Chapter 20

Wang Qi aimlessly wandered the streets.

Half an hour ago, he was still excitedly planning to find a library or something similar, get some paper and pens, and convert the Immortal Daoist’s manuscript into a more familiar mathematical language, while also analyzing the book and the manuscript.

However, he soon became greatly disappointed—Xin Yue City did indeed have a storage room, but it was not open to the public.

Upon hearing that the storage room was exclusively for Nirvana-stage cultivators, Wang Qi even lost the thought of sneaking in.

"It seems the Immortal Alliance’s system is not as enlightened as I imagined. At least, the fact that the library is not open to the public means they manage knowledge very strictly." Wang Qi pondered, "This is quite detrimental to scientific research."

Xin Yue, as the headquarters of the Immortal Alliance, was already one of the largest immortal cities. If there was no public storage room here, then there probably wouldn’t be one anywhere in the entire continent of Jiuzhou.

Seeing the situation, Zhen Chanzi suggested, "Why don’t you try staying at an inn?"

Wang Qi was startled and gave a strange smile, "What, old man, you’re actually suggesting I use a girl’s card to check into a room!"

This suggestion sounded a bit perverted.

Zhen Chanzi was confused, "Is there a problem with that?"

Wang Qi shook his head. Non-Earthlings wouldn’t understand the implications of his words. He thought for a moment and then rejected the idea, "If I take the receipt back, it might raise unnecessary suspicions—why would I stay at an inn for no reason?"

"What should we do then?"

"Keep wandering. I mainly want to see how far the current laws and regulations have developed, and you can analyze the Immortal Alliance’s behavior."

Although early-stage Qi Cultivators had weak magical power and couldn’t support powerful laws and regulations, their physical condition far exceeded that of ordinary people. Wang Qi wandered for a long time without feeling tired.

Zhen Chanzi had initially marveled at the prosperity of Xin Yue. However, he gradually became suspicious, "Kid, there’s definitely something wrong here. Have you noticed that there’s no selling of cultivation techniques or spells?"

Wang Qi nodded, "Yes. There are alchemy shops, but they only sell elixirs and materials, not formulas. I doubt the Alchemy Hall has any alchemy diagrams. There are a few bookstores, but they only sell cultivation insights, not any specific spells—the best-selling items seem to be biographies and novels!"

"The Immortal Alliance seems to strictly limit the exchange of knowledge." Zhen Chanzi was puzzled, "If the current laws are truly based on the summary of the laws of heaven and earth, why would they abolish the exchange that has existed since ancient times?"

The situation was indeed more suspicious than he had imagined. Wang Qi analyzed that this level of restriction could not be explained by a lack of management skills among scientists.

Could it be that the Immortal Alliance’s insistence on 'intellectual property' has reached a pathological level?

But that didn’t make sense either. Not to mention that after the establishment of the intellectual property system, paid sharing of knowledge is the best win-win model. Even within the Immortal Alliance, it’s unlikely that everyone would be so insistent.

For example, the great mathematician Laplace on Earth was an extremely copyright-unconscious person, not only frequently citing others' academic achievements without attribution but also occasionally giving his own academic achievements to newcomers in the academic community to publish under their names.

According to that bizarre correspondence, the free-roaming cultivator "Baise" Apu on the continent of Shenzhou should also have similar traits!

And when all the wrong answers are eliminated, even the most impossible speculation becomes the only possibility!

Wang Qi frowned, "External enemies... Old man, should we still join the Immortal Alliance?"

Zhen Chanzi replied, "This place is so peaceful that even if there are external enemies, it would probably be a matter of a thousand years or more, or they might only target high-level cultivators. If you really want to practice the current laws, you have to join the Immortal Alliance."

Wang Qi stroked his chin, not directly responding but changing the topic, "What do you think, how do the current tools compare to those from ten thousand years ago?"

"Far surpassing, and many elixirs are trending towards standardization and unification, the same for magical tools."

Is there more effort put into the popularization of technology? Wang Qi looked around in confusion.

At this moment, a commotion came from ahead.

"What’s happening?" Wang Qi asked.

Zhen Chanzi judged, "No murderous intent in the magical power fluctuations, no danger."

Hearing that there was no danger, Wang Qi, with a spirit of not minding trouble, moved forward.

The source of the commotion was a commercial establishment. The inner city of Xin Yue was bustling with people. However, compared to this establishment, most other shops seemed deserted.

"What the heck, what’s selling so well..." In the crowded crowd, Wang Qi fought his way through. Then, he looked up and saw a sign on the shop that read "Shengda Xiang."

Wang Qi curiously tugged at the clothes of a nearby Qi Cultivator and asked, "Brother, may I ask what’s being sold here that so many people are buying?"

The Qi Cultivator, upon hearing this, became furious, "You don’t know what’s happening here and you still cut in line?"

Wang Qi said, "Just curious."

The Qi Cultivator replied, "Today is the release day for a new card pack of Wu Ding! So many people have been waiting for this day!"

Wang Qi’s mouth twitched, "New card pack..."

The Qi Cultivator, with a devout look, said, "Yes, the theme is about demons from the moon falling to the earth..."

Wang Qi’s mouth twitched again, "What about realism?"

After a detailed inquiry, Wang Qi learned that this shop was the only legal vendor for Wu Ding cards, and their money-making methods were quite sophisticated.

The basic pack of Wu Ding cards that Wang Qi had used contained a card of a generic cultivator and most of the common spells and magical tools of the current laws. Cards with a rarity of five or higher, which correspond to high-level spells and magical tools in reality, were all hidden in various card packs sold separately, given out randomly. On the birthdays of certain high-ranking figures, limited edition character cards would be released. Then, Shengda Xiang would periodically release theme expansion packs, each theme being a once-popular ancient law!

Originally, according to Lu Renjia’s weighted algorithm, no ancient law spell had a weight exceeding four, and except for the famous Immortal Tools, few had a weight exceeding seven. However, with the 80,000 years of accumulation of ancient laws, even if only one out of a thousand spells was unique enough to catch the eye of current law cultivators, there would still be many good spells introduced into the current law system.

These expansion packs not only greatly enhanced the game’s playability but also provided unexpected inspiration to countless current law cultivators. This is why the game became popular in the immortal world, making countless players both love and hate it.

Looking at the fanatical expressions of the cultivators, Wang Qi silently covered his face, "Cults are truly terrifying" and "Otakus are truly disgusting" kept cycling in his mind.

"The Aji people and ship dogs of the immortal world... Forget it, I’ll leave... Huh?"

Suddenly, from inside "Shengda Xiang," a powerful magical power fluctuation emerged.

This magical power fluctuation was extremely sudden, and it quickly burst with a chilling murderous intent!

"What the heck is going on?" Wang Qi urgently grabbed a passerby to ask.

The cultivator’s expression was calm, "Probably someone drew a card with a rarity of seven or higher. They should be burned!"

What the heck, cults are truly terrifying!

At this moment, the commotion from the front came.

"He’s a shill! He’s just trying to trick us into spending money!"

"Bullshit! I just drew a miracle!"

"Ten plus one card pack, four rares!"

"Definitely a shill!"

"You’re the shill! Your whole family is a shill!"

"Leave the card!"

"Burn! Burn!"

"We can’t be friends anymore!"

"Burn! Burn! Burn!"

"Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn!"

At first, a young voice could be faintly heard arguing with a cultivator as black as a Kunlun slave. When the crowd’s voices converged into the word "burn," the murderous intent in the air finally boiled over!

Then, Wang Qi saw several cultivators in front of him being knocked to the sides as if hit by something. A blue-robed cultivator flashed past him like a black shadow!

Next, an incredible scene unfolded. Under Wang Qi’s gaze, the blue-robed cultivator took a step, twisted his waist, and exerted force from an impossible position, swiftly circling around Wang Qi. With a magical power fluctuation, a black shadow separated from the blue-robed cultivator and flew in the original direction.

If the distance and angle were not just right, Wang Qi would not have seen this. He quickly understood what was happening and, with a playful heart, was about to expose the blue-robed person to the pursuing cultivators. However, the blue-robed person circled around to his back at an even faster speed. Then, Wang Qi felt a tingling sensation in his back, and he was restrained by the blue-robed cultivator!

What the heck!

Wang Qi angrily watched the crowd chasing the lucky person pass by.

———————————————————————————————

Sorry, everyone, I got carried away today and only managed one update.

I’ll make up for it with three updates this week.

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