novelraw Chapter 246-2: Legendary Shell, Return to Youth (2)
Chapter 246-2: Legendary Shell, Return to Youth (2)
While traveling, he took the chance to open his inventory and examine his loot.
The Faint Spirit Essence of Profound Unfathomability alone was worth three hundred thousand, a huge sum. Adding the two hundred thousand Spirit Essence dropped by the Vice Palace Master, his total savings had just broken the one million mark.
A million Spirit Essence was nearly enough to buy a lower-tier Legendary armor piece, but for Lin Xun, who still carried two million in debt, this was only halfway along the road to paying it off.
[Exorcising Purification Wand (Epic+ Weapon): A short staff of sacred sakura wood strung with red cords for exorcism. At the top of the red cord is a golden demon-subduing bell, and at the end, a white talisman made of snow paper.]
[While wielding this weapon, all Onmyo Arts-type skills are greatly enhanced.]
This weapon was likely part of the Palace Master’s set, only dropped because Lin Xun had looted it by accident.
He put the weapon back into the Palace Master’s equipment slot and turned to the next piece of loot.
[Brilliant Killing Stone (Legendary Item): An oily black stone, smooth and faintly luminous. On close inspection, you can see fine blood-red threads like capillaries under the surface. Using this item, along with the proper skill, you can suppress and subdue yokai-type summons.]
Lin Xun still had an Epic-grade Rough Killing Stone in his pocket. Both were Suppression Relics, essential tools for subduing yokai shikigami.
From what he’d learned earlier, the relic’s grade had to match the yokai’s strength for the subjugation to succeed.He recalled what the Librarian had hinted, that the Kyoto Imperial Palace likely held clues about several top-ranked yokai.
This Legendary-quality Brilliant Killing Stone would definitely have to be reserved for those powerful creatures.
[Hundred Yin Kuei Water Vessel (Special Item): A vile container forged by the Palace Master of Iya Palace, using the yin essence of over a hundred virgins, refined for the purpose of personal consumption, coupled with certain sinister onmyo arts to ‘restore youth.’]
[According to folk belief, menstrual blood is supremely impure. Even a sacred incense spirit, if touched by it, will be tainted.]
[Using this item will corrupt a certain amount of incense power, rendering it useless.]
Lin Xun frowned as he read the description.
What did ‘corrupt incense power’ mean?
Only incense burners and offerings produced incense power, so why would anyone want to destroy it?
He thought about it for a long time but still couldn’t figure it out, so he simply put the item away for now.
[Letter from the Daimyo Ogiwara Clan (Document)]
[…]
[Genichi.]
[I should not have doubted the effects of your onmyo arts. I was too stubborn before.]
[Thanks to your spells, these past few days I have clearly felt my body growing younger.]
[In only a few days, I can already see the wrinkles on my face fading in the mirror, my white hair slowly darkening.]
[I never believed such miraculous arts existed, but the facts have proven I was wrong.]
[I am very sorry for my previous doubts. As an apology, I have already sent people to gather over a hundred ‘ritual materials,’ and I await you at the Tenshukaku.]
[I remember you saying that the great barrier around the Tenshukaku was set up by the Shogun’s men and is not truly secure. At the time, I laughed it off, but now, I believe you.]
[Genichi, please come to the Tenshukaku as soon as you can to reestablish the barrier for me… Oh, and don’t forget to bring the ritual implements needed to perform the ‘Return to Youth’ spell.]
[…]
And the last item was the key to enter the barrier.
[Tenshukaku Barrier Talisman (Key): A hefty golden talisman engraved with blood-colored tadpole-script runes. This is the key to enter a large-scale barrier.]
[While holding this item, you can freely enter the Absolute Barrier Seal of the Ten Directions at the Tenshukaku in Thousand Orchid City. If used within the barrier, it will also release the seal.]
“Looks like the Palace Master of Iya Palace and the daimyo of Thousand Orchid City were pretty entangled.”
At first, Lin Xun had thought the Ninja Master’s claim that the Palace Master was colluding with local lords to rebel was just a smear tactic to rattle the Palace Master’s will during the fight.
But judging from this, the Ninja Master probably hadn’t just visited the No-Illusions Shrine after arriving in Thousand Orchid City…
“What would happen if I used the Palace Master’s shell to walk right into the Tenshukaku right now?”
For a moment, Lin Xun’s mind filled with all kinds of devious schemes.
Although he still didn’t know the exact location of the Tenshukaku, a landmark building like that could be found easily enough by making a few loops around the city.
While he had been sorting through the loot, the Chunin shell had already carried him far out into the wilderness beyond Thousand Orchid City.
It was deep in the night, perfectly quiet and deserted, a perfect time to test skills and subdue a yokai shikigami.
[You have possessed the shell of the Fire-Worshipping Palace Master of Iya Palace!]
Lin Xun casually tapped the skill Onmyo Talisman: Karmic Inferno Descent to see how powerful it was.
[To use this skill, you must create the corresponding talisman. You do not possess the required talisman!]
[Do you want to create a Karmic Inferno Descent talisman?]
[Materials required for the talisman: Yellow Talisman Paper x1, Demon-Repelling Cinnabar x1, Azure Ink x1, Black Crow Feather x2, Black Ox Horn Powder x2.]
[You may also expend a certain amount of Calamitous Fallen Karmic Fire to forcibly cast this skill.]
“…Huh?”
Lin Xun recalled that onmyoji really did have to pull out talismans, form seals, and chant incantations before casting spells.
Fortunately, the skill could still be forced through by burning Karmic Fire.
He decisively chose to forcibly activate the skill.
[Your Calamitous Fallen Karmic Fire stack is too low to forcibly cast this skill!]
A thought suddenly rose in Lin Xun’s heart.
‘Don’t tell me every onmyoji skill has this same limitation?’
He started trying out the other Palace Master skills…
He tapped Onmyo Talisman: United Resolve.
[To use this skill, you must create the corresponding talisman. You do not possess the required talisman!]
[Do you want to create a United Resolve talisman?]
[…]
[To use this skill, you must cre…]
[Do you want to create a Filth Purification Rebirth talisman?]
[…]
[Do you want to create an Absolute Barrier Seal of the Ten Directions talisman?]
By the end of his tests, the only skill that didn’t require a talisman to activate was the shikigami-subduing Onmyo Arts: Exorcism Decree.
All the others, Onmyo Talismans and Barrier Formations, required crafting talismans, and each skill demanded a different set of materials.
“Did I just pick up the most money-burning class in existence?”
With no Resting Page left to teleport back to the library…
Lin Xun could only open his laptop and start searching the Apostle Forum for information about the materials needed to craft talismans…