I'm in the Teyvat running group

So he'll probably save all those questions and answers... I guess.

“No need to worry, there is no distinction between noble and lowly in the answer itself, nor in wishes.” Huang Ming rubbed his big hands and laughed. “Moreover, we judge by actions, not intentions. Even if there are some less than honorable thoughts, if one can adhere to the bottom line throughout one’s life, there will naturally be no major problems.”

As he asked questions, he handed out various tokens to his disciples. Occasionally, one or two disciples whose intentions were found to be extremely impure would be sealed off and handed over to the corresponding immortals for personal handling. This could almost be described as a super lie detector.

Of course, there aren't many. Out of so many disciples, there are only three. How to deal with them afterwards is up to their respective masters.

Soon, all the information from the questions was gathered and handed over to Gui Zhong. This usually dignified immortal lay sprawled on the grass, a pot of wine beside him, looking utterly dejected: "What? Why is it that only one of my disciples made it into the top twenty? Yun Xiu is so lazy, how come there are so many things related to him?"

“Big sister, Yunxiu’s teaching skills are indeed a bit better than yours…” Lishui said cautiously, “Although he himself is not very diligent, he does create the most suitable teaching plan for his disciples and find the most suitable teacher… You are sometimes a bit too diligent.”

"The gap between the disciples isn't that big. Even if Zhilin, who's in first place, is compared to the last few, the difference in scores isn't that significant." Xianyun said with a smile, holding the list. "Shuyu and Yuandai's rankings are quite good. Although they didn't make it into the top twenty, I'll prepare two divine artifacts for them when we return to the mountain. Anyway, all those artifacts in the treasury are just gathering dust."

"Old Zhong, Tuotuo Long, I don't care, several of my disciples are almost the same, you two make up for this artifact." Gui Zhong said through gritted teeth, looking at the list, "Next time we'll definitely avenge this humiliation!"

Zhongli smiled helplessly, but still took out a key from his body and said, "In that case, let's expand the ranking of those who will receive the divine artifact to the top fifty. Just take it from my storage room. Xiaoyue will take you there."

He then stood up, glanced at Yunxiu, waved, and walked towards the edge of this demiplane.

The disciples cheered and followed Xiaoyue to retrieve the divine artifact. As for the custom-made weapons and divine artifacts, Ruotuo and Xiaoyue would have to work together to forge them later. The title of Zhilin, who ranked first, also needed to be discussed and the opinions of others had to be taken into account. After all, although there was no standard rule for the titles among immortals, there were still some principles, so it was impossible to do it in a short time.

Yunxiu naturally knew that the Emperor was looking for him, so he followed him quickly. When they arrived at a pavilion at the edge of the demiplane, Zibai was already waiting there.

“You two, father and son, are really living a relaxed life. These disciples are also very fortunate.” Zi Bai looked at Zhong Li and Yun Xiu with some speechlessness, and then took out a jade artifact and handed it to Yun Xiu, saying, “This is the key that can theoretically open Koitar’s hiding place when the moon’s power is weak… Of course, this was developed by our angels, and it may not be successful, but this should be the only chance.”

"Thank you..." Yunxiu quickly sealed the key and put it into her storage bag.

"We are mainly preparing for the next war." Zhongli stood in the pavilion with his hands behind his back, looking at the chaotic light at the boundary of the demiplane and said with a smile, "The next battle will definitely be more than ten times larger than the flood discharge war. If we have the strength now, it is still a bit insufficient. Even with another ten years, we can only say that we are barely able to win. We must prepare for the worst."

"Since your son was able to win a flood control battle comparable to the war five hundred years ago in just two years, what are you afraid of?" Zi Bai took out a pair of exquisite nail clippers and began to trim her nails. She looked at Zhong Li and complained, "Back when I didn't even know how you obtained the power of the Heavenly Star, you were already sparring with me with the power of the Three Corpses and the Heavenly Star. Are you still afraid of the two of you together?"

"Moreover, the power of the celestial stars is the key to reversing the acquired to the innate. Now that you have obtained it, your rank is no worse than those four shadows, and perhaps not much lower than that one, right?"

Reverse your innate constitution with the help of the acquired!

Yunxiu was shocked; this was a terrifying ability!

Why are Lei Yingdian and Lei Dian so powerful? One of the main reasons is that they are truly "innate" beings. As mentioned repeatedly before, the two sisters are the first lightning and shadow in the world, and their innate qualities are invincible. Yunxiu originally guessed that Zhongli was a celestial being, so that wouldn't be bad either. But later he said that he was a human who became a god.

Humans reaching godhood can be considered the limit of acquired abilities. Reversing back to the innate state is extremely difficult. Even Yunxiu himself is pondering this. After the third corpse is severed, perhaps the three corpses can be combined to reverse the process. He has recently begun to familiarize himself with and improve the methods in this regard.

"Your Majesty, do you really have such a method?" Yunxiu asked curiously, "Could you teach me? I'd like to try it myself..."

“I’ve already taught you. The final step in severing the three corpses is merging them into one, then transforming into the three corpses—the so-called ‘One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones.’” Zhongli smiled, a hint of helplessness in his voice. “This doesn’t have much to do with the power of the Heavenly Stars. The power of the Heavenly Stars mainly accelerated the process and made things easier for me. As for how I establish a connection with the Heavenly Stars… the answer is a ‘carving knife.’”

"What is a carving knife?"

"The carving knife is a treasure bestowed by a great deity, the progenitor of March, and the goddess of the white night, Serene." Yunxiu suddenly realized which moment it was, that moment seven thousand years ago, when the Emperor personally asked him for a carving knife, the one called "Rock"!

“Indeed, an old friend told me that there would be an opportunity at that moment, and when that opportunity arrives, I will know that my future child will give me a key item.” Zhongli smiled at Zibai, gently taking out a carving knife that had run out of energy and placing it in front of Zibai, saying, “Sure enough, when I arrived at that key location, I sensed my strong aura from a peculiar ‘door.’ That must be my child. So, after I spoke, I received this carving knife.”

"I used it to connect with the power of the Celestial Stars, and then combined the power of the Celestial Stars with the lower corpse, making him 'Rock Lord Celestial Star,' one of my three corpse incarnations."

Yunxiu nodded. As for who this old friend was, he was most likely his second corpse, the one who descended in all timelines. The carving knife he gave Zhongli was a gift after he collected all nine coins and opened the passage in the Abyss Palace.

As for the strong aura, since he carried a lot of the Emperor's treasures and karma, it would be strange if it weren't strong. It's just that the Emperor probably didn't expect that the two of them were actually not related by blood.

So now, the most important thing for me is to sever the third corpse, then merge the three corpses together and then separate them again. This is the key to my future cultivation...

Chapter 479 The Puppet's Clever Way of Obtaining Fate

"Returning to the innate state after birth has nothing to do with transcendence, nor with strength," Zhongli said with a smile, looking at Yunxiu. "It's merely an improvement to one's 'innate constitution' itself, but it can lead to longevity and perfection. I only realized this after completing the Three Corpses Severing Method. This is also why, among the various transcendent methods, the Three Corpses Severing Method is the most difficult."

I see……

The method of severing the three corpses is extremely difficult, but precisely because of its difficulty, it has two advantages. First, one can achieve immortality by severing the first corpse, which is fundamentally different from other methods. Most methods require one to cultivate to the point of near-bottom before achieving immortality, but even if you are a Primordial God, if you are exceptionally talented enough to sever the first corpse, you can still achieve immortality.

Secondly, severing the three corpses can indeed create three incarnations. Immortals usually cultivate a Dharma body, using it as a vessel to travel among humans. Of course, most immortals choose Dharma bodies like deer or cranes, not because everyone likes them, but simply because immortals generally choose them, so the development of Dharma bodies is relatively complete. Occasionally, some choose other Dharma bodies, but not many.

This explains why there seem to be more deer and crane immortals among the immortals. In reality, they are not true deer or crane immortals. Among the immortals, there is only one true immortal beast, Xianyun, who is a real crane who has cultivated to this day.

Even if the other celestial beasts were not cultivated from humans, most of them were divine beasts, such as Yan Fei's father, Gan Yu's mother, and Yi Xiao Dao Tian. Yan Fei's mother, Fairy Fei Yun, was also human. She and Yan Fei's father often traveled around and had considerable strength. She also came to this welcoming ceremony for immortals, but Yun Xiu had not seen her many times. She only returned when her two grandsons were born and on their birthdays.

However, both of Yan Fei's children inherited her genes, with small horns behind their ears. Yunxiu also tested their bloodline, and the concentration of Xie Zhi (a mythical creature) was not low. If they were to cultivate immortality in the future, they would most likely choose Xie Zhi as their Dharma body.

This made Yanfei's father very happy, but he still dutifully handed over the task of naming her to the Emperor.

Zi Bai wasn't very interested in the celebrations that followed the immortals. Even during the Demon God War, she mostly stayed away from the immortal community. There weren't many records about her even among the "Eight Wonders." So she left quickly and returned to the Imperial Academy to teach. She is now the dean of the Mathematics Department at the Imperial Academy. Zi Bai really enjoys this kind of life and occasionally publishes one or two papers in the Imperial Academy Gazette.

According to Yun Pingsi, Zibai's mathematical and physical abilities are among the top three in Teyvat, and should be comparable to Rene's, although they study different directions.

Yunxiu's mathematical and logical abilities are only so-so, especially compared to other strong individuals at the same level. Most mages who reach the legendary level are mathematical geniuses, but their areas of expertise vary widely. Everyone has a different research direction, but they don't solve problems purely by relying on mathematics and logic. They also need to understand the laws of correlation and various spells themselves. Therefore, they are not purely mathematical and logical experts.

However, most mages who reach this stage usually cultivate good relationships with these mathematically gifted individuals, otherwise problems can easily arise in their research.

Yunxiu herself had a pretty good relationship with Rene. Yunpingsi's mathematical knowledge was basically taught by Rene. Zibai's research was closer to the fields of time and prime numbers, which was something Yunxiu wasn't very good at or even couldn't understand. Rene, on the other hand, was quite familiar with this ancient angel and they often exchanged ideas on mathematical issues...

Rene is proficient in almost every area of ​​mathematics, which is the fundamental reason why he and Alan were able to jointly launch "World Style". However, Rene is also one of the most troublesome professors at the Academy, because his temper is not good and his classes are extremely difficult. He often breaks down some top-level problems and assigns them to students as homework.

However, one advantage of Master René is that he almost never takes attendance. As long as a student does his homework in a decent way, he will give him a high score. Therefore, most students of the Imperial Academy have a distorted feeling when facing Master René's class.

Soon, a group of immortals and their disciples returned from the Emperor's treasury. Everyone happily took the divine artifacts that had been distributed. Except for the top few who needed to order their own artifacts and weapons, almost everyone in the top few dozen received one. Several others who were not in the top fifty also received one, as did the little girl Shuyu, whose artifacts were probably given to her by Xianyun.

But Yunxiu saw a mischievous figure with pigtails running towards her and the Emperor, carrying a peculiar artifact...

Wait a minute... I think Hu Tao should be ranked outside the top sixty. Although she did well in the Path of the Dao and the Questioning of the Heart, her combat strength is indeed lacking. What the hell is this?

"Guest Elder, Guest Elder, can I play with this treasure for a bit?" Hu Tao held up a radish-shaped artifact and looked at Zhong Li with a grin, saying, "I think this thing is really fun. It's gathered a lot of dust. Let me play with it for a while and then I'll return it to you!"

“If you’re interested, please feel free to take it.” Zhongli glanced at it with slight surprise, then smiled and patted Hu Tao’s head: “It’s alright if you don’t return it, just take good care of it.”

"Great! Xiuxiu and Xiangling will come and play with me later!" Hu Tao skipped away with her radish artifact, as if afraid that Zhongli would regret it, and instantly ran to Xiangling and the others.

"What is this thing?" Yunxiu looked at Hu Tao speechlessly. Although she was already thirty years old and a mother of a seven-year-old, she was still as energetic as Yunxiu had seen when she was three or four years old...

“It was one of the little gadgets that Gui Zhong made back then. It had almost no combat ability. After she perished, I kept it in my collection. I didn’t expect her to find it today.” Zhong Li looked at the departing Hu Tao and laughed, “It’s not a treasure. Its only function is probably to be able to run around like a puppet. But it is indeed a divine artifact.”

I never expected Gui Zhong to come up with something so amazing. I just glanced at it and it added seven or eight points to its attributes. Although it's arguably the worst legendary equipment, even less useful than a standard artifact, which at least has some decent special effects...

Zhongli probably kept it only to remember Guizhong, but now that Guizhong has come back to life, it's no longer of any use to him.

As for why Hu Tao would do such a thing, it can only be said that the two men who know her best are not surprised at all. Rather, it's as if Hu Tao would be doing herself a disservice if she didn't touch something in such a treasure trove. Moreover, the hairy stuff is quite unique. After all, Zhongli's treasure trove is full of magical artifacts and treasures, and she picked out the most useless but most interesting-looking one...

Yunxiu said goodbye to Zhongli and quickly left with her group, leaving only Zhilin behind. She came in first place this time and will receive a custom-made weapon. Among her disciples, besides Zhilin, Qiming came in fourth, Valesha seventh, Zhiqiong twelfth, Talia thirteenth, and Qiliangliang, that big cat, even made it into the forties. Yunpingyan is still too young and his talent is only so-so, so he didn't achieve any great results.

Although Yun Pingsi came in second place, but...

Yun Pingsi is not Yun Xiu's disciple. Strictly speaking, he is the disciple of René and Abedo. In terms of immortal magic, it was Granny Ping who guided him. Yun Xiu herself had almost nothing to teach this son.

After returning home with his disciples, children, and wives, he had a rare treat at Liuli Pavilion, where he booked a private room for a meal before heading back to the backyard of Wanmin Hall to rest. Before going to bed, he played with the radish figurine with Hu Tao for a while. This little radish figurine was practically useless except for being able to jump around and say a few words. However, Yunxiu was surprised to discover that this thing actually had a set of parts, the other parts being a pumpkin, cabbage, tomato, and corn...

"I wonder why Gui Zhong practiced these things back then."

"Master said that the Immortal Guizhong made this for the Immortal Cibai back then." Xiangling said with a smile while teasing the radish, "The Immortal Cibai likes to grow vegetables, so the Immortal Guizhong made these as bait to 'capture' her. Later, it seems that the capture failed, but many of these artifacts were damaged for various reasons, and now only this one is left."

"That's not surprising... Never mind, I should just go to sleep. I have to go to the Imperial Academy with Ping Si tomorrow." Yunxiu scratched her head.

"Why are you going to the Imperial Academy?"

“I suddenly thought of a question, and perhaps René has the answer.” Yunxiu thought for a moment and said, “It’s not that René might have the answer, but if there is an answer, I might have no choice but to ask him.”

“Then bring a box of pastries over tomorrow.” Xiangling nodded: “Master René really likes lotus pastries, and he wants a special flavor with sea dew flowers added. I’ll make two boxes tomorrow morning for you to take over.”

"Okay." Yunxiu smiled and agreed. This was also a habit of Xiangling's, and it was the most common gift the family gave away. This led many people to believe that Yunxiu's family really liked pastries, so they often gave some special pastries as return gifts. Yunxiu initially wanted to explain that it was a misunderstanding, but he quickly gave up. After all, his family was not short of money, and eating some pastries was not a bad thing. He smiled and said, "I don't know why Master René has such a peculiar taste, that he would like the flavor of sea dew flower."

"Oh, that's nothing. Last time Vilet came, he wanted to try that peculiar flavor of the Fish-Singing Party." Xiangling tossed her hair before laughing and saying, "Lord Vilet even eats mashed potatoes and fries with chutney. I still don't quite understand that kind of taste. Are all Dragon Kings like that?"

"That's not true. Look at Tuozi's food appreciation skills, they're quite high..."

"And what about Lord Natvalin?"

"Tvalin has a good alcohol tolerance..."

-----------------

When Yunxiu woke up the next morning, Xiangling had already prepared two portions of lotus pastries and packed them in boxes. She had already gone to work at Wanmintang. Yunxiu got up, washed up, picked up the two boxes of pastries, and went to Taixueyuan with Yunpingsi, who had already prepared them. Yunpingsong didn't need to go for the next few days. He and Valesa had been taken away by Yixiaodaotian for special training, which was something Lao Ma had talked about before.

Following Yun Pingsi, I arrived at Rene's office. The scholar had clearly just arrived as well, wearing a Liyue mage's robe. He smiled as he looked at Yun Xiu and said, "Pingsi told me yesterday that you were coming today. Based on your habits, I guessed I would have a good meal today, and sure enough, I was right."

"Xiangling just made this this morning, let's eat it together with Xita."

Yunxiu handed two boxes of pastries to Rene. He quickly opened the boxes and ate two pieces himself before saying with satisfaction, "Chef Xiangling truly lives up to her reputation as the best cook in Teyvat. I've only tasted this kind of deliciousness here in the last five hundred years."

“You and Xita can go to Wanmintang a few more times, it’s not a big deal.” Yunxiu smiled as she watched René eat the lotus pastry, then organized her thoughts before asking, “The reason I came to see you this time is actually because of a question that has been bothering me for a long time, but I only recently realized it.”

"What is it?" René looked at Yunxiu's expression and suddenly seemed to understand something. He said, "You don't mean to ask me about Alan and Sandone, do you? Knowing your academic background, you wouldn't be asking me if I'm interested in what you're currently researching with Professor Zibai, would you?"

"While I'm not really interested, what have you and Professor Zibai been researching lately?"

"The conjecture that the real part of the nontrivial zeros of complex variables, positive integer powers, and analytic extension functions is always half of the original value... Are you interested? We can start by explaining the definition of nontrivial zeros..."

"Stop, stop, I shouldn't have asked that question..." Yunxiu glanced helplessly at René before speaking, "The question I wanted to ask is, if I'm not mistaken, Sandone's appearance was actually a product created by Alan to circumvent 'fate,' right? If that's the case, haven't you also tried to 'sever the three corpses' but failed because you couldn't find the right method, and thus tried to 'imitate' it but were unsuccessful?"

“So that’s what you wanted to ask… That’s a more complicated question.” René’s eyes deepened. After repackaging the food box, he looked at Yunxiu seriously and said, “If you’re talking about the method of ‘severing the three corpses,’ we do know about it. But Sandone’s birth wasn’t entirely due to that. In fact, Sandone’s appearance was actually one of the earliest verifications that Alan and I had, and that was…”

"Is the fate of Teyvat truly indestructible?"

Chapter 480 Mathematics explains the truth about the universe

"Is the fate of Teyvat truly indestructible?"

“That’s right, the logic behind this is actually like this.” Rene pulled out a piece of paper from the side and quickly drew two lines on it: “Alan and I realized the problem with the fate of Teyvat itself, which is that the fate of each person and even each world can be said to be fixed. So, are there any flaws? Is fate really locked in?”

"But... what does this have to do with Sandorne?"

“Of course it’s related, and that’s the most important part of the proof.” René smiled and looked at Yunxiu, saying, “Because there’s a crucial point here: did that one see the anchor of fate, or did one weave fate? And is our world system the truth of this world, or just a tool for interpreting this world?”

"So you created Sandone mainly to detect the trajectory of fate through the puppet?" Yunxiu somewhat understood the principle behind René's approach, but he quickly realized something was wrong: "If that's the case, wouldn't the problem be that observing Sandone's fate itself would become part of the verification?"

“That’s right. If Sandone’s fate is unobservable, then it means that artificial souls and dolls really won’t enter Teyvat’s fate system. This means that within that system, he can control fate, or rather, fate is indeed a completely woven product.” Rene looked at Yunxiu, drew a circle under his pen, wrote the character “Sang”, and then continued, “If Sandone’s soul and fate are observable and he can normally obtain power, then it means that Teyvat’s fate is not woven, but merely a product anchored by a certain entity. Fate is a grand rule in the universe.”

"So the final conclusion is... that Sandonne's fate and soul are observable."

“That’s right, Teyvat’s fate isn’t determined by any one being, but rather it’s anchored to a key destiny within the universe.” Rene smiled and drew an even larger circle outside the original one, then continued, “So, the ‘World-Style’ is correct; it is indeed a manifestation of the Existence Factor itself. Of course, the World-Style only solves the problem of existence, not the problems of time and space. If we understand time, space, and existence itself, then it might be possible to unlock the ultimate secret of the World.”

“I have some clues about space, but as far as I know, time in Teyvat doesn’t exist.” Yunxiu drew a series of broken marks outside the two circles, and then said, “Or rather, time itself is a strange thing. Although I don’t know if this universe is like that, I think time itself should be similar in the universe, or at least similar within our understanding.”

“This is the significance of our research into new mathematical theories…” René hesitated for a long time, then looked at Yunxiu as if he had made up his mind and said, “Do you want to hear something more formal and detailed, or just something simple?”

"Let's go into detail. I think this needs to be a bit more rigorous."

"Okay, it's the research direction I mentioned before, studying the law that perfectly matches the statistical distribution of the eigenvalue spacing of a random complex self-adjoint matrix..."

"I've decided to listen to the simpler one..." Yunxiu sighed helplessly, then said weakly, "Don't tell me I'm not in this field. Even if I were, not many people could understand this, right?"