Mediation of Creation

At the base, the two women were on leave and had a rare chance to relax with Chen Qing. They watched the streaks of light across the sky together and gathered honey together. When the mood struck, they would even spar right where they stood.

One day, the three of them lay on a hillside, watching the "meteors" streak overhead.

"At first, they seem magnificent. But after a while, they're nothing special!"

Yao Rao lay on Chen Qing's left arm like a kitten, her lazy voice drifting out like a murmur in a dream.

"The ancient sages actually discussed this. Take the discussion of beauty and ugliness in the Dao De Jing: we define ugliness subjectively, and only then does beauty exist.

"Stillness means letting go of those definitions and experiencing the world with the same innocence as an infant, in pursuit of the Great Dao.

"There's no need to force yourself to understand. Once you've seen something, it will leave its mark on your heart..."

After hearing Chen Qing's words, the two slowly closed their eyes. Perhaps they didn't fall asleep as easily as ordinary people, or perhaps they were content after their battle.

Combined with the unique properties of the Origin Land, they finally entered that state of stillness.

Chen Qing carefully looked after them. With this insight, and their tendency to improve their wills easily, grasping the Law Essences later on should be much simpler.

But speaking of relativity, Chen Qing couldn't help thinking of the Nine Secret Pattern Diagrams.

Once these nine diagrams had been inscribed in his soul, each had thirty-six relatively active spots compared to other areas.

These spots were "openings" that could connect to other Secret Pattern Diagrams. The openings all had the same pattern; only their positions differed.

What if he didn't connect them, but simply aligned and overlapped the diagrams at one "opening"?

At a thought from Chen Qing, two Secret Pattern Diagrams in his world overlapped.

When one of the "openings" lined up, each diagram had thirty-five windows.

When he saw one familiar figure among them, Chen Qing grew excited. It was one he had inadvertently noticed appearing repeatedly before!

His body suddenly tensed, making both women furrow their brows. Chen Qing quickly relaxed and gently stroked their smooth backs.

"That was close!"

Chen Qing secretly let out a breath. If the three of them hadn't known each other so well, that sudden movement would definitely have broken their concentration.

Seeing that nothing seemed amiss, Chen Qing began a new undertaking. This division produced more than ninety thousand basic secret scripts.

And that wasn't all. Once he added the secret scripts, countless more appeared between each one, some repeated and some not.

When he gathered all the secret scripts together, there were exactly 129,600—the number in one yuanhui.

"Phew, you're both awake?"

After finishing this undertaking, Chen Qing let out a long breath of relief. When he opened his eyes, he saw Jiang Fang and Yao Rao still in their previous positions, though their breathing had begun to fluctuate slightly.

"We woke up months ago. We saw you were comprehending something, so we didn't disturb you. It hasn't delayed our analysis of the laws, though."

Jiang Fang quietly explained. This time, comprehending the laws felt different from before. It was much easier, and they felt more relaxed, too.

"Months?!"

Chen Qing's eyes widened. Surely their vacation wasn't that long. "Palace Master Biluo didn't blow up?"

"Don't worry. As soon as we woke up, we told our teacher."

As Jiang Fang spoke, she pinched Chen Qing's side. Judging by her expression, something embarrassing must have happened when they explained.

"Young Chen, you seem pretty afraid of your teacher?"

Yao Rao watched Chen Qing put on an act and laughed merrily.

"You've got a history, young man. Don't try to hide it. This young lady would be delighted to see how it plays out. Hehehe..."

Before Yao Rao could finish, Jiang Fang's hand was already reaching for her.

"I'll teach you to run your mouth!"

"I'll stop, I'll stop! Darling, save me..."

"Fear not, my dear. I'm coming!"

Their wild time together soon passed. To keep Palace Master Biluo from getting suspicious, they took a few days off, then returned to their usual routine.

Back in the cultivation room, Chen Qing couldn't help feeling excited. After all, every beginning was difficult, and now was the time to push himself to the limit.

Listing the basic secret scripts was only the first step. It was like learning to recognize characters; he still had to learn what they meant and how they were combined.

The second and third layers of Creation were instruction manuals for using the secret scripts. Although each layer contained only one Secret Pattern Diagram, both were dozens of times more complex than the first.

Whenever one or several secret scripts were added, the meaning within them changed. Fortunately, he could start with the nine basic diagrams.

Otherwise, even in the Origin Land, Chen Qing would have needed hundreds of thousands of years to sort all this out. Following the diagrams made it tens of thousands of times easier.

Some of the combinations in these secret arts involved laws, some involved genes, and quite a few even involved the soul. Most seemed to involve strange transformations.

The Dao within them was intoxicating. Sometimes, when he grasped something wondrous, he would unconsciously inscribe secret scripts on the floor.

Nearly a hundred years passed in a daze. Even after he had fully mastered the essence of the Space-Time Law, Chen Qing's pace remained unchanged.

He had also comprehended the secret scripts in the first three layers of Creation. At last, he could consider himself initiated into the Creation Secret Script.

He stretched with satisfaction. Before he could lower his arms, he noticed some strange metal around him.

"Spirit Butterfly, what happened to the things around me?"

The floor was still as smooth as before, but its color was dazzlingly varied. Anyone could tell at a glance that it wasn't all the same material.

"Master, after you inscribed the secret scripts, the metal absorbed the origin energy and evolved over the course of more than a decade!

"Analysis of its composition shows no record in the current database. Its strength is approximately F-class. Its use is unknown, and the cause is unclear!"

If it wasn't "no record," then it was "unknown." Now that his clearance had been raised, and especially since they knew Chen Qing was in the secret realm, the data the intelligence could download was practically limitless.

Chen Qing dug out some of the mutated material and squeezed it between his fingers, clearly feeling its hardness.

He brought it close to examine the patterns inscribed on it and found that most involved secret scripts for unknown transformations.

"How amazing! These secret scripts actually have such an effect."

This reminded Chen Qing of the foremost of the Daoist divine abilities: Mediation of Creation. It was one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits.

It created all things and fully revealed their mysteries. In some respects, it was similar to the function of the Primal Universe. No wonder the Primal Universe had wanted him to stay here and cultivate properly.

Setting everything else aside, didn't this mean he'd never lack materials?

No, that wasn't quite it. What if he designed his weapons first, then nurtured them with origin energy? Wouldn't that give him the ideal materials?

At the thought, Chen Qing jumped to his feet in excitement. Adding these secret scripts to his equipment designs would not only make energy transmission smoother, but also lower the requirements for using them.

Hmm, he could also choose some auxiliary secret scripts to increase the power of ordinary secret scripts...

Countless ideas flashed through his mind as models of magical treasures and buildings swirled around him.

"I can't, I can't!"

Chen Qing shook his head vigorously, feeling a little too excited. It wasn't time to craft weapons yet.

But he could still study ordinary secret scripts. Although he had gained an initial grasp of Creation Secret Scripts, he was still rather rigid in using them. The two approaches could complement each other.

He could familiarize himself with how secret scripts were used and figure out how their combinations changed. First, he could milk the Virtual Universe for everything it was worth and master ordinary secret scripts, too.

He could also practice Creation Secret Scripts in his Internal World. That way, when he cultivated the fourth layer, he would be much more adept!