Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 75: The Old Man Who Cuts the Circle (1800 votes plus more)
With a sharp blade in hand and murderous intent rising up in his heart, Ren Yuan felt that it was time to return to the boat and put an end to the black zombie!
To be on the safe side, he put on the Qingming hand shield and also carried a stack of talismans, then lay back on the Youxian pillow he had not seen for a long time.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back on the dream boat.

At this time, it was also night in the dream world. The starry sky was reflected on the water surface, and the roar of zombies came from the wooden boat.

As soon as it smelled the breath of a living person, the black zombie came out from the pile of copper coins it was hiding in and pounced on Ren Yuan frantically! However, amidst the madness, there seemed to be a hint of grievance...

After Ren Yuan opened his spiritual sense, he felt that the black zombie's movements were not so fast. He dodged its pounce by turning sideways and tripped it into the pile of money.

The black zombie immediately jumped up and pounced towards Ren Yuan again, this time its speed was obviously faster than last time.

Ren Yuan did not dare to be careless, and while dodging the attack, he immediately slashed out with the Evil-Slaying Blade. He did not have the level of Xie Gui's ability to release the sword energy at will, but the Evil-Slaying Blade itself could restrain demons, and with one strike of the sword, he removed the black zombie's arm, and at the same time, he twisted his body and kicked it away with a side kick.

The black zombie was unaware of the pain and got up to rush towards Ren Yuan again, but Ren Yuan was already familiar with its speed and could dodge it as easily as Tian Liangzi did. Moreover, he also had the evil-killing blade that Tian Liangzi did not have, which could cause fatal damage to the black zombie.

Soon, the black zombie was chopped into eight pieces...

Although the black zombie had a strong self-healing ability, it did not have the self-reconstructive bones like Wanwan, so it died.

Ren Yuan sheathed his sword, but he did not show any sign of complacency.

Because he knew very well that this black zombie was just a puppet created by Mr. Na Yan, and it was a mass-produced model. Killing one of them would not have any meaning other than proving that he had indeed made progress.

So he jumped onto the roof of the cabin, the only part that was not covered by copper coins, and regulated his breathing and entered a state of meditation, preparing to fully comprehend the meaning of the matter before practicing the Tiangang Jue.

Ren Yuan followed the instructions of his senior sister and concentrated all his consciousness and ideas into his spiritual orifice, then imagined the jade pillow opening.

Suddenly, he felt his whole body lighten and he found himself floating in the air. He looked down and found that his body was still on the top of the cabin, sitting cross-legged in meditation.

This feeling of floating in the air was not the first time he had experienced it, but the last time he was led by his senior sister, so naturally he was not as free as he is now.

Ren Yuan excitedly flew around the wooden boat a few times, and wanted to fly higher to see if there was any different scenery in the distance.

Yin Shen’s flying speed was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, he had flown high into the sky.

When Ren Yuan was about to look around, he suddenly felt a gust of burning wind blowing, which made his soul feel like being torn apart. Frightened, he quickly lowered his altitude and finally calmed down.

"Is this the strong wind that senior sister talked about? It's really scary." Ren Yuan calmed himself down. Since he couldn't fly high, and didn't dare to fly far, he prepared to return to his body and start practicing.

But because it was the first time that his soul left his body, he still underestimated his own speed. As a result, he deviated from his body when falling and plunged into the cabin.

Ren Yuan was about to leave quickly, but suddenly stopped and said subconsciously: "Isn't this the place I have always wanted to enter but couldn't?"

Since he had already come in, he decided to take a look before leaving.

As soon as Ren Yuan thought about it, his Yin Spirit traveled through almost all the cabins, but they were all empty. Only the innermost room was still inaccessible to his Yin Spirit.

Ren Yuan looked at the door intently and saw some words engraved on it. He subconsciously read:

"Let the diameter of a circle be one hundred million feet, and find the gain and loss of the circumference..." "Oh my god, it's actually a math problem," he scratched his head and muttered to himself unconsciously, "and it seems to be about finding the value of pi."

"But what is the number of surplus and deficiency? Surplus definitely means excess, so does deficiency mean 'insufficient'? In this case, I might understand..."

As he said this, he picked up the charcoal pencil hanging on the door frame and wrote on the door while reading:
"The excess number of the circumference is 3 zhang 1 chi 4 cun 1 fen 5 li 9 hao 2 sec 7 hu, while the deficiency number is 3 zhang 1 chi 4 cun 1 fen 5 li 9 hao 2 sec 6 hu. The positive number is between the excess and deficiency limits!"

As he wrote the last word, a colorful halo of light shone from the tightly closed wooden door. When the halo disappeared, the door creaked open.

"Xing'er, did you finally solve the problem?" An old voice came from inside.

Ren Yuan was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth. He blurted out uncontrollably: "Oh my god, there's actually a person inside."

"What are you talking about? If it's not a human, then it must be a ghost?" The old man retorted angrily, and suddenly asked curiously: "You are not Geng'er? How can you solve this problem?"

"It would be strange if you can't solve it, okay?" After saying this, Ren Yuan realized that he was in no condition to have a conversation. He changed his mind and returned to his body, returning to the top of the cabin.

"Hey, boy, come down!" The old man's voice came through the cabin. Before Ren Yuan could react, he was pulled into the cabin again.

But this time, his body came in as well.

The light in the cabin was dim, but it was not a problem for Ren Yuan at the moment. He saw an old man with white hair and beard, wrinkles all over his face, and a huge forehead, sitting in a messy pile of papers, looking at him with sharp eyes, just like an old ginseng spirit.

"Boy, what did you just say? It would be strange if you can't solve this problem?" The old man touched his sparse white hair and asked, "Does everyone out there know how to cut a circle?"

"No, at your age, even if you can, you don't have that much time to cut to this extent." He shook his head and said, "So someone must have told you, right?"

"You can say that." Ren Yuan nodded, and tentatively asked with a bow: "What's your surname, Zu?"

"Yes, I am Zu Chongzhi." The old man twirled his beard and nodded, looking like a master.

"It's true!" Ren Yuan was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth. He had imagined that there were treasures, masters, and even monsters in the cabin, but he didn't expect that there was a mathematician hiding in it.

"How do you know my identity?" The old mathematician asked nervously, "Is my son in danger and you are here for help?"

"That's not the case. I don't know you, Master," Ren Yuan explained hastily. "As for the value of pi, I said I learned it in a dream. Do you believe me?"

"Of course I believe it." The old mathematician's thinking was indeed different. He nodded and said, "Dreams can reach the past and the future. I believe that in a hundred years, my achievements will be well known to the world."

"That's it." Ren Yuan nodded hurriedly. He liked people with strong imagination ability, which could save him a lot of trouble.

"You are so lucky." Zu Chongzhi was extremely envious when he heard this. He grabbed his hand and asked impatiently, "Tell me, what other mathematical achievements did you know in your dream?"

After a pause, he said, "And most importantly, have you cut all the circles?!"

ps. It’s the fourth update, can’t you say it’s too little today, brothers? Also, I didn’t expect there was this old man on the boat, right? As the story unfolds, there are more surprises… Please vote for me, please read on, and I’ll surpass you on the last day!!

(End of this chapter)