Chapter 750: All 3 Theses Miss the Mark

It’s like how a Cultivator needs a body as a prerequisite to begin Cultivation. Afterward, once they have a soul, they can forsake their physical form to become a Ghost Cultivator or a Spirit Cultivator. Both are viable. Among the countless Daoist Skills and myriad paths, a physical body isn’t an absolute requirement.

However, that initial start with a physical body—the Entry Level for any Daoist Skill—is absolutely necessary. It is the beginning of everything.

Therefore, for the path of Rune Life to begin, it must initially be combined with the Artifact Dao. By using the Computation Dao to develop the Array Dao and then integrating that with the Artifact Dao, you create a Talisman Brain. This is the first step in creating Rune Life.

As for where Rune Life ultimately heads, that depends on individual development. It’s nothing rare in Hongmeng for a single path to blossom in a hundred different ways.

So for our second topic, we should mainly discuss the forging of Array Artifacts and Talisman Artifacts. We should guide the discussion toward the basics of their computers to secretly learn the principles and concepts behind their manufacturing, rather than opening a topic on basic forging.”

As Zhang Deming spoke, Fang Jixiang’s expression gradually grew solemn. It wasn’t because of the topic, but because he realized…

As a thought struck him, he looked up at Zhang Deming in astonishment. “Junior Brother, you’ve already completely grasped the fundamentals of the Rune Life path! You clearly know the way forward?!”

‘That must be it,’ he thought. ‘Otherwise, how could you have such a clear strategy and know exactly what to focus on?’

Zhang Deming’s expression stiffened. ‘Damn it! I think I’ve said a bit too much!’

Seeing Zhang Deming’s rigid expression, Fang Jixiang asked in shock, “Junior Brother, you really figured this out a long time ago? Why didn’t you switch to being an Array Cultivator? Why hide it?”

Zhang Deming paused. A Rune Core appeared on his brow, emitting the unique Spirit Charm of a Spirit Nurturing Master. “Senior Brother Fang, do you think I have any need to risk changing my path?”

“Er…” Fang Jixiang’s expression froze. “In that case, Junior Brother, why didn’t you just come directly to us at the Array Department? Once we had the direction, we wouldn’t need to place so much importance on this Outer Realm exchange conference. We could have just researched it ourselves.”

Zhang Deming shook his head. “It’s not as simple as that. If we were to use Magic Spirits to create a disguised version of something similar, it probably wouldn’t be difficult. But to create true Rune Life would take at least several hundred years. Meanwhile, some things from the Outer Realm have already been developing for thousands of years. They can completely save us that time. Besides, just because we have a direction and a template doesn’t mean we’ll get Rune Life. Senior Brother, you may not have completely distinguished between Rune Life and the Magic Spirits created by the Summoning Path. The former, Rune Life, fundamentally involves the autonomous birth of Spiritual Wisdom. That is creation. Even if it leans toward extreme rationality and the Computation Dao, it is still creation. The latter, the so-called Magic Spirits, are essentially just an overflow of the Cultivator’s own Spirituality. Therefore, a Magic Spirit is not only a life form but, in a way, also a part of oneself. There is a fundamental difference between the two!”

Zhang Deming paused, seeing that he had diverted Fang Jixiang’s attention, and continued, “I’m getting sidetracked. Let’s talk about the third topic. It has the same problem. It’s clear that all three topics came from the same person or the same system. You also realized the need to discuss the issue of a propagation medium, so you focused on the Thunder and Lightning Dao. But because you don’t understand the fundamental reason their Thunder and Lightning Dao developed, you still haven’t grasped the key point.”

Looking at the attentively listening Fang Jixiang, Zhang Deming continued, “The fundamental reason they initially developed the Thunder and Lightning Dao was to use thunder and lightning as a propagation medium—that is, a carrier for Spirituality. That’s how it developed step by step to its current state.

It was because their Cultivation Civilization was extremely lacking that their Thunder and Lightning Dao became so prominent.

But what about us? We started on the path of a Cultivation Civilization. From the very beginning, we had the best carrier for Spirituality—Spiritual Power. Why would we abandon the root for the branch and try to use the Thunder and Lightning Dao for propagation?

Compared to thunder and lightning, Spiritual Qi is not only better suited for propagation, but it’s also richer in Spirituality. It can even, to a certain extent, break free from the constraints of the Artifact Dao. In the early stages, it can achieve long-distance coherence—what they call quantum entanglement—without needing any physical connections.

Later on, once Rune Life can break free from the limitations of Artifacts and exist as an Energy Body, the coherence of Spiritual Power will be even less of a restriction.

Under these circumstances, if we discuss the Thunder and Lightning Dao, they’ll lecture us on propagation mediums. That’s useless to us. And we can’t just not give them anything in return, can we? If we discuss it, all we can offer is High-Tier Thunder Skills. Isn’t that just serving ourselves up on a platter?!

So, the main direction of discussing a propagation medium isn’t wrong. But we should discuss Spiritual Power or Magic Power as the medium, not thunder and lightning. That’s what would be advantageous for us.”

Zhang Deming’s words made Fang Jixiang completely certain that Zhang Deming truly knew the path to achieving Rune Life.

Although he hadn’t actually developed the path of Rune Life, Fang Jixiang could clearly sense that Zhang Deming had a precise understanding of it. The direction was exceptionally clear; all that was left was the implementation.

He gave Zhang Deming a deep look. “I understand what you’re saying. I get it now. I know how to revise the topics.”

Zhang Deming nodded. “Good. I was just afraid I wasn’t being clear and that Senior Brother Fang would think I was just meddling and pretending to understand something I don’t.”

Fang Jixiang stood up. “Then I’ll get back to it. There’s a lot to do during the conference, and now I have to rush to report these revisions. It’s just another pile of work.”

Zhang Deming nodded. “Yes, I understand. You don’t need to explain, Senior Brother.”

The two stood, exchanged a courteous bow, and Fang Jixiang left with his Disciple. Zhang Deming watched them go.

Fang Jixiang had only taken a few steps when he paused and said without turning back, “Junior Brother Zhang, the position of Vice-Director is still open in my Array Department. If you’re interested, you can contact me. Of course, the position certainly doesn’t carry the same weight as being one of the Four Peak Masters of Spirit Nurturing Peak, but I can grant you special permission to hold the title in name only. You wouldn’t have to manage anything at all. You could come and go as you please, and it wouldn’t affect your current status in the slightest.”