The sight of Zhao Hu's retreating, frantic figure and his lunatic-like stare didn't cause much of a ripple in Li Fan's mind. He had seen far more bizarre reactions when cornering strangers in the library for survey responses in his past life.
His immediate priority was to deal with the demanding PPT-Genie in his head and the ridiculous task:[Quantitative Analysis of"Spiritual Energy"].
"Concentration, Activity, Affinity…" Li Fan rubbed his still-throbbing temples, pacing in the drafty woodshed."No spectrometer, no particle detector, not even a decent thermometer… A clever cook can't make a meal without rice, System-bro!"
[Hint: Host can fully utilize environmental resources and their biological sensors, namely their own body, for preliminary data collection. The essence of scientific research lies in methodology, not tool dependence.]
The System's voice was as cold as ever, but Li Fan somehow detected a slight undertone of"easy for you to say."
"Biological sensors… easier said than done." He gave a wry smile, his gaze settling on the spiritual sparrow still pecking outside the door.
If the hard way fails, try the soft. If direct sensing is impossible, go for indirect observation. This was the basic training of a research dog.
He tore a relatively clean corner off his tattered robe and found a piece of charred wood. After a moment's thought, he began to scribble.
"Green Bamboo Courtyard Spiritual Energy Environment Subjective Perception Survey (V1.0 Draft)"
Dear Respondent (Non-Humanoid Edition):
Hello! We are conducting an anonymous survey on the local Spiritual Energy environment, aiming to optimize the cultivation setting and improve… er, improve the quality of life for all living beings. Your participation is crucial. Please answer based on your honest perception.
Perceived Spiritual Energy Concentration: Do you find the Spiritual Energy in this area (the energy that fills your belly) to be?
A. Thin as gruel, barely filling
B. Moderately palatable, just right
C. Thick as honey, slightly viscous
D. Too abundant, causing a feeling of bloating
Spiritual Energy Activity Assessment: When you absorb the Lingqi here, does it feel?
A. Highly inert, difficult to mobilize
B. Mild and compliant, easy to guide
C. Lively and restless, a little mischievous
D. Violent and untamable, highly individualistic
Spiritual Energy Affinity Score: What is your overall satisfaction with the Lingqi here?(Please silently think of a score; the System can receive brainwaves.)
1 (Extremely Poor) 2 (Poor) 3 (Average) 4 (Good) 5 (Perfect)
Thank you for your cooperation! Surveyor: Li Fan (Formerly Li Ergou)
Li Fan chuckled at the sight of the bizarre, utterly flawed questionnaire. Clutching the charcoal stick and the cloth scrap, he tiptoed toward the spiritual sparrow.
"Chirp?" The sparrow looked up, its beady black eyes warily watching this strange biped.
Li Fan forced out the kindest smile he could manage, spreading the questionnaire as flat as possible before the sparrow, then carefully poked at option A with the charcoal stick.
"Fellow Daoist, ah no, Brother Sparrow, look here. If you think the concentration is A, can you nod? Or chirp once?"
The sparrow cocked its head, looked at the cloth, then at Li Fan, seemingly unable to grasp the complex ritual. It suddenly hopped forward, viciously pecked at the character for"Concentration" a few times, flapped its wings, and zipped away, leaving behind a few feathers and a dumbfounded Li Fan.
[Data collection failed. Target organism is incapable of understanding the questionnaire format and lacks a cognitive basis for charcoal symbols. Host is advised to utilize a more direct observation method.]
The System offered its cold assessment right on cue.
Li Fan:"…"
Despite the initial setback, Li Fan was not discouraged. The path of scientific research is, after all, paved with countless failed experiments.
He shifted his focus to the wider Green Bamboo Courtyard. Bamboo, weeds, stones, streams—even the air itself—became his potential"respondents."
Lacking precision instruments, he resorted to the most rudimentary methods.
For the Concentration metric, he selected the same type of weed from different areas of the courtyard, measuring its height, leaf width, and leaf count, attempting to build a crude model linking"Spiritual Energy Concentration to Plant Growth Rate." To do this, he practically lay on the ground, using a scavenged twig as a ruler, mentally recording the data as he measured.
For the Activity metric, he sat quietly by the stream, observing the flow rate of fallen leaves and the trajectory of dust motes in the sunlight. He hypothesized that Spiritual Energy activity might influence fluid dynamics at a microscopic level. To an outside observer, he looked like an idiot staring blankly at the water and air.
The Affinity metric felt the most esoteric. He tried touching the air with different materials—a scrap of cloth, a wood chip, a stone, even his own palm—and then subjectively recorded the subtle sensations on his skin or within his heart, forcing a 1-to-10 score onto the feeling.
The process was tedious, slow, and full of subjective conjecture. He felt less like a scientist and more like a shaman doing rain dances.
Other servants who passed by saw him alternately lying on the ground measuring, staring blankly at the sky, and muttering to stones. They all gave him looks of utter derangement and walked wide circles around him.
"Did you hear? Li Ergou was scared crazy by Senior Brother Zhao yesterday!"
"Totally. He's out there measuring weeds, claiming the rocks talk to him…"
"Stay clear of him, bad luck!"
The gossip reached his ears, but Li Fan ignored it. In his previous life, he could stake out a traffic intersection for a whole day just to count car flow for one data point. This minor social pressure was nothing.
Time ticked by. As the sun began to set, the"data" Li Fan had recorded filled several scraps of scavenged cloth. However, the numbers were contradictory, disorganized, and impossible to distill into effective quantitative metrics.
Fatigue and hunger washed over him. Without the Qi-Sustaining Pellet, this body was reaching its limit.
"No, I'll fail the task at this rate…" He leaned against a stalk of green bamboo, his brow furrowed."A 70% increase in the probability of environmental deterioration… Is a mudslide going to bury me?"
He had to change his approach!
He re-examined the System's requirement:"Establish at least three quantifiable metrics."
"Since I can't measure objectively, I'll define my own subjective standards!" A thought flashed through his mind like lightning.
He sat up abruptly, closed his eyes, and fully exerted the crude Qi-Drawing Incantation, focusing all his attention on sensing the vague, ethereal"Spiritual Energy."
Weak. It was still so weak.
But this time, instead of trying to understand what it was, he focused on describing the sensation.
"Concentration…" he murmured."If I define the total Lingqi I currently sense as a baseline unit… let's call it'Fancy,' or'F' for short. The concentration here right now is probably… 0.8 F? Feels a bit thin."
[Record: Host has self-defined the Concentration unit"Fancy (F)", current area estimate 0.8 F.]
Li Fan's spirits lifted. The System's voice had a sliver of… acceptance? He pressed on with his sensing.
"Activity… The smoothness of the Lingqi entering the body. If completely unimpeded is 10 points, and completely blocked is 0, this sensation right now… feels like passing through a dense gauze. There's clear resistance. I'll rate it… 3 points!"
[Record: Host has defined the Activity rating (0-10), current area estimate 3.]
"Affinity… The compatibility of the Lingqi with the body. If it's like controlling one's own arm, that's 10 points. If it's completely incompatible, that's 0. This feeling now… is like scratching an itch through a sweater, a complete mismatch. I'll rate it… 2 points!"
[Record: Host has defined the Affinity rating (0-10), current area estimate 2.]
Three extremely subjective, even ridiculous, quantifiable metrics were born under his powerful"forced definition" ability.
[Ding! Preliminary quantifiable metric system detected. Please supplement data collection points to verify metric stability and regional variation.]
The System task was updated.
Li Fan let out a long breath, feeling more exhausted than if he'd run a marathon. But success was in sight!
He struggled to his feet, ready to select a few different spots in the Green Bamboo Courtyard—deep in the bamboo grove, near the stream source, by the woodshed—to perform"repeated measurements" and complete the data collection.
However, just as he reached a relatively secluded spot in the bamboo grove, a sarcastic voice rang out behind him.
"Well, well, look who it is. Isn't this Li Ergou, our Qingyun Sect's newly promoted'Master Grass Measurer'?"
Li Fan turned around to find Zhao Hu leading three burly servant disciples, who were surrounding him menacingly, blocking his path. Zhao Hu's face was twisted in a mixture of mockery and vengeful satisfaction.
"You played the fool to get out of work yesterday, and you dare wander around aimlessly today?" Zhao Hu clenched his fist, knuckles cracking."Steward Wang said it himself: you didn't finish yesterday's work, so today's Qi-Sustaining Pellet is docked!"
Li Fan's heart sank as he faced the three clearly hostile, sturdy men. His body was still weak, he was unarmed, and he had no spiritual cultivation to speak of.
Fighting them head-on? An absolute defeat.
Begging for mercy? His predecessor might have, but not Li Fan.
His brain raced at one-hundredth of a second, his eyes quickly scanning the three men, the surrounding environment, and the expressions on their faces.
Zhao Hu, the leader: Vengeful, but seemingly not too bright. The other two: one had shifty eyes, the other looked hesitant. They seemed to have been dragged along by Zhao Hu for moral support.
In a flash of insight, a bold, even insane, idea took shape in his mind.
Instead of fear, a profound, almost pitying smile appeared on his face.
He shook his head gently, sighed, and looked at the three men as if they were lost lambs.
"Senior Brother Zhao, and the two of you… a great disaster is looming, and you don't even realize it?"
"What?" Zhao Hu froze, taken aback by the sudden, prophetic pronouncement.
Li Fan stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze distant, looking into the depths of the bamboo grove, his tone ethereal and certain.
"I was not mad yesterday. I was using the grass, wood, bamboo, and stones here as a medium to cast a supreme secret technique: observing the'Spiritual Energy Field' around your bodies!"
He pointed a finger at Zhao Hu, his voice suddenly stern:"And you, Zhao Hu! Your Third Eye is clouded, your Lingqi is scattered, and your surrounding aura is dim and chaotic, showing signs of imminent collapse! Within three days, you will surely suffer a disaster of bloodshed!"
In the quiet bamboo grove, Li Fan's words were like stones dropped into a calm lake.
Zhao Hu and the other two were completely stunned, their aggression replaced by shock and uncertainty. Cultivators, after all, had a natural sensitivity to terms like"aura" and"calamity."
Li Fan secretly breathed half a sigh of relief. He had won the first gamble. He maintained the air of a profound master, his mind racing to formulate the next step of his bamboozling—er,"Strategic Response" plan.
Simultaneously, he sent an urgent appeal to the System:
"System! Quick! Immediately analyze the muscle strength, movement habits, and micro-expressions of these three targets, and generate an'Emergency Report on the Battle Tendencies and Weaknesses of the Three Targets'!"
"How many points does it cost? Put it on my tab!"