Chapter 125: A First-Rank Talisman Master Ascends to Mastery

Chapter 125: The First-Rank Rune Master Ascends the Hall

Jiang Yan walked slowly into the Rune Array Dojo, climbed onto the high platform in its center, and sat cross-legged on the cyan marble. It had been some time since he had visited the dojo, not having been here since he broke through to the ninth level of Qi Refining. Now, with Mount Hua facing a formidable master at the late stage of Foundation Establishment and unable to find a solution, Jiang Yan had no choice but to return.

During the battle at the Monster Hunting battlefield, Jiang Yan and Tang Wan had both stepped into the Foundation Establishment stage in one leap. Jiang Yan was confident that with his third-rank Azure Wood Archery, he would have a fighting chance even against a late-stage Foundation Establishment expert. His junior sister, Tang Wan, was slightly less powerful, but not by much; relying on the same archery techniques, she could hold her own against mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The problem, according to the mission information displayed by the Sect Master System, was that the Tianshan Sect’s invasion of Mount Hua involved three Foundation Establishment cultivators. Even though Lu Tiannan and his companion were newly established, they were enough to pin down both him and his junior sister. Once that happened, the late-stage Foundation Establishment master would be free to slaughter everyone and destroy Mount Hua entirely.

To contend with Tianshan, the only current strategy was for Jiang Yan to reach the pinnacle of a first-rank Rune Master. Only then would he have the hope of facing multiple opponents alone and blocking the Tianshan assault.

Rune Masters were a unique group. They were not necessarily cultivators, but powerful Rune Masters were invariably as strong as—if not stronger than—extraordinary cultivators.

The hierarchy of Rune Masters was not complex, divided into two main categories: Rune Apprentices and Rune Masters. Rune Apprentices were split into three stages: Low-level, Mid-level, and Ascendant. Rune Masters were similarly divided into Initial, Mid-level, and Ascendant stages. However, the ranks of Rune Masters were numerous, totaling six major grades. The highest-ranking Rune Masters were powerful beings comparable to cultivators above the Deity Transformation stage.

An Ascendant Rune Apprentice possessed strength comparable to a cultivator at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. More terrifyingly, a single Rune Apprentice could wipe out dozens of peers at the same cultivation level. Back on the Monster Hunting battlefield, if Jiang Yan had possessed the strength of an Ascendant Rune Apprentice, he could have wiped out the Jinyan Sect’s team of Great Perfection Qi Refining cultivators alone, rather than being chased with nowhere to run.

After the explosion of the Monster Hunting Gate, Jiang Yan took advantage of his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage to push his spiritual sense past the Rune Apprentice level, becoming an Initial first-rank Rune Master.

With his current strength as an Initial first-rank Rune Master, Jiang Yan could withstand dozens of early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators and even gather and kill them. But even if he could kill Lu Tiannan and the other Tianshan cultivator, the late-stage master would likely have already killed Tang Wan and destroyed most of Mount Hua in the process.

If Jiang Yan wanted to hold off that late-stage Foundation Establishment master and the others single-handedly, he had to advance to the Ascendant first-rank Rune Master stage to secure the initiative and annihilate the Tianshan forces.

Sitting cross-legged on the cyan marble, Jiang Yan’s spiritual sense followed the stone into the Thousand-Illusion Crystal Ball at the heart of the dojo. With a thought, information from within dozens of miles around Mount Hua was reflected within the crystal.

Outside the gates of Mount Hua, several young men, not yet even Initial Rune Apprentices, knelt stubbornly with straight backs, gazing resolutely at the sect entrance.

In the distance, outside Qingyang Town, Mu Yun, Nanmen Luo, and Ning Qian had already boarded the returning Sky-Traveling Crane. Sun Yang was still there, loudly chattering away at his father, Sun Tianpeng. Beside Sun Tianpeng was Ning Qian’s father, the wealthy Ning Er, who was waving his arms to bid farewell to his son standing on the crane’s back. Behind them stood a crowd of Qingyang townsfolk.

As the vision extended further, the images on the surface of the Thousand-Illusion Crystal Ball shifted and then vanished. Qingyang Town was the limit of the dojo's detection; beyond that, the surface became a blur.

Jiang Yan opened his eyes and looked up at the cyan dome above, a flash of determination in his gaze.

On the Monster Hunting battlefield, while resisting the spiritual explosion caused by the gate, Jiang Yan had performed the first movement of his spiritual sense technique—"Deity Transformation into a Cocoon." When his spiritual sense could no longer withstand the impact, it had been shredded and retreated into his sea of consciousness to recover. He remembered clearly that after this damage, his spiritual sense had become much thicker, and his sea of consciousness had expanded significantly. Later, he used his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage to advance from an Initial Rune Apprentice to an Initial first-rank Rune Master.

From that experience, Jiang Yan reached a conclusion: one must destroy in order to build.

If his spiritual sense was to grow significantly in a short time, it had to be broken and rebuilt. Only after the break could there be hope of reaching the next stage.

Jiang Yan looked at the cyan dome, rotating his spiritual sense slowly around the Thousand-Illusion Crystal Ball. He pushed the ball once more, and the images on the inner wall shifted, displaying the scenery of Mount Hua once again.

In the alchemy room, Tang Wan had her dark hair tied up with a black cloth, her face covered by a thick veil. Dressed in black, she focused intently on refining pills, a cyan fire lotus blooming at her fingertips. Behind her, Lin Ke was dressed similarly, holding a bundle of spiritual grain with both hands, watching Tang Wan with rapt attention.

On the bed behind Lin Ke, Yun Ying sat cross-legged, her delicate face serious as she practiced the Azure Wood Art. Below the bed, the Sky-Howling Dog and the Soul-Howling Dog lay side-by-side, their curious gazes fixed on the women and occasionally darting toward the spiritual grain in Lin Ke’s hands.

In the sect’s training dojo, Ding Ning and Duo'er sat on the Six-Star Platform, mist rising above their heads as they trained diligently.

Below the platform, Zisu sat in a corner, gesturing with her hands as she explained techniques to three outer disciples.

On the inner wall of the crystal ball, the scene shifted to the Sky-Traveling Crane in the high air. Moving with great speed, it appeared like two white rainbows on the wall, leaving two white afterimages as it flew toward Mount Hua.

Jiang Yan pushed his spiritual sense deeper into the crystal ball, the images changing as the distance from Mount Hua increased further and further.

Within the marble chamber housing the Thousand-Illusion Crystal Ball, the ball began to change color due to Jiang Yan’s intrusion. It shifted from white to a brilliant cyan, gradually merging with the cyan haze surrounding it.

The scene inside the ball changed again, finally showing Qingyang Town. The townsfolk were dispersing after bidding farewell to Mu Yun’s group, though one or two still pointed curiously in the direction where the crane had disappeared, their faces filled with envy.

Some were shouting, seemingly gathering others to go to the Sun Family Tavern to listen to storytelling.

"Hum..." The "Wood" character on Jiang Yan’s forehead suddenly emitted a cyan glow. A gentle, faint green light rotated slowly around the character, its brightness nearly obscuring his face and dyeing his entire body cyan, making him indistinguishable from the marble beneath him.

"Bang..."

The Thousand-Illusion Crystal Ball inside the marble shifted violently, turning entirely cyan. A slight tremor echoed in Jiang Yan’s heart, and the images on the inner wall seemed to be tinted with a layer of faint green light.

Within Jiang Yan’s sea of consciousness, the spiritual liquid surged at this vibration, creating massive waves. The area of his sea of consciousness seemed to expand by a fraction once more.

The images on the crystal ball shifted again, revealing the landscape outside Qingyang Town...