Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 67: Heating Seal

"What’s six less than sixty-four?"

With one glance at the pebble matrix, Anji immediately knew the answer.

"Fifty-eight!"

Nodding with satisfaction, Yan Ping told Anji to remember how the pebble counter worked and use it whenever she needed to check her calculations.

"If you practice enough, you’ll eventually be able to use only your fingers or the abacus to get the correct numbers. Now that we have solved one of the biggest problems, it’s finally time to understand the heating seal element."

Moving to the concept of measuring energy in breaths, Yan Ping explained how the measurement of qi isn’t constant. Depending on the cultivation level, one breath of qi could light a candle or set a house on fire. Hence, limiter and differentiator runes were introduced. They followed a mathematical formula, calculating an unknown factor.

"In short, the limiter caps the energy required that could be temporarily stored in a rune. The excess will be dispersed back into the environment. Differentiator runes are used to calculate the intensity of a function. It can sometimes be used to calculate the time needed to disperse stored energy in a rune fully. The function of a differentiator rune is very diverse."

Using the heating seal as an example, Yan Ping explained how the different runes were combined to form a boiling and heating spell. After charging the teapot with qi, the water would boil, and the remaining energy left in the teapot would slowly be used to keep the tea inside at a constant temperature so it would last longer than usual. Such an invention was useful for cold winters.

The heating seal was only one such combination of differentiators and limiters that could be applied. Yan Ping told Anji about the other examples they had in the sect. There was a self-refilling water basin that automatically refills the water used from it as long as someone charged it with qi every twelve hours. It had a massive energy storage chain of runes that allowed such a long storage period. However, the downside was that they could only make one such water basin. The material of the rune mattered.

"The more refined the material, the more qi energy it can contain," Yan Ping said, picking up the teapot and comparing it to her walking staff.

Anji had not realised it before, but the walking staff that Yan Ping had was by no means ordinary. Apart from having the name Break of Autumn Dawn, her teacher’s walking staff was full of rune carvings. It seemed like a form of decorative art from afar. However, upon closer inspection, Anji recognised certain symbols. More shockingly, everything was connected to something.

"Is this one entire spell circuit?" she gasped upon realisation.

Nodding, Yan Ping chuckled. "You’re one of the few people to know now. Of course, it wasn’t this complicated initially. Based on necessity, I added more runes to the circuit over the years until I ran out of space."

Ran out of space... if her teacher had not run out of space, she might have created an overly powerful staff that might be capable of splitting mountains with a single strike. Not even the top cultivators could achieve such a feat with raw power. However, it was a different story with amplified power. Of all the leader representatives in the Rainbow Alliance, Yan Ping was said to be the worst in fighting techniques. Her disability put her at a severe disadvantage, and the Mystical Qilin Sect did not focus on more than basic martial arts techniques most outer disciples of major martial schools would know.

Yet, she was one of the most formidable cultivators of all time. Not even the previous Demon Sect’s founder was her match if they fought on her domain. The Mystical Qilin Sect was impenetrable because of the number of security seals and spells surrounding it. Yan Ping and her disciples maintained the formation strictly, and the spells would not be disarmed even if the sect master passed away. Not even planting a traitor within the sect would disable the safety seals because different seniors of the sect had modified different sections of the security seal before they left the mountain as a trial left to their juniors to solve and improve upon.

It was a unique graduation ceremony that Anji looked forward to. However, she had to learn how to crawl before she could fly.

"Let’s look at this seal," Yan Ping held up a knife. "What’s the difference between this elemental spell and the one on the teapot?

Studying the metal elemental seal, Anji compared her notes and found the page that matched the new rune symbols.

"This one has a limiter," she quickly pointed out. "And it has no storage for energy. It can only be used while qi is constantly poured into it. It’s like a safety feature to sharpen the knife at will."

Correct! Proud of Anji’s ability to quickly identify basic seals, it was time to focus on invisible seals.

Guiding Anji’s hand in hers, Yan Ping told Anji to focus deeply on the sensations that would happen in her right hand.

"I’m going to lend you some of my qi so that you can activate the seal on this kitchen knife. Remember how it feels as the qi leaves your body and enters the seal. You will replicate this by activating the seal on your Shaoshang acupoint."

Nervously, Anji grabbed the knife handle tightly so she would not accidentally cut something or drop it on herself.

Feeling the warmth pass through her hand, Anji subconsciously activated her Heavenly Eyes and saw a light glow between her teacher’s hand and hers. The glow eventually transferred to the knife as parts of the seal lit up, activating from the innermost circle and slowly moving outwards following the circuit connectors.

As the qi flowed from her teacher into her hand and out from her fingertips into the seal, Anji felt an odd twisting sensation in her wrist as if her veins were tangled and squirming. Depending on which rune it was activating, the twisting and squirming sensation would shift uncomfortably.

After holding the seal activation for almost ten seconds, Yan Ping deactivated the seal and cut off her energy channelling. The knife glowed dimly briefly as Anji attempted to sustain it, but it grew dull again.

Placing the knife back on the table, Yan Ping informed Anji that she would practise sensing invisible seals in her cores to unlock every acupoint and meridian. An unseen seal was more difficult to identify than a seen seal, and understanding the sensations took a lot of experience.

"We will repeat what we did earlier with different types of seals tomorrow morning," she informed Anji. "Wash up first and help me serve dinner. You’d be doing the dishes and laundry later since I helped to forage and cook. Wash up early to have enough time to dry your hair before you sleep. The candle will run out at exactly nine in the evening. You’re free to do some reading after your chores before lights out. I will wake you up at six tomorrow morning. Any questions?"

Dumbfounded that her teacher was one step ahead of her and already had dinner prepared, Anji’s stomach growled impatiently. The little girl blushed when she remembered her teacher had exceptionally good hearing. Quickly, she tidied up and placed all the items back in their right places. Then, she brought the counter pebbles indoors and set them in a neat pile on a shelf before washing up. Her teacher had been kind enough to imbue the water basin with qi beforehand to refill it sufficiently.

Once Anji was free of charcoal stains and sweat, she helped Yan Ping set the table while her teacher put out the stove and carried the steaming soup over. Anji helped to scoop the rice and marvelled at the increased variety of dishes, assuming her teacher would also be eating with her.

"If you cannot finish it, put them in the storage crate with the preservation seal. You can eat the rest for lunch tomorrow. If there aren’t enough leftovers, I’ll cook some extra side dishes again. If the water runs out in the basin, there are four extra buckets with water in the backyard near the storage shed that you can use for laundry, shower, washing and even the washroom. Let me know if it isn’t enough."

Yan Ping turned around and left to retire for the night without even waiting for a reply. Anji looked at the table full of food and only hesitated for two seconds before her stomach rumbled again. Tucking in with gusto, Anji ate with gusto as warm food filled her belly.