Chapter 259: Miscellaneous

“Young Miss?” Li Qi looked at the girl in purple.

Her skin was like washed jade, her eyes clear and bright, unadorned by makeup or hairpins.

She was dressed very simply.

However, her temperament seemed very…

How to describe it…

She was very ‘proper’.

But no matter what, her age was indeed that of a young girl; although her proper expression made her seem mature, she was actually only seventeen or eighteen, very young, like a high school student.

She exuded a childish aura.

If he were outside, Li Qi might have thought she was a cultivator pretending to be young, deliberately crafting such a face for herself.

However, this was Imperial Academy, and it was normal to have this age here.

This was where the Geniuses of the human Dao gathered; the outside naturally couldn't compare.

Li Qi didn't answer, merely sizing her up.

This proper young girl also didn't reply, instead meeting Li Qi's gaze.

But at this moment, Liu Canzhi quickly stepped between them and introduced them to each other.

He smiled, pulling them apart, and said warmly and kindly:

“Oh, I forgot to introduce you to Brother Li. This is also our classmate, named Yu Zao. I just happened to meet her and chatted for a few words. She also cultivates the human Dao and is a Genius of the Eclectic School of the human Dao. She is well-read, has a strong memory, and is widely knowledgeable. Even in Imperial Academy, she is considered the youngest, only seventeen this year! But she is already an Eighth Rank. She reached Ninth Rank when she was nine, a famous talented girl.”

Then, he pointed at Li Qi:

“Yu Zao, let me introduce you. This is our new classmate, Li Qi. Oh, by the way, you just said Li Qi was a Shaman, what did you mean?”

“inner body spirits, and control over the Qi of mountains and rivers, plus the influence on the surrounding environment, faintly having the aura of an independent heaven and earth, should be a Shaman… However, there is also a hint of the Five Elements术法 of the Dao sect, strange.” The girl named Yu Zao stared at Li Qi, her beautiful eyes scanning Li Qi’s body.

For some reason, Li Qi felt a chill down his spine, as if something was infiltrating his body.

Her eyes, were they a Divine Ability? Or something else?

Li Qi gently waved his hand, enveloping himself in a layer of earth Qi.

The earth was solid and could block detection.

Only after doing this did he feel better.

However, that Yu Zao seemed to not understand what it meant to stop. Her pupils suddenly changed from black to gold, with profound runes flickering within them, directly piercing through Li Qi’s earth Qi and illuminating Li Qi thoroughly!

“The human body’s small heaven and earth form their own structure, with internal and external circulation… Hmm, it is indeed a Shaman.” After seeing this, the little girl was satisfied and returned to her normal black pupils.

Li Qi frowned.

Even Liu Canzhi looked pained, patting Li Qi’s shoulder, but saying nothing.

At this moment, he couldn’t say anything. Comforting Li Qi wouldn't be appropriate, it would feel like one person playing the red face and the other the white face.

But it was also impossible to support Yu Zao; doing something like that immediately upon meeting was somewhat ‘impolite’.

Li Qi shook his head, then showed a polite smile and said: “Fish in the algae, leaning on its reeds; fish in the algae, with its beautiful tail. What a truly good name.”

Where is the fish, in the water algae, its long tail swaying; where is the fish, in the water algae, peacefully nestled by the cattails.

This was an ancient poem, describing an atmosphere of joy and peace, which should be the source of her name.

Li Qi recited the ancient poem, changing the subject.

The other party was a child, and he was not a child, so there was no need to get angry about it, but he still needed to be slightly wary, after all, the identity of a Shaman was quite sensitive.

“You’ve read books too, huh? Not bad, that’s the source. Do Shamanes also read? But it’s also possible that my understanding is wrong, after all, this is my first time seeing a living Shaman. Hmm… I have something to do today, I’ll come find you to chat later.”

The girl named Yu Zao finished speaking, then raised her neck and said to Liu Canzhi: “Master Liu, I’ll pick up the item I reserved when school starts. Don’t tell me it’s not finished then. I came here today to find Teacher Bai. If you need anything later, you can find me there.”

With that, Young Miss Yu Zao didn’t even say goodbye to Li Qi, turning directly and leaving.

However, her way of leaving was quite interesting; it wasn’t walking or a common escape technique, but rather she simply vanished into thin air.

The kind where even True Knowledge Dao Resonance didn’t react!

Li Qi was stunned, and even his displeasure disappeared.

However, Liu Canzhi saw Li Qi's stunned expression, thinking he was uncomfortable, so he put his hand on Li Qi's shoulder and sighed, saying: “Alright, seventeen years old, and only awakened her intellect at six. What can you expect? By our age, she's only eleven. Don't mind it, don't mind it, she's just a child, and you can't hit her. Don't let it upset you.”

Li Qi nodded: “I don’t mean to be angry, I’m just curious how this person grew up. By the way, what does ‘awakened intellect at six’ mean? Don’t normal people awaken their intellect at one?”

Awakening intellect means gradually waking up from a muddled, ignorant state, slowly becoming conscious, and beginning to form memories.

Humans generally begin this process at one year old, but she was six?

“Heh, how else could she have grown up? Oh, you probably don’t know, so I’ll tell you. Yu Zao has no parents; she’s an experimental subject of the Eclectic School, and she’s still being tested now.” Liu Canzhi released his hand from Li Qi’s arm and walked ahead, saying this.

“An experimental subject of the Eclectic School?” Li Qi was somewhat surprised, asking as he walked: “What does that mean?”

“Hmm, it’s not really a secret, but you’d best not mention it in front of her.” Liu Canzhi thought for a moment, likely deliberating his words, filtering out what couldn’t be said, then explained to Li Qi: “You know the Eclectic School, right? The one that claims to ‘integrate all schools, embracing diversity’.”

“I know.” Li Qi nodded.

He had basically learned about all the hundred arts of the human Dao.

The Eclectic School is characterized by its inclusiveness, absorbing features from other branches of the human Dao, and even from other Dao paths. It integrates their ideological characteristics and even cultivation methods, incorporating them into a single system.

However, don't think of the Eclectic School as a patchwork monster.

The reason the Eclectic School can be listed as a separate school is precisely because it has its own unique Dao path and doctrine. Collecting characteristics from various schools is merely a means to an end, so it can also be called a school.

And the Eclectic School's doctrine is 'practicality'. It doesn't matter where your methods and ideas come from; as long as they are useful for my current situation, I will directly learn them. If you don't let me learn, I'll steal, or even deceive. As long as the goal is achieved, that's fine.

This is a characteristic of the Eclectic School, and it is also why it can be called an independent school.

It has its own main trunk, and then it collects branches from other Dao paths to graft onto itself. The primary and secondary are clear; it is not a chaotic pile-up of a patchwork monster.

Liu Canzhi continued:

“This Eclectic School, you know, is a typical example of using any means necessary. One faction among them conceived a future.”

“You see now, whether it’s talent, intelligence, personality, or things like the Physical Body, while they can be adjusted to a certain extent, ultimately, a large part of it still relies on luck.”

“So, the Eclectic School thought of something: if it were possible to create newborns out of thin air directly within a Spiritual Artifact, without relying on a mother’s womb, and then, based on the required talents, freely adjust and control gender, talent, and even special Physiques! Then, use this method to replace normal reproduction, specifically establishing an official position to manage this matter, and ‘produce infants’ based on population information collected from terminals, directly producing the people needed.”

“The Eclectic School Old Ancestor believes that by doing so, everyone can fulfill their respective roles. As long as the overall talent, quality, and quantity of the population are controlled at a macro level, the overall development of the human Dao can be completely controlled, leading to the great prosperity of the human Dao. And Yu Zao is the experimental subject of this plan, a ‘person’ whose talent, body, and everything were controlled and created by the Eclectic School.”

“However, since it’s the first generation, there are still many immature aspects. That’s why she only awakened her intellect at six, and you can also see that she’s too young and naive, and we don’t know what other flaws she might have yet.”

“But, putting those aside, she is a truly perfect and flawless Genius. She remembers everything she sees, entered the ranks after three years of cultivation, and reached Eighth Rank in six years. Because her body was manufactured, it perfectly matches her cultivation method, and solutions for her Bottlenecks were also set up, completely customized.”

“But it’s hard to say if it’s good or bad, but anyway, there’s only one of her, so whatever.”

Liu Canzhi spoke eloquently.

Li Qi, however, listened in a daze.

Artificial wombs, socialized upbringing, regulating infant production based on societal needs.

They’re playing it so wild, and they’ve even started experimenting. Are they planning to expand this to society at large?

Was this experiment the Eclectic School’s own initiative, or did someone higher up actually nod in agreement?

Forget it, just listen to this kind of thing and be done with it. The Eclectic School Old Ancestor… just hearing that name, you know they’re a big shot. The level of an Old Ancestor of one of the Hundred Schools of the human Dao is unimaginable.

It seems there are various ideological factions within the human Dao. However, the Eclectic School’s way of playing is too wild.

Forget it… just listen and be done with it; he couldn’t interfere with the Eclectic School’s affairs.

Just that girl named Yu Zao.

He didn’t know what to say.

Afterward, Li Qi followed Liu Canzhi to visit other places.

He also went to see Liu Canzhi’s Second Alchemist Institute, but only Liu Canzhi was there; the other alchemists had all gone on holiday.

Li Qi also saw Liu Canzhi’s current research on the water refining method.

It was completely different from fire refining.

Utilizing water hammers and water knives for the refining of Spiritual Artifacts, the water hammers surged, sometimes fierce, but at the extreme of their fierceness, they completely transformed into soft force, like fierce ocean waves turning into a boundless, unfathomable ocean, then surging forth again!

Li Qi watched Liu Canzhi's demonstration, seeing within it waves turning, water ripples intertwining, like dense rain gathering, Yin and Yang transforming, reversing the changes of rigidity and softness, soft force becoming fierce, fierce force becoming soft, rigidity and softness combined.

The refining material in the water thus slowly, little by little, transformed into the desired shape, truly marvelous.

By the time all the tours were finished, it was already evening.

Liu Canzhi waved goodbye to Li Qi and left alone.

Li Qi also expressed his thanks to him several times, then returned home by himself.

Li Qi still enjoyed his company because the other party was very discerning.

From beginning to end, Liu Canzhi showed no curiosity about Li Qi’s identity, even when he heard Yu Zao call Li Qi a ‘Shaman’, he didn’t ask any questions.

Li Qi felt that the other party must have guessed something, because Liu Canzhi seemed like a smart person at first glance.

Imperial Academy was full of smart people; there shouldn't be many fools, right?

However, precisely because he was smart, there was no need to speak too much.

And… Liu Canzhi’s information was too well-connected. He was clearly a Dao of Reason Alchemist, yet he knew the backgrounds of so many classmates in Imperial Academy like the back of his hand. It was truly a bit terrifying.

However, for now, he couldn’t say anything. What if these were common knowledge in Imperial Academy? Right, after all, he only spoke of general backgrounds, but didn’t reveal the true crucial points, so it actually didn’t serve much purpose.

But it was still quite frightening.

Knowing the background allows one to target weaknesses and crucial points, such as the Lord of Pestilence.

If one didn't know the Lord of Pestilence's background, killing him would probably be as difficult as ascending to heaven. But now that Li Qi understood the Lord of Pestilence's background, he knew that to target him, one must target him and sever the special connection within the virus.

This would greatly reduce the scope of searching for weaknesses.

For people like Li Qi, this point was especially important.

After all, frankly speaking, everyone possessed top-tier methods, and the difference in power and subtlety wasn't that great. No one could achieve absolute power suppression, so making targeted arrangements based on weaknesses and characteristics was basically the decider of victory or defeat.

Overwhelming counter-suppression and counter-killing only happened when the strong fought the weak.

Everyone was more or less at the same level. If your weakness was targeted, you had already lost ninety percent. The remaining ten percent could only be relied on quick wit.

Bidding farewell to Liu Canzhi, Li Qi left Imperial Academy. Li Qi held some new understandings of martial Dao, as well as an understanding of Imperial Academy, and returned to his residence in Tang Nation.

On the way, he encountered the old man who had given him a red envelope earlier.

The old man was walking his grandson. Li Qi exchanged a few pleasantries and returned to his room to start taking notes.

Many things in Imperial Academy he had never heard of before. This time, he had truly broadened his horizons.

It seemed that only staying a few days in Shaman God Mountain was a huge loss. As a power that could contend with Tang Nation, Shaman God Mountain must also have scenery no less impressive than Tang Nation.

And it was a wondrous scenery that could not be seen anywhere else, only in Shaman God Mountain.

At this thought, Li Qi felt ants crawling all over his body.

He developed countless curiosities about this world, wanting to explore it more and faster, to witness more sights he had never seen and could not even imagine.

Curiosity filled Li Qi's entire heart, growing more vigorous with each beat.

Li Qi spent half the night recording everything he had seen and heard that day.

In the middle of the night, he put away his paper and pen and rested for the night.

Shen Shuibi needed seven days of treatment; this was only the first day.

There was still almost a month until Imperial Academy started, and six days until Shen Shuibi recovered. There was still plenty of time alone.

However, when Li Qi woke up the next day, he saw a news article on his terminal.

“Shaman God Mountain Envoy Delegation Has Arrived in Chang’an; Three Young Masters Will Enter Imperial Academy for Further Study!”