Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 585: Light and Water

Chapter 585: Light and Water

The supposed method for leaving the place they were stuck at was apparently to be found through the golden scroll, evidently because this page of the Heavenly Tome was related to light.

To put it bluntly, the mirage surrounding Skyrim Island had always been refracted images of the firmament in this place, a quintessential effect of light.

The distortion that blocked the blind woman’s perception and what ultimately transported them to this place was all based upon the manipulation of light. Zhao Changhe had suspected the teleportation to have involved spatial manipulation, but it turned out that a spatial transfer could also be achieved by using arrays not based on high-level spatial laws. This particular page of the Heavenly Tome had nothing to do with space, only light.

Yet knowing it was about light and being able to use that knowledge were two different things entirely.

Luckily, Zhao Changhe had already dabbled in the usage of light. He had learned the Water Mirror Technique, so it was not like he was starting from scratch. In other words, there was no major barrier to his understanding of the concept behind this page of the Heavenly Tome.

At times, Zhao Changhe felt that he truly did have a rather mysterious fate, and he knew that the events he came across were far from being orchestrated by the blind woman. For example, although she pointed out that there was a page of the Heavenly Tome to be found here, she had never mentioned its nature.

As it turned out, this page was related to light, and he had coincidentally just studied the applications of light when he met with water with Lady Three. And Lady Three had gleaned insights for the matter from studying the crystal core of the Sea Emperor’s water construct, something that had no connection to the blind woman. There was simply no way she could have interfered with what Lady Three comprehended from the crystal—it was almost as if everything were truly moving according to heaven’s will.

Zhao Changhe immersed his consciousness into the Heavenly Tome, and the first thing he noticed was that even the plants here had become more lush. The Heavenly Tome was constantly evolving, reflecting his observations of new techniques, species, and phenomena. Now that he was at the verdant peak of Azure Dragon’s domain, the Heavenly Tome transformed accordingly, being filled with unusual new plant species. Finding items with special soul-destroying properties did not require scouring the entire island as he could easily use the Heavenly Tome to cheat and directly identify them.

However, that was not of great import for the moment. What was important, though, was figuring out how to leave.

Zhao Changhe raised his head and looked toward the sun and moon within the illusory world created by the Heavenly Tome.

The world within the Heavenly Tome had always been subject to constant daylight, but sure enough, there was now a cycle of day and night within.

For a moment, Zhao Changhe felt a pang of confusion.

Is this illusory world changing because of each new page of the Heavenly Tome that I get, or is it changing because my understanding of the world is evolving?

Before, when he had not considered having natural landscapes in the illusion, the scenes he would witness would simply be a solitary figure demonstrating martial arts techniques. When he obtained the second page, the page related to nature, the illusory world began to feature natural landscapes. But even before he had the page, he already knew it was a page of nature, so naturally, when entering the illusion, he would think in that direction. So, did the vision change because of the page of nature, or because he knew it was a page of nature and expected it to change as such?

Before obtaining the page of life, Zhao Changhe had never even considered that the visions might contain living creatures roaming around. But after he acquired it, the illusory world began to feature birds and beasts. And it was the same this time—he had never thought about the sun and moon needing to rise and set within the illusory world. In the past, he assumed there was nothing wrong with perpetual daylight. But now that he knew of the page of light and had acquired it, the cycle of day and night came to be.

As before, what appeared in the visions was predetermined, but how it operated and changed was directed by his mind. If he wanted flowers to bloom and wither, they did just that. If he wanted day to turn to night, it did. And if he wanted to return to daytime, it did.

Zhao Changhe looked up, constantly watching the transformation of day into night and back again. He thought, This must be the ultimate form of controlling light, though for now, I can only achieve it in here.

The reality of reaching such a level was still very far away. Even if he understood the essence of light, he could not harness it yet—every aspect of the Heavenly Tome was meant to relate to cultivation. It was not meant to simply display a more vivid VR experience. The pages of the Heavenly Tome were meant to inspire cultivation. He had to think about how to apply the relevant concepts on his own.

With a thought, the sunlight transformed from invisible rays into a multi-colored spectrum. A beam of seven-colored light shot out from the sun, refracting in the water, forming the rainbow bridge above Skyrim Island.

Zhao Changhe could see clearly how the spectrum refracted on the water’s surface: the angles, the details, and the final impact points—it was all crystal clear to him.

He was analyzing and reconstructing how the environment around the island was formed—the paths of the light, the points of contact. In order to leave the place they were stuck in, he would have to rely on this.

And when he mastered this, he would truly understand light.

For some reason, at that moment, a thought passed through Zhao Changhe’s mind, Once I master this, I’ll return and teach you the Spring Water Sword art.

* * *

While Zhao Changhe was studying light, Xia Chichi was meditating on the laws and principles of the Azure Dragon.

Lady Three sat in meditation nearby, recovering from some of her minor injuries. She then opened her eyes.

She saw her man sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed, his expression serene.

Lady Three’s beautiful eyes lingered on his face for a while, then shifted to his hand. Originally, he wore only one ring, but now he had two.

Lady Three pouted slightly. Both of those rings were supposed to be mine. One originally belonged to the ancient Black Tortoise and the other belonged to my father. It’s pretty strange how the connection between him and myself seems to be completely encapsulated by those two rings.

Is it implying that having him allows me to stop using my own fingers[1]?

Not that I’ve ever... used my fingers that way. Besides, he’s the one wearing them... Should he be the one to quit using his fingers? No way, foreplay is still important.

Just what was my father thinking? What if the ring contains a journal or other personal things? Instead of passing them down to his daughter, he actually gave them to someone else. I really want to ask for it back, but it feels like doing so would be like reclaiming a dowry and asking to break up...

Well, now that he’s meditating, maybe I can sneak a peek. That should be fine, right...

Lady Three quietly moved closer, her hand gently resting on his, fingers brushing the ring. She cautiously allowed her consciousness to probe within.

The contents of the ring were surprisingly simple, not at all what one would expect from a king—it lacked the wealth expected of a king. Well, Hai Pinglan, ruling Penglai, had never needed to carry money. Besides some medicinal pills, there was an old saber from his early days. Though the material was decent, by their current standards, it was unremarkable, more sentimental than practical. Perhaps it still had some symbolic or commanding value in Penglai.

Everything else was books, various records of a lifetime of martial arts: cultivation techniques, fist techniques, saber techniques, movement techniques, and even a set of archery techniques. Archery was an exceedingly rare thing, and very few martial artists in the Central Plains practiced it. It simply was not as convenient or portable as hidden weapons, and although Zhao Changhe enjoyed it, he had rarely found suitable opportunities to put his archery skills to good use. Archery was typically used in the military, but there, it was all about strength and precision, with hardly any focus on specific techniques. Only someone like Hai Pinglan, who had fought in naval battles for years, would develop a unique archery art.

It was the lifetime legacy of a martial artist, nothing more. In his final days, Hai Pinglan had fully returned to his roots as a martial artist, all thoughts of empires and conquests left behind.

It was thus no wonder that he had refrained from giving it to her. He must have feared that, as the Four Idols Cult’s Venerable Black Tortoise, she would refuse his legacy, making things awkward. So, feeling uncertain, he had given it to her man instead, a more indirect solution.

Lady Three felt a pang of regret. Had she known, she would not have looked. It only added to her melancholy.

Caught up in both the ring’s contents and her own sadness, she forgot to stay alert.

A head peeked out from behind a tree not far away. “V-venerable, are you sneaking a feel while he’s meditating?”

Lady Three jumped up in shock. “Did you not see I was trying to steal his ring?! Stealing a ring doesn’t count as sneaking a feel, does it?!”

Xia Chichi eyed her suspiciously before responding with a simple “Oh.”

Lady Three tried to regain her composure. “Why are you back so soon? Did you comprehend something?”

Xia Chichi hesitated. “I’ve learned quite a lot, but I’ve hit a bottleneck and can’t break through.”

“What kind of bottleneck?”

“To grow wood requires water, and to establish wood requires earth. I feel like to break through this bottleneck, I need to connect with the water element, so I came to ask for your guidance...” Xia Chichi continued. “I’ve always used Iceheart, drawing on its sharpness to understand water, but I never quite got it. That’s why when you brought back the ancient sword Dragon Emperor back then, I didn’t ask for it... Ah, wait, I saw Changhe using Dragon Emperor during the fight earlier. Why does Changhe have it?”

Lady Three’s mind went into overdrive again. You came looking for guidance, and now you’re back to catching me red-handed... Thankfully, on the topic of Dragon Emperor, her conscience was clear. “Dragon Emperor was lent to him back in Kuaiji to settle some debts. What, are you upset I gave it away because it should belong to you?”

“My sword is his sword.”

“...Xia Chichi, are you under the impression that I’m easy to deal with?”

“N-No...”

“Anyway, when it comes to your problem with the water element, it’s simply that your foundation is still quite weak. You need to start from the basics... and luckily, we have something good here.” Lady Three tossed her a book. “This is the Dragon King’s accumulated wisdom from decades of sailing the seas. His insights into the nature of water have already reached the level of the divine. Study it carefully... and copy it ten times, just to make sure that you have a good understanding of it.”

1. The phrase here is ????, which is generally used to refer to quitting a smartphone addiction or gaming addiction, though in this case, it refers to something a little bit more NSFW. ?