Three Talents Ritual

Yellow Wind Little Sage darted through the shadows of the old district, his figure leaping between dilapidated buildings like a ghost.

After leaving the abandoned construction site, his objective was clear: while the Night Banquet Gang was too busy to care, he would go to Fortune Shop and retrieve the ritual materials Xie An had left behind.

Now that Xie An had purged more than half of the Night Banquet Gang, Blood Hound and Night Owl, the two Scavenger Third Rank leaders, were presumably occupied with rebuilding the gang. For the time being, they had no spare strength to keep watching the already-picked-clean Fortune Shop.

Yellow Wind Little Sage skillfully bypassed the main entrance to the black market street, climbed an old building along the side, then leaped down from its roof and entered the black market directly.

The instant he landed, Yellow Wind Little Sage sensed that something was wrong.

The black market street, once bustling with crowds flowing back and forth, was now completely deserted.

Most of the shops and stalls had shut their doors. Only a sparse few still glowed with faint lights, and an oppressive atmosphere hung over the entire street.

It made sense. Brightlight Building was not far from the black market, and the violent explosion earlier had surely reached this place.

More importantly, the Mythic Factor fluctuations produced when Blood Puppet, a Scavenger Fourth Rank Mythic Walker, acted were undoubtedly a dangerous signal to the Mythic Walkers in the black market.

Coupled with the Night Banquet Gang's pursuit of Xie An last night, it was only natural that people feared the fighting might spread to the black market. Most merchants had chosen to close temporarily and avoid danger, planning to reopen once the storm had passed.

Yellow Wind Little Sage did not linger in the street and instead circled around from the side toward Fortune Shop.

The shop's front door remained tightly locked, but Yellow Wind Little Sage did not choose to enter through it. Following Xie An's previous instructions, he found the entrance to the ventilation duct.

It was a vent concealed in the corner of a wall. Yellow Wind Little Sage shrank his body and slipped into the narrow duct.

The interior of the duct was covered in dust and cobwebs, and the air reeked of decay. Yellow Wind Little Sage crawled along it and soon reached the inside of the shop.

Through the vent grille, he saw the current state of Fortune Shop.

The store that had once displayed a large number of precious Mythic Materials was now a complete wreck. Shelves had been knocked over, counters overturned, and shattered bottles and jars littered the floor.

Even the flooring bore signs of having been pried open. No hidden compartment that might have concealed anything had been spared.

Yellow Wind Little Sage crawled out of the ventilation duct and carefully made his way through the wreckage, avoiding the scattered fragments so as not to make a sound.

Yellow Wind Little Sage came before a shelf on the eastern side of the store. It was an unremarkable wooden shelf, now toppled on the ground.

He set the shelf upright again. Faint Mythic Factors gathered at his claw tips as he traced a complex pattern of inscriptions onto the side of the shelf.

When the final symbol was completed, something miraculous happened. A fine crack suddenly appeared in the seemingly ordinary shelf.

The crack spread from the center toward both sides, eventually splitting the entire shelf in two and revealing a carefully protected hidden compartment within.

Seven books and bamboo scrolls were neatly arranged inside the compartment.

Yellow Wind Little Sage leaned in to look. Various titles were written on the covers.

Five Pecks of Rice Dao Ritual Manual, Galan Secret Rite, Saints' Ritual Codex, Common Ritual Diagram Catalog...

Each emitted faint supernatural fluctuations, clearly containing precious knowledge. Yellow Wind Little Sage did not examine them closely. Time was short, and he needed to take these materials away as quickly as possible.

He opened his mouth, and the space of Greedy Mouth appeared, attempting to swallow all the books in a single gulp.

But the instant the books entered his mouth, Yellow Wind Little Sage immediately realized something was wrong.

Though these books bearing mythic knowledge possessed considerable mystique, most of them were rejected by Greedy Space. They simply could not be regarded by Greedy Space as valuable treasures the way White Impermanence's Edict had been.

A powerful urge to retch surged up his throat. Knowing he could not continue like this, Yellow Wind Little Sage immediately crawled back out through the ventilation duct and swiftly left the black market.

In an abandoned little courtyard several streets away from the black market, Yellow Wind Little Sage could no longer endure the churning turmoil in his mouth and spat out all the books in one mouthful.

The books scattered across the ground in a rather messy heap.

Yellow Wind Little Sage dry-heaved for quite a while before he could barely catch his breath. Raising his head, he discovered that one book still remained inside Greedy Space.

It was a bamboo scroll that looked as though it had been excavated from an ancient tomb, its surface covered in the traces of time.

The bamboo slips had yellowed and become brittle. In archaic script, four words were written upon them: Three Talents Ritual Method.

Whether by name or appearance, this bamboo scroll looked utterly ordinary and showed no obvious difference from the other books. Yet it was the only item acknowledged by Greedy Space.

"Something's fishy!"

Yellow Wind Little Sage muttered to himself for a few moments, then ultimately put the bamboo scroll back into Greedy Space. Since Greedy Mouth believed the thing was valuable, there had to be a reason for it.

He condensed a rope from a gentle wind, tied the remaining six books to himself, then hurried home.

When Yellow Wind Little Sage arrived home, Zhou Yao had already been waiting there.

As the distorted light and shadows faded, Yellow Wind Little Sage returned to his original form.

Zhou Yao reached out and took the six books from his back. Rather than reading them immediately, he had Yellow Wind Little Sage take out the Three Talents Ritual Method that Greedy Mouth had acknowledged.

Since this bamboo scroll could be regarded as a treasure by Greedy Space, it surely possessed something extraordinary.

Zhou Yao carefully unrolled the bamboo scroll and began reading its contents word by word, sentence by sentence.

But as he read on, his brow gradually furrowed.

The contents recorded on the bamboo scroll were three rather unusual Ascension Rituals, collectively known as the Three Talents Ritual.

The bamboo scroll divided the Mythic Materials chosen by Mythic Walkers during ascension into three major categories—Heaven, Earth, and Human. Depending on the characteristics of the Mythic Material, one could choose one of the Heaven, Earth, and Human Three Talents Rituals.

But this method of classification was far too crude. True Mythic Materials varied in countless ways, each possessing its own unique attributes and powers.

The Three Talents Ritual was merely an exceedingly broad generalization, incapable of encompassing the characteristics of all Mythic Materials.

It was like using the word "animal" to refer to tigers, rabbits, and whales. While taxonomically correct, it was utterly meaningless in practical use.

At the end of the bamboo scroll was a note written in newer ink, likely added later by Xie An:

"The Heaven, Earth, and Human Three Talents Rituals are merely inferior choices, with an extremely low success rate.

Unless you cannot find a more complete and more suitable ritual, do not attempt them lightly.

If the Mythic Material does not match the ritual, at best the ascension will fail; at worst, you will be assimilated by Mythic Traits and transform into a mythic creature that has lost its intelligence."

After reading the note, Zhou Yao was even more puzzled.

"It really does look like very ordinary ritual information, and the unreliable sort at that," he murmured.

"But why would Greedy Mouth consider this particular bamboo scroll valuable?"

Zhou Yao carefully inspected every corner of the bamboo scroll, trying to find what was special about it.

But no matter how he looked at it, it was only an ordinary ancient bamboo scroll. Aside from its great age, there was nothing remarkable about it.

"I'll ask Xie An about the origins of this bamboo scroll the next time I see him!"

Zhou Yao carefully put away the Three Talents Ritual Method, then turned his gaze toward the window.

The sun was already slanting westward. The golden light of dusk spilled over all of Yin Mountain City, making everything seem so tranquil and peaceful.

But Zhou Yao knew that this calm was only superficial.

"Now, it's time to get the Mount Luofeng Deity Tablet!"