Chapter 75: [sanctuary] Holy Light Apostles
Consuming one coin, Yuan Zhu logged into Happy Home again. The first thing he heard was Number 3’s greeting: “Young Master Yuan, welcome back to Happy Home.”
The Mechanical Maid didn’t feed the sheep today; instead, she changed into a set of Chinese Style clothes and greeted him with prior preparation.
He casually asked, “After I left last time, did anyone else come?”
The little maid told him truthfully: “Young Lady Meng Xiyue came once. She seemed very happy, exchanged a lot of materials from the Stone Pillar, said goodbye to me, and then hurried away. Additionally, Young Lady Zhou Chu also came once. She collected a blood sample from the Little Goat and instructed me to keep a close eye on the Little Goat. If there are any signs of corruption or going mad, immediately kill it on the spot, incinerate and destroy it completely, and absolutely do not let you all eat Mad Sheep meat.”
As expected of Zhou Chu’s style, Yuan Zhu was not surprised. Instead, he handed over a bottle of expensive Mechanical Lubricant in his hand: “This is the gift I bought for you in Running. I don’t know if you like it?”
His predecessor worked as an Engineer in the Steam Factory, dealing with retro mechanical equipment every day, responsible for debugging stalled production Equipment and repairing some faulty Equipment. Therefore, he accumulated quite a bit of Experience and visited many hardware stores nearby.
Considering that Number 3 is a Mechanical Maid, he bought the most expensive lubricant as a gift.
Number 3’s exquisite Mechanical Cheek made a ‘surprised’ expression, took the gift with both hands, curiously examined the outer packaging, and bowed in thanks: “Thank you, Young Master Yuan. This is the first gift I’ve ever received; I’m very happy. But I don’t use Mechanical Lubricant, so please don’t give it again next time. If possible, I’d like to try a type of Energy from your Real World called Alchemy Element. The master says it’s Garbage Food and harmful to my health, but I still want to try it. Next time, can you bring me just a little bit? Just a little bit.”
The Lamp Factory (Steam Factory) where Yuan Zhu works has a service for infusing lamps with ‘Alchemy Element’. That stuff isn’t worth much; it’s indeed an industrial Alchemy Element Energy full of impurities, similar to a combination of ‘electrical Energy, Gasoline, Magic Elements’, and contains Deadly Poison.
The lamps used in his home are filled with that stuff, like filling with gas, and can be used continuously for several months. At the same time, those street-racing ghost fire kids in Running use it as fuel for their motorcycle engines.
“Alright, next time I’ll bring you a little bit. But that’s really not good stuff.”
“I’m just a little bit curious; I’m not greedy.” Number 3 nodded repeatedly, extremely well-behaved.
Bidding farewell to the maid, he raised his hand to touch the Stone Pillar and skillfully arrived at the Holy Light Exchange Area. This time, due to the Holy Mark, there was no obstruction at all, and it directly listed all the Reinforcement information after the Holy Light Ritual.
A massive amount of Holy Seal information scrolled past his eyes, at least several hundred. His consciousness couldn’t keep up, but Little Spicy Stick recorded them all and rearranged them in his mind in descending order by ‘scale’.
The highest 9-scale Holy Seals numbered over 20, but they were all blurred out. It wasn’t that the Stone Pillar refused to provide specific names; these Holy Seals were slices from demigod Soul Crystals, with built-in shielding effects. Without sufficiently refined Spirit and will, one had no qualification to observe their true names and information.
Because the B-grade was too high and the starting price was at least 100,000 Points, Yuan Zhu decisively shook his head and gave up.
8-scale Holy Seals had somewhat blurry names, but he could perceive their general information through Spirit Perception. Some contained Buddhist mercy intent, with boundless Buddhist (Holy) Light, related to something like Golden Bodhisattva?
Some were extremely blazing, related to a branch Inheritance of Seraphim. Then, Yuan Zhu also discovered some familiar 8-scale Holy Seals related to Tai Huang Dao Master, much more advanced than the old man’s 6-scale Talismans. These Holy Seals started at 50,000, only good for window-shopping.
Yuan Zhu helplessly took another step back to the 7-scale Holy Seal area, where there were even more, and a large number of Brand New Holy Seals emerged that were not from the Eight Holy Kings path.
This time, with Yuan Zhu’s current Holy Light foundation, he could see the specific information. Among them, Holy Flame, Iron Halo, Angel Dust, Holy Grail… and other Holy Seals were all extremely powerful in function, with multiple effects as core Holy Seals, with prices generally breaking 10,000 Points.
Just one possessed effects like Cultivation Technique, Conceptual Weapon, core Skill, Attribute Enhancement, All-round Amplification, slow self-quality transformation to Get Stronger… simultaneously.
Yuan Zhu was dazzled and lingered, wanting every single one, but as a Tier 0 newbie, he could only choose one. Moreover, the cheapest started at 5,000 Points, and the expensive ones were tens of thousands, which he simply couldn’t afford.
The Game Sprite’s voice suddenly rang out, prompting: “Boss, what do you think of this one? We can afford it if we buy this!”
“Hm? Sanctuary, 7,000 Points? How could I possibly afford that? Are you glitching!”
“Look at that line of small print at the back: special Discount, requires Space Metal for barter. If possessing special Space Anchor information, it can be greatly discounted. Night Watch Division’s Token, quickly take it out and try!”
Yuan Zhu’s eyes lit up. He hurriedly took out that mottled, twisted broken copper Token, pressed it against the Stone Pillar for scanning, and soon the Sanctuary’s price dropped to 3,400 Points. The material obviously wasn’t worth that much; it must be the ‘Space Coordinates’ remaining inside? Unfortunately, he still couldn’t afford it.
The Game Sprite was angered: this broken Stone Pillar still looks down on people? “Bodhisattva, Golden Bodhisattva! Quickly bring it out; we’ll sell Gold!”
Yuan Zhu thought it made sense and, with the idea of giving it a try, moved the armless and headless Golden Bodhisattva out from his exclusive Room, leaned it against the Stone Pillar, and opened the Mao Mao King Exchange area.
The Game Sprite excitedly said: “Whoa! 3,000 Points, just right! Boss, we can afford it now. We can even keep a golden leg for emergencies.”
“Mm.”
Yuan Zhu responded perfunctorily, concentrating all his Energy on this Sanctuary Holy Seal. He then discovered that this thing was indeed not bad, very suitable for him! Perhaps that’s why Little Spicy Stick deliberately picked it out.
Sanctuary is a rare Space System Holy Seal, without corresponding Conceptual Weapon or obvious attack Skills. Once a Cultivator fully forges it, they can open 1m of Storage Space through the Sanctuary Holy Seal.
But this wasn’t the key point; the true power of Sanctuary lay in its ‘sacred Defense’. Like carrying a Holy Place on one’s person, providing all-round sanctuary and Blessing to the Cultivator.
In terms of sanctuary, it manifested as super strong Defense. The Holy Seal could compress Holy Light into a Force Field Barrier with pseudo-Space properties, like a Sanctuary enveloping the Cultivator’s body for Force Field protection. It could also, in the form of Holy Light, Blessing other Teammates, together resisting with the ‘pseudo-Space turtle shell (Sanctuary)’ Invulnerable to All Magic.
In Yuan Zhu’s view, this Sanctuary was very much like an AT Force Field, yet not a flat plane. It could not only wrap the body stereoscopically to form a Defense field but also had weak Space Attribute (Resistance).
When the Cultivator’s Strength was sufficiently powerful, Sanctuary would expand from a body-fitting Force Field into a range-type Domain. Cutting off and sealing surrounding spacetime, transforming Space Anchors, locking Space to reject teleportation; or sealing off a region of Space, immovable as a mountain, not subject to dimensional exile.
If this sanctuary power was used flexibly, Holy Light could be compressed into an extremely sturdy thin wall, forming a sealed Cage (Sanctuary) to imprison Pollution within (Seal). Then detonate the Holy Light for all-round, no-dead-angle inward Refinement (Annihilation).
As for the Blessing effects, due to its virtual concept of Holy Place, after activating Sanctuary, the Cultivator’s Power, speed, stamina, and Spirit would all receive All-round Amplification. It could also, through Holy Light, Blessing Teammates (Blessing).
The intensity of this Amplification might not be great, but it excelled in being comprehensive and flawless, continuing as long as there was Life to burn. Additionally, Sanctuary had weak continuous healing ability, which could help oneself or Teammates recover health.
It could be said that Sanctuary was a Holy Seal with extremely outstanding comprehensive performance, without any faction bias, not belonging to any of the Eight Holy Kings.
Bearing this Seal, the Cultivator became a humanoid mobile Holy Place. Bringing ‘Defense, Sanctuary, Blessing, healing’ to oneself and those nearby, even with a bonus ‘personal Space’, and weak Spirit Infectiousness (Brainwashing).
The only flaw was probably its extreme Life consumption. After all, the Defense intensity of Holy Place was tied to the Life-burning Holy Light. To truly reach Space-level, the corresponding Price must be paid.
“Very nice!”
After reading, Yuan Zhu had to admit that this Sanctuary had real substance. It seemed biased toward Passive Defense, but wrapping a fist with Sanctuary was no different from a pair of pseudo Space Attribute gloves?
Moreover, after donning the Sanctuary Holy Light, it achieved Invulnerable to All Magic, effectively isolating Polluting Energy outside—this effect was something he valued greatly, allowing self-preservation.
Especially after compressing Holy Light into a thin wall to form a sealed structure, it could both sanctuary and lock oneself or Seal and imprison others—this was not only a Defense technique but also a control technique!
Not to mention All-round Amplification, continuous weak healing… it could only be described as ‘tough and durable’.
Little Spicy Stick: “How about it? My eye for this is great, right! It’s one of the rare all-purpose Holy Seals, greatly improving survival rate and fault tolerance. Friendly to Teammates, responsible to oneself. If wrapping Frostmourne, it can similarly grant it attack Reinforcement and Space crits!”
Yuan Zhu nodded in agreement; he also loved this Holy Seal very much: “It’s this one!”
Sanctuary was the highest-scale Holy Seal he could currently access. 7-scale was enough to show its value; it was a Soul Slice from a 7th-tier Domain-level powerhouse, with weak Space Attribute, and the Seal Refinement effects were also abilities he craved. He couldn’t ask for more.
After exchanging gold for points, Yuan Zhu decisively purchased the Holy Seal and completed the reinforcement.
The token containing space metal and special coordinates was recovered by the Space of Gods, and a large amount of points on the account began to shrink, eventually returning to zero.
Finally, a burning stinging sensation came from his chest. Pulling open his collar to look, a square seal appeared at the Tanzhong position on his chest, with a rune structure inside symbolizing a spherical cube.
After the Sanctuary brand was completed, his soul also underwent subtle changes. It seemed to become sharper, perceiving the unusualness of the Happy Home.
“What’s going on?”
The Game Sprite compared Yuan Zhu’s data changes and guessed, “Could it be space perception? The maximum base attribute of this Holy Seal is actually space. By obtaining the Holy Seal, you have acquired traits in this aspect and will become more sensitive.”
“Sanctuary!”
Yuan Zhu raised one hand, burning vitality to release holy light. After passing through the illusory Holy Seal for conversion, the loose mass of holy light in his palm gradually emitted the sound of glass cracking. Small holy light crystals wrapped around his palm, forming a force field glove—these were holy light force field crystals with pseudo space attribute.
Crack, crack, crack, crack…
His five fingers clenched tightly, and these small crystals like shards of broken glass quickly merged, condensing in his palm into a glass marble-sized closed sphere with edges connected and overlapping.
When he dispersed the holy light, this shattered glass ball compressed by the Sanctuary stubbornly existed for more than 40 seconds before shattering and dissipating bit by bit.
Not having played enough, Yuan Zhu increased the output to the Sanctuary again. Blazing white holy light erupted in his palm. At the same time, he used his will to interfere with the holy light, writing in his true thoughts and desire.
The next moment, the holy light in front of him formed an octagon, spreading out in circles, unfolding into a planar force field shield blocking in front of him. Each circle was a holy light barrier with alternating light and dark, flickering uncertainly.
This time, its holy light truly followed the original will and idea, combining with the Sanctuary to cosplay the AT force field effect. As expected of holy light, directly evolving me into an apostle.
“Number 3, attack me!”
Yuan Zhu maintained holy light output. The Holy Light Force Field in front of him spread flashy ripples, forming beautiful circular octagonal white-hot barriers, exuding a domineering and cool strongman style.
Number 3, who had been curiously observing him, nodded obediently upon hearing this. Then, with nimble and swift quick steps sprint, she instantly dashed in front of him, her iron fist blasting out like lightning, accompanied by the ‘crack crack’ sound of glass breaking.
The pseudo space force field was instantly broken layer by layer. The fist broke through the holy light force field and smashed straight into Yuan Zhu’s chest. Crack! With a sound, his chest cavity collapsed, punched with a deep fist mark. He continuously retreated several steps before gritting his teeth to stop.
Number 3 looked at her fist in panic and disbelief. Was Young Master Yuan this weak? His holy light skill clearly looked so domineering and flashy!
“Cough cough…”
Coughing out two mouthfuls of reverse blood stuck in his throat, he immediately felt much better. Then, enduring the intense pain and no longer sparing his life, he gritted his teeth and turned the Holy Mark’s firepower to maximum. This time, dazzling light burst from his wrists, enveloping his entire body like a white-hot Super Saiyan transformation.
This time, he poured all the holy light into the Sanctuary again, no longer sanctuary power but blessing healing. Warm heat flowed from his chest, drilling into the wound.
The collapsed chest bones crackled, quickly splicing, bulging, and restoring. Torn muscles were repaired, damaged organs healed rapidly… The feeling of difficulty breathing dissipated, and his heartbeat became strong again.
At the same time, Yuan Zhu had another layer of wondrous sensation—specks of dust-like texture drilled into the Holy Marks on his wrists, then appeared in the empty illusory Holy Seal, flashing and floating.
This is… ash? Did I burn myself into ash?
In this wondrous self-examination, the holy light shattered by Number 3’s punch condensed slightly again, becoming stronger. Repeatedly defeated but persisting, Yuan Zhu still had this mental resilience. Powerful fighting spirit and persistence were written into the holy light together, prompting its evolution.
“Young Master Yuan, are you okay?” Number 3 stepped forward, anxiously reaching out to support him.
Yuan Zhu stubbornly waved his hand, refusing the kindness: “No harm, I just wanted to test the self-healing effect of the newly purchased Holy Seal. This is a merciful Holy Seal with divine healing ability.”
Crack crack crack… The holy light’s color slightly dimmed, subtly becoming tougher.
“Oh! I see, your holy light treatment effect is really strong.” Number 3 was fooled, looking at his restored chest again with full admiration. Young Master Yuan’s holy light was indeed as dominant and powerful as it looked!
Yuan Zhu called in his mind: “Little Spicy Stick, how’s my body condition?”
“You’re probably a bit weak. You consumed nearly 5% of your vitality to quickly heal the wound. This was also thanks to the Sanctuary’s healing effect—pure holy light couldn’t do this.”
Yuan Zhu: “So I have good taste.” He patted the nonexistent dust on his chest, nodded to Number 3, then carried his last golden thigh back to the bedroom.
“Hiss… it hurts so much! Number 3’s fist is so heavy, I felt like I was smashed head-on by a hydraulic press.”
Game Sprite: “Her fist is indeed terrifying. The power that erupted in that instant should have punched through and exploded your human chest! This Sanctuary is quite strong. At the moment she broke the defense, it dispersed and transferred the massive damage from the fist through space.”
Yuan Zhu only noticed: “Exploded?!” Then he broke out in cold sweat, secretly thinking he could never use Number 3 for testing again!
Little Spicy Stick: “Boss, you had just gained power and were too excited, clouding your judgment. Next time, just find a target, apply Holy Light Sanctuary on it, and let Number 3 punch to test.”
Yuan Zhu: “But personal experience helps with holy light tempering and will condensation.” This punch not only improved the holy light but also collected ash, bringing new insights.
“Return!”
He now wanted to go home to recuperate and try if he could switch the Tiger Demon card to bug, recovering the vitality consumed in healing the wound.
