"We've said before that we hold the Yuanli Master in high regard," Pan Jueming said, "We want to cultivate to learn about the majesty of such great beings. Therefore, we'd like something from the Ai Family…"

Ai Changyuan immediately responded, "I can recite the Heart Secret for you!"

Pan Jueming laughed and slapped Ai Changyuan hard on the forehead, making stars appear before his eyes. Only then did he say, "Us Ancient Method Practitioners truly can't grasp the profound Dao of you Modern Cultivators. We seek not your Dao, only your laws."

"What do you mean?" asked Ai Changyuan.

"It means I need the young master of the Ai Family to help us with some interpretation," Pan Jueming said with a wink, indicating that he had heard the conversation between Ai Changyuan and Wu Shiqin.

The spells of the Modern Path weren't particularly hard to obtain. The Immortal Alliance's initial purpose was to spread its Dao throughout Shenzhou; the exchange system thus gave the Ancient Method Practitioners ample opportunities. However, the truly profound Heart Secrets, once exchanged, might still be useless. Those filled with formulas are so complex that even genuine Modern Cultivators might not understand each one, much less the practitioners of the Ancient Method.

Yet, if one does not concern themselves with the Great Dao in cultivation and only learns to manipulate the Circulation and operate mana, then an Ancient Method Practitioner can also employ the methods of the Modern Path—though their power will be much weaker, and they will lack flexibility in its application.

Watching Ai Changyuan hang his head and avoid eye contact with others, Pan Jueming thought he had tricked him successfully. Revealing core cultivation methods to an external enemy is intolerable for any sect or noble family. For a Cultivator, it ought to be a line that must never be crossed.

If Ai Changyuan were to do this, it would mean he was either truly useless or a man of great ambition. However, someone of great ambition is likely to care little for a junior sister, making it more likely that he is just useless. If he is the former, they could manipulate him at will. Even if he truly were ambitious, it wouldn't matter, for they would always have leverage over him. If he ever wanted to return to the Immortal Alliance, he'd have to obey them completely.

But what he didn't know was what Ai Changyuan was actually thinking...

"I thought I'd have to be beaten a few more times before I could cry 'Don't kill me, I'll tell you everything I know about cultivation' to trick them into cultivation. I never expected... to find a pillow when I wanted to sleep!"

Ai Changyuan had intended to share his cultivation method with them all along!

When Wang Qi discussed cultivation with Ai Changyuan, he boasted about his actions in the Divine Capital. For this scoundrel, doing great deeds unassumingly—as if a Knight walking in brocade at night—was disagreeable. However, that matter involved the secret war between Shenzhou and the Immortals, and could not be elaborated on. Ai Changyuan knew about the Banished Immortals, knew the ultimate cosmic scenario, and was among the few people Wang Qi could talk to.

Normally, using unstable methods for experiments on humans would not appeal to Cultivators, but Ai Changyuan was no ordinary person; his thought at the time was—this is how a true man should act.

"I want to create a new Law Gate, so I need to use living beings as proof. These Ancient Method Practitioners have conveniently come together!"

"Also, the methods of leaving backdoors in cultivation... Old Wang, I hope you haven't tricked me."

Ai Changyuan was contemplating cultivating Gravity-Converted Magic Power, so he was also considering letting these guys play the role of guinea pigs. He had started planning this since he was captured.

Even if only a few were willing to try his laws, it wouldn't matter. Even just pondering over this Cultivation Technique could potentially create a "backdoor."

Wang Qi and Ai Changyuan had exchanged Secret Techniques. Besides the Cave Heaven Ruler, Ai Changyuan also understood Wang Qi's Dataized Cultivation Method and hacker techniques. As a historical Arithmetician of note, the Ai Family's education in mathematics was similarly strict, though slightly inferior to the Bo Family. As a result, the current Ai Changyuan also knew some programmer "knocks" and could integrate them into his Cultivation Method.

During their exchanges, the pure thoughts of Ai Changyuan inevitably fell victim to Wang Qi's idea that "programmers should always leave backdoors."

He could not practice Dataized Cultivation nor the Divine Plague Curse Technique, and those Ancient Method Practitioners did not have the conditions to complete Dataized Cultivation either. However, Ai Changyuan could easily create countless vulnerabilities, covers, and traps in his Cultivation Method following Wang Qi's "little tricks." As long as these fellows developed Gravity-Converted Magic Power, he could control their magic power using the Wanxiang Heavenly Attraction following the vulnerabilities he had left, turning the tables to control their life and death.

Such a hidden trap within a cultivation method is not unprecedented; there are plenty within the Ancient Demon Path. However, these cultivation methods either involve physical transformation, create psychic vulnerabilities, or cause the Cultivator's magic power to be unable to harm specific forces or lose resistance to certain specific forces. Such methods could easily alert the Cultivator. Additionally, it's not easy to create such cultivation methods.

And yet, Wang Qi's sneaky method of leaving backdoors within regular cultivation methods was indeed unprecedented. And this toxic method did not wait for the Cultivator to slowly create vulnerabilities—they existed the moment one practiced it. Furthermore, creating these backdoors had a particularly low cost, allowing Ai Changyuan to easily set countless backdoors without altering the main body of his Cultivation Technique.

When Ai Changyuan and Wang Qi initially exchanged their methods, Ai Changyuan was deeply suspicious of any methods Wang Qi taught him and insisted on dissecting and verifying them countless times, confirming there were no suspicious redundancies before he dared to cultivate confidently.

Ordinary people, upon finding themselves in danger, would first think of how to escape. However, Ai Changyuan was scheming on how to turn the tables, how to get information about this relic from the Ancient Method Practitioners! He knew the relationship between the Modern Immortal Path and the Immortals, knew the current status of the Human Civilization. The Giant Dragon's final words made him suspect that this relic might hide something; thus, he wanted to use these Ancient Method Practitioners to explore the relic. From the beginning, Ai Changyuan was playing dumb precisely for this reason.

It wasn't to lower the Ancient Method Practitioners' guard, but to make them think he wanted to lower their guard so he could escape, thus preventing them from suspecting his real intentions.

Ai Changyuan forcefully suppressed his joy and continued with his act: "I can condense the True Intent of the Cultivation Method and transfer it to you, as long as you can…"

Pan Jueming fiercely kicked Ai Changyuan in the abdomen, making him vomit a mouthful of blood. "Brother Ai, don't play any tricks. I know you Heterodox are good at fighting. If I release the constraints on you, you might really escape. You are a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator after all! I, with my Golden Core Perfection, might truly not be able to stop you!"

Ai Changyuan fell to the ground and said, "Then, release my hands so I can calculate better. And give me back my calculator... ah!"

Pan Jueming stepped on Ai Changyuan's face: "I told you, no tricks. Brother Ai, I'm very clear on what features your Modern Heretics' calculators have."

"You can cast a spell to isolate the Spirit Sense of the calculator..."

"Sorry, I can't trust myself."

Ai Changyuan weakly said, "Then, give me paper and pen... I need to calculate... as you know, the basic requirement of the Modern Cultivation Method is calculation..."

"Of course."

Soon, Ai Changyuan got what he called "paper and pen." The "paper" was several stone slabs cut by Sword Qi, and the "pen" was a piece of charcoal. This was to prevent him from using some special Talismanic Magic.

Ai Changyuan began to calculate his new cultivation method right in front of them, openly setting traps within it. At the same time, a mystical feeling emerged in his mind.

"It's here!" Ai Changyuan knew this was the test of that fruit.

If he got through this, it would be the Heavenly Communication Dao!

It was a Seeking Dao Seeker's demonic thoughts, with endless ingenious ideas continuously emerging from Ai Changyuan's mind. They were the ultimate interpretations of the classics. Every moment, the world in Ai Changyuan's eyes was transforming.

"Formed into a cosmic curve, viewing Earth and Heaven as equal systems..."

"Seeing the attraction to form void shapes, infinite in scope..."

Ai Changyuan chanted the heart secret from the new version of Wanxiang Heavenly Attraction, continuously guiding these insights and integrating them into the current system.

To others, he seemed to be deeply meditating.

——————————————

Once, there were gods in the universe, racing through the Star Sea.

Once, the starlight was brilliant, the universe splendid.

That was the ancient Cosmic Pastoral Age.

But one day, the pastoral came to an end.

The true calamity that swept across the Star Sea had arrived. Even the constant stars, burning fiercely to provide light and heat to the universe, were not spared. The first to suffer were the main sequence stars. However, as time went on, red giants, white dwarfs, and even neutron stars and black hole accretion disks were not spared. All luminous beings were within the hunting range of the "Divine Calamity."

For red giants or smaller main sequence stars, the damage caused by this Divine Calamity was irreversible. They lacked the strength to recover themselves. Although higher mass celestial bodies could gradually recover, having been deprived of too much strength, they ultimately could not return to their original state.

Perhaps only sufficiently young, massive celestial bodies could rely on their innate orderly tendencies to attract Spiritual Power over millions of years and gradually regain their former brilliance.

In this process, too many civilizations gradually collapsed.

For a civilization, a drop in average temperature by twenty degrees would be a catastrophic disaster. The "Eternal Class" kept the lowest class of mortals in a primitive society. Their resistance to such disasters was almost nil. Perhaps some kind-hearted Cultivators might wish to protect them. However, as the population decreased, the probability of Cultivators appearing also decreased. Once the last Cultivator had ascended or passed away, the entire civilization could only perish in the freeze.

But the civilizations that could freeze to death were considered the lucky ones.

More civilizations were obliterated in an instant.

…

When Wang Qi saw the images of civilization collapsing, he could no longer hold on. He cut off his spirit delving into the Dragon Clan Coin, visualizing Heaven and Earth, and suppressing his spirit with wisdom.

"Divine Calamity Dao… I thought an incomplete inheritance would have much less impact on me. Little did I know, my spirit is still not strong enough to control it."

While waiting for Mao Zimiao to awaken, understanding the Dragon Clan inheritance was the only thing Wang Qi could do. The true intent inheritance of "Deep Space" and "Divine Calamity" was pure torment, but for Wang Qi, it was an opportunity to refine his spirit.

When Wang Qi opened his eyes, he saw a pair of emerald green eyes looking at him.

"Little Qi, are you awake meow?"

"Azimiao, when did you wake up?" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote and support on qidian.com. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)