Chapter 15: The Temple of Arcane Arts

After carefully examining the girl’s head and skin, Li Mingxing’s confusion only deepened. Throughout this journey, his greatest puzzle had been the girl’s bearing—her movements and aura were unmistakably those of an Eastern woman, yet her appearance was wholly Western. His first instinct was to check whether her looks were somehow fake.

Finding nothing amiss, he turned his attention to a second mystery: the girl carried a peculiar fragrance. It was not strong, but its reach was remarkable—Li Mingxing could easily track her by scent alone. He suspected someone had dusted her with a traceable powder, but after sniffing her closely, Lin Ji realized something was off. The source was bizarre: the fragrance emanated from the girl’s palms, mouth, eyes, and ears.

This left Li Mingxing in a quandary. If the scent had come from her clothing, his temperament would have led him to strip her bare without hesitation. But since it originated from within her body, there was nothing he could do.

With both mysteries unresolved, Li Mingxing’s curiosity about the girl only grew stronger. After some thought, he dragged her into a nearby thicket and ordered his men to fetch water, which he then poured over her head.

It was quite some time before the girl slowly regained consciousness. As she woke, she was confronted by the enormous head of a lion looming before her, and she screamed in terror.

After a moment, realizing the lion had no intention of eating her and was, in fact, grinning at her, the girl remembered what had happened. Shrinking back, she lowered her head and said nothing.

But this time, Li Mingxing was not about to let her off so easily. He seized her and bellowed, “Who are you? Tell me everything, now! Otherwise, I’ll ravish you before killing you, and then devour you piece by piece!”

Even Yin Haitao, standing nearby, was stunned by these words. However, in the girl’s ears, Li Mingxing’s threats were automatically translated into the language of darkness. She merely sensed his anger but had no idea what he was actually saying.

Seeing her dazed expression only infuriated Li Mingxing further. He shoved her roughly to the ground, and something fell from her person.

This object immediately caught his eye. Picking it up, he found it remarkably similar to the scrolls carried by mercenaries. On its surface was a full-body image of the girl, with her name—Aisha—written over her chest. Beneath her name was an icon: a blue, translucent butterfly. Li Mingxing had no idea what this symbol represented, but he felt it might be linked to his own three constitutions.

After a moment’s thought, he simply swallowed the object whole, then picked up the girl and tossed her onto the back of a battle leopard.

Unaware of Li Mingxing’s intentions, the girl began to shriek, but the battle leopard wasted no time—it sprang forward, and the sudden motion scared her into silence. She could only cling tightly to the leopard’s neck, afraid to move an inch.

It was a good while before the girl understood why Li Mingxing had thrown her onto the battle leopard’s back. He intended to take her with him, and, seeing how quickly she tired after just a little walking, he had put her on the leopard so she could keep up.

Realizing this, a sudden warmth blossomed in her heart. Clutching the leopard’s head, she gazed at Li Mingxing—racing at the front of the group—with eyes that grew ever softer.

Li Mingxing paid no mind to the girl’s change in demeanor. At that moment, he was charging with all his might toward a direction—toward a towering structure he had glimpsed from a mountaintop not long before.

According to the knowledge he’d acquired from Raymond, this radiant building, visible from miles away, was a special structure of the Inner World: a Sanctuary of Arcane Arts.

These Sanctuaries were the joint domain of all neutral gods of magic and spellcraft, akin to internet cafés in the real world, allowing one to download a variety of spells or magical arts. There was one prerequisite: anyone entering needed a magic book or a jade slip, serving as a magical terminal.

Li Mingxing happened to possess such a magic book—a trophy seized from the follower-mage of a fallen apprentice hero from the Alliance of Light. Both he and Yin Haitao had studied it, but no matter which page they turned to, it seemed entirely blank.

At first, Li Mingxing thought he’d never have use for this book, but he hadn’t expected to stumble upon a Sanctuary of Arcane Arts here.

Raymond had also told him that before anyone entered such a sanctuary, it remained in a half-open state. The neutral Goddess of Magic could not benefit from it until the sanctuary’s seal was broken, so the first person to enter often gained unexpected rewards.

Driven by the promise of such rewards—and pressed for time, as his stay in the Inner World was drawing to an end—Li Mingxing raced on. He had no idea how long it would take to obtain the sanctuary’s benefits once inside, so he preferred to arrive as early as possible.

Time would prove his concerns justified. Even moving as swiftly as he could, it took nearly a whole day to reach the sanctuary, much of it spent detouring around impassable mountains and fearsome wild beasts.

Upon arrival, Li Mingxing found that everyone else—Yin Haitao, his subordinates, and the girl he had dragged along—was repelled by the sanctuary’s wards; only he could approach.

After a moment’s thought, he left his companions outside and, like a violet bolt of lightning, plunged into the Sanctuary of Arcane Arts.

The instant he entered, his body reverted to its human form, though his clothes did not reappear—he stood stark naked. At first, he blushed, but, realizing no one else could enter, he soon dismissed his embarrassment and began to survey the sanctuary’s interior.

The sanctuary was not large; it was no more than twenty paces from the entrance to the farthest wall. At its deepest point stood a stone platform, upon which countless starlights cascaded down from the ceiling, converging at the platform’s center.

Encircling the platform was a magic array about two meters in diameter, its intricate runes spreading out to the surrounding walls.

Tracing the magical patterns, one could see a vast web of starlight and runes woven across the sanctuary’s walls. Li Mingxing believed this must be a fragment of the legendary Grand Magic Web constructed by the neutral gods of spellcraft.

After studying the scene for a while, he moved to the platform. There, he noticed a recessed mark—judging by its size, meant to hold a jade slip. This suggested the sanctuary belonged to an Eastern god of spellcraft.

Unfortunately, Li Mingxing only had a magic book, no jade slip, so he could not activate the platform or learn the sanctuary’s hidden spells—unless he could somehow unlock the sanctuary itself, allowing him to transcribe the spells by hand.

The moment he entered the sanctuary, Li Mingxing learned how to activate it. Following the instructions, he stepped onto the platform, raised his hands high, and held aloft a spirit coin worth one hundred units.

As he performed the gesture, a beam of starlight shot down from the sanctuary’s dome, striking him directly. The spirit coin vanished from his hand, replaced by three options appearing before him.

The first option, grayed out, would have allowed him to learn three intermediate combat spells—but since he only had a magic book, this choice was unavailable.

The second option offered him a jade slip, enabling him to study the sanctuary’s collection of spells.

The third option, however, surprised him: it was a blueprint—a design for a Scripture Pavilion. The requirements to build it were a fully owned city and either a magic tower or a spell hall of at least one floor. The blueprint could be used three times, and, once constructed, each floor of the magic tower or spell hall would gain one additional spell slot.

After some deliberation, Li Mingxing chose the third option. Jade slips could be purchased later, and spells could always be copied in time, but the blueprint for the Scripture Pavilion was a rare find indeed.

Once he made his choice, a sheet of white paper drifted gently before him, bearing the image of a two-story wooden Eastern-style building.

Li Mingxing examined it briefly, then set it aside, his attention now drawn to a new spell forming on the sanctuary’s walls.