Chapter 139
The handwriting in this notebook was very fresh, even a bit rushed.
Behind the old man Bai, Zheng Fa was the first to focus on the example of the Zhi Li Wu Ying talisman—
This talisman diagram had been broken down by Bai into three sub-talisman components.
Aside from the Earth Element sub-talisman, there were two other sub-talisman components, but their meanings were not clear.
“What is this...?”
“Grandpa Bai has been studying the talisman diagrams you gave him these past few days. I also asked that senior brother of mine to try various methods. I didn’t have high hopes, but it seems the diagrams are more complete now, so the patterns are clearer. The computer has automatically classified these talisman diagrams.”
“After discussing with Grandpa Bai, we found that the talisman diagrams are composed of three parts, which we call the Three Sub-Talisman Law.”
Zheng Fa pursed his lips.
Tang Lingwu made it sound simple.
But Zheng Fa knew the difficulty involved—what Master Pang had given him was more complete than what Zheng Fa had seen before.
But it was also much more complex.
He had been studying these talisman diagrams for the past few days, so he naturally understood the amount of work involved.
“Grandpa Bai, he…”
“He said he wants to catch up on sleep for two days and told you not to bother him.”
Tang Lingwu relayed the old man Bai’s words—there was no politeness in it; it was clearly the old man’s tone.
Zheng Fa felt the notebook in his hand suddenly grow heavy. He said softly, “That old man even told me not to push myself.”
“...He’s just teasing you.” Tang Lingwu squinted her eyes at him and said, “This is a gift.”
“Ah?”
“You’re eighteen now!”
Zheng Fa was taken aback, suddenly remembering that, according to this body’s age, today was indeed his eighteenth birthday.
Whether in the modern world or the Xuanwei realm, he had never celebrated a birthday.
No one celebrated in modern times, and there were no conditions for it in the Xuanwei realm.
In previous years, aside from some software reminders, no one remembered this day, and no one had ever wished him well.
He never expected—Old Man Bai and Tang Lingwu would actually remember.
“...You both remembered?” He looked at the notebook in his hand and let out a soft breath.
“I saw it at Old Chen’s place.” Tang Lingwu smiled brightly and said, “We didn’t have much to give you, but luckily, this came together.”
Zheng Fa looked deeply at Tang Lingwu, then turned to glance at the residential building where Old Man Bai lived, pursing his lips. Suddenly, he asked, “So, what Old Man Bai said before was intentional?”
“Exactly!” Tang Lingwu laughed and said, “We had already discussed giving you a surprise... But Zheng Fa, those words were also sincere.”
Zheng Fa shook his head, no wonder that old man suddenly said those things.
He wasn’t doubting their feelings for him; it was just that Old Man Bai had seemed a bit unnatural at the time, a bit incoherent.
Now it seemed he had said those things on purpose to keep Zheng Fa from guessing what they were up to.
“Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu, look here!”
Suddenly, a classmate’s voice rang out in the classroom.
Zheng Fa and Tang Lingwu looked up to see a flash of light as a boy held up his phone to take a picture of them.
“What are you doing?”
“Aren’t we about to take the college entrance exam?” the boy said with a smile. “I thought I’d capture the moment; you two look great standing outside, so I took a shot... Here.”
Zheng Fa glanced at the phone screen. In the glow of the evening sunset, he and Tang Lingwu stood side by side.
Tang Lingwu was smiling unabashedly, as if pleased to have surprised Zheng Fa, her gums showing in delight.
Zheng Fa looked at his own face and realized he was smiling too.
He had never known he could smile so easily, even freely.
“Can you send me that photo?” he asked the boy.
“Of course!” The boy waved his hand, a bit nervously asking, “Can I use this photo as the cover for our class album? You two look so lovey-dovey; it’ll get more clicks online.”
“...”
“Sure!” Before Zheng Fa could respond, Tang Lingwu spoke up first.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 144: Farewell (Only 3K, will continue tomorrow)
Chapter 144: Farewell (Only 3K, will continue tomorrow)
“Professor Bai, your Three Sub-Talisman Law is impressive!”
Two days later, when Zheng Fa visited Old Man Bai’s house again, he couldn’t help but praise Bai Yuanying.
This old man had been working hard behind his back.
“A little gain, a little gain!”
Old Man Bai waved his hand, his tone seemingly modest, but his face was full of arrogance.
Zheng Fa looked at the somewhat smug old man and suddenly took out the notebook from his backpack.
“Professor Bai, I have some questions about the Three Sub-Talisman Law that I didn’t understand in my notes—could I ask you, the creator?”
Zheng Fa earnestly inquired.
“Go ahead!” Old Man Bai smirked, reclining back in his chair, exuding dominance.
“In the Three Sub-Talisman, aside from the Five Element sub-talisman, how many of the other two types are there?”
“...” Old Man Bai grinned, falling silent for a long time before saying, “...Not sure, we need more talisman diagrams to study.”
“Are these sub-talisman components limited?”
“...Also not sure.”
“What about the functions of the other two types of sub-talisman?”
“...Not sure.”
Zheng Fa slowly set down the notebook in his hand, his gaze deep as he stared at Old Man Bai.
Old Man Bai gradually straightened up, the pride on his face slowly turning to embarrassment.
“...These are all results from the algorithms.” Old Man Bai spoke softly, as if defending himself: “In such a short time, I haven’t had real exposure to spiritual energy and talismans; what can I discern?”
Zheng Fa flipped through the notebook and found that Old Man Bai had mostly used speculative language in his notes.
After hesitating for a moment, Old Man Bai suddenly spoke again: “Actually, Lingwu had a hypothesis before that I found quite interesting.”
“Hmm?”
Zheng Fa looked at Tang Lingwu, who had turned a bit red, seemingly shy, and quietly said, “I was just daydreaming.”
“What hypothesis? Tell me!”
Zheng Fa was curious about what idea could intrigue Old Man Bai.
“Lingwu studies computer science, right? She thought—after all, talismans are a process of dialogue between humans and the universe, which has similarities to how computer hardware interacts.”
Zheng Fa suddenly understood; he seemed to grasp what Tang Lingwu’s hypothesis was.
“Code?”
He recalled that when Senior Sister Zhang had discussed the essence of talismans with him, she had said—she believed that talismans were the flow of spiritual energy, but some referred to them as Dao texts.
“Exactly!” Old Man Bai clapped his hands. “Lingwu, what did you say?”
Seeing Zheng Fa’s curious gaze.
“I’ve been thinking, what exactly allows talismans to be effective?” Tang Lingwu, no longer shy, explained to Zheng Fa: “According to your description, I see talismans as essentially using spirit or spiritual power to manipulate the world.”
“I was thinking, could the original talisman be seen as a function?”
“The three types of sub-talisman are actually three different types of statements. For example, the Five Element sub-talisman could be seen as a call statement—telling the universe what kind of spiritual energy I need.”
“The other two types of sub-talisman might have different functions, like one responsible for logical calculations and the other as an output interface interacting with the universe…”
Tang Lingwu’s voice grew softer, seeming a bit unsure, and she added, “I was just daydreaming.”
Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai both laughed.
“That’s quite interesting! If it works out, this would be the Second Law of Tang’s Talisman Path!” Old Man Bai said with a smile.
Zheng Fa nodded, looking at Tang Lingwu with encouraging eyes—this idea was certainly naive and needed a lot of refinement and validation.
But it wasn’t impossible.
Moreover, both Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai knew that Tang Lingwu had always lacked confidence.
This lack of confidence drove her to work hard.
In fact, both Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai felt that this girl had really helped a lot.
But Tang Lingwu seemed to have little awareness of her own power.
Seeing the smiling gazes of Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai, Tang Lingwu lowered her eyes, her expression lively and joyful.
The Second Law of Tang’s Talisman Path still existed only as a hypothesis.
However, the First Law of Bai’s Talisman Path had now been revised into a fragmented version of the Three Sub-Talisman Law—truthfully, this was a pleasant surprise, but on the other hand, it brought more mysteries.
But after Old Man Bai’s explanation, Zheng Fa felt no urgency.
At least they were gradually uncovering the essence of talismanry.
“By the way, Professor Bai, what about that person you mentioned in the capital who doesn’t have long to live?”
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