Exploring Immortality Cultivation

On the twenty-seventh, slaughter the kitchen chicken; on the twenty-eighth, prepare the dough; on the twenty-ninth, steam the buns…

Wang Qi counted the days on his fingers, but Chen Youjia just hadn't come back yet.

During these three days, Wang Qi kept himself busy with useless tasks. He built some bizarre conceptual models of Human Dao or frenziedly typed code, creating a bunch of Divine Plague Curse Techniques that even he found terrifying. He even turned his attention to the poor sap from the Du Family who had his engagement broken off, planning to lure him out of the Divine Capital and have him collect twenty-three different types of Holy Light across Shenzhou—fortunately, Zhen Chan dismissed the idea with the reason that "he would need at least six months of basic training". And considering he was a follower of the Circle of Reason rather than the Holy Light God, Wang Qi also gave up on this interesting plan.

The key was still Chen Youjia…

"She's in the Divine Capital, apart from Chen Feng here, she can only go see her brother. Her brother is the one who pulled her back home for New Year's, so it's impossible she won't return by the thirtieth." Finally, on December thirtieth, Wang Qi determinedly said, "If I still haven't seen her by New Year's Eve, I'll just admit it—I've been dumped!"

After making this decision, Wang Qi calmed down a little. However, the restlessness in his heart didn't subside.

"What to do next… Zhao Qingfeng is still leisurely reading the Immortal Dao Burning Book List, looking for the correct posture to refine the Circle Handicraft. Du Gui, on his part, is slowly promoting enlightenment thought among the Du Family's servants. But the ideology is somewhat elitist in nature, so it doesn't resonate well with the lower class people, and the feudal lords of the Divine Capital just despise it, with no apparent short-term results…"

Wang Qi ultimately sat down, invoked his computational power, and irritably constructed a Cellular Automata model.

Deduction project: a Cellular Automata model of human romantic behavior.

"Set each cell to either 'male' or 'female' attributes. Each cell must be different from the ones touching it. Each cell can be in states like 'single', 'first stage of a relationship' through 'third stage of a relationship', 'married'…"

Before Wang Qi, a pattern of red and blue appeared. The pattern flickered continually, and with each unit of time, each love affair underwent some kind of multivalued judgment, then changed. But this time, Wang Qi only glanced at it a few times before waving it off, canceling the calculation.

What is love?

The reason men and women develop fondness is due to mating impulses. That's the ** of reproduction, a program written at the genetic level, the instinct of all life. In uncivilized times, love didn't exist. When humans began productive activities, they accumulated more resources, gradually giving rise to surplus. Primitive private ownership was born. To better protect personal wealth, marriage came about. Human civilization continued to advance; in accordance with Negative Entropy, it became more complex. Marriage held stronger bonds, and vows became long-lasting. Spouse selection turned into a matter that could affect one's quality of life in the second half. An algorithm for selecting a spouse came into being.

This is love.

"Really… it was just one miscalculation, no need to be like this!" Wang Qi tried to move his body but didn't even know where to put his hands and feet anymore.

In the end, Wang Qi rarely let himself go, quietly awaiting New Year's Eve.

He was confident in the excellence of his mate-selection algorithm. For him, Chen Youjia might not be the optimal solution, but she was certainly a satisficing solution that was very close to optimal.

"Maybe it's just because I lost such a pretty solution that I'm feeling especially irked," Wang Qi thought helplessly.

The existing Mathematics might not be able to accurately describe such things. This, too, is another layer of the Human Dao.

As evening came, Chen Feng sent the bunch of lab assistants out to eat and celebrate the New Year. Wang Qi declined the dinner invitation, citing a lack of mood. When it was almost midnight, he went to the kitchen alone and cooked a bowl of plain noodles for himself.

"Even though I don't know where this custom comes from…" Wang Qi murmured to himself as he cooked the noodles, "Grandpa, your grandson is eating noodles alone on New Year's Eve again this year."

He carried the bowl of noodles back to his room alone, opened the window, and waited to hear the sound of firecrackers. Just then, a white rainbow fell in front of Wang Qi's window. Chen Youjia revealed herself, looking at Wang Qi.

Wang Qi held the bowl and stared blankly at Chen Youjia.

"Erm… Junior sister…"

His heart suddenly sped up a notch.

Chen Youjia raised her finger, pointing at the bowl in Wang Qi's hand, "Can you, add a pair of chopsticks?"

Suddenly, Wang Qi's heart found peace.

He was clear about the result he had deduced for himself.

"Sure."

Chen Youjia always carried bowls and chopsticks with her, more than just one set. In her Storage Bag, there were more than five bowls and over ten pairs of chopsticks, all of different materials.

Furthermore, she always had essentials such as pickled, soy-sauced, and fermented vegetables for eating out.

"Fuling Pickles, Chongxi Snow Red..." Chen Youjia seemed to want to bring everything out but looking at the bowl of noodles in Wang Qi's hands, she put them back, "That's enough, right..."

The two quickly finished off a bowl of vegetarian noodles. Chen Youjia tidied up the bowls and chopsticks simply, then looked up at Wang Qi, "Why eat noodles? New Year's Eve."

"Local custom, I guess," Wang Qi replied, "When I was a kid, it was just my grandfather and I eating a bowl together, it started when I was very young..."

Sometime during the conversation, a flush crept across Chen Youjia's face. She looked down, her voice very soft, "Does this count as 'sharing at least part of one's personal life'?"

Sincere joy seeped into every cell of Wang Qi. He gently wrapped his arms around Chen Youjia, "Of course it counts."

Chen Youjia's body shuddered slightly, then she let him hold her. In a low voice, she said, "You really like your family... I'm very different from you."

"If my grandpa had been like your dad, I wouldn't have liked him either," Wang Qi cursed the elites of the Modern Immortal Path with contempt, "In this regard, ordinary people are more likable—I'm pretty ordinary myself."

"I'm very special..."

"Worth collecting, an investment that doesn't depreciate."

"I'm not quite like you..."

"I'm stronger than you, so I'll definitely teach you."

"I..." Chen Youjia buried her head in Wang Qi's shoulder, "I acknowledge our... special relationship that conforms to conventional rules... Is that clear enough?"

She really wasn't good with words.

Wang Qi picked up Chen Youjia. She was light. He twirled in place, laughing, "Is this what 'officially together' is?"

"It was your definition..."

Wang Qi couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. Chen Youjia felt embarrassed by his laughter, but she continued anyway, "I didn't have many friends before... Chen Feng was one, and the others were all in the Wanfa Sect. My brother left just a couple of hours ago..."

"I see."

Chen Youjia patted his back, "Your turn to share..."

"We have all the time in the world, I don't know whether we'll be together for hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of years, but I'm sure that'll be enough time for me to tell plenty of stories."

"That's not fair..."

"Let's think of something else! What was it I said a few days ago? Oh, to develop similar aspirations for the future, in layman's terms, is probably to chat about what we're going to do now, and what we can become later..."

Chen Youjia chimed in, "What shall we go eat together tomorrow?"

"How about we walk around town and just eat whatever we feel like? Anyway—Jarvis! Cancel all arrangements and plans for tomorrow!"

"Yes, sir. Also, congratulations, sir."

Jarvis, with a knack for understanding the situation, added an illusion of the Tianhe in Wang Qi's room, complete with countless magpies fluttering about.

Good job, AI modeled after me!

"Then, actually... I really want to imagine with you too," Chen Youjia leaned in closer, "what our days will be like after we're officially together... and..."

The rest of the words, including when to formally meet the parents, when to officially become a Daoist couple, whether to have children or not... These were things Chen Youjia would never be able to say.

A streak of fire shot up into the sky—it was a firecracker.

Chen Youjun was dodging endlessly amidst the fireworks in the sky. His Spiritual Sense skillfully passed through the Array set up by Chen Feng, and his vision even passed through Wang Qi's window. While keeping an eye on the embracing couple inside the room, he held onto his calculator, shouting, "Mom! Really, I can't come back until tomorrow... I'll definitely make it back for the first day of the new year... No no, it's all because I booked the wrong shipping line, this shipping line is closed on New Year's Eve... Jia'er? Jia'er is uh, looking really well. It's okay, don't worry, could I possibly get it wrong?"

After hanging up the communication, Chen Youjun looked down, a bitter smile appearing at the corners of his mouth, "For a big brother, a 'brother-in-law' is always the rascal who steals one's sister... But, there was no over-the-line behavior. Rascal, you're lucky."

Inside the house, a certain rascal from an otherworldly realm was welcoming the most joyous New Year's Eve of his eighteen years since transmigration. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)