78: The ancient secret technique, the Dragon-Trapping Seal! Subdue it!

Chapter 78: Ancient Secret Technique Dragon Imprisonment Seal! Subjugation!

In the early morning Spirit Beast Mountain Market, the streets of the East District were already filled with many pedestrians.

Lu Qiu blended into the crowd, his gaze sweeping over the rugged-styled shops on both sides, and soon found the sign for "Baogong Shop."

The shop's storefront was not large, with simple decor; several strings of dried beast bones and a few rusty fragments of Magical Artifacts hung at the entrance as decoration, giving it a somewhat old-fashioned feel.

Pushing the door open and entering, the light inside the shop was slightly dim, and the air was filled with a faint mixture of metal and aged wood scents.

Behind the counter sat a short, chubby old man with a goatee, who was looking down and tinkering with a damaged compass-shaped Magical Artifact. Hearing the door, he lifted his eyelids slightly, and seeing that Lu Qiu had a Qi Refining Perfection cultivation, he hurriedly asked warmly: "Guest, feel free to look around. This shop mainly deals in various Magical Artifact repairs and material appraisal, and also buys and sells some secondhand goods."

Lu Qiu calmly observed the shop's furnishings.

Various Magical Artifacts were placed on the wooden shelves on both sides, most of which were of ordinary quality or even incomplete, clearly all secondhand goods that had been recycled or traded.

His gaze soon landed on a wooden shelf near the corner.

There lay several pieces of "junk" that seemed to have no Spiritual Qi fluctuations at all. Among them was a dark yellow, cracked-edged turtle shell-shaped Magical Artifact covered in scratches, which matched perfectly with the description in his information.

Lu Qiu stepped forward and casually picked up the turtle shell-shaped Magical Artifact to weigh it.

It was quite heavy and had a hard texture, as if refined from the shell of some Yao Beast, but its spiritual light was dim, with several cracks deep enough to see inside, and the core runes seemed to have been destroyed. It truly looked like an almost scrapped Magical Artifact.

"Shopkeeper, how much for this turtle shell?" Lu Qiu turned and asked.

The short, chubby old man glanced at it and immediately lost interest, saying casually: "Oh, that one. If you want it, take it for five Spirit Stones; it can be used as material for Artifact Refining practice."

Lu Qiu frowned, picked up the turtle shell, looked at it carefully again, and even injected a sliver of mana to test it, but there was no reaction at all.

"These cracks are too deep; the internal structure is probably brittle. Two Spirit Stones, and I'll take it back to practice with." Lu Qiu began to bargain.

The old man didn't seem to have high hopes for this piece of junk either. After a slight hesitation, he waved his hand: "Fine, fine, two it is. It's just taking up space anyway."

Lu Qiu readily paid two Low-Grade Spirit Stones and put the turtle shell into his Storage Pouch, secretly delighted.

With the transaction complete, he asked as if casually: "Shopkeeper, I wonder if there is a place in the market that sells 'ironwood'?"

Having received the Spirit Stones, the old man's attitude improved slightly, and he stroked his goatee: "Ironwood? There's a kid named Lin Yong over in the South District who often sets up a stall to sell sinking ironwood he's picked up from the mountains. His stuff is quite genuine."

Lu Qiu's heart stirred. He offered his thanks and left Baogong Shop.

Following the old man's directions, he soon arrived at the South District stall area.

This place was even noisier and more chaotic than the shop district. Animal skins or coarse cloth were spread on the ground on both sides, covered with all sorts of items: herbs, Ores, beast bones, Talismans, Jade Slips, and even some living low-level insects being sold in small cages.

The sounds of shouting and bargaining were endless.

Lu Qiu's Divine Sense swept slightly, and he soon locked onto an inconspicuous stall.

The stall owner was a dark-skinned, honest-looking youth with a cultivation around the sixth layer of Qi Refining. He was squatting on the ground, staring blankly at a pile of dark wood and several differently colored Ores, appearing somewhat out of place amidst the surrounding clamor.

On the stall, a piece of wood about three feet long, as thick as a bowl's mouth, completely black, with a dense and heavy texture, lay quietly in the corner.

Lu Qiu approached and picked up the piece of wood.

It felt exceptionally heavy, far exceeding ordinary wood, and the surface grain had a faint metallic luster. Upon sniffing it, there was a slight smell of iron.

"How much for this wood?" Lu Qiu asked.

The youth, Lin Yong, looked up, and seeing that Lu Qiu was a Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator, he hurriedly stood up and said somewhat awkwardly: "This... I picked this up from a collapsed mine on the outskirts of Da Li Mountain. It's especially heavy and hard as iron. I don't know what it is... If you want it, how about... thirty Spirit Stones?"

His tone was uncertain, clearly not knowing the value of the item himself.

Lu Qiu chuckled inwardly. Three-hundred-year-old sinking ironwood was an excellent material for refining certain heavy Magical Artifacts or Puppet joints; it would sell for at least several hundred Spirit Stones in the market shops.

However, he remained calm on the surface and instead shook his head: "Too expensive. It's just a piece of harder wood. Twenty Spirit Stones, and I'll take it."

Lin Yong didn't seem to expect the other party to actually buy it. He was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay! Twenty it is!"

Lu Qiu paid the Spirit Stones, put away the sinking ironwood, and turned to leave.

For this trip out, his main objective was already in hand, and he had even picked up a small bargain along the way, putting him in a quite good mood.

He did not pay any further attention to the corpse-rotting spirit flower mentioned in the silver information—it was still early, several hours before the hour of the monkey, and he planned to return to his Immortal Cave first to study that turtle shell Magical Artifact.

---

Inside the temporary Immortal Cave.

Lu Qiu set up an isolation Restriction before taking out the dark yellow turtle shell-shaped Magical Artifact.

He carefully examined this seemingly scrapped Magical Artifact, his Divine Sense like the finest carving knife, sweeping over its surface and interior inch by inch.

The turtle shell was about half an inch thick, and while the exterior was severely damaged, the material of the core area seemed exceptionally tough. Even though the surface spiritual runes were destroyed, the internal structure remained intact.

"A hidden Legacy... where could it be?"

Lu Qiu pondered for a moment and tried injecting mana into the turtle shell at different frequencies and intensities.

When his mana gently seeped into the core area of the turtle shell with a specific rhythm mimicking rippling water, a sudden change occurred!

"Crack..."

With a very slight crisp sound, a tiny gap at the core of the turtle shell, which had originally been perfectly integrated with the surrounding material and completely unnoticeable to the naked eye, quietly split open!

Lu Qiu's spirit was bolstered, and he carefully probed his Divine Sense into the gap.

It was hollow inside!

Within the interlayer space, which was smaller than a fingernail, lay a strange, dark-gold "page" as thin as a cicada's wing.

This page was neither silk nor fabric, but more like a soft gold foil, with no text or patterns on its surface.

Lu Qiu used his Divine Sense to carefully "pinch" it out.

The gold page landed in his palm, light as nothing, yet it radiated an ancient and vast Aura.

He tried injecting a sliver of mana.

The moment the mana touched the gold page—

"Buzz!"

A dazzling but non-harmful golden light suddenly erupted from the surface of the gold page!

Within the light, countless silver points of light, as fine as dust and constantly shifting, emerged, as dense as the stars on a summer night!

These points of light seemed to possess life; the moment Lu Qiu touched the gold page, they all became restless, like iron filings attracted by a magnet. With a "whoosh," they swarmed toward Lu Qiu's right hand holding the gold page!

Lu Qiu was startled, but he didn't feel any danger; instead, there was a strange attraction.

He steadied his mind and allowed those points of light to seep into his palm.

Once the points of light entered his body, they did not stay in his Meridians but rushed up his arm, heading straight for the Sea of Consciousness in his head!

In an instant, Lu Qiu felt as if countless things were being forced into his brain!

A massive amount of information, images, runes, and chants... like a bursting dam, surged into his consciousness!

It was an extremely overbearing and direct method of Legacy transmission!

"Ugh!"

Lu Qiu let out a muffled groan, the veins on his forehead faintly appearing, and his temples throbbing.

A strong throbbing pain came from deep within his Sea of Consciousness, as if his head were about to explode.

Fortunately, this pain came violently and left quickly.

About seven or eight minutes later, the throbbing pain in his brain receded like a tide, leaving only a slight dizziness from the fullness.

Lu Qiu slowly opened his eyes, a trace of exhaustion flashing through them, but even more so, there was shock and wild joy!

He closed his eyes to concentrate, digesting the vast amount of extra information in his mind.

At the core were three ancient and heavy golden characters that seemed to contain endless majesty and dominance—

Dragon Imprisonment Seal!

Below was a general summary, each character like iron hooks and silver strokes, exuding an Aura of looking down upon the world:

"The Heavens do not imprison Dragons, I do; The Dao does not lock beasts, I do!"

This was actually an ancient beast-taming secret technique created specifically for forcibly enslaving and controlling Yao Beasts!

The Legacy information recorded in detail the cultivation method, casting requirements, and various mysteries of the "Dragon Imprisonment Seal."

This method was not an equal contract or gentle domestication, but rather used the caster's Divine Sense—which far exceeded the target Yao Beast's—as a Foundation to condense a special "Prison Seal," forcibly striking it into the depths of the Yao Beast's Divine Soul Origin to form an absolute master-servant Restriction!

Once the seal was formed, the Yao Beast's life and death were within a single thought of the caster, and it was extremely difficult to break free unless the caster actively released it, or the Yao Beast's Divine Sense far exceeded the caster's, making a backlash possible.

The cultivation requirements were clear and harsh: the caster's Divine Sense must clearly suppress the target Yao Beast.

If the target was of the Dragon Clan Bloodline, an ancient exotic species, or a Spirit Beast with extremely strong innate Divine Abilities, the required Divine Sense advantage needed to be two or even three times greater!

The warning was even more shocking: if the seal was forcibly applied with insufficient Divine Sense, at best, the seal pattern would backlash, causing the Sea of Consciousness to shake and the Divine Soul to be damaged, turning the caster into an idiot; at worst, the Spirit Beast would counter-devour the caster's Divine Sense, reversing the roles of master and servant, and the caster would become a "Beast Servant" without any self-awareness!

"What a domineering secret technique!" Lu Qiu exhaled deeply, his eyes shining with sharp light.

The cultivation requirements of this "Dragon Imprisonment Seal" might be extremely difficult for others, but for him, it seemed tailor-made!

He had the Great Evolution Art in hand, specializing in Divine Sense. Now that he had initiated the second layer, his Divine Sense strength was already far beyond his peers, comparable to the Late Foundation Establishment Stage.

As for the Yao Beast clan, unless they were those gifted exotic species specializing in the Divine Soul, their Divine Sense was generally weaker than human Cultivators at the same rank.

With one side weakening and the other strengthening, this "Dragon Imprisonment Seal" simply opened a door for him leading to the Great Dao of Beast Taming!

"If I can use this technique to subdue a few Spirit Beasts with great potential..." Lu Qiu's heart felt hot with excitement.

He adjusted his breathing for a moment, calming his surging emotions.

Lu Qiu glanced at the light coming through the stone cracks of the Immortal Cave and estimated the time.

"It's almost the hour of the monkey... Luoyin Slope."

He remembered that silver information. Although the corpse-rotting spirit flower was of no great use to him, a Spirit Medicine with seven hundred and twenty years of medicinal age was very valuable, so there was naturally no reason not to take it.

---

Luoyin Slope was located about twenty li southwest of the Spirit Beast Mountain Market.

This was a shaded mountain hollow with a gentle slope, but it rarely saw sunlight year-round, and the trees and leaves all revealed a gloomy dark green.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of rotting leaves, and the air was filled with dampness and a faint smell of humus. Occasionally, the rustling sound of insects crawling added a bit more eeriness.

When Lu Qiu arrived, there was still nearly half an hour until the hour of the monkey.

He found a dense canopy that offered both a wide view and concealment, then cast the Myriad Transformations Hidden Origin Art, lowering his Aura, figure, and even his presence to the minimum, as if completely merging into the surroundings.

Time passed minute by minute.

The mountain wind blew through the treetops, making a low whistling sound.

The hour of the monkey was approaching.

A slightly panicked streak of light from a common Flying Sword flew over crookedly from the direction of the market, finally landing on a relatively open clearing in the middle of Luoyin Slope.

The light dissipated, revealing a thin-faced middle-aged Cultivator wearing a gray Daoist robe with panic and unease in his eyes; his cultivation was at the 12th level of Qi Refining.

This person was probably the Loose Cultivator Zhao Wen from the information.

After landing, he nervously looked around, his right hand pressed tightly against the Storage Pouch at his waist, obviously knowing someone coveted the Spirit Medicine in his possession.

Just as he was hesitating whether to continue his journey or find another path—

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three figures leaped out from behind the bushes in different directions, instantly surrounding Zhao Wen in a triangular formation!

All three were at Qi Refining Perfection, wearing dark tight-fitting clothes for concealment with black cloths covering their faces. Their eyes were fierce, and the Magical Artifacts in their hands glinted coldly.

"Zhao Wen! If you know what's good for you, hand over the corpse-rotting spirit flower! We brothers can leave you an intact corpse!"

The leader, a masked man holding a Ghost-head Saber, shouted sternly.

Zhao Wen's face turned pale, and he said with a trembling voice, "You... how did you know... I, I can give the Spirit Medicine to you, please spare my life!"

"Hmph, too late! Who knows if you'll go out and talk? It's cleaner if you're dead!" another masked Cultivator using a sword sneered.

The three stopped wasting words and simultaneously activated their Magical Artifacts to attack Zhao Wen!

Zhao Wen desperately sacrificed a small shield to block, but facing three opponents with superior cultivation, the shield's spiritual light quickly dimmed under their combined attack, and he was seemingly unable to hold on.

At this moment—

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

Three soft sounds rang out almost simultaneously!

The forward-charging figures of those three aggressive masked Bandit Cultivators suddenly froze, and a bloom of blood exploded from their throats at the same time!

The ferocity on their faces was instantly replaced by shock and confusion, and then their eyes glazed over. With a few thuds, they collapsed to the ground one after another, devoid of life.

Zhao Wen held up his small shield and stood stunned in place, looking at the three Bandit Cultivators who had suddenly died, unable to react for a moment.

A figure shrouded in a large black cloak, whose face could not be seen, appeared quietly at the edge of the clearing like a ghost.

The cloaked person was naturally Lu Qiu.

He had just flicked his fingers to send out three refined threads of Crimson Heaven Mana, easily taking the lives of these three Qi Refining Perfection Bandit Cultivators.

"Th-thank you, Senior, for saving my life!"

Zhao Wen came to his senses and thumped onto his knees, kowtowing repeatedly, his voice trembling with fear and lingering dread.

Though he couldn't see the cloaked person's cultivation, to be able to instantly kill three Qi Refining Perfection practitioners, he must be a Senior at the Foundation Establishment Stage or above!

Lu Qiu didn't speak, only extending a hand covered by the cloak and beckoning toward Zhao Wen's Storage Pouch.

The meaning was obvious.

Zhao Wen trembled all over, his face flashing with intense struggle and heartache, but glancing at the three corpses on the ground and feeling the faint pressure from the cloaked person, he finally gritted his teeth and tremblingly took out a jade box covered in Talismans from his robe, holding it high with both hands.

"Senior, this... this is that corpse-rotting spirit flower. Junior is willing to offer it to Senior, only asking Senior to spare Junior's life!"

Lu Qiu grabbed it from a distance, and the jade box flew into his hand.

Opening a small crack, he confirmed it was indeed that 700-year-old corpse-rotting spirit flower; the medicinal power was pure and the Yin Qi dense.

He closed the jade box and put it away.

"You are quite sensible."

From under the cloak came Lu Qiu's intentionally altered hoarse voice.

He had no intention of killing Zhao Wen.

This person had actively offered the treasure and was just an affected Loose Cultivator; killing him would be of no benefit.

Just as Lu Qiu was about to turn and leave—

"Senior, please wait!"

Zhao Wen suddenly kowtowed again, his voice urgent and carrying a hint of determination: "Junior Zhao Wen is willing to serve Senior with total devotion! Though my cultivation is low, if Senior has any assignments, Junior will go through fire and water and not hesitate even at the cost of my life!"

Lu Qiu's footsteps paused.

He hadn't expected Zhao Wen to be so "on the ball."

However, the other's words did remind him.

He came to Lanzhou Province with the primary goal of exploring the location marked on that ancient map.

Being unfamiliar with the place, if he had an ear and eye familiar with the local area to run errands, it would indeed save a lot of trouble.

And looking at this Zhao Wen, his cultivation wasn't high, but his mind was flexible; he knew how to assess the situation and how to cling to a powerful backer.

Lu Qiu was silent for a moment. His fingers moved slightly under the cloak, and a specially made pale yellow Sound Transmission Talisman and an extremely subtle Soul Chasing Seal quietly landed on Zhao Wen.

"Keep this Talisman safe."

The hoarse voice rang out again as an ordinary low-level Sound Transmission Talisman drifted in front of Zhao Wen.

"When I need you, I will find you through this Talisman. Do what you should do, do not pry, and do not act recklessly."

As the words fell, the black cloak moved without any wind. Lu Qiu's figure slowly faded as if merging into the shadows, finally disappearing completely from the spot as if he had never been there.

Zhao Wen knelt on the ground, clutching the Sound Transmission Talisman tightly in his hand, not daring to raise his head for a long time.

Not until he confirmed that the mysterious Senior had truly left did he collapse weakly onto the ground, panting heavily, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

He looked at the three corpses on the ground, then at the Sound Transmission Talisman in his hand, the expression on his face changing complexly before finally turning into a hint of relief after surviving and a faint expectation.

"This Senior... might just be my, Zhao Wen's, Opportunity..."