Cultivation: I Have Studied Abroad in the Modern World
Chapter 218 - 112: Writing Heaven and Earth

Chapter 218: Chapter 112: Writing Heaven and Earth

The atmosphere within the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace was somewhat eerie.

Zheng Fa, accompanied by Zhang, stood to the left.

Master Yuan and Master Pang stood to the right.

In the center of the four was a copper coffin, beside which stood Lin Bufan, his face filled with extreme unease.

At the base of the coffin, a cluster of cyan-gold flames burned.

These flames were Yuan’s Lifebound Spirit Fire. She was currently sitting cross-legged on the ground, attempting to melt the legacy left by the Copper Coffin Elder.

"Though this copper coffin is a Nascent Soul Magic Artifact, with the Copper Coffin Elder dead, the treasure has no owner," Zhang said. "Yuan’s Lifebound Spirit Fire is also remarkable. According to our initial thoughts, it should be enough to melt this copper coffin."

Zheng Fa nodded in agreement.

An ownerless Magic Artifact, if not yet endowed with spiritual wisdom, is like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, significantly weaker.

But in the eyes of the four, on the copper coffin amidst the flames, a dense array of silver talismanic diagrams slowly began to surface.

With the appearance of the talismanic diagrams, the coffin gently shook, and hundreds of black, withered hands extended from within, grasping towards the Spiritual Fire.

Accompanying these hands was a bone-chillingly cold aura.

The temperature in the hall plummeted sharply. The cyan-gold flames at the base of the coffin ceased to flicker, appearing as though they were frozen in place.

Yuan opened her eyes and shook her head towards Zheng Fa and the others, indicating that she was powerless to proceed.

"This... is this the secret of the Great Freedom Demon Sect you mentioned?" Master Pang asked. "What does this prove?"

After all, unlike Zhang and Zheng Fa, who frequently communicated closely, he was not familiar with many of Zheng Fa’s explorations.

"You know about talismanic matters, don’t you, Uncle?" Zhang glanced at Lin Bufan. "His blood, aside from being able to create talismanic imprints, also contains some special talismanic diagrams. According to the Three Child Talismans theory, there’s a category of Sub-talismans that are actually the same as the talismanic diagrams appearing on this copper coffin."

Zheng Fa looked at the copper coffin and then at Lin Bufan.

He had also confirmed that the talismanic diagrams on the copper coffin, if classified by topology, would divide into two types, exactly the same two types of Sub-talismans that appeared in Lin Bufan’s blood.

"So what does that imply?" Master Pang did not understand. He looked at Lin Bufan and said, "Does it mean that even if we roast him over the fire, he would not die?"

"..."

Cold sweat instantly poured down Lin Bufan’s face.

Casting a glance at the nearby coffin, he seemed to feel that this contraption was prepared for himself...

Not to mention, Master Pang was particularly good at drawing inferences from one fact and had an experimental spirit.

Zheng Fa shook his head, then suddenly reached out, sweeping the coffin with a five-color divine light.

The copper coffin trembled lightly as if to resist, but upon being touched twice by the five-color divine light, it yielded, bashfully accepting the caresses of the divine light.

However, Zheng Fa seemed particularly insatiable that day; one sweep of divine light seemed insufficient for him, and he fiercely brushed the copper coffin three times.

If it were not for the considerable consumption of spiritual power and divine soul energy by the five-color divine light, he probably would not have stopped.

"Junior Brother?"

"This copper coffin, it seems to still have an owner."

After three times, Zheng Fa carefully pondered the sensation he just felt and suddenly concluded.

"An owner?" Master Pang was surprised. "The Copper Coffin Elder isn’t dead?"

"He should be wholly extinct." Zhang affirmed.

"When I used the five-color divine light, I felt someone was contesting with me for the control of this Magic Artifact. This feeling seems to come from..." Zheng Fa looked upward, as if he could see through the roof of the Five Dragons Heavenly Palace and gaze into the sky outside. His eyes carried a hint of confusion as he said, "Above in the heavens."

"The heavens..."

Everyone looked up, their expressions varied.

"What you mean is..." Zhang understood Zheng Fa’s conjecture: "This person, is the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor?"

"En," Zheng Fa responded softly. "I now feel that these two Sub-talismans refer to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor."

This conjecture had actually existed for some time.

When the two identical Sub-talismans were discovered in Lin Bufan’s body, two directions emerged in his heart.

One was that these two Sub-talismans pointed to Lin Bufan.

The other was that these two Sub-talismans pointed to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor.

Now that these two Sub-talismans had appeared on the copper coffin, it ruled out the first option.

This is also why Zheng Fa never dared to study these two Sub-talismans in modern times: if they truly summoned the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor, there would be quite a spectacle.

Zheng Fa’s actions were merely for verification.

...

Zhang and Zheng Fa’s expressions turned somewhat grim.

The others, however, were somewhat bewildered.

"What cryptic puzzle are you two speaking in?" Yuan, baffled, demanded an explanation.

"It’s not a cryptic puzzle; rather, these thoughts are shockingly unorthodox. When the Three Child Talismans theory was proposed, we had a guess that one category of Sub-talismans corresponded to things in the world... for example, one Sub-talisman corresponds to a water droplet, another one to a stone..."

As the Xuanwei Realm did not have the concepts of molecules or atoms, Zheng Fa had to explain using terms they could understand.

The rest nodded slowly as they listened.

"But now... If these two talismanic diagrams correspond to the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor," Zheng Fa spoke heavily: "then the question arises, what about the other similar Sub-talismans? Do they all correspond to different Demon Ancestors, or say, great powers?"

"In other words, are the talismanic diagrams we comprehend created by those great powers?"

"Then... what difference is there between us and the members of the Great Freedom Demon Sect?"

"Those great powers, where are they?"

"Moreover, if the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor has already created his own Sub-talisman... what level of power must he possess?"

Zheng Fa’s question was so simple, yet it cast the people present into a silence as still as death.

"Are you suggesting..." Even Master Yuan’s face stiffened a bit: "That this talismanic diagram, even the rules of our world, might be... man-made?"

"I’m not certain, but we cannot rule out this possibility," Zheng Fa stated cautiously.

"Indeed, it does seem likely." Master Pang suddenly spoke up: "After achieving our Nascent Souls, we all have this feeling—that above the heavens, there’s something guiding us, drawing us, even—shaping us."

With these words, both Master Yuan and Zhang nodded in agreement.

Zheng Fa had also heard about this sensation from Zhang.

"We always believed this feeling was the realization of the Dao..." Master Pang said slowly: "But what if, what’s drawing us, is a person?"

The atmosphere inside the hall turned three degrees chillier.

"Uncle Master, are you saying... there’s someone in the heavens watching us?"

Yuan stammered out.

A chill ran down Zheng Fa’s spine.

"No, there’s another possibility that the talismanic diagram is man-made, but whether the person is still around is another matter," Zhang suddenly said: "Zheng, I’ve pondered over your experiences in the Heavenly Stele Realm, especially the so-called displacement of the Immortal Gods."

Zheng Fa was taken aback.

He had never put together the Heavenly Stele Realm and the Xuanwei Realm before, but now, Zhang’s reminder made him see—

These two might not be unrelated.

"Be it Immortals or Gods," Zhang voiced her speculation: "If they are the ones who created this second type of Sub-talisman, then they... may no longer exist, or at least, they can’t affect our world."

Zheng Fa nodded slowly.

The group exchanged glances, a hint of relief on their faces, though Zhang’s words were still just conjecture.

But a departed power is preferable to a power that’s watching over oneself.

As he stepped out of the great hall, Zheng Fa couldn’t help but look up at the sky again.

The sky was a clear blue, the sunlight bright and gentle.

Zheng Fa turned his head to see Zhang and the others also gazing at the sky, knowing in their hearts they were asking the same question:

"Above the vault of heaven, who inscribes the universe?"

...

Modern times.

"Are you saying that the second type of Sub-talisman doesn’t refer to the material itself, but to... some Immortal God?"

In the nursing home, listening to Zheng Fa’s words, Old Man Bai’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Possibly," Zheng Fa nodded: "We’ve always been unable to find a pattern for the other two types of Sub-talismans, perhaps because they don’t represent a certain matter, but rather a certain existence."

"Wait a minute, let me think this through," Old Man Bai frowned and said: "Spiritual Energy can control matter, right?"

"Yes."

"And now you’re telling me that there is a type of Sub-talisman that is not natural, but because someone, no, some existence, established some rules."

"Correct."

"Then..." Old Man Bai shrank his neck a little: "What are we then? Bacteria in a petri dish?"

Zheng Fa shook his head: "At first, I thought so too, but then... I had another idea."

There were two points that kept Zheng Fa from despair:

First, was the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor.

If the rumors had not become distorted, then the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor should be from the Xuanwei Realm, and now he is able to create his own Sub-talismans, indirectly proving one thing:

Cultivators are not practicing according to someone else’s rules, but as the Cultivation realm improves, one can create their own rules.

This is fundamentally different.

A lab rat in an experiments could never transform into a human conducting the experiments.

At least for now, the path of Cultivation does not preclude you from becoming the creator of rules.

Second, is the current situation in the Heavenly Stele Realm.

Just as Zhang said, if the so-called Immortal Gods are rule creators, then does the dust-covered Heavenly Court and the displacement of the Immortal Gods he heard in the Sealing God Hall indicate that they too had encountered an issue?

At least they seem unable to influence the Heavenly Stele Realm any longer.

Right now, the Xuanwei Realm seems to have a "higher rank" than the Heavenly Stele Realm and even more difficult to be affected, to the point that it doesn’t even have the title of Gods.

As for the modern era, it’s even more peculiar—if it weren’t for Zheng Fa, there wouldn’t even be Spiritual Energy.

"What’s the idea?"

"I’m thinking, if like Tang Ling Wu’s analogy of seeing the world as a computer, then these Spirit Talismans seem—more like programs written by someone," Zheng Fa summarized the current situation: "Those programs still exist today, but whether the software writers are still present is another question."

"And how to use these programs, whether they are of any use, we need to explore."

As Zheng Fa said this, he felt a strange clutch at his heart—this thing, it really is just like intellectual property.

The others nodded upon hearing this.

This framing made it a little easier for them to accept.

"So, you’re telling me." Old Man Bai mumbled blankly: "As a Cultivator, I’ve suddenly become a programmer?"

"Not just that." Tang Ling Wu wore an uncomfortable expression: "It’s like being that programmer dealing with a mountain of legacy code left behind by predecessors, with no comments to guide you."

"..."