Chapter 275: Wisdom Enlightenment, The Metamorphosis of Meditation Art
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 275: Wisdom Enlightenment, The Metamorphosis of Meditation Art
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
Once I had a clearer goal in mind, my efficiency in practicing the Advanced Meditation Art exceeded my expectations, reaching the finish line several days early.
When everything finally fell into place—as naturally as water forming a channel or a slow walk reaching its destination—I experienced the sensation Sister Bai had described.
It was a refreshing sense of total clarity, where every thought flowed without obstacle. Yet, following that momentary flash of satisfaction came an endless void. My mind went blank, my thoughts vanished, and a sense of nothingness subconsciously took over my brain.
At that moment, the Advanced Meditation Art lost its utility.
I began to ponder, drifting aimlessly through my thoughts, rationally cross-referencing the revelations I had gathered so far with the possibilities remaining for this now-perfected spellbook.
The rituals the Fool's Dreams had performed amidst their laughter, and the revelations I had inadvertently triggered, didn't seem to align with the runes or even the structure of the spellbook.
It seemed that only through derivation or a complete metamorphosis of the meditation art could I reach a new realm.
My previous experience with deriving evocative magic offered no guidance here. It seemed that only through revelation could I envision something new.
"Meditation... Enlightenment..."
After a long period of contemplation, a logical derivation emerged regarding the concept of the spell's effect: meditation stills the self, returns one to the core, sparks inspiration, and enlightens wisdom.
In terms of practical application, expressing this desire through runes was the true ritual facilitated by the wishes of the Fool's Dreams.
Therefore, the revelations I had previously obtained from the Fool's Dreams themselves were no longer just hints on how to combine the runes of the meditation art; rather, the creatures themselves were a type of rune.
When I first began studying runes, I learned that they were the smallest divisible units of rituals, deconstructed from various manifestations. Thus, rune rituals could be combined.
Without hesitation, I directly tore apart the Advanced Meditation Art I possessed. Since the spellbook was now useless to me, I didn't hold back. I cared far less about its destruction than I did about capturing this fleeting spark of inspiration.
Looking at the dense arrangement of runes within the Advanced Meditation Art spellbook, I realized this was the limit of the book, but not the limit of the runes.
It was complex and high-level. But what if the revelations I gained weren't meant to change their existing structure, but to simplify that complexity into a new composite rune?
Even though I didn't recognize a single one of these runes, the guidance of the revelations made it as simple as playing with building blocks.
Once the once-obscure revelations were placed in the right spots, everything suddenly became clear.
If the Fool's Dreams wanted to become true lifeforms, they needed to face the concepts of life and death. This was why they were indifferent to death and rebirth, yet tirelessly imitated them.
Precisely because they didn't understand why they did it, they called the behavior a "ritual."
It was simply the natural expression of life regarding birth and death.
But for the Fool's Dreams, it was a clumsy imitation of life that revealed their deep-seated longing to become truly alive.
Even though the Fool's Dreams had cycled through reincarnation until now, forgetting their memory of needing to become life, that longing remained. Because of this, the Nightmares—their other half as dream creatures—would seek them out under constant stimulation.
At this level, they actually welcomed the arrival of outsiders. It allowed them more contact with true life, even if it invited Nightmare attacks.
Even if they were attacked, they wouldn't truly die, for they had no concept of death. They would merely revert to their state as secret realm creatures and be born again as Fool's Dreams beneath that giant stone. They wanted to use this method to help those who arrived, providing them with revelations—even if only a tiny spark.
Yu Hu, acting as the village chief, became the most crucial character at this stage. She needed to record every detail of these memories to show the past efforts to those who were qualified.
This was not a task a single person could complete. It required continuous accumulation, waiting for the final person to perfect it, or perhaps waiting for a chosen one.
I didn't seem to be a chosen one. I was a person with a cheat code.
"So this is the composite rune formed under the revelation of life and death? It's... truly wonderful..."
I stared at the pair of twin-entwined composite runes before me. So many runes copied from the Fool's Dreams had merged into just two—a meditation art composed of only two runes!
No... this was no longer a meditation art. I wasn't even sure what the effect was. I only knew that this was a metamorphosis of a spell I had completed with my own hands. This qualitative leap far exceeded the mere quantitative stacking of moving from a basic meditation art to an advanced one.
No information appeared upon the birth of this spell. This meant that even the Academy Dean, who had arranged all of this, might not have anticipated this step.
Based on my blind faith in the level of a Transcendent Witch...
I could only quietly ask myself: Could the Academy Dean not even achieve this?
No one gave me an answer, but I could give one to myself. The Academy Dean should be able to. At the very least, the Dean in my heart, who could manage an entire Witch Academy, was capable of it.
Doing anything requires a pillar of faith standing before you. It doesn't matter if it's real or right; its existence has only one value: to give a person the strength to keep moving forward.
"Xiao Han."
A seemingly distant voice pulled me back to reality. Only then did I realize I was suspended high in the air.
The power radiating from the spellbook in front of me had lifted me into the sky. As the spellbook went quiet and the power dissipated, I felt myself slowly descending until my feet touched solid ground.
"What... what just happened?" I looked up at Sister Bai. The tent I had been staying in was now shredded, and the ground where I had been sitting was a radial ruin, as if destroyed by a shockwave.
"Xiao Han, you don't know what just happened?" Bai Yu looked a bit shaken, appearing relieved that I had returned safely.
"I don't. I just know I was... I suppose I was deriving a spell?"
"The spellbook in your hand just erupted with a terrifying power that destroyed everything here. Though that power didn't cause much actual damage, it seemed to be pure energy dissipation."
"Energy dissipation?"
Hearing this, I quickly understood. Runes were rituals formed by certain energy aggregations. By combining them into new runes, there would naturally be an imbalance in energy.
I just hadn't expected the commotion to be quite this large.
I was surrounded by many Fool's Dreams who were curious but frightened. Seeing that things had calmed down, they tentatively stepped forward to check the situation.
Even the students still in the village had stopped what they were doing.
A disturbance of this magnitude was certainly no small matter. If the mission had been completed by someone else just like that, they would look like clowns—having gained nothing while wasting so much time.
Resentment is born from such imbalances.
"Xiao Han... did you succeed?"
"It's not exactly a success, and there's definitely a lot left to do. I've just made a new discovery."
I ignored the gazes and scrutiny of the others, responding only to Sister Bai's curiosity.
In truth, even I wasn't entirely sure what I had achieved. It felt like a hazy illusion.
I had relied solely on... intuition and revelation. Sometimes, those things seemed more important than pure knowledge.
The only pity was that no one would explain the process or the principles behind it to me.
This made me think of asking Teacher Ji Niang to help me modify the Memory Bookshelf spellbook. Although I still wasn't the one leading the theory, at least Teacher Ji Niang would constantly guide me through the process. Once the modification was complete, she would give me all the relevant literature and materials so I could master it myself.
"Alright, it's over. I'm really sorry for making such a big scene. Everyone can go back to what they were doing~" I leaned down and explained gently to the gathered Fool's Dreams. After all, a big mess was likely coming, and it wasn't suitable for them to watch.
They immediately went back to their business as if nothing had happened. That was the great thing about the Fool's Dreams—they were very easy to soothe and innocently cute.
However, it was obvious that the others wouldn't be as easy to dismiss.
"Yang Yuehan, don't you have anything to say?"
I turned to look at the person speaking. A stranger, someone I didn't know, but another freshman nonetheless.
"Are you talking to me? What exactly do you expect me to say to you?" I replied with a smile, maintaining the last of my manners.
The moment one of them called out to stop me, I had already lost hope in their character.
"There was such a huge commotion just now. You must have found a breakthrough for the Wisdom Enlightenment task. Aren't you going to share something with us?"
"Share what? In your eyes, aren't I just a degenerate failure, a fool who doesn't know the meaning of hard work? And you're asking me to share intelligence?" I stepped sideways to restrain Sister Bai, who was already wearing a look of fury, and then turned back to the girl.
The girl and the other freshmen who had stepped out with this "brave" leader seemed a bit intimidated by Bai Yu's presence. But then they remembered that all spellbooks here had been exchanged away, and they suddenly regained some confidence.
I found their rapidly shifting expressions quite amusing. What gave them the courage to face a senior sister?
Sister Bai had indeed lost all her spellbooks, but spellbooks weren't the sum total of one's strength. While I wasn't sure exactly what techniques and skills she possessed, the powerful physical fitness granted by Witchification alone was enough to beat them like little chicks.
"You've definitely obtained information we don't have. Share it. Wouldn't it be better for everyone to find the key to the secret realm together than for you to do it alone? This task has been posted for over a hundred years; don't be too arrogant!"
"Oh... listen to that. 'Too arrogant.' So you actually know the task has been up for over a hundred years? How long have you been here? Do you have a clue? Do you even know what you're looking for? If I told you, would you even be able to move forward? Who gave you such confidence? A bunch of people who only know how to hold their hands out for handouts—and you expect me to think you'd be a help to me?"
If I hadn't been mindful of the Fool's Dreams still nearby, I might have said something much harsher. But even this was enough to strike them dumb.
Their silence meant they at least had some self-awareness. Those who would say, "If you don't tell me, how am I supposed to know?" don't even have that.
But I knew very well that these people didn't plan on giving up. You can never underestimate the greed of the ignorant. Precisely because they lack self-awareness, they don't even know how large their own appetites are. Faced with something that could choke them to death, they would still greedily swallow it down.
At this point, arguing further would be my own fault.
"Fine. If you still don't feel embarrassed enough, you're welcome to keep pestering me here. But at that point, you'll have to face one more person: me."
Another voice rang out. Everyone turned toward the speaker, and their pupils instantly contracted.
Perhaps when facing Yang Yuehan, they were facing the unknown—and the ignorant are fearless. But when facing Tan Han, it was a very direct form of fear. They had been beaten painfully by Tan Han before. Back at the Witch Academy, they had been crushed by her in both theory and combat in every possible way.
I was a bit surprised myself. I hadn't expected Tan Han to back me up here. Her name certainly carried more weight with them than mine.
I wondered if I should learn from Tan Han—to reach a level where people wouldn't dare cross me just by hearing my name. But I really didn't know how to go about it. My strength had clearly been displayed during the exchange competition.
Or perhaps... people are just forgetful, and they only remember the ones who actually hurt them?
"Tan Han, don't think you can still threaten us. We've all signed exchange contracts. Without spellbooks, you're nothing either!"
"Then you're welcome to try. Only the short-sighted think spellbooks are the entirety of power," Tan Han threatened back without hesitation, and the effect was top-notch.
For a moment, the atmosphere was at a standstill. While Tan Han was right, they still had the advantage of numbers, and numbers breed ideas.
"I don't have much time to waste with you here. If you want to know what I discovered, I can certainly tell you. But even if I do, what could you possibly do with it? Everything, when traced back to its source, is just the meditation art we received upon entering. Have any of you actually sat down and meditated? And then what? Then comes the professional content. Do you know what a rune is? Do you know what a ritual is? Have you ever obtained a revelation in the Fool's Village? The internal structure of a spellbook, modifying spellbooks—have you ever deconstructed one? Have you ever studied Runology?"
As I threw this string of questions at them, a wave of pressure washed over them, making them subconsciously take a step back.
With every item I listed, they looked more bewildered. None of these things could be found on their current class schedules.
"You understand nothing, yet you dare to open your mouths and demand things. Do you know why the Fool's Village Secret Realm set a threshold of one Orichalcum? It was to keep people like you out. I spent an Orichalcum to learn something. You... you're just here to buy a lesson."
"You!"
Clearly, someone had taken my words personally and felt their ego shatter. Unable to handle the blow, they were so consumed by shame and anger that they couldn't even find words to retort.
But it didn't matter. If they couldn't vent their resentment through words, they could use their bodies. In other words, if they couldn't win the argument, they would resort to violence.
"Xiao Han, don't stop me this time. You probably have more important things to do, right? Leave this to me." Bai Yu stepped out from behind me, shielding me.
"Eh? Um..."
This time I didn't refuse. I obediently stayed behind Sister Bai, playing the role of the protected one.
"Sister Bai, don't be too harsh. Before we came in, the senior sister maintaining the secret realm said it's best not to have conflicts," I reminded her.
"Of course. I know exactly how much force to use."
"Yang Yuehan! You're just going to hide behind a senior sister? If you have the guts, have a fair duel! You're shameless!"
I turned away, ignoring her. Shameless? A fair duel?
How could she even say such things? Was it "fair" for them to gang up on me?
When dealing with people who have no bottom line, one must use extraordinary means.
Indeed, I had many things to do—like testing the effects of this new spellbook and... the "revelation" it brought me upon its formation.
This spellbook felt like the original meditation art; it was "incomplete." I hadn't expected that even at this stage, I'd have to repeat the same cycle of nesting dolls...
I shook my head with a smile and put the spellbook away, then met Tan Han's gaze.
"Thank you for helping me out."
"No need for thanks. I... don't think I really helped much."
"The gesture is enough. From the look of it, were you planning to leave?"
"Yes. I was originally scheduled to leave today. I had almost finished packing when this happened, so... I've decided not to leave just yet."
"Oh..."
"Wait..."
"I know."
The moment Tan Han said "wait," I cut her off. I knew what she wanted to say. She had certainly picked a good time to ask.
It reminded me of when Teacher Ji Niang told me to learn from Tan Han's thick skin—to seize every opportunity. Just like now; when Tan Han said "wait," she was already prepared for me to refuse.
"But you'll have to wait until I'm finished with my work."
"Thank you."
The exchange was brief, without any unnecessary fluff. In essence, Tan Han was no different from the others—she also wanted to "get something for nothing." But the final result was different.
This was what I meant when I said I wouldn't be stingy about sharing information. But sometimes, it depends on my mood and the other person's attitude.