Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)
Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN) - Chapter 396: Immortal Characters

With a final attack from Yue Xiaoqian, the Two-Winged Devilman’s skull tumbled to the ground.

That huge skull crashed loudly on the head. However, what shocked Long Chen was that even after losing its body, this skull continued to crazily attack Long Chen.

Its sharp teeth frantically snapped down, but without a body to support it, it was practically like a frog, just randomly struggling in its original position. It was a startling sight, but it was also a comical one.

But although it was somewhat comical, seeing those sharp teeth continuously snapping down, Long Chen still retreated a couple steps. Although there was no way for it to bite him, if he somehow was, that mouth would definitely crush him.

“What should we do now?” asked Long Chen.

“Uh… I don’t really know.” Yue Xiaoqian was extremely embarrassed, and she didn’t even dare look at Long Chen’s expression.

As for Long Chen, his expression truly did turn very lifeless. He was filled with disbelief. “You didn’t make any preparations at all before coming here to obtain devil cores?”

“You can’t blame me! I only came here to test my luck. I really never thought I would actually encounter a devil core in a tiny space like the Jiuli secret realm!”

The current her no longer had any of her previous expert air. Instead, she seemed like a bewildered little girl.

Yue Xiaoqian had only ended up coming to the Jiuli secret realm because her clan had sent her out as a tempering experience. They actually didn’t have any hopes for her to bring back a devil core.

“That kind of reason really is amazing.” Long Chen gave her two thumbs-up. But what he wanted to say was that her intelligence really didn’t match up to her cultivation base.

But even if he said it, it wouldn’t help. He couldn’t offend her like that, especially since she had saved his life. He couldn’t express his gratitude like that.

He just watched as that skull crazily snapped its teeth over and over. He didn’t dare approach it.

But this kind of deadlock was no solution. Long Chen finally took a deep breath, clenched his teeth, and took out a golden page.

Under the control of his Spiritual Strength, the golden page turned into a ray of light and began to cut into its forehead.

With a very clear slicing sound, the golden page cut through the devil core’s bone, dropping the devil core onto the ground. Only then did the skull stop moving.

He used the golden page to pick up the devil core and brought it flying back.

“Here.” Long Chen handed the devil core to a shocked Yue Xiaoqian.

“You have a soul item?” Yue Xiaoqian looked at Long Chen with shock.

“Soul item? What’s that?” Long Chen was slightly startled. It seemed he had heard of that term before.

Yue Xiaoqian received the devil core from Long Chen. Feeling the incomparably powerful energy within it, she was filled with excitement.

“Thank you Long Chen.”

“Cough, when you talk, can it not be a one-way conversation? What is a soul item?” coughed Long Chen awkwardly.

“Ah, sorry, I was too excited.” Yue Xiaoqian finished playing with the devil core. She once more activated her curtain of light so that the two of them no longer needed to resist the pressure, and the two of them withdrew their auras.

“Let’s first find a place to rest.” After that great battle, they had exhausted quite a bit of energy while also resisting the pressure. Resting first was the smart decision.

The two of them found a secluded corner. Yue Xiaoqian turned to Long Chen. “Can you let me see your treasure?”

Although the treasure Yue Xiaoqian was referring to was obviously the golden page, for some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking of what else it could mean, and his face turned a bit hot.[1]

“Rogue,” scolded Yue Xiaoqian.

Long Chen looked at her in shock. How was this woman able to easily see through other people’s thoughts? That was too terrifying.

“Hand it over.” Yue Xiaoqian extended her hand.

“Cough, here.” Long Chen hastily handed over the golden page. But inside, he was a bit apprehensive, as this was a priceless treasure. If she got greedy, it really would be troublesome.

“Don’t worry, I, Yue Xiaoqian, am not that kind of shameless person,” she said with some displeasure.

That was definitely something bizarre about this woman. Long Chen’s heart shook. He could sense a kind of baffling energy prying into his inner heart.

That wasn’t soul energy, nor was it any other kind of energy Long Chen knew. But it was as if all of his thoughts were laid bare in front of Yue Xiaoqian.

He secretly circulated the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. What gave him a pleasant surprise was that as the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art circulated, that feeling faded.

“No one is prying into your secrets. It’s just your expression and eyes that sell you out.” Yue Xiaoqian glanced at Long Chen and shook her head.

“Cough, let’s get back to the main point. What did you mean by soul item?” Long Chen really didn’t want to stay on this topic.

A woman that was too smart really was troublesome. He preferred the previous Yue Xiaoqian that was at a loss for what to do rather than this version of her that was like a wily fox.

“Soul items are generally the special weapons of soul cultivators. Their power is frightening, but the material to make them is incredibly rare. Thus, soul items are even rare. As for this soul item of yours… eh? This isn’t a soul item.”

Yue Xiaoqian’s Spiritual Strength swept over the golden page, and astonishment filled her eyes. Turning over the golden page, she was filled with amazement.

“Immortal characters?”

“You recognize these characters?” Long Chen was both shocked and delighted. He had never thought Yue Xiaoqian would be able to recognize these characters.

Immortal characters; that was the script from the immortal era. It was said that the immortal era was the time of gods and immortals. People had immortal techniques and divine energy. With a wave of a hand, mountains formed and seas shifted, the heavens fell and the earth rose.

But that era was something from far too long ago. In fact, it was already so distant from the current era that people couldn’t believe it as fact. The immortal era was already just myth and legend.

Even the comparatively closer ancient era had almost become myth at this point. There were many things that were said to have existed in the ancient era that had just become stories.

From the immortal era, to the ancient era, to the current era, far too many things had been lost.

It was as if the world had experienced something, and the cultivation culture had been mercilessly severed. The cultivators from the current era could only do their best to study the remnants of what had been left behind from that time.

The current era could be accurately traced up to around several million years ago. But the ancient era was something that had occurred tens of millions of years ago, and only a few ancient vestiges remained.

As for the immortal era, that was something from hundreds of millions, billions, or perhaps simply an innumerable number of years ago. It was something that only existed in legends. People were unable to even agree whether or not that era had ever truly existed.

Long Chen had never imagined that this golden page had immortal characters written onto it. And most amazing of all, it seemed Yue Xiaoqian was able to recognize them.

Yue Xiaoqian didn’t continue looking at the page. Instead, she turned to Long Chen, solemnly saying, “Long Chen, this page very likely contains some kind of secret that could shake all of heaven and earth. If I help you translate it, that means I will also know that secret. Are you sure you want me to translate it?”

“Where did that come from? No matter what, we can count as companions that have suffered through trials and tribulations together. I trust you. Furthermore, if you don’t translate it for me, where am I going to find someone else to do it for me? Sharing the knowledge with you can be proof of our companionship,” smiled Long Chen.

“Don’t regret it in the future. The secrets of the immortal era can cause the collapse of heaven and earth. Countless sects would go crazy for it.” Yue Xiaoqian warned Long Chen once again.

“Hey, don’t be so overly cautious. Just get to translating,” said Long Chen a bit impatiently.

Just who could possibly recognize characters from the immortal era? If people actually recognized immortal characters, then why would people still call into question the existence of the immortal era? Would people still think that immortals and gods were just legends?

Yue Xiaoqian was incredibly mysterious. Long Chen felt that her background had to be terrifying. Although her experience was practically zero, her actual skills were amazing.

“Alright, I’ll translate it for you.” Seeing Long Chen was so straightforward, Yue Xiaoqian was both grateful and excited. She turned to focus on the characters.

Even after a long time of studying the page, Yue Xiaoqian still hadn’t moved. Long Chen couldn’t help urging her onwards, thinking she was being shy. “Are you translating or not?”

“What are you so impatient for? Immortal characters are incomparably profound. Different handwriting and different line placement will all create vastly different meanings. If you don’t understand, then just obediently shut your mouth.” Yue Xiaoqian actually became angry when Long Chen broke her concentration.

Long Chen was stunned, as this was his first time seeing Yue Xiaoqian get angry. He shut his mouth, not making another sound.

What Long Chen did not know was that immortal characters could not be read in the same way as characters from the current era. A single character had countless meanings, and to create an accurate translation was extremely difficult.

It was very likely that you would translate one line’s meaning, only to find that when you tried to translate the next line, you would have to throw out that translation and try again.

Yue Xiaoqian had translated a portion, only to be interrupted by Long Chen. Immortal characters were incredibly taxing and consumed soul energy to read. You had to continuously keep the meanings of each word in your head as you attempted to pierce them together. Now that she was interrupted by Long Chen, all that work had been wasted and she had to start from the beginning.

Furthermore, Long Chen was just standing to the side without doing anything, but he had to criticize her. Even someone with a better temperament would get angry. The fact she hadn’t given him a harsh beating was already very courteous of her.

An hour later, Long Chen saw that Yue Xiaoqian was starting to sweat. Only now did he realize that translating immortal characters was not as easy as he had thought.

That both startled and excited him. Now he really wanted to know just what was written on this golden page.

After two hours, Yue Xiaoqian was sweating even more profusely. She seemed to be filled with pain, but she still clenched her teeth and continued.

Long Chen couldn’t help being startled. With his profound understanding of pill arts, he could instantly tell that this was happening because Yue Xiaoqian was exhausting too much of her Spiritual Strength.

He hesitated for a moment, and then placed a hand on her back. Pure soul energy slowly flowed into her.

The two of them weren’t extremely familiar with each other, so Long Chen didn’t dare directly insert his soul energy into Yue Xiaoqian’s mind-sea. That could cause a misunderstanding. Unless two people completely trusted each other, no one would permit another person’s soul energy into their mind-sea like that. That was equivalent to placing your life in another person’s hands.

But by passing his soul energy through her body, Yue Xiaoqian could take the initiative as to whether or not she wanted to absorb it. The initiative was all in her hands, and so this wouldn’t cause any misunderstanding.

With the nourishment of Long Chen’s soul energy, Yue Xiaoqian’s expression improved slightly. She continued focusing completely on translating those characters.

After six hours, when even Long Chen was starting to feel a bit exhausted, she finally sighed and turned around, looking straight at Long Chen.

“Congratulations, this is definitely a peerless treasure!”

[1] The word used for treasure here is 宝贝. My guess it Long Chen is being dirty-minded and can’t stop thinking about how it might refer to another one of his treasures.