In the early morning hours, Wang Qi received the first batch of information from Su Junyu and couldn't help but marvel at the high level of his fellow Wanfa Sect cultivators.

Only in a world like Shenzhou, ruled by researchers, could there be a place like the Wanfa Sect that gathered the vast majority of mathematicians. Neither Princeton nor Göttingen could compare in mathematician population density to the mountain gate of the Wanfa Sect. On Earth, pulling together a group of this caliber on a whim wouldn't be so simple, at least not as casually as Su Junyu could rally a team.

However, objectively speaking, although this created a relatively good academic environment, it resulted in an absolutely terrible situation for romantic relationships. Wang Qi had even heard the dreadful rumor that "if a Wanfa doesn't have a childhood sweetheart, find true love while refining the heart amidst the Red Dust, or take on external duties, then it would be very difficult for them to find a partner."

Su Junyu contacted Wang Qi, "Hey, junior brother, what do you think?"

"Pretty good," Wang Qi said while munching on dried fish, quickly flipping through their results, "In about seven or eight days, should we reach the minimum standard, right? Just launch a trial version, get a bunch of outer disciples to use it to compile ordinary calculator road ranks, then continuously identify and fix the leaks... In about half a year, we should have a stable version."

Speaking of which, these guys really emphasized practicality, kind of like the Ruby language, and a bit like Perl too. It's rare to see such awareness among the disciples of the Wanfa Sect. I thought they would rush headlong down the path of high precision and sophistication like Lisp.

Suddenly, Su Junyu hesitated, "Junior brother, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

"Master Chen's daughter..."

Later on, while Su Junyu was assigning tasks to the disciples, Chen Youjia still spoke with him for a bit. It was then that he noticed something was off.

"Uh-uh." Wang Qi immediately looked radiant, "My little sister."

Su Junyu didn't know that, out of sight, Su Junyu's heart had already started to roar — Damn it, do you have to be like this ahhh your face full of bragging I don't even know what to say was it just "Hey brother, I just set you up"...

"With a girl, why didn't you tell me…"

Wang Qi looked puzzled, "Was there a need to specifically tell you? Are you my dad?"

Su Junyu felt his words made a lot of sense; if Wang Qi had really sent a spirit message just to mention this, he would definitely respond with "You're sick." He began to rapidly run Bai Ze's Algorithm, calculating based on what he knew, the possible reaction from Chen Youjia. When "bloodshed and flying swords" appeared in the calculation, Su Junyu shuddered and earnestly advised, "Junior brother, since you have a girlfriend, you should remain faithful..."

"How about that, jealous, huh!" Wang Qi completely unaware of what had transpired on the Wanfa side, said proudly, "Speaking of which, my junior sister told me recently that she wants to focus on cultivation and asked me to bother her less. How is she doing recently? All good?"

Su Junyu's mouth twitched, "Bother less..."

That meant not sending out low-grade tasteless jokes that no one understands, recording your own laughter or singing...

Feeling guilty, Su Junyu ended the spirit message without revealing what had happened, only saying, "Junior Sister Chen, she... is fine, besides seeming a bit down..."

"My junior sister, she naturally isn't very expressive. I find that quite cute."

Su Junyu couldn't bear it.

Brother, don't talk in that braggart tone... It's not the kind of "seeming" you think... she is really... really... damn, I can't say anymore...

Feeling guilty, Su Junyu hurriedly ended the spirit message, while Wang Qi continued to ponder over programming issues.

These days, he had chosen many Ancient Method Techniques from the Immortal Dao Burning Book List's "catalog" with the help of Huang Shuyin, and his connection with Jarvis was also growing stronger. Currently, Wang Qi had all his passive defense divine skills being handled by this AI, while he continuously strengthened his weaknesses.

If the current him were to confront the Black-Bearded Jiao King he had fought a few days ago face to face, his chances of winning were definitely over eighty percent.

"Also, whether the technology to directly store spells in a Spirit Rhinoceros Bottle, heck, into a USB stick, should also move onto the development agenda, given that within the same realm, the recordable Spirit Sense is limited. After the original cultivation takes up the majority, there's not much left, and there needs to be room for subsequent evolution—simply put, don't fill up the system disk; it will lag."

Research a "hard disk plug-and-play version"... well, that's just a thought. Wang Qi still didn't know how to partition his Magic Foundation into C, D, and F drives, let alone any cracked versions.

When advanced languages are perfected, Wang Qi would be able to fully master the Heavenly Calculation Atlas, mastering the knack for rapid evolution in combat, freely changing, adding, or deleting his divine skills, or even dispelling and retracing his cultivation at any time.

Using the Heavenly Calculation Atlas to evolve his physical ideas, even if there's a revolutionary breakthrough in physics in the future, he could erase the incorrect cultivation techniques.

...

The next morning, Wang Qi headed out early to the Immortal Alliance's Langde Branch. He had just received a notification that there was a package waiting for him at the inn.

"Ah, state-run courier services really should be kicked out of the business, not even willing to provide a Cargo Flying Sword," Wang Qi lamented.

Fortunately, the cultivators of the Immortal Alliance valued efficiency, and the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm had also resolved many tasks, eliminating the slow-paced logging and other miscellaneous activities. Wang Qi quickly got his package. Eagerly, he found a secluded spot in the main hall of the Immortal Alliance, opened it, and found a gun and several Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles within.

Hmm, using Earth's unique terminology, it should be a very unusual-looking pistol and several USB drives.

Wang Qi picked up the pistol, examined it, and indeed, there were slots for the Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles. Additionally, the package included a set of instructions. There was a string of mysterious codes on it, hinting, "Please use near a 'Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror' sub-device or other areas with strong Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm signals."

"Looks like some kind of Secret Realm Key..." Wang Qi activated the Illusion Boat Road Rank—the so-called "browser"—and entered the mysterious code.

A burst of Spirit Light swept across, and the Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles Wang Qi placed in front of him stood up straight as the light passed over them. Wang Qi felt data streaming into the bottles.

"This... this is..."

Wang Qi had a vague guess, but found it somewhat unbelievable.

Feng Luoyi appeared before Wang Qi again, "It seems you've received it."

Wang Qi pointed to the Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles in front of him, now receiving data and a humanized progress bar, and asked, "Teacher, what is this?"

"A little trick of casting spells using the Magic Pistol you hold," Feng Luoyi said. "You created the Method; you should be familiar with it."

"Directly using Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles for casting spells... So, you've already made this happen." Wang Qi said, "I was considering developing it myself."

"Some Methods are not complex in themselves but consume a lot of strength, or require special Spiritual Power, and some Methods conflict with your own Cultivation," Feng Luoyi said. "This is what I've prepared for you. There are fourteen Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles here, each also functioning as a spirit pool, filled with special Spiritual Power in the Spirit Transformation Workshop, now infused with Divine Power Spirit Rhinoceros, ready to be activated using that Magic Pistol."

The Spirit Transformation Workshop was a place that converted the nature of Spiritual Energy and mass-produced special Spiritual Power and raw materials of heaven and earth treasures.

"There are fourteen Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles in front of you, ten of which contain 'Sky Dragon Slaying Sword Energy,' an Ancient Method specifically targeting the Demon Clan's Sword Cultivators. Each strike is equivalent to a full-strength blow of a Primordial Spirit Cultivator. Lesser Dragon Demons, even if not Demon Gods, cannot avoid injury, and even Demon God Stage Dragons can be momentarily halted. Each Spirit Rhinoceros Bottle contains a Sky Sword Spirit, capable of unleashing nine strikes of Sky Dragon Slaying Sword Energy."

Wang Qi realized, this was the magazine, nine rounds.

Additionally, was this essentially a "Click and receive Dragon Slayer Artifact"?

Feng Luoyi then said, "The other four Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles contain Immortal Spirit Qi, the Banished Immortal Enlightenment Technique. If you successfully infiltrate the Dragon Clan, perhaps you could use it to determine who is the Banished Immortal."

"Zhao Qingfeng?"

Feng Luoyi nodded, "This Banished Immortal Enlightenment Technique is fundamentally simple, but the Mana required to activate it is exceptionally high. A million units of nature's spiritual energy are needed to synthesize one unit of Immortal Spirit Qi, and I suspect this is just the lowest grade. One unit of Sky Sword Spirit only needs seven to eight thousand units of nature's spiritual energy."

"Due to the special nature of Immortal Spirit Qi, one Spirit Rhinoceros Bottle only suffices for one use of the Banished Immortal Enlightenment Technique. Additionally, the Spirit Rhinoceros Bottle itself can absorb Spiritual Power and slowly recharge. A strike of Sky Dragon Slaying Sword Energy requires nurturing for a month, while one use of the Banished Immortal Enlightenment Technique needs nine months to nurture."

Wang Qi nodded and then held up the pistol, "This pistol is quite remarkable."

Wang Qi genuinely felt it was impressive. This gun, self-generating Spirit Element, was at least a Top Grade Heavy Artifact.

"Mid-Grade Treasure Artifact, otherwise it might not withstand the Spirit Pressure of the Sky Dragon Slaying Sword Energy."

It was a level higher than my primary weapon, the Kun Mountain Sword. Wang Qi looked it over several times, then asked, "Is this pistol only meant to activate Sky Dragon Slaying Sword Energy and the Banished Immortal Enlightenment Technique?"

"If you come up with other Divine Power Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles, you can also use this pistol to activate them," Feng Luoyi answered. "I will send you additional Artifact Refining Maps and papers separately."

Wang Qi stored away the Spirit Rhinoceros Bottles, thinking to himself, "The Immortal Alliance's research capabilities are not to be underestimated."

Now, the final piece of the future puzzle had appeared. Magic would become cheaper, Divine Skills would continue to depreciate. The cost of technology would decrease, and its application range would expand. Cultivators could also free themselves from Cultivation Techniques, eliminating the effort of meditation and Circulation.

The ladder between the first-tier "Mortal" and the second-tier "Cultivator" would be dismantled.

This was a significant leap in Immortal Dao technology, marking the beginning of a new era for cultivators, as well as the start of the Mortal's era. (To be continued. If you like this work, please feel free to recommend, and vote monthly at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)