Chapter 149: The Great Computation Art

149. Chapter 147: The Great Computation Art

No need for Ding Huan to warn them—this money storage exchange would never leak his information.

Offending a Foundation Establishment powerhouse is no trivial matter.

Ding Huan did not choose to return to Xi Lou; instead, he went to the larger Thorn Alley black market.

He wanted to buy a magical artifact: a talisman brush.

Only here did Ding Huan realize how wildly wrong he had been to think this place had any real magical artifacts.

Magical artifacts did exist here, but they were all extremely poor quality.

Like broken shoes, damaged hairpins, broken halves of weapons, and so on.

After a little inquiry, Ding Huan finally understood what was going on.

All these magical artifacts came from advanced civilization planets.

Spaceships arriving from advanced civilization planets would casually bring these useless artifacts to the Four Directions Starlands.

These artifacts were worthless on their home planets, yet here in the Four Directions Starlands, they were priceless.

With no other choice, Ding Huan bought some materials.

In addition, he purchased several books describing ores and materials.

Most of these were knowledge brought by advanced civilization planets, meant only to help locals locate resources.

Most importantly, he bought a large sack to carry his giant pot, which had been awkward to hold in his hand all along.

After purchasing a pile of items, Ding Huan returned to Xi Lou again.

Although she knew Ding Huan's strength was not weak here, Qi Qi Xinyue still couldn't focus on cultivation after he left.

Only when Ding Huan returned did she finally exhale and retreat to her room to rest.

The next morning, Ding Huan took Qi Qi Xinyue and Lao Liu and left Xi Lou to rent a house.

With his purple gold coins relatively abundant, Ding Huan rented a courtyard costing ten thousand purple gold coins per year.

This courtyard was normally shared by four people, with each person paying about two thousand five.

Ding Huan rented it alone, and with Lao Liu, only three people lived there—so it wasn't noticeably odd.

The courtyard was not far from the most bustling main district and very close to the Lord Mayor's mansion.

Whenever an advanced alien civilization spaceship arrived, Ding Huan believed he would sense it immediately.

After all, he no longer needed to cultivate—he had endless time to wander outside.

After settling in, Ding Huan continued studying the jade slips.

He still had over a dozen jade slips unread; last time, after seeing the talisman-making jade slip, he had fixated entirely on talisman crafting.

Now that he had no high-grade talisman brush, he couldn't craft talismans anymore, so he might as well resume studying the jade slips.

"The Daoist Records"—about sects—set aside.

"Arranging the Seven Guardian Array"—how could he possibly understand this? Set aside.

"On Spiritual Herbs"—this one could be read; not urgent now, set aside.

"On Spirit Roots"—this one also unnecessary for now.

……

"Lian Cang Yi Dao"?

Is this about computation?

This jade slip piqued Ding Huan's interest; his spiritual sense seeped into it.

"Vast universe, all things have fixed destinies; changes of heaven and earth all manifest as hexagrams: Qian has three unbroken lines, Kun has six broken lines…"

As Ding Huan immersed himself in Lian Cang Yi Dao, a great divine technique suddenly appeared in his memory: The Great Computation Art.

A torrent of complex information surged in.

Even though Ding Huan's spiritual sea was powerful and his spiritual sense as solid as physical matter, this massive influx still nearly knocked him unconscious.

It took two full days before Ding Huan gradually regained his composure.

A great divine technique? This was the first time he had ever encountered a technique—not a cultivation method or martial art?

After another ten minutes of calm, Ding Huan began organizing what he had gained.

Clearly, The Great Computation Art was the hidden knowledge from the hide scroll he had obtained, and studying Lian Cang Yi Dao had triggered this memory.

When Ding Huan studied The Great Computation Art again, he froze completely.

What he had previously considered impossibly complex Lian Cang Yi Dao was, before The Great Computation Art, barely even babbling.

Lian Cang Yi Dao could at best vaguely compute past and future events around the user, with no precise understanding.

But The Great Computation Art computed the entire past and future of the vast universe, with clear, traceable patterns.

Computing events nearby? That was merely beginner-level.

Ding Huan immediately recalled the ten-thousand-year-old cypress tree in Luohe City on Earth, and the ragpicker old man—he had obtained the hide scroll near that ancient tree, and it had shaped his entire life.

The only difference was that he should have returned once more to the ancient cypress, but his hundred- or two-hundred-year experience had made him abandon the idea.

He had previously thought this absurd, but according to the memory of The Great Computation Art, it was not absurd at all.

He couldn't even understand The Great Computation Art now; even its surface layer required long, painstaking study.

What if his cultivation reached extreme heights someday?

Wouldn't he then be able to compute the future of his home planet—and his own future?

Ding Huan involuntarily shivered; this was terrifying.

Fortunately, he had never gone near the ten-thousand-year-old cypress.

But The Great Computation Art was undoubtedly a priceless treasure—even if he couldn't comprehend it now, even a fraction of its knowledge would benefit him immensely.

Thinking of this, Ding Huan lost all interest in studying other jade slips and threw himself entirely into the ocean of The Great Computation Art.

……

After nearly half a month, Ding Huan was awakened by extreme hunger.

Even he himself found it incredible—this Great Calculation Art was far too complex; while he was working through its calculations and insights, he had unknowingly become utterly immersed in it.

His spiritual sense swept over briefly; Qi Qi Xinyue was no longer in seclusion, instead training the Extreme Shadow Dashing Art.

Lao Liu remained diligently in seclusion, striving to break through to Foundation Establishment as a beast cultivator, but no matter how hard he tried, he was always just a hair's breadth short.

Ding Huan simply closed his eyes and began calculating what events would soon occur in Four Directions City.

As soon as he began this calculation, his mind once again sank into a blur.

Intense headache forced Ding Huan to shake his head hard; he compelled himself to calm down.

It must be that the scope of his calculation was too broad—he decided instead to calculate only events within the range of his spiritual sense.

At his current cultivation level, his spiritual sense could easily scan a thirty-four-li radius.

Four Directions City was teeming with powerful cultivators, many surpassing Foundation Establishment; Ding Huan dared not casually extend his spiritual sense.

If he couldn't use his spiritual sense, the calculation should be unaffected.

Even if he had only learned a fraction of the Great Calculation Art…

He couldn't even call it a fraction.

Calculating events within this thirty-four-li range should be sufficient.

This time, the calculation didn't bring the earlier sensation—images flooding his mind, then dissolving into mush, followed by pounding pain.

In Ding Huan's perception, it was as if a buffering video playback had appeared.

Unfamiliar people walked through it; events unfolded, near to far.

While Ding Huan was still absorbed in these intricate minor details, a sudden major rumor exploded across Four Directions City.

An absolutely top-grade material had appeared in the Old Wilds Black Market—a demonic core from a Transcendent Beast.

This demonic core had been coated in grime, and its owner hadn't realized it, mistaking it for an ordinary mineral and selling it to a merchant.

The merchant knew more than a passerby; he sensed the grime concealed something valuable.

After returning home with the Transcendent Beast Core, the merchant removed the grime—and an immense Transcendent Beast aura surged straight into the heavens.

The entire Four Directions City went mad; the Four Great Families and Three Sects clashed violently over the Transcendent Beast Core.

By the time Ding Huan could no longer continue his calculation, the matter still hadn't ended.

Wait…

Ding Huan suddenly opened his eyes—wasn't this Transcendent Beast Core supposed to appear tonight?

Thinking of this, Ding Huan had no more interest in continuing his calculation.

He immediately cast the Dust-Removing Spell, made a simple disguise, and rushed out the door.

He had been worrying about how to acquire a treasure to buy a ticket for a high-civilization starship—and now this Transcendent Beast Core had appeared.

No matter what, he couldn't miss it.

Ding Huan moved with extreme speed; when he arrived at the Old Wilds Black Market, it had just opened.

Relying on the memory of the location from his earlier calculation, Ding Huan stopped before a vendor's stall.

The vendor had just arrived and was unpacking his goods.

Ding Huan feigned crouching to examine the vendor's wares.

He had come for the Transcendent Beast Core, but as he looked closer, his delight grew.

Though he didn't recognize most of the items, he sensed they were all high-grade spirit herbs.

At that moment, the vendor pulled out the demonic core.

Almost the instant the Transcendent Beast Core was placed on the stall, Ding Huan's spiritual sense detected a merchant hurrying over.

This fellow was the one who, in his calculation, had purchased the Transcendent Beast Core.

Before the merchant could reach him, Ding Huan snatched the demonic core into his hand.

The vendor's cultivation was ordinary and couldn't sense the core's intense aura; the moment Ding Huan grasped it, he felt something was wrong.

Though a layer of grime blocked the Transcendent Beast Core's energy from leaking out, Ding Huan still felt overwhelming shock holding it.

This was definitely a treasure—compared to this, the demonic core he'd obtained from the Earthly Demon Dragon was nothing but trash.

"Vendor, your goods today are excellent. How much for these four herbs and the demonic core?"

Ding Huan gripped the four herbs and the Transcendent Beast Core as he asked.

The vendor chuckled:

"Naturally—these items nearly cost me my life, especially that Yuanzi. I truly risked everything to get it."

The Yuanzi the vendor mentioned was the spirit herb Ding Huan held in his hand, bearing a single purple flower.

"Just name your price. If I can afford it, I'll buy it; if not, I'll walk away."

Ding Huan said bluntly; his spiritual sense saw the merchant behind him never once taking his eyes off the core in Ding Huan's hand.

"Twenty thousand purple coins."

The vendor held up two fingers—his target price was ten thousand purple coins.

Business was business; the buyer would surely haggle.

"Not bad. Expensive, but worth it."

Ding Huan used his spiritual sense to transfer coins; in an instant, he filled an empty cloth sack with twenty thousand purple coins.

Without hesitation, he tossed the sack to the vendor.

The vendor caught the sack Ding Huan threw, stunned—was that it? No haggling at all?

But by then, Ding Huan was already far away.

He quickly checked the sack Ding Huan had given him; upon confirming it truly contained twenty thousand purple coins, he erupted in wild joy.

Today's luck is truly excellent.

? c〇

He encounters such a generous customer a few times a year. But someone this generous with such a large sum — he'd never seen one before.

Ding Huan knew that as he threw out the sack, the merchant behind him had wanted to stop him.

He was too fast; the other had no time to react — the transaction was already over.

At this moment, the merchant was hastening toward him.