The Difficulty of Spiritual Materials

The method of imprinting meridians with one's own essence blood was not suitable for all meridians. Essence blood simply could not enter many of them, and most of those it could enter were extremely fragile. Forcing the issue would be no different from self-mutilation.

Working backward from that, he could determine that the Silver Runes hidden within the few meridians imprinted by the Blood Burning Totem were surely related to the path of blood.

Luo Hong noted this down for the time being. It might prove useful someday if he researched subjects related to the path of blood.

"As for me, since I know the secrets of Silver Runes, I can skip the imprinting step altogether as long as I thoroughly understand the Silver Runes in the chosen meridian circuit. I can directly draw Spirit Patterns onto the surface of my body.

"This process is essentially no different from talisman crafting, only somewhat more complicated.

"The greatest advantage of using essence blood as the material is that I needn't labor to create a connection between myself and the Spirit Patterns—that is, the logistics channel between the main factory and its branch factories. Since it is my own blood, the channel naturally already exists.

"However, this is not especially important, because the Cultivation World has a widely circulated secret art—the Blood Refining Technique—which can forcibly establish a connection between a Cultivator and certain spiritual objects.

"The great sword Old Demon Han obtained during the Blood Seal Trial, the one infused with Silver Essence, was refined using the Blood Refining Technique.

"So there is a very broad range of choices for the material used to draw the Spirit Patterns. If I choose well, it will greatly improve the effectiveness of the totem secret art I ultimately create."

Yet he had still reached this point: the hurdle that nearly all research results had to overcome when moving from theory to practice.

Materials!

To find suitable Spirit Pattern materials, he first had to know what requirements they needed to meet.

First, since such materials were similar to talisman ink used in talisman crafting, they had to possess good Magic Power and Spiritual Qi conductivity.

Since Magic Power was another manifestation of Spiritual Qi and the two often shared many physical properties, Luo Hong considered only Magic Power conductivity here, as it was easier to observe.

Magic Power conductivity was a new term Luo Hong had coined during talisman crafting. It reflected the degree of obstruction Magic Power encountered while flowing through a spiritual object. The higher the value, the less obstruction it faced.

Conceptually, it was somewhat like the relationship between electricity and electrical resistance, but in reality the differences were enormous. Magic Power was not electricity.

For instance, cinnabar had a Magic Power conductivity of less than roughly two. That was why the inferior talismans Luo Hong made, which contained only two units of Magic Power, activated after a brief instant of delay.

If more Magic Power was used, the delay would increase accordingly, but the Magic Power itself would not be depleted as a result.

If it were electricity and electrical resistance instead, part of the electrical energy would certainly be converted into heat.

The Magic Power conductivity required of a Spirit Pattern material did not need to be especially high. It merely had to reach the maximum Magic Power output of the imprinted meridians. Of course, leaving room for overload would be even better.

Materials meeting this condition were actually Not Difficult to find. Those high-grade Demon Blood talisman inks all possessed high Magic Power conductivity. As Long As he had enough Spirit Stones, obtaining them would not be difficult.

However, the other requirement for Spirit Pattern materials was far less common.

Since Luo Hong wanted to use Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in place of blood qi as the raw material for the totem Spirit Pattern factory, the Spirit Pattern material had to possess a certain ability to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The greatest difference between the meridians imprinted by totem Spirit Patterns and real meridians was that one was two-dimensional, while the other was three-dimensional.

Three-dimensional meridians possessed Internal Spirit Pressure. Once the Spiritual Qi within them was converted and absorbed, external Spiritual Qi would automatically flow in to replenish it.

Two-dimensional totem Spirit Patterns could not do this, so they had to be capable of attracting Spiritual Qi themselves.

Simultaneously meeting these two conditions would not be easy. Luo Hong decided that before heading to Yellow Maple Valley, he would make another trip to the market and purchase some spiritual materials to bring back for experiments.

Although he had no spiritual materials at present, Luo Hong was not without work to do. He Also had to study the Silver Runes in the meridians he had selected for imprinting.

That was right—Luo Hong had already chosen the meridian circuit to be imprinted in the first phase of the project.

The choice had been simple. Since he intended to convert Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, there was no better option than the meridians used by a basic cultivation technique.

The basic cultivation technique Luo Hong practiced was merely the most ordinary Minor Water Origin Technique. Other than being a Water Element Cultivation Method, it was no different from the Evergreen Technique.

The meridians it circulated through were all major meridians throughout the body, without a single minor branch meridian. Though simple, they included the limbs, torso, and head within one complete Cycle. Switching to any cultivation technique in the future would not affect them.

By the same reasoning, using this meridian circuit as the first phase of an external meridian circulation system would greatly facilitate later modifications and ensure the secret art's potential for growth.

Moreover, this was a choice based on Luo Hong's own abilities.

Silver Runes were obscure and difficult to understand. Hidden within the meridians, they would not appear at all unless they encountered Magic Power. Even Luo Hong could not comprehend all the Silver Runes in an entire meridian circuit within a short time.

By selecting the meridians used by a basic cultivation technique, he could cultivate and study them at the same time, greatly reducing the time cost.

Thus, Luo Hong studied Silver Runes while meditating and cultivating, unaware of time passing. In the blink of an eye, it was dawn the next day.

"Quick, brothers! Check all your gear! We've got to succeed This Time!"

Awakened by the clatter of spears, staves, and blades striking together, Luo Hong thought bandits had come to pillage again. To his surprise, when he opened his eyes, he saw Zhao Shithead and the other mountain villagers instead.

Zhao Shithead and the surrounding villagers were all dressed in hunting gear, carrying dry rations and water skins. They were clearly preparing to enter the mountains to hunt.

"The immortals who saved our whole village are staying at the village chief's house right now. We want to repay them, so this time we must hunt a Dan Zhu and take its pearl to brew immortal wine for them. If we're afraid of death, we'll never enjoy immortal blessings. Let's go!"

"Let's go! Brew immortal wine, enjoy immortal blessings!"

"Immortal blessings! Immortal blessings!"

Led by Zhao Shithead, the mountain villagers were fired up, eager to spill their blood for Luo Hong and the others at once.

Watching from the side, Luo Hong felt somewhat uncomfortable. Cultivation was science, sure, but the immortal blessings in these villagers' mouths were nothing more than vague superstition.

The old man had said that hunting Dan Zhu was extremely dangerous. Luo Hong did not want to see anyone lose their life because of superstitious beliefs.

"As for hunting Dan Zhu, I will go myself. You need not follow."

Luo Hong's sudden appearance startled the villagers. Once they recovered, they all dropped to their knees with mournful faces.

"High Immortal, please give us a chance to repay your kindness!"

"Get up. You have no Immortal Destiny. Forcing the matter will only harm yourselves. Live your lives in peace."

Luo Hong deliberately spoke harshly to extinguish their unrealistic hopes. With a sweep of his sleeve, he used surging Magic Power to lift them to their feet.

Then, without giving them a chance to plead further, he mounted the Green Leaf Magic Tool and flew toward Demon Spider Peak.

The pearl produced by a Dan Zhu was also a type of spiritual material. It was indeed excellent for brewing Spirit Wine. Since he had encountered the opportunity, Luo Hong did not wish to let it pass.

How exactly does Magic Power propagate? Is it a wave, a particle, or something else? I need to think carefully about this.