Zhang Yan spoke with no room for compromise, leaving Shen Jingyue unable to say anything further. However, Shen Jingyue was not angered and simply smiled faintly, saying, "Junior Brother Zhang, take care of yourself."
He turned and stepped down from the earth platform. Shortly thereafter, the stout and rotund Zhang Zhen leisurely ascended the platform. Being someone naturally unskilled in speech, Zhang Zhen performed a standard bow and took a seat opposite Zhang Yan with proper etiquette.
Zhang Zhen gazed at the first Star Tablet, which was divided into nine sections and three chapters, containing tens of thousands of characters. He had secretly glanced at it during the previous Dharma Assembly.
Now, as he looked at it again, he found the clustered characters, resembling ant-like insects crawling, caused a nauseating and overwhelming feeling to rise within him after only a brief glance. He quickly inhaled deeply several times, trying to steady his heart and spirit, and then retrieved a fine bamboo divination set from his sleeve to begin decoding. Unintentionally, he cast a look toward Zhang Yan and involuntarily froze mid-motion.
To his surprise, Zhang Yan was already scribbling furiously on the desk before him. Confusion welled in Zhang Zhen's heart—what exactly was he doing?
Not only was Zhang Zhen perplexed, but all the sect disciples seated below the platform, including Shen Jingyue, were equally puzzled, unable to fathom Zhang Yan's enigmatic behavior.
To suggest Zhang Yan had already begun deciphering the Erosion Text was simply unbelievable. He was not using the bamboo divination set, and his pen moved with such rapidity—it seemed less like analysis of the Erosion Text and more like casual copying of an article.
In truth, Zhang Yan's current method of deducing the Star Tablet scarcely differed from transcribing text.
This time, he single-handedly challenged the Guangyuan Sect. While outwardly maintaining an appearance of effortless ease, as though everything was firmly under his control, in reality, there was not a hint of relaxation. From the very beginning, he had exerted himself with full force, immersing his consciousness into the Broken Jade avatar, and conducting furious calculations at an extraordinary speed.
As soon as insights emerged from within the Broken Jade, the content flowed immediately from his pen. To outsiders, Zhang Yan's actions appeared utterly incomprehensible.
After watching Zhang Yan's actions briefly, Zhang Zhen dared not continue observing. A sudden thought struck him—is this Zhang Yan's ploy to disrupt his own heart and spirit? Resolving to avoid being affected, he adjusted his breathing and began calculating strictly according to Guangyuan Sect's divination methodology.
At that moment, Zhang Yan had no spare energy to concern himself with Zhang Zhen's progress. After writing the first sentence, his Qi Mechanism within stirred inexplicably, coursing through his limbs and body. The sensation was utterly extraordinary, as though he had merged completely with the heavens. Within his body, the star track's movements and myriad transformations were reflected, causing his expression to grow solemn; he became increasingly vigilant.
Yet, it wasn't long before his reverence toward the Star Tablet diminished. He broke free from an initially tense and cautious mindset, and a feeling of "It's nothing exceptional" began to rise in his heart.
This was not arrogance or hubris on Zhang Yan's part. Instead, through this process of deducing, he had already glimpsed certain profound truths within it.
While interpreting the Star Tablet, the Qi Mechanism would align itself with the sequence of Erosion Text being decoded, evolving dynamically. Whenever the inner Qi shifted, attempting to control or stop it was nearly impossible. Therein lay a critical challenge: if the preceding step's flow was completed, but the next corresponding segment wasn't decoded in time, the Qi Mechanism would lose direction, falling into chaos.
It was akin to a galloping horse that must be provided an endless path forward, without pause, to ensure its stride remained uninterrupted.
For individuals with insufficient mastery of the Erosion Text, this was perilous to an extreme degree. However, for someone adept in rapid Erosion Text interpretation, it posed no major difficulty.
This was precisely Zhang Yan's forte. Coupled with his aid from the Broken Jade, the chance of error was nearly nonexistent, and the speed with which he decoded was tenfold faster than the average person. Even when encountering tricky sections, he would leap past them with no hesitation or hindrance.
Under such circumstances, he could fully embrace the mystical sensation brought about by the Qi Mechanism's movements. As he became increasingly familiar with the patterns of these flows, he gradually arrived at his own insights.
It was often said that the engravings of the Star Tablet corresponded to the star track and time. Yet, in Zhang Yan's perspective, this was not the case.
During his interpretation, he noticed that several specific Erosion Text characters repeatedly surfaced. Each time they appeared, the flow of Qi Mechanism consistently followed the same recurring patterns.
From this observation, it seemed that simply visualizing and mentally reciting these select Erosion Text characters could naturally activate the Qi Mechanism on its own.
As the thought crossed his mind, several characters within the densely packed Erosion Texts on the Star Tablet began to glow brightly in his vision! A sudden realization jolted his heart—this was no mere depiction of star track operations; it was clearly a treatise by ancient men of virtue illustrating the connection between Erosion Text and the Heavenly Dao!
If this were true, then those legends were not mere fabrications. A person who fully mastered the Erosion Text might ascend to the Great Dao and pass through the Heavenly Gate!
At that moment, Zhang Yan became even more focused, completely devoted to recording the Qi Mechanism pathways linked to the Erosion Text, preparing to delve deeper into research once an opportunity arose.