Chapter 2 - Gifting Rui

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

A bright light flickered in Wang Yuan’s eyes.

There were strong and weak templates for each color in the Godly Tablet, and the most obvious distinction was the number of merits they consumed.

The strongest white template required exactly three hundred small merits to extract.

In a sense, you’d get what you pay for.

The Godly Tablet had always been honest and upright about business.

“But that doesn’t mean I have to spend all of these merits…”

Merits weren’t easy to come by, and he finally earned 300 small merits after eradicating the black fish demon that was out for blood.

The power of merits could be used for great things so he couldn’t afford to waste resources.

Wang Yuan pondered for a while before taking out a blue leather-skinned gourd from his sleeve. It was the most powerful magic weapon that he owned.

It was an ancient magic weapon found with the Shangqing Treasure Talisman.

Wang Yuan found the Shangqing Treasure Talisman from the Da Luo Guan outside of Wuyang County in Langya Prefecture, in a shabby and broken house. He had always been interested in searching for secret books.

It was a top-grade divine weapon containing twelve pieces of sky-blue star sands, and it was quite magical.

Wang Yuan was not interested in refining it. With a casual flick of his hand, it fell lightly on the carved case table at the side.

Currently, Wang Yuan’s body was surrounded by a layer of white mana flowing around him. The white mist condensed and moved around inside his body, vaguely manifesting four seed talismans in his middle dantian. The Soul Detaining Talisman, Corpse Suppressing Talisman, Pure Heart Talisman, and Sea Suppressing Talisman!

It was a prototype of the Life Talisman.

The Shangqing Treasure Talisman was one born from the techniques of the Fulu Sect. It was also an extremely pure technique of a Daoist priest.

Once this kind of Daoist technique was well cultivated, it would require much honing over time. Even for an excellent Daoist cultivator like Wang Yuan, it took him several years to cultivate the four seed talismans.

While Wang Yuan was meditating, bits of white spiritual fog rolled in his middle dantian. Later, three more seed talismans appeared in his dantian.

With the appearance of these three seed talismans, Wang Yuan sensed a stream of spiritual energy pouring into his middle dantian, nourishing his entire body and converging into mana that surged into his dantian.

His mana increased by 30%.

The mana cultivated by the Shangqing Treasure Talisman was reliant upon the number and quality of the seed talismans one cultivated.

‘Falling Lightning Talisman, Restraining Talisman, Immortality Talisman!’

Wang Yuan was not surprised to sense the appearance of three seed talismans.

Flood dragons naturally had omnipotent skills and command over the clouds and lightning.

However, Wang Yuan was still a little happy. The three seed talismans were not ordinary at all, especially the appearance of the Falling Lightning Talisman. It was the first time it had appeared to him.

The Falling Lightning Talisman was very powerful among all the seed talismans. Wang Yuan had always been looking forward to it.

In addition to that, the other four seed talismans might also have a chance for further upgrades, especially the Sea Suppressing Talisman.

Wang Yuan activated the flood dragon’s omnipotent skill and found a new comprehension!

The Sea Suppressing Talisman was one of the two seed talismans in the Shangqing Treasure Talisman.

This kind of talisman could be used as a Life True Talisman in the future, and had a high chance of turning into a Natural True Talisman.

Wang Yuan burned an incense and took a bath, before lighting three incense sticks on the table beside him and slowly falling into a meditative state.

With a Qingfa Seal in his hand, he began to sculpt the talisman in the depths of his middle dantian, which was like the shadow of an ice blue spiritual pearl.

…

Langya county was located in the southeast of the Central Plains, with people who had enough to eat and abundant resources. Wang Shaoheng was 40 years old by the time he was classified as an 11th rank Imperial Official. He stepped in to fill the vacant local magistrate position, but did not mark any outstanding achievements.

Local Magistrate Wang was a decent man despite being a high-ranking official and having a successful career.

Langya’s Wang clan was well-known, but the five households under Local Magistrate Wang were not as famous. Madam Sun, however, was quite satisfied.

She had given birth to two sons and three daughters for Local Magistrate Wang—two sons who were extremely filial to their mother, and three beautiful and elegant daughters. The family were already winners in life.

However, she felt quite troubled by the recent happening.

It was not because some officials dared to send their concubines to seduce Magistrate Wang, nor that some servants dared to seduce his sister. What troubled her was that there was a serious problem with the large number of strange Rui beasts they had been rearing in the Hengyu Garden early in the morning!

The Hengyu Garden was an excellent garden in the local magistrate’s residence. The garden was very unique, with pears hanging below the melting moon and willows above the pond swaying to the gentle wind.

This was the symbol of a truly wealthy family. However, no matter how luxurious and broad the decoration was, it was still a nouveau riche in the eyes of the real noble.

Hengyu Garden had a rockery pond. Naturally, there were many rare and cherished flowers. The local magistrate residence’s lady of the house, Madam Sun, was afraid that her son would get lonely when he was studying so she sent someone out to procure rare flowers and had them send it over from time to time.

However, Mr. Wang had turned the garden into a petting farm. He filled it with many beasts, including white tortoises, white dragonfish, cranes, and red geese.

It wasn’t so much for the sake of flattering himself, but rather to flatter the big guy in the capital!

Ever since the officials mentioned a room which shone of divine light at night in the Daqing Hall, and the fact that there were several copies of the heavenly books passed down by an immortal, officials from all around the country have been offering Rui gifts to the Emperor. They even got rewarded for it!

After many officials had presented their Rui gifts to the emperor, some people presented ‘golden harvests’. Others claimed that they saw a dragon amidst the clouds, and there were even some who claimed to have witnessed sunset in the broad daylight.

Local Magistrate Wang was a little conservative and covert about what he intended to present to the emperor. To keep up their dignity as a reputable clan, he scavenged various Rui beasts from all over the country and prepared to send them to the capital.

Amidst all the auspicious Rui gifting sport around the country, a more mature template had appeared.

Of the five spirits that were born as Superior Rui, those who had a heavenly image were known as Big Rui; walking beasts were known as Upper Rui; flying beasts were known as Middle Rui; and all sorts of jade plants were categorized as Lower Rui.

In order to get these Rui beasts, Master Wang Shaoheng had used a lot of time, manpower and material resources to search for them. However, there was a problem on that day. In a single night, all the Rui beasts in Hengyu Garden had been scared out of their wits.

Many of the beasts had dropped dead due to fear.

The sun had just begun to rise from one side of the lotus pool in Hengyu Garden but the sunlight felt poisonous. The faces of several maids and their children turned pale. Despite standing under the sun, it felt like they were standing in an ice cellar.

Beside the lotus pool was a woman in dark blue plain clothes who was looking at the pool expressionlessly, unconsciously twisting a handkerchief in her hand.

“What happened? Who did this?”

Beside her, two middle-aged women stood quietly. One of them had a cold expression and an unfriendly gaze.

Several pristine white dragon fish in the lotus pool had died, and a white tortoise looked listless. It was worrying. A few hundred feet away, the birds, red geese, white wolves, and red rabbits in several beast cages had all succumbed to rigor mortis.

“Madam, have mercy. Second steward, have mercy on us. We took turns to guard these beasts and we never slacked off. However, these beasts suddenly roared without reason, as if they were greatly frightened. We tried everything we could to calm them, but to no avail. In just a short while, these beasts dropped dead from fear. This humble one is incompetent. Please forgive me. Madam, Second steward, please. I have elders and children waiting for me at home, so please spare my life!”

The middle-aged man in the lead was sweating profusely as he knelt on the ground.

The round-faced woman stared at the middle-aged man for a while and said gently, “Madam, I don’t think he is lying! This beast raiser is not very capable. He doesn’t have the guts to cheat you!”

Madam Sun trusted the round faced woman very much. The round-faced woman and another steward had followed Madam Sun to the Wang family when the madam married Wang Shaoheng. They were childhood friends and had even shared the same wet nurse when they were babies.

“What should we do now? Madam, the master has reported these beasts to the Emperor. Now that these beasts look like this, how do we hand over the beasts to the Imperial Commissioner?”

With a dignified look on her face, Madam Sun glanced at the children of servants’ families and then turned to look at a middle-aged woman.

“Go, get Er Lang here!”

Madam Sun’s expression looked somewhat strange!