Physical mage, challenge me to a solo duel!

Beyond the Abyss, before the Starry Sky.

An old man and a young boy sat cross-legged on a magnificent auspicious cloud, surrounded by blood-red karmic flames that resembled glue.

Qing Yuanzhong's Rules Mini-Class started so fresh and lively.

I don't want 998, I don't want 98, I won't even accept 9.8 yuan.

Wang Yi was naturally excited.

Although Xu Jun and Chu Zhaoding had both explained the rules of the Forbidden Mage to Wang Yi, one of them had only been a Forbidden Mage for a few years, and the other had not yet fully become a Forbidden Mage.

His level of skill is naturally incomparable to that of Qing Yuanzhong, the first forbidden mage who has mastered two rules.

However, Qing Yuanzhong's act of lecturing Wang Yi in this way was far too arrogant and disrespectful.

Lu Wu, who was watching intently from the side, had a slightly red nose.

"Get out of my world, you!"

Feeling provoked, Lu Wu roared again, and the area around Wang Yi and Qing Yuanzhong seemed to turn into a shattered mirror, with cracks appearing and everything inside becoming displaced.

"Old Lu, I just came here to breathe in some magic from this magical world, why all this fuss... How about this, you take a nap over there, I won't move an inch, okay?"

Qing Yuanzhong waved his hand gently, and a transparent light shield suddenly expanded, filling the cracks in the surrounding space. Then, a stream of karmic fire that had enveloped the area suddenly split off and rushed straight toward Lu Wu.

"Besides, there are countless sacred beasts in the magical world. To call it your world is rather arrogant. If you want to become the king of beasts, at least defeat the other sacred beasts first."

Seeing the fire approaching, Lu Wu took two steps back, causing a ripple in the space. Then, the karmic fire instantly transformed into a fiery cloud, engulfing the entire area.

However, upon closer inspection, the karmic fire did not ignite on Lu Wu's body; there seemed to be an invisible and intangible barrier between them.

After dismissing Lu Wu, Qing Yuanzhong took the opportunity to explain the rules to Wang Yi:

"Lu Wu just used spatial rules to divide the space around us, and then used that to tear us apart within that space. I, on the other hand, used Return to Origin to stabilize the space, and then used Karmic Fire to burn its spatial rules."

"It doesn't need to be completely incinerated; just a small portion will suffice."

"The space of the magical world is inherently very stable. Even if Lu Wu wanted to shatter it, it would be very difficult. Therefore, it is only necessary to dismantle a small part of its rule power to thwart its plans."

Qing Yuanzhong pointed at Lu Wu, who was engulfed in karmic fire, and continued:

"I wanted to burn it to death with karmic fire, but Lu Wu decisively sealed off the space he was in, as if he and the karmic fire were in two different worlds, so no matter how much karmic fire there was, it could not spread."

"In short, neither of us can do anything to the other, but it can get away at any time, while I can only stay in one place, so it has the upper hand."

After explaining this point, Qing Yuanzhong clapped his hands and continued the lesson.

"Okay, now let's go back to the original question."

"Rules are actually a means for us to continuously understand the world, strive to deconstruct the world, and ultimately change the world."

"Just like the invention of gunpowder, when humans discovered that certain substances, when mixed in a certain proportion and ignited, could unleash tremendous power."

"This is how you utilize the rules after you've learned about them."

"What the forbidden sorcerer calls 'mastering' the rules is to create a set of rules that are advantageous to himself, or to change the original rules to his own liking."

"To give a simple example, if I think that fire is cold and ice is hot, then fire will become cold and ice will become hot."

Wang Yi was listening intently, but when she heard Qing Yuanzhong's description, she couldn't help but stare in disbelief.

No, these are the rules?

"This...this is the legendary 'Power of Thought'! Whatever I think, becomes?"

"Well, although your description is rather... down-to-earth, it's not wrong at all."

Qing Yuanzhong found Wang Yi's unconsciously uttered strange remark somewhat amusing and affirmed it.

"As long as you can firmly and clearly see the world with 'I think,' and then your power is enough to make the rules operate according to your ideas, then you will succeed."

"However, it's easy to deceive others, but difficult to deceive yourself... In this respect, perhaps those who are simple-minded but determined are more likely to succeed."

"Because fire is hot and ice is cold, this is your understanding of the world since you developed thought and consciousness, and it is the objective rule of this world."

"If you want to change these objective rules, to turn fire into cold and ice into heat, you first need to firmly believe this yourself, and then you need a little bit of power that can move this world."

Snapped!

Qing Yuanzhong raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of Wang Yi.

"By combining the two, your fire can freeze people to death, and your ice can burn people to death."

"How...how is this possible! Doesn't this change the entire world, making the laws of physics cease to exist?"

Wang Yi was deeply shocked.

Qing Yuanzhong chuckled lightly: "Don't let your thinking be confined by the knowledge you've learned before."

"Where do the laws of physics come from? They are simply things that humans discover and then verify; essentially, they are a way of exploring the world."

"In this world, there is something hot and something cold, which we call 'fire' and 'ice' respectively. Even if the nature of these two things is changed, they still exist in the world, only described differently."

"Moreover, small-scale changes are easy, but if you want to permanently change these two rules on a global scale... well, it's not impossible, but the power required would definitely have to be overwhelming the entire world."

"Therefore, forbidden mages usually choose a more effortless and clever approach: for example, they take a part of the characteristics of the rules presented by the world itself, amplify them, and push them to the limit."

"Like my karmic fire."

Qing Yuanzhong gently extended his palm, and a karmic fire, like a ribbon, slowly weaved between his five fingers.

"They say a single spark can start a prairie fire. In my opinion, fire can spread indefinitely. My Karmic Fire pushes the flammability of fire to the extreme. As long as there is flammable material, it will never be extinguished."

"Whether it's magic, sorcery, flesh and blood, or soul, all can serve as fuel for the karmic fire. Once I've ignited a part of the target's existence, the karmic fire can continue to spread, no matter how far away, until everything related to the target is burned to ashes, leaving nothing behind."

At this point, Qing Yuanzhong clenched his fist, then opened it again.

The karmic fire between his five fingers condensed into a miniature, fiery red star-shaped gate, which slowly rotated in his palm.

"Of course, as I said, the power required to completely change this world is too enormous. Even breaking through from one world to another would not require much less power."

"In theory, rules have no limits, but we who drive the rules are ultimately limited in power. Therefore, my karmic fire can only be passed on within one world and cannot break through the power of one world to be passed on to another."

General Qing Yuanzhong handed the Starry Gate in his palm to Wang Yi, who subconsciously took it, as if picking up a piece of warm jade.

"It is for this reason that we cannot break through the rules of the Star Vortex Gate. High-level beings cannot enter the 'Bridge' level, and super-level beings cannot enter the 'World' level. Even if we hide in the Void Realm, it is the same, because these are the rules formed by two worlds. The mere Void Realm cannot be shaken."

"Compared to this, even the power of a forbidden mage is but a drop in the ocean. Since we can't suppress the rules, we can only obediently abide by them."

"Do you understand?"

Qing Yuanzhong gently patted Wang Yi's head.

"The so-called rules are the direction of the heart, the extension of the Way, the location of the law, and the limit of power."

"It is the new rules that emerge after breaking the old ones, and the entirely new understanding that emerges after breaking through the old ones."

"Alright, I've told you what the rules are. Now you can go and create your own rules."