Chapter 62

After revealing the names of the Thirty-Six Thieves and the three known Eight Extraordinary Skills, Gong Qing gave some further instructions, then left the Hu residence on his own, leaving only Zhou Shuo, Xia He, Lu Liang, Shen Chong, etc. to continue staying in the Hu residence. Shen Chong and Hu Jie signed a contract and began helping him accumulate strength, while Xia He and Lu Liang began gathering members of the Complete Nature faction. As for Zhou Shuo, he began investigating the Eight Extraordinary Skills.

"Qi Body Source Flow, Summon Spirits and Command Generals, Heaven-Reaching Register, Wind Lord's Qimen, Divine Machine Hundred Reflections, Six Storehouses Immortal Thieves, Great Luo Penetrating Vision, Double Perfection Hand, plus the nameless extraordinary skill finally comprehended by Patriarch Wugen Sheng—interesting, interesting." Zhou Shuo was looking at the eight displayed on Baidu Baike, but no, it should be nine extraordinary skills, and he couldn't help but utter some tsk-tsks of amazement.

With the previous two worlds as examples, Zhou Shuo could easily guess what world he was in. In reality, using the internet to search for the keywords 'Feng Baobao', 'Zhang Chulan', 'Yiren', and 'Nǎdūtōng', he could easily find a cartoon titled *One Person Under the Heaven*. Although he hadn't looked at the specific content, just by checking Baidu Baike he could pull up the relevant information.

"Unlike those flashy, trashy webnovels, the art style is weird and interesting—first I'll get a full subscription, then I'll look again later." After carefully browsing Baidu, Zhou Shuo found it quite enjoyable, registered a Penguin account, gave a full subscription on Penguin Comics, didn't carefully view the content, finished handling miscellaneous matters, and immediately returned to the Yiren world.

Not finishing the manhua and anime completely, first because the cartoon itself is unfinished; Zhou Shuo dares to assert that at a critical moment he will definitely be sought out by events, just as in the Qin era world; second, the Luotian Grand Rite is about to start, and he needs to hurry; as for third—since he already knows what will happen in the future, it's boring; knowing what he needs to know is enough. Rather than watching the cartoon, it's better to directly experience it firsthand—that's truly being there in person.

"What should I study next? Qimen Dunjia!" Zhou Shuo stepped into the Hu residence, forming his next study goal in his mind.

After finishing the Dao of Alchemy system from Journey to the West, Zhou Shuo had already planned his cultivation steps: foundation establishment, golden core, and nascent soul—three stages. Foundation establishment consists of training form, qi, and spirit, while golden core and nascent soul come later. Foundation establishment kung fu only awaits the moment when water reaches the channel and success is achieved, and Zhou Shuo needs to find a new direction of study for himself.

"Eh, Brother Zhou, where did you run off to?" Lu Liang looked at Zhou Shuo returning from outside, couldn't help but glance inside in surprise—this guy actually wasn't cultivating!

"Ah! I went out for a stroll, making sure no one saw me. Lu Liang, you came at just the right time—I was about to ask you something!" Zhou Shuo looked at the boy coming toward him, his eyes lighting up—he had still been worrying about how to get started with Qimen Dunjia!

"Arts of calculation! Why are you suddenly curious about this?" After hearing Zhou Shuo's question, Lu Liang couldn't help but roll his eyes, thinking he'd had a change of heart, but it's still the same—however, why did he suddenly become interested in the arts of calculation!

"Interest has come, so it has come. As a penniless cultivator, I'm interested in everything!" Zhou Shuo said quite naturally. In fact, he is not a penniless cultivator but a penniless ordinary person. Now that he has this opportunity, if he cannot learn those abilities to enter the netherworld and achieve immortality, what's the difference between him and a salted fish?

Capture Spirits and Command Generals

"You won't find any excuse to refuse your big brother Zhou, right?" Zhou Shuo looked at the boy's weird expression, couldn't help but show an especially kind smile; if he refused him, how would he make this kid toe the line?

"Of course, being able to be your mentor, Brother Zhou, I'm quite fortunate; I just hope that—whatever happens in the future, Brother Zhou, you'll look out for me a bit more." Lu Liang looked at the face showing the 'kind' smile opposite him, couldn't help but shake his head while eagerly rubbing his hands; although this guy is said to be very troublesome, his strength is actually quite strong.

Divine Machine Hundred Reflections

"Sure, come on, let's go to the study; I'll explain this properly. Qimen Dunjia, together with Liuren and Taiyi, constitutes the three arts of calculation, anciently called the emperor's learning, and also a kind of predictive study—whether it's astrophysics, human affairs, life, or social systems, it can be borrowed; of course, cultivators also make use of it…" Lu Liang led Zhou Shuo while beginning to explain Qimen Dunjia.

The Qimen Dunjia used by Yiren cultivators, aside from predictive study, also has references for cultivation—like in the Dao of Alchemy, terms such as 'water and fire already balanced' and 'drawing out Kan to fill Li' all come from the trigrams of the Yijing, and the Yijing itself is the introductory study of Qimen Dunjia. The Yijing is a very important book in Chinese culture; Hong Yi, namely, relied on summarizing this book to become a sage in the Yangshen world.

Cultivators' training in the calculation aspect of Qimen Dunjia mainly focuses on two aspects. First is calculation technique: after entering tranquility to a certain degree, they enter a place called the inner scene to deduce the world, estimating the future based on known information. Second is through their own qi field to set up the palace, arrange the board, break the formation, and cast spells within the pattern—this is the technique of magic.

"Then what are the specific training methods?" Zhou Shuo listened to Lu Liang's narration, nodded straight away, summarizing that the Yiren's Qimen Dunjia functions in divination and spellcasting—how should it be practiced?

"The methods of entering tranquility and performing techniques are each family's secret transmission; our Lu family is not skilled in this, and I only know some corresponding methods, but I myself have never cultivated them. Brother Zhou, you must think clearly: cultivating calculation arts is not like cultivating qi—it extremely drains the mind and spirit. If qi cultivation goes awry, at most you'll suffer some injury; rest and you'll recover. But if the technique of calculation is practiced incorrectly, it's no small matter." Lu Liang looked at Zhou Shuo's carefree demeanor and kindly reminded him that studying calculation arts is extremely dangerous.

"Mm, I know. The last time I practiced Thunder Method, I already experienced the consequences of messing up cultivation—I won't cultivate casually, just having a reference." Seeing the boy's reminder, Zhou Shuo nodded; he had already experienced the degree of danger, but he wasn't worried and didn't plan to rush into practice—he just wanted to understand. He remembered that among the main characters of Yiren, there are two who excel in calculation arts.

"All right then!" Seeing that Zhou Shuo had a grasp, Lu Liang readily shared the methods of entering tranquility and setting up the palace that he knew; these are commonplace stuff, and truly skilled practitioners of calculation arts in the Yiren world are few.

"Brother Zhou, you've squeezed every bit of my knowledge dry." After Lu Liang imparted the technique, seeing Zhou Shuo somewhat absent-minded, he couldn't help but give a wry smile.

"My life has limits, but knowledge is boundless." Zhou Shuo reached out and patted the boy's shoulder, urging him to continue striving to enrich himself, kid!

"Seeking the boundless with the limited?" Lu Liang crossed his arms, looking quite displeased; Zhuangzi's words are not like that—'My life has limits, but knowledge is boundless; to follow the boundless with the limited is perilous!'

"Is your limit exhausted?" Zhou Shuo turned his head to look at the displeased boy, smiled and asked in return; he knows the original words of Zhuangzi, but his limited life has now come to an end?

Strange Persons World

"Looks like it's not exhausted yet; if not exhausted, then we must strive—remember, learning can make you happy; if the young don't work hard, the old will only lament in vain; when books are needed, you'll regret having too little; matters unknown until experienced are difficult; if you don't learn more now while you're interested, what will you have later to show off?" Zhou Shuo looked at the boy whose expression was stuck on his face, reached out and patted his shoulder again, offering meaningful advice: "Young man, put in more effort."

Faced with Zhou Shuo's earnest advice, Lu Liang felt a mix of laughter and tears; even the sayings 'when books are needed, you'll regret having too little' and 'the old will only lament in vain'—he didn't know what words to use to respond to these encouragements; in short, this is a rather peculiar companion!

Ignoring Lu Liang's mixed laughter and tears, Zhou Shuo casually opened his computer, began formally studying the Zhouyi to understand the trigrams, then moved on to learn the four plates, eight gates, nine palaces, three wonders, heavenly stems and earthly branches, nine stars, as well as overcoming the palace with the carriage, star gate response, auspicious and inauspicious riding the obscurity, etc. —all essential knowledge. Only after laying a solid foundation could he further cultivate calculation arts.

The basics of calculation arts aren't much to learn, but when combined they become myriad variations, dazzling to the eye—almost everything seems possible, yet also nothing seems possible. Zhou Shuo only persisted for two days before he gave up, because he truly isn't cut out for this line of study, but he has already grasped some of the reasoning.

Put bluntly, calculation arts are nothing more than a summary of the laws of all things in the world, turning space and time into numbers, constructing a virtual universe, then simulating the probabilities of events. Because the human brain sometimes cannot bear the computational process, at times one must enter tranquility to use the primordial spirit for calculation; even so, it still consumes spirit and qi, just as the more information a hacker steals, the more they are rejected by the system's rules. Hence, those who study calculation arts, even if they obtain information, will not plainly tell it to others, for that would deepen their crime; naturally, this is also the best cover for some charlatans.

Calculation arts can be said to be an endless thing, but they may not be able to calculate everything, because there are too many accidents. It's like building a house: after bleeding over the design drafts, calculating the project, purchasing materials and tools, then painstakingly constructing it; when the day arrives that the house is about to be completed, suddenly discovering that the building violates regulations—then all previous effort goes to waste.

One's fortune is always in the next second, while one's fate is the path already walked; fate and fortune are a unity—fate determines fortune and fortune determines fate, just as life and karma are two sides of the same coin. Although Zhou Shuo's head has been as big as a bucket over the past two days and he hasn't learned much of the divinatory arts, he has gained some insight: that one's future life is forever unpredictable, and sometimes all it takes is a small wedge to change everything, just as he summoned a spatial gate.