180: Homework for Chapter 180: Please write a paper on the "Conservation of Spiritual Energy".

The afterglow of the setting sun, like molten iron, spilled over the ancient eaves of the Scripture Pavilion.

But no one was there to appreciate this beautiful scenery.

Inside the classroom, the air was so heavy it felt as if it could drip water. Three thousand Sword Cultivators, who had just undergone the baptism of "Emperor Newton," were now staring fixedly at the... assignment board on the podium with eyes that looked as if they were facing their father's murderer.

The pointer in Li Mo's hand slapped against the blackboard with a "pa-pa" sound, each strike hitting everyone's heart.

"Before class ends, I will assign today's homework."

Li Mo's voice was flat, yet it carried an unquestionable magic.

"I know that in the past, when you Cultivate at night, you would meditate, breathe Spiritual Qi, or go to the back mountain to practice your sword." "From today onwards, all of these backward habits must be discarded."

"Tonight, there is only one task."

Li Mo turned around and, in the blank space of the blackboard, wrote a title that made all cultivators' Souls tremble:

[Post-class Essay: On the Fluid Mechanics Characteristics of Spiritual Qi Flowing through Meridians]

[Requirements:]

Word count: No less than 5,000 words (punctuation marks do not count).

Format: Write strictly according to the scientific paradigm of "Propose Hypothesis - Build Model - Experimental Verification - Draw Conclusion." The use of vague words such as "probably," "possibly," or "perhaps it is heaven's will" is prohibited.

Citations: You must cite at least three "Laws of Mechanics" learned today.

Deadline: Tomorrow at the Hour of the Rabbit (5 AM). Those who submit late will fail. Those who fail will go to the back mountain to feed the pigs.

"Boom—"

The audience below instantly exploded into a frenzy.

"Five thousand words?!" A burly Body Cultivator Disciple collapsed on the spot, clutching his head and wailing: "Teacher! The total number of words I've learned in my life doesn't even add up to five thousand! Can't you let me do a hundred-thousand-meter weighted run? I'd rather run until my legs break than write!"

"Fluid Mechanics characteristics?" Another Inner Sect Disciple stared blankly, muttering to himself: "The Spiritual Qi in the Meridians... isn't it enough for it to just flow through like water? I have to analyze its characteristics? Do you want me to calculate its viscosity?"

"This is way too hard..." Even a top student like Ye Guyun frowned. The hand he used to hold his sword was trembling slightly—not out of fear, but because... he had truly never written an essay before. In the past, writing reflections was always "Practiced the sword today, felt something in my heart, the Sword Qi grew by three inches, feels good," and it was over in a few dozen words. Now he had to write five thousand words? And it had to be logical?

Looking at the tragic scene of grief everywhere below the podium, Li Mo not only felt no sympathy but instead showed the kind smile typical of a capitalist looking at leeks.

"Is it hard?"

Li Mo chuckled, casually picked up a cup of tea from the podium, and swirled it gently.

"Do you think Spiritual Qi flowing through Meridians is really as simple as water in a pipe?"

"Wrong."

"Your Meridians are winding and vary in width. Some places are like great rivers, while others are like narrow sheep paths." "When Spiritual Qi flows through narrow Acupoints, the flow velocity increases and the pressure decreases—this is called Bernoulli's Principle."

"Many people who suffer from Qi Deviation do so because they don't understand this principle. They forcibly increase the Spiritual Pressure at narrow points in the Meridians, causing the blood vessel walls (Meridian walls) to collapse under negative pressure, or causing turbulence due to excessive flow speed, which bursts the Meridians."

Li Mo took a sip of tea and said calmly: "This essay is not to torture you. It is to save your lives." "Once you understand the Fluid Mechanics of Spiritual Qi, you can calculate the optimal flow speed, avoid Qi Deviation, and even... double your Cultivate speed."

Upon hearing the words "double your speed," the wailing below instantly vanished.

In its place were pairs of green, greedy (knowledge-hungry) eyes.

"Double it?!" "Is it for real? If it's true, forget five thousand words, I'll write fifty thousand!" "Understood! I'm going back right now to study Meridian flow velocity!"

"Very good." Li Mo nodded with satisfaction and waved his sleeve.

"Class dismissed."

...

Night fell.

The Heavenly River Sword Sect, an ancient Sect that had been passed down for thousands of years, was destined to be sleepless tonight.

Usually at this time, the Sect would be completely silent, with only the occasional sound of insects and the breathing of Disciples during meditation. But tonight, the entire Sect was brilliantly lit, as bright as day.

Every mountain peak, every Immortal Cave, and even the thatched huts of the Utility Disciples had their Ever-burning Lamps lit.

Shua, shua, shua, shua...

This was the sound of pen nibs scratching across paper. This sound gathered together, becoming even more spectacular than the whistling of swords during daily practice, as if thousands of horses were galloping across the paper.

Inner Sect, Ye Guyun's Immortal Cave.

This head Disciple was sitting cross-legged at his desk, bare-chested. His body was covered in silver needles—not to treat an illness, but for "measurement."

"Recording..." Ye Guyun bit his pen holder, observing the vibration amplitude of the silver needle inserted into his Qi Sea Acupoint while scribbling wildly on the paper: "When the Spiritual Qi output power is increased to 30%, the pressure at the Dantian increases significantly, and a 'vortex' phenomenon (suspected turbulence) appears in the spiritual flow near the Qi Sea Acupoint. At this time, if I forcibly try to break through, there is a sensation of pain. According to Newton's Third Law, this is the Meridian wall giving me a reaction force..."

Writing to this point, a sharp light burst from Ye Guyun's eyes. "So that's it! In the past, I only knew I had to endure the pain; it turns out it was because of the turbulence! If I can use spiral Qi to smooth out these vortices, could I... break through without pain?"

He was so excited his hands were shaking, and the characters under his pen danced like dragons and snakes. Five thousand words? He couldn't stop at all! He felt he could write ten thousand words!

Dan Ding Peak, Pill Refining Room.

"Bang!" With a muffled sound, another Pill Furnace exploded.

In the past, an Alchemist would surely beat their chest and stamp their feet, cursing their bad Luck. But today, that Junior Sister Liu emerged from the ruins with an afro of frizzy hair, looking excited and holding a small notebook.

"Just as the teacher said! It's because the air pressure inside the furnace was too high!" "Just now, when I added the 'Blazing Sun Grass,' the reaction was violent and produced a large amount of gas. Because I didn't open the exhaust valve (furnace lid) in time, the pressure inside the furnace exceeded the critical value of the furnace wall." "Next time, I need to improve: install a 'pressure gauge' on the Pill Furnace and introduce a condenser tube to lower the temperature..."

She solemnly wrote the title in her essay: "On the Physical Mechanism of Pill Furnace Explosions and the Necessity of Industrialized Safe Production."

Sect Master's Great Hall.

Sect Master Li Xuanji sat on his high Sect Master's throne, with ancient books piled in front of him. But he wasn't looking at the ancient books; he was... drawing.

"Meridian Network Topology Map..." Sect Master Li Xuanji drew while wearing a troubled expression. "This 'Fluid Mechanics' the teacher mentioned seems applicable to the Spiritual Qi delivery pipes of the Mountain Protection Grand Array as well." "The array's operation always had delays in the past; was it because the pipe friction coefficient was too high?" "If I polish the delivery array patterns to be smoother..."

Sect Master Li Xuanji thought deeper and deeper, even starting to use his authority as Sect Master to access and modify the Sect's ancestral Formation blueprints. His essay title was the most grand: "An Optimization Plan for the Heavenly River Sword Sect's Spiritual Qi Pipe Network Based on Fluid Mechanics."

...

Scripture Pavilion, top-floor secret room.

Li Mo stood by the window, looking at the spectacular sight of the lights from ten thousand homes and everyone staying up late to do their homework, gently swirling the tea in his hand.

"Squeak. (Boss, you're really a devil.)" Squeak the Treasure-Seeking Rat lay on the windowsill, looking at those Disciples who were writing until they spat blood, and couldn't help but sigh, "Even when the Demonic Path attacked the mountain, it wasn't this tragic."

"How can you call this being a devil?" Li Mo took a sip of tea, a "kind" smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "This is called 'knowledge monetization.'" "Besides, don't you think this scene is beautiful? These are the sparks of wisdom burning."

"Squeak? (Sparks? I only see hairlines burning.)"

"Cut the nonsense." Li Mo gave it a kick. "Go and collect the first batch of submitted assignments. Liu Changqing should be 'full' by now."

Just as Li Mo expected, Elder Liu Changqing was in a state of painful joy tonight. As a "human logistics vehicle," his mouth was the window for collecting homework. Once a Disciple finished one, they threw it into his mouth (of course, into his sub-space stomach).

A moment later, Squeak returned dragging a huge sack. The sack was filled with exam papers and essays that still smelled of ink (and the Disciples' resentment).

"Come, let me see the quality of this first batch of 'leeks'."

Li Mo rubbed his hands, a flash of anticipation in his eyes.

The System's [Great Reader] function could not only read ancient books but also "new books." As long as the content of the book was logically self-consistent and contained some kind of rule or truth, the System could extract corresponding entries. This was exactly why Li Mo went to such great lengths to run the cram school—he needed these cultivators to use their practical experience to help him "test for errors" and "write" scientific cultivation books that conformed to the rules of this world.

He casually picked up the one on top. Author: Outer Sect Disciple, Zhang San. Title: "On How to Reduce Wind Resistance When Flying on a Sword: A Suggestion to Strip Naked."

"..." Li Mo's mouth twitched. "Trash." With a wave of his hand, the essay turned directly into ashes. The System had no reaction, and even seemed to want to give its host a side-eye.

He picked up the second one. Author: Inner Sect Elite, Iron Pillar Zhao. Title: "A Physical Explanation of How Great Strength Produces Miracles: On the Application of Momentum Conservation in Melee Combat."

"Hmm?" Li Mo raised an eyebrow. This one was somewhat interesting. Although Iron Pillar Zhao's handwriting looked like dog scratches, the content was very practical. He had detailed his experimental data from hitting trees, walls, and Junior Brothers a hundred times, and finally reached a conclusion: as long as the mass is large enough and the speed is fast enough, I can smash everything.

[System Prompt: Reading "Iron Pillar Zhao's Collision Experiment Report."] [Extracted White Entry: Iron-Headed Brat (Elementary).] [Effect: Head defense +10%, certain chance to cause dizziness upon impact.]

"Better than nothing." Li Mo shook his head. Although it was only a white entry, it proved the direction was correct!

He continued to flip through. Trash, trash, still trash... occasionally mixed with a few white entries.

Until... he flipped to the grand finale.

Author: Sect Master Li Xuanji. Title: "A Preliminary Study of Spiritual Qi Fluid Mechanics: On the Relationship between Spiritual Flow Velocity and Pressure within Meridians."

Li Mo's gaze instantly became solemn. As expected of a Nascent Soul Stage powerhouse, the substance of this essay was clearly different. Li Xuanji not only cited Bernoulli's Principle but also combined it with his own centuries of cultivation experience, even drawing a detailed "pressure distribution map of the Meridian cross-section." In the text, he boldly hypothesized: if the inner walls of the Meridians were treated with "spiritual power hardening" to turn them into smooth "pipes," then the transmission loss of Spiritual Qi would drop to below 1%.

As Li Mo read, the System interface began to flash wildly, and golden light erupted.

[Analyzing target book...] [High-purity logical closed loop detected!] [Brand new cultivation theory System detected!] [Congratulations to the host for reading "A Preliminary Study of Spiritual Qi Fluid Mechanics (First Draft)."] [Extracted Blue Rare Entry: Pipe Unclogging.]

[Entry Name: Pipe Unclogging (Advanced Version)] [Grade: Blue (Growable)] [Description: Since Meridians are pipes, you are the best plumber.] [Passive Effect: Host's internal Spiritual Qi operation resistance -80%, mana recovery speed +100%.] [Active Skill: High-Pressure Water Gun... oh no, High-Pressure Spiritual Cannon. You can instantly compress Spiritual Qi and spray it out at an extremely high flow velocity, causing physical/magical mixed damage with "penetration" characteristics.]

"It's a success!"

Li Mo slammed the essay shut, a light of pleasant surprise erupting in his eyes.

A blue entry! And it was a top-tier practical entry that directly increased mana recovery speed and attack penetration! If he had relied on reading those "Basic Breathing Methods" himself, he wouldn't have been able to produce this kind of effect even if he read them ten thousand times.

Because the "Basic Breathing Methods" only taught you how to inhale, not how to use Fluid Mechanics to optimize it!

"This is the wisdom of the collective," Li Mo sighed. Sect Master Li Xuanji used his hundreds of years of cultivation and experience, combined with the physics formulas Li Mo provided, to forcefully hammer out this essay. And Li Mo only needed to spend five minutes reading it to directly reap the results for free.

This was simply—the ultimate joy of a capitalist.

"Squeak." Li Mo was in a great mood and grabbed Squeak to rub its head.

"Pass down the order." "Tell the Sect Master that his essay received a 'First Class' (A+). As a reward, bestow upon him... a spicy strip (actually a snack Li Mo made with a certain fire-type Spiritual Plant)." "And tell everyone: anyone whose essay is rated as excellent can obtain 'borrowing rights' for the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion—although the second floor is currently empty, I can draw them a big pie."

"Furthermore..." Li Mo glanced at the sack of unread essays, the smile on his face deepening.

"Tell them this is only the beginning." "Tomorrow's second class will be on 'Electromagnetism'." "Tell them to prepare... whether it's Flying Swords or Pill Furnaces, as long as it's metal, bring it all to me."

"I'm going to teach them how to make—Electromagnetic Railguns."

Outside the window, the eastern sky was already turning the color of a fish's belly. The Disciples who had stayed up all night, though each had dark circles under their eyes, showed not exhaustion but an unprecedented... excitement the moment they submitted their essays.

Because they discovered that in the process of writing the essay, the cultivation Bottlenecks that had troubled them for years had actually begun to loosen!

That Body Cultivator Iron Pillar Zhao, because he spent the night writing "Conservation of Momentum," suddenly had an Epiphany, smashed through his own Immortal Cave's gate with his head, and broke through to the Middle Stage of the Golden Core with a wild laugh.

"Science! Long live science!" Iron Pillar Zhao's roar echoed through the valley.

Hearing this roar, Li Mo stood atop the high building with his hands behind his back.

"The leeks are growing quite well."

He glanced at the [Knowledge Points] and [Rule Fragments] slowly increasing on the System panel.

With these "researchers" working day and night, it might not be long before he could accumulate enough power to go and properly challenge the boss behind that "Big Eyeball" in the Upper Realm.

"But before that..." Li Mo rubbed his stomach.

"After grading assignments all night, I'm hungry again." "I wonder if Liu Changqing still has any leftover crab meat buns?"}],