The Second Collection: Fog Conceals the Valley Chapter 11: Ancient Symbols
"This is a talisman, and an ancient one at that!!" Returning to his own residence, Wang Guanlan dismissed his attendants and carefully examined the gray cloth used to wrap up that large pile of elixirs.
Soon he discovered that it was not a piece of cloth, but a piece of animal hide.
A piece of old, worn-out animal hide, which had been in existence for who-knows-how-many years, was covered with numerous symbols. Now Wang Guanlan could no longer tell whether these symbols were painted on by humans or born naturally.
It is said that many ancient and mysterious creatures have innate symbols on their bodies, which are often directly related to their innate divine powers.
Since returning from the misty valley, Wang Guanlan has been studying the mysterious red-clothed woman's "Wenfu Xiwen Notes". Although it is just a notebook, in Wang Guanlan's eyes, it is almost equivalent to the legacy of a master. The Wenfu Xiwen Notes, from shallow to deep, record how the owner of the notes grew from a first-level practitioner to a fourth-level practitioner through the study of symbol scripts.
Yes, only up to the fourth-order magician. Perhaps the final achievement of this magician named Wenfu is not limited to being a fourth-order magician, but it's not a thick book either, and it only goes up to the fourth order. Even so, it has benefited him greatly.
Because this notebook is from that Wenfu, starting from a person who knows nothing, only has the potential of a technician, an ordinary person begins to study, the starting point and Wang Guanlan are generally the same, all blank. Wang Guanlan witnessed his step-by-step growth from an ordinary person to a symbol master through this notebook. The whole notebook is like a famous teacher, taking him step by step to deeply learn the knowledge of symbols. In nearly a year's time, Wang Guanlan is no longer the rookie who knew nothing about technicians and symbols.
What is referred to as "Fu" in ancient times was not called "Fu", but rather "Tian Xiang", meaning the mark or trace of the Heavenly Way.
One of the oldest Taoist scriptures is called "The Scripture of the Heavenly Talisman", which records the way of the heavenly talisman, that is, the origin of the symbolic script. Of course, this scripture has long since disappeared and only exists as a legend in the world.
However, the way of talismans has been passed down after all, and with the passage of time, countless schools have evolved, and the methods are diverse and varied. For example, Wang Guanlan's "Wenfu Xi Fu Penji" belongs to a well-known school of talismanic arts, the Tianshan He Wu School.
No one knows if there are cranes on Mount Tian, but this school has been passed down for thousands of years and is called by this name. This school also branched out into several other schools, Wenfu being a branch of the Tianshan Crane Dance School.
There are many branches of the school, as numerous as cow hair, and various ways of using talismans are also different. However, there is one thing that is universally recognized, which is the distinction between ancient symbols and modern symbols.
What is referred to as a "Gu Fu" refers to the symbols drawn out from 36,000 years ago, which are called ancient symbols.
The characters within thirty-six thousand years are called modern characters.
Why is it thirty-six thousand years?
Because 36,000 years ago, between heaven and earth, a great disaster occurred, known as the end of the law, when the disaster struck, heaven and earth wept together, the sun and moon lost their luster. This world was also split apart after that great disaster. Similarly, the ancient five classics were also fragmented and scattered after that great disaster, leaving only legends existing among humans.
Like the Five Classics of the Han and Tang dynasties, Gu Fu also gradually declined in influence after the end of the Dharma-ending age.
In "Wenfu's Symbol Notes", ancient symbols are also mentioned, stating that each symbol has enormous power and is mysterious and unpredictable, but not necessarily applicable. This point is explained very clearly in the notes.
Compared to modern symbols, ancient symbols convey more complete meanings and are closer to the Tao. This is because ancient symbols originated from the "Wan Xiang Tian Hen Jing" and each symbol represents a trace of the operation of heaven and earth. However, it was precisely this reason that led to the gradual loss and disappearance of ancient symbols. After the apocalypse of the Dharma Ending Age, the primordial energy of heaven and earth dissipated, resulting in enormous differences from the ancient times. The true Tao of heaven and earth had already been scattered or hidden behind thick layers of fog. Even if one understood ancient symbols, the power required to activate them would be many times that of ancient times. Moreover, even if activated, it would be difficult to achieve the same effects as in ancient times. Therefore, ancient symbols were gradually replaced by modern symbols.
What is called modern script, in fact, originated from ancient script, it's an improvement of the cultivators after the end of the law on the ancient script. Modern script and ancient script are different, more suitable for the world after the end of the law, so it quickly spread and successfully replaced the position of ancient script. After thousands of years of transmission, it formed the current character system.
The meaning expressed by each character in modern characters is much simpler than that of ancient characters. If every ancient character is a complete program, then modern characters are just a statement within the program. Modern characters were originally broken down from ancient characters and recombined to meet the requirements of the Dharma-ending Age and the Tao of Heaven and Earth after the primordial energy of Heaven and Earth.
While Guwen, in today's world, is like a program that cannot be compatible with the operating system, or can be operated through some means, but will encounter various problems during operation, and even lead to extreme situations such as system crashes, which is also the reason for the disappearance of Guwen.
Of course, this is not to say that ancient symbols are useless. Among symbol masters, ancient symbols are still extremely valuable. Each ancient symbol is a living textbook, interpreting the mysteries of heaven's marks for those who have devoted their lives to the way of symbol magic.
The number of symbol masters was scarce after all, so after tens of thousands of years of transmission, this ancient symbol gradually became lost. Being able to find one or two is a priceless treasure for the symbol master.
Like Wang Guanlan, a half-step Wu Fa master and an array master, this is the second time he has seen ancient symbols in his life. The first time was in the Chi Yan's Crimson Fire Dragon Flag, where the main symbol of the low-grade Taoist instrument Crimson Fire Dragon Flag was also an ancient symbol, which was the core symbol that made up the internal array of the Taoist instrument. It was from this symbol that Wang Guanlan's understanding of fireball techniques exceeded what a beginner should understand.
It was also through that talisman that he felt the aura of the ancient talismans, and was extremely sensitive to changes in them. Now, the talismans on this piece of "gray cloth" in his hand were emitting an aura identical to that of the Red Fire Flame Dragon Flag's main talisman.
There is no doubt that this is an ancient symbol.
There were only three ancient symbols on the gray cloth. If they had been obtained in normal times, getting three ancient symbols would have been enough to make Wang Guanlan extremely excited. However, now he was only annoyed because this piece of "gray cloth" was not intact and had clearly been cut open with a knife. The most likely person to have done the cutting was his cheap uncle, as the cut was very new and had obviously been made in the last few days. It seemed that the original gray cloth had been very large, but there wasn't much to wrap, so they had simply used a knife to cut it open. This was simply an act of wanton destruction!
Wang Guanlan's biggest idea now is to immediately return to Yicheng, grab the collar of that uncle and let him quickly hand over the remaining gray cloth.
However, it is not realistic at present.
Studying ancient symbols takes a long time, but the problem he's facing now is pressing, although he already has a plan, that Qingling's identity is too sensitive, who knows when a big shot will suddenly appear, someone truly standing at the top of the current martial arts world, and give him a surprise attack, he can't handle it.
In fact, he was very clear in his heart that although he had already made great progress and was well-prepared, after all, his foundation was still quite shallow.
Wang Guanlan was well aware of his current situation and knew that many people were waiting to see him make a fool of himself. These people didn't necessarily have grudges against him, he wasn't so big that he had enemies all over the place, except for those hot-headed young people who came to find trouble with him, most people were watching with a malicious mindset to see the excitement.
I watched as he built a magnificent mansion, I watched as he entertained his friends and guests, I watched as the building collapsed!
Most people have such a mentality and just want to watch the excitement.
Although Wang Guanlan didn't like being surrounded by people, there was nothing he could do about it.
"I'm not afraid of them!" Wang Guanlan put away the gray cloth and whispered to herself, "At least I'm not afraid of most of them!"
He is indeed fearless and has reason to be so!
It seems that everyone has forgotten one thing: he is not only a three-layer cultivator, but also a Taoist and an array master.
No matter who comes to challenge him, he can say with a clear conscience, "Come and challenge me, okay, no problem, break my formation first!!"
As a formation master, I accepted the challenge of these young heroes. Who can pick out any mistakes? And among the so-called young heroes in this world, how many have really seen formations?
The majority of Qingling's supporters are martial artists, and for martial artists, especially young ones, the formation master's formations are a particularly mysterious thing. Those who truly have the courage to face them, apart from some hot-blooded guys, are those who have extreme confidence in their own strength. Just like the mindset of most people, watching these self-righteous guys fall is also one of his hobbies.
What he fears is that he might really encounter those who defy the heavens, people said to possess the protagonist template and have a stroke of luck, who at a young age have had countless strange encounters, and with just one foot can trample to death those legendary great villains. It's precisely such guys that Wang Guanlan dreads.
The most annoying thing is that such people actually exist!
A few of the world's top sacred places have such figures, of course, as the world's top martial arts sacred place, there are not many who will put aside their pride to challenge them. There are even a few people who don't have the qualifications or reasons, for example, the current generation of the world's top walker from Dalai Temple, Red Mountain Monk, this guy is a six-senses-pure monk, naturally won't compete with him. Then there's the world's top walker from Cang Ming Guan, following the mysterious style of Cang Ming Guan, apart from a limited number of people, no one knows if this world's top walker really exists or not, so they wouldn't appear in front of the public for this matter.
What about these two?
Among the four major holy places of Wulin, only Sunsa Valley is left. However, the current generation's Tianxia Xingzou has not yet been born and will not get involved in his entanglement with Qingling.
So, the four major holy lands of Jianghu can be ruled out, but what about outside of the four major holy lands? Is it really possible that there's no one else? Of course not, there are still many people who can pose a threat to him, over 100 people on the Profound Abyss Ranking and the Profound Abyss Substitute Ranking, all of whom can pose a threat to him.
