CH 234

“You know how to unlock the Restraining Lock on Storage Bags, Brother Lu?” the disciple asked curiously. In fact, Lu Ye had not displayed such an ability until today.

“Yes.”

“Please give me a moment.”

The disciple went away after saying this. A while later, he came back and handed Lu Ye a Storage Bag. “If you would open this for me, Brother Lu.”

It was the item he had chosen after the Insectoid attack was over, and the loot was distributed. Hundreds and hundreds of Storage Bags had been piled up on the public square that day. It was why Lu Ye was offering to open Restraining Locks for free.

The Storage Bags Hua Ci owned had already been dealt with, but the same could not be said for the other sect members’. Since most of their Storage Bags had come from Clan Feng, the overall quality was guaranteed to be lousier than Hua Ci. It was impossible to tell what they contained either. There could be valuables, or there could be trash. It was why most people simply hoarded the Storage Bags instead of bringing them to the Divine Trade Association. They did not want to risk making a loss.

Lu Ye began working immediately after he accepted the Storage Bag. At the same time, a crowd was gathering around him. They were here to watch Lu Ye perform since it wasn’t everyday you encountered someone who would offer to unlock Storage Bags for free.

Suddenly, there was a surge of Spiritual Power, and Lu Ye frowned. The next instant, he tossed the Storage Bag into the air.

Everyone looked up just in time to see the Storage Bag transforming into a ball of flame in the blink of an eye!

Lu Ye was watching the burning Storage Bag with a deep frown as well. What terrible luck! Of all the times he could’ve failed, it just had to be the very first Storage Bag he received!

He was hoping to establish a good reputation among his fellow sect members so they would return to him with more Storage Bags, but alas, all he managed was to show off some fireworks…

The lively atmosphere was killed instantly. To say that there was awkwardness in the air would be an understatement.

“Brother Lu…” The disciple who gave Lu Ye his Storage Bag stared at him with pitiful eyes.

“Sorry,” Lu Ye apologized calmly. “Unlocking Storage Bags is risky business.”

“Right.”

The disciple drooped his head. Since Brother Lu was the one who wrecked his Storage Bag, he couldn’t even ask for compensation. He could only tell himself that he was unlucky, that the Storage Bag must be filled with trash, and that he wasn’t hurt by the loss one bit…

Lu Ye swept his gaze across the crowd. Not only was everyone avoiding his gaze, those carrying Storage Bags were doing their best to conceal it from view…

“You there!”

Lu Ye pointed at a disciple. “Give me the Storage Bag you’re hiding behind your back!” 

The disciple blanched like Lu Ye had just dealt him the death sentence, but what could he do except comply? He shambled toward Lu Ye as if he was trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible before he finally gave up his Storage Bag and said carefully, “I’m in no hurry, Brother Lu. Just… take your time, okay?”

Lu Ye did not answer him. He simply channeled his Spiritual Power and began the unlocking process once more.

Luck did not abandon him this time. He tossed the Storage Bag back into the disciple’s hands after he was done.

“It’s unlocked.”

The disciple was caught off guard at first, but he quickly checked the Storage Bag and discovered that it was unlocked. Whatever it contained must be pretty valuable because the disciple suddenly burst into a mad laugh. “I’m rich! Hahaha! I’m rich!”

He managed to rein in his laughter a few seconds later and bow to Lu Ye. “Thank you very much, Brother Lu!”

Lu Ye nodded and said, “Next!”

Surprised murmurs broke out among the spectators immediately. It’s not false advertising. Brother Lu really can open Restraining Locks! The enthusiasm that was extinguished at the beginning had been relit with this success.

This time, a female cultivator stepped forward and passed Lu Ye her Storage Bag. “If you will, Brother Lu.”

Lu Ye unlocked it just as quickly and tossed it back into her hands.

After checking the Storage Bag and confirming that it was truly unlocked, the woman praised him from the bottom of her heart, “This is incredible, Brother Lu. Thank you.” She then ran off with obvious joy on her face.

Now that Lu Ye had succeeded twice in a row, the amount of people willing to give it a go increased visibly. When his winning streak grew to a dozen, everyone was sure that Lu Ye was the real thing. At the very least, they now believed that his first failure was just bad luck and not because his technique was lousy.

The news that Lu Ye was opening Restraining Locks for free quickly spread after that. It wasn’t long before an incredible amount of cultivators gathered around Lu Ye and even lined up in queues of their own accord.

Lu Ye didn’t always succeed, but his success rate was much higher than it was yesterday. Those unfortunate enough to lose their Storage Bags lamented their bad luck, but that was it.

Lu Ye worked through the night and did not stop until the sky was fully bright. Finally, he waved his hands and declared, “That’s all. We’ll resume tonight.”

For the next few days, Lu Ye would unlock Storage Bags for his fellow sect members at the bazaar. He didn’t stop until everyone’s loot had been dealt with.

Thanks to the practical experience he gained from opening Restraining Locks and the theoretical knowledge he learned from Lady Yun, his attainment in the Way of Glyphs continued to increase by leaps and bounds.

The greater his attainment, the easier it was for him to absorb the knowledge in the books, and the greater his attainment became thanks to said knowledge. It was a virtuous circle.

Speaking of which, Lady Yun’s games kept increasing in difficulty as well. Since pure enhancements could no longer pose a challenge to him, she started creating wards for him to breach, a.k.a. exactly what he wanted to learn. His ultimate objective was to learn how to breach a Grand Defensive Ward. Once he could do this, he would be able to attack any Hundred Demon Ridge Outpost and accrue as many Contribution Points as he wished.

The daily life, cultivation and even battles of a cultivator were intricately tied to Glyphs. It was why few cultivators were unfamiliar with Glyphs. Some were even proficient enough with Glyphs to construct them. That said, they were still worlds apart from true Glyphweavers.

Take ward cultivators for example. Technically speaking, ward cultivators could be viewed as a sub branch of Glyphweavers. It was because ward-making was intricately tied to Glyphs.

While all Glyphweavers were excellent ward cultivators, not all ward cultivators were Glyphweavers.

By now, Lu Ye had figured out Lady Yun’s teaching strategy. In essence, everything began from disassembly just like the time she had taught him Numbered Glyphs. Lady Yun had never taught him how to construct an enhancement, but he had opened enough Restraining Locks to know the structure of a Restraining Lock by heart. Given the right materials, he absolutely possessed the capabilities to create his own Storage Bag. Of course, practice was still a factor, and his success rate was going to be subpar until he became familiar with the process.

This was why Lady Yun’s teaching strategy was so impressive. She had taught him destruction before creation, and that destruction naturally led to creation!

The reason Lu Ye was capable of constructing enhancements he had never learned to construct before was because disassembling them required him to know every component of the enhancement.

Take his current lesson for example. Lady Yun was only teaching him how to breach a ward, but in the process he came to know how a ward was created and how every component functioned and worked in tandem with one another. By the time he knew a ward well enough to breach them perfectly, the way to create them had also been engraved to his memory.

Meanwhile, Lady Yun was wearing a complex expression as Lu Ye was breaching another one of her wards.

Lu Ye wasn’t the first disciple she had instructed, but this was the first time she employed such a teaching strategy. While it shortened the learning period considerably, it only worked if the disciple was inhumanly talented in the Way of Glyphs. Otherwise, it would only have the opposite effect.

At first, she wasn’t sure if the teaching strategy was suited for Lu Ye either. She was ready to switch back to a normal teaching strategy the moment he showed any signs of struggle. The normal teaching strategy was slow, but at least it was a failsafe method.

As it turned out, the genius-only teaching strategy suited Lu Ye very well. In fact, he was so talented that the thought of taking him as her official disciple resurfaced in her mind once more.

All of her previous students had passed away for one reason or another. For a master Glyphweaver like her, there were few things sadder than not having a successor.

She was certain that the youngster before her would be able to carry her mantle. Not only that, he would definitely surpass her and attain greater heights!

These thoughts kept tickling the insides of her heart until one day, she could stand it no longer.

While Lu Ye was busy breaching a ward, she left the Summit of Clarity and flew toward the Summit of Fortitude.

The Sect Master was teaching Yi Yi a lesson when suddenly, he looked in the direction of the Summit of Clarity. He then said urgently, “Let’s end today’s lesson here. Be sure to practice what I’ve taught you when you head back to the Outpost.”

“Yes, Sect Master!” Yi Yi replied respectfully.

When she looked up, she saw the Sect Master rushing away in a hurry and calling out in a flattering voice, “What brings you here today, Yun’er?”

[Yun’er?] Yi Yi thought in puzzlement. She followed the Sect Master into a clearing and found him speaking to an unfamiliar, but beautiful woman she had never seen before. The woman was staring at the Sect Master with a cold expression, and the Sect Master had transformed from stern teacher to what she could only describe as an obsequious husband.

[Oh, she must be Lady Yun!] Yi Yi thought suddenly. Lu Ye had mentioned her in the past, and even Amber had spoken to her about Lady Yun. Lu Ye always rode it to the Summit of Clarity after all. The tiger had even met her in person a couple of times.

“Shh!” 

Shui Yuan appeared out of nowhere and pulled a surprised Yi Yi into her room. Then, she poked a hole in the window’s paper pane and peeked out. The young girl did the same thing.

Suddenly, Shui Yuan said, “The old man’s about to get a beating.”

“What?”

That was all Yi Yi managed to say before the seemingly prim and proper Lady Yun punched the Sect Master in the face so hard that it threw his head backward. She could even see a shockwave spreading out from the point of impact.

Yi Yi shivered like a leaf. That punch had looked powerful enough to shatter a mountain.

Yi Yi had no idea why Lady Yun had punched the Sect Master, but she was surprised that the old man wasn’t angry in the slightest. He wiped his nosebleed, as if he hadn’t just been punched in the face and sighed. “Yi Ye is a Crimson Blood Sect disciple now. He can’t just accept an outsider as his teacher willy-nilly.”

“Willy-nilly?” Lady Yun’s voice rose an octave higher. “Outsider? You’re calling me an outsider?”

“T-that’s not what I meant! I—”

“I see now! I’m nothing more but an outsider to you, huh?” The more Lady Yun spoke, the angrier she became. Spiritual Power started boiling around her. “In that case, this outsider would like to learn a thing or two from the Sect Master of the Crimson Blood Sect!”

Boom boom boom… More shockwaves impacted the room and shook some furniture. Yi Yi could only watch as the Sect Master was physically beaten into the sky and out of sight.

When she ran out of the room to watch, she saw the two figures chasing one another as if they were playing hide and seek. From time to time, the duo would generate an impact powerful enough to rock the ground, but it was always Lady Yun hitting the Sect Master in some part of his body. Sometimes he defended, but not once did he try to retaliate against Lady Yun.

Shui Yuan let out an audible sigh, and Yi Yi asked worriedly, “She wouldn’t beat the Sect Master to death, would she?”

“Don’t worry, the old man’s tougher than he looks. Also, this happens at least a couple of times per year, so you’ll get used to it eventually.”

Yi Yi looked confused. To her knowledge, the Sect Master was just a spell cultivator. Could he really survive such a brutal beating? Also, what did she mean by “this happens at least a couple of times per year”?

Suddenly, she thought that the Sect Master was really lucky to have lived to this day.