A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Chapter 663: Chapter 362: Original Rune

‘The Power of Thunder is extraordinarily violent. An ordinary creature would be killed instantly on contact. Yet now, it can solidify into such a form. It’s simply inconceivable!’

Lü Zhong contemplated the scene he had just witnessed. He then slowly closed his eyes and entered the Gray Mist Space.

As his Divine Sense was continuously consumed, the True Retrospection began.

In the simulated environment, everything was identical to reality.

To understand this bolt of lightning, he tried injecting Spiritual Power into it. Unexpectedly, even the tiniest wisp caused the lightning to erupt violently, destroying the Artifact Spirit in an instant.

Failure!

Lü Zhong’s gaze was calm, as if he had expected this.

The second simulation began.

This time, he activated the Wood Thunder Seal.

He attempted to use the Power of Thunder from the same source to attract or absorb the layer of lightning, hoping to help the Artifact Spirit break free.

The new attempt proved effective.

The lightning enveloping the Artifact Spirit stirred under the pull of the Wood Thunder, and the two soon intertwined. However, the unexpected happened again. Although the initial steps went smoothly, the two types of Power of Thunder were unable to merge.

At the same time, the Artifact Spirit, now freed from the lightning’s restraint, should have been overjoyed. Instead, it appeared listless. Its abnormal state made it seem as if it had lost something precious.

It didn’t last long. The failed fusion of lightning erupted, destroying the Artifact Spirit once more.

Another failure, but Lü Zhong didn’t feel the slightest bit discouraged. ‘If this problem were so easily solved, it wouldn’t be unrecorded in the ancient texts.’

With his experience, he quickly thought of another method.

Without a second thought, Lü Zhong formed a Technique Mantra. This was a method to make a Magical Treasure self-destruct. The principle was to have all the Prohibitions destroy themselves, thereby unleashing the Magical Treasure’s full power.

Under normal circumstances, this was tantamount to self-mutilation.

But in the true simulation, he didn’t need to worry about the consequences of the Magical Treasure’s self-destruction.

A deep cracking sound echoed as arcs of starlight-blue light flashed wildly. The Star Mirror shattered into several pieces. At the same time, Lü Zhong’s Heart and Spirit suffered a severe blow, a direct result of his Lifebound Treasure’s destruction. Amidst the excruciating pain of his damaged Divine Soul, he did his best to control the speed at which the Magical Treasure disintegrated, trying to prevent it from self-destructing too quickly and leaving him with nothing.

After a good while, Lü Zhong withdrew from the Gray Mist Space.

“Phew!” He let out a long breath.

The more realistic the simulation, the more immersive the experience. Self-destructing a Lifebound Treasure was no different from having one’s Divine Soul sliced by a thousand cuts. Although he had tried it many times, he still couldn’t get used to it and needed to exit the true simulation to recover.

After a while, Lü Zhong re-entered the Gray Mist Space.

During the Magical Treasure’s self-destruction just now, he had finally made a small discovery. This time, he isolated a segment of the scene, preparing to examine it in detail using scene-specific retrospection.

He rewound to the corresponding segment.

Lü Zhong stared intently at a single point. He could see that as the Magical Treasure collapsed, the Artifact Spirit, which had been located within layers of Prohibitions and enveloped by a layer of lightning, was ejected. The little guy’s expression at that moment was priceless—it had the comical look of someone whose home had just been blown up.

However, that wasn’t what he was focused on.

Looking closely now, one would discover that the so-called layer of lightning wasn’t lightning as he had imagined. Instead, it was composed of countless fine Thunder Silks, which formed an incredible Thunder Rune. Its complexity was in no way inferior to the Wood Thunder Seal.

“An Original Thunder Rune?” Lü Zhong said in astonishment.

If he hadn’t possessed the Wood Thunder Skill, he would never have noticed anything unusual.

Realizing this, Lü Zhong immediately overturned his previous conjectures. ‘This lightning isn’t harmful to the Artifact Spirit at all. It’s clearly a massive opportunity!’ The reason it was causing harm now was likely because the Artifact Spirit couldn’t control the Rune’s power, thus suffering from it instead.

Lü Zhong mulled it over for a moment.

He himself was not particularly skilled with this kind of Rune.

However, Lü Zhong did know someone who was an expert in this field, and he had a very close relationship with her: Shuini, the Sect Leader of the True Spirit Sect. The Profound Moon Lineage she cultivated began with Sword Cultivators, but as their Realm increased, they would gradually walk the path of Magic Cultivators.

For any proper Magic Cultivator, the study of Runes was essential.

“I’ll have to ask for help…” Lü Zhong decided.

But before that, he had to record this Original Rune.

Because the Rune had a three-dimensional structure, casually compressing it would alter its true function, so an ordinary Jade Scroll couldn’t record it. He specially took out a Dao Transmission Bead and spent a full day meticulously transferring the Original Thunder Rune he had seen into it without a single error.

Lü Zhong put away the Dao Transmission Bead and closed his eyes to rest.

「Half a month later.」

Lü Zhong walked out of his cave residence. Gazing at the clear, cloudless azure sky, his mood brightened. He then shot into the air, transforming into a streak of light and speeding toward the True Spirit Sect.

He passed over Bidao Market on his way and gave it a deliberate second look.

After many years of development, the place was more prosperous than ever. In terms of urban scale, it was now on par with Bihai Immortal City.

Thanks to the Nether Abyss Continent development plan, this place had been chosen as a transit hub. Both its skyport and seaport were bustling with traffic.

The “shooting star” streaking across the Celestial Vault quickly caught the attention of the cultivators in the Workshop Market.

“Wow, a shooting star!”

“Quick, make a wish!”

These words from the visiting cultivators immediately drew roars of laughter from the local cultivators. Some who had been mocked in the same way before recalled their own embarrassing experiences and patiently explained:

“That’s no shooting star, that’s Star Sun True Monarch!”