Eat, eat, eat in the primordial world

Without written text, it's incredibly inconvenient. There's no reference material, so whatever you're teaching has to be explained verbally over and over again, which is not only a waste of energy but also inefficient.

Furthermore, a race without its own writing system cannot develop a civilization. Without civilization, how can it rise to prominence? Sooner or later, it will be eliminated by the times.

Written language is the beginning of civilization. With written language, the accumulated experience and knowledge of a community can be better passed down. Social order will also gradually become more standardized as a result.

Therefore, if humans want to become stronger, they must have their own writing system.

"It is necessary to create characters. Every great family must have a written language in order to inherit culture and develop civilization."

The more Jiang Yuan thought about it, the more he felt that the creation of characters could not be delayed. Don't you see that those ancient great races—the dragon race, the demon race, the witch race, and so on—all have their own writing systems?

Although humans are not as good as them, they still need to have their own writing system; they can't lose at the starting line.

With this in mind, Jiang Yuan let the students cultivate on their own, while he went to find the Ancestor of Fire and explained to him the importance of creating characters.

……

Under the scorching sun, after listening to Jiang Yuan's account, Sui Zu remained silent for a long time before finally speaking:

"What you're saying, I know it all too well. But creating characters is no easy task; it requires a profound understanding of the rules of the Great Dao, something beyond the capabilities of our level of cultivation."

Even the ancestor Sui was helpless. The importance of writing was well known to all the races of the prehistoric world. But in the end, only a few major races were able to create writing.

Why do you think so?

Is it that those smaller tribes don't want to?

No, they dream of it, but limited by their cultivation level and insufficient understanding of the rules of the Great Dao, they simply cannot create characters.

"Creating characters is difficult, but it requires even more wisdom. How does it relate to the rules of the Great Dao, and why does it require extremely high cultivation?"

Jiang Yuan was confused and asked in bewilderment, feeling that what he and Sui Zu had been talking about seemed to be different things.

"Words have power!"

"All the writing systems of the primordial world, in essence, are expounding the rules of the Great Dao. The more precise the exposition, the higher the level of the writing system, and the stronger the power it contains."

"The Demon Script is the most accurate script that explains the rules of the Great Dao, apart from the innate runes, and can be called the number one divine script after birth."

Seeing that Jiang Yuan didn't understand, Sui Zu patiently explained.

In fact, the innate runes are the ancient script, but they are too obscure, and only innate gods and demons can fully master them.

Although the primordial world was vast, how many innate gods and demons were there? They constituted less than one ten-millionth of all living beings. The vast majority were ordinary innate beings.

To accommodate them, acquired writing was created. Compared to innate runes, acquired writing is weaker, but correspondingly, it is easier for innate beings to understand and master.

"So that's how it is. You've fallen into a misunderstanding, Ancestor Sui. The script you speak of, though called script, is actually divine script, prepared for cultivators."

"But the script I want to create has no power; it is truly a script belonging to mortals."

"It doesn't explain the fundamental rules; what it does is help people better understand and know the world."

At this point, Jiang Yuan paused, feeling that describing it with words alone was too inadequate, so he pointed to the sky and his surroundings and continued:

"This is the sky, this is the earth, this is the mountain, this is the water, this is the sun, moon, and stars..."

"When we create characters, we only need to describe them truthfully, so that people can recognize their differences, what is heaven and earth, what is mountains and rivers, what is the sun, moon and stars..."

"Literature carries the way. The most important function of writing is not how powerful it is, but to carry knowledge, pass it down, and enable future generations to better understand the world and distinguish all things."

"Therefore, as long as the written word is accurate and easy to learn, there is no need to explain the great principles and rules in order to gain power."

"Or rather, the intangible power is more powerful than the tangible power. What words should carry is the intangible power."

After hearing this, Sui Zu was so shocked that he couldn't speak. Jiang Yuan's words had opened up a whole new world for him.

Yes, why should writing pursue power? As Jiang Yuan said, the essence of writing is to pass on wisdom, to record events, and to facilitate daily communication.

Therefore, it only needs to be simple and easy to learn; there is no need to complicate it or involve it in explaining the fundamental principles of Taoism.

If you really want to understand the rules of the Great Dao, then there are innate runes, aren't there? No matter how precise the explanations of acquired divine scripts are, they can't compare to innate runes.

"You're right, I was mistaken and complicated a simple problem."

"Creating writing doesn't have to be so complicated. There's no need to explain the great principles; simply describing heaven and earth is enough."

Sui Zu was a truly wise man; he hadn't figured it out before because he was simply in a misunderstanding.

Now, thanks to Jiang Yuan's reminder, countless flashes of inspiration struck him. He even started to think about how to create characters.

Pictographs!

Use lines to outline the shape and features of the object to express its meaning.

"Creating characters is a huge project, not something that can be accomplished overnight, nor can it be done by one person alone. It requires pooling wisdom and mobilizing the collective wisdom of all the people in the clan."

Seeing that Sui Zu had an idea, Jiang Yuan offered his suggestion.

When it comes to creating characters, the most important thing is the standard. Once the standard for creating characters is established, the rest can be left to others, and you only need to do the final review.

"That's right, Yuan. I knew I hadn't misjudged you. Your wisdom even surpasses mine."

Sui Zu nodded and then sighed from the bottom of his heart.

Previously, he simply thought that Jiang Yuan was the most outstanding among all his descendants.

But now it seems he was being conservative. Not only among his descendants, but probably in the entire human race, there is no one more outstanding than him.

"Sui Zu is too kind."

Jiang Yuan blushed from the praise; if this was truly his skill, that would be wonderful.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. These are all the wisdom of later generations. He only had these insights because he stood on the shoulders of giants.

"In any case, including this time, you have already performed several great deeds for the human race. Therefore, before you become a Celestial Immortal, all the resources you need will be provided by the clan."

Jiang Yuan has rendered great service to the human race and deserves a reward, but the human race is still in its infancy and lacks resources, so there are not many valuable treasures to offer.

Helpless, the ancestor of the Fire God could only prepare enough resources for him to the best of his ability.

"I know this reward is rather meager and doesn't do justice to your contributions. But you know the situation within the clan; this is all we can offer right now."

"But don't worry, once the Holy Mother emerges from seclusion, I will personally recommend her for credit, and I believe Her Majesty will not be stingy with rewards."

After saying this, Sui Zu himself felt a little embarrassed and quickly added, "The human race is still too weak; they can't even afford the treasures to reward meritorious officials."