Driven by a desire to find more "observation points," Li Wei's gaze fell upon the outer sect's "Scripture Pavilion"—a three-story wooden building housing basic cultivation techniques, miscellaneous notes, and fragments of the sect's history. The management here was relatively lax, and the borrowing and registration process was rudimentary, making it a good place to gather information and find potential "fellow practitioners" or "tools."
The pavilion was filled with the scent of old paper and faint insect-repelling herbs. Light streamed in through the high wooden lattice windows, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air. Li Wei's target wasn't the "Basic Qi Induction Technique" or "Introduction to Talismans" on the front shelves, but rather the piles of neglected, tattered scrolls and notes from senior cultivators tucked away in the corners.
Like a cautious mole, he rummaged through the old papers. Most were worthless fragments of cultivation insights or exaggerated travelogues. Until his fingers touched a thick notebook bound in tough animal hide with metal rings. The cover had no title, only a worn corner bearing a faint, simplified diagram of some kind of stargazing instrument.
The notebook's owner called himself "You Xingzi," a deacon from the outer sect two hundred years ago, obsessed with the connection between celestial phenomena and earth veins. He died in despair, never achieving Foundation Establishment. The notebook was filled with numerous hand-drawn star charts, bizarre analyses of the composition of ancient meteorites, and earthquake records annotated with complex geometric figures.
To outsiders, this might seem like the ravings of a madman. But in Li Wei's eyes, those figures, those crude formulas attempting to link celestial positions to earthquake intensity, those vague records about "a seven-year agreement between celestial light fluctuations and spiritual tides"... every page shimmered with a faint yet alluring light.
You Xingzi lacked a mutated spiritual root, and he didn't possess Li Wei's "prism of knowledge." Relying solely on mortal observation, recording, and simple induction, he had somehow managed to touch the edge of that barrier. The last few pages of the notebook were scrawled with a single, repeatedly scribbled sentence: "The laws of heaven and earth must have a mathematical order… Alas, my wisdom and strength are limited, like a blind man trying to grasp an elephant, I can never see the whole picture… Those who come after, if they have the will, should use my bones as a walking stick to continue exploring this hidden path…"
Li Wei closed the notebook, his palms slightly warm. He wasn't the first. There had been lonely pioneers on this path.
He carefully tucked the notebook into his robes. Just as he was about to leave, a low murmur of conversation drifted from the depths of the Scripture Pavilion, catching his attention. He hid behind a row of tall bookshelves, listening intently.
"…Uncle Xuan Gu's 'Earth Qi Reversal Theory' is untenable. I secretly examined seventeen secondary nodes, including Crimson Cloud Peak and Falling Goose Pool. The decay pattern is highly similar to that of Azure Spring, but the starting time has a subtle difference, like…like an invisible 'wave' sweeping across." A slightly younger but calm voice spoke.
"A wave?" Another, older voice murmured. "You mean, not point-source pollution or destruction, but some kind of… field effect?"
"This disciple dares not presume. But according to the 'point-source pollution' model, attenuation should be radial diffusion, while current data supports linear or planar propagation. This disciple has drawn a sketch, please take a look…"
Li Wei's heart skipped a beat. Someone! Besides him, someone else was using similar methods of thinking—"model," "data," "sketch"! He cautiously peeked out through the gap in the bookshelf.
Two people were speaking. The older one wore a simple blue robe with tiny counting rod patterns embroidered on the cuffs; he was none other than "Manager Liu," the outer sect's treasury accountant, renowned for his calculation skills. The younger one wore ordinary inner sect disciple attire, with a lean face, sharp eyes, and a few specks of charcoal ash between his fingers.
Manager Liu frowned as he looked at the sketch his disciple handed him. "If this sketch is genuine, the disaster will be immense. However, such reasoning is baseless and lacks any reasonable explanation. Reporting it to the elders would likely only result in accusations of nonsense and sow discord."
"Should we just sit idly by and let the spiritual vein decay?" the young disciple asked urgently.
Manager Liu sighed. "Observe the situation quietly, and secretly gather more evidence. Pay particular attention to..." he lowered his voice, "whether there are any synchronized anomalies in the celestial phenomena. There are some statements in the fragments of Master You Xingzi's writings... alas."
Li Wei quietly retreated, his heart churning. The reformist faction, or rather, cultivators with a rational spirit of inquiry, did indeed exist, but their influence was weak and they too lacked the key to the truth. They had noticed the phenomenon and even begun to construct models, but limited by their cognitive frameworks and tools, they struggled to break through.
Should he join them to gain more resources and cover? Or should he continue to lie low, avoiding premature exposure of his own anomalies?
He touched You Xingzi's notebook in his robes, then recalled the self-made spirit-testing device in his sleeve. A rudimentary plan formed in his mind. Perhaps, direct contact wasn't necessary. He could use a more indirect method, leaving "clues" to guide their observations while simultaneously testing his own deductions.
A few days later, a small incident occurred in the Hundred Herbs Garden.
The most withered Jade Marrow Ganoderma, which everyone thought was surely dead, suddenly sprouted a small, extremely faint, yet pure-colored cluster of new growth near its roots in the shade. The disciple in charge was overjoyed, and Steward Liu came to investigate.
No one noticed that the soil beneath the new growth had been mixed with extremely fine, differently colored mineral powder (collected by Li Wei deep within the abandoned mine tunnels). This powder, scattered in a specific ratio and geometric pattern, was a miniature "field-guiding" experiment designed by Li Wei based on a conjecture about "earthly vein resonance" in You Xingzi's notebook, combined with his own spiritual pressure gradient data.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the night before the newborn spirit emerged, Li Wei had repeatedly measured the area with a spirit-measuring instrument, ultimately burying a small jade piece (obtained from You Xingzi's relics) engraved with his own deduced "spiritual field slow-release equation" at the instrument's center in a specific location.
The experiment was successful, albeit with a weak effect. This proved his direction might be correct: the weakening of spiritual veins could be partially regulated, even partially reversed, the key being understanding the underlying "field" and "wave."
Manager Liu carefully examined the newborn spirit and the surrounding soil, his brow furrowed, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. He said nothing, only instructing his disciples to guard it carefully, and secretly took a small sample of the soil mixed with mineral powder.
Li Wei watched from afar, knowing that his pebble had stirred up the first imperceptible ripple.