and entering the Qi Refining Realm, Wang Qi was free to toy with the classic Iron Palm Water Floater and Crossing River on a Reed moves, but no attempts had been as easy as now.(Tamon: the first move is a reference from The Legend of the Condor Heroes, while the second is from ‘Bodhidharma crossing the Yangzi River on a reed,’ an Indian patriarch who brought Chan Buddhism to China.)

All of these were movement arts deduced from Newton’s laws of motion, which Wang Qi knew. However, understanding was one thing, and another was integrating them into cultivation.

Wang Qi used little effort to dash across the water. He put his hands in his sleeve and out came his blade.

Wang Qi’s blade shone as it flashed out of the storage bag, probably from its owner’s contagious excitement. The poor blade let out blade waves.

With a modicum of joy, Wang Qi hacked with all his power.

As the blade moved and filled his arm with power, inspiration struck.

Torque equals force times lever arm…

All melee martial arts used this principle.

The epiphany gave him instinctive knowledge on how to apply it. With a deep breath and a “Ha!” he used both arms on his blade to strike.

He managed a full eighteen strikes, all seamless in their flow, and with a smooth transition between attacking and withdrawing.

He had a complete understanding of how to apply force.

“Is this insight in Newton’s path?” Wang Qi weaved strikes while organizing the rushing knowledge in his mind.

The insights weren’t like the fundamental knowledge later cultivators gleaned from Supreme Lord Einstein’s comparative path theory, but practical and solid. Wang Qi’s insights were no different from what Transcendent experienced when he first discovered the three great principles. It didn’t get more solid and complete than that.

Each time a bit more of the apple’s energy was refined, Wang Qi deepened his understanding of integrating classical mechanics into martial arts. He soon lost interest in just swinging the blade around on water. He arched his body to build power and shot straight at the overhanging cliff.

Wang Qi used his right foot to touch the cliff, shifting the horizontal force into vertical motion. The youth did it a few times before lunging into the air and swinging his sword down.

A brilliant blade wave traced the sky.

Wang Qi’s dashing display had attracted more spectators, including Hu Jianghao.

He belonged to Western Sea’s Hu clan, which used to be a prestigious family in Cracked Peak. Many years ago, their ancestor, Hooke, clashed with Transcendent. Unable to contend with Newton, Hooke had to relocate his entire family to the shores of the Western Sea.

Cracked Peak’s Ai clan was seen as Western Sea Hu clan’s sworn enemy.

Unlike Wang Qi and Ai Changyuan, your typical misunderstood genius who never fit in, Hu Jianghao was a refined man with wealth and power. He may loathe Ai Changyuan, but he’d never show it to anyone.

Ai Changyuan’s flat refusal annoyed him, and he wanted to blow off steam.

Noticing the flashy blade wave, Humph huffed. “Where did this savage come from? He’s disgracing himself with his shoddy knowledge.”

Hu Jianghao blurted out from being in a bad mood, but would Ai Changyuan let this chance go? “Ha-ha-ha, less disgraceful Hu, the strike showed he has a firm grasp of blades.”

Hu Jianghao retorted, “Showing such a crass display at Foundation Establishment or Golden Core is humiliating.”

Ai Changyuan watched Wang Qi’s blade dance with full fighting spirit. “As far as I know, there’s only one person practicing his blade at that location… Argent Apex Immortal Institute shows some promise.”

Hu Jianghao winced. “You mean he’s from Argent Apex Immortal Institute? That can’t be! Us and most of Argent Apex Immortal Institute’s disciples have… Maybe he’s just your plain rogue cultivator.”

Another flash of a blade wave streaked the skies.

Then another, and another, for a total of thirteen.

“White Marsh True Array Divider!” Ai Changyuan laughed. “What was it you said, a rogue cultivator?”