Mysterious Runes

The next day, Long Jiuyyao had already arrived at Great Elder Tian Sha's Cave Mansion. He was cultivating his spiritual power before the stone stele, while the Great Elder was nowhere to be seen.

Only faint fluctuations of spiritual power lingered nearby. Though they were nowhere near as strong as the previous day's, with the stone stele's help, Long Jiuyyao's faint spiritual power grew increasingly solid.

As the seconds ticked by, Long Jiuyyao opened his eyes. "The day we explore the Secret Treasury will be the day I condense my Natal Talisman."

By cultivating before the stone stele every day, Long Jiuyyao's spiritual power had been slowly growing with its help. In another two and a half months, he would have enough spiritual power to condense his Natal Talisman and become a One-Seal Talisman Master.

Long Jiuyyao rose to his feet and surveyed the Cave Mansion. Yesterday, he had only caught a fleeting glimpse of it and hadn't had a chance to look around.

Long Jiuyyao came to a Medicine Field spanning a hundred meters. Countless Spiritual Medicines filled his field of vision, each radiating a rich, distinct aura.

Some Spiritual Medicines radiated scorching heat, others the chill of ice, while some seemed ordinary. But every Spiritual Medicine growing here was a priceless treasure.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If someone took any of these Spiritual Medicines outside, I'm afraid it would cause a bloodbath," Long Jiuyyao exclaimed.

A golden lotus caught Long Jiuyyao's attention. No other Spiritual Medicine grew within ten meters of it, and dense Origin Energy flowed into its petals.

The lotus had eight petals and was pure gold from tip to stem. Life Qi swirled over every petal.

"What kind of Spiritual Medicine is this? It has such powerful life force."

"Stop right there, you little brat!" The Great Elder's furious shout rang out just as Long Jiuyyao was about to reach out and touch it.

Long Jiuyyao quickly pulled his hand back and gazed at the Great Elder with an awkward expression. He'd been caught sneaking a touch of the Spiritual Medicine, and even a man with two lifetimes' worth of experience like him couldn't help blushing.

"Great Elder, I was only going to touch it. I wasn't planning to take it," Long Jiuyyao said, then hastily clapped a hand over his mouth.

That's it. I just said what I was really thinking.

"Little brat, you can't touch this Life-Death Golden Lotus yet. You'd either die or be crippled," Great Elder Tian Sha said solemnly.

"Yikes! This golden lotus is that terrifying?" Long Jiuyyao exclaimed.

"Heh. Even among the Spiritual Medicines in my Medicine Field, this lotus ranks in the top ten."

"This Spiritual Medicine can help someone enter the Life-Death Profound Realm. Its golden petals can save a person from death—so long as they still have a breath left, they can be brought back to life."

"It can even leave Life Qi in the body of whoever consumes it, making it easier for them to advance to the Life Profound Realm. And the Lotus Seeds at its heart are enough to take someone at Life Profound Realm Perfection straight into the Death Profound Realm," the Great Elder said proudly.

At his words, Long Jiuyyao noticed the Lotus Seeds at the center of the golden lotus. They were pure black and radiated a deathly aura that sent chills through him. They had formed from an astonishing concentration of death energy.

Long Jiuyyao thought for a moment. "Great Elder, if this golden lotus is so powerful, what's the best Spiritual Medicine in your Medicine Field?"

"An unknown Spiritual Medicine I happened upon while traveling the continent in my youth. I doubt there's another one like it anywhere on the Tian Xuan Continent," the Great Elder said with a sigh.

"Oh? Then, Great Elder, could you show it to me?" Long Jiuyyao asked, tugging at Great Elder Tian Sha's sleeve.

"I suppose I can. Not even the Patriarch has seen this Spiritual Medicine. You'll be the first."

Great Elder Tian Sha took Long Jiuyyao to a stone cavern at the very back. He formed a seal with both hands, and a three-meter-high Space Door appeared before them.

They stepped through the Space Door, and a valley a hundred meters wide appeared before them.

The valley resembled a giant dragon and was golden all over. Below it sat a small pool divided into two halves. The water in its oval-shaped basin was ice blue on one side and blood red on the other.

Even more strangely, though the two kinds of water shared the same pool, they remained sharply divided. Neither encroached on the other, and each stayed within its own half.

At the center of the pool stood a Bizarre Object, unlike any Spiritual Medicine, still and quiet in the water.

The Bizarre Object had no roots or stem, and seemed to float in midair. Unlike other Spiritual Medicines, it had no roots at all.

Long Jiuyyao couldn't make out what the Bizarre Object was. "Great Elder, this is the Spiritual Medicine you said ranked first? It doesn't look like a Spiritual Medicine to me at all! It looks more like a mysterious rune."

"When I found it, it was in a ravine, surrounded by countless Spiritual Medicines. I thought it was unusual, so I brought it back."

"Once I brought it back, ordinary methods couldn't preserve it. So I built this place just for it. It cost me decades of savings," the Great Elder said calmly.

The Bizarre Object at the center of the pool suddenly glimmered with a faint White Light. At the same time, the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd in Long Jiuyyao's dantian changed abruptly, shuddering violently.

The change in the Dragon Halberd inside his dantian caught Long Jiuyyao's attention. He hurriedly steadied himself and suppressed the violently trembling Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd, but kept his eyes fixed on the Bizarre Object glowing in the distance.

The Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd in his dantian had only changed when the Bizarre Object flashed with White Light.

Could this Bizarre Object be related to an Ancestral Talisman? Long Jiuyyao wondered.

The Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd contained a trace of the source power of five Ancestral Talismans. Though they had been lost, years of contact with the source power of those five Ancestral Talismans had given the halberd itself a hint of their characteristics.

Yet this Bizarre Object could resonate with the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd. Long Jiuyyao found that astonishing.

"Great Elder, I feel like this thing and I are destined to be together," Long Jiuyyao bluffed.

"Dream on. This thing has cost me no end of effort, and you think you can just take it because you're 'destined to be together'? No chance," the Great Elder said with a laugh.

"Great Elder, look."

Long Jiuyyao stopped suppressing it, and the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd shot out of his body, hovering in midair. It was trembling even more violently now.

"Well, would you look at that? You have an Ancestor's treasure in your hands." The Great Elder was mildly surprised. "You must have gotten it from the Dragon Treasury."

Freed from Long Jiuyyao's suppression, the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd shot straight toward the Bizarre Object in the center of the pool.

The instant the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd touched the Bizarre Object, it burst into dazzling White Light, and the Bizarre Object fused into the halberd.

When the White Light faded, the Bizarre Object that had stood at the center of the pool was gone. Energy surrounded the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd, washing over it again and again.

The Halberd Blade, once coarse, had become razor-sharp and radiated terrifying destructive power. When light struck the Dragon Halberd, it seemed to be swallowed up.

Long Jiuyyao recalled the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd and examined every part of it in his hands. Aside from the sharper Halberd Blade and the darker, deeper hue of the shaft, it seemed unchanged.

"You little brat, hand it over!" the Great Elder snapped, staring at the vanished Bizarre Object.

"Great Elder, I don't know what happened either!" Long Jiuyyao had only noticed the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd's appearance change, and the Bizarre Object was nowhere to be seen.

Great Elder Tian Sha took the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd from Long Jiuyyao's hands, as if hoping to find the Bizarre Object inside.

He sent his terrifying spiritual power into the Dragon Halberd, trying to locate it. But his spiritual power vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, to no effect. No matter how he searched, the Bizarre Object seemed to have disappeared without a trace.

"Little brat, I guess it's my bad luck. Take the stone stele and don't come back here for the next few months." The Great Elder swept his sleeve and walked away.

Long Jiuyyao stared at the Dragon Halberd, trying to spot anything unusual. A barely visible White Light emerged from it and flowed into Long Jiuyyao's Mud Pill Palace.

Long Jiuyyao's eyes dimmed, and he gave a slight shake of his head. When he found nothing amiss, he stored the Demon Breaking Dragon Halberd back in his dantian.

At that moment, a mysterious rune appeared inside Long Jiuyyao's Mud Pill Palace. It was the White Light that had entered his Mud Pill Palace—and the very Bizarre Object the Great Elder had been searching for.

The mysterious rune in his Mud Pill Palace was too indistinct to make out. Yet, without Long Jiuyyao noticing, strands of spiritual power kept flowing into its mark.

As spiritual power poured in, the vague rune gradually revealed its shape, resembling a golden dragon pattern.

Long Jiuyyao left the valley and returned to the stone stele. He put it into his Universe Bag. "Great Elder, I'll take my leave."

The Great Elder, seated cross-legged, waved for him to go.