Poem of Illusion

"All right. In three days, you'll enter the Spirit Ascension Platform. You're on break for the next three days, so you can relax, but make sure you're prepared as well." Wu Changkong turned and left after saying that.

Gu Yuena patted An Ping on the shoulder. "An Ping, three whole days off. What are you planning to do?"

An Ping shook his head. "Study hard and make progress every day."

"Hm?" Gu Yuena tilted her head at him.

"There's nothing in particular I want to do. I'll probably just read some books or something."

Gu Yuena said, "How about we go out and have some fun together?"

"Go out and have fun? What's fun about that?" An Ping shook his head.

At that moment, Xie Xie pulled Tang Wulin over. "Going out to have fun? Count us in."

Wang Jinxi also came over. "Going out? To do what? Take us with you. I'll pay."

Xie Xie said, "Then it can be considered."

Gu Yuena rolled her eyes at him. "Who wants to go with you guys? If you want to have fun, go by yourselves."

Tang Wulin said, "I think we should prepare properly over these three days. I won't be going out to play. I'm planning to visit the Blacksmith Association and hone my skills some more."

Xie Xie muttered, "What can you possibly hone in three days?"

Tang Wulin said, "No matter what, for the academy to let us enter the Spirit Ascension Platform once every week, and even give us a chance to strive for the Riot Period Spirit Ascension Platform, they must have paid an enormous price. I think the academy wants us to evolve our first Spirit Soul to the thousand-year level by the time we graduate. We should seize this opportunity."

Xie Xie swallowed. "That really might be it. If that's true, we need to cherish every chance we get to enter the Spirit Ascension Platform. I'm going to cultivate too."

Gu Yuena said nothing and pulled An Ping away. Watching the two leave, Xie Xie muttered softly, "Could they be dating?"

Tang Wulin gently shook his head. "Why do you care so much?"

After several months, Tang Wulin had also noticed that everyone's relationships had become much better than before. Since cultivating with Wang Jinxi had a mutually beneficial effect, he and Wang Jinxi had grown much closer. Wang Jinxi was closest to Zhang Yangzi, while he himself was closest to Xie Xie.

Only Gu Yuena and An Ping, though they cooperated reasonably well in both their usual training and the trials in the Spirit Ascension Platform, maintained an inexplicable sense of distance from everyone.

After returning to his dorm, An Ping lay on his bed and entered the Spiritual Library. Ever since advancing to a Level 1 Wizard, another portion of the library had opened up, mainly containing the construction and analysis of various Level One Spells.

After several months of study, An Ping had come to understand that most Level One Spells were advanced versions of Tricks, making them fairly easy for him to learn.

An Ping was not looking for books about spells. He was searching through various Alchemy Handbooks to see whether he could find a method for creating an Alchemy Tool that could shield him from the Planetary Will.

On the day he advanced to a wizard, the cover of Sky of Truth had gained the image of a bell tower, and a simple bell tower tattoo had appeared on the back of his right hand. More importantly, he had sensed a faint yet persistent feeling of being watched. He had read in a Shaman's Handbook that this was supposed to be a gift from the World Will.

Knowing that the Planetary Will was Tang Hao, An Ping had been trying to find a way to shield himself from it. What he had not realized, however, was that the World Will mentioned in the handbook was not the Planetary Will, but the Great Cosmic Will.

Although An Ping felt that he had no conflict with Tang Hao, that did not mean he enjoyed being watched from time to time.

After several months of research, An Ping had formed a general idea. To investigate a person was, fundamentally, to obtain information. Whether it was mental power, souls, energy, or even fate, all could be categorized as information. Therefore, the key was to alter one's aura. Shielding it outright would create a blank region, like a light source in the darkness, blatantly announcing that something was wrong.

The Poem of Illusion Rune Array was a Rune Array that distorted perception. The more the other party wanted to discover certain information, the more severely their perception would be twisted. The more they felt something was wrong, the less they would notice the problem. It was said to have been created by wizards who enjoyed invading planes, specifically to counter the investigations of Small Plane Wills and powerful beings from those planes.

Taking out the materials he needed, An Ping carefully processed each one before retrieving a feather pen and preparing to inscribe the runes.

As the final corner of the Rune Array was completed, an eerie fluctuation spread out, followed by cracking sounds. An Ping saw the cracks spreading across the crystal in his hand.

Then, with a bang, the crystal shattered and exploded into fragments. Fortunately, the rune he had inscribed was not offensive, so its power was limited. Moreover, An Ping had placed multiple layers of Magic Barriers around himself beforehand. In the end, only a series of marks were left on the table.

"An Ping, what happened?" Gu Yuena's voice came from behind him. Hearing the crystal explode, she had flashed directly into An Ping's room.

Startled by the sudden voice, the somewhat dejected An Ping abruptly turned around. "It's you. It's nothing. I was preparing a little tool just now, but I accidentally blew it up."

"What kind of little tool?" She came closer as she spoke and happened to see the shattered crystal scattered across An Ping's desk.

"Nothing much. An auxiliary tool. Maybe the material wasn't good enough." An Ping shook his head slightly.

Gu Yuena asked curiously, "Are you making tools for yourself to use?"

"Yeah." An Ping nodded.

"As for materials, wait here." With that, she vanished from An Ping's room.

After watching Gu Yuena leave, An Ping used a Cleansing Technique to sweep the crystal fragments into the trash bin and began considering what material would be suitable. Mithril was not appropriate for bearing this kind of Rune Array, and other metals were even less suitable. As for top-grade crystals, he could not afford them.

"You're still thinking? See if this works."

Gu Yuena suddenly appeared behind An Ping and handed him a silver gemstone. Within it flickered faint Seven-colored Light.

Taking the gemstone Gu Yuena offered, An Ping used a spell to analyze its composition. The result showed that it was extremely hard and contained life energy.

Watching An Ping turn it over and over without knowing what he was doing, Gu Yuena nudged his shoulder. "Will it work?"

"It can work, but this looks very valuable. I don't have the money for it." An Ping tilted his head toward Gu Yuena beside him.

Gu Yuena said irritably, "All you think about is money, money, money. Why are you acting like Tang Wulin? Just take it when I give it to you. Consider it thanks for the tool you gave me."

"All right. Thanks. If you need anything related to Soul Tools in the future, come find me. As long as you provide the materials, I'll make it for you." An Ping nodded as he spoke.

With the material in hand, An Ping began mixing magical ink without caring that Gu Yuena was still beside him. Once the ink was ready, he dipped the feather pen into it and carefully began inscribing the Rune Array.

As the final stroke was completed, a faint fluctuation appeared. Sure enough, it did not shatter as it had before. The bright red ink slowly seeped into the silver gemstone, until only faintly visible lines remained, lending it an air of mystery.

At the same time, an identical fluctuation flashed across Gu Yuena's body and vanished. One was focused on inscribing, the other on watching, and neither of them noticed it.