NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10: The Fiery Rhinoceros
However, he noticed some issues with the vines he created. They didn't truly possess life. If he stopped supplying them with life force, the vine would quickly wither and turn to dust.
Compared to real green plants, what he created through the rules of the Dao lacked many qualities; it had no soul and could not endure.
After all, the creation of life is the domain of the heavens. How could it be so easily handed over to living beings?
Shaking his head, Wang Heng severed the power chain, causing the vine to turn to ash instantly and scatter with the wind. He felt no attachment to it and instead looked upward.
Having mastered the first ancient glyph and manifested it with his power, he became more interested in the millions of celestial ancient glyphs floating above him.
Having witnessed the marvels of the life rule glyph, what other extraordinary ancient glyphs awaited him?
Thinking of this, Wang Heng eagerly began his studies of the second ancient glyph.
Much like the first, merely locking his gaze upon it was enough to pinpoint the ancient glyph star. Then he awaited its descent, capturing it with his celestial aura.
Quickly, Wang Heng grasped the true essence of the second ancient glyph, which elucidated the heaviest of the five elements: earth.
Mastering this ancient glyph allows one to create earth out of the void. With sufficient power, one could conjure a massive mountain or even a star.
For a being like Wang Heng, who has not truly embarked on the path of cultivation, he can only rely on the extraordinary talent bestowed by his Celestial King lineage to transform some clumps of earth. Mountains and stars remain out of reach.
As expected, Wang Heng attempted a slight experiment and succeeded in creating a palm-sized clump of yellow earth.
It had mass and boundaries, existing as a tangible object, akin to creating something out of nothing, defying imagination.
However, like the vines, the clump of earth could not maintain itself once deprived of Wang Heng's power, dispersing in a short time.
Watching the clump dissipate with the wind, Wang Heng immediately dove into understanding the third ancient glyph.
Once again, without exception, he succeeded in a very short time.
Next came the fourth, fifth, sixth... up to the one-hundredth.
The more ancient glyphs he comprehended, the more fascinating it became, and Wang Heng could not stop, obsessively accumulating them. These glyphs served as his firm footing in an alien world and were indispensable foundations on his path of cultivation. For him, the more, the better.
Wang Heng was no longer satisfied with his previous speed. Without hesitation, he fixed his gaze on five ancient glyphs at once.
Like meteors streaking across the night sky, illuminated tails trailing behind, the five ancient symbols hurtled towards him with immense force.
From afar, they resembled chunks of meteorites breaching the atmosphere, their presence already bringing crushing pressure even before they drew near.
Wang Heng remained composed. Through his previous captures, he had discerned the limits of his abilities—the five glyphs were not beyond his capacity.
Yet, life often threw unexpected challenges. As the five meteors descended with overwhelming might, nearing the ground, the glyphs began to alter unexpectedly.
The ancient glyphs rearranged themselves in a peculiar formation, spinning rapidly. In the next moment, tongues of fire shot upwards, transforming the meteors into blazing fireballs.
Within the blazing sphere, a rhinoceros with a massive horn manifested from void to reality, its fierce eyes locked on Wang Heng with a cold gaze. Its massive maw opened wide, unleashing a thunderous roar.
The sudden transformation startled Wang Heng, but he quickly regained his calm.
Turning his hand over, a pure white aura, vibrant like bubbling hot water, radiated from him. This power wasn’t cultivation or craft, but the innate energy of a Celestial King's direct descendant, naturally attuned to the celestial path.
It is precisely for this reason that when he comprehends the profound truth contained within the ancient glyphs, he can achieve twice the result with half the effort.
“Buzz!”
Three ancient glyphs emerged, flashing briefly before transforming into seeds that burst forth with brilliance.
Then, under Wang Heng's magical incantation, each of the three seeds sprouted and rapidly grew, transforming in the blink of an eye into massive vines several meters high. These vines intertwined to form a gigantic net that hovered above Wang Heng's head.
As soon as the gigantic net was formed, the fiery rhinoceros charged down with the momentum of thunder, colliding with the net.
“Sizzle!”
Flames leapt skyward as the green leaves on the vines burned away at a speed visible to the naked eye, vanishing into nothingness. However, the main vines remained sturdy, resistant to the fiery rhinoceros’s furious flames and roars, unable to break free.
The creature was enraged, its eyes blood red, letting out a long howl to the heavens. Mysterious ancient glyphs appeared on its body, and the color of the flames changed, an extreme heat swept in, so intense that even the resilient vines began to scorch and blacken.
Seeing the net about to break and the situation perilous, Wang Heng silently increased his power output, simultaneously utilizing the celestial aura from the bloodline of the Celestial King of the Wang Family, intertwining it among the vines.
With the infusion of celestial energy, the vines' resilience strengthened remarkably, and they effortlessly ensnared the Fiery Rhinoceros, leaving it with no hope of escape.
After a period of resistance, the Fiery Rhinoceros gradually calmed down, the ferocity in its eyes slowly dissipating. Eventually, its entire body began to disintegrate, transforming into countless particles of light.
These particles coalesced in the void, ultimately converging into five ancient glyphs.
Observing this, Wang Heng breathed a sigh of relief and with a gesture, the five glyphs floated towards him, offering no more resistance.
His eyes gleamed, penetrating the true essence of these ancient glyphs.
Thereafter, Wang Heng embarked on a new endeavor, incrementally accelerating his pace of comprehension and cultivation.
Six... seven... ten. He discovered his limit.
Encircled by celestial breath, all plants germinating from the seeds were robust, allowing Wang Heng to comprehend ten ancient glyphs at once, significantly speeding up his cultivation process.
As he continued to assimilate the glyphs, the variations he encountered grew increasingly wondrous: fiery rhinos, three-headed birds, jade lions, colorful butterflies...
Each creature embodied a complex cosmic principle, formed by permutations of the most basic ancient glyphs.
The same ancient glyphs, when arranged differently, yield different results. However, this does not mean that any random combination can become a spell or a talisman. Perhaps only a very few of the millions of possible configurations of glyphs will actually work and unleash their power.
Over time, those powerful and effective mystical arts will form a lineage, giving rise to schools and clans.
(End of Chapter)
