Chapter 491

In a vast emerald-blue hall, amid several towering pillars pulsing with sealing light.

Wang Yu murmured incantations under his breath, one arm held straight out, its surface blazing with ninety-eight crimson magical runes, simultaneously coalescing into a red blade shadow seven or eight zhang long.

The blade shadow burned crimson as fire, wreathed in threads of white flame, making the very air within the hall searing and unbearable, as if boiling and impossible to breathe.

At its center, a slender red-and-white light flickered faintly in and out of view.

“Excellent,” said a woman seated on a white jade chair, her plain cotton robe flowing around her, her gaze fixed on the massive blade shadow hovering over Wang Yu’s arm, a smile on her face. “You may dismiss the spell. It is indeed the ultimate ninety-eight-rune technique—though merely a second-rank spell, its power seems greater than this. You haven’t unleashed its full strength, have you? There’s more you haven’t shown yet. What is this spell called? Did you learn it from your original sect?”

Beside her, Yan Lingxiang stood silently at attention.

“Yes, Elder Chai,” Wang Yu replied respectfully, halting his incantation. He waved his arm, and the blade shadow dissolved into nothing; the intense heat in the surrounding air rapidly subsided. “This spell is called ‘Flame Blade,’ and I learned it from my original sect.”

“Flame Blade?” The woman’s face was ordinary, her brows sharp and arched. Though her voice was calm, it carried an aura of quiet authority. “My palace’s magical arts are primarily water-based, yet I’ve collected many fire spells. I’ve seen much, yet I’ve never heard of a second-rank ultimate technique like this. Could this be an original spell—one never before mastered, even its name hastily coined?”

Original spell!

Yan Lingxiang, hearing this, was startled and glanced sharply at Wang Yu.

“Elder, you are perceptive,” Wang Yu replied honestly, his heartbeat quickening. “I indeed derived this spell from a talent artifact. Whether others have also unraveled it, I do not know.”

“In second-rank spells, those with over ninety runes are rare; those above ninety-five are exceedingly scarce and may be called ultimate techniques. Original spells can only be learned by comprehending talent artifacts—far more difficult than mastering ordinary spells inscribed in spell texts.”

“Before you, I have only seen two others who, while still at Foundation Establishment, unraveled an original ultimate technique. This proves your exceptional talent for spells,” said the woman in the cotton robe, her gaze now holding a flicker of interest toward Wang Yu.

“Perhaps it’s because I cultivate a fire-based cultivation art, and my fire elemental root is of decent quality, making it easier to comprehend a fire-based talent artifact,” Wang Yu replied vaguely, though inwardly he wondered who the two others were—surely one of them was the famed magic prodigy of the Azure Water Palace, said to appear once every six hundred years.

“Hmph,” the woman chuckled. “Comprehending talent artifacts depends solely on insight, not on one’s cultivation art or elemental root. Since you’ve demonstrated extraordinary spell talent, you are worthy to comprehend the palace’s own talent artifact. I shall take you there shortly.”

“But before you do, I must inform you of two matters,” she added lightly.

“I am at your command, Elder,” Wang Yu bowed deeply.

“First, the talent artifact you will comprehend is unique: each person may comprehend it only once in their lifetime. Once you begin, if you feel you can continue, you may do so indefinitely—there is no time limit. But if you interrupt the process, you must leave immediately; otherwise, your life will be in peril.”

“Second, before you begin, you must sign a third-rank spirit pact with the Azure Water Bow, pledging that no matter what form the talent artifact takes, and no matter what you derive from it, you shall never reveal it to a second person. Of course, if one day you ascend to the Fourth-Rank Nascent Soul realm, the pact will naturally dissolve.”

“If you refuse to sign the pact, you may leave now. We shall pretend the Azure Water Palace never invited you.”

“But if you truly excel in your comprehension, the Azure Water Palace will reward you generously—cultivation arts, pills, even magical artifacts, among other things,” said the woman in the cotton robe slowly.

“I am willing to sign the pact,” Wang Yu answered without hesitation.

He dared not gamble on whether he could safely leave the Azure Water Palace if he refused this mid-stage Jin Dan cultivator.

After all, a top-tier sect with a Nascent Soul elder in residence would not expend such effort to invite people across the land to comprehend this so-called “talent artifact” unless it was of immense importance.

He had no desire to taste the consequences of refusing a gift and accepting punishment.

Moreover, he had some confidence in his own insight under hyperfocus, and he was genuinely curious about the Azure Water Palace’s talent artifact—he wished to see it for himself.

Many before him had comprehended this artifact and left the palace unharmed; surely there was no great danger.

“Good. Follow me,” said the woman in the cotton robe, no longer delaying. She rose and walked toward a side door of the hall.

Wang Yu followed closely behind.

“Bow to Elder Shi Bo.”

Yan Lingxiang bowed respectfully and remained in the hall, wisely staying put.

After a quarter-hour.

The woman in the cotton robe and Wang Yu appeared in another white jade hall.

At its center stood alone a massive wooden door, seven or eight zhang tall.

The door was shut, appearing thin, yet shimmering with five-colored light, and sealed with a giant talisman the size of a table.

The talisman was pitch-black, even somewhat worn and incomplete. Aside from its enormous size, it revealed no obvious peculiarities.

Yet the woman in the cotton robe stepped forward several paces, bowed deeply to the door, and said:

“Disciple Chai He Feng humbly requests the Ancestor’s gift of the spirit pact.”

Silence. No anomaly occurred.

There is a Nascent Soul elder here!

Wang Yu, following behind, was startled—but seeing the scene, he grew suspicious. Still, his expression remained respectfully reverent.

“Approved.”

After a long pause, a distant, ethereal male voice echoed from above.

The moment the words ended,

a faint glow passed over the black talisman, and a yellow scroll materialized, drifting downward.

The woman in the cotton robe flicked her sleeve, catching the scroll in her hand. She unfurled it at once, revealing its surface filled with dense black characters.

“Read it first. If there are no issues, sign the pact,” she said, turning to Wang Yu, holding out the scroll without room for refusal.

“Yes.”

Wang Yu took the scroll and swiftly scanned its black-and-red characters.

Each black-and-red character emitted a startling aura. The content matched what the woman had described, but the lower half of the scroll bore dozens of blurred crimson names, obscured by the scroll’s spiritual light—impossible to read clearly.

Clearly, these were the names of those who had previously signed the pact.

Seeing this, Wang Yu no longer hesitated. He bit his finger, drew blood, and wrote his name upon the scroll.

Before this third-rank spirit pact, he dared not attempt deception—the pact would use his blood essence to instantly verify the name’s authenticity.

The moment he finished the final stroke, the two blood-red characters “Wang Yu” flickered, then grew equally blurred.

Wang Yu then respectfully returned the scroll to the woman.

The woman in the cotton robe took it, glanced once, and nodded in satisfaction. With a flick of her wrist, the scroll rose into the air, blurred, and vanished into the giant black talisman.

“Good. I shall now dispel the seal on the door. Enter directly to comprehend the artifact within.”

“Remember: when you finish, knock on this door three times. I will open it and retrieve you,” the woman instructed.

“I have remembered,” Wang Yu replied, his heart tightening.

The woman nodded, then reached into her robe and withdrew an object, holding it up to the giant black talisman on the door.

The woman nodded, then pulled something from her bosom and waved it before the black giant talisman on the door.