Anomaly

Zhou Qing pondered for a while and realized this problem would not be easy to solve.

Most spiritual energy fluctuations had very strong penetrative power. They were unlike ultrasonic waves, which bounced back upon encountering an obstacle. Instead, they passed straight through objects and continued propagating forward.

Unless he gave them a property sensitive to a special aura, like the paper crane he had just made.

But that would not meet his needs.

To achieve the goal of probing with spiritual energy waves, he would likely need to find a suitable frequency band. He might even need to combine two or more types of waves into a composite wave.

This would be an extremely time-consuming task.

Fortunately, he had no urgent need for such a method at present. He might as well treat it as a test question in his study and application of arrays.

When he passed this test question someday, it would mean that he had truly found his way into the path of arrays.

Zhou Qing continually considered the properties of the runes in Array Symbol Basics, thinking about which runes or combinations of runes could meet his needs.

Time slipped away without him noticing.

By the time he slightly pulled himself free from his thoughts on arrays, night had already fallen.

Zhou Qing was suddenly startled.

His afternoon schedule had been Silent Sitting, Clear Mind. How had he spent the entire afternoon thinking about arrays?

Zhou Qing gained a deeper understanding of how esoteric arts could draw people in and leave them obsessed.

For those who enjoyed rational thought, the thrill of solving problems was truly addictive. And these problems were difficult enough that even the slightest, most negligible progress required an enormous amount of time.

If one did not know restraint and plunged in headfirst, it truly could easily affect one's cultivation.

Zhou Qing sat down cross-legged and examined the state of his mind.

Sure enough, he found many highly active thoughts within it. Each one was like a hungry Starving Ghoul, insatiably urging him to throw himself back into researching arrays.

The thought of seeking immortality still stood proudly erect.

For the moment, those tiny thoughts could not shake this primary thought. But if he let them run unchecked, an accident could easily occur over time.

Those secondary thoughts were like weeds. If they were not cleared away in time and allowed to spread among the rooms, they would eventually leave the space within utterly desolate.

Zhou Qing immersed his mind in the thought of seeking immortality.

Perhaps sensing the cold neglect of the main consciousness, those secondary thoughts finally began to settle down.

Zhou Qing sat quietly for an hour before he finally felt his thoughts become clear and resolute once more.

Silent Sitting, Clear Mind truly was a beneficial cultivation practice.

For some reason, the Azure Cloud Sect had not promoted it among all disciples. According to Uncle Chen, this practice still needed improvement. Zhou Qing simply did not know what its imperfections were in the eyes of the sect elders.

Because meditation had delayed him somewhat, his time for circulating qi naturally had to be pushed back in turn.

By the time he finished three hours of qi circulation, it was already past midnight.

Zhou Qing took out Array Symbol Basics and began silently reciting the runes inside.

Runes were the foundational elements of arrays. Only by knowing them inside out could one use them with ease. This was solid, hard-earned skill, not something that tricks could replace.

Zhou Qing did not seek speed. He stopped after memorizing only a hundred runes. He repeatedly reviewed the runes he had already learned, ensuring that they became part of his instincts and could immediately surface in his consciousness whenever he needed them.

As he reviewed them, he also considered the properties of different runes—which runes could be combined, which could not, and what effects their combinations might produce.

Before he knew it, dawn had arrived.

Having learned his lesson from yesterday, Zhou Qing did not greedily pursue more. He casually set the book down and went outside for a leisurely walk.

After strolling through the bamboo grove beneath the morning sunlight for a while, fellow disciples from his cohort began arriving at his home one after another.

Yuan Hongying had already passed on the news. The disciples each plucked out a few strands of hair, wrapped them in paper, and sent them to him. Their names were written on the paper to keep him from mixing them up.

Wei Kuang, Wei Xu, Wang Xiaohu, and Feng Yuan arrived together.

Having heard that Zhou Qing had made his own Paper Crane Messaging, they all wanted to see it for themselves.

Zhou Qing returned to his room, ground cinnabar before them, and drew an array onto kraft paper.

Because it was the simplest, lowest-level array, there was no difficulty in drawing it.

Wei Kuang watched with clicking admiration. "The Esoteric Division has Paper Crane Messaging too. I saw them draw arrays before, and theirs seemed completely different from yours, Senior Apprentice."

Zhou Qing asked curiously, "So such a thing already exists?"

"Of course," Wei Kuang said. "This is standard equipment for Senior Apprentices. Fang Yuhe and Liu Bingxuan, for instance—the paper cranes they use to contact other disciples are all collected from the Esoteric Division. I was wondering why you wanted to invent one yourself, Senior Apprentice."

Zhou Qing laughed. "Why didn't you say so earlier? If I'd known, why would I have gone to such needless trouble?"

Wei Kuang said apologetically, "It didn't occur to me at the time."

Wei Kuang could not really be blamed for being careless. For dozens of generations, the Senior Apprentices of the Azure Cloud Sect had all been sect-born disciples like Wei Kuang. They knew the sect's affairs inside and out, and to them, this was self-evident common knowledge.

Zhou Qing waved a hand, signaling that he need not dwell on it.

His invention of Paper Crane Messaging certainly had practical purposes, but it also came from the itch in his hands after learning arrays. Even without this matter, he would likely have found an opportunity to invent something else.

Zhou Qing asked, "What principle does the Esoteric Division's Paper Crane Messaging use?"

Wei Kuang replied, "I hear they use an array to record a specific route, allowing the paper crane to reach its destination accurately."

Zhou Qing nodded, thinking that the path of arrays truly changed in a thousand ways. Even for the same purpose, there could be countless different paths.

The key was to have inspiration, to possess an unconventional way of solving a problem.

Wei Kuang and the others lingered at Zhou Qing's home for a while before taking their leave together.

After seeing Wei Kuang and the others off, Zhou Qing waited for the rest of his junior brothers and sisters to arrive while continuously oscillating the magnetic field in the space before him.

The frequency at which he oscillated the magnetic field was growing faster and faster. Within a single breath, it changed dozens, nearly a hundred times. As the magnetic field oscillated, a vortex electric field formed in the space before him.

Though it still could not produce any effect, Zhou Qing found enjoyment in it nonetheless.

Around noon, Zhou Qing was about to rest briefly before beginning his meditation when Nie Yunxi suddenly appeared at the door.

Zhou Qing smiled. "It has been some time since we last met. How have you been lately, Junior Sister?"

Nie Yunxi seemed distracted. "Senior Apprentice, some time ago, you made a token for each of us to draw lots and assign tasks. I would like to ask you to remove my token."

Zhou Qing nodded. "Junior Sister, do you not wish to do tasks lately? I'll temporarily remove your token, then."

Nie Yunxi nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait, Junior Sister," Zhou Qing said. "Did you receive the message I asked Junior Sister Yuan to pass on to everyone yesterday?"

Nie Yunxi said, "I did."

Zhou Qing smiled. "Then please leave two strands of hair with me, Junior Sister, so that I may communicate with you more conveniently in the future."