Applied Immortality

The four resting members of the group jerked awake at the sudden earthquake.

Mao Zimiao was the last to rouse. Last evening, she meditated instead of sleeping. Walking through the woods, Wang Qi mentioned to her the energy of a Spirit Beast Mountain’s Unfettered spread across the glade having a great influence on the Evolution Chart. The demonborn girl’s perception fell short of her other teammates’ and couldn’t afford to miss any chance of improving herself. This time was no different. It was all fine until a moment ago, when she sensed the shift in energy around the forest turning chaotic and forcing her out of meditation. Only then did she notice the shaking beneath her feet.

“Nya!” The demonborn girl jerked like a frightened kitten, her tail straight up and jumping around. 

Su Junyu, Wu Shiqin, and Wu Fan roused as well. Su Junyu covered the four of them with his spiritual power to keep them together. Mao Zimiao gave a frantic look around. “Where’s Little Qi? I don’t see him, nya!”

Su Junyu pointed at Lake 41, “There. Maybe he couldn’t sleep and took a walk. Since he didn’t leave my spiritual sense range, I overlooked his actions.”

The Spirit Beast Mountain’s multicolored view above them warped before popping.

Su Junyu sighed, “This is bad.”

Mao Zimiao’s ears twitched as a figure shot in their direction. Su Junyu reached out and pulled Wang Qi over.

Wang Qi paled. “I almost threw up my dinner.”

[Car and plane sick I get, but even earthquake sick? I can’t handle the slightest jolting.]

Mao Zimiao asked, “Little Qi, where have you been all night, nya?”

Wang Qi said, “Contemplating Dao.”

“Eh?”

“I was just enjoying the lake view, the stars, and reflecting on my way of life.”

“Uh…”

The others were speechless, giving him the ‘we don’t buy it’ looks. Only Wu Fan gave a dry chuckle, “Ha-ha, how carefree. I didn’t know Senior Brother Wang was so, uh, refined.”

Wang Qi raised an eyebrow and said, “Don’t believe me?”

[Kids these days are so quick at calling bullshit.]

Su Junyu took a deep breath. “Wang Qi, did you look at the lakeside?”

Wang Qi nodded. “The demons are stampeding. The Thunder Clap Stag herd is even rushing in another direction.”

“Where?”

Wang Qi pointed southeast, at which Su Junyu paled. “Damn! Why there, of all places? Wait, with the barrier gone, the two zones are no longer separated. All these years, the living beings in these areas have evolved completely different from each other. The moment the two zones’s faunas clash, it’ll mean the end of this centuries-long experiment.”

Wang Qi said, “Who cares? No experiment can last forever.”

Su Junyu shook his head. “It always pays to do your part in such events, especially in merits.”

“Eh?”

Su Junyu wiggled the hand with the wristband. “As long as you hold the magic item accessing the All-immortal Realm and act in the Immortal Alliance’s interests when the unexpected happens, the Immortal Alliance will reward you with merits.”

Wang Qi sighed. “Spoken like a true moneybag.”

“You become a moneybag one step at a time.” Su Junyu replied while staring at the ground. The earthquake came as suddenly as it passed. Su Junyu released the team on the now calm ground and took a box from his storage bag. “Don’t go anywhere. Hold nothing back when up against demons above the Awareness Stage. The trial is now over!”

Wu Fan said, “Senior Brother Su, are you drawing the demons of both zones?”

Su Junyu nodded. “Due to human interference, the demons in the fighting zone are already in chaos, so there’s no problem. I only need to stop them from crossing the boundary into this zone and fight with the demons here.”

Wang Qi gapped, noticing the conspicuous box in his hand. “Is that a Cultivation the Gathering deck? How do you intend to gather the demons? By playing cards?”

Su Junyu raised the case: “This is my battle magic item.”

Su Junyu soared high above, stopping at around three hundred meters.

“That’s high enough. Any further, and it’ll weaken the magical arts.” Su Junyu gauged the height.

He used Celestial Harmony, a supreme mental art formed from the unity of Divine Hexagram Computation and the Book of Geometry. 

The powerful spiritual sense spread out like a wave in every direction. In moments, half of the forest took shape in Su Junyu’s mind due to the feedback.

The model also included demon groups and many Accretion demons’ positions.

“Good, taking in the situation and demons’ habits to calculate their probable direction and the odds of intersecting, as well as their reaction in case of outside attacks.” 

Su Junyu followed with the most fundamental art, the White Marsh Algorithm.

In essence, the art was about using large amounts of data to calculate a sjubject’s behavior. By mastering Lord White Marsh’s ideal state, one could even anticipate the future.

“The Thunder Clap Stag herd will make contact with two Demon Eye Tigers from the other zone at latitude 6.52, longitude 7.59. To protect the exploration zone’s ecology, I shall attack the Demon Eye Tigers.”

A Cultivation the Gathering card flew out of the deck at his thought. As it darted, it grew from the size of a palm to that of a door.

Wang Qi squinted as he read, “Rarity 5, Drifting Cloud Sect’s Circumfluent Sword. It’s exactly like the Great Fortunes merchant company’s cards. Does it also sell such a set of magic items? Do you guys think this magic item is a series of eleven?”

The card shone, and five sword energies flew out, with the same power and aura of the Circumfluent Sword.

Su Junyu didn’t bother to check the result; he was certain the two tiger demons had no chance of taking his attack. He touched his deck , and many more cards circled around him. Magical arts of all colors shot out of them, striking some precise and calculated point.

Most of the attacks grazed the demons before hitting the ground, warning the creatures beyond any shadow of a doubt that they could go no further. The demons were thus forced to make a turn and go another way. 

With the help of this magic item series, Su Junyu alone controlled half of the trial forest’s demons!