Murmurs and whispers were exchanged as the Elders peered closer to get a look. A detailed blueprint was intricately sketched out upon the sheet of papyrus, delineating a ten-storey tall architectural construct that was supported by cylindrical earthen pillars that stretched deep underground. A cross-section of the first floor sketched out the floor plan, which would be mirrored by every storey above it.

Yao Shen had designed for there to be four flats on each floor, each one possessing three bedrooms, one living room, one ‘bathroom’ and one balcony that would be under the owner’s sole prerogative to utilize and enjoy. Of course, he deserved no credit for the design— with his soul being as powerful as it was, it only took him a few minutes of meditation to recall all he knew about architectural design and he’d ended up recreating a smaller version of the apartment complex he used to live in.

Notably though Yao Shen had made marked deviations from the layout he’d remembered, beyond architectural approximations or errors that stemmed from insufficient knowledge. Modern plumbing was something that was simply beyond Yao Shen’s ability to recreate, as he lacked both the skillset and the necessary sciences to come even close to aping the end-result of thousands of years of human engineering.

The good thing though, was that Yao Shen didn’t have to.

The Dao of Formations, or Runic Formations, if one were to use a more technical term, were considered a rather vexing branch of study. In fact, ‘Dao’ was a misnomer when it came to the study of formations, for whilst anyone could study and recreate formations, one could not cultivate it in the traditional sense. However, the more Dao’s a formation master grasped, the deeper his formations would grow in both depth and complexity— provided that the formation master was talented enough.

That made the study of Runic Formations invaluable, yet the three hegemonic sects of the Azlak Plains didn’t have a single true formation master they could call upon in times of crisis.

The problem, unsurprisingly, stemmed from a lack of knowledge.

Basic rune-script was something that even the weakest of cultivators could learn and something that many stronger cultivators, like Yao Shen, believed to be a necessary part of a cultivator’s arsenal— for it was the only real means of judging the danger posed by a foriegn formation that they could encounter in one of their explorations.

However, not even Qi-Formation disciples held much interest towards the true Dao of Formations, to utilize rune-script to create powerful defensive and offensive formations.

Their decision would be a wise one, for basic rune-script seemed to be the building blocks of a greater whole, a fragmented language that the cultivators of the Azlak Plains lacked the knowledge to piece together. Not only was it inefficient, the effect produced by basic rune-script was also far weaker than what a cultivator, with the same input of Qi, could manage.

Greater Rune-Script on the other hand, could create a containment ward that could block the backlash of Soul Emperor level attacks, like the one sealing Origin Treasures in the Solaris Keep.

However…what was considered weak and insignificant by cultivators could become a boon for mortals.

If any disciple was asked to envision a formation, the first thing that would come to their mind would be a connected, circular formation, like the Flame Division’s boundary of purification. Yao Shen, in his blueprint, had disregarded those conventions— yes, a connected formation did amplify its power, but… ‘intensity’ was not the variable that Yao Shen sought.

On the ground floor of Yao Shen’s apartment, a simple artifact fashioned specifically to house a ‘Divine Sense Brand’ would be placed, buried a meter below the ground floor. The one immutable advantage of basic rune-script was that one did not require an understanding of the corresponding Dao. One did not require an understanding of the Dao of Light to utilize the basic light rune, but it was seldom considered from that angle— the world of cultivation was one that directed its efforts to honing martial strength, allowing auxiliary applications of combat-oriented discoveries to fall though their narrow sieve.

Though Yao Shen had found himself wondering what the intention of rune-script’s original creator was, in creating a path to power that tore away some of the restrictions of one’s path and Dao affinity. He doubted someone that prodigious would fail to consider the change it could bring to mortal’s lives, but not once had Yao Shen heard mention of a famous mortal city in the recorded history of the Sky Division.

Though that, perhaps, was one mystery he had no hope of solving. Nevertheless, he was grateful for its existence.

Each flat would have basic runes engraved within and in the blueprint, Yao Shen had noted the one’s he considered the highest priority—- ‘Light’ runes were naturally at the forefront, for he much preferred the soft, illuminating glow brought by the rune over other alternatives. A ‘Purification’ rune, originating from Water Dao, for waste disposal— the closest Yao Shen could get to a functioning toilet, albeit it would work slightly differently. A simple ‘Water’ rune, for a functioning water supply. A ‘Heat’ rune for cooking and heating water for bathing. A ‘Cooling’ rune for emulating the effect of refrigeration, though Yao Shen wasn’t quite sure how well that would work yet. There were even more runes, though Yao Shen was already aware that he wasn’t the greatest at rune-script— some of the elder’s here could do much better, and he would enlist their help, but right now he just needed a proof of concept.

Where Yao Shen had struggled was the ‘connection’ part. A traditional formation was engraved in a circular or at best an ovular shape for a reason— one rune flowed into the next and greater rune-script was often utilized in these formations, forming one unbroken connection that made sure there was no leakage.

Had Yao Shen not inherited his past life’s memories, the idea would never have struck him.

Patriarch Lei Weiyuan, while unleashing his domain, utilized strands of divine sense to control multiple flaming birds that gave incredible versatility at the Nascent Soul Level. However, what if he was asked to keep his domain active for an entire day? For an entire week? Even if his Qi didn’t run out, his divine sense strands could not withstand channelling Qi at that level for more than a day, not without damaging his soul.

However, Yao Shen did not intend to channel Soul Emperor, or even Nascent Soul level flames. In fact, the Qi the runes could output was so tiny compared to his reserves, that the runes could not really bring any real harm to a mortal, unless they held their hand next to a ‘heat’ rune or did something equally negligent.

Using a Soul Emperor’s divine sense to channel Qi into basic rune-script. The idea was so overkill that it would sound preposterous to any Elder— after all, why would someone at the peak of the cultivation world bow down and dedicate even a second of his time for mortals?

Preposterous, indeed.

What was a divine sense brand, boiled down to its core?

A divine sense brand was a small portion of a cultivator’s soul that was embedded with his will. That was the reason why when he’d tried to forcefully brand Elder Yongliang’s spear, he was met with fierce resistance. The same way, when he was trying to unlock the Origin Treasure, the guarding divine sense brand had destroyed his own. Because the owner of the Divine Sense had left behind an instruction to destroy any invader that dared encroach upon its terrain.

The idea behind the artifact was simple— His divine sense brand, not the radiant sword that he normally used, but a far more benign one, would utilize any and all spiritual ore placed within to channel qi into the runes, the formation resembling the outstretched branches of an ancient tree, with the chest artifact as its trunk, powering an entire apartment building.

Basic rune-script was inefficient, but the cost involved in powering one building would be so insignificant that a core-formation rank chunk of spiritual ore could power it for decades, if not not centuries. The strain on his Divine Sense would be even lesser, so miniscule that Yao Shen wouldn’t be surprised if it existed for the rest of his lifespan.

Unfortunately, Yao Shen lacked the ability to ‘code’ his divine sense, lacking the ability to give it multiple sets of instructions to react to different scenarios, but even an insignificant portion of his soul was powerful enough to memorize one additional command over a Nascent Soul cultivator’s—tapping twice in rapid succession upon the rune’s surface would send the command to begin channelling, and repeating that motion would signal the Divine Sense Brand to stop.

Even tapping through a stick would work, so the mortals did not have any reason to be injured in the process— it was the closest he could come to a button.

The best part?

This entire process would only require Yao Shen to visit each apartment building he constructed once, and it would function on its own for the next few centuries.

His whole blueprint maybe crude, one could even describe it as a cobbled mismash of ideas but….

It would work.

Yao Shen was certain of it.

And this was only the first of his blueprints.