Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 563 Runes
It was a blurry, distorted shape. Based on first impressions alone, one could only say it was "very big," and there was nothing else to describe it.

But when Zhang Jie looked closely, he discovered something new. He himself had never seen this kind of horror movie or read this kind of novel, but he had been to the Dreamland and had some knowledge of indescribable monsters... so his first reaction was that this thing was a similar creature.

An indescribable monster exists in the deep network in the form of a concept, which is why Zhang Jie might feel a slight threat.

However, as Zhang Jie expanded his mental power, the colossal object gradually became clearer. It was as if its previous appearance was merely a layer of tangled mist, which was peeled away before Zhang Jie's mental power, revealing its true form.

It was a constantly shifting mass of data code. Zhang Jie couldn't understand its dynamic form, but he could sense the anomaly within it. Beyond this code was a gray shell, like the countless spatial partitions outside this data space. The dim, iridescent light emanating from this gray shell was born from the dynamic movement of the code.

"If they see this, they should be able to analyze quite a bit..." Zhang Jie muttered to himself. He didn't need to put in any special effort; everything he saw would be projected into his main consciousness. Moreover, the other two Zhang Jies were most likely showing projections to their respective teams.

Ignoring the massive object that continued to press down, Zhang Jie's mental energy continued to pierce into the gray outer shell and the data code. The next moment, Zhang Jie's soul trembled slightly.

"Grass!"

Zhang Jie couldn't help but curse. If it were before, he would probably only be shocked that something could block his spiritual power detection... But now that he has entered the realm of a cultivation-like soul system, he can not only know what it is, but also why it is.

The thing that repelled his mental probe was something Zhang Jie was already familiar with.

Runes!

"How the hell is this possible???" Zhang Jie was naturally unaware of Mu Xiang's previous suspicions, and he also happened to have some knowledge of the runes involved in the cultivation-like soul system, so when he discovered a rune here, he was completely dumbfounded.

Zhang Jie had already stated that he did appreciate the technology of the deep network, but overall he didn't have a very positive attitude towards it... and naturally, he couldn't possibly believe that runes were involved in the deep network technology.

"Damn it, if a cultivation-like soul system doesn't involve ghost immortals, it probably wouldn't even get close to runes... and you're some random technological world that has runes? Huh?"

Zhang Jie felt his worldview was about to collapse. As a split soul, he was extremely anxious... He imagined that the split souls outside could hear Mu Xiang's explanation, while he could only guess on his own. This was something that was truly devastating.

The two volumes, *Entering Nothingness* and *Falling into the Abyss*, imprinted in Zhang Jie's consciousness, state that the cultivation-like soul system is more scientific and universal than the soul system that no longer exists. Zhang Jie hasn't yet grasped the meaning of universality. As far as he knows, the Supreme God can allow any ability to be used across dimensional limitations, so what is the significance of this universality?
He could only deduce, based on other descriptions, that something more fundamental was missing, preventing the soul system from developing... Just as the cultivation methods of the main god could be used in any world, if the most basic element like runes were absent, no matter how much true energy you had, you'd be doomed, because true energy, when used directly, would definitely not be high-quality energy. This was fundamentally different from the power of the main god and ordinary cross-dimensional applications.

The cultivation-like soul system uses cultivation methods to simulate obsession, giving the soul another foundation, thus allowing for independent cultivation... Zhang Jie suspected that the lack of something was the reason why obsession could not be generated directly. At least he was certain that the various exchanges for overcoming inner demons, as well as the "obsession" mentioned in other contexts, were not the same as the obsession in the soul system!

The cultivation-like soul system cannot simulate obsession from the outset. After all, the practitioner is still alive, so how could it be easily simulated? From visualizing one's thoughts to letting them leave the body, and then to the extremely difficult initial stage of becoming a Ghost Immortal for most people with insufficient talent, it may seem like just a leap from the first to the second level of the extraordinary realm, but it is an extremely strenuous period.

Before reaching the initial stage of becoming a Ghost Immortal, it's impossible to directly separate one's soul from the physical body in a cultivation-like system. Even if one achieves the state of intention leaving the body, it's still just intention, not a soul in the more complete sense... This is the difficulty of entering the path. Only upon reaching the initial stage of becoming a Ghost Immortal can one's obsession be truly simulated by cultivation-like techniques, allowing the soul to leave the body for cultivation, after which the natal rune will naturally manifest.

This is the natural progression of entering a cultivation-like soul system... With a natal rune, it becomes much easier to pass through the so-called "path to truth" stage in a soul system.

Zhang Jie was originally a fourth-order mental power controller. Although he had never seen a real soul system, he could still glimpse the ingenuity of the creator of the technique from the records in the scriptures. In fact, using the so-called "more scientific" descriptions of "Entering Nothingness" and "Falling into the Abyss" was a great understatement.

Thanks to his own formidable strength, he was not hindered by the initial difficulties of entering the sect. He rose steadily, starting from the initial stage of a mid-level second-tier Ghost Immortal, directly advancing to the first tribulation Ghost Immortal at the half-step third-tier, and then reaching the fourth tribulation Ghost Immortal at the half-step fourth-tier. Although the inner demons of a mental power controller are difficult to deal with, under the tribulation system of a cultivation-like soul system, he quickly overcame the major inner demons and became a fifth tribulation Ghost Immortal.

With each new stage, Zhang Jie mastered more runes... and he naturally knew the advantages and disadvantages of this system.

One of the downsides is that one can only master runes after becoming a Ghost Immortal. Not to mention that this process is more troublesome than the Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment stage in orthodox cultivation... Even if one improves in sync with the extraordinary system, mastering runes in the cultivation-like system is only at the mid-second stage, which is half a stage slower than Foundation Establishment in orthodox cultivation!

And now you're telling me that some technology in this technological world has runes, and that they're far stronger than the runes used in Foundation Establishment? With Zhang Jie's current level of cultivation, it's impossible for him to directly see through those runes.

This ignited Zhang Jie's fighting spirit; he was determined to see what kind of runes those were... and who these guys behind the referee committee were!
However, Zhang Jie was unaware that the cultivation-like soul system used obsession to activate runes, which was a cultivation technique, but in other aspects, it was inferior to the rune analysis and calculation methods of orthodox cultivation... Although runes could be perceived using mental power or soul power, they did not have such strong analytical capabilities.

Otherwise... he would have known what kind of rune it was just by scanning it with his mental energy.

(End of this chapter)