Re-entering the East Sea

Within the Five Qi Grotto-Heaven, Gao Xian held the Azure Splendor Wheel in hand, using his divine sense to forge a close connection with the central restrictions of this Divine Artifact.

For the past thirty years, he had spent every day following Bai Yujing in refining the Grand Void Dream Dao Robe, with no energy to spare for anything else. Yet it was precisely those thirty years of experience refining Divine Artifacts that allowed him to truly understand the circulation of spiritual qi and the operation of mana from the level of runes and restrictions.

The central rune restrictions of a dharma artifact were like a phone chip—the more complex and advanced the central rune restrictions, the greater its performance, and the greater its consumption.

That was why high-grade Divine Artifacts were so troublesome to wield.

By the same principle, spells were essentially no different. One held talismans within the sea of consciousness through divine sense. So-called talismans were miniature chips formed from rune restrictions, creating a stable spell framework that transformed spiritual qi into a spell before releasing it.

The same was true of body-refining cultivators and sword cultivators. At their root, they all gathered spiritual qi through runes and transformed it into mana; only the paths and methods of transformation differed.

Runes were the deepest programming language of this world. Different combinations of runes could form different mana programs. Gather those rune programs within a dharma artifact, and they became its central core.

Having gained an initial understanding of the most fundamental rules of heaven and earth, Gao Xian had acquired an entirely new understanding of spells, the sword Dao, and cultivation.

As for the four fundamental secret arts—the Great Five Elements Divine Light, Wuji Yin-Yang Sword Scripture, Blood River Celestial Venerable Transformation Origin Book, and Great Net