Chapter 30

Wang Qi, filled with boundless sympathy for Zhen Chanzi, hurried to the dormitory. The *Yao Ding Suan Jing* had been of tremendous help to him. As a modern cultivation technique, it provided a total amount of mana and a recovery speed that the *Great Law of Chaos and Heaven* could not match. Although in specific areas, the *Yao Ding Suan Jing* had no particular advantages, in terms of pure computational ability, it was absolutely unparalleled throughout history!

On Earth, scientists have always referred to mathematics as the "Queen of Science." Without mathematics, no research could be conducted.

Without Fourier series or calculus, how could one stand in the field of electromagnetism?

Without Taylor series or genetic algorithms, even the study of genetics would be impossible.

Without mathematical modeling, any research in mechanics would be impossible.

Therefore, when choosing a cultivation technique, Wang Qi first chose the *Yao Ding Suan Jing*. No matter what he would specialize in later, the *Yao Ding Suan Jing* would always be useful.

Thinking about this, his mood greatly improved. He quickly walked to the door of his room, preparing to sleep and start cultivating from tomorrow.

Just as he reached the door of his room, he stopped, because he clearly heard someone inside.

An illusion?

Wang Qi pressed his ear against the door. This time, he heard more clearly—it was clearly the sound of a girl humming a song. The girl's voice was warm and soft, almost sweet, and very pleasant to listen to. Wang Qi took two steps back, looked up at the room number, 414, and confirmed that he had not made a mistake.

"Blind student, you've discovered a highlight." Wang Qi said a joke that only he understood as he pushed open the door.

After ruling out the possibility of him being in the wrong room and being sure that he had not ordered any special services, only two possibilities remained.

First, the girl humming the song had entered the wrong room.

Second, he had been targeted by a thief.

The first possibility could be ignored for now. If it was the second, it would be a welcome surprise. Although he had to admire the courage of the person who had sneaked into the Immortal Alliance's territory to steal, coming to this dormitory area, where only mid-stage Qi Cultivation disciples lived, suggested that the thief was doing very poorly—humming a song while working, lacking professional ethics!

Creating a beautiful female thief was a plot that often appeared in novels! Thinking about this, Wang Qi couldn't help but wear a slightly evil, or rather, perverted smile.

Unfortunately, Wang Qi did not share these thoughts with Zhen Chanzi. Otherwise, the old man in the ring would have immediately criticized Wang Qi's twisted mind.

Moreover, it was truly pitiful that Zhen Chanzi, once a great cultivator, had fallen to the point of being a ring for criticism.

After pushing open the door, Wang Qi's first sight was the girl humming the song. He was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but mutter, "Brother Tian Dao... I finally understand your fetish..."

First, the girl's hair color was very strange. The people of the Divine Continent mostly resembled East Asians on Earth, but there were also many "ethnic minorities" with different skin colors, so hair and eye colors were not unique. However, the bright orange hair of this girl was far beyond the human range. Yet, this orange hair looked very natural, not like the flashy hairstyles in the cultivation world.

Additionally, the girl had no ears on the sides of her head, but a pair of cat ears on top.

Her slightly open mouth, as if unable to close, and her sugary voice... Yes, this was a genuine catgirl.

Although he had a brief moment of doubt that she might be a transformed demon, a transformed demon would need to be at least at the level of the ancient method's Spirit Division or the modern method's Void Condensation. Such a powerful demon would not possibly intrude on a Qi Cultivation disciple's room.

However, Wang Qi had already suppressed his thoughts about the girl's identity. A curiosity purely from the academic field controlled him. In the language of some comics, he felt that a switch inside him had been flipped.

"Can I touch your ears?"

"Eh?" The girl, who had already put on a professional smile upon hearing Wang Qi enter, was now frozen in place.

"Since you're smiling, I take it you don't object?" Wang Qi was very excited. The physiological structure of this peculiar creature was truly fascinating. And the feel of it...

"Eh! Wait a moment, meow! I... uh, meow!" The girl finally reacted, loudly resisting. However, Wang Qi was quick, and he swiftly grabbed her ears.

The feel was great!

Wang Qi felt a great sense of satisfaction. Something he had wanted to do in his previous life's childhood was finally accomplished!

The girl's face turned increasingly red as her ears were touched. She struggled desperately, trying to escape from this evil person who was touching her ears. But Wang Qi could tell that the girl had no mana and was only at the level of a student or a beginner, not a threat. Seeing that she couldn't escape, she cried out, "Help! Help!"

The classic line was about to be delivered! Wang Qi, inspired, "laughed wickedly" and said, "Go ahead and shout! No one will come to save you even if you shout until you're hoarse!"

Suddenly, Wang Qi felt a pain in his back, and his body flew into the wall. He quickly extended his hands to the wall, cushioning the impact, and naturally used his strength to land on the ground.

Damn, someone really came to save her!

Wang Qi cursed in his heart and turned around. Xiang Qi had the catgirl protected behind her, her face full of anger, "Wang Qi... I never thought you would be such a person!"

"What kind of person?"

Xiang Qi pointed a finger at Wang Qi's nose, angrily scolding, "You actually forced yourself on a girl! Public indecency!"

Wang Qi's mouth twitched, "I just saw this lady's... um, these ears were so unique, and I just wanted to touch them. How is that indecency?"

"Even if she's a half-demon, she's still a citizen of the Immortal Alliance! Do you not consider her a person?"

"Meaning... I just touched her ears out of curiosity, which isn't a big crime, right?"

Su Junyu poked his head in from outside the door, wearing a strange smile and a "I understand" expression, "For half-demons, those ancestral traits are off-limits."

"What's with that 'I'm one of you' smile?" Wang Qi's face stiffened, "And what's a half-demon?"

"When a transformed demon and a human have a child, the result is a half-demon." Zhen Chanzi explained in Wang Qi's mind, "For tens of thousands of years, the Immortal and Demon races have been in opposition, and neither race has accepted half-demons. But things have changed now."

This is not scientific! Wang Qi looked at the catgirl—this action made the girl shrink further behind Xiang Qi—and asked, "Can the love between humans and demons break reproductive isolation? It feels so... weird."

Xiang Qi looked suspicious, "You really haven't seen a half-demon before?" Wang Qi quickly shook his head. Xiang Qi then looked at the ring in Wang Qi's hand and asked, "Old man, you didn't tell him about half-demons?"

Zhen Chanzi laughed, "Ten thousand years ago, any cultivator who saw a half-demon would have cut them down with a sword."

Hearing the word "cut down," the catgirl's body trembled.

Xiang Qi patted her back, softly comforting her. Su Junyu then explained in detail to Wang Qi.

"Transformation" is a technique that demons can learn after reaching a certain level of cultivation. This technique changes the structure of the body without altering the bloodline, thus changing the form. In Earth terms, it's like changing the expression of DNA without rewriting the genes.

After the DNA expression changes, the demon's body becomes indistinguishable from a human's, and the reproductive isolation between humans and demons temporarily disappears. During this period, if a human and a demon mate, there is a very low chance of a child being born. This is the origin of half-demons. If a half-demon mates with a human, there is a 50% chance that the child will also be a half-demon.

When a half-demon is born, they look exactly like a human. Around the age of twelve, when secondary sexual characteristics begin to develop, they start to show ancestral traits—most commonly, hair color, ears, and tails.

It's worth noting that after the Spirit Beast Mountain cultivators, led by Tian Gu Zhenren, deciphered this technique, they proposed a new scientific name for transformed demons. The principle of demon transformation is almost identical to the process of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, the only difference being that demons use mana while caterpillars use hormones.

Unfortunately, this scientific and rigorous suggestion was rejected by other Immortal cultivators, and even some high-level demons who had a good relationship with the Spirit Beast Mountain threatened to turn against them if they used that term.

In any case, thanks to the persistence of those predecessors, today people do not call transformed demons "abnormal demons."

Wang Qi quickly grasped the key point, "Wait, 'secondary sexual characteristics start to develop,' which means..."

Su Junyu gave a thumbs up, "Exactly! For half-demons, their ears and tails are, for humans, like..." He glanced at Xiang Qi's chest, "Ahem, a bit unfortunate..."

Xiang Qi, with a forced smile, released a Heavenly Order Sword Disc, "Rich bastard, come here, I promise not to kill you."

Wang Qi covered his face. He thought to himself, "This time, I've really messed up..."

After a series of explanations, the situation finally calmed down.

Xiang Qi summarized, "In other words, you, Wang Qi, because you had never seen a half-demon before, out of curiosity, you touched this half-demon junior, Mao Zimiao, and publicly indecently assaulted her."

Wang Qi's mouth twitched, "I have reservations about the 'public indecent assault' part..."

This is to satisfy curiosity! This is a scientific activity! Can the actions of a researcher be called indecent assault? Can they?

"Apologize anyway."

Wang Qi sincerely apologized to the girl named Mao Zimiao. The girl, blushing, quickly waved her hands, "No need, meow! Actually, Senior Brother, you were... unintentional, meow!"

"Um, I've been wanting to ask since just now... Is the meaningless 'meow' a special term for half-demons?"

Mao Zimiao panicked, quickly waving her hands, "Not at all, meow! I... I just... meow... just..."

Xiang Qi helped her out, "It's due to the physiological instincts of half-demons. Demons at the Core Formation stage can refine their throat structure, but half-demons cannot."

The girl blushed even more, "I... I really can't control it, meow!"

The reason the half-demon girl was in Wang Qi's room was that she had taken on a task from the Immortal Alliance to earn "merit points" by cleaning the dormitory before the students moved in.

Immortal Alliance merit points are a kind of contribution or积分 system. As long as you accumulate enough merit points, you can exchange them for anything you want from the Immortal Alliance.

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Xiang Qi instructed Mao Zimiao to leave first, then looked at Wang Qi, "Your skills have improved, and you've decided on your cultivation technique?"

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Happy New Year, everyone!!!

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