Yet Ye Chen sensed that his spiritual energy was not simply vanishing into nothing. It was most likely being absorbed by some mysterious entity inside his body that he remained unaware of. The culprit behind both occasions when the aurora had displayed the seals was probably that very thing.
To confirm his suspicion, Ye Chen wanted Yun Ruoge and Song Ruyu to try the first set of seals. If their spiritual energy did not mysteriously disappear, his theory would be proven correct.
At the same time, to guard against being wrong and causing the two women to suffer massive spiritual-energy loss, Ye Chen had prepared two Origin-Nurturing Pills. If their energy was damaged, he could restore it immediately with the pills.
In short, he would not let them suffer any loss because of him.
Only then did he teach them the complete first set of hand seals.
To prevent himself from triggering the seals and having large amounts of spiritual energy siphoned off again, Ye Chen deliberately taught the sequence in the wrong order. Only after both women had memorised it did he reveal the correct one.
The first set consisted of eight seals. When demonstrating, Ye Chen deliberately used the order 1-2-3-4 then 8-7-6-5.
When he completed the first four seals, the golden pagoda in his sea of consciousness eagerly emerged, ready to absorb spiritual energy. To its surprise, the following seals deviated from the proper sequence. The golden pagoda’s light instantly winked out, and a moment later it plunged back into his consciousness, seemingly frustrated and aggrieved.
Ye Chen nervously finished demonstrating the eight seals in disordered sequence and found no change in his spiritual energy. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief before asking the two women, “Have you both memorised the eight seals I just showed?”
Both nodded simultaneously. “Yes, we have.”
Ye Chen nodded. “Now reverse the order of the last four seals while keeping the first four the same. Repeat them backwards.”
The two women were baffled, but because they trusted Ye Chen completely, they tacitly refrained from asking why. They quickly rearranged the sequence in their minds and then executed all eight seals in the correct order.
Ye Chen closely observed them. After they finished the eight seals, he saw no sign of massive spiritual-energy loss, so he asked, “Did you feel anything?”
Yun Ruoge shook her head. “Replying to Mr Ye, this set of seals appears to have no effect whatsoever.”
Song Ruyu agreed. “Indeed, Mr Ye. I felt nothing either.”
Ye Chen pressed further. “Was there any subtle change in your spiritual energy?”
Yun Ruoge answered, “None. It neither increased nor decreased.”
Ye Chen nodded, the answer now clear in his mind.
First, the root of everything lay within his own body.
Second, although he still did not know what it was, he could at least confirm it was definitely not the ring Lin Wan’er had given him.
As for why it had shown him the seals, Ye Chen’s doubts gradually crystallised into a reasonable conjecture.
The first display had clearly been to absorb his spiritual energy.
The second seemed more like reciprocation, a return gift for all the spiritual energy he had provided.
People say a drop of kindness should be repaid with a fountain, yet this thing had done the opposite. It drained his fountain dry and squeezed back just a few drops.
Of course, Ye Chen understood the principle of constant dripping wearing away stone. In the current dharma-ending age, this set of seals held immense significance.
If subsequent stages truly brought even greater benefits, it would genuinely be a blessing in disguise.
With that thought, much of Ye Chen’s unease toward the unknown entity eased. He smiled at the two women and said, “Since this set of seals has no effect on you, there is no need to bother with it. Focus instead on practising the second set you learnt last night.”
