Chapter 75 Art of Inscriptions (1/2)

”Greetings to Inscription Master Nanbai,” Nanqing Haowen and Lu Tianzi rose from their seats to greet the elder.

After all, even though they were from a stronger influence, they were still members of the young generation.

This Inscription Master Nanbai was not only a respected inscription master, but he was also part of the older generation and could be considered an elder figure to them.

But the most important factor of all was that Inscription Master Nanbai had a cultivation level at the Origin Core realm!

Even in the Nine Suns Sect, only the elders possessed such a cultivation level. So the duo naturally had to show their respect towards this person before them.

”Mm,” Inscription Master Nanbai nodded his head in acknowledgement and took his seat before gesturing for the duo to do the same. ”I heard from Manager Nanhei that you want a medicinal inscription placed on a Darkwater Grape?”

”Here it is,” Nanqing Haowen placed the jade box on the table and opened it to reveal the black fruit within.

Inscription Master Nanbai examined the fruit for a moment before nodding his head, ”The Darkwater Grape contains properties that tend towards the extreme Yin, so the Thousand Winters Inscription should be the most suitable one to further augment the medicinal effect of the plant. The cost of the materials for the Thousand Winters Inscription will be five low ranked beast cores, so just pay fifteen low rank beast cores and I will place the inscription for you.”

Nanqing Haowen nodded and promptly brought out fifteen small pearls as requested, but Lu Tianzi who sat by his side was absolutely shocked!

These fifteen small pearls were all similar to the dull white beast cores that he had consumed the night before during cultivation. After a day of hard work at the Beast Hunt, Lu Tianzi had only managed to obtain three of them, yet Nanqing Haowen was throwing out fifteen of them at one go?

What was this extravagance?!

Furthermore, the materials cost five low ranked beast cores, yet the cost of the inscription was fifteen?

Just the fact that Inscription Master Nanbai could blatantly say this out was sufficient to make Lu Tianzi marvel at his shamelessness.

Yet this situation seemed completely normal to Nanqing Haowen as he paid up without a second thought.

So this was how inscription masters were able to gather wealth easily!

But through this, Lu Tianzi also managed to learn that in the world of martial artists, gold and silver was no longer the effective currency.

In the eyes of martial artists, cultivation resources were all that mattered. That was why this transaction was being carried out in terms of beast cores rather than in gold.

Thinking of this, Lu Tianzi could not help but curse in his heart.

Why was it that the demon martial artists whom he had killed previously did not have any of these beast cores in their possession?

Was it common practice not to bring money along with them when they leave the fortress?

How unlucky!

”Very well,” Inscription Master Nanbai nodded as he collected the beast cores, completely oblivious to Lu Tianzi's thoughts. ”I will proceed with the placement of the inscription. You can return after two hours.”

”I understand,” Nanqing Haowen stood up to leave.

”Eh? Are we going to leave just like that?” Lu Tianzi exclaimed in surprise. ”Why don't we stay here until the inscription is done? I am quite curious about the inscription process after all.”

Hearing that, Inscription Master Nanbai immediately frowned.

”I'm sorry, Inscription Master Nanbai. My junior here is a little ignorant of the ways of the world, so please do not take his words to heart,” Nanqing Haowen let out an embarassed smile as he apologised to the elder before turning back to Lu Tianzi. ”The inscription techniques of each inscription master contain their secrets as well as personal understandings of the art of inscriptions. They naturally prefer not to reveal such matters to others.”

”Oh,” Lu Tianzi understood immediately as he turned back towards Inscription Master Nanbai. ”My apologies.”

”Don't worry about it,” Inscription Master Nanbai shook his head, his frown easing significantly. ”Actually, since you seem to be new to the world of inscriptions, why not read up a little on the subject while you wait? My Heaven Constellations Inscription Tower has a wide range of information available for aspiring inscription masters to peruse freely. Though you have no prior knowledge and thus will not be able to understand most of it, you will at least be able to get a feel of what the art of inscriptions entail.”

”I would love to do so if Inscription Master Nanbai doesn't mind,” Lu Tianzi answered in excitement.

This was a rare chance for him to learn more about this entirely new occupation!

From what Lu Tianzi had seen so far, this inscription master occupation seemed to be closely tied to that of herbalism. Being able to improve the efficacy of herbs would only increase the number of cards at his disposal, allowing him to overcome future obstacles with greater ease.

And not to mention that the more he learnt, the easier it would be for him to integrate into the demon society!

”It seems Brother Nanlu is truly quite curious about the art of inscriptions,” Nanqing Haowen laughed helplessly. ”We will be taking our leave then.”

”It is not a bad thing to crave for knowledge. Just head on upstairs to level three where the open library is located. There, you will be able to access the resources I mentioned,” Inscription Master Nanbai sent the duo off with his eyes.

Nanqing Haowen led the way as he brought Lu Tianzi to the third level.

The former had once aspired to become an inscription master himself, and had come over to access the open library during that time. Thus, he was still quite familiar with the place.

But even though it was termed as an open library, it was actually only open to selected people who were recognised by the Heaven Constellations Inscription Tower.

Otherwise, the library would have been flooded with people who were simply curious about the subject and wanted to take a look.

In other words, people just like Lu Tianzi.

However, there were two main points that differentiated Lu Tianzi from the rest.

Firstly, he was from the Nine Suns Sect.

Secondly, he was a customer at the Heaven Constellations Inscription Tower.

Or at least he was fortunate enough to be together with Nanqing Haowen who fulfilled the above two criteria.

The open library was unlike any other libraries that Lu Tianzi had ever seen.

Instead of being lined with bookshelves, there were only multiple wooden boards set up across the room. Hung on each wooden board were jades slips, each of them right below a small tag that detailed the sort of information stored within.

Thanks to his master Xihuang Yuanfeng, Lu Tianzi was no stranger to these jade slips.

He immediately stepped forward and sank his perception into the first jade slip he saw, not even bothering to read the tag that detailed the contents within the jade slip.

After all, Lu Tianzi knew next to nothing about the art of inscriptions. Even if he did read the tags, he would still be just as clueless.