Chapter 111: Tree Sap
Sap could tell you a lot about a tree. While the sap of different species of trees differed in appearance, it could still give hints about their physiological state or health conditions.
Upon seeing the blue sap, various thoughts raced across Li Lang’s mind. The blue color could be due to the presence of pigments like anthocyanins or other plant-based compounds. However, Li Lang knew better than to blindly analyze using the methods devised in his world when he was no longer there.
Qi added a perplexing variable to everything. Nevertheless, he wanted to study this new material.
This was because of the knowledge he had learned from his brushweaving trial rewards. After completing the third round with overlapping runes, he received the text, The History of Brushweaving.
Within it told a story of how the art of brushweaving evolved over time. It started off with using the blood of Qi beasts as ink and then transitioned into more accessible and sustainable forms. Their predecessors experimented with various other alternatives, including plant-based ink that the modern version was based on.
In the current age, woodsmiths cultivated special kinds of trees to be used as the base material for brushweaving ink. It could hold a perfect copy of a person’s Qi, with all its properties, and free from any contamination. Before they had reached that development, they had experimented with tree saps as well, which got Li Lang curious.
While the modern ink was all-encompassing and had little room for improvement, at the end of the day, it was still an all-rounder type of product. Specialized items usually produced better results in certain situations, which was exactly what Li Lang wanted to investigate.
He had currently given up on the fourth round of the brushweaving trial because it was too difficult to accomplish with the materials at hand. Talismans that contained three runes normally required Earth-grade materials which only Foundation Establishment cultivators could properly wield. It did so by increasing the capacity of Qi the talisman could hold.
In theory, it wasn’t impossible for an Energy Gatherer to inscribe a three-rune talisman. They would have to use other less efficient methods to surmount the requirements. That meant using rare materials that were at the peak of the mortal grade. Rare materials like these had better uses elsewhere and were normally too expensive to be worthwhile for brushweavers to create consumables like talismans.
That was why Li Lang began to have ideas when he read about the history of brushweaving. He wanted to experiment with various plant-based materials. However, that wasn’t something he had on hand, so he had relegated it for later.
Now that he had spotted an interesting material, he was dying to investigate it.
Blood differed from beast to beast. Plant-based materials are a much better alternative for my experiments because of their consistency. While they won’t be able to hold the full properties of my Qi, it should also work to my advantage by omitting the properties irrelevant to my inscription.