Chapter 1058 - Lu Zhiruo’s Miraculous Encounter
Lu Zhiruo worshipped Sun Mo a lot. She also wanted to be like her eldest martial sister, being capable of learning all the knowledge their teacher taught them, becoming a personal teacher their teacher could be proud of.
Sadly, her intellect didn't allow it!
The papaya girl truly couldn't understand spirit runes. And finally, after having a heart-to-heart talk with Li Ziqi one day, she decided to give up.
(I'm stupid and my growth period is slower. Since that's the case, I should focus my attention on a single thing instead of being assailed by distractions.)
After Lu Zhiruo made this decision, she decided to stay with her belief.
However, in her heart, she still hoped that she would be able to do better. Hence, after discovering some clues when she looked at the second world-class difficulty question, she was extremely happy and hopeful.
If she could solve this question, she would be able to win glory for her teacher.
Yes. From the start to the end, Lu Zhiruo had never thought about what battle spoil she would be able to get after deciphering the question. She just didn't want her teacher to be disappointed.
Hence, during these few days, other than accomplishing the daily training that Sun Mo had set for her, she would be standing on the metal floor, thinking of a solution to decipher this puzzle.
Gradually, she also discovered some subtle details. In the tiny faculae, there were miniature shadows, like things stuck in prehistory amber.
However, these shadows weren't complete. They were in fragments.
Hence, Lu Zhiruo suddenly had a thought. Could she join these fragmented faculae together?
When the papaya girl was young, she didn't have a playmate. Before she was ten years old, she had always been living alone. Other than having a servant who took care of her meals for her and her father who would tutor her three days a week, she had never seen any other person before.
Hence, little animals became Lu Zhiruo's companions.
Because of this, her father bought many books about creatures and even rare specimens. In fact, her father also got those secret treasures that would only grow on the bodies of ancient gigantic beasts for her.
Lu Zhiruo didn't know that she was the person who knew the most about animals in the entire Nine Provinces. There were no others.
If you wanted Lu Zhiruo to memorize the detailed information of a ferocious beast, she might not be able to memorize it. However, she would definitely be able to identify it if she saw it.
Lu Zhiruo stared at the faculae and caught some of them.
At the start, the others were watching a good show. They felt that this little girl didn't know what was good for her and would die here due to the lightning bolts.
But after waiting a long time, no lightning appeared. On the contrary, an ancient ferocious beast materialized. After it roared, it transformed into a flowing stream of light that entered the little girl's glabella.
Even a fool would know that Lu Zhiruo had discovered the crux of deciphering this puzzle.
Someone immediately went over to ask her, but the papaya girl was only silly; she wasn't stupid. She naturally wouldn't tell them.
It also wasn't good for the people here to force her.
There was no solution to it, and they could only continue to observe. But other than seeing her catching those faculae, they couldn't see anything else.
"Could it be that those faculae have a problem?"
"But didn't everyone verify them before? There's nothing strange about them!"
"Where is the crux then?"
Just when a group of people was discussing, a rumbling sound echoed beside Lu Zhiruo, as a vast amount of spirit qi was gathered there. A gigantic elephant eventually formed from the spirit qi.
"This is a Tusked War Elephant, a ferocious beast in ancient times."
A great teacher who was skilled in both spirit runes and the art of spiritual control identified it.
The Tusked War Elephant was gigantic, mighty, and exuded an aura of desolation.
"Hello!"
Lu Zhiruo happily stretched out her hand. (I managed to piece another creature together. I feel so happy!)
Aooo!
The war elephant used its trunk to touch Lu Zhiruo's hand. After that, a clapping sound rang out as it shattered and become a stream of light that flowed into her glabella.
The others immediately sat cross-legged and started to absorb the spirit qi in the surroundings.
These motes of spirit qi were much purer and refined compared to the ones they absorbed usually, about three times more. If there were no accidents, it must have been released by the secret treasure here.
Although the motes of spirit qi appeared because of the papaya girl, these cultivators weren't going to be as polite as the guests you invited home for dinner. This matter concerned their future, whether they could become a legend or not.
Even if they weren't able to enter the Legendary Realm in the future, just by absorbing these pure motes of spirit qi, their strength would already enjoy an immediate partial increase.
So everyone wasn't polite and did their utmost to absorb them.
The amount of spirit qi for Lu Zhiruo would naturally be reduced, but her personality was kind and soft. She wasn't willing to get into a dispute for such a matter. Hence, she simply allowed them to do as they wished.
Just like this, Lu Zhiruo could piece roughly three to four images of ancient gigantic beasts every day and after it was done, the spirit qi tides would erupt forth again.
The Dragonspirit Manor was very large and since the second question hadn't been solved by many people for so many years, no one paid much attention to this location.
Hence, over ten people followed Lu Zhiruo and silently 'struck it rich'.
When Sun Mo was in seclusion to invent the spirit rune and prepare himself for the operation, Lu Zhiruo's days were happy and substantial too.
Those completed pieces of the ferocious beast fragments would enter her glabella. Not only did they supply pure energy, but they also contained memories that originated from the ancient era.
Plants had spirits and the myriad of creatures had wisdom!
These ferocious beasts had their own system of cultivation. Hence, their experiences, cultivation methods, and everything they had seen, heard, and experienced entered the papaya girl's mind.
Lu Zhiruo couldn't understand these cultivation arts, but these fragments of memories showed ancient birds and beasts that had never been recorded in history before.
After Lu Zhiruo saw them, she began to piece the faculae together more efficiently and her speed naturally grew faster. Half a month later, she could complete over ten every single day.
And now, the papaya girl could complete twenty in a single day.
"Why is this time around so slow?"
Someone grumbled. They gave up on deciphering this puzzle and purely hoped to follow Lu Zhiruo so they could absorb some spirit qi to improve themselves.
"I feel that the beast this time around must be a gigantic one!"
A middle-aged man with lush hair and a white forehead spoke. His face was ruddy and his talent was extremely good. Hence, when he absorbed spirit qi, his efficiency was higher than others.
Everyone was in discussion with each other and couldn't be bothered to try and solve the puzzle anymore. They were like a bunch of vultures waiting for Lu Zhiruo to hunt something before swooping in to steal food.
Only an old man with a hook nose had a gloomy look on his face.
His name was Lu Xiong and he was a grandmaster-level spiritual controller on the side of the dark faction.
This time around, he came to the Dragonspirit Manor because he wanted to buy three spirit runes. They were none other than the berserk, six senses increment, and a defensive-type spirit rune.
Lu Xiong was pretty old. When he saw that his cultivation base was stagnating and he could only wait for death, he was unwilling to accept it. Hence, he decided to use all his wealth to buy spirit runes here to aid him in increasing his strength. After that, he would head off to the Darkness Continent for adventuring, hoping to have a miraculous encounter that would help him to achieve a breakthrough.
However, he didn't expect the prestige of the legendary Dragonspirit Manor to be so great.
He was a genuine grandmaster-level spiritual controller. However, when he personally visited this place and waited for several days, he couldn't even manage to meet with Bai Wenzhang.
Lu Xiong, who was growing extremely anxious and had nothing to do, naturally went to check out the world-class difficulty questions. However, they were all extremely difficult.
Lu Xiong didn't understand spirit runes and didn't want to waste time on this. But he didn't expect that the moment this girl appeared here, he would have a new discovery.
This puzzle seemed to have something to do with the art of spiritual control?
The others had no idea what Lu Zhiruo was doing, but Lu Xiong already understood on the first day.
These faculae were fragments of countless ancient spirit beasts. The technique to decipher the puzzle was to find the correct fragments and piece them together one by one.
Lu Xiong attempted it once, but he discovered that he couldn't do it. The image in those faculae belonged to beasts he didn't know. If he carelessly pieced together the wrong fragments, he would be shocked by the lightning.
After so many days, Lu Xiong had been racking his brains to think of a correct piecing method, but he was completely clueless. When he saw this girl becoming increasingly proficient, his heart also grew increasingly anxious.
Because he understood that when all the ferocious beasts were pieced together, the secret treasure hidden here would surely come out.
"The time I have remaining is not much anymore."
Lu Xiong had to complete the deciphering before Lu Zhiruo
BOOM!
Another tide of spirit qi erupted forth. Lu Xiong was reluctant to waste it and immediately did his best to absorb it.
…
"This won't do, the efficiency is too slow. Should I do two at once?"
Lu Zhiruo was preparing to do so, but she soon stopped.
"No, I'm too stupid. I'm afraid I cannot multi-task. Besides, as long as one is completed, it will erupt forth with spirit qi and I won't have time to stop to absorb the spirit qi!"
After some contemplation, Lu Zhiruo decided to piece a powerful one.
"It's you then, ancient immortal phoenix!"
Giant dragons?
Lu Zhiruo had seen one when her teacher displayed the Great Desolation Dragon Subduing Scripture, and it brought no sense of freshness to her. So, this was why she decided to piece that ancient immortal bird.
Because it was very large, there were even more fragments. This meant that she would need more time. But even so, it posed no difficulty to Lu Zhiruo.
This was just a jigsaw puzzle game!
Three hours later, she found the last facula and fused the last piece with the others together...
RUMBLE~
The sound of thunder echoed out. There was like a sea of lighting gushing toward her.
After that, a gigantic immortal bird appeared from the sea of lightning.
Crackle~
Some lightning sparks splattered around, causing everyone to feel their bodies growing numb, making them hurriedly retreat. But they saw that the young girl was completely fine, and they couldn't help but be badly shocked.
Yet, Lu Xiong understood the reason. Despite his large eyes, his eyes widened even more and almost became round.
"She actually completed the deciphering so quickly?"
(I haven't used any moves, but you've already won. This is so infuriating!)
After that immortal bird flew a circle in the sky, it suddenly swooped downward and slammed its head into the metallic floor.
Rumble!
The sparkling blue lightning was like splashing tides gushing everywhere. After that, a rectangular parallelepiped metallic plate the size of an apple appeared.
Bzz~
That metal plate shone with a layer of white light, and the surrounding arcs of lightning transformed into eagles, ferocious wolves, seals, and even harmless groundhogs…
Each of them rushed into the metallic plate, fusing themselves within.
At this moment, it could be considered that everyone had their horizons broadened, and they saw many ancient spirit beasts they had never seen before.
As for Lu Xiong, he was so agitated that his entire body was trembling.
(This is my miraculous encounter! After obtaining this object, not only can my combat prowess level up, but even my lifespan will be increased.)
The lightning vanished and there was only a metallic cube floating quietly in the air. Lu Zhiruo shot a few glances at it curiously. Just when she wanted to stretch her hand out to take it, a thick arm shot forward quicker than her and grabbed hold of it.
"What are you doing?"
Lu Zhiruo was astonished.
"I displayed my art of spiritual control and exhausted much effort before summoning this secret treasure out with difficulty."
Lu Xiong stroked his beard and said it with an expression like it should be by right.. "Now that I've succeeded, I'm naturally going to keep this treasure. Do you have an objection?"