Chapter 6130, Escape (14)
Chapter 6130, Escape (14)
Author: Silavin
[Is this what he means by it being alive? That they are innately different? No, it can’t be so simple.] Yang Ji pondered over this.
Honestly, Hong Jun had no expectations for the young boy to ever solve this mystery. He said it in such a cryptic manner, but more so to obscure the truth rather than anything. Even now, he did not understand what those words truly meant, just that they were in some text that he had read before.
Since he could not fully comprehend them, the boy must be less so.
After all, the boy could not utilise Qi. The first step in this was the utilisation of Qi. Without it, how would anyone possibly figure out the obscurities of what was being said.
Still, it was not like Yang Ji to give up like this. If the Dao of Space, one of the most obtuse Daos in the 3,000 Worlds could be mastered by him, this just another stumbling block that he merely needed to overcome.
Yang Ji figured that just what Hong Jun had shown him was not enough. So, the boy asked the man to change the flow of Qi. For example, just injecting it at one particular corner of the Rune, if not a pulsating method. If Yang Ji could openly do it himself, he would, but without his cultivation, all he could was observe and analyse as much as he could.
Hong Jun, on his part, entertained the idea. He still doubted much could be discovered from it.
Both Runes were injected with Qi from different angles, with Yang Ji watching over like a bird stalking his prey. He gave precise instructions like ‘to the left’, ‘to the right’, ‘more strength’, ‘pulse here’, ‘another Qi’, ‘think happy thoughts’ and so on.
Honestly, by the end of his experimentation, he even unabashedly asked those observers to help him inject their own Qi into the Rune.
The side eyes he got were quite chilling, but Yang Ji did not even notice. All that was on his mind was the Runes in front of him.
As for why they agreed to help, Yang Ji did not care. Were they more important than the mysteries of the Runes? Of course not.
This was not his Qi being used after all. If it were, he would have understood the intricacies immediately. So, he could only test things out, one by one. It was similar to how he was trying to study how to manipulate Space without the Void.
The hours trickled by, and Yang Ji finally noted a few key points.
First, Qi itself mattered in using the Rune. Though Qi itself tended to be formless, each person had their own differences. For example, someone who had mastery closely related to the True Dao of Wind would show to have more effect on the Rune than those further away, like those that had mastery over the True Dao of Earth. It was not that the latter could not use the Runes, but the effect seemed to be lesser.
From what Yang Ji knew of the 3,000 Worlds, most individuals’ Qi itself should not hold any attributes. But here in the Upper Realm, it seemed to not be the case. Almost everyone’s Qi had lean towards something. So far, it was not overt enough to fully tilt in one direction, and if Yang Ji had not scrutinised it that much, he would have hardly noticed, but it was at least obvious enough to affect the effectiveness of the Runes.
In other words, Runes themselves are influenced by the mastery of a person’s True Dao.
Second, the location of the injection of Qi was also important. It was not that important when one generally inputs their Qi, but if one formed it into something close to a fine strand, there were noticeable differences.
In fact, this probably took the most time to test out.
Overall, the Runes would eventually activate once they accumulated enough Qi. However, the minute amount for the test naturally meant that it took a long time to fill up after each release. Furthermore, the injection point when it was just a small strand seemed to matter to varying degrees.
At some parts, the Rune simply did not take in any Qi, while in others, little, and a few points, almost everything.
The key was, these points differed between the two Wind Calling Runes.
If Yang Ji were to describe a similar circumstance, it would be the Human Body. Twins for example might be born to look exactly the same but their meridians would differ, one could be more attuned to the Dao of Fire while the other more attuned to the Dao of Water. Their outside appearances were completely alike, but their insides were different.
Aunt Hu Jiao’er and Aunt Hu Mei’er were another example. Though not Twins, the two cultivated using a Cultivation Technique that made them more and more alike to the point their appearance was almost indistinguishable. It was said that their Qis also could not be differentiated. In that case, was it not the case that the Cultivation Technique had managed to slowly change their insides as well, to mimic one another?
As such, Yang Ji asked Hong Jun to form another pair of the same Runes, and the result turned out exactly the same. The points where Qi was accepted more readily were indeed the same as their respective copies.
This allowed him to form a hypothesis, that within the Runes was something akin to meridians, with their differing channels and so on. Furthermore, if they themselves are somewhat in tune with the True Daos, then that indeed made them ‘alive’ in a way.
It was a stretch but Yang Ji believed that there was no other answer besides this one.
In fact, Yang Ji felt it strange that his Divine Sense had not been able to fully analyse it in one go. He could actually completely memorise all the details of its outer appearance but not the insides. A true mystery. It was akin to how a cultivator could not fully look through another person who was at a higher Realm. Though, in this case, maybe it was something about Runes that generally prevented the probing of one’s Divine Sense?
He still did not know how Hong Jun had created those ‘entrances’ nor the ‘channels’ with a simple wave of his hand. Still, this was one step in progress which Yang Ji could at least be proud of.
In fact, when Yang Ji finally seemed to have settled on the answer, the air around him had completely changed. It was noticeable to the point Hong Jun, Xing Ting and the rest around them could not help but take notice.
The boy closed his eyes for a moment and the blank single focus expression of his disappeared. What was left could be said to be a smile which made others shudder. A smile Yang Xu would adore but make others nervous, like watching obsession itself finally release.
Well, it could be just a face that no Young Lady would wear, but not like there was a mirror, nor did Yang Ji really take too much of a notice.
Thus, the boy directly opened his mouth to share with Hong Jun his thoughts, with a voice and face that contained no worries about the findings.
Naturally, Hong Jun’s face, one of confidence, quickly shattered.
This was not at all how he had expected it to go. The boy had managed to figure this mystery out in such a short time, and he did not even possess an ounce of Qi within him. Furthermore, he had already asked Hong Jun to teach the next step, which was how he could actually study the Rune’s interior and how they could manifest it in their own drawings.
In front of so many people, how could he refuse? Wearing the Young Mistress’ face, showing such talent, it was basically forcing him to show his hand.
But, how was he to teach him?
The main thing was, to create Runes, one had to be able to use their Divine Sense. How was he supposed to teach someone who had no Qi or Knowledge Sea?
Qi was needed to run it, but Divine Sense was needed to create it…
So, how was he to teach it…
Wu Lun, having already expected this impasse, told Yang Ji, “Hey, tell that blockhead to just draw out every layer of the Rune. I’m sure you’d be able to recreate it with just that, right?”
“Huh? Is it really that simple?” Yang Ji asked back.
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never really studied Runes, you know? It’s just not my thing.” Wu Lun said though doubt practically seeped out from Yang Ji’s eyes. “Just make sure you don’t actually create one successfully in front of them. Knowing you, you best not get too engrossed in it later and forget.”
“Fine, fine.” Yang Ji then turned toward Hong Jun and relayed what Wu Lun had said.
The man took a moment and gave a nod. “Young Mistress, if that’s what you wish to see, I have no qualms in showing you. But, I must warn that you would still not be able to actually create these Runes properly even if you know this. I apologise for not saying this earlier, ”
“It’s fine.” Yang Ji only said as much and focused on every action Hong Jun did.
Hong Jun on his part sighed in his heart and closed his eyes. He focused from his memory and broke down the Runes into multiple layers.
His hand glowed, mixing with his Divine Sense, with a swipe over his head, multiple layers of each Rune was shown.
When Hong Jun opened his eyes, he could not help but wonder if this would even help Yang Ji.
Why?
Because with the naked eye, they did not seem to be any different from just copies of the same Rune. Within each layer, the meridian points and the channels were miniscule to the point one’s eyes could not see them. Even with his Cultivation Realm, Hong Jun found it hard to actually make out the tiny lines drawn.
The only way one could make them out was through Divine Sense.
However, this naturally did not limit Yang Ji. The young man gave a small nod and thanked Hong Jun. From just one check using his Divine Sense, Yang Ji could be said to have memorised everything.
Every small detail has been stored within his Knowledge Sea, such that Yang Ji would never be able to forget.
[To think there are over a million channels within one Rune… that’s truly insane…] Yang Ji could not help but marvel at the sight.
The channels would connect, go over one another, and stop at particular stops for some reason. There were also different thicknesses for each channel, making the structure even more complex. There were also mysterious blank spots with no channels or meridian points in certain spots.
[And he says he never studies Runes…] Yang Ji scoffed in his heart. Such a structure could truly only be made using one’s Divine Sense. Furthermore, it was not Divine Sense at the Immortal Ascension Realm. For something so sophisticated, Yang Ji believes one needed to at least be in the Origin King Realm, and that was the minimum.
Anything lower would not have the delicate control to actually recreate such fine channels and meridian points.
Like the Dao of Space, which at least required one to have the strength or the ability to tear a Space Crack, the True Dao of Runes required one to have the Divine Sense of at least an Origin King. In short, there were no instructions for anyone lower than the Origin King Realm.
Thankfully, Yang Ji’s Divine Sense was already in the Dao Source Realm. In fact, after coming to the Upper Realm, he had already felt the bottleneck for his Spiritual Energy. So, he was fairly confident that he would be able to reproduce these Runes.
Yang Ji immediately wanted to give it a shot. His hand already held the brush up and he was basically ready to start drawing. However, he recalled Wu Lun’s warning and asked him first, “Hey, I want to actually start drawing. Is it fine for me to completely mimic it?”
Wu Lun’s answer was a simple, “Ah, sure.”
That actually caused Yang Ji to pause for a moment. [Oh? So even if I know the structure, it isn’t enough… otherwise, he would at least say something. Well, I guess that part had something to do with the empty spaces or to do with a True Dao?]
Since Yang Ji had already gotten his go ahead, he naturally stopped worrying too much and resumed drawing again.
The first time he mimicked a Rune with the interior, it was painfully slow. Even if he memorised every nock and cranny, every twist and turn, something this tiny was immensely difficult to reproduce. For once, Yang Ji could not help but praise whoever actually figured out the creation of the Rune, that man must have been truly insane. No, every practitioner of this True Dao must be insane.
Hong Jun had managed to do it in an instant. One must truly praise him for practising to the point he could actually do it with a sweep of his Divine Sense. For Yang Ji, it took him about half a day just to complete one Rune.
After all, one must note that a Rune like this was built by layers, and each layer had to be held up in place by the creator. It was akin to building a multi-storey labyrinth without a foundation between each layer. Naturally, the foundation had to be created as well, thus more time spent.
His brush moved painfully slow, and it brushed over the same stroke more than once to create these layers. Time could be spent, but mistakes had to be avoided. Even deviation from lax focus had to be eliminated.
Still, at the end of the first Rune, Yang Ji could nod his head. He had managed to do it, or so he believes. He could not test it out, but he was confident this was basically the same Rune in both form and structure.
He naturally went ahead to create another copy of the Rune. He did not try for the other variant of the Wind Calling Rune. Best to muster this one before starting on another.
As such, the second attempt took half the time of the first one. A marked improvement. However, Yang Ji was naturally not satisfied yet. He kept going.
Two Runes soon became eight, and eight soon turned to twenty. Twenty turned to hundreds.
By this point, it had been at least five days since the ship had lifted off. Yang Ji has completed both variants and was confident to be able to recreate them in under a minute.
He even asked Hong Jun to show him the rest, and started to draw them all out, naturally, each to the one minute standard.
He wished he could do it with a swipe of his hand like Hong Jun, but he could keenly feel that there was some other method at play, which he found hard pressed to ask about. The way he did it simply could not accomplish it at the same speed. He had given it a try multiple times, but it seemed like just barely a minute was already the limit.
Meanwhile, such blatant use of his Divine Sense should have alerted those around him. Yet, not a single person got alerted. How, was anyone’s guess.
Silavin: Okay. will be time to move. I think I’ve spent quite long on the True Dao of Runes and trying to milk Hong Jun out. It was not everything due to the limited opportunity, but Yang Ji gained a ton here.