333 Eternal Slumber 4

The science of talisman symbol-making had been developed substantially within the Great Yin, mainly in the area of formations and talisman paper. Originally, this study of symbols derived from Divine Weapons and Devil Blades was a subject based on imitation, and primarily dealt with replicating the symbols and formations engraved on those weapons to replicate their effects. 

Even though their power was substantially weaker precisely because they were only replicas, the study of talismans had brought about many widespread improvements to everyday life among the upper class of the Great Yin.

Lu Sheng was quite intrigued. Ordinary citizens were usually not allowed into talisman stores, and the merchandise there was almost all just spare goods left over by the government and the three major sects. The talisman making instructions were even more scarce, usually only including the most rudimentary parts.

After Lu Sheng bought the necessary materials, he returned to his dwelling and refused all guests who came to focus on cultivating. He only occasionally went out onto the streets to look at various shops' wares to see if there was anything worth his time. 

After Chen Jinzhi promoted him to a direct disciple, the privileges he enjoyed were instantly increased. Every month, he was provided fifty ounces of Devil Gold, a hundred ounces of normal gold, as well as three medicines of his choice.

A Minor Red Pill for healing, a Minor Green Pill for nourishment, and a Minor Antivenom Pill in case of poisoning. The three pills didn't really have names, and the red and green ones were just casual slang that people used for convenience. The Minor Antivenom Pill, on the other hand, was very weak, and could only take care of slow-acting poisons, which was why no one bothered to give it a name.

Aside from that, he also received a delicate robe with dust-repelling and expanding functions, reserved only for direct disciples, as well as a fancy sword, too delicate for use in actual combat. 

Plus, he was also given access to any Earth Prime level True Qi technique of his choice from the sect as his side focus. The main technique of the Thousand Sun Sect was named the Light of the Great Sun Technique.

This True Qi technique could be cultivated from the single vein of Bind level all the way to the upper limit of Earth Prime. 

Lu Sheng had always been intrigued by this True Qi technique, but he had no way to access it until he completely finished his cultivation of the basic techniques.

But he did fully complete the basic Spring Sun Mind Fixing Mantra during his trip to the secret area. His True Qi cultivation had broken through to two veins level, and earned him the right to start cultivating proper mantra and techniques.

Before he even had the time to get the technique instructions from the sect, Elder Zhang Shilong came to deliver the record of the Light of the Great Sun Mantra himself, and even moved to the courtyard right next to his dwelling. That way, he could guide Lu Sheng in his cultivation of the True Qi technique.

Lu Sheng was also informed that his information had also been urgently sent to the upper sect located in the prefect capital, and was quickly advancing up the sect hierarchy. It might even arrive at the main headquarters in the provincial capital.

After all, the whole incident involved a certain master, and a lot was at stake. Lu Sheng was treated like the god of plague by the sect for the time being. 

Ten days passed by quickly.

Lu Sheng finished his daily cultivation of the Light of the Great Sun Technique, and rose to change, intending to go outside to shop around. Lately, he had been interested in the enormous bronze wire formation on the ground of the County Capital.

This enormous formation that covered the entire county capital involved hundreds of major talisman symbols, modified talisman symbols, and talisman formation equations from head to toe. Many of them were very fitting for a beginner to observe and learn from. 

Lu Sheng's favorite thing to do was to walk around the formation and observe the changes in the formation between day and night.

A black carriage followed the busy flow of traffic, moving along the lines of the formation, then slowly turned into an unpopulated alley to the side.

Lu Sheng comfortably sat on the chair, his eyes inspecting the bronze wire buried underground in detail. The bronze wires that appeared to be decorations were completely different mysterious symbols in his eyes.

"Sh!"

The carriage suddenly started to slow down. A dirty man was sleeping across the street right in front of the carriage, blocking the road. 

The man seemed to have fainted, and lay there, unmoving.

"What is it?" Lu Sheng asked with a frown. The cart stopping had interrupted his train of thought—not a very pleasant experience.

"Young Master, someone fell on the road and is blocking the way." The carriage driver was an experienced veteran in his trade sent by the sect, and hurriedly answered with a hint of haughtiness, "No need for the master to worry at all, I will deal with this in no time."

"Alright." Lu Sheng nodded. If he had to get out for trivial things like this, he would be annoyed to death by all the little things he would have to deal with.

Lu Sheng went back to looking at the simple wheel of formation. However, the carriage driver didn't make any noises once he got out. He finally raised his head and broke his focus away from the talisman symbol formation.

"Old An?"

No response from outside.

He frowned, and guessed what had happened.

"Get out of the carriage," a vaguely familiar voice said from outside in a low tone.

Lu Sheng closed his book. He opened the door, and stepped down slowly.

The light of the dusk dyed everything around them in a bright red. In the corner, a couple of unfamiliar young men and women surrounded the cart. 

The man in the front dropped the carriage driver, Old An, with one hand and let him fall to the ground.

"Seems like your life is going well," the man said with heavy sarcasm.

Lu Sheng looked at his face closely, but still felt like he didn't know him.

"You know me?"

"You...!?" The man's eyes turned red. "You nearly killed me!! Now… now you just forgot all that!?"

"Hurry up while there's no surveillance. We don't have much time," a long-haired woman with a sharp pairs of eyes said flatly.

I know, I'm just… I'm just angry!" The man forced down his anger, and said in a low voice, "Because of this man, I had to leave my home I lived in for these tens of years…."

"We didn't accept this job to hear your useless talk," the woman said impatiently. 

Lu Sheng finally remembered who the man was. 

"Oh, it's you, that little poor bug. Inspector?" he said finally with a hint of surprise present on his face. "You survived?"

"You!!" The inspector's eyes started to get bloodshot as he remembered the horror he'd experienced near his death. The anger in his heart burned even brighter.

"Kill!! Kill him!!" he roared abruptly.

He simply didn't believe that this Lu Sheng guy would still be able to preserve his life when facing a powerhouse at six vein level!

The inspector, familiar with the formation and its surveillance method, had waited for this day for too long. He followed Lu Sheng to ascertain his daily movement pattern, and finally found the right moment. 

"Ten Forms of Bright Life Sword, Morning Light!" The woman lightly unsheathed the sword on her waist. As if she had pulled out a beam of light instead of a sword, bright and crystalline rays of green light shot out.

"Hiss, hiss, puff, puff!"

Rays of green light darted upwards and shot toward Lu Sheng from all four directions with amazingly fast speed.

Simultaneously, another man jumped into the air, and a guandao [ED/N: It's a sort of Chinese glaive/naginata-like weapon. Yanyuedao (reclining moon blade) is its official name; the name guandao literally means Guan's blade, and comes from the fact that it was apparently invented by Guan Yu, a Chinese general from 3rd century AD] appeared in front of him. He held the long handle and slammed it downward.

"Whoosh!"

The huge current of air from the blade fell upon Lu Sheng with shining white light. 

"That... is not how you use a blade." Lu Sheng lightly raised his right palm.

Purple light suddenly flashed on his brow while his five fingers formed a claw.

"Boom!"

A large amount of white steam exploded outward.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss, hisss!"

Four enormous black knives appeared out of nowhere on the sides of the carriage, then fell toward the middle like closing pedals.

Lu Sheng somehow turned his hands into five war knives [ED/N: Imagine machete-sized knives] and struck out in all directions with a boom, forming a claw around the guandao. 

"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!"

The sound of five knives striking the same point rang through the air. The guandao instantly shattered as the fit body of the man flapped in the air like a broken doll when the current from the knives cut through him.

The current then spun down to meet the green current of the sword, which finally dissipated in its weakened state.

The carriage was instantly poked into a honeycomb by the current from the sword. 

But Lu Sheng, who was sitting atop the carriage a moment ago, had disappeared.

"Bamm!!!"

The woman with the green sword abruptly felt an immense pain in her chest and was slammed onto the ground like she had been hit by a stampede of elephants.

Lu Sheng, on the other hand, had somehow appeared behind her, grabbing her hair with one hand, and thrown her to the side.

With a giant boom, a large hole was caved into the surrounding wall. The woman spewed out a mouthful of blood with a look of pure terror in her eyes. She was about to beg for mercy.

"Puff!"

A white arm pierced through her head.

"Even Black Membrane has its weakness." Lu Sheng retracted his hand, and shook aside the brain tissue and blood on it. "Its greatest strength is also its fatal weakness. No matter how powerful you are, without Black Membrane, you are nothing but a mortal…"

He casually walked in front of the inspector, whose legs were shaking, and looked at him calmly with pity in his eyes.

"Puff, puff."

The two bodies behind him finally fell on the ground, then promptly burned to ash and dissipated.

"I… I…" The inspector had lost his ability to speak. His face was twisted, with snot and tears flowing out of his nose and eyes. 

"Poor child…" Lu Sheng stroked his hair lightly. "You are not the one in the wrong—it's this world."

"Crack." The inspector's neck snapped as his head was lifted up from his body. His eyes were still wide open, just as if he hadn't had the time to process the situation. There wasn't a single drop of blood. The only thing left was the body quickly turning into black dust.

Within a moment, all that was left of the three bodies were scraps of cloth. 

Lu Sheng thought that this inspector was sent out as a scapegoat by the other powers in the county capital to test him.

Everyone was curious about the difference between a disciple who had been guided by a certain legendary master and ordinary men.

That was why, in a chaotic world where human lives were cheap and disposable, this inspector was used as a tool to test him.

Lu Sheng had noticed that the inspector had been intending to let this go, and hadn't had much heart for vengeance. But, he could also sense a twisted air surrounding his body, constantly stimulating the thought of anger and revenge in his mind.

"He was obviously only at the two veins level, yet somehow still managed to kill a six veins level mercenary… Tsk, tsk, tsk… It's no wonder that you are the second-ranked direct disciple of the Thousand Sun Sect.'

Not far from the carriage that had been broken apart, a girl wearing a black dress with an alluring body showed herself.

"Spirit Bind Sect?" Lu Sheng was a little surprised. He hadn't been in the Autumn Moon County Capital for long, and only knew the strongest people among the three major sects. The rest he wasn't sure about. 

The girl's looks were above average, and she had an alluring shape. Her curves were well defined, and there was the special mark of the Spirit Bind Sect on her left breast: a huge white symbol for 'Bind'.

"Remember my name, Bai Luying." The girl looked at the carcasses and ash on the ground, and tapped her feet lightly, jumping into the air. She only left behind a trail of laughter that sounded like silver bells. "We will meet again."

Lu Sheng was a little confused as to why the girl showed up. There was no reason for her to send the inspector to attack him. The three major sects had always competed against each other, but also worked together. If anyone found out that she attacked someone from another major sect, she would have been convicted of a major crime no less than treason.

His eyes followed the girl leave. He moved around a little to relax his limbs, and then returned to the carriage to get his things. He still had to go back and continue his cultivation of Light of the Great Sun Technique.

He didn't have the time to play this game of riddles with a little girl in this tiny alley.