Chapter 272: Mastery of the Mathematical Canon
Bashan Libationer dumped him in front of the Six Harmonies Hall, turned around, and walked away, afraid that Qin Mu would keep nagging and try to drag him into the Celestial Demon Cult.
Qin Mu muttered gloomily, "Sooner or later, I'll get you in."
The Imperial Academy instructor of the Six Harmonies Hall was the Venerable Nun Hongfa, a person of high virtue and prestige, also a member of the Buddhist order, who had been teaching here since the Imperial Academy was first established.
Qin Mu walked into the Six Harmonies Hall. It was still early, and no scholars had arrived to attend the lecture yet, but the old nun was already in the hall, cleaning, wiping everything until it was spotless.
When the bell rang and the scholars filed into the hall, the Venerable Nun Hongfa began her lecture unhurriedly. "Six Harmonies. What are the six harmonies? Heaven, earth, and the four cardinal directions—these are the six harmonies. The Six Harmonies Divine Repository resides within our bodies. To break through its wall, you must first determine the precise location of the Six Harmonies Wall. How do you determine it? Through calculation. I asked you yesterday to review the Six Harmonies Algorithm. Did you review it?"
Qin Mu blinked and looked around the hall. There were quite a few scholars attending the lecture, over thirty of them, including Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and Si Yunxiang.
Then he saw Banguo Cuo.
Banguo Cuo wasn't listening to the lecture. He had his eyes closed and was attempting to break through the wall.
The Venerable Nun Hongfa spoke at a somewhat slow pace. "A person standing on level ground can easily determine east, west, south, north, up, and down. But how do you determine east, west, south, north, up, and down within the human body? We use your Embryonic Divine Repository to determine up and down. The top of the Embryonic Divine Repository's embryo is heaven, and what it stands on is earth. Once up and down are determined, you need to determine east, west, south, and north. For this, you need the Five Luminaries Divine Repository and its five luminary stars for positioning."
"You have all studied the Ten Mathematical Classics. The Ten Mathematical Classics are used to determine the positions of the five luminary stars. To deduce the east, west, south, and north of the inner world from the five luminary stars, you need the Six Harmonies Algorithm. Now, let's turn to page seventeen of the Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon: the Meridian-Return-to-South Algorithm."
...
Qin Mu looked around, and suddenly someone poked him in the back with a finger. Qin Mu turned his head and saw Si Yunxiang, the Holy Maiden of the Celestial Demon Cult, biting her red lips. She whispered, "Last night, I saw the Cult Leader drag three girls into his room."
"Nothing of the sort!" Qin Mu flatly denied.
Si Yunxiang lowered her voice. "One of them was the Seventh Princess."
Qin Mu's face flushed red. "Holy Maiden, don't slander me and ruin my reputation. Lend me your Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon. It's my first time here, and I don't have a book."
"This is a sacred place of learning! How dare you whisper!"
The Venerable Nun Hongfa slammed the table and shouted, "Both of you, get out! Stand against the wall!"
Si Yunxiang grabbed the Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon and walked out of the hall with Qin Mu. They leaned against the wall, and Si Yunxiang handed him the canon, smiling. "Cult Leader, you're so fond of beautiful women. Be careful you don't end up like Cult Leader Li."
Qin Mu opened the canon and saw it was filled with many formulas, algorithms derived from the Ten Mathematical Classics, used to calculate the precise directions of east, west, south, and north based on the positions of the five luminary stars.
The Venerable Nun Hongfa was lecturing on the Meridian-Return-to-South Algorithm from page seventeen, which could determine the south. Once south was determined, east, west, and north could all be established. Then, by drawing a straight line for up and down, the most precise location of the Six Harmonies Wall within the body could be found.
Every person is unique, so the specific locations of everyone's Five Luminaries Divine Repository differ. And since the Five Luminaries Divine Repository is precisely the foundation for determining the Six Harmonies Divine Repository, the location of everyone's Six Harmonies Divine Repository also varies somewhat. Therefore, precise calculation is required, and there can be no mistakes.
Before long, Qin Mu had finished reading the Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon. The canon used the five-element, base-5 system and the six-harmony, base-6 system. It required converting the base-5 calculations from the five luminary stars into base-6, and then performing the calculations.
Qin Mu was stunned. Suddenly, he thought of the guidance from the Capital Heaven Demon King.
The Capital Heaven Demon King had once said that the base-8 system in the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Canon could be calculated using the Eight Trigrams as a calculation tool. This had given Qin Mu a sudden insight, allowing him to understand the other calculation tools within the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Canon. The Taiji Bagua Diagram contained the yin-yang binary, base-2 system; the Four Symbols base-4 system; and the Eight Trigrams base-8 system.
But if you added the five-element base-5 system and the six-harmony base-6 system, this calculation tool would become very complex.
"Yankang Imperial Preceptor said that the four spiritual bodies are not based on the five elements, but rather that each spiritual body encompasses the five elements. That is to say, the four spiritual bodies—Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise—are the Four Symbols within the Taiji Bagua Diagram!"
Qin Mu suddenly felt a sense of clarity. The Four Symbols—each one encompasses the five elements. Different permutations and combinations of the five elements form the Symbols!
That is to say, base-5 calculations using the five elements could calculate the changes of the Four Symbols, thus creating a calculation tool for converting base-5 to base-4.
And for the Six Harmonies, the Four Symbols could be used to determine east, west, south, and north, while yin and yang could determine up and down. This would provide a tool for calculating the Six Harmonies.
"Then, this means I can quickly calculate the location of the barrier of the Six Harmonies Divine Repository!"
Qin Mu returned the Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon to Si Yunxiang. He extended both hands, pressing his right palm over his left, and pulled them apart. His strands of primordial qi immediately formed a strange Taiji pattern, including yin-yang and the Four Symbols, with the five elements contained within the Four Symbols.
Qin Mu was full of enthusiasm. He pulled his hands apart again, and layers of Taiji five-element patterns split apart, each performing calculations in an orderly manner.
Si Yunxiang watched the constantly changing patterns in front of him in surprise. She quickly asked, "How are you calculating? It's a bit different from what the Venerable Nun Hongfa teaches! Let me copy it down!"
Qin Mu calculated at lightning speed, dividing his mind in two, and told her his insights.
Si Yunxiang's eyes grew brighter and brighter. She was also exceptionally talented and quickly grasped the mystery. She praised, "This method is good. The method in the Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon is too cumbersome. It takes one or two months to calculate the result, and it's easy to make mistakes. With your method, there's no chance of error, and it can be calculated in at most one or two hours!"
Qin Mu smiled. "The Taiji, Four Symbols, Five Elements, Six Harmonies, and Eight Trigrams are originally calculation tools, used for computation."
Now, when he looked at the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Canon again, he felt that all the difficulties were easily resolved, and his heart was very pleased. However, to master the teleportation divine ability, relying solely on the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Canon was probably not enough.
The Venerable Nun Hongfa continued lecturing inside the hall. Time passed slowly. Finally, Qin Mu was the first to determine the location of his Six Harmonies Divine Repository, situated in a certain place in his dantian, connecting heaven and earth.
The dantian, also called the lower dantian, is where the Six Harmonies reside. Daoists call it the Imperial Court. The middle dantian is the heart chamber, called the Crimson Palace. The upper dantian is between the eyebrows, called the Spiritual Terrace by Daoists and the Inch-Mountain by Buddhists.
Having determined the location of his Crimson Palace, Qin Mu immediately gathered all his primordial qi and charged towards the determined Six Harmonies Wall!
Qin Mu's cultivation base was originally extremely profound, far surpassing his peers. This time, he gathered all his primordial qi and charged with one concentrated effort. The Six Harmonies Wall was immediately covered with cracks under his assault.
A rumbling sound like ocean waves came from within his body. Qin Mu gathered his primordial qi and charged a second time. The sound of the waves grew louder, like angry breakers crashing against the shore, great waves slapping the clouds. The sound grew louder and more violent with each charge, and Qin Mu's primordial qi impact also grew fiercer each time!
With a crash, his Six Harmonies Wall suddenly shattered, creating a large gap.
Qin Mu continued to gather his primordial qi and charged at the remaining wall, making the gap larger and larger.
Inside the Six Harmonies Hall, the Venerable Nun Hongfa and all the scholars heard the sound of primordial qi colliding from within Qin Mu's body, each showing expressions of surprise.
"Imperial Academy Doctor!"
The Venerable Nun Hongfa hurriedly walked out. "If you recklessly try to break through the wall without calculating the precise location of the Six Harmonies Wall, you could die!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a loud boom suddenly came from within Qin Mu's body, as if heaven and earth were splitting open. Qin Mu's cultivation base instantly soared!
The Six Harmonies Wall was broken!
The Six Harmonies Divine Repository was opened!
At that moment, another boom came from within the Six Harmonies Hall. It was Banguo Cuo, whose Six Harmonies Divine Repository had also been successfully opened. But now, the attention of all the scholars and the Venerable Nun Hongfa in the hall was drawn to Qin Mu, and no one noticed him.
Banguo Cuo's aura was also growing thicker and thicker. His eyes flickered, and he rose from his meditation cushion and looked out of the hall.
The Venerable Nun Hongfa was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "Imperial Academy Doctor, close all the divine repositories in your body, and then try to break through with one concentrated effort!"
Qin Mu took a long breath, closed his Embryonic Divine Repository, Five Luminaries Divine Repository, and Six Harmonies Divine Repository all at once, and then let out a low shout. From his Spiritual Terrace, Crimson Palace, and Imperial Court came three booming sounds. The three great divine repositories opened, and Qin Mu's aura surged!
"He really did open the Six Harmonies Divine Repository!"
The Venerable Nun Hongfa marveled. She looked at Si Yunxiang beside her and saw that she was also trying to break through the Six Harmonies Wall, clearly having also found the precise location of the wall.
She had driven these two whispering youngsters out of the hall, but she never expected that in just a short while, the two of them would have found the location of the Six Harmonies Wall one after another, and one of them had even succeeded in breaking through in one go, becoming a divine ability user of the Six Harmonies Realm!
The Venerable Nun Hongfa pressed her palms together. "Celestial Demon Cult... Imperial Academy Doctor, you seem to have a secret method for calculating the location of the Six Harmonies Wall, much faster than my Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon. I wonder if you would be willing to share it."
Qin Mu smiled. "You are too kind, Venerable Nun. My skills are shallow, and I dare not show off in front of everyone. However, I do have some insights that I would be happy to share with you and the scholars."
The Venerable Nun Hongfa was overjoyed and quickly invited him into the hall. She said to the scholars, "Today, the Imperial Academy Doctor will teach you. Imperial Academy Doctor, please!"
Qin Mu looked at Banguo Cuo at the back of the hall and smiled. "Prince Banguo Cuo from beyond the frontier has also broken through the Six Harmonies Wall and become a divine ability user. Would you be interested in sharing your insights?"
Everyone turned to look. Banguo Cuo shook his head. "I am but a barbarian from beyond the frontier, I dare not show off. Please, Cult Leader Qin."
Qin Mu squinted his eyes and explained his calculation technique to everyone in the hall. The Venerable Nun Hongfa was both surprised and delighted. She kept asking questions, drawing out more of the mysteries of this calculation technique, leaving everyone in the hall completely captivated.
After a long time, Qin Mu finished explaining his calculation technique. The scholars in the hall each tried to practice it, attempting to master this calculation method. However, some were intelligent and some were slow-witted; not everyone could grasp it.
"Imperial Academy Doctor, with your calculation technique, I can compile a new Six Harmonies Mathematical Canon."
The Venerable Nun Hongfa smiled. "I wonder if the Doctor would be willing to be listed as a co-author?"
Qin Mu said solemnly, "This is a good deed that will benefit future generations for a thousand years. If I can be credited, I am naturally willing. However, my name must be listed as 'Qin Mu, Cult Leader of the Celestial Demon Cult'."
The Venerable Nun Hongfa's face darkened. She thought to herself, "He is the Cult Leader of the Celestial Demon Cult. If my name is listed alongside his, wouldn't I also be considered a demonic path practitioner? Goodness, goodness. I am attached to appearances again. To be listed alongside the Cult Leader of the Celestial Demon Cult is also an honor for me."
Qin Mu looked at Banguo Cuo and smiled. "Little Prince, we have both broken through at almost the same time, entering the Six Harmonies Realm and becoming divine ability users. It's a perfect time and place, and we are at the same realm. How about we have a little spar?"
Banguo Cuo shook his head. "Cult Leader Qin is joking. I am here to study."
Qin Mu smiled faintly. "Study? Perfect timing. I have a saber technique here, said to have been created by the Heavenly Saber. Would you like to learn this technique?"
Banguo Cuo's eyebrows shot up. His gaze fell on Qin Mu, and instantly, the sound of countless ghosts wailing and demons howling filled Qin Mu's ears!
— Recommend a science fiction novel, Entering the Movie, by author Qingmu Shan!