Martial World

Lin Ming drily coughed, saying, “Junior is only trying, but as for whether or not my dreams will succeed, that will depend on whether or not I have talent in this aspect.”

“Haha, you’re quite optimistic. You seem to have just started learning the divine runic arts, or have you not even started yet?”

The spiritas old man smiled, stroking his beard.

“Mm…” Lin Ming gloomily nodded. This old spiritas geezer who had drowned himself in the divine runic arts for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years was able to approximate whether someone had just started learning the divine runic arts. This was a thought completely based on his intuition.

Moreover, when Lin Ming bought the broken jade he hadn’t even known about any of the materials that the old spiritas man was selling. If he said he was a divine runic apprentice or something like that, it would have been far too fake.

“Such perseverance! What wonderful perseverance!” The old spiritas man ‘praised’ yet again. Of course, this so-called praise was simply implying that Lin Ming was biting off more than he could chew, a daydreamer who fantasized too much.

However, with the old man’s smiling face that looked like a Buddha, an outsider simply wouldn’t be able to clearly tell what his meaning was.

“Speaking of the divine runic arts, the materials you want to buy are quite luxurious.” The old spiritas man took up the list of materials and sighed as he looked over it. “Ah, how rich! For you to toss out so much money when you first start learning the divine runic arts, this is enough for two generations! You must have an Empyrean relative in your family…”

“Eh…” Lin Ming was at a loss for words. He simply didn’t reply.

“I say… would you like me to take you in as an apprentice?” The old spiritas man said, his eyes shining.

Lin Ming was stunned. Was there really such a wonderful matter in this world?

Although he didn’t need anyone to teach him, a divine runic master was extremely cautious in accepting any disciples to begin with. If a sixth grade divine runic master said they were accepting an apprentice, there would be countless people stepping over each other to grab that position. Even being a mere secret disciple would be a great honor.

Unfortunately, the higher rank a divine runic master was, the higher their standards in accepting an apprentice. Normally, a divine runic master would accept at most four or five disciples and wanting to become one of these apprentices was easier said than done!

Now, this old spiritas man actually said that he would take in Lin Ming as an apprentice; this left Lin Ming dumbfounded. “Could this old geezer think that I have some talent in the divine runic arts, so he developed thoughts of taking me in as his apprentice?”

Lin Ming felt that if he studied the divine runic arts, even if he didn’t have the heaven-defying abilities of the Magic Cube, his divine soul and perception were already considerably worthy of praise. But, to the spiritas, having a powerful divine soul and soul force was the most basic standard; this couldn’t be considered Lin Ming’s advantage.

As Lin Ming was wondering just what was happening, the old spiritas man’s next words nearly had Lin Ming choking on himself. “As my apprentice, you would have to give me a similar amount of money every month. Of course, paying me in equivalent materials is even better!”

As the old spiritas man spoke, he put forth his hand and stretched out all five fingers.

“….”

Lin Ming wanted to curse out loud. So this old man wanted to take him in as an apprentice so that he could collect tuition expenses.

“This wily old fox, I knew that he wouldn’t be so kind.” Xiao Moxian said with a true essence sound transmission. Lin Ming also bitterly smiled in response, “It seems I overthought the situation. I was far too naïve.”

“Humph, this old man is so cheap. He probably isn’t even willing to teach his own apprentice, so how could he possibly teach strangers. No matter how I look at it, any apprentice he takes in is unlucky.”

Xiao Moxian criticized. All divine runic masters had a high opinion of themselves and valued themselves, but even this was divided into degrees. She had a premonition that this old man valued his knowledge to the point of death.

Seeing the old spiritas man’s hand still floating in front of his face, Lin Ming was left helpless. He slowly asked, “You shouldn’t be thinking of 500 million per month, right? You’re being far too greedy!”

“Smart boy. If you’re really the disciple of some great family then you should be a bit bolder. These materials you bought already cost 500 million, but if I teach you, the effect will be much better.”

The old spiritas man spoke in deep and mysterious tones. He handed a booklet to Lin Ming and said, “This is something I wrote myself, the ‘Secrets of Divine Runic Arts’. Here, take a look, it’s free!”

Lin Ming’s lips twitched but he took the booklet without any expectations. Could something free really be any good?

However, looking at how thick this ‘Secrets of Divine Runic Arts’ was, it couldn’t be that everything inside was useless right? Perhaps there might be some insignificant shred of useful content within it.

Seeing Lin Ming accept the ‘Secrets of Divine Runic Arts’, the old spiritas man chuckled. “I think you’ll change your mind in a few months. At that time, come back and look for me, haha! I must say, you are a human and your talent doesn’t seem too outstanding to begin with, if it wasn’t an open-minded and generous person like myself, an ordinary divine runic master simply wouldn’t be willing to accept you. Luckily, you’ve met me…”

The old spiritas man said with a haughty air of superiority. Xiao Moxian couldn’t bear listening to this anymore, “Hey, just what are you saying! You have no idea what our talent is like!”

“Hehe, I can guess it more or less. It’s not like you know if I did or not.”

The old spiritas man traced his beard, “Remember to look for me if you change your mind. My surname is Xue. Just look for Grandmaster Xue and you’ll find me!”

“In any case… you aren’t short on money, are you?” Lin Ming suddenly asked as he remembered this. He remembered that this old man had only been willing to barter.

“Well, I’ve had something come up recently so I’m a bit tight on money. Moreover, although I said materials are the best, origin energy runes, nine sun jades, I accept all forms of currency. Do you think there is anyone that dislikes having more money?”

The old spiritas man’s eyebrow shot up as he spoke. He rubbed his fingers together in front of Lin Ming and then raised his fingers again for an amount of origin energy runes.

This was truly more annoying the more one saw. Just as Xiao Moxian was unable to resist the impulse to slap him, she was pulled out of the hall by Lin Ming. They had already bought the materials they needed and there was no necessity to stay any longer.

500 million origin energy runes – the amount of materials that would buy could pile up into a mountain.

In these past days, Lin Ming was really spending money like tossing out water. As more and more origin energy runes were spent without earning anything in return, Lin Ming’s wealth continued to shrink with every passing day.

Divine runic masters and alchemists were occupations where one used up money like they were burning it. The lowest level materials weren’t cheap to begin with, and as one rose in the ranks, the materials would only become increasingly expensive. Although divine runic masters and alchemists were able to earn a great deal of money, they would always feel as if they lacked wealth. This sort of strange reverse phenomenon was especially reflected in the growth of divine runic masters.

But, for those divine runic masters that had plateaued, they were relatively wealthier. This was because they were already past the time of spending money to practice, and unless there was some great project incoming, they normally wouldn’t be short on money.

“We have to find some way to earn resources. When I start to pave the road to the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, the expenses will only increase, but I fear I’ll be a poor man by then.”

As Lin Ming was thinking this, he and Xiao Moxian arrived at a divine runic master trading company.

“Two guests, what would you like?”

A young girl welcomed Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian.

“I want to rent a room for alchemy and divine runic arts for one year.”

Normally, an alchemist or divine runic master would have their own specialized alchemy chamber or divine runic arts chamber. This place would have array formations that would increase the chances of succeeding in refining pills or drawing up divine runic symbols.

Primordius Heavenly Palace didn’t have these sorts of rooms and if Lin Ming were to build them they would require far too much time and effort. In order to practice at this time, renting a room was the most suitable choice.

“May I inquire as to what grade of room sir would like? We have the best heaven symbol rooms, the slightly better earth symbol rooms and profound symbol rooms, or the ordinary flowing water rooms.”

“The ordinary room is fine.” Lin Ming casually said. He didn’t lack money in renting out a better room, but as someone that was just starting out he didn’t want to depend too much on external factors. The worse the environment was, the more he would be able to practice his techniques.

“Very well. Guests, please come with me.”

The young girl brought Lin Ming to a plain stone chamber.

This stone chamber was a square room around 30-40 feet wide and long. There were several simple array formations inside that were used to increase the intensity of flames and increase a martial artist’s perception. At the center was also a simple alchemy furnace as well as a blue stone divine runic table.

Here, Lin Ming planned to spend an entire year. Although it was possible to use a time enchantment to absorb the memories of divine runic masters, he couldn’t practice divine runic arts or alchemy within one. This was because the divine runic arts and alchemy required one to communicate with the Laws of the outside world and a time enchantment twisted the Laws within it.

Lin Ming didn’t immediately start practicing alchemy or the divine runic arts. Rather, he pulled out the ‘Secrets of Divine Runic Arts’ that old man Xue had given him. After all, this thick booklet should have something interesting in it. Moreover, old man Xue himself was a respectable person with his own reputation to worry about. No matter how stingy he was, he shouldn’t write a worthless book with no value at all to ruin his reputation… right?

Thinking this, Lin Ming opened the ‘Secrets of Divine Runic Arts’ and began skimming through it. But, he quickly discovered that he had been far too naïve yet again. He had seriously overestimated the moral nature of this old man Xue.

The beginning of this ‘Secrets of Divine Runic Arts’ indeed contained some practical knowledge and skills. But, at the most critical parts, it was entirely blank!

Then, this old man Xue would start writing again about entirely different skills and knowledge. But, as one approached the crucial point, it would become blank once more.

This repeated again and again without a single piece of real information offered. The entire booklet was simply to stir one’s appetite for more. After Lin Ming closed the booklet, he couldn’t help but curse, “Shit, I’ve never seen such garbage, this is ridiculous!”

“This old geezer is far too greedy! Wanting to gain the slightest advantage from him is like grabbing feathers from a flying goose, it’s more difficult than ascending to heaven!” Xiao Moxian could have been said to have opened her eyes.

“He’s already determined that I cannot learn the divine runic arts so he wants me to give him money. But, it seems he really is short on money currently. I have no idea what he is doing, or perhaps he’s always looking for profits to begin with.”

Lin Ming shook his head, no longer thinking about it. He took out the divine runic pen from the blue stone divine runic table and then poured his origin energy into it. In that moment, he felt something he hadn’t felt for a long time.

This sort of feeling was extremely familiar to Lin Ming; it even touched him a little.

After so many years he had finally picked up the inscription arts that he had left behind so long ago.

The days when Lin Ming was an inscription master were one of the most important sections of his road of martial arts. The inscription technique had been with him through these most difficult years when he first started learning martial arts.

He was even glad that because of the Nine Stars of the Dao Palace, he could pick up the inscription technique he had put down. This sort of feeling was similar to recalling the times of his youth. During those years, Lin Ming completed the most important transformation of his life. It was a time that he would never be able to forget…