Red excused himself to his room. When he arrived there and made sure no one was watching or eavesdropping on him, he sat down cross-legged on his bed and began to meditate.

Soon enough, his awareness expanded, and he reached towards the mist.

“Did something happen?” Red went straight to the point.

“Her hold… weakens.” A faint voice echoed in his mind.

‘Her.’

Red immediately thought back to one name and a certain image that he avoided thinking about for a long time. Even now, he didn’t dare to focus on it for more than a few seconds, but at least he confirmed his theory was right.

“Does that mean you’re safe?” Red asked.

“No… Never safe.”

“… The bone. Were you the one that helped me reach it?”

“Yes.”

Red hesitated. “… Why?”

“Useful… for you.”

“Useful how?”

“Useful.”

This was the only word the being used. Red was still left with a lot of questions on the matter, but he knew from experience that the voice never elaborated on its words.

Perhaps there was another matter it would be willing to clarify, though.

“Were you the one who carved those symbols?” Red asked with his expanded awareness.

“No.”

“Who was it then?”

There was a pause. “… I do not know.”

‘Why did I expect anything different from this conversation?’

With a sigh, Red let his expanded awareness dissipate without hesitation and opened his eyes. The youth didn’t gain much information from this conversation, other than the reinforcement of the fact the being inside his body had a vested interest in not only his safety but also in his growth.

Red already knew this in the past, but he thought the being’s assistance would be limited to his Crimson Sense and regenerative abilities. To introduce a completely new Arcane Scripture system to the youth, though, was already far beyond that realm.

Still, none of this helped Red find the answer to the question he was looking for. That being - should he research these sigils?

In a way, Red was a selfish person to anyone who wasn’t his immediate companions. He didn’t care that much about how his actions at large might affect those unrelated to him, and he knew that anyone seeking to advance in the cultivation world shouldn’t be concerned with those matters. He would obviously do his best to avoid hurting unrelated people or affecting their livelihoods, but he knew there were bound to be bystanders getting caught up in these big matters, whether he wanted it or not.

Still, it was one thing when his actions affected someone’s career or injured them in a battle. It was another thing entirely when his actions might affect humanity as a whole.

The entire world, possibly at the mercy of this teenage boy who had yet to open his Spiritual Sea.

It was such a ridiculously heavy responsibility that Red couldn’t help but ask himself multiple times whether it was all real. Of course, there was still the possibility the blacksmith wasn’t right about his theory. Maybe there were some other limiting factors that wouldn’t allow these sigils to be used in this world. After all, they only just started researching it.

Yet Red didn’t think he was wrong, much more so after the being’s reply.

‘What now?’

The youth had never been so conflicted about a decision before. Perhaps someone else would have tried to justify their actions one way or the other, such as doing their utmost to keep these sigils a secret while using them. However, Red never took these responsibilities lightly. He couldn’t make this promise to himself and his master without weighing how hard it would be to keep it.

‘I have already made plenty of impossible promises already.’

His thirst for knowledge and power pushed him one way, while the morality and humanity he possessed pushed him the other.

‘Perhaps there is still a way to reach a compromise.’

Red spent the rest of the night considering this question.

When morning finally arrived, he made his decision.

…

“So, what are you going to do?” Goulth stared at him with a grave expression.

Red was facing his master inside his workshop. From the look on the blacksmith’s face, it seemed he didn’t get any sleep either.

“I will research the runes.” Red said. “However, I will put some limitations on myself.”

Goulth raised his eyebrows in curiosity. “What kind of limitations?”

“I will not use the runes unless my life is in absolute danger or until I find a reliable way to mask them in the future.” Red said.

This was the compromise the youth reached. After a long night of thought, this came to him after a simple consideration: could he bring himself to care about the future of the world if he was just about to die? Red wasn’t that altruistic, and he didn’t think many people in his place would be either. As such, he would keep these sigils and their byproducts as his trump cards and his last line of defense.

Goulth grunted. “That seems like a good compromise. However, just because you aren’t using the sigils doesn’t mean they can’t be leaked. You never know when someone might be spying on you while you’re researching or inscribing.”

Red sighed. “I know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. After all, that’s not the only thing I have to hide.”

“Well, I’m not here to judge your decision, kid.” Goulth shrugged. “If you’ve thought about it, that’s all that matters to me. I probably won’t live long enough to see the full potential of these runes achieved, and as long as your safety is assured, then I can’t really bring myself to care about what will happen after I die.”

The youth frowned. “If you don’t care, why did you bring this issue up to me in the first place?”

The blacksmith laughed. “Hey, just because I don’t care doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! It’s your future we’re talking about here! Either way, now that you have decided, let’s get to work. There’s a lot I have been thinking about since yesterday’s experiment…”

…

Over the next few weeks, Red and Goulth dedicated themselves almost wholly to the research of these runes. The youth was afforded this deviation in his formation studies because what limited him now in building the Parting Storm Formation were resources and time.

Others around his sect noticed the increasing amount of time Red and his master were spending inside the workshop, but since no further accidents happened, no one bothered them. Over this period, the youth made another visit to the hellscape, during which he memorized four more Infernal Sigils, as Goulth had decided to call them.

They also made some important discoveries in their research.

First of all, it was in regards to blood. The sigils weren’t powered by blood necessarily and rather they still used Spiritual Energy. Blood served as a medium through which the power of these sigils could act through. This meant that every effect of these runes used blood to manifest.

The first sigil they discovered, for instance, seemed to transform Red’s blood into a fiery and explosive substance. Another rune they researched made it so his blood would lengthen into a sharp line, while another one still caused the fluid to harden into a thick substance. Their effects were all similar to normal Arcane Runes, except for the fact that they were more powerful at a base level, and seemingly far more difficult to control.

Goulth attributed this to its demonic origins. Demonic power was a very attractive prospect for a lot of cultivators because it gave them a large upgrade in power compared to that which they acquired through normal cultivation. The downside, however, was that this power was much harder to control, not to mention that it was also a corrupting influence.

In the end, pure power wasn’t necessarily superior to technique, and this much was displayed through the fact that most devilish sects were destroyed and the orthodox sects emerged victorious from their war. It was hard to say how much this principle applied to these Infernal Sigils, though, considering their true capabilities would only be displayed once they were arranged in a formation or talisman.

They also discovered that they could use any blood as a medium. Goulth tried to use his own blood as well as the blood of a few monsters to activate the runes, and all of them worked. However, to their surprise, the effects were not as strong as when Red used his own blood.

The man attributed this to the strength of blood essence. This meant that the stronger the blood they used as a medium, the better the effects of these sigils would become. Monsters generally had stronger blood essences than humans, so his master suggested that if he needed to use these sigils in the future, he should stock up on some monster blood.

Of course, he didn’t comment on the strange fact that Red’s blood essence seemed to be stronger than that of your average monster, and the youth was glad he didn’t need to explain this. The youth wasn’t about to use his own blood as fuel for these formations. Or at least, he didn’t intend to until they made some calculations.

“It seems like the simplest of formations made with these sigils might require a gallon of blood to work.” Goulth said with a frown. “I can only imagine this number will increase exponentially as the complexity and size of the formations increase.”

“There’s no way I can carry around gallons of blood on myself.” Red shook his head. “Could this be solved by using higher-quality blood?”

Goulth grunted. “It certainly seemed like we needed less of your blood to achieve the same effect with those runes. However, the difference didn’t seem to be substantial enough. You would still need a gallon of it to make a basic formation work, even if it's from a Lesser Ring Realm monster.”

Red frowned. “This doesn’t seem sustainable.”

“That’s because you don’t know the first thing about blood magic.” The blacksmith shook his head. “I heard there were some cultivators out there who could refine the blood of a hundred people into a single bead. Quantity and space weren’t really a problem for them.”

“Are you suggesting that I should go out and learn some blood magic?”

Goulth frowned. “Well, not necessarily. Maybe you could make a formation that could do this same refining process for you. That way, you won’t need to use demonic magic directly.”

‘If only you knew…’

Red nodded. “It’s a good idea, but it’s still too far away from us right now. There was something else I have been thinking about, though…”

Goulth stared at him with suspicion. “What are you thinking?”

“Do you know how I found these runes on a bone? There was no way to tell if those runes were carved in the bone before or after the… thing it belonged to died.”

Goulth’s expression changed. “You mean…”

“Yes.” Red nodded. “I wonder what will happen if we try to carve one of these runes on a living being.”