Chapter 3: Natural Runes (Part 2)

The massive rune base began to tremble, then gradually contracted as the handsome old man forced it to shrink. In moments, the rune base had been reduced to about a hundred meters in size. The handsome old man said happily, “Not bad, really not bad. As long as the compression is successful, this character… should be fine.”

Half an hour later, the entire rune base had shrunk to the size of a foot. The handsome old man waved his hand, and the character flew over, floating before everyone’s eyes.

It was an irregular rectangle, as if carved out of a rock wall. Its surface was smooth, and on its amber-colored, translucent body, there was a long natural rune. This natural rune wasn’t a flat character but three-dimensional, with a pale bluish-gray color.

Guo Shier observed it carefully for a while before saying, “Strange character. It doesn’t look like a rune at all. It’s more like tangled vines. Uncle Eagle Demon, can you tell what kind of rune this is?”

Eagle Demon stared at it for a long time before shaking his head. “I can’t recognize it. If you hadn’t told me it’s a rune, I’d think it’s just a pattern or something else.”

The handsome old man ignored Guo Shier and Eagle Demon’s words. He took out the Flame Sacrificial Treasure and said, “With this sacrificial treasure, I can proceed to the final step and directly refine it into a rune.”

Using the Flame Sacrificial Treasure to refine a character was somewhat underutilizing it, but since this was a natural rune, it was completely different. The handsome old man’s expression became serious, showing how much he valued this character.

A drop of the sacrificial treasure released a wisp of flame that instantly reached a meter in height. After casting a few spells, he placed the sacrificial treasure beneath the character, and the flame transformed into thousands of tiny flame threads that wrapped around it.

Every time Guo Shier saw the handsome old man refine or decompose something, he felt it was unreal—thousands of thread-like flames within a single wisp of flame seemed incredible to him. Even after seeing it countless times, his past experiences still told him that this was like magic, not real flames.

As thousands of flame threads wrapped around the character, a large amount of impurities were burned away, releasing a wisp of green smoke. The foot-long character continued to shrink.

The handsome old man kept casting spells. Fortunately, he could now use the sacrificial treasure skillfully, which saved him a lot of effort. He only needed to control the direction of the flames, as the sacrificial treasure would naturally remove the waste and refine the rest. In moments, the character had shrunk to the size of a palm and became crystal clear.

Guo Shier asked, “Don’t we need to reinforce it with an artificial rune?”

The handsome old man said, “We can’t use false runes; we must keep it pure—no false runes allowed at all. But we can use them to drive it. Hehe, this rune is preserved in excellent condition, not a bit damaged, even the smallest details remain.” Only when it couldn’t be reduced any further did the handsome old man put away the flame sacrificial artifact and grab the rune in his hand. Guo Shieru reached out to snatch it, saying, “Let me take a look first!” After just one glance, Guo Shieru couldn’t help but praise, “What a strange rune, so delicate. Tsk tsk, I still can’t recognize this rune. Handsome old man, how do you plan to test this rune?” The handsome old man smacked his lips. It was a pity he could no longer eat, so smacking his lips brought no taste at all. He said, “Why rush to snatch it? Give it here!” Guo Shieru cheerfully handed the rune to the handsome old man, saying, “I wasn’t snatching it. I was just curious and wanted to take a look first. Handsome old man, what kind of rune is this?” The handsome old man took the rune and smiled broadly. “What a great thing! Haha, let me see what kind of rune it is.” He directly infused his soul into it, and instantly, the rune flickered. After a while, he said, “It’s actually a natural gold rune! Haha, amazing! It’s the most basic attribute rune!” Guo Shieru was astonished. “Whoa! Gold? A rune gold forming into this shape?” The handsome old man rolled his eyes and said, “Nonsense. This wasn’t written—it formed naturally. Even the best altar masters can’t create such a gold rune! You’re going to make a fortune… Um, no, it’s not about making a fortune. By obtaining this rune, your spell power in the gold element can at least double!” “If you use this gold rune on your Moon Blade, hmm, its power can increase by at least 30%!” Guo Shieru finally understood why the handsome old man valued natural runes so much. If it could boost the power of the Moon Blade by 30% just by using a natural rune, one could imagine how miraculous natural runes truly were. After all, the Moon Blade’s power was already close to that of a sacrificial artifact. “Do we need to remanufacture the Moon Blade?” The handsome old man smiled and said, “No need to remanufacture it. Just replace the gold rune in the Moon Blade. I’ll handle that. Now, you need to store this rune in your own soul to nurture it. I’ve already established contact with the rune, but I can’t replace your soul. Therefore, you must nurture it yourself.” Guo Shieru nodded and swallowed the rune in one gulp. He asked, “How do we get out?” The handsome old man said confidently, “I don’t know!”

Guo Shier felt dizzy and said, “You don’t know? Damn… so we’re stuck here again?”
The handsome old man replied, “What’s the rush? You can’t stay calm at all.”
A powerful suction force appeared, and Guo Shier exclaimed in surprise, “Huh, what’s that?” The fragments and impurities removed by the handsome old man suddenly gathered in one place—the spot where the platform had been. In moments, the outline of a platform formed, though the area where the natural runes had been removed was empty. Once reformed, this platform was still made of natural characters.
However, the natural runes in these characters had been removed, leaving empty spaces that created a huge empty symbol.
The handsome old man said in amazement, “I see… this is truly amazing!”
Guo Shier asked, “What empty symbol? Is it useful?”
The handsome old man replied, “It’s not a matter of whether it’s useful or not, but rather the way it was formed. That character… was essentially destroyed by me just now, but it reformed again. Its position remains, creating an empty symbol. If there’s the same material, the character can return to its original state. Hehe… impressive!”
He then added, “This empty symbol isn’t useful for now, but with it here, maybe in a few hundred years, a new natural rune could form.”
The Eagle Demon exclaimed, “Damn, so amazing!” Hearing this exclamation, Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. It was a phrase from his past life that he often used unintentionally, and hearing the Eagle Demon say it made him feel a sense of familiarity.
The handsome old man said, “Yes, it’s that amazing… Huh, someone’s coming!”
Guo Shier was stunned—someone came to this place? Then he laughed again. Since he could enter, others could too.
A flash of light appeared, and a young man showed up before them.
The man appeared to be in his thirties, with a horse-like face and an unusually long nose. His small, slitty eyes darted around. He wore a striking bright red battle robe. As soon as he saw the platform that had been emptied of its contents, he let out a scream like one on the verge of death, “Damn it! Who stole the natural runes first… Huh, are you guys?”
The handsome old man’s soul trembled slightly. “Kid, be careful. This is an expert in empty-form altars! Hehe, but there’s no need to worry too much. With an old man like me around, he’s nothing…” He and Gu Mo Lian shrank to the size of a grain of rice and hid in Guo Shier’s hair.

Seeing that Guo Shier and the others remained silent, staring at him coldly, the man shouted again, “Who are you? Which family do you belong to? Did you take the Natural Runes? Hmph, if so, hand them over quickly! I might spare your lives. Do you hear me?”
To Guo Shier, the man resembled a horse—not because of his horse-like face, but because of the overall impression. He said to Ying Mo and Luo Zhan, “Let’s go!” completely ignoring the man.
The man became furious immediately. He reached out with an empty gesture and yelled, “Come back here!”
Guo Shier paid no attention at all. The handsome old man, however, stood up excitedly, pushed off Gu Mu Lian, and sent out a palm-shaped hand that resembled a needle tip. Just two meters away from Gu Mu Lian, it expanded into a giant palm ten meters long, which then slammed forward.
The man reached out with an empty gesture, quickly forming a claw made of an illusion to grab Guo Shier and the other two. But to his surprise, Guo Shier didn’t even turn his head. A huge palm appeared behind him, slapping at his illusionary claw. He couldn’t help but sneer—how dare a great sage attack him? That was sheer suicide.
Boom!
disbelief flashed in the man’s eyes as the giant palm crushed his illusionary claw and slammed down on him. He had been careless; he never expected the other party to be able to shatter his illusionary claw. Hit by the palm, he was instantly flung away!