Chapter - 25
Blue Cloud City - Zhongyuan Street
Long Chen walked into a vast building, his face full of anticipation. The building looked brightly lit and spacious and...
... exactly like a mall.
He had sent away Huian and the two little girls.
'Maybe I should have asked around first.' Long Chen thought and glanced at the guard standing near the entrance.
"Excuse me. Where should I buy talisman tools?"
The guard was stunned for a moment and pointed towards a door adorned with various runes. Just looking at this door gave him an extremely comfortable feeling.
Long Chen nodded, and as he entered through the door, a brilliant light flashed in front of his eyes. When the surrounding lights receded, he saw a very comfortable hall. It was a massive formation with runes engraved everywhere. They were all interconnected with glittering lines of multiple colours like a net.
A massive table in the hall's centre and the cabinets were placed alongside the walls.
He saw an old man sitting on a comfortable chair across the table with his eyes closed.
Many guests in the shop, seeing Long Chen, were stunned. They had a strange look on their faces and began to whisper.
"Isn't that Long Chen? Where did he get the courage to step in here?"
"Hehe, he's just useless trash. Maybe he doesn't know who owns this shop."
"Brother, I am new to this city. Did you say he is from the Long clan? Why are you talking about him?"
"Pfft. Brother, let me enlighten you on this..."
Long Chen listened to this sarcasm and frowned. Don't these people have anything better to do than gossip?
He looked at the crowd and roared, "The fuck are you looking at, you damn assholes. Say one more word and watch how I'll tear your tendons and sew your shitty mouths."
The crowd turned silent. Except, the out of city person asked the person next to him in a low voice.
"Brother, what's going on here? Why is he cursing at us?"
"Shut up, who knows. I have been commenting like this for so many years. People usually ignore us. Who knew why this guy threatened us like this?"
However, one man in a purple robe who looked like a young master of an aristocratic family slowly walked up to Long Chen, staring at him.
"Haha, so it's Long Chen? I haven't seen you for a while. I was really starting to worry." The purple-robed man laughed.
Long Chen looked at this man and smiled.
Wang Chunan was the friend who invited Long Chen for a tea session when he entered the Chen clan. He is related to the Wang family in the city. He is Wang XiaoXiao's cousin and long time friend of Long Chen One.
"Here I was wondering what you bastard was up to these days", Long Chen coldly asked.
"Oh, Brother Long. I'm so sorry. I'm a very busy person and didn't get a chance to meet you recently." Wang Chunan displayed an exaggerated surprise.
Long Chen just nodded and walked towards the counter. He had used Wang Chunan's name for faking all over anyway.
The servant saw him and, with a bow, asked respectfully, "Young Master Long, what do you want to buy?"
Although he heard the rumours outside, he wasn't stupid enough to not know who should be offended and who can't. A minor character like him can't afford to provoke any of the clans in this city.
"Here's the list." Long Chen took out a paper.
The servant looked at it and said, "Sir, we have this in our inventory. Some of these are all materials to produce spirit ink. We also have spirit ink available. Would you like to purchase that?"
Long Chen thought for a moment and said, "Of course. Give me all the materials, including the ink."
"Yes, just a moment, please!" The servant nodded.
"Show me the list." Suddenly, Wang Chunan grabbed the paper and looked at it carefully. Then, he gave a sarcastic look at Long Chen and remarked, "What's a useless man like you buying talisman materials?"
Long Chen simply glimpsed at him, "Are you paying?"
"Of course not."
"Then, mind your own fucking business. Stop bothering me and go play somewhere else... Shoo... Shoo..."
The people in the shop could not help but snicker.
Wang Chunan was angry when he heard Long Chen's reply. Didn't this trash always call him Big Brother and follow him?
"Oh, how can it be none of my business? Why waste natural resources on garbage?" Wang Chunan chortled.
"Is something wrong with your head? This is a shop, and as long as I have money, I can buy anything I want. So why are you acting like a 2 chapter Villain forcing yourself into this situation?" Long Chen doubted.
The old man sitting in a cross-legged position, who never once spoke, asked in a neutral tone, "Child, are you a talisman master?"
Long Chen at first thought this old man was just a shopkeeper. Still, he maintained politeness in his reply, "Elder, not yet. I am studying to be one."
"You? haha." Wang Chunan laughed sarcastically.
The old man ignored Wang Chunan's remarks but continued questioning Long Chen, "Do you have any experience in inscriptions?"
What's with all these questions? Just take my money and give me what I asked for.
The old man seemingly understood Long Chen's expressions and replied, "Child, don't misunderstand. The materials on your list are mid-grade. So if you are a beginner, it's better to buy lower grade."
"System, Is what he said true?"
"Host, the materials on the list are the worst in the database. How would the system know there's something even worse?"
Long Chen gladly responded to the old man, "Thank you for your advice, Elder. Please give me a set of both."
The old man nodded and closed his eyes in meditation.
Wang Chunan was already feeling awkward when he immediately thought of something. He screamed at the servant, "You there? Bring me everything on this list. The entire stock you have."
The servant was really in a fix. He glanced at the Elder and said in a low tone, "Young Master Long, I apologize. But, unfortunately, we don't have this in our inventory anymore."
Long Chen didn't say anything but simply walked away. He swore to beat this Wang Chunan till he cries for this mother.
"Wait." Wang Chunan, seeing that Long Chen was leaving, yelled, "Long Chen, do you dare to bet with me?"
Long Chen sighed. What an annoying prick?
"What bet?"
"If you show us that you can inscribe, then I will give all these items to you for free. Do you dare?"
Wang Chunan knew Long Chen was utterly useless. If he could humiliate him in public, wouldn't Big Brother Wang Mu thank him for it?
Long Chen stopped and asked in a disbelieving tone, "Are you for real?"
"Of course. But do you have the courage to make a bet? " Wang Chunan continued to agitate.
"Good" Long Chen felt happy. If this fool is willing to buy, let's add more to the list.
"And you have to do it in front of everyone here." Wang Chunan added.
Looking at the whispering crowd, Wang Chunan felt flattered and thought that his performance had won the favour of the entire people. He immediately raised his head proudly. Then, he pointed at the servant to bring a set of materials.
Long Chen concentrated on the rune symbols stored in his mind. There were 1008 rune symbols in total, and the way these runes were placed was in the order of complexity. The first few had just a few strokes, and by the time he reached the end, a single rune contained at least hundreds of strokes. Even looking at these made him feely dizzy.
Neatly arranged paper, brush and ink on the table, and he pondered over it. Then, he thought to himself, 'I've read the entire book, and there were hundred elemental runes. According to the manual, the more complex and elegant the etching of runes, the stronger it is.'
What startled Long Chen was that some looked like it was devised to prank out of all these runes. He selected one and chuckled in his heart.
Long Chen concentrated on the technique that has been presented by the system. Though the system called it just 'basic', he was doubtful.
According to this technique, inscribers used soul power instead of Qi. Soul power is one of the most mysterious energy in this world and is much stronger than Qi. Compared to a continuous supply of Qi needed while inscribing patterns, as long as one condense soul power from mental energy, only one strand of soul power is necessary for the same task. The manual also included soul power techniques and skills to improve or recover the mental strength lost.
Long Chen closed his eyes and fermented his sense. Then, opening his eyes and grimacing, he focused his mind, controlling his mental energy to enter the brush. After practising several times, he could now roughly condense the soul power. A moment later, he tightly gripped the inscription brush. A ray of transparent light leaked out from the tip of the brush.
The old man suddenly opened his eyes with a surprised face thought, "Soul power? Impressive little brat."
Long Chen looked at the specific rune and thought, 'These look easy peasy; how hard can it be to draw these runes on paper.' So he dripped the brush in the ink bottle and placed it on the paper slowly...
Only a few seconds passed while he shouted in his mind,
'Damn motherfuckers, hundreds and thousands of years of civilization, can't these dumb cultivators invent a fucking pen?'
Xie Ling'er, it's all on you now.
All kinds of eyes were focused on Long Chen. Some disdaining, mocking or gloating.
"Wow! Can he really do it?"
"Rubbish! No one in this city has ever heard this fellow doing anything worthwhile."
The people in the shop started chitchatting. Then, moments later, recalling Long Chen's threat, they shut their mouths.
Wang Chunan laughed. He was waiting for Long Chen to make a fool out of himself.
However, as time passed quickly, Long Chen didn't have the slightest reaction. He only took the inscribed paper and showed it to Wang Chunan with a smile, "Anything else?"
"What? How do we know your talisman works?" Wang Chunan sneered.
"Oh?" Long Chen threw the paper at Wang Chunan and waited.
A few minutes passed, but nothing transpired. Wang Chunan chortled loudly, but moments later, his face turned green.
'FFFRRRR'
"Help me with the packing." Long Chen spoke to the servant with a smile.
The servant had already seen the hint. His attitude became more respectful. He quickly went to pack everything.
At this time, the whole crowd went silent except Wang Chunan.
'FFFFFRRRRRRR'
Long Chen pitied Wang Chunan's followers, standing right behind him. What's worse than a smelly fart thrown right at your face? But, unfortunately, it's a cultivator's smelly fart.
Wang Chunan turned frantic. He had thoroughly lost face today.
He would become a butt of jokes hereafter.
"Long Chen, don't you know who I am? Aren't you afraid of offending the Wang clan? My brother will never let you off once he hears what you have done."
"One."
'FFFFFFFFRRRRRRRRRR'
"Resolve this now. If not, in the time of an incense stick takes to burn, you will know what it means to court death."
"Two."
'FFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR'
"Long Chen, Do you think you will be safe from here on. You should know the immensity of heaven and earth."
"Wang Chunan, have you seen Mt. Tai?"
"..."
'FFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR'
"I have read and seen a lot. But this is the first I heard one person saying so many cliches in sequence."
'FFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFFFFFRFFFRFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR'
'FFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFFFFFRFFFRFFFFFFFFFRFFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRFFFFRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR'