Longzang

Chapter 133: All Liberal Arts Students

Xu Wenwu swallowed the sealing power in one gulp, and his cultivation improved slightly.

Ignoring the progress made, Xu Wenwu said seriously, "As the saying goes, 'An army marches on its stomach!' In war, victory or defeat is often determined by logistics. How can you say that supplies are useless?"

As soon as he said this, the surroundings suddenly fell silent. Ji Liuli then asked, "Who is this person?"

Wei Yuan said, "Xu Wenwu comes from another world, just like the one who started the unified examination for immortal sects."

Ji Liuli was skeptical: "An extraterrestrial visitor? It doesn't seem like it! Those extraterrestrial visitors in history were all exceptionally talented, becoming Imperial Realm Lords as easily as eating and drinking. Why does this guy look so unremarkable?"

Wei Yuan thought for a moment and said, "He is a good horse breeder. I am trying to get him to plant trees. I haven't had time to study other uses yet."

Ji Liuli immediately said, "You go ahead and do your thing. Leave this guy to us and see what he knows."

Wei Yuan nodded, then said to Xu Wenwu, "Say what you know, but remember not to lie."

“He can’t lie.” Ji Liuli pulled Xu Wenwu up in front of him and pressed him into a chair, saying, “What I like most is when someone lies to me, so I have a reason to deal with him. Do you understand?”

Xu Wenwu nodded immediately.

Ji Liuli then asked, "Since you are a visitor from outer space, you must have wanted to dominate the world when you first arrived."

Xu Wenwu was shocked: "How did you know?"

Ji Liuli said impatiently, "You're not the only visitor from outer space. Many others came before you. Everyone was the same when they first arrived: the men wanted to be kings, and the women wanted to marry them."

Xu Wenwu never expected that he wasn't the only one, and his arrogance immediately vanished.

Ji Liuli then asked, "Do you think there's anything that your side has but we don't, and that you can use to build your first foundation?"

The question was simple; Xu Wenwu had thought about it countless times before, so he blurted out, "Of course it has to be gunpowder!"

"Alright, tell me, what's the gunpowder formula?"

……

A moment later, Wei Yuan instructed Yun Feifei to lead some cultivators to set up warning traps around the area, and also sent Xu Wan'er with a group of people to cut down trees. There wasn't even a decent house in the realm right now; at least a few wooden huts needed to be built for shelter from the wind and rain. Wei Yuan looked up at the sky and saw patches of fluffy clouds; if nothing unexpected happened, it would probably rain heavily tomorrow.

After giving these instructions, Wei Yuan hurried back down the mountain to see how the interrogation had gone. However, based on his understanding of Xu Wenwu, he figured he wouldn't get anything out of him.

A protective array had been erected at the foot of the main peak, isolating the inside from the outside. Those outside could see the people inside, but couldn't hear what was being said. Xu Wenwu, facing Ji Liuli and Bao Yun, was extremely excited, talking animatedly and occasionally waving his arms vigorously, displaying an air of world-conquering arrogance. Zhang Sheng and Xiao Yu, however, were not inside, but outside admiring the scenery. Both of them looked rather grim.

Wei Yuan had a bad feeling and asked, "How is it?"

Zhang Sheng snorted and said, "From now on, do more serious work and avoid associating with strange and eccentric people!"

Wei Yuan was inexplicably reprimanded and could only look to Xiao Yu.

Fortunately, Xiaoyu was easier to talk to than Zhang Sheng. She said, "That guy is a complete idiot. At first, he bragged about gunpowder in all sorts of ways, but when you ask him more questions, all he knows is that gunpowder is made from charcoal, sulfur, and something called saltpeter. But he only knows the name saltpeter; he has absolutely no idea where the raw materials come from or how they are made!"
He also said that gunpowder could be used in many places, such as firecrackers and artillery shells. But from what I heard, firecrackers and bombs are completely different in power; they should contain two different things. But he insisted that they both contain gunpowder, which is clearly nonsense!

Then this guy went on to brag about something called cement, which he called the blood of industry. This time it was even more outrageous; he didn't even remember a single ingredient in the formula.

Finally, he mentioned a crucial raw material called steel, which is smelted from iron. Although the steel he described didn't sound very impressive, and was quite different from what we know about steel, he was completely clueless about how iron is smelted into steel in their area!

Wei Yuan didn't know what to say. He had already experienced all of this before, so he was now relying on Xu Wenwu's other talents. Clearly, Xu Wenwu was an ignorant and incompetent person in their world. If he were born in this world, he probably wouldn't even be able to pass the county-level imperial examination and would be a perpetual failure in his studies.

"I'll go in and listen," Wei Yuan said. With him there, Xu Wenwu shouldn't lose his life if he overreacted.

Wei Yuan entered through the screen, and Zhang Sheng and Xiao Yu followed. After admiring the scenery for a while, their mood improved somewhat, and they could tolerate the incompetent fool for a little longer. Inside the screen, Xu Wenwu saw even more people, especially since his wise ruler had returned. His spirits lifted, and he said in a deep voice, "What I just mentioned were nothing but gimmicks and tricks; I'm usually too lazy to learn them. Actually, my main talent lies in poetry! I recently had a stroke of genius and wrote a new poem."

"Read it aloud," Ji Liuli said, looking quite interested.

Encouraged, Xu Wenwu was suddenly inspired to write poetry, and recited: "Have you not seen the Yellow River's waters come from the sky..."

Ji Liuli smiled and continued, "...flowing to the sea never to return. You continue."

How could this continue? Xu Wenwu was so shocked that he stammered and couldn't speak.

At this moment, Bao Yun said, "Pick a poem that you can recite from memory, and then tell me who the author is and approximately how many years ago it was written."

Xu Wenwu racked his brains, remembering only one or two lines of most poems, and sometimes he couldn't even distinguish whether they were poems or lyrics. After thinking for a long time, he finally found one: "The bright moonlight shines before my bed..."

As for when Li Bai was born, how could he possibly remember that? He only remembered the Tang Dynasty, and then Yang Guifei and Gao Lishi.

Fortunately, Bao Yun was much more tolerant, only requiring a general range, about 500 years in advance.

Fortunately, Xu Wenwu roughly knew the era of the Three Kingdoms, even down to specific years like 198 and 200. Based on that, he pushed back a few hundred years and said, "Li Bai's era was about 1,500 years ago."

After listening, Bao Yun seemed thoughtful and said, "The earliest appearance of the previous poem, 'Bring in the Wine,' in our history books is 6,900 years ago. The poem he just recited, 'Quiet Night Thoughts,' first appeared 3,100 years ago, a difference of 3,800 years. All three of them copied Li Bai's poems, which means that the other two were born after Li Bai and before Xu Wenwu. However, if their world has the ability to travel back in time..."

Zhang Sheng said, "We don't need to consider that for now. Going back in time is equivalent to reversing the Great Dao, which is similar to the creation of the world. Even immortals in our world can only influence the past, but cannot truly return to it. The power of their world does not belong to themselves, so going back in time is basically impossible. Even if it were possible, it could only happen to a few people, and it would not happen to someone like him."

"Why?" Xiaoyu was rather naive and asked directly.

Zhang Sheng was very patient with Xiao Yu and explained, "In their world, going back in time would require gathering the power of the world. Such a major event would require the person sent back to the past to be carefully selected. He is too ordinary; such a task would not fall to him."

Xu Wenwu finally understood: it meant that he wouldn't be involved in those world-class major projects, like going into a black hole or something that would be suicide missions.

After listening to Zhang Sheng's words, Bao Yun nodded and said, "If we don't consider time travel, then it's simple. If that world also progresses sequentially, then Xu Wenwu is the most recent extraterrestrial visitor. In their world, Li Bai has only been dead for 1,500 years. But at least 6,900 years ago, extraterrestrial visitors after Li Bai arrived here. In other words, time is different in our two worlds, and their world should be much slower than ours."

Ji Liuli's expression changed, and he said, "I originally wanted to calculate it, but I couldn't figure out his fortune at all. However, I saw a trace of the aura of the annihilation of all things in his soul, an aura that usually doesn't appear in a person's soul. According to what Yun'er just said, there is actually another possibility, which is that their world has stagnated or even been destroyed. And these extraterrestrial visitors are souls that were thrown out when the world was destroyed, and for some reason they came to our side."

Bao Yun held a small, milky-white, round bottle in her hand and said, "But that doesn't explain how this thing came with him."

Ji Liuli said, "I have some knowledge of alchemy and medicine, and I will study this so-called elixir in a while. If we want to understand it completely, we will probably have to wait for the people from Xuanming Palace and Zaohua Temple to come."

Bao Yun shook the small bottle, smiled slightly at Xu Wenwu, and said, "As for the plastic formula, we won't ask. You probably wouldn't know anyway."

When Bao Yun smiled like that, Xu Wenwu felt his breath catch in his throat, his heart skipped several beats, and he felt as if he had lost several years of his lifespan.

Previously, Xu Wenwu only saw those big stars on screen, and he felt nothing when he saw them. But now Bao Yun was right in front of him, and the pressure was overwhelming, something that most people couldn't bear.

Xu Wenwu, emboldened by some unknown source, asked, "May I ask, does anyone in this world know about physics, chemistry, and calculus?"

Bao Yun's eyes lit up: "You know?"

Xu Wenwu quickly replied, "I don't know, I'm just asking." After thinking for a moment, he added, "I learned it back then, but I've completely forgotten it now."

For a fleeting moment, Xu Wenwu felt as if he saw a dangerous glint in Bao Yun's eyes, but it also seemed like an illusion.

Ji Liuli, Zhang Sheng, and Bao Yun exchanged a silent glance. If it weren't for the fact that extraterrestrial visitors couldn't search souls, Xu Wenwu would already be in trouble. Historical records show that searching the souls of extraterrestrial visitors only yields one result: the soul is scattered and nothing is found. Even if a celestial lord intervenes, all they will see is chaos.

Xu Wenwu had no idea that his one extra word had almost led to his utter ruin; at that moment, all he could think about was resentment: "Why are all the people here liberal arts students?!"

(End of this chapter)