Chapter 38: The Nine-Dragon Armor, The Nine-Dragon Mark!

"What do you mean?"

Tu Lu was just about to step inside when he suddenly heard these words and paused.

The Blue-Faced Tiger shook his head. "Isn't being able to survive already a stroke of luck?"

Tu Lu was even more bewildered. The Blue-Faced Tiger's words left him completely at a loss, but even if he wanted to ask more, it would be pointless. The Blue-Faced Tiger was as sparing with words as gold, and after saying this, fell silent and spoke no further.

If you don't want to talk, then don't!

Tu Lu rolled his eyes inwardly. With no other choice, he gave up on further questions.

He then stepped into the secret chamber, and his spirit was instantly jolted!

"This is...!"

A tremor ran through his heart.

The chamber was small but extremely quiet. Entering it felt like stepping into another world, cut off from any sound.

What shocked him even more was the magic treasure placed at the center of the room!

There was a set of soft armor in the middle, and around it were exactly eighteen chains, each ending in a short blade!

What truly stunned and even chilled him was that both the armor and the chains with their short blades were inlaid with rainbow dragon scales!

At the tip of each of the eighteen chains, every short blade was set with a dragon scale the size of a palm, but that was not the most astonishing part. Even more incredible was the soft armor placed in the center, which was densely covered with several dozen scales—almost as if it were made entirely of dragon scales!

He swallowed hard, deeply shaken.

If what Gongsun Yan said was true, that these dragon scales were shed from a demi-god dragon and each one was the core of a Heavenly Dragon Token, then how many people’s tokens had she seized to assemble all these?!

If this ever came to light, it would trigger a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions!

“She... she actually removed the dragon scales from the Heavenly Dragon Tokens to use them in this way. What on earth is Gongsun Yan planning?”

The more he looked, the more alarmed he became, feeling as if he was being drawn into something immense.

But no amount of speculation would help. The immediate problem before him was how to inscribe runes onto this treasure!

He had been a cultivator for some time now and had crammed a great deal of knowledge, yet this was the first time he had ever seen a set of armor and weapons combined into a single magical treasure. He had never even heard of such a thing!

Not to mention the rainbow dragon scales.

This would increase the difficulty of rune inscription at least tenfold!

He circled the treasure, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper, until his face was as bitter as a gourd.

“It’s... it’s too difficult!

This thing is fundamentally constructed with dragon scales at its core. To balance it, I must inscribe runes directly onto the rainbow dragon scales!

But this is a treasure, and not just any treasure—armor and eighteen weapons in one. That means I have to inscribe runes onto these scales nineteen times! How could I possibly do that?”

At this point, he didn’t dare go out and joke about quitting, especially after what Gongsun Yan had said—she cared about nothing but the success of the inscription!

Tu Lu’s scalp tingled.

His mind ran wild for a long time, until the room gradually emanated a gentle energy. Under this mysterious power, his mood slowly calmed.

“I can only try first.”

After much deliberation, he finally sighed, pulled out the Nine Dragons Rune Manual, slowly unfolded it, and began reading it word by word.

After some time, his expression improved considerably and he let out a breath of relief.

Though misfortune seemed unending, there was at least one good piece of news.

The Nine Dragons Rune was a high-level rune composed of one hundred and eight basic symbols. Though classified as advanced, it was at the lowest tier among such runes, and the difficulty was not as overwhelming as he had imagined.

However, the composition of these basic runes was rather peculiar—completely unlike any symbols he’d encountered before!

This would certainly be a major hurdle for other rune masters, but not for him.

After all, he had only recently begun working with runes. His habits weren’t yet bound by common knowledge. To him, these basic symbols of the Nine Dragons Rune were just rare, not insurmountable.

He read for a full day.

At last, he sighed, closed the manual, and muttered, “The patterns are easy enough to understand, but the effects are strange—melding with the body? Both offensive and defensive? And then there’s the rune technique itself...”

Shaking his head, he pulled out the Blood God Gloves.

“I’ll use you for an experiment.”

...

At the same time, Lin Fengtian stormed into the Rune Shop, his face livid with rage.

Although word had spread throughout the city that the shop’s master would be inscribing a treasure for the City Lord, Lin Fengtian had avoided contact with the cultivators of Divine Wind City, and only now learned of it.

Enraged, he rushed to the Rune Shop, expecting at least that shopkeeper Lu would be there. But when he arrived, he found the place deserted; not only was Tu Lu gone, but even the gatekeepers had vanished!

“Damn it!!!”

Furious, he smashed the shop to pieces with a single punch and left.

The incident caused quite a stir, but since Tu Lu was absent, interest waned quickly. By the time the cultivators who kept an eye on the Rune Shop arrived, Lin Fengtian was already gone.

Rumor later claimed that a disgruntled master from the Trading Hall had destroyed the shop in revenge, but when the Trading Hall publicly denied it and with no evidence to support the claim, the matter faded into hearsay.

At the very least, the Rune Shop that had long stood in opposition to the Trading Hall was now thoroughly obliterated.

In the nearly abandoned dungeon of the City Lord’s mansion, one person was imprisoned. His eyes were dull, as if his soul had departed.

This was none other than Yin Zhi, the great cultivator at the Sea-Filling Realm, father of Yin Tongzhi, who had rushed back from the battlefield at great cost to narrowly escape Lin Fengtian’s blood sacrifice and deliver intelligence to the City Lord’s mansion.

But now, his cultivation was sealed, and nothing about him hinted at his former power.

As soon as the Blue-Faced Leopard entered the dungeon, flames of wrath blazed in Yin Zhi’s eyes.

“Beast! Over a thousand cultivators in Divine Wind City will never be your stepping stone, and the Heavenly Dragon Guild still stands! You’ll never succeed!”

“Yuan and Tai Zhi won’t have died in vain! You want to know who else knows the truth? I’ll tell you: besides the three of us on the battlefield, there are two more. You can’t cover this up!”

Yin Zhi glared at the Blue-Faced Leopard, eyes bloodshot.

But the Blue-Faced Leopard said nothing, simply brought him a pile of food.

“Beast!!!”

Yin Zhi showed no gratitude, hurling a punch!

Though his cultivation was sealed and his lifeblood suppressed, his Sea-Filling Realm body remained formidable. The punch shattered the food instantly, scattering it over the Blue-Faced Leopard.

With a flick of his finger, the Blue-Faced Leopard dispersed the force and frowned.

“You won’t be here much longer. Now we’re just waiting for the City Lord’s treasure to be inscribed—then it’ll be time for Divine Wind City to counterattack.”

“Beast! You still think you can deceive me!” Yin Zhi roared.

The Blue-Faced Leopard merely shook his head, ignored the rest of Yin Zhi’s fury, and walked out with his hands behind his back.

“In the end, you, I, and the City Lord—every one of us is doomed...” he muttered.

...

Three days later.

In the secret chamber, Tu Lu’s face was exhausted, but radiant with wild joy.

The rune inscription on the Blood God Gloves was complete!