Chapter 909: Mysterious Card
The big-bellied monk froze as he watched, his wide eyes reflecting the glow of the runes. His face was a mixture of awe, confusion, and fear. The complexity of the runes was beyond anything he had ever encountered.
Some characters seemed vaguely familiar yet alien at the same time, while others radiated a spiritual pressure so intense that merely looking at them made his soul quiver. "What... what is this...?" he whispered, feeling both enlightened and utterly lost.
But then he clenched his jaw, his expression hardening into one of grim resolve. "No matter what this thing is," he muttered through gritted teeth, "today, I will uncover its secrets!" His fingers blurred again as he poured more energy into the black card, every thread of Yin energy in the chamber bending to his will and funneling into the relic.
Under the relentless absorption, the markings on the card became sharper and clearer, glowing faintly with a mysterious power, yet still their meaning remained maddeningly elusive, as if each symbol was a puzzle designed to resist mortal comprehension.
"Forget it, I’ll take it back and study it slowly." The big-bellied monk finally stopped channeling his energy into the strange black card. He reached out and clasped it with both hands, running his thick fingers over the engraved runes on its surface.
A shiver ran through his entire body the moment his skin made contact, as if some mysterious force inside the card had pulsed faintly and resonated with his soul. It wasn’t painful, but the sensation was unsettling, almost like touching a living heart that did not belong to him.
His brows furrowed, and for a moment his usually jovial expression disappeared, replaced by one of seriousness and awe. When he lifted the card into the dim light again, his eyes held more than simple curiosity—they held wariness and confusion. Every instinct screamed that this was no ordinary artifact.
Even the faint glow lingering on the edges of the black runes hinted at an origin far older and far darker than anything he had handled before.
Slowly, with deliberate care, he took out a copper box from his storage ring, its surface etched with sealing inscriptions meant to contain dangerous objects. He gently laid the card inside, closed the box with both hands, and only then exhaled, his shoulders relaxing slightly as if a burden had been lifted from his chest.
The box went back into his storage ring, locked away from sight.