Chapter 88 – Eighty-One (1/2)

Chapter 88 – Eighty-One

As Lu Chao’s screams died down, the wild beast’s presence eventually faded. It was a mystery to Ye Wei as to why it didn’t leave the woods to attack him. He was grateful it didn’t, but he was still curious.

Moments after everything returned to its previous calm state. Apart from the sound of leaves rattling in the breeze, there were no detectable movements of any sort. It was only now that Ye Wei finally let his guard down and looked a bit more relaxed, his grip on the scroll slightly loosened.

Although the wild beast did not show itself from its presence, Ye Wei could tell it was no ordinary beast; therefore not only was he relatively relaxed, he was also cautious,glancing often towards the woods.

‘Humm, did something happen to the talisman? It feels like a more powerful artifact than it was just moments before. Now it’s giving off slightly more energy!’ Ye Wei held the iron talisman in his hand and could feel the energy flow within while he looked at the mystic arms buried next to the stone monument.

‘The black rod is a three-star medium-grade mystic arm. The aura it gives off is impressive, but the scarlet blade and the meter long ancient sword give off even stronger energy… They could be four or even five-star mystic arms!’

“If I can make the talisman release a force field again, I might have a shot at obtaining all of the mystic arms.” Ye Wei mumbled to himself.

Throughout the history of Green Moon City there were only few three-star medium-grade mystic arms seen by the public in auction houses, but of course, there were families that were hiding mystic arms and scrolls in their vaults for emergencies. For example, the Ye family. Due to it’s age and heritage they had a three-star medium-grade mystic arm that was passed down from one patriarch to the next. Knowing that most of the citizens had not seen any medium-grade arms above three-stars, Ye Wei was startled by the fact that he was standing in front of two of them.

“These grooves…” Ye Wei placed the talisman in the middle of his palm and carefully inspected it. He gently touched the grooves and slowly ran his finger along all eighty-one of them.

‘So this talisman can absorb energy from the blood devourer crystals’ and the Qi in the spectral black flames… These grooves seem to shine a little brighter every time the talisman absorbs energy and when it is released it generates a force field. All eighty-one grooves were lit when that happens if I remember correctly…’ Ye Wei theorized while he stroked the talisman.

‘I’m going to try something!” Ye Wei said while staring at the eighty-one grooves. He grunted quietly as he channeled Qi from his hand into the talisman.

“Zoom!”

The talisman shone with a ghostly glow and suddenly Ye Wei’s Qi was completely absorbed into the mysterious device. Meanwhile, the grooves started to light up with a brilliant silver glow.

The first groove was filled up, so was the second.

“I knew it!” Ye Wei widened his eyes as the silver light excited him. ‘Take everything I have!’ He channeled more Qi to his finger as he stroked the talisman.

As Ye Wei’s Qi rushed into the talisman, more and more of the grooves were lit up. After a while, when Ye Wei’s dantian was nearly empty, eleven out of eighty-one were shining silver.

‘I guess all eighty-one grooves need to be filled before I can activate the force field again! That is a lot of Qi. I emptied my dantian and only one-eighth of the grooves were filled…’ Ye Wei stared at the dark grooves and thought.

‘Wait, if it’s Qi this talisman wants, I might have a solution!’ Ye Wei felt inspired, he took out his interspatial bag and dug through it. After a while pieces of Qi stones rolled onto the ground.

Ye Wei and Lin Zi Yan had acquired many treasures including a hefty sum of Qi stones.

The primal energy within Qi stones was pure and dense; therefore, they were not suitable for cultivational use, but they are crucial for the production of mystic arms and pills.

Ye Wei assumed if his talisman could be fueled by the energy of the black flame and blood devourer crystals, then it was entirely possible that Qi stones would be able to fill the grooves.

As expected, when the Qi stones came out of his bag, the talisman started to react. It rattled and flew out of Ye Wei’s hand to where the stones were.

“Whoosh!”

The iron talisman circled above the stones and emitted strands of black light creating a vortex that started absorbing the primal energy inside the Qi stones.

“Crack!”

The Qi stones started shattering and turning into dust as the energy within them was drained. The energy formed a silver stream and was quickly absorbed by the dark vortex. While absorbing the energy, the grooves started to gleam, and the gleam eventually grew into a blinding silver light.

Twelve, thirteen… Twenty-five… Eighty-one!

When all the stones turned to dust, all eight-one grooves on the talisman lit up. The amulet once again glowed brightly!

‘That was more than a hundred thousand silver worth of Qi stones…’ There was recognizable sadness in Ye Wei’s eyes. His original plan was to present these stones to the patriarch.

Moments after the grooves were filled, the talisman’s bright glow dimmed, and the rust patches on it cleared up slightly, but its Qi presence grew stronger.

“What the hell?” Ye Wei grabbed the talisman to feel the energy within it. He could sense that energy from the stones transformed into the presence he felt when the force field was deployed!

‘But why did it get dimmer?’

Ye Wei pondered. ‘It feels more powerful than before. I think filling the grooves charges it up and that it will get stronger after every time it’s fully charged. The next force field should be more powerful… I think.’