Chapter 388
Madam Xuanhua turned her head, staring intently at Zheng Fa for a long while before finally glancing back at the image on the light screen.
Seeing her captivated expression, Zheng Fa couldn't help but chuckle inwardly—while the Five-Color Divine Light could scan the structure of magical artifacts, it didn’t mean he could fully comprehend them. He could at most grasp the function of these spiritual energy circuits, but how they combined with spiritual materials was beyond him.
In the entire Jiushan Sect, the only one who might truly understand this was the Madam Xuanhua before him.
What Zheng Fa wanted to play with now was reverse engineering:
He would handle the scanning of the blueprints, while Madam Xuanhua would analyze them, until they could replicate these magical artifacts.
A glimmer of brilliance flashed in Xiao Yuying's eyes, and she suddenly spoke up, “Innate divine abilities?”
“…”
Zheng Fa looked at Xiao Yuying, speechless—how did you know about that?
“My master mentioned it before,” Xiao Yuying explained. After a moment of thought, she added, “My master also said that innate divine abilities are granted when a cultivator comprehends a part of the Heavenly Dao, resonating with the universe.”
“An innate divine ability can only be granted once.”
Zheng Fa listened, feeling enlightened yet even more puzzled. How did Xiao Yuying know that innate divine abilities could only be granted once?
And what about the Heavenly Dao?
Did it truly exist in the Xuanwei Realm?
Xiao Yuying continued, “Back in the day, the Tianhe Venerable tried to guide his disciples to comprehend innate divine abilities, but none could receive the grant of the Heavenly Dao, which is where this saying comes from.”
“…”
Zheng Fa frowned slightly. Xiao Yuying's words today sparked a guess in his mind—could it be that her master had met the Tianhe Venerable?
How long ago was that?
…That’s quite terrifying.
Noticing his unusual expression, Xiao Yuying added, “My master has long since stopped involving herself in the affairs of the Xuanwei Realm… Taking me as a disciple was also unexpected.”
As for what that unexpected event was, she seemed reluctant to elaborate.
Zheng Fa didn’t press further, instead turning to the still-excited Madam Xuanhua.
“Madam? Can you discern anything?”
“This sword must have been cultivated by a certain lightning path cultivator. Some aspects resemble the lightning-type magical artifacts I know well.”
Zheng Fa glanced at Xiao Yuying, who nodded, saying, “That’s also why I left this magical artifact behind; it resonates with me.”
Upon hearing this, Zheng Fa knew Madam Xuanhua's explanation was correct and took out a jade tube to record her analysis.
Madam Xuanhua pointed at the pattern of the flying sword, explaining for quite a while. Some parts she had a rough idea about, while others remained unclear.
Once she finished, Xiao Yuying would also offer a few comments, as she had a general understanding of the functions of the magical artifacts, enough to validate Madam Xuanhua's guesses.
After analyzing one flying sword, Zheng Fa used the Five-Element Divine Light to scan another, and to their delight—there was a part in the first flying sword that even Madam Xuanhua didn’t understand.
However, this structure appeared again in the second flying sword. By comparing the two, they managed to unravel this small mystery—meaning that even if Madam Xuanhua didn’t understand a certain magical artifact, comparing it with a similar one could yield a rough guess.
This made Madam Xuanhua even more excited.
“Scan!”
“Let’s go again!”
“Can’t you keep up already?”
Zheng Fa hadn’t expected that Xiao Yuying had so many magical artifacts that he could exhaust his spiritual power using the Five-Color Divine Light…
As he recovered his power, he reflected on some similarities he had noted:
The artifacts he had just scanned were mostly offensive treasures, primarily made of hard materials, so there was a significant amount of metal-type spiritual materials, while other non-metal materials were merely decorative.
Some even consisted solely of metal-type materials.
Yet, the spiritual energy within these materials formed certain symbolic patterns, which in turn endowed these artifacts with some magical abilities.
What Zheng Fa needed to clarify now was how the arrangement of spiritual materials could form the corresponding spiritual energy circuits.
“So, the metal-type materials are meant to enhance the hardness of the artifact, while the corresponding spiritual energy circuits grant the artifact its magical abilities?”
After listening to Zheng Fa’s explanation, Madam Xuanhua summarized.
Zheng Fa nodded gently and replied, “That’s likely the case for ordinary magical artifacts.”
“Ordinary magical artifacts?”
“Ordinary magical artifacts have simple spiritual energy circuits, often possessing only one or a few magical abilities. The so-called spiritual energy circuits are merely corresponding symbolic patterns,” Zheng Fa explained. “But for life-bound artifacts or divine treasures, it’s different.”
“How is it different?”
Zheng Fa pondered for a moment before speaking, “Life-bound artifacts have more complex spiritual energy circuits, and they encompass all five elements.”
“All five elements?”
“Yes, I’ve seen Senior Sister Zhang’s Flying Immortal Brush, and I’ve also tried scanning the flying sword of the Blood River Ancestor… I found metal-type materials in both artifacts.”
“Even…”
Zheng Fa’s tone became unusually hesitant.
“Even what?”
Xiao Yuying and Madam Xuanhua looked at him in confusion, and Zheng Fa whispered, “Even the spiritual energy circuits in life-bound artifacts are paired.”
“Paired?”
Seeing Zheng Fa’s strange expression, Xiao Yuying and Madam Xuanhua were puzzled as to why the idea of paired spiritual energy circuits made him so hesitant.
This matter… only the old man Bai and a few others would understand.
…
“Paired?”
Old man Bai hadn’t yet grasped the concept when Teacher Tian furrowed his brow, surprised. “Do you mean a double-chain structure?”
“Yes…”
Zheng Fa sketched the spiritual energy circuit from the Flying Immortal Brush on the blueprint, saying, “I had always struggled to understand what the wood-type spiritual material looked like… but now I feel that the corresponding spiritual energy key is likely similar to the hydrogen bonds that connect the DNA double helix.”
Old man Bai and the others were still processing this, but the earnest university student Tang Lingwu suddenly slapped her forehead, exclaiming, “Only such a structure can best achieve self-replication, corresponding to the wood element’s ability to grow…”
“Just like cell replication, one becomes two, two becomes four…”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help but smile. “Then we have a comprehensive understanding of the five-element spiritual materials, right? Your life-bound artifact can start being designed now!”
Tang Lingwu wasn’t wrong. Zheng Fa had collected many spiritual energy circuits and structures from Xiao Yuying, and he had a preliminary understanding of the essence of the five-element spiritual materials. Designing his own artifact would at least face no obstacles.
But neither Zheng Fa nor old man Bai and the others were smiling.
“Zheng Fa?”
Tang Lingwu looked at the group in confusion.
Zheng Fa said, “It’s just too similar…”
He knew that there was a connection between the modern world and the Xuanwei Realm.
But now, the spiritual energy key corresponding to the wood-type spiritual material was actually aligning with the DNA double helix… which plunged Zheng Fa into deeper confusion.
The spiritual keys corresponding to the metal, water, fire, and earth elements could be found everywhere in the material world, but a structure similar to the DNA double helix could almost be called a miracle of life—its correspondence with the wood-type spiritual material was a coincidence that was startling.
As he said, it was just too similar, so much so that he had already seen clues from the Flying Immortal Brush and didn’t dare to be certain.
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 331: Artifact Design, The Way of Dao
Chapter 331: Artifact Design, The Way of Dao
The night in the nursing home.
Zheng Fa sat in a chair, holding a cup of tea.
The tea was the Wangji tea cultivated in the nursing home, which suited Zheng Fa’s mood at the moment.
Recently, under the threat of the Demon Ancestor’s descent in the Xuanwei Realm, Zheng Fa felt considerable pressure.
But now he was the master of the Jiushan Realm, the backbone of the Jiushan Sect, and this pressure often had to be borne alone, without revealing it to outsiders.
It was only in the nursing home that he could find a moment of peace.
With the clear winds and bright moon in the mountains, a galaxy of stars overhead, and good friends by his side.
His emotions gradually relaxed without him even realizing it.
Old man Bai was leaning his head to talk to Teacher Tian, who was laughing and gently patting him.
Tang Lingwu lay back in her chair, extending her hand as if to caress the breeze blowing by.
Tang Muda gazed up at the sky, seemingly lost in thought.
Zheng Fa looked at him curiously.
“Actually, DNA is a miracle, and the universe is also a miracle.” As if sensing Zheng Fa’s gaze, Tang Muda spoke up, “In cosmology, there’s a very controversial theory called the Fine-Tuning Cosmology.”
“Fine-Tuning Cosmology?”
Hearing this, old man Bai and the others turned to look.
“You all know that there are certain constants in the universe that determine its structure and evolution, such as the gravitational constant, the electromagnetic force constant, the mass of protons, and the ratio of dark matter to dark energy…”
Zheng Fa nodded gently, listening as Professor Tang continued to explain.
“On the other hand, if these constants were to change even a little, the universe could not possibly become what it is today.” At this point, Tang Muda turned to look at Zheng Fa.
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