Day after day passed.
After Lu Jun mastered the stone carving technique, he quickly became deeply absorbed in it. He had observed the gigantic Summoning Gate stone statue countless times. Almost with his eyes closed, he could outline in his spiritual world a solemn and sacred moon-white gate.
He was immersed in carving—one could call it an addiction—yet he was unaware that an astonishing phenomenon had appeared behind him.
In the dim light of the Stone Forest, at the empty circle's center, a young man knelt on one knee before the stone carving, carving with meticulous care. Dust covered his body, fine particles clung to his face, and fragments of rock littered the ground.
As the stone-carved gate gradually took shape, the youth's back was bathed in starlight. One by one, stars emerged, chasing and playing with each other, gradually aligning into tracks. The tracks linked into star maps, and the shining star maps propped up a towering moon-white constellation.
On the tenth day, when Lu Jun struck the final blow, the statue shook with a rustle, scattering stone dust. A refined, smooth stone gate emerged.
Immediately afterward, his spirit trembled, and in an instant, he comprehended the high-level Summoning magic—Beast Tide Summoning. With a thought, 343 stars gathered, weaving together a towering white jade celestial gate, majestic and overflowing with rosy light.
This gate was unique; its pure white, fine surface was covered with black tadpole-like script. It exuded a demonic majesty, and a faint fragrance of ink seemed to pervade it.
Seeing this, Lu Jun came back to his senses in disbelief—he had mastered high-level magic in just ten days. The Spirit Carving Technique was truly terrifying.
With a single thought, his soul ascended, passing through the gate. A vast and boundless world unfolded before his eyes—mountains, rivers, and roaring herds of beasts.
Lu Jun first set his sights on a herd of white jade giant elephants. Their tonnage was unmatched, and their combat power looked extraordinary. Yet when his vast spiritual power descended, he discovered the difficulty of moving the massive bodies of the white jade giants.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each giant elephant seemed to crash into an invisible wall, their steps stumbling, almost toppling over.
In that instant, Lu Jun's spiritual body quaked. His teeth clenched, his eyes shone with intense pure silver light, transforming into giant soul hands, attempting to seize the herd of white jade elephants.
But the massive elephant demons, sensing the strange force, began to struggle and resist, locking horns with his spiritual power.
Buzz… buzz… buzz!
He was already exerting every ounce of strength, his fifth-stage spiritual power fully unleashed, yet still unable to fit over a hundred white jade elephant demons into the Beast Tide Gate for summoning.
Thus, Lu Jun had no choice but to abandon part of the herd, wrapping up the remaining few dozen white jade elephants. At the end of a gravel plain, he erected a towering moon-white gate and threw them all inside.
In reality, Lu Jun opened his eyes. At the center of the black-inscribed white jade gate behind him, a moon-white vortex spun. One after another, white jade elephant demons, each ten meters tall, charged out. A rough count showed barely forty—just meeting the high-level first-level standard.
It should be noted that this was the bare minimum for a baseline summoning mage. With his fifth-stage spiritual power and the advantages the Summoning element enjoyed, he should not be on par with an ordinary summoner; a hundred Warrior–level beasts would have been normal.
Strictly speaking, this was a failed Beast Tide Summoning.
Roar! Roar! Roar! Boom…
The moment the white jade elephants appeared, they rampaged, trampling the earth into clouds of dust, like destructive demon kings bent on annihilation.
Lu Jun's expression shifted slightly—this was the sacred land of the Incan Empire's Summoning element. If any damage occurred, he was finished.
Just as he was about to hurriedly rein in the reckless white jade elephants—
Suddenly, the forty-some giant elephants halted. Their massive bodies trembled, then they actually knelt, bowing toward the endless monster carvings of the Stone Forest and the grand stone gate before them.
Seeing this, Lu Jun understood—the white jade giant elephants had also been intimidated by the lifelike Stone Forest.
But trouble followed. No matter how he urged them with his spiritual will, the white jade elephants refused to obey, merely standing there, trembling reverently.
"Damn it, these useless summoned beasts."
Lu Jun was furious. If this were a real battlefield, wouldn't he be done for? A single monarch-level opponent and his high-level Beast Tide Summoning would be reduced to scrap!
Even with his strong mind, he still felt some shame—his summoning was a bit low, entirely lacking the unstoppable might of other summoners.
Of course, this wasn't an exception. In the future, Mo Fan's Beast Tide Summoning would also experience many setbacks.
What he didn't realize was that Elder Byer, watching from the side, was both shocked and delighted, praising him repeatedly.
He had underestimated "Lu Jun's" potential. To possess such a powerful body and fifth-stage spiritual power, and to complete the entry stage of the Spirit Carving Technique so quickly, breaking historical records—
Not to mention that his first summoning was of white jade giant elephants, a species with remarkable combat power among the small Warrior–level groups, far stronger than ordinary blood-marked apes and much tougher than typical earth-element monsters.
A moment later, Lu Jun sensed that the star-river magic energy of his Summoning Element was dropping extremely fast, so he waved his hand to dismiss the White Jade Giant Elephants. With a flicker of moon-white radiance, the herd's figures faded, their phantoms dissipating, and they returned to the Summoning Plane.
The endurance of the Summoning Element was still quite a problem. This drawback could be considered a balance to the magic system—otherwise, it would be too overpowered.
Lu Jun also reflected on it, but thankfully, the harvest was not small. In just ten days, he had already become proficient in using Advanced Magic—Beast Tide Summoning—and could cast it instantly within two seconds. This was something unimaginable in the past. Truly worthy of the Summoning cultivation holy land of the Incan Civilization.
Seeing him with his head lowered in thought, Bayer assumed he was regretting his performance, so he walked over to encourage him: "Don't be upset. You've only just entered the basics of the Spirit Carving Method. If you want to perfectly command beast groups and summon them at will—do you see this forest of demon sculptures?"
Hearing this, Lu Jun swept his gaze around, seeming to guess something, his expression full of shock.
"That's right." Seeing his reaction, Bayer said proudly, "Just like copying the Stone Gate, as long as you put your heart into engraving these sculptures, you'll be able to master the technique of Psychic Summoning."
"From then on, you won't need to wrestle with your summoned beasts. With just a thought, you can summon instantly, perfectly attuned in mind and heart, as if they were an extension of your own body."
Lu Jun's whole body trembled with excitement. These stone sculptures covered an endless variety of demon species—land, sea, and air were all included. Even poisonous insects and microorganisms were represented, along with sub-dragons and pseudo-dragons. This was invincible!
One had to know, most summoners with a teacher's inheritance would at most specialize in a single beast group. For example, Mo Fan's Beast Tide Summoning was fixed to his Old Wolf clan, and only under the leadership of the dimensional beast leader could it barely reach the level of precise control.
If switched to a different beast group, it would at best serve as a temporary measure.
With Lu Jun's Spirit Carving Method, once cultivated to a certain level, adapting to all environments would only be a matter of time.
The greater meaning of the Spirit Carving Method was in saving time. Was carving a statue really that hard? For a skilled mage, it would take at most a dozen days.
For an ordinary Advanced Summoner who truly wanted to refine a beast group to perfection, it would take decades of daily hard work—from selecting beast types, to spending day and night together building rapport, and so on…
Bayer, feeling that wasn't enough, added a heavy dose, speaking meaningfully: "And this is only the second stage of the Spirit Carving Method. Once you're proficient in its techniques, you won't be limited to stone carvings. Painting, tattoos—any form will do."
"In fact, whenever you encounter a demon, as long as you've recorded it fully in memory, you can perfectly reproduce it and summon its entire group."
At those words, Lu Jun suddenly realized—those Nazca Lines must have been created using this technique, storing infinite summoning replications in a sealed form, preserved for hundreds of years without fading.
Then he hesitated slightly: "Teacher, my Advanced Magic of the Summoning Element already has another method. Can I still continue cultivating the Spirit Carving Method?"
Bayer chuckled: "Haha, I noticed that long ago. Of course you can. The Spirit Carving Method isn't exclusive to the Beast Tide Summoning—it's the fusion of the Psychic Element and Summoning Element. When you reach the Super Tier and master Gate of Magic Summoning, you can still use it."
Lu Jun took a deep breath and looked at the stone forest around him, filled with motivation.
Then Bayer spoke again, his tone mysterious: "Oh right—after research into the Eye of Space-Time, the Spirit Carving Method has developed its ultimate sublimation. Have you decided on your Life Contract yet? If not, I can give you a surprise when the time comes."
Upon hearing this, Lu Jun remembered the mermaid mother and daughter, and quickly turned his awareness inward to the contract space within his body.
He wondered if the Eye of Space-Time had had any effect on them.
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
Patreon. Com/ALLISWELL123