Chapter 3: The Rune in the Mirror

  "What's going on?" Li Muran immediately took the copper mirror in hand and examined it carefully.

  For three years he had carried the copper mirror with him, but it never shone brightly.

  "This mirror light..."

  Li Muran's eyes narrowed slightly as he carefully examined the light emitted by the copper mirror, discovering that the light had both bright and dark parts, seemingly forming a complex pattern.

  Just after a glance, Li Muran suddenly had a feeling of blurred vision in both eyes. Even with his sharp eyesight, he found it hard to see clearly.

  "Find a flat surface and shine the light on it, then you can see more clearly."

  Li Muran thought so in his heart, and then without hesitation, he raised the copper mirror and shone its light on the last talisman paper on the stone platform - this was the only flat object in front of him.

  As expected, the pattern of the mirror light appeared, but Li Muran looked even more bewildered.

  On the rice paper, countless dots of light were reflected, some connected into a piece, while others were isolated from each other. It seemed random and casual, yet hid profound mysteries.

  The mirror gave Li Muran an extraordinary and mysterious feeling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was so mystical about it.

  "Heavenly Punishment, Douwen!" Suddenly, these few words flashed into Li Muran's mind. Indeed, the intricate patterns of light and darkness formed countless complex symbols, as profound as those recorded in ancient tomes.

  However, Li Muran thought hard but couldn't identify what kind of Douwen pattern this mirror light diagram was.

  "Could it be some kind of lost martial art?" Li Muran's interest suddenly grew even greater, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the talisman paper.

  As he watched, Li Muran became more and more fascinated, all his thoughts deeply immersed in it, extremely focused.

  In a flash, the talisman paper seemed to have transformed into a vast night sky, with those sparkling lights turning into countless twinkling stars. Moreover, many of these starry lights were connected by shimmering rays, forming mysterious patterns.

  Li Muran subconsciously stretched out his fingers, following the rays of light to the point where they disappeared. As he swept his fingers over them, these flickering lights immediately stabilized, quite wonderfully.

  Li Muran's fingers moved as if possessed, stabilizing each beam of light in the "night sky". As he finished tracing the last beam, the entire night sky stabilized and a silver moon appeared, emitting dazzling rays.

  Li Muran felt as if he was in the midst of it all, gazing at the "night sky" that was within arm's reach, with the bright moon and stars seemingly within his grasp, evoking an indescribable sense of wonder.

  ……

  After an unknown period of time, a chill swept over him and Li Muran suddenly woke up.

  "I actually fell asleep......" Li Muran suddenly realized that the sky was slightly bright, the long night had passed, and it was already dawn, with a cool morning breeze.

  Li Muran lowered his head to look, and in his left hand he still held a copper mirror, but the copper mirror was extremely ordinary and did not emit any light. His right hand fingers had dried blood on them.

  "Seal of Enlightenment!" Li Muran hastily looked at the last talisman paper.

  Only on the talisman paper were seen strange and bizarre blood-colored symbols, seemingly disorderly but actually full of mystery.

  Li Muran was both shocked and delighted, just wanting to take a closer look at the talisman, when the first ray of sunlight broke through the dawn and shone down on the paper. And under the sunlight, those talismans suddenly disappeared without warning!

  "Terrible!" Li Muran's face suddenly changed greatly, and when he looked again, the talisman had already undergone a great change.

  Now, there is only a bloody fingerprint on this talisman, although it's messy, but it has formed the most basic "seal text" seal in the talisman. In other words, this talisman has been sealed and cannot be used or changed again.

  Sealing is the final step in creating a talisman, and once sealed, the talisman is complete and cannot be changed. Forcing modifications or adding other characters will only cause the talisman to self-destruct.

  But this talisman only has messy fingerprints, without even a single character or incantation, let alone a battle text, and it's not even as good as a low-level enlightenment talisman. It can only be considered a useless waste of a talisman!

  "Invalid talisman!" Li Muran was shocked, but the grand opening ceremony was about to take place, how could he possibly get another sheet of consecrated talisman paper!

  As time was running out, Li Muran had no choice but to put away this "waste symbol" and head down the mountain.

  An hour later, more than a hundred young people gathered in front of the Kaiyuan Temple on Mount Kaiyuan, chatting in groups of three or five, some with joyful expressions and others looking gloomy.

  Li Muran hastily arrived here and was immediately surrounded by more than a dozen young men who asked in unison:

  "Zhao Shixiong, what symbol did you draw? I'm guessing it's a mid-tier enlightenment symbol, right?"

  "Hey, with Zhao's strength, mid-tier talismans are definitely no problem! High-tier enlightenment talismans are also possible!"

  "High-ranking enlightenment symbol? In our sect, no disciple has been able to draw a high-ranking enlightenment symbol in the past hundred years!"

  "Not bad! Among this batch of fellow disciples, if anyone can draw a high-level enlightenment symbol, it must be Brother Zhao without a doubt."

  "Yes, I've seen Zhao Shixiong repeatedly practice the Minghuo Douwen, each time completing it in one breath. He might really be able to draw a high-level Huoyuan Kai Guangfu!"

  "What's the use of practicing? When I practice, I can also draw all sorts of talismans and spells like a tracing template, but when it comes to actually creating them, I'm bound by countless invisible forces, making it hundreds or thousands of times more difficult!"

  "Zhao Shixiong, what kind of symbol did you draw?"

  Li Muran slightly shook his head and remained silent, with a bitter smile in his heart. He didn't know what kind of quality the talisman he drew was, but he couldn't believe that the one in his arms was a useless symbol!

  Many young people are used to Li Muran's silence and taciturnity. Anyway, it won't be long before the mystery is revealed.

  Before long, more than a dozen elderly men walked out of the hall one after another. Some were white-haired and some were still quite young. Some had their hair tied up in a bun and dressed as Taoist priests, while others wore ordinary long gowns. The disciples saw these people and immediately fell silent, bowing respectfully to greet them.

  These people are the various Dao masters of Yuán Fú Zōng, and the white-haired old man with a kind face in the middle is precisely Qiān Xiá Dào Rén, the leader of Yuán Fú Zōng.

  Cang Xia Dao Ren raised his hand and smiled slightly, saying in a clear voice:

  "Since the ancestor, known as 'Symbol Saint', founded our sect over a thousand years ago, our disciples have been using the Symbol of Enlightenment to enlighten their minds and embark on the path to immortality. Today's grand ceremony is also the 216th Enligtenment Ceremony of our sect; in over two hundred grand ceremonies, countless talents have emerged, each achieving great things. I hope you all can seize this opportunity today and find your own immortal destiny!"

  Cang Xia Dao Ren said up to here, turned around and said to the young Daoist beside him: "Mo Shidi, this time's opening of the Grand Hall will be presided over by you, please receive the ancestral token."

  Li Muran's heart skipped a beat as soon as he heard the two words "Zu Fu". He had seen it in the sect's classics long ago, that the founder of the sect, Xuan Sheng Zhen Ren, had left behind an extraordinary talisman called "Zu Fu", which was also the treasure of the Yuan Fu Sect.

  The opening of the Yuanfu Zong brother's eyes was also completed by this ancestor symbol.

  "That's Mo Yunzi, Mo Shifu's uncle. He's incredibly young, said to be under thirty years old, yet he's already a senior figure on par with the sect leader." Li Muran looked at the young man who had taken the jade box from the sect leader's hand, feeling quite envious in his heart.

  Mo Yunzi personally took over the jade box, first respectfully bowed to the jade box, and then carefully opened it, taking out a radiant jade token.

  The jade symbol was only as big as a palm, with a layer of seven-colored misty light on its surface, very colorful.

  "Qingxia Shimei had already filled the ancestral symbol with yuanqi using the yuanqi symbol yesterday, so Mo Shidi can use it directly." Cangxia Daoist said with a smile.

  "Yes!" Mo Yunzi bowed to Cang Xia Dao Ren, then turned around and instructed the disciples: "Enter the main hall one by one in the order of your admission."

  After finishing speaking, Mo Yunzi and others returned to the main hall again.

  The disciples hastily formed a line, and a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth was the first to enter the grand hall.

  The young man followed the instructions and first knelt three times and bowed nine times to the ancestral master Jin Xiang in the main hall, then stood on a round platform about one foot high in the center of the main hall.

  "Don't be nervous!" Master Mo said with a smile to the young man whose body was slightly trembling: "Close your eyes and stick the talisman you drew on your forehead."

  "Yes, Master Mo!" The young man did as he was told. The talisman he stuck on had a single character and seal, which was a low-level opening light talisman.

  "Look carefully at the spot an inch inside your eyebrows; have you discovered anything?" asked Mo Yunzi suddenly.

  The young man closed his eyes and shook his head, answering: "Reporting back to Master Uncle, it's pitch black, can't see anything."

  Mo Yunzi smiled and said: "You haven't opened your eyes yet, of course you can't see anything; it will be different after a while!"

  As he spoke, Moyunzi swung his large sleeve, a flash of green light appeared, and a handle of spiritual light overflowing with colorful patterns flew out from within, which was caught by him in one grasp.

  Mo Yunzi gently placed the ancestral token on the stone pedestal in front of him, then danced with his green sword, drawing out a series of pale green sword lights.

  These sword lights converged into the Zǔ Fú. The various talismans on the Zǔ Fú immediately shone brightly, transforming into a dazzling seven-colored light pillar that shot out, about an inch in diameter.

  Mo Yunzi's sword tip touched a point, and this beam of light directly shone onto the open symbol on the young man's forehead.

  In an instant, the characters on the talisman also shone brightly and flew out of the paper, while the paper itself disappeared into a wisp of green smoke in the light column.

  The runes gradually shrank, transformed into a stream of blood light, and sank into the boy's brow. The boy suddenly shook his whole body, and a layer of dim seven-colored misty light also appeared on the surface of his body.

  But in just a blink of an eye, the glow disappeared, and the young man returned to normal, opening his eyes with a look of confusion.

  "Try again." Mo Yunzi smiled slightly at the young man.

  The young man closed his eyes again, sensing the location of the ancestral aperture. Before long, he suddenly opened his eyes and exclaimed with surprise and delight: "I saw a spark, about the size of a soybean!"

  "You're using a low-level fire attribute opening spell, after the opening, you can only see a small flame the size of a bean. If it were a mid-level fire attribute opening spell, what you should be seeing is a flame about an inch in diameter." Mo Yunzi said, waving his hand to signal the young man to step aside.

  "You step down for now, after all the disciples have opened their eyes, it will be the ceremony of choosing a master and becoming a disciple. If there is a senior who is willing to take you as a disciple, you can stay in our sect and continue to cultivate, otherwise, you still need to leave our sect."