Chapter 201: Equation (4K)

When Zheng Fa entered the room, both Bai Lao and Tang Lingwumin were busy.

Tang Lingwumin was processing data collected from various sensors on her computer—current intensity of each shock, voltage strength, temperature, and the shapes and colors of lightning captured by high-speed cameras.

Bai Lao was studying patterns on paper, trying to find the key among them.

Zheng Fa first sat beside Bai Lao; he felt tired for the first time in a long while.

The thunder arts of the Heavenly Stele Realm were peculiar: the power of heavenly tribulation lightning far exceeded ordinary thunder arts, yet the cultivation requirement was relatively low.

Zheng Fa, merely at Foundation Establishment, had just released nearly eight or nine heavenly tribulation lightning strikes; had he not wished to preserve some spiritual power for the Spirit Mountain Art, he could have summoned two more.

But he hadn't felt it then—now his head throbbed, especially at his temples, as if someone were drilling a tunnel straight through his skull.

He sat at the table, pressing his temples, recalling a similar condition recorded in the Nine Mountains Sect's texts—it was a mild damage caused by excessive spiritual sense depletion.

This was rare for him; compared to his early Foundation Establishment cultivation base, his spiritual sense strength even surpassed that of late Foundation Establishment.

Normally, his spiritual power should have depleted before his spiritual sense.

This led him to wonder: was the excessive power of heavenly tribulation lightning derived from overconsumption of the cultivator's spiritual sense?

"Zheng Fa, what's wrong?"

Bai Lao's gaze had been fixed on his draft paper, but sensing something amiss, he turned and saw Zheng Fa's pale face, prompting him to ask.

"Nothing. Spiritual sense overexertion. A few days' rest will fix it." Zheng Fa shook his head. "Have you found anything?"

Heavenly tribulation lightning was the most basic thunder art of the Heavenly Stele arts.

Yet Yan Wushuang and others had failed to master it, for two main reasons:

First, no one knew how heavenly tribulation lightning was generated.

That is, among all these patterns, which one was the true talisman pattern of heavenly tribulation lightning.

Without understanding this, the second problem naturally arose: how to control the strength of heavenly tribulation lightning.

At this moment, Bai Lao was trying to solve the first issue—his approach was simple: every time Zheng Fa successfully cast heavenly tribulation lightning, he recorded the spiritual power trajectory, then used topology to find recurring patterns within the trajectories:

It was identical to studying talisman paths.

But for cultivators in the Xuanwei Realm without topology training, these trajectories might show no identical patterns at all…

"Hmm, this is simple." Bai Lao pointed to the draft paper on the table: "These patterns appear every time, just with varying frequencies."

Zheng Fa glanced and nodded: "If we add the Five Elements sub-talismans, this must be the talisman of heavenly tribulation lightning."

According to the Three Sub-Talisman Law hypothesized by Zheng Fa and Bai Lao, if spells were viewed as another form of talismans, then spiritual power itself could provide the Five Elements sub-talismans, and these trajectories should correspond to second- and third-class sub-talismans.

"Yes… but we haven't found any shared sub-talismans between this heavenly tribulation pattern and other thunder art talismans." Bai Lao had been searching for this very thing: "If Tang Lingwumin's hypothesis about interactive sub-talismans is correct, then thunder arts… should share identical sub-talismans."

Zheng Fa fell silent upon hearing this.

They studied thunder arts precisely because their targets were relatively simple—whether thunder arts acted on electrons or electromagnetic fields, the target should be the same, implying a shared sub-talisman.

But…

There wasn't any.

This gave them the feeling of blind men touching an elephant—each time, they touched a different part.

…

"Got it!" Tang Lingwumin suddenly exclaimed. Both men turned; her computer screen displayed various lightning patterns, differing in color and length.

Nearby were undulating curves.

They showed the current, voltage, and temperature generated by each lightning strike on the metal pillar.

Zheng Fa and Bai Lao walked over, studying the data on the screen.

"Any patterns?" Bai Lao asked.

"No special patterns, except the correlation between current and voltage, and between temperature and lightning color."

Zheng Fa nodded; these correlations already existed in physics.

"Look at this?" Bai Lao handed over the parsed patterns. Tang Lingwumin frowned, then suddenly seemed to recall something, frantically typing on the keyboard, too absorbed to acknowledge Zheng Fa and Bai Lao.

The two men exchanged glances and stepped forward to watch the computer screen.

"Is this… curve fitting?"

Zheng Fa quickly understood: Tang Lingwumin was fitting the frequency of identical talisman patterns against the various data, seeking a pattern.

The data wasn't complex—in fact, it was simple.

The computer soon displayed an equation.

Bai Lao stared, then summed it up: "Current intensity is roughly proportional to the sixth power of this frequency?"

Zheng Fa was also surprised; the fitted result was absurdly simple—a straightforward sixth-degree equation. Ignoring the coefficients, variable x was the frequency of the talisman pattern's appearance, and the other side of the equation was the current's peak value.

"So, to control the lightning's power, we just need to control how many times the talisman pattern appears?"

All of them stared at the formula in silence. It was too simple—so simple it made them doubt themselves.

"So the number of times the talisman pattern appears determines the energy of the heavenly tribulation lightning," Bai Lao frowned. "This… resembles how talismans work?"

"Yes." Zheng Fa realized it too: "When drawing a talisman, it draws in talisman patterns from empty space—meaning it increases the number of pattern appearances. More appearances, greater power."

Zheng Fa spoke slowly, gazing at the formula, then added: "This reminds me of a concept from middle school physics…"

"What?"

"Work." Zheng Fa explained slowly: "Whether spiritual energy or spiritual power, these talisman patterns are their flow paths—only along specific paths can correct effects be produced, almost like doing useful work on certain substances along these paths."

"And I can feel that as spiritual power moves along these trajectories, my spiritual power is consumed—meaning my spiritual power, through this trajectory motion, transforms into lightning energy."

"Now that you say it…" Bai Lao looked bewildered: "It does sound similar! Spiritual power doing work, converting into electrical energy—just not linearly…"

"So we've derived the functional equation for heavenly tribulation lightning?" Tang Lingwumin summed up after listening for a while.

"We should call it the Heavenly Tribulation Spiritual Energy Equation. With this equation, controlling the strength of heavenly tribulation lightning is no longer a problem," Bai Lao corrected. "But yes! Our first experiment yielded a discovery!"

Here, Bai Lao sighed again: "How is it that cultivation research feels like you can stumble upon new results so easily…"

He added regretfully: "Too bad we don't have a journal… otherwise, publishing our paper would be like a sow giving birth!"

Zheng Fa smiled. If he truly could control the Heavenly Stele Realm and secure a safe rear base, journals… he had already considered them.

Xuanwei Realm.

Zheng Fa sat in meditation, slowly restoring his spiritual sense, still pondering the Heavenly Tribulation Spiritual Energy Equation.

The equation revealed a simple yet long-overlooked phenomenon—the power of a spell depends on how many effective paths spiritual power or spiritual energy traverses.

People in the Xuanwei Realm weren't unaware of this feeling; they knew the more similar talisman patterns a talisman attracted, the stronger its power. But understanding the quantitative relationship was another matter entirely.

Now, at least, Zheng Fa had direction in controlling the power of heavenly tribulation lightning.

…

While Zheng Fa focused on cultivation, in the main hall, Master Pang was chatting with Zhang Shijie, and unsurprisingly, the topic was Zheng Fa.

"If we can control the Heavenly Stele Realm…" Master Pang's eyes gleamed with excitement: "Our Nine Mountains Sect will be secure forever… but I wonder how confident Master Zheng is."

Zhang Shijie knew this wasn't due to Master Pang's lack of trust in Zheng Fa, but because such a tremendous opportunity naturally made one anxious and overthink. She reassured him: "Master Zheng's character… you know him well."

"Hmm?"

"Cowardly."

"Ah… yes, that's true!"

"Master Zheng is always cautious. When he helped me manage the marketplace, I noticed—he never overpromised. Even when he was 100% certain, he'd say only 80%." Zhang Shijie's words made Master Pang slowly nod: "Now that he says he wants to control the Heavenly Stele Realm, he must be quite certain."

Hearing this, Master Pang's face gradually softened into a smile, even slightly embarrassed: "You see through things better than I do. I lost my composure—I needed you to comfort me."

Zhang Shijie shook her head: "You're not unaware of this—you simply care too much about the Nine Mountains Sect."

Master Pang's smile grew even more awkward. He gazed toward Zheng Fa's room and murmured: "Too bad our Nine Mountains Sect has so few disciples who cultivate thunder arts… we can't offer Zheng Fa much help… No, I must send more people to the marketplace to find new spiritual materials!"

Seeing his anxious demeanor, Zhang Shijie couldn't help but laugh.

Just as Master Pang was about to summon a disciple to the marketplace, both suddenly felt something and turned toward the outskirts of the marketplace.

A purple aura descended from the horizon, landing before the Lei Chi Marketplace in an instant. As the aura dispersed, a tall, beautiful woman stood before the marketplace, a small bell tied in her hairpin. She bowed to the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace: "Is Master Pang of the Nine Mountains Sect present? Xiao Yuying has come to visit."

She appeared no older than twenty, yet her tone implied equality with Master Pang.

The bustling Lei Chi Marketplace fell silent for a moment; everyone watched the woman cautiously, wondering why she spoke with such audacity.

"Xiao Yuying?" Master Pang of the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace blinked, as if recalling something, then his expression changed drastically as he stepped outside.

The gates of the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace swung wide open; Master Pang hurried toward the marketplace, ready to greet her personally.

"Lady Lingye has come—our Five Dragon Heavenly Palace is honored! Please, come in, come in!"

Hearing this, the marketplace crowd finally realized who she was.

"It's Lady Lingye… no wonder Master Pang is so solemn."

"She came for the Lei Chi too?"

"Don't be foolish—Lady Lingye was called the top Golden Core thunder art master even in her Golden Core stage, famed alongside the Nine Mountains Sect's Lady Zhang, and even entered Nascent Soul before Zhang Wuyi. What else in this place could draw her except the Lei Chi?"

"Who says there isn't? The Heavenly Stele isn't?"

…

"Lady Xiao, you came for the Heavenly Stele too?"

Inside the Five Dragon Heavenly Palace, Master Pang and Zhang Shijie were receiving Lady Lingye Xiao Yuying. After a few pleasantries, she revealed her purpose.

"Yes. I heard the Heavenly Stele here is deeply connected to thunder arts. I wish to investigate. I came to ask if your sect has any knowledge of it."

"Knowledge… we do have some." Master Pang glanced at Zhang Shijie, knowing that for a Nascent Soul True Person, such information was easy to obtain—hiding it would be petty.

He frankly recounted the matters concerning the Sealed Soil and Heavenly Stele thunder arts, causing Xiao Yuying's eyes to gleam with keen interest.

Master Pang and Zhang Shijie exchanged glances, their unease growing. Master Pang asked dryly: "The Lei Chi has been unearthed for a long time—why did you only come now?"

Xiao Yuying seemed slightly embarrassed: "The Lei Chi is inherently dangerous, and the Great Freedom Demon Cult lurks nearby… I had to be cautious."

"…."

Zhang Shijie was speechless—so now that they'd driven the Great Freedom Demon Cult into hiding, you show up?

"But… if someone else entered earlier and claimed the heavenly stele, wouldn't that delay the Immortal?"

Xiao Yuying smiled: "Someone else? Who? Yan Wushuang of the Tianhe Sect?"

She began to critique Yan Wushuang: "This person lacks neither heart nor perseverance, but his talent and comprehension fall just a little short… I could let him wait months without issue."

The tone of her words revealed her extreme self-confidence.

After gathering the information, Xiao Yuying suddenly said: "I came here for another reason…"

"Hmm?"

"If I take control of that heavenly stele, the Lei Chi may no longer hold back the Great Freedom Demon Cult," Xiao Yuying said outright: "I came specifically to warn you, Master Pang, so your Jiushan Sect can prepare in time."

"This…" Master Pang stared blankly, at a loss for words: "Thank you, Immortal, for the warning."

"Good." Xiao Yuying nodded to the two: "Then I'll take my leave. Thank you, Master Pang, for the information."

"Think nothing of it, think nothing of it…"

Watching her fade into the distance, Master Pang fell silent for a long while, then suddenly said: "This woman is truly extraordinary."

"Hmm?"

"Without astonishing ability, someone with such a disposition—offering kindness in such an infuriating way…" Master Pang sighed: "How could she have lived to the Nascent Soul realm?"

Zhang Shijie thought for a moment, glanced at herself, and suddenly found Master Pang's words…

…very reasonable!

"Still, her talent in Thunder Art is no less than yours, Zhang Shijie, in your Talisman Art—she is surely Zheng Fa's rival…" Master Pang's tone carried deep concern.

(End of Chapter)