Humanity's Great Sage

Humanity’s Great Sage: Chapter 208: The Two Primary Elements, Yin and Yang

Translator: Truth

Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys

Last time, Lady Yun had mentioned that his inheritance might be incomplete in some ways. While Lu Ye had no way of knowing if this was true, he was fairly sure that the Tree of Glyphs was the inheritance of a Glyphweaver. The only thing everyone got wrong was that he had obtained the inheritance from the Spirit Creek Battlefield, when it had been with him since he came to this world.

Of course, he saw no reason to correct the misunderstanding.

“What do you wish to learn from me?” Lady Yun asked.

“If you don’t mind, I would like to start from the very beginning.”

She nodded. “That is the right answer. Follow me.”

She took off toward a corridor. Lu Ye followed right behind her.

A while later, they arrived at a room. It was a much bigger room than the one where he had received his tattoo, and the walls were filled with recesses. They were used to hold books of all kinds, and at a glance it looked like there were at least a thousand books in the room. It would not be an exaggeration to call it a small library.

Not only that, Lu Ye could see Glyphs swimming around the walls like living fish. It was clear that the room was protected by extremely high level wards.

Lady Yun waved, and a book almost as thick as her finger flew into her hands. She then passed it to Lu Ye and said, “We will begin our lesson after you’ve finished reading this book.”

Lu Ye mentally complained even as he accepted the book respectfully: Self-study even before the first lesson? Come on.

After Lady Yun had left the room, Lu Ye looked around and found no table and chair where he could take a seat. So, he took out a praying mat from his own Storage Bag and laid it on the ground. He looked at the book after he had taken a seat.

The book didn’t have a cover title. When he flipped to the first page, he saw the title “Exploration of Glyph Fundamentals” and the words “ Mu Xiaoyao” underneath it. Clearly, the book had been written by a person named Mu Xiaoyao.

He turned to another page and began reading,

“Chaos is composed of Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang make up all things in existence. Just as all things contain Yin and Yang, the Way of Glyphs is founded on Yin and Yang as well. By combining the elements, one could construct an infinite amount of possibilities…”

Time passed. Lu Ye quickly became fully immersed in the reading.

The “Exploration of Glyph Fundamentals” wasn’t a record of miraculous Glyphs. It was the breakdown of a complicated subject into simple and easily understandable chunks of knowledge. It was especially suited for Lu Ye because he was a semi-beginner who had mastered a small number of Glyphs. A total beginner might have struggled to understand the concepts explained inside the book, but in Lu Ye was able to process the knowledge better by referring to his Glyphs from time to time.

Before he knew it, Lu Ye had read to the end of the book. He became absorbed in thought as he held the book in one hand and propped his chin up with the other.

“Have you finished?” Lady Yun’s voice suddenly rang beside him. Surprised, he attempted to stand when she motioned for him to stay where he was. She then sat down in front of Lu Ye.

“Care to share your thoughts?” Lady Yun asked.

“The Way of Glyphs is broader and deeper than I could imagine,” Lu Ye replied honestly. He always knew that Glyphs were complicated, but the book opened his eyes to how deep it really was.

Lady Yun smiled. “That is why there are so few Glyphweavers out there. More than just perseverance and determination, it also takes an incredible amount of talent to walk this path. Luckily for you, talent is not a problem since you possess the inheritance of a Glyphweaver.”

“This disciple promises to work twice as hard to study the Way of Glyphs,” Lu Ye replied formally before launching to a new question, “According to the book, the primary elements of a Glyph is Yin and Yang, and all Glyphs can be broken down to differing numbers of Yin and Yang. Are there no exceptions at all?”

Lady Yun shook her head affirmatively. “There are none that I know of at the very least.”

Respect welled inside Lu Ye. “The person who discovered Yin and Yang is truly incredible.”

In the Exploration of Glyph Fundamentals, it was stated that Chaos was composed of Yin and Yang, and that they made up all things in existence. This was why all living and nonliving things could technically be quantified as sums of Yin and Yang, and Glyphs were the purest representation of it (T/N: I think of this as pure math as a method to observe reality).

To reiterate, a Glyph was made up of the two primary elements, Yin and Yang. The Yin element looked like a two-dimensional picture of the letter “S”, while the Yang element was the same letter but inverted, “?”. To construct a Glyph, one must combine and arrange the two primary elements in various ways. The Glyph would not take form if any part of the process were wrong, let alone function as intended.

To Lu Ye, constructing a Glyph was like constructing a house using two different types of building blocks, and there were, theoretically speaking, an infinite type of houses. It was up to the Glyphweaver to determine how to build a stable “house” that fit their purpose.

This wasn’t an easy task, of course. A single Glyph contained several hundred elements at the very least, and the amount of combinations and arrangements one could make with that many elements were almost incalculable.

This was why Lu Ye had said that the Way of Glyphs was broader and deeper than he could imagine.

When he recalled all the Glyphs he had created until now, he realized that they were all composed of Yin and Yang. In the past, he had thought that the internal structures of his Glyphs looked more or less the same, but now he knew that he couldn’t be any more wrong. This was what people meant when they said that a layman admires the art, but an expert recognizes the artistry. Someone who had never studied Glyphs in their life would not be able to tell the anatomical differences between two Glyphs.

“The person who discovered Yin and Yang is impressive, but the Glyphweavers who invented all kinds of Glyphs are even more impressive. Every useful Glyph we enjoy now may be the culmination of one or multiple generations of study and research. They could have performed millions, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of failed experiments before they discovered a combination and arrangement of Yin and Yang—a Glyph—that was usable.”

Lu Ye nodded in agreement. The number sounded exaggerated, but he knew it wasn’t.

“It is thanks to our predecessors that we are able to enjoy the Glyphs we have today.” Lady Yun looked at Lu Ye. “A truly outstanding Glyphweaver isn’t one who can utilize the known Glyphs to its maximum capacity, but one who can innovate new Glyphs and unveil more of its mysteries. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time before the Way of Glyphs falls to obscurity. I hope to see your work in the field one day.”

“I will do my best.”

Lady Yun nodded. “Now that you have some understanding of the fundamentals of Glyphs, it is time you solidify that knowledge with practice.”

She lifted an index finger and summoned a dot of light on the fingertip. “What do you see?”

Lu Ye squinted for a long time before he answered in a hesitating voice, “Is that a… Yin element?”

“And now?”

“A Yang element?”

“Not bad. It takes both excellent eyesight and precise control over their own Spiritual Power to become a Glyphweaver. Now, show me what you can do. I want you to construct a Yin element and a Yang element like I did just now.”

“Yes!”

Lu Ye adjusted his posture before lifting an index finger. Then, he attempted to construct a Yin element on the fingertip with his Spiritual Power.

Lady Yun had made the action look as easy as pie, but as with most things in life he quickly discovered that it wasn’t as easy as he thought. Thankfully, he had constructed enough Glyphs to shorten his learning time even if those experiences were half-baked.

An incense stick later, a Yin element composed of Spiritual Power appeared on his fingertip. However, Lu Ye was frowning because the Yin element he constructed was too big. Lady Yun’s was so small it was nigh invisible even with a cultivator’s eyesight, while his was as big as a fingernail. Not only that, he was unable to hold it stable despite his best efforts. As if on cue, the element suddenly dissipated after a surge of Spiritual Power. He couldn’t even maintain it for two full breaths.

Even if he managed to keep the element stable, it was too big to be used to construct a Glyph. A Glyph was made up of hundreds of elements at least, so the Glyph made up of elements this size would be incredibly huge. It would be a huge drain on his Spiritual Power if he were to use it in combat, not to mention that it wasn’t stable enough.

Lady Yun smiled. “Very good. When I first started practicing, it took me two days to reach this level. That inheritance you have is definitely helping, not to mention that your fine control is good because your Spiritual Power is quite pure. Do not hesitate to exploit those advantages. Now, try building a Yang element.”

Lu Ye responded affirmatively before throwing himself to the work.

Thanks to the first experience, he was able to construct a Yang element much quicker this time. Unfortunately, its size and stability remained a problem he couldn’t solve.

Lady Yun was more than happy with his progress, however. “You are improving quickly. Now that you’ve learned how to construct the two primary elements, all you need to do is to practice until they become as natural as breathing. When you are able to switch between the two primary elements with ease, stabilize them, and shrink them to the size of a grain, we will continue to the next step of your training.”

While saying this, she raised an arm and caused a dozen or so books to fly out of the recesses. After they had joined into a neat stack, she handed them to Lu Ye and said, “Take these with you and read them at your leisure. They are all books regarding the fundamentals of Glyphs. You may return once you have met the requirements I mentioned.”

Lu Ye rose to his feet and replied respectfully, “Yes, ma’am. I will practice diligently until I am ready to return.”

A short while later, Lu Ye exited the door and bowed toward Lady Yun’s residence. He then climbed onto Amber’s back—the tiger had been waiting outside this whole time—and returned to the Summit of Fortitude.

So far, Lady Yun had proven herself to be a good teacher and a kind woman. In fact, he could not imagine why the Sect Master was willing to leave her alone at the Summit of Clarity. Whatever grave offense he might’ve committed in the past, surely she was worth apologizing to and getting back with, right? Well, it was none of his business.

After he returned to the Summit of Fortitude, he met Shui Yuan briefly before teleporting to the Outpost.

The Outpost was less noisy than he thought, not because something bad had happened, but because both their new disciples and the associates were cultivating hard right now.

Power was the root of all cultivators, and any cultivator who lacked the resolve to dedicate most of their time in cultivation would not go far on this path. Considering how much better the Outpost’s cultivation environment was than before, any time not spent on cultivating could be considered a waste of time.

First things first, Lu Ye sought out a junior brother at the Sanctum of Providence and confirmed that there was nothing that required his attention. It was only then that he headed to the training chambers.

In the past, there were far more training chambers than there were disciples. But now, people were queuing outside the entrances even though there were several hundred training chambers in the Outpost. It wasn’t like they couldn’t cultivate without the training chambers, but it was so much more efficient to cultivate with a Glyph of Gathering Spirits than without.

Of course, this was just a temporary problem. Once everyone had used up their salary, the training chambers would be much less crowded than before.