As Su Mu settled into her meditation, the world outside faded away.
Guided by the newly acquired knowledge from the jade crystal, she began to follow the initial steps of the Lunar Disc Breathing Method.
She regulated her breathing, aiming for the slow, rhythmic pattern described, trying to sync her internal energy with the ambient spiritual power and the subtle, cool touch of Yin energy seemingly drawn by the necklace at her throat.
The true challenge, however, lay not just in the breathing but in the intricate mental constructs required by the technique.
The information from the jade had been clear: the efficacy of this meditation correlated directly with the complexity of the volitional runes – the Runes of Will – crafted within the mind during the practice.
The more intricate and stable these mental runes are, the more potent the meditation, leading to an accelerated surge in spiritual power cultivation.
Yet, the task of constructing even the most basic Rune of Will associated with the Lunar Disc method was no simple feat.
As Su Mu focused her mind inward, attempting to weave the first threads of the rune according to the patterns shown in the jade's information, she immediately understood the difficulty.
Even the simplest iteration comprised thousands of delicate lines of energy and crucial connecting nodes, presenting a formidable challenge to her mental strength and sheer force of will.
To weave a complete will rune required unwavering concentration and the ability to manipulate spiritual energy with precision on a purely mental plane.
She took a slow breath, drawing in energy, and focused on visualizing the first segment of the rune – a flowing pattern resembling intertwined crescent moons.
Lines of faint silver light began to form in her mind's eye, tracing the path dictated by the method.
But maintaining their stability was harder than she expected.
Stray thoughts flickered, the lines wavered, and the nodes where they should connect felt indistinct.
It demanded immense focus to hold the nascent structure together while simultaneously managing her breath and the flow of incoming energy.
It was like trying to build a complex sculpture out of smoke in a steady breeze.
As Su Mu concentrated, trying to hold the fragile lines of the Rune of Will steady, a strange sense of recognition washed over her.
Soon, the familiarity of the experience struck her; it felt as though she had been engaging in this practice since childhood.
The thought felt alien, yet deeply ingrained – a sentiment perhaps influenced by the memories she had inherited from the body's original owner.
Embracing this unexpected ease, she allowed herself to sink deeper.
In the embrace of darkness behind her closed eyelids, her external vision faded away completely, and her consciousness descended like a stone sinking into the silent depths of a tranquil lake.
Time lost its significance in this submerged, meditative state.
Minutes or maybe hours passed unmarked.
Then, amidst the quiet abyss of her inner world, a sudden, gentle burst of internal light enveloped her.
Su Mu found herself floating in a space of quiet emptiness, a mental landscape separate from the physical world.
Before her hovered a faint, partially formed construct of light – a small will rune, incomplete but recognizable from the instructions in the jade.
"This must have been constructed before my transmigration, perhaps the result of the original Su Mu's attempts with the incomplete breathing method, or maybe a nascent structure formed during the chaotic anomaly of my awakening." She pondered.
The initial construction was akin to sketching a blueprint; her task now was to gather more spiritual power, to refine and perfect these runes, adding layer upon layer of complexity and stability.
Just as Su Mu's consciousness reached out, intending to interact with or build upon this old will rune, she found something else shimmering faintly next to it.
It was an area marked by a distinct ethereal attribute bar, strangely illuminated along its length, glowing brightly up to a point marked at an impressive 73%.
Curious, she focused her attention on it. As she did, lines of soft, glowing text materialized beside the bar, displaying some of her basic details:
[ Name: Su Mu]
[ Gender: Female]
[ Age: 19 / 97]
[ Physique: 0.89]
[ Spirit: 2 ]
[Awakening: 73%]
A sense of bewilderment washed over her.
The dual age clearly referenced her current body's age, and the other might be the total lifespan.
The Physique and Spirit values were slightly unfamiliar metrics, but the awakening percentage next to 'Spirit' seemed directly linked to the glowing bar.
"What is this?" she thought, her mental voice filled with shock and confusion.
"A status screen? In my soul? Could it be... my Golden Finger?" Su Mu grappled with uncertainty, the sudden appearance of this mysterious attribute panel feeling like something pulled directly from the transmigration novels she used to read.
"Is it digitizing my details... like in a game?"
The question echoed in Su Mu's mind as she scrutinized the ethereal attributes floating before her consciousness.
"Could this 73%... this energy... be linked to what I absorbed from Lingxi?" she wondered, contemplating the strange sensation she'd felt during their intimate moments.
"But how can I check if that guess is correct or not?" she questioned herself, a flicker of frustration crossing her mind. "Unless I do it again... but Lingxi isn't here."
Su Mu acknowledged the difficulty of verifying her conjecture at this moment.
"Regardless, my immediate focus should be on creating the prototype will rune for the Lunar Disc Breathing Method," she decided firmly.
"I can ponder the details of this panel later," she concluded, pushing the mystery aside for the time being. "Perhaps, through the breathing technique itself, I might gather the necessary energy to understand or activate this attribute panel properly."
With renewed determination, Su Mu redirected her attention entirely to the primary task at hand: constructing the foundational Will Rune.
As the night unfolded its quiet embrace around the house, Su Mu persisted in her meditative exploration, delving deeper into the complex mental architecture of the rune.
The information from the jade guided her, revealing that eight foundational runes formed the core of the initial prototype.
Mastering this prototype, laying this groundwork, was the first step toward eventually becoming what the cultivation world apparently termed a Black Iron-level or Rank-'F' awakener.
This intricate framework provides the solid base upon which she could continue to expand and refine, adding layers of complexity and power over time.
With each intricate stroke of her mental energy, fueled by the controlled rhythm of her breath, the delicate, multi-faceted prototype of the Lunar Disc Breathing Method's will rune slowly began to take shape in the vast, quiet expanse of her consciousness.
The sheer number of these small runes was staggering, easily exceeding tens of thousands.
Each small rune was a puzzle piece, and Su Mu had to painstakingly connect them in a precise order according to the pattern dictated by the Lunar Disc Breathing Method.
It was a delicate dance of mental energy, requiring meticulous attention and unwavering focus.
Each misplaced connection, each slight deviation, could disrupt the entire flow of the rune, rendering it useless.
Imagine a vast mosaic, composed of thousands of individual tiles, each meticulously crafted and placed with the utmost precision.
The slightest misstep could warp the image, creating a distorted and unrecognizable form.
This was the challenge Su Mu faced: her mental energy delicately manipulating the tiny runes, ensuring they formed a harmonious whole.
The silence of the night amplified the symphony of her thoughts. With each successful connection, a sense of accomplishment washed over her, fueling her determination.
Slowly, but surely, the prototype of the will rune began to take shape within her mind.
With each passing hour, the night deepened, mirroring the ever-growing complexity of the will rune.
Recognizing that the creation of the will rune was not a task to be completed in a single day, with her mental strength depleted, she decided to call it a day and transitioned into a well-deserved sleep.