Exploring Immortality Cultivation
Chapter 504 - 258: Replication

After spending a night in his room, the next day Wang Qi, following Feng Luoyi's instructions, made his way to the Alpha Base on Tianling Ridge.

Unlike the Beta Base, which looked like a medical clinic, Alpha Base was much more imposing. A large building rose from the ground, centrally located. Although not tall and with a simple design, it had an imposing presence that blended seamlessly with its surroundings. The area was artificially divided into several sections, complete with streams and ponds, the water sources spaced out like stars in the sky. Enclosed in these spaces were various beasts, whose lively eyes and terrifying ferocity revealed that they were all demon beasts. Pavilions, platforms, and small buildings were also scattered throughout.

This was a biological research base with a Shenzhou style.

At the entrance to the base, Wang Qi unexpectedly encountered a familiar face. It was Liu Yi, a Grandmaster of the Primordial Spirit, who had met Wang Qi once before. With a friendly smile, Liu Yi greeted him, "Little Wang, you've come?"

Wang Qi's instincts put him on alert. He clearly remembered that this was the guy from the Immortal Alliance Dark Department who had taken away the Hongyuan Sect priest who had captured him. What was the Dark Department? Wang Qi didn't know, but organizations that were not officially recognized and operated in the shadows were often the most terrifying aspect of a violent institution.

Having the FBI or National Security Bureau show up would make anyone tremble, let alone an organization like this.

"There's no need to be nervous, no need to be nervous," Liu Yi, a Grandmaster whose trade revolved around violence, said with a friendly smile. "The main reason I'm here is that it's too troublesome for you, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, to request the use of an advanced calculator. You'll inevitably get questioned over and over. Also, I heard from Mr. Feng that you have a ring that the Immortal Alliance needs to duplicate, so I brought a few Grandmasters with me."

The two walked through several experimental areas. Wang Qi could clearly sense that each experimental area had minor differences, such as the amount of water, the number of trees, the variety of weeds, and so on. Along the way, there was some conversation and laughter—of course, it was Liu Yi who talked, and Wang Qi who accompanied him with a smile.

As they neared their destination, Wang Qi suddenly had an idea and asked, "Senior Liu, could I see how you actually duplicate it?"

Liu Yi appeared troubled, "That's..."

"It's fine if it's not possible, I don't necessarily have to see it."

Liu Yi waved his hand, "That's not what I mean. It's not anything particularly interesting, and you can find the principles and methods in textbooks or journals."

Wang Qi scratched his head, "I've recently been quite interested in applications and empirical evidence; I just wanted to see it."

"Oh right, since Mr. Feng is into applications, it's normal for you to be interested in these things," Liu Yi still thought Wang Qi was a disciple pre-selected by Feng Luoyi, and nodded, "Okay then, I'll show you. It's no trouble."

Before Wang Qi could even say thank you, Liu Yi slung an arm around his shoulder and whispered, "Just don't mention the words 'Dark Department' later on, okay? Ordinary people don't know about this organization. Officially, I'm just a researcher from Wanfa Sect."

Wang Qi was surprised, "I thought that duplicating such important items would be done by a Grandmaster within the Dark Department."

"Hey, how could that be?" Liu Yi said, hooking arms with Wang Qi as if a senior was being affectionate with a junior, "Our Immortal Alliance's most fundamental task is the pursuit of the Great Dao. We can't pull all the high-order cultivators out to do these crappy jobs. We've got to leave some purely dedicated to seeking the Dao, to let them stay peacefully in Shenzhou. Plus, we are a violent institution, good enough for beating people and intimidation; what do we need artifact refining experts for?"

Wang Qi was astonished, "What about the magic artifacts and such that are needed..."

"Is there a need for a special reason to customize a few magic artifacts, especially when the Immortal Alliance places an order?" Liu Yi had an expression that read, "Kid, have you overstudied?"

The two of them took many twists and turns and arrived at a room. Inside, there were already two Primordial Spirit Masters waiting. Liu Yi introduced them, "This gentleman is Mr. Zhuang Jianhua from Burning Gold Valley, a late-stage Primordial Spirit Grandmaster whose expertise is in heavenly and earthly treasure materials and structural analysis of spiritual energy. This is Mr. Chong Xi from Mysterious Palace, whose field is Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Electrodynamics."

Only Grandmasters could determine their specific areas of research. Those in the human world who had not reached the Primordial Spirit level or become Grandmasters could only study whatever they came across and research anything they applied for.

Liu Yi then introduced Wang Qi, saying that he was the holder of the critical item. The two Grandmasters nodded, Zhuang Jianhua didn't say much, but Chong Xi was quite curious, giving Wang Qi a thorough once-over: "Wang Qi... I know of you, you're impressive, indeed impressive. The strongest of the new generation of the Wanfa Sect."

Wang Qi immediately uttered a couple of modest words. Then, he handed over the ring, not forgetting to mention, "Both seniors, there's an Ancient Method Practitioner's residual soul inside, which has been with the younger generation for many years, please don't harm it."

"We know, we know, Brother Liu has informed us." Zhuang Jianhua took the ring from Wang Qi's hand and began the first step of analysis.

The core cultivation methods of Burning Gold Valley, such as Heavenly Transformation and Materialization God Method, were not particularly powerful. There were quite a few cultivators from Burning Gold Valley who also practiced Heavenly Song and Great Discrete Coincidence. The former delved into the essence of electromagnetic forces, while the latter made the microscopic rules manifest; both were naturally aligned with the chemical research of Burning Gold Valley. Wang Qi could only feel an extraordinary electromagnetic field emerge from the Grandmaster's hands, penetrating the formidable immortal power's "mathematics" implications at the atomic level to activate the ring.

"So strong! Such high quality!" Zhuang Jianhua detected the exceptional nature of the abacus right away. Its quality was too high; he had never seen such a high-quality magic artifact. However, he quickly got engaged in his work.

The lethal power of an Immortal Artifact was undoubtedly stronger than that of a Talisman Artifact, but that didn't necessarily make it very useful. He didn't need to be envious of such an ancient Gold Abacus.

"There are spiritual elements from the eighth Circulation of the Heavenly Order Table, at room temperature; the nature of spiritual energy can initially be determined as strengthening the Strong Force [Strong Interaction], obstructing chain reactions, or reducing radiation energy... The main element is silicon, predominantly a mixture of sodium aluminum silicate. The structure of spiritual energy..." Under the atomic-level electromagnetic influence, information about the ring continuously flowed into Zhuang Jianhua's consciousness. He swiped his hand over his personal calculator, creating a screen of light in front of him, and began to write down symbols that Wang Qi was either not very familiar with or didn't recognize at all.

After completing the preliminary identification, Zhuang Jianhua handed the ring over to Chong Xi. A flash of electric light on Chong Xi's palm, and an elusive force invaded the ring. Then, the Mysterious Palace Grandmaster let out a surprised yelp, looking at Liu Yi and Wang Qi with suspicion, "This piece has been reforged, huh? The latest design from Thousand Mechanism Pavilion."

The implication was clear: was the Immortal Alliance full and bored to precisely replicate such an item? It wasn't a relic of considerable research value.

"Some key elements must be replicated," Liu Yi insisted.

Chong Xi gave an "Oh," and continued working. It wasn't Wang Qi's first time seeing a Mysterious Palace cultivator at work, but during the time the four Carefree attacked the Daoist of Uncertainty, he had no cultivation base and hadn't seen anything clearly. Now, up close, Wang Qi immediately realized the extraordinariness within.

An "energy" that was unknowable and unsearchable, formless and immaterial, fluctuated in the opponent's hands. It seemed to be a pure change in spiritual energy, yet it also resembled amplified kinetic energy. Wang Qi speculated that this could be simulating a harmonic oscillator or oscillating current. As the Quantum Field delved deeper into simulating the inside of the ring, the pervasive force converged, became material, and coalesced into countless, varying-sized staggered rectangles.

"Quite complicated, not a probability transition matrix..." Wang Qi stared at the Mysterious Palace Grandmaster's spellcasting, with countless thoughts surfacing in his mind.

After watching for a while, Liu Yi patted Wang Qi's shoulder, "Alright, you've seen it, without the perception of 'Wen Dao,' you won't be able to make heads or tails of it. That teacher is still waiting for you, I'll take you to him."

(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)