Chapter 7 7 Unfinished Dream Will the Talisman Scholar Dream of the Blue Bird? ...

By the time Gu Minghui and Wen Qingsheng came back in a hurry to see him, Ning Changkong had already fallen into a semi-comatose state after climbing back to the bed with his last breath due to excessive physical exhaustion.

This frightened the two men so much that they rushed him straight to Shoukanglu, and they just missed using the sword to fly him over.

Ning Changkong lay in bed for a week before he recovered. Wen Qingsheng, who had been frightened once, simply didn't dare to let Ning Changkong out of his sight during his recovery.

This won't do. Ning Changkong is so sad, how can I open a vest?

Oh, I miss the single room that was just assigned to me.

Reiki Resurrection Year Zero, October 20, 13:24 pm, Sunday, dormitory.

"I'm going to find my teacher to do some practical homework." Ning Changkong put his computer into his bag while talking to Wen Qingsheng, "Then I'll go to the library to read for a while and come back later."

"Are you feeling okay? If you feel unwell, send me a message and I'll come and pick you up." Wen Qingsheng blurted out.

Ning Changkong laughed and scolded: "How can the skin be so crispy? Old lady."

"You do have it! How long has your fever subsided?" Wen Qingsheng said confidently.

"Really? Why should I report my itinerary to you..." Ning Changkong muttered, and walked out of the dormitory with his bag and umbrella.

The Chuqingge weather forecast said it would rain in the afternoon.

He found a deserted corner and quietly transformed into the appearance of a bluebird. The black long-handled umbrella in his hand turned into a Jiangnan oil-paper umbrella.

Longyuan Academy is independent of the major forces in the spiritual world, and often holds academic conferences and seminars in this rare neutral place.

Today, there is an academic conference with the theme of "Modern Talisman Studies" in which Ning Changkong is particularly interested.

Yan Yian, former deacon of Lingzhuan Academy, mainly studies the industrialization and intelligent manufacturing of talismans. The title of his report is: "Modern talismanology: from handicraft to intelligent manufacturing".

The timing was just right. When Ning Changkong entered the venue, Yan Yian just started talking about the history of the industrialization of talismans.

Since the first industrial revolution, there have been many pioneers who wanted to use industrialized means to produce spiritual and magical products.

However, there is no real talisman factory until now. Ning Changkong lowered his eyes and looked at the water-repellent talisman made by Yan Yian that was passed to him.

...the quality is indeed very poor.

The difficulty in industrializing talismans is that drawing talismans requires the talisman drawer to continuously inject spiritual power, but current technology cannot control spiritual power so stably.

If it were drawn with expensive ink containing spiritual energy like the array, the great advantage of the talisman, which is its low cost, would be lost.

But...if the industrialization of talismans developed by our predecessors was considered a waste of resources, Yan Yian has already improved the cost-effectiveness to the point where it is tasteless to eat and a pity to throw away.

Compared with his predecessors, he has made a qualitative breakthrough in just a few years and is indeed a technical talent.

Ning Changkong stared intently at the talisman drawing machine on the table that Yan Yian mentioned. It was indeed an impressive robotic arm.

He, or rather "she", passed the spell to the next person and took out a laptop from his bag. This illness slowed down the progress of development, and some people had to work overtime.

The report soon entered the questioning stage. A tall man in a light blue Taoist robe in the front row raised his hand expressionlessly, and Yan Yian called on him.

That outfit...seems to be the uniform of Lingzhuan Academy?

Chu Qingge reminded: "Brother and sister. They are both disciples of the current head of Lingzhuan Academy."

Lingzhuanyuan is a sect that specializes in spells and formations. Since spells are consumables, it is considered quite rich among the major sects.

Ning Changkong listened attentively to the conversation between the two and the focus of the issue was very clear: Yan Yian's way of reducing costs was to simplify the talismans and reduce material costs, but he did not solve the fundamental technical problem that the machine could not control spiritual energy.

However, the subtle tone between the two...

Chu Qingge sighed: "So it was the former Yunzhuan steward of Lingzhuan Academy. Because she was too obsessed with a hopeless research direction, the young girl had a conflict with her teacher, and finally left resolutely, vowing to prove herself... It's more or less the story like this."

Simplify the spells and use machines to control the aura... Ning Changkong continued typing on the keyboard.

The timing was perfect. The last supplementary code had just been compiled and most people in the venue had left.

Ning Changkong held the computer and quickly walked up to Yan Yian who was about to pack up and leave.

She held a silver-gray laptop in one hand and tucked her slightly curly hair behind her ears with the other hand. Her bird-tail-like skirt was still swaying slightly.

She could faintly see her own reflection in the clear blue irises, and a shy smile appeared on her snow-white face. She opened her lips and said:

"Teacher Yan, I have a few ideas I want to discuss with you..."

This was Yan Yian’s first impression of Chu Qingge.

Reiki Resurrection Year Zero, October 20th, 15:16 pm, Sunday, Longyuan Academy·Yushuyuan·empty conference room.

It started raining outside.

Yan Yian's gaze lingered on her somewhat exaggerated attire for a moment, and then he put on a polite smile.

This outfit and eye color doesn't look human... Is it a transformed monster? What is its original form?

Not paying attention to Yan Yian's slight distraction, the woman in green asked her seriously how she simplified the talisman.

Yan Yi calmed herself down and began to share patiently.

The woman listened carefully and asked.

Yan Yian opened the notebook he carried with him, tore off a page and told her.

It had been a long time since someone had such an earnest conversation with her. As she spoke and wrote, she recalled too many past moments of ambition, sadness, and tears.

On the day of becoming a disciple, she happily offered tea and kowtowed.

The little old man, who had far fewer wrinkles then than he does now, cursed at the tea she had prepared while grinning from ear to ear.

She happily met the teachers one by one, and walked up to the second senior brother who was of similar age, and he stuffed a notebook into her hand.

"This is a meeting gift for my junior sister." He said in a serious tone.

After so many years, she opened the notebook and dared not look at the cover page again.

The young Yan Yian wrote on the title page of the new bedroom he moved into in Lingzhuan Academy.

"How does the pattern of a talisman determine its function?"

“Is it possible to use a scientific language to accurately describe the relationship between the two?”

With this language...can we design new talismans and simplify existing ones using a standardized method, rather than relying on trial and error day after day?

It’s difficult. It’s really too difficult.

She repeatedly ran into obstacles. The symbolic language she abstracted was too complex and had limited consistency with practice.

The conclusion of the thick experimental records is just a bleak one: "Although some trends were observed, the experimental results failed to significantly support the hypothesis, and further data collection and analysis are needed."

And the more bleak assessment from peers: "The theory is very clever, but lacks sufficient empirical support... it will not be published."

"Purely according to the analysis of symbolic language," the woman stared at the draft in her hand, "is it better to only explain sex in elementary talismans..."

The woman stared at the pattern on the paper carefully, her unruly black hair gently draped over Yan Yian's arm holding the paper. She apologized softly and put her hair behind her.

The woman continued, "My personal thought is that the varying interpretability of symbols may indicate that the relationship between symbols and functions is indirect..."

The rain is getting heavier.

"Actually, this is what I wanted to show you." The woman in green showed her the laptop she had been holding.

In the middle of the picture is a deformed water-repellent charm with extremely few strokes. It has half as many strokes as the standard water-repellent charm and one-third as many strokes as Yan Yian's own simplified charm.

Yan Yian's heart was pounding because of the possibility implied by the water-repellent talisman.

"My hypothesis is that the flow of energy guided by the symbol determines the function of the talisman." The woman took out a piece of talisman paper and a brush with ink from her bag and began to draw according to the pattern.

"For simple talismans, the symbols and energy flows correspond directly, and there is no interference between energy flows, so the effect is better... OK." The woman pasted the talisman on her oil paper umbrella. "I see that what you just showed is the water-repellent talisman."

Yan Yian stared at her movements blankly, as if possessed, his heart beating faster and faster.

The woman opened her umbrella, unwrapped the bottle of water and poured it over.

A clearly visible water-proof spiritual film, a qualified water-repellent talisman.

"This is a somewhat crude system. I think there should be a lot of room for optimization." The woman drew another water-repellent charm and handed it to Yan Yian, "You can try it yourself."

Her beautiful blue eyes stared straight at Yan Yian:

"Teacher Yan, I need your experience and experimental records in simplifying talismans."

Aura Resurrection Year Zero, October 20th, 16:56 pm, conference room.

The wind and rain broke open the windows of the conference room.

Yan Yian, who was busy working on the whiteboard, looked in the direction of the sound and found that the window had already been closed by a green spiritual power.

The woman withdrew her raised hand, glanced at the whiteboard, and continued to type on the keyboard with concentration.

Yan Yian shook his hands, and before he knew it, he had finished writing on a whiteboard.

The phone was vibrating. Yan Yian subconsciously touched his pocket.

She had already sent a message to the person who would look for her at this time, so how come there was new news?

"Oh, sorry, it's mine." The woman sheepishly took out a cell phone from somewhere under her skirt and replied to the message.

Yan Xiaoling also looked at her phone. It was already five o'clock.

They talked a lot in the past hour and basically came up with the general framework of the "Talisman Simulation and Programming System".

Talisman, programming, Yan Yian chewed over these two words and couldn't suppress a smile.

"That," the woman's voice interrupted Yan Yian's thoughts.

"She" twirled her hair with her green fingers: "My family is urging me to come back. I have to go back first, and we can talk another day. I'll write you my contact information..."

So, Yan Yian felt empty inside, she started taking pictures of the whiteboard: "I'll take you there."

The scattered drafts and notes left were the final proof of this dreamlike hour. They cleaned up the table side by side.

Too close, the tassels on the woman's shawl gently hit her arm, causing itching.

She suddenly figured out the answer to the previous question.

It's a little bird.

Yan Yian walked the person out the door in a sleepy manner, the bluebird's skirt swaying gently as she walked.

On the verge of waking, she suddenly realized that there was one most important question left unasked. She shouted, "What—what's your name?"

Like trying to catch a flying bird.

The woman in blue holding the oil-paper umbrella paused slightly, as if saying something, and then disappeared in the rain.

Yan Xiaoling looked down at her notebook. Inside the notebook was a piece of paper that looked like a business card. She stared at the top line of words with fascination:

"Chu Qing Ge".

Reiki Resurrection Year Zero, October 20th, 17:35, Sunday, Longyuan Academy Dormitory.

Wen Qingsheng (Wen Qingsheng): It’s raining heavily. Do you have an umbrella?

Lin Jinsong: I brought

Lin Jinsong: Let me buy some dinner and bring it back. It's raining so hard, don't go out to the cafeteria.

Ning Changkong walked in with damp air and handed the package in his hand to Wen Qingsheng.

"Why did you take so long? Did the teacher give you any trouble?" Wen Qingsheng untied the plastic bag and took out the takeaway boxes one by one.

"No. I saw an academic conference and went in to eavesdrop." Ning Changkong lifted the soaked black umbrella onto the balcony, tore off the ineffective water-repellent spell, and spread it out. "It was about spells."

"Cool, was it fun?"

The sound of the plastic box opening was creaky and a bit harsh.

He stared at the talisman in his hand, but the duration was still a little short.

"Well," Ning Changkong looked at the blue-gray sky outside the window, "pretty good."

But it's a good start.