Volume 1, Chapter 417 – Rune Battle Masters

In truth, if this world’s Heavenly Dao had not exercised such lax oversight, there would have been no way for Shi Lan to enter so brazenly.

This world was called Qiongluo. A Supreme had once been born here, and the heavens and earth were filled with a power entirely different from spiritual qi. Her Innate Spiritual Body was experiencing a certain degree of rejection.

“The power of the Heavenly Dao is even weaker than when I first came here.”

As Samsara sensed the heavens and earth in all directions, its feelings were somewhat complicated.

The world’s power was declining…

Shi Lan fell into thought. After regulating the somewhat chaotic breath within her body, she pondered for a moment, then stepped straight into the air, casually picked a direction, opened a void passage, and entered it.

She knew absolutely nothing about this world, so to avoid danger, she skirted around several regions where powerful divine senses were clearly lingering and eventually found a small city.

The city walls were built from massive blocks of blue stone. They stood more than four zhang high, engraved with mysterious runes and covered in moss.

“When I came to this world, there were no city-states here yet, only relatively primitive tribes living in clan-based communities.” Returning to an old place, Samsara seemed somewhat emotional.

“Is the host you were bound to back then still alive?” Shi Lan asked with some curiosity.

“They died young.”

There was no fluctuation in Samsara’s voice.

“They were too young, too sharp, and too full of themselves before their wings had fully grown. While crossing worlds, they offended a Supreme and were shot dead across worlds by that Supreme.”

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At that point, Samsara fell silent. Back then, although its level had not been especially high, it had still had a way to save that person, yet it had not done so.

That Supreme’s strength had been too terrifying. When the cost and return were utterly disproportionate, cutting one’s losses in time had been the best choice.

Shi Lan said nothing more and carefully extended her divine sense into the city.

Most of the people moving through the city looked similar to the human race, while a small portion had unusual traits, some covered in scales, others with wings growing from their backs.

The only thing they all had in common was that their souls and spiritual essences were all very powerful.

The language they used in conversation was a different sort of ancient tongue, but for Shi Lan it posed no obstacle. Since Samsara moved through the myriad heavens and worlds, basic translation was naturally within its capabilities.

There were no guards at the city gate. With a flip of her hand, Shi Lan took out the Myriad Transformation Sacred Robe, turned it into a long robe similar to the style of this world, and slowly walked into the city.

Once inside, she gathered some information and asked for directions, then headed straight for the Rune Tower at the center of the city.

The Rune Tower was the core of every city. Inside were stored precious rune stones, immensely powerful runic war engines, and all kinds of extensive collections of books.

In Qiongluo World, there were nearly a hundred races, yet warfare was rare. Most races were very peace-loving, and the whole of Qiongluo had gone nearly a thousand years without a large-scale war.

The existence of runes had led the overwhelming majority of Qiongluo’s strong experts to become obsessed with exploring the fundamental mysteries of runes, with no interest at all in fighting and killing.

If not for the need to deal with the beast tides that erupted from time to time, some races might not even have bothered to build cities.

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Fierce beasts were the most bloodthirsty and warlike type of lifeform in Qiongluo World. They possessed enormous bodies and also commanded a certain degree of runic power, often rampaging about in groups.

Most of the heavy weapons forged through the power of runes were likewise meant to deal with these fierce beasts.

As the city’s landmark structure, the Rune Tower was extremely conspicuous. Shi Lan did not spend much effort before arriving at it.

It was a conical stone tower, nearly nine zhang high. Its blue stone walls were carved all over with runes of many colors, each flickering with faint light.

Shi Lan tried it and, somewhat to her surprise, discovered that her divine sense could not penetrate the runes at all. It might even alert the people inside.

Two guards stood at the entrance, wearing runic battle armor and carrying heavy axes. They were extremely burly.

Off to one side of the Rune Tower were more than a dozen shops.

Shi Lan took two steps toward the Rune Tower, but the moment she neared the entrance, she was stopped.

Only Rune Battle Masters were allowed to enter the Rune Tower. Shi Lan knew nothing of runes, so in the eyes of the guards she was only an ordinary person and naturally had no qualification to enter the tower.

Shi Lan did not force her way in. She stepped back and entered one of the shops.

Inside, all kinds of rune stones were displayed. Their shapes were fantastically varied, their texture like metal yet also like crystal, with different patterns flickering inside them.

Samsara only needed any random one of them to temporarily disguise her as a Rune Battle Master, allowing her to enter the Rune Tower and browse through the piles of books.

Shi Lan drew a light breath. Among these rune stones, she sensed an extremely pure form of energy.

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The rune stones placed on the shelves naturally were not anything precious. Even so, they still exerted an indescribable pull on Shi Lan.

“Do you need rune stones?”

An old man closed the book in his hands, casually set it aside, and came up to her with a smile, showing no contempt simply because Shi Lan seemed ordinary.

In fact, it was only ordinary people who were interested in these low-grade rune stones, and they were more willing to spend money on them.

In Qiongluo World, who knew how many mortals hoped to rely on these low-grade rune stones to awaken a talent for runes, become Rune Battle Masters, and thereby change their fate.

“All low-grade rune stones are only five rune coins each.”

The old man smiled kindly, stepped aside, and let Shi Lan choose for herself.

Rune coins were a form of hard currency circulated among the hundred races. Five rune coins were enough to cover half a year’s expenses for an ordinary family of three.

Naturally, Shi Lan had no rune coins on her, but barter worked in Qiongluo World just as well, and she was carrying quite a few things.

“Could I exchange this for two rune stones?”

After using her divine sense to search through her storage bracelet for a few breaths, Shi Lan took out a fist-sized ore from her sleeve. It was a piece of cold iron essence and not especially rare.

A glimmer of light flashed in the old man’s eyes. He took the cold iron, examined it for a moment, then shook his head slightly and pointed outside.

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“My apologies. This may be a rare ore, but I have no use for it. Perhaps the blacksmith over there would be interested.”

Shi Lan glanced outside, walked over, and stepped into the smithy.

Clang… clang…

A heavily muscled middle-aged man was standing by the furnace, hammering a block of pig iron with an enormous hammer. Various runic weapons hung on the walls, and the red flames made the air itself feel scorching hot.

“What does the guest need?”

The man turned his head to look at her, but the hammer in his hands did not pause for even an instant.

Shi Lan tossed the cold iron over through the air.

“I’d like to exchange it for some rune coins.”

…

The blacksmith was clearly very interested in the forging methods used for the cold iron. He asked many questions, and in the end offered Shi Lan ten rune coins.

With the rune coins in hand, Shi Lan returned to the shop. Amid the old man’s well-wishes, she left with two rune stones.

Samsara only needed one to complete the disguise. Shi Lan went to a corner of the city and cautiously tried absorbing the other rune stone into her body.