For the "Modern Heretics," the feelings that the Ancient Method Practitioners on Spirit Phoenix Island harbor are different.

Low Level cultivators always hold a mixed emotion of disdain and fear towards the heretics. These Low Level cultivators stay in the underground city as soon as they enter the Immortal Sect and have little chance of seeing sunlight without becoming a Golden Core; their impression of the heretics mostly comes from "senior recounts."

In the eyes of Low Level cultivators, Righteous Skill is the true path to Immortal Ascension, while the heretical path is a crooked way that cannot achieve immortality and longevity. As the saying goes, "Of all the spells and the three thousand Dao, only one question: can it achieve longevity?" To pursue everlasting life, it's better to keep a distance from those heretic cultivators.

However, Shenzhou Continent is a terrifying place where Low Level cultivators can wield the Heavenly Sword to destroy the world, and those heretic cultivators are all cannibals, adept at using living humans to cultivate evil Daoist skills. It's best never to step foot there in a lifetime.

On the other hand, high-order cultivators above the Nascent Soul Stage have a more complicated feeling towards the Modern Heretics. Most of them are cultivators who left Shenzhou two thousand years ago and retreated to Spirit Phoenix Island, knowing what that continent is like. They have also witnessed the heroic resistance of the Heavenly Selection God Monarch against the Holy Infant Sect, tasted the rise of Yuanli Master, and heard stories of the Carefree Practitioners rising like stars — they can be said to be the witnesses to the Modern Cultivators carving out a path from the "impossible," creating a flourishing Immortal Dao in the End of Law Era.

And their attitude towards the Modern Immortal Path is more complex.

First, they have also been jealous of the "Qi fortune" of the Modern Immortal Path, and have considered switching paths. However, after the Nascent Soul Stage, life and cultivation are closely tied, leaving no chance for a switch. Not many are like Zhen Chan, possessing an Immortal Artifact that grants continued life despite death.

On the other hand, they have considered "surrendering." But, the rise of the Modern Immortal Path was too fast. For many Divine Separation and Unification cultivators, they only shut themselves for a century to hear that the other side had dozens more Carefree Practitioners.

Or perhaps, after defeating a few heretics without any backing to comprehend a sword technique, they secluded themselves to digest the battle's gains, and when they emerged, the sect of the cultivator who died under their sword had already grown into a colossal entity they could not contend with, leaving them with no choice but to escape overseas.

Here, even Ancient Method Sects with the same roots as core Modern Sects like Tianling Ridge and Wanfa Sect exist.

Every high-order Ancient Method Practitioner on Spirit Phoenix Island has their reasons. In those times, cultivators who had the chance to switch mostly did so to the Modern or the so-called "hybrid method." Only this small group on Spirit Phoenix Island seemed to have been abandoned.

They were abandoned by their former comrades, abandoned by other cultivators of their time, and abandoned by the times.

To the heretics, they felt envy, jealousy, resentment, and fear.

And now, Ru Tianqi finally recalled his fear of the heretic cultivators and the humiliation of being confined to a tiny place.

——Heretic… The method of excess and deficiency says: Set the rate of output, excess and deficiency each occupy their place. Let factor continue the rate of output…

——Xia Li is actually a heretic… Let factor continue the rate of output, and make it real. Combine excess and deficiency as a method. Make it real as method and one. For those distributed…

——How could he be a heretic… Use firmness to penetrate, by four; to seek soil, by five, all three as one…

Ru Tianqi's muscles stiffened, his arms outstretched, still maintaining a "pinching" motion. His mind had already plunged into chaos. His original thinking ability had been squeezed by the looping play of a certain cultivation method, leaving little "resources" for his consciousness. On the other hand, the fact that "Xia Li" was a Modern Cultivator forcefully shattered his remaining thoughts, plunging him into confusion.

——He clearly is a True Law Practitioner… There is North Village count of eight thousand seven hundred fifty-eight, and West Village count of seven thousand two hundred thirty-six… Why would…

He simply couldn't understand why Xia Li, clearly a True Law Practitioner, would suddenly become a heretic.

If not for this, he would have gone all out from the beginning, and even Wang Qi might not have been able to take him down in a few moves.

Unable to comprehend.

Unwilling to believe.

A mere Golden Core Cultivator, easily taking down a Divine Separation Stage Cultivator…

However, Ru Tianqi's sword heart is about "seeking life in the face of death." Even in a desperate situation, as long as he is not dead, he will not give up.

He still exerted what little thinking ability he had left, quickly analyzing the current situation.

First, his current state was clearly not right, but whether it was a spell, poison, or something else…

Wang Qi clapped his hands, drawing his attention: "Now, let me tell you what exactly happened. First, you've been hit with a kind of spell that, on Shenzhou Continent, is an absolute forbidden technique, insoluble to the victim, but… Oh! You old man…"

Originally, upon hearing the words "insoluble to the victim," the Third Elder roared like a tiger and rushed toward Wang Qi, completely abandoning defense, ready for mutual destruction. But, his thinking ability was entirely occupied by trash information, his thoughts not turning smoothly, and how could he command his mana? This blow, even compared to a full effort of a Nascent Soul Stage, was slightly weak, and the aim was far off.

For some reason, Wang Qi raised his fists to confront Ru Tianqi. Even though Ru Tianqi couldn't harness his own mana, his physical body under mana's enhancement was no less than a magical treasure. The mana accumulated in him made him seem more powerful. The two exchanged a few punches initially, with Wang Qi once again being embedded in the wall, the Life Flame on his body igniting automatically. But soon, Wang Qi switched to a different fist technique, using softness to overcome hardness, leveraging strength against strength, causing Ru Tianqi to falter within a few moves.

"Hmm, at the sixteen-minute mark, techniques that rely more on skill become ineffective... likely because the Divine Plague Curse Technique has already occupied the portion of his mental capacity used to command his physical body." Wang Qi executed an Unpredictable Body Technique again, maneuvering behind Ru Tianqi, intending to knock him down with a kick. However, a powerful counter-force immediately emanated from Ru Tianqi's body, striking Wang Qi against the wall.

"Hmm..." Wang Qi spat out a mouthful of blood, noting in his mind, "At this stage, the sense of balance hasn't completely disappeared yet..."

What followed was a bizarre farce of a brawl between the two. Ru Tianqi, like a zombie, swung his arms futilely, trying to attack Wang Qi. But now he couldn't perform any spells, let alone the Space Traversal Technique, Shrinking Ground to Inches, or Escape Light, even the most basic step techniques for dodging and flashing were beyond him. Wang Qi didn't even need to use Unpredictable Body Technique, just the set he often used during the Qi Cultivation Stage.

Around the twenty-first minute, Ru Tianqi fell for the first time.

Around the twenty-ninth minute, Ru Tianqi was falling more frequently. Wang Qi extended a leg and kicked him to the ground.

"The sense of balance is starting to fade..."

Around the thirty-third minute, Ru Tianqi could hardly get back up.

"Strange, depriving the physical body of its motor function is actually harder than depriving the ability to use spells..." Wang Qi tapped his temple with a finger, contemplating, "Could this be an issue of 'fault tolerance'? Spells are precise and can't tolerate the slightest mistake; some spells can collapse with just a bit of distraction. However, self-awareness is the 'operating interface' of the body, something life forms have accumulated over billions of years, the crystallization of evolution. It has an extremely high fault tolerance..."

"Senior Sister Ai said, 'The more redundancy, the stronger the fault tolerance. The seemingly useless parts in genetic inheritance are means to enhance fault tolerance, ensuring genetic information can be propagated as much as possible...'"

"Compared to man-made equipment, natural creations obviously have a higher degree of fault tolerance..."

In Wang Qi's relentless recording, Ru Tianqi's consciousness grew increasingly vague. He was about to be drowned by the Mathematics Scripture in his mind. In the past, he didn't understand what "enlightenment" truly entailed, but now, he vaguely felt a sense of empathy.

This feeling of thought being gradually engulfed by scriptures is like a mortal drowning. But unlike the death of a mortal drowning, who only suffers for a few minutes before losing consciousness completely, this feeling of scriptures slowly eroding consciousness is more terrifying.

It's as if you watch yourself slowly disappearing with your own eyes!

However, unlike other evil demons who are forcefully stuffed with Buddhist and Daoist scriptures, he's being stuffed with Mathematics Scripture.

"Am I going to die..." Ru Tianqi suddenly remembered he seemed to have one last thing to do.

This little thief, did he just say something about plotting against the Great Elder?

Absolutely cannot let this little thief's plan succeed!

Absolutely cannot let him live happily as he pleases!

With this realization, Ru Tianqi exhaled and shouted with all his remaining strength, following his heart's intent, "Two excesses, two deficiencies. The method says: place the rate of output, let excess and deficiency each be below it. Use the rate of output to multiply the lesser and reduce the greater by it; the remainder is the reality. Two excesses, two deficiencies reduce the greater by the lesser; the remainder is the method. Reality follows the method and is one. Unite those with divisions. Two excesses, two deficiencies for those buying the same item, place the rate of output, reduce the greater by the lesser, the remainder, by the reduced method's reality; reality is the price of the item, the method is the number of people..."

This shout mixed with mana, and the already slightly damaged stone walls from their battle couldn't completely absorb this loud sound. The Third Elder's voice faintly spread throughout the Sword Palace.

Isn't this the cultivation of Modern Heretics?

I'm shouting out heterodox cultivation here... then others are sure to come and ask...

Thinking this, Ru Tianqi put on a look of heroic sacrifice.

"Forty-second minute, pupils dilated, suspected loss of consciousness..." Wang Qi cautiously approached Ru Tianqi, then pried open his eyelids, shining a bright light. During this process, he was continually on guard against any sudden attacks from the opponent.

"Hmm, consciousness is scattered. If solely for destruction, a Divine Plague Curse Technique would only need thirty minutes to dismantle the combat capabilities of a Divine Separation Stage Cultivator and destroy self-awareness within fifty minutes." Wang Qi made the final entry in his notes to prevent forgetting. Then, he reached out and patted the Third Elder's face, inputting two other commands.

"Stop self-replication."

"Automatically delete after more than three replications."

"It's a pity an old friend once told me to minimize the loss of experimental animals, it's part of laboratory ethics... hmm, couldn't this mean I have made substantial progress? Moreover, my primary objective is not this type of killing spell..."

After sighing, Wang Qi leisurely said to Ru Tianqi, "You've experienced this spell, though there's no cure for those affected, but for us, it can be suppressed and even partly reversed..."