Chapter 60

"Can we only observe with the naked eye?" Qi Xiang pondered, putting down the magnifying glass and squinting his eyes to examine closely.

He examined it very carefully and with great seriousness. However, the threads on the silk were incredibly intricate, densely interwoven, forming a myriad of patterns.

The light, like fine threads, appeared intermittent and disconnected amidst these dense patterns, making it difficult to discern a coherent structure, as if there were countless threads and he could not piece them together.

The most troublesome part was that the silk itself had a certain luster, which could easily be confused with the special light. Sometimes, when Qi Xiang was not careful, his eyes would blur, mistaking the silk's luster for the fine threads of light, leading to a waste of effort.

"Complicated..."

Qi Xiang felt tired from looking and couldn't help but pinch his brow and rub his dry eyes before continuing to observe. He didn't believe that with such meticulous effort, he wouldn't be able to discern something.

As an expert in antique appreciation, Qi Xiang never lacked patience and had a strong sense of perseverance.

Time passed unnoticed as Qi Xiang focused intently on his study. Before he knew it, it was evening, the sky dark with a few lonely stars.

The manor also grew dark, and just as Qi Xiang was about to turn on the lights, he suddenly noticed that the fine threads on the silk seemed to glow brighter in the dim environment.

Noticing this, Qi Xiang was both surprised and delighted. He immediately abandoned the idea of turning on the lights and quickly moved closer to examine the silk.

Perhaps due to the contrast of the environment or the prolonged observation, the fine threads of light left a deeper impression in Qi Xiang's mind.

At this moment, the faint, incomplete threads of light within the silk gradually combined under Qi Xiang's gaze, forming some very strange... characters?

Qi Xiang stared in amazement, seeing characters that were different from the simplified, traditional, clerical, and seal scripts he knew. They were very peculiar, with simple or complex strokes.

There were straight lines and curved lines, square with a hint of roundness, and round with a hint of squareness, all following a certain pattern.

Without a doubt, these were pictographic characters!

Qi Xiang felt that the characters formed by the fine threads should be similar to Chinese characters, but like a tree with many branches, even more complex pictographic characters could exist.

Before the unification of China by Qin Shi Huang, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, each vassal state had its own script and language. It wasn't until Qin Shi Huang conquered the six states and standardized the script and the gauge of the chariots that the writing system became unified.

Before the Qin dynasty, the scripts of various states were chaotic, let alone the even earlier Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.

Scripts like the inscriptions on bronze vessels, oracle bone script, and stone drum script were obscure and difficult to understand. Chinese scholars have spent years researching but have not fully deciphered the meanings of these scripts.

Therefore, seeing these unfamiliar characters, Qi Xiang was only momentarily surprised before he calmed down. The world is vast, and there are many scripts he doesn't understand, so this one was not a big deal.

Qi Xiang composed himself and temporarily ignored the meanings of the characters. At this point, he realized that the fine threads of light in the silk were actually a magical substance that glowed when wet.

This unique thread glowed particularly brightly at night, especially when wet, resembling silver mercury and emitting a faint, clear light.

Such a magical thread was certainly not simple. Qi Xiang had never heard of it before. If his guess was correct, it was probably an extinct substance.

Rarity makes things valuable. Endangered species on Earth are highly valued, let alone an already extinct magical substance, which would fill a gap and cause a worldwide sensation upon discovery.

Qi Xiang's face lit up as he examined the characters formed by the light threads. He tried to decipher them but found nothing. Some characters were simply incomprehensible and couldn't be guessed.

After a moment of thought, Qi Xiang immediately fetched a pen and paper to copy the characters and seek advice from experts.

The characters shone like stars, flickering and shimmering.

Qi Xiang remembered the strokes of one character and bent down to copy it, just like a foreigner learning Chinese for the first time, not knowing the stroke order and only able to trace it.

However, when Qi Xiang picked up the pen and was about to start, he froze.

At that moment, he was shocked to find that he had forgotten the strokes and shape of the character, leaving him at a loss.

Forgetting the character while holding the pen was awkward...

Qi Xiang smiled bitterly, mocking himself, "A side effect of using computers too much, even basic reading and writing skills have deteriorated."

He shook his head and looked at the first character again, this time learning from his mistake and carefully tracing it while looking at it to ensure no mistakes.

The first stroke was a slightly curved horizontal line, which he completed smoothly.

The second stroke was a diagonal line, which he drew satisfactorily.

For the third stroke, Qi Xiang looked up and suddenly felt his vision blur. The character suddenly emitted a bright light, and the strokes twisted and changed...

At first glance, Qi Xiang felt dizzy and disoriented.

"What's happening?" Qi Xiang was both surprised and frightened, closing his eyes involuntarily, which made him feel better. When he opened his eyes again, the character seemed normal, as if it had all been an illusion.

Looking at the white paper on the table, he found it was a mess, a tangle of lines, without his awareness.

At this moment, Qi Xiang felt his thoughts were as tangled as a mess of threads, unable to be sorted out. Just copying a character, how could such an unexpected situation occur?

Qi Xiang patted his forehead and gradually calmed down. He also vaguely realized that the special characters formed by the special threads were more complex than he had imagined.

Qi Xiang put down the pen and paper and sat cross-legged under the scroll, observing and studying it with intense focus.

Compared to before, he was not greedy but wisely chose the first character, staring at it intently, as if trying to see through it and memorize it thoroughly.

Qi Xiang focused entirely, staring at the character for several minutes, memorizing every stroke, every line, and every structure. Even with his eyes closed, the image of the character remained in his mind.

At this point, Qi Xiang felt confident and picked up the pen again, drawing steadily on the paper.

Each stroke was smooth and easy.

The third stroke was a bit stiff but still manageable.

The fourth stroke was a bit stuck but barely passed...

When he reached the fifth stroke, Qi Xiang's hand suddenly paused. His joints felt paralyzed, and the small pen felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, making it hard to hold.

Suddenly, Qi Xiang felt an invisible force field emerge around him, like a huge cage, pressing down layer by layer.

The immense pressure made his forehead sweat, but he couldn't move.

At the same time, a drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, circled his cheek, and fell to his chin.

"Drop!"

The sweat drop hit the paper, acting like a fuse, triggering a sudden explosion.

"Bang!"

Qi Xiang felt a jolt in his hand, and the pen tip pierced the hard table as if it were tofu. The pen then exploded, and the paper beneath it turned into tiny fragments.

This explosion suddenly released the pressure, and Qi Xiang's stiff body collapsed, lying on the ground, panting heavily.

At this moment, he felt as if he had exhausted all his strength, his body as limp as a dead fish, unable to move. He felt very tired, and once his eyes closed, he didn't want to open them again.

Exhausted and half-asleep, Qi Xiang adjusted his breathing and circulated the qi in his body.

After a moment, Qi Xiang focused and his intangible soul floated out.

When his soul left his body, Qi Xiang felt a bit lost but then felt a surge of joy.

This was a case of losing in one place and gaining in another. Although he failed to decipher the characters on the silk, he managed to leave his body without the help of any fragrance, which was a pleasant surprise.

Qi Xiang, feeling happy, moved his soul slightly and "looked" at the silk scroll.

If using the naked eye to observe the scroll, the characters appeared as a flat, direct scene. However, when using his soul to "observe," the characters were very three-dimensional, with a sense of depth.

Just this observation made Qi Xiang's soul tremble violently, showing his shock.

Under the soul's perspective, he was startled to find that the characters on the silk, which seemed to be arranged clearly and distinctly, were actually connected by many fine threads of light that were invisible to the naked eye. These threads linked the characters together, forming a single, cohesive whole.

In other words, the complex, curved, and straight strokes of the characters were not broken but connected, forming a single entity.

The first character and the last stroke were completed by the same thread.

The characters were interconnected, like lotus roots with threads!

Moreover, Qi Xiang vaguely felt that the characters, which were neatly arranged and numerous, perhaps hundreds, had a single core... a single character!