Calculating Cultivation-Chapter 138: The Scientific Method

Three metal plates with arrays began to melt. Another round of failures. I flew Chicken back down to the surface and then returned down the elevator. As it descended, I let out a long sigh and began gently banging my head on the elevator wall behind me in frustration.

This was our tenth attempt to come up with something that would work in purifying the energy and using that energy sustain itself. It didn’t even need to store energy. We could only measure the contamination of the background energy by gathering more of it.

The testing process was to have an array try to purify everything that was drawn in and gather an amount beyond the critical failure point that we had worked out. Unfortunately, nothing got beyond the critical failure point. This was our tenth round of tests. I had been slightly hopeful, but that hope had been crushed once more.

Iteration after iteration and nothing had worked. The demonic cultivator clearly knew what he was doing. While it could be a she, if I had to make a guess it was probably a male cultivator. Not that it mattered, since they could be an amorphous blob of jelly for all the difference it would make. Just in my mind, I conjured up a shadowy figure with a focused expression, slight evil grin, and lots of controls around them to monitor the Gu Container.

It was probably my imagination, but it could be possible, and the ambient energy might be influencing me. There could be hidden subtle effects we couldn’t pick up on. Some kind of hallucination, maybe. It was doubtful since I didn’t feel anything off about my cultivation or the environment that would make me question things, but it was a concern that had been growing. Maybe the energy was making me paranoid about being paranoid, that would be hilarious.

The darker and more hopeless things became, the more I found comfort in poor attempts at humor. The elevator reached the bottom. “Any luck?” Luo Lingtai asked as I pushed Chicken out of the elevator. I would not let it out of my sight no matter what, since it was my only hope of escaping this world if I needed to.

“No. They all failed at the same time, or within the same second,” I replied.

“How?! Stability was built into them. An active array should counter whatever contamination is in the energy. It just doesn’t make sense,” she said and slumped down in her chair. There were countless sheets, diagrams, and printed out references across numerous tables.

We had set up our work area in the main control room of this world. Cheng had watched us several times and checked in, but his visits were less since he focused more of his attention on the settlement above us.

Luo Lingtai didn’t like going up for the tests. She said it was too depressing and frustrating to see just failure. She took the testing time as a break from trying to figure things out.

“Some kind of active effect? A powerful formation?” I suggested.

“There would be resonance! RESONACE!” Luo Lingtai shouted and waved her hands. “Unless the demonic cultivator has predicted every array that might be used to counter his energy, this shouldn’t be possible.”

“Could he, I mean. Look into the future, or observe people who might have come up with something?” I knew from the Infinite Ring Complex that complex formations could seem intelligent.

“The plates just melt. Without any manifestation of energy. No other signs either, right?” she asked.

“They just melt. The energy is drawn in and they melt each and every time. Nothing we do has any kind of noticeable effect,” I replied.

“That should be impossible. Fine then! We need to go even more basic to really work out what the problem is. We create an array like we have been doing, then you bend the metal. The purpose of the array will be to strengthen the metal. Let’s see if the arrays are even working, or if we are hallucinating,” she said and pulled over a metal plate to being carving in a new array.

We were using cheap metal from the settlement above, not the good stuff we had recovered from our vessel. I began working on my own design. Once we looked at both our designs, we would come up with a joint third design and test all three.

It was a subtle form of competition between Luo Lingtai and myself to see who could come up with a solution first and if the other person had anything useful to contribute. Currently the score was demonic cultivator ten, both of us zero. Hopefully we could get some kind of success in this test. It was incredibly simple in terms of array design. Just use energy to strengthen the metal plate. That was it. Nothing else.

After two hours we both finished our plates and compared. “You really went basic,” Luo Lingtai said as she looked it over.

“Yes. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible to rule out as much as possible in this next test,” I replied as I looked over her design.

“You are dispersing energy, interesting,” I replied.

“It seemed appropriate to rule out the ambient energy instead. For our joint array, I think we can layer energy into the plate. Giving it some structure, what do you think?” she asked and I nodded at this.

“That seems suitable,” I replied, and we both began working on the next metal plate. We alternated roles with each combination array. This time I was on the one carving into the metal while she supervised my work. These metal plates and the arrays we were placing on them were trash. The hope was that it would give us some direction to work in, but so far we just had failure.

Once the last metal plate was done, I took all three with me once again. This time Luo Lingtai came with me. I gave her a surprised look. “If these fail as well, then I want to see it with my own eyes,” she said as the elevator began carrying us upwards.

“I honestly have no idea how this test will go. If it works, then it means something at higher levels of energy is countering the array. If it doesn’t work, then I don’t know how any of the other arrays and formations are working,” I replied. Luo Lingtai didn’t say anything. She was clearly frustrated and mentally worn out. I felt the same way.

It was like two people with only knowledge of addition and subtraction trying to work out calculus. We knew it was possible, but there were many steps to going from basic math to something much more complex. We had a smattering of knowledge in between these two steps, but it was nowhere near enough and we could only hope to get lucky or make a breakthrough of some kind.

The elevator reached the top and we exited with Chicken. We both got on and flew up towards the dark swirling clouds, entering them only a short way. I pushed a bit of energy into Luo Lingtai’s plate to activate it. The nearby energy was pushed away and I applied force to both sides of the plate and bent it. One test done to get a base line reading. At least it didn’t melt.

I then activated my plate and bent it. It took the same amount of force to bend. “It was the same. I can tell the force needed to bend both was exactly the same,” I said. I then got the third plate ready. I activated it and bent it with the same amount of force.

“The arrays worked. Energy was circulating between all the symbols and in the circle. But the effects didn’t activate…why?!” Luo Lingtai said in rage.

“Well this is a bit different than we were expecting. The other plates melted,” I said as I began to descend.

“Those arrays were all activated by you, but then they used ambient energy. These arrays, they just used your energy before you bent them,” she said.

“The others took time to charge up after they were activated. Oh, the issue is twofold. Has any array or formation worked that isn’t using the ambient energy?” I asked as I set us back down on the ground.

“No. Everything that has done something uses ambient energy. You think that there is something blocking the activation of arrays if they don’t use the ambient energy?” she asked back.

“Not blocking, but interfering with. We can see the array activate, the indicators on the plate are showing signs of being active. Everything failing, then the ambient energy comes in and replaces everything,” I explained.

“That level of control would be immense. But a skill using the ambient energy…it could be possible. It seems like a complicated solution to blocking people from using arrays,” she said.

“Not if you want to give them hope before crushing it,” I said as the elevator we were riding in reached the bottom and opened its doors. “Demonic cultivators enjoy suffering. It is practically a requirement. What would be more amusing than allowing people to have hope, before snatching it away.”

“Demonic, truly demonic. But it makes a sick and twisted kind of sense. That means no array or formation will work. Since we have seen that all arrays fail to purify the ambient energy in any way. It can be gathered, but whatever influence the demonic cultivator has embedded into the ambient energy can’t be removed with our knowledge. It will also enter any arrays or formations we make as we just saw. All this is pointless,” Luo Lingtai sat down and closed her eyes.

“Most likely. Arrays and formations don’t properly work in this Gu Container. It really is insidious,” I said.

“It also means that all protections and spatial stabilization arrays and formations can be triggered to break. If the ambient energy increases once we get closer to the center of this place, or a trigger is embedded into the energy, then everyone would be made helpless. It would also make approaching the center next to impossible,” she said. I could only nod in agreement at this depressing conclusion.

“I have a crazy idea. A focusing array,” I said.

“Focusing array?” she asked.

“Yes. Build a chamber, then use the focusing array to move energy into the chamber and keep it separate from the arrays themselves. That way they don’t get overwhelmed. Just push in more and more energy into this focusing array,” I said. It would be like a life size Dantian, instead of internal.

“What would be the point if we even managed something like that?” she asked.

“Gather enough energy to create a Chaos event. Cheng might be right. The demonic cultivator won’t be able to interfere across the entire space. He also doesn’t want the ambient energy to go up beyond its current amount. He is probably focused on compressing it and monitoring the process of making a Gu. A spike of energy would create an opportunity for Chaos to get into the mix,” I said.

“That is the dumbest, worst, idea I have ever heard of. When your soul is consumed to be tortured for all eternity along with impacting everyone you have ever known, what then?” she asked.

“It would be something, rather than waiting for our deaths. I can’t see anything else that we can do with our abilities and power. I also suspect that demonic cultivator has to have a way to counter Chaos if something happens. Perhaps by ejecting the space directly into the Firmament,” I said.

“Doubtful. Very doubtful and we would never survive Chaos and anything that might show up. It would be a complete gamble and the vast majority of outcomes would be us dying horribly,” she said.

“Yeah…” We both sat there in silence. We had been doing that a lot recently. Cheng came down the elevator, but after seeing us just sitting quietly he didn’t ask anything and went to do busy work. The stress was clearly getting to both of us.

The more we learned, the worse things got. Even our fallback plans weren’t were useless. Looking at the scattered papers and stack of metal plates, going the Chaos route might be our only option. We could only use arrays and formations up to a certain level of power and they had use the local energy that was everywhere. There was no way to separate the energy out or use more powerful arrays and formations. That was what our test confirmed.

We could go try and use arrays and formations to manipulate energy on a larger scale, but the only thing we could really do was make focusing arrays and build up a large amount of energy inside a chamber. We could use that energy for anything useful.

“You mentioned resonance? Could we strike at the demonic cultivator since his energy is everywhere?” I asked. Luo Lingtai just shook her head.

“He probably has protections in place. Anything we did would go right to the Gu instead and do nothing. At least nothing worthwhile at our level of power. We really are trapped,” Luo Lingtai replied heavily and I couldn’t think of anything to say to correct her.

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The best option might be to wait and hope that someone more powerful was trapped and decided to intervene, doing nothing. Or doing nothing might lead to our death. Or just breathing might lead to our deaths. Every path led to our deaths. It was a surreal experience.

Up to this point, I had thought that I would think of something, come up with some path, find some way to reach immortality. Instead, this was the end. I turned back to the tables and began stacking up all our research and work material, since there was nothing else to do. Not like it mattered that much, since this place was going to be destroyed anyways.

There was still the hope that something would come to me. Even if it was unpleasant or miserable, I would have done it. This was the Firmament was the absolute worst and people trying to advance out here died left and right. The odds were always against me and this time I finally lost. Looking over at Luo Lingtai I had some idea what she was thinking.

Her mental resilience was crumbling, and the pressure was getting to her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did something extreme or killed herself. Anything I could say was either pointless or already had been said. This was something each of us would have to come to terms with on our own. I almost would have preferred something quick and immediate. Yang Zi had it easy in that regard, dying right away after entering the Gu Container.

Since it was a powerful demonic cultivator running this place, even death was probably not an escape. Getting up I went over to look through the database of the Crystal Conclave. Perhaps something would come to me while going through the information.

After a while Cheng came over to stand next to me. “Luo Lingtai isn’t saying anything,” he said.

“Formations and arrays won’t work. We can’t separate out the energy or build anything powerful enough. Both of us have run out of ideas. I am just looking through the database in case anything comes to mind,” I explained. Cheng was quiet for a couple of minutes as I kept idlily flipping through the information.

“There might be a way,” Luo Lingtai finally spoke up and we both turned to look at her. “Your focusing arrays idea. We invert it.”

I took a moment to consider the suggestion. “A void of any energy?” I asked and she nodded. “Then what?” Our technology was incredibly limited. Everything we used depended on energy. Our personal equipment wouldn’t work in such an environment.

“Then we can run more tests,” she said with a determined look. I was glad she was getting her confidence back. Having a tough mentality in these situations was the most difficult. When I was traveling through the Great World, Mechanical Layer, or in the Forever City, I felt like my brain would just give up. But I refused to. No matter how hopeless I would fight until the very end.

“Well, there is a side chamber that could be used so the equipment isn’t messed up,” Cheng said. Luo Lingtai nodded at this. I went back over and we began hashing out an idea for the metal plates. The energy from the outside would activate the plates, up to the limit before they started to melt. They would push energy away, until the energy rose too high and they melted. Or they were disrupted physically.

We would need at least two layers of plates. The number of plates was only enough to make a small area devoid of energy. I didn’t know how this would help us, but it was something at the very least. Better than just sitting around waiting for death.

“I always dreamed of becoming powerful as a little kid,” Luo Lingtai suddenly said and I looked over at her.

“Who doesn’t? I am sure we all had such dreams,” I replied, not sure why she was bringing up something personal about herself.

“I beat countless others you know. Smarter, faster, quicker. I past all the tests and even that wasn’t enough. For the Xyon Front, one had to generate accomplishments, failure isn’t tolerated,” she said.

“Anyone who reaches our level stands on a mountain of corpses and regrets. I always disliked those who didn’t have to struggle. Who had their path laid out for them. But they will have their own problems, walking down a path that has already reached its destination,” I said, not sure where this conversation was going.

“True. So many deaths. I don’t even remember my parents or siblings. My earliest memory is just a white room. Failure wasn’t even tolerated back then. I used to think it was just hundreds of others I was competing with, but now I realize it was probably millions. For the Xyon Front it was better to spend such resources to develop one competent individual than multiple failures,” she said and I was getting slightly concerned. She was starting to criticize the Xyon Front.

That was something Luo Lingtai didn’t do. She might be frank about them sometimes, but she never directly criticized them or spoke of their past actions like this. “Every super organization or large group is like this. It would be great if we could be a kindness cultivator.”

“A kindness cultivator. That would be nice. You aren’t so bad Yuan Zhou. You might have a list of faults, but you aren’t a betrayer or a schemer,” she said.

“Um, thanks, I think,” I replied even more unsure what was going on.

“Sorry. I was just getting a bit emotional. We should keep working,” Luo Lingtai said.

“I was giving this idea some thought on what tests we can run once we finish this void chamber. We could try to create a channel through the void chamber to regulate and parse out the energy. It feels like we are rebuilding something like an energy pump from first principles to handle this current environment. It was a good idea,” I said, complimenting Luo Lingtai. I don’t know what was up with her, but if she started talking about her feelings I would be creeped out.

While she might be a woman, I saw her more as a fellow cultivator than anything else. At our level close feelings were incredibly dangerous. That was how you left yourself vulnerable. Cultivation was an individual pursuit. While groups could make things easier, it all depended on individual talent and determination.

Even those lofty super organizations with their compressed energy and super structures, had their own struggles. I might dislike the individuals who were given a golden path forward, but they were trapped by the people at the top of the super organization.

The people at the top of those super organizations were people like me who had struggled and developed enough to form a super organization. While there were countless examples of failures, it was good to think about the successes across the Firmament.

I could just imagine someone like me struggling against horrors and founding the Heavenly Alliance long ago. Maybe the founder had someone from the Xyon Front with them or something similar. A shame that such events were lost to time and history.

“I thought of something, we should head out,” Luo Lingtai said. I gave her a surprised look. We had worked out the design for the array we needed. Now it was just making the plates necessary.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I will show you,” she replied. I hesitated a moment before following her to the elevator with Chicken. We made our way up and then flew up to the surface.

“I thought it would be a good idea to show you how these work. This is the Xyon Front’s Communicator. It tracks the distance until the signal gets interrupted. You can point it in various directions, to work out the size of the Gu Container and use that to work out our location,” she said.

“Why are you showing me this?” I asked.

“It is important if something happens, you should know how it works. It is pretty simple once you understand. There is no password, but there is a hidden safety switch. Here. It needs to be flipped every time you use it. If you don’t it will break down. So, make sure you always move it to the on position before trying to use it,” she said.

“Alright. I appreciate the trust,” I said.

“Next is the Combat Cylinder. It doesn’t use ambient energy and can work even in low energy environments, completely self-contained. Don’t try and break it open. Fires every ten seconds, no more than ten times in one day. Overuse will cause it to break down. Just flip this safety switch and then press the button. Point and aim,” she said.

“Luo, is everything okay? I normally wouldn’t ask, but showing me how your weapon and equipment works?” I asked hesitantly.

“I am fine. Nothing to worry about Yuan Zhou. I would ask you how your sword works, but you just swing it around and stick them with the pointy end, right?” she asked with a slight teasing smile. I was really getting creeped out but just nodded slowly.

“Yes. No hidden switches. And you know how the goo machine and water machine work,” I said.

“I always enjoyed a good meal. A shame that everything here is sub-par,” she said.

“There is always monster meat, or fungus stew,” I said as I looked up at the swirling clouds of darkness. “But the monster attacks have been going down, even if they have gotten more powerful. Everything is dying.”

“This isn’t a place of life, it is a tomb,” Luo Lingtai said.

“Maybe for others, but I like to think we will find a way,” I replied.

“I like that about you. Your boundless optimism,” she said. I didn’t think I had boundless optimism. I opened my mouth to say something, but didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Thanks. Your knowledge is impressive,” I said, not knowing what else to say. Luo Lingtai just gave me a smile and shook her head.

“We should get back to work.” She then went back into the elevator. I looked up at the sky one last time. I didn’t know why she wanted to come out here just for this talk, but I wasn’t about to question her when she seemed unstable. We returned deep underground and began working on the arrays once again.

They would be locked into space by the energy. It wasn’t a good practice to lock things into place using ambient energy, but it wasn’t worth the headache to build a scaffolding. The pressure of energy from the outside would hold everything in place. If the energy dipped too much, everything would fall apart. That was unlikely to happen. While the ambient energy constantly kept changing, it was ever present, like the waves of the ocean.

We finished up the void chamber and began assembling it. Luo Lingtai didn’t say anything else as we moved everything into position. “It is going to take a bit to force the energy inside out, but we should see some results over a day at the very least. Perhaps something interesting will happen to give us some more clues.” I wasn’t optimistic about that, but it was something.

Luo Lingtai didn’t say anything in response. Once everything was in place, it was an impressive construction about the size of a house. Countless floating metal plates formed two spheres, with the plates pushing energy away from the outside.

A person could enter my shifting a plate slightly and squeezing through the gaps. The plates were set up in a way that most paths of entry were blocked by either the first or second sphere. If we wanted a third set of plates then we would need some kind of support structure. I was confident this set of arrays would push back over 98% of the ambient energy.

“Well, we need to let this wait for a while. I am going to see if I can find something other than goo to eat. Maybe trade lots of goo for monster meat. I am sure I can cook something edible up,” I said. Luo Lingtai just gave a distant nod but didn’t say anything. A proper meal would hopefully settle her mind. She remained standing in front of the void chamber as I made my way back to the elevator with Chicken.

Reaching the top, I went to find First to make a trade. While I could have just demanded monster meat, it was better not to antagonize the natives, especially since they were technically Cheng’s people. While the goo was goo, it was nutritious and filling. Everything a body might need to fuel itself.

The most important thing was not to ask what the goo was made from. It was goo and anything put into the machine was meant to power it, creating goo out of thin air. As I got a slab of monster meat and began cooking in a borrowed kitchen, I had a stupid idea.

Make a big enough goo machine, and literally eat the ambient energy. Turn it into goo and just keep eating. Now that would be the dream. A cultivation method to get stronger from eating. I could just stuff my face and not have to worry about anything except my next meal. Even if there was nothing else, there would be goo.

I got a pushcart and a large covered platter. I didn’t know how Luo Lingtai liked her meat, but this was pretty well cooked and there was a spicey fungus that could be used for seasoning that had glowing blue specks to the meat. Perhaps I should have been a chef instead of a cultivator, or both. That would be interesting and maybe something I would pursue once I reached immortality as a hobby at some free port in the Firmament.

Descending back down, with the pushcart and Chicken, I considered what kind of crazy dishes that could be made. Then I realized why there were no legitimate cultivator chefs. The kind of cultivator that would go around consuming others for power, that was the definition of a demonic cultivator. The most valuable ingredients would be things with intelligence.

I could only shake my head at the idea of becoming a chef even as a hobby. If I got out of this Gu Container, my resolve to stay away from demonic cultivators and anything associated with them would have only increased. Even in the Forever City, meals weren’t something that was focused on. Probably considered a distraction from the path of cultivation.

Perhaps the Xyon Front had some professional chefs for the true elites. I would have to ask Luo Lingtai if she knew about such a role. It seemed odd to think of becoming a chef after reaching immortality, but it seemed like such a mundane job that it would be amusing to do for a while.

The elevator came to a stop and I pushed Chicken and the pushcart out of the elevator. “Luo Lingtai, I brought food. You can try my cooking and tell me if I can become an immortal chef or give up all hope,” I said.

There was no reply. She was probably focused or busy looking at the void chamber. I left the push cart and Chicken in our main work area and made my way to where we had set up the void chamber. At the entrance, there was a piece of paper on the ground with Luo Lingtai’s spatial storage items stacked on top of it. I carefully picked up all the items and looked at the piece of paper.

Yuan Zhou,

Thank you, for seeing me and not an agent of the Xyon Front. It brought me a brief moment of joy in what was a bleak existence.

I will not let my soul be consumed. It was the one vow I made to myself. That death would be an escape, not more torment. There are methods that mean death itself isn’t an escape. In this space the Xyon Front can’t use them on me, but the demonic cultivator could. Thankfully I haven’t become an immortal yet, separating my mind from my physical body. That means I am still tied to my physical body.

Yang Zi melting was a sign of his soul being consumed. While I can’t be entirely sure of this, it would make sense with everything you have talked about in regards to demonic cultivators and this Gu Container. I refuse such a fate. Chaos is not an option, no matter what Cheng says, that is the path of true madness.

I also need to apologize, I didn’t share my last critical item. A Void Scrambler, a device designed to purge all energy and electricity in a target. Its is cumbersome to use since it requires prolonged contact and careful adjustment of the space impacted. It wouldn’t have worked if the void chamber wasn’t constructed.

If anyone else comes from the Xyon Front, I have a general identification badge in my spatial storage. No traps, so feel free to use it.

Good luck and best wishes escaping.

Luo Lingtai of the Xyon Front

I closed my eyes after reading the letter. I carefully folded it up and walked into the space where we had constructed the void chamber. Her mentality wasn’t just unstable. It had completely collapsed. Entering the chamber, I wasn’t surprised by what I saw.

Lying in the center of the void chamber on a floating metal plate, Luo Lingtai was there with a smile on her face with her eyes closed. The tension that constantly seemed to be retained across her body had dissipated. At least she found peace. My heart hurt and I wiped away a single tear. I just stood there looking at her, not knowing what to think. I had missed the signs. Showing me her equipment, getting emotional, those should have been warning flags.

Could I have said something different? Could I even stop her? Should I have tried to stop her? I was just too emotionally stunted to understand what she was going through. That was the problem with cultivators. Ultimately, she was an old woman. I wouldn’t even begin to guess her age, but appearance meant nothing. I had appeared as a child for a long time. She was probably some old granny while looking like beauty.

She could make her own choices since she clearly understood the situation we were in. I could only imagine what she had seen at the Xyon Front to desire death as an escape. Even for its own members, it was no picnic.

Now I was alone. Cheng was completely useless. I considered if I should kill him, but it wasn’t worth the risk or the hassle. What was there even to fight about? Who would be compressed into a Gu first? Letting out a long sigh, I considered how I should deal with Luo Lingtai. I should probably save her corpse in order to hand it over to the Xyon Front as an explanation and proof of what happened to her.

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