Chapter 174 The Secret of Rune Beasts

When Lin Xun woke up, his cheeks were warm and moist.

He opened his eyes and saw a little round thing happily licking his cheeks with its little pink tongue.

“Chirp—”

When it saw Lin Xun wake up, it became even more happy and chirped repeatedly in joy.

Lin Xun lifted Jiujiu’s soft body with one hand and wiped the saliva off his face with the other. He smiled bitterly, “The way you welcome me back is too unusual.”

“Hmph, stop pretending. Jiujiu wouldn’t welcome anyone else so enthusiastically.”

Xiaoman was standing beside them with her fair arms crossed in front of her plump chest. The corners of her lips were raised and an annoyed look replaced the joy on her beautiful face.

“How long have I slept?” Lin Xun got up, his body feeling light and comfortable. He had never felt this relaxed before.

“One day and one night.”

As Xiaoman was speaking, she brought over a plate of food. There was roasted pork coated with thick sauce and it was served with aeth grain rice and a cup of freshly squeezed aeth fruit juice. It was a simple meal but it looked great, smelled great, and tasted great.

Lin Xun’s stomach suddenly rumbled and he buried his head in the food.

Jiujiu bounced up and down around his feet like a ball, and from time to time, it rubbed against his leg affectionately. It looked extremely happy.

Xiaoman watched with envy while sighing inwardly.

In the three months that Lin Xun was gone, she had been taking care of Jiujiu, but Jiujiu had never let her touch it. It would struggle fiercely and scream when Xiaoman held it in her arms. Xiaoman didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She couldn’t help but feel jealous seeing Jiujiu greet Lin Xun so enthusiastically. What an ungrateful thing.

“By the way, I heard that you took first in the war zone assessment?” Xiaoman suddenly asked.

“Yes, luckily.” Lin Xun mumbled while eating.

“Luck? I think so too. A level-two brute soldier died in your hands. What else could it be besides luck?” Xiaoman said thoughtfully.

Lin Xun understood her meaning right away. He said helplessly, “Big Sister Xiaoman, if you want to know the truth, you can just ask me directly. Why do you have to beat around the bush?”

Xiaoman suddenly pulled and twisted Lin Xun’s ear. She coldly snorted, “Hey, you think you can see through a woman’s heart? Then why don’t you guess what I am thinking now?”

Her beautiful eyes were watery, charming and captivating. But Lin Xun’s heart shuddered when she stared at them and he hurriedly said, “Miss Xiaoman, I don’t need to guess. You have a chest like a valley and can accommodate the world. How could I, a mere mortal, read your heart?”

Xiaoman forced a smile and bit her red lips. “Are you saying that my breasts are big?”

Lin Xun’s face was overcast with weariness. How can she openly talk about breast size?!

Most importantly, it’s difficult to answer the question. It seems inappropriate to talk about the size of her chest…

“Uh, let’s talk about the results of the war zone assessment instead.” Lin Xun smartly changed the topic.

Xiaoman said disdainfully, “Little brother, when you chicken out when you tease a woman, the woman will look down on you.”

Lin Xun nodded like he agreed.

When arguing with a woman, admitting defeat is the same as victory!

As expected, Xiaoman suddenly lost interest when she saw Lin Xun voluntarily admit defeat. “Then, do you have something you want to tell me now?”

Lin Xun immediately said, “Yes, about how I killed that level-two brute soldier…I think I should discuss it with Miss Xiaoman.”

Xiaoman leaned sideways on the chair and crossed her slender and long legs. She nodded with satisfaction as though she was saying “Good boy!”

Her posture was very seductive, particularly when her smooth fair legs shined captivatingly like ivory under the sunlight. It could easily arouse a person’s wild imagination.

Lin Xun was fourteen years old. His experience in the past few years had made him mature quicker than his peers. Although he was already aware of Xiaoman’s beauty, his heart still skipped a beat when he saw such a seductive woman lying on her side.

He looked away and coughed out loud. Only then did he tell Xiaoman how he killed Shui Ying.

He had nothing to hide because Xiaoman had already known about his mastery in the art of runes.

“So, it wasn’t a fluke that you killed him?”

Xiaoman’s eyes lit up. She stared right at Lin Xun like she had found a rare treasure.

“Amazing, who would believe that a ninth layer True Martial youngster could create a rune array with just a heap of useless and useful rune materials?”

The more Xiaoman talked, the more excited she became. “If this matter spreads out, wouldn’t the rune masters in the empire be embarrassed to death? I wonder how Old Mo would feel when he learns that you succeeded in producing a rune array?”

Xiaoman seemed happier and more excited than Lin Xun. Her beautiful and sexy face was glowing with pride and excitement.

Although Lin Xun felt that Xiaoman was overreacting, he felt a warmth filling his heart when he saw her become incredibly happy for him.

“My young rune master, well done!”

Xiaoman stood up, and before Lin Xun could react, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

Of course it wasn’t a romantic action between a man and a woman.

However, Lin Xun still found the intimate action a little uncomfortable. He couldn’t help but smile wryly. “Big Sister Xiaoman, can we calm down a little?”

Xiaoman rolled her eyes and said irritably, “You’re taking a favor for granted. Okay, then do you think we should tell Chief Xu about this?”

Lin Xun’s expression turned serious and solemn. “If Big Sister Xiaoman trusts Instructor Xu Sanqi, there is no harm in telling him.”

He gave Xiaoman the option to choose. He trusted Xiaoman but he didn’t completely trust Xu Sanqi.

Xiaoman nodded. “I understand.”

Lin Xun suddenly remembered something. He took out the black beast tooth he obtained from Shui Ying and said, “Big Sister Xiaoman, take a look at this. Do you know what it is?”

Swoosh!

Before Xiaoman answered him, something unexpected happened. Jiujiu, who had been jumping around Lin Xun’s feet, suddenly bounced up and swallowed the black beast tooth in Lin Xun’s hand, like it smelled the most delicious thing in the world.

Jiujiu moved so fast that Lin Xun couldn’t react in time. He jumped up and it was already too late to stop Jiujiu.

After swallowing the black beast tooth, Jiujiu tottered on the ground like it was drunk. Its round body had a lustrous red shine as it rolled around innocently.

Before long, following a loud chirp, Jiujiu burst into flames. It pierced into Lin Xun’s palm and vanished without a trace.

At the same time, a flame-like pattern emerged on the skin of his palm. It was extremely mysterious like a totem.

Lin Xun felt that something was in his palm, but he didn't feel anything abnormal nor did he feel any discomfort.

Lin Xun was completely taken aback. What is this?

“It has absorbed so much power so it needs a while to digest it.”

Xiaoman remained very calm. “The same situation happened when I was feeding Jiujiu aeth crystals the other day. It only recovered after around three days.”

Lin Xun breathed a sigh of relief, and then he said with a deep frown, “But that beast tooth…”

Xiaoman shrugged. “Who knows what it is, but it should be a treasure given Jiujiu’s reaction. Jiujiu seems to like it more than aeth crystals.”

In other words, the beast tooth was likely more valuable than an aeth crystal. As to how precious and rare it was, it was impossible to know now.

Although bitter about the outcome, Lin Xun had to accept it since it had already happened.

He suddenly remembered another matter. “Big Sister Xiaoman, have you ever seen rune beasts that can transform into a rune and be stored on a cultivator’s body?”

Xiaoman said blankly. “I have never seen one before.”

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Lin Xun’s expression turned serious and his forehead creased. “When I was a child, I read a book called the All-Beast Record and it noted that all the rune beasts in the world are divided into earth-grade, heaven-grade and holy grade…”

According to the All-Beast Record, earth-grade rune beasts were the most common in the world. Like human cultivators, their powers would continue to evolve with cultivation. The rune beasts that beast tamers raised were also mostly earth-grade.

Heaven-grade rune beasts were superior to earth grade rune beasts in terms of bloodline, talent and strength. They possessed extremely high intelligence. Not only could they cultivate and evolve, but they could also master unique combat arts.

Heaven-grade rune beasts were incredibly rare in the world and were very valuable in the Ziyao Empire.

For example, the violet-horned beast belonging to the imperial family was a heaven-grade rune beast. It possessed unimaginable divine powers and could deter Heaven Ascension cultivators from attacking or invading!

It was rumored that the violet-horned beast was ranked in the top 30 of heaven-grade rune beasts!

Holy-grade rune beasts were even rarer than heaven-grade rune beasts. They were only born with luck and only one might emerge in thousands of years.

Only around six or seven holy-grade rune beasts had been recorded in the historical books of the Ziyao Empire. However, the records were very vague and made no mention of their unfathomable divine powers.

“What puzzles me the most is that there is an extremely complicated process for rune beasts to recognize their masters before they could be stored in a cultivator’s body. I haven’t heard of any beast like Jiujiu who could be stored in a cultivator’s body without having to acknowledge a master.” Lin Xun expressed his puzzlement.

“All this only proves that Jiujiu isn’t a descendant of the golden flame beast at all. Its origin may be more rare and mysterious than we can imagine.”

A ruminative expression crept into Xiaoman’s eyes. “But you don't have to worry. Although Jiujiu hasn’t recognized you as its master, it’s obvious that it already treats you as its family. It shouldn’t pose any threat to you.”

Lin Xun thought about it and nodded eventually.

“Be prepared, in three days, you will start a new training. This training is related to whether you can finally enter the Dipper Transformation Lake. You mustn’t relax during this period.”

Just before Xiaoman left Old Mo’s warehouse, she reminded Lin Xun, and her words made Lin Xun’s heart tremble.