Chapter 0262: Lingxi Profound Pen

Chapter 0262: Lingxi Profound Pen

Qin Yun gazed at the object within the crystal pillar, his curiosity piqued. However, extracting the object would not be easy unless the crystal pillar was destroyed.

"Ideally, we should avoid destroying the crystal pillar. It’s likely the root of the Tian Xiao Imperial Mausoleum. If it’s destroyed, the mausoleum’s powerful defenses will disappear as well." Xiao Xuanqin was equally eager to know what the object was.

Qin Yun understood Xiao Xuanqin’s concern. She didn’t want to destroy the Tian Xiao Imperial Mausoleum because she believed it could serve as a good shelter in the future.

He looked at the crystal pillar and said, "Let me see if there’s another way."

He reached out and touched the crystal pillar, which felt icy cold. It suddenly dawned on him that the corridor earlier was frigid possibly because this crystal pillar was emitting a strong chill.

Qin Yun realized that the circular stone room wasn’t cold at all, likely because the cold air was being released elsewhere.

"I’ll try using the golden key!" Qin Yun took out the golden key and touched it to the crystal pillar. It easily slid inside.

Following that, his arm sank into the crystal pillar!

"Xiao Xuanqin, startled, asked urgently, 'Is there any danger?'"

"It’s fine. The energy inside is very unique. It can’t be absorbed and isn’t affecting me." Qin Yun hadn’t expected the golden key to be so useful.

With a swift motion, he grasped the object within the crystal pillar and pulled it free, revealing a glowing soul-sealing pearl.

"It’s a crystal ball with something sealed inside!" Qin Yun said excitedly as he examined the crystal ball. "What could it be inside?"

"Is the white mass inside the crystal ball a soul weapon?" Xiao Xuanqin stared at the soul-sealing pearl, filled with doubt. "What level of soul weapon is this? It looks crystal-clear and is emitting white light. Could this be a Crystal Soul Weapon? But there’s no soul weapon of this level!"

"I don’t know. It might be a soul weapon." Qin Yun shared the same thought.

Xiao Xuanqin urged, "Hurry and take it out! There’s something else nearby that looks like a very short pen."

Upon hearing Xiao Xuanqin’s words, Qin Yun also thought it resembled a pen. The pen shaft was white, and the tip was very sharp. It was also very short, only as long as a finger, like an exquisitely crafted white jade pen. It was small, delicate, and very refined.

He took out the soul-sealing pearl and tried to sense the white mass that seemed like a soul weapon. As his spiritual power touched the white mass, a flash of light suddenly appeared.

After the light disappeared, the soul mass had merged with the white jade pen!

"This seems to be a natural fusion of a soul weapon and a spiritual weapon!" Qin Yun said in surprise.

The soul-sealing pearl suddenly cracked and shattered on its own.

Finally, Qin Yun obtained the small white jade pen.

"This isn’t just a spiritual weapon; the strange patterns on it are incredibly complex!" Qin Yun could immediately tell upon touching it and carefully examined it with his spiritual power.

Soon, he discovered many profound patterns inside the pen… and he couldn’t determine their level!

"This is at least of the profound pattern level!" he exclaimed in surprise.

The presence of profound patterns meant it was a profound weapon, a type of spiritual artifact with intricate and powerful runes.

"Quick, drip some blood!" Xiao Xuanqin said.

"Alright!" Qin Yun produced a drop of blood and let it fall onto the pen.

The blood seeped into the white jade and vanished, causing it to emit a radiant, lustrous glow.

The Lingxi Profound Pen, infused with a profound-patterned soul, belonged to the Beast King…

After Qin Yun dripped his blood, he immediately knew this was a mystic artifact and understood why the tip of the pen was hard and sharp—it was actually a carving knife, though designed to look like a pen.

However, from the Soul-Seizing Profound Pen, he also read other information, namely "Soul of Profound Runes" and "King of Beasts," which intrigued him greatly. The information embedded within the Soul-Seizing Profound Pen must be extremely important.

"Isn't this pen perfect for you?" Xiao Xuanqin said happily. As a Runes Master, having a good carving knife would make engraving runes much easier for Qin Yun.

"Why was it placed inside the crystal pillar? Who put it there? This is an excellent mystic artifact! But what are the Soul of Profound Runes and King of Beasts?" Qin Yun marveled at the Soul-Seizing Profound Pen. "I wonder what grade this mystic artifact is! Good mystic artifacts usually require blueprints. If it's an ultimate-grade carving knife, the blueprint would be even more precious."

Xiao Xuanqin replied, "I have no idea what the Soul of Profound Runes is, but since it was placed with such a precious artifact, it must be something extraordinary."

Qin Yun nodded. "Once I figure it out, I'll definitely tell you. There might be clues about this mausoleum."

"It's time for us to leave; we've explored enough here," Xiao Xuanqin said, looking around and sighing softly. She still hadn’t uncovered the secret of the Xiao family’s lineage.

"There are still plenty of enormous wild boars outside, so getting out won't be easy!" Qin Yun smiled.

Thinking of the wild boars outside the gate, Xiao Xuanqin felt a headache coming on and said helplessly, "We’ll have to make a break for it. If it comes to it, I’ll distract the wild boars, and you just run!"

"Aunt Xiao, I just obtained this Soul-Seizing Profound Pen and can use it to try and create some rune symbols!" Qin Yun waved the beautiful jade pen in his hand.

It was actually a carving knife, just designed to look like a pen.

"What kind of rune symbols can you craft?" Xiao Xuanqin had heard that Qin Yun had powerful immobilization symbols.

"Ultimate bone symbols! Immobilization symbols!" Qin Yun took out some bones of spiritual beasts.

Xiao Xuanqin was quite surprised. "You can already craft ultimate-grade symbols?"

"Yes, why?" Qin Yun took out a furnace and a flat surface, smiling.

"But as a junior Runes Master, you should only be able to create intermediate-grade symbols," Xiao Xuanqin said, puzzled.

Qin Yun took out a golden badge and smiled. "Aunt Xiao, I'm a senior Runes Master now!"

Xiao Xuanqin certainly recognized this kind of badge. Runes Masters with such badges were treated with great respect, even by the emperor.

She remembered that when such Runes Masters visited when she was a child, the emperor would host grand banquets to welcome them.

Grinning, Qin Yun handed the badge to Xiao Xuanqin, who was stunned for a moment before taking it.

"This senior Runes Master badge is indeed special. As soon as I held it, I could sense a strong intention from the badge to return to its owner." Xiao Xuanqin tightly gripped the badge, or else it would have flown away by itself.

After she let go, the badge flew toward Qin Yun.

Qin Yun caught the badge and put it away, smiling. "Aunt Xiao, does that put your mind at ease? I can definitely craft ultimate immobilization symbols that can immobilize spiritual beasts for a few seconds."

"You’re incredible! You’re already a senior Runes Master at just seventeen!" Xiao Xuanqin exclaimed. "By the way, aren’t ultimate symbols only craftable by spirit-level Runes Masters?"

"It's not a big deal! Crafting runes is relatively straightforward, not as difficult as making spiritual artifacts or setting up arrays, so I can craft ultimate-grade symbols even as a junior Runes Master." Qin Yun spoke as he stuffed many beast bones into the furnace, melting them into a soft, mud-like substance.

He could even refine king-grade bone steel, so refining the bone plates for ultimate symbols was no problem.

Two hours later, he refined ten bone plates, which looked like just slightly thicker pieces of paper.

"Aunt Xiao, use your Martial Warrior's Diamond Inner Energy and infuse it into these bone plates," Qin Yun said. He was grateful to have a Martial Warrior around; with Diamond Inner Energy, the symbols would be stronger.

Xiao Xuanqin followed Qin Yun’s instructions, channeling her Diamond Inner Energy into the bone plates until they were fully infused, then moved on to the next.

She found it fascinating to help create the top-grade spirit bone talisman and threw herself into the task Qin Yun had given her.

Qin Yun took out the Spirit Rhinoceros Pen, condensed his Blood Soul Power, and injected it into the pen. Immediately, he felt a peculiar sensation, as if the Spirit Rhinoceros Pen had become a part of him, connected to his hand.

What amazed him most was how clearly he could see everything under the pen tip, as though it were a third eye guiding his hand. This meant he could perform extremely precise carvings.

The power of the runes that could be unleashed depended on how much precision was achieved during the carving.

For the vast majority of Runes Masters, if the runes they carved could absorb energy and function, it was considered a success, and they didn’t care about precision.

Generally, roughly carved runes could only release one-tenth of the rune’s power, while slightly better craftsmanship could achieve two or three tenths.

If a Runes Master could unlock 40-50% of the rune's power, they would be considered exceptional. Such individuals were usually renowned, and the spiritual tools and talismans they sold commanded high prices.

In the Runes Hall, there were also tools to assess the precision of runes, grading them from level one to ten, with level one being the worst and level ten the best. Beyond level ten, there were legendary levels such as Master Level and Saint Entry Level, which were extremely difficult to achieve.

Qin Yun had assessed his own rune's power and found that he could release about 30%, placing him between level three and four.

For a young Runes Master like him, this was extraordinary, which was one of the reasons Zhuochuan valued him so much, as he still had a lot of room for improvement.

"So, a good carving knife allows one to carve runes more precisely and with greater ease," Qin Yun thought. He believed that the precision of the runes he was carving now should be around level four or five.

Of course, the runes he carved were all high-grade spirit runes, making it even more difficult to maintain good precision, especially when carving on hard materials, which was even more challenging.

This truly tested the Runes Master’s grasp of the runes' inherent charm. If one had a deep understanding of this charm, they could carve more precisely.

Xiao Xuanqin was engrossed in crafting the bone plates and occasionally asked Qin Yun a question, but he was so focused that he didn’t even notice. He was entirely focused on the tip of the Spirit Rhinoceros Pen, moving it at varying speeds and applying different amounts of force.

He had never carved runes with such subtle control over force and speed before.

Xiao Xuanqin was captivated by Qin Yun’s focus. It was the first time she had seen a man so intensely focused, especially Qin Yun’s determined and handsome profile, which left her somewhat distracted.

Qin Yun carved the immobilization runes with intense focus, intending to carve eight sets of immobilization runes on the palm-sized bone plate.