Master of Science and Technology - Chapter 78
Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse
“What, am I wrong? I did some research. The Sect most invested in mechanical techniques is Qian Ji Sect. They have been established for only around four to five thousand years. But this Cultivator Bai Ji has been researching for more than a thousand years earlier than them. If he isn’t the founder of the mechanics, then he must have at least been a part of the origin.” Hearing the slight mockery in Grandmaster Xuan Yuan’s voice, Ye Zan rebutted him.
Hearing this, Grandmaster Xuan Yuan laughed again, looking over to Ye Zan and proudly saying: “Even this Realm has a history of almost a hundred thousand years; the fruit of the last volume of history. Mechanics have existed for a long time. It is just that the tradition has been lost in these couple of ten thousand years. This Cultivator Bai Ji is just a parasite of the wisdom of the predecessors.”
After Grandmaster Xuan Yuan’s speech, Ye Zan immediately understood that he had made a perceptive mistake. In the technological world, the time humans had formed history, the time from the birth of civilization, only spun for around a couple thousand years. Because of this, he saw a couple of thousand years as a long period of history. But, this amount was just a piece compared to the time in this world.
In actuality, humanity didn’t even have a long history in the technological world. From research, it had been discovered that the universe had been formed for hundreds of millennia before human civilization had been established. In consideration of this vast timeline, humanity was probably not even a corner or piece.
As humanity roamed out of Earth and populated space, they found some records of life from other species, often with a history longer than that of humans. However, most had been exterminated before they could leave their respective planets or had gone extinct after claiming rule over their systems.
There was even an intellectual species named “Insectual Bloodline” that held records of existence in thousands of solar systems. Fortunately for humans, they had been exterminated. Moreover, after research, humanity had discovered that, interestingly, the disease that had wiped out the “Insectual Bloodline” was one that could be easily killed by humans.
And all these were just races of past life from the minuscule movement of humanity within space. And how vast was the universe? No one could be sure that there wouldn’t be more intellectually competent species in the greater space.
“Alright, your history is vast and long… I’m just an uneducated dirtbag from the countryside.” Ye Zan was a little muffled when he couldn’t compare with Grandmaster Xuan Yuan’s history, arguing: “Even if it’s like what you said, the study of mechanics has still been lost. No matter if Cultivator Bai Ji is plagiarizing or creating original work, at least he has let this field come back into the light of day. Calling him a founder isn’t unreasonable.”
“Hey, are you close to him?” Grandmaster Xuan Yuan was too lazy to argue with Ye Zan. After all, Ye Zan had AI assistance embedded in his brain.
“Uh, fine, Tell me, what is so complicated about this Closed Realm.” Ye Zan had just wanted to argue with Grandmaster Xuan Yuan. Seeing that he had the upper hand now, he knew it was best to stop.
“I’ve actually crossed paths with the master of this Closed Realm. He is a loose cultivator of the Southern Tuoluo Island; titled Cultivator Dou Yuan.”Grandmaster Xuan Yuan said softly.
“Dou Yuan?” Ye Zan stroked his chin, muttering under his breath before suddenly saying: “Is this person your enemy?”
Ye Zan hadn’t understood what “Dou Yuan” meant. But, hearing the “conflict” Grandmaster Xuan Yuan spoke to him about, and thinking back to the Yuan in Grandmaster Xuan Yuan’s title, he suddenly got it. (Dou Yuan means “Fighting with Yuan”.)
“No, not enemies; just childhood adversaries.” Grandmaster Xuan Yuan’s voice seemed a little low as if he were reminiscing the past.
Hearing this, Ye Zan was interested. Although it was just a single statement, the information within it was astounding. How was this a conflict? This was clearly an enemy to lover storyline. Who knew how many stories there would be?
However, Grandmaster Xuan Yuan didn’t satisfy Ye Zan’s interest. He didn’t elaborate, simply saying: “That year, I entered the Yu Qing Sect while he left with a loose cultivator to a place far from home. When we met again, a hundred years had already passed. It was the time of Yu Qing’s Thousand Cultivator Event. I walked on stage and was given the title of “Xuan Yuan” by my master before the crowd. Looking from the stage, I saw him in the corner. However, when I went to find him, he had already left.”
The definition of loose cultivator was just being without a Sect or Party. Naturally, they would also accept students. But this was just for the betterment of their own cultivation. Students were used for cleaning and chores. They were called students, but in reality, they were treated like servants. A sort of “I’ll give you something good, and you’ll go do the work for me. If I’m satisfied, I’ll give you another reward,” type scenario.
Of course, this didn’t encompass everyone. There were some loose cultivators that were dedicated to passing their study and treated their students like real students. However, their numbers were measly among the majority of loose cultivators.
Ten thousand years ago, Yu Qing had been the head of the Righteous Sects, not the poor, rundown, third-class Sect it was now. Because of this, Cultivator Dou Yuan had lost to Grandmaster Xuan Yuan, solely from the matter of education.
“He probably thought you were going to take revenge on him and ran while he could.” Ye Zan muttered at the side.
“Later, when I traveled to the Southern Sea, I was invited to a Grand Event. There was a loose cultivator who asked me to give a title to one of their students. He stood before me and told me that he had a title, Dou Yuan. He was slapped by his master on the spot.” Speaking of this, Grandmaster Xuan Yuan couldn’t help but crack a smile.
However, Ye Zan bit his lip and said: “You can still laugh at this? This is clearly the tragedy of a desolate fellow who never stopped trying to reach his target but would only watch it walk further and further away; coming every so often to gloat before him, and himself being unable to avoid this.”
“Hm, later he told me this as well, However, at that time, I was trapped by ten Demonic Lords, and was too late to save him.” Saying this, Grandmaster Xuan Yuan reached out a hand and patted the Key, as if it were Cultivator Dou Yuan; his touch full of remembrance, longing, and apology.
Ye Zan couldn’t joke anymore. He felt his heart was a little heavy. Cultivator Dou Yuan was a loose cultivator of the Southern Sea. How would he die for Yu Qing while Xuan Yuan was battling the ten Demonic Lords? He named himself Dou Yuan and spent his entire life chasing, never to reach his goal. They seemed like adversaries, but, when needed most, he was willing to give his life to help.
“I think that, even when he died, he was happy. Because he was able to help you.” Ye Zan felt uncomfortable with the energy in the room they had created, trying to move on and lighten the mood.
“I’m old,” Grandmaster Xuan Yuan let out a self-deprecating comment, coming out of his misery. His tone reverted to its normal one as he said:” Let’s just talk about this Closed Realm. This Closed Realm was tempered by Dou Yuan himself. But the one you explored was just one of them.”
“Just one of them! How many Closed Realms did he make?” Ye Zan exclaimed. Although he could tell that Cultivator Dou Yuan’s cultivation was definitely not low from Grandmaster Xuan Yuan’s speech, he couldn’t help but wonder how a loose cultivator could be so rich as to own multiple Closed Realms.
“Just one Closed Realm,” Grandmaster Xuan Yuan stretched out a finger and drew a circle in the air. However, he followed: “But a Closed Realm can be split or recombined.”
Shouldn’t you already have known how long humans existed based on their dna?!