147: Chapter 147 [Daily Quest: Convection Talisman]

The rain was getting heavier. Chen Zhen stood by the window, watching the rain slanting down under the streetlights.

The glass was covered in water droplets, blurring the street outside. He turned and walked back to the center of the array.

The two jade plaques were still lying on the ground, the ones from North Mountain and West Mountain, their milky-white surfaces shimmering. He stared at them for a long time.

Then he reached out and grasped both at the same time. He injected spiritual power, and the jade plaques lit up, resonating with the Talisman Array.

A line of text popped up on the system panel.

[Composite Rune Array · Strength +5% · Current 320%] [jade plaque resonating · Progress 2/4]

It was always like this; it added five percent, and then nothing else happened. He withdrew his hand.

He needed the third one. The East Mountain one was inside the seed, and he couldn't get it out.

He didn't know where the South Mountain one was.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. The sound of the rain was loud, a rushing downpour, hitting the roof, hitting the windows, hitting the open ground outside the Secret Base.

He suddenly remembered something. In Shen Zhiyuan's notes, there was a slip of paper tucked between the pages, with an address written on it.

He opened his eyes and took the notebook out of his Storage Space.

He flipped to the page where the slip of paper was tucked.

The paper had already yellowed, and the edges were a bit brittle.

On it was written a line of text: "South City, Fushan Town, No. 7 Old Locust Tree Lane."

Shen Zhiyuan had been to South City, more than once. The first time he went, he found the stone box was empty and had characters carved on it.

The second time he went, he went to this address. Who was he looking for?

Chen Zhen put the slip of paper away. He had gone to South City over the weekend, but only to Fu Mountain, not Fushan Town.

He hadn't been to this address yet.

He stood up and walked to the window. The rain had eased, turning into a light drizzle.

Tomorrow was Thursday, and he still had class. He would go to South City again on the weekend.

Thursday morning, Chen Zhen walked into the classroom.

The countdown to the joint exam on the blackboard had been torn off and replaced with a new notice — "Senior Year Parent-Teacher Meeting, Saturday at 2:00 PM, please ensure parents attend on time."

Zhang Meng was slumped over his desk; this time he wasn't sleeping, just spacing out. Chen Hao was in the front row solving problems, having already gone through who-knows-how-many sheets of draft paper.

Su Xiaoya turned her head. "Chen Zhen, who is coming to the parent-teacher meeting?"

"My mom."

Su Xiaoya nodded. "My mom is coming too. She said she wants to meet you."

Chen Zhen didn't speak. Su Xiaoya waited for two seconds, sighed, and turned back around.

The first period was math. Old Zhao was going over the test papers, the joint exam papers.

He stood on the podium, holding chalk and writing the answers on the blackboard.

When he got to the last question, he paused for a moment.

"For this question, only three people in the entire grade got it right. Our class has one."

He glanced at Chen Zhen.

"Chen Zhen, come up and write it out."

Chen Zhen stood up and walked to the podium. He picked up the chalk and wrote on the blackboard.

Step one, step two, step three.

When he reached the fourth step, he suddenly stopped. It wasn't because he didn't know how, but because an image had popped into his mind — the three layers of runes in the Composite Rune Array were very similar in structure to the logic used to solve this problem.

The core circle was the known conditions, the radial curves were the derivation process, and the nested geometry was the conclusion.

He froze for a second, then continued writing. After finishing, he put down the chalk.

Old Zhao stared at the blackboard for a few seconds. "Correct. You can go down now."

Chen Zhen returned to his seat. The image in his mind was still spinning.

Mathematics and runes were connected in their structure.

The bell rang, and Chen Hao turned his head from the front row. "Why did you pause at the fourth step just now?"

"I was thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Thinking about a problem."

Chen Hao stared at him for a few seconds before turning back.

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

He left the school gate and headed towards the old street.

When he passed the appliance repair shop, the shop was open.

The middle-aged man was squatting at the door, repairing a washing machine. When he saw Chen Zhen, he stood up.

"Young man, do you still have those stickers?"

Chen Zhen looked at him. "You used them all up?"

The man nodded. "I used them for three days, and my electricity bill dropped by nearly twenty percent. My wife said she wants a few more; our relatives want to try them too."

Chen Zhen took ten Conductive Talismans from his pocket and handed them to him.

The man took them and was stunned for a moment. "So many?"

"A gift for you. No charge."

The man stared at him for a few seconds. "These aren't stickers, are they? These are talismans?"

Chen Zhen didn't answer and turned to leave. The man stood at the door, holding the talismans, watching his back disappear.

[Conductive Talisman · Application Success × 10] [Current progress: 11/10] [Reward unlocked]

A prompt popped up on the system panel. Chen Zhen stopped and summoned the system panel.

[Daily Task · Conductive Talisman] Completed. Reward: Cultivation +20, Talisman Dao experience +30, new recipe unlocked.

[New recipe: Conductive Talisman · Advanced Version] Effect: Appliance efficiency +40%, electrical energy loss -30%. Required Materials: anshen flower powder, Mint juice, cinnabar.

Chen Zhen looked at the recipe. He had the anshen flower powder, he had the Mint juice, but cinnabar — he thought for a moment, Grandpa Wu's Bookstore should have some. He quickened his pace.

The door of the Bookstore was open. Grandpa Wu was reading an old book behind the counter. Seeing Chen Zhen come in, he took off his glasses.

"Here again?"

"Grandpa Wu, do you have any cinnabar?"

Grandpa Wu stared at him for a few seconds. "What do you need cinnabar for?"

"To draw talismans."

Grandpa Wu stood up, walked behind the bookshelf, rummaged for a while, and took out a small porcelain bottle.

"This is all that's left. Use it sparingly."

Chen Zhen took it and opened the lid. Inside was red powder, very fine, very bright, emitting a faint, fishy smell.

[Obtained item: Cinnabar × 50 grams]

"Thank you, Grandpa Wu."

Grandpa Wu waved his hand. "Go on, go on, don't hold up my work."

Chen Zhen pushed the door open and went out.

In the afternoon, at the Secret Base.

Chen Zhen pushed the door open. Zhou Rui was at the workbench mixing ink. Seeing Chen Zhen come in, he looked up.

"Master, does that advanced version of the Conductive Talisman need cinnabar?"

"Yes."

"I asked Old Lin for some." Zhou Rui took a small porcelain bottle from his pocket. "He said this is the best cinnabar, from an old mine."

Chen Zhen took it and opened it. It was redder and brighter than the bottle Grandpa Wu had given him, and the powder was finer.

He nodded. "Let's try it."

The two started mixing the ink.

anshen flower powder, Mint juice, and cinnabar, mixed in proportion. The flower powder was purple, the Mint juice was green, and the cinnabar was red. The three colors mixed together, turning into a dark brown, emitting a faint medicinal fragrance.

Zhou Rui picked up the brush, dipped it in the ink, and started drawing.

With the first stroke, the talisman paper lit up.

It wasn't the pale golden light from before, but a deep red light, like burning iron. He drew stroke by stroke, and the light on the talisman paper grew brighter and brighter.

After finishing the last stroke, the entire talisman burst out with a blinding red light that lasted for several seconds before dimming.

[Conductive Talisman · Advanced Version] Effect: Appliance efficiency +40%, electrical energy loss -30%. Quality: Top-grade.

Zhou Rui stared at the talisman and was stunned for a moment. "It worked."

Chen Zhen picked up the talisman and looked at it. The structure of the talisman runes was correct, the flow of spiritual power was correct, and the amount of cinnabar was also correct. He nodded.

"Make a few more."

Zhou Rui smiled. "Okay."

He sat down and continued drawing. Chen Zhen walked to the Mutant Seedling and squatted down.

The flower bud had grown larger, from the size of a thumb to the size of an egg. Golden light leaked out from the gaps in the petals, illuminating the entire base in a golden yellow. The golden patterns on the leaves had increased from forty-five to forty-eight.

Shen Nian was standing nearby, holding a notebook. "It lit up again today. It's brighter than yesterday."

Chen Zhen stared at the flower buds. Soon.

He stood up and walked back to the center of the array. He used Internal Vision to check his Dantian.

The seed was still spinning, and that pattern was still glowing.

He took out the two jade plaques and placed them in front of him. He reached out to touch them, injecting spiritual power.

[Composite Rune Array · Strength +5% · Current 325%]

He withdrew his hand.

Weekend, go to South City.

Find that address.