………………
In a courtyard in a county town dozens of miles away from Lujia Village, a wisp of black smoke suddenly pierced through a window and entered the house.
Inside the house, a group of people were discussing something when they were startled by the black smoke. However, they quickly recovered and did not attack the smoke. Instead, they watched in astonishment as the smoke entered the body of a burly man standing at the doorway.
After a few breaths, the burly man, whose gaze had been vacant, began to brighten. He moved a few times, and seeing everyone watching him, he could only speak.
"Stop looking, we're doomed this time. Lu Family Village is protected by a powerful figure, they can't touch it."
"What kind of expert is this, capable of reducing you to only a wisp of your soul?"
"Hehe, let me correct you. It wasn't that I was beaten down to the point of having only a wisp of my soul left. It was that I abandoned my physical body and my soul escaped."
As the burly man spoke, a look of horror appeared on his face.
"If it weren't for that corpse puppet blocking my way, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have been able to get my soul back."
"..."
7017k
------------
Chapter 341 Mother-Child Rune System
Lu Xuan did not delve into the matter of the zombie resurrection. After listening to the elderly couple's account, he was basically certain that it was a premeditated case of raising a zombie.
Using the life essence of living people to nourish a corpse is a typical evil technique. If Lu An hadn't had the bow given to him by Lu Xuan, and if Lu Xuan hadn't been nearby, there wouldn't be a single living person in Lu Family Village. That zombie would have become increasingly agile over time, its thirst for blood growing stronger, making it no match for ordinary villagers.
Moreover, there was someone pulling the strings behind the scenes. Lu Xuan even felt that there might be more than one person behind it, or even an entire organization. Because of this, Lu Xuan decisively abandoned any thought of pursuing the matter further.
He might be able to handle a person from an unorthodox sect. But if it really was some kind of evil sect behind it all, Lu Xuan feared he wouldn't be able to cope. Judging from the movies, that sect always had several powerful elders or leaders holding the fort. Lu Xuan had no confidence that he could defeat those old monsters.
His immediate plan was to preserve Lu Family Village as much as possible and then continue his cultivation. He would only leave the mountain once he had the ability to protect himself.
With a casual gesture, a peach tree branch snapped off. Lu Xuan whittled it into a rectangular wooden plaque, casually carved a simple talisman on it, then grabbed the little fox trying to escape from his shoulder. Amidst its resentful gaze, he took a drop of its blood and dripped it onto the talisman. These villagers lacked magical power, so he used the fox's blood to activate the talisman, making it usable even for mortals.
He threw the talisman to Lu An.
"Keep this talisman with you. If you encounter a similar situation, apply your first drop of blood to it. I will naturally arrive. Remember, this thing can only be used once, so use it with caution."
After saying that, Lu Xuan disappeared from Lu Family Village. The previous events had made him wary. He didn't know if the guy in the dilapidated temple was dead or not. If he wasn't, was it possible he might come seeking revenge? After all, villains in novels often retaliate by beating up the younger ones.
Upon returning, Lu Xuan's first task was to perfect the third layer of the mountain-protecting formation. In case of an enemy invasion, he would rely on the formation's advantage to fight them head-on.
Lu Xuan had never studied systematic Taoist or Buddhist formations. Or rather, he only had a lot of vague theories. Most of them had never been put into practice. The formations around him were all discovered little by little through trial and error.
For the third layer of the formation, Lu Xuan decided to primarily use lightning magic. This was because he intended to counter any potential retaliation from evil cultivators who might attempt to use corpse-refining puppets.
It took Lu Xuan a full three months to complete the setup of the third layer of the lightning formation. This finally allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. Although no one came seeking revenge, he felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. He was confident that even if some evil sect expert did come looking for him, he could repel them with his lightning formation.
Feeling acutely aware of his severely inadequate cultivation, Lu Xuan once again immersed himself in arduous training. Every day, he used the Moon Refining Technique to absorb the essence of the moon and improve his cultivation. Sometimes he felt that his cultivation method was somewhat similar to that of demons. Was it because demons absorbed the essence of the sun and moon? However, he didn't know how others cultivated, so he didn't care. As long as he could become stronger, that was the best method of cultivation.
Besides improving himself, as a true cultivator, various magical treasures and elixirs are naturally indispensable. The first thing Lu Xuan completed was the Five Elements Demon-Subduing Mirror. The name was incredibly vulgar, but the effect still satisfied Lu Xuan.
It's worth mentioning that the true source of the Five Elements Mirror's magical effects lies in its runes. Daoist crafting techniques often require rare and precious materials. Although Lu Xuan occupies a small piece of spiritual vein land, this area hasn't nurtured many rare treasures.
He had found centuries-old, spiritually imbued lingzhi mushrooms and ginseng in the mountains. He had also discovered a wild peach tree that had been struck by heavenly lightning seven times. From the depths of the earth, he had obtained several pieces of refined iron imbued with spiritual energy. He didn't know what these things were called in this world.
We found several pieces of cold iron in the icy pool where the green snake was previously discovered. We also found some stalactite liquid beside the pool. It seemed to be condensed, lingering cold air that, after the passage of time, had transformed into stalactite liquid, settling in a small groove on the stone platform. There wasn't much, only about the amount needed for a teacup.
However, it's brimming with spiritual energy; consuming it directly can increase cultivation and even aid in cultivating cold-attribute supernatural abilities. Lu Xuan kept it, though. This is truly a rare and precious treasure. Ideally, he should find other auxiliary medicinal herbs to maximize its effects.
In short, although Lu Xuan has experienced multiple worlds, his current foundation in cultivation is far from sufficient. He cannot craft a magical artifact using more than a dozen precious materials. He can only focus on improving his runes.
Lu Xuan's runic techniques are extremely unique. He combined the runic methods of the Valyrian archmage with various Taoist talismans, creating a fusion of his own. He spent nearly two hundred years in the world of Ice and Fire, absorbing almost all of that world's magical knowledge.
He removed the parts that were incompatible with his own system and then integrated them into his entire knowledge. Ultimately, he created a unique rune system of his own.
Valyrian magic places greater emphasis on strategy. The various forms of long-range communication, even video and surveillance magic, they developed are geared towards strategic effects. There aren't many spells actually used for attack. This is partly the author's fault. Those established fantasy authors from Europe and America often feel that the inclusion of offensive magic in their stories would tarnish their narratives (we all know who the representative figures are).
The talismanic arts of Chinese Taoism cover an extremely wide range of topics. From invoking wind and rain to exorcising demons and monsters, and even increasing blessings and changing one's fortune, it encompasses virtually everything.
Based on this, Lu Xuan developed a special mother-child rune system. The child runes are engraved on magical artifacts, while the mother runes are kept in his own hands.
The Five Elements Mirror was made from a piece of refined iron imbued with spiritual energy, paired with a piece of spirit jade that Lu Xuan had nurtured himself. Its inherent spiritual energy wasn't particularly strong. Its ability to switch between the five elements actually originated from the runes engraved on it. The runes' effect was to transform spiritual energy into different attributes.
Lu Xuan wore a silver bracelet on his left wrist, engraved with the five elemental runes corresponding to the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. In battle, Lu Xuan simply needed to channel his spiritual energy into the bracelet to activate the corresponding rune. The Five Elements Mirror would then automatically activate the same elemental effect to counter the enemy.
This system is essentially derived from Lu Xuan's modern mindset. It's a kind of remote control method. The Five Elements Mirror itself doesn't have much value. Its runes are unique, and others wouldn't understand them even if they obtained them. Furthermore, without Lu Xuan's mother rune, it's unusable. This maximizes the security of this magical artifact.
7017k
------------
Chapter 342 Weapon Forging and Growth
In reality, most magical artifacts in cultivation stories don't need to be this complex. This is because the magical artifacts of cultivators are connected to their own minds. They don't need the assistance of a mother-child rune system to control their artifacts at will.
Lu Xuan wasn't incapable of crafting magical artifacts that resonated with his mind. It was just that he had reservations.
In movies and TV dramas, there's a common way to describe it: someone's magical artifact is destroyed, and they themselves subsequently suffer mental and physical trauma, spitting blood, etc.
This is the downside of being in sync with a magical artifact. The ability to manipulate it at will naturally comes at a price. Therefore, Lu Xuan was hesitant about it and temporarily put aside his desire to forge that kind of artifact. He planned to find some high-quality natural treasures and then try to forge another artifact that was in sync with his mind. Before that, he would use his mother-child rune system to forge a batch of substitutes.
The Five Elements Mirror was only the first of these magical treasures. After that, Lu Xuan forged another magical treasure with the lightning attribute. And this magical treasure was none other than the retractable silver spear.