Courtyard D-7.

Su Ming closed the door behind him and hung the “Closed for Cultivation – Do Not Disturb” wooden placard on the door handle.

Then, he expertly pulled several low-grade spirit stones from under his bed and placed them at the four corners of the room according to a specific arrangement.

“Three Talents Concealing Spirit Formation, activate.”

With a low chant, an invisible, transparent ripple gently spread out, isolating the entire room from the outside world. To the outside, this place still appeared utterly lifeless, but the concentration of spiritual energy inside the room was slowly rising.

After completing this, Su Ming finally let out a long sigh and sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion.

“Master, let’s begin.”

“Alright!”

The Xuantian ring vibrated slightly, and that earthy-yellow sphere of light—the “True Meaning of Basic Rune Deconstruction”—once again materialized within Su Ming’s Consciousness Sea.

This time, Su Ming didn’t rush to copy those ready-made formation diagrams as he had done before.

He concentrated his divine sense into a sharp blade and fiercely stabbed it into the deepest part of the light sphere.

“Deconstruct!”

Boom!

Countless intricate runes exploded within his Consciousness Sea.

If looking at formation diagrams before was like looking at a “painting,” then now, Su Ming was looking at the “bones.”

He casually grabbed one of the most basic “Light” character runes.

This was the core of the “illumination formation” and also the most common, run-of-the-mill rune in the cultivation world. Any Qi Refining stage apprentice could create a glowing orb by simply drawing a circle with a spirit brush and filling it in with a few strokes.

But no one had ever thought, why draw it this way?

“The starting stroke is at the Qian position, channeling Yang Energy; the brushstroke passes through the Li position, igniting the fire attribute; the closing stroke returns to the Kun position, solidifying the form…”

In Su Ming’s mind, Lin Yu’s voice sounded like a narrator’s commentary, filled with the desire for an outburst.

“Which idiot designed this? The dwell time at the Li position is way too long! This isn’t illumination, this is boiling water! No wonder all the illumination formation plates in the sect feel hot to the touch. Half the energy is wasted as heat!”

Su Ming looked at the “Light” character rune magnified countless times within his Consciousness Sea.

Under Lin Yu’s guidance, he could clearly see that when spiritual energy flowed through the turning points of the rune, due to uneven line thickness and harsh angles, it created violent turbulence and friction.

This friction was the source of the heat and the culprit behind the energy loss.

“Master, if it were you, how would you modify it?” Su Ming humbly sought guidance.

“Simple.” Lin Yu’s voice carried a sense of superiority from an industrial civilization. “Change the right angles to rounded corners, reduce fluid resistance.”

Su Ming extended a finger and gently traced through the air.

The water-attribute spiritual energy within his body surged out like silk threads, condensing but not dispersing at his fingertip.

This time, he didn’t copy the ten-thousand-year-old drawing method.

The starting stroke was as round and smooth as a pearl.

The brushstroke flowed like floating clouds and flowing water. As it passed through the Li position, his wrist trembled three times with an extremely minute motion, using the oscillation of spiritual energy to construct a tiny folded loop.

“Pfft!”

A soft sound.

The rune at his fingertip had just taken shape when, due to the instability of the spiritual energy structure, it directly collapsed into a puff of spiritual energy mist.

“Failed.” Su Ming frowned.

“Normal.” Lin Yu said calmly. “Your current precision in spiritual energy control isn’t sufficient yet. The radius of that loop is too small; spiritual energy gets congested inside it. You need to see it more clearly.”

“How do I see it?”

“Use this.”

Before the words faded, Su Ming suddenly felt the Xuantian ring on his finger grow warm.

An extremely faint, yet pure and heart-palpitating power extended from the ring.

That was… soul power.

It was the first time Lin Yu had truly extended his power to the outside world after cultivating the “Spirit Nourishing True Explanation.”

This soul power had no color or shape, but when it covered Su Ming’s eyes, the world changed.

The previously empty air now appeared to Su Ming as countless floating dust particles and flowing lines of spiritual energy.

He looked down at his fingertip.

There, the mist of spiritual energy that had just collapsed hadn’t fully dissipated yet.

Under the enhancement of Lin Yu’s soul power, he could clearly see how those spiritual energy particles collided, entangled, and how they caused a “traffic accident” at that failed node.

“This is…” Su Ming’s pupils contracted sharply, and a storm of shock surged in his heart.

This wasn’t just assistance; this was practically activating a “microscope” cheat!

“Don’t space out. My soul power can only last for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and the range is only three feet.” Lin Yu’s voice sounded somewhat weak; clearly, this was a significant burden for him too. “Hurry up, strike while the iron is hot, correct it!”

Su Ming took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart.

He raised his hand again.

This time, his movements were much slower, but terrifyingly steady.

In his field of vision, the spiritual energy at his fingertip was no longer a vague stream of air, but a river composed of countless blue points of light.

He carefully guided this river, navigating around those invisible reefs, correcting those tiny turbulent flows.

At that critical loop, he held his breath, controlling the spiritual energy particles to pass through in an incredibly profound spiral trajectory.

“Round and smooth… clear and unobstructed… closed loop.”

The moment the final stroke was completed.

Hum—

A rune only the size of a thumbnail quietly floated in mid-air.

It didn’t emit the dazzling white incandescent light like traditional illumination runes, nor did it radiate that dry, fiery heat.

It emitted a soft, cold white glow akin to moonlight.

Although this glow wasn’t harsh, its penetrating power was extremely strong, instantly illuminating the dim meditation room, making every corner visible down to the finest detail, yet not leaving a single shadow.

What shocked Su Ming the most was that this rune’s consumption of spiritual energy was shockingly low.

He had only input a tiny, extremely weak strand of spiritual energy, yet it shone brightly for a full ten breaths before its brightness began to slowly fade.

“Success!”

Looking at this small rune, as exquisite as a work of art, Su Ming’s eyes shone with the light of wild joy.

“Energy consumption reduced by at least forty percent… no, close to fifty percent!” Su Ming quickly calculated the data in his mind. “And the light is stable, no flicker, no heat. If used in places requiring long-term illumination like archive halls or mine tunnels…”

“This is the beauty of ‘industrial design’.” Lin Yu withdrew his soul power, his voice full of fatigue yet tinged with pride. “Remember this, disciple. In this world, other people’s formations are for ‘blowing things up.’ Our formations are for ‘using.’ That is our core competitive advantage.”

Su Ming carefully dispersed that rune with a wave of his hand, not letting it continue to shine.

He knew how much profit this tiny rune could bring to the Repair Hall if it spread, and also how much trouble.

“This thing cannot see the light of day for now.” Su Ming said calmly. “At least not until my strength recovers to the mid-stage of Qi Refining.”

“Oh, very aware.” Lin Yu teased. “I thought you’d be so excited you’d go show off to that kid surnamed Luo.”

“Luo Feng?” Su Ming shook his head, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth. “He’s a genius who looks down on these ‘clever tricks and wicked crafts.’ In his eyes, only those killing formations that can channel the power of heaven and earth are the true path. And this… is merely a craftsman’s trick.”

“But he doesn’t understand.” Su Ming looked at his palm, slowly clenching it into a fist. “Often, it’s these insignificant ‘tricks’ that can take a person’s life at a critical moment.”

What if the principle of this “Cold Light” rune was used in reverse?

What if, when an enemy thought it was an illumination formation, that “loop” was suddenly reversed, creating spiritual energy turbulence…

That would be an instant flashbang!

Su Ming’s thoughts began to diverge. Under the collision between the “True Meaning of Basic Rune Deconstruction” and Lin Yu’s “scientific cultivation” philosophy, a door to a new world was slowly opening.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep