Chapter 1279

"You've worked hard, Yuanba."

"It wasn't hard. For you, Teacher, and for myself." Zhai Yuanba shook his head—this was what he ought to do.

Elder Zhai smiled kindly and patted his grandson's head. They had long known that inscribing runes on a human body would cause no problems, but the other members of the Zaoshigong Society were unaware of this.

Master Lin Cheng publicly inscribing runes on a human body was nothing less than announcing the arrival of a new era.

"Circulate the spiritual power within your body, awaken and adapt to the power of the runes, and use spiritual power to nourish the runes—they too possess the capacity to grow." Lin Cheng gave a quick instruction, then turned and stepped in front of the green-haired mercenary!

Elder Zhai and the others were still a bit puzzled for a moment, but since Master Lin Cheng had said so, there had to be a reason.

They just had to wait for Master Lin Cheng's explanation.

Then he formally began inscribing runes on the green-haired mercenary. At first, the green-haired one was still smiling at Lin Cheng—didn't the rune inscription hurt that much? But when the same rune was inscribed continuously ten times in the same spot, the pain kept intensifying.

Hiss!

Ten Balance runes inscribed on his chest, the green-haired mercenary couldn't help but gasp, his eyes seeming to hold a certain plea, his face as if saying, "Master, you tricked me—how does it hurt so much?"

Lin Cheng simply pretended not to see that look.

When another ten Hunt runes were inscribed on his waist, the green-haired mercenary was already pale-faced, utterly exhausted, as if he had reached his body's limit!

"Hold on, just one more left."

Lin Cheng instructed, came behind him, picked a spot, and began the final inscription. He had expected the green-haired mercenary to cry out, but the man was unexpectedly tough—he gritted his teeth and endured the gradually intensifying pain over several minutes.

"Not bad… not bad." Lin Cheng couldn't help but praise.

"It hurts, Master." The green-haired mercenary complained.

Lin Cheng acted as though he hadn't heard that either, and went on speaking to himself.

"Do you know why I said earlier that the runes only give you a path to grow stronger and a kind of possibility—truly growing stronger still depends on your own conviction."

Hearing this, the green-haired mercenary scratched his head even more, somewhat puzzled by Lin Cheng's meaning, and asked back.

"Isn't it that the stronger one's conviction, the greater the enhancement the runes bring?"

"Yes and no?"

Lin Cheng said, putting on a mysterious air.

Only after sweeping his gaze over everyone present did he give the formal explanation.

"Conviction is only one way to awaken the runes' power, so the reason it's yes… and no is this: the runes also possess the capacity to grow—they grow stronger as you grow stronger—but they likewise need to absorb spiritual energy to make their effect stronger. Speaking in terms of tiers, the runes I just inscribed on you are only the most basic Tier-1 runes. You need to use spiritual energy to constantly nourish them so their tier rises. When they reach Tier 2, their effect will be greatly enhanced!"

"After that there are Tier-3 runes, Tier-4 runes, and the highest Tier-5 runes! The higher you wish to go, the more spiritual power is needed to nourish the runes—and likewise, the amplification effect of high-tier runes is terrifyingly powerful!"

"So the runes only give you a path to grow stronger and a kind of possibility. If you want to grow stronger! you must raise your own strength while also raising the runes' tier. Only when both advance together can you transform into a true powerhouse."

· ·······Seeking flowers····· ·····

"Do you understand?"

Lin Cheng looked at the green-haired mercenary with earnest weight, and the green-haired mercenary's expression was quite a sight—regret, remorse, resolve….

He now roughly understood why the green-haired one had been so worked up earlier that he knelt to him over a mere rune inscription—the fellow must have mistakenly believed that getting runes inscribed would let him grow stronger once and for all.

Yet in this world there simply is no such thing as a once-and-for-all solution.

"There is no once-and-for-all thing in this world, except… death."

The green-haired mercenary had a sudden realization, his face full of gratitude.

"I understand, Master. Thank you very much for your teaching." The mercenary kept bowing to Lin Cheng—a master is a master; not only did he inscribe the runes for him, he also taught him how to truly grow stronger!

Growing stronger is an ongoing matter—the only once-and-for-all thing is death!

He understood, and was so moved he could only sob.

Clap clap clap!

Thunderous applause rose once more from below. Many of the onlooking mercenary bystanders had assumed Master Lin Cheng was only a big shot in the forging world, never expecting him to have such profound attainments in the martial Dao as well.

Most of them had originally shared the green-haired mercenary's idea, thinking that getting runes inscribed would let them grow stronger once and for all, unaware that the runes themselves could grow stronger too.

"Right, there's one more thing I need to tell everyone. In my early years I used runes to build a complex magical-beast material conversion machine that can transform the corpses of slain magical beasts into a special cultivation resource usable for training. I call it Spirit Coin! A special currency imbued with spiritual energy!" To be continued.