No one understood taking things step by step better than Ye Ling.
But right now, he didn't have that luxury.
If this had been before he experienced the Azure Heavens Diagram · Sacred Finger, then even knowing he was in a cultivation world rife with danger wouldn't have struck him particularly deeply.
But that day, on the arena, when he personally endured a strike from a true powerhouse, he finally understood just how perilous this world really was.
Losing wasn't frightening.
Dying didn't scare him either.
What he could not accept was that before that single finger, he had been no different from an ant, utterly powerless, without the slightest chance to resist.
Especially when Bai Yiyi told him that finger was nothing more than a joke between sisters, like giving someone a firm slap on the shoulder as a greeting. That was something he simply couldn't come to terms with.
He didn't need to become a god above the heavens, but he absolutely refused to drift along with the current, letting himself be carved up by others at will.
So even though he appeared calm and detached, no one desired strength more than he did at this moment.
What was more, now that he knew someone… no, a whole group of people were targeting the Heavenly Gate Sect, his guard rose even higher.
Perhaps Bai Yiyi and Ai Yueli feared nothing, but the Heavenly Gate Sect was like a barrel, and he was its shortest plank.
When the enemy made their next move, the one they would target was certainly him. He couldn't afford to drag everyone down now. He had to become stronger, and fast.
So… sorry, Fourth Master.
Having already settled on a plan, Ye Ling knew that what he was about to do might shock Ai Yueli for the next thirty years. He offered her an apology in his heart ahead of time.
"Fourth Master."
Ye Ling put on a composed expression and summarized his understanding to Ai Yueli. "So to cast a talisman, one uses Heaven and Earth as the paper, Divine Sense as the guide, and the Dao as the characters?"
Heaven and Earth as paper?
I like that phrasing.
Ai Yueli's beautiful golden eyes lit up as she nodded. "That's right. Your comprehension is excellent. If you don't have sufficient materials on hand, you can only condense talismans directly from the void. Calling it 'Heaven and Earth as paper' isn't an exaggeration at all."
As she spoke, she formed a hand seal. A sheet of yellow paper slowly took shape in front of her.
She then handed the condensed yellow paper to Ye Ling and said, "What you're seeing isn't real paper. It's formed from gathered Spiritual Qi."
"Just as I thought."
Ye Ling had sensed it earlier but couldn't be certain. Now that he held it in his hands, he immediately felt an immense, ocean-like surge of terrifying Spiritual Qi within.
Interwoven with it was an even stronger presence of True Qi. It was this True Qi that stabilized the Spiritual Qi, ultimately fixing it into the form of the yellow paper before him.
Something like this… forget condensing it himself. Even trying to draw on its power would probably require every last drop of his True Qi.
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.
Yet despite Ai Yueli's casual, effortless appearance, condensing a yellow paper of this level had actually cost her a great deal of energy.
Still, when she saw the shock in Ye Ling's eyes, the satisfaction she felt eased the fatigue in her body.
Worth it.
"Disciple, this kind of yellow paper is used to preserve special Dao techniques, such as the simulated space you were in earlier, or techniques with an enormous number of characters and tremendous power."
After confirming that Ye Ling wasn't reckless, Ai Yueli became even more willing to share the future of the Talisman Dao. She formed another hand seal and continued, "But in actual combat, talisman practitioners usually just form seals on the fly."
...
Ai Yueli led Ye Ling out from the ancient texts. A mysterious and intricate character floated in the night sky.
"Even more than that…"
She dispersed the seal in her hand. With just a glance into the air, an even more complex incantation appeared, radiating an ancient, desolate Dao resonance.
"With nothing more than a single thought, you can draw whatever characters you wish. That is what a true talisman practitioner is."
Although she hadn't revealed her trump cards, Ai Yueli had already displayed her standard combat strength. She was confident that what she had just shown would be enough to stun Ye Ling for thirty years.
However—
"Very impressive!"
Ye Ling nodded at Ai Yueli and asked, "Fourth Master, is it like this?"
His hands moved swiftly as he formed seals. He couldn't match Ai Yueli's smooth mastery, but by taking a few extra steps, he still managed to summon several characters, though—
"Characters? No, that's not right!"
Ai Yueli was startled at first, but once she saw clearly what Ye Ling had summoned, she immediately let out a breath of relief.
What was this?
Weren't these just simplified characters?
Simplified characters were the symbols studied by modern Talisman Practitioners.
They were ancient characters that had been streamlined over countless generations, reduced to forms that even ordinary cultivators could use.
Naturally, their power was nowhere near that of true ancient characters, not even one-thousandth. Their advantage, however, lay in their versatility. As long as there was a medium, they could be used.
For someone like Ye Ling to condense characters out of thin air would be enough to leave an ordinary Talisman Practitioner awestruck.
But to Ai Yueli, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Of course, Ye Ling's frightening comprehension and ability to draw connections still gave her quite a shock.
It was just that compared to his earlier, almost miraculous performances, what he was doing now didn't feel especially dazzling to her.
"Disciple, what you're doing is indeed not bad, but the power is still far too weak, far too weak… wait, what are you doing?!"
Just as Ai Yueli was about to offer her assessment, she suddenly realized that Ye Ling's hands hadn't stopped forming seals. Not only that, the speed was increasing, and the seals themselves were becoming more numerous.
"Fourth Master."
Ye Ling's expression remained steady, his hands unwavering as he continued forming seals. While drawing talismans, he spoke calmly.
"My Mental Force really is only enough to summon ordinary characters. But those ordinary characters are simplified from ancient characters. So if I condense enough ordinary characters, wouldn't it be possible to reverse deduce them back into ancient characters?"
There was nothing wrong with Ye Ling's line of thinking.
What he deliberately left unsaid was a crucial point: what exactly counted as "enough"?
Or rather, with his Mental Force, how many characters could he actually condense?
Even so, his idea hit Ai Yueli like a thunderbolt.
Based on her current understanding of talismans, using simplified characters to piece together ancient characters would be trivial, something that could be done with ease.
But since she could already condense ancient characters directly, why would she ever bother studying simplified ones in the first place?
That was a blind spot in her knowledge.
And Ye Ling's theory neatly filled that gap.
More importantly, he had smoothed over the massive learning divide within the Talisman Dao.
So after a brief moment of stunned silence, Ai Yueli answered, her voice filled with undisguised delight.
"That's right. There's nothing wrong with your idea at all!"