Concealment Rune

Biodata

Power Progression

The following progression tracks Su Changsheng's mastery of the crafting method, rather than his cultivation realm.

• Terminology discrepancy: One passage describes the method as “proficient” during the Wraith Eye negotiation, but a later passage still places it just short of proficiency. The explicit proficient-tier panel appears after Su Changsheng's second shedding 19 26 36.

Crafting

Materials and Method

• Instruction source: A snake scale bearing pictures and Demon Script. Su Changsheng's predecessor had studied the method and occasionally produced successful runes 2.
• Base: Material with demonic properties. Su Changsheng initially cuts his own shed snakeskin into palm-sized pieces 2.
• Inscription tool: A previously shed snake fang, used to carve grooves of carefully controlled depth 2.
• Inscription medium: Demon blood; Su Changsheng uses his own 2.
• Infusion: Demon Power envelops the blood and feeds it gradually into the grooves in one uninterrupted flow. Pauses, distractions, or loss of control can ruin the rune 2.

Difficulty and Quality

• An emotional fluctuation during Su Changsheng's first session causes the infused Demon Power to boil, burning the base to ash 2.
• His first successful session leaves him mentally exhausted, ravenously hungry, and completely depleted of Demon Power 2.
• His own skin and blood are highly compatible with his Demon Power, helping him achieve an early success rate of roughly one in ten; some other demons manage only one in a hundred 2.
• Eagle Yao praises the smooth, seamless Demon Power in Su Changsheng's runes. Those acquired in their first trade conceal his aura for nearly eight hours and outperform other Concealment Runes he has used 18.
• Despite its demanding production process, the Concealment Rune is substantially easier to craft than the Purification Talisman Rune, which Su Changsheng judges more than ten times as difficult 22.

Abilities & Limits

Aura Concealment

Suppresses the user's aura to reduce the chance of detection by dangerous creatures 2 3.

• Earlier runes maintain concealment for six to twelve hours 9.
• Su Changsheng combines a rune with restrained Demon Power, held breath, and complete stillness when an eerie presence approaches his home 8.
• Snake hibernation further lowers heartbeat, blood energy, aura, and physiological activity. Combined with the rune, it makes him resemble an inert stone to the presence outside 9.
• Concealment allows scavengers to collect remains in the Wilderness, but does not eliminate the danger of doing so 27.

Optical Invisibility

At proficiency, concealment extends beyond aura suppression to hide the user's visible form 38.

• Su Changsheng's aura, Demon Power, blood energy, and physical form disappear from Eagle Yao's observation when he activates a rune in the Cedar Grove 38.
• The effect blends him almost completely into his surroundings and lasts four hours in his first demonstrated use 38.
• It lets him evade pursuit and complete his return preparations under concealment. He estimates it can halve his market round-trip time, excluding time spent disguising himself 38.

Duration and Depletion

• Runes provide temporary concealment, not a permanently active technique. This limitation leads Su Changsheng to seek a separate concealment art 7.
• The skilled Turtle Breath Art matches the rune's aura-concealing effect while being more stable and longer-lasting; it also alters aura and coloration 11.
• Shock waves from Black Tiger Yao and Wolf Yao's battle rapidly drain the runes' stored demonic energy. Skilled-tier runes deplete faster and conceal less effectively than proficient-tier ones 50.
• Exhausted runes crumble into ash. Once Su Changsheng's supply runs out, even the surrounding mountain cannot fully hide his blood and vital-energy fluctuations from Wailing Ghosts 50.

Trade and Market Value

Concealment Runes serve both as emergency supplies and as Su Changsheng's recurring source of blood food. Their prices rise with demand for protection, but fall when food becomes scarcer relative to runes 13 23 31.

Recorded Prices

Values retain the units used in the source.

Notable Barters

Distribution

• Su Changsheng initially avoids selling his runes because of the potential danger of exposing his abilities, choosing to trade innate-talent materials instead 3 4.
• Before a later market visit, he stockpiles approximately fifteen runes and plans to keep three to five for emergencies while selling the remainder in separate batches 18.
• Fox Woman becomes his agent under an agreement to trade seven to ten runes every half month for blood food at the current price, reducing his market exposure 28.
• After testing proficient-tier invisibility, he decides not to casually sell runes of that tier again and to restrict ordinary sales to skilled-tier runes 38.
• The Demoness Market and Spirit Plant Shop eventually make purchasing Concealment Runes a long-term business 41.

Major Uses

• First Wraith Beast attack: A rune allows Su Changsheng to survive inside his stone house without ever seeing the attacking creature 3.
• Male Fox incident: He activates concealment as an evil presence seeps through his door, then maintains hibernation for three days and renews the rune each night 8 9.
• Eagle Yao's hunt: The two runes from their first trade enable Eagle Yao to escape danger in the Wilderness, establishing his demand for Su Changsheng's work 18.
• Escape from market pursuers: Proficient-tier invisibility defeats Eagle Yao's aerial surveillance. Su Changsheng leaves a worm carcass as bait and departs without lingering 38 39.
• Black Tiger Yao–Wolf Yao battle: Su Changsheng uses up his proficient runes, then his skilled runes, while hiding underground. The final rune's collapse leaves him exposed to detection by ghostly creatures 50.