Stealthily cultivating in the chaotic world of demons and martial artists
Chapter 495 - 493 Super Calculation (Seeking Monthly Pass)_1

Chapter 495: Chapter 493 Super Calculation (Seeking Monthly Pass)_1

’Lord Yunzhu is quite interesting... But it makes sense, given that he and Elder Wandu are from the same era. His lifespan isn’t much longer either, only spanning the next one or two hundred years...’

Fang Xi watched Lord Yunzhu busy himself, smiling amiably while accepting the greetings from various Core Formation cultivators, without showing much reaction.

It wasn’t until the sect leader of the Three Immortals Sect led the Core Formation cultivators away that Lord Yunzhu laughed awkwardly, "Our sect has recently been in decline. I wished to use Sir’s renowned name to boost morale. Please don’t take offense... Our sect has numerous disciples. If Sir has any odds and ends that need attending to, feel free to make use of them as you please."

"As it happens, I am in need of some materials, as well as information on some rare Demon Fires."

Fang Xi handed over a jade slip to Lord Yunzhu, "Sir can have your disciples keep an eye out. If they can find it, I will reward them handsomely..."

"Oh?"

Lord Yunzhu took it, his expression a bit strange. Had Lord Tiankui anticipated all later developments that he even prepared this item in advance?

However, he didn’t refuse.

In this way, Lord Tiankui was almost equivalent to half a guest elder of the Three Immortals Sect, which was naturally very beneficial to them.

Fang Xi was quite indifferent about lending his name, even his nominal association was acceptable.

After all, he definitely wouldn’t lift a finger when it came to major matters...

After a fulfilling conversation with Lord Yunzhu, a few days passed, and Fang Xi, riding a trail of Escape Light, arrived at Qingxu Peak.

By this time, the disciples of the Three Immortals Sect on Qingxu Peak had already moved away, only leaving behind some buildings and traces of dongfu.

Fang Xi wandered around a few times and, quite satisfied, began setting up an array.

With a wave of his hand, seven or eight Core Formation Puppets appeared, each carrying Array Flags, Array Disks... They scattered across the mountains to transform the terrain and embed various instruments for setting up arrays...

With the help of these many puppets, a Great Array was set up in just a few hours.

Fang Xi held the Array Disk and lightly injected a Magic Spell, causing a green mist to surface and shroud most of Qingxu Peak.

"This array only serves as a warning... but it should suffice."

Fang Xi muttered to himself, choosing a place with the most abundant spiritual energy to start transforming the dongfu.

Alchemy room, Talisman-making room, Spiritual Medicine Garden, Bedroom...

After everything was completed, he entered the Cultivation Quiet Room, took out a meditation cushion, sat cross-legged, and fell into cultivation.

After a long while...

Fang Xi, having circulated the Kuyong Skills for a complete cycle, opened his eyes, a hint of satisfaction on his face: "As expected of a tier-four medium-grade Spiritual Vein, indeed faster in cultivation progress than the Mountain Sea Pearl dongfu... The Three Immortals Sect also has a high-grade Earth Flames vein, which can be used for alchemy later..."

The Pill Recipe for the Splitting Spirit Pill he obtained from the trade meeting, although an ancient Spiritual Pill with hard-to-find ingredients.

But if he used up the last batch of precious Spirit Medicine obtained from the Evergreen Garden Secret Land, combined with the auxiliary medicines collected in the South Wilderness and Western Desert recently, he could finally gather all necessary ingredients and begin alchemy.

After many discussions with numerous alchemy masters, Fang Xi felt his alchemy had improved significantly. When refining the Splitting Spirit Pill again, the success rate should be higher.

While thinking this, Fang Xi frowned slightly, "It’s just that after sending the message, I’ve heard no movement from the Southern Black Dragon Sect... Is it because there hasn’t been enough time, or do the high ranks of the Western Desert need more time to make arrangements? Or did something go wrong somewhere?"

However, that didn’t matter much to him.

Fang Xi felt he had fulfilled his obligation. However the situation evolved, it had nothing to do with him anymore.

What he needed to do now was to focus on his cultivation, strive to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul mid-stage as soon as possible, and then attempt breakthrough!

After breaking through to the late stage, with his several Divine Skills, regular late-stage cultivators wouldn’t be his match.

So long as he didn’t confront a Transcendent God cultivator, even if several tier-four top-grade Monster beasts attacked together, he could easily prevail. Then he could probably traverse the Cultivation World without restraint!

...

The Nine States.

Primordial Energy Research Institute.

Zhang Huohua, whose Heterodox Nascent Soul had performed a Soul Possession, was dressed in a white coat with smart terminal glasses on his face. His self-created Artificial Intelligence AI ’Tai Yi’ was always connected. He appeared like a well-experienced scholar.

As he passed through the long corridor and arrived at the door, the institute’s AI ’Xi’ had already recognized his identity and automatically opened the metal door for him, "First-level researcher Zhang Huohua, would you like some ’Nine Hearts Tea’?"

A gentle female voice immediately responded.

Nine Hearts Tea was a special provision of The Nine States, and long-term use could slowly enhance Divine Consciousness. It was highly prized.

However, as a senior researcher at the Primordial Energy Research Institute, Zhang Huohua still had a certain quota.

"No need for that. I’ve come today to use the supercomputer and the biomimetic imitational dantian... My application has been approved, right?"

Fang Xi declined with a wave of his hand.

"Yes, your usage time is from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon. Please make the most of it," Xi’s voice came through, sounding much more formal this time.

"Understood!"

Fang Xi responded routinely but was a bit excited on the inside.

After spending some time analyzing, he had used The Nine States’ advanced technology to decode the ’He Transforms Freely Heavenly King Governing Ten Thousand Spirits True Demon Scripture’ among other Cultivation Secret Skills.

With many unresolved issues waiting, as soon as a more powerful supercomputer and biomimetic dantian were ready, he could attempt simulation and resolve them one by one.

’With this, my strength should be able to improve, right?’

Inside the Dantian Qi Ocean, the Heterodox Nascent Soul opened its eyes.

It was originally forcibly deduced by Fang Xi using the technique of Externalization, in conjunction with the incomplete Heterodox Nascent Soul method obtained from the Yanmo Taoist Master.

And like the External Pill, in theory, the Heterodox Nascent Soul was incapable of improvement.

However, since the ancient demons were the source of all Demon Skills of the human race, what seemed like an insurmountable Heterodox Nascent Soul was, in their view, still amenable to foundation change and Cultivation promotion through a Secret Skill— the Demon Fire Refinement!

Of course, Fang Xi didn’t fully trust this, which is why he collected Demon Fire while also using various instruments and technological analysis from the Nine States to weigh the pros and cons of the cultivation before deciding whether to practice it...

’Researching how to roast myself is really...’

The Heterodox Nascent Soul was momentarily speechless.

As he headed to the room where the supercomputer was located, he encountered a figure walking towards him.

This figure was not tall, quite fat, and wearing a lab coat that seemed a bit tight.

As they drew closer, Fang Xi realized it was a somewhat balding middle-aged man with a shiny face, who broke into a smile upon seeing him, "Oh, Little Zhang..."

"Professor Qi!"

Fang Xi inwardly cursed his luck but still offered a greeting.

This man, known as ’Qi Biao,’ was an associate professor at the Primordial Energy Research Institute and didn’t get along well with his mentor, ’Lu Shiming.’

According to Mentor Lu, Qi Biao was narrow-minded and jealous of talented people. Even though he had some ability, he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing and advised Fang Xi to stay away from him.

Fang Xi secretly observed and also felt that several senior students who read under Qi Biao had quite a wretched experience, possibly showing signs of Heart Demons, and it was highly likely that they were privately robbed of their research results and papers...

"Little Zhang, I’ve looked over your experimental logs, and you’ve applied for supercomputing time? ’Xi’ computing resources are very tight, I wonder what problems you’ve encountered? Why don’t we discuss it? I can help you solve them, and then you can transfer your computing time to me. Wouldn’t this be the best of both worlds?" Qi Biao said cheerfully.

He had been observing this graduate student who proposed the ’Three-phase Structure’ theory and published the Demon Qi Particle sequencing ahead of others for a long time.

Unfortunately, Zhang Huohua was impervious to flattery and absolutely refused to join his faction, much to the benefit of old Lu.

Even within Fang Immortal University, there were different factions and even academic cliques.

And Qi Biao just happened to be in a faction that opposed Lu Shiming’s.

"No need, thank you, Professor Qi."

Fang Xi’s face twitched, but he quickly refused, thinking to himself, ’He’s eyeing both my research and my supercomputing time, trying to freeload off me twice... if only I weren’t playing the obedient child now, for just a Perfect Core Formation like him, I could blow him away with a single breath...’

Thinking this, he looked at the other’s shiny, nearly bald head and felt a twinge of consolation.

With the cyber technology of the Nine States, not to mention hair, even if one lost their head, a new artificial brain could be installed!

For a Cultivator, as long as the Divine Soul is the same, everything else is not a big problem...

But Qi Biao was unlucky. In his youth, during an experiment, he was accidentally contaminated by the ’Yellow Spring Corroding Soul Water’ from the Demon Clan, which damaged his Divine Soul and eliminated his chances of advancing to Nascent Soul from thereon.

Not only that, even though most of the damage was later healed, his hair... remained bald!

It was said that the damage to his Divine Soul manifested externally, and despite undergoing multiple treatments and hair transplants, the result remained the same...

Fang Xi made some perfunctory remarks and quickly walked away, not wanting to waste another minute with this kind of person.

Qi Biao watched ’Zhang Huohua’ walk away and suddenly adjusted his glasses:

’Lu’s disciple is no simple character...’

’No, if he really makes it, who will have the say in the Primordial Energy Research faction in the future?’

His gaze deepened, he entered his office, and spoke with a heavy voice, "Xi, pull up Zhang Huohua’s personal file..."

As an associate professor, he still had this level of authority.

Also, when Qi Biao failed to advance to Nascent Soul years ago and turned to the administrative path, he didn’t waste his time. By serving his tenure, he became an official member of the Fang Immortal Taoist Palace, earning an ’Security Supervisor’ title and taking charge of the internal security at the Primordial Energy Research Institute.

Soon a light screen appeared, showing dense details of Zhang Huohua’s life, from birth to enrollment in Fang Immortal University, leaving no stone unturned.

’There is nothing worth attacking here...’

Qi Biao, a seasoned operator, skimmed through it, feeling somewhat discouraged.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up at a section, "A class V suspicious behavior record? That suggests an extremely low probability of leaking secrets or committing betrayal, what’s this about?"

This special icon was invisible without the Security Supervisor’s access rights.

Qi Biao, as if discovering a new continent, made use of his privileges to trace the origins, "Suspect of being related to a Moon Demon attack in Northsky City through big data and AI analysis? It’s level V, potentially just incidental involvement... The first round of suspicion involved millions of people due to their absence from the scene, and the investigation was dropped immediately after... As for who provided the alibi..."

Qi Biao continued to dig deeper and suddenly his eyes bulged, cursing, "Damn... how is this again connected to the Talisman Forging Department’s big shot, Huo Yunzi?!"

Zhang Huohua’s mentor was a full professor, a Yuan Ying True Monarch!

And Huo Yunzi’s Flying Rice Research Institute has recently been outstanding as their Flying Rice Talisman greatly contributed to the frontline battle situation, not something he could challenge as a mere associate professor.

’But... Zhang, you’re done for. Suspected of a connection with the Dark Moon Sect, even with the slimmest possibility, I’ll keep an eye on you.’

A shadow of darkness briefly crossed Qi Biao’s face...