What might it feel like when one steps into their own dream? At this moment, Yu Ci seems to be experiencing just that.
He directs his heart-mind to the Dantian Organ, only to stumble headlong into the Inner Void of the Heart. In this instant, reality and illusion interweave and transform, their profound mysteries indescribable no matter how one might try.
Of course, after years of cultivating the Storing Thoughts Technique and contemplating numerous internal landscapes, Yu Ci had long understood the principle of "true and false not lingering in the heart, reality and illusion returning to one place." On one hand, he was surprised by the unusualness of this "path". On the other hand, he could also comprehend that the Inner Void of the Heart was indeed closely connected to his physical spirit, merging into unity. Not only could spiritual contemplation reveal this, but the tangible flesh body was also a key. He also understood that this was a manifestation of his Primordial Root Qi Method reaching a certain level. Otherwise, why hadn't he discovered it before?
In general, Yu Ci did not divert much of his attention. He simply grasped one thread: the transformation of the Aura at the Dantian Organ was indeed connected to the Inner Void of the Heart. At the core of the Inner Void of the Heart, without a doubt, was the Life Death Talisman. Everything else was external. Since Yu Ci had entered, he first observed the changes of the Life Death Talisman.
The Life Death Talisman was indeed changing. In fact, ever since this talisman was created in the Inner Void of the Heart, apart from the fundamental aspect of life and death inversion, its extended Rune Patterns were changing every moment. As the creator of this talisman, even Yu Ci found it difficult to grasp the details within.
However, this time, he would not let it slip by in a daze again. Instead, he would purify his Spirit Platform and observe carefully.
In general, the Life Death Talisman still followed his original Constructing Talisman approach - which was essentially a basic rule of all talismans in the world. That is, to take a key figure or text as the main body, use various patterns as the basic "fractal", and combine them to form a mysteriously wonderful "whole form".
"Fractals" can be considered as more fundamental mini talismans. The three major systems divided in the "Shangqing Star Secret Talisman Book", namely the Cloud Thunder Script, Dragon Phoenix Scripts, and Monster and Ghost Scripts, strictly speaking, refer to the spiritual effect differences of "fractals". A truly superior talisman must be able to integrate various different fractals, enabling them to transform each other, and produce an effect where one plus one is greater than two.
Now, he followed this train of thought, delving into the Life Death Talisman with his Heart-Mind, reading and deconstructing the Talisman.
Reading the Talisman, or extracting the "fractal" from the complex "composite form", was an essential skill in Talisman cultivation. This aspect had been missing from Yu Ci's practice for over a decade, only in recent months under the guidance of Old Master Zhu, did he officially begin to learn. Combined with his somewhat accomplished Talismanic Cultivation Level, he was now considered a proficient practitioner.
From his current perspective, when initially Forming Symbols, the Talismanic intent of the Life Death Talisman was without fault, but its structure was somewhat rough. After all, it was created in a burst of inspiration and passionate creation, some details were not quite right, and several points of combination could be reconsidered.
However, at this moment, looking at the Life Death Talisman, which now felt "unrecognizable", Yu Ci couldn't help but scratch his head. The Life Death Talisman had certainly become more complex, but correspondingly, its structural precision was better than in its initial state—much better!
Because it was adjusting. As if a divine hand was constantly tweaking it in the dark, even as Yu Ci observed carefully, there were several subtle changes in the direction of the Rune Patterns. These were not done haphazardly. From Yu Ci's perspective, because of this fine-tuning, a nearby Key point became more stable, which further involved several adjacent "fractal" structure combinations, making them more streamlined and rational.
This was... ineffably wonderful!
The mental image governed the physical image, and the physical image affected the mental image. The two influenced each other, and any change in one would cause a change in the other. The adjustment of the Life Death Talisman reflected this characteristic, and practitioners of the Primordial Root Qi Method were precisely utilizing the mutual honing of mental and physical images to achieve extraordinary cultivation effects.
However, upon closer inspection of the Life Death Talisman, its adjustments were always just right, exquisite to the extreme, several times in a row, without a single error. Yu Ci had a vague feeling that this might not be the final answer. After some thought, he shook his head, putting aside his intention to delve deeper. Today's time was limited, and he didn't know when Di Tianluo and the others would catch up. It was more worthwhile to focus on the Life Death Talisman itself.
At the moment, he calmed his thoughts and read the Talisman seriously, extracting each "fractal" and identifying their functions. Because he had a foundation in Constructing Talisman, even though the Life Death Talisman had undergone several detailed adjustments, he was still able to grasp its context, accelerating the extraction of "fractals" from familiar to unfamiliar.
In a sense, understanding the Life Death Talisman deeply was to understand himself deeply. Yu Ci had never thought that he would see so much information from a single Talisman. This relatively simple combination of over a hundred fractals covered the maintenance of basic life, the reaction drive of the body, the absorption and transformation of Primordial Qi, the flow and amplification of internal breath, the fluctuations of Divine Soul Power, and even the main structure of the external form of Qi of the Heavenly Dragon True Form. The state of the body and the state of the mind seemed to be displayed on the Talisman.
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What initially seemed like simple fractals could denote numerous new meanings, not to mention those parts that were inherently complex. Yu Ci had never anticipated this when Constructing Talisman, but the profound intricacies were all there, likely because these were the inherent rules of the Physical Spirit of humans, naturally manifested, requiring no human intervention.
Later, in Yu Ci's eyes, the "composite form" of the Life Death Talisman had become countless overlapping and accumulated "fractals", almost blinding him. Fortunately, he did not forget his original purpose, suppressing his Heart-Mind, focusing his attention on a few limited fractal combinations.
He wanted to understand the mysteries of the Aura coiling at the central point within the Dantian Organ.
As this thought became clearer, among Yu Ci's Heart-Mind contemplations, the remaining hundreds of fractal combinations gradually faded, revealing a Fractal Structure hidden deep within the "composite form". This Fractal Structure was connected to another structure adjacent to the core area of the Life Death Talisman.
The former looked like a bead, all Rune Patterns were in a state of convergence, encircling without distinction; the latter was like a ring, clinging to the core Talisman text of life and death transformation, circling around, with the "bead" hanging on it, rotating around.
Yu Ci stared blankly for a while, recognizing that the "ring" was indeed the important Fractal Structure for the Life Death Talisman to absorb External Primordial Qi and transform it into "Pseudo Primordial Qi". It constantly absorbs the Primordial Qi of heaven and earth, sends it to the core of life and death transformation, and once it circulates, what is drawn out is the extremely pure "Innate Qi", which then permeates the entire Talisman, penetrates the Key points, making the Talisman radiant. It can almost be said to be the power center of the entire Talisman operation, and apart from the core life and death transformation Talisman text, it is the most critical link.
The "bead" hanging on it is actually directly extracting "Pseudo Primordial Qi" to maintain its operation, while also connecting with other Fractal Structures, delivering a layer of transformed power to them.
That power is Sword Energy!
A flash of lightning crossed his mind, and Yu Ci made a bold decision in an instant. He withdrew his Heart-Mind from the Inner Void of the Heart, took out the Talisman Plate, thought for a moment, and then opened the basic thirty-six heavenly apertures on the periphery of the central inch of the Talisman Plate, chanting the Curse Sound.
The Curse Sound was rather peculiar. Although it originated from his mouth and nose, it seemed as though it was transmitted from a distant place. At the end of each syllable, there was a faint explosion. Yu Ci recited it extremely quickly, and these explosions linked together into a chain, sounding thirty-six times in succession. Each time it sounded, the thirty-six heavenly apertures in the Talisman Plate would spray out a stream of extremely pure Primordial Qi. After thirty-six streams of Primordial Qi were ejected, Yu Ci's face had turned pale, and his body's Primordial Qi was almost depleted.
The thirty-six streams of pure Primordial Qi gathered in a square inch of space, rubbing against each other, until they finally sensed each other and transformed into a ball of mercury-like light, which solidified into a tangible form and emanated from within.
Yu Ci took out a blank Jade Talisman. This Talisman was purified from the finest Kunlun jade and could accommodate powerful Talismans. It was specially prepared by the Sect's Mountain Gate for the disciples participating in the Sword Garden Grand Gathering.
He placed the blank Jade Talisman horizontally above the Talisman Plate. The ball of mercury-like light immediately began to roll violently, as if it was about to explode. However, the Jade Talisman also emitted a beam of white light, capturing it. Yu Ci chanted the Seal Formula again, shouted "Respond, Thunder!" and it seemed as if a low roar echoed in the cave. The mercury-like light rushed into the Jade Talisman, followed by a series of thunder lights, which imprinted dense Rune Patterns on the outer layer of the Jade Talisman, and a grand and vast pressure accumulated within.
However, the Jade Talisman was still unstable, trembling all the time, as if it wanted to explode. The intense pressure contained within it was connected to Yu Ci's Aura, making his Qi circulation unsmooth. If Yu Ci wanted to escape now, the newly formed Thunder Talisman would explode without hesitation, leaving no trace of him.
Yu Ci did not hesitate. In the center of his Dantian Organ, which was also unstable due to the disturbance of his Aura, the pure Sha energy that had just been formed not long ago collapsed again, transforming into a surging torrent, and poured into the Talisman Plate all at once. In a flash, it solidified into a "Seal" character, sprayed onto the Jade Talisman, all sounds stopped abruptly, and a purple-gold light circulated around the Talisman, as if it was tangible, and slowly subsided.
Yu Ci pursed his lips, although his face looked awful, his eyes were bright, like the morning star.
Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder... It's done!
The "Heavenly Flying Stars" Talisman taught by Old Master Zhu, with its thirty-six Talismans of the three types of God-slaying, Refining, and Praying for Disaster, is divided into four levels: nine luminaries, twelve Yuan Chen, twenty-eight constellations, and the number of Qi circulation stars, according to the number of key points. With Yu Ci's current strength, he can use twelve Yuan Chen with ease, but if he wants to use the twenty-eight constellations and the number of Qi circulation stars, he must rely on the Talisman Plate to cheat.
The Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder that Yu Ci had just solidified was one of the three most powerful thunder techniques in "Heavenly Flying Stars". It was a genuine Circulation of Qi, with thirty-six Key points. It was terrifyingly powerful, capable of backfiring at any moment. Only under the protection of Old Master Zhu and Sister Meng Wei's Patronus did Yu Ci manage to draw two talismans. One was used for testing, and the other was kept as his trump card, still sealed in his Storage Ring.
Now, he had drawn it again, an accomplishment of great significance! Although the cost was the complete Consumption of Vital Energy, even dispersing the Aura that had just gathered in the Dantian Organ, the release of this Upper Cave-True Starlight Sensing Divine Thunder had an incredible power, almost equivalent to having an extra life.
Ah, he mustn't digress. Yu Ci suppressed his excitement, pocketed the now purple-gold Jade Talisman, and slowly calmed his mind.
Although the Aura many believed to be the Sword Embryo had dissipated again, Yu Ci was hopeful. The Life Death Talisman would soon pour the transformed Primordial Qi into him, quickly replenishing Yu Ci, even to the point of overflowing, and then...
Perhaps it was only a moment, but it felt like a long time. In the center of the Dantian Organ, where Yu Ci's Heart-Mind was focused, a tiny Aura appeared like a newborn bud, slowly unfolding, finally reconnecting with other familiar Auras, undergoing a Transformation, and gathering scale.
At the same time, in the Inner Void of the Heart, a "bead" also shone brightly, golden and translucent, like a piece of colored glaze.
Yu Ci opened his mouth wide, laughing silently: "Indeed, this is not a 'bead', but a seed, a True Talisman Seed, a Seed True Talisman...how wonderful!"