Goulth massaged his temples with a pained expression. “Here I thought this couldn’t get any more dangerous. A demon-making set of runes! Gods, just saying it out loud makes me think this is all just a dream…”

Red frowned. “How is it possible for demonification to happen this fast? Even if it’s just a chicken, it should have been able to resist the transformation for at least a few hours.”

The process of demonification was very much dependent on the strength of the corruption. This was, in turn, tied to the strength of the demonic Spiritual Energy. At least, this was what Red learned.

Now, they used a mere fraction of the energy of a Spirit Stone, and yet that seemed to be enough to transform this chicken into a demon. It went against everything the youth knew about demonification.

“This…” Goulth frowned in thought. “Like I said, we still can’t claim to understand these runes completely. We are thinking of them as a blood-magic version of the common Arcane Scripture, but there is probably way more to them than just that.”

Red was compelled to agree. Until now, he had been doing his research with the same mentality for his other studies, but this wasn’t a wise course of action. As many similarities as these sigils might have with what the youth already knew, they were still a foreign art from a place where only death and violence reigned.

If nothing out of the ordinary happened in his experiments, Red would have been surprised instead.

“What are we doing with the chicken?” the youth asked.

“Ah, crap, I forgot!” Goulth slapped his forehead.

They both looked over at the chicken, who seemed to be acting regularly after its initial outburst, walking around the room and pecking at the ground. It looked like a normal chicken, if it wasn’t for the crimson scales growing all over its body.

The blacksmith frowned. “It sure isn’t acting like a demon.”

“That’s because I’m close to it.” Red said. “If we got split up, it would probably go back to how it was.”

“Really?” Goulth raised his eyebrows in surprise. “If that’s the case, then we obviously can’t afford to leave it alive.”

Red nodded. “Agreed.”

The youth picked up the chicken, which didn’t resist his grip, and twisted its neck with a single motion. The animal didn’t even let out a noise before it fell limp in his arms and its fluctuation disappeared from Red’s crimson sense.

They both examined the chicken’s body for a few more minutes, confirming that the demonification it underwent was total, and there was no part of its body that remained unchanged. Even its organs were modified by the demonification to some extent.

This left Red and Goulth baffled, as they wondered to themselves where the demonic energy the transformation needed to happen came from. They found no answers, though, and both of them were evidently reluctant to experiment with more animals.

“I think you should shelve this idea of carving these sigils in your skin for now.” Goulth said with a serious expression.

Red nodded. “That much is a given. I have no intention of becoming a demon.”

“You also should avoid transforming any other animals into demons.”

The youth hesitated. “… It might be a useful trump card at some point.”

Goulth glared at him. “I can’t imagine the kind of hopeless situation you would need to be in where transforming a monster into a demon would help you!”

Red nodded. “You’re right. It seems farfetched.”

Although Red said that, he had other thoughts.

The blacksmith was right in his ideas, but the youth was ever one to look towards the future. What if he managed to induce a demonic transformation into his opponent? That wouldn’t necessarily win him the battle, but Red already proved he could exert some kind of influence over these scaled demons.

It could make all the difference in the end.

There were some obvious problems with this idea he would need to figure out, but the youth saw merit in it. After all, he didn’t know how long it might take them both to organize and understand how this Infernal Scripture worked, so it made sense to use this sigil in a way they could be promptly useful.

Red didn’t share his thoughts with his master, but judging from the man’s expression, he seemed to have an inkling as to what the youth was thinking about.

“I’m warning you about this, kid.” Goulth stared at him with a serious gaze. “Don’t get too lost in these demonic arts. Not only could you attract unwanted attention from demonic cultivators, but you could also get noticed by real demons from the other side… and we both know you already have a precedent for that.”

Red frowned, recalling his encounter with a certain dark mirror pendant seven years ago. He knew his master was right.

“I understand,” Red nodded. “But I can’t give up on any advantage I can gain.”

Goulth sighed. “This is why I’m here.” The blacksmith patted his shoulder. “To guide and advise you. As long as I’m alive, you don’t need to tackle these challenges alone.”

Red was unsure how to respond, but Goulth didn’t wait for him.

“Let’s continue our research.” He waved the youth over. “We still have a few sigils to parse through.”

Red nodded, and the two continued their work.

…

Another week passed by.

The two of them kept researching the runes, but unfortunately, their progress came to a standstill. This was due to the fact Red had yet to return to his dreamscape, and they had thoroughly researched all the sigils he had already memorized.

Without new sigils, it was impossible to make progress.

“All the sigils we have seem to be primary sigils.” Goulth said. “We can’t even try to make a prototype of a formation with just what we have.”

Arcane sigils had varied effects, but they were categorized into two different types: primary and secondary sigils.

Primary sigils were the foundation of all formations and runes, as they provided the main effect of the transformation the Spiritual Energy would go through. This meant it could transform ordinary Spiritual Energy into fire, water, and countless other different aspects this energy could take. However, just transforming the energy wasn’t enough to achieve the desired effect, and this was where secondary sigils came in.

These were the sigils that shaped and transported this transformed energy to their desired form and position. They could lengthen an orb of water to form a shield over a cultivator, they could condense flames into a fireball that exploded upon contact. The process was, of course, a lot more complex than it might seem and involve dozens of secondary sigils, but at the root of it, secondary sigils were the sigils that gave shape and purpose to a formation.

The fact Red still had yet to memorize a secondary Infernal Sigil even while he was picking at random was surprising, to say the least.

“How many different sigils did you see in the bone again?” Goulth asked.

“At least a few hundred and I was still discovering even more before I gave up and tried to memorize the ones closest to me.” Red said.

“Gods…” Goulth scratched his head with a frown. “At this pace it will take us years to complete this whole thing.”

Red hesitated. “… I can try to visit the dream more often.”

The blacksmith looked surprised. “You can do that?”

“I haven’t tried it before, but there might be a way.”

Goulth frowned. “Would that be safe?”

“Probably not. There’s still a lot I don’t understand about it.” Red was being honest.

“Then you obviously shouldn’t do it!” The blacksmith shook his head. “It’s not like the sigils will be going anywhere, and in the future, once you have broken through to the Lesser Ring Realm, you might be more well equipped to deal with them.”

‘I don’t know if things will be that simple.’

Red sought to change subjects. “Since we can’t do anything right now, I will go back to cultivate.”

“Have you opened your last acupoint?” Goulth asked with an eager expression.

“… Not yet.”

“Well, then go cultivate!” The blacksmith waved him off. “You are at such an important conjecture, so you should focus on it!”

Red nodded. “Then I will be going.”

The youth excused himself and returned to his room.

The thing he didn’t tell Goulth was how he had already opened his last acupoint, at least as far as the ordinary acupoints were concerned. Red had officially opened all the necessary acupoints to attempt to open his Spiritual Sea, and he could feel the Spiritual Energy around him far more accurately than he had ever been able to in the past.

However, he had yet to open his last special acupoint - the one in his third eye that would contain Moonstone Energy. In fact, Red hadn’t even been able to locate it or verify its existence, no matter how hard he tried.

Red felt completely stumped by this. He considered giving up on opening this acupoint and focus on his breakthrough, but he wasn’t sure that was the right decision.

Technically, even after you opened your Spiritual Sea, you could still open special acupoints in your body. This was what many cultivators did, since they might acquire superior techniques in the future that required the use of acupoints they didn’t have open. However, this came with some large drawbacks.

First was the fact that opening acupoints after opening your Spiritual Sea became substantially harder. Cultivators didn’t really understand why this was the case, but most presumed it had to do with the perfect connection established between Spiritual Sea and Spiritual Vein once a cultivator broke into the Lesser Ring Realm.

A perfect cycle and existence would form between these two organs, so much so that they almost became one. It was what allowed the seamless circulation of Spiritual Energy through a cultivator’s body. As such, adding new components to this cycle in the form of new acupoints was like trying to shove an additional floor in the middle of a finished building.

Well, technically, it was still possible in the world of cultivation, as most things tended to be, but it was an arduous and costly task. Even should one succeed, in most cases the opened acupoint would not be as effective compared to if one opened it before breaking into the Lesser Ring Realm.

This was why Red was hesitating. For one, he needed the help of this acupoint to resist the curse, and he also was unsure how viable it would be to open it after he broke through.

Yet, not all hope was lost. Red still had a few ideas to reveal this elusive acupoint.

‘I can try it during a Full Moon.’

This was the night where the Moon would bathe the world in its bright light and fill Red’s body with its energy. Perhaps the acupoint would reveal itself during that occasion.

If even that didn’t work, though, Red still had one last plan. However, he would prefer it didn’t come to it.

‘I would rather never meet them again.’