Volume 1, Chapter 418 – Exposure

The rune stone Shi Lan absorbed was about the size of a fist, like colored glaze. The rune sealed within it was clearly visible, like a bolt of lightning.

A mysterious energy traveled up from her palm, passed through her meridians, rose to the spiritual platform at the crown of her head, transformed into a thread of electric light, and merged into Shi Lan’s Nascent Soul like a drop of water melting into the ocean, without stirring even the slightest ripple.

Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. A thread of lightning leapt at her fingertip, then shot out in an instant.

Bang!

After a muffled sound, it left behind a fingertip-sized blackened dent in the blue stone wall.

“The energy contained in this rune stone is too little.”

Shi Lan shook her head slightly. Just now, she had only used the energy contained within that rune stone.

Its only miraculous aspect was that although the energy had been exhausted, that lightning-like rune had remained preserved within her Nascent Soul.

If she were to use that rune with her Nascent Soul golden body, the lightning it unleashed would be enough to destroy this city in an instant. It could barely be considered a low-grade offensive method.

Compared with painstakingly cultivating offensive secret arts, runes were far more convenient and efficient.

“The energy contained in higher-tier rune stones is enough to bring a qualitative improvement to your Nascent Soul golden body. The runes within them are also nowhere near this easy to comprehend.”

Samsara melted the remaining rune stone and turned it into a layer of runic light hidden over Shi Lan’s body.

Although that layer of runic light was extremely faint, any Rune Battle Master who had cultivated runes could sense it.

Reаⅾ οո ΚαtRеαdingCafе

Shi Lan changed her appearance again and once more walked toward the Rune Tower.

…

“You may only move about on the first and second floors. The third floor and above are restricted areas.”

This time, Shi Lan was not stopped at all. Perhaps because she was an unfamiliar face, one of the guards at the entrance simply reminded her, then let her through.

Upon entering the Rune Tower, Shi Lan felt as though she had passed through a layer of formation.

The moment she stepped through the door, rows upon rows of bookshelves came into view.

Of the dozen or so people reading inside, only two raised their heads to glance at Shi Lan before quickly looking away.

A newcomer who had only just stepped onto the path of runes was not worth their attention at all.

Shi Lan walked over, casually pulled out a book, leaned against the bookshelf, and slowly flipped through it. Her gaze was completely unfocused as her divine sense gradually spread out.

Her divine sense swept across row after row of bookshelves. A vast sea of information turned into a torrent and poured into Shi Lan’s mind.

Her Nascent Soul golden body slowly revolved, and in less than half a quarter of an hour, every book on this floor had been stored in her mind.

After giving all the books a rough once-over, Shi Lan selected the portion of information she needed.

According to the historical records in the books, and after verifying them against Samsara’s account, Shi Lan concluded that nearly forty thousand years had passed in Qiongluo World since Samsara’s last visit.

Rеad оո KαtRеаdіոgСafe

More than forty thousand years ago, a world-shaking great war had once broken out. The records of that war were very vague, but in that battle, Qiongluo World’s last Supreme died in battle. After that, no one was ever able to reach the pinnacle of the path of runes again.

Present-day Qiongluo World had been brought together under several powerful tribes. They had established all kinds of academies, exchanging ideas and verifying each other’s findings, so the path of runes had grown far more prosperous. Yet even so, no supreme expert had been born.

Aside from those historical materials, most of what remained were cultivation insights regarding the rune path, as well as some elementary methods of applying runes.

In Qiongluo World, some people were born with a talent for runes. Those who were especially outstanding would even possess their own natal rune, endowed with incredible power.

With Shi Lan’s current cultivation and her commanding perspective from above, she had fully digested all this material in less than half an hour and gained a general outline of the methods of rune cultivation.

Shi Lan closed the book, put it back, and slowly walked up to the second floor.

There were far fewer books on the second floor than on the first, but the content was indeed much deeper.

The overall layout of the second floor was similar to that of the first, but there were far fewer people, only three to five figures in all. At the very center stood a black boulder nearly as tall as a person. Its surface was smooth as a mirror, and on closer inspection, one could see countless engraved marks.

This was the “Blackstone” used to measure mental strength.

In Qiongluo World, the clearest measure of strength was simply the strength of one’s spiritual power. The higher one’s spiritual power rating, the stronger one’s soul-force naturally was.

A silver-haired girl of fifteen or sixteen was standing before the Blackstone, doing her utmost to unleash her spiritual power.

A golden line appeared in the very center of the black boulder and slowly climbed upward from the bottom.

Reαԁ oո КatReαԁіոgCаfe

In only a few breaths, the girl’s face flushed red, her back was completely soaked with sweat, and wisps of white vapor were even rising from the top of her head.

A moment later, the girl stepped back, let out a long breath, clenched both fists, and jumped three feet into the air. Her rosy face was filled with excitement.

“My spiritual power rating has finally broken through twenty!”

Several people nearby turned their eyes toward her. Aside from one person whose expression remained calm, the others all looked somewhat envious.

For someone of the girl’s age to possess such spiritual power was exceedingly rare.

As the girl stepped back, the golden line on the Blackstone slowly receded and ultimately vanished.

After the girl left, calm gradually returned to the surroundings.

Shi Lan glanced at the Blackstone, and her heart stirred. She too became somewhat curious about the current intensity of her own spiritual power.

To avoid causing too great a disturbance, Shi Lan stepped farther away and released one-tenth of her Nascent Soul power through the air, slowly sending it into the Blackstone.

Crack!

A dazzling golden line suddenly lit up, shooting straight across the surface of the Blackstone, followed immediately by a crisp, clear sound.

The entire Blackstone instantly split open, covered in cracks, then exploded apart and became a heap of shattered stone.

Shi Lan’s brows drew slightly together as she slowly retreated behind the bookshelves, using them to hide her figure.

Reaⅾ оո КatRеаdіոɡCαfе

Clearly, the Blackstone was of far too low a grade to measure her current Nascent Soul golden body.

Not far away, from the entrance leading to the third floor, came a burst of hurried footsteps. An old man, followed by several guards wreathed in powerful runes, strode quickly toward the Blackstone.

When he saw the shattered Blackstone, the old man stepped forward to inspect it. He seemed to discover something, and a flash of light passed through his eyes as he asked,

“What happened just now?”

“Lord Molun…”

Several Rune Battle Masters from the surrounding area gathered around. Clearly, they were quite familiar with the old man, and they briefly described what had happened.

Shi Lan stood to one side without speaking, lowering her sense of presence as much as possible.

The old man slowly swept his gaze across the group. After glancing at Shi Lan in the corner, he turned and ordered someone to clean up the broken remains of the Blackstone.

Once that was done, the old man sent those Rune Battle Masters back down to the first floor, then slowly walked up to Shi Lan and made a strange salute.

“Honored guest, please come with me.”

Shi Lan quickly understood. She had been a little too calm just now. On this floor, she was the only unfamiliar face, which made her the most obvious suspect.

She gave a slight shake of her head, then followed behind the old man and slowly stepped onto the third floor.