In order to understand the difference and struggle between Wu Ye and Shi Hai, one must understand how formation works and how talent is distinguished for special occupations like formation or talisman.
Formation is essentially using the environment--like mountain, rivers, location or Feng shui--to borrow or levy the mighty power of Heaven and Earth.
In the early stage of cultivation, formation masters required to use formation flags and origin stone as energy. However, as they grow more powerful, they will slowly abandon exterior aids--even the environment-- and use their cultivation to instantly set up formation.
When it comes to talent, formation masters need to have great calculating abilities to be able to scan and map out the environment. Then, they will need a powerful and sensible soul to be able to engrave the divine runes that make up formations.
According to the archaic book in Wang Wei's hand, Shi Hai had a very high affinity with runes, as such he could easily memorize them and understand them. Additionally, he had a powerful soul that allowed him to carved out any runes, no matter how fine and detailed they were.
Wang Wei turned the page and continued reading.
"That damn Shi Hai had a truly Heaven defying talent. Our master always complimented him and compared him to me. At that time, although I always envied him a little, I was happy for him as he was my sworn brother. After all, we came from the same village and grew up as neighbors."
"Despite my lack of soul power for carving runes, my perception and understanding of runes was not worse than his. So, I did not give up on my path studying formation. I always believe that I might be able to find a way to fix or make up for my talent in the soul department."
"And I succeeded. One day, suddenly I thought, why should I only use the soul to carve out runes? Why couldn't I use my body as a source instead?"
Upon reading here, all three of Li Jun, Yan Liling, and Wu Ming were shocked. If what Wu Ye wrote in the journal is true, this man has managed to revolutionize the Dao of Formation. Just this idea is enough to bring about a new glorious era for cultivators who practice the Dao of Formation.
Wang Wei was the only one who did not have much change. As a transmigrator, he has read too many of these things from the novels in his past. Compared with the brain-hole or imagination that the authors in his past life came up with, Wu Ye's idea is nothing.
In fact, Wang Wei still admires him. Although the Myriad Emperor Plane has a history spawning billions of years and has created a terrifying civilization, the inherent thinking of the people in this world is actually fixed or linear.
As their culture ingrained in them the idea of respecting the ancestors, respecting the sages that came before, the thinking of most people became restraint or shackled. As long as someone talks about an idea that does not fit with the "predecessors", two things will likely happen to them:
They will be either be labeled as heretic and destroyed by the masses. Or they will become unparalleled geniuses that bring prosperity to the whole world. The former being the most likely scenario as it is very difficult to change the inherent thinking of most people. This is another reason that Great Emperors are venerated in this world, because no one dares to question them when they decide to improve or contradict the beliefs and ideas of their predecessors.
In essence, every Great Emperor has the ability to become a path finder for the entire Myriad Emperor Plane. And, the majority of them do so.
After waiting for the other people to calm down, Wang Wei continued to translate and read the journal out loud. In fact, the person who was most happy about this situation is Wu Ming.
His Wu family is only a small family in the Southern Vermillion Bird Continent whose highest cultivator was in the Void Shattered Realm. If he had taken this journal back to the family, it would take them years to find a way to learn the ancient scripts and translate it.
But now, he can learn the content of the book and memorize it. Although his current life and death is unknown, he still has a hint of hope due to the fact that these people did not immediately kill him.
....
"With the secret help of the master and a few junior brothers, I have successfully developed a method that allows me to engrave runes on my body, then blend in with Heaven and Earth to use stamina to replace soul power when arranging formations."
"This method not only made up for my lack of talent in soul power, but it also dramatically increased my affinity for runes. When I blended into Heaven and Earth, I entered an entire world made only of runes. From the soil in the ground, to the trees in the forest, to the blowing wind in the air, everything was made of runes. It was truly magical."
"However, my happiness did not last long. Shi Hai invited me to a secret realm and told me he may have found something that is helpful to my research, then, he betrayed me. He tricked me into a formation he set up to completely annihilate both my body and soul."
All four of them had somewhat of a surprise look on their faces. Although they knew that Emperor Haiyuan had done something terrible to Wu Ye that fermented such terrible hatred, they are still a little shocked by the revelation.
In this world, Great Emperors are usually glorified as Supreme Beings that are above all mundane things--including ugly human emotion such as betrayal. Now, seeing the ugly side of one such Great Emperor as the Formation Ancestor, it is indeed quite the shocking thing.
Wang Wei sighed, then said, "In the end, even a Great Emperor is a humble human being. It cannot escape the seven emotions and six desires."
After saying this, Wang Wei lost a little of awe for all Great Emperors. He realized that, in the end, Great Emperor is essentially just a cultivating realm that only few people have the opportunity to reach in their lifetime. Nothing more and nothing less.
The other three people felt the sudden change in Wang Wei, however, they could not pinpoint where the change came from. As such, they continue to listen to him translating the journal.
"I should have noticed something wrong before. When I was creating my new method with the master, Shi Hai instantly became more cold and distant. I thought that he was under pressure as the successor of the sect, but now it seemed that I was wrong."
"Before he activated that formation, I asked him the reason he betrayed me. He told me that he cannot get used to his master constantly praising me as a great genius that will bring a glorious era for the Dao of Formation. He went on a five minutes rant about how he will acquire the title of [Formation Ancestor] and his Dao will become the Orthodox way, while mine will be forever labeled as heretics."
"Luckily for me, my newly created Formation Rune Body not only provided me with matchless talent for formation, but also provided me with a great life saving method by blending into the surroundings and pretending that I'm dead.
"Although I survived Shi Hai's formation, I can feel that I do not have long to live. I do not fear death. I fear that my legacy will be lost or destroyed. It is very likely that Shi Hai will become a Great Emperor. So, I must find a way for my future descendants to inherit my Dao, then eventually complete it and surpass me."
After reading the journal, Wang Wei realized that the rest of the book contained the way to cultivate the Formation Rune Body.
Suddenly an idea popped up in Wang Wei's head. One of the abilities of this technique is to blend in with Heaven and Earth through runes engraved in the body. If he changed the runes, then he can make so that he can instead blend in with the Fragment of Law that his special physique requires.
In doing so, he will greatly increase his chance in succeeding to acquire a special physique. This method was tailored for him. No wonder his Qi Luck Dragon acted weird when he saw Wu Ming in Falling Leaves City.
Suddenly, Li Jun asked, "Are we in trouble for knowing the dirty past of a Great Emperor? What if Emperor Haiyuan comes to trouble us?"
Wang Wei gave him a weird look. "You do not need to worry about such things. Who knows where Emperor Haiyuan is now after such a long time. Furthermore, our Dao Opening Sect has more powerful Emperors than him."
"Li Jun, stop asking stupid question," said Yan Liling after giving him a fierce look. Then she looked toward Wang Wei and askes. "Big Brother Wang Wei, what do we do with Wu Ming?"
After saying this, all three of them placed their gaze towards the still tied up Wu Ming, pondering what fate to bestow on him.