Exploring Immortality Cultivation

Wang Qi's current work is essentially equivalent to that of a professional data processing company on Earth. After all, not every scientist can be a math whiz capable of manually performing functional analysis. If mathematical duds handled some of the data, it would be a disaster. It's for this reason that data processing companies were born.

In the scientific research system of Shenzhou, the Wanfa Sect has an innate suitability for data processing, naturally acting as a "data processing company," so it's no surprise that newcomers on the path of Seeking Dao would turn to Wanfa Sect disciples for processing empirical data.

However, after graduating from the Immortal Institute, acquiring merit is relatively difficult, and the unattributed pure spiritual energy needed to inject into the spirit pool also depends on the Immortal Alliance for provision, and the amounts aren't substantial. This leads to most low-level cultivators being quite impoverished. As a result, some Wanfa Sect disciples take on excessive tasks and private work to earn more merit, leading to their data processing being very rough.

This kind of behavior is akin to consumer fraud on Earth.

It was somewhat normal for Beifeng to have doubts. After all, the gap in cultivation between him and Wang Qi was evident. There's a qualitative difference between the souls at the Foundation Establishment Stage and the Qi Cultivation Stage, and the computational power differs by an order of magnitude. Even if Wang Qi was proficient in mathematical reasoning, he could at best only be several times faster than Beifeng—not dozens of times, which would be too exaggerated.

Yet, the more Beifeng checked, the more he felt that the data was simply too correct to fault. He randomly selected data for verification, and had yet to find a single error. Occasionally he thought there was an issue with a number, but upon closer calculus, he realized his own mental arithmetic was at fault.

This is...

Looking at Beifeng's increasingly unsettled face, Wang Qi felt almost embarrassed to say he had actually finished long ago and even had time to verify his work.

After a long time, Beifeng finally said, "Amazing. Among the Wanfa Sect disciples I know, your Mathematics is definitely the best."

"Instead of compliments, let's settle the account," Wang Qi said. "I'm so poor that I can't even afford to cultivate immortality."

Beifeng hurriedly took out a large spirit pool and a jade token. The token was a specially made calculator terminal, used specifically for transferring merit.

Every researcher could submit an application to the Immortal Alliance, which would allocate a certain number of merits and thousands of Stone Spirit Qi based on the project. These merits wouldn't be directly credited to the individual researchers' accounts but would be registered under the Empirical Department's name. This was done using these special calculators and custom-made spirit pools, where every expense was recorded to prevent the heads of the Empirical Department from embezzling funds.

After completing the transfer, Beifeng still stood there, stunned by the data. In the eyes of outsiders, data was just a cluster of meaningless numbers. But to the experts, it was a spectacle of heaven and Earth—mystifying and enchanting.

Suddenly, Wang Qi remembered something and said, "Senior Brother, I'd like to ask another favor of you."

Since he had done such a good job, it would be normal to make another request, right?

"Oh, tell me," Beifeng responded, still engrossed in the data. Wang Qi had already taken out a bunch of Innate Divine Seals from his storage bag.

Having these Innate Divine Seals and not using them was a waste. He might as well practice making some small items when he had free time for fun and to deepen his understanding of spiritual energy. The only problem was that Zhen Chan only recognized a small portion of these Innate Divine Seals. Firstly, he came from a Great Sect and had a fortunate background, having never used low-grade items. Secondly, even if he did use them, they were usually Divine Seals from local Demon Beasts of Shenzhou, as Ancient Method Practitioners remnants nowadays would often bring back Divine Seals from the Far Sea Demon Beasts.

"Innate Divine Seals?" Beifeng frowned. "Did you hunt Demon Beasts yourself?"

Due to the chaos of the Nine Great Demon Kings a thousand years ago, the Demon Clan of the Shenzhou Continent was reduced to the point where only the protected areas held any. Modern Cultivators don't require Innate Divine Seals and don't need demon beast bodies for Artifact Refining materials. Demon cores above Core Formation could be obtained from bred demon beasts, so hunting demon beasts nowadays is actually considered an ecological imbalance and a violation of the Life Path, which is illegal.

"How could I?" Wang Qi said, pointing to the sealed crystals in a small bottle. "These are battle spoils from defeating Ancient Method Practitioners."

I almost forgot that biologists are all about animal conservation and despise poachers the most.

"You've fought with Ancient Method Practitioners?" Beifeng lifted a bottle and began to examine it. "Let's see, the Chordata phylum, class Aves... Based on its shape, it must be a bird of prey, perhaps the Falconiformes Order, Accipitridae Family. Considering it's from an Ancient Method Practitioner's loot... From the color, this is the Innate Divine Seal of a Golden Flame Eagle, but not the Golden Eagle Fire Divine Power, it's more likely the Divine Eye, which is pretty common in the Accipitridae—speaking of Golden Flame Eagles, their golden feathers and strong thighs are truly beautiful."

Qi Storage Stage Demon Beasts lack a Magic Foundation, so they rely mostly on Innate Divine Seals to compete with human cultivators, and it's normal for a demon beast to have several Innate Divine Seals.

"This is interesting, it's from the subfamily Pantherinae, genus Panthera, species Tiger, but... judging from the solidity and purity of the Innate Divine Seal, it should be from a small cat species. The talent here is likely something like 'Sharp Claw'—you know, the way small cat species lift their tails, impressive!"

"Ah, this one actually has some collectible value, from the Insecta class, Orthoptera order, Acrididae family, the subfamily Acridinae. I don't remember which genus it belongs to, but what's certain is this isn't from a species that is fully demonized, but from a common one with a very low rate of Demonization..."

Wang Qi sighed. "Then it's probably not much use. Only fully demonized species yield good Divine Powers."

"That's why I said it has collectible value," Beifeng spoke about animals confidently. "But it's not unusable. This piece should be something dug out near the thigh, where all of the strengths of a locust are—if we talk about locust thighs..."

"Stop!" Wang Qi urgently cut Beifeng off. "I'm not concerned with the appearance of Demon Beasts, please don't try to convert me."

"You should understand how passionate a person who studies Life Beings can be..." Beifeng shook his head and continued to identify.

Beifeng's knowledge in zoology was nearly as reliable as Wang Qi's Mathematics. He recognized all of the parts that Zhen Chan did not, and could accurately name the Divine Skills and their approximate effects. In just five minutes, all of Wang Qi's Innate Divine Seals had been labeled.

Wang Qi nodded, packed up the bottles, and turned to leave, leaving Beifeng alone to continue pondering in place.

Wang Qi had only walked a few steps when he heard Beifeng shouting from behind, "Wait! You can't go!"

Wang Qi furrowed his brows. "Is there a problem with the data?"

The calculation was done in two parts, the sophisticated mathematics was performed personally, while the simple parts underwent mathematical processing. It couldn't possibly be wrong... Could the Immortal Artifact be unreliable?

Grasping Wang Qi's shoulder, Beifeng exclaimed, "It's precisely because there's no problem that I can't let you leave!"

"Ah? What kind of reasoning is that?"