Within the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, two supreme Carefree experts faced each other from afar.

"Sect Leader, I still don't understand what you mean."

Faced with Feng Luoyi's whispered inquiry, Xi Baiche, the Master of Calculation, appeared absent-minded: "What?"

He looked strange.

"All Laws Mathematical Collection" embodies the heart and soul of both him and the entire Genting Sect. Thus, for him, the initial completion of the first volume should be akin to the joyous milestone of achieving great success in life.

Yet now, this great arithmetician, a generation's Carefree Great Cultivator, showed not a trace of joy.

On the contrary, his face was filled with fatigue and confusion, like a traveler who, after a long journey, could not see the scenery he wished to witness.

Feng Luoyi even felt that the Old Sect Leader's face had aged slightly.

Very unusual. Very unusual. The person in front of him didn't resemble the Mathematics Dao Venerable who had guided the calculation world with his Twenty-Three Queries.

So, he asked, "Those five hundred pages are the direction of your work, but certainly not your usual style."

"'Those five hundred pages'..." Xi Baiche smiled wryly, "is that the five hundred-page treatise on 'one plus one'?"

"I originally thought you didn't like those things."

The Wanfa Sect can broadly be divided into the "Li Sect" and "Joined Sect" ideological schools, but even within each school, there are subtle differences.

The Genting Sect represents the Li Sect, but it does not mean the Li Sect solely consists of the Genting faction.

Wang Qi once used the "Sword Qi Dispute" from "Sword Spirit" to metaphorically describe this mathematical divergence within the Wanfa Sect. In that Earthly novel, the representative of Huashan's Qi Sect was the Purple Mist Skill, yet many readers automatically ignored that Huashan's Qi Sect actually had another representative Absolute Skill, the Mixed Spirit True Qi, merely because the Purple Mist Skill played too significant a role in that story.

It's a similar reason. The Mathematics Lord, holding the top authority among Wanfa cultivators, naturally made Genting the representative of the Li Sect, relegating other ideologies to the "fringe."

And now, Xi Baiche was actually using a very fringe line of thought?

It's as inconceivable as the Genting Sect Leader leaving aside the Yijinjing in favor of making the Arhat Fist the main cultivation technique!

"I've done similar things before, haven't I?" Xi Baiche smiled wryly: "Forced by circumstances, temporarily embracing a thought I didn't like."

Feng Luoyi knew what Xi Baiche referred to. About six years ago, Xi Baiche and the entire Genting Sect, to deal with the Joined Sect led by Mathematics Lord Pang Jialai, temporarily adopted the methodology of Wang Qi that promised quick results—a methodology known on Earth as the "Bourbaki School."

Xi Baiche didn't fully agree with this philosophy. But given the situation, he temporarily accepted it.

Feng Luoyi was perplexed and asked, "Who can force you?"

"No one can force me." Xi Baiche shook his head: "I am compelling myself."

"What?"

"Yue Han, you know?" Xi Baiche called his old friend by his courtesy name: "Mathematics is so great, so incredible. What I'm doing now is merely searching for a path, a path that can lead us to the 'Great Dao.'

"But just searching for this path has already exhausted me."

Feng Luoyi sighed: "This topic... indeed hard to solve."

If science takes mathematics as a tool to summarize the laws of all things, moving from the known to the unknown, then what Xi Baiche is doing now is using mathematics itself as a tool to summarize its own laws, extrapolating the unknown parts of mathematics from the known. This is "the study of mathematics' mathematics," or "metamathematics."

In this world, it is called "Metamathematics Dao."

If studying all things can take mathematics as a tool, then for studying mathematics, what kind of "mathematics" should serve as the tool?

Is there a "sub-branch" that can delve into the main branch?

The Master of Calculation, Xi Baiche, faces such a problem.

"I still don't understand, Sect Leader, you're not the kind of person who changes ideas within a few years, and..." Feng Luoyi paused, then asked: "Who exactly wrote those five hundred pages? I've asked all our Daoist fellows, and it wasn't any of them, nor did you have the time to write these."

Xi Baiche laughed: "Yue Han, you haven't forgotten, right? Time, for people at our realm, has become very 'personalized.'

Feng Luoyi suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

In many people's impressions, time treats all objects absolutely equally. Yet, that's only because their view doesn't extend far enough. When observed on the scale of celestial bodies, time truly becomes just a regional matter.

The strength of Immortals varies. The weaker ones are only several times stronger than the Mahayana, while the stronger ones surpass typical celestial bodies. The awakening celestial bodies being presumed belong only to the stronger Immortals, not the strongest in theory.

For strong Immortals, concepts like "personal time" or "individualized time" are natural. Whether a hundred years pass in a flash or a thousand years in a blink of an eye depends on their whim.

In this situation, "society" naturally becomes an impossible thing to achieve.

Feng Luoyi asked, "How much time have you created for yourself?"

The Master of Calculation shook his head: "I don't remember. How could one possibly remember that? About... ten years?"

Feng Luoyi sighed in relief. Ten years, fortunately, still within an acceptable range.

If Xi Baiche's thinking were to hit a dead end due to long-term solitary closed-door cultivation, it would be a loss for the entire Shenzhou.

Xi Baiche sighed: "During those times, I thought alone, seeking a way to break through alone, proving myself over and over again and then overturning myself again and again. Eventually, I seemed to realize that this wasn't working. I am far from as smart as I imagined. Perhaps, I should start with some of the most basic things..."

Feng Luoyi frowned: "The most basic? Those incredibly stupid proofs?"

"I was hoping there was a 'way to break through' in them."

"And what about it?"

Xi Baiche sighed: "I still haven't found it. These proofs, even from my own perspective, are..."

"Chaotic and unclear about anything." Feng Luoyi mercilessly criticized.

Xi Baiche shook his head: "At least I am formalizing set theory itself..." However, he noticed that his old friend's expression showed a trace of confusion and... anger?

And not directed at him?

What's going on?

Wang Qi extended his hand, tracing his fingertip along the straight line on the ground: "Yesterday, I talked to you about points, lines, angles, perpendicularity, parallel lines, and the Sky Drawing Style. Do you still remember these concepts?"

Gou Dabao nodded, his eyes carrying a hint of "devotion."

Today marks the fourth day of teaching. On the second and third days, Wang Qi taught all the fundamental concepts of geometry to Gou Dabao. Now, he could confidently assure that this Banished Immortal had acquired about the sixth-grade level of geometric knowledge, potentially capable of outperforming regular students in the first semester of junior high. If faced with underperforming junior high students, he might even achieve a sweeping victory!

Just to achieve this effect, Wang Qi spent two entire days.

"What about Luo's Geometry and Li's Geometry?"

"Teacher, that is too difficult. I only have a slight understanding, and couldn't get the hang of it at all..."

Gou Dabao's words could now be described as "reverent." For some reason, he now held a sort of admiration toward Wang Qi, no longer using the cold and sarcastic remarks from past days.

To him, Wang Qi was the one who brought new brilliance to his life. This guy, who was not even half Gou Dabao's age, opened a window to a new realm for him.

"Roughly knowing is fine. Today, I will talk to you about the 'convergence of different paths' in mathematics, further explaining that 'mathematics' inherently possesses freedom, approach to Dao, or is Daoist in nature."

Wang Qi did not require Gou Dabao to grasp any specific content. After all, his goal was not for this Banished Immortal to master anything, but rather to help Gou Dabao understand mathematics, to no longer have a resistance towards it, resolving mental barriers that hindered his cultivation of the Wanfa Sect's techniques.

And for Wang Qi, this process was also a chance to pause and thoroughly sort out his own concepts. While it contributed nothing to his academic level, it enhanced his spiritual cultivation, deepening his grasp and sense of mathematics.

As the saying goes, sharpening the axe does not delay the work of chopping firewood. While Wang Qi's current actions seem to offer no immediate benefit, they may certainly aid his future cultivation.

"Gou Dabao, you must have noticed, right? Human Clan's geometry began with Euclidean geometry and the Sky Drawing Method, followed by Li's and Luo's Geometry. Zero curvature, then positive and negative curvature, right?"

Gou Dabao nodded: "It is so."

"Then do you believe this is the only righteous path to developing geometry?"

Gou Dabao shook his head in confusion: "This disciple really doesn't understand how another path could emerge..."

Wang Qi retorted: "In your view, the world is flat, isn't it?"

Gou Dabao wanted to say, "Isn't that obvious?" Although his Immortal Remnant Soul vaguely transmitted some notion that this statement might be unreliable, even Immortals themselves lacked a definite concept of curved spacetime. They only bypassed the need for such mathematical tools because their own existence was so grand, allowing them to directly observe space without any aid. Thus, Gou Dabao couldn't elaborate further. In the end, he could only nod: "Yes."

"Then, what if I told you that in this universe, there are other ethnic groups whose conception of space is completely different from that of the Human Clan, yet they ultimately reach similar realms, would you believe it?"