Chapter 281 - Fourth Scroll
Chapter 281: Fourth Scroll
Immediately, Lin Jin snapped out of that weird state of mind. The sound from his surroundings returned, his vision and hearing clear again. Gaining a sense of enlightenment and realizing something, he didn’t look at the stone tablet again.
‘Amazing, I was almost taken in!’ Lin Jin mused.
He looked around. Forget them, even he was pulled in after staring at the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll for a brief moment. If the museum’s alarm hadn’t startled him, he might have slumped into this weird trance just like everyone else.
No doubt, someone had cast secret magic on this stone tablet.
Lin Jin turned to Hu Yuzhen to find her with the same dazed look as everyone else. Staring at the stone tablet for a moment, then lowering her head in deep thought the next. Lin Jin now knew that demons would get entranced too.
It goes without saying, the white ape too.
Among others, the only ones who weren’t affected by the stone tablet were the zombie cthulhu hiding inside his coffin, too scared to come out, and Xiao Huo.
Xiao Huo possessed a Dharma body, with enlightened eyes to see through the deceit. The stone tablet couldn’t affect him. Hence, even if the museum hadn’t given him that warning alarm, Xiao Huo would have tried to wake Lin Jin up if he noticed something was off.
However, recalling how annoyed that person Hu Yuzhen disturbed looked, merely calling out to them probably didn’t work.
Lin Jin pondered a bit before drawing his needles, piercing them into White Ape and Hu Yuzhen’s acupoints. Immediately, both of them snapped out of it as they glanced around, feeling lost.
White Ape was confused, but having lived for several hundred years, Hu Yuzhen knew that she had just been entranced so her cheeks flushed slightly.
Then, she stepped forward to thank Lin Jin.
She knew it was Lin Jin who helped her awaken from that trance.
“Stop looking at the tablet. It’s been hexed,” Lin Jin urged. Hu Yuzhen nodded. She was now mindful and felt fortunate that she met Lin Jin. Otherwise, it would have been so embarrassing to suffer mind control here. She was, after all, an experienced old monster with several years worth of wisdom.
“It must be that lion’s doing,” Hu Yuzhen suddenly nagged. Lin Jin shook his head. “I don’t that General Lion is capable of doing this. After all, the tablet could bewitch even you, so it must be an immortal’s deed.”
Hu Yuzhen knew that too, she merely said what she had said to vent her frustrations.
Scanning the people here, Lin Jin realized that they were all tricked by the rumor. Among them included experts but also average adventurers. But no matter how profound their cultivation levels were, everyone was bewitched by the stone tablet’s magic.
Only, Lin Jin didn’t understand why the immortal who created this place would do such a thing.
Also, was the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll actually real?
Lin Jin looked at the stone tablet again. He wasn’t being careless. Instead, he was confident that if he fell for it again, the museum would back him up. He just wanted to verify this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll’s authenticity by reading it again.
Only this time, Lin Jin was stunned.
The strange characters were gone from the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll. It was now a complete cultivation manual. Lin Jin read through it and indeed, it was a genuine blood contract cultivation technique.
After brief contemplation, Lin Jin sat cross-legged on the floor and had Hu Yuzhen wait for him. Then, he began cultivating according to the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll’s instructions.
The base requirement to cultivating the Beastmaster Scroll was having an individual’s blood contract at fifth realm. Lin Jin just recently achieved this level at the capital, so why not cultivate this Beastmaster Fourth Scroll? It was such a rare opportunity after all.
It wasn’t because Lin Jin didn’t want to memorize it so he could train at him. When he read it twice in silence earlier, he realized that his brain wouldn’t register it clearly. With Lin Jin’s current capabilities, this couldn’t possibly happen so someone must have placed another layer of spell on this manual.
Although he hadn’t attempted to copy it down, Lin Jin figured it wasn’t possible. With his spiritual eye, Lin Jin observed that there were more than two types of restriction magic on this tablet.
In that case, why go through all the hassle? He could just cultivate it here.
White Ape was obviously had no opinions. He put down the coffin and sat down to scan the place. Despite her confusion, Hu Yuzhen dared not question the expert’s conduct so she waited patiently as well.
There was no day and night in this strange place. To Hu Yuzhen, more than ten hours should have passed by now but still, the skies remained as is. It didn’t change the slightest bit. How odd.
As a demon who had been cultivating for several hundred years, a mere ten hours didn’t matter to her. Hu Yuzhen engaged in her own cultivation as well as another ten hours passed.
All of a sudden, Lin Jin’s eyes shot open with excitement visible in his eyes.
“Xiao Huo!” Lin Jin called out.
Xiao Huo, who had been on standby hurried over. Lin Jin invoked a spell and patted Xiao Huo with one hand. The little guy immediately turned into two balls of spirit energy, fire and ice, circling around Lin Jin’s arm before blending into his flesh. This scene startled White Ape so much that he leaped up.
Hu Yuzhen cast a glance over.
She knew that blood contract cultivators were able to merge with their pet beasts upon reaching blood contract fifth realm. With this, the owner would be able to use the pet beast’s powers. She had seen many blood contract cultivators choose this path, and some were so powerful she dared not offend them.
Simply put, the effects of this Beastmaster Scroll completely depended on the pet beast’s strength.
If the pet beast was strong, the blood contract cultivator would be strong.
As for Mr. Lin, his blood-bound pet beast was a fire wolf with a Dharma body. That meant that he could now borrow this fire wolf’s supernatural powers so he should be incredibly strong now.
Hu Yuzhen had also met many blood contract cultivators with Beastmaster Scrolls. Yet, she could now see the fire wolf tattoo on Lin Jin’s arm emitting a mixture of ice and fire energy, carrying with it an indescribable aura.
This was something she had never seen before.
“Could this be the Beastmaster Fouth Scroll?” Hu Yuzhen was quite knowledgeable herself. Blood contract cultivators of this world only cultivated first, second, and third scroll. The fourth scroll was only a legend and she had never seen one with it thus fat.
However, Hu Yuzhen was a monster. The Beastmaster Scroll was meant for blood contract cultivators so this didn’t concern her. Hence, her surprise subsided quickly.
In contrast, Lin Jin was thrilled.
“This Beastmaster Fourth Scroll is really something.”
Back in Maple City’s Friar Association, Lin Jin had researched the Beastmaster Scroll before. However, the association only had volumes one and two. Comparing those two versions to volume four, the difference was akin to heaven and earth.
Simply put, the Beastmaster First Scroll could only be considered a semi-finished product. Once the human and beast merged, they had to separate for a certain time in three days. During this period, the merger would be impossible and the usable strength would be limited.
Second Scroll was a little better, but just a little.
But this Fourth Scroll Lin Jin had cultivated could allow them to stay merged. Not only could he unleash a hundred and twenty percent of Xiao Huo’s power, but they could also nourish each other and cultivate together.
Although Lin Jin had never studied the Beastmaster Third Scroll, it must be weaker than the Fourth Scroll. Being able to obtain this technique, Lin Jin could only thank his destiny.
Now that he was done, Lin Jin got up. Xiao Huo was gone without a trace.
That was because Xiao Huo had merged with Lin Jin, his blood contract owner, into one. Just like Lu Bin and his pet beast, the cloud sea scorpion.
When he looked at the stone tablet again, Lin Jin was shocked to find that the portion initially carved with the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll technique to be replaced with a line of tiny words.
“Once you have obtained this technique, you may proceed into the great hall and let the incense fumes envelop you. Chant ‘Go on! Go on!’ in your heart, and you may leave the realm.”