Mediation of Creation

On the base, the two women on leave rarely had a chance to relax with Chen Qing, watching the flowing lights in the sky together, gathering honey together, and if the mood struck, sparring on the spot.

That day, the three lay on a hillside, gazing at the "shooting stars" flashing overhead.

"At first glance it was magnificent, but after a while, it's just that."

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

"The sages actually discussed this before. Just like in the Dao De Jing, where beauty and ugliness are debated—it's our subjective definition of ugliness that gives rise to beauty.

To quiet the mind is to let go of these definitions, to perceive the world purely like an infant, and to pursue the Great Dao.

There's no need to force understanding. Once you've seen it, the heart will leave its mark..."

Hearing Chen Qing's words, the two slowly closed their eyes. Perhaps they weren't as prone to sleep as ordinary people, or perhaps it was the satisfaction after battle, combined with the unique traits of the Origin Land, that finally plunged them into that state of quietude.

Chen Qing carefully shielded them, believing that with this insight, coupled with the ease of strengthening willpower, comprehending the essence of laws would become much simpler later on.

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

After these nine diagrams were inscribed into his soul, each had thirty-six relatively active points compared to other locations.

These points served as "gaps" for connecting with other Secret Pattern Diagrams, and the pattern of the gaps was identical, only differing in position.

What if, instead of connecting them, he simply aligned one "gap" over another?

With a flicker of thought, Chen Qing overlapped two Secret Pattern Diagrams within his world.

When one "gap" matched, each diagram had thirty-five windows.

Especially when he spotted a familiar figure among them, Chen Qing grew excited—it was one he had inadvertently noticed repeating many times before!

His body suddenly tensed, making both women frown. Chen Qing quickly relaxed, gently stroking their smooth backs.

"Close call!"

Chen Qing breathed a silent sigh of relief. If not for their mutual familiarity, that jolt would have definitely shattered their insights.

Seeing no abnormality in the two, Chen Qing resumed his new project. This division yielded over ninety thousand basic secret scripts.

And that wasn't the end. Substituting the scripts in, each script was interspersed with countless repeated or unique scripts.

All the scripts tallied together came to exactly 129,600, the number of a single cosmic cycle.

"Huh, you're both awake?"

Finishing that project, Chen Qing let out a long sigh. Opening his eyes, he found Jiang Fang and Yao Rao still in their previous positions, though their auras were gently fluctuating.

"We woke up a few months ago. Seeing you were comprehending something, we didn't disturb you, but it didn't hinder our analysis of the laws."

Jiang Fang explained softly. This time, comprehending the laws felt different from before—much easier, and her mood was noticeably lighter.

"A few months!"

Chen Qing's eyes widened. It seemed the vacation wasn't long enough. "Didn't Palace Master Biluo throw a fit?"

"Don't worry, we explained it to our teacher as soon as we woke up."

As Jiang Fang spoke, she pinched Chen Qing's soft flesh. It seemed something embarrassing had happened during that explanation!

"Little Qing, you seem really scared of the teacher?"

Yao Rao watched Chen Qing's exaggerated reaction and laughed lightly.

"You've got a record, kid. Don't try to hide it. Little me would love to see it happen, 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! Husband, save me..."

"Fear not, my lady. Your husband is here!"

The days of carefree fun passed quickly. To avoid arousing Palace Master Biluo's suspicion, they delayed a few days before returning to their usual routine.

Chen Qing went back to his cultivation chamber, his heart inevitably stirred with excitement. After all, the hardest part was starting, and now was the time to strive forward.

Listing the basic secret scripts was only the first step, like learning to read—he still had to understand the meanings of the words and the rules of their combinations.

The second and third layers of Creation were the instruction manuals for the secret scripts. Though each layer had only two Secret Pattern Diagrams, their complexity was dozens of times greater than the former.

With each added script or set of scripts, the artistic conception within shifted. Fortunately, the foundation lay in the nine basic diagrams;

otherwise, even in the Origin Land, Chen Qing would need hundreds of thousands or millions of years to sort these things out. Now, following the map to find the clues was tens of thousands of times simpler.

Through these combinations of secret techniques, some involved laws, some involved genes, many touched on the soul, and the most numerous seemed to involve strange transformations.

The Dao within was intoxicating. Sometimes, when comprehending a wondrous point, he would unconsciously carve the scripts into the floor.

Thus, in a daze, nearly a hundred years passed. Even mastering the essence of time-space laws didn't disrupt Chen Qing's rhythm.

The secret scripts of the first three layers of Creation were also comprehended. In terms of Creation scripts, Chen Qing had finally entered the door.

He stretched contentedly, but before his hands could lower, he suddenly noticed some peculiar metals around him.

"Spirit Butterfly, what's going on with the things around me?"

The originally smooth floor, though still as flat as before, was now a riot of colors—clearly not the same material at a glance.

"Master, after you inscribed the secret runes, the metal absorbed the origin energy and evolved over more than a decade! Based on composition analysis, the current database has no record. Strength is around F-grade. Purpose unknown, cause unknown!"

Not just unrecorded, but unknown—considering that after his authority was raised, especially knowing Chen Qing was in the secret realm, the intelligence could download an overwhelming amount of data.

Chen Qing dug out the mutated material, pinched it with his fingers, and clearly felt its hardness. He brought it close to his eyes to examine the inscribed patterns and found that most involved secret runes related to unknown changes.

"Truly amazing! These secret runes actually have such an effect."

This made Chen Qing involuntarily think of the foremost Daoist divine ability: Mediation of Creation, one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits. It was an art that encompassed the creation of all things and their inner mysteries. In some ways, it resembled the functions of the Primal Universe. No wonder the Primal Universe wanted him to stay here and cultivate properly.

Leaving other matters aside, didn't this mean he would never lack materials? No, not just that—if he designed a weapon first and then nurtured it with origin energy, wouldn't that yield the most suitable material?

Thinking of this, Chen Qing stood up excitedly. Adding these secret runes to equipment designs would not only make energy transmission smoother but also lower the threshold for use. Hmm, he could also select some auxiliary secret runes to enhance the power of ordinary ones...

Countless ideas flashed through his mind—models of treasures, structures, all drifting about.

"No, no, no!"

Chen Qing shook his head vigorously, feeling he was getting a bit too excited. Now was not yet the time for artifact forging. Still, he could start learning ordinary secret runes. Although he had already entered the gate of Creation Runes, his usage was still rigid. The two approaches could complement each other perfectly.

By familiarizing himself with the application of secret runes and figuring out the variations in their combinations, he could first leech off the Virtual Universe's resources to master ordinary secret runes. Meanwhile, he could practice Creation Runes in his inner world, so that when he cultivated the fourth layer, he would be even more adept!