Applied Immortality

“Why do the weak fight?”

Wang Qi paced around anxiously. It was the fifth time he said it in the last hour.

The Immortal Institute disciples participating in the martial test at Argent Mountain’s northern slope arena were around the same level. Not everyone was like Wang Qi, breezing through their fights. As a result, he was stuck waiting for a long time for his fifth match.

At first, he was excited to watch his classmates’ fights. The visual and sound effects, even for Qi Refining disciples, were beyond what Earth CGI could imitate.

Alas, it grew real old real fast.

[Bastard! I’m a plot-focused and aloof critic! I don’t even like movies selling hyped special effects.] 

Boring as crushing victories were, it beat not fighting at all.

“Impatience is a sign of erratic emotions.” Su Junyu said. “You need to calm down.” 

“A noob has no right to preach affairs to me.” Wang Qi gave a listless reply. 

Su Junyu glared. “I’ve never met a more shameless guy… What kind of mind jumps straight to affairs when talking about venting?” 

“It’s all virgins talk about.”

“Why would self…”

“Ha-ha…”

The monthly examination’s grade was 70% of All-immortal Realm’s evaluation and 30% of Foundation Establishment teaching assistants’ evaluation. Furthermore, teaching assistants were charged with stopping the fight when both sides showed their full strength to avoid harm.

As such, whether it was Xiang Qi or Su Junyu, they only had the time to greet him. 

Yang Jun was close by, making Wu Fan unable to choose who among his two friends to talk to.

It led to an impatient Wang Qi, the boredom of waiting for his fifth match getting to him. He stood on the sidelines all the way till evening.

“Curses!” Wang Qi raged after the Eminence teacher in charge of today’s martial test said they’d resume tomorrow. 

Wu Fan gave a shy smile. “Aren’t you overly energetic?”

“Now you’ve started loosening your morals? Shit!”

[It’s totally out character, Dao bro!] 

Wu Fan ignored his incomprehensible words, saying, “Wang Qi, you’ve been looking exhausted until two days ago, when you’ve started to recover your mood. Uh, getting so excited with no way to vent, then…” 

Wang Qi rubbed his chin. “The last two days…”

[Wasn’t that around the time when I focused on a few arts instead of all of them?]

With fewer arts to cultivate, the time spent cultivating shortened…

“It turns out that sleep is the issue.” From now on, I’ll need to turn in earlier. A cultivator has a tougher body that can take a few extra hours; a weary mind can’t be overlooked…” Wang Qi pondered. “Mental note: resume yourself to small topics at night.”

Wu Fan was surprised. “Wang Qi, have you been solving problems every… night?”

“Of course, I’m a hard-working bookworm!”

Wu Fan shook his head. “Incredible. S-so you didn’t get enough sleep. When you mentioned long nights, I assumed you partied the night away. Thinking of your usual behavior, hard work was the last thing on my mind.” 

“Is that how you see me?”

“Honestly, everyone sees you like a weirdo.”

Close by, Yang Jun clenched his fists.

…

An Eminence once again led the martial test participants to the northern slope the following morning.

Wang Qi didn’t have to wait as long as yesterday.

“Wu Shiqin and Wang Qi, stage 8 on row 6!”

“Wu-pu-pu-pu, the destined fight!” (Tamon: the laughter is a Danganronpa reference.)

As Wang Qi walked to the stage, Wu Fan sighed, “You’re really bored out of your mind.”

A girl in black awaited on stage. Her calm features were a sharp contrast to the fire in her eyes.

“Last time was a draw, and you never went all out either.” The girl stared at Wang Qi. “Show me just how big a gap is between us.”

“Nice thought.” Wang Qi gave her a thumbs up.

The Foundation Establishment teaching assistant signaled the start of the fight.

Wang Qi moved first, testing the waters with an attack. Wu Shiqin trained in the Celestial Hymn Odyssey, a whole two levels above all the other cultivators. After realizing the importance of theories a month ago, she worked hard to improve. A hasty attack would incite a counterattack.

Wu Shiqin, however, did the unexpected. She raised a fist and smashed the ground.

Wang Qi started and jumped back in reaction.

Wu Shiqin struck the ground with her thunder power, lightning flickering in all directions and distributing an uneven electric potential throughout the area. With her at its center, the electric potential dropped the further the strike went. Walking inside this area of uneven electric potential, step voltage would occur, an electric discharge passing through his legs since both legs touched areas of different electric potential.

  

Ground was a much better conductor than air. This trick wasn’t as flashy as making a field around yourself, but it was equally practical. Moreover, taking short steps or hopping with one foot could bypass step voltage, but such action made footwork impossible for cultivators. This attack was a powerful counter to those with nimble movement arts. 

Wang Qi found it a real pain in the groin. Step voltage meant that the electric discharge would go up one leg, the goin, and then down the other leg. The books say no vitals would be damaged, but it was common knowledge that one crucial organ was going to suffer, baddly.

[Magical art specialized in hitting below the belt should be banned by the cultivation moral committee! You don’t see immortals going around using Monkey Steals Peaches or Daoist Plucks Grapes, do you?]

Wang Qi fell back meters, keeping a healthy distance from Wu Shiqin.

The art was taxing on spiritual power reserves, and Wu Shiqin couldn’t hold it for long. [If I get closer, she’ll use it again. Dragging it out isn’t viable either.]

[Should I increase my electric potential and charge?]

[No, it will just drain my spiritual power into the ground. Wu Shiqin knows this trick too. She can copy me and turn the fight into a test of Celestial Hymn Odyssey’s spiritual power contest. My training in Celestial Hymn Odyssey is lacking compared to Wu Shiqin, since I have many other cultivation methods to look after.] 

[What to do?]

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