《Math God Plane - On Hiatus》 Chapter 1: Rules are Stupid! Author Note: Names in this novel are pinyin for Chinese terms. Their meanings will be given the first time they are introduced. Two small children, each aged around ten years old, walked up the winding mountain path of their Sector as fast as their spindly legs could carry them. On their faces were expressions of raging anger and shame. ¡°That damn kid! He dared to respond to my belittling comments, and he even beat me in a fair match! How dare he!¡± The foremost child said, a furious glint in his eye. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, young master Xiaobai (meaning: Noob). That Zhujiao (meaning: Main character) will not escape from our wrath unscathed!¡± A skinny, frail girl with an abundance of freckles said as she panted, sweat pouring from her face. She clearly was not suited to this kind of physical exertion. ¡°Yes, Nupu (meaning: Servant)!¡± Young master Xiaobai shouted. ¡°Once I get elder disciple Shuxue (meaning: Math) to help me, Zhujiao is absolutely dead! Shuxue is currently in secluded meditation in one of these mountain caves. I just have to figure out which.¡± ¡°Elder disciple Shuxue is always in secluded meditation.¡± Nupu sighed, brushing some hair out of her mouth. ¡°I only hope he will lower himself to help us.¡± In a mountain cave not far from the two children. Shuxue was a boy with short black hair and pure white skin, like that of jade. His skinny frame knelt on the ground over some papers, utterly naked. In his right hand was a pencil that scribbled across the papers. Shuxue had a soft, feminine face that would make flowers jealous. Only¡­ his expression was too lewd to ever be a female¡¯s! ¡°Oh¡­ the factors of (x^2-17x-234)/(x+9)... yes¡­ the equation follows (x+25) for all real numbers but at the point x=-9, where the equation simply does not exist... YES!¡± Shuxue¡¯s body began twitching all of a sudden. His hips began to thrust forward all on their own. If anyone were to see his face at that moment, they would shriek and run away, fearful for their chastity. After a few seconds, Shuxue collapsed onto the ground, sending the papers scattering. His pencil rolled across the ground. His face was red and his breath was uneven with excitement. ¡°Hahaha, I did it! I¡¯ve gained a new insight into the laws, allowing me to excrete this worldly filth.¡± He held up his left hand, which was doused in a sticky fluid, before grabbing a tissue and wiping it away. The rock covering the opening of the cave began to vibrate as someone from the outside began pounding upon it. ¡°Elder disciple Shuxue! Elder disciple Shuxue! I am in urgent need of your help!¡± The cry of the sniveling little shit, Xiaobai, drifted into Shuxue¡¯s ears. ¡°Ah, what the fuck, that guy again¡­¡± Shuxue muttered to himself. Then, he yelled to the outside. ¡°I¡¯m in secluded meditation, dammit! What do you want from me this time? You were here, like, yesterday!¡± Shuxue was quite annoyed right now. Luckily, Xiaobai had not come half a minute earlier, or else Shuxue would have lost a great insight into the laws. ¡°That was three weeks ago, elder disciple Shuxue! Have you been in secluded meditation this entire time?¡± Nupu¡¯s voice drifted past the door. ¡°Ehhh?¡± Shuxue whirled around to see the ground strewn with tissues. His food stocks had dwindled almost to nothing, and even the corner which he had designated as his restroom was overflowing. ¡°This¡­ My god! I got caught up in that problem set! I had been too immersed in the Mathematical Laws!¡± Remembering that there were people outside, Shuxue sighed. ¡°I still have some more things to meditate on, give me a few more days.¡± There were still several stacks of problems left. How could he prematurely end his secluded meditation? It would be immoral! ¡°No, elder disciple Shuxue! Please, I urgently need your help! Some upstart child gave me no face, and I was unable to beat him after challenging him in front of all my friends.¡± Outside, Xiaobai collapsed into a sobbing mess. Shuxue frowned. ¡°And?¡± ¡°And please, take revenge for my sake!¡± Xiaobai pleaded desperately. Sighing, Shuxue tossed some tissues onto his waste. ¡°Don¡¯t want to, get your father instead,¡± he called out. As if he had time for such a frivolous matter.. ¡°Please, elder disciple Shuxue! I can grant you access¡­ to the binomial factorization jade slip!¡± Shuxue looked down at a jade slip he had finished long ago. ¡°Already have that!¡± ¡°What! Shuxue, very well, you drive a hard bargain¡­ I¡¯ll give you the parabola jade slip!¡± The rock exploded into a cloud of dust, from which a skinny naked boy of thirteen years of age burst out. His eyes were closed to the blinding lights of the outside, but he clutched onto a pair of shoulders, violently shaking it with excitement. ¡°What did you just say! The parabola jade slip, can this be possible? That¡¯s one of the great treasures of our Brownwater Sector!¡± Nupu shrieked as Shuxue rattled her insides with his feverish shaking. When she looked down, she could see something she had never seen before flopping around. It was just too much for her, and her head lolled up, froth coming out of her mouth. ¡°Stop!¡± Xiaobai cried out. ¡°I¡¯m over here!¡± Nupu collapsed onto the ground, and Xiaobai took her place between Shuxue¡¯s hands. ¡°Yes, yes! The parabola jade slip, the parabola jade slip, I¡¯ll let you use it, stop it already.¡± Xiaobai¡¯s tears were flying everywhere as he spoke. He was thrown onto the ground as well, and when he had recovered his senses, Shuxue was dressed in a sky blue robe, wiping the dirt out of his face. He had a feverish expression on his face, almost as if he was filled with lust. ¡°Take me to this upstart child, so I can obtain the para- er, enact some justice for you.¡± Shuxue said, his eyes gleaming. At the bottom of the mountain. Two small children, each six years old, sat around a table inside a room in the Sector. One was a boy with green hair, dark skin, and a solemn expression. The other was a girl with blue hair, with a face that would melt the hearts of an entire continent after she finished puberty. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. BOOM! The door was smashed in by Shuxue¡¯s foot. He entered the room, his chest puffed out. ¡°Who is the one called Zhujiao!¡± He roared, staring at the two children. ¡°It¡¯s the boy, it¡¯s the boy!¡± Xiaobai hissed from behind. He was standing behind Shuxue, an evil leer on his face. ¡°You know I only pick fights with boys.¡± ¡°YOU!¡± Shuxue jabbed a finger straight at the green-haired boy. ¡°You didn¡¯t give my young master face! There are no words needed for a transgression of this magnitude! Prepare to get your come-uppance!¡± The boy slowly stood up, sneering. ¡°What if I win?¡± ¡°Haha, you won¡¯t win. Let¡¯s get started already.¡± ¡°If I win, the young master owes me a thousand Arithmetic pearls!¡± Zhujiao folded his arms, looking at Shuxue disdainfully. ¡°Yeah, yeah, whatever.¡± Gathering his mathforce, Shuxue prepared to attack. ¡°Wait, wait, wait!¡± Xiaobai hurriedly threw up his arms, forcing Shuxue to stop. ¡°We have to wait for more spectators to gather, to better humiliate this lowly Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue tapped his foot on the ground impatiently as a crowd slowly grew. He couldn¡¯t wait to obtain the Parabola jade slip and see what profound insights lay within. The Parabola jade slip was the clan treasure; even he, an esteemed elder disciple, was not allowed to gaze upon it! In the meantime, many children had started conversations with each other. ¡°Look, that¡¯s Zhujiao. He¡¯s offended so many people these last few months, and now even elder disciple Shuxue has come to fight him!¡± ¡°There¡¯s Meinu (meaning: Beautiful woman), the most beautiful girl in our Sector!¡± ¡°She¡¯s only half my age, but I love her pert butt.¡± ¡°Her six-year old breasts are so beautiful, I could stare at them all day.¡± The girl who had been sitting next to Zhujiao, Meinu, blushed in anger as she heard these lewd comments. She was about to stride up to the speakers, but Zhujiao extended a hand out to stop her. After a few minutes, Xiaobai began cackling. ¡°Okay, now you can start.¡± Shuxue instantly attacked! ¡°Taste my Math Dragon technique!¡± Shuxue shouted, gathering his mathforce and assuming a bow stance as he punched out with his fist. A giant dragon, whose body was made up of different numbers, materialized on his outstretched arm. It shot towards Zhujiao, who had not reacted at all! A commotion broke out across all the spectators the moment Shuxue had spoken. ¡°That¡¯s the Math Dragon technique!¡± ¡°Only those who are at least at the early Algebra stage can utilize the Math Dragon technique!¡± ¡°Elder disciple Shuxue is truly gifted, to reach the early Algebra stage at the young age of 13! He¡¯ll definitely be an expert that rattles the heavens and shakes the world!¡± ¡°Even our Sector leader is only at the late algebra stage. Elder disciple Shuxue is exceedingly incredible.¡± As the math dragon shot towards him, fangs bared, Zhujiao assumed a horse stance, extending out his arms in a palming motion. Sneers appeared on the faces of all the onlookers. Although they did not have time to speak, a variant of this thought ran through each of their heads: ¡°Zhujiao is merely at the late arithmetic stage. He has even more talent than elder disciple Shuxue, but there¡¯s no way he can stand up to an expert of the early Algebra stage! This time, he has kicked an iron board.¡± Gusts of wind swirled past Zhujiao, ramming straight into the math dragon. A loud, grating sound was continuously emitted as the math dragon pressed forward against the winds, advancing closer and closer to Zhujiao. ¡°He¡¯s finished now! This time, Zhujiao was too unlucky to have aroused the wrath of elder disciple Shuxue!¡± Amused expressions could be seen on all of the spectating children as they thought this. Then, a number flew out of the math dragon, dissipating into mathforce. After that number flew out, another, and another shot away, chipped and cracked by the winds. Abruptly, the entire math dragon collapsed and blew away. Shuxue gaped at Zhujiao, who continued to have a nonchalant expression on his face. ¡°I¡­ what¡­¡± He spluttered. Behind him, the entire audience was in awe. Shuxue, his face pale, lifted up a shaking finger at Zhujiao. ¡°That wasn¡¯t possible! You clearly used a maximum of 75 units of mathforce in your attack, yet my math dragon used 300! Besides that, my attack used the laws of Algebra, while yours was simply an application of sheer Arithmetic! This isn¡¯t mathematically possible!¡± Zhujiao smirked. Involuntarily, some girls in the spectating audience whom had just been sneering at him sighed. He had made a profound impact on their prepubescent hearts. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± He shouted, jumping forward towards Shuxue. ¡°Rules are stupid!¡± Before Shuxue could snap out of his shock, a fist using 30 units of pure Arithmetic mathforce smashed into his cheek, sending him sprawling onto the ground, unconscious and missing a few teeth. Zhujiao sneered and walked up to Xiaobai. ¡°I want a new room, and a thousand Arithmetic pearls in that room!¡± With that, he grabbed Meinu by the arm and led her out the door. Xiaobai collapsed onto his knees, his face blank. After a few seconds, it turned angry. ¡°FATHER!!!!¡± He shouted, getting back up and running out the door. Meanwhile, Shuxue remained on the ground, unconscious. All this fighting and talking took time to describe, but it happened in under the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Chapter 2: Im Shuxue ¡°AHH! FUCK THAT KID¡¯S GRANDMOTHER!¡± Shuxue roared, pounding the ground with his fists as he cried in despair. ¡°My Parabola jade slip! I was already thinking about all the secluded meditation I could do with it.¡± He wiped his tears from his eyes, staring forlornly at all his completed problem sets. It had been four days since the fight, and he had immersed himself in the Mathematical Laws to take his mind off the resulting depression. Now that he had finished all his problem sets, his frustrations came roaring back. ¡°How dare that Zhujiao be so strong!¡± Shuxue fumed. ¡°He should¡¯ve just rolled over and let me have the Parabola jade slip. It wouldn¡¯t have done him any lasting harm.¡± ¡°Hey, wait a moment.¡± Shuxue looked at the teeming pile of waste in the corner. ¡°I told Xiaobai to get one of the Outer Circle disciples to clean this up. Why¡¯s it still here? Oh, right, I was heavily immersed in my meditation when the disciple came.¡± Sighing, Shuxue rolled the rock covering his cave out. He needed a breath of fresh air to calm his mind. ¡°Elder disciple Shuxue! Elder disciple Shuxue!¡± A high-pitched voice irritated Shuxue¡¯s ear. It was Nupu, that stinking little brat again. ¡°What is it this time!¡± Shuxue shouted. Turning, he walked around a bend in the mountain to see Nupu outside his Immortal¡¯s cave. Nupu shrieked and fell on the ground, frothing at the mouth. Shuxue was, once again, not wearing any clothes. Half an hour later, Nupu got up. For some reason, when she saw the inside of Shuxue¡¯s cave, she insisted on staying outside. ¡°An Arith-arithmetic dun-jun ma-ma-ma-teh-¡± ¡°Give me that, you stupid girl.¡± Shuxue snatched the paper out of Nupu¡¯s hands, reading it for himself. ¡°An Arithmetic dungeon materialized a hundred li from the Sector. Elder disciple Shuxue is tasked with guard duty for the venture. Sincerely, Sector Master Dong Feiliao (meaning: Manure)¡± Shuxue read it again several times before crumpling it up and throwing it on the ground. ¡°AHHHH! Is this my punishment for costing that old pedophile a thousand Arithmetic pearls? Fuck his grandmother! This is all Zhujiao¡¯s fault for being so strong! I hate that guy!¡± Shuxue shouted, jumping up and down on the paper. Shuxue had to accompany a horde of sniveling little shits to a lowly Arithmetic dungeon! This was a clear waste of time for an exalted expert like him of the early Algebra stage. What use could an Arithmetic dungeon possibly have for him? Clearly, this was just the Sector leader¡¯s punishment for him losing the match against Zhujiao. Sadly for the progress of mankind, Shuxue had to take time off his secluded meditation to serve as escort for the expedition to the lowly Arithmetic dungeon. He simply had no choice in the matter. The next day, Shuxue and a group of thirty Outer Circle disciples piled onto a carpet. Sitting off to a corner was Zhujiao and Meinu. His eyes were closed as he calmly meditated, while Meinu was doing a problem set next to him. Her eyebrows were scrunched up, creating an expression that caused all the other children to marvel at her. ¡°Meinu is such a pretty girl. Why is she friends with someone like Zhujiao?¡± ¡°I love her pert butt, even though I¡¯m twice her age.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t get enough of her six-year old breasts. I could stare at them all day.¡± Snorting to himself, Shuxue tuned out the babble and took out a problem set to review. This was all Zhujiao¡¯s fault. If he wasn¡¯t so strong, Shuxue wouldn¡¯t have to sit here listening to meaningless nonsense. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hey, elder disciple Shuxue.¡± A small finger tapped his shoulder. It was a ten-year old boy whose name he couldn¡¯t be bothered to remember. ¡°Do you like math?¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged, and he tossed the problem set on the floor. ¡°Are you retarded, stupid child? Of course I like math! I love math! There¡¯s nothing better than studying its intricacies and symmetries!¡± The boy nodded excitedly. ¡°I love math too! To me, math is like a beautiful, fathomless woman. She plays hard-to-get, but the feeling you get when you finally conquer her is indescribably great! Am I right, elder disciple Shuxue?¡± Shuxue¡¯s hand reached out, delivering a loud slap to the boy. ¡°Dumbass kid! You are actually comparing math to a lowly human female? Are you stupid out of your mind? Math is a divine creation, the embodiment of the world itself, and you¡¯re comparing it to a brainless, mundane g-g-girl! How can the two even compare? This is why you¡¯re still stuck at the Arithmetic stage! Let me tell you, you little shit. To liken math to a girl is like putting the cart before the horse. It would be much better, much more appropriate to liken a girl to math, if you like that girl so much. Not the other way around.¡± The boy rubbed his cheek, sniffling. ¡°Okay.¡± The rest of the trip, which took a whole day, was spent with Shuxue sitting in a huffy silence. He couldn¡¯t believe the stupidity of these brats he was stuck with. It was just too much for him. ¡°Pile off, dimwits.¡± Shuxue grumbled, pushing the children off the carpet as it floated down to the ground. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± They were outside the Arithmetic dungeon, a tall, gleaming white tower reaching for the sky. In front of them was the entrance to the Arithmetic dungeon, a rectangular opening ten meters tall and three meters wide. Atop the opening was a large ¡°+-x/¡± sign, declaring the dungeon¡¯s status as an Arithmetic dungeon. Next to the symbols was a giant number 5, signifying that the dungeon had 5 matrices to conquer for anyone who entered. The Mathematical Laws were benevolent deities. They wished for their creations to gain knowledge into the Laws, and thus constantly spawned dungeons that would contain profound insights into the Laws. This Arithmetic dungeon was one of those! Numerous other Sectors as well as independent Mathivators would generally visit an Arithmetic dungeon, as well. They all sought to pillage the Arithmetic dungeon for whatever it had. Even if it brought them no new knowledge, these Sectors didn¡¯t want their competitors to get ahead, and also wanted to obtain the Arithmetic pearls that would be held inside. This time, however, there were only a few people from the Yellowcloud Sector, which was near the Brownwater Sector. An old man twirling his waxed mustache stepped forward, smirking at Shuxue. ¡°If it isn¡¯t the Brownwater Sector, late as usual! Talented disciple Shuxue, you had better watch yourself in there. Even Arithmetic dungeons can be fatal for these Outer Circle disciples of yours, heheh.¡± Shuxue pushed the old man aside, sneering. ¡°Out of my way, Yellowcloud fucker. Kids, let¡¯s go! The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to my secluded meditation.¡± The Brownwater disciples shuffled forward, following Shuxue into the dungeon. Zhujiao, who was bringing up the rear, gave the old man a death glare as he passed. Chapter 3: Arithmetic Dungeon As Shuxue passed through the door, the world around him shifted into a vast green plain, upon which many monsters shambled. Flashes of light appeared behind him, coalescing into the Brownwater disciples. When they all arrived, he began to speak. ¡°All right, lowly Arithmetic-stage scum. Hurry up and kill all the monsters in this dungeon so that we can find the mechanism to proceed to the next level.¡± With that, Shuxue leaped forward, punching out a Math Dragon that smashed straight into a number 7324 that was jumping around. BOOM! The 7324 fell back as the Math Dragon smashed into it, transforming into a 6935. Shuxue continued to batter the monster with various techniques until it dispersed completely into mathforce, leaving behind an Arithmetic pearl. Shuxue was actually supposed to stand still and allow the Outer Circle disciples to train their techniques on these monsters and only help them if they were in mortal danger, but they took too damn long. As if he had time for this frivolous expedition! What Shuxue wanted to do, was finish the dungeon as quickly as possible and return back to the Sector for secluded meditation! ¡°This is what is called, a conflict of interest.¡± Shuxue sniffed to himself. ¡°I can¡¯t be blamed for them having interests diametrically opposed to my own.¡± After several minutes, the entire plain was cleared of monsters. A girl was jumping excitedly next to a pit in the ground, shouting about how she found the mechanism. The boy whose name Shuxue couldn¡¯t be bothered to remember walked up, holding a bag of sixty Arithmetic pearls. ¡°Elder disciple Shuxue, you left the treasures you got from the monsters. Don¡¯t you want to use them for Mathivation?¡± Shuxue¡¯s hand reached out, delivering another loud slap to the boy. ¡°Dumbass kid! You think I care about these meaningless trinkets? The only thing that matters to me is mathematical knowledge! I don¡¯t give a damn about some stupid Mathivation body-enhancing bullshit.¡± The boy began sniffling, dropping the bag to the ground. As Shuxue walked away, the bag was picked up by Zhujiao, who began to press them one by one into his forehead. Astonishingly, each pearl would disappear the moment it was pressed into his forehead! Zhujiao quickly finished absorbing all the pearls, sighing to himself. Meanwhile, Shuxue had walked up to the pit, inside of which was a square metal plaque, reading 3x2x1 = 3! =___ A five-year old child squatted inside the pit, next to the plague, talking to his friend. ¡°I think the answer is six, because 3+2+1=6, right? But I don¡¯t know, because the + sign looks weird.¡± Shuxue kicked the child aside, kneeling down to the mechanism and tracing out the number six with his finger in the blank space. ¡°Haha! See, I was right!¡± The kid began laughing delightedly. Shuxue¡¯s hand reached out, slapping him. ¡°No, you were wrong. Let¡¯s go.¡± Because he had solved the mechanism, the space around them began to distort, turning into a barren wasteland with even more numbers jumping around. Every few meters, there would be an Arithmetic pearl lying on the ground. ¡°Eh? These numbers are much smaller than before!¡± Shuxue frowned as he looked at them. A large amount of 24s and 120s could be seen in the barren wasteland. In the distance, Shuxue could see a 720, surrounded by a cluster of 120s. This 720 was clearly the largest monster here, yet it was smaller than even the first monster Shuxue had run into in the last matrix, the 7324. This floor was clearly composed of many smaller numbers. He could even see hordes 1s, 2s, and 6s hopping around. ¡°This matrix can¡¯t be simple at all.¡± Shuxue mused. The second matrix, have weaker monsters than the first? Too fishy! A math dragon shot out of his fist, slamming into a nearby 24. The 24 was smashed into pieces by the math dragon. Yet, the moment it passed through, the 24 instantly reformed from the surrounding mathforce. ¡°What the?¡± Shuxue was startled. How was that even possible? For an entire ten minutes, the kids ran around, howling as they were pummeled endlessly by 1s and 2s. Since the monsters were merely 1s and 2s, however, their attacks had no effect on the children. It would feel like an itch, at most. Finally, a sniveling child flicked at a 1 jumping on top of his prostrate body. With a poof, the 1 disappeared, leaving behind an Arithmetic pearl. Seeing this, Shuxue¡¯s eyes gleamed. ¡°You have to flick them to death, children. Like your mucus! Flick them all!¡± He ran up, flicking a 1. It had no effect on the 1, which exploded and instantly reformed. ¡°What the fuck! This makes no sense!¡± He shouted furiously, spittle flying out of his mouth. A large amount of spit landed on the 1, and it collapsed. ¡°Eh? What was that?¡± Shuxue narrowed his eyes, staring in confusion at the Arithmetic pearl it had left behind. His flick was unable to kill the monster, but his saliva was? Beside him, a little girl was flicking at the 1s, each of them immediately dissipating as she did. Shuxue stared at her, before coming to a sudden realization. ¡°You have to put in 1 point of mathforce into killing them! Quickly, kill them all!¡± Immediately, Shuxue began stabbing his finger repeatedly through the air, sending out illusory number 1¡¯s flying into the 1 monsters. ¡°Damn Arithmetic dungeons, playing tricks on me like that!¡± Shuxue was quite annoyed by this dungeon. Why did it have to be so difficult? If this was a dungeon that could be won through brute force, Shuxue was certain he would already be on the fourth or fifth matrix by now. Unfortunately, these monsters had a Math Armor! Shuxue was not sure what kind of specifications he had to fulfill to break past it, but he had to figure it out if these monsters were to be cleared out. A 2 jumped up in front of Shuxue. A 1 flew into it, but the attack harmlessly dissipated, leaving the 2 completely undamaged. ¡°What! Another trick!¡± Shuxue yelled angrily. He shot a 2 into it, using divisive mathforce. It cracked, sending an Arithmetic pearl flying out, and turned into a 1. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. An illusory 1 flew in, destroying the 1. ¡°I think I got the hang of this.¡± Shuxue muttered to himself. He clearly had to hit 6 with 6 units of divisive mathforce, and then it would turn into a 1, which he would attack with 1 unit of subtractive mathforce to completely destroy. Shuxue did not have very good control over his mathforce Channeling. Nobody did. To intentionally shoot out a strange number like 6 units of mathforce would be very hard. After several tries, an illusory 6 smashed into a 6 monster that was jumping around. The monster dissipated before instantly reforming. Shuxue wanted to spit fire. ¡°This makes no sense! No sense whatsoever! Fuck this Arithmetic dungeon¡¯s grandmother, I¡¯m leaving.¡± The 6 exploded as Zhujiao tapped it lightly with his finger. 3 Arithmetic pearls flew out, all of which he caught, placing into a bag tied to his belt. The 2 that the 6 became exploded into a 1 as he tapped it again. After another attack, the monster dissipated. After that, the entire group watched in shock as Zhujiao proceeded to demolish the entire wasteland¡¯s monsters, swiping all of their Arithmetic pearls after each attack. A 24 monster exploded four times as Zhujiao¡¯s blurry fingers repeatedly smashed into it. After two minutes, the entire wasteland was cleared by Zhujiao. Everyone gaped at this astonishing feat. As for Shuxue¡­ ¡°How the hell is Zhujiao fitting all those pearls into that bag? That¡¯s not mathematically possible. That bag can¡¯t have that much volume, to hold the hundreds of pearls he obtained right in front of my very eyes.¡± He muttered to himself suspiciously. ¡°He was also touching his forehead a lot. This guy is too unsimple.¡± A giant pillar erupted out of the ground, dousing many children with dirt. Shuxue advanced towards the pillar, reading the characters on it. 8! ¡°¡®8!¡¯? What the hell is ¡®8!¡¯?¡± Shuxue mumbled to himself. There was something similar on the previous matrix¡¯s mechanism as well. ¡°That matrix said 3! = 3x2x1¡­ these monsters were all multiples of 1, 1x2, 1x2x3, 1x2x3x4, all the way up to 6! Could it be¡­ that this is a new notation?¡± Shuxue grew giddy with excitement as he thought this. He even felt as if he was about to excrete some worldly filth. Notations were great treasures! With new notations, Shuxue could delve into completely new branches of mathematics that he had never thought about before. And with new branches of mathematics, came an abundance of new insights. And with new insights... ¡°This is great! This is great!¡± Shuxue shouted. ¡°Out of my way, kids, this is the time for me to gain new insights into the Laws.¡± One child raised her hand. ¡°But wasn¡¯t this dungeon for us?¡± ¡°Fuck off, fool! You don¡¯t know how to do any of these, and things you don¡¯t know how to do, you¡¯re better off not trying! Leave it to me, the expert, and just keep to your addition and subtraction.¡± Shuxue waved his hand at her threateningly. ¡°Gahaha!¡± Shuxue did the mental math in several seconds. He already new 6! was 720, so it was merely 720x7x8, which was 720x56, which was 560x72, which was 720x56, which was 560x72, ¡°Damn, I need a paper.¡± Shuxue muttered some curses to himself as he began scratching the ground with his finger. ¡°40,320!¡± Shuxue shouted, jumping up and tracing the number out onto the matrix. The world blurred, changing into a metal land. Buildings rose up around them, covered by monsters. Only, now 720s were the norm, and the largest boss¡­ was a 40,320! Shuxue paled as he saw the 40,320. This kind of monster could instantly kill one of the children! If they died, he would be punished! ¡°If I fail guard duty, I¡¯ll have to go on guard duty again as punishment for failing guard duty.¡± Shuxue shivered at the thought. The very idea of spending any more time with these numbskulls horrified him. He blasted an 8 towards the 40,320, changing it into a 40,312 for an instant before the mathforce pervading the area rushed in, replenishing its health back to the fullest. Shuxue frowned. What was he doing wrong? ¡°Oh, hahaha. I¡¯m an idiot, I was using subtractive techniques instead of divisive techniques.¡± Laughing, Shuxue shot out another 8, this time infused with divisive mathforce. This time, a thunderous boom echoed out as the 40,320 shattered into a much smaller monster and 8 Arithmetic pearls. Shuxue and Zhujiao made short work out of all the monsters, sending Arithmetic pearls flying everywhere. ¡°53!/(49!), huh.¡± Shuxue mumbled to himself as he looked at the mechanism, a glowing plaque in the wall of a building. ¡°That¡¯s a shit ton of work, I better get started right now.¡± An hour later, they moved into the fourth matrix. The numbers got even larger than before. This time, the mechanism was a small pedestal with symbols inscribed onto it. Atop the mechanism lay a jade slip, and even a cubic box containing a 225 Arithmetic beads. Shuxue snatched up the jade slip, pressing it to his forehead. After a moment, he tossed it away, sighing to himself. They were all simple multiplication problems. It was to be expected, though. It was an Arithmetic dungeon, in the end. ¡°Well, time to look at the mechanism.¡± Shuxue sighed to himself, noticing that the box of Arithmetic beads had suddenly disappeared. This time the problem was 1000!/(976!). Who knew how many days it would take to do this problem! As Shuxue polished his finger to better scratch the metal ground, Zhujiao walked up, frowning. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± He shouted, punching the pedestal. A faint, illusory grid appeared below his fist as it smashed down. Instantly, the pedestal blew apart. The world shifted as they were transported to the fifth matrix. Chapter 4: Im Zhujiao! They were inside a labyrinth of some sort, with maze-like corridors and countless doors. Looking at a door, Shuxue found out that each of them was sealed by a mechanism. This was the last matrix of the dungeon, and also the treasure matrix. Before, they had never run into the Yellowcloud Sector, because all the matrices save the treasure matrix were different for each group of participants. Shuxue selected a particularly easy one, breaking open the door. Inside glittered piles of Arithmetic pearls, as well as treasures such as clothing that would facilitate mathivation and delicious foods that could calm the mind. The value of the things inside each room could feed a family for an entire year! ¡°Fuck that,¡± Shuxue snorted, walking over to another door. He wasn¡¯t interested in those trivial items. What he wanted were¡­ problem sets and jade slips! At that moment, a group of children from the Yellowcloud Sector came over, led by a young man with a waxed moustache. ¡°Haha, if it isn¡¯t the Brownwater Sector. Let me tell you right now, these doors are ours.¡± He chortled out loud. Shuxue rolled his eyes, ¡°Yellowcloud fools.¡± He paid them no mind. It was a fight to see who could solve more mechanisms, and he was determined to win. According to the profound laws of large numbers or something like that, more mechanisms solved was better. Shouting, two children from each Sector began slapping each other, looking away as they did. Zhujiao walked out of a room whose door he had blasted into pieces. Seeing a Yellowcloud disciple struggling to solve the mechanism to the door next to him, he sneered. He pushed the disciple away, and then punched the door, which instantly disintegrated. ¡°Hey! That door was mine!¡± The kid shouted. He looked like he was about to cry. ¡°Hey you!¡± The mustached man shouted. ¡°Play fair, you damn Brownwater kid!¡± Snorting, Zhujiao palmed the kid straight in the face. The kid¡¯s head snapped back as teeth flew everywhere. Everyone gasped as the child toppled onto the floor. His face was completely unrecognizable, with blood flowing everywhere and even an eyeball knocked out of its socket. The child was undoubtedly dead! ¡°Wh-wh-wh-what the-¡± The mustached man began stuttering, his face pale. ¡°You can¡¯t actually kill people here! What the hell are you doing!¡± Zhujiao folded his arms, dousing his robe in blood. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao! Those who are not my friends, are my enemies! Showing mercy to an enemy is the equivalent of showing no mercy to a friend!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°What the fuck, Zhujiao! Do you realize the consequences of what the fuck you just did! You killed a Yellowcloud kid! They¡¯ll be howling for your blood, they¡¯ll be howling for our blood, which means they¡¯ll be howling for my blood! My god, the Sector master is going to be furious at me! Do you know how long it took for that treaty with the Yellowcloud Sector to be made?¡± Shuxue was panicking as he thought about the repercussions of Zhujiao¡¯s actions. Zhujiao sneered. ¡°I don¡¯t care, I¡¯m Zhujiao! What are you going to do about it?¡± Shuxue wiped some sweat from his brow. They were in deep, deep shit. ¡°We gotta¡­¡± He spoke, groaning as he thought about the only logical thing to do in this situation. ¡°Kill them all!¡± Shuxue roared. ¡°I don¡¯t do half-measures! If we killed one, we kill them all! Don¡¯t let anyone escape! That way, they can¡¯t tell anyone what happened here!¡± A math dragon blasted out of his arm, shredding a nearby Yellowcloud disciple into a meat patty. Next to him, Zhujiao¡¯s fist smashed straight through another Yellowcloud disciple¡¯s stomach. The mustached man backed away, vomiting all over the floor. Screaming like a little girl, he turned and stumbling away into a side corridor. Zhujiao, who was punching the head off a nearby Yellowcloud disciple, looked up at the fleeing man. An illusory grid shined below his feet, and he instantly disappeared, turning into a blur. A scream rang out, and Zhujiao walked out of the corridor the mustached man had just been in, his fingers bloody. ¡°What!¡± Shuxue spluttered as he smashed a screaming girl¡¯s head into the wall. ¡°Did you just teleport? That violates the profound truth of continuity! That¡¯s not mathematically possible!¡± Zhujiao ran into an opened door, inside of which cowered several Yellowcloud disciples. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Sighing to himself at this nonsensical response, Shuxue grabbed a Yellowcloud disciple who had straddled one of the Brownwater kids, hoisting him up and impaling him with a math blade he had materialized. ¡°All witnesses must die! Even the chickens, dogs, ducks, and geese must die! Even the little mice that accidentally pass by this place must die!¡± Shuxue yelled. ¡°There¡¯s no animals in the dungeon!¡± A child reported back to Shuxue. ¡°It was figurative, dipshit.¡± Shuxue fumed as he finished off the last Yellowcloud disciple. ¡°How many of you dumbasses died? If you died, raise your hands.¡± Shuxue counted the hands, nodding to himself as he wiped his bloody hands on a corpse¡¯s clothes. ¡°What the hell, that girl died and she didn¡¯t raise her hand. Idiot, can¡¯t follow directions. Why did I have to be stuck with this lot? Anyway, cram all the bodies into this room, and use the Math Flame technique to burn them to ashes.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Ignoring the sobbing and vomiting children, Shuxue went back to work on breaking open the mechanisms. After several hours, they had all been broken open. He had gained many insights while solving these mechanisms, even developing an astonishing technique to instantly solve those strange ¡®!¡¯ problems with large numbers on both the numerator and the denominator! Some rumbling sounds were emitted as the last door opened. Turning, Shuxue saw another room that had risen out from the ground. It was an ornate room, much more decorated than the other rooms in the labyrinth, and looked like it came out of a royal palace of some sort. After fiddling around for a few minutes, Shuxue opened the mechanism, triumphantly walking in. ¡°Eh, what the?¡± Shuxue gaped at the sight of Zhujiao, who was already inside. ¡°How the hell did you get in here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± The room had clearly held a stack of thousands of Arithmetic pearls, yet only a few stray pearls were left scattered across the floor. Even those last few remnants were being scooped up by Zhujiao and deposited into his pocket. Shuxue seized a jade slip lying in the center of the room. It was a large ¡°!¡± symbol on the back. ¡°My god! This is a priceless treasure!¡± Shuxue gasped as the jade slip¡¯s knowledge imprinted itself upon his mind. Unknowingly, his free hand snaked into his pants. ¡°So this truly is a new notation! It¡¯s called factorials!¡± Shuxue began panting excitedly as he imprinted the jade slip into his mind again and again, trying to gain enlightenment. As Shuxue writhed on the ground, a child edged past him and picked up a small sticker with a ¡®!¡¯ on it, sticking it onto his skin. ¡°Wow! A mathforce channeling equation!¡± The child gasped in admiration. Mathforce channeling equations were incredibly important artifacts! They regulated the maximum amount of mathforce somebody could shoot out at any given moment. An excellent mathforce channeling equation, such as this sticker, which had branded itself into the child¡¯s skin, could mean the difference between life and death! Children gathered around him in excitement. ¡°Kyaaaaa, so cool!¡± ¡°Show me, show me!¡± Smugly, the child turned to fire into the wall. A puny 1 shot out, fizzling away on the wall. ¡°Eh? That¡¯s so weak.¡± ¡°What, this channeling equation is trash!¡± ¡°Maybe try again?¡± The children were quite disappointed. Being able to only shoot 1 point of mathforce, that was beyond pathetic. A 2 plinked off the ground. Then a 6. Then a 24. The boy stripped off the sticker, tossing it onto the ground bitterly. He was so excited, thinking that he had found something nice. Beside him, all the children sighed and walked away. They had gone to this Arithmetic dungeon and had done absolutely nothing; Zhujiao and Shuxue had done nearly all the fighting, and Zhujiao had taken all the spoils. Indeed, they had only be used for corpse clean-up. For everyone but Zhujiao and Shuxue, it was a completely useless, and even traumatizing venture! Zhujiao walked over, picking up the sticker and slapping it onto his palm. He settled down into a cross-legged position to meditate, while Shuxue continued to gasp as he pressed the jade slip to his forehead. A few hours later, blight flashes of light appeared in front of the dungeon, coalescing into Shuxue and the other Brownwater disciples. Behind them, the dungeon began to evaporate into mathforce. An old man with a waxed moustache collapsed to his knees as he watched the dungeon evaporate, his face completely devoid of blood. Beside him, his fellow Yellowcloud Sect members looked on in disbelief. ¡°My disciples! My only son!¡± He howled, bitter tears streaming down his face. ¡°How could they have died? It was just an Arithmetic dungeon!¡± Zhujiao simply sneered. Seeing this, Shuxue edged to the side to block the old man from seeing Zhujiao. He didn¡¯t want to kill all of these people, too. Shuxue was only at the early Algebra stage, but it was quite possible this old man was at the middle Algebra stage or even the late Algebra stage! The old man¡¯s gaze landed on Shuxue. He clutched Shuxue¡¯s shoulders tightly, rattling his insides. ¡°Did you see my son? Did you see any of the Yellowcloud children? Please, for the love of all that is holy, tell me!¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Shuxue blinked as he was being shaken. ¡°Nope, sorry.¡± Shuxue extricated himself from the old man¡¯s grasp, unfurling the carpet to allow all the disciples to sit down upon it. The Brownwater children all flew away, leaving the old man and his comrades to wallow in misery. All this took time to describe, but it happened in the blink of an eye. Chapter 5: The Sector Leaders Wrath Early morning. Sector Leader Dong Feiliao had just finished the weekly pearl distribution when a carpet flew over his head, heading towards the central courtyard. ¡°Excellent, excellent!¡± He chortled, running up the central hill. ¡°My pearl harvesters are back!¡± For many reasons, the Brownwater Sector was the weakest Sector in the entire area. As a result, it was always in need of pearls. It didn¡¯t help that his son, Dong Xiaobai, made money evaporate. The damn kid had even lost him a thousand pearls four days ago! As a result, Feiliao was very excited to see the winnings of the latest expedition, even though it was merely an Arithmetic dungeon that could only hand out Arithmetic pearls. He skidded to a stop outside the courtyard doors, panting. Calming himself down, he used his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead, before adjusting his robes and opening the door. Striding in regally, he flashed the most dazzling smile his yellow, cracked teeth could allow. ¡°My children! I¡¯m so glad that all of you have returned safely! Tell me, elder disciple Shuxue, how the venture went.¡± Shuxue saluted. ¡°Yes, Sector Leader. The Arithmetic dungeon contained five matrices, and I stood by as our disciples swept through the math monsters like the talented young children they are. We discovered a new notation that up until now had never been known by our Sector. It¡¯s called the factorial, and-¡± ¡°Stop!¡± Feiliao cried out. ¡°What I wanted to know was, how many Arithmetic pearls did you all get? You know the clan has a small tax of 90% on all pearls obtained from dungeons, as well as on all jade slips!¡± ¡°Ah, yes, the pearls.¡± Shuxue rolled his eyes. ¡°There had to be at least ten thousand Arithmetic pearls. I wouldn¡¯t know.¡± Feiliao nearly collapsed from excitement. ¡°Where? Show me, show me!¡± Shuxue shrugged. ¡°Sector Leader knows I don¡¯t concern myself with such mundane, worldly matters. You¡¯ll have to ask the disciples.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, yes, your upright character that contains not a hint of greed in it was the only reason why I let you go on every expedition to the Algebra dungeons, even though you fail everytime.¡± Feiliao nodded understandingly, then turned to the children behind Shuxue. ¡°Take out your pearls for grandpa here to see, children. The one who earned the most pearls will win some candy!¡± The children fidgeted nervously. Some of them stole looks at Zhujiao, who calmly stood in the middle of the throng with his arms folded. ¡°Eh? Where are the pearls?¡± Feiliao began to grow annoyed now. What was wrong with these kids? A girl raised her hand. ¡°We all gave the pearls to disciple Zhujiao. We don¡¯t have any.¡± Feiliao blinked in surprise. ¡°Eh? You all gave the pearls away? Has elder disciple Shuxue been rubbing off on you kids too much?¡± The girl shook her head. ¡°No, elder disciple Shuxue only touches us when he gets angry.¡± Feiliao shrugged. ¡°That¡¯s not what I was asking, but whatever. Zhujiao, you damn rascal. Where are the Sector¡¯s pearls?¡± He couldn¡¯t see how Zhujiao could possibly be carrying any more than a hundred pearls. A slight, uneasy feeling began gnawing on the back of his mind. Zhujiao shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t have them anymore.¡± Feiliao¡¯s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets. ¡°Wh-wh-what!¡± He spluttered. ¡°Then where did they go!¡± Zhujiao didn¡¯t say a word, gazing off into the distance in a taciturn manner. ¡°Impudence! You must be hiding something from me!¡± Feiliao shouted, veins bulging from his forehead. ¡°Take out your bag, and show it to me right now!¡± Zhujiao took out an empty bag, casually tossing it to Feiliao. As he did, the hearts of several girls skipped a beat. The manner in which the bag arced through the air just made Zhujiao seem so handsome to them. ¡°AHHH! WHAT THE HELL!¡± Feiliao ripped the bag to pieces, angrily tossing it onto the ground and jumping on top of it. ¡°All you damn kids, take out your bags and show it to grandpa!¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Trembling, the children tossed one empty bag after another onto the ground. As Feiliao watched this, he felt as if he could die at any moment. ¡°You inept fools! You lost ten thousand pearls! No, not ten thousand, at least ten thousand! Mathematically, that could mean more than ten thousand! More than ten thousand pearls! Grandpa is so angry right now, he cannot even articulate the degree of his burning emotions!¡± A single tear trickled down his cheek. ¡°Losing a hundred thousand Arithmetic pearls, how is that even possible?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao! Nothing is impossible!¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up! I¡¯ve had it with you.¡± Feiliao walked up to a table, grabbed a teacup, smashed it into shards with his grip. ¡°Shuxue!¡± He yelled angrily, spinning around to stare straight into Shuxue¡¯s eyes. ¡°Why weren¡¯t you watching these children while they were embezzling Sector funds? You¡¯ve been shirking your duty to your Sector!¡± ¡°Sector Leader, please calm down.¡± Shuxue spoke in a soothing voice. ¡°I¡¯ve already said, I can¡¯t be bothered to deal with mundane tasks and worldly objects. Can you really blame me for having good morals?¡± The Sector Leader was gazing off into the crowd. ¡°Shuxue, you¡¯re missing a disciple! You left as 25 people and came back as 24! What the hell is going on here!¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Shuxue hesitated, trying to think up an excuse. ¡°Can it be that you actually didn¡¯t notice that you left behind a disciple!¡± Spittle flew out of the highly agitated Sector Leader. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, Sector Leader, I don¡¯t concern myself with-¡± ¡°Enough! Enough!¡± Feiliao turned around and walked up to the table. Seeing that there were no more teacups to crumple into bits, he could only smash his fist down on the table and reduce it to dust. ¡°Elder disciple Shuxue, you have utterly failed in your capacity as an expedition chaperone! As punishment, you will be barred from ever chaperoning again!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyebrows rose to the sky, electrified. ¡°Eh?¡± He said excitedly. ¡°I don¡¯t have to?¡± ¡°Never again!¡± Shuxue was beside himself with joy, but he contained his emotion and maintained a straight face. ¡°But Sector Leader, you said that my punishment for failing each Algebra dungeon was to do another Algebra dungeon and get as many Algebra pearls as I could! Here, my punishment for failing an escort task is to never escort again? I don¡¯t understand!¡± ¡°That¡¯s because-- that¡¯s because-- ah, never mind!¡± Some more tears trickled out of Feiliao¡¯s eye. ¡°Shuxue, you are confined to secluded meditation up until the next time an Algebra dungeon materializes! Enough with you!¡± Shuxue saluted again, trying very hard to keep the smile off his face. Had he known this would be the result, he would¡¯ve put much more effort into flying the carpet, so that he could go back into secluded meditation faster. ¡°As for you, Zhujiao, you little shit!¡± Feiliao jabbed a finger directly into Zhujiao¡¯s face. ¡°Take the flying carpet and go bring back whoever the missing disciple is! That¡¯s your punishment.¡± Feiliao collapsed onto the ground, wiping his brow. Clearly, his mind was not very stable. ¡°Ten thousand Arithmetic pearls¡­ twenty thousand Arithmetic pearls¡­¡± He mumbled in a low voice, before speaking up again. ¡°All of you shitty kids can leave! Except for you, Huiqi (meaning: Unlucky)! You are going to comfort grandpa, who is very sad right now.¡± Huiqi was a young girl with pale skin and jet black hair. Upon hearing this, she trembled for a bit, before taking a deep breath and nodding. Chapter 6: But its only been a day! Shuxue rolled the rock over to cover his Immortal¡¯s Cave. ¡°Sector Leader is definitely the most immoral person I¡¯ve ever met, other than me!¡± Shuxue laughed to himself as he thought about poor Huiqi. ¡°But he lets me meditate secludedly whenever I want, and I get to go to all the Algebra dungeons, so he¡¯s not too bad at all.¡± Taking out a problem set replete with factorial problems, Shuxue began his secluded meditation. In the blink of an eye, an entire day had passed. ¡°BROWNWATER SCUM, COME OUT!¡± ¡°GET OUT, COCKROACHES!¡± Shuxue was shocked out of his meditation by a myriad of voices thundering through the air. The voices came from the base of the ring of mountains that composed the perimeter of the Brownwater Sector, yet everyone inside the Sector could clearly hear them. ¡°Oh, shit, the Yellowcloud Sector actually caught on!¡± Shuxue visibly paled as he thought about this. The Yellowcloud Sector... it was much, much larger than the Brownwater Sector! In fact, it had kicked the Brownwater Sector out of the riverland delta it had previously occupied, forcing the Brownwater Sector to relocate to where they currently were. If the Yellowcloud Sector had come for revenge, then Shuxue was definitely going to die! The Yellowcloud Sector had too many late Algebra stage experts for the Brownwater Sector to contend with! It was said that the Yellowcloud Sector Patriarch was even at the peak of the late Algebra stage! ¡°WE, THE GREENTREE SECTOR, DEMAND SECTOR LEADER DONG FEILIAO TO COME OUT!¡± ¡°THE BLUEDIRT SECTOR ALSO DEMANDS THIS!¡± A host of voices cried out, calling for the Sector Leader to emerge. Shuxue blanched as he heard the list of Sectors grow longer, and longer, and longer. ¡°Even the Whitecloud Sector, the top Sector in this portion of the country, is here¡­ just what is going on?¡± Shuxue was so astounded, he even stopped doing his problem set and completely forgot about it. ¡°Fellow Mathivators, please calm down. Let us discuss whatever problems you all may have in a calm and civilized manner.¡± Feiliao¡¯s voice sounded out across the entire valley and mountain ring. Despite its message, it seemed to contain a noticeable hint of panic. ¡°THERE CAN BE NO RECONCILIATION FOR WHAT HAPPENED!¡± ¡°THE ENMITY YOUR BROWNWATER SECTOR HAS CREATED WITH US CAN NEVER BE RESOLVED!¡± A deluge of complaints rumbled through the Sector, causing stones to skitter across the ground and papers to fall off tables. ¡°I, Dong Feiliao, don¡¯t remember creating any such enmities. Please, fellow Mathivators, I wish to seek enlightenment regarding what happened.¡± ¡°A BROWNWATER DISCIPLE KILLED THREE OF MY TOP DISCIPLES OVER A RESTAURANT TABLE, SAYING HIS NAME WAS ZHUJIAO!¡± ¡°YES, ZHUJIAO, THAT¡¯S HIS NAME! HE PILLAGED MY SECTOR TREASURY!¡± ¡°MINES TOO!¡± ¡°He killed one of my Sector¡¯s elders, also because of a restaurant table!¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°He massacred five hundred of my Outer Circle disciples, and twenty Inner Circle disciples at a competition I was hosting!¡± ¡°He pillaged all my Mathematical treasures as I held a trial by fire on a mountain, killing all the Monsters and Mathematical Beasts I spent decades raising!¡± ¡°I was completing a dungeon when he swept in and took all the Algebra pearls!¡± ¡°He killed my son, after giving him no face!¡± ¡°He raped my mother! With his eyes!¡± The list of complaints was endless. Shuxue¡¯s face paled as he listened. ¡°But it¡¯s only been a day¡­¡± He mumbled. ¡°How is that even mathematically possible?¡± ¡°This Zhujiao you speak of¡­¡± Dong Feiliao spoke after twenty minutes, when the stream of complaints finally ran dry. ¡°I never heard of him! He¡¯s no disciple of my Brownwater Sector!¡± ¡°CUT THE BULLSHIT! HE WORE YOUR UNIFORM, AND WAS EVEN USING YOUR SHITTY FLYING CARPET!¡± ¡°Ehhh? My flying carpet is gone? Quick, someone go check it!¡± After a few seconds, Dong Feiliao emitted a phony howl of anger. ¡°This Zhujiao character, he even stole my flying carpet! Fellow Mathivators, I am also a victim of this person! Don¡¯t direct your wrath on me, who is entirely innocent!¡± ¡°YOU ACTUALLY DARE LIE! YOU THINK ANYONE WOULD BOTHER RANSACKING YOUR EMPTY TREASURY AND RATTY CARPET?¡± ¡°DON¡¯T THINK YOU CAN FOOL US, YOU DAMN PILE OF MANURE! EVEN IF ALL YOUR SECTOR MEMBERS DIED A THOUSAND TIMES, THAT WOULDN¡¯T BE ENOUGH FOR US!¡± Shuxue was drenched with sweat. ¡°Even the Whitecloud Sector is here! They boast numerous experts of the peak Algebra stage, and even some early Trigonometry stage experts! If they wish to kill us, not even the mice that just happened to pass by would survive!¡± ¡°Ahhh, damn it all. I¡¯ll just go back to my secluded meditation. This way, I can die happy.¡± Shuxue returned to his problem set. He didn¡¯t even bother to think about the possibility that he would live, because that possibility was zero! The Brownwater Sect had 1 late Algebra stage practitioner, 15 mid Algebra stage elders, and 42 early Algebra stage elders and disciples! Against them was a host of experts, some of them even in the Trigonometry stage of Mathivation! ¡°Several Trigonometry stage Mathivators are greater than zero Trigonometry stage Mathivators. Many peak Algebra stage Mathivators are greater than zero peak Algebra stage Mathivators. Similarly, they have more early, middle, and late Algebra stage Mathivators!¡± Shuxue laughed bitterly to himself. ¡°Zero is not greater than a number greater than zero. They have more battle power than us on all levels of the spectrum. We can¡¯t win. It¡¯s just not possible. Because that would be a violation of the Mathematical Laws!¡± The moment he spoke this, some screams rang out, and tremors surged through the mountain. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Chapter 7: I had eyes, but could not see Zhujiaos ultimate technique! Shuxue rolled the stone out of his Immortal¡¯s cave, just as he heard an anguished cry. ¡°NOOOOOOOOO!¡± A Mathivator with a long gray beard that touched his toes fell to his knees, aghast. The headless corpse of a young man who couldn¡¯t be older than thirty lay on the ground in front of him. ¡°My son! My one and only son, who was actually a good person unlike all the other young masters, died!¡± The man scratched his face in despair until blood came out of the gashes he had ripped into his own face. ¡°I just wanted him to go out and gain some experience beating up weaklings, and I never expected he died! But he did!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao! Your son was a bad man!¡± Zhujiao laughed as he squeezed the head of another disciple into mush. ¡°You!¡± The old man wheeled around, staring with bloodshot eyes at Zhujiao. ¡°You killed my concubine over a dinner table, and now you killed my sole son! Only one of us will be walking away tonight, Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao smiled. ¡°That¡¯s just what I, Zhujiao, wanted to hear! If I beat you, you have to give me 100,000 Arithmetic pearls!¡± The old man¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°You aren¡¯t getting anything from me either way! Take this!¡± Mathforce blasted out of the old man, coalescing into a circle with a triangle inscribed inside it. The triangle had one edge affixed to the circumference of the circle, and rotated around the circle like a clock hand, changing size as it did so. It seemed to contain many profound mysteries inside it. More Mathforce erupted out of the circle, forming into the illusory image of a hulking giant with one golden eye. Its arms swung down towards Zhujiao with the might of a falling boulder. ¡°The Circle Cyclops technique, the signature technique of Trigonometry stage experts of the Greenhill Sector!¡± Shuxue breathed out a sigh of incredulity. No matter how many rules Zhujiao broke, there was no way he could stand up to such a blow. Geometry mathforce was slightly over 3 times more powerful than Arithmetic mathforce, and Trigonometry mathforce was 10 times as powerful as geometry mathforce! There was simply no way Zhujiao could overcome that. No way. An illusory grid shimmered into existence above Zhujiao. A tremendous boom rippled out as the fist smashed into the grid, destroying nearby rocks and trees. Zhujiao¡­ was absolutely unscathed! He smirked at the old man, whose face had completely drained of blood. Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged with shock, just like they had the last ten times Zhujiao had broken the rules. ¡°Impossible!¡± ¡°This Zhujiao actually took on an attack from a Trigonometry-stage practitioner, and lived!¡± ¡°He must have some profound treasure on him!¡± The Mathivators of the several hundred Sectors that had arrived had been wearing expressions of righteous fury, but now there was also a trace of greed. Zhujiao just sneered. ¡°It¡¯s my turn!¡± He lifted up a single finger at the old man. The old man gritted his teeth, sweeping his hand out. A circular shield, inscribed with countless triangles, shimmered into existence. An illusory finger shot out of Zhujiao, smashing straight into the shield. 1! The old man, who had been covering his eyes, lifted them up just to see the 1 spelled out by the mathforce from the attack dissipate into smoke. Shuxue watched, perplexed. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Another finger smashed into the shield. 2! ¡°How dare you trick me!¡± The old man roared. Waving his hand, the shield disappeared. The old man executed another circle cyclops attack, which once again was blocked by the illusory grid that formed right when the attack descended. Another finger flew into the old man, and another. 6! 24! The thousands of enemies present at the scene watched, completely confused. They were so mystified by the sheer weakness of the attack that they didn¡¯t even think about joining the fight. Shuxue began edging away. ¡°This is the perfect time to make my getaway! I have to thank brother Zhujiao when he reincarnates! This favor is too large for me to ever be bothered to repay. Though it¡¯s his fault all these people are here to begin with.¡± Zhujiao punched out, sending a 120 into the old man. It made a small rip in his clothes, but otherwise did nothing. ¡°Fool! You think you can injure me, someone with 79 years of Mathivation who has meditated into the early trigonometry stage, with a trifling attack like that?¡± The old man roared. Giant fists smashed down repeatedly upon Zhujiao, all of them completely ineffective. ¡°Let¡¯s just wait for the moment this grid shield runs out! I know it can¡¯t last too long!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao! My Plot Armor will never expire to the likes of you!¡± Zhujiao palmed with his hand. 720! A small cut appeared on the old man¡¯s arm, which he completely ignored. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Friends, help me destroy this grid! This little boy must die today, or the heavens will weep from injustice!¡± Another palm rocketed into the old man. 5,760! ¡°Eh? What the hell?¡± Shuxue stared in shock at the 5,760 attack value. ¡°There¡¯s no way an Arithmetic practitioner could channel so much mathforce! That makes no sense!¡± The old man coughed out some blood. His eyes were venomous, but when he saw Zhujiao palming towards him again, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of apprehension in his heart. The shield rematerialized in front of him to block the incoming blow. At the same time, a cloud of illusory mathforce dragons, lotus flowers, light swords, thorny vines, and numbers flew past him, slamming straight towards Zhujiao. A sphere of annihilation swept out from the impact zone, destroying everything it touched. Numbers ranging from the low thousands to the tens of thousands shot into the air. Buildings were reduced to rubble. Boulders flew through the air. One of them hurtled through the air towards a little toddler. ¡°Whorton! No!¡± Another boy ran forward, tackling the toddler just in time for the both of them to be smashed into a puddle of blood. Shuxue couldn¡¯t help but snicker to himself when he saw this. ¡°This is why you never help other people!¡± A single number flew out of the cloud of mathforce, blasting straight through the circular shield and turning the old man into a lump of meat patty. 40,320! All the other Mathivators were in disbelief. ¡°This is impossible!¡± ¡°Zhujiao¡¯s only an Arithmetic stage Mathivator! How could he perform such a move!¡± ¡°We must escape!¡± One man said, his face ashen. But before he could flee, a giant, illusory boulder descended down, smashing him and four other Mathivators into liquid. 362,880! ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted, walking out of the crater made by the mass attack of the surrounding Mathivators. ¡°I killed six of you, so you all owe me 100,000+100,000+100,000+100,000+100,000+100,000=... 600,000 pearls!¡± ¡°Do your math faster!¡± Shuxue blanched. Unknowingly, he had stopped to watch. ¡°Can¡¯t you multiply, you little shit?¡± Despite themselves, some of the Mathivators could not refrain from shouting. They just couldn¡¯t help but cringe at this method of mathematics. Shuxue even felt he could vomit. ¡°Of course I can multiply! I¡¯m Zhujiao! Who do you think I am?¡± Zhujiao was indignant, and folded his arms. ¡°Oh, right! We have to flee!¡± Another Mathivator immediately turned tail and began to run for his life. ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± ¡°Flee!¡± Every single remaining Mathivator shouted ¡°Flee!¡± at the top of their lungs, as if doing so would teleport them far, far away. Zhujiao bent down to his knees, vaulting high into the air. A small hill smashed down onto another twenty Mathivators. 3,628,800! ¡°Taste the power of the ultimate technique of I, Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. His hands had been brought up above his head. As if he was throwing something with all his might, the hands flew forward, and Zhujiao blasted back. A gargantuan shadow, several kilometers wide and long, descended upon the thousands of fleeing Mathivators. A cloud of dust enveloped them as the ground caved inward, causing easily noticeable earthquakes that would ripple through this plane for several days. 39,916,800! When the dust cleared, Shuxue could see a giant canyon carved into the section of the Brownwater Sector entrance. Every few hundred meters, there would be a bloodstain on the ground. It was as if an invisible mountain had fallen upon the earth! Only, all Shuxue had seen was a shadow descending over the heads of the invading Mathivators. This attack¡­ was truly mysterious! Chapter 8: The Infinity Sector Zhujiao jumped into the middle of the valley he had made, looking around at all the bloodstains. ¡°I win! You all owe me... ¡° He began counting on his fingers. ¡°... a lot of pearls!¡± At the Sector Pavilion, located on a mountain overlooking the entire Brownwater Sector, a door creaked open. Dong Feiliao poked his head out to sneakily glance outside. Seeing Zhujiao stand atop the zone of utter annihilation, he surreptitiously closed the door. BANG! The door was smashed out of its hinges, flying half a meter before smashing into the ground. Dong Feiliao walked out triumphantly, a smug smile on his face. ¡°Haha, my top disciple Zhujiao! This entire time, I was wondering where you went. My apologies for having these lowly Sectors inconvenience you, they all are too arrogant for their own good, to the point where their eyes have grown to the top of their heads!¡± Dong Feiliao¡¯s voice boomed out across the several kilometers separating the two. With a gracious smile plastered onto his face, Feiliao heaped piles upon piles of praise onto Zhujiao, walking towards him as he did. Shuxue leaped out of his cave, bounding down the mountain towards the bloodstains. His eyes glittered with anticipation. Shuxue bent down, dunking his hand into the puddle of blood to fish around. ¡°Aha!¡± He pulled out a bloody jade slip excitedly, pressing it to his forehead with an enthusiasm previously unknown to the world. ¡°A Geometry jade slip!¡± His eyes glittering, Shuxue wiped the blood off the jade slip with his sleeve and put it in his robe, before bounding off to another puddle. Geometry was an entirely foreign branch of mathematics! No matter how knowledgeable one was in terms of Algebra or Arithmetic, it would be incredibly difficult to start down the path of Geometry on one¡¯s own. What people needed¡­ was a Geometry jade slip, bestowed by the Mathematical Laws, to grant them that first insight, so they could start down this new endless road of Mathitation! ¡°Our Brownwater Sector only has Arithmetic and Algebra jade slips, but these Mathivators have Geometry jade slips!¡± Shuxue couldn¡¯t contain himself, and giggled from his giddiness. ¡°Algebraic mathforce is 10 times more powerful than Arithmetic mathforce, while Geometric mathforce is around three times more powerful than Arithmetic mathforce¡­ but that¡¯s still excellent!¡± ¡°It is known that one must reach the late Geometry stage to reach the Trigonometric stage of Mathematical knowledge!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes glittered, and he began laughing maniacally as he pressed another jade slip to his forehead. ¡°The Trigonometric stage is the highest stage of Mathematics in this continent! And this is a Trigonometric jade slip!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes had glittered so many times over the past few minutes that the light bouncing off of them had caused a small plant nearby to catch on fire. ¡°It¡¯s just too bad I cannot gain enlightenment from something so profound just yet.¡± Shuxue glanced over at Zhujiao, who was still listening to Feiliao. ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to my good friend Zhujiao¡­ wait a moment!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes began glittering with such intensity, the ground began to emit smoke. He turned around, an unnerving look on his face, and began walking towards Zhujiao. ¡°... I knew all along that you were a prodigy unparalleled under Heaven, my boy Zhujiao. That¡¯s why I have been taking care of you all this time! Our Brownwater Sector had created an expert like you, who can ignore the differences in power between realms, I never would¡¯ve expected something like that! But I always knew all along! Don¡¯t forget your roots, eh? When you own a palace with five thousand beautiful young girls, make sure to send some of them back to the Sector for Mathivation, all right? Heheh, and some money, too. Just think about all the things our Brownwater Sector has done for you, and try to return the favor.¡± Feiliao finished his speech, wiping a tear from his eye. Zhujiao looked Feiliao dead in the eye. ¡°Listen up, Sector head! You¡¯re not the Sector head any longer! I¡¯m the new Sector head! From now on¡­¡± He took a step back, amplifying his voice as he did so. ¡°I¡¯m the new Sector head! All of you will listen to me, and do what I say! Because I¡¯m Zhujiao, and I¡¯m the new Sector head! All of your pearls will be given to me, your Sector head!¡± Feiliao was taken aback, a look of horrified shock in his eyes. Shuxue, who had walked up next to Zhujiao, patted him on the shoulder. ¡°Zhujiao, my fellow Mathivator Zhujiao, are you sure you want to be the new Sector head?¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue clasped his hands together, speaking reverently. ¡°Zhujiao, you need to think this through! Have you ever thought about all the things you need to do as Sector head? Such a busy job will tie you down and break your heart! Just look at our own Sector head! Look what it¡¯s done to him! He¡¯s the most pathetic loser in our entire plane of existence! Being Sector head is not suited for someone with your talents.¡± ¡°No! I¡¯m Zhujiao, I¡¯m the boss!¡± Zhujiao stared dangerously at Shuxue, who backed away, raising his hands. ¡°Yes, Zhujiao, we all agree you¡¯re the boss! But does that mean you should be the Sector head? You have to do horrible, tedious, bad, bad, bad things like organize expeditions to dungeons, talk to other Sector heads, negotiate trade deals in the city, assign jobs for your constituents, and make sure your subordinates are fed and help them gain insights into the Mathematical Laws!¡± Shuxue explained, a look of horror on his face. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao¡¯s face had paled. ¡°But I thought being Sector head meant I could have my own harem and do whatever I want, because I¡¯m the boss!¡± Feiliao seemed to have found his voice. ¡°Ay, heavens. My boy Zhujiao, your heart is too pure to know what a harem is, but I assure you that despite my best efforts, I don¡¯t have one. Being Sector head is the most horrible job in the entire world! You had best leave it to an old man with no future prospects, like me. Let me tell you, Zhujiao, you even have to distribute your hard-earned pearls out to Sector members every week!¡± Zhujiao¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°No! No! No! No! No! All the pearls are mine, and mine only! There will be no pearl distributions in my Sector!¡± Feiliao nodded vigorously. ¡°I understand your feelings, my boy Zhujiao. Leave the dirty work to me, and just enjoy your life of freedom. If you become Sector head, you will regret it!¡± Zhujiao nodded sadly. ¡°I get it. I guess you can stay as -¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Shuxue yelled, a crafty look in his eye. ¡°Zhujiao, you would actually allow Feiliao to continue distributing pearls to other people! I thought we were in agreement that this is a travesty to mankind, and to you, Zhujiao! Zhujiao, listen to me. Do you really want a shitty, pathetic, old man like this to continue being Sector head? What will all the other Sectors think of his corrupt practices, of his ridiculous pearl distributions?¡± Indignant, Feiliao tried to speak, but Shuxue cut him off. ¡°I¡¯m Shuxue! I have no interest in worldly affairs! Frivolous things like pearls, I have even less interest! I have less than 0 interest, Zhujiao! We all know this to be true! I¡¯ll never touch your pearls! If you make me Sector head, there will be no pearl distribution! What do you vote for, Zhujiao? Pearl distribution or no pearl distribution? Me, the most trustworthy man under heaven, or this corrupt old man? Your vote shall decide this matter!¡± Feiliao bent down close to Shuxue, fury in his eyes. Shuxue smiled insidiously at him, before whispering in his ear. ¡°My friend Feiliao¡­ don¡¯t tell me you really want me to tell Zhujiao about your unspeakable activities? About what you were doing to Luoli (meaning: Loli) today, and what you did to Huiqi yesterday night, and what you did to Xiaomei (meaning: Little sister) yesterday morning, and what you-¡± ¡°All right! All right!¡± Feiliao backed away, his face completely drained of blood. Turning to Zhujiao, he began kowtowing on the ground. ¡°Zhujiao, I am unfit for the position of Sector head! This man, Shuxue, possesses all the qualities one would ever want as Sector head!¡± Zhujiao nodded. ¡°Got it, Shuxue is Sector head! But I still want to be the boss of something!¡± Shuxue nodded solemnly. ¡°I have just the position you¡¯re looking for, Zhujiao. What you will be, is the Grand Ancestor of our Sector! The Grand Ancestor lets me, the Sector head, take care of the day-to-day business, while he does whatever he wants! Usually, there¡¯s an age requirement to be the Grand Ancestor, but we don¡¯t need such unnecessary things.¡± ¡°Right!¡± Zhujiao yelled excitedly. ¡°I¡¯m the Grand Ancestor!¡± ¡°That¡¯s right you are! You are the Grand Ancestor of our very own Brownwater Sector!¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not! The Brownwater Sector sucks! It needs a new name!¡± Zhujiao raised a fist up into the air. ¡°Eh?¡± Shuxue stared at him. ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°The Zhujiao Sector!¡± ¡°No, no, no.¡± Shuxue shook his head repeatedly. ¡°Our Sector is composed of a bunch of stupid idiots, like Feiliao here and those little shits in those buildings. How could we dare to take on the name of the grand Zhujiao? It just wouldn¡¯t do!¡± Zhujiao gasped. ¡°You¡¯re right! What should we name it?¡± Shuxue thought for a moment, before his eyes glimmered. ¡°What this Sector needs is a rebranding! I don¡¯t know too much about the Profound Mysteries of Business, but I did read around somewhere. We need a new name, a cool name, a name that will strike fear into the hearts of others!¡± ¡°Duh! That¡¯s what I was saying! What should we name it?¡± Zhujiao sniffed, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Shuxue babbled on. ¡°A new name, a cool name, a name that will strike fear into the hearts of others¡­ ahem¡­¡± ¡°Boundless, like the Tesseract in which we live! Unfathomable, like the Laws! Something that exists, yet is too mighty to comprehend¡­ the Infinity Sector!¡± Shuxue said, flourishing his hands. ¡°Only, there¡¯s already an Infinity Sector in one of the higher planes. We¡¯ll have to kill them all.¡± Zhujiao vigorously jumped up and down, elated. ¡°You¡¯re right! Kill them all! We¡¯re the Infinity Sector!¡± Shuxue began snickering to himself as he watched Zhujiao. ¡°That¡¯s right, Zhujiao! But first things must come first! Our Infinity Sector must establish its formations and form its core before ascending the planes! Zhujiao, in order to become the greatest Sector in the Tesseract, we have to assimilate into our Sector all the Sectors whose leaders we just dealt justice upon, and, of course, bring every single jade slip and problem set they have to me, Shuxue!¡± Chapter 9: A Branch of a Branch of a Branch Shuxue was in the throne room of the Infinity Sector¡¯s new palace, scribbling away on some paper. ¡°... which means the ratio between line segment AB and line segment BC is the same as the ratio between line segment BC and line segment AC! Profound, too profound!¡± Shuxue sat back on his throne, sighing with ecstasy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the engraving of a golden spiral fixed upon the wall of his throne room. The carving had been pillaged from the Greentree Sector, which Zhujiao had utterly annihilated the other day. Because they had refused to see the light of Zhujiao, all 7,000 of its disciples had been put to death, as well as the dogs, cats, and the little mice that just happened to pass by. ¡°This golden spiral¡­¡± Shuxue began breathing heavily, his eyes flitting between the line segments on his paper and the carving. Shuxue was lost in thought, and an indeterminate amount of time passed before a voice finally brought him to his senses. ¡°Sector head! Sector head!¡± The voice of a young maiden drifted into his ears. Shuxue snapped to attention. ¡°It¡¯s Patriarch, fool! Sector head is an outdated term.¡± The young maiden, a girl brought over from the former Yellowcloud Sector, curtsied. ¡°Financial minister Jingji (meaning: Economics) asks what to do with the pearls from the 23 dungeon expeditions our Infinity Sector carried out last night. Also, the mathforce drilling rigs from the Blacktar Sector have been transported to the outside of our Holy Mountain Range, as Jingji requested. Also, -¡± ¡°Hey, hey, hey.¡± Shuxue grumbled, twirling his pencil between his fingers. ¡°I¡¯ve assigned all financial matters to minister Jingji, all expedition planning to minister Maoxian (meaning: Adventurer), all jade slip distribution and Sector competitions to minister Feiliao, all self-defense and escort missions to minister Shibing (meaning: Soldier), all Sector geographical and architectural planning to minister Fengshui (google Fengshui if you don¡¯t know about it Right Now!), all new recruits processing to minister Ellis (see Ellis Island), and all diplomatic matters to our Grand Ancestor, Zhujiao! All I¡¯m supposed to do is process the incoming jade slips and problem sets we obtained! Why are you telling me about this bullshit? Am I, the Patriarch of the Infinity Sector, really expected to take care of these meaningless day-to-day affairs?¡± The girl cowered. ¡°Minister Jingji just wanted esteemed Patriarch to have a say in some of these important matters, I¡¯m just a messenger, please-¡± It was too late for her. Shuxue¡¯s hand descended down upon her face and gave it a loud slap. ¡°Impudent girl! You think these supercilious matters are important? Who gives a damn about some money, it¡¯s all going to that bottomless hole, Zhujiao, in the end anyway! In this multiverse, the only things that matter are the Mathematical Laws, not money! Not that you would understand... I bet you think about, about, what¡¯s the word? Defecating? Copulating? with boys in your spare time, just like all the other vapid girls in this Sector!¡± Trembling, the girl walked out of the room. Sighing to himself, Shuxue picked up his problem set again. As he was about to start on a problem, an old woman with sharp eyes, hard lips, and high cheekbones walked in. ¡°Patriarch.¡± She bowed her head to Shuxue, but only slightly. She had a cold and regal demeanor that commanded respect from her surroundings. If she did a full bow, it would seem out of place. Shuxue looked up again. ¡°Minister Fengshui. What are you here for?¡± Of all the ministers Shuxue had appointed, he disliked Fengshui the least. She had a much greater appreciation for the laws than the others. Fengshui had been the Matriarch of the Elegance Sector, but after Zhujiao had achieved his impossible victory 3 days ago, it had only taken a little bit of coercion on the part of Shuxue to make her submit, and, more importantly, allow him to confiscate her Trigonometry jade slips for processing. Fengshui was currently tasked with designing the look of the new Sector. This was crucially important, apparently; the more the Sector harmonized with the mathematical Laws, the more mathforce would gather inside the Sector. The reason the higher planes were higher, was because their harmony with the mathematical Laws allowed more mathforce to manifest itself in the plane! Personally, Shuxue didn¡¯t give a damn about mathforce, but he found Fengshui¡¯s principles of mathforce optimization very interesting. Fengshui raised her head up, her eyes looking around the throne room. On one side were neatly stacked pyramids of thousands of jade slips, and on the other was a haphazard pile of papers and jade slips. Some of them were even stained with worldly filth. Seeing this mess, her left eyelid began to uncontrollably twitch. ¡°Patriarch¡­ the buildings of my Elegance Sector have been transported over. I invite you to take a look outside, and see the elegance and beauty of the mathematically arranged and designed Sector.¡± She looked up at the ceiling, refusing to look at the mess of jade slips and papers Shuxue had made. Shuxue had not been paying attention to a single world she had said, until he had heard the word ¡°mathematically.¡± Smiling with anticipation, he rose from his throne and descended down the steps, flinging open the large double doors made from blackiron steel. ¡°Mathematically arranged and designed? I shall be looking forward to this!¡± He strode out of the throne room, motioning towards two handmaidens holding oversized leaf fans. ¡°I have finished processing a good amount of jade slips, gather them up, clean off my worldly filth, and store them at the Infinity Library.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. As Shuxue walked down the great hall at the front of the palace, he thought about the events of the past 3 days. The great battle had left the foundations of 40 Sectors completely crippled. Upon learning that Zhujiao¡¯s plot armor artifact could even teleport as long as the teleportation could ¡°drive plot forward¡± or some strange thing like that, Shuxue had made full use of it. In a single day, he was able to meet all 40 Sectors to try coercing them into joining the newly formed Infinity Sector. 17 of them had yielded, but the other 23 had to be razed to the ground by Zhujiao. Whether they yielded or not, Shuxue didn¡¯t really care. Either way, all their jade slips were Shuxue¡¯s and all their pearls were Zhujiao¡¯s. Other useless items, such as pills and mathematical artifacts, Shuxue left to minister Jingji, who hailed from the Bluedirt Sector which had surrendered to Shuxue early on, to take care of. The members of the Sectors that had yielded had relocated to the Brownwater Sector¡¯s mountains, the base of the new Infinity Sector. With them, they had brought pet mathematical beasts, new Mathivation techniques, and expertise, such as minister Shibing, a veteran of many Sector wars and a top advisor of the former Luckylotus Sector. Some Sectors had even donated buildings, rare plants and equipment to the Infinity Sector! ¡°Ah,¡± Shuxue breathed out a contented sigh as he exited the palace grounds to turn around and look it over. ¡°It was so generous of the Whitecloud Sector to posthumously donate their Rectangular Prism palace to our Infinity Sector. I have meditated on the profound mysteries of the carpet patterns here many times already. And don¡¯t get me started on the perfect symmetry of the golden chandelier in the seventy-third dining room.¡± Fengshui nodded, smiling. ¡°Indeed. The palace was designed by an expert in the art of Mathforce Gathering Optimization. The way the cubic rooms are patterned alongside the rectangular prisms work together with the flying buttresses to generate immense amounts of mathforce within this area! For this reason, the Whitecloud Sector was able to have their disciples Mathivate faster, allowing for double the gains in half the time.¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°Who cares about Mathivation? It¡¯s all about meditating upon the laws.¡± Fengshui shrugged. ¡°Mathivation is strength, and strength is the foundation and the core of a Sector. By the way, we must watch out for the Whitecloud Sector!¡± Shuxue stared at Fengshui, as if she was an idiot. ¡°The Grand Ancestor and I personally smited that Sector until not a single person was left alive. Then, I used my persuasive skills to convince their dead bodies to donate this palace to us! What are you talking about?¡± Fengshui frowned at Shuxue. ¡°Can it be that you don¡¯t know that this Whitecloud Sector is a mere branch Sector of the true Whitecloud Sector?¡± ¡°A branch?¡± Shuxue was stunned. Of the hundreds of Sectors in their region, the Whitecloud Sector had reigned supreme. But it was merely a branch Sector? Fengshui looked at Shuxue solemnly. ¡°The power of the Whitecloud Sector in the neighboring continent is thousands of times more than this mere branch you decimated. This is a colossal, top-tier Sector that we cannot yet touch!¡± Shuxue blinked, then shrugged. ¡°Yeah, whatever. We¡¯ll smite them in due time.¡± Fengshui shook her head. ¡°No, but that¡¯s not all. That Whitecloud Sector in the neighboring continent is a mere branch Sector of the true Whitecloud Sector, which is the top Sector in our entire plane!¡± Shuxue blinked again, then shrugged again. ¡°Yeah, whatever. We¡¯ll smite them in due time.¡± Fengshui shook her head again. ¡°No, but that¡¯s still not all. That Whitecloud Sector of our plane is a mere branch Sector of the true Whitecloud Sector, which is the one of the strongest Sectors of the entire Tesseract!¡± ¡°What!¡± This time, Shuxue was astounded. The entire Tesseract? What did that entail? It was common knowledge that the Mathematical Laws, upon their formation 10^-43 seconds after the Big Bang, had used mathforce to create the Tesseract, a collection of infinite 3-dimensional planes ruled by the Mathematical Laws! Inside the Tesseract, there were infinite 3-dimensional planes, and Shuxue lived unequivocally in the weakest plane of them all! Out of infinite planes, their plane was simply the weakest. It was an undeniable fact. The level of knowledge and insights into the Mathematical laws of the inhabitants of this plane was evident from the sheer lack of mathforce pervading the air! For the Brownwater Sector, which was the weakest Sector in the weakest country in the weakest continent in the weakest plane, to have destroyed a branch of one of the top-tier Sectors of all the infinite planes of the Tesseract¡­ ¡°That¡¯s pretty impressive!¡± Shuxue smirked, before starting to walk again. ¡°No worries, I don¡¯t care too much about worldly affairs, but our Infinity Sector will turn this plane into the number one plane in the Tesseract!¡± Note: four paragraphs of chapter 9 were completely ripped off from Book 4, Chapter 9 of Desolate Era. Credit goes to IET and IEW for the branch sect paragraphs. Chapter 10: Profound Architecture Shuxue was at the top of the central mountain, where the courtyard had previously been. From here, he could see the entire Sector, which stretched out in a 10-kilometer radius and was ringed by a circle of smaller mountains. One of the mountains had been half destroyed by the battle, but he had tasked a murder of mathematical crows to rebuild it. They carried mathematical stones from the beaches of the Goldensand Sector in their beaks, and flew the pebbles over one at a time. At the current rate they were going, it would take several millennia to complete. Not that Shuxue cared. In the valley, a huge building that very much resembled a gargantuan beanstalk towered over its surroundings. It was nearly as tall as the central mountain! It was made from misshapen metal, and was called the Infinity Spiral! It was where the Infinity Sector kept all of its rare plants and herbs, many of which required special conditions to grow. Originally, it had only been a little bit of metal inside the treasury of the Whitecloud Sector, but Zhujiao had shouted ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± and poured several billion units of mathforce into it, creating this thing. Under the Spiral was a maze of underground tunnels which contained all the mathematical beasts tamed by the Sector. The underground warren didn¡¯t have a name yet, but Shuxue was intending it to be called the Infinity Dungeon. ¡°The Infinity Spiral is truly a profound treasure, far beyond our grasp.¡± Fengshui sighed in praise. ¡°Its natural harmony with the Mathematical laws allow astounding quantities of mathforce to be generated. Within a year, our plane may even gather enough mathforce to become the second weakest plane in the Tesseract!¡± ¡°Yes, it was another posthumous donation from our Whitecloud friends, whom were too dead to comprehend the value of this treasure. I¡¯m afraid this profound Spiral is too profound for me, at the moment.¡± Shuxue nodded amiably. ¡°And there¡¯s the profound Infinity Mission Pavilion, donated by minister Jingji of the Bluedirt Sector. The mission pavilion is managed by minister Shibing. For a sufficient price, outsiders can contract with the Infinity Sector to hire disciples as escorts and guards for merchants and forays into the Mountain Range of mathematical beasts and dungeons.¡± Shuxue didn¡¯t know what the difference between an escort and a guard was, but he didn¡¯t pay too much attention to the paper when Feiliao had him sign it. He wasn¡¯t too interested in worldly affairs, after all. ¡°Yes, I had the Infinity mission pavilion placed down exactly 300 meters from the Infinity Spiral and 23 meters from both the Infinity marketplace border and the Infinity hotel. The Infinity mission pavilion forms an equilateral triangle with the Infinity marketplace and the Infinity hotel, with angles measuring exactly pi/3 radians, with pi calculated to 21 significant figures.¡± Fengshui said quite smugly. ¡°Wow, you have pi calculated to the 20th decimal place?¡± Shuxue said, impressed. ¡°You must spent quite a large amount of time on the pi visualization technique.¡± Some numbers were profound and boundless, and pi was one of these special numbers! Shuxue had learned from a Geometry jade slip that pi was the circumference of a unit circle, and it was impossible to ascertain its exact value. The only way to better understand pi was to use the pi visualization technique, where one would imagine the form of a circle in one¡¯s head! ¡°Indeed. Only with a profound understanding of the irrational number pi can I optimize mathforce generation. If the angles are even a bit off, then-¡± Shuxue¡¯s hand had reached out and slapped Fengshui. ¡°You too, Fengshui! You actually have the nerve to call the beautiful pi an irrational number?!¡± Shuxue was so indignant, he felt like he could explode. ¡°I expected better from you! Pi is not irrational, it is profound! Just because foolish humans cannot grasp the complexities and nuances of this number, does not mean it is irrational! Pi is perfectly rational!¡± Fengshui rubbed her cheek, giving Shuxue a murderous look. Shuxue was too busy fuming to notice. ¡°Hmph! I let you off easy, minister Fengshui, because you have made this place a thousand times more profound than before! When that servant the other day also told me pi was an irrational number, I broke all 3 of his legs and rearranged his 5 organs! Anyway, let¡¯s get back to enjoying the view, and let me expound upon the profundities of our Infinity Sector.¡± Shuxue¡¯s smile returned to his face as he looked around. ¡°There¡¯s the profound Infinity pill concocting workshop. The furnace complex was donated by the Redflame Sector, the ingredients come from the profound Infinity Spiral, and of course the furnaces are manned by our very own Infinity disciples. There¡¯s the profound Infinity marketplace, which you mentioned before. We buy things for 70% of whatever price that imbecile Jingji arbitrarily sets, and sell them for 100%. I seem to remember the stalls were made by your Elegance Sector. The flowing patterns of the cloths covering the stalls are quite profound. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Next to the profound Infinity river, which is being dug according to your specifications by those disciples and mortals we enslaved from the Pinksnow Sector, is the profound Infinity expedition courtyard, which sends out our disciples on expeditions to dungeons and the Mountain Range of Mathematical beasts. I highly approve of the profound infinity symbol you¡¯ve carved into the courtyard. The profound mathematical birds transport our disciples so much faster than that unprofound flying carpet I used to use. Thanks to our friends in the Yellowcloud Sector for these tamed mathematical beasts. Here¡¯s the profound Infinity armory, which stores all of our profound mathematical weapons and miscellaneous items. It¡¯s right next to the not profound at all Infinity barracks, which drills our disciples in utterly pointless exercises. The profound Infinity library lies right next to our profound Infinity palace, which holds all the jade slips and problem sets I have processed. The contours of the library are so profound, I cannot even begin to comprehend them! It¡¯s shaped as a profound curving pyramid thing with a square base, and reels in a fair amount of mathforce, although it can¡¯t really compare to the profound Infinity Spiral, or the profound Infinity palace. It was built from scratch in two days by your subordinates, which is quite impressive, but I feel it could use a few adjustments. There¡¯s just something off about it. At the base of the profound 10th mountain is the profound Infinity hotel, which- hey, where are you going?¡± Shuxue stopped his speech as he saw Fengshui jump off and hurtle down the central mountain at incredible speed, beelining for the slaves currently digging the profound Infinity river. ¡°Hey, listen to me!¡± Shuxue complained as he huffed and puffed down the mountain. ¡°I¡¯m explaining the profundities of our Infinity Sector! You can¡¯t just ignore me like that! I still haven¡¯t talked about the profound Infinity mountain mansion that houses all the new arrivals yet!¡± ¡°You inept idiots!¡± Fengshui screeched at the slaves, completely ignoring Shuxue. Her eyelid was twitching violently. ¡°Why can¡¯t you follow the specifications I gave? That riverbank needs to be 2.00359 centimeters to the left, so that it can properly form a pi/12 radian angle with the Treasure workshop! Otherwise, this entire layout is completely ruined, and the amount of mathforce that will flow through this Sector would be halved!¡± ¡°Oh, right. I forgot to talk about the profound Infinity treasure workshop, as well.¡± Shuxue said thoughtfully to himself. ¡°That¡¯s where we make our own jade slips, weapons, and other artifacts. jade slips are normally only made by the Mathematical laws, but experts can condense large amounts of mathforce to create jade slips that contain insights that must be at least one realm below the level of the Mathivator. For example, I can condense Arithmetic jade slips because I¡¯m at the Algebra stage, but I can¡¯t condense Algebra jade slips. Someone at the Trigonometry stage can condense Geometry stage jade slips, but not Trigonometry stage jade slips. They also can¡¯t condense Algebra stage jade slips, because Algebra is a different branch of Mathematics than Geometry and Trigonometry, even though they are related in many profound ways. For example,-¡± ¡°Quiet, Shuxue! I¡¯m working!¡± Fengshui¡¯s hand reached out, delivering a loud slap to Shuxue¡¯s cheek. ¡°Nobody cares about your stupid profound this, profound that soliloquy! I already know all these things! Who are you explaining all this to, anyway? Do you think you¡¯re some fictional character written by an unskilled author who can¡¯t properly embed information into the story and uses you to spell things out for the readers or something?¡± Shuxue blinked and stopped talking. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t know what got into me. Why does the riverbank have to be 2 centimeters to the left, anyway?¡± ¡°Because the mathforce generating equation experiences a maximum when this river has these coordinates! At this coordinate, where the first derivative equals 0 and the second-¡± Fengshui suddenly paled and stopped talking. ¡°Eh? Why¡¯d you stop? That was an interesting explanation!¡± Shuxue was puzzled, and prodded Fengshui for more information. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about it, Shuxue. This is just obscure Arithmetic properties.¡± Fengshui bobbed her head. ¡°Uh¡­ you see, 2.00359+2.00359=4.00718, and 4.00718 squared is very close to, uhhhh, 16.0575, which is the magic number for mathforce generation! That¡¯s all!¡± Shuxue nodded, excited. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s so profound. Profound! Too profound!¡± Chapter 11: Never Question Plot! Shuxue was still shaking his head in admiration, when an illusory grid expanded out of nothing. In a flash of light, Zhujiao appeared with a big smile on his face. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao! And I¡¯m back!¡± Shuxue and Fengshui nodded to him. ¡°How did the subjugation of the Jun Clan go?¡± Shuxue asked inquisitively. He had gotten accustomed to Zhujiao¡¯s impossible abilities; according to what Zhujiao said, they were all because of a divine artifact called Plot! Zhujiao beamed with happiness. ¡°I killed them all, and took all their stuff!¡± Shuxue nodded matter-of-factly. ¡°Justice has been served. I need a combat report, Zhujiao. Let¡¯s start with the most important matter. How many jade slips did you obtain?¡± ¡°0!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°They were all bad jade slips!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°0 jade slips! Zero jade slips! Z-z-zero?! Why did you even go there, then? That¡¯s the whole point of subjugating our enemies!¡± ¡°My Plot said the jade slips were bad for Plot!¡± ¡°Fuck your Plot!¡± Shuxue was enraged. ¡°I¡¯m Shuxue, and I want jade slips!¡± ¡°Okay then! Let¡¯s go on an adventure and get jade slips!¡± Zhujiao jumped excitedly. Shuxue stopped his tirade, staring at Zhujiao with beady eyes. ¡°An adventure? With whom?¡± ¡°You!¡± Shuxue took Zhujiao¡¯s arm, leading him away from Fengshui. ¡°Why me? I¡¯m a busy man, you know. I have jade slips to proce- er, a Sector to run.¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re my friend!¡± Zhujiao had on his face a smile so genuine, that Shuxue almost couldn¡¯t resist slapping him. ¡°...¡± Shuxue coughed. ¡°Well, you see, I¡¯m tied down by my duties as the Patriarch. Zhujiao, do you know all the things I have to take care of?¡± ¡°Nope!¡± Shuxue raised a fist up to the sky, a single, passionate tear trickling down his cheek. ¡°All those disciples in the Infinity barracks have to be trained by me! I have to teach pill concocting to all the alchemist trainees in the Infinity pill furnace! I have to send our subordinates off on expeditions to the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts! Heck, right before telling these idiots here to move the river 2.00359 centimeters to the left in order to maximize mathforce generation within our Sector, I was establishing the Infinity Restructuring Committee, which buys the territory of down-on-their-luck Sectors and develops their battle-ravaged land into valuable real estate! Right now, I have to order the Infinity Restructuring Committee to go help out the poor Jun clan. They¡¯ve been struck by a natural calamity earlier today, and their Sector territory needs rebuilding. You can see, Zhujiao, that I¡¯m tied down by worldly affairs!¡± Listening to Shuxue¡¯s speech, Zhujiao had a horrified look in his eyes. ¡°You have so much work, big bro Shuxue! You need a vacation! Let¡¯s go to a dungeon!¡± Shuxue shook his head solemnly. ¡°My friend Zhujiao, do you see the layout of this Sector? It was all designed by me! I built that Infinity library with my own 2 hands! All this thick mathforce was generated by me! All the pills in the workshops were made by me! All the pearls in the treasury were gathered by me! I¡¯m here to make you strong, Zhujiao. How can I take a rest from this heavenly endeavor?¡± Zhujiao sighed disappointedly. ¡°I get it. My Plot found a super cool Algebra dungeon that has stood for 50 years without anyone killing it. It said there¡¯s a lot of hard things to get in there, and it would be big bro Shuxue¡¯s kind of place. But if you¡¯re too busy, I get it.¡± Shuxue blinked. ¡°Eh? Are you telling me there¡¯s an Algebra dungeon that¡¯s stood for an entire 50 years without anyone conquering it, that contains profound insights for anyone who would conquer it?¡± ¡°Duh!¡± Shuxue began heartily laughing. ¡°Ah, Zhujiao, it seems like I do indeed need a vacation! Let¡¯s go at once!¡± Zhujiao was shocked, but very pleased. ¡°Awesome, big bro Shuxue! But what about all your work?¡± ¡°Haha, don¡¯t worry about it, I can have my ministers do a little bit of work for me while I¡¯m gone! A profound Algebra dungeon that¡¯s stood for 50 years, hahaha¡­¡± Shuxue began cackling from excitement. His eyes glimmered, evaporating the water from the mud. Zhujiao smiled. ¡°Okay! But we gotta do stuff here first!¡± He brought his hand up to his forehead, pulling out a sword and throwing it to the ground. His hands turned into a blur as they continuously pulled things out of his forehead. A giant pile of weapons formed, and then a mountain of carpets, tables, chairs, sofas, beds, and other furniture. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Shuxue turned around, calling Fengshui over. As she watched chopsticks flooding out of Zhujiao¡¯s forehead, falling into the muddy ground and making a haphazard mess, her eyelid began to twitch. ¡°You, you, and you, gather up all of these items and have them sorted out at the Infinity Treasury! You, you, and you, take all these weapons to the Infinity Armory!¡± Fengshui shouted. Then, a small hill of soil appeared. It was covered in strange plants. ¡°Move each plant to the Infinity Spiral, as carefully as you can!¡± A chipmunk flew out of nowhere, landing in a heap of baboons and cows. It seemed that the Jun clan had a large amount of tamed mathematical beasts, and an impressive collection of heavenly herbs and other plants. Finally, Zhujiao pulled out a skyscraper about half as tall as the Infinity Spiral out of his forehead and threw it onto the ground. It landed with a booming thud onto the valley floor, and began sinking into the mud. Seeing this new building, Fengshui snapped her fingers. Some cranes flew out of the Infinity Spiral. Grabbing hold of the building with their beaks, they used their mathivation to help them hoist the building up and move it to the designated area Fengshui had chosen. Zhujiao pointed at the skyscraper floating away. ¡°That¡¯s where disciples will live! I got it because there are too many new people!¡± Shuxue laughed with delight. ¡°Zhujiao, you¡¯re so great! If everyone had interspatial foreheads like you did, nobody would ever have to put their pearls into a treasury for people to ransack, because they could just keep it in their forehead! Merchants could just pretend to be poor old beggars and never need to hire an escort! Thieves could steal an entire city overnight! But since you have one, we can conveniently take everyone else¡¯s treasuries with no need to worry about the logistics.¡± Zhujiao nodded smugly. ¡°That¡¯s right! Plot gave me an interspatial forehead because it would be more good for Plot!¡± Shuxue smiled cheerily. ¡°Yes, this world would be a complete clusterfuck if anyone else had an interspatial forehead. Very well then, my boy Zhujiao. Let¡¯s go collect the pearls and pills and get going!¡± A grid shot out of Zhujiao¡¯s body, and they instantly teleported to the Infinity Treasury, a giant hall inside the Infinity Palace. Heaps of tens of thousands of pearls lay scattered across the vast chamber, along with jars filled with pills that contained dense mathforce gathered from plants and mathematical beast cores. Shuxue smiled cheerily. ¡°These pearls and pills were the result of a day of my labors! Our Infinity Sector has gathered large amounts of capital to make this production speed possible. Haha, we complete 60 dungeons everyday and send 50 people everyday into weeklong forays into the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts! It¡¯s no wonder our treasures pile up so fast!¡± By the time he had finished talking, the entire treasury was empty. Zhujiao patted his forehead. ¡°The Greentree Sector had a billion Arithmetic pearls, and a lot of everything else.¡± Shuxue shrugged. ¡°The Greentree Sector was the second largest Sector in the area, and had wealth built up over the course of thousands of years. How can I, a single person, compete with that?¡± ¡°You¡¯re right! Let¡¯s go!¡± Zhujiao shouted. The grid shot out, and the two of them appeared in a forest clearing. Shuxue looked around. ¡°Eh? Where¡¯s the dungeon?¡± ¡°Over there!¡± Zhujiao pointed off into the distance. Thirty kilometers away, there was an oddly-shaped tower rising high into the sky. Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Why the hell are we so far away? Why didn¡¯t you teleport us straight to the dungeon?¡± Zhujiao folded his arms. ¡°Because Plot said I had to teleport here!¡± ¡°Fuck your Plot!¡± Shuxue groaned, rubbing his eyes. ¡°I thought Plot gave you this teleportation ability so we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the logistics of moving around! How does this make any sense?¡± ¡°Never question Plot!¡± Zhujiao began walking towards the dungeon. All of a sudden, they heard screaming from not far away. ¡°No! It¡¯s the Sword Mountain bandits!¡± ¡°Curse our luck! These bandits are absolute filth, and they never show any mercy!¡± ¡°Quick, take Lady Daoli (meaning: Reason) and run!¡± Chapter 12: Little Kids Fear Decapitation the Most! Hearing this, Shuxue rolled his eyes and took out a jade slip and some paper. ¡°Let¡¯s keep quiet until these bandits finish robbing those men and raping that girl. Gah, so annoying. Hey, give me a pencil.¡± Zhujiao took a pencil out of his forehead and tossed it to Shuxue. ¡°That poor girl! I wonder how pretty she is? I have to help!¡± As Shuxue began doing the first problem, he snorted. ¡°They¡¯re all idiots! If they had to blame someone for their misfortune, they can only blame themselves for being too weak!¡± ¡°True!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°But that only applies to men! I hate seeing helpless girls being oppressed! I have to save that Lady Daoli and add her to my harem!¡± ¡°Tch, suit yourself.¡± Shuxue muttered. ¡°How do you even know a word like oppressed, anyway?¡± Five minutes passed, and Shuxue could hear the screams of men being chopped up by bandits as he did his problem set. A girl was shrieking and crying over her fallen friends. Yet Zhujiao just stood there, not moving at all. Shuxue looked up after finishing another problem, raising an eyebrow at Zhujiao. ¡°I thought you were going to save that Lady Daoli and add her to your harem?¡± Zhujiao nodded vigorously. ¡°I am!¡± ¡°Then why aren¡¯t you helping?¡± Shuxue couldn¡¯t understand this damn kid sometimes. ¡°I have to wait until all the men are killed! Then, when they¡¯re about to rape the girl, I run in and save her! Plot says that¡¯s the only time I can save a potential harem member!¡± Zhujiao spoke solemnly. ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Shuxue was at a loss for words. ¡°Okay then.¡± He looked back down and went back to his problem set. Stifled sobs could be heard. The woman begged them to spare some old man. A bandit laughed, and Shuxue could hear a chopping sound. The woman screamed again. ¡°Almost¡­ almost¡­¡± Zhujiao began breathing heavily. The moment he heard some tearing sounds, he sprung away, charging through the brush. ¡°What the! What¡¯s this kid doing here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue sighed, put his problem set away, and leaped up onto a tree to watch the fight. The bandit leader, a masked man with his pants down, was staring at Zhujiao, an annoyed expression on his face. ¡°Hey, kid, can¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy? Give me some face and get out of here.¡± ¡°No! You have to show me some face and let this girl go with me!¡± Zhujiao yelled, sending a 1 bouncing off the man¡¯s chest. The other thirty bandits snickered, holding up their various weapons. ¡°This brat at the Arithmetic level actually wants to challenge us Sword Mountain bandits? Can it be that his eyes have grown to the top of his head?¡± The bandit leader sneered. ¡°I¡¯m a bandit leader, you little shit! If I showed people my face, then I would be arrested the moment I enter the Jade Water Paradise! You won¡¯t be getting face from me!¡± Zhujiao sent a 2 streaking over his head. ¡°Don¡¯t blame me for being ruthless and heartless!¡± Shuxue twirled his pencil between his fingers, frowning to himself. ¡°That idiot Zhujiao is still using the factorial Channeling equation. That¡¯s one of the most ridiculous equations I¡¯ve ever seen!¡± The mathforce Channeling equation regulated the maximum amount of mathforce a Mathivator could put into an attack. Zhujiao used the factorial Channeling equation, meaning that the maximum mathforce he could put into his attacks was extremely low. The trade-off was, as time went on, the upper cap of mathforce Zhujiao could use per attack became stupidly high! Only, having a high mathforce cap per attack also had its drawbacks. To maintain the mathforce Channeling equation, one had to pay 10% of the cap every few seconds. What this meant was that when Zhujiao used an attack with 1,000,000 units of mathforce behind it, he would have to pay 1,000,000 units of mathforce for the attack, and an additional 100,000 units of mathforce would be siphoned away by the mathforce Channeling equation. Now, Arithmetic stage practitioners would generally have a mathforce pool of around 30,000. How could they possibly pay 100,000 units of mathforce before even attacking? Only Zhujiao could do it! Shuxue, for his part, had a mathforce pool of 50,000. Most Algebra stage Mathivators would have anywhere between 300,000 and the millions, but the mathforce pool was determined by the amount of Mathivation a person had and not their insights into the laws.. Shuxue had never bothered to Mathivate in his life; how could his mathforce pool possibly be high? As a result, the mathforce Channeling equation he used was simply 5,000; he paid 500 units of mathforce per attack, and he could use a maximum of 5,000 units of mathforce in his attacks. For an Algebra stage practitioner, this was more than enough. After all, these were 5,000 units of Algebraic mathforce, 10 times stronger than Arithmetic mathforce! ¡°You dared interrupt my activities! Damn you, I¡¯ll help you understand that what little kids hate the most: having their heads chopped off!¡± The bandit leader roared, swinging a large broadsword at Zhujiao. It bounced off the illusory Plot Armor, making no effect on Zhujiao whatsoever. ¡°Do you understand? I¡¯ll make you understand that what little kids fear the most is being beheaded!¡± The bandit leader swung again to no avail. ¡°Little kids dread being decapitated the most! Little kids are most scared of being decollated! Remove this kid¡¯s head from his body, so he can understand!¡± The bandit leader roared to his subordinates. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Zhujiao palmed towards one of them. 40,320! The man smashed into a tree, a large gash in his chest. Shuxue frowned. That attack should¡¯ve killed anyone at the early Algebra stage or under. How could a lowly bandit stand up to it? ¡°Feh! I¡¯ve had it with you! Even if I don¡¯t show you that removing your head from your neck is the thing you are most terrified of, you¡¯re still going to die! HYPERBOLA STRIKE!¡± The bandit leaped backwards, and two illusory parabolas appeared. One surrounded the bandit leader, while the other encased Zhujiao. A line appeared in between the two parabolas. It was the y-axis! The bandit leader was covered by the parabola on the negative side of the axis, while Zhujiao was surrounded by the parabola on the positive side! Shuxue blinked, shocked. This was an attack that required insights at the late Algebra stage level! A bandit leader would actually be at the late Algebra stage? This was ridiculous! ¡°AHHHHH!¡± The bandit leader bellowed. Shuxue watched with wide eyes as mathforce attacks began shooting out into Zhujiao from the positive parabola, while mathforce poured into the bandit leader. ¡°This attack¡­ uses the concept of negative numbers!¡± Shuxue was shocked. ¡°The bandit leader is using the negative portion of the hyperbola to charge up his own body with mathforce!¡± All attacks used positive mathforce for its attacks; it stood to reason, then, that negative mathforce could be used to do the opposite of attacks: healing! Only, what the bandit leader was doing was replenishing his mathforce stores! He was actually not spending any mathforce attacking Zhujiao, because for every unit of mathforce spent in attacking Zhujiao, there was also a unit of mathforce spent in replenishing his own mathforce pool. The only mathforce he was spending was what was required to maintain the hyperbola! Shuxue was mesmerized by the hyperbola attack. He felt as if he was about to achieve an insight. ¡°Zhujiao and the bandit leader are standing at very special points in the hyperbolas, at the center of all the mathforce¡­ the focus¡­¡± Thoughts raced through his head as he struggled to comprehend the profound mysteries of this hyperbola attack. Some time passed. Shuxue was brought back to his senses by a flick of Zhujiao¡¯s finger. ¡°Hey, big bro Shuxue! Are you okay?¡± Shuxue came back to his senses, and began laughing maniacally. ¡°Hahaha¡­ the focus of the hyperbola¡­ the focus of a parabola¡­ determined by the Pythagorean theorem... ¡° Shuxue had made the leap into the late Algebra stage! This was a monstrous advance, since he had only entered the middle Algebra stage several days ago, when he had obtained the full set of Conics jade slips from a destroyed Sector. His Algebraic mathforce power was still the same as an early stage Algebra Mathivator, but the techniques he could use were infinitely more profound! Indeed, though he didn¡¯t know the nuances of the Hyperbola attack the bandit leader had used, with just some testing time, he could replicate it on his own. ¡°Big bro Shuxue! Let¡¯s go!¡± Shuxue snapped back to his senses. ¡°Right! To the Algebra dungeon!¡± He began walking towards the faraway dungeon. ¡°No, big bro Shuxue! We have to go to a restaurant and comfort Lady Daoli!¡± Shuxue blinked, then turned around to look at Zhujiao. Next to him was a beautiful girl of around fifteen years old. Though her cheeks were tear-stained, her visage could be said by people whom were not Shuxue to be stunningly attractive. Shuxue mumbled some curses under his breath, before nodding. ¡°All right, let¡¯s go dump this bitch off at some restaurant motel place. Hurry up, let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go!¡± Nearby, there was a village with several small restaurants. All of them were fairly empty, save one with only one free table. Zhujiao chose this restaurant to sit down at. ¡°Hey, useless woman, tell me which continent we¡¯re on.¡± Shuxue jabbed a finger at Daoli. ¡°Where I come from, there¡¯s no way bandits would be at the Algebra stage! Besides, the mathforce here is much thicker.¡± ¡°Continent 10.¡± She mumbled, stirring her tea with a blank expression. ¡°Ehh? We¡¯re that far away?¡± Shuxue was shocked. Currently, they resided in the Weakest Continent on the Weakest Plane! Planes had infinite size, but past a certain point there would be no mathforce. These barren lands, devoid of mathforce, were completely lifeless. Thus, the Weakest Plane only had 30 inhabitable continents and 29 inhabitable oceans. Of those continents, Continent 10 was the 10th strongest Continent! For them to have traveled instantly to Continent 10¡­ who knows how many hundreds of millions of kilometers they had gone? Suddenly, a group of rowdy men entered the restaurant. ¡°Such bad luck, to have no open tables.¡± One of them cursed. Another swept across this room with his gaze, which landed on the table Shuxue, Zhujiao, and Daoli were occupying. ¡°Haha, who said there were no open tables. Isn¡¯t that an open table right there? Even though it¡¯ll be a bit crowded, all of us sitting together at that table isn¡¯t impossible.¡± Author note: Some things are so silly that they don¡¯t need to be changed at all in a parody. I¡¯d like to thank Er Gen and Deathblade for the beheading stuff, which was taken from chapter 171 of I Shall Seal the Heavens, and the last 3 paragraphs which were almost taken word for word from Chaotic Sword God Chapter 82, translated by Deceptioning and written by the main character of Zhan Long, ÐÄÐÇåÐÒ£ (Xin Xing Xiao Yao)! The insight scene, obviously, comes from Coiling Dragon, translated by RWX and written by IEatTomatoes. Chapter 13: Im Daoli All the men wore wicked grins on their faces as they walked over. Shuxue reached forward, picked up the tea kettle, and poured some tea for himself calmly. He could hear a customer nearby mumbling to another person. ¡°Those are Spear Tower mercenaries! They¡¯re one of the top mercenary groups in the area, and very bloodthirsty. Some say they are even bandits. It¡¯s best not to get on their bad side.¡± Shuxue held his tea aloft as the leading mercenary smashed his fist down at their table. ¡°Hey, this is our table! I¡¯m Xiaogou (meaning: little dog) of the Spear Tower mercenary group. If you know what¡¯s good for you, get out of here!¡± Lady Daoli looked at him unhappily. Despite her previous blank expression, she now seemed quite indignant. ¡°Why do we have to get out? Can¡¯t we share?¡± Xiahan glanced at her, then did a double take. ¡°Whoa! A lady this attractive, of course we can share with you. Heheh.¡± He licked his lips in anticipation. ¡°But your two brothers need to get out. Our boss may be into little boys, but not us.¡± ¡°Excuse me!¡± Daoli stood up and screeched at Xiaogou. ¡°Are you really going to kick us out of this table, when there¡¯s room for all of us?! Don¡¯t you have a wife and children at home? How will they feel if they knew you were killing children over a restaurant table? What about your mother? Has she never told you that it isn¡¯t worth risking your life over a table? Just look at this table! It¡¯s can¡¯t be worth more than 10 Arithmetic pearls, yet you actually insist claiming ownership over it! Do you realize that you look like a miserly fool when you fight over such a meager possession? It doesn¡¯t make any sense! Why, I¡­¡± Shuxue sipped his tea, a disappointed expression on his face. Daoli had definitely seen Zhujiao kill off those bandits earlier. Why was she trying to save these imbeciles? Did she want to copulate with one of them or something? ¡°... are you doing with your life as mercenaries? Hasn¡¯t your mother ever told you that this is dangerous work? Oh, right, we were talking about seating. Do you actually think that there isn¡¯t enough chairs or something? You must have eyes, yet you can¡¯t even see the stack of chairs in the back! Pick those chairs up right this moment and move them to this table!¡± The mercenaries were meekly cowering back. ¡°Y-yes, ma¡¯am.¡± They moved some chairs over to the table and quietly sat down, studiously reading their menus. Xiaogou, for his part, seemed to have a starry glint in his eyes as he stared at Daoli. Zhujiao, Shuxue, and Daoli¡¯s food arrived. As they devoured the fragrant rice and meat, Xiaogou began to speak. ¡°Beautiful madam,¡± he said shyly, a slight blush on his face. ¡°I really appreciated your heartfelt concern towards my comrades and I. I never thought about how cheaply I was treating my life until you spoke. What was I thinking, fighting with some 10-year old over a mere restaurant table?¡± He indicated towards Shuxue. ¡°To tell you the truth, I have never been married, and I¡¯ve always wanted to spend time with an intelligent and attractive woman, but I¡¯ve been stuck for too long in this dead-end mercenary job that¡¯s only fit for irrelevant side characters. It¡¯s time for a change! It would be my honor to learn your name, I -¡± ¡°Her name is Daoli, you can shut your damn mouth now.¡± Shuxue glared at him exasperatedly. This was why he hated other people; horse manure came out of their mouths along with their behinds. At least with horses, it only came out from one end. ¡°Daoli! In truth, when I listened to you that time, I was reminded of my mother.¡± Xiaogou took hold of one of Daoli¡¯s arms. She had stopped eating and was listening intently to Xiaogou, a gratified look on her face. ¡°Back then, I hated her spiels, but-¡± SLAP! Zhujiao had reached out and, using Shuxue¡¯s very own slapping technique, thwacked Xiaogou on the cheek. ¡°Unhand her!¡± He shouted indignantly. ¡°Only Zhujiao can do that! When anyone else does it, it¡¯s lecherous!¡± Xiaogou stared at Zhujiao, a look of unbridled rage in his eyes. ¡°You dare ruin this moment for me! Damn you, can¡¯t you see I was pouring my heart out? Can you not give me any face?¡± Zhujiao and Xiaogou started heatedly arguing. Some of the mercenaries looked at Zhujiao malevolently, cracking their knuckles. ¡°This little shit, he¡¯s actually getting in the way of our Second Bro.¡± ¡°He needs to be taught a lesson!¡± Shuxue poured some more tea, waiting for Zhujiao to kill them all. Daoli jabbed a finger at them, a fiery look in her eyes. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re about to do!¡± She roared. ¡°You of the senior generation actually want to bully the weak! Are you all trying to lose all face? Can¡¯t you see all these people in this restaurant, watching you all make fools of yourselves?¡± Xiaogou immediately stood up, a strange mix of sadness and disappointment in his eyes. ¡°My deepest apologies, Madam Daoli. We will be leaving now, I am truly sorry for tarnishing your presence with ours.¡± ¡°What!¡± One of the other mercenaries complained. ¡°We haven¡¯t even gotten our food yet!¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Xiaogou shouted, herding them out of the restaurant. He turned back to Daoli, bowing deeply. ¡°I would really love to meet you again, Madam Daoli, but it would be too shameless of me right now to ask you where you come from! May fate bless me. Farewell, Daoli!¡± He walked out of the restaurant holding his head up high. If Shuxue had bothered to look, he would¡¯ve seen a single passionate tear trickling down Xiaogou¡¯s cheek. Daoli watched him go, a strange expression on her face. ¡°I¡¯ve always known I would finally get through to someone. Zhujiao, you¡¯re too young to understand, but even though I¡¯ve lost everyone important to me, that meeting was like seeing the light in a very dark place. Before, I was contemplating reuniting with my grandfather, but I know now that I can continue to live.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Zhujiao flicked a booger onto the ceiling, watching it bounce off and fall into someone¡¯s drink. ¡°Hey, look! Wanted posters!¡± He excitedly jumped out of his seat and walked up to the wall. On it were many papers, each bearing a person¡¯s portrait and some details Shuxue couldn¡¯t make out. ¡°Wow, what a big prize!¡± Zhujiao shouted. He took off a paper, waving it in the face of another customer. ¡°1,000 Algebra pearls! That¡¯s... 1,000 Algebra pearls! So many!¡± The customer sneered, taking out a jade slip and waving it in Zhujiao¡¯s face. ¡°Damn kid, 1,000 Algebra pearls is just 1 hair on the body of 9 bulls. This jade slip alone is worth- AHHHHHH!¡± A parabola surrounded the customer, incinerating him to ashes. All the patrons of the restaurant yelled out in surprise. ¡°A Parabola attack! This child is an expert of the middle Algebra stage!¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s using an advanced Parabola attack! He must be in the late Algebra stage!¡± ¡°At such a young age, he must be the young master of a fairly talented clan! Quick, get out, get out!¡± They all ran out of the restaurant in utter terror, leaving only the panicking restaurant owner. Conveniently, none of the customers had bothered to pay their bills. Shuxue picked up the jade slip quite smugly. ¡°How dare this man not give you any face, Zhujiao! Don¡¯t worry, though, someone like him is beneath your eyes. I took care of the matter for you.¡± He immediately pressed the jade slip to his forehead. Then again. Then again. Then again. The jade slip fell to the ground, some small cracks appearing on it from being used so many times. Shuxue stood there, a look of pleasant shock on his face. ¡°This is like meat pies falling from the heavens! Zhujiao, I must study this Algebra jade slip. It¡¯s a comprehensive problem set of Conics! You¡¯ll have to put off this dungeon raid until I finish.¡± Giggling in ecstasy, Shuxue¡¯s left hand snaked into his pants as his right picked up the jade slip and pressed it to his forehead. Zhujiao shrugged and went back to the wanted posters. ¡°Wow, this guy with golden eyebrows and the curly moustache is called Houlong (meaning: Throat). He gave the Fang Clan no face! The bo-bow-bownty is 500,000 Arithmetic pearls! Wow!¡± Daoli looked at the poster, frowning. ¡°Beware: Uses a light sword to stab people through the throat! Very agile, highly dangerous! Hunt at your own risk. The bounty commissioner is not liable for any damages or losses incurred from¡­¡± ¡°Wow, this guy with the green hair and long eyelashes is called Jiangan (meaning: Rapier)! He killed five Halberd Cave mercenaries over a restaurant table! The bounty is 700,000 Arithmetic pearls! Wow!¡± Zhujiao handed the paper off to Daoli, who began reading that one. ¡°Beware: Uses a light sword to stab people through the throat. Very agile, highly dangerous! Hunt at your-¡± ¡°Wow, this girl with big boobs and round eyes is called Jijian (meaning: Fencing). She¡¯s so pretty! She crippled the three legs of the young master of the Ji Clan, the biggest Clan on our Weakest Plane! Bounty is 99,999,999 Algebra pearls! Wow!¡± ¡°Beware: Uses a light sword to stab people through the throat. Very-¡± ¡°Wow, this bear saw the young mistress of Shadowmount city bathing in the river naked! Bounty is 500,000 Arithmetic pearls! Wow!¡± ¡°Beware: Uses a light sword¡­¡± An hour later, Zhujiao stood over the scattered posters on the ground, his head in his hands. ¡°Wow, there¡¯s so many light sword experts in Continent 10! That¡¯s so cool! I want one too!¡± At the same time, Shuxue snapped back from his reverie. ¡°Conics¡­ is not the end of the road of Algebraic insights!¡± He whispered hoarsely. ¡°There¡¯s something even greater than it!¡± Shuxue could be said to have grasped the peak of the Algebra stage. It was said there was nothing more to be learned from the Algebra stage from him. Yet¡­ When he did this problem set, he felt that there were more profound Algebra truths awaiting his discovery. Shuxue could dimly sense them, but he had no way of actually comprehending them. ¡°Haha¡­ After the Algebra stage, is the legendary Calculus stage! There is not a single Calculus expert in our Weakest Continent, so in terms of the profound laws, I am already at the peak of my Weakest Continent. But I feel that this is not all there is to Algebra. Branches of any of the amazing Mathematical Laws are inexhaustible and boundless; one can spend a lifetime training in it!¡± ¡°That Algebra dungeon clearly contains more profound insights into the Algebra stage!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes began glittering dangerously, to the point where even a nearby table began to emit smoke. Author note: Reading Chaotic Sword God will get you the most out of this chapter. The ¡°Conics is not the end of the road¡± was paraphrased from Book 8, Chapter 16 of Coiling Dragon. It was also paraphrased from Desolate Era¡¯s Book 3, Chapter 18. It was also probably paraphrased from Stellar Transformations. Even though I haven¡¯t read Swallowed Star, I might accidentally have paraphrased that, too. Chapter 14: Shuxues Master Plan ¡°... have a fairly strong killing aura. Shuxue, you must understand.¡± Lady Daoli was rambling on and on as they walked towards the dungeon. ¡°During the course of your life, you are bound to encounter friction with others! But violence is not the solution to all problems! Especially not with that man you just killed.¡± Shuxue sneered. ¡°That man at the restaurant gave us no face! If Zhujiao and I just let him laugh at us like that, we would have lost all face! Didn¡¯t we just save you from bandits whom were about to rape and murder you? These villains, more or less, all carry evil tendencies! All of them, especially that man waving a valuable jade slip in front of my face, are murderers and slaughterers of innocents! These villains ought to have died the moment they were born, and even that wouldn¡¯t have absolved them of their future sins! If I wasn¡¯t quick to act and strong enough, who knows what that man with the jade slip would have done next? I¡¯m sure he murdered people in his past life, and raped people in his current life! If we allowed him to laugh at us, he definitely would have raped and murdered you next! Me killing him for laughing at me, is not one bit going overboard.¡± Daoli looked very unhappy. ¡°That man was only at the late Arithmetic stage! Whether he carried sins or not is an extremely dubious point of contention, but he¡¯s still living life! He posed no threat to us! Why couldn¡¯t you have been the bigger man and let him go?¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°Well, how else could I get this jade sli-¡± He doubled over, collapsing into a fit of coughing. Half a minute later, Shuxue got up, wiping his brow. ¡°Whew, I don¡¯t know what came over me. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. As I was saying, if I let this criminal who is guilty of giving Zhujiao no face escape, he definitely, 100% would have gone home to beat his wife, rape his son, and kill his dog! Now that I have killed him, just think about all the innocents who have been saved from murders, robberies, and beatings that haven¡¯t happened yet! How can I, Shuxue, a paragon of justice and virtue, let a criminal live? It would be a sin!¡± Daoli¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Wh-what? Where do I even begin with addressing this argument? Shuxue, I-¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted, slapping Shuxue. ¡°Stop talking about big bro! Talk about me, because I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Daoli blinked, looking at Zhujiao. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao, and I¡¯m the Grand Ancestor of my Infinity Sector!¡± He shouted, trying to impress Daoli. Shuxue nodded solemnly. ¡°He indeed is the venerated Ancestor of our Sector.¡± Completely forgetting about her argument with Shuxue, Daoli began laughing. ¡°Yes, and I suppose your Sector has already passed the Spirit Severing Stage.¡± Zhujiao tilted his head. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Shuxue patted Zhujiao¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Zhujiao, this is about the Cultivation base of our Sector! Allow me to explain!¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s too complicated. I don¡¯t want to do it. Daoli, you seem to know what you¡¯re talking about, you do it.¡± Shuxue took out another jade slip and pressed it to his forehead. Zhujiao turned to Daoli, hopping with excitement. ¡°Tell me! Tell me!¡± Daoli laughed, and began. ¡°Just as how we Mathivators must Mathivate, Sectors must also Cultivate their base! The goal of every Sector is to develop Spirits to take part in the Planar Wars! There are 4 stages of Cultivation: Formation Establishment, Corps Formation, Nascent Spirit, and Spirit Severing!¡± ¡°Wow¡­¡± Zhujiao held his head, as if it was about to explode. ¡°So cool!¡± ¡°The first 2 stages, Formation Establishment and Corps Formation, can be done concurrently. Formation Establishment is when your Sector arranges its buildings and geography in a manner that harmonizes with the mathematical laws! By harmonizing with the mathematical laws, a Sector can gather denser quantities of mathforce within its territory! Using mathforce generation principles to create and arrange buildings and nature, this is the Formation Establishment stage!¡± Zhujiao drank in the information, a starry-eyed look in his eyes. ¡°So that¡¯s why big bro Shuxue was moving all those buildings around! What about Corps Formation?¡± ¡°Corps Formation is the creation of a Sector military division that takes part in Planar Wars.¡± Daoli sighed. ¡°Only, Planar Wars only occur when our plane has gathered more mathforce than another plane, allowing our plane to draw level and surpass them in the Tesseract rankings. Since we¡¯re the Weakest Plane, far behind any other plane, we haven¡¯t had Planar Wars in millions of years!¡± ¡°Wow, you guys really suck!¡± ¡°Right. Anyways, when the Planar Wars begin, a new continent is created in the sky above the ascending plane. The descending plane can access that same continent by going underground, where you find mathematical space.¡± Daoli pointed up with one hand, and down with the other. ¡°This new continent is made of mathforce gathered from both planes, and is extremely dense! It can only be accessed by mathematical Spirits, which are created from concentrated mathforce gathered by a Sector!¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°When a Sector feels it is ready, it lays down a very special structure or mathematical formation that creates a Spirit. This is called a spiritseed. By doing so, the Sector enters the Nascent Spirit stage! It must pour mathforce into the spiritseed until the spirit matures. All spiritseeds bear different Spirits! They can be anything, but every single spirit can be considered a powerful fortress! In truth, my own kingdom is at the Nascent Spirit stage!¡± Daoli said, a shine in her eyes. Shuxue immediately removed the jade slip from his head, staring at Daoli. ¡°What? Who are you, really?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Lady Daoli, 3rd in line to the throne for the kingdom of Bulai (meaning: Don¡¯t come here)!¡± Shuxue raised one eyebrow, then the other. Was this meat pies falling from the heavens? ¡°3rd in line, hmmmmmmmmm? Wait, Daoli, please tell this ignorant Zhujiao what kind of Spirit your kingdom has.¡± Daoli nodded. ¡°Bulai Kingdom¡¯s nascent spirit is the Three Shingle Powdered Donut Shack!¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Sounds like a trash spirit.¡± Shuxue said disappointedly. ¡°You better Sever it as quickly as you can and start over.¡± Daoli glared at Shuxue, before turning back to Zhujiao. ¡°When the spirit matures, it needs to be Severed from its root. Otherwise, it will remain chained to the Sector, and will never be able to enter the Planar Battlefield! The Planar Battle only ends when all the spirits on one side are eliminated. The winning plane receives the new, incredibly valuable new continent! After the War, the losing plane receives large amounts of mathforce fallout resulting from the separation of the 2 planes, causing many valuable dungeons to form!¡± Shuxue smiled wickedly. ¡°The winning plane gets a new continent, filled to the brim with valuable dungeons, and the losing plane gets an influx of high-level dungeons! Valuable dungeons means valuable jade slips! Zhujiao, it is very important that we gather enough mathforce to trigger a Planar War. Whether we win or lose, I win!¡± He turned to Daoli and shrugged. ¡°Our Infinity Sector is still in the Formation Establishment and Corps Formation stage, just like everyone else. When the Planar Wars occur, I¡¯m afraid that a puny Sector like ours won¡¯t be able to participate.¡± Shuxue began cackling under his breath. Using Zhujiao to create the Infinity Sector, using the Infinity Sector to gather phenomenal quantities of mathforce, using that mathforce to trigger a Planar War, that was all part of his master plan to get his hands on more jade slips! He spent hours every week spouting bullshit to everyone, but it was all for this grand purpose. The first Planar War, triggered at the hands of the Infinity Sector¡¯s mad expansion, would not have the Infinity Sector taking part. All the top Sectors of the Plane, on the other hand, would be forced to participate. In the war, they would definitely lose their most important weapons, the Spirits, as well as numerous top experts in the process! Zhujiao''s Zhujiao committee would then destroy all the weakened Sectors with ease. Then, Shuxue¡¯s Restructuring Committee would buy their Sector land, possessions, and jade slips from their dead bodies! With the entire Weakest Plane under his thumb, Shuxue would once again trigger another Planar War. This time, he would send in the Zhujiao committee and deliver a landslide victory! With every subsequent win, the Weakest Plane would gather more mathforce. With more mathforce permeating the plane, higher-level dungeons that yielded higher-level jade slips would form. And Shuxue would ¡°process¡± each and every single one of them! ¡°Even before I created this Infinity Sector, I had already thought about all these things.¡± Shuxue snickered to himself. ¡°Only, I just would¡¯ve had to create the Shuxue Trading Conglomerate and use it to conquer the plane over the course of hundreds of years through shady business deals. It¡¯s a good thing I ran into Zhujiao, who allowed me to kick-start my plans.¡± All this thinking took a long time to describe, but it took place in the blink of an eye. Daoli was raising her eyebrow. ¡°Wait, I was just joking. Can it be that you 2 actually are from a branch of the top-class Infinity Sector? I didn¡¯t know there was a branch here in this plane!¡± ¡°No!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°They¡¯re the fake Infinity Sector! We¡¯re the real ones! We¡¯re gonna kill them all!¡± Daoli frowned. ¡°Zhujiao, have you been listening to a single word I said? Violence is almost never¡­¡± After another 3 hours of Daoli lecturing Zhujiao, they arrived at the Algebra dungeon. It was a vast pyramid made out of a black metal. The peak could not even be seen, as it was covered by clouds. Shuxue stared at the dungeon, his eyes glittering. ¡°This¡­ this is no normal Algebra dungeon! This is the tomb of a peak Algebra expert!¡± Daoli¡¯s argument at the beginning of this chapter was taken from I Shall Seal The Heavens Chapter 181 and Against the Gods Chapter 118. Shuxue¡¯s response was taken from ATG 118. Spirits were inspired by I Shall Seal the Heavens and Douluo Dalu (Soul Land). Chapter 15: Mathematical Tomb Not a mathematical dungeon, but rather a mathematical tomb! As Shuxue thought about it, his mouth couldn¡¯t help but start salivating. By delving deep into the mathematical laws, a mathivator would naturally attune to them, allowing their bodies to naturally gather more mathforce. Shuxue never bothered to use pearls to Mathivate, but his Mathivation was still a step ahead of the rest simply because his understanding of the mathematical laws automatically allowed his body to absorb more mathforce. When one¡¯s level of mathivation reached a certain point, one would completely shed the mortal filth and become a new lifeform, born from the mathematical laws! Only, this feat was incredibly difficult, because there were only two ways to become a math god! ¡°Wait, why are my thoughts going on a tangent?¡± Shuxue shook his head. ¡°Gahahaha! When math gods who reached deityhood by studying the laws die, the mathematical laws take the residual mathforce and build a tomb that contains insights into that deity¡¯s knowledge! This dungeon is actually a tomb of a god. There definitely, definitely will be profound insights galore!¡± Zhujiao nodded vigorously. ¡°I knew big bro Shuxue would like it!¡± ¡°Only, why would a tomb appear here?¡± Daoli seemed to be thinking. ¡°There are only 8 deities in our plane, and not a single one died in the last century. Otherwise, their entire Sector would have been chopped up by the other great powers. The only way for this tomb to form would be if an expert from a higher plane was battling underground, and his essence fell through mathematical space to our Weakest plane.¡± ¡°Who gives a damn about it! Let¡¯s go!¡± Shuxue shouted, charging straight into the pyramid, passing by the several hundred people clustered around the pyramid as he did so. The pyramid was over ten kilometers in length. Due to its structure, which definitely harmonized with the mathematical laws in some mysterious and profound manner, mathforce was constantly generated within it. As a result, monsters endlessly spawned within the tomb. Shuxue cursed, shooting out a parabola inferno at a 58,820. 1,000! 1,000! 1,000! 1,000! After an entire minute, the monster finally burned to death, leaving behind 58 Arithmetic pearls. ¡°God damn it, I used up 5,900 units of mathforce.¡± Shuxue cursed. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing that I¡¯m using Algebra mathforce, which is 10 times as strong as Arithmetic mathforce. Otherwise, I¡¯d already have run out of mathforce.¡± The surrounding mathforce coalesced again, turning into 5 100,000 monsters. Seeing this, Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. He nervously backed away behind Zhujiao. ¡°Zhujiao, these monsters are too puny for me to waste my time on! I¡¯ll just leave this menial task to you!¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Zhujiao ran up, grabbed a number, and smashed his forehead straight into it. In the blink of an eye, the monster was destroyed, turning into mathforce that was immediately sucked into Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. ¡°Hahahahaha! Kill them all!¡± Zhujiao happily shouted, headbutting every single monster that spawned around them. The horde was endless. After 30 minutes, they had advanced 50 meters, towards a pyramid of pearls that Zhujiao insisted on obtaining. After 2 hours, Zhujiao had sucked in the pyramid of pearls, and they were starting to move towards the staircase a kilometer away that led up to the next floor. 5 hours passed. By this time, Lady Daoli had gotten over her shock of Zhujiao¡¯s impossible antics. After 10 hours, they were 10 meters away from the staircase. ¡°I¡¯ve finished all my problem sets.¡± Shuxue fumed. ¡°Mindlessly killing monsters for 10 hours is so boring. Who could possibly put up with this?¡± ¡°No, this is super fun!¡± Zhujiao headbutted his 2,375th monster. ¡°I¡¯m finally about to level up! This is so exciting! Grinding monsters is super fun!¡± ¡°Are you suggesting you would do this as a recreational activity?¡± Shuxue was appalled by the very thought. ¡°If you didn¡¯t have food in your interspatial forehead, I would¡¯ve had us leave this shithole long ago.¡± Indeed, every few meters there would be a pile of waste. Considering how long it would take to kill all the monsters and advance to the next floor, it was no surprise that some people would have to relieve themselves in the middle of the journey, fighting off monsters all the while. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Of course, this didn¡¯t happen too often. But everyone who entered the tomb would generally take a dump sometime after entering, and sometime during their exit. The tomb had existed for 50 years! How many Mathivators had visited this tomb? Over the course of 50 years, how many countless expeditions had journeyed here? Even though this tomb was a large place, over time, the amount of waste here would slowly accumulate to a frightening number! If a hundred people entered the tomb everyday, then that would be over 3.5 million feces! This was just too astonishing of a number. ¡°It¡¯s okay!¡± Zhujiao said, seemingly not caring at all about what he was stepping in. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the next floor!¡± The next floor was filled with equation monsters. Shuxue could see a (x+5)(x-4)=0 jumping around. Smiling, he shot a -5, turning it into a (x-4)=0. 5 Algebra pearls flooded out and was immediately grabbed up by Zhujiao. ¡°That¡¯s 138,405 Algebra pearls gathered! Only 61,595 more, and we¡¯ll have enough to complete the quest!¡± Shuxue turned his head towards a group of 300 Mathivators, 100 meters away from them. ¡°Yay! Grinding monsters is so much fun! I could do it for 3 weeks without stopping!¡± A girl giggled, shooting off an attack at a x^7-42x^6+83x^5-91x^4-2x^2+4x+1092=0. ¡°Yeah, this is the best recreational activity out of all the things I could possibly be doing!¡± A man shouted as he destroyed a (x+56)=0. ¡°That¡¯s 138,461 Algebra pearls gathered! Only 61,539 more, and we¡¯ll have enough to complete the quest!¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been here 70 hours and 31 minutes already! That¡¯s a new record!¡± Zhujiao stared at them, his mouth forming into an o. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s hardcore. Even I can¡¯t do this that long.¡± Lady Daoli shook her head sadly. ¡°These are the infamous pearl farmers, they spend their entire lives fighting mathematical monsters so they can sell the pearls for clothing, weapons, and other things. I¡¯ve heard that prisoners taken in Sector wars are often forced to go on tomb expeditions in order to farm pearls for the Sector. Truly a horrible way to live.¡± Shuxue began laughing maniacally. ¡°Are you 2 crazy? This is the best thing that has ever graced my life! This is like an endless problem set that I can never finish! Who would¡¯ve thought that a great treasure such as this endless problem set would appear above that waste dump below us.¡± A stain appeared in Shuxue¡¯s pants as he panted in excitement. ¡°This is great! Why haven¡¯t I ever thought of doing this before?¡± Like a ravenous beast, Shuxue went to work on the mathematical monsters, cackling like a madman as he did so. Meanwhile, the pearl farmers continued to destroy the monsters jumping around. ¡°You know, I¡¯ve always thought I¡¯d have to waste my life working at a dead-end job.¡± A girl explained to Lady Daoli as she fought an equation monster. ¡°But following the boss, Chenmi (meaning: Addicted), in grinding monsters 140 hours every week is so entertaining and lively! It¡¯s not repetitive at all, not even a little bit. I may not have any friends outside our pearl farming group, but that¡¯s okay, because this way I can combine my passion with my work!¡± Lady Daoli was taken aback. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t realize you all actually found pleasure in fighting monsters, over and over and over again. But you do you, I guess.¡± An entire week dragged by. Shuxue left behind mountains of pearls, all of which were sucked up by Zhujiao. The pearl farmers, for their parts, had an aqueduct system installed into the tomb that sent the pearls down to the first floor, which their coworkers would gather up. ¡°Hey, big bro Shuxue.¡± Zhujiao opened the door to the house he had pulled out of his forehead at the beginning of the week. ¡°Can¡¯t we move onto the next floor yet? Even the Oyster Cornucopia people left for a 3-hour break.¡± Shuxue collapsed onto the ground, his eyes bloodshot. ¡°Hahahahaha, Zhujiao¡­ I¡¯ve cemented my peak Algebra status! I¡¯m at the peak peak Algebra stage! Nothing is beyond my grasp! If there¡¯s a problem, yo I¡¯ll solve it. Just... let me get some sleep first.¡± Shuxue closed his eyes and began snoozing. Author note: ¡®The amount of waste here would slowly accumulate to a frightening number¡¯ spiel uses Coiling Dragon logic detailed in Book 13, Chapter 1. Chapter 16: You are Courting Death! After five hours, Shuxue got up, yawning. This entire time, Zhujiao was fighting off the horde of mathematical monsters around Shuxue, so that he wouldn¡¯t be killed. ¡°All right, I feel much better! Let me brush my teeth, use the restroom, and go!¡± Shuxue walked into the house, slamming the door behind him. ¡°Wait, big bro¡­¡± Zhujiao had a haggard look on his face. ¡°It¡¯s my turn to rest!¡± No response came out of the closed door. Zhujiao could only continue smashing his forehead against the mathematical monsters jumping around this floor of the tomb. Occasionally, Daoli would solve an equation, but they usually took her a very long time. The door blasted open after an hour. Shuxue majestically strode out, wearing a fresh set of robes. ¡°That was a magnificent bath, Zhujiao. You really know how to choose a good house to buy.¡± Shuxue slicked his hair back as Zhujiao collapsed onto the ground from sheer exhaustion. ¡°Hey, why are you sleeping? It¡¯s a new day, let¡¯s go to the next floor!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes shined as he thought about what possibilities lay in the next floor. After a few slaps to Zhujiao¡¯s face, the house was sucked back into his forehead and the three made their way to the staircase to the next floor. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Shuxue lifted up a single finger. It vibrated, shooting out countless finger strikes that cut a swathe through the horde of mathematical equations. With every finger strike, a function¡¯s degree would lower by one and an Algebra pearl would fall out. They could¡¯ve walked straight to the stairs within 2 minutes, but Zhujiao found his second wind and scrabbled around on the floor picking them all up, so the journey actually took 10 minutes. ¡°2 hours ago, disciples from the Ji Clan and Argent Heaven flew up to the next level.¡± Daoli said to Shuxue, a look of worry on her face. ¡°The Ji Clan and Argent Heaven are two of the top Sectors in our Weakest Plane! We cannot possibly offend them.¡± Shuxue laughed. ¡°Zhujiao and I are warriors of justice! If they don¡¯t do anything dastardly, then they have nothing to worry about. Otherwise, they can¡¯t blame us for being ruthless.¡± The next floor came into view. The first thing Shuxue saw was two old men playing Connect 4 at the entrance. ¡°Hold up, give me some time to think. This is an extremely complicated game!¡± One of them shouted, twirling an Arithmetic pearl in his hands. He had eyebrows reaching down to his cheeks. ¡°Just drop it in the damn slot already.¡± The other man growled, stroking his eyebrows that reached down to his mouth. He was tapping his hand on the ground, staring intently at the pearl containers that served as the suspended grid for their game. ¡°My eyebrows droop lower than yours, so I was already more senior to you, and therefore more intelligent than you, from the very beginning. No need to prolong the inevitable!¡± Shuxue squinted at the pearls. ¡°Calculus pearls! How impressive!¡± ¡°What did you say!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Calculus pearls? Where?!¡± Calculus pearls! Zhujiao had never even seen any in his life. The mathforce in the Weakest Continent was too sparse to form Calculus dungeons. The highest order pearl Zhujiao had ever seen was a Trigonometry pearl, which was worth 3,020 Arithmetic pearls, but Calculus pearls were worth 5,000 Arithmetic pearls! Shuxue paid Zhujiao no mind, staring off into the distance at the equations. ¡°What¡­ what are these?¡± Shuxue was highly bemused. In front of him were nearly a hundred Mathivators, fighting desperately against strange mathematical equations Shuxue had never seen. ¡°Quick, shoot a 32! We haven¡¯t tried 32 yet!¡± A middle-aged man in silver robes yelled hoarsely as he shot a 40 at a (4,5,2)*[4,1,2] equation. The equation blew apart, but instantly reformed. A wave of 32s shot into it, achieving the same effect. Solera stared blankly at a (24,65,24,3),(52,35,67,120),(2,3,4,7)*(5,2,6,2) behemoth standing guard over a pile of treasure chests and mathematical pearls in the center. In the previous 2 floors, there had been treasure chests as well, but they had long been ransacked of their jade slips. Though Solera felt this was an injustice of the highest order, there was nothing he could do about it. Here, on the third floor, however, there were actually untouched treasure chests! Nobody had ever been able to perceive the mysteries of this floor, despite an entire 50 years passing since the tomb¡¯s inception. ¡°25! The answer was 25!¡± The middle-aged man shouted as the (4,5,2)*[4,1,2] monster burst into a shower of Algebra pearls. ¡°Quick, record it! The answer to (4,5,2)*[4,1,2] is 25!¡± He began to fire random numbers off at a (6,2,3)*[9,9,9]. Another silver-robed disciple ran up, shouting towards the middle-aged man. ¡°Inner disciple Bendan (meaning: Idiot), we already fought a (6,2,3)*[9,9,9]! The records say 99 is the answer to this monster!¡± ¡°Right!¡± Bendan shouted, shooting a 99 into it. ¡°How about that (40,2,2)*[3,-6,20]?¡± ¡°No, Inner disciple Bendan!¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get started!¡± Completely random numbers began to fly out of the man¡¯s hands towards this particular monster. Shuxue watched Bendan, a sneer on his lips. ¡°He¡¯s using the least profound technique in all of math, plugging in random values! What a brute!¡± ¡°32! The answer to (4,2,3)*[5,3,2] is 32!¡± A black-robed disciple yelled to another black-robed disciple, who was recording all the answers next to the silver-robed disciple next to him. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Haha, our Ji Clan has beaten 15 more monsters than your trash Argent Heaven Sector!¡± The black-robed recorder snickered towards the silver-robed recorder. ¡°It was just luck.¡± The silver-robed recorder snorted. ¡°Luck is its own form of talent.¡± The black-robed recorder smiled smugly. Then, he began screaming as a parabola pincer cut him in half. Shuxue kicked the corpse away to pick up the paper the black-robed recorder was recording the answers to the problems on. ¡°Ahh, whoops.¡± Shuxue sighed as the silver-robed recorder looked at him, horrified. ¡°Looks like this man was rather untalented at being unlucky.¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes scanned the paper. There had to be a pattern to solve these alien problems! ¡°M-m-murderer!¡± The silver-robed recorder screamed, backing away. ¡°This man just murdered disciple Siwang (meaning: Corpse)!¡± The old man with the eyebrows that drooped down to his mouth turned and saw Siwang¡¯s dead body. ¡°You are courting death!¡± He roared, standing up from his Connect 4 game. ¡°How dare you kill one of the children of my Ji Clan?¡± ¡°Hey now, it¡¯s still your turn in Connect 4.¡± The elder with eyebrows that hung down to his cheeks spoke, grabbing the other elder by the shoulder and looking on with some amusement. ¡°To hell with your Connect 4 game! This boy is courting death!¡± The old man flung his Calculus pearl into a random slot in the suspended grid and stood up, coalescing Calculus mathforce around him that formed into an illusory blade, 20 meters long. Shuxue didn¡¯t even look at the old man. He casually snatched the other paper out of the hands of the silver-robed recorder before shredding him to pieces with a quadratics dragon. ¡°You are courting death!¡± The elder with eyebrows reaching his cheeks shouted. ¡°You dare slay one of the disciples of my Argent Heaven Sector! Have your eyes grown to the top of your head?¡± The Ji Clan elder put a hand on the Argent Heaven elder¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s your turn in Connect 4. You had better make your move.¡± ¡°To hell with the Connect 4 game!¡± The Argent Heaven elder emitted flames from his eyes. ¡°This impudent brat is courting death!¡± Shuxue sighed, turning to Zhujiao. ¡°Zhujiao, these 2 old men are trying to rape me. You have to stop them!¡± Zhujiao, who was still looking for the Calculus pearls, shrugged indifferently. ¡°I don¡¯t care. You¡¯re a man. Even though you¡¯re my friend, if you die, you can only blame yourself for being too weak! Don¡¯t worry though, in my righteous rage after your death, I¡¯ll take revenge for you.¡± Shuxue threw up an ellipse shield that blocked the attack of a nearby Argent Heaven disciple, fuming to himself. ¡°That damn Plot is talking to Zhujiao again, that¡¯s why he¡¯s using so many big words. It just wants to make me fight against those 2 old men because it would be better for the Plot! Dammit, I¡¯m not going to do something that stupid!¡± Raising his voice, Shuxue yelled again. ¡°Zhujiao, those 2 old men are trying to rape me, and they even have Calculus pearls right there! Who knows what poor souls were robbed by them, for them to have Calculus pearls! They definitely didn¡¯t get them through any honest means!¡± ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°They have Calculus pearls? They are courting death!¡± Lady Daoli began to spout some peave-loving nonsense, so Shuxue called out to Zhujiao again. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to Daoli, she¡¯s a woman!¡± ¡°Duh! Why would I ever listen to Daoli? She¡¯s just a member of my harem!¡± Zhujiao sniffed. ¡°I already knew that listening to Daoli was bad! You don¡¯t have to say something I already knew!¡± ¡°You¡¯re courting death!¡± Both elders shouted at the same time, moving forward to attack. Zhujiao¡¯s Plot Armor, the illusory grid, appeared to block the mathforce sword that shot towards Shuxue. Shuxue, for his part, turned to face the oncoming disciples of both Sectors. All of them were above the Arithmetic stage, with most at the middle Algebra stage. Shuxue could even discern several high Algebra stages, and even a peak Algebra stage! But who was Shuxue? He was at the peak peak Algebra stage! The peak peak Algebra stage was an entire order of magnitude above the peak Algebra stage! It would be easier to thread a camel through the eye of a needle than for these lowly disciples to overcome Shuxue¡¯s grasp of the profound mysteries of Quadratics. Actually, comparing their respective skills was akin to comparing a single hair to the furred bodies of nine bulls! It would also be like comparing apples to oranges; it wouldn¡¯t work, because apples are just so many times better than oranges. Simply said, Shuxue was the number 1 expert on Algebra within this tomb. There was nobody more knowledgeable than Shuxue on Algebra here. The gulf between his knowledge of quadratics equations and theirs was like the distance between heaven and earth! Like the distance between the Weakest Plane and the second weakest plane! These disciples had eyes, yet they could not see Mount Tai! The battle between Zhujiao and 2 elders of the Calculus stage and the battle between Shuxue and 100 disciples of the Algebra stage had begun! Author note: ¡°You are courting death¡± comes from Against the Gods Chapter 198. In case you¡¯ve forgotten, Daoli means reason/logic in Chinese. Chapter 17: The Sunk Cost Having grasped the Profound Mysteries of Quadratics to the point where he could instantly solve for quadratics equations, Shuxue¡¯s greatest weapon, apart from Zhujiao, was his quadratics attacks! Quadratics attacks were attacks of the early Algebra stage, but that didn¡¯t matter when Shuxue could shoot out five quadratics dragons per second. And not only that; the profundity of his quadratics attacks infinitely neared infinity. What this meant was that even though Shuxue was using early Algebra stage techniques, they were being executed with the profundity of the peak peak Algebra stage knowledge and understanding of Quadratics! Shuxue¡¯s quadratics dragons would use the same amount of mathforce and technique, but they would be stronger than the quadratics dragons of others! ¡°Wow, it¡¯s like power levels are complete bullshit or something!¡± Shuxue shouted as his fists vibrated, sending out 25 quadratics dragons over the span of 5 seconds. Each of them smashed straight through the shields of the various disciples and shredded them into meat patties. ¡°Zhujiao¡¯s rubbing off on me.¡± Shuxue thought as he released another 25 quadratics dragons. ¡°I¡¯m inputting 600 points of mathforce into each attack, which means I used up 30,000 points of mathforce so far in this fight. I spent 30,000 points of mathforce earlier getting onto this floor. My mathforce pool is only 50,000, but I still have 20,000 points of mathforce left! It¡¯s like energy consumption is complete bullshit or something!¡± 50 disciples had been killed in the blink of an eye. Interestingly¡­ all the corpses had been black-robed disciples of the Ji Clan! ¡°I just found out something shocking!¡± Shuxue shouted to Zhujiao, who was still charging up his factorial mathforce channeling equation. ¡°What?!¡± Zhujiao shouted as his Plot Armor blocked a flying calculus-grade sword, which seemed to follow a profound trajectory as it traveled from the elder to Zhujiao. ¡°Don¡¯t harm the silver-robed man anymore, Zhujiao! That man in black robes manipulated the silver-robed man! The silver-robed man is entirely innocent of premeditated rape!¡± Shuxue said, a devious glint in his eye. He wasn¡¯t lying when he spoke that last sentence. To the best of his knowledge, at least. ¡°But he has Calculus pearls!¡± Zhujiao shouted, blocking the gusts of air created by the black-robed elder¡¯s Calculus fan. ¡°Only thieves have pearls, because all the pearls are belong to me!¡± Shuxue groaned to himself. ¡°I¡¯m sure we can work out a deal with him!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t negotiate with thieves!¡± Zhujiao roared, sending a 362,880 blasting the silver-robed elder back. The silver-robed elder blocked the attack with a strange symbol, dy/dx. He was completely unfazed by an attack of that magnitude! ¡°362,880 units of Arithmetic mathforce is a large number, but my derivative shield reduces all that to zero!¡± The Argent Heaven elder shouted. ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°That¡¯s not fair! You can¡¯t have armor like that!¡± ¡°Speak for yourself, you motherfucker!¡± The black-robed elder cursed, sending a cloud that coalesced around Zhujiao. The Plot Armor glimmered, and the cloud was instantly shattered. ¡°AHH! My Calculus cloud!¡± The Ji Clan elder looked like he was about to explode from anger. ¡°My Calculus fan! My Calculus bottle gourd! My flying Calculus sword! My Calculus incense sticks! How dare you destroy all my profound artifacts! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± The Argent Heaven elder smiled. ¡°Looks like eyebrow lengths aren¡¯t the determinant of who wins and who loses after all! Ho ho ho, it¡¯s too bad you¡¯re too stupid to know how to make a Derivative artifact!¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± The Ji Clan elder screamed. ¡°I know you bought that derivative artifact at a discount sale hosted by the Whitecloud Sector!¡± ¡°It was a discount auction! If we bought an item, they would shave off 50% of our next bid! There¡¯s a difference, it takes skill to win a discount auction!¡± The Argent Heaven was indignant. ¡°Dammit.¡± The Ji Clan elder was cursing as Zhujiao broke his Calculus tissue box. ¡°Everybody knows that discounted items are definitely trash products! I guess even the farmer who waits at a tree stump will eventually catch a rabbit to eat! You got lucky with that purchase!¡± ¡°Luck is part of skill, Elder Ji.¡± An Argent Heaven disciple chimed in smugly. ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t be bitter, Elder Ji.¡± Another Argent Heaven disciple said. ¡°When meat pies fall from the heavens, it is the people outside who reap the rewards.¡± The Argent Heaven elder sniffed as a 3,628,800 was vaporized by his derivative artifact. ¡°You can only blame yourself for being inside your secluded meditation, causing you to miss out on that heaven-sent bargain auction.¡± Then, his eyes bugged. ¡°What the fuck are you disciples doing, kill that punk!¡± Shuxue groaned. ¡°Damn, he had to point it out.¡± Along with the Argent Heaven disciples, he had been spectating the fight for the last thirty seconds. ¡°Fellow Mathivators!¡± Bendan shouted. ¡°We must kill this man, else our fellow disciple will never rest in peace!¡± ¡°Inner Disciple Bendan, that boy is too strong! We¡¯ll all be joining fellow disciple Ji Luyuan (meaning: Note taker) in the graves if we do!¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter at all!¡± Bendan said solemnly. ¡°He killed our fellow disciple, so we are obligated to kill ourselves taking revenge for him!¡± ¡°Oh my god, you¡¯re right! Kill him!¡± ¡°Kill!¡± ¡°Kill!¡± The disciples readied their weapons, advancing with gusto. ¡°Wait, wait, wait!¡± Shuxue said. ¡°Time out!¡± All of the disciples stopped. ¡°What this Bendan man said is incorrect! You should never take revenge for somebody dead!¡± Shuxue lifted up a finger as he spoke. ¡°You see, now that that guy is dead, he can never come back! Acting on the basis of the fact that he died would be acting according to the sunk cost fallacy!¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Okay, so what?¡± Bendan took out some paper and a pencil to take notes with. This is what is called, gaining benefits even in the midst of great danger. ¡°Even if you all die killing me, your one fellow disciple won¡¯t come back from the grave. You see, he is an irretrievable sunk cost!¡± Solera said solemnly. ¡°Taking revenge, according to the profound laws of mathematical economics, is not economically efficient. It¡¯s best just to let things go.¡± One Argent Heaven disciple nodded vigorously. ¡°Yes, now that we¡¯ve lost him, we¡¯ll never get Luyuan back. Besides, his name was Ji Luyuan. He was definitely an undercover agent from the Ji Clan!¡± ¡°Wow, you¡¯re right! Why didn¡¯t I think about that before?¡± ¡°Wait, but the two Ji¡¯s sound a little different.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, Ji is Ji is Ji!¡± Shuxue said gleefully. He hadn¡¯t thought about this train of logic. It took a genuine idiot to think up something that stupid. ¡°I was actually rooting out a traitor! You should all reward me with your jade slips!¡± In the distance, Zhujiao finally slayed the Ji Clan elder, but nobody paid any attention. ¡°No, that would be economically inefficient!¡± The Argent Heaven disciple who had previously been agreeing with Shuxue spoke again. ¡°Now that this boy has killed the traitor, it¡¯s in the past. The traitor is already dead; even if we rewarded the killer with jade slips, the traitor won¡¯t come back to life. There¡¯s no point in giving him rewards, because the death of the traitor is a sunk gain, which is a reverse sunk cost!¡± Bendan was excitedly scribbling onto the paper. ¡°As the rumors say, the profound mysteries of economics are completely counterintuitive! Never take revenge! Never give rewards! What will you tell us next, stock prices go up because people believe they will?¡± As Bendan was talking, Shuxue¡¯s eyelids were twitching from irritation. His own bullshit argument had been used against him! ¡°Bah, whatever. They probably only have trash jade slips anyway.¡± Shuxue muttered to himself, before raising his voice. ¡°Zhujiao, spare that old fool¡¯s life! I have a plan!¡± ¡°Fine!¡± Zhujiao shouted, teleporting back to Shuxue. His face was red from frustration. ¡°I used up, like, 420 hundred thousand Arithmetic pearls in my attacks! I¡¯m so poor now, I dropped a level!¡± Shuxue rolled his eyes. ¡°I already figured out the secret of that derivative shield. You¡¯re doing it all wrong, Zhujiao. Watch the master!¡± Shuxue leaped into the air, preparing to subdue the Argent Heaven elder. ¡°Should we help Elder Yin (meaning: Silver)?¡± An Argent Heaven disciple asked. ¡°No, because they are already fighting, that would be a sunk cost.¡± The economics expert nodded sagely. ¡°All right, let¡¯s get back to solving these mysterious equations then.¡± Bendan said. He began to shoot random numbers off at the strange monsters. Shuxue raised a single finger at Elder Yin, vibrating it countless times. Before Elder Yin could deactivate the derivative artifact, thousands of illusory 1s had already flown into it. After the first 50 1s, the derivative artifact began to crack. After the next 75, it was nearing the point of breaking. Another 75, and the derivative artifact shattered into pieces. The Argent Heaven elder stared in shock as he saw the dy/dx symbol dissipate away. ¡°Haha, I knew it!¡± Shuxue laughed. Elder Yin stood there in shock. ¡°H-how did you know?¡± He spluttered. Shuxue sneered at him. ¡°There are only 3 categories of shields: subtraction shields, ratio shields, and every other kind of shield!¡± ¡°Yeah, you don¡¯t say.¡± The elder growled. Ignoring him, Shuxue continued. ¡°Subtraction shields trade one unit of mathforce to dispel one unit of the enemy¡¯s mathforce attack. You couldn¡¯t possibly endure 3,000,000 units of mathforce, much less 39,916,800! It couldn¡¯t possibly be a subtraction shield.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know that, I¡¯m not an idiot!¡± The elder was growing impatient. ¡°Ratio shields block part of the attack, trading off mathforce at a favorable rate. For example, cutting 50% off a 1000 unit mathforce attack at the cost of 25% of the 1000 unit mathforce attack. Thus, you gain 500-250=250 units of mathforce, a favorable exchange, but you still have to deal with 500 units of mathforce. Can it be that you would take on any reasonable percentage of a number like 39,916,800?¡± ¡°I already know all this! How stupid do you think I am?¡± Elder Yin yelled. ¡°The third and final category, everything else! Your shield clearly wasn¡¯t a subtraction shield or a ratio shield, but a shield that fits into the third category! These third category shields do a certain kind of defense for a set cost, regardless of the magnitude of the attack it faces. Your shield could only be that third kind of shield, which is easily broken by repetitive attacks!¡± Shuxue said, smirking smugly. ¡°Yeah, no shit!¡± Elder Yin said. Then, his eyebrows lifted. ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s how you figured it out. You¡¯re a genius!¡± Shuxue began laughing. ¡°No need to say the obvious, elder of the Argent Heaven Sector. Right now, the fact that I¡¯ve gotten rid of your shield is as clear as the crystal odyssey pills my Sector subordinates at the profound Infinity pill furnace are concocting at this very moment! My friend here can kill you at any time. It¡¯ll take him a little while to recharge his mathforce channeling equation, but you¡¯ll still be dead meat! Unless you don¡¯t want to die, you had better do what I say!¡± Author note: ¡°It took a genuine idiot to think up something that stupid.¡± xD Chapter 18: It Sounds Like Something From a Poorly Written Fiction Elder Yin ground his teeth. No matter how he looked at it, he was outclassed in all respects by these two unfathomable kids. He, a mighty early Calculus stage expert, was five times stronger than anyone in the Algebra stage! Yet it was not this Algebra level punk that made him tremble in fright; it was the Arithmetic stage child who looked to be around five or six years old. Killing this boy should¡¯ve been as easy as squashing an ant, yet he had seen the illusory mountain Zhujiao had thrown at him with his own eyes. If he did not have that derivative artifact, the tomb itself would not have survived the impact, much less him! ¡°All right,¡± he said, gritting his teeth. ¡°What do you want us to do? Kidnap some little girls? Ten thousand hours of community service? Please, let it be the former. I hate community service.¡± ¡°Oh, your disciples will be doing community service. As for you, you can sit right there.¡± Shuxue pointed at the ground smugly. ¡°By the way, Zhujiao will be reclaiming his Calculus pearls from you, thief.¡± Elder Yin looked at the Calculus pearls scattered across the floor, but they had already disappeared. ¡°Yeah, whatever.¡± He muttered. Calculus pearls were valuable, but this was by no means a huge loss. His life was worth much more than forty Calculus pearls! ¡°Hey, big bro!¡± Zhujiao was next to the puddle formed by a deceased Ji Clan member, his face horrified. ¡°You killed a pretty harem member! Who told you you could do that? You¡¯re a villain!¡± Shuxue shifted his gaze over to the puddle of blood and viscera. Indeed, it was one of the females he had slayed. ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue sniffed. ¡°I just broke all 3 of his legs, because he gave me even less face than the others.¡± ¡°Oh, all right then.¡± Zhujiao amiably nodded. ¡°Pretty boys should all die.¡± Shuxue blanched a little upon hearing this. If Shuxue didn¡¯t slap everyone he came across, he would be regarded as the number 1 male beauty in the entire plane! Zhujiao¡¯s Plot Armor was the cornerstone of Shuxue¡¯s plans, but it was capricious and bloodthirsty. Who knew at what time it could manipulate Zhujiao into turning on him? ¡°All right, you Argent Heaven trash!¡± Shuxue shouted. ¡°Keep plugging in numbers to those equations. I shall be looking at the solutions in the meantime.¡± Pulling out the 2 papers he had looted, Shuxue began theorizing on how these foreign monsters should be solved. Time flowed like water, and many incense sticks could have been burned 1 at a time if someone was inclined to do so. In the meantime, Elder Yin began to chat with Zhujiao. ¡°So, master expert, what¡¯s -¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Elder Yin blinked, astonished by his complete inability to fathom these 2 boys. He hadn¡¯t even finished asking his question, yet the boy had already predicted his question and answered it! His brow sweating, he ventured forth with another question. ¡°Then what¡¯s the name of your brother there?¡± Shuxue snapped out of his meditation to look at Zhujiao. ¡°What the fuck are you doing, Zhujiao! They¡¯re not supposed to know our names!¡± ¡°But I¡¯m Zhujiao, Grand Ancestor of the Infinity Sector in the Weakest Continent!¡± A vein began to throb in Shuxue¡¯s eyelid. Meanwhile, Elder Yin smiled amiably. ¡°No need to worry, good friend. I was just curious as to what kind of expert subdued me, Elder Yin, a mighty elder of the Argent Heaven Sector!¡± These were the words he said, but inside his mind, he was laughing to himself. The moment this kid let him go, he would go back to the Argent Heaven Sector and bring thirty middle Calculus stage experts to go raze this Infinity Sector to the ground! Shuxue looked at Elder Yin, highly displeased but not too angry. ¡°You actually think you can fool me, the most intelligent and exalted future ruler of the entire Tesseract with your silly little scheme? I know you want to return to your Sector to gather thirty middle Calculus stage experts to go raze my Infinity Sector to the ground!¡± Elder Yin¡¯s face paled, and he hurriedly put up his hands. ¡°No, no, no, I would never do something like that! You spared my life, how could I possibly repay this favor with such an underhanded, lowly move? It would be an action unworthy of someone of my standing.¡± Shuxue sneered. ¡°Uh-huh. Well, now that you know this, I might as well come clean. I am Shuxue, Patriarch of the Infinity Sector of the Weakest Continent, and you are Elder Yin, someone who will never speak of the things that occurred in this place!¡± ¡°Of course I won¡¯t.¡± Elder Yin nodded vigorously. At this time, Shuxue had walked right next to him. ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand,¡± Shuxue had an evil smirk on his place as he spoke quietly. ¡°You won¡¯t tell anyone because you won¡¯t want to. You see, nobody is going to believe a word you say. Because this is what you will say. Two kids, one an Arithmetic stage imbecile and the other an Algebra stage genius are the leaders of a branch of the Infinity Sector, which doesn¡¯t even exist in this plane. Not only that, of all continents in this plane, that branch is situated in the Weakest Continent. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Not only that, you met those two in Continent 10, 20 continents away from the Weakest Continent. Not only that, they killed all the disciples of both the Ji Clan and Argent Heaven, as well as the Ji Clan elder. Then, they solved the tomb that couldn¡¯t be solved for 50 years and then stored the entire tomb into the Arithmetic stage kid¡¯s forehead and teleported away! Tell me, will anyone believe a word of that? It sounds like something from a poorly written fiction!¡± Elder Yin¡¯s face grew progressively more pale. ¡°Wait a moment, some of those things didn¡¯t even happen... ¡± Shuxue¡¯s smile grew wider, and Elder Yin¡¯s face grew so pale it became translucent. ¡°You see, Elder Yin, even if they did believe you, you would lose all face! Getting beaten by two kids from the Weakest Continent? What a joke! Here¡¯s the story you¡¯re going to tell when you get back to your Sector: the Ji Clan elder didn¡¯t give you face, so you killed him. Nobody would ever question that story. People die all the time because they didn¡¯t give face!¡± Elder Yin¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°He and I have been friends for 2 decades. Nobody¡¯s going to believe that.¡± Shuxue shrugged and began looking at the papers again. ¡°You could tell the truth and lose all face, I suppose.¡± Sweat beaded down Elder Yin¡¯s forehead. No matter what he said, it was likely¡­ that the Ji Clan would be furious! There would undoubtedly be war between the two Sectors! Several hours passed in the blink of an eye. Shuxue continuously pored over the various problems and their answers. Finally, he stood up triumphantly. ¡°Haha, I¡¯ve got it!¡± Shuxue smiled, burning the papers to a crisp. ¡°Hey, where¡¯s Daoli?¡± Zhujiao shrugged. ¡°I teleported her back home. She was very mad.¡± ¡°Ah, good for her!¡± Shuxue said cheerily. ¡°I¡¯m so glad to be rid of that woman, she was always getting in the way.¡± With that, Shuxue began mass murdering the monsters. Even the five-variable dot product monsters were easily subjugated by Shuxue! He was like a crazed death god, continuously killing monsters while generating pearls and worldly filth. However, he was stuck for an entire day on the huge box monsters, which he could not figure out how to solve. When one of them finally fell to Shuxue, it dropped one pearl. ¡°Wow, these pearls from that big box monster are worth 10,000 Arithmetic pearls each! 1 Algebra pearl is 100 Arithmetic pearls and 1 Geometry pearl is worth 31 Arithmetic pearls and 1 Trigonometry Pearl is worth 3020 Arithmetic pearls and 1 Calculus pearl is worth 5,000 Arithmetic pearls, but these pearls are worth 10,000 Arithmetic pearls!¡± Zhujiao shouted as he picked one up. ¡°So cool!¡± Meanwhile, Elder Yin and the Argent Heaven disciples were also boggled out of their minds. ¡°Holy shit! This guy actually figured out how to kill all these monsters.¡± One of them collapsed to his knees, astonished. ¡°He¡¯s a genius unparalleled in the entire plane! His future is limitless!.¡± Another disciple shook his head disbelievingly. ¡°Wow, all of a sudden, he looks really attractive.¡± A female disciple gushed as she surreptitiously loosened her robe. ¡°Before, I thought he was ugly because of his constant scowl, but I can ignore it now that he¡¯s a prodigy! I hope I can marry him!¡± Shuxue was about to open the first chest of the pile of chests, but hearing all these statements, he walked back. As he approached the girl, she blushed and began to strip. ¡°Remember, you have to take responsibility,¡± she said, giggling. SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! SLAP! Every single disciple was slapped. Even Elder Yin was not spared from Shuxue¡¯s wrath. ¡°Filthy casuals!¡± He exclaimed. ¡°It¡¯s not only that I¡¯m the smartest person in the world, but also that all of you are all trash! I may be a blossoming flower, but I am in a limpid pond as well! I am the highest quality, most intelligent person in the Tesseract, but you fools use the lowest common denominator, yourselves, to label me a genius? What empty words! Even a common blade of grass would be superior in intellect to any one of you. I may be an unparalleled genius, but that is not a conclusion that can be drawn when compared to inepts such as you all, who are as common as sand on a beach!¡± A disciple was about to say something, but thirty quadratics dragons shot out from Shuxue¡¯s fingers, felling every single male disciple. Shuxue began to whisper in Elder Yin¡¯s ear. ¡°You fools can leave now, but do remember, Elder Yin, what will happen if any of these female disciples were to talk about what happened here. What¡¯s more important, honesty or face?¡± Shuxue walked back to the treasure chests smugly. He couldn¡¯t kill the girls in front of Zhujiao, but they would die nonetheless. Everybody knew face was more important than the lives of others. Chapter 19: Im the Sphinx! Shuxue was about to open the first chest again, but then he turned around to the remaining disciples. The girls quailed in fright; he had killed thirty disciples in an instant. If Shuxue wished to kill them as well, there would be nothing they could do. ¡°Hey, you can all fuck off now.¡± Shuxue waved his hands at Elder Yin and the disciples, shooing them away. ¡°I¡¯m going into secluded meditation. If you guys were here, it wouldn¡¯t be secluded.¡± Elder Yin hesitated, clearly unwilling to go. He wanted to see what kinds of scrolls were in the chests! Still, if Shuxue said he had to go, then he did. ¡°Until we meet again.¡± Elder Yin bowed politely, then led the disciples out. ¡°Should I go out, too?¡± Zhujiao asked curiously. ¡°Nah, I just don¡¯t want them to see the contents in this chest. People have big mouths, you know. It¡¯s never good to show off.¡± Shuxue said calmly. ¡°But I love showing off!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°I haven¡¯t suicided because I love seeing people¡¯s reactions.¡± ¡°It¡¯s commit suicide, not suicided.¡± Shuxue muttered as he flipped open the chest. Brilliant rays of light burst forth. Inside the chest¡­ were jade slips! ¡°YESSSSS!¡± Shuxue screamed, immediately taking one out and smashing it onto his forehead. ¡°Systems of equations! Having more than 2 variables! How profound!¡± Another one came out. Shuxue¡¯s body began to get stained by worldly filth. ¡°V-v-vectors! So that¡¯s what these are! What a genius method to write out systems of equations! This makes so much sense, it¡¯s ridiculous how I¡¯ve never thought of it before!¡± Thirty minutes later, all the chests were stained with worldly filth. If Shuxue were in his right ming, he would have realized that he had violated the first law of thermodynamics. It simply wasn¡¯t possible to shed so much worldly filth, but he had. In the presence of Plot, all rules were made to be broken. Even the first law of thermodynamics was not immune to Plot. ¡°Linear Algebra.¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°A branch of the laws that has been forgotten in our Weakest Plane, yet is twice as strong as the Calculus stage! Ha ha ha¡­¡± Shuxue was extremely pleased. He was undoubtedly the one and only Linear Algebra stage expert in the entire plane! ¡°I always knew, deep down, that I was the best. After all, I¡¯m me. It¡¯s a fundamental postulate; how would the world work if I wasn¡¯t the best? But today, I¡¯ve finally found proof that I¡¯m the best!¡± A tear trickled down Shuxue¡¯s face. He was about to say more, but the mathforce pervading the air began to coalesce into a staircase. ¡°Whoaaaa!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°We¡¯re still not done with the tomb!¡± Shuxue looked at it, and began to laugh madly. ¡°It looks like the path to enlightenment does not end at Linear Algebra. Let¡¯s see what¡¯s next!¡± They ran up the staircase as fast as they could, even though they could¡¯ve teleported. A hole opened up in the ceiling as the staircase connected with it. Shuxue could see strange monsters hopping around. These monsters¡­ they had more letters than numbers! They had to be extremely profound!¡± BOOM! A humongous winged tiger with a human head landed on the staircase, sending trembles running through the entire dungeon. Shuxue and Zhujiao skidded to a stop in shock. *burp* ¡°Excuse me.¡± The strange animal said. Making a gargling sound, it spat a loogie onto the staircase. ¡°Grooosssssss.¡± Zhujiao exclaimed. He lifted his finger up to attack, but Shuxue immediately slapped his hand down. His face was pale with sweat. Because on the skin of this animal, dy/dx symbols flickered on and off! It was covered with derivative armor! Zhujiao could shoot out disgustingly powerful attacks, but they would do absolutely nothing against derivative armor. Not to mention, Zhujiao¡¯s attacks would consume an obscene amount of pearls. After that last fight, the Plot Armor was definitely running low on mathforce. Offending this¡­ thing, that would be asking for death! ¡°Listen up, motherfuckers.¡± The thing said, brushing her long hair aside with a paw. ¡°I¡¯m the Sphinx, and I¡¯m bored!¡± ¡°Hi, Bored!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± Shuxue and the Sphinx both shouted. Shuxue¡¯s hand slapped his left cheek, while the Sphinx¡¯s paw slapped his right. For some reason, Plot Armor didn¡¯t bother to block it, and Zhujiao stood there, not sure which way to topple over. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Esteemed Sphinx.¡± Shuxue knelt down, kowtowing on the staircase as best he could. ¡°Might I ask, what do you wish from us? Kidnap a little girl? 1,000 hours of community service?¡± ¡°I¡¯m telling you motherfuckers to listen the fuck up!¡± The Sphinx roared, smashing the staircase with its paw. ¡°I¡¯m the guardian of floor 5 of this motherfucking, shitty ass tomb, and I¡¯ve been the guardian for 50 goddamn years ever since that little bitch ass piece of shit motherfucker¡­¡± After a minute, the Sphinx finished cursing. ¡°...mathematical law created me and put me in this hellhole! And I¡¯m bored!¡± Shuxue nodded slowly. With crazy beings, it was best to just roll with whatever they said, even if they dared to blaspheme the holy mathematical laws. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Now you little shits see here, I¡¯m only supposed to appear at the end of the 5th floor. But you filthy casuals are like muddy silt on the surface of a limpid pond! None of you possess the goddamn brains to conquer this damn tomb! It¡¯s not even a particularly fancy tomb! It¡¯s like this is the motherfucking Weakest Plane or something. My life is so pitiful.¡± The Sphinx spat off the side of the staircase, watching the spittle go down. It landed on a monster, reducing it into mathforce. A tear trickled down Shuxue¡¯s eye. When he spoke, it was with a voice full of emotion. ¡°I completely agree with you. Everybody except for me is a complete and utter moron. Sometimes, I lie on my bed and -¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± The Sphinx shouted. ¡°I¡¯m here to make your life difficult, not to listen to your sob stories! Now listen here, I¡¯m going to ask you two meatbags a question you can¡¯t possibly answer without knowledge of derivatives! If you can¡¯t answer it, you both die!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°But we don¡¯t know derivatives!¡± ¡°Suck a fat dick, bitch!¡± The Sphinx exclaimed. ¡°My struggles are harder than yours, you aren¡¯t allowed to complain. Also, you guys can¡¯t leave. You have to participate, or else I automatically kill both of you. Don¡¯t think I can¡¯t kill both of you. I¡¯m an Early Late Calculus stage Spirit! Resistance is futile!¡± ¡°Plot!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Teleport us out of here, now! Why aren¡¯t you hearing me, Plot?!¡± Neither Shuxue nor Zhujiao teleported. ¡°Curse my luck.¡± Shuxue moaned. ¡°To die so soon after reaching the peak peak peak peak Algebra stage, Linear Algebra. I knew that Plot Armor was unreliable from the very beginning.¡± Zhujiao was trembling, but his face was hard and cold. ¡°All right, Sphinx poophead! Tell us your question!¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up! Let me tell you two the question!¡± The Sphinx conjured a book out of nowhere and began flipping through it. ¡°Just let me look through the textbook for a good problem.¡± Several minutes passed. ¡°I¡¯m going to die, I¡¯m going to die¡­¡± Shuxue whispered painfully to himself. He hung on to every second, trying to savor the last moments of his life. Yet in the time it took an incense stick to burn, the Sphinx had found a suitable question. It was finally time to die. The Sphinx began cackling evilly, much like Shuxue would do back when he wasn¡¯t about to die. ¡°All right, I¡¯ve picked the hardest question in the textbook! Let the game show begin!¡± The Sphinx pounded on the staircase yet again. ¡°Listen up, motherfuckers! You have 30 seconds to answer the question, starting from the moment I finish asking. Once you finish answering, a red X will appear above my head, and I will eat you. Let¡¯s begin!¡± ¡°Ahem!¡± The Sphinx cleared its throat. ¡°What class of functions is not definable by the ordinary operations of arithmetic and algebra, has infinite derivatives, and surpasses all other functions in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn?¡± Music began to play. Above the Sphinx, numbers formed from mathforce appeared. 30¡­ 29¡­ Zhujiao smashed down on a button in front of him. ¡°Zhujiao!¡± ¡°What the fuck, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue screamed, wetting his pants in despair. ¡°You¡¯ve killed us both!¡± ¡°INCORRECT, MOTHAFUCKAS!¡± The Sphinx licked its lips greedily. ¡°THE ANSWER IS EXPONEN- wait, what?¡± A green circle had appeared above its head. Chapter 20: The Limit Shuxue quickly got up from the fetal position he had assumed. As he grabbed the change of pants Zhujiao handed over, he began laughing. ¡°You did it, my boy Zhujiao! That¡¯s not a red X, that¡¯s a green O! We¡¯re not going to die! We¡¯re not-¡± ¡°Shut the fuck up!¡± The Sphinx was hopping up and down in anger, sending tremors through the staircase. ¡°What the fuck is going on here?¡± The Sphinx continued raging, but made no move to kill the two. ¡°All right, Sphinx! I have no time to listen to your sob stories. Let us through.¡± Shuxue said, his ever-present sneer back on his face. ¡°Nope.¡± The Sphinx said, laying down in front of the staircase. ¡°You need to have broken past the Limit to enter this floor. Otherwise, you¡¯ll definitely die. Well, actually, now that I think about that, you motherfuckers can enter.¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes widened as he listened. ¡°The Limit!¡± He exhaled a huge breath. ¡°The great barrier between Algebra and Calculus, the divide that separates two great realms of mathematics!¡± ¡°Yep.¡± The Sphinx sniffed. ¡°You fuckers can come back later, if no Calculus stage casuals haven¡¯t conquered the rest of this tomb by then. Heh.¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes narrowed. If Zhujiao didn¡¯t have an interspatial forehead, then he would have just dug himself into a huge hole! Previously, nobody had been able to conquer the Linear Algebra floor of the tomb. Yet, Shuxue had, unlocking the fourth floor as a result. It was likely that if the tomb remained here, it would quickly be conquered by a Calculus stage expert, preventing Shuxue from reaping the rewards of the tomb. ¡°Heheh, lucky I have an interspatial forehead right here.¡± Shuxue snickered to himself. ¡°We can go inside, right?¡± Zhujiao asked the Sphinx. ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t give a fuck what you do.¡± The Sphinx yawned, going up the staircase and stepping aside. ¡°Big bro Shuxue! Let¡¯s go inside!¡± Zhujiao yelled excitedly. SLAP! ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what the hell that tiger chicken harlot said?¡± Shuxue hissed. ¡°If we enter, we¡¯ll die! Only people who have broken through the Limit can possibly survive the next floor!¡± ¡°No problem!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°We can wing it!¡± ¡°The Laws damn you, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue wiped his face. ¡°The only way to break through the Limit is by pressing a Limit jade slip to your forehead and gaining enlightenment. I can¡¯t just wing it like I did the last floor.¡± The Sphinx guffawed. ¡°Yeah, the Limit is a completely new way of thinking! It¡¯s not about numbers, it¡¯s about number behaviors! Breaking the limit requires either a Limit jade slip or an insight. Since you guys are dumbasses, you can¡¯t possibly get an insight into the Limit.¡± Zhujiao was puzzled. ¡°Sphinx sis, you know what limits are, right?¡± ¡°Of course I do!¡± The Sphinx grew annoyed. ¡°Who the fuck do you think I am?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you teach big bro Shuxue how to break the limit!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Zhujiao, you¡¯re a damn retard! The only ways to learn math are through sudden insights from observing nature or mathematical techniques and by pressing a jade slip to your forehead! You can¡¯t teach math! That¡¯s just impossible!¡± ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Just think about how ridiculous the world would be if you could teach math!¡± Shuxue exclaimed. ¡°It would only take one person to discover a new form of mathematics, and then everyone could then learn it from him! Anyone would be able to become a Calculus stage expert if they wanted to! I shudder just from thinking about what kind of clusterfuck this Tesseract would be!¡± Shuxue shuddered for half a minute before continuing. ¡°Jade slips crack after a set amount of forehead presses. Otherwise, everyone would just be sharing jade slips and nobody would ever fight with each other because they would all be learning math! Clearly, you can see people fighting, so clearly it¡¯s impossible to teach math.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Zhujiao began to nod slowly. ¡°That makes sense. What¡¯s the prize for beating this limit floor, big sis Sphinx?¡± ¡°Limit jade slips.¡± The Sphinx drawled. Zhujiao looked like his head was about to explode. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t get it!¡± ¡°Good lord, what can you possibly not be getting, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue rubbed the sweat off his forehead. ¡°You have to learn the Limit before completing this floor! But your prize for finishing this floor are jade slips that teaches the Limit! That makes no sense!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Zhujiao, your questions are just getting stupider and stupider.¡± Shuxue sighed. ¡°Why would it be any other way? Are you saying the prize for beating the Linear Algebra floor would be a Limit jade slip? Just think about how ridiculous that sounds! Why would conquering the Linear Algebra floor possibly give me some jade slip other than Linear Algebra jade slips? That¡¯s what makes no sense!¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Yeah, yeah, you two can fuck off now.¡± The Sphinx snorted. ¡°I feel like my intelligence is decreasing just by being near the both of you.¡± Zhujiao was about to open his mouth, but Shuxue shook his head. ¡°Let¡¯s go kick out the people currently trespassing on our property, Zhujiao.¡± ¡°All right!¡± Zhujiao shouted. The monsters no longer harassed them, so they descended down two staircases to the second floor in no time at all. ¡°Oh, hey Zhujiao!¡± A female pearl farmer greeted him. ¡°Where¡¯s Daoli?¡± ¡°Fuck off!¡± Zhujiao shouted, amplifying his voice so that the entire second floor heard him. ¡°This is my property! You guys need to get out!¡± A man with spiky blue hair walked up, a frown on his face. ¡°Hold up, Zhujiao. What¡¯s goi-¡± BOOM! A quadratics dragon slammed into the man, reducing him to meat patty. ¡°This is my warning to all trespassing thieves.¡± Shuxue lifted both arms up, sneering. ¡°You all have 10 seconds to vacate the premises!¡± Screaming, the huge group began running for the exit. After 10 seconds, he began shooting out more quadratics dragons. ¡°Hahaha!¡± Shuxue began laughing. ¡°With my understanding of linear algebra, my attacks are now multidimensional!¡± An arithmetic dragon launched from his hands and disappeared into nowhere. ¡°Only, it¡¯s completely useless. Maybe if I can get the attack to return to this dimension¡­¡± Shuxue pondered the implications for a moment before returning to his massacre. ¡°All right, big bro Shuxue! Everyone¡¯s gone, even the harem members!¡± Zhujiao smiled cheerily. They teleported outside the tomb. Zhujiao smashed his forehead into the tomb walls, and the entire place instantly disappeared into his interspatial forehead. ¡°Well, looks like time to teleport back home, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue licked his lips as he thought about the Linear Algebra slips he had put in Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. ¡°Wait a moment, big bro.¡± Zhujiao sounded sick. A dark hand shot out of his forehead, clawing the air. Shuxue backed up, his eyes bugging. ¡°What the fuck!¡± The long-haired head of a pale-faced man dressed in all black grew out of Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. With a push, the man extracted himself from the fore head and tumbled onto the floor as Zhujiao spewed vomit everywhere. Shuxue stared at him, his face pale. What the hell was this? ¡°What in the motherfucking blazes was that!¡± The man shouted with a deep, guttural voice. ¡°I was just sitting in my motherfucking chair, doing absolutely nothing, and all of a sudden I¡¯m in, in, in your forehead, you little shit kid!¡± Shuxue¡¯s mouth dropped. ¡°Are you the Sphinx?¡± ¡°Fuck yeah!¡± The man shouted. ¡°Who else do you think I am?¡± Zhujiao looked up, a little dribble of vomit trickling down his cheek. ¡°But you¡¯re an ugly man!¡± ¡°What the fuck! You little shit, who do you think you¡¯re talking to? I may be a motherfucking Nascent Spirit lion with bird wings and a woman¡¯s head, but in my heart I¡¯m a man!¡± Fire shot out of the Sphinx¡¯s eyes as he glared at Zhujiao. ¡°But you¡¯re not a man!¡± Zhujiao looked boggled out of his mind again. ¡°Check your privilege, you filthy shitlord! There¡¯s a mind-body disconnect between who I am and who I am. I was born into the wrong body, you hear me?¡± The Sphinx sniffed. ¡°But I do shift into this form whenever I can. Sometimes, I wonder about the poor souls who can¡¯t shapeshift into whatever they know they are.¡± ¡°...¡± Shuxue shrugged. ¡°Okay, but we¡¯re taking this tomb with us.¡± The Sphinx eyed Shuxue, then snickered. ¡°I don¡¯t give a fuck, but I¡¯m a Nascent Spirit, so I¡¯m tied to the tomb.¡± ¡°Cool, big bro sis thing Sphinx!¡± Zhujiao shouted. They instantly teleported outside the restaurant they had been to a few days ago. ¡°I¡¯m going to go eat!¡± They walked in and sat at a table. The Sphinx began cursing at the menu, but Shuxue ignored him. Suddenly, a group of rowdy men entered the restaurant. ¡°Such bad luck, to have no open tables.¡± One of them cursed. Another swept across this room with his gaze. He pointed at Shuxue, who was pouring himself some tea. ¡°Haha, who said there were no open tables. Isn¡¯t that an open table right there? Even though it¡¯ll be a bit crowded, all of us sitting together at that table isn¡¯t impossible.¡± The first man looked in Shuxue¡¯s direction. ¡°Haha, I have eyes yet cannot see an empty table. Let¡¯s go sit down.¡± The group all walked in front of Shuxue, before passing him and sitting at the vacant table behind him. Chapter 21: The Ultimate Fictional Artifact, Plot Just as the first man sat down, a slightly overweight youth behind him spoke up. ¡°Hey, boss, when have we ever sat at an empty table? I thought we were going to take a table! If you just sit at an empty table, you¡¯re not taking it, because there¡¯s nobody to take it from.¡± The chubby boy said, prodding the man. The man sighed, running a hand through his fiery orange hair. ¡°I don¡¯t know, man, it¡¯s just been a horrible day for us. First, we were spectating that competition match where that brown-haired kid totally should¡¯ve won. But to our astonishment, he actually lost to that pipsqueak girl with the light sword! It just defies all common sense.¡± Another youth, a skinny boy, groaned. ¡°The Boss is right. This day sucks. After that, we went to the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts to hunt that big-boobed woman with the light sword who crippled the 3 legs of the young master of Ji! Little did we know, we actually ran into that fearsome black bear with the light sword who has been stealing the clothing of poor young women who venture into the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts to bathe!¡± Shuxue sipped his tea as he listened to their life story with complete disinterest. The Boss wiped some sweat off his brow. ¡°The bear only let us go when we gave it all our clothes! What a humiliation, I¡¯m not even a young woman! That¡¯s the only reason I¡¯m wearing this ratty T-shirt that we got from killing those merchants. They had such poor fashion sense, nobody ever would have bought these clothes anyway.¡± The skinny kid shook his head. ¡°Today¡¯s a horrible day, I¡¯m telling you. I¡¯m not feeling up for a fight over a restaurant table.¡± The chubby boy vigorously shook his head, making his fat rolls seem like waves on an ocean. ¡°No, guys. What you all need to do is cool yourselves down by blowing up! You gotta vent your frustrations out on people whom are definitely weaker than you! Otherwise, bottling up your anger will only lead to future complications.¡± The Boss blinked, and sat up ramrod straight. ¡°My boy, you¡¯re right! I need to go on a power trip and beat people up! That¡¯ll make me feel much better about my day!¡± The chubby boy puffed up proudly. ¡°That¡¯s right! I love living vicariously through the Boss as he savages people, because that way I can, at least for a moment, forget about how pathetic my personal life is!¡± He began to tear up. ¡°I¡¯m 25 and still a fat virgin who even the prostitutes won¡¯t copulate with, but cheering on the Boss makes me feel much better about myself!¡± The skinny boy frowned. ¡°Well, all right. But how are we going to find somebody weak enough and stupid enough to start a completely unreasonable fight with us, where we are definitely in the right? That won¡¯t ever happen in real life.¡± The Boss stood up, patting the skinny boy on the head. ¡°Carpe diem, my boy. Seize the day! You gotta make your own life. If you can¡¯t find any stupid fights to join, you gotta start them yourself!¡± He turned around, smashing both fists on Shuxue¡¯s table. ¡°Get out of my table, trash!¡± The chubby boy laughed. ¡°A tall, skinny man and 2 kids. We can definitely stomp on these guys!¡± The restaurant exploded into flames. A few seconds later, Shuxue, Zhujiao, and the Sphinx walked out from the carnage. ¡°Damn, it feels good to be the Sphinx.¡± The Sphinx smirked as he licked some blood off his lips. ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t have made that place go BOOOOM! after you ate them, Sphinx big bro.¡± Zhujiao scratched his head as he walked. ¡°They were already dead.¡± ¡°But cool Sphinxes always walk away from explosions.¡± The Sphinx grinned, revealing bloodstains on his sharp teeth. ¡°Yeah, whatever.¡± Shuxue sighed. ¡°Can we just go home? I have jade slips which need to be pressed to my forehead.¡± ¡°No!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°We¡¯re going to the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts! By walking!¡± ¡°What! Why?¡± Shuxue paled. ¡°Mathematical beasts are too unorganized to get any good jade slips from dungeons. This is a completely pointless venture. Let¡¯s go back, Zhujiao. Just think about all the cool things our Infinity Sector must have built while we were gone.¡± ¡°No!¡± Zhujiao folded his arms. ¡°Plot wants us to go to the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts!¡± ¡°I¡¯ve about had it with Plot.¡± Shuxue said, his face dark. ¡°I¡¯ve never even met Plot. Why do we gotta listen to whatever you say it says?¡± ¡°Just do it!¡± Zhujiao yelled, walking off into the distance. Sighing, Shuxue and the Sphinx followed him. ¡°What the fuck is Plot, anyway?¡± The Sphinx asked curiously. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Shuxue fumed. ¡°But it gave Zhujiao an interspatial forehead, Plot Armor, and teleportation abilities, and using Plot requires Zhujiao to gather large amounts of pearls for their mathforce.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fucking awesome!¡± The Sphinx¡¯s eyes gleamed. ¡°I always wanted an interspatial forehead!¡± He took out some white powder and sniffed it up his nose. ¡°Ah, fuck yeah.¡± Zhujiao halted in his tracks, causing Shuxue to bump into his back. ¡°What the hell are you doing, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue groaned. He looked to the side and saw a black bear sitting in a river. ¡°That¡¯s the black bear!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°If we kill it, we get a bounty!¡± Shuxue looked at the black bear. ¡°That¡¯s a fucking bear, Zhujiao. How many bears are there in the Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts?¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. 1! Completely ignoring him, Zhujiao began to attack the black bear. Roaring, the bear stood up on its hind legs and swiped at Zhujiao. BOOM! The bear was sent crashing into the ground with a single palm from the Sphinx. ¡°Heh, wildlife.¡± The Sphinx snorted. ¡°Shuxue, go harvest its toenails for me. I¡¯ve always wondered what black bear toenail powder would be like if you sniffed it.¡± ¡°Fuck off.¡± Shuxue snorted. He stared down at the bear¡¯s corpse. Its head was a puddle of gunk and blood. ¡°You see, Zhujiao, this was just a normal bear. Completel-¡± ¡°Wait, did you just say Zhujiao?¡± A voice could be heard from the bear¡¯s neck, which was still gushing out blood. The head of a man with golden eyebrows and a curly mustache popped out. ¡°AHHH! OH MY GOD!¡± Zhujiao screamed, jumping back and shooting an attack at the bear¡¯s body. 2! BOOM! The Sphinx swiped again, and the man¡¯s head exploded into pulp. After a moment, a big breasted beauty with large, round eyes emerged from the man¡¯s body. ¡°Calm down, guys. I¡¯m just trying to ask a questi-¡± The Sphinx was about to swipe again, but Zhujiao waved his arms. ¡°Hold up, don¡¯t kill a harem member!¡± ¡°Yeah, listen to me!¡± The girl said, an annoyed look on her face. ¡°No, never listen to harem members! Sphinx big bro, you don¡¯t need to listen to her, but you can¡¯t kill her either!¡± Puffing his chest up, Zhujiao spun around. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± ¡°Me too!¡± The girl exclaimed. Zhujiao blinked. ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m from the Zhujiao clan.¡± The girl blinked. ¡°Can it be that you¡¯re not from the Zhujiao clan as well?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the Zhujiao clan?¡± Shuxue asked, puzzled. He had studied up on every major Sector of the Tesseract, and had never heard of any such thing. ¡°The top society in the Multiverse!¡± The girl said, then sighed. ¡°You guys from the Tesseract wouldn¡¯t know, but there is another realm known as the Multiverse, created by the Laws of Writing.¡± ¡°All right, cut the bullshit.¡± The Sphinx snorted, waving its paw around. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing.¡± ¡°Yes, there is, or my name isn¡¯t Jijian!¡± The girl folded her arms. ¡°The Zhujiao Clan was the uncontested number one Society in the entire Multiverse! We had countless experts and we could give nobody face, and that would be fine. Many of us would even have forty-nine concubines, seven for each day of the week. As a result, our Zhujiao Clan grew like an unchecked cancer.¡± ¡°Wow, tell me more!¡± Zhujiao grew excited. ¡°Super cool! Wait, what¡¯s a day?¡± Ignoring his question, the girl continued. ¡°Our rise to supremacy was because our Grand Ancestor, Zhujiao, obtained the ultimate Fictional Artifact, Plot. With it, we could spread throughout the universes of the Multiverse, while also being the sole Society in the top universe of the Multiverse!¡± A starry look was in the girl¡¯s eyes as she talked. Then, her gaze turned bitter. ¡°But all that changed when the Grand Ancestor disappeared, along with Plot!¡± ¡°Over the countless years, our Zhujiao Clan offended too many people by following Plot¡¯s orders!¡± She said grimly. ¡°The moment the other Societies in the Multiverse discovered that the Grand Ancestor went missing, there was an immense bloodbath throughout the countless universes we inhabited. Our Clan had quadrillions of experts, but it wasn¡¯t enough without Plot Armor.¡± ¡°That damn Zhujiao Grand Ancestor!¡± Zhujiao shouted angrily. ¡°How dare he disappear!¡± ¡°Battles shook the Multiverse as our Zhujiao Clan was ruthlessly hunted down by our enemies!¡± Jijian said, gritting her teeth in anger. ¡°We withdrew to the number one universe, the Zhujiao universe, but countless Societies decided to band together and create the anti-Zhujiao alliance. They Ascended to our personal universe to finish us off! In just under 4 years, over 2,000,000,000,000,000 of us died fighting in the galaxies of the Zhujiao universe!¡± ¡°These are some ridiculous numbers.¡± Shuxue muttered. ¡°What¡¯s a galaxy?¡± ¡°Wow, you guys suck! You should¡¯ve killed them all!¡± Zhujiao yelled in exasperation. ¡°Alas, our adversaries were endless. The Grand Ancestor simply made too many enemies. He took the daughter of the Golden Legion¡¯s general as his wife, and then took the general¡¯s wife as his grandson¡¯s concubine! In a tournament, the Grand Ancestor¡¯s son permanently broke all 3 legs of the Vermilion Universe Head, preventing him from ever engaging in sexual relations again!¡± Jijian sighed. ¡°The list goes on. Why did Plot have him do such things?¡± ¡°What an idiot! He just shouldn¡¯t have listened to Plot!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°I never would¡¯ve done something like that in his place!¡± ¡°It was too late.¡± Jijian shook her head. ¡°Because they had bottled up their anger for so long, the anti-Zhujiao alliance needed to vent their frustrations, and they waged a campaign of extermination. As a result, the Head of the Zhujiao Clan could only open a portal for us to flee into random places in the Tesseract. We are scattered throughout these countless, foreign planes, a vestige of our former selves.¡± She sighed, a defeated expression on her face. ¡°Plot was our greatest blessing, but also our greatest curse. Now, we have nothing left.¡± Chapter 22: Return to the Sector Jijian¡¯s gaze grew cloudy as she looked bitterly off into the distance. Shuxue stood there, processing the information. Zhujiao, lips trembling, walked up and hugged her. The Sphinx rolled his eyes. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t be a pussy, man. You gotta get over the deaths of over 2,000,000,000,000,000 family members and move on with your life.¡± Jijian balked, pulling a light sword out of her throat. Shuxue snapped out of his thoughts and jumped in front of Jijian, shouting. ¡°Hold up, hold up, calm down!¡± Shuxue said, his face pale. ¡°You might stab someone¡¯s throat with that!¡± ¡°This little fucker gave me no face!¡± Jijian shrieked, waving her sword around as Zhujiao clung to her, his face conveniently pressing into her ample chest. ¡°He¡¯s courting death!¡± ¡°You wanna go? You wanna go?¡± The Sphinx sneered, his fingers transforming into lion claws. ¡°Hold me back, bro. Hold me back!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s all calm down and be rational people.¡± Shuxue lifted both hands up soothingly. ¡°The Sphinx likes pissing people off, and Zhujiao likes pissing people off, and you like pissing people off. Why don¡¯t we offend people together? From a mathematical perspective, that would be much more efficient!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like offending people, it just happens naturally!¡± Jijian grumbled, calming down. ¡°How can I be blamed for other people giving me no face? Anyway, you guys still haven¡¯t answered my question.¡± Zhujiao disengaged his face from her chest, a confused expression on his face. ¡°What question?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your relation to the Zhujiao clan?¡± She asked, her eyes narrowing. ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°I don¡¯t know about your question, but I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue pushed Zhujiao aside, bowing to Jijian. ¡°Apologies, but we have to go. There¡¯s an intruder alert in the Infinity Sector, Zhujiao! Teleport us back at once!¡± ¡°Enemies are in the base?¡± Zhujiao paled. ¡°Protect the base!¡± Shuxue yelled, grabbing Zhujiao by the shoulder. ¡°We need to protect the base!¡± Zhujiao shouted, teleporting Shuxue, Zhujiao, and the Sphinx back. Immediately, they were teleported back into the throne room of the Infinity Palace. Pyramids of tens of thousands of jade slips piled up in front of Shuxue¡¯s throne. ¡°Kill them all!¡± Zhujiao shouted, letting loose a 1 that poked a jade slip out of the nearest pyramid. ¡°Wait, where are the intruders?¡± The door burst open, and a group of guards ran in. ¡°Intruders in the throne room! Secure the perimeter!¡± ¡°INTRUDERS!¡± Zhujiao yelled. Right before Zhujiao and the guards were about to attack each other, Shuxue coughed. ¡°Calm down, everyone.¡± Shuxue said, hiding behind Zhujiao as a guard shot an algebra blade at him. ¡°It¡¯s me, the Patriarch!¡± The guard paled, falling to his knees. ¡°Forgive me, Patriarch!¡± He screamed as he smashed his forehead onto the ground. ¡°I don¡¯t want to die! I have a wife and son!¡± He was kowtowing so hard that the floor was stained with his blood. Shuxue nodded, motioning for the guard to rise. However, the guard was too busy kowtowing, and did not see. ¡°Please, Patriarch, I have wronged you, but it was only a lapse in judgment. I still want to have five more children and have a two-week vacation at the Isosceles Triangle Museum. It¡¯s too soon for me to die!¡± The guard sobbed. His forehead had made a dent in the ground. ¡°Chill out, man.¡± The Sphinx said, amused. ¡°Nobody¡¯s oppressing you.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The guard stopped kowtowing, but continued to bow to Shuxue. Seeing this, Shuxue turned back to Zhujiao, taking him by the arm. As he led Zhujiao out of the throne room, Shuxue noticed the guard had died from kowtowing too hard. ¡°Right. The intruders are probably outside.¡± Shuxue said in a flat voice. Actually, there was no intruder. He just didn¡¯t want Zhujiao to get involved with that Jijian character! Shuxue originally hadn¡¯t paid much attention to the wanted posters, but back when they were still walking to the tomb with Daoli, Zhujiao had been babbling out light swords nonstop. Daoli was lecturing Zhujiao at the time, but neither of them had paid any attention to her. Of course Shuxue had learned about Jijian and all her other personas. What he had found out upon meeting Jijian, was that they were all the same person! Shuxue shuddered at the thought. ¡°She offends people faster than Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue muttered, wiping some sweat off his forehead. ¡°If she joined our Infinity Sector, we¡¯d have all eight great Sectors on us by tomorrow at midnight!¡± Shuxue did not want to deal with Calculus stage experts. The gulf between the Calculus stage and the Algebra stage was like Heaven and Earth! Who knew how many derivative artifacts the eight great Sectors had? Even Plot Armor couldn¡¯t overcome derivative artifacts! It was much better to leave Jijian completely ignorant of the Infinity Sector. By herself, she was wreaking havoc in Continent 10. She even managed to rile up the Ji Clan! Shuxue needed unofficial diplomats like her to conduct undercover foreign relations. If undercover diplomats knew they were undercover diplomats, then their covers would be blown. Clearly, Shuxue was doing Jijian a favor by not revealing that she was working for him without the either of them knowing it. As they walked out of the Infinity Palace, they saw a great crowd gathered outside. ¡°Look, Meinu¡¯s back from visiting her family!¡± ¡°Her 6-year old breasts are so unobtrusively dazzling, like a blooming lotus shrouded by a pristine field of chrysanthemums.¡± ¡°I hope she never starts puberty. I can¡¯t get enough of her pert butt.¡± At the center of the great commotion was a blue-haired girl with skin so pale she ought to see a doctor. Her tender and immaculate face was completely unaffected by the many gazes of the crowd. Her calm and indifferent attitude could be compared to the blooming of a lotus, which is the epitome of things that are calm and indifferent. At such a young age, she already had the air of a refined lady. It would be hard to imagine how she would affect the Tesseract after her breasts finished growing. That elegant hair, that delicate face, those large, round eyes, those rosy lips, that snow-white skin! This was undoubtedly Meinu, the most beautiful and unique girl anyone had ever seen. She was definitely not your generic pretty girl. Nope, not at all similar to other pretty girls. Zhujiao¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Oh my god! Meinu, that girl I really really really like but totally forgot about for some reason completely unknown to me! I have to talk to her!¡± He strode off, completely forgetting about the matter of the intruder. Seeing this, Shuxue shrugged and went back to his throne room to process some jade slips. It seemed he was saved the trouble of telling Zhujiao that some rat or a blade of grass was the intruder. Author note: This is the third introduction of Meinu, and the first time I actually had time to go into detail to describe her unique, one-of-a-kind physique. This time, I have taken the liberty of using the introduction of Xun Er in Chapter 1 of Battle Through the Heavens and Every Hot Girl Introduction Ever In Xianxia. Thanks, BTTH! Thanks, Gravity Translations! Chapter 23: Planar Domination Status Update ¡°So those box monsters the other days were just combinations of vectors, called matrices!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes glittered as he pressed a jade slip to his forehead. ¡°The columns are the original variables of the system of equations, while the rows are new variables that relate the equations together! I can use this to create a multivariable attack that-¡± ¡°WHAT THE FUCK, SHUXUE!¡± The door to the throne room burst down, and the Sphinx strode in, dragging Zhujiao by the collar on one hand and holding the mangled corpse of an old man in the other. ¡°What?¡± Shuxue removed the jade slip from his forehead. ¡°Eh, what¡¯d you do to Feiliao?¡± ¡°THIS SHITLORD WAS RAPING LITTLE GIRLS!¡± The Sphinx roared. ¡°This¡­ this pedophile...¡± Shuxue frowned. ¡°I thought pedophilia was a common affliction here.¡± ¡°No, pedophilia is fine! The problem here is, he¡¯s a rapist of women! Being raped is infinitely worse than being killed! If you stomped someone into mud in front of me, that would be fine. But if you raped someone...¡± The Sphinx threw Feiliao¡¯s corpse onto the ground and began to stomp it into mud. ¡°I ignored this earlier, but I can¡¯t hold myself back any longer! Fuck your patriarchy, Shuxue! You¡¯re oppressing women!¡± ¡°...¡± Shuxue was speechless. Where had this come from? ¡°Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m triggered right now?¡± The Sphinx shrieked, losing his composure so much he transformed back into a winged lion with a woman¡¯s head. ¡°What are you going to do about this piece of manure? How many other women rapists are in this patriarchy of yours?¡± A trickle of sweat ran down Shuxue¡¯s neck. He definitely couldn¡¯t tell the Sphinx about the harem system Zhujiao had put into place for himself and the ministers, or the Infinity Bordello prostitution house he had set up for the disciples! ¡°There are no systemic policies allowing personnel of the Infinity Sector to molest women!¡± Shuxue said, his voice solemn. ¡°We¡¯re the Infinity Sector, following the word of the Almighty Laws and their messenger, Zhujiao! Would such a holy establishment actively promote such scandalous activities, such as pedophilia and rape?¡± The Sphinx jabbed a claw at Feiliao. ¡°What do you have to say about this piece of shit?¡± Shuxue looked coldly down at Feiliao. ¡°He was one bad apple, he definitely didn¡¯t spoil the whole barrel. This definitely isn¡¯t a widespread practice within my exalted Infinity Sector!¡± ¡°All right, I¡¯ll take your word for it.¡± The Sphinx said grimly. ¡°But I¡¯ve looked around this place, and it needs some work. I¡¯m going to be the new Minister of Morality!¡± ¡°Uh¡­ yeah, whatever.¡± Shuxue picked up his jade slip again, but the Sphinx raised a paw. ¡°Excellent. Just in time for a cabinet conference!¡± The Sphinx smirked. After a pause, Shuxue rolled his eyes. ¡°Your motives are as transparent as that Meinu¡¯s pale skin! Whatever, let¡¯s go.¡± The Sphinx shifted back into a man, rolling his eyes as he burned Feiliao¡¯s corpse to ash. ¡°I¡¯m a social justice warrior, with no ulterior motives! This conference, I¡¯d like to establish the Thought Police, and a social justice system that beheads anyone who oppresses marginalized groups like women, Spirits, and Mathematical beasts.¡± Zhujiao looked up, his face unhappy. ¡°You need to stop talking about that stuff, Sphinx. It¡¯s ruining the flow of my life story!¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s really inconvenient when you do stuff like question my patriarchy.¡± Shuxue patted the Sphinx¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Why don¡¯t you find something else to talk about? Like the refugee crisis over in Ocean 29, or unisex bathrooms, or Meinu¡¯s breasts. Just don¡¯t mention anything about the efficacy or legitimacy of my rule, that¡¯s completely off limits.¡± ¡°I was just about to say!¡± The Sphinx took out a pill, crushing it into powder between his fingers, and sniffed it. ¡°Why the fuck are there segregated bathrooms? It¡¯s an injustice, and subscribes to gender binaries!¡± ¡°Sphinx!¡± Zhujiao whined. ¡°This is my life story! We need to talk about me, Zhujiao!¡± ¡°Nah, fuck that.¡± The Sphinx gasped as they ascended the staircase to the conference room. ¡°These pills are fucking great. You wanna try some? It¡¯ll be on the house!¡± Shuxue grabbed a pill and held it up to the light. ¡°What are the effects of this pill?¡± The Sphinx began laughing maniacally. ¡°I¡¯m a master alchemist, Shuxue! My drugs are top quality! Anyone who takes them is bound to enter a mental state where everything they sense reveals profound truths!¡± He pointed at the banister. ¡°Man, this staircase, man¡­ it¡¯s so profound. Like, how can it be real if rainbow lampposts drink unicorns?¡± Shuxue peered at the banister, his eyes widening. ¡°My god, you¡¯re right! This banister forms a three-dimensional polar curve that can only be replicated using the fused laws of¡­¡± His voice trailed off as he and the Sphinx stood there, gawking at the railing. Zhujiao climbed out of the Sphinx¡¯s paw and slapped both of them. ¡°Fuck you, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue was pissed off. ¡°I just lost out on an insight because of you!¡± ¡°We have a meeting to go to!¡± Zhujiao yelled, hopping in rage. ¡°You guys already interrupted my date with Meinu!¡± ¡°Goddammit, why can¡¯t you just have intercourse with her already? That way, she can sink into irrelevance, allowing both of us to completely forget about her existence...¡± Shuxue grumbled, dragging the Sphinx up the rest of the staircase and pushing open the door to the conference room. ¡°I¡¯m tired of hearing Meinu this, 6-year old that!¡± ¡°Her birthday¡¯s tomorrow.¡± Zhujiao said, an excited smile on his face. ¡°Shut up!¡± Seated in the conference room were a host of males and one female, minister Fengshui. ¡°About time.¡± An old man said, stroking his white eyebrows, which reached down to his nipples. This was financial minister Jingji. ¡°Now we just have to wait for that Feiliao.¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry about him.¡± Shuxue waved his hands, forcing the Sphinx into a seat. ¡°I¡¯ll get a new jade slip distributor and competition director later. This is the Sphinx, a Nascent Spirit, and our new minister of morality!¡± ¡°Morality?¡± Shibing, a young man in his thirties, with tattoos of numbers all over the right side of his face, growled. ¡°What the hell¡¯s he do?¡± ¡°He shall be administering justice to those who think the wrong thoughts, I think.¡± Shuxue shrugged. ¡°But I¡¯m the minister of justice and military affairs!¡± Shibing grabbed a teacup and crushed it to powder with his fist. ¡°Are you relieving me of command?¡± ¡°Nah, bro.¡± The Sphinx took out some pills and began passing them around the room. ¡°I¡¯m the social justice minister. It¡¯s completely different.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Shuxue said. ¡°Social justice and justice have nothing in common. Your position is secure, Shibing. Anyway, first order of business. Take a look at these pills! I think that our Sector should start handing these pills out to our disciples. They guarantee profound insights when you sniff them up your nose.¡± Minister Maoxian, a lanky man with hoop earrings, popped a pill into his mouth. Instantly, his eyes widened. The Sphinx looked at Maoxian with glassy eyes. ¡°Hey, man. That¡¯s too much, man.¡± Maoxian began shrieking with laughter. He began clawing the table with his fingernails, and even relieved himself. After a few minutes, Shuxue threw him out of the conference room. ¡°Right, change of plans.¡± Shuxue tossed a pack of pills over to Jingji. ¡°Jingji, find a way to sell these pills to our enemies for exorbitant prices.¡± Jingji took the bag, nodding. ¡°I have a matter as well. Our disciples have raised many complaints about not being able to cultivate with their pearls. They feel entitled to some compensation for their work, other than contribution points.¡± ¡°Eh? Are contribution points not enough?¡± Shuxue asked, shocked. ¡°I thought they wanted to be at the top of the contribution leaderboard! Besides, they can trade contribution points to borrow jade slips, to buy Mathematical beast pets, and to spend time with opposite-gendered people at the Infinity Bordello!¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Jingji sighed. ¡°Our disciples duly appreciate access to jade slips, and the Infinity Bordello is always active, but they also want to Mathivate! They need pearls!¡± ¡°No!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°All the pearls are belong to me! Anyone who has pearls is a thief!¡± Jingji shook his head. ¡°Zhujiao, please. We¡¯ll have a revolt on our hands if we don¡¯t start distributing pearls soon!¡± Hearing this, Shuxue¡¯s face paled. ¡°That¡¯s fine!¡± Zhujiao had a dark look on his face. ¡°I have one thing to say about traitors. Kill them all!¡± Shuxue spoke in a soothing voice. ¡°Look, Zhujiao. Think about it this way. Rather than the disciples stealing 10% of your pearls, you¡¯re taxing 90% of their pearls! Don¡¯t you want to tax people¡¯s pearls?¡± ¡°Yeah, but those are my pearls, not their pearls!¡± Zhujiao huffed. ¡°If I didn¡¯t make this Sector, none of them would have those pearls!¡± ¡°Listen here, Zhujiao.¡± Minister Jingji said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t people be paid for their work?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t people get pearls for their work?¡± ¡°No!¡± Shuxue raised up a hand. ¡°All right, all right, I got it. Zhujiao, how about letting them trade their hard-earned contribution points for your pearls? That way, nobody rebels against my patriarchy and you get their contribution points, which you can trade for jade slips and time at the Infinity Bordello! Also, you can be number one on the contribution points leaderboard!¡± Zhujiao paused, and then began vigorously nodding. ¡°All right, good idea! That¡¯s so much better than giving disciples my pearls!¡± Shuxue smirked. There was nothing quite like the profound mysteries of Rewording. Someday, he would track down that Jijian and learn more about the laws of Writing. ¡°Another matter.¡± Jingji said as he checked something off a long, long list. ¡°I propose having an emergency fund of pearls inside the treasury, rather than storing it all in Zhujiao¡¯s interspatial forehead.¡± ¡°No!¡± Zhujiao shouted again. ¡°I need all the pearls in my forehead! What if I run out? My Plot Armor would stop working!¡± ¡°Surely you can just teleport out when you¡¯re running low.¡± Fengshui leaned forward. ¡°I need capital to continue the construction projects on the continent. This way, our Infinity Sector can continue to grow.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Jingji agreed. ¡°Those pearls need to be put to use, and accumulate value on their own. They can¡¯t do that when they¡¯re sitting in your forehead, Zhujiao.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Zhujiao gasped. ¡°Pearls can make more pearls?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jingji nodded solemnly. ¡°There are two ways for pearls to make pearls: spending the pearls to build things that generate mathforce, or letting them sit around and do nothing!¡± ¡°But how can pearls sit around and do nothing and make more pearls? Do they make babies?¡± Zhujiao gasped. ¡°... Yes.¡± Jingji spoke. ¡°By leaving the pearls in the treasury, we can put together a large mass of mathforce. Mathforce attracts mathforce, so more pearls will form over time. Your interspatial forehead is not a treasury, so it doesn¡¯t have any interest rates on your pearls. The interest rate for pearls sitting around in our treasury and doing nothing is around 0.9% per year, compounded infinitely. Of course, it could be higher if Fengshui made renovations to the treasury. ¡± ¡°What! That¡¯s awesome!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Okay, you guys do whatever you want with the pearls, as long as you make more pearls!¡± Jingji checked off another box. ¡°Next, I propose the bank of Zhujiao. People can pay us ridiculously large sums of pearls to store their items in Zhujiao¡¯s interspatial fo-¡± ¡°Done!¡± Zhujiao said, grabbing Jingji¡¯s list. He began checking off every box on the meters-long paper. ¡°Okay.¡± The minister of Immigration, Ellis squeaked, pushing his glasses up. He was a man-bear-pig, which meant he was half man, half bear, and half pig. When Shuxue had appointed him to the position, he had assumed immigrants would relate more to someone who looked more foreign. Sadly, all the immigrants were humans, so his stroke of genius went completely unnoticed. ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Shuxue gasped quietly to himself. ¡°How can something be 50% man, 50% bear, and 50% pig? That violates the mathematical laws!¡± As he mulled over this subject, Ellis started his presentation. ¡°The refugee crisis caused by the rapid expansion of the Infinity Sector has displaced 15,236,522 people since the last meeting 3 days ago.¡± Ellis said, creating a map of the continent out of mathforce. ¡°Wars have started between all the Sectors at the border of the Weakest Continent and Ocean 29. At least 200,000 people have died as a result of riots. Food shortages-¡± ¡°Yeah, skip to the relevant parts.¡± Minister Shibing waved his hands dismissively. ¡°Right.¡± Ellis nodded nervously. ¡°1,444,934 immigrants have been processed since the last meeting. Only, Fengshui is unable to build structures fast enough to sustain the growing population of the Sector. In the last 3 days, structures for 70,000 people have been built, not nearly enough for 1,444,934.¡± Shibing laughed. ¡°Looks like my military operations are quite effective, heheh.¡± Shuxue snapped out of his thoughts. ¡°Just have the immigrants build their housing, problem solved.¡± Fengshui snorted. ¡°Impossible. All structures have to be built to my specifications. Anything less, and the growth of the Infinity Sector will be majorly hampered. We¡¯ve only been able to expand into so much unsaturated space so quickly because of my perfectly designed geography and buildings!¡± Shuxue scratched his head. ¡°Why can¡¯t the refugees just stay where they are?¡± Shibing raised a hand. ¡°I burn down all their cities, kill all their animals, and poison their water supply.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Shuxue sighed. ¡°Well, this problem is too technical for me. At a glance, there is no easy solution. I leave it to you experts to solve it.¡± Frowning, minister Ellis took a seat. Minister Shibing stood up and explained the latest military conquests. Originally, he was supposed to organize escort missions rather than manage a war. However, several Sectors had given them no face. Thus, Shibing could only follow the Zhujiao doctrine and kill them all. One thing led to another, and soon they were spreading across the entire Weakest Continent. In perhaps another month, the entire Weakest Continent would be controlled by the Infinity Sector. Fengshui stood up, unfurling a map across the entire table. ¡°Minister Maoxian was supposed to present now, but there¡¯s not much to talk about for him. In the past 3 days, 23,444 dungeons have appeared. Save for 39 Calculus dungeons, they have all been completed. All the pearls are stored in the Infinity Treasury, but they shall be handed out to disciples after this cabinet meeting concludes.¡± Jingji stood up. ¡°I also don¡¯t have much to present. All inter-Sector trade has halted ever since we started killing everyone, and all intra-Sector trade never occurs because nobody has pearls.¡± He sat back down. ¡°Cool.¡± Shuxue pulled a drink out of Zhujiao¡¯s forehead as Zhujiao snored away. ¡°So just Fengshui¡¯s presentation left.¡± ¡°At the beginning of this Sector¡¯s creation, unsaturated space was a mere 400 kilometers to the west from here!¡± Fengshui sighed. ¡°Unsaturated space, as you all already know and as I am pointlessly pointing out, is uninhabitable planar land completely devoid of mathforce! This plane, effectively, is only as large as the amount of saturated space it has. And I¡¯m proud to say, my structures have generated enough mathforce to saturate all the land within a 600,000 kilometer radius of our capital.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Shuxue began to drink. Next to him, the Sphinx was consuming another pill, paying no attention at all to the cabinet proceedings. ¡°I¡¯ve done the calculations. We are now the 11th largest continent on the Weakest Plane, as we have yet to come into contact with another ocean.¡± Fengshui continued. ¡°But more importantly, at the rate we are gathering mathforce, planar war is imminent. Within 6 months, our plane will draw level with the Trash plane!¡± Chapter 24: Plot Must Move Forward! Shuxue spat out his drink, spraying cold water all over the sleeping Zhujiao. ¡°What! I thought you were just joking when about a week ago you said there would be planar war within a year. Now, it¡¯s not a year, but actually 6 months?¡± Fengshui solemnly nodded. ¡°Yes, and we must have our own Spirits by then. The Infinity Spiral is a Spiritseed, and it seems you have befriended a Nascent Spirit as well. Only, where is the Spiritseed this Nascent Spirit should be tied to?¡± Shuxue rolled his eyes. ¡°In Zhujiao¡¯s forehead, obviously. Why else do you think Zhujiao¡¯s at this meeting? The Sphinx dragged Zhujiao here so he could attend the meeting.¡± ¡°I will have to see where to place the Spiritseed later. More importantly, we must proceed on the other preparations for the planar war! Shibing, you will have to finish forming your corp. As for me, I am continuing to establish formations. Later, we will supercharge the 2 Spiritseeds with pearls so that the Spirits can be Severed!¡± Fengshui said matter-of-factly. Shuxue began thinking. He had no interest in taking part in this planar war. Actually, the whole point of the Infinity Sector¡¯s rampant formation establishment was so he could make a planar war that he wouldn¡¯t participate in! After all, the whole point of starting wars was to make other people fight in it. ¡°Let¡¯s not worry about planar wars.¡± Shuxue waved his hands in the air. ¡°The eight great sectors are more than amply prepared to fight. Besides, it¡¯s just the Trash plane.¡± ¡°The distance between us and Trash is like the distance between Heaven and Earth.¡± Fengshui said darkly. Then, her eyelid twitched. ¡°I mean, the distance between Trash and us is like the distance between Heaven and Earth.¡± Shuxue waved his hands. ¡°I¡¯ll go reassign Dong Feiliao to head the Planar War preparation committee. He¡¯ll definitely get the job done. You don¡¯t need to overburden your mind with this matter, Fengshui. All right, that concludes the meeting, let¡¯s go.¡± The ministers filed out of the room, leaving only Shuxue, the Sphinx, and Zhujiao. The Sphinx scratched a line into the table, causing some wood shavings to gather in his fingernail. After staring at it for a moment, he sniffed it. ¡°Excellent!¡± He shouted, standing up. ¡°What¡¯s the price for this ingredient, Shuxue? I¡¯ve just gotten inspiration for a new pill!¡± Shuxue peered at the table, before nodding solemnly. ¡°That¡¯s incredibly valuable wood powder obtained from the winter and summer tree, which only grows on top of the stormclouds at the bottom of Ocean 2! It should cost you arou-¡± Zhujiao, who had been groggily awakening, instantly shot up. ¡°There are stormclouds at the bottom of Ocean 2?¡± Shuxue hesitated for a moment, before resuming his solemn nodding. ¡°Of course there are. It¡¯s also ruled by the number one Severed Spirit, the bluish-green snake-dragon with brilliant red bird wings, white tiger legs, and the black shell of a turtle.¡± Shuxue didn¡¯t know anything about winter and summer trees, but the 4-in-1 Severed Spirit was not a lie. Originally, he had just been trying to get the Sphinx to buy overpriced wood shavings, forcing him into a debt cycle where he would pay more to make pills than he would get for selling them. Then, the Sphinx would stop talking about social justice because he would be too busy making pills to pay off his debts. Sadly, Zhujiao had interrupted him and changed the subject to bluish-green snake-dragon Spirits. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s so cool!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°But why would it have legs and wings? Doesn¡¯t it have to swim?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask me such profound questions.¡± Shuxue shrugged. ¡°When the mathematical laws decided to make up the 4-in-1 Spirit, they decided to give the snake-dragon legs.¡± ¡°But that seems so dumb!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Giving a snake-dragon legs is so not needed!¡± The Sphinx had finished shredding the table into powder at this time, and he began storing it all in Zhujiao¡¯s interspatial forehead. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about this dumb kid.¡± The Sphinx snorted as he stuffed some more powder into Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. ¡°Explaining things to him is like playing music to a cow, a completely meaningless endeavour.¡± Shuxue pointed at the Sphinx. ¡°This guy is actually a winged lion with a woman¡¯s head. Daoli said her Spirit is a house whose roof is made out of 3 donuts. How am I supposed to make sense of that? Surely, there must be something inherently mathematical and profound about a house whose roof is made out of 3 donuts. It¡¯s best not to question the creations of the mathematical laws, and just accept them as is. Otherwise, you would look like a close-minded, ignorant fool.¡± Zhujiao¡¯s eyes were shining. ¡°Shuxue, let¡¯s go on an adventure!¡± ¡°What!¡± Shuxue blanched. ¡°Where?¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Ocean 2!¡± ¡°Absolutely not!¡± Beads of sweat were trickling down Shuxue¡¯s forehead. They had just gone on an adventure. How could they go on another one? Shuxue could not lose sight of his end goal: to reach the pinnacle of mathematical knowledge and become one with the laws! How could he possibly improve upon his training and make breakthroughs when all he did was go around mass murdering people and fighting over restaurant tables? What he needed to do right now was to go into secluded meditation for 6 months, at least! Shuxue began making up completely fictional things to try dissuading Zhujiao. ¡°We can¡¯t go to Ocean 2! Under the water, people travel inside rainbows. Rainbows are homosexual!¡± ¡°Oh my god!¡± Zhujiao gasped. ¡°That¡¯s horrible!¡± ¡°EXCUSE ME?!¡± The Sphinx shrieked. Before he could start his tirade, Shuxue pushed the Sphinx into Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. ¡°I¡¯m telling you, Zhujiao! You can¡¯t go to Ocean 2! There, they fight by slapping their bags and biting their tongues!¡± Shuxue continued to make things up. ¡°You don¡¯t want to bite your tongue, Zhujiao. That¡¯s literally killing yourself. If you go to Ocean 2, you¡¯ll have to fight by biting your tongue and spitting out your own blood, and slapping your bags. I assure you, you don¡¯t want to slap your bags.¡± Shuxue gingerly pointed at his groin as he spoke. ¡°Not only that, they even fight with scroll paintings, treasured fans, and fishing nets! They build their cities on the top of giant turtles hundreds of thousands of kilometers long. In Ocean 2, dead bodies tell you to fuck off, and ancestral tombs lie inside a giant chamber pot filled with lightning!¡± Shuxue said, his voice chopping his fingernail in half and slicing the pig iron that someone had randomly put on the ground. ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao gasped. ¡°That¡¯s even more crazy than people who fight with Algebra dragons and derivative artifacts, and train by doing math problems!¡± ¡°Yeah, no kidding.¡± The Sphinx popped out of Zhujiao¡¯s forehead and waved another bag of pills at Shuxue. ¡°You should give me some of what you¡¯re having.¡± ¡°Indeed, you two! Everyone in Ocean 2 is crazy!¡± Shuxue¡¯s voice chopped his fingernail in half again, and the pig iron was sliced again. ¡°If you go there, you¡¯ll become crazy!¡± Zhujiao doubled over, vomiting as the Sphinx clambered out. ¡°Anyway, where was I? ...You fucking shitlords! Did you actually say homosexual rainbows are horrible? Why can¡¯t rainbows be homosexual? Rainbows don¡¯t need to subscribe to your heteronormative-¡± Shuxue pushed the Sphinx back into the forehead. ¡°Man, that Sphinx needs to stop talking about social justice. I¡¯m trying to do great things here.¡± Shuxue wiped his forehead. ¡°When I¡¯m the patriarch of the Tesseract and the historians are recording the legend of Shux-, er, Zhujiao, I¡¯ll need to have them edit out any mention of that unnecessary stuff.¡± ¡°Right!¡± Zhujiao put his hands on his forehead. ¡°But I still want to go to Ocean 2!¡± ¡°Why?¡± Shuxue groaned. ¡°Our Sector needs to take it nice and easy, and slowly expand to conquer this entire plane, one continent at a time. This way, we can safely strengthen ourselves. Zhujiao, if we attract the ire of somebody we can¡¯t possibly beat, the only way we can kill him is through a nonsensical powerup that would absolutely never happen! Do you really want to put us into that ridiculous position by going to Ocean 2, home of the snake-dragon Spirit and the number one mathematical beast clan?¡± ¡°Yes, because Plot wants to go!¡± ¡°Fuck Plot!¡± Shuxue sighed. ¡°Why can¡¯t we just do the sensible thing and sit back for a little while, then just roll over the entire plane after the planar war? I¡¯ve never met this Plot you always talk about. Just what does Plot want, anyway?¡± Zhujiao paused for a moment, as if he was thinking about something. Shuxue wondered what he was doing, because Zhujiao couldn¡¯t possibly be thinking. ¡°Plot wants to be excited!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Plot likes being twisted, and Plot likes to move forward! Plot hates moving backward, being generic, and being bored!¡± ¡°Plot likes¡­ being twisted? Moving forward?¡± Shuxue¡¯s palm rubbed his face. ¡°That makes absolutely no sense. What a weird guy.¡± ¡°If we just don¡¯t do anything, then that¡¯s boring!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Plot refuses to be bored! Let¡¯s go to Ocean 2!¡± Before Shuxue could protest, they had instantly teleported into the Infinity Treasury. In the blink of an eye, half the pearls in the treasury disappeared, and they teleported onto a beach, next to the walls of a bustling city. A few meters away, the waters of a bluish-green ocean lapped gently on the beach, creating a serene atmosphere that sharply contrasted with the hubbub of the city next to it. ¡°Fuck you, Zhujiao!¡± Chapter 25: The Black Market Shuxue was so irked he could die! How long would this adventure take? How many jade slips could he have processed by the time this shitty trip was over? His hand descended down to Zhujiao and slapped him repeatedly for 5 minutes. ¡°Bah!¡± Shuxue took out some soap from Zhujiao¡¯s forehead and began cleaning his palm. ¡°It seems I will have to make the best out of a horrible situation.¡± His eyes glittered as he stared at the bluish-green ocean. To an outsider, it was a tranquil pool¡­ but underneath its surface lay countless hidden struggles for supremacy! The land continents were almost entirely the domain of humans, but the ocean continents were mathematical beast territory! Who knew how many beasts would die asserting dominance over each other every day? Who knew how much blood and urine was spilled inside there? Where living things died, there was bound to be great treasures! Ocean 2 was a place of great opportunity. What¡¯s more, Ocean 2 was ruled by the number one mathematical beast clan, with hundreds of Calculus stage experts. Their guardian Severed Spirit was the aforementioned bluish-green snake-dragon with brilliant red bird wings, white tiger legs, and the black shell of a turtle, the 4-in-1 Beast Spirit! Their Patriarch was even a mathematical lifeform, whose body had completely been purged of mortal filth and was constructed out of mathforce! Such a power definitely had spare Limit jade slips! The water began to light itself on fire as Shuxue¡¯s eyes glittered. The issue with the Infinity Sector was that nobody could defeat the new Calculus dungeons spawning inside the Weakest Continent. It was impressive that they even generated enough mathforce to be able to spawn Calculus dungeons! Shuxue coveted the Limit jade slip, but only the eight great Sectors would be able to farm them. Thus, while he was on this journey, he might as well serve the Watersnake Mathematical beast clan some justice and obtain a Limit jade slip in the process. After a bit of walking, Shuxue, Zhujiao, and the Sphinx came upon a busy marketplace, filled to the brim with people. ¡°Join the Bandit¡¯s guild, everyone!¡± A beautiful lady was handing out flyers to passersby. ¡°We bake cookies every Sunday!¡± ¡°No, join the Assassin¡¯s guild!¡± A hooded lady with bosoms so large she couldn¡¯t possibly be a good assassin was handing out her own flyers. ¡°You get to kill people and get away with it!¡± ¡°No, join the Thief¡¯s guild!¡± ¡°No, the Pedophile¡¯s guild is where you want to go!¡± Zhujiao stared at the multitude of people handing out flyers. ¡°Why would there be a thief¡¯s guild, or bandit¡¯s guild, or rapist¡¯s guild, big bro Shuxue?¡± Shuxue rubbed his nose. ¡°Don¡¯t be silly, there is no rapist¡¯s guild. Anymore.¡± The two of them watched the Sphinx killing the members of the rapist¡¯s guild. For some reason, no officials came to break up the fight. Everyone just watched, and the members of the gambler¡¯s guild even began to bet on who would win. ¡°I still don¡¯t get why there¡¯s an assassin¡¯s guild!¡± Zhujiao said, scratching his head. ¡°Aren¡¯t they supposed to be secret?¡± Shuxue sighed, shaking his head. ¡°Zhujiao, you poor imbecile. If there was no assassin¡¯s guild, where would people go when they wanted people assassinated? If the assassin¡¯s guild was secret, then nobody would know about them and they¡¯d never get any business!¡± ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s against the law!¡± Zhujiao was still confused. ¡°What is the city¡¯s boss going to do about this?¡± ¡°Bah, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue sighed. ¡°I¡¯m in a bad mood, but I¡¯ll explain anyway. We are currently inside the black market! When people want to do illegal things, they simply go to the black market to do them.¡± Shuxue nodded solemnly as he spoke. ¡°Over the course of trillions of years, the authorities have always tried to crack down on crime, but another black market would always pop up whenever one was shut down. Thus, city officials have realized that destroying the black market is a waste of time.¡± He waved his hands around at the surroundings. ¡°It¡¯s much better to have a single place where criminals can legally break the law without endangering the rest of the populace. Also, when people want people dead, they have an easy way to find somebody who is willing and able to kill. It¡¯s just infinitely more efficient to have black markets like these.¡± ¡°Ohhhh, that makes so much sense.¡± Zhujiao nodded. ¡°So this is the black market! That¡¯s so cool!¡± Zhujiao began walking down the black market, looking at the naked girls being sold. ¡°This is so awesome! When we get back to the Infinity Sector, we need to start our own black market!¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. At the assassin¡¯s guild¡¯s bulletin board, Zhujiao pulled off an assassination poster. ¡°Hey look, it¡¯s a mathematical pig with a light sword! He took too many assassination requests, which endangered the livelihoods of the assassins, so someone put an assassination request on him!¡± Shuxue raised an eyebrow, muttering to himself. ¡°So my subordinate, Jijian, has continued stirring up trouble. Hahaha, just as planned!¡± ¡°Big bro Shuxue, what¡¯s the difference between bounty hunting and assassinating?¡± Zhujiao waved the poster at him. Shuxue frowned. What was he, some sort of encyclopedia? ¡°You idiot kid, how can you not know the difference between bounty hunting and assassinating someone? You hunt people for bounties, and you assassinate people for money!¡± Zhujiao was confused, but shrugged. ¡°Well, okay.¡± Shuxue rolled his eyes. If he got any more stupid questions, he would just not answer them. Having finished raping and murdering everyone in the rapist¡¯s guild, the Sphinx had now set up his own stall. ¡°Selling pills!¡± The Sphinx roared. ¡°These pills guarantee profound insights while you¡¯re taking them!¡± Instantly, he was swarmed by customers. Seeing this, Shuxue narrowed his eyes. He pushed his way through the throng to the Sphinx. ¡°Here, you have to hold one nostril closed while you inhale it. Just like incense!¡± The Sphinx was handing out sample pills and explaining how to use them. ¡°What are you doing, Sphinx!¡± Shuxue roared. ¡°You can¡¯t sell those pills! You¡¯re strengthening our enemies!¡± The Sphinx folded his arms. ¡°So?¡± Shuxue¡¯s face turned purple with anger. Every person here was someone his Infinity Sector would probably have to kill! How could he just sit by and watch them gain profound insights? ¡°It¡¯s against the rules of my Infinity Sector!¡± He spluttered. ¡°Yeah, well, I¡¯m in the black market. What are you going to do about it?¡± The Sphinx folded his arms defiantly. Shuxue¡¯s eyelids began twitching in rage. He hadn¡¯t expected the Sphinx would betray him over the topic of drugs, rather than social justice! ¡°Hahahaha!¡± A young woman threw off her clothes and put her arms around a frog mathematical beast, her eyes glassy from inhaling the pill powder. ¡°Why is the sky blue around here, anyway? I¡¯ve never thought about that!¡± The frog¡¯s tongue lashed out, tasting some powder for itself. After a moment of writhing, it answered. ¡°Yes.¡± Shuxue watched, aghast, as everyone took the pills and began talking to each other, their eyes clouded as they gained profound insights into the laws. He needed to stop this disaster, but how could he violate the rules of the black market? The Sphinx, very satisfied with himself, walked over to Shuxue. ¡°Heh, check out my new innovation, Shuxue. This is secluded meditation with other people! I call it¡­ unsecluded meditation!¡± He pulled out some drums from Zhujiao¡¯s forehead and began to pound a beat. ¡°Turn up, motherfuckers!¡± Everyone present who had taken a pill began to move and contort their bodies around in a ridiculous fashion. Jade slips and pearls fell out of their pockets as their clothing fell to the ground. Zhujiao¡¯s eyes bugged as he watched the unsecluded meditation. ¡°This¡­ this is immoral!¡± He gasped. ¡°You can¡¯t do these things without me, Zhujiao!¡± Before Zhujiao could inhale a pill, Shuxue¡¯s steel-like hand sent him reeling onto the floor. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue roared. ¡°Do you see them all dropping their pearls? If you took part in this unsecluded meditation, you¡¯ll drop all your pearls!¡± Previously, Shuxue had been angry, but now, his eyes were glittering. ¡°This¡­ this is an excellent opportunity! Quick, Zhujiao, go collect all their pearls and jade slips!¡± Zhujiao¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at two people shedding worldly filth with each other, but he reluctantly complied. If he lost all his pearls, then he would lose his Plot Armor! Endure! He had to endure! Chapter 26: Inequality is Bad, Inequalities are Good Some time later, Shuxue and Zhujiao made their way out of the black market. ¡°You¡¯ve got all the jade slips in your forehead, right?¡± Shuxue asked Zhujiao, fidgeting excitedly. ¡°Yes, yes, you already asked me 10 times.¡± Zhujiao looked quite annoyed. ¡°Who do you think I am? I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue pulled out a jade slip, placing it on his forehead. ¡°I¡¯m just so giddy right now. Who would¡¯ve thought we could get jade slips peacefully? It¡¯s ridiculous!¡± Two paws grabbed their shoulders, hoisting them up into the air. ¡°What the fuck do you motherfuckers think you¡¯re doing?¡± The Sphinx growled, back in his winged lion form. ¡°I¡¯m trying to host an unsecluded meditation here! All my life, I¡¯ve wanted to host unsecluded meditations! Are you actually going to ruin my lifelong dreams over a few jade slips?¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°What? I live to achieve mathematical enlightenment! Are you actually going to impede me, Shuxue, over some unsecluded meditation?¡± Sparks flew between their eyes. ¡°Shuxue, I have always held myself back.¡± The Sphinx¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°But I am an early late Calculus stage mathematical Spirit! As a mathematical lifeform, I have my own mathematical domain, as you should know. You had best be careful when you speak with me!¡± Zhujiao looked confused. ¡°Stop fighting! I¡¯m Zhujiao, and we¡¯re friends! Friends can¡¯t fight! If they have a problem, they need to not talk about it!¡± Shuxue stepped back, raising both hands. ¡°Yes, we are brothe, err, comrades-in-arms. A Sector must never be internally divided. United we stand, divided we fall!¡± The Sphinx smiled smugly. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re absolutely right.¡± ¡°How about this.¡± Shuxue continued. ¡°Just give me some face.¡± The Sphinx¡¯s smile instantly disappeared. ¡°No, you give me some face.¡± ¡°No, you.¡± ¡°No, you!¡± ¡°Stoppppp!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°I have the solution!¡± Shuxue and the Sphinx¡¯s gazes snapped onto him. In unison, they spoke. ¡°What?¡± Zhujiao lifted up a finger. ¡°Why doesn¡¯t Shuxue just use the jade slips before giving them back to the people at the unsecluded meditation?¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Didn¡¯t we collect 50? Am I supposed to stay in this shithole for all that time? I want to go back home already!¡± The Sphinx snorted. ¡°Just gain enlightenment from them while I¡¯m hosting the unsecluded meditation! When they come to, they¡¯ll just think the cracks in the jade slips you made from using it will be from them fucking around.¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyebrows began to twitch, but he nodded. ¡°Very well, then. It seems there truly is no way to peacefully obtain jade slips after all.¡± They began to walk back to the black market, Shuxue madly pressing jade slips to his forehead all the while. ¡°Friends, this fellow human being is dying of hunger!¡± An old, bearded beggar rattled a tin at the three of them. ¡°Friend with the ridiculous green hair. Can you save a fellow human being from a horrible death?¡± Zhujiao ran a hand through his green hair, sneering at the beggar. ¡°How many people are going to die horrible deaths? If I saved you from a horrible death, I would have to save everyone in the Tesseract from a horrible death! I can¡¯t save everyone. If I saved you, it would be unfair to everyone else who died! I only save members of my Sector!¡± The beggar fell silent. Smirking, Zhujiao went on his way. Suddenly, tin rattled again. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°One pearl is all I ask. One pearl?¡± The beggar smiled at another passerby. His face red with rage, Zhujiao whirled around. ¡°You dirty rat! You actually want to ask someone for a pearl? How dare you harass this beautiful lady! If she gave you one pearl, wouldn¡¯t she have to give everyone else a pearl? Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be fair! She should only give pearls to people in her Sector! I only give pearls to people in my Sector!¡± The Sphinx rolled his eyes. ¡°No, you don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± The beautiful lady coughed embarrassedly, separating herself from Zhujiao and gave the beggar a pearl. Zhujiao looked like his head could explode. He lifted his finger up to attack the beggar, but Shuxue instantly slapped him. ¡°What the hell are you doing, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue snarled. ¡°You can¡¯t attack people here, this isn¡¯t the black market! Remember what I said back then in that first mathematical dungeon we went to? If we kill one person, we have to kill them all! Do you really want to kill them all?¡± Zhujiao took several breaths before calming down. ¡°Listen up, scum!¡± He shouted to the beggar. ¡°By asking a beautiful woman for money, you are committing a great crime! Because she gives you money and doesn¡¯t give other people money, she is promoting inequality!¡± The Sphinx nodded matter-of-factly. ¡°That¡¯s right, Zhujiao. Inequality is bad!¡± ¡°What!¡± Shuxue¡¯s face grew ugly to behold. ¡°Inequalities show the relations between two different values! They are an important and beautiful mathematical concept! Sphinx, you can¡¯t just blaspheme the laws like that!¡± Shuxue and the Sphinx began to heatedly argue with each other. ¡°I can avert my gaze if you have someone else promote inequality!¡± Zhujiao roared. ¡°After all, if I stamp out one inequality, I would have to stamp them all out! And I can¡¯t do that, so then I would be promoting inequality by only stamping out some inequalities and not others!¡± The beggar frowned, as if he couldn¡¯t understand Zhujiao¡¯s simple, but airtight logic. ¡°I only help beautiful women!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°You can have other people promoting inequality, but not beautiful women! Otherwise, you¡¯ll feel the wrath of me, Zhujiao! You can only ask help from your Sector members and people that are not beautiful women!¡± The beggar scratched his head. ¡°My boy, you seem to like talking about Sectors.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°I¡¯m the Grand Ancestor of the Infinity Sector!¡± ¡°You only help people in your Sector, right?¡± The beggar smiled, showing several missing teeth from when he got punched in the face. ¡°Of course I help people in my Sector! If I didn¡¯t help people, I would be a horrible person!¡± Zhujiao thumped his chest. ¡°Then can I join your Sector?¡± The beggar prodded. ¡°Of course not!¡± Zhujiao groaned. ¡°If I let you into my Infinity Sector, wouldn¡¯t I have to let everyone into my Infinity-¡± His eyes bugged for a moment, and he began holding his head in his hands. ¡°Actually, that would be fine! You¡¯re a member of my Sector!¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± The beggar struggled to get up, but he had chopped off his own feet to inspire more pity. ¡°So, can you spare some food?¡± ¡°Of course I can!¡± Zhujiao pulled out a freshly cooked steak sizzling on a platter from his forehead and handed it to the beggar. The beggar stared at Zhujiao¡¯s forehead in shock, but quickly recovered. ¡°Can you spare some pearls as well?¡± He asked excitedly. ¡°No, fuck off!¡± Chapter 27: Unsecluded Meditation ¡°All right, here is the plan.¡± Shuxue unfurled a poster onto the table Zhujiao had pulled out of his forehead. ¡°It took 3 months of these ridiculous unsecluded meditations, but the patriarch of the Watersnake clan has finally agreed to let us have an unsecluded meditation in their clan territory.¡± The Sphinx nodded smugly. ¡°My unsecluded meditations are all the rage among the younger mathivators. Ever since I started selling bottled water for ridiculous prices and installing flashy lights at the venues, attendance has skyrocketed.¡± ¡°People are so stupid!¡± Zhujiao laughed. ¡°They actually want to buy bottled water inside an ocean!¡± ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Shuxue nodded. ¡°So the venue for the unsecluded meditation must be placed near their library. Sphinx, that means the venue must be in this building, right next to the metallic palace.¡± The Sphinx looked at the marked building. ¡°Does that building have enough emergency exits?¡± ¡°Who cares, just pay somebody off if there¡¯s not enough.¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°It¡¯s not like a fire or anything can start inside an ocean.¡±* ¡°Right.¡± The Sphinx nodded. ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°As usual, the unsecluded meditation will start with the confiscation of jade slips, mathematical artifacts, and water bottles, for, uh, safety purposes.¡± All three of them snickered as Shuxue spoke. ¡°The Sphinx will entertain, also as usual. In the ensuing madness accompanying unsecluded meditations, Zhujiao and I will sneak into the library to steal a Limit jade slip, and as many Calculus jade slips as we can. They¡¯ll never find out, because people lose stuff all the time in unsecluded meditations!¡± Shuxue smiled smugly at his genius. ¡°All right, any problems?¡± ¡°Problem.¡± The Sphinx raised a paw. ¡°I¡¯m not Severed. I must stay near Zhujiao at all times.¡± ¡°Oh, right. Totally forgot about that. How many more pearls do you need to be able to Sever yourself?¡± Shuxue sighed. ¡°73,336,232,900,634 Arithmetic pearl¡¯s worth.¡± The Sphinx began preening himself. Zhujiao¡¯s face drained of all blood. ¡°What! So many! That¡¯s like, more than 500 levels¡¯ worth of pearls!¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°It¡¯ll have to be done sooner or later, Zhujiao. It¡¯s no wonder only the eight great Sectors have Severed Spirits. This price is just ridiculous, and we haven¡¯t even considered the maintenance cost. But we¡¯ll have to help him Sever his Spirit. Any other problems?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like this plan!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°What! This plan is the perfect crime!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°What could possibly be wrong with it?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t kill anyone in this plan!¡± Zhujiao jabbed his finger at the poster. ¡°This plan is boring!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyelids began to twitch. ¡°Overruled! Your Plot can go fuck off!¡± Zhujiao looked indignant, but the Sphinx patted his shoulder. ¡°No worries, Zhujiao, this plan could go horribly wrong.¡± Instantly, a grin appeared on Zhujiao¡¯s face. ¡°That would be great! That wouldn¡¯t be boring at all!¡± Shuxue stared at Zhujiao warily. ¡°Zhujiao, if you intentionally fuck this up, I¡¯ll slap you so hard that you¡¯d wish you were still a microscopic lifeform swimming inside your father! This is a Limit jade slip we¡¯re talking about! With it, I can break past the Limit and into the realm of Calculus!¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Zhujiao shook his head vigorously. ¡°I would never do something like that, big bro Shuxue! That would be backstabbing my own friend!¡± ¡°Damn right!¡± Shuxue pounded the table before rolling up the poster. ¡°Meeting concluded, let¡¯s go!¡± The Sphinx took out some lightglasses from Zhujiao¡¯s forehead and put them on, even though they were inside a building at the bottom of the ocean. ¡°Turn up, motherfuckers! Unsecluded meditation in 3 hours!¡± The Sphinx shouted at a withered skeleton of a fish who had meditated unsecludedly too much. The fish¡¯s sunken eyes moved around a little. ¡°But¡­¡± it croaked. ¡°But it¡¯s a Tuesday! I have work!¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter! I got the club going up anyway!¡± The Sphinx began throwing around the jade slips Shuxue had confiscated at the beginning of the previous unsecluded meditation. Shuxue sighed and went out. He had already gone over all these jade slips, but the Sphinx still wanted to have another unsecluded meditation with the same people. What was the point of an unsecluded meditation if the same people kept bringing the same jade slips? He put on his respirator and opened the door. Below him was ocean water; they were in an upside-down cap fixed to the ocean floor, which kept in breathable air. It had been 3 months of nonstop unsecluded meditating. The Sphinx had secured a deal that allowed them to host unsecluded meditations all across Ocean 2. Finally, their unsecluded meditations had garnered so much attention that even the Patriarch of the Watersnake clan invited them to their capital for an unsecluded meditation! ¡°Wow!¡± Zhujiao gasped as he saw the waters below. ¡°The water here is white, and the water here is black! That¡¯s so weird! What¡¯s going on here?¡± Shuxue looked down at the water. A line ran through the ocean below; on one side were raging whitewater currents, while on the other, the waters were a still, black color. ¡°Heh, this ocean makes complete mathematical sense. There is nothing illogical about it all!¡± Shuxue laughed. ¡°These white waters are of the western Autumn ocean of Ocean 2, while these black waters are of the northern Winter ocean of Ocean 2! They have different types of mathforce within them, so they don¡¯t mix together, except at Ocean 2¡¯s capital, Golden Watersnake city!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°At the center of the four oceans, in the capital city of Ocean 2, lies a massive pillar of metal, a hundred kilometers tall! It is both the tomb of an ancient mathematical beast, the Dragon King, and the palace of the Watersnakes! And this time, I¡¯m not lying!¡± Zhujiao¡¯s eyes were shining. ¡°Wow, I can¡¯t wait until we go there tomorrow for an unsecluded meditation!¡± When Shuxue thought about the Limit jade slips that the Watersnakes definitely had, he began to cackle. They meditated unsecludedly for another 14 hours, before putting on their respirators and teleporting straight to the underwater capital of Ocean 2. *If you believe there is such a thing as ¡°too soon,¡± sorry xD Chapter 28: But Im a Genius... Blue-green water, from the east. Fiery red water, from the south. Raging whitewater, from the west. Inky black water, from the north. All 4 became 1 at the center of Ocean 2, where a gargantuan pillar of black metal stood, rooted to the ground. This was the tomb of the Dragon King, the ancestor of the Watersnakes, and the Spiritseed of the 4-in-1 Mathematical Spirit! To destroy a Sector, it must be destroyed down to its very roots! Otherwise, a Sector¡¯s top experts, dead or alive, would assist it into perpetuity as long as the tombs stood! The Watersnakes had controlled all of Ocean 2 ever since the Dragon King¡¯s reign millions of years ago. His death in the last planar war 3,000,000 years ago had been hedged by the creation of his tomb! Even with the his death, the Watersnake clan stood strong! This was the enduring power of an expert! ¡°Today is the 3,000,000th anniversary of the death of the Dragon King!¡± The Patriarch of the Watersnake clan, the Golden Dragon, roared towards the mass of sea serpents. He was over 100 meters long, a giant behemoth and one of the eight mathematical lifeforms in the Weakest Plane! Like all other watersnakes, he had a scaled snake¡¯s body, but with short limbs and claws that seemed to serve no practical purpose whatsoever, and ridiculously long whiskers. ¡°As the 3,000,000th year of his death, this entire year will be a celebration of his death!¡± His booming voice reverberated through the waters. ¡°After all, the death of our Grand Ancestor was the best thing that happened to us since waterproof bread!¡± The millions of watersnakes in attendance hissed in excitement. One even wrenched open a bag of waterproof bread and began devouring it. The Sphinx snorted. ¡°These unfilial watersnakes. Even though their ancestor promoted a patriarchy, they should still be giving him face. Instead, they celebrate his death!¡± Shuxue shrugged as he spoke through the respirator. ¡°Whatever, who care about that? Rather, what a crazy coincidence that we just made it in time for their 3,000,000th anniversary! It seems almost too lucky.¡± Zhujiao laughed. ¡°Luck is literally skill, big bro! It¡¯s because we¡¯re super skilled that we¡¯re lucky!¡± The Golden Dragon¡¯s voice shook the waters again. ¡°Thus, we have invited the Sphinx, an esteemed Spirit and mathematical expert, to host an unsecluded meditation for this entire year!¡± The Sphinx put on his lightglasses and rose into the water, laughing loudly. ¡°Glad I could make it to host this historic event, my friends!¡± The Sphinx bowed to the north, the west, the south, and the east. ¡°May I present the unsecluded meditation grounds!¡± Right on cue, Zhujiao pulled out the Sphinx¡¯s Spiritseed, the huge towers that resembled tornados. It landed with a resounding thud onto the seafloor, crushing several thousand watersnakes to death and destroying several buildings. ¡°Whoooaaaaa.¡± The gasping of the millions of watersnakes present sent mini whirlpools flowing through the jade green waters. Even though the tornado towers were a mere speck compared to the Pillar, it was still immense. ¡°You¡¯re so cool, Sphinx!¡± A female watersnake batted her eyelashes at him. ¡°Even though you just destroyed my house, causing my entire family to die, that was pretty awesome!¡± Another watersnake called out. The Sphinx smiled smugly, sweeping the waters with his paws. ¡°The unsecluded meditation starts now!¡± Pills began flying through the waters, forming into a huge cloud as they dissolved into the waters. ¡°Oh, shit. I totally forgot pills dissolved in water.¡± The Sphinx cursed, using a voice which only Zhujiao and Shuxue was close enough to hear. ¡°I told you we should¡¯ve held some actual underwater unsecluded meditations as test runs, Shuxue. That way, I would¡¯ve known to take this into consideration. You motherfucker.¡± Shuxue was indignant. ¡°If you have someone to blame, you can only blame yourself for being an idiot! How am I supposed to gain enlightenment while submerged in water? Don¡¯t be ridiculous!¡± The Sphinx glared at Shuxue. ¡°No, if I have someone to blame, I can only blame you for being so stupid that you can¡¯t even gain enlightenment while submerged in water!¡± ¡°You dare question my skills? Of course I can gain enlightenment while submer-¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°They¡¯re still absorbing the pills from the water, it¡¯s all good!¡± Indeed, the watersnakes were breathing in the dissolved pills. They rolled over in ecstasy and even shed the mortal filth. ¡°Heh! Turn up, motherfuckers!¡± The Sphinx swam into his tomb, hordes of watersnakes on his tail. Their hungry eyes revealed their lust for the Sphinx¡¯s pills. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°All right, let¡¯s go!¡± Shuxue and Zhujiao instantly teleported into the first floor of the pillar, stripping off their respirators and storing them in Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. Streams of still water hung suspended in the air of the tomb. Rather than fall down onto the ground, these streams were like a stagnant pool, unmoving and calm. Watersnakes used these streams to quickly traverse the tomb, while Shuxue and Zhujiao could walk and swim their way through the tomb. ¡°All right, why the fuck didn¡¯t you teleport us directly into the library?¡± Shuxue demanded. Zhujiao shrugged. ¡°For Plot.¡± Shuxue was beside himself with rage, but he held himself back. ¡°Forget it.¡± He muttered. ¡°We have an entire year before this festival ends, and 3 months before the planar war starts. No hurry, Shuxue. No hurry.¡± The Golden Dragon had not allowed them to host the unsecluded meditation in the building Shuxue had selected beforehand, citing a lack of emergency exits. Shuxue had been irked, but the matter was resolved when the Sphinx volunteered to use his Spiritseed as the main venue. ¡°The library should start on the 420th floor, and end on the 1000th floor.¡± Shuxue said as he read the directory. ¡°Let¡¯s be real snappy, Zhujiao.¡± As there were no stairs, Shuxue and Zhujiao were forced to fight off the monsters spawning around them. As there were no stairs they leaped into a stream of stillwater, and swim their way up to the 420th floor. After sticking his head out of the side of the stream several times, Shuxue took the respirator back out of Zhujiao¡¯s forehead and put it on. On the 28th floor, a watersnake spotted them. Right before he could raise the alarm, Shuxue punched out, and a quadratics dragon tore the watersnake apart. On the 29th floor, lasers pierced holes through the water streams, walling off any further advance. After throwing the watersnake¡¯s corpse into the lasers, Shuxue confirmed that these lasers were not alarms, but rather dangerous weapons. Zhujiao smashed through the lasers with his forehead and they proceeded to the next floor. On the 30th floor, a gigantic 243,429,535,190 monster leered at them. They swam past it to the 31st floor, but then swam back down to take all 243,429,535 Arithmetic pearls the monster was worth. The battle lasted several hours, but Shuxue was able to grind it down with his hyperbola techniques. Zhujiao insisted on swiping the enormous pyramid of Algebra pearls on the 31st floor, so they spent several hours clearing out all the mechanisms, Shuxue impatiently complaining all the while. The 32nd floor had some interesting monsters, so Shuxue spent an entire week there annihilating them, Zhujiao impatiently complaining all the while. The 33rd floor had a legion of watersnakes, but Zhujiao bribed them with some pills. A month later, after countless trials and tribulations, Shuxue and Zhujiao discovered the elevator, a flowing stream of water that carried its riders up the tomb, unharassed by the countless mechanisms, monsters, and guards in place. Zhujiao complained about Plot, but was overriden by Shuxue, and they took the elevator from the 80th floor to the 420th floor. ¡°Gahahaha!¡± Shuxue roared with laughter as he threw one jade slip after another into Zhujiao¡¯s forehead. ¡°I¡¯m a genius, Zhujiao! They¡¯ll never notice a few jade slips missing!¡± Zhujiao looked behind him at the barren jade slip shelves. ¡°I don¡¯t know about that, big bro. I think you¡¯re taking a bit too many.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot, there¡¯s no possible way anything could go wrong.¡± Shuxue leaned onto a ransacked shelf triumphantly. Then, his smug expression immediately disappeared as the shelf tipped over. ¡°Ohhhhhhhh, you just messed up.¡± Zhujiao gasped, watching as the shelf toppled another shelf, which toppled the next shelf, which toppled the next shelf, which toppled two shelves, each of which toppled another shelf¡­ Booming noises sounded all over the pillar as one jade slip shelf fell after another on the 420th floor. Shuxue¡¯s face drained of blood. ¡°But¡­ but I¡¯m a genius¡­¡± Shuxue whispered hoarsely. ¡°WHO JUST DID THAT!¡± The guttural bellow of an archaic beast rolled through the entire tomb. Instantly, the still streams of water began to rotate and thrash around as if they were sentient tentacles. Within seconds, the water turned into jetstreams that began to shoot downwards. Every single living being inside the tomb was caught up in the streams and spat out by the jet streams. One absorbed Shuxue and Zhujiao, blasting them down all 420 floors. They were spat out into a raging underwater whirlpool, at the center of a circle of several million watersnakes and the Golden Dragon. Chapter 29: Domain Battle on the Sea Floor ¡°Uh¡­ oops.¡± Shuxue groaned. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re switching to Plan B, Zhujiao. Abort the mission!¡± He grabbed Zhujiao and began vigorously shaking his body. ¡°Abort! Abort! We need to abort, Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao was struggling not to choke on the water flowing into his respirator. ¡°No, big bro¡­¡± He gasped. ¡°We can¡¯t teleport. Plot says if you wanted us to pull out of here, we should¡¯ve done it sooner!¡± ¡°I should have known Plot doesn¡¯t allow abortions!¡± Shuxue threw up his hands in exasperation. ¡°Plan C, then. Kill them all!¡± He punched out with his fist, shooting out a quadratics dragon. Like all other quadratics dragon, it grew in strength as it traveled in a straight line. Several watersnakes were smashed into a pulp when the quadratics dragon traveled out of the vortex and hit them. The Golden Dragon¡¯s eyes darkened with fury. ¡°Seize them!¡± He howled. Instantly, the watersnakes began swimming into the vortex inside of which Shuxue and Zhujiao were trapped. Some were no more than ? meter long, while others were 30 meters in length! The bigger the watersnake, the older it was, and the more dangerous it probably would be! ¡°Damn it, Zhujiao, charge up your factorial channeling equation faster.¡± Shuxue howled as he sent another 25 quadratics dragons roaring through the vortex. ¡°What is the meaning of this!¡± The Sphinx, emerging from his pyramid, bellowed. ¡°Golden Dragon, how dare you create a disturbance during my unsecluded meditation!¡± The Golden Dragon coiled around to look at the Sphinx. It was about to speak, then stopped, narrowing its eyes. ¡°Your friends, the 2 humans, just infiltrated my palace! Can it be that you are here to sabotage my Sector!¡± The watersnakes all gasped as they looked at the Sphinx. ¡°What! The Sphinx is a devious person?¡± A little watersnake asked, his whiskers trembling in shock. ¡°We¡¯ve been betrayed!¡± A female watersnake nearly fainted. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought an upstanding young Spirit like you would¡¯ve done such a thing!¡± ¡°Feh, whatever! It¡¯s time to overthrow your patriarchy, you shitty dragon!¡± The Sphinx jabbed a finger at the Golden Dragon, not even trying to deny his assertions. ¡°You¡¯ve oppressed your compatriots long enough! For social justice!¡± The Sphinx was about to attack, but stopped when he saw a massive shadow fall over the buildings. From the top of the metal pillar, a monstrous creature with a body of bluish-green scales, red wings of a chicken, limbs of a tiger, and the shell of a turtle swam down. It was over 20 kilometers in radius, and its very movements caused typhoons to occur on the surface of the ocean, 100s of kilometers above. ¡°The 4-in-1 Mathematical Spirit!¡± The watersnakes shrieked and began kowtowing their heads against the waters. Some of them kowtowed so hard that they died. ¡°Sphinx¡­¡± Its ancient voice roiled the waters. ¡°You are a mere 50-year-old Nascent Spirit. You actually want to antagonize me, the number two Spirit of the Weakest Plane?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± The Sphinx laughed. ¡°We revolutionaries are always a young bunch!¡± The Golden Dragon stared at them darkly. ¡°Very well, then. 4-in-1 Spirit, destroy the Sphinx¡¯s Spiritseed!¡± The Sphinx blanched. ¡°Wait, you can¡¯t do that! That violates the code of chivalry! I may not believe in masculine -¡± All around them, illusory circles appeared, each one larger than the last. They were all emanating from the center of the 4-in-1 Spirit, and carried untold amounts of mathforce! ¡°Domain¡­ the Domain that only mathematical lifeforms have!¡± The Watersnakes shrieked in excitement. ¡°You guys are fucked now!¡± Within the circles, giant funnels of water began to swirl around, forming typhoons that destroyed buildings and swept away watersnakes en masse. ¡°Feel the wrath of my domain! Parabolic Spiraling Dragon!¡± The 4-in-1 Spirit bellowed. A stream of water emanated from the 4-in-1 Spirit, circling around it and gaining in power as it did so. By the time it had spiraled around to strike the Sphinx¡¯s pyramid, it seemed like an unstoppable force. ¡°Nooooooooo!¡± The Sphinx screamed. If his Spiritseed was destroyed, then he would be cut off from his mathforce supply! As a mathematical Spirit, he was made of mathforce, and would die without constant nourishment! The pyramid suddenly disappeared, right before the jetstream slashed through it. The jetstream continued drawing progressively larger circles, and quickly disappeared from view. Zhujiao popped up. ¡°Just in time, big bro Sphinx! My interspatial forehead saves the day!¡± The Sphinx stared at Zhujiao, and began laughing maniacally. ¡°All right, 4-in-1 Spirit. It¡¯s time for our true showdown! You¡¯re not the only one with a mathematical domain!¡± An illusory xy-grid appeared in front of the Sphinx. Rather than a domain that drew concentric circles around him, the Sphinx¡¯s domain was two perpendicular lines, one which shot out in front of his feet into infinity, the other which went straight upwards, through the center of his head. Shuxue, who was spectating the fight along with the millions of watersnakes, gawked at this new mathematical domain. ¡°The Sphinx¡­¡± Shuxue¡¯s brain was working at top speed. ¡°He uses the first quadrant of a Cartesian curve, making that strange grid formation, whereas the 4-in-1 Spirit is using the laws of Trigonometry to make polar curves! Too profound!¡± The Sphinx looked straight up, his long hair fluttering in the water currents. A ball of mathforce shot out of his mouth, flying upwards and disappearing from view. The mathforce in between the ball and the bottom of the Sphinx¡¯s domain began roiling madly. They surged upwards to join the ball, turning it into a huge sphere of destructive mathforce that began falling towards the top of the 4-in-1 Spirit! The 4-in-1 Spirit looked up and bellowed, releasing Calculus mathforce that congealed to form a gargantuan dy/dx symbol that blocked the incoming ball. Mathforce blasted in all directions as the vast majority of the ball dissipated. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Yet a sizable amount broke through to smash into the 4-in-1 Spirit¡¯s body! Shuxue stared in confusion at the spectacle as the 4-in-1 Spirit reeled backwards in pain. 5,000! ¡°But¡­ wasn¡¯t derivative armor supposed to reduce all attacks to 0?¡± Shuxue didn¡¯t understand. How had Zhujiao¡¯s attacks, which numbered in the millions of points of mathforce, get completely blocked by Elder Yin¡¯s derivative armor, while the Sphinx¡¯s attack was able to bash through with a giant amount of mathforce remaining? The Mathematical laws were truly profound. Perhaps derivative armor was not as infallible as Shuxue believed! The 4-in-1 Spirit stared at the Sphinx in awe. ¡°Attacks using the profound mysteries of the Integral! You are at the late Calculus stage?¡± The Sphinx smirked. ¡°That¡¯s right, motherfucker!¡± ¡°You are truly advanced in your enlightenment of the mathematical laws!¡± The 4-in-1 Spirit roared. ¡°But in the end, you are just a Nascent Spirit, while I am a Severed Spirit who¡¯s lived for nearly 3,000,000 years! I have more durability and a higher mathforce pool. Let¡¯s see who can truly win this battle!¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been a middle Calculus and late Trigonometry stage expert for 3,000,000 years without making any breakthroughs?¡± The Sphinx snorted. ¡°You¡¯re fucking retarded! What kind of world do you live in, where you can be stuck at a bottleneck for 3,000,000 years? It¡¯s like you¡¯re asking to get raped by me, Sphinx! And because you¡¯re a heteronormative male, it¡¯s not rape if I rape you, so don¡¯t think I won¡¯t do it!¡± The Golden Dragon swam up next to the 4-in-1 Spirit, releasing his own domain. A second set of concentric circles appeared, causing the entire ocean to be covered in vast, sweeping illusory circles. ¡°Subordinates, subdue the Sphinx¡¯s companions!¡± The Golden Dragon shouted. ¡°This is war!¡± Shuxue snapped out of his thoughts, immediately shooting out quadratics dragons into his surroundings. ¡°Domains are the key!¡± He muttered, his eyes wild. ¡°All this time, I¡¯ve been unable to use Linear Algebra concepts as attacks! I have a feeling that only with a domain, can I use the multivariable attacks I¡¯ve developed. Otherwise, they will just disappear off into the 4th dimension of the Tesseract!¡± Domains granted Mathivators the utmost control over their attacks! Without a domain, a quadratics or arithmetic dragon could only move in a straight line in whichever direction Shuxue pointed his fist. But with a domain, they could perhaps become true, sentient attacks! Shuxue was regretting not mathivating more in the past. If he was a mathematical lifeform that had a domain, his attacks, techniques, and research could become orders of magnitude more profound than before! Illusory mathforce snakes shimmered into being, shooting out in strange circular arcs. The faint dy/dx symbols in the Sphinx¡¯s skin glowed brightly as the illusory snakes battered into him. Blood poured into the waters as he coughed out blood, his eyes full of shock. 100! 31! 927! 0! 243! A stream of damage numbers burst out, each serpent doing a seemingly random amount of damage. ¡°Hahaha!¡± The Golden Dragon roared with laughter. ¡°Using Derivatives to defend against Trigonometry attacks is like urinating on an underwater forest fire to put it out. Even though by all logic it should work, it doesn''t! You¡¯d best roll over and die!¡± Lines carved out a rose shape around him, madly sucking in the surrounding mathforce. The Golden Dragon was preparing another attack! ¡°Bah!¡± The Sphinx roared, sending out another ball of mathforce that curved through the waters towards the 4-in-1 Spirit. Shuxue cursed as a quadratics dragon blasted halfway through a rose shield that a 10-meter long watersnake had conjured before dissipating. Mathforce bubbled up, slowly reforming the rose shield. Another 2 quadratics dragon smashed into the rose shield, breaking it apart and finally killing the watersnake. 3,290! ¡°These strange defenses use the laws of Trigonometry!¡± Shuxue fumed. ¡°Their defenses are unpredictable and self-repairing. It¡¯s completely unfair that someone can have a defense like that!¡± Every watersnake required immense amounts of effort to slay. The Watersnake Clan was truly the number 1 mathematical beast clan in the Weakest Plane. The laws of Trigonometry were extremely unfathomable and hard to predict. They could even penetrate straight through the derivative artifacts with seemingly no adverse effects, and their defenses could constantly regenerate. Breaking them was like beating back the waves on an ocean, a nearly impossible feat. The Watersnakes, using the laws of Trigonometry, were similarly slippery and difficult. Shuxue felt that they had picked the wrong target this time. Screams rang out from not far away as nearly 100 watersnakes were flattened into nothing. 362,880! Zhujiao floated up, his green hair flying about wildly. ¡°It¡¯s time¡­ for the ultimate technique of me, Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. Like that first time Shuxue had seen Zhujiao perform this technique, Zhujiao mimicked a throwing motion. The water split apart, sending violent ripples surging out everywhere. Incredibly, a region with no water had formed! Like an ominous deity of death, this empty space smashed down on approximately 2,000 watersnakes. Shuxue watched as they were all crushed by the invisible force, becoming puddles of blood imprinted on the sea floor. 3,628,800! The Golden Dragon whirled around, gawking at Zhujiao¡¯s attack. Chapter 30: We need a Power-Up! The mass of circles began to split apart as the Golden Dragon moved away from the 4-in-1 Spirit¡¯s side. ¡°This boy!¡± He growled. ¡°Could it be that he is actually a mathematical lifeform!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. He launched another attack at the Golden Dragon, splitting the water apart with a gargantuan invisible mass, over 10 times larger than the previous one. 39,916,800! An entire section of the capital city was destroyed. The sea floor rumbled and swirling currents blasted still more buildings into rubble. The invisible space suddenly disappeared, causing still more underwater whirlpools and maelstroms as the water rushed back in to fill up the empty space. Thousands were slaughtered; only the watersnakes with derivative artifacts were able to weather the attack. The Golden Dragon¡¯s eyes narrowed as he stared at the rubble. ¡°That was clearly Arithmetic mathforce¡­¡± He looked at Zhujiao with an unfathomable expression. ¡°What kind of mathivation does this boy have, to put out such incredible quantities of mathforce?¡± ¡°Kill them all, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue roared, popping a mathforce pill into his mouth. His nearly depleted mathforce pool was instantly replenished, and he started shooting out quadratics dragons again. ¡°Big bro Shuxue!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°I only have enough mathforce to perform one more attack! After that, we¡¯ll need a super power-up to kill them all!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Zhujiao, you idiot! Why did you say that so loudly?!¡± It was like the ocean had utterly disappeared. Shuxue, the 4-in-1 Spirit, literally every single living thing was blown away by the water currents which rushed out as an illusory mountain blew apart the sea floor. 342,168,777! Even as Shuxue was blasted back by the sheer amount of water, he facepalmed. ¡°Zhujiao, you idiot¡­¡± Shuxue was exasperated beyond belief. ¡°That attack was too large, its sheer force swept away everyone it was trying to kill!¡± Indeed, perhaps only a few hundred watersnakes had died. ? th of the city was flattened, but the amount of enemies that had died was completely disproportional to the amount of mathforce Zhujiao had put into the attack. The illusory mountain blinked out of existence, causing the outwards shooting water currents to pull back yet again. A massive jumble of watersnakes formed in the center of a raging whirlpool as one watersnake after another was tossed into the vortex created by the mountain¡¯s sudden disappearance. ¡°I hate underwater warfare.¡± Shuxue grumbled as he smashed onto the ball of watersnakes. ¡°Getting blown here and there, and looking at all these whirlpools are really annoying!¡± From far away, an infinitely long line swiveled around to rest right below the group of watersnakes. It was the Sphinx¡¯s domain axis! A huge ball of mathforce appeared, arcing straight towards the writhing mass of tangled watersnakes and Shuxue. His face paled as he watched the Sphinx¡¯s attack grow in size as it approached. ¡°Friendly fire! Friendly fire! That¡¯s not allowed!¡± Shuxue screamed, desperately trying to extricate himself from the ball of watersnakes. The watersnakes were also panicking, but their struggles only served to further entangle themselves. By the time the ball had reached them, it was several kilometers in length. Such a fearsome attack would definitely annihilate the several 10,000s of watersnakes in the group, as well as Shuxue! 19,325! The 4-in-1 Spirit blocked the immense ball. Even though the derivative armor blocked the vast majority of the attack, the Spirit still coughed out great quantities of blood. It careened into the clump of watersnakes, battering them far away. The Sphinx appeared, launching another attack at the 4-in-1. Zhujiao floated in the water far away. He was panting from the exertion of his last attack, and his forehead was beading with sweat. Shuxue ground his teeth when he looked at Zhujiao. He knew that the attack Zhujiao had launched was supposed to be 399,168,000, but Zhujiao had run out of mathforce! Their Plot Armor had been used up, and the battle was still far from finished! There were still 1,000,000s of watersnakes left; between the 3 of them, they had only killed perhaps 20,000 watersnakes. Shuxue was in despair. If only Zhujiao had not been so retarded, and had studied the mathematical laws. If only Zhujiao had not burned all of his mathforce on that idiotic attack! The Golden Dragon was still untouched by the battle, and the 4-in-1 Spirit constantly repaired the damages to its body by drawing on the mathforce pools within the nearby metal pillar. 20,000 dead watersnakes, out of over 3,000,000, was a negligible amount. The only way they could win this fight was through a really, really, really ridiculous powerup! A beast slashed through the waters, grabbing Zhujiao with a claw. ¡°Ho ho ho!¡± The Golden Dragon chortled. ¡°I¡¯ve never met such an astounding mathematical lifeform. This boy¡¯s mathivation is so unfathomable that I can¡¯t see it at all!¡± Zhujiao writhed around, but to no avail. ¡°No, don¡¯t do anything to me! I¡¯m Zhujiao! You can¡¯t do this! If I died, it would be bad for Plot!¡± Shuxue blanched. Zhujiao didn¡¯t have his Plot Armor! He was screwed if the Golden Dragon wanted to kill him! ¡°Golden Dragon, your power is truly greater than ours. If there are any problems, we can talk it out.¡± Shuxue gabbled. ¡°Why must we continue fighting? Let¡¯s be a civilized man and a civilized dragon, shall we?¡± Completely ignoring Shuxue, the Golden Dragon conjured up a 2-dimensional diagram resembling a rose. It floated across the Golden Dragon¡¯s domain until it was right below Zhujiao. The Golden Dragon roared, and the illusory rose curve became an actual flower that rose out of the domain to envelop the struggling Zhujiao. ¡°Millions of years ago, in my journeys to the higher planes!¡± The Golden Dragon¡¯s voice boomed out. ¡°Through many hardships and life-threatening situations, I was able to obtain this one-use technique that allows me to swap another¡¯s mathivation with my own! Only, it was completely useless to me, as I already had an extremely high mathivation compared to you plebeians.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. A tear washed out from the Golden Dragon¡¯s eye and dissolved into the ocean. ¡°But today, I shall finally use it on this boy. With his astonishing mathivation, I can become the supreme ruler of the Weakest Plane! 4-in-1, protect me as I metamorphosize!¡± Another rose curve split out of the Golden Dragon¡¯s domain, wrapping up the Golden Dragon as well. Zhujiao¡¯s flower began to rotate around the Golden Dragon, emitting a faint glow as it did so. The 4-in-1 Spirit laughed as it turned to face the Sphinx. A stream of mathforce flowed from the metal pillar into him, repairing all his wounds. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve kicked a metal pillar this time, young upstarts! Ha ha ha, this is like meat pies falling from the heavens!¡± The Sphinx¡¯s eyes glittered. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that, 4-in-1! It seems I still have the upper hand in terms of mathematical insights!¡± ¡°Your Spiritseed will run out of mathforce soon enough!¡± The 4-in-1 Spirit roared, shooting out more streams of water that spiraled around the 4-in-1 Spirit towards the Sphinx. As they battled, Zhujiao¡¯s flower began to glow radiantly, while the Golden Dragon¡¯s flower¡¯s light actually started to dim. The Golden Dragon¡¯s head split out of the flower, his eyes wide. ¡°Impossible!¡± He cried. ¡°How can he have no mathivation whatsoever?! No! Noooo!¡± Mathforce flooded out of him and into Zhujiao¡¯s flower. The Golden Dragon, who was a mathematical lifeform and thus made out of mathforce, began to dissipate. Shuxue began laughing. Zhujiao never meditated or mathivated, but rather only relied on the brute force of Plot Armor to power his way through his enemies. By swapping mathivations with Zhujiao, the Golden Dragon was literally killing himself! The Golden Dragon turned completely into mathforce which was absorbed into Zhujiao. Only a tiny golden snake, three centimeters long, remained of the once mighty patriarch of the Watersnake clan before Shuxue¡¯s quadratics dragon chomped it into pieces. Zhujiao¡¯s flower broke apart, and he rose through the water, staring at himself in astonishment. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m so strong!¡± He shouted with excitement. A Cartesian coordinate plane shot out from his front, back and sides, with him as the origin. Unlike the Sphinx¡¯s domain, Zhujiao¡¯s domain had all 4 quadrants. It spread out from Zhujiao¡¯s center, much like the domains of the 4-in-1 Spirit and the Golden Dragon. ¡°I have my own domain! So cool!¡± Zhujiao gasped. Shuxue peered closely at the illusory number labelings on Zhujiao¡¯s domain, and vomited. ¡°Zhujiao, you idiot, can it be that you don¡¯t know how to count!¡± ¡°What! Of course I know how to count!¡± Zhujiao pointed at the illusory numbers on the positive side of the x-axis. ¡°See? 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 3, 7, 8, 6, 2¡­ 230¡­ 235!¡± Shuxue took off his respirator and vomited some more. His bile drifted away into the ocean, but an underwater current slapped all of it back onto his face. ¡°Why is the negative side of the x-axis filled with positive numbers!¡± Shuxue spluttered. ¡°And why are there diagrams of unclothed females labeling the y-axis? Zhujiao, this-¡± He began to vomit again. The 4-in-1 Spirit¡¯s jaw dropped as it read Zhujiao¡¯s domain. ¡°Wh-wh-what!¡± It spluttered. ¡°This is the most nonsensical powerup I¡¯ve ever seen in the millions of years of my life! You can¡¯t just become a mathematical lifeform without knowing any math. Only people in the highest planes can do that! This isn¡¯t fair!¡± ¡°I¡¯m Zhujiao! And I know all the math!¡± Zhujiao shouted, punching out with his fist. Though his blow was a mere Arithmetic attack, its power was immense! 3 Watersnakes were instantly smashed to a pulp, even though Zhujiao was completely out of pearls and did not rely at all on his Plot Armor. The watersnakes were fleeing for their lives, panic on their faces. ¡°The Patriarch is dead! The Patriarch is dead!¡± Many watersnakes had lost the will to fight. If the Golden Dragon had died normally, his mathivation would have caused the formation of a tomb! Yet Zhujiao had stolen his mathivation before Shuxue had killed the Golden Dragon. Thus¡­ no tomb had been formed! This was the worst defeat the Watersnakes had suffered in millions of years! Their morale was so close to 0 that it might as well be 0! ¡°Rally together!¡± The 4-in-1 Spirit shouted. ¡°In the end, it¡¯s just a Nascent Spirit, a mathematical lifeform, and a pipsqueak human! The great pillar of our Sector, me, still stands strong. Fight!¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong! And I¡¯m Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. He smashed his forehead into the metal pillar, sucking the entire structure into his interspatial forehead. Yet another vortex formed as water rushed in to fill the void created by the sudden disappearance of the Watersnake palace. The four different colors of water began to merge together, forming water with a jade green color. It seemed as if it was the pillar that had divided up Ocean 2, and with it gone, the waters were free to mix together again. On the surface of Ocean 2, small waves rippled out from where the pillar used to be. When they reached land, they would become towering tsunamis, tens of kilometers high. The metal pillar was the pillar that supported the Watersnake clan. It was also the pillar that stabilized Ocean 2. With it gone, great calamities would occur! ¡°I, Zhujiao, have pearls again!¡± Zhujiao shouted, teleporting next to Shuxue and then the Sphinx. They teleported back to the Infinity Sector, leaving behind them the ruins of the ravaged Watersnake clan. Like that, the celebrations for the 3,000,000th anniversary of the Dragon King¡¯s death came to an abrupt end.
So what''s up with people just giving bad ratings without any justification? I was at 4.33 with 10 ratings yesterday, and 4.00 with 11 ratings today, which means one guy came in and gave me 2/3 of a star (I''m not sure if that''s possible, but that''s how the math works out). Shouldn''t there be an explanation for such an outlying rating, when the majority of people are rating it between 4 and 5 stars? It''s quite bad-mannered to give such a horrible rating with no explanation, I think. :( I have my own thoughts of the character development and the plot in the story, but as the author I don''t think it''s my place to argue about my piece. Still, I feel as if the grammar alone should make this warrant more than 2/3 of a star (or whatever this person rated Math God Plane as; 4.33 with 10 ratings to 4.00 with 11 ratings is an incredible drop.) Chapter 31: The Effects of Zhujiaos Adventures ¡°What is going on?¡± Fengshui jabbed a finger at the drenched bodies of Shuxue, Zhujiao, and the Sphinx. ¡°I was monitoring the mathforce differences between our Weakest Plane and the Trash Plane, and our plane¡¯s mathforce levels suddenly dropped by an incredible amount! It was like an entire capital city of a major Sector was destroyed!¡± Shuxue shrugged. ¡°Dunno, Fengshui. Maybe you should do your calculations better.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me, Shuxue!¡± Fengshui snarled. ¡°Just what have you 3 been up to?¡± ¡°We killed them all!¡± Zhujiao shouted, his domain shimmering into existence again. Fengshui gawked at the illusory plane that spread out from Zhujiao¡¯s feet. ¡°Domain! You have a domain, Zhujiao!¡± Fengshui was so shocked, her eyelids began twitching. ¡°Why is the y-axis labeled with diagrams of nude women? No, first of all, when did you become a mathematical lifeform?¡± ¡°When we killed them all!¡± Zhujiao grinned. ¡°We got super lucky, so we beat those watersnakes! But we¡¯re super lucky because we¡¯re super skilled! So we¡¯re super skilled!¡± ¡°Shut up, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue slapped him. ¡°You may be a mathematical lifeform now, but you still have precisely 0 insights into the laws! You were absolutely useless against those Calculus experts with the derivative armor.¡± Fengshui¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Just what happened here? Fighting against Calculus experts? Becoming a mathematical lifeform?¡± Her questions were completely ignored by Zhujiao, who was indignant at Shuxue¡¯s accusations. ¡°No, I have a lot of insights into the laws! 1+1=2! See, I¡¯m smart!¡± The Sphinx patted Zhujiao¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Ah, Zhujiao. That insight won¡¯t kill Calculus experts. I really think you should train some more, so I don¡¯t have to do the brunt of the work.¡± Shuxue nodded vigorously. ¡°Yes, no more adventures, Zhujiao. Just drop off the Sphinx¡¯s tomb and the new tomb we acquired so that I can go study the Limit jade slip.¡± Zhujiao scratched his head. ¡°Fine! I¡¯ll become a Calculus expert, then we can go on an adventure again!¡± Shuxue¡¯s smile could split the heavens. Zhujiao, become a Calculus expert? How many billions of jade slips could Shuxue press to his forehead before that happened? It really seemed like he won big today. Fengshui threw up her hands in exasperation. ¡°Forget it, this planar war has been put off for another year! How much destruction did you fools cause? How many beautiful buildings did you 3 destroy?¡± ¡°All of them!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Except this one!¡± He pulled the massive pillar out of his forehead. It thudded into the ground, causing several earthquakes and crushing the Infinity rally point. When comparing sizes between the Infinity Spiral and the metal pillar, the Infinity Spiral was like 1 hair on the body of 9 bulls! The metal pillar tipped over, crushing tens of thousands of disciples, the Infinity Hotel, and an entire section of the mountain range that ringed the main base of the Infinity Sector. ¡°Uh¡­ oops.¡± Zhujiao shrugged. Fengshui¡¯s eyelids were twitching so violently that she could create a typhoon if she was inside Ocean 2, but she calmed herself down. ¡°All right, Zhujiao. Tell me, why did you just annihilate 1000s of my beautiful mathforce generating formations?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m Zhujiao! What are you going to do about it?¡± Zhujiao shrugged apathetically. ¡°Fix it right now! I want that metal pillar out of here! Get it off the ground! Get it up!¡± Fengshui snarled at Zhujiao with such vitriol that even the Sphinx shrank back. ¡°I can¡¯t have this lump of metal lying down on the ground. It needs to be upright if it wants to be placed in our capital city!¡± Zhujiao looked like he was about to cry. ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t get it up!¡± Shuxue rolled his eyes and went to the Infinity Palace to process jade slips. He could always get the Limit jade slip later. A year later, loud banging sounds could be heard on the door to the Infinity Palace¡¯s throne room. Shuxue took the jade slip off his forehead and got out of the Infinity hot tub that Fengshui had created inside the throne room. ¡°Who is it?¡± Shuxue asked, grumpy. He was trying to gain mathematical insights here! ¡°Nupu...¡± The voice of an annoying girl drifted in from behind the throne room doors. ¡°Nupu?¡± Shuxue muttered to himself. ¡°I forgot that girl existed. It must be because she¡¯s so irrelevant nowadays.¡± He flung open the door to reveal the frail girl, her face still dotted with freckles. Nupu¡¯s face grew pale when she saw Shuxue¡¯s naked body yet again. This time, however, she did not faint, but her body began to tremble. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°M-minister Fengshui wants to see you.¡± She mumbled, taking care not to look at the thing in between Shuxue¡¯s legs. ¡°She says it¡¯s time to start training for the planar war.¡± Shuxue sighed and slammed the door. ¡°She can come here, not the other way around. Who does she think I am, some servant to be sent around according to her orders? Nope, that¡¯s your job! Now scram!¡± Several minutes later, Zhujiao and Fengshui entered the throne room. ¡°This mathforce hot tub is excellent.¡± Shuxue was wiping his wet head with a towel as he spoke to Fengshui. ¡°I feel like I can become a mathematical lifeform within the next 10 years if I did nothing but sit in here! So, Fengshui, what sort of events have gone on during my profound meditation?¡± ¡°Many things.¡± Fengshui was as blunt as ever. ¡°But 3 very important things have happened while you were neglecting your duties.¡± Shuxue was completely disinterested, but bade her to continue. ¡°1st, the Ji clan and Argent Heaven have gone to war! It seems their dispute is over an incident in Continent 10 involving 100 dead disciples and 2 early Calculus stage elders, of which each Sector has thousands. Continent 1 has shrunk drastically as major mathematical formations and structures have been annihilated. Ocean 8 and Ocean 9, which lie inside Continent 1, have also become war zones.¡± Fengshui narrated. Shuxue shrugged. ¡°Oh, yeah, I did that. It looks like my plans truly are genius!¡± He and Zhujiao high-5¡¯d each other several times. Fengshui eyed him skeptically. ¡°2nd, great tsunamis appeared out of Ocean 2, flooding large swathes of land and causing nearly 10,000,000,000 people in Continents 5, 2, 8, and 18, all of which bordered Ocean 2, to die. The Watersnake clan launched an all-out assault on Continent 5, led by the 4-in-1 Spirit, who had lost his Spiritseed and is looking for new ones. Currently, the Whitecloud Sector of Continent 2 and the Divergent Sector of Continent 5 is leading the effort to crush the Watersnake Clan and divide up Ocean 2 anew.¡± Shuxue laughed. ¡°Yeah, I did that too. Ah, Fengshui, killing watersnakes is like heating the hot tub water.¡± He waved at the 30x30 meter personal hot tub he was inside. In the floor under the throne room, hundreds of servants labored around the clock to keep the fires stoked. ¡°You can do it yourself, but it¡¯s just so much better when you have others do it for you!¡± Shuxue smiled as he thought about the Whitecloud Sector and the Divergent Sector fighting the Watersnake clan. ¡°Yeah! Just like math problems!¡± Zhujiao piped up. He was answered by 3 heavy slaps to the face from Shuxue. ¡°Hey, stop giving me side 5¡¯s!¡± Zhujiao complained, wiping his cheek. ¡°It¡¯s a high 5, not a side 5! You keep missing!¡± ¡°The only thing I missed was the joke.¡± Shuxue snorted. He turned to look at Fengshui, who was glaring at the 2 of them. ¡°Oh, Shuxue, so you did this too?¡± Shuxue raised up both hands. ¡°It¡¯s true, we really did it. You think I, Shuxue, would lie? Where do you think that metal pillar came from? We took it because the Watersnake clan gave us no face!¡± ¡°Right.¡± Fengshui moved on. ¡°3rd, a man with scars running down his cheek killed one of the Spirits of the Kraken Trading Conglomerate, with nothing but a light sword! A plane-wide manhunt is in place, but the culprit has eluded capture, destroying entire Mountain Ranges of Mathematical Beasts as he flees. Many hunters have turned up dead, with puncture wounds through their throats. Even the cats, dogs, and mice who just happen to pass by this elusive expert have their throats stabbed. Even the mathematical beasts that have no throats have their throats stabbed.¡± Shuxue nodded philosophically. ¡°Yes, I suppose I did that too. Allow me to pat myself on the back.¡± He rose out of the water and began patting his back. Zhujiao was confused for a moment. Then, his eyes widened in shock. ¡°Wow, Shuxue! Are you saying that that Jijian harem member with the light sword disguised herself as a man with scars running down his cheek?¡± ¡°Indeed, Zhujiao.¡± Shuxue patted Zhujiao¡¯s head. ¡°It only took you 1.5 years to figure that out. Not bad!¡± Fengshui was quite annoyed now. ¡°I suppose everything that happens was done by you, Shuxue. Was my father meeting my mother also orchestrated by you, who traveled back in time to create my existence?¡± Shuxue laughed at Fengshui. ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, Fengshui. I could never have the skill to turn back time. Only an unparalleled genius like¡­ like me, Shuxue, could do such a thing!¡± ¡°All right, then.¡± Fengshui sighed and got up. ¡°The point is, despite all the lost mathforce stemming from the destruction caused by these 3 events, our Infinity Sector has compensated for it all on its own by creating immense quantities of mathematical formations! In a year, there will be Planar War! It¡¯s time to start preparing. Come, Shuxue. Let¡¯s go visit the corp!¡± Chapter 32: No Character Left Behind ¡°A Planar War is fought by the elites of each Continent! It only ends when all the Spirits on one side get killed, or leave the battlefield!¡± A boy with too many muscles for his young age was speaking to an enraptured audience of 1000 disciples. ¡°Minister Fengshui reports that the Trash plane has 320 Severed Spirits! Our Weakest Plane has 8 mathematical lifeforms, 1 for each of the 8 great Sectors, except the Watersnake Clan, and 1 for our Infinity Sector, the number 1 Sector of this plane!¡± Cheers resounded throughout the outdoor auditorium they were in. Shuxue, Fengshui, and Zhujiao stood off to the side. ¡°Xiaobai is correct.¡± Fengshui said, halting her pi visualization technique to explain to Shuxue. ¡°Apart from spreading into unsaturated space, our Infinity Sector has conquered Oceans 29, 19, 18, 22. Continent 29, the only other continent on this landmass, has also been annexed. Shibing is currently fighting in Continent 28, which lies in the landmass across from the Oceans we¡¯ve taken.¡± Shuxue nodded thoughtfully. Continents were called continents, and Oceans were called oceans, but they frequently bordered one another! It could be said that continents were just smaller regions of a larger landmass containing both saturated and unsaturated space. Continents 30 and 29 lay in the northwestern landmass, whose exact shape still had not been determined. Bordering them was the Weakest Ocean, which contained over half of the Weakest Plane¡¯s oceans. Inside the Weakest Ocean was the Weakest Island, which contained Continents 28, 24, 23, 25, and 22. Shibing had crossed into the Great Island and was now spreading the light of Zhujiao there. ¡°Wait a moment, did you just say Xiaobai? Is that boy Xiaobai, Dong Feiliao¡¯s son?¡± Shuxue squinted at the speaker. ¡°Why does he have so much muscle?¡± ¡°Xiaobai is the star of our corp!¡± Fengshui said, showing a small amount of excitement. ¡°He really got his act together after Feiliao was executed for molesting young children.¡± ¡°Xiaobai¡¯s my best friend!¡± Zhujiao shouted excitedly. ¡°He teaches me the math!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous.¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°It¡¯s impossible to teach math, we¡¯ve already been over this.¡± ¡°True, I¡¯m supposed to figure it out on my own, but he tries to show me the way!¡± Zhujiao shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s super hard, I still don¡¯t get why you use letters in math. It doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡± ¡°Xiaobai is a genius. He actually comprehended the Limit on his own, without help from jade slips, and broke through into the Calculus stage! Everyone loves Xiaobai!¡± A nearby disciple said excitedly to them, before realizing who she was talking to. ¡°Forgive me!¡± She shrieked and began kowtowing the ground. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to speak out of hand!¡± Shuxue was so astounded that he didn¡¯t tell her to stop kowtowing. Even he had not broken through the Limit yet! How the hell had this little shit surpassed him in the realm of Calculus? Xiaobai cleared his throat. ¡°We are clearly outnumbered and outmatched by the Trash Plane. Many of our adversaries will even have domains. But I believe that we can overcome this foe!¡± The audience roared with excitement. ¡°Praise Xiaobai!¡± A girl gushed, her eyes shining with ardor. ¡°Xiaobai is our hero!¡± A buff old man stripped off his shirt, throwing it high into the air. ¡°Xiaobai! Xiaobai!¡± The kowtowing girl cheered as she kowtowed, blood flowing down her face. Fengshui spoke again. ¡°After breaking through into the Calculus realm, Xiaobai was able to procure Limit jade slips for many Sector members. This entire corp of Calculus stage experts is due to Xiaobai. He¡¯s completely different from that useless Feiliao.¡± Zhujiao looked at the watch that did not exist on his hand. ¡°Oh my god! I have to go meet with Meinu!¡± Fengshui was startled. ¡°What! Why? You have a training session with Xiaobai in an hour!¡± ¡°I know!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°But I have to spend more time with Meinu, because Meinu said I have to spend more time with Meinu!¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes were bugging. ¡°Y-y-you¡­ you would actually¡­ Listen up, Zhujiao! There is one difference between women and math. The difference is that you want to spend time doing mathematical problems, but you don¡¯t want to spend time doing women!¡± ¡°Nuh-uh!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Women are better than math problems! I want to kiss Meinu, but she says it¡¯s too soon! It¡¯s never too soon! Also, she says I can¡¯t have a harem. It¡¯s completely unfair! How come I can¡¯t kiss Meinu, and I can¡¯t kiss other harem mem- girls, either? Does she want me to die from pain?¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What!¡± Shuxue gripped Zhujiao¡¯s shoulders. ¡°You had better ditch this lady quickly. Everybody knows it¡¯s better to diversify everything! Stocks, bonds, jade slips, mathematical techniques, and romantic partners! Otherwise, wouldn¡¯t your life be completely ruined if your romantic partner died and you didn¡¯t have another one to fall back on?¡± ¡°Oh my god!¡± Zhujiao gripped his head in his hands. ¡°You¡¯re right! I need to have a harem for my mental health! I¡¯m going to tell Meinu that!¡± He ran off to find Meinu. ¡°The early and middle Calculus stage are about the laws of the derivative. It is mainly used to derive the attacks of the enemies, greatly reducing their power.¡± Xiaobai continued to lecture. ¡°It is said that the late Calculus stage has extreme attacking power, but I don¡¯t know for myself yet. For now, the best attacks remain to be Conical and Quadratics attacks of the Algebra stage. Practice them to your utmost!¡± They continued cheer with such exuberance and fervor that Shuxue suspected they would cheer even if Xiaobai had narrated his bathroom adventures to them. ¡°Haha, Xiaobai!¡± Shuxue chortled as Xiaobai walked over to them. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that an irrelevant person like you would actually become the leader of my Infinity Corp? Just 2 years ago, you were begging me to enact justice on Zhujiao!¡± Xiaobai sighed, his dark eyes carrying pain far surpassing that of a typical 11-year-old. ¡°I was a stupid fool back then.¡± Xiaobai said bitterly, staring blankly off into space. ¡°I picked stupid fights, played stupid games, and won stupid prizes! Not being able to rely on my father has opened my eyes to the truth, that I was a sniveling little coward without the strength to back up my actions.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ okay.¡± Shuxue smiled cheerily. ¡°For you to have undergone such a radical change in under 2 years, you must have been beaten up by a lot of people. I mean, just look at your expanded vocabulary!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Xiaobai¡¯s eyes were hollow. ¡°Luoli brought 30 boys over to beat me. Then Xiaomei and Huiqi raped me. I was called ¡®douchebag¡¯ and ¡®little bitch,¡¯ words I had never heard of before. All these things inspired me to change and become strong!¡± BOOM! ¡°YA BOI, THE SPHINX, IS BACK!¡± A voice that could shake the heavens emerged from the dirt cloud. Shuxue frowned, turning to Fengshui. ¡°Has the Sphinx been away?¡± He demanded, his eyes narrowing. ¡°Yes.¡± Fengshui nodded. ¡°It has been determined that his drugs do not actually give profound insights, so we had him create an Infinity drug empire in the Continents under our control. The Sphinx is constantly siphoning pearls from the decadent peoples of Continent 1 and engaging in clandestine activities that try to undermine the various patriarchies in our plane.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s all very well and good.¡± Shuxue waved his hands. ¡°But doesn¡¯t he have to be Severed to move around like that?¡± ¡°Of course, I was Severed 8 months ago, you twit!¡± The Sphinx thumped Shuxue on the back. ¡°It was a horrible and excruciating surgery, but everything worked out. Heh, I was in Ocean 1 riling up the poor, oppressed chaotic astral sharks that toil under the rule of the Leviathan, but I had to return to charge up some mathforce from my Spiritseed.¡± ¡°Right. Right.¡± Shuxue nodded slowly, his face slowly growing redder. ¡°Why the fuck did you get severed, Sphinx? Don¡¯t you know that all Severed Spirits must participate in the Planar War? Article 2, Section 4 of the Laws of Mathematics clearly state that Severed Spirits must enter the Planar War! It¡¯s a Mathematical impossibility for you to not go into the Planar War¡¯s continent! You¡¯ve just killed yourself, Sphinx!¡± The Sphinx snorted. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t! We¡¯re just going to kill them all, easy peasy.¡± ¡°Good. Very good!¡± Shuxue snarled. ¡°When I created the No Important Person Left Behind program, I never would have thought it would¡¯ve been abused like this! Just because I vowed to have our Infinity Sector not abandon anyone important enough to not be abandoned, doesn¡¯t mean you can take advantage of me like this! You guys are really pushing it!¡± Shuxue was very angry, but fell silent after his tirade. ¡°What about our 2 Nascent Spirits in the Infinity Spiral and the Tower of Zhujiao?¡± Shuxue demanded, pointing towards the Infinity Spiral and the metal pillar. ¡°I, Shuxue, don¡¯t do half-measures! We are going to all-in on this Planar War, because you brain-dead idiots decided to Sever the Sphinx! Have Zhujiao supercharge these 2 Nascent Spirits with mathforce immediately!¡± Chapter 33: Xiaobais Trial ¡°STOPPP! IT HURTS!!!¡± The stone-skinned Wukong mathematical Spirit screeched as Fengshui grinded away with her sawblade. ¡°I¡¯M GOING TO DIE!¡± The Wukong, the new Nascent Spirit of the metal pillar, was lying in a white gurney next to the metal pillar. A meter away was Fengshui, cutting off the thin streams of mathforce connecting the monkey to the pillar. ¡°Come on, loser.¡± The Sphinx snorted slapping the Wukong¡¯s face several times. ¡°Don¡¯t be a wuss.¡± ¡°Wukong, I¡¯m going to need you to push harder.¡± Fengshui complained. ¡°This will all go a lot faster if you put some effort into it.¡± Tears trickled down the Wukong¡¯s cheeks as he wailed in agony. ¡°It seems like he is in great pain.¡± Jingji remarked as he watched, a grimace on his face. ¡°It¡¯s almost as if he is actually dying. Actually, it seems that this operation is incredibly dangerous.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a Spirit Severing, what do you expect?¡± Shuxue snorted. ¡°I am told this Stone-skinned Wukong is a high-quality Spirit, though. Unlike that trash Muckgreen Grass Spirit over there.¡± He pointed contemptuously at the Infinity Spiral. ¡°Muckgreen Grass Spirits, they¡¯re the trashiest, least special Spirits you can find. They¡¯re useless Spirits that can¡¯t even move! Muckgreen Grass is considered the standard for useless Spirits. We¡¯re going to Sever that thing and immediately grow a new Spirit.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Zhujiao clenched his fists. ¡°Having a trash Spirit like Muckgreen Grass will not stop me, Zhujiao, from being Zhujiao!¡± ¡°Besides, at least it isn¡¯t a Three Shingle Powdered Donut Shack.¡± Zhujiao added as an afterthought. ¡°Oh my god! I¡¯m going to die!¡± The Wukong shrieked as mathforce sprayed out of his body. ¡°Make it stop! Make it stop!¡± ¡°Quick, get me the chainsaw!¡± Fengshui yelled. ¡°We need to do a C-section, or else the Wukong Spirit will die!¡± ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao yelled, immediately pulling a chainsaw out of his forehead. ¡°Wukong Spirit can¡¯t die! He cost me 2,000,000,000,000 pearls!¡± Shuxue sighed to himself, before walking away. ¡°This is incredibly boring business.¡± He grumbled as he thought about all the jade slips he could be pressing to his forehead. ¡°If I remember correctly, Spirit Severing last an average of 55 minutes. What an incredible waste of my time.¡± ¡°Success!¡± Fengshui gasped in relief as she sliced a section of wall out of the metal pillar. ¡°We have just obtained a healthy Severed Spirit, a stone-skinned Wukong!¡± Everyone but Shuxue began wildly cheering. Even the Wukong faintly smiled. ¡°It hurt so much¡­¡± He croaked. ¡°But since I¡¯m not dead, that was worth it! Sphinx, give me one of your pills, I need to recover.¡± The Sphinx tossed the Wukong an entire bag of pills, patting him on the back. ¡°Haha, being Severed is truly the start of your life as a Spirit! Now, you are an independent and free being who can leech mathforce from any Spiritseed! It feels good to seize power from other Spiritseeds, let me tell you that.¡± The Sphinx turned away, clapping his hands to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Now, for the next order of business. I¡¯ve compiled the reports my Thought Police have given to me, and it¡¯s time to enforce social justice!¡± ¡°Wait, but we still have to Sever the other Spirit.¡± Fengshui protested. ¡°Nope! Social justice takes precedence over everything!¡± The Sphinx smiled. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time or place for such things.¡± Fengshui waved her chainsaw around exasperatedly. ¡°Can we wait until later?¡± ¡°The wrong time? The wrong place?¡± The Sphinx snorted. ¡°If not now, then when? If not here, then where? If not us, then who? The time for social justice is always now, and the place for social justice is always here! Even if lives hang precariously under the sword of Damocles, no, especially when lives are in danger, we must remain committed to our values!¡± ¡°The first person to be tried in the Social Justice Trials¡­ is XIAOBAI!¡± The Sphinx roared. The entire audience gasped. Even the people who had not heard what the Sphinx had said gasped. Even the cats, dogs, and rats that just happened to by gasped. A shocking silence descended on the entire Weakest Plane, before a huge hubbub broke out. ¡°X-x-xiaobai!¡± A girl screeched, collapsing into a chair. ¡°How could he do any wrong?¡± ¡°My god!¡± Jingji sighed. ¡°It seemed as if the entire plane fell into complete silence just now.¡± At the top of one of the mountains ringing the core of the Infinity Sector, a young shepherd collapsed onto the floor in shock, along with his entire herd of mathematical goats. He attempted to speak, but only hoarse croaks came out. Across the ocean, on the Weakest Island, General Shibing looked around confusedly before shrugging. ¡°Uh, those graves aren¡¯t digging themselves. Hurry up!¡± In an underwater mountain range far, far, away, Jijian withdrew her sword from the throat of a kraken, which didn¡¯t have a throat. ¡°My senses are tingling¡­¡± She muttered. ¡°Somebody has just called out an unofficial member of the Zhujiao Society!¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Inside a very strangely shaped building with only three donuts serving as its roof, Daoli frowned. ¡°Somebody just made a very unreasonable accusation, I think.¡± On the other side of the plane, millions of kilometers away, a great Leviathan paid no attention to any of this. ¡°I, too, am greatly shocked!¡± The Sphinx snarled. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought such an upstanding member of our very own Infinity Sector would actually become an enemy of social justice? Little, did I know, Xiaobai was Dong Feiliao¡¯s offspring!¡± Xiaobai was led in front of the Sphinx by two masked women. The Sphinx jabbed a finger at Xiaobai. ¡°Like father, like son, I see! The first thing in the report the Thought Police had given me was evidence that Feiliao¡¯s son had raped a girl! You know, somehow I completely expected this to happen. It seems I must exterminate the lineage of that Feiliao from the root!¡± ¡°What!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Xiaobai already had sex? That¡¯s absolutely not fair!¡± ¡°I raped someone?¡± Xiaobai looked utterly dumbfounded. ¡°I did no such thing!¡± ¡°Actually, you did! Bring in the witness!¡± The Sphinx snarled. ¡°Filthy liar. I will have to carry out the nine familial exterminations.¡± Fengshui spoke up, her expression ugly. ¡°Sphinx, Xiaobai is a very important person. Don¡¯t offend the wrong person here.¡± The Sphinx snorted as a sobbing Nupu was dragged forward. ¡°Xiaobai, you are accused of raping this girl! What do you have to say?!¡± Xiaobai¡¯s face darkened. ¡°I did have relations with Nupu! In my happiest times, she was with me. In my darkest hours, she was the only one to support me. Nupu is a girl I truly cherish, from the bottom of my heart! The relationship between us is one of love! Our union was one of mutual consent. There was no rape involved.¡± ¡°Please, Sphinx!¡± Nupu pleaded, bawling her eyes out. ¡°Let Xiaobai go. He didn¡¯t do anything wrong!¡± ¡°All penis-in-vagina is rape! You definitely brainwashed this poor little girl into accepting her rape. Because of the severity of your crime, you shall be tried as an adult.¡± The Sphinx growled darkly. Shuxue frowned. The Sphinx was getting incredibly out of hand, with this frivolous trial. Not only was Xiaobai an important asset to the Sector, everybody seemed to like him. Who knows what kind of unrest his execution would spark? ¡°Wait, this is ridiculous!¡± Fengshui pushed away the two girls holding Xiaobai down. ¡°This would never hold up in a court of law!¡± ¡°Feh, doesn¡¯t matter! This is a trial of public opinion, by the people, for the people!¡± The Sphinx sniffed. ¡°The people shall decide whether or not Xiaobai is guilty. Those who think he is guilty, raise your hands! Those who think he is not guilty, keep your dirty, uneducated opinions to yourselves.¡± Not a single hand was raised. The Sphinx tapped his foot impatiently. After several moments passed, still nobody raised a hand. ¡°Haha, I know what¡¯s going on!¡± The Sphinx laughed angrily. ¡°Everyone who knows this man is a criminal is too intimidated to speak! How about this: Everyone who thinks he is guilty, DON¡¯T raise your hands!¡± The hand of every person present, Shuxue included, went up. Even the stone-skinned Wukong who had been completely forgotten by everyone present raised his hand. BOOM! A table exploded into a cloud of splinters as the Sphinx morphed into his original form in a fit of rage. ¡°What the hell!¡± The Sphinx screamed. ¡°I have no words for this! Absolutely no words at all! There is nothing I can say about my misfortune at having been born into this backwards era. You all are too stupid to know what¡¯s good for you! I have no comments whatsoever. From now on, I will never again waste my time preaching social justice to you nimwits.¡±
Author Note: Sorry for the really delayed Math God Plane chapter. There are a lot of reasons for this, including 1. I re-downloaded Hearthstone 2. I was writing a Hegemony battle 3. School 4. I debated with myself for a long time about having a chapter 75% devoted to social justice. The more I thought about it, the more I didn''t want this trial to take place, lol. But Xiaobai needs some character development, I think. So while this chapter is about social justice, this chapter will be the last time social justice is mentioned in the novel. 5. I forgot what was going to happen after the trial. Yeah, rip. Still trying to remember the jokes I had thought up for it. I still have some misgivings about this chapter, I may come back and heavily edit it. Chapter 34: Author-sama, youre so great! Well, I remembered why I decided Xiaobai needed two chapters of characterization. So I guess that chapter stays. Anyway, here''s the most ridiculous MGP chapter I''ve ever written... Enjoy!
¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ fire!¡± The illusory plant vine growing out of the Infinity Spiral shot its thorn into the air. In the blink of an eye, the thorn had disappeared. After a few seconds, a twinkle appeared for a brief moment in the sky, signifying that the thorn had gone a very long distance in a short period of time. ¡°Twinkle confirmed!¡± The general who would man the Infinity Spiral¡¯s artillery during the Planar War broke out into a big smile. ¡°Our artillery is fully functional!¡± Loud cheers broke out from the entire spectating crowd. ¡°My, it¡¯s as if we already won the Planar War, judging from these roars of adulation. This is just rocket science, any Algebra expert should know how to do this.¡± Financial minister Jingji chuckled. ¡°Well, okay then.¡± Fengshui looked a little annoyed, but did not argue the point. ¡°Now that we have created our long-range support system for the Planar War, it¡¯s time to assemble our Corps.¡± ¡°Wait, hasn¡¯t Mr. Xiaobai already been doing that?¡± The Sphinx growled. ¡°Or did he fuck that the same way he fucked that poor girl?¡± ¡°Ah, Sphinx, it seems you need to relax.¡± Jingji raised his hands up placatingly. ¡°It¡¯s almost as if you haven¡¯t let go of your past angers.¡± ¡°Yeah, shut the fuck up.¡± The Sphinx lapsed back into a huffy silence. ¡°Sorry, Sphinx.¡± Fengshui coughed. ¡°What I meant, was we need to assemble the Core of our Corps!¡± ¡°... What?¡± The Sphinx stared at her as if she was an idiot. ¡°The Corps must have a Core! While the Corps is the army that enters the Planar Battlefield, the Core is like the special forces that secures tactical objectives and carries out crack missions.¡± Fengshui explained. ¡°Cool, I get the feeling that you¡¯re talking about two different things here.¡± The Sphinx sighed. ¡°When you say Corps, do you mean, c-o-r-p-s, and when you say Core, do you mean, c-o-r-e?¡± ¡°Yes. How could you not tell the two apart? They¡¯re clearly spelled differently.¡± Fengshui sighed. The Sphinx didn¡¯t know what to say, so he waved his hand. ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°Yes, so our Core must be made up of our top experts. Currently, it is composed of Shuxue, Zhujiao, and you, Sphinx!¡± Fengshui spoke, her voice cutting a nearby iron beam in half with its sharpness. At his spot at the head of the circular conference table, Shuxue coughed. ¡°Well, I actually have another person to add to our Core. It will be the infamous criminal destroying Mountain Ranges of Mathematical Beasts all over the world, the throat destroyer and also my subordinate, Jijian!¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve never met this Jijian, but she seems quite lethal.¡± Fengshui nodded. ¡°Our Infinity Sector alone does not have the troops to defeat the Trash Plane. We must integrate as many powerful individuals into our Corps and our Core as possible before the Planar War starts!¡± ¡°The Bulai Kingdom, where Lady Daoli is, also has an expert I am thinking about.¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes glittered, causing Minister Ellis¡¯s cigar to light up. ¡°Its king is the premier expert in rigorous mathematical proofs. If we can add him to the Core, then our attacks and defenses and movement speed will inexplicably become better due to his knowledge in rigorous mathematical proofs.¡± ¡°Yes, that sounds completely logical to me.¡± Minister Jingji nodded vigorously. ¡°It¡¯s as if this Core is one that can rock the heavens! Zhujiao, who has the ultimate defense of Plot Armor. Shuxue, the Mastermind and Strategist! Sphinx, the ultimate offensive technique, Integration! Jijian, an expert in both finely aimed critical throat-stabbing strikes and widely spread demolitions technologies! And that nameless king, the one who complements every part of the team! It seems as if our Core will be unparalleled in the entire Weakest Plane.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem that way. It is that way!¡± Zhujiao, who had just woken up, crushed a teacup as he shouted for extra emphasis. ¡°Well, yes, but I don¡¯t want to speak in absolutes. Therefore, I must use ¡®it seems¡¯ and ¡®it¡¯s almost as if¡¯ a lot.¡± Jingji smiled apologetically. ¡°You can be right, or you can be wrong! If you want to say something, don¡¯t say something like it seems! It¡¯s really annoying and I have to ask whether or not it¡¯s true!¡± Zhujiao was hopping in anger. ¡°If an economist like me speaks in absolutes, my entire profession would be a mockery.¡± Jingji sighed. ¡°That¡¯s the only absolute thing I will say about economics.¡± ¡°Well, stop it anyways!¡± Zhujiao yelled, then went back to sleep. ¡°Well, what are we waiting for?¡± Shuxue demanded. ¡°It¡¯s time to go pay my subordinate Jijian a visit.¡± After slapping Zhujiao awake, the two of them teleported to Jijian. ¡°Weird, I don¡¯t see Jijian anywhere.¡± Zhujiao scratched his head. They were inside a farmer¡¯s pen, surrounded by grunting pigs. Shuxue looked around, scratching his head. ¡°Uh¡­ you sure Plot Armor is working properly?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Zhujiao said indignantly. ¡°Well, I have the solution to find Jijian.¡± ¡°What?¡± Shuxue raised an eyebrow. ¡°Kill them all!¡± Zhujiao shouted, punching the nearest pig. It blew apart in an explosion of flesh and blood in a manner that completely defied physics. ¡°Ohhh, right, that¡¯s the perfect solution!¡± Shuxue smiled, and began to send quadratics dragons roaring through the farmer¡¯s pen. ¡°This way, the one that¡¯s Jijian, is the one with a man with golden hair crawling out of the pig¡¯s destroyed head.¡± ¡°Duh!¡± Zhujiao shouted as he punched another pig. ¡°All right, all right, stop it!¡± A girl with immensely large breasts climbed out of a nearby pig¡¯s body. ¡°I¡¯m trying to hide from the authorities, you know!¡± ¡°Haha, found you!¡± Shuxue laughed heartily. ¡°Killing them all works every time.¡± ¡°What do you guys want?¡± Jijian demanded as she pulled out a makeup kit. A cloud of gray smoke enveloped her body. When it disappeared, a tall, skinny man with a face mask and suit had replaced her. Zhujiao¡¯s eyes bugged as he saw this. ¡°Whoa! How did you do that?¡± Jijian looked at him as if he was an idiot. ¡°I put on some makeup, obviously. If you have properly analyzed the profound mysteries of Fashion, you can look like anything you want.¡± Shuxue scratched his head. ¡°I¡¯m no expert on makeup, but I¡¯m going to call bullshit on that. There are no profound mysteries of Fashion.¡± ¡°Ha, not in the Tesseract. But I¡¯m from the Multiverse!¡± Jijian smiled smugly. ¡°There, all I have to do is pay a lot of wordforce and then do nothing for long periods of time to unlock insights into profound mysteries. Then, I pay more wordforce and wait a little bit longer to create a random skill. Then, I can pay either wordforce or mathforce to use that skill. But mathforce sucks, it¡¯s only half as good as wordforce.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Zhujiao¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°What! You can just pay wordforce to get techniques? You don¡¯t even have to study anything?¡± ¡°Of course not! The Laws of Mathematics are stupid and tedious. The Laws of Writing are much more elegant, diverse, and easy! All you have to do is put in wordforce into your chosen concentration and wait a little while until you accumulate enough lightbulbs in your head.¡± Jijian was about to speak further when Shuxue slapped him. ¡°I¡¯m not even going to waste my time explaining why you are wrong.¡± Shuxue sniffed. ¡°But continue.¡± ¡°Yes, well, my Makeup skill is at the thirtieth grade. Sadly, I can still only read at a second grade level.¡± Jijian sighed, before frowning. ¡°Wait a moment, why am I even explaining these things to you? This is strange. This is queer!¡± He looked around, as if searching for something. ¡°What are you doing, big bro Jijian?¡± Zhujiao asked, tilting his head in confusion. ¡°It¡¯s the Author!¡± Jijian hissed. ¡°The Author is unconsciously controlling my actions for one of his or her murky purposes.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s the Author?¡± Shuxue laughed. This Jijian was clearly a nutjob, with his claptrap about Multiverses and wordforce. Normally, Shuxue would never give him the time of day, but Jijian was an important asset. Also, he felt an unconscious urge to indulge in this question. ¡°The Author is the creator of all things!¡± Jijian mumbled to Shuxue and Zhujiao. ¡°I¡¯m going to whisper these things to you so the Author can¡¯t hear what we¡¯re saying. The Author can be a male or a female. But if the Author is a male, he is typically a complete wimp, because all male Authors are wimps unless they write about power trips. I¡¯m pretty sure this Author is a wimp, so this Author must be a male. But that¡¯s irrelevant. Anyway, the Author is an all-powerful, all-knowing being who likes to create universes for his own enjoyment. The Author is a deity above deities, the Overgod of Fiction! And he likes to focus on the stories of the Zhujiao Society!¡± ¡°What? Go on! This sounds cool!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°The Zhujiao Society is comprised of main characters. They¡¯re the focal point of the Author¡¯s universe. It¡¯s common knowledge that the Multiverse revolves around Zhujiaos.¡± Jijian explained. ¡°The world revolves around me? Duh!¡± Zhujiao hopped in excitement. ¡°Yes, well, the Author wishes to push an agenda by moving Plot forward. I¡¯m sure that he¡¯s here right now, but we can¡¯t see him. He exists in the fourth dimension, beyond the fourth wall. Maybe if we broke it, we could see him. But I don¡¯t know how to do that.¡± Jijian sighed. ¡°But the Author supports us Zhujiaos! I can see that you two have clearly entered zhujiao, so you two clearly belong to the Zhujiao society. The Author is assisting the both of you behind the scenes. The Author must be worshipped. Otherwise, he will punish us with his wrath! Quick, on the count of three, start kowtowing.¡± Jijian ushered all three of them onto the ground, where they began to kowtow. ¡°Author-sama, you¡¯re so great!¡± Jijian screamed. ¡°But please stop invading my privacy! It¡¯s embarrassing! Go away!¡± Shuxue got up, brushing the dust off his pants. ¡°Okay, I was going to roll with it, but this is absolutely ridiculous. There¡¯s no way this Author thing exists! If your Author was so cool, shouldn¡¯t he have better things to do? How do you know any of these things, did some bush light on fire in the middle of a desert and tell you about it? Actually, the practicalities of what you¡¯re suggesting is completely ridiculous! How does time pass for this Author? If he couldn¡¯t stop time, then how omnipotent can he be?¡± ¡°I honestly have no idea how time works.¡± Jijian shrugged. ¡°It was said by the Grand Ancestor that trillions of our years can pass in the blink of the Author¡¯s eye, whereas three of our seconds can also take the Author to take a long time to describe. It¡¯s all very confusing, but these are the facts passed down by our Zhujiao Society, written in this Holy Text.¡± She produced a book from her makeup kit, handing it to Shuxue. ¡°... This is ridiculous.¡± Shuxue snorted as he pressed the book to his forehead. ¡°I¡¯m not getting anything.¡± ¡°No, you have to read it. What that means, is you put in some wordforce, and wait a set amount of time before the book¡¯s contents are absorbed by you.¡± Jijian sighed. ¡°If only there was wordforce in the Tesseract. This place is a barren wasteland.¡± Zhujiao flipped through the pages of the book, his eyes hungrily devouring it. ¡°What the!¡± He shouted, collapsing to his knees. He clutched at his head, shaking uncontrollably. ¡°I feel like something in my brain is opening up!¡± Shuxue and Jijian watched, transfixed, as Zhujiao shook on the ground. It seemed almost as if he was remembering something. But that would be speaking in absolutes, and I shouldn¡¯t really be typing it because it wouldn¡¯t make sense for Shuxue and Jijian to realize that Zhujiao was remembering something. Whatever. After a few moments, Zhujiao got back up. ¡°Nope, nothing happened. But I read that entire book! It felt really familiar!¡± ¡°What! Recite Article 6, Section 420!¡± Jijian demanded, a disbelieving look on her face. ¡°Your mum is a loser!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Impossible!¡± Jijian yelled uncomprehendingly. ¡°Article 1, Section 1!¡± ¡°Never, under any circumstances, explain your life goals and aspirations to anyone! When this happens, it is possible that you are being unconsciously manipulated by the Author to make you seem like a great person so that his audience feels more pain when you die! The longer it takes for you to develop yourself as a human being, the less likely you are to die. If you are a Zhujiao, make sure to pick stupid fights and act stupidly and drag out your mental development for as long as you can. That way, you will never die. If you are an Erji (meaning: secondary [character]), keep your head down and try to stay close to your Zhujiao when he offends a great enemy. This way, you can leech off of his Plot Armor.¡± Zhujiao did not even bat an eyelid as he rattled off the verse. Jijian nodded vigorously. ¡°Article 8, Section 24!¡± ¡°Once upon a time, a Zhujiao was explaining his life goals to another Zhujiao. He died shortly thereafter! The moral of the story is, if you must do something important that you don¡¯t want the Author to know, make sure you do it while on the toilet! The Author will never cast his all-seeing eye on you when you are taking care of natural biological processes, for some strange reason. Thus, if you truly must place a death flag on yourself, the best time to do so is on the toilet, because the Author will never notice.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± Jijian smiled. ¡°You truly read that book quite quickly. It was impressive.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Shuxue was speechless. ¡°Well, anyway, we came here to order you to join our Core for the upcoming Planar War.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Jijian nodded. Chapter 35: Zhujiaos Forehead ¡°Math is super, super, super hard!¡± Zhujiao whined as they watched Jijian plant another explosive into the ground. ¡°Big bro Xiaobai keeps on showing me his undisguised techniques so that I can get an insight, but they still make no sense at all!¡± ¡°You¡¯re right, Zhujiao. As a living thing from the Multiverse, I find it exceedingly difficult to learn math as well.¡± Jijian sighed. ¡°In the Tesseract, I am cut off from the wordforce of heaven and earth, so I cannot even spare wordforce for reading books. All this time, my insights into the laws of Writing have plateaued, and I suspect it is the same for everyone else exiled into the Tesseract.¡± ¡°This sucks!¡± Zhujiao grumbled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you try pressing jade slips to your forehead to gain mathematical insights?¡± Jijian suggested. ¡°It almost never works for me, but it¡¯s pretty common loot from the mobs chasing me.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t!¡± Zhujiao shouted, taking a jade slip out of his forehead. ¡°See?¡± He pressed the jade slip to his forehead, but it just went back into his interspatial forehead. He took it back out, and pressed it again, with the same results. ¡°What the¡­¡± Jijian was speechless. ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought that the greatest boon to an adventurer, an interspatial forehead, would actually have such a drawback? No wonder you haven¡¯t been able to learn any math!¡± ¡°I know, right? Don¡¯t you have any other books to read?¡± Zhujiao begged. ¡°Even if it¡¯s just about lipstick, I¡¯ll read it.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Jijian sighed, taking out his copy of the picture book, Everybody Farts. ¡°This book and Fifty Shades of Chicken are the only things I brought with me to the Tesseract. But you sure read them fast, it¡¯s incredibly astounding. Only the Grand Ancestor our Zhujiao Society, Zhujiao, could read books instantly. It¡¯s said he read at the infinitieth grade level because of Plot.¡± ¡°Well, duh! I¡¯m Zhujiao! How many times do I have to say that?¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°I¡¯m the Grand Ancestor of the Zhujiao Society!¡± Jijian laughed. ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, kid. Zhujiao had eternal youth and liked taking the form of a six year old kid, but he had black hair. You have green hair! How can you possibly be our Grand Ancestor, Zhujiao? You¡¯re just some kid who picked up his Plot Armor!¡± ¡°I had black hair!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°But I changed it because little kids my age like green hair and yellow hair and light blue hair more! Black hair isn¡¯t cool like green hair is!¡± ¡°You better get that hair color changed fast.¡± Jijian frowned. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I think this Author isn¡¯t a little kid. As supreme beings, Authors don¡¯t serve anyone. Thus, it follows that they only write for themselves, because if they wrote for other people, then they would be serving other people. So why would the Author write for little kids if he¡¯s not a little kid?¡± ¡°Shut up! Let¡¯s get out of here already!¡± Zhujiao poked Jijian. ¡°Do we really have to blow up this Mountain Range of Mathematical Beasts?¡± ¡°Of course we do. That¡¯s what Zhujiaos do. They kill a bunch of people and destroy everything in the name of justice.¡± Jijian explained. ¡°If I didn¡¯t make any enemies, then I simply wouldn¡¯t be doing my job as a member of the Zhujiao Society. I don¡¯t like doing it, but it¡¯s the decree of our Grand Ancestor.¡± Shuxue sighed to himself as he waited for Jijian to finish planting explosives. He could hear the howls of Mathematical beasts in the distance. Apparently, Jijian had given them no face, and even stabbed the throat of their leader, the Super King Three-headed Ironwing Chicken. It really was no wonder that the Zhujiao Society was getting hunted down by the entire Multiverse. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Right, after this, we should go visit the Bulai Kingdom (reminder meaning: Don¡¯t come here) in Continent 10.¡± Shuxue scratched his head. ¡°With that guy whose name I don¡¯t know yet joining our Core, we¡¯ll be a force to reckon with in the upcoming Planar War.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Jijian shrugged. ¡°But we have to make sure to make enemies once we¡¯re there.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± Shuxue began to think. Continent 10 bordered Continent 1, where Argent Heaven and the Ji clan were located. He supposed they could go kill several of them before going back. ¡°All right, start walking away. And whatever you do, don¡¯t look back.¡± Jijian clapped them on the shoulders as they began to walk down the mountain. ¡°Why can¡¯t we look back?¡± Zhujiao was confused. ¡°That wouldn¡¯t be cool. Cool guys don¡¯t look at explosions.¡± Jijian explained. Behind them, a great roar sounded out as the mountain range began to explode. Rocks and pebbles began to fall down from above. ¡°Hey, this is dangerous. Zhujiao, teleport us out of here.¡± Shuxue frowned. ¡°What if a rock falls on one of our heads?¡± ¡°No, keep walking away as if nothing is happening. After that, we can teleport away. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t be cool.¡± Jijian disagreed. ¡°Looking cool is extremely important. It wins points with the Author.¡± ¡°What the¡­¡± Shuxue¡¯s eyes bugged. ¡°Authors don¡¯t exist! Stop being a quack and let¡¯s get out of here. You¡¯re free to believe in whatever bullshit you want, but you can¡¯t endanger my life doing it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, big bro Shuxue.¡± Zhujiao laughed. ¡°We have Plot Armor. Nothing is going to happen to us.¡± ¡°Well, fair enough.¡± They walked forwards in silence. Like a monsoon or perhaps a woman¡¯s tears, debris rained down around the three of them. But not a single speck of dust came near them. Far away, the screams of the dying Mathematical Beasts and Mathivators chasing after Jijian could be heard. Another explosion ran out behind them, but they continued to walk. Half of a Crack Dragon fell out of the sky, landing with a ground-shaking thud next to Jijian. Jijian ignored it, as if it didn¡¯t exist at all. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough. We can go now.¡± Jijian grinned. Zhujiao¡¯s grid shot out from the center of his body, enveloping the three of them. The chiseled vistas, raining rocks, and Crack Dragon corpse was instantly replaced by dank soils and hundreds of clashing Mathivators. In the sky, a flock of Red-shelled Pigeons flapped their wings, sending tens of thousands of illusory feathers shooting through the air. ¡°Mother of god!¡± Shuxue cursed as he dove into a trench. ¡°What is going on here?¡± Bugles rang out. From somewhere on the opposite side, a massive, ten-meter tall Titan stepped up. He was incredibly muscular, with tattoos of numbers covering his body. ¡°Bulai Kingdom sheep!¡± He roared. ¡°Today, our Laiba (meaning: Come here) Kingdom shall assimilate you all! I, Februaria (meaning: *cough* Augusta), challenge King Xuezhe (meaning: Savant) to a duel!¡± Jijian blinked. ¡°Well, that explanation was really convenient. Shuxue, what do we do?¡± Shuxue scratched his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but-¡± ¡°KILL THEM ALL!!!!¡± Zhujiao screamed, jumping out of the trench. Chapter 36: It was just a prank, bro ¡°Dammit, Zhujiao!¡± Shuxue groaned, as the eyes of every single living thing on the battlefield turned onto Zhujiao. ¡°Who dat?¡± Another Laiba giant with tattoos of numbers all over his body grunted. ¡°Looks like a kid. I¡¯ve never seen him before.¡± The diminutive Bulai man he had been battling said matter-of-factly. ¡°Cool.¡± The Laiba giant casually palmed the air, before turning around to face the Bulai man. ¡°AHHHHHHHH!¡± The Bulai man screamed as he was shredded into a cloud of blood. Instantly, the battle resumed. On the Bulai side, some strange equipment had been set up. They shot out blasts of mathforce that seemed to follow completely random paths and change from one form to another. When they exploded, random statements would briefly appear before fading away. [Thus, x+y is even!] [x^2 is even!] Shuxue ducked down these two explosions shot over his head. ¡°Proof cannons!¡± Shuxue cursed. ¡°Their trajectories and lethality are impossible to predict because they¡¯re seemingly so random! Jijian, get down!¡± Next to them, the dust exploded for absolutely no reason at all. Over head, a Crack Dragon had half its body ripped out by nothing. It fell out of the sky, crashing onto the ground with a thunderous roar. On the other side, the Laiba giants continued to palm thin air, as if there wasn¡¯t a battle going on at all. Some would even high-5 occasionally. ¡°STOPPP!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Stop paying attention to your enemies! Pay attention to me, Zhujiao!¡± Nobody listened to him, so he began to charge up his factorial channeling equation. ¡°Behold the might of our imaginary attacks!¡± The giant, Februaria, shouted. ¡°I recently developed a version all my subordinates could use. They are the epitome of nonsense attacks!¡± A short Bulai man climbed onto the top of a proof artillery turret, jabbing his finger at Februaria. ¡°Your nonsense attacks will never stand up to the rigor and logic of my proof cannons! Februaria, this will be our last battle!¡± The man laughed, dropping a ball of crystallized mathforce into the top of the artillery barrel. A giant, flaming ball of mathforce shot straight up into the air. When it had ascended several hundred meters, it turned into a ice cold ball of mathforce radiating coldness. It shot downwards, taking the trajectory of a diagonal line towards a large clump of Laiba giants. [a^2 + b^2 = c^2!] Shuxue gaped in shock as the body parts of the Laiba giants flew everywhere. ¡°So profou-¡± A piece of a finger flew into his mouth, sending him gagging onto the ground. A Bulai dwarf holding a proof rod ran over, aiming it at a point several meters to the right of Shuxue¡¯s writhing body. But before he could shoot, Jijian had already pulled a light sword out of his mouth and stabbed the Bulai man in the throat. Shuxue got onto his knees, spitting out the finger. ¡°What the fuck!¡± He roared, blasting out ten quadratics dragons at all the nearby people, without regard for which side they were on. ¡°How dare this dead giant shove his finger down my throat! You are all courting death!¡± Another cluster of quadratics dragons blasted out, shredding several proof cannons and giants into splinters of metal and shards of flesh. Several of the nearby giants and dwarves turned around, gawking at the carnage. Even a swiveling proof rod rotated to stare at Shuxue. Holes appeared in their throats before they could speak. All at once, they collapsed onto the ground, releasing fountains of blood. The proof rod collapsed as well, a hole stabbed through wherever its throat would be. ¡°Stop! Time out!¡± The dwarf atop the proof artillery turret squeaked, causing the battle to instantly stop again. ¡°Something isn¡¯t making sense here!¡± ¡°Something isn¡¯t making sense? Excellent!¡± Februaria roared. ¡°Carry on!¡± The battle restarted for a few seconds. ¡°No no no no no!¡± The dwarf yelled. ¡°I, Xuezhe, command everyone to time out immediately!¡± ¡°Fine!¡± Februaria growled. ¡°But you only get 1 time-out per battle! You can¡¯t time-out again!¡± ¡°Whatever.¡± Xuezhe adjusted his glasses as he ruffled through a stack of papers. ¡°Aha!¡± He pulled out a wanted poster of Jijian, holding a magnifying glass on top of it. Behind him, a giant hologram of the wanted poster appeared in the skies above the battlefield. ¡°We have people here that don¡¯t belong!¡± Xuezhe shouted as loudly as his squeaky voice allowed. ¡°This seems to be Jianjian (meaning: sword tip), a criminal to all mathematical beasts and wanted by almost every single large organization in the Weakest Plane!¡± Jijian frowned. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Why do they always recognize me?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Shuxue frowned as he popped a mathforce replenishing pill. ¡°Don¡¯t you see your face in the wanted poster being broadcasted into the sky?¡± ¡°... Uh, no.¡± Jijian frowned. ¡°What are you talking about? There¡¯s just some weird scribbles.¡± Shuxue took out one of Jijian¡¯s many wanted posters, pointing at the pig in the wanted poster. ¡°See? This is clearly you! And here¡¯s the reward. 50,000 Arithmetic pearls! Warning: Uses a light sword, highly dangerous.¡± Jijian scratched his nose. ¡°Is that what those scribbly papers are? I can¡¯t see any person in them at all.¡± ¡°Read the damn poster!¡± Shuxue groaned, shoving it into Jijian¡¯s hands. ¡°I can¡¯t read this. It¡¯s not a book!¡± Jijian crumped up the paper and tossed it back to Shuxue. ¡°This is completely unreadable! It¡¯s just random lines jumbled onto a paper.¡± ¡°No, this is clearly a face!¡± Shuxue shouted, pulling out another wanted poster. ¡°Here is your nose, here are your eyes!¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s a pile of raisins and a phallic object!¡± Jijian waved his fists in anger. ¡°Is this some sort of Rorschach test or something?¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°The fuck is a roar shock test? Nobody is roaring, and the only shocking thing is your stupidity!¡± Shuxue groaned. ¡°Jijian, I understand the discrepancy between what you see and what I see. It is because you are an idiot who can¡¯t read.¡± ¡°What? It¡¯s you Tesseract fools who can¡¯t read!¡± Jijian bristled in anger. ¡°I read at a second grade level!¡± ¡°SHUT UP!¡± Februaria¡¯s voice washed over them like a tidal wave. ¡°WE¡¯RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE HERE! DO YOU THINK THIS IS TIME OUT OR SOMETHING?¡± ¡°Oh, right. We were.¡± Shuxue frowned. ¡°Kill them all!¡± He released a host of quadratics dragons towards Xuezhe¡¯s proof artillery turret. ¡°Kill them all!¡± Jijian shouted, stabbing at Februaria¡¯s throat. ¡°KILL THEM ALL!¡± Zhujiao screamed. ¡°MOUNT TAI!¡± An enormous, illusory mountain shimmered into existence. It careened down onto the battlefield, smashing the entire flock of red-shelled pigeons out of the sky. When the dust cleared, a massive valley had been carved into what had once been the battlefield. The wreckage of uncountable proof weapons and the crushed bodies of countless giants could be seen inside the valley. ¡°Behold, the power of me, Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao yelled, releasing his domain for everyone to see. ¡°I am awesome! I am unstoppable! I am a mathematical lifeform!¡± ¡°It might seem crazy, but just look at my domain!¡± Zhujiao gestured at the domain spreading out across the entire battlefield. ¡°It has me at the origin, so I am definitely the one who made this domain, so I am definitely a mathematical lifeform!¡± ¡°Impossible, you say! How can such a young child be a mathematical lifeform? How does he suddenly know all these big words, when previously he was a complete idiot? It must be because he is a genius unparalleled under the heavens! It definitely wasn¡¯t because he was lucky or had great amounts of outside help! It¡¯s because he¡¯s a prodigy!¡± Zhujiao began laughing. ¡°Zhujiao,-¡± Jijian began to speak, but he was cut off as Zhujiao resumed talking. ¡°All of you must have faces green with envy or regret or sickness, now that you have realized that you were ignoring me, Zhujiao!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°But it¡¯s too late now! You can only gaze upon my domineering power and wish you were as good as I am!¡± ¡°Zhujiao!¡± Jijian roared. ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to do your own reactions. You have to let them do it! It doesn¡¯t work when you praise yourself!¡± Zhujiao took a teacup out of his forehead and crushed it between his hands. ¡°I don¡¯t care! Their reactions aren¡¯t enough for me!¡± He pointed down at the ragged Xuezhe, who was climbing out of the wreckage of his proof artillery turret. ¡°You are sentenced to death for massacring giants!¡± Zhujiao yelled, and then turned to the heavily injured Februaria, who lay under a pile of corpses. ¡°You are sentenced to death for massacring dwarves! It¡¯s time for me to take revenge on both of you for both of you!¡± Zhujiao raised his fists up high into the air. ¡°Cease and desist for a moment! Let¡¯s be reasonable!¡± Xuezhe shrieked, throwing up both hands into the air. ¡°Wait! Stop!¡± Februaria pleaded. ¡°It was just a joke! We were doing a social experiment!¡± Zhujiao blinked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a real battle!¡± A trickle of sweat ran down Februaria¡¯s cheek. ¡°We¡¯re just fighting for no reason! It¡¯s just a joke!¡± ¡°What are you talking about? That makes no sense!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s why I¡¯m doing it! I only do things that make no sense!¡± Februaria nodded vigorously. ¡°It¡¯s just a prank, bro!¡± ¡°What about all those dead people? They died because of a joke?¡± Zhujiao waved his hands at the mountains of corpses. ¡°Well, yeah, that¡¯s how we convince people it¡¯s not a joke.¡± Februaria shrugged. ¡°Actually, our pointless battle makes perfect sense.¡± Xuezhe coughed. ¡°Our Bulai Kingdom and the Laiba Kingdom seem to be polar opposites and we are aligned on the exact opposite sides and disagree on everything, but we are actually the same people.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Zhujiao clutched his head, his eyes bugging. ¡°That¡¯s so crazy! I didn¡¯t see that coming at all!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Februaria said. ¡°Both our species always produces twins. One giant, one dwarf. The giants hate reason, while the dwarves love it. All the dwarves get sent to the Bulai Kingdom, where they hole up in their towers of ivory and construct rigorous mathematical proofs. As for our Laiba Kingdom, we are the prime destination for tourists, because we make no sense at all, and that¡¯s what tourists like to see.¡± ¡°But why does your species always make twins? That makes no sense!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Februaria grinned. ¡°Yes, we are one people.¡± Xuezhe readjusted his glasses. ¡°But we have different allies. With Argent Heaven going to war with the Ji clan, we must pretend to be enemies! So we have some battles where neither side wins nor loses, to keep up the facade and prevent the annihilation of both our clans! We would normally never divulge this, but you are about to kill us all for killing each other! Please, spare our lives!¡± ¡°What?¡± Februaria yelped. ¡°So this battle makes sense? You tricked me again!¡± ¡°Enough!¡± Shuxue blasted several quadratics dragons into the air. ¡°Today, the Laiba Kingdom and the Bulai Kingdom are officially subsidiaries of my benevolent Infinity Sector! Resist our merciful offer of safety and security and you shall be ruthlessly purged from this plane, with not even your pet mice surviving to pass down its memories of your existence!¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Xuezhe coughed. ¡°Without compromise, three whole words, myriad Sectors unify. Sundered heavens, bloody hell, a plane above all planes. Kill them all, rise above, destroy below. Forge the plane of Math Gods!¡± Shuxue shouted. ¡°When you join my Sector, you become part of something great! Choose now: stand at the summit or die like a dog!¡± After the choice was made, Zhujiao gathered the entirety of the Laiba and Bulai Kingdoms in his interspatial forehead and teleported back to the Infinity Sector. Chapter 37 ¡°Ah, Lady Daoli. I never expected that someone as unreasonable as you would belong to the Bulai Kingdom.¡± Shuxue took the Limit jade slip off his forehead and sat up in his chair. ¡°Are you part of the panel here to propose changes to my Infinity Sector?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Daoli straightened her dress as she took a seat at the front of the conference room. ¡°I will be presenting methods to resolve diplomatic issues peacefully, and proposing the formation of a committee to manage such affairs.¡± Shuxue looked at a guard. ¡°Get her out of here.¡± ¡°Yes, Patriarch!¡± The guard saluted before dragging Daoli out. ¡°Hmm¡­ these laws of Limits are such a letdown. The only use they have is to make my attacks more continuous.¡± Shuxue grumbled. ¡°When I become a mathematical lifeform, the Laws of Linear Algebra will far outstrip that of the early Calculus stage.¡± After a little while, the entirety of the Infinity Sector¡¯s ministers had been gathered, as well as Xiaobai, the Sphinx, and Jijian. Xuezhe, the king of the Bulai Kingdom, entered along with another dwarf and Minister Fengshui. ¡°Ahem.¡± Fengshui walked to the front of the conference room, dragging a strange device with her. ¡°As you all know, planar war is imminent.¡± ¡°Yup.¡± Shuxue drawled. ¡°You say that a lot.¡± ¡°Yes, I do. It has come to my attention that we are not adequately prepared for some aspects of the planar war. For one, I propose that we begin relocating the Infinity Sector¡¯s base underground.¡± Fengshui pointed downwards. ¡°What? Why would we do that?¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°I don¡¯t want to live under a rock!¡± Xuezhe coughed. ¡°Zhujiao, planar wars are very, very dangerous for those that live on the surface of a plane. Not only can the people on the planar battlefield go to the bottom of the planar battlefield to bombard us, planar wars can also cause fluctuations in gravity.¡± ¡°No way!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°How does that work?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked, Zhujiao.¡± Fengshui nodded solemnly. ¡°As everyone knows, our world is flat, 10,000 kilometers thick and with infinite length and width. The part of the plane that is saturated with mathforce is like a leaf on the top of an ocean of mathematical space.¡± ¡°Yeah! Of course our plane is flat!¡± Zhujiao pounded the table. ¡°Hurry up!¡± ¡°By gathering mathforce, our leaf becomes denser and sinks deeper into the ocean! This is equivalent to the plane rising up the Tesseract.¡± Fengshui smiled. ¡°When our leaf drifts past another nearby leaf, planar war occurs. At that point, the two leaves are locked together until the planar war is concluded, and they will rise up the Tesseract together.¡± Fengshui unrolled a poster. ¡°But at the conclusion of the planar war, the winning side will get a boost in gravity, whereas the losing side will for a short period of time lose gravity or even acquire negative gravity! What that means, is, just by jumping during this time period, you will fly out of our plane into boundless mathematical space.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Jijian leaned forward, drinking in every word. ¡°What does gravity have to do with planar war?¡± ¡°Gravity is essentially the rate of acceleration our plane has as it rises up the Tesseract.¡± Fengshui explained. ¡°Along with the Laws of Mathnetism, the Laws of Gravity are the two great forces governing the Tesseract. The Laws of Mathnetism are obscure and unfathomable, but it¡¯s said that their effects become more apparent the higher you are in the Tesseract. Anyway, if our plane stops accelerating, gravity will instantly disappear! Let me repeat: if you jump while we are in zero gravity, you may never even return to this plane!¡± ¡°What? That¡¯s completely strange!¡± Jijian shook his head. ¡°Gravity in the Multiverse is totally different.¡± ¡°Yes, well, the density of our plane, which regulates the rate of our ascension through the Tesseract, is dependent on the mathematical formations that contain mathforce. Currently, all these formations are on the surface of our Weakest Plane!¡± Fengshui¡¯s face looked worried now. ¡°All the Trash Plane has to do is go to the bottom of the Planar Battlefield, which will fly circles above our Weakest Plane, and launch attacks. If they destroyed enough mathematical formations, gravity could stop or even be reversed! We would instantly be obliterated!¡± ¡°The reason why we are the Weakest Plane is that every single person here lives on the surface! In all other planes, the people live underground so that the fluctuations in gravity resulting from warfare do not impact them as much.¡± Fengshui explained. ¡°Thus, even if they lose a planar war or even half of their mathematical formations gets obliterated in internecine warfare, they would be fine.¡± ¡°Hold up!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°But no gravity is only a problem if we lose the planar war or some mathematical formations, right?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ correct.¡± Fengshui nodded. ¡°Then whatever! We never lose!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Next problem!¡± ¡°Zhujiao, please take this seriously.¡± Fengshui looked quite annoyed. ¡°Going underground is the safest option for all-¡± ¡°Nuh-uh!¡± Zhujiao folded his arms. ¡°I don¡¯t want to live under a rock! We are going to trash the Trash Plane and every single other plane we fight and we will never sink.¡± ¡°Only the Strongest Plane and the Weakest Plane can live on the surface!¡± Fengshui complained. ¡°Before, we wouldn¡¯t have problems with gravity because we were too weak to have planar wars. Now that we are transitioning past the rest of the planes in the Tesseract, we will no longer be able to live on the surface with impunity.¡± ¡°We are the Strongest Plane!¡± Zhujiao smiled. ¡°Next problem!¡± After a moment, Xuezhe came forward, shuffling through some papers. ¡°Very well, Grand Ancestor. Currently, our plane¡¯s gravity is 3.4 meters per second per second. It is expected-¡± ¡°What? More gravity talk!¡± Zhujiao yelled. ¡°Next!¡± Shuxue took his legs off the table. ¡°Let¡¯s go over the battle preparations, Fengshui.¡± Fengshui sighed. ¡°Yes. We will need to equip our Corps with the proper mathforce channeling equations, derivative artifacts, and proof rods. Xuezhe¡¯s dwarves are installing proof artillery into our Infinity Pillar, to be used for bombing the Planar Battlefield when the time comes.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± Xuezhe nodded. ¡°I will do a demonstration when this meeting concludes.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± Shuxue pointed at Zhujiao. ¡°You need to get rid of your factorial channeling equation. It¡¯s the most inefficient and wasteful mathforce channeling equation I¡¯ve ever seen, and is completely useless against derivative artifacts.¡± ¡°Fine!¡± Zhujiao shrugged. ¡°Then what do I get?¡± ¡°I suggest y=50000. That way, you can put 50,000 points of mathforce into each attack, rather than 1, then 2, then 6, then 24, then 120, then 300,000.¡± Shuxue scratched his head. ¡°I¡¯m sure there are several in our Infinity Treasury. As for myself, I will be going with y=7000 since my mathforce pool is low.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°You should mathivate more, Shuxue.¡± Fengshui eyed him exasperatedly. ¡°Our Infinity Sector is in no shortage of pearls.¡± ¡°How do I do that?¡± Shuxue sniffed. ¡°My left hand is always pressing jade slips to my forehead and my right hand isn¡¯t under my control. There¡¯s simply nothing I can use to eat the pearls.¡± ¡°Fine, fine. Let us look at my telescope.¡± Fengshui pointed at the strange device. ¡°Wait, what? We¡¯re indoors, why would we look at a telescope?¡± Jijian¡¯s eyes bugged. Fengshui looked at Jijian as if he was an idiot. ¡°I have focused the telescope on the Trash plane, which is fast approaching. You can count the number and position of the mathematical lifeforms by looking at it. Zhujiao rammed his head into the telescope. It disappeared into his forehead. ¡°Damn!¡± Zhujiao said, annoyed. He pulled the telescope out again. ¡°What are all these shiny specks of light, big sis Fengshui?¡± ¡°Stars, obviously. You¡¯ve never seen stars?¡± Jijian asked, a befuddled expression on his face. ¡°Stars? I only see stars when I get punched really hard. And I never get punched really hard!¡± Zhujiao shouted. ¡°They¡¯re not stars, Jijian has clearly taken too many of the Sphinx¡¯s pills.¡± Fengshui sighed. ¡°Those are the mathematical lifeforms of the Trash plane. If you could count to 320, you¡¯d find that there are 320 mathematical lifeforms.¡± ¡°But I can only count to 10!¡± Zhujiao said. ¡°So then there must only be 10 mathematical lifeforms, because if I counted to 320 by counting up to 10 and then restarting from 1, then I would leave off with 10!¡± ¡°¡­ Did you just do a fairly advanced division technique?¡± Xiaobai asked. He had been keeping a cool silence this entire time, but now he was so surprised that his eyeballs would pop out of his head if they could. ¡°Well done, Zhujiao!¡± If anyone else said this, it would have been laced with sarcasm. But Xiaobai said it straightforwardly and with such earnestness that the entire room couldn¡¯t help but believe his sincerity. ¡°Eheheh¡­¡± Zhujiao laughed delightedly. ¡°Right.¡± Shuxue pushed Zhujiao out of the way to look into the telescope. He could see three distinct clouds of what appeared to be gas. Within those clouds shined numerous dots of light, like twinkles that would never vanish. ¡°The Trash plane is quite interesting.¡± Fengshui began speaking again. ¡°It seems that their wars have caused the plane to separate into three zones that are cut off from each other by unsaturated space. It is likely that they have long lost contact with each other. Thus, when the planar war begins, we can pretend we are part of the Trash plane, and kill them much more easily.¡± Shuxue smiled viciously. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea, Fengshui. That¡¯s exactly what we shall do! Now, let¡¯s go see the new proof artillery Xuezhe has set up.¡± The proof artillery was like a vine crawling up the side of the Infinity Pillar. It stretched up all the way into the clouds and beyond. To be honest, it was so high that even if they shot it, it was possible that the people on the ground would not be able to see anything. With such a device, bombarding the planar war continent would be a cakewalk. ¡°All right. Let¡¯s fire it already!¡± Zhujiao hopped in excitement. ¡°Point it at the Trash plane!¡± ¡°The Trash plane is very far away.¡± Xuezhe cautioned. ¡°Hitting it, even with this incredible Q.E.D. 9001 Tribulation artillery, would be like being born with the physique of the scion of math. It won¡¯t happen.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s fire it already!¡± Zhujiao repeated. Xuezhe opened a capsule to reveal a large red button. Taking a deep breath, he pressed it. Sirens began blaring, and all the mathforce in the area seemed to be disturbed. ¡°Uh¡­ you sure you pressed the right button, Xuezhe?¡± Jijian asked, scrunching his eyebrows together. ¡°I mean, even if that was a self-destruct button, we¡¯d still be fine because Zhujiao has Plot Armor, but the pillar might get destroyed.¡± ¡°The self-destruct button?¡± Xuezhe snorted, flipping open the capsule next to the red button to reveal another red button. ¡°That¡¯s this button. Only an idiot would mistake the two. Anyway, the Q.E.D. 9001 is charging up. At any moment now, it will fire.¡± Right as he finished speaking, a giant flash of light appeared at the top of the Infinity Pillar. Crackling sounds rang out, and then a great beam of light shot off into the sky, leaving behind only a twinkle. A thunderous boom rolled over them several seconds later, sending a few weaklings falling onto the ground. ¡°Wooooowwwwwww.¡± Zhujiao breathed. ¡°That¡¯s so cool!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Xuezhe said smugly. ¡°This is the pinnacle of our achievements in rigorous mathematical proofs. If you know how to prove certain theorems, then you too can shoot this tribulation lightning.¡± ¡°Okay, we¡¯re done here.¡± Shuxue said, his eyes gleaming. His mouth twisted into a cold smile. He was just about to say something when suddenly, the ground trembled and the sky above turned crimson. Something shocking was happening, and the side-effects were spreading out to cover the entire Weakest Plane. An earth-shaking boom rumbled out from the heavens. The source of the sound wasn¡¯t close, but seemed to billow forth from quite some distance. It wasn¡¯t directed toward the location of Shuxue and the others, but rather seemed to cover the entire Weakest Plane. At this moment, everyone could hear the massive roar. A small dot appeared in the sky, fast falling down. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Zhujiao gasped. ¡°Is it a bird?¡± ¡°No.¡± Xuezhe gaped. ¡°It¡¯s a plane. The Trash plane!¡± It was a giant turtle the size of a continent. It slammed into Ocean 29 tens of thousands of kilometers away, sending water shooting so high into the air that they could see the geyser with the naked eye. In the skies above their heads, the mathforce began to swirl, violently congealing into a solid. The Planar War Continent was being formed!
The last few paragraphs were taken from ISSTH''s book 1 chapter 61. I thought it would be a nice transition to the Planar War xD That said, I am really sorry for the lack of chapters lately. I''ve been busy, and I''ve been more interested in writing Hegemony, and I had a bit of writer''s block up until today for Math God Plane, and I downloaded Hearthstone again xD I''m still going to be busy for the next two weeks, so the release schedule might continue to be erratic. Sorry again! For the future, status updates are posted frequently on the blog, whose url can be found in Math God Plane''s description. Chapter 38: A Genius Here is a Trash There At long last, the awaited time is here! The first Planar War in 3,000,001.5 years will start in approximately four hours, when the Planar War continent finishes forming. On one side we have the fearsome Trash Plane, with hundreds of mathematical Spirits. If the mathematical turtle Spirit thing that the Infinity Proof Artillery shot down just now is anything to go by, what the Trash Plane boasts in force may not be hundreds of thousands of soldiers or even millions of soldiers, but billions! On the other side of the Planar War is the weak and pathetic Weakest Sector. Their strongest spirit is the Great Leviathan who exited the previous Planar War the moment it started. Their largest Sector, the Infinity Sector, is not the real Infinity Sector, one of the greatest Sectors in the entire Tesseract, but actually a fake led by a thirteen year old child with delusions of grandeur. It is unknown how such a Sector was even able- ¡°Whoever is talking, shut the fuck up.¡± Shuxue snarled. ¡°My apologies, Patriarch.¡± The announcer, a young man with sandy blond hair, laughed nervously. ¡°I was just trying to paint our side as the underdogs, like you asked.¡± ¡°Well, you are hopelessly inept at your job.¡± Shuxue shoved the announcer out of the way. ¡°At long last, the awaited time is here!¡± Shuxue shouted into the voice-amplifier. ¡°The first Planar War in 3,000,001.5 years will start in approximately four hours, when the Planar War finishes forming. On one side we have the fearsome Trash Plane, which outnumbers us billions to one. On the other side, you have me, Shuxue!¡± Shuxue looked down from his elevated podium at the hundreds of Infinity Corp members below. They had looks of trepidation and anxiety on their faces, as if they were contemplating the possibilities of their deaths in the coming Planar War. ¡°Yes, it is true that many of you, whose names I can¡¯t be bothered to remember, will not be coming back alive from the onslaught of billions of Trash denizens. It is true that our enemies outclass you all in both quantity and quality. It is true that killing billions of enemies may take several years worth of time! But what is important is that we will win because of me, Shuxue!¡± Xiaobai, who was standing in the back, leaned over to speak in Minister Fengshui¡¯s ear. ¡°Who wrote this speech?¡± Xiaobai hissed. ¡°I believe it was Zhujiao who came up with the general message.¡± Fengshui whispered back. ¡°I see.¡± Meanwhile, Shuxue continued to give his speech. ¡°What each of you should be thinking about as you enter this great battle is not that you will die, but that the Infinity Sector will win! Even if you die, you shouldn¡¯t care, because you would have given your life up for the Infinity Sector and for me, Shuxue! So enter this battle with your heads held high!¡± Shuxue stepped off the podium, a smile on his face. ¡°There we go, I definitely got them properly motivated to fight.¡± Shuxue patted himself on the back. ¡°Sometimes, I surprise even myself with my witty motivational speeches.¡± A murmur of assent rose up from his attendants, two tedious young girls who could not properly flap their fans at him. Xiaobai headed up after Shuxue to say his own bit. Shuxue looked up at the sky, scratching his head. The Planar War continent was forming out of mathforce, but he couldn¡¯t see it right now. It flew above the plane in circles, and would complete one revolution every twenty-four hours. It would be another sixteen hours before he could see it again. But by then, he would already have teleported into the Planar Battlefield. The Sphinx was in his sphinx form, rolled up into a ball in the corner. He seemed to be shivering. ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Sphinx?¡± Zhujiao popped into existence from out of nowhere, an ice cube in his hand. He pressed it into the Sphinx¡¯s foot. ¡°Getting¡­ cold feet?¡± Zhujiao was sent flying into the palace several kilometers away. In an instant, he was back, a stupid smile on his face. ¡°I learned that joke from one of my servants! It was really funny!¡± Shuxue shook his head, sighing to himself. ¡°It hurts like a motherfucker!¡± The Sphinx cursed. ¡°That Planar Battlefield is calling me!¡± Whenever Planar War occurred, every single spirit in each plane would be teleported into the Planar Battlefield. It was up to the humans to enter into the spirit as they were teleported away. Otherwise, the spirit would be sent to the Planar Battlefield alone. ¡°Don¡¯t be a little bitch!¡± Zhujiao repeated cheerily to the Sphinx. ¡°Isn¡¯t that what you always say?¡± ¡°You got some sass today, motherfucker!¡± The Sphinx kicked Zhujiao again, sending him flying into the sky. A few seconds later, a twinkle appeared. ¡°What! What have you done, Sphinx!¡± Shuxue yelled, his face paling. ¡°That twinkle means that he¡¯s exited our Weakest Plane! Why would you do that?¡± ¡°Uh... ¡° The Sphinx blinked as he shivered. ¡°He¡¯ll teleport back. No worries.¡± A minute dragged by, and Zhujiao still did not return. Shuxue¡¯s face had drained of all its blood, and the fear on his face could give anyone who was looking at him a heart attack. ¡°It¡¯s over¡­ we have to abort! We can¡¯t go to the Planar Battlefield now!¡± Shuxue gasped. ¡°We have to call this off!¡± ¡°What?¡± The Sphinx stopped shivering and got up, baring his fangs. ¡°You can¡¯t do that! You can¡¯t leave me to go to the Planar Battlefield by myself! What happened to No Important Person Left Behind?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Sphinx. You¡¯re going to have to take one for the team.¡± Shuxue said solemnly. A minute later, Shuxue ascended the podium and brushed aside Jijian, who was spouting some crap about the Church of Zhujiao. He adjusted his coat, careful not to reveal the single, tiny laceration the Sphinx had made on his belly before he finally gave in to his demands. ¡°Soldiers, it looks like a completely expected emergency has occurred. Everything is under control, but we will be boarding our mathematical spiritual lifeforms early.¡± Shuxue said solemnly, a bead of sweat trickling down the back of his neck. The Sphinx didn¡¯t trust Shuxue, and forced him into loading soldiers onto him early to ensure that he would not be left behind. Shuxue grimly entered the Sphinx¡¯s gaping maw and took a seat inside. He looked out the windows at the sky, searching for the Planar Battlefield. He fidgeted with his hands for several minutes before speaking up. ¡°Hey, Sphinx, my man, can you put some footrests on these chairs? It¡¯s awfully tight in here.¡± ¡°Fuck off!¡± Shuxue sighed. One day, he would pay the Sphinx back for this. How could a top genius like him be manhandled like this? He was the Patriarch of this entire Sector! He felt he was entitled to footrests. Within an hour, the entire Infinity Corps had boarded one of the Infinity Sector¡¯s 3 mathematical spirits. Despite the tight conditions, nobody complained, or even spoke a word. Shuxue would have appreciated the silence, but he had no jade slips to press to his forehead. Not having Zhujiao around really ruined everything. Shuxue was staring aimlessly through the windows when bright lights abruptly appeared, covering up the entire screen. They disappeared in an instant, replacing the scenic mountains and buildings of the Infinity Sector¡¯s capital with lush green plains and rivers. Mathematical beasts roamed about, grazing on the mathematical grass and drinking the mathematical water. ¡°Kill them all!¡± Shuxue shouted as he slid out of the Sphinx¡¯s gaping mouth. Behind him, the other 298 soldiers fanned out into some formation Xuezhe had designed. A flurry of attacks flew out from his sides, killing all the local fauna. Shuxue looked behind him at the Sphinx. Soldiers continued to slide out of his mouth to join their formation. He wondered how it was mathematically possible for 299 people to fit in there. Perhaps there was a profundity to spirit anatomy he had never considered before. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Forward march!¡± Shuxue snarled. ¡°Our goal is to reunite with Fengshui¡¯s group and Xiaobai¡¯s group! They should be near us! Actually, they should¡¯ve been right next to us, since we teleported from the same place! Where are they?¡± Right on cue, an explosion came out from nearby. ¡°WHO ARE YOU?¡± A deep, guttural roar rolled through the plain. Before Shuxue could respond, another voice drifted up from somewhere else. ¡°We are members of the Trash Plane! Don¡¯t attack us!¡± A woman called out. Shuxue realized, with a start, that it was Fengshui. He and his group began to hurry over as surreptitiously as they could. ¡°WHICH SECTOR ARE YOU FROM?¡± Shuxue realized, with a shock, that the voice was coming from under them. They were on another turtle the size of a continent! ¡°We¡¯re on another turtle the size of a continent!¡± A soldier gasped, as if he had thought of it first. ¡°But how are we properly hearing what it¡¯s saying? The speed of sound shouldn¡¯t-¡± Shuxue slapped the soldier. ¡°I already knew we were on a turtle the size of a continent, silly fool. Come, let¡¯s go rejoin Fengshui¡¯s team.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ we¡¯re from the Infinity Sector!¡± Another voice called out. It was Jijian. ¡°THERE IS NO INFINITY SECTOR IN THE TRASH PLANE! THERE IS ONLY OUR BIODEGRADABLE SECTOR, THE RECYCLING SECTOR, AND THE TRASH SECTOR!¡± ¡°Stop, everyone!¡± Shuxue jumped off the edge of the cliff he had come upon, followed by the 299 soldiers behind him and the Sphinx. Several minutes later, he crashed into the ground next to Fengshui and her team. They were in the middle of a vast canyon of orange rock. From here, he could see that what he had just jumped off was the head of a gargantuan turtle, a mathematical spirit which had lived for sextillions of years! ¡°I¡¯m afraid you heard wrong. We are actually from that Recycling Sector you were talking about!¡± Shuxue said with a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go kill those Weakest Plane fools and seize this continent for ourselves!¡± ¡°YOU¡¯RE FROM THE RECYCLING SECTOR?¡± The turtle¡¯s eyes, which were just below the clouds, fixed onto them. ¡°EXCELLENT! PREPARE TO DIE!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Shuxue blinked. ¡°BIODEGRADABLES ARE THE TRUE WAY TO RAISE LIFEFORMS!¡± The turtle roared, spitting out an ocean of saliva at them. ¡°ALL RECYCLERS AND TRASH SHOULD DIE!¡± The ocean landed atop them, flooding the entire canyon with the sticky fluid. Several of their red-uniformed soldiers were dashed against the rocks and turned into puddles of blood, but Shuxue was able to make it through unscathed. He pushed his bodyguards off of him and pointed a finger straight at the turtle. ¡°We have to kill the Weakest Plane enemies first! Don¡¯t you want this continent for our Trash Plane?¡± ¡°IT¡¯S NOT THE TRASH PLANE! IT¡¯S THE BIODEGRADABLE PLANE!¡± The turtle roared angrily. ¡°I HAVE TO THANK THE WEAKEST PLANE FOR ALLOWING OUR BIODEGRADABLE SECTOR TO FINALLY DO BATTLE WITH THE TRASH AND RECYCLING SECTORS AGAIN! WE¡¯LL KILL THE WEAKEST PLANE LAST!¡± Shuxue assessed the situation grimly. Now he knew what was going on; the Trash Plane had been split up into 3 completely separated zones. He knew now that these 3 zones were the Trash Sector, the Recycling Sector, and the Biodegradable Sector! ¡°Our enmities will never die, then!¡± Shuxue shouted. ¡°Soldiers, kill them all!¡± Proof artillery popped out of the body of the Muckgreen Grass trash mathematical Spirit. They lit up, puffing clouds of smoke that followed erratic trajectories towards the turtle. Several seconds later, they could see explosions covering the turtle¡¯s entire head. ¡°RAARRGHHH!¡± The turtle yelled in pain. ¡°BIODEGRADABLES, ATTACK!¡± A dark cloud appeared from its shell several tens of thousands of kilometers away. Shuxue waited several minutes before shrugging. ¡°Kill the turtle! Those enemies will take several months to finish flying to us, they don¡¯t matter at all!¡± They continued bombarding the mathematical turtle spirit. It roared again, then began lumbering forward. Each step created another canyon in the ground. ¡°CARBON¡­ FOOTPRINT!¡± The turtle shouted, bringing its foot crashing down on them. Shuxue stared at the descending foot, his face completely drained of blood again. ¡°Someone get me out of here! Save me!¡± Where was Zhujiao? Where was their Plot Armor? Was he really going to die here? Shuxue began to reconsider some of his life choices. This morning, he should have pressed that jade slip he was saving for a special occasion to his forehead. Maybe he should have figured out who his parents really were. He could feel his bowels churning right now. He should have taken a dump before coming here. Now, he was going to die soiling his pants. ¡°HAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!¡± A figure flew up into the air from nowhere and landed a kick onto the turtle¡¯s descending foot. The foot halted its descent as the figure crashed into the ground. Immediately, the person jumped back up into the air, his jump creating a miniature canyon within the canyon. ¡°HAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!¡± He kicked it again, sending the foot jerking upwards. He crashed back into the ground. ¡°HAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!¡± The turtle howled. ¡°THAT HAAAAAAHRRRTS!¡± ¡°HAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!¡± The man jumped up a third time. This time, his kick sent the entire turtle floating upwards. ¡°YOU¡­ YOU MAY BE A GENIUS ON THE WEAKEST PLANE, BUT MARK MY WORDS!¡± The turtle shrieked as it floated away. ¡°IN A PLACE LIKE THE WEAK PLANE, YOU CAN ONLY BE A PIECE OF TRASH!¡± ¡°HAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!¡± The man flew up a fourth time and kicked the turtle yet again. It flew away into the sky, disappearing with a twinkle after a few seconds. He flew back down, smashing into the ground in front of Shuxue. ¡°Xiao¡­ Xiaobai?¡± Shuxue gasped. ¡°H¡­ H¡­ How...¡± Everyone around him began cheering for Xiaobai. From a crevice in the canyon, his group clambered out, led by the Wukong mathematical spirit. ¡°Xiaobai! Xiaobai! Xiaobai! Xiaobai! Xiaobai!¡± The soldiers all roared with wild excitement. He had just saved them the impact of that fearsome carbon footprint! But Xiaobai didn¡¯t seem to be excited. He had a blank look on his face, as if he was pondering something. ¡°How did you do that?!¡± Shuxue finally got the words out of his mouth with some difficulty, as his jaw had unhinged and the bottom half had fallen to the floor. ¡°I¡¯m not a genius¡­ in the Weak Plane?¡± Xiaobai asked nobody in particular. ¡°Even after going from trash to genius here, I¡¯m still only trash in a higher plane?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Xiaobai!¡± ¡°You¡¯re a genius! An unparallelled genius!¡± Xiaobai was flooded with so many words of reassurance that Shuxue was not sure how he didn¡¯t drown in them. ¡°Bah, whatever.¡± Shuxue shook his head. It didn¡¯t seem like Xiaobai was going to answer his question. He slapped Xiaobai several times to wake him up. ¡°Hey! Get yourself together!¡± Shuxue shouted. ¡°We still haven¡¯t killed them all!¡± Xiaobai snapped out of his daze. ¡°R¡­ right.¡± He got up, and they began traveling through the Planar Battlefield. Status Update Hey guys, sorry it''s been so long since any notice. I''ve been busy af with Overpowered and real life. I''ve finished drafting the series rewrite. But to be fully honest, I don''t know if I will ever have the time or ability to do it. I''ve stopped reading xianxia for around half a year now, which makes coming up on-the-spot with new and ridiculous ideas as I write much, much harder, and I feel like my work on Overpowered is already slow enough. Math God Plane was always a side project, and if I both can''t even do a good job rewriting it AND it hampers my main work, then there''s not much to be said about it :( With that said, I may still rewrite it. Here is the general plan for the rewrite. -Everything up to either chapters 8 or 9 will be kept. They are perfect and I can''t make them any better. As for everything else, they will be trashed. -The rewrite will be at maximum 30 chapters long. Parodies just dont have the material to make a complete story AND still be a parody, I have found. -The plot will not be a continuous line forward. This was one of my biggest mistakes in the first rewrite; the second rewrite will toss out the boring things in between and make multiple (possibly silly) time skips so that the story can stay fresh. Consider for example the one day time skip in between Zhujiao leaving in chapter 6 and the cultivators coming en masse in chapter 7. That''s the sort of thing I will do more. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. -If this will be released, this will be released all at once, when I am done writing the entire series. Putting a chapter out, even if I don''t explicitly hold myself to a schedule, puts pressure on me to get out the next chapter within a certain period of time. I don''t want that, so the work will be released when it is released, if I do decide to write it. I had a blast writing Math God Plane and I feel a strong obligation to complete it, but there are a lot of obstacles in my way. I''m not going to read xianxia just to get inspiration to parody it, and I do have another story and real life to consider. But the story is only going to be around thirty chapters, 7/8 which are already written, so we do have that going for us.