The Lord of Void and Real

55  Chapter 54: Searching in the Rain

Shen Luo first went to the city and mailed the letter back home from the post station. He then immediately rode out of the city and quickly returned to the Huangweidang Ferry.

The summer sky can change quickly. What was a clear sky a moment ago was suddenly covered in dark clouds, with strong winds blowing, giving the prelude to a storm.

Shen Luo glanced at the sky, tied his horse to a tree near the ferry, untied the Wupeng Small Boat that was tied to the stump, and jumped aboard.

"Young master, it's not safe to take the boat today. Look at the sky, a heavy rain is about to fall. The river here is narrow, and when it rains heavily, the river water rushes extremely fast. Even an experienced boatman wouldn't dare to go on the water in such conditions." Yu Dadan came out from the thatched hut with an apron around his waist as if he was cooking, and hurriedly stopped Shen Luo from taking out the boat.

"Thank you, Brother Yu, for your reminder, but I can handle this," Shen Luo waved his hand to Yu Dadan, poked his bamboo pole on the riverbank, and the small boat smoothly shot forward, heading downstream.

According to Yu Yan's account, it seemed that Master Yu found the Nameless Heavenly Book on a stormy day. Perhaps, this kind of weather could be an opportunity.

Of course, if the water condition was too dangerous, he naturally would not risk his life.

"Young master, there are many hidden reefs downstream. If the water flows too swiftly, even a solid boat cannot withstand the hit. Come back!" Yu Dadan was anxious and called out repeatedly.

But Shen Luo did not respond. With the wind and the current, his small boat sailed away quickly.

His boatman skill had improved since yesterday and he quickly arrived at the rubble beach he explored before. Although the sky was gloomier than when he set off, it had not yet started to rain.

Shen Luo steadied the small boat next to the brownish river reef and was about to start his journey. Suddenly he stopped. He looked up and down at the jagged river reef that rose about two feet off the water.

"Let's start with you!"

As Shen Luo spoke, he picked up a prepared rope and tied it around his waist. He then took out a "Treasure-hunting Talisman" from his body and applied a Yuan Stone on it, carefully stimulating its power.

Soon, the White Qi within the Yuan Stone was surging and some of it spilled out. Under the guidance of the red threads in Shen Luo's palm, it was injected into the "Treasure-hunting Talisman".

As the runes on the "Treasure-hunting Talisman" lit up forming a faint layer of white light, Shen Luo quickly controlled the red thread to stop the injection. The surging white qi within the Yuan Stone calmed down. The remaining white qi was slightly less than before, almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Although he didn't fully activate the talisman, the talisman's performance indicated that it did not tend to form the white light group from before.

He only has a few Yuan stones on hand, so he had to use them sparingly, hence he thought of this clever method.

However, the subsequent attempts all failed. A fifth of the white qi contained in the Yuan Stone had already disappeared.

Shen Luo wasn't surprised. After all, the last "Treasure-hunting Talisman" was made randomly in a fluke. Now, it's not that easy to reproduce.

He let out a sigh, then took out a new Treasure-Hunting Talisman and activated it with the Yuan Stone.

Failure...

Failure...

Still a failure...

In a blink of an eye, only a few of the thick stack of Treasure-Hunting Talismans that Shen Luo had prepared were left, and a once full Yuan Stone was almost depleted.

Despite knowing this could have happened, experiencing failure dozens of times in a row still made him doubt himself.

Could it be that this "Treasure-Hunting Talisman" really depends on luck?

If that's the case, then it'd be trouble. This section of the river is full of chaotic stone piles, it would be nearly impossible to find the Nameless Heavenly Book somewhere in there, this would be no easier than finding a needle in a haystack.

"If it doesn't work today, then I'll try tomorrow. I don't believe that after a hundred or a thousand tries, it still won't succeed once!" Shen Luo mumbled to himself.

The Nameless Heavenly Book was his only hope now. No matter what, he could not give up.

With that thought, a normal expression returned to his face. He took out a new Treasure-hunting Talisman and continued to induce it.

"Hum". n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

With the last bit of mana from the Yuan Stone flowing into the talisman, a soft white light burst out from the talisman, forming a white light group the size of a washbowl.

He was stunned for a moment before realization hit him. A look of excitement appeared on his face!

However, Shen Luo immediately remembered something, his joy slightly diminished, moving the talisman in his hand closer to the brown river reef beside him.

Since the mana infused into the talisman was merely a trace, he could not truly activate it. The white light emitted from the talisman began to dim, but the soft white light group still enveloped the river reef.

The white light in the light group faintly flickered, and the river reef quickly turned semi-transparent.

But this scene only lasted for a breath or two. After the white light group flickered twice, it completely disappeared with the extinguishing of the talisman.

Shen Luo did not immediately activate this talisman, instead, he cherished it and brought it back in front of his eyes, carefully examining it.

While he made a mental note of every detail of the rune, he also carefully recalled the process of drawing the talisman, his understanding of the differences between the "Treasure-hunting Talisman" and the Small Thunder Talisman deepened slightly.

Just as he was about to continue examining it, he suddenly noticed that the dark clouds in the sky were pressing lower, seemingly indicating that a downpour was imminent.

Shen Luo looked up at the sky, abandoned his plans to continue his research, took out a Yuan Stone, and activated the talisman.

A "buzz" resonated!

Bright white light burst from the "Treasure-hunting Talisman", forming a white light group about a yard in size, covering a nearby brown river reef. The entire river reef quickly turned semi-transparent.

The white light also enveloped the nearby river water, but the murky river water did not turn transparent like the stone, nor was it illuminated at all.

Without any hesitation, Shen Luo crushed the talisman in his hands.

The white light group shattered upon command, turning into countless white light balls of varying sizes, flying towards the surroundings, like fireflies dancing in the sky. Some of the light groups directly submerged into the water and disappeared without a trace.

Shen Luo's eyes quickly moved, attempting to take in all the light balls, observing their trajectories.

The numerous light balls quickly spread out to a range of dozens of yards around, appearing quite conspicuous in the dim environment.

At this moment, a large group of white light floating to the left seemed to be attracted by something. After a slight tremble, it suddenly sank and completely submerged into the river.

A gleam of joy flashed across Shen Luo's eyes. Regardless of rowing the boat, he leapt into the river and dived towards the direction where the light ball had sunk, not daring to delay for an instant.

Despite speeding up his movements as much as possible, his pace was still slower than the speed of the light ball converging.

By the time he dove to the river bottom, those light balls had already disappeared without a trace. He could only vaguely deduce that the light balls were heading towards a small stone pile on the river bed near the reed group on the south bank.

Shen Luo quickly swam over, but when he arrived, he was taken aback.

By the dim light, he discovered that this river bed stone pile was composed of black stones about the size of a millstone. These black stones had smooth surfaces, completely different from the stones in other places, and there were more than a dozen of them.

However, the way these black stones were arranged didn't seem random and vaguely formed a pattern.

After pondering for a moment, Shen Luo's eyes suddenly widened.

This pattern was unmistakably the shape of a skull!

At this moment, his held breath was almost at its limit, and he got such a fright. He immediately blew a large string of bubbles, hurriedly swam to the surface of the river, and just barely surfaced on the edge of running out of breath. He took deep breaths for a while before he regained his strength.

"Why is there such a bizarre sight at the bottom of the river? Is it a coincidence or someone's deliberate arrangement?" Shen Luo thought, his mind still somewhat shaken.

At this time, the leaden clouds in the sky almost pressed down overhead, the wind on the river surface was rolling, the small boat was rocked from side to side by the wind, making clanging noises as it hit the big rocks.

"May the heavens help me, I hope this rain doesn't come too soon." Shen Luo muttered, glanced left and right, memorized his current position, then turned around and swam back to the boat.

He moved the Wupeng small boat a short distance forward, wedging it between two large stones on the rubble beach. He secured it firmly with a cable to ensure that it wouldn't be swept away when the river water rushed later.

Shen Luo used his eyes to calculate the distance. Just as he was about to jump into the river again, he hesitated for a moment, turned around, and took out all the remaining Treasure-hunting Talismans, two Small Thunder Talismans, and the last three Yuan Stones from his bundle in the boat. He put them on his body and then jumped back into the river.

At this moment, a dazzling white light flitted across the sky and the loud rumble "rumble" of a thunder echoed. Countless raindrops the size of beans poured down, enveloping everything.

"Does the heaven not want to help me?"

Shen Luo muttered under his breath, he had just found some clues, but the timing of this rain was really inconvenient.

But there was nothing he could do now. He jumped into the river and frantically dove towards the area he had identified earlier, regardless of everything.