Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 88 – Eighty-One

As Lu Chao’s screams died down, the wild beast’s presence eventually faded. It was a mystery to Ye Wei as to why it didn’t leave the woods to attack him. He was grateful it didn’t, but he was still curious.

Moments after everything returned to its previous calm state. Apart from the sound of leaves rattling in the breeze, there were no detectable movements of any sort. It was only now that Ye Wei finally let his guard down and looked a bit more relaxed, his grip on the scroll slightly loosened.

Although the wild beast did not show itself from its presence, Ye Wei could tell it was no ordinary beast; therefore not only was he relatively relaxed, he was also cautious,glancing often towards the woods.

‘Humm, did something happen to the talisman? It feels like a more powerful artifact than it was just moments before. Now it’s giving off slightly more energy!’ Ye Wei held the iron talisman in his hand and could feel the energy flow within while he looked at the mystic arms buried next to the stone monument.

‘The black rod is a three-star medium-grade mystic arm. The aura it gives off is impressive, but the scarlet blade and the meter long ancient sword give off even stronger energy… They could be four or even five-star mystic arms!’

“If I can make the talisman release a force field again, I might have a shot at obtaining all of the mystic arms.” Ye Wei mumbled to himself.

Throughout the history of Green Moon City there were only few three-star medium-grade mystic arms seen by the public in auction houses, but of course, there were families that were hiding mystic arms and scrolls in their vaults for emergencies. For example, the Ye family. Due to it’s age and heritage they had a three-star medium-grade mystic arm that was passed down from one patriarch to the next. Knowing that most of the citizens had not seen any medium-grade arms above three-stars, Ye Wei was startled by the fact that he was standing in front of two of them.

“These grooves…” Ye Wei placed the talisman in the middle of his palm and carefully inspected it. He gently touched the grooves and slowly ran his finger along all eighty-one of them.

‘So this talisman can absorb energy from the blood devourer crystals’ and the Qi in the spectral black flames… These grooves seem to shine a little brighter every time the talisman absorbs energy and when it is released it generates a force field. All eighty-one grooves were lit when that happens if I remember correctly…’ Ye Wei theorized while he stroked the talisman.

‘I’m going to try something!” Ye Wei said while staring at the eighty-one grooves. He grunted quietly as he channeled Qi from his hand into the talisman.

“Zoom!”

The talisman shone with a ghostly glow and suddenly Ye Wei’s Qi was completely absorbed into the mysterious device. Meanwhile, the grooves started to light up with a brilliant silver glow.

The first groove was filled up, so was the second.

“I knew it!” Ye Wei widened his eyes as the silver light excited him. ‘Take everything I have!’ He channeled more Qi to his finger as he stroked the talisman.

As Ye Wei’s Qi rushed into the talisman, more and more of the grooves were lit up. After a while, when Ye Wei’s dantian was nearly empty, eleven out of eighty-one were shining silver.

‘I guess all eighty-one grooves need to be filled before I can activate the force field again! That is a lot of Qi. I emptied my dantian and only one-eighth of the grooves were filled…’ Ye Wei stared at the dark grooves and thought.

‘Wait, if it’s Qi this talisman wants, I might have a solution!’ Ye Wei felt inspired, he took out his interspatial bag and dug through it. After a while pieces of Qi stones rolled onto the ground.

Ye Wei and Lin Zi Yan had acquired many treasures including a hefty sum of Qi stones.

The primal energy within Qi stones was pure and dense; therefore, they were not suitable for cultivational use, but they are crucial for the production of mystic arms and pills.

Ye Wei assumed if his talisman could be fueled by the energy of the black flame and blood devourer crystals, then it was entirely possible that Qi stones would be able to fill the grooves.

As expected, when the Qi stones came out of his bag, the talisman started to react. It rattled and flew out of Ye Wei’s hand to where the stones were.

“Whoosh!”

The iron talisman circled above the stones and emitted strands of black light creating a vortex that started absorbing the primal energy inside the Qi stones.

“Crack!”

The Qi stones started shattering and turning into dust as the energy within them was drained. The energy formed a silver stream and was quickly absorbed by the dark vortex. While absorbing the energy, the grooves started to gleam, and the gleam eventually grew into a blinding silver light.

Twelve, thirteen… Twenty-five… Eighty-one!

When all the stones turned to dust, all eight-one grooves on the talisman lit up. The amulet once again glowed brightly!

‘That was more than a hundred thousand silver worth of Qi stones…’ There was recognizable sadness in Ye Wei’s eyes. His original plan was to present these stones to the patriarch.

Moments after the grooves were filled, the talisman’s bright glow dimmed, and the rust patches on it cleared up slightly, but its Qi presence grew stronger.

“What the hell?” Ye Wei grabbed the talisman to feel the energy within it. He could sense that energy from the stones transformed into the presence he felt when the force field was deployed!

‘But why did it get dimmer?’

Ye Wei pondered. ‘It feels more powerful than before. I think filling the grooves charges it up and that it will get stronger after every time it’s fully charged. The next force field should be more powerful… I think.’

It was the second time the talisman was fully charged after fallen into Ye Wei’s possession, and now it looked less beaten up than when he found it behind the rune barrier.

‘I did waste a lot of Qi stones, but I guess it’s worth it!’ Ye Wei was excited to have discovered some of the talisman’s secrets. His childish face made him look like a kid who just found a new toy. ‘So if I want to make it more powerful, I will have to feed it Qi and any kind of energy I find!’

There was no switch on the talisman but Ye Wei could feel a spiritual link to it, and therefore, he assumed he could activate the force field that way.

‘Now I have to get myself the scarlet blade and the ancient sword!’ Ye Wei glared at the mystic arms buried in the ground. With the talisman in his hand, he slowly walked towards the stone monument.

‘I will take the sword out first!’

Ye Wei carefully wrapped his hand around the hilt, and after a low grunt, he pulled the sword out with all his strength.

“Boom!”

Immediately when it was pulled out, the stance within activated. Ye Wei could see hundred meters long silver light flying towards him with the momentum of a flooding river. The energy shook the whole swamp.

The stream of silvery energy transformed into seven spectral swords which formed a circular array. The wheel of swords gave off a blinding aura like the midday sun.

The sword wheel spun and flew towards Ye Wei leaving a charred trail and a fissure in its path; a path that was heading towards him at a fearsome speed.

‘Forbidden low-level Myst stance – Flaring Sword Wheel!’

Staring at the sword wheel, Ye Wei’s pupils dilated. He knew he was staring at a life-threatening stance and as such he activated the talisman without any hesitation.

Strictly speaking, forbidden low-level Myst stances were threatening even to seven-star condensed prime warriors, not to mention medium-grade mystic scrolls. Ye Wei was not even sure if the talisman could stop the sword wheel.

“Zoom!”

The talisman reacted to Ye Wei’s inner voice, and a mysterious silver light burst forth creating a hundred meters wide force field that covered part of the swamp.

As the force field emerged, Ye Wei felt his body sink. It was as if a mountain fell on his shoulders along with his blood which froze and stopped flowing.

The force field’s pressure was much greater than the last time. Although Ye Wei was only immobilized by the force for a brief moment, the tremendous force still impacted him enough for a line of blood to flow out of his mouth.

Ye Wei, being the talisman’s owner, soon became immune to the force field’s energy.

The moment Ye Wei was free to move again, he took a scroll out of his bag and unrolled it, just in case the force field could not suppress the sword wheel on its own. If the sword wheel could break free, he would immediately tear the scroll.

Holding tightly onto the scroll, Ye Wei raised his head to look at the sword wheel. Not only did the wheel stopped spinning, but the flickering light around it also froze in the air.

‘Even forbidden low-level Myst stances are no match for the force field?!’

Ye Wei was relieved to see this scene, but just as he loosened his shoulders, the sword wheel started to rattle. Its presence was greatly dampened, but it seemed to be slowly building momentum again.

‘I should have known…’

“Hold it!” Ye Wei did not take his eyes off the sword wheel that was rattling and trying to rush towards him. He wasted no more time and tore the scroll.

“Swooosh!” Hundreds of runes burst forth, forming a thick black vine. It flew towards and wrapped around the rattling sword wheel.

As the vine tightened its hold on the sword wheel, Ye Wei tore yet another scroll.

‘Low-level Myst stance – Howling Wolf!’

With a burst of light, a three meters tall spectral silver wolf appeared in the sky. It opened its mouth and exposed sharp metallic teeth, then let out a long, deafening howl while a silver ball of energy grew on its tongue.

“Tzzzz!”

The wolf spat out the ball of energy expelling air out of its path. The ball left behind a vacuum trail as it made its way to the sword wheel.

Constricted by the force field and the black vine, the sword wheel was held still in the air. It was not a surprise that the silver ball of energy found its target.

After the first energy ball landed, the silver wolf kept spitting more of them out, and one by one they crashed onto the sword wheel. After eighteen balls landed the spectral wolf faded. The sword wheel also started to disintegrate into seven swords which scattered over the ground.

Ye Wei exhaled with relief. His heart was in his throat, but slowly he calmed down.