Zhang San, please behave yourself!
Chapter 389 - 366: Studying Late at Night

Chapter 389: Chapter 366: Studying Late at Night

In the room of Wisdom Immortal Zen Master, Zhang San poured a cup of hot tea for the master, smiling warmly at him.

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master actually did not want to bother with Zhang San either, being of old age and accustomed to going to bed early and rising early.

But helplessly, he had been tossing and turning in bed for half the day and had muttered something to himself, which Zhang San heard.

What could he do? He was feeling quite desperate now.

Especially when he saw Zhang San come in holding several volumes, it was clear that this was not a matter to be dismissed with a sentence or two.

"Zhang San, go ahead and ask what you want to ask." he said.

Zhang San chuckled and then said respectfully, "I just wanted to come to find the Zen Master to understand a bit about the Path of Runes."

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master sighed helplessly and countered, "Do you know how vast the Path of Runes is?"

Zhang San shook his head, "That’s exactly why I’m asking!"

Looking at Zhang San’s innocent and naive face and considering the complexity of the issue, which could easily take days and nights to explain, Wisdom Immortal Zen Master suddenly understood why some people could be "good at heart, yet do much evil."

"Cough cough... First, tell me what you understand about the Path of Runes."

Zhang San, having already thought about what to ask before coming, immediately responded, "I only have a superficial understanding of the Path of Runes. Up to now, the runes I know of are just some that integrate Confucianism with Swordsmanship, and the techniques I have studied all include some fundamental runes, so my understanding of other runes is merely superficial, and for some, I probably do not even grasp the surface."

"If I were to say what understanding I have of runes, then I think runes are a kind of script through which cultivators communicate with the world. Having recognized this script and learned how to use it, one can arrange the characters to form a sentence or a passage, which then communicates with the world here, and the world responds with the corresponding effects. This, to me, is the Path of Runes."

At that moment, Wisdom Immortal Zen Master looked at Zhang San with a bit of excitement in his eyes.

"Although your study of runes is entirely fragmented, your understanding of runes touches upon the Great Path. The Path of Runes is indeed as you understand it." he remarked.

"All runes under the heavens are part of a single Path. Using runes to form arrays, using arrays to communicate with various techniques. Even some Rune Masters can use runes to achieve the effects of various techniques!"

"It’s just that each group holds different runes, naturally forming different arrays."

Hearing this, Zhang San curiously asked, "Does that mean someone could learn all the runes under the heavens and thus understand everything?"

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master shook his head.

"A person, in his lifetime, is ultimately limited. At least so far in this world, no one dares to claim they have mastered all the runes under the heavens."

Upon hearing this, Zhang San became even more curious.

"Wisdom Immortal Zen Master, how then can one learn all the runes under the heavens?"

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master stretched out his hand, drawing a circle with qi.

Though it was a circle, it had three hundred sixty evenly spaced scale marks, with countless scattered tiny runes on it.

Then, starting from the very centre of the circle, a few lines of qi condensed into plant-like branches, continually extending in all directions, growing.

"All runes under the heavens have their directions. To exhaust all runes, it forms a circle. Extending from the center towards all directions, interlacing, eventually forming these seemingly majestic trees, represents different paths of runes."

Zhang San looked at the pattern formed by qi, thought deeply for a while, and then suddenly slapped his thigh.

"I understand now! The reason why there are Legalist runes, Taoist runes, Swordsmanship runes, Five Elements Technique runes, and so on, is ultimately because these runes’ characteristics suit these particular paths, not that these paths derive these runes. Runes are inherently faction-less; it is merely that people have combined some runes with the paths they cultivate!"

"Now, with so many different Path of Runes in the world, it all ultimately boils down to the need for different combination of Rune Arrays arising from the various methods of cultivation. If one could learn all the runes, and continuously combine and experiment with them, then one could complete this circle. At that time, wouldn’t it be the moment when the Path of Runes of the whole world has been exhausted?"

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master smiled happily and nodded his head.

Unexpectedly, this Zhang San’s comprehension was quite high. It took me ten years of studying runes to understand this principle, but this young man understood it just by looking at the diagrams.

In that case, I could now stand up and go back to sleep.

Just as Wisdom Immortal Zen Master was preparing to stand up, Zhang San continued to ask, "So with my current foundation, when I choose the Seas of Wheels later, do I need to wait until I have almost mastered the runes before cultivating the Enlightenment Seas of Wheels?"

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master reluctantly sat back down and asked Zhang San, "Which Wheel Sea do you want to focus on cultivating?"

"I’m skilled in Techniques, so I must cultivate the Red Gold Wheel Sea; at the same time, I also have a deep interest in Martial Styles, and I’m fairly good at it; the Five Viscera Wheel Seas are also necessary. I feel I can develop a lot in the Path of Runes, and plan to take the Enlightenment Seas of Wheels as my third Wheel Sea. Wisdom Immortal Zen Master, do you think this plan is feasible?"

Upon hearing Zhang San’s plan, Wisdom Immortal Zen Master was completely dumbfounded.

"You’re not planning to cultivate three Wheel Seas simultaneously, are you?"

Zhang San curiously asked, "Otherwise?"

"Silly child, I see that you also practice Body Refinement. Let me calculate this for you, first of all, cultivating three Wheel Seas simultaneously doesn’t mean your power would be triple that of someone in the same realm. Wheel Sea cultivation is a case where one plus one is less than two."

"Whether it’s your ability to apply effects or your combat skills, it’s difficult to simultaneously utilize many different abilities. Whether it’s your Techniques or Martial Styles, you can’t possibly use many kinds at the same time, you can only apply them one by one."

"You can think of each Wheel Sea as a box, and your box contains a variety of weapons, but when you face an enemy, no matter how many boxes full of weapons you have, the weapons you can use ultimately are only your two hands. Do you understand?"

This concept is well known among many cultivators and Martial Artists.

But at this moment Zhang San was utterly confused.

Although I had heard similar statements before, I hadn’t reached this stage at that time, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.

Moreover, in all the online novels I saw before, wasn’t it always about cultivating as much as you have?

Where was there any true selection!

Wisdom Immortal Zen Master continued to say, "Of course, there is an even more important reason. If you cultivate in three Wheel Seas, it will be an integration of three paths, and although this would make your strength much stronger than cultivators of the same realm, which is inevitable, the cultivation resources you consume will also be many, many times more than other people!"

"Let me give you a simple calculation."

"Right, you also practice Body Refinement. If you don’t plan on giving any of these up later, then the path you choose will be an integration of three paths!"

"The resources needed to cultivate the Five Viscera Wheel Seas and the Enlightenment Seas of Wheels are about the same. But the Red Gold Wheel Seas can greatly enhance your own Qi, and the resources consumed by the Red Gold Wheel Seas will be triple that of other Wheel Seas!"

"And the resources consumed by a Body Refiner are eight to ten times that of cultivators of the same realm!"

"If you take the path of integrating the three, even without considering the time and effort you spend on cultivation, just in terms of cultivation resources, your consumption will be fifteen times that of cultivators of the same realm!"

At this moment, Zhang San finally understood why in this world, nearly all cultivators only cultivated in one Wheel Sea.

With the resources for integrating three paths, why not break through to a higher realm.

The increase in strength brought by a higher realm is much stronger than making a horizontal breakthrough at the same realm.

No other reason, just cost-effectiveness!