Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improved Spirit Rice

Chapter 24 Runes and Runic Domains: Rapid Progress

Qi Weizhao handed the dark blue vine to Zhao Chengan.

"This thing is called Iron Vein Vine."

"It is a low-level spiritual plant medium for casting wood-based control spells such as vine magic, branch binding magic, and rope magic. It naturally contains runes of both metal and wood attributes."

"These are the Azure Vein Pattern that allows vines to grow rapidly under the stimulation of spiritual energy, the Iron Vein Pattern that makes vines stronger and able to resist metal, and the Entwining Branch Pattern that gives vines a tendency to entwine and capture targets."

Qi Weizhao continued, "Besides that, there are many Iron Vein Vine in the cultivation world whose traits have been artificially improved."

"For example, the ancestor who took over the root several hundred years ago added two other runes to the Iron Vein Vine. They were the Blood Thorn Rune and the Poison Sac Rune."

"The former allows sharp barbs to grow on the vines, locking onto the opponent while causing damage and leaving them covered in wounds. The latter can secrete potent toxins that rapidly dissolve muscle and nerve tissue."

"If low-level cultivators fight and get entangled by this modified Iron Vein Vine, and fail to break free in a short time, their fate will almost certainly be death."

Qi Weizhao paused for a moment and looked at Zhao Chengan.

"After hearing all this, what do you understand now?"

Zhao Cheng'an stared at the Iron Vein Vine in Qi Weizhao's hand, his mind racing.

"The characteristics exhibited by these plants seem to be influenced and determined by the internal runes."

He replied.

Meanwhile, Zhao Cheng'an pondered to himself. The function of these runes sounded exactly like genes in his previous life's biology.

Moreover, in the process of cultivating the "Yi Wood Facing the Sun Scripture", one also achieves the purpose of gathering and circulating spiritual energy by visualizing and inscribing runes in the dantian.

In a sense, runes are the foundation of cultivation and the beginning of the Great Dao.

"Not bad." Qi Weizhao's face showed an expression of someone who was teachable.

"Now that you understand runes, I will introduce you to the concept of rune domains."

"Runes don't work just by being inscribed anywhere on a spirit plant; they need to be placed in a specific location. This location is called the rune domain."

"Furthermore, different runes occupy different units of rune domain. Some runes with complex structures may occupy more rune domain space, while some simple runes occupy less space."

"To judge the quality of a spiritual material, in addition to its inherent toughness and energy conduction efficiency, the size of its rune domain is also an extremely crucial criterion."

"Normally, higher quality spiritual materials should naturally have a higher rune domain capacity. This way, after being processed by cultivators, they can carry more runes and achieve more functions."

Qi Weizhao pointed to the vine in Zhao Chengan's hand.

"For example, the ordinary Iron Vein Vine in my hand only has three standard rune units. If the Ancestor wants to add additional functions such as cutting and poisoning to it, he first needs to find a way to cultivate the Iron Vein Vine in a targeted manner to expand its rune domain capacity."

Zhao Cheng'an's face showed a look of sudden realization.

He had always wondered why the total number of entries for the hybrid spiritual rice he cultivated using the Qiankun Cauldron would be greatly reduced whenever it encountered either the "Return to Green" or "Spiritual Energy Sealing" entries.

Looking back now, the reason is quite simple.

It must be that the structure of these two runes is too complex, occupying too many units in the limited rune domain of the spirit rice, making it impossible to accommodate other entries.

Qi Weizhao continued.

"To enable spirit plants to perform more complex functions, besides expanding the rune domain through improved cultivation, there is another, faster method."

Qi Weizhao paused deliberately, keeping everyone in suspense, and looked at Zhao Chengan.

Following his line of thought, Zhao Cheng'an attempted to answer, "For example, merging two runes together, using one rune to simultaneously represent two properties?"

Qi Weizhao was somewhat surprised, seemingly not expecting Zhao Chengan to think so quickly. He nodded slightly, as if wanting to offer a word of praise, but quickly realized that he had already praised him enough today, and further praise would inevitably lead to arrogance.

Qi Weizhao coughed lightly before continuing, "Your line of thinking just now was not bad."

"In the Daoist court, this kind of operation is called rune coupling, which is a very common practice. Normally, naturally grown runes are called original runes or basic runes. Runes that have been processed and coupled are called complex runes."

"A complex rune is often composed of multiple or even dozens of original runes, which can achieve different effects, or enhance a certain characteristic to the extreme."

"There are three common cultivation methods for spiritual plants: grafting, hybridization, and transdermal breeding."

Qi Weizhao continued to explain the differences between the three hybridization methods.

Grafting and hybridization are both very simple methods and are the most basic cultivation methods. Even ordinary people without spiritual energy can master them after learning them.

The real difficulty lies in the third method: the transdermal breeding method.

This involves a series of issues such as the transcription, expression, fusion, and adaptation of runes.

"But it is precisely because of this method that cultivators can obtain all sorts of extraordinary spiritual materials."

"For example, the spirit rice you usually enjoy is called Green Sprout Spirit Rice. Some of the runes inside are transcribed from other spirit plants, which is why it has such an amazing yield."

"The cultivation of spiritual plants is just one branch of the path of alchemy, but even so, the content involved is still enormous, enough for True Monarchs at the Foundation Establishment and even Golden Core stages to spend endless time studying it."

At this point, Qi Weizhao's face showed a look of emotion.

He was too old and dull-witted, having wasted too much time. The vast and endless ocean lay before him, yet he had only managed to scoop a ladleful of water from it all his life. Looking back now, he suddenly felt a sense of regret.

Zhao Cheng'an, on the other hand, felt a sense of exhilaration, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the clear blue sky.

Just listening to Qi Weizhao's narration, one feels an endless stream of inspiration, especially with the mention of a powerful weapon like the Qiankun Cauldron. Its true function is not merely in the simple synthesis of spiritual materials, but rather in tracing back to the source, exploring, integrating, and innovating from the very foundation.

Turn the impossible into the possible.

Qi Weizhao glanced at the sky outside. "Let's stop here for today."

He walked to the bookshelf next to him, took out several thick books, and handed them to Zhao Cheng'an.

"Go back and read through all the books here first."

Qi Weizhao then pointed to the tools on the table next to him: "These are all professional tools used for breeding. You can borrow them at any time after you get my permission."

"For example, this bronze mirror is called the Qingwei Pattern Mirror. It can be used to magnify and observe the patterns on the surface of spiritual plants. Because it is the most basic model, it can only show the patterns on the surface of the roots and stems. If you want to observe the internal pattern structure, you need to slice the spiritual plant first."

"The octagonal jade plate next to it is called the Myriad Manifestations Disc, which can be used to disassemble and analyze complex rune structures."

"And this is the gold-threaded talisman brush used to inscribe runes, and this is the spirit ruler used to measure the size of the talisman domain."

Zhao Chengan carefully memorized the names and effects of these tools.

Qi Weizhao looked at him, his tone becoming serious.

"What you need to do now is to read through the book first and lay a solid theoretical foundation. Then, focus your attention on your practice as much as possible."

"You need to break through to the first level of Qi Refining and be able to perform some simple spells before you can truly help my spiritual field."

"If you do a good enough job, I will not only waive your tuition fees, but I will also pay you extra compensation."

Qi Weizhao thought for a moment and handed the iron vein vine he had just used for the explanation to Zhao Chengan.

"Although this Iron Vein Vine is only a low-grade spiritual material, it can still sell for four or five spirit stones in the outer market as a commonly used spellcasting material. In low-spirit areas, where scarcity drives up the price, it will be even higher."

"However, since you intend to learn from me, then this will serve as your apprenticeship gift."

Zhao Cheng'an was somewhat surprised, and at the same time, he sighed inwardly.

Although Qi Weizhao seemed a bit unapproachable at first glance, he turned out to be a really nice person. He hadn't even paid a single spirit stone for tuition yet, and he'd already swindled a discipleship gift from Qi Weizhao.

Zhao Cheng'an thanked him again, "Thank you, Master."

Qi Weizhao waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

Before leaving, Zhao Cheng'an asked again, "I wonder if students can try growing the spirit rice they learn on campus?"

Qi Weizhao smiled slightly. "Planting spirit rice is not as simple as it looks, but... since you've already brought it up, there's nothing wrong with it."

"However, you should be careful about one thing. The Qingya Spirit Rice that is currently being grown in the Imperial Academy was developed by the Daoist Changgu more than 800 years ago. It has long since passed the 300-year patent protection period of the Daoist Court and is now a publicly available spiritual seed."

"But you have to be careful if you're outside, otherwise it could easily constitute an infringement and you'll have to pay a lot of compensation."

Zhao Cheng'an breathed a sigh of relief, bowed to Qi Weizhao again to express his gratitude, and then left the room.

……

……

Time flies like an arrow.

Over the next six months or so.

While studying the Yi Mu Chao Yang Jing, Zhao Cheng'an also set aside some time to study the courses that Qi Weizhao had arranged for him.

Although the content of these courses consumed some of Zhao Cheng'an's time and energy, whether it was cultivating spiritual plants or practicing techniques, it all boiled down to the summarization and application of runes.

By drawing parallels from similar cases, Zhao Cheng'an gained new insights.

In the third month.

He successfully inscribed the first rune from the middle volume of the "Chaoyang Yin Huo Jing" (The Scripture of the Rising Sun Ignites Fire), the Rising Sun Rune, into his dantian.

In this way, Zhao Cheng'an's fire and wood elemental roots can be fully utilized.

Although he spent less time meditating and cultivating each day, his efficiency in absorbing and transforming spiritual energy increased significantly.

With one increase and one decrease.

Zhao Cheng'an's overall cultivation progress was actually three points faster than before.