Chapter 377: Textile Mastery

Those intricate patterns etched upon all things, clearly visible, weren't they just like the lingwen that Xu Xiaoshou had desperately sought but failed to obtain?

"This passive skill, is it related to lingzhen?"

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't hide the joy on his face.

He still remembered those countless days and nights when he had nearly worn out his eyes studying lingzhen.

Yet the result was that, even on a piece of tenth-grade Qingming Yan Gang, he could barely inscribe any lingwen.

A lingzhen master was a profession that required both talent and hard work.

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't even get through the door.

And now...

"Heaven rewards the diligent; it has opened my eyes for me?"

Xu Xiaoshou widened his eyes.

He wanted to see these clear veins emerging on all things as lingwen, but obviously, this wasn't so pure.

It was like a misguided "Refining Spirits Mastery"—he could understand lingwen appearing on stones, even on leaves...

I’ll endure it!

How could this happen to people too?

Were these vascular diagrams on their bodies meant to make me perform surgery directly?

Xu Xiaoshou was a bit dumbfounded.

"This couldn't be some kind of 'Surgery Mastery,' could it?"

Before he could dwell on it further, once all things in the world had completed their lingwen transformation, every moving and stationary object seemed to be drawn with veins, as if living in a world of line diagrams.

Xu Xiaoshou stared, lost in thought, and sank deeper into it.

As he did, he sensed something was off.

It seemed that the trajectories of all things in the universe were traceable in these vein diagrams they bore.

Take that giant race tearing at their enemies—even their every movement was like puppets controlled by this vein diagram.

Once Xu Xiaoshou saw through this diagram, he could grasp their actions completely!

"My heavens!"

Xu Xiaoshou was alarmed.

If that was really the case, this ability that had appeared was terrifying!

Not believing it, he turned to a large boulder nearby.

It was an inanimate object, lifeless.

A year passed, and its vein diagram showed no movement.

Two years, three years—it remained the same.

But as time extended to the long term, even to eternity, Xu Xiaoshou was shocked to discover that the vein diagram on this stone also stirred.

"It’s breathing!"

As time passed, it was evolving, changing, breathing!

A moment of eternity!

As if he had comprehended the secrets of life, Xu Xiaoshou awoke from this enlightenment, yet it felt like less than a breath of time had passed.

The illusion still existed!

The blue seas and skies of this new world remained eternal!

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes brightened. He raised his eyebrows slightly and shifted his gaze from the smaller life forms to the surrounding void.

The heavens and earth were also evolving!

Gradually, under Xu Xiaoshou's watchful eyes, the vein diagrams of the heavens and earth, hidden deep within space and time, clearly emerged.

"Dao?"

The word flashed in his mind again, just as abruptly, but this time, Xu Xiaoshou was no longer confused.

His eyes showed shock.

Under this vast net of the dao's rules, was it survival of the fittest, where only the adaptable thrived?

Almost as soon as he grasped this profound mystery, Xu Xiaoshou felt the world tremble, as if this realm was about to shatter.

But he refused to believe it!

If this world was truly just an illusion, he could accept that.

In fact, every such illusion was based on the foundation of the real world.

This had already been proven when "Swordsmanship Mastery" appeared.

That move, "Xing Tian Seven Swords," was indeed the highest realm of the Baiyun Sword Art and truly existed on the Sheng Shen Dalu.

But if the illusion was real, were the rules of this world's evolution also so genuine?

Xu Xiaoshou thought of Elder Sang's "Cage Theory."

He didn't believe it!

Fate was illusory; he refused to accept that old man's words as absolute truth!

Or rather, this cruel reality!

As the void fractured, Xu Xiaoshou kept his eyes wide open, carefully observing the world's final scene.

The heavens and earth ceased to exist, and even the net of the dao's rules began to fade.

Darkness swallowed the light.

Xu Xiaoshou felt dizzy, as the forceful knowledge infusion from the mastery-type passive skill was about to begin.

He didn't give up, seeking a glimmer of life in the desolation, trying to unravel the trap of this world.

"That’s..."

Suddenly, Xu Xiaoshou seemed to catch sight of something. His pupils contracted sharply, but darkness obliterated everything, and he finally closed his eyes.

"Hah!"

Opening his eyes again, he was back in the familiar Yuanfu space.

The shock from this illusion was overwhelmingly intense.

Compared to the previous two animated experiences, this static one—directly presenting the mysteries of a new world through the evolution of all things—was far more grand!

Honestly, it was more majestic!

A tremor and sense of helplessness from the depths of his soul arose spontaneously.

Xu Xiaoshou felt a bit despairing—not for any other reason, but because he had persisted to the end and seen, even clearly witnessed, the final scene.

Hidden in the darkness, in that indescribable place, there was a massive hand emitting a faint spiritual light!

It was weaving the dao!

Was that vast world vein diagram, that net of the dao's rules, actually the work of a single hand?

"What was that?"

Xu Xiaoshou was puzzled. If the old him had seen this, he wouldn't have been so panicked.

But as his understanding of the world grew, Xu Xiaoshou felt a twinge of unease.

In the shadows, there were always some connections that seemed unrelated at first but, after a roundabout path, fit together perfectly.

"Too terrifying!"

Xu Xiaoshou calmed himself, trying not to take it too seriously.

After all, it was just an illusion. Sometimes, being too earnest meant you'd lose!

Turning to the information panel, a line of text appeared:

"Acquired mastery passive skill: Textile Mastery!"

Xu Xiaoshou stared at it for a while, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

"Acquired mastery passive skill: Textile Mastery!"

It wasn't a trick of the eye; the result didn't change.

It was exactly those words.

Xu Xiaoshou: ???

"Textile Mastery?"

His eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets!

"What the hell is textile mastery!"

"I just witnessed the evolution of an entire world, and you're telling me this crap is called textile mastery?"

"Shouldn't this be lingzhen mastery, letting me inscribe patterns randomly on people and then detonate enemies directly?"

Xu Xiaoshou's face turned green. He felt utterly deceived.

This damn system had always been unreliable, but this time, it was beyond absurd!

"Textile..."

He muttered, thinking back to what he had forced himself to see at the end—the truth of that world.

That hand was indeed "textiling" the dao!

"Damn it, is it that I overinterpreted it?"

Xu Xiaoshou slumped weakly to the ground. "Is this thing really just some kind of 'textile' stuff?!"