A Chaotic World

Chapter 75: Art of Inscriptions

"Greetings to Inscription Master Nanbai," Nanqing Haowen and Lu Tianzi rose from their seats to greet the elder.

After all, even though they were from a stronger influence, they were still members of the young generation.

This Inscription Master Nanbai was not only a respected inscription master, but he was also part of the older generation and could be considered an elder figure to them.

But the most important factor of all was that Inscription Master Nanbai had a cultivation level at the Origin Core realm!

Even in the Nine Suns Sect, only the elders possessed such a cultivation level. So the duo naturally had to show their respect towards this person before them.

"Mm," Inscription Master Nanbai nodded his head in acknowledgement and took his seat before gesturing for the duo to do the same. "I heard from Manager Nanhei that you want a medicinal inscription placed on a Darkwater Grape?"

"Here it is," Nanqing Haowen placed the jade box on the table and opened it to reveal the black fruit within.

Inscription Master Nanbai examined the fruit for a moment before nodding his head, "The Darkwater Grape contains properties that tend towards the extreme Yin, so the Thousand Winters Inscription should be the most suitable one to further augment the medicinal effect of the plant. The cost of the materials for the Thousand Winters Inscription will be five low ranked beast cores, so just pay fifteen low ranked beast cores and I will place the inscription for you."

Nanqing Haowen nodded and promptly brought out fifteen small pearls as requested, but Lu Tianzi who sat by his side was absolutely shocked!

These fifteen small pearls were all similar to the dull white beast cores that he had consumed the night before during cultivation. After a day of hard work at the Beast Hunt, Lu Tianzi had only managed to obtain three of them, yet Nanqing Haowen was throwing out fifteen of them in one go?

What was this extravagance?!

Furthermore, the materials cost five low ranked beast cores, yet the cost of the inscription was fifteen?

Just the fact that Inscription Master Nanbai could blatantly say this out was sufficient to make Lu Tianzi marvel at his shamelessness.

Yet this situation seemed completely normal to Nanqing Haowen as he paid up without a second thought.

So this was how inscription masters were able to gather wealth easily!

But through this, Lu Tianzi also managed to learn that in the world of martial artists, gold and silver was no longer the effective currency.

In the eyes of martial artists, cultivation resources were all that mattered. That was why this transaction was being carried out in terms of beast cores rather than in gold.

Thinking of this, Lu Tianzi could not help but curse in his heart.

Why was it that the demon martial artists whom he had killed previously did not have any of these beast cores in their possession?

Was it common practice not to bring money along with them when they leave the fortress?

How unlucky!

"Very well," Inscription Master Nanbai nodded as he collected the beast cores, completely oblivious to Lu Tianzi's thoughts. "I will proceed with the placement of the inscription. You can return after two hours."

"I understand," Nanqing Haowen stood up to leave.

"Eh? Are we going to leave just like that?" Lu Tianzi exclaimed in surprise. "Why don't we stay here until the inscription is done? I am quite curious about the inscription process after all."

Hearing that, Inscription Master Nanbai immediately frowned.

"I'm sorry, Inscription Master Nanbai. My junior here is a little ignorant of the ways of the world, so please do not take his words to heart," Nanqing Haowen let out an embarrassed smile as he apologised to the elder before turning back to Lu Tianzi. "The inscription techniques of each inscription master contain their secrets as well as personal understandings of the art of inscriptions. They naturally prefer not to reveal such matters to others."

"Oh," Lu Tianzi understood immediately as he turned back towards Inscription Master Nanbai. "My apologies."

"Don't worry about it," Inscription Master Nanbai shook his head, his frown easing significantly. "Actually, since you seem to be new to the world of inscriptions, why not read up a little on the subject while you wait? My Heaven Constellations Inscription Tower has a wide range of information available for aspiring inscription masters to peruse freely. Though you have no prior knowledge and thus will not be able to understand most of it, you will at least be able to get a feel of what the art of inscriptions entail."

"I would love to do so if Inscription Master Nanbai doesn't mind," Lu Tianzi answered in excitement.

This was a rare chance for him to learn more about this entirely new occupation!

From what Lu Tianzi had seen so far, this inscription master occupation seemed to be closely tied to that of herbalism. Being able to improve the efficacy of herbs would only increase the number of cards at his disposal, allowing him to overcome future obstacles with greater ease.

And not to mention that the more he learnt, the easier it would be for him to integrate into the demon society!

"It seems Brother Nanlu is truly quite curious about the art of inscriptions," Nanqing Haowen laughed helplessly. "We will be taking our leave then."

"It is not a bad thing to crave for knowledge. Just head on upstairs to level three where the open library is located. There, you will be able to access the resources I mentioned," Inscription Master Nanbai sent the duo off with his eyes.

Nanqing Haowen led the way as he brought Lu Tianzi to the third level.

The former had once aspired to become an inscription master himself, and had come over to access the open library during that time. Thus, he was still quite familiar with the place.

But even though it was termed as an open library, it was actually only open to selected people who were recognised by the Heaven Constellations Inscription Tower.

Otherwise, the library would have been flooded with people who were simply curious about the subject and wanted to take a look.

In other words, people just like Lu Tianzi.

However, there were two main points that differentiated Lu Tianzi from the rest.

Firstly, he was from the Nine Suns Sect.

Secondly, he was a customer at the Heaven Constellations Inscription Tower.

Or at least he was fortunate enough to be together with Nanqing Haowen who fulfilled the above two criteria.

The open library was unlike any other libraries that Lu Tianzi had ever seen.

Instead of being lined with bookshelves, there were only multiple wooden boards set up across the room. Hung on each wooden board were jades slips, each of them right below a small tag that detailed the sort of information stored within.

Thanks to his master Xihuang Yuanfeng, Lu Tianzi was no stranger to these jade slips.

He immediately stepped forward and sank his perception into the first jade slip he saw, not even bothering to read the tag that detailed the contents within the jade slip.

After all, Lu Tianzi knew next to nothing about the art of inscriptions. Even if he did read the tags, he would still be just as clueless.

Since that was so, why not just directly dive into the sea of information?

As he expected, the information stored within the jade slip introduced the very basics of the art of inscriptions.

There were three main types of inscriptions.

They were namely weapon inscription, material inscription, and the medicinal inscription that Nanqing Haowen had wanted for his Darkwater Grape.

By placing an inscription on a weapon, the might of the user could be amplified multiple times when wielding it in battle.

By placing an inscription on a material, the properties of the material could be altered, and even making metal become twice as hard as before was not out of the question.

By placing an inscription on medicinal herbs, the efficacy of the herb could soar to the heavens, providing an effect that was impossible to replicate.

However, each complete inscription was actually a combination of countless inscription runes, all of which had to be completed in one go.

Drawing up each inscription rune required large amounts of energy, and combining them into the form of a complete inscription required impeccable control.

After the successful combination of the inscription runes into a complete form, there was still the final step of placing the inscription onto the target item. This step could be considered the easiest, yet many still failed at doing so due to an overly eager heart.

All in all, there were tens of thousands of these inscription runes that formed the basic building blocks of inscriptions.

Inscription masters were required to know exactly which inscription runes to draw in order to form the complete inscription that they wanted. Similarly, they needed in-depth knowledge of the traits of each completed inscription, so as to understand which one would be the most suitable in each situation.

This was how Inscription Master Nanbai managed to quickly determine that the Thousand Winters Inscription was ideal for the current situation as well.

That being said, the number of complete inscription forms was countless, and it was simply impossible to remember them all.

Thus, most inscription masters only stuck to a selected few inscriptions, making sure that they were sufficiently proficient in them.

In fact, through their own accumulated understandings and insights, many accomplished inscription masters were able to invent their own completed inscription forms, achieving effects that others could only dream of.

With focus equivalent to when he was perusing books on herbalism, Lu Tianzi dived completely into the world of inscriptions.

Nanqing Haowen looked from the side with a helpless smile, reminiscing over the times when he was just as passionate about the art of inscriptions.

Being in his early twenties, he was not much older than Lu Tianzi. However, he had already determined that he had no talent in the art of inscriptions, and thus had completely given up on becoming an inscription master.

Seeing how focused Lu Tianzi was, Nanqing Haowen let out a sigh before sitting down in meditation.

Two hours passed quickly.

Nanqing Haowen opened his eyes only to see Lu Tianzi still fully engrossed in the jade slips.

Even though Lu Tianzi had a powerful perception and was already going through the information at a terrifying pace, each jade slip simply contained far too much information. Even after two hours, Lu Tianzi was still only on his third jade slip.

At this point, Lu Tianzi opened his eyes as well.

He was yet to be done with the third jade slip, but he had retained a sliver of his consciousness on tracking the time, and knew just as well that time was up.

Over the past two hours, Lu Tianzi's understanding of the art of inscriptions had skyrocketed from zero.

As he read on, Lu Tianzi realised that just like the field of herbalism, the art of inscriptions was far deeper than what it seemed to be on the surface.

Thus unlike what most others would do, Lu Tianzi did not simply accept the facts that were contained in the jade slips. Instead, he sought to understand the intricacies and rules that governed these facts, finding out how these facts came to be in the first place.

As a result of that, he had to spend a longer time digesting the information within the jade slips, but this was not done in vain. Thanks to his different method of approach, Lu Tianzi formed a far stronger understanding of the subject and even managed to glean some deep insights into the art of inscriptions.

The current Lu Tianzi had already far exceeded the level of a beginner, and was fast approaching that of a proper inscription master!

Having to stop while he was only halfway done, Lu Tianzi was filled with a sense of unwillingness.

If he was given the time to finish perusing the entire open library, how much more would he be able to learn about the subject?

"Let's go, Brother Nanlu," Nanqing Haowen laughed as he saw the reluctant look on Lu Tianzi's face. "There is always a chance to return here in the future."

"Brother Nanqing is right. Let's go," Lu Tianzi nodded before following Nanqing Haowen back to the private room.

Back in the room, Inscription Master Nanbai sat comfortably in his seat with the jadebox placed before him. Seeing that the duo had returned, he gave a slight nod before glancing at the jadebox.

"See if you are satisfied with it," Inscription Master Nanbai spoke with an air of confidence.

"Since Inscription Master Nanbai is the one who worked on it, I am sure that I will be satisfied with the product," Nanqing Haowen laughed as he picked up the jadebox. "Now, it is only a matter of either being pleasantly surprised, or being even more pleasantly surprised!"

Nanqing Haowen opened the jade box to reveal the black fruit within.

It looked exactly the same as before, only that there was now a small blue symbol on the fruit, displaying the form of the Thousand Winters Inscription.

After the placement of the Thousand Winters Inscription, the sweet fragrance from the Darkwater Grape was now even stronger than before.

"As expected of Inscription Master Nanbai, this is perfect!" Nanqing Haowen exclaimed in satisfaction.

"It is good that you are happy with it," Inscription Master Nanbai's tone carried a tinge of pride. "If there is nothing else, then I wish you a safe trip back."

Nanqing Haowen kept the jade box in his spatial ring and was just about to bid his farewells when Lu Tianzi suddenly spoke out.

"Inscription Master Nanbai, I have something that I don't understand," Lu Tianzi said.

"What is it?" Inscription Master Nanbai gave a wave of his hand, as though giving Lu Tianzi permission to continue with his question.

Having obtained the permission to continue, Lu Tianzi naturally went ahead with his question.

"Why did Inscription Master Nanbai decide to place the Thousand Winters Inscription on the Darkwater Grape when, no matter how I look at it, the Dual Stars Inscription seems to be the better option in this case?"

Inscription Master Nanbai's amiable expression vanished in an instant as he glared at Lu Tianzi, "Are you doubting my expertise as an inscription master right now?"