Just Solve the Problem!

A lucid Dao heart and inspiration flowing like a spring—such was Wei Yuan's state after concluding his council with the cultivators. Yet having just returned, he had a thousand tangled threads of affairs to attend to. He still had to guide Qingming's direction, whether the cultivators liked it or not. He could not split himself in two, leaving him no way to spar with each and every one of them the way Ji Liuli had when she first formed her dharma idol. Once missed, an opportunity was missed for good; challenging them to spars a few months down the line would seem contrived, requiring him to invent another excuse. Fortunately, though Wei Yuan cultivated a heart of invincibility, ever since his Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, his approach to combat had never relied on solitary duels or minute, delicate skirmishes. He did not care excessively about an undefeated mindset, so long as he did not lose. It was also fortunate he had not deliberately pursued an absolute heart of invincibility; otherwise, during his time studying mathematics—especially while keeping company with Ronglong—his Dao heart would likely have shattered into dust several times over. At present, Wei Yuan's foremost priority was calculating the orbit for his third grotto-heaven. Inspired by Zhang Sheng, he had realized that his original two grotto-heavens were insufficient; only with a third could they embody the principle of "three producing the ten thousand things," thereby completing a perfect mindscape world and bringing his dharma idol to consummation. Having weathered life and death in the Desolate Realm, Wei Yuan had tempered his dharma body until it was thoroughly lucid inside and out. The moment his third grotto-heaven was formed, he could formally undergo his heavenly tribulation and attempt the breakthrough to Scenery Command. With his present physique, he had not the slightest fear of the tribulations; whether Five Elements, Four Saints, astral phases, or yin and yang, he could weather them all through sheer endurance. Having a third grotto-heaven was vital, whereas its specific nature was far less crucial. With Central Thick Earth and the Yellow Springs Underworld already laying the groundwork, the third could be the wood-element life force, water nourishing all creation, fire harboring primal spirit, or deep darkness returning to extinction. Anything was permissible—even a Pure Land Buddhist kingdom... Wei Yuan suddenly shuddered and instantly cast that thought aside. If the grotto-heaven's element was not particularly vital, the choices for its foundation were all the broader. He did not even need to make deliberate preparations now. When he eventually returned to the Palace of Grand Beginning's ancestral mountain, he could open the sect's treasure vault, raise his karmic luck a bit, and simply pick whatever caught his eye. As for the offerings owed to the sect, Qingming's wealth and scale were now vast enough that paying them would be entirely effortless. One could say everything was in place, lacking only a single grotto-heaven orbit. This should have been quite simple—just working through an exam paper. And so, brimming with confidence, Wei Yuan began. Twelve shichen later, brimming with confidence, he finished. Whereupon the third grotto-heaven's orbit, brimming with confidence, held fast to its original state, without the slightest difference from twelve shichen prior. Wei Yuan suddenly found himself missing Ronglong quite a bit. He realized this orbit would make a splendid problem, one capable of stumping the dragon for days on end. After calculating for two more days, Wei Yuan's expression gradually grew grave. The third grotto-heaven's orbit was not merely subjected to the gravitational pull of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World; it would also be perturbed by Central Thick Earth and the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven, introducing countless variables. After a rough calculation, Wei Yuan discovered that with his current mathematical methods, it might take him thousands of years to solve. The only solution at hand was not stacking raw computing power, but optimizing the algorithm. Yet the latter fell within the purview of Ronglong, Yanshi, and Tinghai. Out of respect for his seniors, Wei Yuan temporarily had no intention of encroaching upon their territory. Never had Wei Yuan imagined that after boasting so grandly, he would end up stuck on what should have been the simplest orbital calculation. Setting aside the jade paper covered in dense scribbles, Wei Yuan stepped outside, took flight into the sky, and gazed down upon the land cloaked in night. Above Qingming, the moon hung in mid-sky. A warm, gentle breeze swept across the wilds, frogs and insects calling in chorus, while myriad young sprouts jointed and headed. Vitality and hope rose together alongside the spiritual energy of the earth leylines. Back then, driven by youthful impulse and pure hot blood, he had bid for Qingming, not hesitating to fight deadly battles against formidable foes for its sake. Unawares, over a decade had already slipped by. Wei Yuan gave a quiet sigh and traced a circle before him with his finger. Within the ring, spiritual light coalesced into a mirror—the Spirit Void Mirror, capable of reflecting a cultivator's nascent womb and soul. In the mirror, Wei Yuan appeared grave and solemn, imposing without anger, and positively drenched in middle-aged dad energy. The only redeeming feature was his gaze: fiery and spirited, like that of a youth. Wei Yuan started in fright. Was that really him? Wasn't this undeniably an oily, middle-aged dharma idol in his two hundreds?! Yet he immediately remembered that the Spirit Void Mirror reflected not mortal skin, but one's true essence. From the perspective of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, he truly was over two hundred years old. Wei Yuan smiled bitterly. Yet after such a fright, he suddenly saw many things in a new light. It was impossible for him to be first in everything, everywhere, and at all times. Since that was so, why not pool collective wisdom? Otherwise, what was the point of having the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World? Wei Yuan immediately focused his divine consciousness, recording the orbital data of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and the two grotto-heavens in as much detail as possible. He then formulated it into a task: *Given one large star and two stably orbiting small stars, with historical trajectories as follows: if another orbiting small star is added to the large star, what would its trajectory be? (Detailed step-by-step process required)* The phrase "detailed step-by-step process required" was Wei Yuan's selfish little clause; without the working process, it would be difficult to borrow or learn from later. The problem itself was straightforward, but the recorded data was colossal, taking quite a while to form into a proper task. Wei Yuan then cast this assignment into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, and settled down to await the results. The problem was extraordinarily difficult. Wei Yuan reckoned that after several months or perhaps a year, some valuable insights might emerge. After all, the orbit of a grotto-heaven strictly bordered on the domain of immortals. Once he was no longer agonizing over it, Wei Yuan felt an instant wave of relief. The past three days had felt like an ordeal unfit for human endurance; whenever he closed his eyes, all he saw were numbers. Now that his mind was clear, Wei Yuan set to work on his second and third priorities. What came next was a grand event: setting up an altar to deliver a lecture on the Dao for all the template Dao Foundations across Qingming! Lecturing at an altar was Wei Yuan's favorite undertaking, possessing miraculous efficacy in gathering karmic luck. Besides, with Qingming's production of strong liquor skyrocketing, there was no fear of uncorking an altar. Wei Yuan promptly entered the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. After reviewing the schedule of major affairs across Qingming, he set the date of the lecture for ten days later. For this lecture, Wei Yuan's primary focus would be the Desolate Roar, followed by the greatest insight he had gained from his journey to the Desolate Realm: the physical body. Body tempering was not meant only for the Body Casting stage. The template Dao Foundations lacked sufficient root bones, making further progress on the path of cultivation difficult. Yet they could continue to temper their physical bodies. Once the body became formidable, many hurdles on the Dao path could be resolved with ease. For example, a war chariot that once required eight people to drive could now be handled by four. However, human bodies and Shaman bodies were fundamentally different, meaning the Desolate Roar required substantial modifications. Wei Yuan had cultivated Ronglong's Five Sounds of the Desolate Roar; though still stuck on the third sound, he had already grasped its true essence. What he was preparing for the template Dao Foundations was merely the most basic tier of the roar, which he was well equipped to adapt into a version suited for humans. Ten days remained before the lecture, plenty of time. Thus, Wei Yuan entered secluded cultivation once more, focusing entirely on modifying the secret art. In the blink of an eye, a day went by. Just as Wei Yuan was thoroughly immersed in the world of the Desolate Roar, the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World suddenly stirred, sending him a notification: the calculation of the grotto-heaven orbit was complete. Like a bolt of lightning striking his skull, Wei Yuan could not accept this reality for a long time. Finished already? In just one day? One single day??? Taking a deep breath, Wei Yuan clutched the fissure in his Dao heart and opened the research findings delivered by the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Before him lay three distinct orbits, submitted by three different people. Two of them were standard grotto-heaven orbits, characterized by rigorous calculations and elegant structures that were obviously viable at a glance. Wei Yuan ran a simulation, and the small pebble completed a circuit along both orbits without a hitch. Wei Yuan felt an equal mix of joy and dejection. Was his Dao path solved just like that?! Was it really that easy? He then turned to examine the third orbit. This one was far more intricate, spanning a vast length. The orbit itself intersected both existing ones, which introduced the need for avoidance protocols during their respective courses. After all, the grotto-heavens would continue to grow over time, rather than remaining at their current sizes. Yet the merits of this orbit were glaringly apparent: it did not consume excessive orbital space, maximizing the use of existing resources instead. If all future additions followed this design, Wei Yuan would be able to fit several more grotto-heavens down the line. However, although this submission also provided a detailed process, it employed numerous formulas and theorems Wei Yuan had never even heard of. Upon looking them up, he discovered that these principles had long been stored within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World; he simply had never learned them. Clearly, among the boundless ocean of knowledge within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, what the Realm Lord did not know, plenty of others knew well. Wei Yuan immersed himself in studying the third orbit. Just as he felt he had barely scratched the surface, another alert arrived from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. He checked the time and realized, to his shock, that yet another day had passed. He inspected the alert: this time, there were six related reports in total. Four proposed potential orbits, while the other two took aim at the problem itself. Both of the latter papers agreed that the massive dataset in the prompt was exceedingly clumsy, verbose, and redundant, indicating that the problem-setter was inept at data processing. Consequently, both articles were entirely dedicated to optimizing data processing and presentation methods, offering two completely different high-efficiency approaches. Wei Yuan could not understand a single word of either. Whereupon Wei Yuan flew into a rage. "Can't you people just solve the problem?! Who asked you to critique how I wrote it!"