After refusing to believe, conducting personal experiments, or arranging for subordinates to experiment, the higher-level leaders of the province finally confirmed the truth of the matter.
After their worldview was shaken, it was quickly sent to the capital.
The high-ranking officials in the capital repeated the reactions of the municipal leaders to the information passed up from below.
They were equally incredulous, equally finding it preposterous, even suspecting their subordinates had been collectively brainwashed.
But as dismissive as they had been before, once it was confirmed, the expressions of the capital's high officials were quite remarkable. Even those who had reached the pinnacle of their careers, adorned with purple and green, were shocked by the mythical item known as the Water-Repelling Pearl.
Could it be that the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* was not false, but true?
Were there really myriad exotic beasts, and treasures like the Water-Repelling Pearl?
Thus, this Water-Repelling Pearl traveled from the city to the province, then to the capital, and finally into the highest academy of sciences in the capital. Some old professors were roused from their sleep overnight, eager to research this mythical item.
A treasure from the Dragon Palace.
...
"Water-Repelling Pearl?"
"A treasure from the Dragon Palace?"
"The inner core of a water creature?"
"This is impossible!"
"How can such a thing exist in the world!"
In a laboratory that appeared quite high-end, several old professors were continuously testing the parameters of the Water-Repelling Pearl with various instruments.
Microscopes... magnifying glasses... infrared imaging...
Numerous scientific instruments were analyzing what substance and elements this pearl was composed of.
But no matter how they analyzed or tested the elements, they all concluded that this so-called Water-Repelling Pearl was merely a natural pearl.
Its internal composition was eighty-three percent calcium carbonate, seven percent magnesium carbonate, five parts per thousand silicon dioxide, three parts per thousand calcium phosphate.
Aluminum oxide and iron oxide were each five parts per thousand, water content was nine parts per thousand, and organic matter was six percent.
This elemental composition was that of a normal natural pearl.
Pearls were nothing more than inorganic trace elements such as silver, lead, barium, lithium, aluminum, copper, iron, magnesium... The substance composition of this so-called Water-Repelling Pearl was the same as that of an ordinary pearl.
Regardless of the testing instrument, it could be determined that it was an ordinary pearl, with nothing peculiar about it.
However, if a living person were to test it, holding this pearl, whose material composition was perfectly normal, in their palm and entering the water, they could breathe freely underwater!
The results of the human experiments deeply shocked many researchers.
As long as one held this pearl, swimming in the water was like a fish swimming.
Fish could breathe underwater and not die.
Therefore, humans could also breathe underwater like fish and not die.
Holding this pearl was akin to transforming the underwater environment into an air environment; humans could live freely in the water, no matter how long they survived underwater.
Through human experimentation and research by the researchers, it was discovered that the ability to breathe underwater as if in air was only a partial function of this pearl, not its entirety.
Holding the pearl maintained this effect, and placing the pearl at the bottom of the water also maintained this effect.
At the bottom of the water, it could support a space three meters long, three meters wide, and three meters high.
Within this space, humans could survive like fish.
On the surface, it appeared to be water, but in reality, an invisible space that humans could inhabit had risen within the water. Could this involve spatial technology?
Furthermore, prolonged immersion in water easily caused colds, but human body scans of those holding the Water-Repelling Pearl showed no signs of colds.
The experimental subjects' bodies appeared very healthy, with no indication of having been submerged in water.
Their organs had not undergone any qualitative changes, and their bodily parameters were normal.
How could this be explained?
Like many who had handled the Water-Repelling Pearl, the researchers felt their scientific worldview was collapsing.
Some professors even felt their hearts were about to give out.
The atmosphere in the highest academy of sciences was extremely oppressive. Some young researchers even murmured, "The Water-Repelling Pearl recorded in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* actually exists."
"Does this mean that the many exotic beasts in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* are also real?"
"We have never seen such miraculous treasures before. Does the absence of treasures like the Water-Repelling Pearl indicate a resurgence of spiritual energy?"
"Is science useless?"
This statement drew the attention of an old professor, who admonished, "What do you mean, science is useless? What is science? Do you think it's just guns, planes, and tanks?"
"Science is a method of exploring the truths of the universe; it is people's cognition of objective things in the world."
"Once a pattern is discovered, and through repeating this process, a specific result is obtained, that is science."
The old professor stated, "This single Water-Repelling Pearl is insufficient to prove the existence of so-called cultivation or the existence of the Dragon Palace."
"But even if the cultivation described in online novels once existed, its essence is merely a method of understanding the universe. It can also be achieved by repeatedly absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, leading to the growth of one's own magical power. In this regard, even if cultivation truly exists, it is also a form of science."
Where there is a pattern, there is science!
For the first time, young people and even researchers saw the Water-Repelling Pearl and had their worldviews completely shaken, exclaiming that the Water-Repelling Pearl was "unscientific."
But in the eyes of the old professor, the Water-Repelling Pearl was indeed scientific.
It still followed patterns.
Everyone, holding this pearl, could live like a fish underwater; this was a pattern, a universal pattern.
This natural law possessed universality and the possibility of physical replication.
Therefore, in the old professor's opinion, it was scientific.
Science is a method of understanding the world. Nothing is unscientific. This Water-Repelling Pearl, although it caused the researchers' worldviews to collapse, only indicated that current science could not explain it, proving its high technological content.
It did not mean that future science could not explain it.
It only meant that the natural laws, theorems, and formulas on this Water-Repelling Pearl could not be explained by the current level of technology.
When scientists encounter such miraculous items, they should not immediately exclaim that it is unscientific... Nothing is unscientific; existence is reasonable. What people should do is research the various patterns within it, rather than burying their heads in the sand like ostriches, refusing to research, refusing to accept reality, and shouting about what is supposedly unscientific.
This is not the attitude a scientist should have.
Why would someone in the highest academy of sciences want to refuse to accept reality?
The old professor shook his head, feeling disappointed by his students' performance.
In his view, even upon encountering such a miraculous item, the young researchers should not have exclaimed that it was unscientific. Yet, although no one had truly uttered those words, their attitudes towards the Water-Repelling Pearl were evident from their speech and expressions.
"Where did this Water-Repelling Pearl come from? Have its origins been investigated?"