"Ancestor Sui, you flatter me. As a member of the Human Race, contributing to the Human Race is only right, whether I receive anything in return or not."
Jiang Yuan said earnestly. He had never disappointed anyone in his attitude.
"It's good that you feel that way, but merit must be rewarded and wrongdoing punished. That is the rule of the Human Race, and the key to its lasting prosperity. It must never be broken."
Ancestor Sui spoke very seriously. Jiang Yuan could think that way, but he couldn't act on it. If merit went unrewarded, then over time, who among the clansmen would still be willing to contribute to the Human Race?
"Yes. Yuan will remember."
Knowing Ancestor Sui was teaching him, Jiang Yuan promptly showed that he had taken the lesson to heart.
Seeing this, Ancestor Sui first smiled in satisfaction, then joined Jiang Yuan in establishing standards for creating characters.
With standards in place, they could draw on the wisdom of the clansmen to create a large number of characters in a short time, put them to use as soon as possible, and benefit the entire Human Race.
Ancestor Sui possessed great wisdom, and Jiang Yuan had a cheat. So, through their combined efforts, creating characters wasn't difficult. They soon established a set of standards.
Following these standards, the first character they created was "person," meaning "person." The second was "Dao," meaning "Dao." After that came "heaven" and "earth," for "heaven" and "earth," then "sun," "moon," "star," and "constellations," for "sun," "moon," "star," and "constellations," followed by "mountain," "river," "grass," and "tree," for "mountain," "river," "grass," and "tree"...
In one go, the two created 108 commonly used characters, all of them written on the ground with a branch.
The instant they stopped, the heavens and earth suddenly changed color. Torrential rain poured down, and the wails of ghosts and gods echoed all around them.
They had revealed the secrets of Heaven!
Writing carried the Dao. The characters the two had created held no power, but precisely because of that, the threshold for learning them was extremely low.
Anyone with intelligence could use them fluently. Unlike the Acquired Divine Scripts, such as Demon Script and Dragon Script, they didn't require a certain level of cultivation to learn.
Such a low threshold meant that most living beings in the Primordial World could use them to develop their intelligence, learn to think, and come to understand all kinds of principles, giving rise to civilizations of every kind.
What else could this be but revealing the secrets of Heaven?
The Heavenly Dao sensed what had happened and sent down these signs to destroy the characters that had revealed its secrets.
But before the rain could fall—and before Ancestor Sui could step in to stop it—strands of brilliant golden light gathered high in the sky, scattering all the strange phenomena.
Golden merit light!
This was merit for teaching and transforming living beings!
Although the Pictographic Script's appearance had revealed the secrets of Heaven, it had also served to teach and transform all living beings. Clearly, the price of revealing Heaven's secrets couldn't compare with the merit of teaching and transforming them.
So Jiang Yuan and Ancestor Sui had committed no transgression by creating characters. On the contrary, they had earned merit.
"Creating characters earns merit?"
Ancestor Sui was surprised. Jiang Yuan, meanwhile, thought the whole thing was ridiculous. He'd just said that novels couldn't be trusted and that earning merit in the Primordial World was difficult. Yet in the blink of an eye, he'd gotten himself a share of merit. That was one fast slap in the face.
The merit for creating characters wasn't much, and it was divided into four shares. Jiang Yuan and Ancestor Sui each received one.
The remaining two shares merged with the branch used to write the characters and the characters on the ground, respectively, transforming into two low-grade Acquired Merit Spirit Treasures: the Writing Brush of Creation and the Book of Creation.
Treasures in the Primordial World generally fell into four categories: Acquired Spiritual Treasures, Acquired Supreme Treasures, Innate Spiritual Treasures, and Innate Supreme Treasures. Each category was divided into four grades: supreme, high, middle, and low.
Acquired Spiritual Treasures were the weakest, while Innate Supreme Treasures were the strongest. As for Acquired Supreme Treasures, their power was on par with Innate Spiritual Treasures.
The difference was that Innate Spiritual Treasures were unique and imperishable. Even if shattered, they could slowly recover with the passage of time.
Acquired Supreme Treasures, on the other hand, weren't unique; several could exist at once. And once shattered, they were shattered for good. They could only be reforged, not heal themselves.
"Creating characters was your idea. These two Merit Spirit Treasures should rightfully belong to you." Ancestor Sui glanced at the Writing Brush of Creation and the Book of Creation as he spoke.
Hearing this, Jiang Yuan instinctively wanted to refuse. But before he could speak, Ancestor Sui continued, "Don't assume they're weak just because they're only low-grade Merit Spirit Treasures."
"That's only temporary. Every time we create another character in the future, you, I, and these treasures will each receive a share of merit for creating characters."
"Besides, whenever someone in the Primordial World is influenced by this Pictographic Script, you, I, and these treasures will each receive a share of merit for teaching and transforming living beings."
"By that reckoning, both treasures have a chance to become Acquired Merit Supreme Treasures in the future. They're hardly weak."
At those words, Jiang Yuan was dumbfounded. He'd thought this was a one-time deal, but it turned out to be only the beginning, with a steady stream of benefits still to come.
He knew all too well the influence and staying power of pictographic characters. They had already become part of Human Race civilization and could coexist with the Human Race.
By that reckoning, this merit was far too great—almost inexhaustible.
"If the Human Race flourishes in the future and becomes the protagonist of Heaven and Earth, wouldn't the merit from this alone be enough to push me into the Quasi-Saint Realm?"
It took Jiang Yuan quite a while to recover. The Quasi-Saint Dao Fruit, something people dreamed of, had just been reserved for him in advance so easily?
"Sure enough, young people dare to dream and act. I'd be satisfied if the Human Race could rank among the Primordial World's top fifty. Replacing the Wu-Yao races and becoming the new protagonist of Heaven and Earth is something I wouldn't even dare dream of."
Ancestor Sui was stunned too. He thought Jiang Yuan was really reaching. The Wu-Yao races were so powerful—what could the Human Race possibly use to replace them? Their words?
"Where there's a will, there's a way!"
"I have confidence in the Human Race!"
When it came to confidence, Jiang Yuan certainly had more than Ancestor Sui. He had come from the future and knew all too well how powerful the Human Race would become.
The Wu-Yao races?
They were history!
"I hope so!"
Ancestor Sui sighed, taking it as a young man not knowing the height of Heaven or the depth of Earth.
Jiang Yuan had never even left Human Race territory. How could he know how powerful the Wu-Yao races were? If he did, he wouldn't think that way.
The two races had grown truly invincible. Other races couldn't even approach them, let alone stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
Seeing Ancestor Sui's reaction, Jiang Yuan didn't argue.
It was only natural for Ancestor Sui to think that way. Judging by the Human Race's current showing, if Jiang Yuan hadn't come from a later age, he wouldn't have believed the Human Race could one day replace the Wu-Yao races and become the eternal protagonist of Heaven and Earth either.
It was like asking who, in the 1970s or '80s, would have believed that China could catch up with Europe and America economically in just a few decades?
Once the standards for creating characters had been established, Jiang Yuan no longer needed to handle the rest. Ancestor Sui would take care of everything. So Jiang Yuan returned to the Sacred Temple with his two newly acquired Merit Spirit Treasures, ready to go into seclusion and break through.
The merit he had just gained from creating characters was said to be modest, but that was by Ancestor Sui's standards. For a cultivator like Jiang Yuan, who had only just entered the Pre-Heaven Realm, it was still quite a lot.
If he didn't care about combat strength, this merit alone could take him straight to the Heavenly Immortal level.
But while that wouldn't prevent him from continuing to progress, his combat strength would drop to an ordinary level, and he would no longer be invincible among those of the same realm.
Jiang Yuan certainly couldn't accept that outcome. So unless absolutely necessary, he would never use merit to increase his cultivation directly. He would only use it to support his cultivation, just as he was doing now.