I Am a Rune Engraver, Carrying a Knife Makes Perfect Sense-Chapter 12 - Nine Observations of the Nether Immortal… Observation of the Mountain!
Chapter 12: Nine Observations of the Nether Immortal... Observation of the Mountain!
—
A piercing siren tore through the skies, echoing across Yuan City.
“Warning! Warning!!”
“Explosions and fissures have appeared in the North and South Districts, releasing ghouls. All residents are to remain indoors and do not leave your homes!!”
“All Xinhuo Guard units, mobilize immediately! Mobilize immediately!!”
The electronic alarms blared across the city as chaos erupted in the East and South Districts. People ran frantically in all directions, flames igniting in several places. Thick, black smoke billowed into the sky, starkly visible against the backdrop of the setting sun.
“Goddammit! Who’s behind this?! Who dares cause trouble at a time like this?!” Wu Yun roared, standing inside a command center filled with monitors displaying live feeds from all four districts. His face was ashen, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.
Someone had timed this perfectly to coincide with the opening of the city’s library, detonating explosives to draw out ghouls. This was no random act—it was a carefully planned attack.
The door behind him slammed open as Jiang Youyi stormed in, his face dark with anger.
Wu Yun grabbed a knife from the table and headed for the exit without a word.
“Wait!” Jiang Youyi called out sharply. “We can’t reassign the guards stationed at the library. The library must remain protected until it closes!”
“If we don’t reassign them, we won’t have enough manpower! Two Spirit Passage-level ghouls have already appeared!” a woman wearing a headset reported urgently from her station.
“The library is a city’s lifeline—it cannot fall!” Jiang Youyi declared firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Wu Yun paused at the door, his face twitching with frustration. Without responding, he disappeared into the hallway.
“Sir,” the woman said hesitantly, “there’s one ghoul in the North District and another in the South District. Both are accompanied by numerous Awakening and Core Solidification-level ghouls. If we don’t reassign—”
Jiang Youyi’s cold glare silenced her. “What? Do you think Xia Nation’s citizens are helpless cowards?”
The woman flinched and quickly returned her focus to the monitors.
Jiang Youyi’s eyes narrowed as he muttered to himself, “This is my failure... but I believe...”
“The Xinhuo Guard protects the city, but within this city, there isn’t a single Xia citizen who will sit idly by and wait for death!”
“If these ghouls dare invade our city, they’ll face our wrath!”
—
BOOM!
Principal Ding Wentian punched a humanoid ghoul so hard it exploded into a spray of foul black blood. His shirt was in tatters, his body swollen with muscle like a tank. A massive rune resembling an elephant glowed on his chest, flickering with two faint blue flames.
“Everyone, get inside the school building!!” Ding bellowed. “Where are the teachers?! Are they all dead?!”
His voice was fierce as ghostly energy surged around him like a battle-hardened god, smashing any ghoul that dared approach the school gates.
CRASH!
No sooner had he spoken than part of the school building collapsed. Three bloodied figures emerged from the rubble, followed by three massive, rotting beasts—each as large as a truck—roaring ferociously.
“Principal! These monsters somehow got inside the school!” one male teacher shouted before being struck by a tiger-shaped ghoul. Its claw caved in his chest, sending him flying lifelessly through the air.
“FUCK!!” Ding Wentian’s eyes turned bloodshot with rage.
On the field, a group of students huddled together, trembling uncontrollably. For many of them, this was their first time witnessing such horrors up close. Some collapsed to their knees in fear.
“MOMMY!!”
“I don’t want to die!!” someone wailed as panic spread through the group.
The tiger-shaped ghoul turned its eyeless head toward the students. Its hollow sockets glowed with an eerie black light as it stalked toward them menacingly.
—
CLANG!
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A flash of steel descended from above as a scruffy young man leaped over the school fence and landed between the students and the ghoul.
“Brother Yun?!” Xu Shen whispered in surprise from his hiding spot in a storage room. The young man was Sun Yun, one of Uncle Wang’s subordinates in the Xinhuo Guard. He was at Core Solidification level—similar to the teacher who had just been killed.
“Hold on! Reinforcements are coming!” Sun Yun shouted as he pulled his blade from the ground and charged at the ghoul.
His first strike landed squarely on its side—but his eyes widened in shock when he saw that it only left a small crack in its bone.
WHAM!
The ghoul’s tail lashed out like a spear, sending Sun Yun flying across the field. He rolled several times before spitting out blood but still managed to stand back up, gripping his blade tightly.
“A third-tier ghoul... at Flame Mastery level...” Sun Yun muttered through gritted teeth as ghostly energy flickered around him.
—
“What do we do?” Wang Qingqing asked shakily, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to stay calm.
Xu Shen didn’t respond immediately. After a moment of silence, he turned to her with a serious expression.
“Stay here. Don’t make a sound or leave this room,” he instructed firmly before turning to Yang Dian. “Watch her. If she tries to leave—”
“I got it, Boss!” Yang Dian nodded quickly. Though terrified himself, he preferred staying behind to risking his life outside.
“What are you going to do?!” Wang Qingqing demanded as Xu Shen moved toward the door.
THUD!
Without answering, Xu Shen delivered a swift chop to her neck, knocking her unconscious. He gently laid her down in a corner before glancing at Yang Dian one last time.
Then he slipped out through a crack in the door.
—
Positioning himself behind a large boulder near the field, Xu Shen took a deep breath and focused inwardly. The cultivation method for Nine Observations of the Nether Immortal surfaced in his mind.
He had planned to wait until he had more information before starting his cultivation—but there was no time now.
Closing his eyes, Xu Shen began channeling his energy. With his Weapon Rune already engraved, entering the first stage of Nine Observations was almost effortless.
“First stage... Observation of the Mountain,” Xu Shen murmured as his eyes snapped open, filled with a wild intensity.
The technique consisted of nine stages: Observation of the Mountain, Observation of the Sea, Observation of the Soul, Observation of Life, and Observation of Destruction were just the first five that he currently knew.
As he entered Observation of the Mountain, Xu Shen felt an overwhelming clarity wash over him. Spiritual energy surged into his body at an astonishing rate.
Half of it transformed into Blood Energy, strengthening his body and enhancing his Weapon Rune, which glowed crimson on his hand. The other half flowed into his mind, expanding his mental strength exponentially.
In his mind’s eye, an ethereal image of a mountain began to take shape—faint and hazy but undeniably real.
“This is...” Xu Shen whispered as he raised his right hand. The crimson Weapon Rune pulsed with power, radiating an aura as immovable as a mountain.
He could feel it—the phantom mountain in his mind was amplifying his rune’s strength!
—
CRASH!
A figure was sent flying into a pile of rubble nearby. It was Sun Yun—his body covered in deep claw marks and his blade shattered. Blood poured from his wounds as he struggled to lift his head.
Through blurry vision, he saw Xu Shen crouched behind a boulder, eyes gleaming with an unsettling intensity.
“R-run...” Sun Yun rasped weakly.
The tiger-shaped ghoul growled lowly as it approached Sun Yun, its eyeless sockets glowing ominously. Despite its hunger for life force and souls, it seemed almost intelligent as it singled out Sun Yun as its next target.
—
At the school gates, Ding Wentian glanced back toward the field with anguish in his heart. If he left his post to help Sun Yun and the students, more ghouls would flood into the school grounds—but if he stayed put...
“FUUCCCKKK FUCK FUCK FUCK, DAMN IT ALL!!!” Ding roared in frustration.
—
Suddenly, an earth-shaking roar erupted from within the rubble near Sun Yun. A massive boulder hurtled through the air like a cannonball, slamming into the tiger-shaped ghoul and knocking it back several meters.
The shattered remains of the boulder revealed Xu Shen standing behind it—his face twisted with fury and determination as he charged forward at blinding speed.
“Xu Shen! Get back here!!” Sun Yun shouted hoarsely but coughed up blood from exertion.
Ignoring him, Xu Shen leaped into the air like a human missile and brought his fist down on the ghoul with all his might.
BOOM!
The ground trembled as Xu Shen’s blood-imbued punch drove the ghoul into the dirt with bone-cracking force. The sound of shattering bones echoed across the field.
But Xu Shen wasn’t done. With a feral snarl, he unleashed punch after punch on the downed ghoul—even as his own arm began to fracture under the strain.
“Die! DIE!!” Xu Shen roared with each strike until—
WHAM!
The ghoul lashed out with its tailbone like a whip, sending Xu Shen flying across the field. He crashed into Sun Yun’s side with enough force to knock them both flat on their backs.
—
To everyone’s astonishment, instead of continuing its attack, the tiger-shaped ghoul hesitated. It let out a low growl before turning and fleeing—its body trembling as if in fear.
But before it could escape far—
SLASH!
A blade descended from above like divine judgment, slicing through not only the tiger-shaped ghoul but also two other ghouls nearby that had been fighting teachers.
Wang Bing landed gracefully amidst their bisected remains—shirtless and radiating power as his Ghost Wolf Rune howled faintly on his chest. His bloodshot eyes scanned the area urgently.
“Qingqing?! Where’s Qingqing?!”
