The mysteries of spellcraft

Wang Qi was eventually thrown out by Scribe Zhao, looking thoroughly disgruntled.

He had failed to obtain the Clothing-Cleansing Spell he wanted to improve his personal hygiene, and had instead received an archery technique called Linked Arrows.

The technique consisted of just a few simple sentences describing the special grip and methods of exerting force for Linked Arrows... and nothing more.

Wang Qi understood it at a glance and scarcely gave it another thought.

His own archery was already up to standard, after all. Those proficient in archery could draw connections between related techniques, so a description committed to paper like this offered him only a little guidance.

Wang Qi understood the Linked Arrows technique and was certain he could perform it.

Thus, he put the matter out of his mind entirely and began pondering how to practice the Water-Cleansing Spell instead.

He had an entire night to try it out, after all...

Another night had arrived, and for him, it would naturally be another long, sleepless one. There was no question of that.

This time, he did not even enter the communal quarters that slept fifty men. Instead, he went alone to a brazier outside the barracks and began reading carefully...

Since everyone in this camp was a new recruit, and they were deep within the Great Peng Kingdom, night watch was currently handled by the veteran officers.

When the patrolling officers saw Wang Qi beside the brazier in front of the tents, muttering to himself and puzzling things out, they left him undisturbed... To them, this was perfectly normal. After all, this was the only time in camp when anyone had the privacy to ponder his own affairs.

When else could these recruits, who had been rewarded with cultivation methods, find time to cultivate?

Only when everyone else rested could they work hard at their cultivation.

To the officers, then, Wang Qi was a diligent, promising young recruit, and they naturally took care not to disturb him on their rounds.

Meanwhile, he held his waterskin and began muttering an incantation.

The incantation was a real tongue-twister, but fortunately it was short. After a couple more attempts, he finally became fluent in its pronunciation.

Yet the incantation alone seemed to have no effect. He tried several more times, apparently without any result.

At least he had mastered the incantation. Next, following Scribe Zhao's instructions, he gathered his internal qi in the Jade Fluid, Golden Saliva, and Sea Spring acupoints beneath his tongue...

As his internal qi gathered, the inside of his entire tongue seemed to swell and churn, followed by a faint burning sensation throughout his mouth.

He felt he might have gathered a little too much internal qi, but that was understandable on his first attempt.

Then he began reciting the Water-Cleansing Spell, slowing his delivery while enunciating as clearly as possible, and keeping an eye on the state of his internal qi... He was genuinely curious about how a spellcaster's incantation actually worked.

He noticed it...

As he recited the incantation, some vaster, more expansive force in his surroundings seemed to be stirred along with it!

What stirred that force was the sound he made... No, sound was merely an aid. He sensed the internal qi emanating from the three acupoints beneath his tongue swiftly mingling with the outside world as he recited... It seemed that the subtle fluctuations of power outside were being stirred by this internal qi of his!

The incantation was short, and Wang Qi soon felt the changes in the surrounding power cease as well.

If he had to describe the sensation... he felt that this power was brimming with spirituality.

Then he discovered that his will seemed to have formed a faint connection with that power. Could he give it simple commands?

At that moment, he instinctively extended a finger and pointed lightly at the waterskin in his hand...

The surrounding spiritual power immediately received its direction and surged into his waterskin in a swarm.

His hand trembled slightly, for he could feel the water inside the skin fluctuating and reacting gently, yet with unmistakable speed.

That frustrated him a little. He should have poured the water out before trying this; as it was, he could see nothing.

Still, the reaction soon ended. He lifted the waterskin to his lips and tried a sip... Sure enough, the water tasted wonderfully sweet and refreshing.

He had succeeded on his first attempt, but he did not feel particularly happy, because his mind was already filled with all sorts of questions.

Scribe Zhao was reading by candlelight when he suddenly looked up and murmured in surprise, "He succeeded so quickly? Well, that makes sense. The boy is sharp. It's only natural that he learns quickly."

But just as he was about to return to his nighttime reading, he reluctantly set down his book and walked out of his tent... That boy had clearly succeeded already, so why wouldn't he stop?

He could simply ignore these fluctuations himself... but there was someone else in camp whom they would drive mad!

Sure enough, Wang Qi began his second attempt.

He brought over a small bowl, poured some water from his waterskin into it, then picked up some dirt from the ground and stirred it into the bowl.

He recited the incantation again, more slowly this time, while also sensing just how his internal qi managed to stir that expanse of spiritual power.

Through this experiment, he discovered that the incantation used the vibrations of sound to disperse his internal qi more effectively into the surrounding air. What actually stirred the spiritual power, however, was his tongue.

With each shape his tongue took to produce a sound, it made the internal qi tremble as it dispersed, thereby levering some external force into motion.

He reckoned that the power he had stirred must be the "Heaven and Earth Origin Energy" Wang Dashan always talked about.

For Wang Dashan to enter the Dao through martial arts, he had to sense and draw in this Heaven and Earth Origin Energy... but the old man's mind was restless, and he had never managed it.

Wang Qi had also gained his first understanding of the profound principles behind a spellcaster's cultivation... They used incantations to call upon internal qi and lever the Heaven and Earth Origin Energy into motion... No wonder spellcasters were all so powerful, with an inherent standing a notch above martial artists.

This was a more efficient way of harnessing power.

From what Wang Qi himself could sense, his internal qi had actually stirred at least three times its own quantity of Heaven and Earth Origin Energy into action, producing that extraordinarily lively state.

Then the incantation ended. This time, he did not point with his finger, but merely focused his gaze slightly... All the spiritual power he had stirred flowed into the bowl of muddy water.

He had already realized that this spiritual power was not obeying his finger. Rather, pointing his finger had caused him to instinctively form an intention... Fundamentally, then, it was still controlled by his will.

Then Wang Qi saw what looked like a tiny ripple appear in the water... As that ripple spread, however, the silt in the water was swiftly stirred and pressed down, leaving clear water rising above it while the silt sank to the bottom.

There was still mud in the bowl. A single spell would not make it vanish completely, but even that mud now looked as though it had been washed clean, each grain distinct and clearly visible.

Wang Qi sensed the process and thought, Isn't this the principle of "separation through vibration"?

Interesting.

He felt there was considerable potential to explore here... but before that, he had another idea.

This time, he began reciting the incantation silently, making no sound, while paying close attention to the shape of his mouth and the movements of his tongue...

He wanted to see whether casting a spell silently was possible.