Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 169: Rush Rush
"I'll accompany you to guess the riddle for a day." Ren Yuan didn't believe that its rules would be so rigid.

However, although Sanshengmon was itching to do so, he still held on to his principles. "Boy, we can't tell you something that hasn't happened yet. If we tell you and change the future, it will prove that our prediction is wrong."

"You don't know how serious the consequences would be." The old man sighed, "So don't ask us about things that didn't happen."

"In fact, I've already told you the answer." The young man softened a little and reminded Ren Yuan: "Think about it carefully."

"Gou Chen?" Ren Yuan nodded and stopped making things difficult for them.

"We are now in the Gouchensi. Does this mean we will be in prison for life?" Chen Baxian came over and asked.

The Sansheng Beast ignored this scum who couldn't guess the riddle.

Ren Yuan pushed the door and entered the cabin again.

"What's wrong, brother? Are you autistic?" Chen Baxian shouted.

Ren Yuan closed the hatch with his backhand.

Then he walked to the door of the innermost cabin and knocked.

"Come in." Zu Chongzhi did not pretend to be deaf and dumb, and opened the closed door.

~~
In the cabin, there was a single dim lamp and piles of straw papers.

Zu Chongzhi, with his messy white hair, was calculating quickly on a piece of paper. Without even looking up, he said to Ren Yuan, "If you have anything to say, please say it quickly. I'm busy right now."

"Old man, I've been arrested and taken to Beijing. I might be beheaded." Ren Yuan put on a pitiful look and said, "Please save me."

"I can't get out, I can't save you." Zu Chongzhi shook his head without hesitation and said, "It's easier to get out somewhere else, but if you're in Jiankang, I'll be discovered as soon as I show my head, and the result will be that we both die together."

"Is it more cost-effective to die one person or two people? This question shouldn't be difficult to calculate, right?" Zu Chongzhi said with the rationality of a mathematician.

"Then can you give me a favor?" Ren Yuan didn't expect him to get off the boat to rescue him. He just wanted to open the window, so he said he would take down the roof first.

"What are you doing?"

Ren Yuan pointed to his Red Emperor Palace and said, "I have a golden elixir here, and it's almost used up. I remember you once gave Taoist Bao energy and he almost condensed the golden elixir."

"Charge?" Zu Chongzhi was stunned for a moment before he understood and said, "Are you talking about the time when that silly little Taoist priest refined the Three Life Stone last time?"

"Yes." Ren Yuan nodded, looking at him eagerly and said, "Can you charge me too?"

"First of all, he hadn't formed a golden elixir yet, so I was replenishing his spiritual fluid." Zu Chongzhi still shook his head and said, "Besides, the golden elixir is a part of the cultivator's body, so only the original owner can nourish and grow it, and no one else can do it."

"Is that so?" Ren Yuan nodded, glanced at Zu Chongzhi's straw paper and said, "Old man, how many polygons have you cut?"

"I have already cut into the regular 157286 quadrilateral. Alas, I am so tired." Zu Chongzhi sighed and rubbed his sunken eye sockets.

"I thought of a simpler method. Why don't you try it?" Then he listened to Yuan Youyou.

"Oh? Is this the method used by mathematicians in later generations?" Zu Chongzhi suddenly raised his head and looked at Ren Yuan intently, saying, "Is it better than the method of dividing a circle?"

"Yes, after you learn it, you can calculate to 3:14:15:9:26 in one hour." Ren Yuan nodded.

"Is it true?!" Zu Chongzhi said in disbelief: "Do you know how long I have been cutting? Twenty years!" "Is this the advancement of mathematical methods? The later generations stand on the shoulders of their predecessors and can always surpass them." Ren Yuan said with a smile.

"That's right, that's right. It's absolutely right." Zu Chongzhi agreed and said, "The research of later generations can be built on the foundation of their predecessors, so they should be stronger than their predecessors."

As he spoke, his eyes sparkled as he looked at Ren Yuan and said, "Tell me about it!"

"Oh, I'm about to die, how can I still have the mood to discuss these metaphysical things with you?" Ren Yuan shook his head and said, "I'd better go back and write a suicide note."

"Don't go, don't go. I surrender to you." Zu Chongzhi raised his hands helplessly and surrendered: "This will not happen again."

"Okay!" Ren Yuan agreed without hesitation, but he didn't take it seriously. He didn't believe that he would be able to resist when he came up with calculus, analytic geometry, etc. in the future...

Zu Chongzhi stretched out his hand and took out the bean-sized golden pill from his Red Emperor Palace.

"You treat a thing the size of a booger as a treasure." Zu Chongzhi spat, and a golden light spurted out from his mouth and accurately injected into the golden elixir.

The small golden elixir began to expand visibly, and soon it became the size of a chicken egg, a duck egg, and a goose egg, and finally expanded to the size of a coconut. There was no longer any lingering flame, but the color became purer.

Zu Chongzhi snapped his fingers, and the golden elixir returned to Ren Yuan's Red Emperor Palace, taking him with him.

"Is this all right now?"

"Didn't the old man say that this is beyond human power? What is your level?" Ren Yuan asked curiously.

"Mathematics never lies, and neither does I." Zu Chongzhi said calmly.

"Ah?" Ren Yuan's mind turned a little and he understood. He looked at Zu Chongzhi with admiration: "So you are already half man, half god?"

"Demigods are useless. As long as they are not gods, they will be killed." Zu Chongzhi said with a sad smile: "Especially for people like me who have offended the gods, they can only hide like rats, otherwise they will end up like Master Lu Tian."

Now that it has come to this, he added a few more words: "Let me tell you, there are people in the capital who are more powerful than me, and there are more than one. That's why I don't want to...charge you."

"Because I can only attack in the form of a Taoist priest?" Ren Yuan asked.

"It doesn't matter what form you take. You can transform into a Jindan Taoist priest, so you can change your appearance at will." Zu Chongzhi shook his head and said:

"It's the Shangqing Jade Talisman itself. That thing is coveted by the gods, so don't use it in the capital unless it's absolutely necessary."

"So, the Ghost King's army attacked Peach Blossom Spring just for this thing?" Ren Yuan said suddenly.

"Maybe. But I guess he is not sure whether that thing is there or not. If he is sure, it would not be the ghost general who went there, but the ghost king himself." Zu Chongzhi replied.

Ren Yuan heard what he said, and felt that 'that person' and 'Ghost King' were not the same person. He couldn't help but exclaimed: "Is this thing so valuable?"

"You will know how precious this thing is in the future." Zu Chongzhi nodded.

"Okay, I promise I won't use it unless I'm dying. If I'm dying and no one comes to save me, then I won't be able to care about it." Ren Yuan promised.

"Sure." After saying these 'insignificant' things, Zu Chongzhi couldn't wait to ask, "Can you teach me quickly?"

“Okay.” Ren Yuan didn’t keep the secret any longer and said, “A thousand years later, there is a genius who uses the binomial theorem to calculate pi to dozens of digits. But I don’t really understand it, so I can only briefly explain it to you, maybe it will be inspiring…”

(End of this chapter)