Chapter 1548 – Broken Jade
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After entering the Divine Runic Masters Guild, the medicinal fragrance was much richer. If an ordinary pill were placed in the Divine Runic Masters Guild for a long time, then it would soak in the medicinal fragrance and become a medicinal pill. If a mortal were to breathe in this fragrance then their mind would become sharper and they would become the number one scholar of their country. If a martial artist lived here year round it would also be beneficial to their cultivation.
The grounds of the Divine Runic Masters Guild, their walls, their stone tables and stone benches, and even their eating utensils were engraved with runes. These runes not only served decorative purposes but they were themselves array formations that could do various things such as gathering origin energy or strengthening the use of tools.
“Miss Yue, I saw some people lining up outside the Divine Runic Masters Guild waiting for some test, just what are they testing?” Lin Ming asked as he followed behind Yue Liuxing.
“It seems that the Divine Runic Masters Guild is looking to recruit guards. Those people have all come to apply.” Yue Liuxing casually said. Lin Ming was dumbfounded upon hearing this. Just for recruiting guards, so many people had come, and these people were all outstanding young elites!
However, upon thinking about it further, this was also within reason. Not only was it easy to come into contact with great individuals within the Divine Runic Masters Guild, but one could also obtain high wages. Just the medicinal fragrance within the Divine Rune Pagoda would be greatly beneficial to their cultivation if they could inhale it daily.
Lin Ming continued following Yue Liuxing through a number of winding corridors until they reached a broad hall.
Within this grand hall, there were several neatly arranged rows of blue stone counters. These counters all had various alchemy and inscription tools on them.
Standing behind some of these counters were young martial artists. These martial artists wore robes and were clearly busying themselves with working at the counters. A few old men sat on the sidelines, judging their work while they sipped on some tea and also occasionally gave pointers. It was clear that they were guiding their apprentices.
“Sir Lin, take a look. The one in a black and white robe is a divine runic master and the one in a blue and red robe is an alchemist. The badges on their chest represent their grade; the more stripes there are, the higher their grade is.
In Divine Rune City, alchemists and divine runic masters were separate. Although there were a massive number of alchemists in the Divine Runic Masters Guild, the reason that this organization was named by its divine runic masters was because their status was higher than alchemists’!
Lin Ming watched with his own eyes as a disciple completed a divine runic symbol and then placed it on a rock. The divine runic symbol immediately melted into the rock, fusing with it.
Then, this hard rock shimmered with a brilliant light. After the light died down, it still glowed with a golden light, because it had actually turned into gold!
This was truly turning stone into gold!
Turning stone into gold was an immortal skill that mortals dreamed of. However, this was a useless ability to martial artists, because to them, gold was no different from iron.
But, if someone were to tell Lin Ming to turn stone into gold just by touching it then that wouldn’t be something he could do.
Let alone Lin Ming, not even a Great World King could do this. In order to accomplish this miracle, one needed to be at least an Empyrean!
This was because turning stone into gold involved changing the structure of matter, something that was part of the Heavenly Dao Laws. In truth, changing the structure of matter was violating the Heavenly Dao Laws. Although it wasn’t the same as rebelling against the heavens, it was similar. If one wasn’t an Empyrean or hadn’t crossed heavenly tribulation then it was impossible to do this.
But in front of Lin Ming, a simple divine runic art had accomplished this. This was because in the Asura Road, divine runic arts represented the Heavenly Dao, the will of god. Because of this, people changed this skill from inscription technique to the divine runic arts.
After witnessing a divine runic master turn stone into gold, Lin Ming saw another divine runic master place a divine runic symbol into a basin of water. This water became increasingly thick, and before long, it had turned into oil.
And, what startled Lin Ming the most was a middle-aged divine runic master with three stripes on his badge placing a divine runic symbol on a frog. This frog then transformed into a mouse!
Although this wasn’t particularly useful to a martial artist, this was actually an extraordinary ability!
For a single divine runic symbol to turn stone into gold, turn water into oil, and even change the shape of a life form and turn a frog into a mouse, this was almost the same as the divine ability of creation!
“The legendary Asura Road is said to be created by the Asura Road Master. But, the title of the Asura Road Master is not a True Divinity, but the Creator. The Asura Sutra that he created is the cultivation method to control the power of divine creation and create an entire world. If one mastered the Asura Sutra, then it might really be possible to create an entirely new world. Unfortunately, I understand far too little about the Asura Sutra.”
Lin Ming sighed deeply. He was far too young, with less than 60 years of cultivation. There was a long road ahead of him.
“If one reached the highest levels of the divine runic arts, could one change grass into peak heavenly materials? Or change stones into nine sun jades? If so, then to an eighth or ninth grade divine runic master, wealth has no meaning at all.”
Of course, Lin Ming was just thinking about this. He didn’t doubt that wanting to transform something into top medicinal materials would require an absurdly high grade of divine runic symbol; it wouldn’t be easy at all to draw up.
As Lin Ming was thinking, he soon saw another divine runic master place a divine runic symbol onto a hoe. This hoe was an ordinary hoe used by mortal farmers on their farm; it was indeed stained with rust and time. But after this divine runic symbol was placed on it, the entire hoe shined with a divine light. Although its shape didn’t change, the quality of this hoe had directly climbed up to a low-grade saint artifact!
The rust fell off, revealing a pitch black edge that shined with a cold light. Even the handle gained a strange elasticity that allowed one to bend it like a moon, and one could even use it to save strength and shatter a pillar of divine steel. In Lin Ming’s eyes, this handle would make an excellent spear shaft.
“This is truly heaven-defying!”
As Lin Ming sighed with praise, he also understood that divine runic arts were limited to the Asura Road. Once one left the Asura Road, it would be impossible to use the divine runic arts because god runes did not exist outside of the Asura Road.
The only exception would be if one could thoroughly pass the final test of the Asura Road and control the Laws of the Asura Road for one’s own use, instead of simply following them.
Lin Ming could faintly feel that the Asura Road Master had in truth formed his own independent Heavenly Dao, and although this Heavenly Dao stood outside of the 33 Heavenly Daos, it still stood on equal footing with them!
To be able to create his own Heavenly Dao Laws, this sort of method was truly heart-shaking to hear!
Without a doubt, after one’s divine runic arts reached this level, even if there was a poor quality pill, if one were to place a high grade divine runic symbol on it, it would become something far more profound. This was not something that the medicinal inscription symbols that Lin Ming learnt before could hope to compare with.
After passing through this hall, Lin Ming and the others arrived at a side hall of the Divine Runic Masters guild.
This side hall was considerably large; it was the trade area of the Divine Runic Masters Guild.
This trade area was completely different from the square around Divine Rune Pagoda. In the Divine Rune Pagoda square, there were all sorts of sounds, cries and bargaining noises, just like a busy mortal market fair.
But here, everything was quiet. The stall vendors lazily sat in their chairs. They might have been meditating or resting, as if these stalls had nothing to do with them at all.
These vendors were all divine runic masters or alchemists of the Divine Runic Masters Guild!
Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian approached a stall. The stall vendor reluctantly opened one eye to sweep over Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian, then, he returned to meditating as if he hadn’t seen them at all.
This was because to the stall vendor, Lin Ming and Xiao Moxian didn’t resemble customers at all. They were as young as little babies, their cultivations weren’t high, and they weren’t divine runic masters or alchemists, so what could they possibly be doing here except taking a look? This stall vendor simply couldn’t be bothered with attending to these customers who were only interested in window shopping.
“What sort of service is this!” Xiao Moxian said, a bit indignantly. Ever since coming to the Divine Runic Masters Guild she had been continuously ignored.
First was that Luo Yubai who seemed to have his eyes on the top of his head. She wished that she could maliciously stomp on him as revenge.
Now it was this old geezer, sitting there motionlessly like he was some almighty Buddha; how could Xiao Moxian be happy with this?
“Hey you, how do we buy these medicines?”
Xiao Moxian pointed towards a withered yellow root that looked like a radish and asked about this common-looking herb. She asked about this medicinal herb because she could feel a rich heaven and earth origin energy emanating from it; it clearly wasn’t ordinary.
The divine runic master lazily opened an eye, glancing at Xiao Moxian from between the slits of his eyelids. He lightly said, “Your eyesight is alright, but you don’t even know the name of this medicinal herb. You aren’t a customer at all, but you’re simply curious about all of this. If you’re just going to waste my time, then don’t bother disturbing me.”
After being exposed by the divine runic master, Xiao Moxian squawked out loud, nearly choking on herself. Lin Ming smiled, saying, “Although we don’t understand the divine runic arts, buying good materials is always useful. I also intend to dabble in the divine runic arts in the future, so I ask Senior to kindly inform us of the price…”
With Lin Ming’s Divine Lord boundary cultivation, he was at the perfect time to begin learning the divine runic arts. But to this old divine runic master, Lin Ming clearly didn’t have any chance of learning anything because he was a human.
He looked at Lin Ming with an annoyed look, as if he didn’t want Lin Ming to continue bothering him. Then, he directly listed off the names of several materials as well as the price of the medicinal herb.
This time, Lin Ming was left dumbfounded. He had never heard of these materials before, and according to the old man, he simply didn’t accept origin energy runes. Rather, he wanted to barter, the most primitive form of trade.
Realizing this, Lin Ming suddenly became aware. These vendors all held extremely high positions and didn’t lack nine sun jades or origin energy runes. What they lacked were materials and rare god runes, or superior top grade pill furnaces for alchemy, or even top grade pens for drawing up divine runic symbols.
Thus, these vendors were mostly interested in bartering. They had no interest in origin energy runes because there were things that couldn’t be purchased with origin energy runes.
Lin Ming was able to confirm that he couldn’t afford anything here. He hadn’t even heard of these materials before, so what was there to buy?
Lin Ming had no choice but to withdraw. The divine runic master sighed, giving off an expression that he had long expected this. Then, he closed his eyes and returned to his meditation. This caused Xiao Moxian to be even more disgruntled.
“Let’s go.” Lin Ming said. The reason he came to the Divine Runic Masters Guild was too see just what the divine runic arts were. Now that he had accomplished his goal, he could leave. All that remained was to learn the divine runic arts.
However, just as Lin Ming was about to leave, he suddenly stopped where he was, no longer leaving. His eyes locked onto a table covered with random objects in front of the old divine runic master. Among these random items was a common-looking piece of broken jade, but as Lin Ming saw this jade, he was shocked!