Chapter 60: Quiet Speculation

Everyone's heart is full of curiosity, wanting to see what confident Zhou Yi is actually planning.

Before leaving the Human Race residential area, Zhou Yi briefly briefed Sui Huang.

On the road, Yu Qiang finally couldn't contain his doubt and asked, "Why did you leave the Human Race because of creating characters? Shouldn't you be in seclusion cultivating?"

Zhou Yi didn't turn around, but calmly replied, "Then tell me, what is the meaning of characters?"

The question made the two wizards fall into contemplation.

Hou Tu began to seriously ponder the deeper meaning behind characters, while Yu Qiang couldn't grasp it at first. He shouted in displeasure, "Stop beating around the bush, just say it straight!"

This provoked a burst of laughter from Yu Hao.

Facing Yu Hao's mockery, Yu Qiang glared angrily, while Hou Tu merely shook her head helplessly.

In her view, the most basic function of characters is to record and convey information.

Noticing everyone's confusion, Zhou Yi decided to stop beating around the bush and explained directly, "The most important thing about characters is that they can intuitively represent all things in the world, allowing people to understand their meaning at a glance."

At this point, he looked around and said, "For example, this footprint," Zhou Yi pointed to a mark on the ground and continued, "Can you recognize which animal left it?"

Because they knew little of the details of the Vast Wilderness World, Fang Yun and Yu Hao felt very puzzled.

But Yu Qiang, who often went hunting, quickly identified it: "This is a ground dragon's footprint, belonging to those hybrid Dragon Race."

After confirmation, Zhou Yi further asked, "If I record the image of this footprint and spread it so that everyone knows it's the sign of a ground dragon, wouldn't that become a symbol?"

After a discussion, they gradually understood Zhou Yi's idea: creating symbols by depicting natural objects, such as using a circle for the sun, adding rays to form the character "Sun", drawing the moon's shape to form the character "Moon", and so on.

This inspired everyone, especially Yu Qiang, who seemed struck by a flash of lightning and stood dumbfounded.

He was filled with surprise inside, having originally thought Zhou Yi was just speaking casually.

However, after he explained his idea in detail, he realized it was not a fantasy; it was actually feasible.

"Expressing directly in this way requires no special ability; just remember and pass it on, and that becomes characters," Hou Tu sighed deeply and said slowly.

At this moment, she fully believed that what Zhou Yi was doing was real and feasible. He truly was attempting to create a new character system, and even people without cultivation could read and use these characters to record things.

In contrast, Dao script requires a certain level of cultivation to comprehend, while the Demon Race's characters demand either Demon Race bloodline or official recognition.

However, the Human Race's new characters have none of those restrictions; as long as one can remember and recognize them, they can be used to record information.

Hou Tu's expression was unusually complex. The Wu Clan had long sought something unattainable, yet the Human Race had realized it so effortlessly.

Even more astonishing was that all this might be accomplished in less than ten years.

The method was simply to observe all things and then depict their forms one by one.

For the present Zhou Yi, this was a piece of cake, costing at most a little effort.

Yu Hao and Fang Yun also began their own observation and creation process, continuously carving rice‑grain‑sized patterns in their hands and carefully arranging them on stone slabs.

As each stone slab filled up, Yu Qiang and Hou Tu curiously leaned in and, at a glance, recognized no fewer than a dozen understandable characters—such as Sun, Moon, grass, trees, mountains, etc. These were drawn directly from the shapes of real objects, simple and clear.

"Sister, I think I'm going to lose this time," Yu Qiang said with a wry smile, having known from the start that he had no chance.

And Hou Tu was fully focused on those slabs; whenever someone filled a slab, she personally went to collect and store it.

Yu Qiang, seeing this, sighed helplessly, "How could this happen!" and then joined Hou Tu's work.

As Hou Tu had anticipated, even faster than expected, in just five years they set out from the Human Race tribe heading east, drawing every scene they encountered onto stone slabs.

In five years they circled Mount Buzhou, nearly traversing every inch of land, and finally returned to the tribe carrying stone slabs piled as high as a small hill.

Each slab was densely etched with myriad diverse characters—some resembling mountains and rivers, some like grass and trees, some like Sun and Moon—vividly portraying the myriad things of the Vast Wilderness World.

"They really did it!" Sui Huang and the others, beyond the Huang Guo, had long been waiting with anticipation.

They understood the significance behind this project, feeling both hopeful and nervous.

With Zhou Yi and the others' return, watching the mountain‑high slabs behind the two demon gods, everyone's anxious hearts finally relaxed.

"Sister, I think I still have a chance; he might fail."

"We have traveled this whole way without encountering anything particularly mysterious."

"I'm only afraid we won't receive the Heavenly Dao's approval, and in the end all our efforts will turn to foam."

Yu Qiang followed closely behind. In these five years, he knew every move of those people like the back of his hand, without missing a single one.

However, logically, a monumental act like creating characters should inevitably trigger the Heavenly Dao's response, just as when the Demon Master Kun Peng created Demon script, not only gaining massive merit of the Heavenly Dao but also elevating his realm to the mid‑quasi‑Saint stage.

But at present, they see no such signs.

"Before the final moment arrives, don't draw conclusions too early," Hou Tu said while carefully examining the slab in her hand.

After years of research, she was already very familiar with the slab's contents, at least able to grasp the meaning those characters convey.

Therefore, she was more optimistic than Yu Qiang about the developmental potential of these characters.

The Wu Clan urgently needed a set of characters to record its history and heritage, and the characters currently created by the Human Race perfectly met that need.

"That's already the 2,999th character; how many more does he plan to write?"

Yu Qiang complained while flipping through the slab in his hand.

After a detailed count, there are now 2,999 distinct characters, enough to describe almost everything in the Vast Wilderness World.

Yet Zhou Yi still hasn't put down his brush, nor received the Heavenly Dao's affirmation; the hope of success looks faint.

"Could it be that Saint Nüwa and those saints are secretly sabotaging? How infuriating," Yu Qiang thought, guessing.

At that moment, Zhou Yi returned to the Huang Guo carrying a slab, chose a high ground, stood silently, and watched the bustling crowd around him in quiet.

For a full half‑day, he remained as silent as a statue, merely watching the flow of people.