Martial Universe Chapter 29 A Change in the Stone Talisman

The faint moonlight shrouded the entire land like a layer of silver yarn.

Lin Dong’s figure once again appeared in the darkness of the Spiritual Domain. Closely following which, two glowing shadows also winked into existence as they displayed Penetrating Fist and Eight Desolations Palm respectively.

However, this time, Lin Dong’s did not bother to glance at either of these two glowing shadows. Instead, he firmly stared at the spot behind the second glowing shadow, as shades of anticipation and nervousness coloured his face.

In the afternoon, he had already read through the Wonder Gate Seal manual. Yet, just as Lin Xia had said, this was only an incomplete manual, and to master this extremely complicated and detailed martial art, was indeed excessively difficult.

Thus, a whole afternoon of intense studying yielded little results. Moreover, this Wonder Gate Seal incomplete manual was also different from the other martial arts Lin Dong had came into contact with before. For example, Penetrating Fist and Eight Desolations Palm were both martial arts that involved a fixed sequence or pattern of moves. In comparison, Wonder Gate Seal used some kind of hand-seals in order to draw out the Yuan Energy within the body, and when Yuan Energy is combined with the hand-seals, an exceedingly strong power will be generated.

Although he merely skimmed through the manual, Lin Dong was still able to sense that the Seal Method described in the incomplete manual was not complete. Maybe that was why Lin Xiao and Lin Zhentian had decided to give up on this martial art, even after successfully mastering the Hand-Seal method. After all, without the full manual, it was impossible to bring out the true might of Wonder Gate Seal.

As for the missing Hand-Seal Methods, Lin Dong hope that the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow was able to complete it…

Under Lin Dong’s strained gaze, at first, nothing happened in the darkness behind the second glowing shadow. Momentarily, the darkness heaved as a third glowing shadow was formed.

Upon witnessing the glowing shadow take shape, Lin Dong could not help but heave a sigh of relief in his heart.

When that glowing shadow finally winked into existence, its hands folded together to form into a complicated hand-seal.

“This is indeed the opening Hand-Seal Method of the Wonder Gate Seal.”

A fire lit up in Lin Dong’s eyes as he focused all his senses on the glowing shadow.

After the first hand-seal, the glowing shadow displayed five other hand-seals in succession. Each different Seal method displayed was fairly complicated, yet with the preparations that he had done in the afternoon, though hard pressed, Lin Dong was able to keep up with its rhythm.

When the hand-seal made by the glowing shadow changed for 7th time, Lin Dong’s heart started to beat rapidly as the Hand-Seal Methods written on the incomplete manual had been cut off here. Thus, the rest of the Hand-Seal Methods were not recorded in this incomplete manual…

Under Lin Dong’s fiery and intense gaze, the originally smooth movements of the glowing shadow suddenly came to a standstill. After what seemed like an eternity, fortunately, the hand-seal finally continued to change!

“Success!”

Gazing at the hands of the glowing shadow, the new hand-seal was clearly very unfamiliar, yet it also looked extremely in place with the previous set of hand-seals. Lin Dong could barely restrain himself from jumping in joy, as excitement and happiness flooded his face.

The incomplete martial art manual was perfectly restored thanks to the fantastic ability of the Stone Talisman glowing shadow!

“To think that it actually works…”

Overcome by emotion, it took a while before Lin Dong finally regained his composure and he once again focused on the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow. However, his complexion suddenly changed as he found that the Glowing Shadow had seemed to fade off and looked much fainter than before. Even the speed at which the hand-seals changed had started to slow down.

“What’s going on?” Upon witnessing this scene, Lin Dong felt highly alarmed. This was the first time something like this had happened, ever since he obtained the Stone Talisman.

The expression on Lin Dong’s face turned slightly ugly, as the rate at which the Glowing Shadow moved from each hand-seal became gradually slower. In the end, the Glowing Shadow unexpectedly came to a halt. However, the last hand-seal in its hands was clearly not the last step in Wonder Gate Seal.

“Perhaps the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow is unable to completely restore this Wonder Gate Seal?”

Lin Dong’s eyebrows tightly furrowed together, as he was evidently unable to comprehend why the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow, which was fine moments ago, had suddenly become incapable of executing Wonder Gate Seal.

However, although the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow had paused, after a while, it once again returned to the starting point of Wonder Gate Seal. Yet, even at its second repetition, Lin Dong was disappointed when he realized that the Glowing Shadow still stopped at the same place it had previously…

Even though it kept repeating itself over and over, there was still no further improvements to the Wonder Gate Seal…

Lin Dong blankly stared at the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow. A long time later, he finally reached his wit’s end, and gave up. As he sighed, he self-mockingly said: “Forget it, I’ll just make do with what I have. At least it’s still more complete than the incomplete version written in the manual.”

After saying this, Lin Dong stretched out his hands, as he imitated the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow and formed hand-seals…

This lasted for a long time before Lin Dong finally relaxed his hands and took in a deep breath. Though the hand-seal were complicated, under the perfect tutelage of the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow, committing these hand-seals to mind was not a difficult task. However, though it was easy to remember these hand-seals, it would be a different story when he was forced to use them in a battle.

“According to the incomplete manual, this Wonder Gate Seal is split into four chapters. However, the incomplete manual only records the 1st chapter of hand-seals. If I’m not mistaken, the extra hand-seals displayed by the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow belonged to the 2nd chapter. Yet why can’t the Glowing Shadow restore the 3rd and 4th chapters as well… Could it be too complex for it to handle?”

Lin Dong’s pupils flickered from side to side as he racked his brains for a solution. In the end, he could only shake his head as he sighed: “If it’s two chapters then it’s two chapters. Anyways, with my current strength, it would be a pretty good accomplishment to master the 1st chapter of Wonder Gate Seal.”

Lin Dong consoled himself in his heart, before leaving exiting the Spiritual Domain with a tinge of regret.

…

On his bed, Lin Dong’s tightly shut eyes finally opened. His strong and healthy figure jumped off the bed before concentrating his energy into his abdomen, as his hands came together to form rough imitations of those complicated hand-seal.

As he moved from one hand-seal to the next, ripples of Yuan Power were suddenly transmitted from the Yuan Power seed within Lin Dong’s channels. However, its movements were extremely minute, and after flickering, it disappeared once again.

As the ripples faded, Lin Dong helplessly shook his head. Although he had memorised the hand-seal, in order to reach the stage where he could use Yuan Power and Hand-Seal Method in tandem, he still had a long way to go. After all, when all is said and done, the 1st chapter of Wonder Gate Seal was already considered as a Level 3 martial arts.

“The 1st chapter of Wonder Gate Seal is already equivalent to a Level 3 martial art, if the 2nd chapter is added, then even if Wonder Gate Seal could not be considered as a Level 4 martial art, it would definitely still tower over the other Level 3 martial arts.”

As Lin Dong’s thoughts reached this point, the gloominess from before weakened considerably. He lightly released out a sigh, as his hand reached to retrieve the stone talisman from his body. However, he suddenly noticed something from the corner of his eye and his complexion greatly changed.

“What is going on…”

The stone talisman had turned slightly dark and the originally lukewarm jade-like feeling had almost dissipated completely. Even the strange mystical characters that covered it had also become barely discernable.

The current stone talisman, looked almost no different from a rock by the roadside!

It was as if the stone talisman had lost it’s power supply and turned back into a normal rock.

“Energy defficiency?!”

A thought flashed in his mind, causing the franticness in Lin Dong’s heart to scatter. Only now did he vaguely understand why the Stone Talisman Glowing Shadow could only restore till half of the chapters before automatically stopping.

Perhaps this Stone Talisman required energy in order to perfect these martial arts. Since it had already expended its energy on Penetrating Fist, Eight Desolations Palm, and now Wonder Gate Seal, its original energy source had been depleted!

“That should be the case…”

In his room, Lin Dong wiped off the cold sweat from his forehead. Since he now knew where the problem lay, he could devise a solution to solve it. After all, this Stone Talisman was too important to him. No matter what, he could not afford to let anything happen to it.