“The basic situation is like that. Because the information to be translated contains various aspects, only five percent has been translated for even the most initial Foundation Establishment stage. This information here is that five percent of content. It’s roughly explains about the nature of all things and energy in the universe. It contains a majority of quantum mechanics, some of general relativity, the mass-energy conversion(e=mc2), spatial energy and so on. The conversion formula between Refined Qi and the aforementioned energies is…” Xuan said as he ate a tomato.
“Stop stop STOP!” Zheng was shouting at the side. Not only him, but everyone else showed an expression of incomprehension.
Xuan gave everyone a sidelong glance. He didn’t say his catchphrase of ‘a mortal’s wisdom’ but instead said, “The conversion formula is merely the very first step of Cultivation. It means to convert all the energies freely floating in space, such as ionic energy, cosmic rays energy, light energy or thermal energy, into Refined Qi or Magic that can be absorbed and stored by the human body. The exact method is… using rune technology. You need rune technology to guide you in the first stage, called Foundation Establishment. You transform from a normal human to a Cultivator with Refined Qi or Magic within their bodies. After that, you don’t need runes to convert Refined Qi. However, the rune technology for Foundation Establishment unfortunately needs someone with Refined Qi to prepare it. In other words, the first Cultivator never existed!”
“Doesn’t exist? What does that mean?” Everyone asked curiously.
“It’s the same logic as whether the chicken or the egg came first. If becoming a Cultivator needs another Cultivator to help establish the foundation, then how was the first Cultivator created? Based on the thorough understanding of energy inside, I believe the first Cultivator is likely a Saint. It’s exactly because of his betrayal that the Cultivator organization appeared. Compared to the Saints that can only grow through countless battle, Cultivators are undoubtedly a ‘science’ of advancing. That’s why, the situation of Cultivators outnumbering Saints occurred later on. If so, it can be understood why Saints despised Cultivators, while Cultivators looked down on Saints too…”
Xuan paused here momentarily. “The Refined Qi Foundation Establishment requires can be provided by Zheng. Although you lack a Cultivator’s physique, we have the One Ring, so we have Refined Qi. What remains is treasure with Refined Qi type runes. Although you have Refined Qi, you can neither utilise it or fuse it into a material body. So, there’s only one way left.”
Zheng had been slightly disheartened at first, and thought that Cultivator techniques were lost to him. However, who would have expected that Xuan would reverse the topic and say this? Could there be another way to him to complete his Foundation Establishment?
“Mhm. There is a way. Do you still remember the treasure you obtained from Luo Yinglong in Lord of the Rings? Those eight small flags, called the Eight Trigrams Cauldron, are Cultivator treasures of the Dao. The eight small flags' materials are completely sufficient if it’s just for Foundation Establishment. Next, we need a large quantity of energy to activate the formation. Your Foundation Establishment needs to be accomplished within zero point something seconds.” Xuan said as if everything was normal.
“Wait, wait wait!” Zheng suddenly asked curiously, “You always like to make things sound as if they’re no big deal, whether scheming, or tricking us. I’m getting a very bad vibe this time when you spoke of a huge source of energy.”
Xuan was slightly speechless as he gave Zheng a sidelong look. He then said, “It needs roughly 5.872×1021J of energy. This is the energy produced by splitting an atom, if converted to heat. It is the total heat produced by the sun in 0.001 seconds. It is the total energy used by humanity in 500 years, or in terms of…”
“Wait!” Zheng directly cut him off. “Just give it to me straight. How long can this energy operate the Bell of the East Emperor if it’s used to do so?”
“About ten minutes.” Xuan didn’t even need to think about it. He directly said, “The miniature fusion reactor in my basement can’t produce such energy. This energy also needs to be transmitted within ten seconds, and can’t be stored like electricity or other forms of energy. So, we only have one way unless we have over a hundred miniature fusion reactors simultaneously outputting energy on overload.”
Zheng’s mind flashed, as he suddenly realized what Xuan was planning. He immediately shouted, “You can’t possibly be thinking of using the Magic Cannon to shoot me, right? Since Foundation Establishment is so difficult, how did so many Cultivators appear? Don’t trick me, there must be a problem with your translation! Either that or you’re making use of this opportunity to test if I can resist the Magic Cannon. Don’t try to trick me!”
“A mortal’s wisdom.” Xuan curled his lips in contempt. He coldly smiled, “Correct, the only remaining way is to fire the Magic Cannon. But it’s not a direct shot. It’s just using the Magic Cannon as an engine. At the moment Refined Qi and Magic mix and annihilate each other, send that energy instantaneously into the formation. The energy at that moment will reach the amount needed for Foundation Establishment. As for the difficulty in Foundation Establishment you mentioned, it’s not that it’s difficult. We just can’t use this type of energy, so there’s a resultant inefficiency of over 99.9%. This inefficiency is unavoidable. If we had a Foundation Establishment Cultivator to operate this formation, there wouldn’t be so much inefficiency. The basic situation is like that. Establish your Foundation if you want to grasp Refined Qi and Magic!
Zheng’s heart was indeed moved. Who wouldn’t have their heart moved by those lofty Immortals of myth, and power of legend? But, he wasn’t able to relax and asked, “Will it really not be dangerous? Also, I’ll be able to freely use Refined Qi and Magic after Foundation Establishment. Will I be able to use Explosion, Destruction and that final move infinitely? "
Xuan coldly laughed continuously. He shook his head. “Not so simple. Your power is too far from ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators. How could they be your match? Although you merely possess the Foundation Establishment cultivation, your power is at the peak of the fourth stage. The source of power for those three moves isn’t purely Refined Qi or Magic, but you forcefully merging these opposing cultivation energies using your genetic constraint, and using the power from the resultant annihilation reaction. It can be said that you are the union between a Saint and Cultivator, yet neither at the same time. If you really want to use these three moves infinitely, the first condition is that you have initial energy manipulation. Otherwise, don’t even think about it. As for the rise in power after Foundation Establishment, I can’t say accurately. The so-called power, is dependant on how much an individual can unleash. How much it rises is up to your own standard.”
Zheng sunk into thought for a moment. He grabbed Xuan and said seriously, “Fine. But you have to promise there’s no danger!”
“Yes, I promise.” Xuan nodded his head calmly.
(Although he says that, why do I feel he’s saying “I tricked you" inside?)
Zheng truly had a sense of terror towards Xuan inside. This mentality was born from the dozen of times tricked by and schemed by. Until now, he was slowly starting to get used to it. If Xuan wasn't tricking him, the sun would surely rise from the west.
Carrying these feelings, everyone followed Xuan to his basement. The basement had already been converted into a futuristic laboratory. Apparatuses none could name filled the place, multihued energies flashing within. Seeing it for the first time, it looked like a world from centuries in the future.
“Doraemon, the technological standard had increased by a lot since before.” Zheng said almost sighingly.
Xuan nodded. “Yes. The scientific portions of Cultivation techniques far outstrip the battle portions. Instead of calling Cultivators combatants, it’s better to call them scholars, or scientists in pursuit of the truth. The technology standard here is further along from the real world than three to five hundred years. The miniature fusion reactor especially, has already progressed from the initial atom splitting to photon splitting. It can be renamed a photon reactor. Then…”
When discussing the domain of the unknown, Xuan’s entire being became fanatic. Those fanatical emotions in his eyes were especially obvious, scaring everyone around. Apart from a few, they all held their breath and looked around.
Wangxia was also excited. After a long time, he asked, “If we bring these technologies back, our country will…”
Hearing this, Xuan gave him a sidelong glance, before turning around to say, “I advise you not to have this mentality. Giving a child an atomic bomb is obviously going to kill the child. Humanity doesn’t have the qualifications to hold this tier of technology with their current level of civilisation. Perhaps our country can in a short time use these weapons and technologies to become the world’s overlord, but this will just be the start of armageddon. Understand?”
“China’s government isn’t suitable to hold this enormous authority, at least until the parasites are cleansed. If this government grasps humanity’s future, and it becomes strong enough that it is the sole voice in the world, that cultural calamity that occurred during our nation building phase will happen once again. Understand? A supreme authority appearing isn’t a good thing. We have to at least have this supreme authority mature till it can accept all this, but not naively believe it’s greater than all of humanity. Otherwise, I won’t let you bring these technologies back.”
Wangxia was momentarily speechless. He didn’t understand why Xuan was doing this. In Wangxia’s mind, the country’s benefits were first and foremost. It was even more important than his life. However, his personal ability wasn’t sufficient yet to bring these technologies back. Just revealing all this would make God wipe him, so only Xuan could safely bring all these out.
Ignoring what Wangxia was thinking, Xuan extended his hand to Zheng. “Hand the eight small flags to me.”
Zheng didn’t hesitate. He directly took out the Eight Trigrams Cauldron. Xuan pressed a few buttons on a control panel. At a distant spacious area, the steel floor slowly opened. A jade platform, filled with rune diagrams, rose from below. There were eight giant circles, several tens of thousands of runes and countless strange diagrams. The eight metres in diameter formation was incomparably complicated. It wasn’t known how much effort Xuan had put into it.
Everyone sighed. After looking for a long time, Heng’s sharp eyes noticed the runes actually weren’t engraved on, but countless metal threads inlaid within the jade. The eight giant circles were formed from metal threads. As expected, everyone saw Xuan put the eight small flags into the eight large circles. He used the metal threads to connect the flags, before he retrieved a ball of metal thread from some unknown place. He finally took out the Magic Cannon when all this was complete, carefully connecting the cannon with metal thread.
The entire process was simple. What happened next made everyone feel slightly bored. Xuan took out a laptop, and typed continuously next to the Magic Cannon. Data flashed nonstop on the operating panel’s giant screen. After this process had lasted for an hour, Xuan finally got up from his half-squatting position when everyone was drowsy.
“Then… go in.” Xuan turned to Zheng.
Zheng hurriedly said, “You have to give me some mental preparation! And why does your voice sound like you’re talking to a guinea pig? You promise I’ll be safe? There won’t be danger?”
“Yes, I promised…” Xuan looked away.
“... Why didn’t you dare look me in the eyes?”
Regardless of the process, Zheng still sat down helplessly in the centre of the formation in the end. Although his heart felt very helpless within, this was still a step that had to be taken.
His clone was too strong. So strong that even with Chaos, Genesis Splitter, he only had the certainty of perishing together. If he wanted to win and live on in the final battle, he needed to upgrade himself once more, whether in mentality or power. And this Foundation Establishment of Cultivators was one of the ways forward to increase strength with how tight for time they were.
Everyone around was stricken with fear, and especially when they saw Xuan began depositing energy stones into the Magic Cannon with great fanaticism, a chill went through their bodies. There was sympathy in their gazes as they looked at Zheng.
(Is it a figment of my imagination? Why am I seeing in Xuan’s eyes… Take care?)
Zheng sensed something was wrong. Sitting on the jade, just as he was about to open his mouth to question Xuan, he suddenly saw Xuan abruptly press the button for the Magic Cannon. Instantaneously, enormous energy rushed out. The giant jade lighted up like an electric lamp switched on…
And Zheng was naturally the thing with the electric current passing through, his whole body shining.
Everyone faintly smelt burnt flesh...
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