137: Chapter 137 New Mission

On Monday morning, when Chen Zhen walked into the classroom, Zhang Meng was burying his head in copying homework.

He heard footsteps, looked up, and was just about to open his mouth—

"No need to shout, here is the homework." Chen Zhen handed the notebook over.

Zhang Meng paused for a moment, took the notebook, and smiled sheepishly. "How did you know I was going to shout?"

"Which day do you not shout?"

Zhang Meng didn't say anything else and buried his head to continue copying.

Chen Zhen walked to his seat and sat down.

Su Xiaoya, who sat in front of him, didn't turn her head.

She was looking down at a book, a novel with a colorful cover.

She had been reading novels lately, sneaking peeks during class and reading during breaks, completely obsessed.

Chen Zhen didn't disturb her and opened his textbook.

The first class was mathematics.

Old Zhao was teaching derivative synthesis, and the blackboard was covered in formulas.

Chen Zhen listened for a while when a system panel notification suddenly popped up in his mind—it wasn't a visual pop-up, but a kind of intuition, like someone had gently tapped his consciousness.

He lowered his head and summoned the system panel.

The interface of the system panel was different from before.

The border now had a circle of pale gold patterns that looked alive, slowly flowing.

The central area had a new tab: "Task".

He clicked on it.

[Daily Task · New]

● Draw "Conductive Talisman" and apply it to household appliances (0/10) — Reward: Cultivation +20, Talisman Dao experience +30

● Help those with a sensitive Physique stabilize their state (0/5) — Reward: Cultivation +30, exploration dimension experience +20

● Explore the "Beishan rune stone" ruins (Incomplete) — Reward: Unknown

He stared at the last item for a long time.

Beishan rune stone. The one from 1937, which was later destroyed. The ruins were still there.

The System was guiding him to find it.

He closed the system panel and continued listening to the class.

The bell rang for the end of class, and Chen Hao turned around from the front row.

"Chen Zhen, were you distracted in class just now? Old Zhao looked over at you several times."

"I was thinking about a problem."

Chen Hao nodded and didn't ask any more.

At noon, school ended, and Chen Zhen didn't go to the cafeteria.

He walked out of the school gate and headed north.

Beishan was in the north of the city, not too far, a half-hour bike ride away.

As he rode, he thought about the task.

The System wouldn't give tasks for no reason.

There must be something at the Beishan rune stone.

After riding for twenty minutes, he arrived at the foot of the mountain.

Beishan wasn't tall, about the same as Dongshan, but it was more desolate.

At the foot of the mountain was a dirt road, overgrown with weeds on both sides, which hadn't been walked on for a long time.

He parked his bike by the side of the road and started to climb.

The mountain path was very steep, with a lot of loose stones.

He didn't walk fast, scanning the surroundings with Anomaly Perception as he went.

When he scanned to the middle of the mountain, a faint energy point appeared in his perception.

It wasn't strong, but it was very stable.

He walked in that direction.

Passing through a patch of bushes, an open space appeared before his eyes.

In the center of the open space was a broken stone tablet.

The tablet lay on the ground, broken in two, covered in moss.

He squatted down and used his hand to brush away the moss.

There were characters carved on the tablet, blurry and unclear, but he could vaguely tell they were runes.

A central circle with three dots and radial curves.

It was exactly the same as the one on Dongshan, but rougher, as if it had been carved a long time ago.

[exploration dimension experience +15]

The system panel popped up a notification.

He continued to clear away the moss.

The bottom half of the tablet was buried in the soil; he used his hands to dig away the dirt, revealing more runes.

The outer dot matrix had seventy-two dots.

It was the same number of dots as the Dongshan Rune.

But the arrangement order was different.

The Dongshan dot matrix was arranged clockwise, while this one was counter-clockwise.

[System notification: Discovered "Inverse Rune"]

[Effect: Complementary to the Dongshan Rune, can be used in combination]

[Suggestion: Make a rubbing of the rune for subsequent research]

He took paper and a pencil out of his Storage Space and began to make a rubbing.

He placed the paper over the tablet and gently rubbed it with the pencil.

The outline of the rune slowly emerged.

After finishing the rubbing, he put the paper away.

He stood up and looked around.

The area around the open space was overgrown with weeds, and he couldn't see anything else.

But in his Anomaly Perception, there was still a faint fluctuation.

It was directly beneath the tablet.

He squatted down and pressed his hand against the ground.

He probed with spiritual power.

About one meter underground, there was something.

It wasn't big, about the size of a fist, and it emitted the same energy fluctuation as the tablet.

He took out a small shovel and started digging.

After digging half a meter deep, the shovel hit something hard.

He used his hands to clear away the soil, revealing a stone box.

The stone box wasn't big, about the size of a palm, with runes carved on the surface.

It was the same as the runes on the tablet.

He carefully took out the stone box and opened it.

Inside was a jade plaque.

It was milky white, palm-sized, with a smooth surface and no runes.

But holding it in his hand, he could feel a warm energy flowing.

[Item obtained: Beishan jade plaque]

[Effect: Resonates with the Dongshan Rune, can activate hidden functions]

[Usage: Unknown]

He put the jade plaque into his Storage Space.

He stood up, put the stone box back in its place, and filled the soil back in.

He also restored the tablet to its original state.

He turned and went down the mountain.

At 3:00 PM, at the Secret Base.

Chen Zhen pushed open the door; Zhou Rui was at the workbench drawing talismans, Shen Nian was recording spiritual plants, and Yun Xi was leaning against the wall.

Everything was as usual.

He walked to the center of the formation and sat down, taking the jade plaque out of his Storage Space.

He placed it in his palm.

The jade plaque was glowing faintly, very dimly, but steadily.

He tried injecting spiritual power into it.

The jade plaque lit up for a moment, then dimmed.

No reaction.

He tried again, but it was the same.

Yun Xi walked over and looked down at the jade plaque.

"What is this?"

"Dug it out from under the Beishan rune stone."

Yun Xi squatted down and stared at the jade plaque for a few seconds.

"I've seen something similar. There's one over at Changbai Mountain too."

Chen Zhen looked up at her.

"Where?"

"At the bottom of Heavenly Lake. It's very deep; I've never been down there. Han Lie said there's a stone tablet down there, just like the one on Dongshan. There should be something under that tablet, too."

Chen Zhen thought about it.

"Where is Han Lie now?"

"Changbai Mountain. He rarely comes out."

Chen Zhen put the jade plaque away.

"We'll go this weekend."

Yun Xi nodded. "I'll contact him."

Zhou Rui put down his pen and walked over.

"Master, I've had someone test those new talismans of mine."

Chen Zhen looked at him.

"How were the results?"

Zhou Rui took his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a photo.

In the photo was a talisman, stuck to the head of a bed, light green in color.

"This one is my mom's; she slept very well last night, and the color remained stable."

He flipped to the next one.

"This one is from someone on Elder Lin's side who tested it for a night. It started red, then turned blue, and at three in the morning, it turned green, and they slept until seven in the morning."

He put his phone away.

"Master, can this talisman be used?"

Chen Zhen nodded. "It can be used. Make a few more and give them to those who need them."

Zhou Rui smiled. "Okay."

He turned and walked back to the workbench to continue drawing.

Chen Zhen looked down at his chest.

The seed was still spinning.

That pattern was still glowing.

He took out the rune paper rubbing and spread it out in front of him.

Dongshan Rune, clockwise.

Beishan Rune, counter-clockwise.

Placed together, they looked like reflections in a mirror.

[System notification: Complementary runes detected]

[Combination effect: Unknown]

[Suggestion: Find other runes; collecting them all can unlock hidden functions]

Other runes.

Nanshan, Xishan, and those other mountains whose names he couldn't recall.

He put away the rune paper.

No rush.

One by one.