Chapter 148 Preparations for a Long Journey

Approaching the beast’s body, An shoved his hands into its closed mouth. Relying solely on his raw physical strength, he tore off its lower jaw with a sharp pull. It crashed to the ground with a loud thud.

‘Oops! I misjudged my strength...’

The people around him immediately turned their attention his way, but chose not to get involved, already having more than enough problems to deal with.

An climbed inside the creature’s mouth and began tearing through the flesh, trying to reach its core.

‘There it is! But why is it so small... The difference between a second-rank and third-rank beast really is enormous.’ After ripping out a core only five centimeters in diameter and sensing the concentration of energy inside it, he felt slightly disappointed.

“Excuse me?”

Suddenly, he heard a melodious, mature female voice from outside the corpse.

He wiped the blood off the core and climbed out of the body. He held the clean Water core in his hand, but a few drops of blood remained on his face and clothes. Only the inner membrane of his Qi Armor remained constantly active; he only deployed the outer layer during battle, so the blood from digging through the corpse had gotten onto him.

“Did you need something?” An found himself facing an elegant woman. Her wavy black hair framed her mature face, with faint expression lines at the corners of her eyes that only emphasized her piercing, mesmerizing amber-red eyes.

Her elegant appearance was perfectly complemented by a simple evening dress without any unnecessary ornamentation.

She held a fan and gently waved it, slightly stirring the strands of hair around her face.

“I happened to hear that you were the one who repaired Pure Sky. I simply wanted to thank you personally for saving us.” She raised the fan to cover her mouth, leaving only her piercing, hypnotic gaze visible.

“My life depends on this artifact working as well, so there’s no need to thank me.” Reading the Qi flows, An immediately discerned that the woman before him was at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.

She was the only surviving Foundation Establishment cultivator among the passengers, having kept her cultivation hidden from everyone else.

“Modesty suits you, Master.” She folded her fan, smiled, and extended her hand toward him. “My name is Duan Miria. How should I address you, our young rune master?”

‘Duan? Is she a direct relative of that Duan Tomus guy? Or just a member of the same clan? I remember how arrogant he looked when they announced he had a second-rank spiritual roots... And if I remember correctly, he was engaged to someone from the royal family? Huh? Why do I even have this useless information in my head?’

Hearing the familiar clan name, An shook her hand, making sure to channel extra Qi into the inner membrane around his hand, just in case.

Although he hadn't sensed any negative emotions from her, he still didn't let his guard down.

“My name isn't important. You can simply call me the rune master. I've gotten used to it, since everyone around here suddenly decided that's what they wanted me to be.” An released her hand and put the core into his spatial ring.

“Hmm... Reserved, modest, and a little strange... You really are quite an eccentric.” She looked him up and down, lingering on his bare feet.

“Well, then. I hope we'll have another chance to chat.” She smiled, looked carefully into his eyes once more as though trying to memorize every detail about him, then covered her face with the fan again, turned around, and walked away.

Not expecting to hear such a remark spoken aloud, An was slightly surprised. He watched her leave, shook his head, and headed toward the exit.

Outside, he immediately went to the other three enormous octopus corpses. Their cores were still intact.

After collecting all of them, he put them away into his spatial ring to deal with later.

Just as he was trying to figure out what to do next, he sensed Old Mo and Feng Min returning from the rubble near the enormous hole in the ship. They had come through a bypass tunnel that they and the workers had dug beforehand.

Without thinking much about it, An leisurely walked toward Pure Sky, which was stuck in the ground. Su Mei and several workers were standing beside it, hurriedly working on something.

He approached and sat down beside the artifact.

Su Mei gave him a sidelong glance, as if asking what he had come here for. But a moment later, she turned toward the tunnel after sensing her old servant and Feng Min finally return.

....

Old Mo tossed a ring beneath the artifact. It bore obvious scorch marks.

“We managed to find a huge number of spirit stones, but more than a third of them were cracked and had lost most of their energy. They’re practically useless.”

Su Mei looked thoughtfully at the ring. “How many do we have in total?”

“A little over a billion… That’s all we managed to recover from the rubble.” Feng Min answered before Old Mo could.

“The workers are still down there. They might be able to find something else, but I wouldn’t count on it...” Old Mo glanced at Feng Min, clearly displeased by the interruption.

The more time the old man spent around him, the more unpleasant he found Feng Min’s company. There was simply something about the man that put him off.

“This should be enough... Besides, the passengers should have quite a few spirit stones of their own. It should be enough to get us to Tranquil Fort.” Su Mei took the pouch from the worker holding it and checked its contents using her Qi.

Old Man Mo suddenly noticed An sitting on the ground nearby. After thinking for a moment, he decided to ask his question after all. “Rune master, what do you think? Will this be enough to get us to the fort?”

Su Mei and Feng Min also turned toward An, both wanting to know what their chances were. Even Feng Min, despite the contempt still visible in his eyes, wanted to hear An’s opinion, though he barely managed to hide his dislike.

“Who knows... It all depends on our circumstances. If beasts attack us despite the level at which the artifact is currently operating, and I have to crank up its power… in other words, increase its energy consumption...” An paused.

“And if the weather changes drastically, such as sudden temperature shifts or heavy precipitation that affects the artifact’s operation, it’ll require constant recalibration... I don’t know. If we’re lucky and don’t encounter any trouble, then most likely, yes. But there’s no point counting on that. You understand that perfectly well yourselves.” An wrapped the pouch in Qi and pulled it out of Su Mei’s hands.

Su Mei almost gasped in surprise. She hadn’t sensed any energy around her or any disturbance in her spiritual sense. She could only watch as the pouch flew toward An.

Old Mo and Feng Min were just as surprised. Neither of them had sensed anything at all, not even the energy fluctuations that should have accompanied such a simple technique as wrapping an object in Qi and making it float.

The moment a cultivator released even a single particle of Qi into their surroundings, another’s spiritual sense would immediately detect it if it was within range.

But not this time.

Pretending not to notice their expressions, An pulled the pouch toward himself and looked inside.

The reason they hadn’t sensed his energy was entirely due to his breakthrough. As he had grown stronger, his QiSilence technique had instinctively learned to conceal even weakest flows of Qi.

In other words, if An used Qi with a density lower than that of a middle-stage Qi Condensation cultivator, he could easily conceal it with his QiSilence technique, making his Qi manipulation undetectable to Foundation Establishment cultivators.

As for Golden Core cultivators, however, An wasn’t sure it would work. Their internal energy had a different structure, as did their understanding of Qi and its ‘layers’.

After checking the quantity and quality of the stones, An nodded, closed the pouch, and tossed it into the air for Feng Min to catch.

“What?!” Caught off guard, Feng Min quickly grabbed the pouch and glared at An with a frown. An simply smiled in response.

“Why are you giving this to me?! You’re the rune master! It’s your job to watch over the artifact, so this pouch of stones should be with you!” He swung his arm and threw the pouch as hard as he could, only to immediately realize that he had acted foolishly and childishly.

However, An caught it without any trouble. Without paying Min any further attention, he tossed the pouch next to the Pure Sky artifact.

Deciding not to dwell on the matter, Su Mei waved her hand, calling over a young girl who looked remarkably similar to Huten.

The girl hurried over and bowed to everyone present.

“Sia- Siana? That’s right, isn’t it?” Su Mei tried to remember the girl’s name.

“Exactly, Master Su! My name is Ou Siana!” She bowed again with a smile, pleasantly surprised that such a distinguished and imposing master remembered her name.

“Give the order to Sergeant Oluye. Have him prepare the people for departure. You have one hour to be ready!” Su Mei gave the order while looking at her two companions. Seeing that they agreed, she waved her hand, signaling Siana to hurry.

An raised his head and looked at the sky.

Leaving in an hour was the right decision if they wanted to avoid wasting time, but it was already well into the afternoon, and sunset wasn’t far away. That meant many of the beasts would soon come out to hunt.

“Cluck!” A fat chicken suddenly appeared out of nowhere, landed on the ground, and settled down beside the artifact.

All three, except An, stared at the bird, speechless.

“What the hell?! Why is that beast here?! What about the artifact?!” Feng Min nearly charged at An, unable to comprehend the absurdity of the situation.

This rune master had been beating his chest and claiming that everything worked, yet a beast had just flown right up next to the operating Pure Sky without any trouble at all, even though, in theory, the artifact was supposed to protect them from that very creature.

An rolled his eyes and pointed at the chicken’s neck with one finger. A ring of runes encircled it.

“What is that?” As usual, Feng Min was the first to shout the question everyone else was thinking.

Old Mo, however, remained silent, having already seen similar runes on the sergeant’s body.

“That? That’s a chicken...” An shrugged and answered immediately. Seeing their dissatisfied expressions, however, he quickly corrected himself.

“It’s a simple rune chain that blocks sound waves across every frequency on which Pure Sky operates.”

Although Feng Min and Su Mei knew little about runes, they understood perfectly well that they had never seen or even heard of runes made purely from Qi before.

Old Mo, who had some experience with runes, couldn’t help but ask. “Rune master, if you don’t consider this question rude... But is Wei Leo, the Leader of the Five Sacred Lives Sect, your master? You know... He’s the only person in this lower world capable of something like this...”

Su Mei and Feng Min’s expressions immediately changed.

Feng Min’s entire demeanor shifted; almost all the hostility that had been visible in his eyes whenever he looked at An disappeared in an instant.

Su Mei also changed the way she viewed this disheveled rune master. A faint, somewhat strained respect suddenly appeared in her eyes.

‘The only one in this lower world? Is this planet really that bad...? It really is a dumping ground where they throw all the unwanted people, just like this old man said...’ Looking at Old Mo, An thought about how best to answer.

“My master forbade me from revealing his name. He always said that you should rely only on yourself. Knowing your master’s name won’t help you dig your way out from under a mountain.” He made something up on the spot, trying to confuse them.

Old Mo nodded. Knowing how eccentric Wei Leo was, such words of advice were completely in character for him.

Without realizing it, An only convinced the old man further that he really was the personal disciple of the Leader of the Five Sacred Lives Sect.

“Um... How can you write runes without using special ink?” Now that her opinion of the this young man had changed, Su Mei’s interest in him grew as well, and she immediately began asking questions.

“Runes are directly connected to Qi. And Qi is everything. So why add another intermediary when the runes themselves already serve are one...” An answered honestly, explaining what he believed.

Then he suddenly fell silent.

‘I used to think that the more new runes I learned and the better I understood them, the closer I’d get to their true essence... Why does every rune have a specific effect? What determines the concept behind it? How are these, ordinary scribbles connected to Qi itself...? I’m missing something...’

He simply couldn’t understand why every rune was so strictly programmed.

‘How does this programming process work? Is it connected to the shape of the rune itself, or is it related to Qi? What gives each rune its particular effect, and where does that effect come from? Hm…’

The thought wouldn’t leave him alone. At the same time, it gave him the strength to continue studying this Non-Combat Path.

His desire to reach the very essence of runes only grew stronger with every new rune he discovered.

“My father once told me that a great Saint Master said that runes are the language of Qi itself… a language that descended from the heavens to the person who needed it most, the first cultivator to master this art, who eventually became its progenitor!”

Remembering her father’s words, Su Mei suddenly became nostalgic, recalling the times when she had listened to his stories and teachings.

“What do you think, rune master? Could runes really be the language of Qi itself?” She emerged from her memories and looked at the thoughtful An.

“I don’t know. But I think your Saint is worth believing. He has no reason to lie.” An nodded and smiled.

But his true thoughts were very different.

‘I used to think that runes were the language of Qi too. But now I’m not so sure. I still feel no closer to the truth, but now I’m certain that runes were created by someone… not by Qi itself... and most likely, that Saint knows it.’