Chapter 94: Runic Formations

Douglas shouted, pushing himself out of the rubble he had fallen face-first into. He was drenched, with a thick layer of dust from the wreckage covering him from head to toe. Even his brown hair had turned white from the grime.Diana casually walked over and effortlessly extracted the water and dust from Douglas's clothes, forming a ball above her palm that turned into a dusky snow globe. With a flick of her wrist, the water ball transformed into mist and was carried away by the wind.

She then crossed her arms and lectured in a monotone voice,

Stella scowled over her shoulder but then her eyes widened.

Diana hummed until she remembered the tiny black snake.

Stella ran over and extended her finger. The snake cautiously approached but reeled back and tried to hide behind Diana's neck.

Diana rolled her eyes as Stella reached up and felt the soft white fur of Maple.

Ashlock witnessed how Maple appeared out of nowhere and perched himself on top of Stella's head. Somehow, the squirrel seemed weightless, so Stella rarely noticed when he decided to sleep on her head.

Stella grumbled,

Ashlock was glad the squirrel didn't seem to mind people doubting him, as Maple didn't react to Stella's words and continued to sleep. Likely recovering from the monstrous ability he had unleashed on the Dao Storm.

He was still unsure of Maple's full capabilities as that attack on the Dao Storm had been the closest to him actually getting a glimpse of what he could do.

Stella grabbed Douglas's outstretched hand by the wrist, keeping it firmly in place. The giant man still wore his black wooden mask, so his expression was indiscernible, but the gasp of surprise told Ashlock that Douglas hadn't expected such a strong reaction to his innocent gesture.

Stella warned,

Maple watched Douglas lower his hand to his side, and then seemingly satisfied, the squirrel closed his eye.

Would Maple have really killed Douglas? "Hey, Maple. I know you can hear me. I know Douglas and Diana aren't in the mutual pact, but please don't kill any of my sect members for small transgressions against you, okay? Their survival and growth directly benefit me."

Maple sprawled out on Stella's head with his limbs far apart but gave Ashlock a thumbs up. With the murderous squirrel under control, Ashlock realized that Larry was still missing.

Expanding his spiritual sight, which now covered most of the mountain peak, he saw the massive spider crawling up the mountainside at a sluggish pace.

"The brute must be hungry," Ashlock mused. Larry had been confined to the cavern for some time and couldn't go hunting. "Well, I need him to help translate for me up here, as I don't want to waste Qi while I'm recovering. He can go hunting after."

Communicating with Larry required only a tiny bit of Qi compared to controlling a slab of stone with telekinesis and accurately writing out a message.

Douglas rubbed his wrist.

Stella pointed up at the dozing squirrel,

Maple, indifferent to both insults and praise, continued sleeping. Sometimes, Ashlock wondered if he had a pact with a mythical squirrel or if Maple was actually a sloth in disguise.

Douglas removed the black mask from his face and, taking Stella's warning seriously, examined Maple as though he were a ticking time bomb.

Stella shifted her focus from Douglas to little Kai, the snake wrapped around Diana's neck.

Diana hummed in thought, "I don't think I should. It acts strangely friendly, like the Patriarch's other pet, so it might already have a name—"

Just then, Larry crested the side of the mountain peak, and Ashlock informed him through the tether about the grass snake.

Larry declared gruffly, drawing the attention of the girls and Douglas.

Stella took a moment to translate the words in her head before gasping in understanding,

Larry slowly crawled closer and huffed a plume of ash from his mouth,

Stella rolled her eyes.

Douglas asked. The man tried to maintain his composure, but Ashlock could tell he was bewildered from watching the two speak in a language he couldn't understand.

With pride, Stella practically stuck her nose in the air and switched back to the common tongue,

There was a brief pause as Douglas processed the information. He looked between the squirrel, Stella, and then Larry and eventually just shook his head. Douglas nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck,

Stella's joy instantly vanished,

Douglas seemed surprised,

Stella reluctantly nodded,

Douglas whistled in appreciation,

Stella shrugged,

Douglas glanced around,

Stella gestured with her chin toward Ashlock,

Douglas rubbed his chin.

Stella smiled at the memory.

Ashlock felt a mix of warmth and shock, knowing what Stella had done while he was asleep. The thought of such a young girl venturing into the city alone to sell items belonging to her family to create the Qi gathering formation that had surrounded him broke his heart. Although it had been beneficial, he still cursed the lightning for causing such a situation.

Douglas furrowed his brows,

Stella sighed.

Douglas walked over and began inspecting the remnants of the central courtyard. He then bent down and picked up a stone shard.

Stella shrugged. Stella raised her fingers weighed down with golden rings.

If there was one thing the Ashfallen sect had, it was now a vast wealth. Of course, it wasn't sustainable income, but it was a sizable bounty they acquired after slaughtering hundreds of Evergreen and Winterwrath cultivators.

But if they wanted to hire many mortals and buy materials to create things, they would need a more reliable source of income, and Ashlock was still betting on alchemy to be the Ashfallen sect's main export.

That was why he wanted to keep pushing ahead for the alchemy tournament despite all the risk. Obtaining a top-tier alchemist, he could keep within the sect and have teach Stella or maybe Diana would be very beneficial.

And who knows, perhaps the alchemist tournament of Darklight City could become a yearly event that brings in more wealth and talent to the city.

Douglas's eyes lingered on the many golden spatial rings on Stella's finger and then grinned.

Diana said flatly, petting little Kai's head.

Douglas paused.

Then he quickly added when Diana frowned,

Ashlock realized that Douglas's words were true. They had somewhat bullied the man into signing an oath without ever discussing the benefits or pay.

Diana raised a brow, interrupting Ashlock's musing.

Douglas's expression darkened.

Stella pulled one of the spatial rings free and tossed it to Douglas, who fumbled and almost dropped it.

Stella said seriously, glancing briefly at Diana.

Douglas put on the ring around his pinky finger and closed his eyes. A small glow of power emanated from the ring, and Ashlock could tell the man was searching its contents. Finally, his eyes snapped open, and he gasped,

Stella shrugged.

Ashlock suddenly got a terrible feeling that he had been spoiling Stella a little too much over the years with free cultivation resources and gifts. Had he acted like a rich parent and spoiled his child rotten?

Douglas spoke slowly.

Seeing Douglas so appreciative of her gesture, Stella seemed to cheer up.

Stella then crossed her arms.

Douglas rubbed his chin.

***

What followed was Diana relaxing on a bench under his shade while Stella and Douglas stood over the runic formation that Stella used to use for cultivation before the silver lines were destroyed.

Douglas got down on one knee, placed a palm on the formation, and closed his eyes.

Ashlock saw the hard stone covered in deeply engraved lines that were chipped and damaged seemingly morph into a watery, clay-like substance and then ripple as the engraved lines were wiped and redrawn.

Once the runic formation looked new, Douglas opened his eyes.

Douglas then pointed toward the outer edge of the formation.

Stella asked while Douglas brought out some spirit stones from the golden ring Stella had just given him.

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Douglas injected some of his own Qi into the spirit stone, and it melted from a solid into a liquid, now resembling mercury.

Slowly, Douglas brought out more spirit stones and filled all the grooves with the silver liquid. The grooves didn't look that deep, but Ashlock was surprised by how many spirit stones were needed to complete the formation. Such a small formation had gobbled up handfuls of spirit stones already, and it still wasn't complete.

While Douglas was hard at work using his earth affinity Qi to transform the solid spirit stones into a viscous liquid, Stella was busy studying the runic words.

Douglas mused.

Douglas replied.

Douglas then returned his focus to the Qi gathering formation full of spirit stones.

Stella nodded and got down on her knees beside Douglas. She then placed her hands on the formation and closed her eyes. A moment later, the entire thing lit up with a silver glow, and through his spirit sight, Ashlock could feel the Qi in the area gravitating toward the formation.

And as he focused more, he could see that the silver lines absorbed around half the Qi that gravitated toward the formation while the other half hung around within the formation's circumference as if there were an invisible bubble.

Douglas directed Stella, and she complied by standing back up and looking at the active formation.

Douglas then summoned an artifact from his spatial ring. It looked like a soldering gun with a hole in the top. The man then pushed the artifact into Stella's hand.

Stella gripped the artifact in her hand and gave Douglas a weak smile.

Douglas shook his head.

The man tapped the golden ring on his pinky.

Stella's smile grew a bit.

Douglas started.

But he was swiftly silenced by Stella's excitement.

Douglas just let out a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ashlock could feel the man's pain, but Stella raised some good ideas that he hoped they would implement over the next few days while he was out of action.

It was going to be a hectic week—Ashlock could already tell.