“Huh?”

Clara let out a confused exclamation while Spencer fell deep in thought.

Isn’t that a concept of quantum physics? How the fuck did he make up a cultivation art based on it?

Cultivation arts were basically what skills and techniques were commonly called.

Spencer’s confusion didn’t solve his doubt. Not to mention, he never really dabbled in quantum physics either. So he only knew it had something to do with quantum physics but had no idea what that was.

“Both of you agree to sparring? As mentioned in the rules, no killing is allowed, no forbidden arts. And according to the bets you agreed upon, the cost to heal any damage incurred would be borne by the person themselves. In case of serious injuries though, the one who inflicted it will pay for healing costs. No weapons above your own cultivation level is allowed, no usage of pills allowed, no pre-deployed cultivation arts should be in use, this excludes the passive ones. Are we clear?”

Both Atlas and Gonath nodded their heads. They were familiar with the rules and bets they had agreed upon.

The referee waved his hand to signal the start of the match once he got confirmation from both sides. They didn’t immediately start fighting though, Gonath looked at Atlas and asked calmly.

“You do know that people aren’t as tolerant as me, right? And you still provoke people? Is it really so worth it?”

Not many people knew that Atlas had insanely high comprehension. It didn’t have to do anything with affinities. Affinities didn’t increase comprehension of the said element, they simply increased damage, control and versatility when the person used that element.

Gonath was one of the close friends of Atlas, the latter had told him many times how he found it fascinating to go against different cultivation arts and try to find the principle behind them. His nonsensically high comprehension allowed him to glean faint information behind the working of the arts simply by looking at it in motion.

This was also why he kept challenging the inner disciples and personal disciples of different peaks, and never let go of the identity of the outer sect disciple. Inner sect disciples had more constraints on their actions and were given more tasks by the sect to help them with their cultivation and resources.

Atlas wouldn’t mind the extra help to get resources but that also meant abiding by extra rules which he wasn’t willing to follow. Inner sect disciples were after all more close to the sect. It was a good thing he could gain resources by betting during sparring. The only reason he hadn’t done so now was because Gonath was a close friend he had made. Despite not being a personal disciple, he was easily as strong as one.

Atlas simply shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand my joy. Let’s start.”

According to him, not everyone would understand the joy of figuring out things. It was equivalent to a scientist who shouted ‘Eureka’ in extreme exhilaration when he discovered something fascinating.

As soon as he finished speaking, both of them rushed forth. Atlas easily deflected the greatsword of Gonath with his own normal sword before retreating a bit. His strength was really no joke, Atlas almost got pushed back in the first blow.

He took a deep breath and surged forward with a stab, changing it midway to a slash. None of them used any cultivation arts just yet, testing each other out with their physical body. Everyone could see Atlas falling short as he dodged and parried more than going for direct attacks or even straight up blocking.

Only Gonath knew it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Atlas was extremely skilled in counterattacking, if he so much as exposed one flaw while attacking then he would be inviting a quick counterattack.

Sounds of metal clashing echoed throughout the hushed whispers of the huge colosseum. Atlas parried another cut by Gonath before putting pressure with kicks. One advantage he had was that a greatsword was considerably heavier than a normal sword. Gonath would have to expend much more force simply on wielding the greatsword such that he had no extra energy to use his legs.

But it wasn’t as if he had no defense. Greatswords were also much larger than the normal swords, Atlas risked the chance of getting his leg attacked by the greatsword everytime he went in for a kick.

Contrary to everyone’s expectation, it was Gonath who first used a cultivation art. The bulky man’s speed abruptly increased, arriving before Atlas in an instant. His sword swung onto Atlas who swiftly used a spell to form a stone shield mid air to block the oncoming greatsword. Taking the opportunity, he went in for a stab with his sword but Gonath was already behind him at some point.

Atlas formed a stone shield behind him and ran to the other side in order to put a gap between them. He smirked. “Do you want to compete in speed? Fine, I was itching to test my new cultivation art anyway.”

Instantly, everyone felt a bloody aura emanating from Atlas as specs of red appeared in the air around his body. As if he had done something dreadful, a huge clamor erupted in the colosseum. Ganoth stopped his hand mid air as he slowly drew it back and frowned at him.

“This is a friendly spar, why do you have to go so far?”

Even the referee jumped onto the stage, his hand already having conjured up extremely dense globes of water. “Outer disciple Atlas, cancel the forbidden art Crimson Hope this instant. This was a friendly spar, and you have violated the rules.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Everyone in the colosseum had stood up with tension. Atlas was one of the strongest of their sect, no one knew why he was going this far in a mere spar. Sophia had a face full of worry as she gazed at him, her voice carrying undertones of anger and worry. “Why is he doing this? Does he not want to live? That forbidden art isn’t even meant for normal sparring.” She had tears in her eyes as Clara worked hard to console her

Spencer didn’t want to butt in during the delicate timing but he did so anyway. “Maybe… you can have a bit more faith in him? Didn’t you mention that senior brother Atlas wanted to try out a new cultivation art he made? Maybe this is a prerequisite to it?”

His words didn’t have much of an effect as she snapped, “What do you know about this forbidden art? Crimson Hope was made by one of the Grand Elders who perished during the battle with demons. It connects the one’s existence to their qi, then by relying on this link, the person sacrifices their body to strengthen the qi. Even if he created a technique based on this, how is it going to be any less harmful to himself?”

Spencer didn’t know how to refute that, he only just realized what kind of cultivation arts Atlas was using. Instantly, everyone heard Atlas shout loudly.

“Lord Lysander! It’s time! I need your help! I am about to execute the cultivation arts but I am afraid I’ll be stopped midway. I am hundred percent sure it’ll be worth your time, else I’ll pay you the price we decided on.”

As soon as he said that, the sky darkened and lightning cackled. Thunder roared with a huge booming voice as a faint shimmering film of qi covered the weaker members of the audience. The stronger people took it upon themselves to shield the weaker members from the sound of the thunder and brightness of the lightning.

It was akin to a scene of the world's end as the skies had darkened considerably. Spencer, who was covered in a thicker film of qi compared to before, had stars in his eyes while witnessing the phenomenon.

Did that amiable middle aged man Lord Lysander do this? This is so fucking dope.

It was indeed the middle aged man who appeared in the sky, just below the area where lightning clashed most intensely. It was Lord Lysander who had met Elena and Spencer previously.

He looked down at Atlas who still hadn’t canceled the forbidden art Crimson Hope and spoke.

“You’ve stopped me from going to the demon world and instead invited me here to help you display the ability without being stopped, and also rescue you if something goes wrong. I intend to take every bit of resources you’ve promised if the cultivation art you’ve made doesn’t happen to be worth my time.”

Atlas simply bowed and faced Gonath. The referee backed off on the order of Lord Lysander. Since an Elder of the sect was here to oversee things, there was no need for him to worry anymore.

Even though Lord Lysander was an Elder, everyone called him ‘lord’ because he was the younger brother of the current Sect Master. This was also why he wasn’t kicked out of the sect despite offending multiple enemies in the past.

Atlas smiled brightly, as if he was a child who was about to show his new toy to the world. With the help of Lord Lysander who amplified his voice, he spoke to everyone present.

“I am sure everyone must’ve heard of science? I mean, obviously you have. Many of our cultivation arts are based on it. But have you guys heard of quantum physics? It’s an interesting branch of science I had the pleasure of reading. Its—”

“Get to the point.” The middle aged man in the air impatiently cut him off.

Atlas coughed embarrassingly, then resumed speaking. “Alright so anyway. There is a topic known as location superposition. To use these phenomena, I had to make a tweak to the Crimson Hope. I made it so that the ‘state of existence’ of the user is connected to their ‘state of qi’.”

He spread his arms far wide. “Superposition is a state which certain particles of reality exhibit, it’s like a ‘suspended state of multiple possibilities’. You all know that qi is an energy which can be molded into anything, qi can become fire, it can become lightning, water, earth, lava, ice….. So I thought, why can’t it become that particle?

“Location superposition is a state in which multiple possibilities of location are simultaneously suspended at the same time. They are also simultaneously present and not present at the multiple locations. What if I make my qi act like that particle such that it exhibits Location superposition?”

As soon as he said that, multiple versions of Atlas appeared simultaneously on different locations of the platform. Through the modified Crimson Hope, Atlas had made it so that the state of his qi would be connected to his own existence. So basically whatever he did to the qi would be followed through by his body regardless if it was even possible for the body to exhibit such a phenomenon.

Cultivation was the act of going against heavens, and it was because it did not follow the laws of science. Sometimes science itself didn’t follow its own laws, not to mention cultivation. Cultivation, as people had explored until now, followed the laws of intent.

Of course, it was still based in reality but sometimes when the intent crossed a certain threshold, like when the Grand Elder gave his all to protect the Boundless Sect, cultivation arts like Crimson Hope were formed which defied the natural laws of heaven. It was a true act of rebellion against the heavens.

Using the cultivation art which defied the natural laws of science as a foundation, Atlas was able to make another terrifying cultivation art by using science, an irony.

Everyone could feel that all the Atlases were real, no clones, no illusion, nothing. They all were just in a very strange state. Even Lord Lysander in the sky had narrowed his eyes.

All the Atlases which had their arms spread wide laughed as Gonath attacked every single one of them. His greatsword went through the body as if it were a hologram.

The Atlases laughed in unison as they spoke. “It is me who decides when and where to collapse my state of superposition, I am the sole observer of my state of qi. Watch me.”

Suddenly multiple Atlases appeared all around Gonath, who used area of effect attacks but had no use. As soon as the attack was finished, all the Atlases disappeared while the one he ‘chose’ to collapse into, swung his sword at Gonath, who was too late to dodge.

A long wound appeared on Gonath’s shoulder blade as numerous Atlases rotated around him once again. No technique or skill of any kind was able to affect even one of them.

The genius didn’t attack Gonath again, but spread his hands wide, almost shaking with excitement.

“All the Atlases which appeared were real, they were simply at multiple locations and never at multiple locations all at the same time. I haven’t found a technique which can detect my position yet, as all of me are real.

“Even when I decide to ‘collapse’, the effect is instantaneous without any delay, unlike the illusion or clone techniques which have a delay while removing.”

Atlas bowed to Lord Lysander who was smiling with a twinkle in his eyes and continued.

“This, Lord Lysander, is the cultivation art I made, and I have named it Schrodinger’s Step.”

Atlas took a deep breath, and spoke once again, this time with utmost seriousness.

“Can I become your personal disciple?”