Among Qin Mu's group, apart from himself as the Imperial Doctor, there was not a single Imperial Preceptor. Gu Linuan's reasoning was that Qin Mu held the higher rank of Imperial Doctor and should naturally lead a team of scholars on his own.
The scholars assigned to Qin Mu, though all selected as top-tier talents among their peers, were far inferior to those chosen by the Imperial Preceptor from the Prince's Academy.
The Imperial Academy was filled with formidable individuals, and there were many of exceptional ability. Gu Linuan's decision to have Qin Mu lead a team for field training was obviously a case of settling personal scores under the guise of official duty.
The scholars who followed Qin Mu to the front lines were all familiar faces: Shen Wanyun, the monk Yunque, Yue Qinghong who brought along a wolf slave, Si Yunxiang, and Qin Yu.
However, Qin Yu was a scion of the Qin family in the capital with deep connections. He sought out Gu Linuan, said a word, and was transferred out of Qin Mu's team into another led by an Imperial Preceptor, thus avoiding Qin Mu's certain-death squad.
Qin Mu finished refining a furnace of Red Fire Spirit Pills and stretched his waist. He had been refining pills these past few days to ensure the dragon qilin would have food once they reached the front lines, leaving him no time to meet with those scholars.
Yunque the monk found Shen Wanyun, Yue Qinghong, and the others, and proposed: "This time the Grand Libationer has assigned Dr. Qin to lead us on field training, and to a region of rebellion at that. It's likely a one-way trip with certain death. Our team doesn't even have a single Divine Skill cultivator!"
Shen Wanyun shook his head. "There is one."
Everyone looked at him. Shen Wanyun said calmly, "I've been suppressing my cultivation level these days. You can rest assured — I can break through at any time and become a Divine Skill cultivator at the Six Directions realm."
Yue Qinghong said, "I've heard these rebel sects have been gathering in the south, intending to completely drive out the State of Yankang's forces from the region. Many sect powers that were originally active near the capital have vanished without a trace. For instance, the Dragon Taming Gate has relocated to the south. Now, everything south of the Yong River is entirely rebel territory! The various rebel sects have congregated there — how many Divine Skill cultivators are there? A single cultivator like you is of no use whatsoever."
Shen Wanyun frowned. "Dr. Qin has far too little experience in the world. How old is he? How many times has he ventured beyond these walls? With him leading us, danger far outweighs safety. Even with my strongest cultivation, it would be of no help. Junior Sister Si, you've been silent the whole time — what do you think?"
Si Yunxiang smiled shyly and said nothing.
The group fell silent.
Yunque the monk sighed. "Let's at least go to the Heavenly Records Pavilion and pick up one or two escape techniques. They might come in handy."
The day of departure finally arrived. Before the Great Hall of the Imperial Academy, several hundred scholars gathered. Each Imperial Preceptor inspected their team, and then towered boats flew in one after another, landing before the hall. The Imperial Preceptors led their respective teams aboard.
"Dr. Qin, did you not charter a boat?"
Gu Linuan walked over with a smile. "The journey is quite far this time. If you walk, it will take over a dozen days. You're an Imperial Doctor — surely you're not so stingy as to grudge even this bit of expense?"
Qin Mu replied with composure: "I appreciate the Grand Libationer's concern. I'm so poor that all I have left is money, so I spent a hefty sum to charter a fast boat. It'll arrive shortly. The furnace on that boat was forged by me — it's quite fast."
Shen Wanyun and the others exchanged glances, thinking: "As expected of a miser — he even forges his own furnace. It's probably a tiny boat. But wait — he actually knows how to forge artifacts? He's never set foot in the Divine Craft Hall. Where did he learn forging?"
The Divine Craft Hall was located within the Imperial Academy, where artifact forging and treasure crafting were taught. The Imperial Preceptors of the Divine Craft Hall also held positions in the court — the shipyards and armaments foundries were all staffed by their people in key roles.
Since Qin Mu had entered the Imperial Academy, he had never once visited the Divine Craft Hall, so it was impossible for him to have learned the knowledge of forging.
Before long, the towered boats rose into the air and departed from the Imperial Academy. Yunque and the others grew anxious waiting. Suddenly, they spotted a ramshackle towered boat wobbling through the sky, swaying unsteadily as it landed before the Great Hall.
"Our boat has arrived!" Qin Mu said with a grin.
Shen Wanyun, Yunque, Yue Qinghong, and the others frowned deeply. The boat was riddled with holes, leaking air from every direction. Its mast had been sawed off, leaving not even a sail.
A burly, shirtless man appeared on deck — fierce of countenance and clearly no good fellow. His entire body was covered in tattoos. He waved at Qin Mu, laughing boisterously: "Brother Qin! You're late, you're late!"
Qin Mu led Hu Ling'er and the dragon qilin forward, laughing: "A day or two late is no problem. What happened to your boat? The last time I saw it, it was in fine shape. How did it fall apart in just a few days?"
"Don't mention it. I ran a job and ran into that slut from Three Wonders Fortress again. She set her insects on me, and I was going too fast — ran right into the swarm. Nearly turned my treasure boat into a sieve."
Fan Yunxiao glanced at Shen Wanyun and the others, chuckling: "Gentlemen, scholars, once you become officials in the future, please do give our humble establishment your patronage. We've gone straight and honest now."
Yunque murmured: "This boat is so dilapidated — won't it fall apart the moment it takes to the sky?"
Qin Mu shared the same concern. This Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship was far too wrecked, looking as though it could disintegrate at any moment.
"No, no, it won't!" Fan Yunxiao declared with confidence, thumping his chest. "My brothers reinforced the hull with runes long ago — solid as anything. Brother Qin, got time to help me build an iron hull ship? Forge me a few more furnaces. Use mystic iron for the hull — wood is just too fragile."
Qin Mu considered: "That would require a fortune. Mystic iron alone is a considerable expense. Can your organization afford that much? And do you have blueprints?"
Fan Yunxiao rubbed his hands vigorously: "These years, I've been out robbing — pfft, pfft, doing business everywhere and saved up quite a bit. My entire fortune combined should be enough to forge an iron hull ship. As for blueprints... those are harder to come by. Everyone, please board — we can discuss this once we're on the ship."
Everyone boarded the vessel. Yue Qinghong looked around. The crew members were all covered in tattoos, fierce and menacing. Some bore long saber scars, some were missing noses or eyes — reeking of menace, clearly no decent folk.
The wrecked boat slowly rose into the air, creeping outward from the capital like an old ox pulling a broken cart.
Seeing this, the group grew even more disheartened. Shen Wanyun whispered: "The people on this boat are no good — they're brigands of the highest caliber, most of them Divine Skill cultivators. Dr. Qin has too little worldly experience and has probably fallen into the bandits' trap. We must be careful on the road so they don't rob us..."
Before he could finish, the wrecked boat suddenly surged forward with a piercing shriek, tearing through the sky.
A violent jolt struck them as the boat surpassed the speed of sound, covering a li in the blink of an eye. Several wine barrels on deck were flung overboard, bursting apart in midair from the air pressure.
The group quickly steadied themselves, looking around in shock. The wrecked boat was swiftly overtaking the gleaming towered boats that had been flying for half a day, leaving them far behind.
The speed of this wrecked boat was unbelievable — at this rate, they could reach the Yong River in just a day or two!
Qin Mu had long grown used to it. After all, he had forged the furnace himself — nothing to be surprised about.
"It's fine, fine, won't fall apart," Fan Yunxiao reassured them. "I thought it would come apart too, but we've carried passengers several times now and it's held up. It'll probably hold this time as well."
Whoosh—
A plank was torn off by the gale, clattering away behind them.
Fan Yunxiao said with full confidence: "Relax, it won't come apart! Second Brother, go fetch a plank... fetch two — another one just blew off! Relax, relax, I've got experience."
Suddenly, the boat passed through a stretch of rain. It sliced through the downpour, and Fan Yunxiao's multicolored body was now streaked with running paint everywhere.
Hu Ling'er cried out: "Old Xiao, your tattoos are washing off in the rain!"
The other bandits on the Cloud-Chasing Pirate Ship also had their tattoos smearing. One crew member shouted: "Boss, my scar got washed off!"
Fan Yunxiao looked somewhat awkward: "After we dock, we'll find a painter to redo them. But now that we've gone straight, we probably don't need tattoos anymore. Second Brother, take off that eyepatch — see? You've scared the scholars."
The first mate removed his eyepatch, revealing a perfectly intact eye.
Yunque the monk murmured: "These bandit-types don't seem very reliable..."
But Qin Mu was quite familiar with the bandit chief. He produced a copy of the Grand Mystery Arithmetic Sutra and asked Fan Yunxiao for guidance. Hu Ling'er, meanwhile, found a cloth and wiped the dragon head on Fan Yunxiao's back — the dragon head immediately disappeared.
"Fox, cut it out." Fan Yunxiao waved her off.
Hu Ling'er pouted: "I thought it was a real tattoo. Turns out it was just painted on."
Fan Yunxiao laughed dryly, stammering: "That would hurt! Our bodies are gifts from our parents — how could we deface them at will?"
Qin Mu said: "Brother Fan, the units of tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands in this Grand Mystery Arithmetic Sutra are easy enough. But yi, zhao, jing, gai, zi, rang, gou, jian, zheng, zai, and ji — these numbers are absurdly large. What could they possibly be used to calculate? Who needs numbers that big?"
"I once asked the Dao Master about it. He said they're used for boundless calculations," Fan Yunxiao explained.
"Between wan and yi, it uses a ten-thousand base system — ten thousand tens-of-thousands make one yi. After yi, it switches to a yi base system — one yi yi makes one zhao, one yi zhao makes one jing, one yi jing makes one gai. Besides that, when divisions don't come out even, the units after whole numbers use fen, li, hao, si, hu, wei, xian, sha, chen, ai, miao, mo, mohu, qunxun, xuyu, shunxi, tanzhi, chana, liude, kongxu, and qingjing — each using a tenfold reduction. Fen is one-tenth, li is one-hundredth, and so on." ①
Qin Mu asked in astonishment: "What about kongxu and qingjing — what are those used to calculate?"
"They're used to calculate the smallest particles of primordial qi," Fan Yunxiao said. "The fourteenth chapter of the Dao Sword requires inscribing rune arrays upon the smallest qi particles. Without going through the calculations, it's impossible to master."
Qin Mu was shocked. He looked at the Grand Mystery Arithmetic Sutra and felt a headache coming on.
"When you forge various treasures, you also need to use these calculations. The slightest error leads to vast deviations."
Qin Mu agreed and praised: "The Dao Gate's mastery of mathematics is truly extraordinary."
He humbly sought instruction, and Fan Yunxiao shared everything he knew without reservation. Fan Yunxiao had already mastered the fifth chapter of the Dao Sword and possessed an extremely high level of mathematical skill.
Note ①: Zhao, jing, gai, zi, rang, gou, jian, zheng, zai, ji, fen, li, hao, si, hu, wei, xian, sha, etc., are all ancient Chinese units of numerical counting. Fen, li, and the like are used for computing numbers after the decimal point.