CHAPTER 955: CHAPTER 40: ASTONISHMENT

Until the end, those children did not understand what the Mathematics Lord and the National Hand of Beings were discussing. In their eyes, it was merely a conversation between two powerful figures.

The arrogance of the Mathematics Lord, who looked down upon all heroes of the world, past and present wise men, and saints, was deeply imprinted in their minds. They even vaguely worshipped this former "number one in the world." That fanatical and proud expression would become a target for some of them to emulate.

However, the lecturers were somewhat absent-minded.

Their level was at least able to understand what the Mathematics Lord was saying.

Then, they felt that these words were simply subverting their thinking.

To abstract the vast and complex "heaven and earth" into a simple "problem" and then seek the answer to that problem. All cultivators of the Modern Immortal Path thought so. The phenomenon of a ripe apple falling from a tree and the trajectory of a celestial body’s movement are based on the same principle. Similar "principles" are everywhere. It should be like this.

The world is like this; performing the same operation on an object will yield the same feedback. The process and result of this feedback are certain.

It should be like this.

But the Mathematics Lord said, "No."

The macrocosmic heaven and earth are chaotic, full of randomness. And until just now, they insisted that the "random" particle cloud, on the contrary, strictly followed a linear process and moved deterministically.

This completely violated their inherent conceptions.

They trembled, discussing this viewpoint.

"What should we do?" they asked each other. In the end, these Primordial Spirit Stage grandmasters could only decide to temporarily suppress this news and quietly wait for a response from above.

But they quickly realized that they had no need to do so.

Furthermore, the development of the situation exceeded their imagination entirely.

Feng Luoyi did not attempt to suppress the paper this time. The reason why the Mathematics Lord chose to perform the "final validation" in public was merely to express an attitude.

Even if Feng Luoyi detained all these people, he would still distribute his paper elsewhere.

He had that right. In fact, according to the spirit of the Immortal Alliance Law, such behavior must be protected. Even if a new theory causes tremendous casualties, the person who published the theory bears no responsibility. Because heaven and earth are there. You cannot hate all bodies of water in the world just because someone drowned.

Wang Qi chose to temporarily suppress the paper, based on voluntary action. It was only because he would need the strength of other arithmeticians, and he wanted to avoid harming the members of the Wanfa Sect. However, such behavior was not an obligation.

Every word of that paper, like blades, like fangs, tore apart aged structures, severing the channels of old thought lineage. The Mathematics Lord’s new ideas, like a wildfire, swept across all of Shenzhou. Everywhere it burned fiercely, as entrenched notions crumbled, utterly defeated. New ideas sprouted amidst the ashes.

A calamity far greater than six months ago quietly descended. Everyone was wailing.

If this world truly is uncertain, is random, then which direction are we heading towards now?

—Are the laws we grasp truly just statistical averages of random events occurring?

The cultivators of the Wanfa Sect fell into a new confusion.

Just a few months ago, Wang Qi had destroyed the sanctity of mathematics in the minds of those arithmeticians. And now, it seemed that mathematics couldn’t even preserve its practical utility.

In certain domains, the certainty of mathematics was also being lost.

What significance does mathematics hold now?

"Madman!" In the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm, Feng Luoyi angrily reprimanded the many Carefree practitioners barely gathered together: "This fellow, he’s completely mad!"

"According to my initial plan, within a year we could flatten the Four Seas and formally contact the Dragon Clan. From the Dragon Clan’s history, we might grasp the truth of this universe. Yet, the Mathematics Lord’s antics, how many cultivators in our Immortal Alliance have their minds suffered a setback thus diminishing their combat power? Even those elders across the Star Sea might potentially end up trapped there..."

Master Turing, sitting not far to his left, shook his head with a wry smile: "Brother Yue Han, there’s actually no need to be so pessimistic. The situation within the Wanfa Sect was already irreparably bad four months ago; cultivators under six hundred years of age are basically unaffected."

For mathematicians, the Mathematics Lord’s discovery was far from as subversive as "incompleteness." It seemed more like a brand-new perspective on viewing the world.

"In fact, ever since Daoist Fellow Wang Qi’s Incompleteness Theory emerged, many cultivators have developed a resistance to such issues," He Wai’er sat at the core position this time. He usually didn’t sit here. However, since taking over Geting House, the network left by Master of Calculation, Xi Baiche, was implicitly inherited by him. In informal meetings, he was regarded as the successor of the Master of Calculation.

Of course, he possessed the capability. Purely in terms of mathematics, he was not inferior to any peak-level cultivator of the Wanfa Sect.

Although He Wai’er belonged to the same lineage, he didn’t fully agree with Wang Qi. But he had to admit that certain concepts introduced by Wang Qi’s theory unexpectedly protected many cultivators of the Wanfa Sect.

According to Wang Qi’s theory, human logic itself is flawed. At the current stage, human thinking may not be able to explain certain problems at all.

Mathematics is merely a system built upon human thought.

Of course, it’s only "current." Wang Qi himself firmly believes that this phenomenon will eventually be transcended.

Since there are problems humans cannot comprehend, then... the so-called chaos is nothing for the cultivators of the Wanfa Sect, right?

For most Wanfa Sect cultivators, this is truly a difficult fact to accept. One day they were resenting Wang Qi for shattering their dreams; the next, they had to thank him for giving them a strong resistance to face any outcome.

Master Turing closed his eyes and gently said: "I can roughly understand a bit of the Mathematics Lord’s thinking. To him, anyone who cannot accept his ’correctness’ is just a parasite within the Immortal Dao. He’s doing this to eradicate harm..."

Ai Ruochi from the Geting Sect sneered coldly: "Isn’t he afraid of being trapped by his own knowledge barriers and eventually falling due to the ’new ideas’ of future generations?"

"He won’t live to see that day," Master Turing shook his head: "For someone like the Mathematics Lord, being trapped by knowledge barriers is more terrifying than death. This is also his attitude—rather than being hindered by knowledge barriers and becoming an obstacle for future generations, he prefers to die spectacularly.

"He’s not young anymore..." People from the Geting Sect indeed had no fondness for the Mathematics Lord: "If possible, I really would like to give him a spectacular ’death.’

"Don’t forget, Ruoche." He Wai’er reminded: "The Mathematics Lord entered the path earlier than us, earlier than our teachers—he was in the same era as our teachers’ teachers."

"He is undoubtedly a genius. There aren’t many people who can transcend generations and still rule over their contemporary like him," Feng Luoyi held his forehead: "But... this time, the decisive battle with the Demon Clan has to be postponed again. Due to this attack, many Great Grandmasters cannot participate in the war. Among the Carefree Practitioners, Senior Bai Ze isn’t in a good condition either... Luckily, there’s still Wang Qi."

"Moreover, the two Pavilion Masters of the Yangshen Pavilion have led a large number of cultivators through the Immortal Path to stabilize those ’pioneering’ seniors. A majority of the high-order cultivators in the Yangshen Pavilion have been transferred away. They are the ones most likely to be affected by the impact."

"To replace those explorers whose combat power might be weakened, we have mobilized everyone we possibly can. Now the entire Immortal Alliance is facing a manpower shortage."

The Immortal Alliance’s rule is this. In the academic field, those who are still young and energetic stay in Shenzhou for their studies, while the older generations, trapped by knowledge barriers, must explore the Star Sea and observe the universe as much as possible.

As a result, to protect those explorers, the Immortal Alliance is unfortunately facing a shortage in combat power.

"The Mathematics Lord truly is a genius, but he’s also a... madman." Feng Luoyi sighed helplessly: "Originally, we thought the mess with the West Sea and Far Sea could be resolved within this year, but now we face a manpower shortage due to such an absurd reason..."

"Look on the bright side, Mr. Feng, this theory indeed possesses extraordinary significance," Wu Wai’er said: "He not only proved the widespread existence of ’chaotic phenomena’ but also pointed out the kinds of systems in which chaos is inevitable. You should think about what this can do..."

"He extracted formulas from the Life Path, stellar movements, and heavenly phenomena, and upon reflection, this should be directly applicable to these fields, right?"

"Perhaps there will be a breakthrough in the theory of dynamical systems..."

Master Turing thought for a moment and then focused on the process in which the Mathematics Lord proved the equivalence of cellular automata and the narrow-Turing calculator: "Hmm, perhaps for our domain... Brother Yue Han, can you still contact Wang Qi now? I think we should discuss this matter with him."

He naturally said this, and none of the other Carefree Practitioners expressed opposition or doubt.

Obviously, they had already accepted that Wang Qi had the qualifications to have an equal dialogue with them in this field. He had even gained his authority among the Carefree Practitioners. When related issues arise, people inevitably think of Wang Qi.

Feng Luoyi nodded slightly.

...

The next day, on Spirit Phoenix Island, Wang Qi showed a look of disbelief after hearing Mi’s paraphrasing.

"What? The Mathematics Lord has opened up the field of chaos?"

Mi nodded: "That’s right."

Wang Qi grabbed Mi’s shoulder and asked urgently: "What is the current situation exactly? To what extent has the Mathematics Lord achieved? Has he proven the universal existence of chaotic systems, or has he found a univariate discrete dynamical system and proved chaos using mathematics?"