Chapter 149: Grade-One Rune Master

Chapter 149: Rank One Rune Master

The gentle spiritual energy flowed slowly along Jiang Yan's fingers and straight into his sea of consciousness...

"Puff..."

The spiritual energy surged into the sea of consciousness like a waterfall plunging into a pool, stirring up a flurry of spray and making a soft, puffing sound.

On Jiang Yan's forehead, the character for "wood" began to glow brilliantly once more. The spiritual energy pouring out from the sect master's ring merged instantly with the spiritual consciousness within his sea of consciousness, reaching the spiritual core at the very bottom. Through this core, the spiritual energy raced upward along his spiritual consciousness and struck the wood character on Jiang Yan's forehead...

"Sizzling..."

The familiar sound of spiritual consciousness tearing through the air rang out. Boosted by the spiritual energy flooding his sea of consciousness, the speed of Jiang Yan's consciousness increased abruptly. The spiritual energy that had been damaged by the collapse of the rune array was instantly restored, and the tip of his consciousness transformed into an arrow, plunging back into the plaque that was about to turn completely blank.

"Sizzling..."

As Jiang Yan's spiritual consciousness entered the plaque, it bolted like a wild horse unbridled, turning into a cyan arrow that shot straight toward the last collapsing rune array.

"Snap..."

At that moment, the final sound of the rune array's collapse finally faded away. With the snap, the runes forming the array began to turn into fine dust, dissipating into the white light...

"Swoosh..."

Jiang Yan's spiritual consciousness finally arrived, pressing against the last disappearing rune marker and firmly pinning down the formation's eye—a rune condensed entirely from spiritual consciousness.

His spiritual consciousness spun rapidly around the rune, refilling the vast expanse of blankness left behind by the annihilation of the rune array. Tinged with a faint cyan hue, Jiang Yan's consciousness emitted a soft azure glow against the backdrop of the white light that filled the passage. It looked exceptionally crystalline and pure. Because his spiritual consciousness was spinning at an extreme speed, it dragged out intricate cyan webs in the air, forming a dense barrier that blocked the blinding white light pouring out from within the rune passage.

In the blink of an eye, the last rune array stabilizing the starry sky passage was repaired. Jiang Yan's spiritual consciousness condensed into a massive web, securely holding the white light at bay. Operating at lightning speed, his consciousness mended the riddled and tattered rune array.

"Hisss..."

Jiang Yan gritted his teeth hard. Although aided by the mysterious spiritual energy flowing from the sect master's ring, which allowed his consciousness to form a gigantic web and block the white light from further destroying the rune array, the destructive power of the white light remained immense. Under its relentless onslaught, parts of his spiritual consciousness web were constantly being severed, only for new consciousness to instantly rush in and fill the voids...

While he didn't need to worry about exhausting his pool of spiritual consciousness due to the damage, the source of the excruciating pain was felt entirely by Jiang Yan himself. With his consciousness repeatedly breaking and reforming, wave after wave of bone-chilling pain surged from the boundary gate's plaque straight into his brain. The agony was so intense that Jiang Yan felt an urge to smash his head against a wall.

Clenching his teeth, bulging veins throbbed wildly across Jiang Yan's forehead. He fought hard to suppress the agonizing pain, tightly controlling his spiritual consciousness to spin at breakneck speed, weaving one rune after another to reconstruct the rune array within the plaque...

"Eldest Senior Brother..." Yunying's pretty eyes were brimming with tears as she stared blankly at Jiang Yan, her tiny heart filled with overwhelming worry. Bulging veins stood out on her eldest senior brother's forehead, and wisps of steamy white vapor were rising from his body. Although young, Yunying could easily guess that her eldest senior brother must have encountered a grave crisis.

After rolling her dark, glossy eyes a few times, Yunying raised her small hand gently and pressed it against Jiang Yan's back. A wisp of ethereal mental pressure slowly emanated from her; out of deep concern for her eldest senior brother, she was channeling her own spiritual energy into his body...

"Sect Master!"

"Uncle-Master Ying!"

When the Huashan disciples saw Yunying sitting cross-legged behind Jiang Yan with her small hand pressed against his back, they instantly realized that the Sect Master must be facing a crisis and that Uncle-Master Ying was forced to step in. Jostling and crowding one another, the disciples pressed forward toward Yunying and Jiang Yan.

"Senior brothers, junior brothers, senior sisters, junior sisters, please don't push! Form a line! Even if we want to help the Sect Master, we must do it with some order. Junior Sister Yin Ling'er, you organize the female disciples; I will take charge of the male disciples." Looking at the chaotic crowd of Huashan disciples, the handsome Senior Brother Wen stood before them, organizing everyone into a proper sequence.

Thanks to the efforts of Senior Brother Wen and Yin Ling'er, the Huashan disciples quickly fell into formation. Their long and arduous training finally paid off as they filed past under the guidance of Senior Brother Wen and Yin Ling'er, swiftly gliding toward the boundary gate where Jiang Yan sat cross-legged.

"Woof woof..."

The Heavenly Dog and the Soul-Swallowing Dog suddenly blocked their path, preventing the Huashan disciples from approaching Jiang Yan and Yunying. Their resonant barks echoed loudly through the spiritual herb valley, so loud that it made people's ears ring slightly.

Senior Brother Wen stepped forward respectfully, bowing deeply to the Heavenly Dog and the Soul-Swallowing Dog with a deferential expression. "Senior spiritual beasts, we disciples see that the Sect Master and Uncle-Master Ying are in trouble and wish to lend a meager hand to help them out of danger. We hope the spiritual beasts will not block our way."

"Woof woof..."

The Soul-Swallowing Dog barked at Senior Brother Wen twice, though all hostility was gone from the sounds, replaced now by warning growls. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Dog didn't even lift its eyelids, leaving the interaction to the Soul-Swallowing Dog while anxiously turning its dog's head back and forth between its two masters with a tense expression.

Yin Ling'er took a few steps forward past Senior Brother Wen, approached the Soul-Swallowing Dog, and stroked its black head, murmuring a few words to it. However, the Soul-Swallowing Dog shook its head firmly, refusing to let Yin Ling'er pass. It shook its head like a rattle-drum, absolutely forbidding her from going any further.

Yin Ling'er's pretty face furrowed in utter confusion. What was wrong with Little Hei today? It wouldn't even let her pass! She knew that back on Mount Huashan, she had always been on very good terms with Little Hei. Why was it acting so completely out of character today, blocking even her?

Senior Brother Wen walked up behind Yin Ling'er, anxiety plastered all over his handsome face as he spoke in a panicked, hurried voice, "Junior sister, time waits for no one! If anything happens to the Sect Master, not one of us will ever make it back to Huashan."

Yin Ling'er's pretty face turned instantly pale. With lingering fear, she glanced back at the distant grove of azure wood trees, the towering boundary gate, and Jiang Yan and Yunying shrouded in a haze of white mist. Her expression tightened fiercely as she scooped up the Soul-Swallowing Dog in her arms and took a few steps toward Jiang Yan.

"Whoosh..."

Yin Ling'er's forward steps came to an abrupt halt. The moment she crossed within a ten-step radius of the boundary gate, an overwhelming mental pressure suddenly blanketed her, feeling as though a towering mountain had abruptly been pressed down onto her shoulders. Clutching the Soul-Swallowing Dog in her arms, Yin Ling'er stood frozen in place, her face drained of all color.

"Woof woof..."

A gentle bark rang out from within Yin Ling'er's arms. Realizing that Yin Ling'er was in grave danger, the Soul-Swallowing Dog unleashed its innate ability: the Soul-Capture Sound. Although the Soul-Capture Sound held little offensive power against hard mental pressure, this trace of canine resonance slightly loosened the oppressive mental weight crushing down on Yin Ling'er's shoulders.

"Swoosh..."

Yin Ling'er's figure transformed into a streak of golden light as she instantly retreated to Senior Brother Wen's side, standing there pale-faced and trembling with lingering fright.

"There is Foundation Establishment-stage mental pressure active around the Sect Master and Uncle-Master Ying. We cannot get close." Clutching her chest, beads of cold sweat dotting her smooth forehead, Yin Ling'er told Senior Brother Wen with lingering terror.

"Mental pressure!"

Senior Brother Wen stamped his foot helplessly. Foundation Establishment-stage mental pressure was a form of mental attack that even cultivators at the Great Circle of Qi Refinement might not necessarily be able to withstand. Among this batch of disciples, only he was at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement, while the vast majority were at the sixth layer. Probably not a single person here could endure such mental coercion.

"We can only hope that the Sect Master and Uncle-Master Ying are blessed with good fortune."

Senior Brother Wen and Yin Ling'er stood side by side, silently watching Jiang Yan and Yunying enveloped in the distant haze, speaking with hearts full of worry.

……

Having repaired the boundary gate, Jiang Yan's heart felt utterly cold...

With the aid of the nameless spiritual energy gushing from the sect master's ring, Jiang Yan had swiftly repaired the rune array within the boundary gate. However, once he completely mended the array on the gate, he was stunned to discover that the plaque had reverted to a blank slate once more, the characters "Huashan" having completely vanished from its surface.

The disappearance of the two characters implied that this boundary gate had essentially regressed into a blank gate once again; the starry sky passage formed upon it was now closed. A rune master would have to reconstruct the starry sky passage anew before this boundary gate could serve any further purpose.

Jiang Yan wanted to recall his spiritual consciousness from inside the boundary gate, rest and recover his senses, and then figure out another way to re-establish the connection between the gate and the sword talisman.

With a gentle mental nudge, Jiang Yan drove his spiritual consciousness to slowly withdraw from the rune array within the plaque, preparing to return to his sea of consciousness to nurture his shattered, fragmented mind.

"Hum..."

As his consciousness swept past the rune array he had initially condensed, the faint cyan array suddenly blazed with brilliant light. The white rune array was rapidly enveloped in a hazy azure glow, and Jiang Yan's consciousness gave a sudden jerk as a massive suction force erupted from the glowing runes.

"Swoosh..."

Jiang Yan's spiritual consciousness rushed forward involuntarily. The moment his consciousness brushed against the glowing runes, an exclamation of pleasant surprise echoed from the runes themselves...

"Uncle-Master Wan, it worked! Eldest Senior Brother has also become a Rank One Rune Master, and his realm is even much higher than mine!" Yan Feng's voice transmitted clearly through the runes.

Jiang Yan's body trembled. Could it be that Qian'er had repaired the damaged starry sky passage?

The starry sky passage had fractured, and Tang Wan had sought out Yan Feng to fix it. Yet it was Ning Qian who had taken the initiative and re-linked the broken passage. Thinking of Ning Qian, a faint smile appeared on Jiang Yan's face. Ning Qian was mild-mannered and quite similar to him in temperament, blessed with superior innate bone structure. On Mount Huashan, aside from himself and Wan'er, no one could surpass him. He hadn't expected this kid's mastery of rune arrays to be so profound either; in just this short amount of time, he had actually advanced to a Rank One Rune Master.

Jiang Yan slowly withdrew his spiritual consciousness. This boundary gate had already been mended by his own hands, the starry sky passage had been reopened by Ning Qian, and the special markers on the gate were properly set. All that remained was to reinstall the boundary gate once they returned to Huashan.

"Hiss..."

Jiang Yan drew in a sharp breath. He needed to nurture his spiritual consciousness right away; if he delayed too long and his spiritual realm regressed, the losses would far outweigh the gains.

As his consciousness slowly contracted back into his sea of consciousness, the cyan wood character on Jiang Yan's forehead gleamed with a brilliant azure light. As the spiritual consciousness poured back into his body, the brightness of the wood character grew ever more intense...

The more he reeled the spiritual energy back into his sea of consciousness, the more cold sweat broke out on Jiang Yan's forehead. Since when had his power of spiritual consciousness become so immensely formidable...

"Boom..."

A towering tidal wave finally churned up within Jiang Yan's sea of consciousness...