Chapter 229: Void Traversing Realm
After lunch, Xiang Yu decided to practice drawing some runes. But before diving into the practical work, he first decided to write the runemaster textbooks for his talisman making students. Following his usual approach, he wrote comprehensive guides covering everything from ninth to seventh grade.
Writing these books also allowed him to organize and integrate the insights more deeply.
When he finished the last Chapter, Xiang Yu quickly mass-produced copies using his spiritual sea printer 3000. He then carefully stored the completed books in his spatial ring, making a mental note to deliver them to Chairman Liu Qing later.
Speaking of spatial rings, he had recently inquired with Li Yao about the cultivation realm that existed beyond Soul Formation. According to her explanation, it was called the Void Traversing realm—a stage where a cultivator’s physical body merged with heaven itself, while their soul returned to the anterior heaven. This profound transformation granted them the incredible ability to tear through space.
Li Yao had mentioned there were many other aspects to this realm, but the space-tearing ability was its most distinctive feature. The concept fascinated Xiang Yu, especially when he considered his current blacksmithing capabilities. At his level, he should theoretically be able to refine spatial treasures. But he lacked the essential space crystals needed for spatial treasures.
A curious thought crossed his mind: if Void Traversing cultivators possessed some inherent connection to spatial manipulation, could he somehow harness or replicate that power to create spatial treasures? The idea was intriguing, but he quickly dismissed it with a shake of his head. Such considerations were far beyond his current reach, and dwelling on impossibly distant goals would only distract him from immediate progress.
Moving on to his runesmithing practice, Xiang Yu examined the knowledge he had gained from reaching fourth grade. The promotion had granted him access to quite a few new blueprints. Although these were specifically rune blueprints, he noted with satisfaction that he could easily simplify them to create traditional talismans if the situation required it.
As he studied the various blueprints, most proved interesting in their own right, but one particular blueprint immediately captured his attention. It was the teleportation rune. A rune that essentially replicated the signature ability of Void Traversing realm cultivators, allowing the user to teleport across vast distances.
The talisman version that was easier to produce came with significant limitations that made Xiang Yu frown. For starters, it could only teleport someone a maximum distance of one thousand miles. Even more problematic, the direction was completely random. He could easily imagine the frustrating scenario: teleporting a thousand miles away from danger, then deciding to use another talisman for additional distance, only to find himself transported right back to his original location. While the chances of such an occurrence were relatively low, the mere possibility of it happening made Xiang Yu uncomfortable.
Additionally, when he really thought about it, a Void Traversing realm cultivator could probably cover that same thousand-mile distance easily without even needing to break through space. If they actually tore through space, their travel time would be even faster. Suddenly, the talisman didn’t seem particularly impressive for its intended purpose.
Still, he acknowledged that it would be excellent for escaping from anyone below the Void Traversing realm.
The rune version, on the other hand, was far more impressive and solved several of the talisman’s critical flaws. First, the maximum distance increased dramatically to ten thousand miles instead of just one thousand. Even more importantly, the user could actually choose the direction of their teleportation rather than being subject to random chance.
Xiang Yu nodded approvingly as he studied the rune’s specifications. This was quite decent, though he suspected it might still be inadequate against a true Void Traversing realm opponent. After all, cultivators at that level could be considered continental overlords. Their divine sense could easily blanket an entire continent, and they could cross such distances in less than half an hour through normal flight. When tearing through space, that time dropped to less than fifteen minutes.
Just thinking about such overwhelming strength sent a shiver down his spine. The difference between a Void Traversing realm cultivator and someone like the cult leader was so vast it resembled the gap between a child and a fully grown adult. The cult leader, who had seemed impossibly powerful to them, would be nothing more than an ant before such beings.
He found himself wondering what Li Yao would do if they ever faced such an enemy. Would she surprise everyone again, just as she had during their previous battles? Well, they would have to wait and see when that situation inevitably arose.
For now, Xiang Yu decided to create a teleportation rune specifically for Li Yao. Since he rarely ventured out to fight directly, he didn’t think he particularly needed such an escape tool for himself. Instead, he was more interested in making a fourth grade defensive formation. He already had some ideas about how to create defensive barriers that could keep Void Traversing realm cultivators away from his sect entirely.
Just thinking about the possibilities made him smile with anticipation.
...
In rune making, there were many different methods of creation, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Xiang Yu mentally reviewed his options as he prepared to craft the teleportation rune.
The first method involved drawing the rune directly in the air using spiritual energy. While this technique had its uses, it came with significant disadvantages that made it impractical for most situations. The primary issue was that air-drawn runes were meant to be used on the go—when you drew a rune in the air, it activated almost instantly and couldn’t be stored for later use. This made them essentially disposable, single-use techniques.
Another major limitation was the extremely high level of understanding required. For example, he couldn’t just start drawing a fourth-grade rune in the middle of battle while dodging attacks and managing his spiritual energy. The concentration and precision needed were simply too demanding for combat situations. Air runes were more commonly used for drawing low-level enhancement runes that provided temporary benefits or small boosts to one’s attacks, but they were generally not as useful as the alternatives.
The second method involved using a rune disk, which functioned similarly to a formation disk. The runesmith would carefully engrave the pattern onto the disk’s surface, creating a reusable tool. For an even better effect, you could inscribe a rune directly into a treasure or artifact, just as he had done when engraving runes onto the two wedding rings. This method produced significantly more powerful and durable results.
The final method was the OG talisman approach—taking a complex rune and simplifying it before drawing the modified pattern onto specially prepared paper. This was by far the easiest of all the methods, requiring the least skill and resources while still producing functional results.
Xiang Yu weighed his options carefully, considering the teleportation rune’s intended purpose and recipient. After some thought, he settled on the third method—creating a runic treasure. It would give the best possible effect after all, and Li Yao deserved nothing less than the most powerful version he could create.
As for what item to use as the base... Just as he was contemplating this decision, his divine sense detected someone approaching the spirit vein entrance. It was Li Yao.
He had a strange expression on his face—this timing was a little unusual. What were the odds that she would arrive just as he was thinking about her?
Walking over to the formation barrier, he opened it with a wave of his hand. "Senior brother, were you looking for me?" Li Yao asked with a bright smile.
"Uh, yeah," he answered, his confusion evident in his voice. He wondered how she could possibly know that. Was she just making a lucky guess?
"It’s good that you’ve come. I was just about to come find you," he spoke, gesturing for her to enter the spirit vein.
"What did I tell you? Do you believe it now?" Li Yao spoke internally with a smug smile.
Deep within Li Yao’s consciousness, the Empress wore a shocked expression. "No way, right? It’s just a coincidence, right? It must be," she thought.
Earlier, Li Yao had suddenly announced that her senior brother was looking for her. The Empress had assumed she was simply using it as an excuse to abandon her duties and spend time with Xiang Yu instead. But now it turned out Li Yao had been correct.
What was going on here? How could she have possibly known?
...
Author’s Corner
Ig this is officially confirming that she has some sort of special ability we don’t know about. I’ll probably not explain this in a while lol.
For those interested, the planet is about the size of our sun (and it’s considered a relatively medium sized one in the cultivation world) the size of the continent is about 600,000 miles wide. The speed of a void traversing realm cultivator should be about 1000 miles a second. For a peak soul formation, its about 5-10 miles a second, thus the huge difference. Its almost completely impossible to fight a void realm at the soul formation realm. This is one of the realms that have a qualitative change.
The anterior heaven is hard to explain, just think of it as the origin of all things. In our case, we’ll be referring to it as the absolute source. For those who have read the realms in the aux Chapter, it’s the highest realm possible (it’s the source of everything, even the heavenly dao).
For @LazyCats: OG = original