Just as Wei Yuan was thoroughly immersed in the world of curved surfaces, unable to tear himself away, the war horns suddenly blared outside once more. He immediately rose, donned his armor, grabbed his spear, and left the room.
From the courtyards in this sector marched out large ranks of heavily armored Power Shamans, joining Wei Yuan as they headed for the defensive perimeter. Yet through the air still echoed the rhythmic rises and falls of the Desolate Roar. Even though battle had begun, without orders from Ronglong, the Power Shamans refining steel had to hold their ground. They had no need to take the battlefield; refining desolate steel was a battlefield of its own.
The Flame Storm was still raging, and the flame demons had regained their vitality after a period of rest. This time, however, the Power Shamans were far better prepared. Not only had Jiumu transferred large garrisons from rear fortresses and Jitian City, but he had also made a special trip back to the Native Realm to gather substantial reinforcements.
Now, counting the temporary reinforcements, Fengmang Fortress boasted five thousand Power Shamans and more than a dozen Desolate Shamans. Besides Jiumu, Heavenly Shaman Yanmo had also arrived in the Desolate Realm to hold Jitian City in his stead. Of the three thousand Power Shamans originally garrisoned at Fengmang Fortress, two thousand were now fully armored. Moreover, a band of steel plating had been bolted along the fortress ramparts, bristling with sharp, foot-long reverse barbs.
Consequently, the flame demons' assault had little effect—at least at Fengmang Fortress. Fewer than a hundred Power Shamans were killed in action, and only a single Desolate Shaman fell. In the midst of a Flame Storm, this could already be considered a rare and resounding victory.
During the days of continuous fighting, Wei Yuan behaved somewhat strangely. His movements were noticeably sluggish and mechanical, and for the most part, he only launched passive counterattacks. Though his counters remained lethal, they lacked the earth-shattering brilliance of the previous battle.
The surviving Power Shamans from Fengmang's original garrison sensed that something was off, but none of them spoke a word. The newly arrived Power Shamans, on the other hand, assumed this was simply Wei Yuan's normal skill level. For someone of Wei Yuan's diminutive size, his combat prowess had already far exceeded common sense, which still earned him scattered trickles of karmic luck.
Once the battle concluded, Jiumu personally came by to conduct an inspection before departing with the relief forces. From beginning to end, Yanmo, who had come to oversee the Desolate Realm, never set foot in Fengmang.
After the great battle, Wei Yuan returned to his small room and resumed his struggle with curved surfaces. He had calculated the curvature of this single piece of shoulder armor more than a dozen times, yet the correct answer continually eluded him.
Ronglong appeared beside Wei Yuan again. After observing for a while, he asked, "What are you calculating?"
Wei Yuan said, "If a flame demon's jet of fire hits this piece of armor, I want to know how the flames will diverge, how the heat will transfer through the plate, and how the corrosive nature of the demon's natal demonic power will spread. Only by figuring out these factors can the design be perfected."
Although Ronglong was unfamiliar with mathematics, he had fought flame demons countless times. With a wave of his hand, he conjured a projection. In the image, a flame demon unleashed a fiery jet capable of melting metal and vaporizing stone against a piece of armor plate. Immediately, flames scattered in all directions. The plate quickly turned red-hot, while its center blackened as though corroded away.
"Is it like this?"
"Exactly." Wei Yuan's eyes lit up as he studied the projection intently. This scene was a capture from an actual battlefield, a fragment of Ronglong's memories. Wei Yuan could use it just as though he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
After careful observation, Wei Yuan confirmed that Ronglong's memory projection contained data far beyond what he could perceive himself. The gulf between their strengths was vast, and Ronglong's divine sense could see far more than Wei Yuan ever could.
Having finished studying the image, Wei Yuan was left wanting more. He asked, "Are there any others?"
"Plenty." In a single breath, Ronglong brought forth over ten thousand images and handed them directly to Wei Yuan. This was already the result of deliberate filtering; had they been uncurated, the number would have exceeded a million.
Such a wealth of data immediately illuminated a new path for Wei Yuan, and he began calculating right away. Ronglong watched from the side, interjecting a few questions from time to time. Before they knew it, several hours had passed, and Wei Yuan had failed once again.
Ronglong suddenly remarked, "I feel that your current approach isn't quite workable. Perhaps we need to devise a new tool to resolve one of the problems. For example, like this..."
Ronglong picked up a brush and directly wrote out an entirely new computational tool in midair. The more Wei Yuan looked at it, the more familiar it seemed. Finally, he recalled that this was precisely a mathematical tool discussed in one of Immortal Monarch Tinghai's works. Back then, Wei Yuan had not understood the book. What Ronglong wrote now differed slightly in the minor details from Immortal Monarch Tinghai's work, but astonishingly, the core principles were identical.
Looking as though he had seen a ghost, Wei Yuan asked, "How did you come up with that?"
Ronglong replied, "When you observe the workings of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth for long enough, certain patterns closely mirror the problem before you. I merely simulated the operation of the Great Dao. It's quite simple; once you are capable of perceiving how the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth operates, you will naturally understand. First, I can let you see what I see."
Immediately, an ocean of flames appeared before Wei Yuan's eyes. The fire was viscous, heavy, and seemingly corporeal, slowly roiling and surging upward, utterly consuming Wei Yuan's vision and focus!
Wei Yuan was profoundly shaken. Yet after the shock came bewilderment—how could Ronglong derive that mountain of formulas simply by staring at such an expanse of flames? Had Immortal Monarch Tinghai done the same?
Wei Yuan looked up at Ronglong again, thoroughly convinced this time that he was looking at a monster.
Over the next ten days or so, Ronglong spent most of his time with Wei Yuan. They discussed the application of mathematical tools while Ronglong explained the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth in the Desolate Realm.
Not only did Wei Yuan's comprehension of the fundamental principles of heaven and earth improve drastically, but his mathematical proficiency also advanced by leaps and bounds. However, the dynamic had shifted from the beginning—where Wei Yuan taught Ronglong how to use various mathematical tools—to mutual discussion, and increasingly, Wei Yuan spent more of his time listening and pondering.
As Ronglong discussed matters with Wei Yuan, he casually jotted down numerous notes, constantly revising them while integrating the Desolate Realm's Dao and the flame demons. In the end, he compiled them into a book: *An Initial Exploration of the Desolate Realm*.
This book was completely different from traditional treatises on bizarre wonders. Its very first chapter introduced mathematical tools. Then chapters two, three, four... all the way through nine were entirely devoted to mathematical tools. The tenth chapter was the conclusion, filled with numbers and symbols—some used by the human race, some by the Shamans, and others newly invented. If one could master the tools from the first nine chapters, one would naturally understand the tenth.
However... Wei Yuan was naturally too embarrassed to admit that he was stuck on chapter seven.
Wei Yuan decided to study it on his own for a few days first, and only consult Ronglong if he truly hit a wall. By then, the transition from teacher to student had taken over twenty days, and Wei Yuan felt that his descent hadn't been too rapid.
With Ronglong's involvement, progress on the new armor design accelerated dramatically, and obstacles dissolved one after another. Throughout this process, Wei Yuan believed he had played an important role, while Ronglong's contribution was minor—it had merely been decisive.
When the design of the new armor was complete, Ronglong was also delighted. He said, "This method of expounding the Dao is truly unheard of. These mathematical tools are what hold the greatest value. Oh, right, I see you still bear the brand of the Nether Cold Realm. Have you studied that world as well?"
"I've only been there, not studied it." Wei Yuan was not merely being modest. Compared to his recent studies alongside Ronglong, his meager understanding of the Nether Cold Realm could hardly be called research.
By this point, Wei Yuan had completely abandoned any thought of comparing himself to Ronglong. After all, a mortal could never compete with a monster.
Hearing Wei Yuan's reply, Ronglong said, "The Nether Cold Realm harbors a great secret of its own. When you have free time, you should study it thoroughly; you might just uncover something."
"What secret?" Wei Yuan asked.
Yet Ronglong replied that the secret was forbidden by heaven and earth, such that anyone who already knew it could not speak of it. Wei Yuan would have to investigate it for himself.
Chapter 928