Divine Transcendence

Chapter 93: Amu He

Chapter 93: Amu He

The next day.

Early in the morning, Yuan Ming finished refining the embryo as usual, and then, under the guidance of Senior Brother Fang Ge, he went through the Fire Workshop to the Tool Pavilion.

The Tool Pavilion was located behind the Fire Workshop and was a small independent courtyard.

Compared to the bustling and chaotic Fire Workshop, the Tool Pavilion, which was only a dozen steps away, appeared much quieter and more peaceful.

Yuan Ming walked quickly into the main hall of the courtyard and first saw a display hall with various items on display. Most of them were saddles and other things made by disciples from the Fire Workshop, as well as some weapons such as knives, spears, and swords.

Unconsciously, he slowed down his pace, walking among them, looking at the various weapons, and only a few of them were engraved with strange runes, indicating that they were probably magical tools.

"They are beautiful, aren’t they?" At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded from behind.

Yuan Ming quickly turned around and saw a middle-aged man in a short robe, with messy short hair and a stubble beard. He was digging his ear with one hand and holding a bundle of white paper tubes in the other, standing not far away.

The man had a green waist badge, just like Chen Wan and Fang Ge, so he was probably that Senior Brother.

"These magical tools are beautiful, especially the runes. The combination of lines is like art." The middle-aged man, who looked a bit sloppy, walked up and admired the magical tools in the display cabinet.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming carefully examined the runes on those magical tools.

Upon closer inspection, he couldn’t help but be stunned.

Originally, he thought they were just simple lines, but when he poured his divine sense into them and observed carefully, they seemed to come alive, twisting and turning like living creatures.

Some lines flowed softly like water, some lines were densely replicated like crazy plants, and some lines twisted violently like rising flames...

As Yuan Ming looked at them, he seemed to be trapped, his gaze focused, and he stood still.

After an unknown amount of time, someone suddenly patted his shoulder, and the vision in front of him suddenly disappeared, restoring his senses.

He turned around blankly and saw the sloppy Senior Brother staring at him with a furrowed brow.

"What did you see?" the sloppy Senior Brother asked.

Yuan Ming paused for a moment before explaining in detail what he had seen and felt just now.

The sloppy Senior Brother listened attentively, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter, as if he had some big doubts. He remained silent for a long time.

Watching the change in his expression, Yuan Ming’s heart also became uneasy, not knowing what was going on.

Just when he was feeling anxious, he suddenly saw the stubbly-faced Senior Brother burst into laughter.

This made Yuan Ming even more at a loss.

"Hahaha, I didn’t expect you to be a fellow cultivator. I’m Amu He. What’s your name, little brother?" The sloppy Senior Brother patted Yuan Ming’s shoulder and laughed loudly, making Yuan Ming’s ears go numb.

Before Yuan Ming could answer, angry curses came from several closed rooms in the courtyard:

"Amu He, shut your dog mouth..."

"Amu He, laugh again and I’ll cut off your tongue..."

"Amu He, be quiet..."

...

Amu He immediately fell silent upon hearing this, then lowered his voice and said to Yuan Ming, "Let’s go, let’s go. Those old guys are engraving runes on the magical tools. If they fail, they’ll blame us again."

Saying that, he pulled Yuan Ming’s sleeve and walked towards the backyard.

Yuan Ming followed behind him and heard a low murmur, "Blaming the lack of embroidered flowers by the kang for not giving birth to a child, day after day, blaming the road for being uneven..."

Yuan Ming felt that this person had a deep resentment.

The two of them arrived at a house in the backyard, and Amu He put down the paper tubes in his hand and closed the door.

Yuan Ming glanced around the room and couldn’t help but be surprised.

In the not-so-large room, it was packed with furnishings, but it was extremely neat and tidy, which was completely inconsistent with Amu He’s sloppy appearance. Inside the room, besides a bed against the north wall, there were two square tables in front of Yuan Ming, and on the east and west walls, there were rows of wooden bookshelves, each containing round paper tubes neatly arranged.

In front of him, the two square tables were combined into a long table, with a pen holder, ink, and inkstone neatly placed on the left side, and a stack of neatly stacked white paper next to it.

Under the table were three bamboo baskets placed side by side, filled with crumpled paper.

What puzzled Yuan Ming was that next to the bamboo baskets, there was a wooden barrel filled with water, which was pitch black and reflected faint ripples.

"Little brother, what did you say your name was?" Amu He looked at Yuan Ming and asked.

Only then did Yuan Ming have the chance to introduce himself and quickly gave his name.

"Yuan Ming... I seem to have heard someone mention it before..." Amu He scratched his messy hair.

Then, he shook his head, as if he couldn’t remember who had mentioned it, and felt that it wasn’t important. He asked, "Normally, disciples wouldn’t come to this side of the Tool Pavilion. Do you have something to do here? But it’s fine to tell me."

"I completed the Thousand Hammer Refinement yesterday, and the Third Elder asked me to come and learn how to draw talismans from Senior Brother." Yuan Ming said.

Amu He nodded and said, "That’s right, that’s right. The last person who completed the Thousand Hammer Refinement was..."

"It was the previous person." He thought for a long time but still couldn’t remember that person’s name.

Yuan Ming was speechless.

"Just now, you said that you have different insights when you look at those runes. That’s good. It means that you either have talent in drawing talismans, or your divine soul is naturally strong." Amu He said without any embarrassment.Yuan Ming pondered and concluded that the latter was more likely. His divine soul was not innately strong, but was the result of practicing the Death Moon method.

With this thought, he subconsciously thought of the mysterious silver cat, but the thought was fleeting.

"Senior Brother, why did I have such a sensation?" Yuan Ming asked.

"The runes on the artifacts you saw are all spirit-infused, possessing the basic attribute of communicating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. When your divine soul is poured in and your divine thoughts are sufficiently focused, you naturally see them," Ah Mu He explained.

Yuan Ming suddenly understood. No wonder he didn’t have that feeling when he looked at the runes drawn in Elder Hei Mu’s notes.

"Since you’re here, I’ll start teaching you today, starting with rune recognition," Ah Mu He said.

With that, he turned around, took a hand-bound book from the bookshelf, placed it on the long table, and opened it.

"This one with curved twisted lines is the flame pattern, this one with three parallel twisted lines is the water wave pattern, this one with distinct edges is the earth rock pattern..." Ah Mu He flipped through the pages as he explained.

Yuan Ming watched, his brows slightly furrowed.

He found that the runes Ah Mu He showed him were very different from those he had seen in Elder Hei Mu’s notes and on the artifacts he had seen before.

"Senior Brother..."

"Shut up." Yuan Ming was interrupted by a stern rebuke before he could ask his question.

Yuan Ming was startled, looking at his suddenly furious senior brother, somewhat at a loss.

"When I’m teaching about runes, don’t interrupt," Ah Mu He said sternly.

"I understand." Yuan Ming swallowed, finally understanding why Senior Brother Fang Ge said Ah Mu He was eccentric.

Ah Mu He continued to explain, flipping through the pages. Yuan Ming found that the runes in the back started to "normalize", corresponding to the runes he had seen before.

When all the runes were displayed, Ah Mu He finally asked, "Is there anything you don’t understand?"

"Oh, Senior Brother, I wanted to ask, why are the first few runes so different from the ones in the back?" Yuan Ming hurriedly asked.

"The first few are the most basic five-element attribute runes, like the strokes of writing. The runes in the back are mostly their variations or reorganizations. I’m teaching you this to prevent you from not recognizing them in the future," Ah Mu He explained.

"I see," Yuan Ming said, enlightened.

"When you’re just starting to learn, don’t rush to write. First, remember all the shapes of these runes. Only when you have the runes in your mind can you draw them," Ah Mu He said.

"Yes," Yuan Ming immediately responded.

"You start with the flame pattern. Look carefully, remember every detail, then try to draw it," Ah Mu He said.

With that, he turned to the flame pattern for Yuan Ming to observe carefully.

"I’ve got it," Yuan Ming said after staring at it for a moment.

Ah Mu He didn’t say anything, staring at Yuan Ming, seemingly dissatisfied with his perfunctory attitude.

Yuan Ming had to stare at the rune for a while longer before he looked up and said, "I really have got it."

His divine soul was not weak, and he had a photographic memory, so he was not being perfunctory, but had truly memorized all the details of the flame pattern.

"Try to draw it," Ah Mu He spread out a piece of paper and said.

With that, he took a brush from the brush holder, dipped it in ink, and handed it to Yuan Ming.

Only then did Yuan Ming notice that the ink in the inkstone didn’t need to be ground, it didn’t solidify, and the ink was black with a hint of red, with fine sandy particles visible. It was clearly not ordinary ink.

Yuan Ming hadn’t held a brush for a long time, but when he took it, he held it naturally, his movements not at all awkward.

He was wearing the short clothes of the Fire Refining Hall, so he didn’t need to lift his sleeve with one hand and hold the brush with the other. He took a deep breath, carefully visualized the lines of the flame pattern in his mind, and then began to draw.

As the brush twisted, a red and black line began to take shape on the white paper, surprisingly smooth.

Seeing this, Ah Mu He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows, somewhat surprised.

He was surprised that Yuan Ming was so confident, there was no hesitation when he started to draw, so there was no need to stop and continue drawing.

It should be known that drawing runes most taboo against stopping, stopping is like stopping breathing, it requires one stroke to draw, one breath to finish.

He hadn’t mentioned it, but Yuan Ming had done it.

When Yuan Ming stopped, Ah Mu He frowned and asked, "Tell me, boy, have you already learned to draw runes?"

"No," Yuan Ming shook his head, feeling a bit nervous inside.

"That’s strange, how did you know to finish it in one stroke?" Ah Mu He asked.

The requirement to finish a rune in one breath was something Yuan Ming had seen in Elder Hei Mu’s notes, so he knew it without Ah Mu He mentioning it.

But knowing and doing are two different things, and he was somewhat surprised at this himself.

(End of Chapter)