Chapter 178: Suspicion

Zheng Fa walked slowly to the place where Zhang Shijie was trapped.

When he reached three zhang away, Zhang Shijie opened her eyes just then.

Neither spoke a word, as if honoring an unspoken pact.

Zheng Fa opened the Topology book in his hand and continued from where he had left off yesterday.

Sometimes, Zhang Shijie would interrupt him to ask questions she didn't understand.

Some questions arose because her knowledge was still incomplete, making certain concepts hard to grasp; Zheng Fa answered them easily.

Some were questions Zheng Fa himself had not yet fully understood, and at such times, he would be stumped by her.

He would frown and fall into deep thought.

Zhang Shijie did not rush him; she simply watched him quietly, a faint, inexplicable smile on her lips.

Sometimes, when Zheng Fa truly could not answer her questions, her smile held a hint of quiet triumph.

…

Both were cultivators, their mental speed long surpassing that of ordinary people.

They finished reading the Topology book in ten days—though only superficially, at least Zhang Shijie now had a framework.

"Zhang Shijie, does this subject help you at all?"

Zheng Fa asked, hopeful.

"Yes."

"Really?"

Zheng Fa smiled.

"Have you gained some insight?"

"Not yet."

"... hen it's not really helping?" Zheng Fa couldn't help feeling puzzled.

"Because this book, you come here at this time every day," Zhang Shijie pointed to the Topology book in Zheng Fa's hand: "My mood improves every day at this time."

"..."

Alright, that counts as help.

But not the kind Zheng Fa wanted.

As if noticing his disappointment, Zhang Shijie smiled: "Your subject is profound and vast; I've only just stepped through the door. I'm not yet capable of integrating it with talisman diagrams."

Zheng Fa exhaled slowly.

He had been too eager.

If one could master talisman diagrams simply by studying Topology, Old White would have done it long ago.

Zhang Shijie has more accumulated knowledge in talisman arts than Old White, but far less in mathematics.

It's hard to say who is superior.

"Don't be discouraged," Zhang Shijie comforted him. "Your subject holds great potential—it's given me a new way to reexamine talisman diagrams. As I said, I have nine hundred years. I'll gain insight eventually."

Zheng Fa nodded.

That was true enough.

…

Zheng Fa walked slowly into the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace, his brow slightly furrowed.

Teaching Topology to Zhang Shijie was his last resort.

To be honest, it felt like trying a desperate, last-ditch measure.

But now it seemed not entirely useless—just that it might not help Zhang Shijie in the short term.

He believed in Zhang Shijie's mathematical talent; nine hundred years were enough for her to master this subject and even expand upon it.

But...

The emergence of the Heavenly Stele always made him uneasy.

On the other hand, Zhang Shijie's earlier warning had also stirred caution in Zheng Fa:

Without understanding the Yin-Yang talisman diagrams, the Yuanfu Dao Base remains incomplete.

According to Zhang Shijie, even if she formed a Nascent Soul, she would pay a price for this deficiency.

Thus, Zheng Fa urgently needed to perfect the Talisman Foundation Establishment Method before his own Foundation Establishment.

This matter was vital to both him and Zhang Shijie.

"Zheng Fa, come here."

As soon as he entered the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace, he heard Master Pang's voice in his ear. Zheng Fa paused, then walked toward the hall where Master Pang was.

"Did you go to see Zhang Shijie again today?" Master Pang asked the moment he saw Zheng Fa.

"Yes."

Master Pang looked at Zheng Fa, his expression hesitant, as if he wanted to say something but held back.

"Master Pang?"

"Zheng Fa, sit down," Master Pang said after a pause, his tone advisory: "Zhang Shijie's current situation is stable for now. You should focus on yourself."

"Master Pang?"

"You and Zhang Shijie have no formal partner status, but you are as close as partners," Master Pang suddenly said. "Though cultivators value wealth, partner, method, and land, you must understand: your own path comes first."

"Yes."

Zheng Fa didn't understand why Master Pang was saying this, but he still replied softly.

"... he two most outstanding juniors in our Jiushan Sect are Zhang Shijie and you," Master Pang, sensing his confusion, said directly: "Zhang Shijie is in trouble now. I don't want you to be affected."

Zheng Fa froze.

This... sounded like abandoning Zhang Shijie.

"Of course I will save Zhang Shijie," Master Pang said softly. "But if it harms your Dao path, I won't allow it."

"..."

Zheng Fa didn't know what to say.

"Do you know who the most famous pair of partners were in the previous generation of our Jiushan Sect?"

"No."

"Your Huang Shu and her husband."

"Husband?"

Zheng Fa was startled. Huang Shu had sat motionless on the seventh peak of Jiushan for years, never descending—he'd never heard she had a husband.

"Her husband was, in my view, the most talented true disciple of the previous generation," Master Pang sighed. "He was also my closest friend."

"Your Huang Shu's temper was ten times fiercer than Zhang Shijie's, impulsive and reckless. Then came an accident—her husband, of course, sacrificed himself to save her."

"..."

"You can guess what happened next: your Huang Shu was saved, but he died," Zheng Fa suddenly noticed anger in Master Pang's eyes: "Had he lived, Jiushan Sect might have gained another Soul Transformation cultivator!"

Zheng Fa now understood why Master Pang treated Zhang Shijie with relative kindness, yet always referred to Huang Shu simply as "Huang."

"Later, that Huang came back claiming vengeance, and created something called Xuanguan Jian..." Master Pang sighed softly: "Now Zhang Shijie is trapped in that Xuanguan Jian—is that really Xuanguan Jian? It's a warning from the past..."

"Besides, you haven't even established your Foundation yet. What help can you possibly offer Zhang Shijie?"

Zheng Fa understood: Master Pang's advice was not without reason.

He had already done everything he could.

The rest must be left to Zhang Shijie herself.

…

In Zheng Fa's room, he was immersed in cultivation.

Though he taught Zhang Shijie daily, he had not neglected his own cultivation.

On the contrary, he had become even more diligent than before.

The Xuanguan Jian trapping Zhang Shijie could only be broken from within—but since it was within Lei Chi, if Lei Chi changed, the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Great Freedom Demon Sect could act—

At that moment, Jiushan Sect and the Great Freedom Demon Cult would surely clash.

His current cultivation level was far too low.

As night deepened, a spiritual energy vortex suddenly appeared in Zheng Fa's room.

This vortex was larger than before, even affecting other disciples cultivating in the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace.

Master Pang and several of his disciples in the main hall sensed it.

All turned their gazes toward Zheng Fa's room.

"Is that Zheng Shidi?" one disciple exclaimed in surprise: "Has he reached Qi Refining peak? How fast is that?"

An older disciple nearby was equally astonished: "I've never seen anyone progress as quickly as Zheng Shidi... truly astonishing talent."

"Astonishing talent..." Master Pang's gaze grew distant, as if recalling someone: "Only thus does he resemble him."

"Master?"

…

"You've reached Qi Refining peak?" When Zheng Fa returned to Zhang Shijie's side, she immediately sensed his new realm, her eyes brightening: "You're half a month faster than I was."

Zheng Fa shook his head.

If counting modern time, Zhang Shijie was still faster.

"Think carefully about your Foundation Establishment," Zhang Shijie advised again. "If you feel the Talisman Foundation Establishment Method is incomplete, you can buy a Hua Yuan Pill to dissolve your talisman Dao Base. Your cultivation level will drop slightly, but your spiritual power is already sufficient—you can quickly retrace the orthodox Foundation Establishment path."

Clearly, Zhang Shijie had thought this through for him.

According to Zhang Shijie's idea, this talisman Foundation Establishment method is just a cultivation accelerator—use it and throw it away.

Zheng Fa nodded lightly; it was indeed a viable approach.

Although Zhang Shijie had already been taught the Topology, Zheng Fa had not come to her empty-handed—on the contrary, she had given him much insight in both talisman arts and mathematics.

"In the past two days, I've thought deeply, and I find this discipline you taught me—truly rigorous. It derives everything from just a few so-called axioms; aside from those axioms being unprovable, every other theory has its origin."

Zheng Fa agreed wholeheartedly; this was also a hallmark of modern mathematics.

"This idea actually came from a great sage—the first to propose those few axioms."

Zheng Fa began explaining to his sister the five axioms of Euclidean geometry, then spoke of how doubts over the parallel postulate eventually led to the birth of non-Euclidean geometry.

"Axioms can be doubted?" Zhang Shijie's eyes shimmered with admiration: "That's truly great wisdom."

"Of course they must be doubted—doubt is, in fact, the greatest driver of progress in this discipline." Zheng Fa's words carried his own small understanding of science: "Doubt..."

He fell silent.

Doubt...

He had always accepted Zhang Shijie's view without question: that the Foundation Establishment in Yuan Fu Dao was formed by talisman diagrams.

Was this, then, the parallel postulate worth doubting?

In the Foundation Establishment method, yin and yang talisman diagrams generate each other.

But in the void of Xuanwei Realm, those diagrams did not exhibit this property.

This was nearly equivalent to experimental results contradicting the theory.

Are these two kinds of diagrams truly the same?

"Not diagrams? But we condense them as diagrams!"

"Yes—but suppose we set that premise aside," Zheng Fa's eyes gleamed with excitement: "What can we deduce if we start only from the premise that yin and yang generate each other because they are mirror images?"

Zhang Shijie frowned, still not grasping it.

"Only the Five Element sub-symbols satisfy the property of mirror symmetry," Zheng Fa declared loudly: "The other two types of sub-symbols influence the diagram's behavior but do not define its essence!"

Zhang Shijie's eyes lit up.

She understood Zheng Fa's meaning.

"You mean the Five Element sub-symbols are the essence of spirit talismans?"

"No," Zheng Fa stated his hypothesis: "I mean the Five Elements are the inherent nature of spiritual energy. We cultivate—no matter what method we use—ultimately absorbing spiritual energy, yet spiritual energy and spirit talismans are not the same."

"Spiritual energy has the Five Elements—but lacks those two types of sub-symbols!"

"The Dao Foundation we condense within our bodies may be closer to spiritual energy than to spirit talismans!"

"Perceiving illusion, discarding falsehood, preserving truth—that is how the Great Dao is attained..." After a long silence, Zhang Shijie sighed: "Today, you have achieved it."