Perhaps it didn’t need to be said, but the moment that Xin Fu and her husband witnessed Wei Yi lift her hand, reach out with one finger, atop which sat a metal claw made with an unknown material, and begin to carve the metal as easily as if she used the proper tools for it, they were rather astonished.

In the Planar Continents, it was not that uncommon to see unusual individuals, and that didn’t extend just to one’s style or appearance. Sure, there were plenty of people like Mo Zhouquan, or the Great Earth twins, or even Wei Yi herself, who had at least one outstanding feature that would quickly be talked about if it even became known to the public, but those kinds of things were far less significant to most than the so-called abnormal geniuses.

They had uncanny abilities, and uncanny characters to go alongside them. Certain array masters would, for instance, make use of peculiar methods to figure out how to best lay out their arrays, such as tossing stones into the air and seeing where they land or forcing rats to run from a single point and then chasing them down one by one to stab them with array flags.

Some blacksmiths would attempt to temper their weapons with the blood of their enemies, or their loved ones, others used something from their own bodies, and others would seek out the hearts of beasts in order to stab scorching hot blades into them and temper them like that. It worked surprisingly well at times, although it had the tendency to vary depending on the exact methods of the cultivators and blacksmiths, and certain famous weapons had been forged in those kinds of ways, but to those who observed the process from the side, it certainly looked incredibly strange.

For examples of odd alchemists, none were better than Wei Yi herself. While most would seek to make the best pill possible, she would do the exact opposite of it, scatter ingredients as much as possible, remove as much of the medicinal essence as possible, then invert all of it to create a pill of a significantly higher quality due to the principle of an energy that is contrary to life as a whole. That’s not to say that some didn’t employ similarly odd methods to the previous few examples, but it seemed less strange.

When it comes to inscriptions, neither she nor Xin Fu and her husband knew too much about the particular oddities of the great art, but they were quite aware that the approach that Wei Yi took wasn’t all that common.

Most didn’t have clawed gauntlets that were sharp and strong enough to carve out metal, after all.

Her actions were beyond their grasp, so all they were able to do was watch. Since she was acting so quickly and confidently, there was a chance that she did have some understanding of inscriptions, and if the man surnamed Chen continued annoying her, she could easily abandon this inscription or outright leave with it once it is complete, robbing him out of a lot of potential earnings.

Wei Yi herself was not particularly focused on her work, despite what it might have looked like, as she was currently immersing herself into the remnants of her enlightenment state and using her new perspective to discover some new inscription that she could create.

If she got it wrong, she wouldn’t mind, and if she got it right, all of this would still demand far more work for her to complete a full system and technique. As such, she wasn’t too worried about the exact results of her crafting process, nor the function of the inscription, not even what the quality would be. So long as something came out of this, it wouldn’t have been a waste of her efforts.

Thus, she didn’t mind it at all that the shape of her inscription was far beyond anything that she recognised from her immense storage of techniques and blueprints. It was likely what the first people to experiment with the concept of inscriptions had to deal with. Each new attempt would need to delve beyond their present understanding, since they couldn’t have possibly began with their full list of inscriptions and only need to improve their structure in minute ways in order to optimise them beyond their initial level.

The problem for them would have been the chance of failure, but the more that Wei Yi worked on this, the less she felt that such a thing even existed. Energy that flowed through inscription channels would gather and then cause particular phenomena due to some principles of the world, a set of laws that humanity didn’t quite understand, but did have the ability to interact with.

With her present view of the world’s laws, perhaps granted in part by the circle in her eyes, or perhaps the vision changed something about her irises to cause such a phenomenon, to create something wasn’t all that challenging. The more difficult part was whether she’d create something worthwhile.

After a little more work, however, she knew that she was indeed creating something that could fit under that category. Judging from the more familiar lines and channels within the metal plate, it was going to be some kind of protective inscription, and judging by some of the auxiliary storage channels, the amount of planar energy that it would be able to reserve and make use of in times of need would also be rather high, especially if it was to be judged by the standards of what it was actually meant to be, which is a one-star inscription.

Those tended to be rather weak when it comes to at least one significant element, since they were usually placed inside of improper materials and used only by those who couldn’t afford two-star inscriptions, but the thing that she was currently creating appeared to be anything but, and much like most of her creations it was bound to have a lot of room to grow.

‘I wonder if I should come up with some kind of name for it… no, I can do that later. First of all, the method that I am currently using need to be elaborated into a technique. It has potential.’

She focused on her work a little more, and soon, a faint flame appeared around the claw that she was using for the purpose of inscription. It grew continually until it enveloped the entirety of the metal at her fingertip, but since it was star metal, and due to her careful control, neither it nor the metal it cut through appeared to be experiencing the heat at all, as if the flame was only being imagined by all those that saw it.

The husband and wife that were observing her became worried for a second, but they knew that they couldn’t interrupt – well, the man with the surname of Chen knew that. His wife wasn’t all that concerned and was more interested in the appearance of those gauntlets.

When the flame suddenly changed from orange to the golden yellow of the sun, then they were almost entirely convinced that they had gone insane. It looked as if a miniature replica of the light that warmed all of the Planar Continents had surrounded her claw, and was now bathing the entirety of the inscription plate in its light…

“Wait, is she-” Xin Fu began, but stopped when she realised that she might be interrupting the woman before them, “Chen Xiu, darling, are those rays of light also carving out more lines?”

“Honey, I… I actually know very little about this… Maybe? It does look like it, I guess…”

Wei Yi did hear them, somewhere in the back of her mind, and she did record their words just so that she would remember the name of the merchant, but she was not interested in them in the slightest, for now.

At that very moment, she was contemplating the relation of planar energy itself to inscriptions, having concluded that out of all of the forms of energy she had at her disposal, the most suitable for this was it. One of the forms that her planar energy took most frequently was dawn light, for it had been powerful for quite some time and merged well with the principles of the Elysian Fist, among other things. As such, an idea began to blossom within her mind.

It was rough, unpolished, and vague, as all initial ideas often are, but she was quickly refining it with what insight she did have, then simultaneously using it to obtain new leads for her ideas to pursue. Such an approach allowed her to quickly develop the very basic foundation for something that she eventually decided to name the Solar Inscription Arts.

The reason behind such a name wouldn’t need to be explained to anyone who witnessed it.

She had a lot of things that she wanted to include within the technique, but one of the core factors within inscription was the careful carving of specifically sized channels into whatever was being inscribed, as to get a very specific effect from the energy that would flow through it, but such a thing was difficult without a number of proper tools to work with. As someone who travelled a lot and didn’t have space in the spatial realm to waste, she could hardly carry all such tools with her, and regulating the size of her claws would be a little too inconvenient, thus the cutting beams came to mind.

Wei Yi was rather pleased that she had come up with the Dawn Slicing Beams all that time ago, for they were incredibly useful regardless of their typical offensive potential.

In addition, she decided to make use of the Dawn Flowing Light’s principles in order to create smaller channels within the surface of the metal that the slicing beams would simply not be suitable for. With the ability to create numerous even channels of an even smaller depth, she was able to develop the inscription that she was working on to an even greater level, making use of all of the space that she had on the plate to bring it to a greater level.

Once she ran out of ideas that could be put into action right away, she simply made use of all of them to finish her work, going as far as her current state of vision permitted her to before finally concluding that her work was complete.

 

“There, done. Will this pass your inspection?” she asked, showing him the results of her work to Chen Xiu.

“Uh… I don’t know what this does… or can do… or anything… so could I get some kind of demonstration?” the merchant asked, speaking far more cordially than he had been at the start, “Could I not get some kind of explanation of what it does, then a demonstration to prove that it works as intended.”

“That’ll take too long. Stop your caravan for a little while.”

She glanced at the maid, softly patted her head with an unseen smile, then left the strider with the inscription plate held tightly in her other hand.

After a short while, Chen Xiu decided to follow her, and his wife also came along, since her curiosity had been peaked by the things that she witnessed. As someone who often accompanied a man that traded inscriptions and inscription plates every now and then, she had seen a few instances of inscription masters performing their great art in front of them, but she hadn’t seen such a method being used in any of those instances.

It wasn’t the technique itself, since techniques were plentiful and quite a few accomplished inscription masters would have their own style and approach, but what it was capable of doing. One of the core requirements for every single realm of inscription masters were a set of good tools, even if they were amplified or mostly made up of their planar energy, although only those in the upper realms would likely have a chance of making more than an edge on their inscribing knife out of planar energy. However, from what Xin Fu was able to see, this technique was able to replace all of that, at least in one-star inscriptions, and allow for far more intricate and complex shapes to be created with seeming ease.

Thus, those three left the strider, and Shun Liu Min did rise to look out of the opening within the insectoid the moment that it stopped, and so all relevant attention was on the inscription plate.

“You’re in the fourth realm, right?”

“I am. Is it an offensive inscription that you’d want me to endure?”

“Wrong, it is a defensive inscription. Before we test it, do you believe that I as someone at the peak of the third realm, will be able to protect myself from one of your strongest attacks? You can be honest, if you want.”

“You mean if you use your energy, or no?” she shook her head, so he shrugged, “It depends on the nature of your defensive technique. Some are more suited to deal with those kinds of attacks.”

“Do you mean that you have no confidence at all in your cultivation? You are in the fourth realm, fifth stage, having accumulated what are effectively ten additional stages of the third realm over me, and yet you do not believe that you have even the faintest guaranteed chance of striking me?” Wei Yi poured as much venom into her tone as she was able to, “I have to say, beyond your lacking business sense, it seems that even your basic cultivation ability is insignificant.”

“… I know what you’re trying to do. Strongest attack I can possibly manage, right?”

The venom suddenly vanished from the air, “Of course. Aim it at the plate, and observe whether or not I channel any of my energy. It won’t even be necessary for my energy to completely fill it.”

She raised the inscription plate and held it out in front of herself, allowing him to see how a violet mist collected within the channels of the plate with the air around it at an immense speed. In the time that it took him to prepare the technique that he was going to use, it appeared to fill to the brim with the planar condensation segment of the inscription that he hadn’t even realised was present.

It was only when he had fully prepared his attack that he realised that he was facing a one-star inscription, or, at the very least, an inscription within a one-star plate, meaning that it would lack many of the advantages of a superior conducting metal of the superior types of plates.

Even the energy wasn’t her own, meaning that this was simply first realm unbound energy within a one-star inscription plate facing against the strongest attack that someone who isn’t absolutely useless at combat within the fourth realm was going to strike with. Such an attack likely wouldn’t kill the woman behind it, given the fact that she was near the fourth realm already and was wearing some decent equipment, but it would destroy whatever profit he might potentially be able to earn from selling that inscription to a wealthy buyer.

As if Wei Yi realised that this was something on his mind – which she did, given her nearly obsessive use of the spiritual will threads – she looked at him with eyes that seemed to fill with that same venom from before, although there was also an immense degree of incitement within them that seemed impossible from a mere gaze. Such a look instantly drove his mind into a frenzy, to the point that he couldn’t control his own actions, causing the flow of his planar energy to suddenly surge and complete without his own input, although he did know that it had been his own mind and body that had caused these actions.

Thus, as befitting of a Chen family member, a dozen golden spears formed in the air before him, being quickly scanned by Wei Yi’s spiritual perception as to note down the nature of this technique for her own usage at a later point. Each one brimmed with energy, red light literally spilling out of it and being driven by an invisible wind, and after a moment of charging, they shot out.

Each one moved far faster than any normal cultivator of the third realm could, almost reaching the immense movement speed that those in the fourth realm could manage with their unique movement skill, and fired right at the centre of the inscription plate, which had not yet done anything in order to guard itself from the incoming attacks. Chen Xiu could see it in his eyes with great clarity – the inscription plate shattering, his wealth going down the drain, and his future crumbling alongside it, although one was almost certainly an exaggeration regardless of the outcome.

The first spear nearly impacted before a small quantity of energy suddenly burst out of the inscription plate, striking the tip of the spear and applying an immense degree of force that shouldn’t have been possible for a one-star inscription.

It wasn’t destroyed, nor greatly harmed, but it was thrown entirely off course, soaring past her and hitting the desert sand, throwing up a large cloud of it.

After that, spear after golden spear threw themselves at her, having no restraint whatsoever, but each time, a clump of energy from the inscription channels shot out and collided with the spears, being disintegrated instantly upon contact but still managing to throw them off course. Projectile after projectile threw up large clouds of sand some distance behind her, striking a dune that happened to be a short distance from their chosen path through the Northern Desert, and while there were several rather close misses, all of the attacks ended up doing nothing at all to Wei Yi or the plate.

Just like that, a fourth realm attack that used up a notable amount of his energy was effectively negated entirely by a single inscription made with materials of the first realm, and there still seemed to be some energy within it.

“Gracious sands, what exactly is that? How does that work?”

“Why would I tell you? I am an inscription master, and I was to share my secrets with everyone I met, I would not be of much use at my profession. Are you satisfied with the inscription?”

“I… is it going to be that effective on all techniques, or just on those with projectiles as their primary form of attack?” the merchant quickly questioned, clearly having enough sense to recognise that something this seemingly miraculous couldn’t possibly exist just like that, “It’s got to only be effective against those kinds of strikes, right?”

“Incorrect. Anything that isn’t instantaneous or bound to an attacker should be deflected, and since most don’t have attacks of that kind, it will protect against most attackers. It is a four-star inscription, after all.”

“Where?”

“In my hands, you foolish man. Have you once again made a silly assumption that a one-star plate and unbound energy automatically results in a four-star inscription? Do you not know that alchemical pills made with one-star recipes can result in four-star results so long as the one creating it is skilled? In fact, this inscription could have been better if I didn’t just make it up right now,” Wei Yi pointed out, taking advantage of her current position to be as arrogant as she could just to get it out of her system, “And yet, you thought I was lying. Silly man.”

“Darling, I get the slightest suspicion that she is enjoying this to some extent,” Xin Fu pointed out, although she did nothing to stop her.

“I just didn’t expect to come across a real master out in the desert, running along with a near-naked woman beside her, and bringing no tools or anything with her,” Chen Xiu admitted, “Also, not a master of any of the great arts, so I had no idea that it could work this way.”

“Now you are aware. As for that assertion, Xin Fu, I will assure you that it is entirely slanderous. And true. None of your business, however,” she commented, bringing the direction back onto its proper path, “Listen, I am able to offer my services and make use of all of the inscription plates you have in order to create a series of high-quality but varied inscriptions which should be guaranteed to sell for far higher prices than the plates themselves. For this reason, I’d like half.”

“If they’re all as good as this one, then I will immediately agree. This is immensely valuable.”

“Good. Then, I would also take advantage of some of your services and identity while we are both at the Chao District. In particular, there’s something I would like to find, and you could help.”

“I can assist you with that, but it depends on what you want. If it is just a location, or a group that isn’t greatly dangerous to search for, then I could do it even for free, but if you want to find something that is highly disagreeable to the Chao District or the powers there, I think I will demand some further compensation.”

“We will discuss that, I suppose. For now, let me give you this…”

Wei Yi raised her clawed hand into the air and condensed a crimson and silver page, on which she created an image of something near the desert stronghold that Yi Shi Ming was able to pass onto her.

Naturally, she wasn’t going to give away exactly what that fortress looked like, seeing as she didn’t want them to snoop around nor did she want to give it away to whatever contacts this merchant might make use of, not to mention the fact that it was likely to survive due to the way in which it was hidden. To ask him to look for some unusual dunes would hardly yield all that many results, regardless of how resourceful he was.

Instead, finding an area near the fortress that was likely to remain constant even after all these years was a safer bet. While it would give them some idea of where the true destination for her and Shun Liu Min was, it would be vague enough for the desert fortress to do its job and avoid their gaze.

The merchant, as he accepted this page, must have understood this, as he frowned.

“The sands move frequently and quickly. If we were to go to sleep here, the landscape around us might not remain recognisable when we wake. Something like this is probably buried under the sand now.”

“Just because it might be, doesn’t mean that it is. There are quite a few landmarks that I am searching for, and so long as you do look for them, I could agree to create more inscriptions for you for a discounted price while we remain in this district. Once the things I am looking for are found, however, I will be leaving, and I don’t intend to return in the immediate future.”

Chen Xiu shrugged, “Then I will need all of the images of the landmarks, at which point I could get some searching parties out to look for them. If there’s anything valuable at any of them, you will need to come along for some just to be sure.”

“No, they themselves aren’t valuable, so make sure to tell whoever you use for this that. If they steal anything they find just because they think that they will be paid a handsome sum, they would be very wrong,” she conjured a few more killing will pages for him, including a reasonably detailed image of the place, some descriptions of it, as well as guesses regarding its current state on each one, “So, I figure that we’re agreeing on the deal, then?”

“Yes, agreed. You can return to the strider, the inscription plates will be passed along, and if you need anything else, you can ask me or Xin Fu and we can give it to you at a low price. Give me the inscription.”

Some of his earlier rudeness had returned by the end of their conversation, but she didn’t mind it too much and quickly asked for some reasonable materials and basic equipment for sewing without giving much information on why she needed it, since the reason was obviously standing within the strider. Once he agreed and sent some traders to get that and the inscription plates, Wei Yi returned inside.

Shun Liu Min had already gotten up from the bed-like area she had been laid on, so they instead sat side by side while they waited for the items to be delivered to them. She would occasionally glance at Wei Yi’s various features, but it would be rather improper for them to engage in anything too extreme while inside the caravan near dozens of strangers, so the former and current maid could only hold the slowly rising desire in for now.

Due to her far greater familiarity with spiritual will, Wei Yi needed to do no glancing, whether to admire her current travelling companion or understand her issues, but she wasn’t particularly constrained by what the merchant couple and the other people around them thought.

For the moment, she simply lacked the right idea for how to handle their situation, but that wouldn’t take her all that long the moment that she knew how much she needed to work with when it came to the inscription plates. So long as all of them were made randomly, drawing upon her Vision of Law – as she did not intend to call her different view of the world that other than this once – to create successful inscriptions, she could probably complete everything in an hour or two, without needing to devote all of her attention to her work, but it didn’t seem like the best thing to do. Other than the money, which wasn’t a great concern to her for the same reason as that which allowed the easy creation of inscriptions, she did want to gain some understanding of the world and of the Solar Inscribing Arts, which couldn’t happen if she just acted haphazardly.

The moment that the inscription plates were brought over, however, she understood exactly how much time and effort they would require.

‘Fifteen one-star plates, eight two-star plates, four three-star plates and three four-star plates… Not the largest purchase anyone has ever made, of course, both due to the poorly planned nature of the purpose and due to the fact that inscription plates were not used anywhere near as frequently as artefacts and other items within inscriptions inside or atop them. To purchase too many would not be helpful in the slightest,’ she thought, grabbing one of the one-star plates, ‘Since that’s the case, I might have some freedom after all.’

“Remind me, Shun Liu Min; is that drug intensified or weakened by regular nightly activity?”

“You mean… it is slightly alleviated, but if it not handled properly with the full exchange, then it will eventually grow out of control nonetheless,” the maid replied.

“Oh, in that case, come a little closer. I have a few ideas for how to occupy my other hand while I work on all of this, and I don’t want to be reaching too far while we can be seen from either side by particularly slow or fast guards travelling beside us.”