novelraw Chapter 230-3: The Shikigami Lion’s Brute Might, Onmyo Arts Fall Into My Grasp (3)
Chapter 230-3: The Shikigami Lion’s Brute Might, Onmyo Arts Fall Into My Grasp (3)
[The onmyoji art for subduing shikigami was in this first ancient tome, titled Onmyo Art: Exorcism Decree.]
[Once you mastered this skill, you could first use a containment artifact to suppress the shikigami, then erase its consciousness, and finally perform the Exorcism Decree to bind it as your own.]
[All yokai are considered ‘demonic remnants.’ The foreign mage must remember to erase their minds in this step, lest you suffer a shikigami’s backlash.]
[The second tome was precisely the talismanic incantation you had just witnessed, the one that overdraws a shikigami’s life force for a brief burst of power, called Onmyo Talisman: Filth Purification Rebirth.]
[Using this art allows you to awaken the shikigami’s primal vitality and make it unimaginably strong for a short time.]
[However, it also carries a steep price: after depleting its essence, the shikigami is certain to die, and recovering it will take double the usual nurturing period…]
As the Vice Palace Master explained, Lin Xun gained a much clearer understanding of the onmyoji profession.
Aside from being somewhat lacking in offensive power themselves, onmyoji were essentially all-purpose summoners.
They possessed all sorts of buffs to empower their summons, as well as protective barrier arts to defend themselves.
But among the books on the table, he did not see the Absolute Barrier of the Ten Directions.It seemed this old crone still kept a secret trump card hidden away and was not revealing everything in good faith.
[You also shared the principles of your own techniques: drawing power from the void’s stars and channeling the knowledge stored in tomes, transforming it into starlight or characters to unleash immense force…]
[The Vice Palace Master exchanged insights with you in depth, gaining much from your discussion…]
[Just when you thought she might hand over all the skill tomes on the desk, she shook her head…]
[She stated bluntly that mere verbal explanation could not convey even a thousandth of a technique’s true essence, only written records could be studied carefully enough to comprehend their secrets.]
[Would you like to trade skill book items to exchange with the Vice Palace Master?]
“Uh… can’t we just talk about it? Do I really have to pay up for real?”
Lin Xun froze awkwardly for a moment.
Well, it made sense. In this cursed game, there was no way you’d be allowed to exploit a loophole, sweet-talking your way into a pile of skill books with nothing but empty words.
That kind of exchange definitely didn’t fit this game’s usual style.
[Seeing your hesitation, the Fire-Worshipping Vice Palace Master clenched her teeth and decisively declared that, considering your outstanding performance in the Shikigami Ritual, you would now be allowed to trade one skill to receive two tomes.]
[However, the two techniques you received would have to be of the same tier (quality)!]
Lin Xun fell into a long, speechless silence.
If he weren’t deep in enemy territory, and if the Vice Palace Master didn’t have that powerful Karasu Tengu right beside her, he would have long since started the old ‘kill and loot’ routine without the slightest hesitation.
Thinking it over, even ordinary upper-ranked onmyoji had three shikigami. This Vice Palace Master surely had more, possibly many more.
Only one Karasu Tengu had shown itself so far, but who knew how many other boss-tier shikigami were hidden away?
Granted, an onmyoji couldn’t fully unleash a shikigami’s power when controlling several at once.
But don’t forget, the Karasu Tengu he encountered beneath the Otaki Estate had not even been in peak condition.
Starting a fight with the Vice Palace Master right now was basically asking to lose soul strength for nothing.
“Damn… if I had a high-level assassin shell, I’d wait until you, you brittle old hen, fell asleep, then sneak in and butcher you in your bed, taking both your body and all these books…”
Lin Xun muttered helplessly under his breath as he rummaged through his inventory.
After searching for quite a while, he actually found a skill book.
[Knowledge Skill Scroll (Epic+ Grade Item): A sheet of yellowed parchment etched with mysterious characters that flicker with pure white light. By using this item, you will comprehend the powerful skill Knowledge Barrier!]
This skill scroll had been stolen from the Multivision President’s office.
Later, since the Direct Vision President also possessed Knowledge Barrier at Epic+ grade, Lin Xun had forgotten about this scroll, and it had been gathering dust in his inventory ever since.
His storage was cluttered with so much junk that it was no surprise a little skill book got buried and forgotten.
“Ugh… after playing too many trash-collecting games, this hoarding habit is impossible to shake.”
[You took out the Knowledge Skill Scroll. The yellowed parchment was covered in dense script, immediately catching the Vice Palace Master’s gaze.]
[Those glowing runes pinned her eyes in place, as if welded there. For a long while, she didn’t so much as blink.]
[…]
[The Fire-Worshipping Vice Palace Master stared at the parchment for ages before finally sighing in awe, “To think such miraculous arts exist in this world… I must have wasted my hundred-odd years of life.”]
Lin Xun wasn’t worried she’d simply memorize the scroll on sight, this cursed game’s system clearly required you to consume the skill book to actually learn it.
[After marveling for quite some time, the Vice Palace Master finally returned to her senses. She gestured at the row of tomes on the desk and asked which two techniques the foreign mage wished to exchange for.]
An Epic+ skill was, of course, worth swapping for books of the same grade, getting two for the price of one wasn’t too bad a deal.
Even if he later killed the Vice Palace Master to claim her body, these top-tier skills could be traded to the organization for other resources, it was impossible to lose out either way.
Among the tomes she’d laid out, there were only two Epic+ skills in total: the shikigami-binding art Onmyo Art: Exorcism Decree and the magic shield art Barrier Formation: Void Domain.
He already had Knowledge Barrier for defense, so it would be better to swap out the barrier art for more buff talismans for shikigami, like that technique that overdraws a summon’s life force.
But… Lin Xun simply felt something about it was off!
If this old woman were just an NPC merchant, he’d have traded without a second thought.
But she was an enemy, his mortal foe. Trading skills with her felt like arming the enemy!
“This time, no matter what, I’m going to find a way to get it all for free!”
He pondered for ages, still unable to think of a solution.
The Vice Palace Master was already growing impatient, assuming he simply couldn’t decide which techniques to pick.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. Lin Xun slapped his thigh hard.
“How could I have forgotten that?!”
In Thousand Orchid City, there wasn’t just Iya Palace, there was also the No-Illusions Shrine he had been searching for all this time.
Word was that a certain ninja master was planning to rescue his beloved disciple from there.
Lin Xun’s eyes gleamed as a plan began to take shape…