Chapter 273 — The Summit of Arithmetic
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Every person is unique, and so the precise positions of each person's Five Luminaries Spirit Treasury differ; and since the Five Luminaries Spirit Treasury is precisely the foundation for determining the Six Realms Spirit Treasury, each person's Six Realms Spirit Treasury likewise lies somewhat differently. Hence the need for meticulous calculation, with no room for error.
Before long Shen Mu had read the Six Harmonies Mathematical Classic through. It used the quinary system of the five phases and the senary system of the six harmonies, requiring the quinary results of the five luminaries to be converted into senary before the reckoning could be worked out.
Shen Mu was dazed, and suddenly he thought of the Dutian Demon King's guidance.
The Dutian Demon King had once said that the octal system in the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Classic could be reckoned with the eight trigrams as a computing tool; and from that Shen Mu had seen the light and grasped the other computing tools in the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Classic -- the Taiji Eight Trigrams Diagram contained the binary of yin and yang, the quaternary of the four phases, and the octal of the eight trigrams.
But add the quinary of the five phases and the senary of the six harmonies, and the computing tool became complex indeed.
"Imperial Preceptor Jingping said that the four great spirit bodies are not the five phases; rather, each spirit body encompasses all five phases. That is to say, the four great spirit bodies -- Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise -- are the four phases of the Taiji Eight Trigrams Diagram!"
A sudden clarity opened in Shen Mu's mind. The four phases: each phase encompasses the five phases, and different permutations and combinations of the five phases compose the phases!
In other words, reckoning in the quinary system of the five phases can yield the transformations of the four phases -- and thus one has a tool for computing five into four.
And the six harmonies: the four phases can fix east, west, north and south, while yin and yang fix above and below -- and thus one has a tool for computing the six harmonies.
"Which means I can very soon calculate the position of the wall of the Six Realms Spirit Treasury!"
Shen Mu returned the Six Harmonies Mathematical Classic to Si Yunxiang, stretched out both hands, pressed his right palm over his left, and drew them apart above and below. At once his threads of qi formed a strange Taiji pattern, embracing yin and yang, the four phases, and within the four phases the five phases.
Elated, Shen Mu drew his hands apart again, and layer upon layer of the Taiji five-phase patterns split open, each working its own reckoning, in perfect order.
Si Yunxiang watched the shifting patterns before him in astonishment and said hastily, "How are you calculating? It is not quite the same as what Reverend Hongfa teaches! Let me copy it, quick!"
Shen Mu calculated at flying speed, his mind divided between two uses, and told her what he had grasped.
Si Yunxiang's eyes grew brighter and brighter. She too was a woman of surpassing talent, and quickly grasped the wonder of it. "This method is good," she praised. "The method in the Six Harmonies Mathematical Classic is too cumbersome -- a month or two of calculation to reach a result, and easy to get wrong. With your method there can be no error at all, and at most an hour or two will do it!"
Shen Mu laughed. "Taiji, four phases, five phases, six harmonies, eight trigrams -- they are computing tools, made for reckoning."
Reading the Supreme Mystery Mathematical Classic now, he felt every knot untie itself, and his heart was light. Yet to master the teleportation divine ability, a single Supreme Mystery Mathematical Classic would probably not suffice.