Ch 26 - Runes
The man skillfully placed a few special looking stones at the corners of a white chalked diagram on the floor, and chanted something. He looked bored as if he had done this thousands of times, but his skill was still obvious.
Then, he begun the process of inscribing some runes on each of the stones surrounding the array. This process didn't take long at all, and before long, the last stone was placed. Then, using his array art, he chanted, "Array Activation!"
The stones floated in the air for a few seconds as they gave out a peculiar blue light, and the runes danced around the formation, forming links with each other like chains forming bonds. Finally, everything calmed down, and there was an array on the ground, gathering some qi into the surroundings.
"This is just one of many ways to inscribe an array, beginner. This particular method is called the materialization method. You will learn more methods as time goes on, but for now, this is the most accessible and replicable one.", the man spoke as if he knew that Xu Ming was watching, but he didn't look directly at him.
"Now, I will teach you the art of inscribing basic runes on the array lodestones. Watch these patterns carefully, and pay attention.", the man spoke as he gently lifted his hand and started inscribing strange patterns on the stone.
"Firstly, what are runes? They are information based rule manipulators that affect a certain area based on its nature. There are runes that speed up growth, runes that slow creatures down, runes that buffs your power, and so on. Since they are based on rules, they are quite powerful."
"These runes are made up of components called rune patterns that act like parts of a machine that tell it what to do. For example, a basic tier one slow array is made of 11 runes - scan, effect, connect, hold, command, gravity, area, energy, body, weight, and stop."
"There are about 272 distinct level 1 rune patterns that can make up a complete tier one rune. The combination of these rune patterns in a set pattern makes a rune work, and the combination of these runes makes an array work. Think of it in this manner; It tells the runes to manipulate the area in a certain manner."
"Therefore, when we activate an array, we actually activate the individual runes in the array all at once, and the effect of all of these runes makes up an array. In the records of the Mount Silos Sect, we have 5170 tier one arrays, out of which 56 are rated impossible and 5 are forbidden. The hardest tier one array, Anomaly, is made of 1337 runes. Don't worry about these ratings for now, since we won't dive into these."
"Now, let me reach you some basic rune patterns."
Xu Ming grew more and more engrossed in the information until he lost himself in the knowledge. While this was happening, however, the outside world was not calm.
------
Three days prior.
In a small ravine, an old man could be seen lazily lounging in his shorts, wearing no upper body garments, fishing for something.
Next to him, there were three demons prostrating themselves, and one man sitting with his fists cupped.
The only sound that was heard was the sound of the water from the place up above splashing over the lake, and the occasional sounds of the fish swimming in the lake.
The silence was deafening, but nobody dared disturb it.
One of the demons with two prominent horns had his head fully burrowed in reverence, and thought to himself.
I heard that the enemies of this elder had been transformed into fishes and placed in this lake, ready to be fished up and eaten by him, at any moment, for his own leisure.
Brrr...I better not show any disrespect. He's much scarier than my own demon elders back at the sect.
Suddenly, the old man chuckled.
"Where did you hear that rumour, little one? I don't have that much boredom and hatred in my life, to do something like that."
The demon almost jumped and looked shocked, hurriedly bowing his head, speaking, "This lowly one did not mean to diminish the esteemed elder! It was all just mere hearsay!"
"Very well. I forgive you. Do something for me, would you?"
The demon hastily spoke, "Hong Lao at your service!"
The old man, without turning back, pointed his finger at the demon and cast a spell on him silently.
Without warning, the figure of the demon turned into a grotesque ball and slowly morphed into a greenish-brown looking fish, and swum into the lake.
The other demons didn't dare to say anything, and just trembled as they bowed.
The man with his fists cupped wasn't worried that he was next, but was still astonished and fearful.
"Bai Xiong, I hear that you and the rest have found traces of the Kingslayer's Tomb?"
"Yes, Elder Zheng. We believe it has found its inheritor, and confirmed it with the Divine Seer. We also planned with Sir Divine Seer to find the location of the inheritor, but we were not successful because of the intervention of the Hidden Protector and a powerful passerby, whom we believe to be the Crown Prince."
"Mmm. Zhou Tianming's good son. I do remember."
The elder seemed to be in thought as he recalled, "I fought with Zhou Tianming three decades ago and it reduced my recovery rate by a tangible percentage. Luckily, I had the Underworld Herb to help me recover, but he didn't have the same privilege. I do think that he will pass away in the next ten years from the deep injuries that I had inflicted on him."
"After all, it was indeed my Annihilation Hand that I used to kill the Kingslayer all those years ago. Although it was only a portion of the power that it had in its peak, it still can't be resisted by just anyone."
"Tell the rest of the sect this - The day that Zhou Tianming passes away, we begin our counterattack. We will take back what belongs to us! You two demons, go back to your demon elders and inform them of the same."
Everyone there bowed and only had one thing left to say.
"Understood, War Emperor."
-----------
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have the list of the final 100 competitors of the grand Allsect Tournaments! Do you want to hear them?"
The crowd went crazy and cheered for the results.
"I'll stop teasing you guys! Starting from the last place, we have #100 - Feng Shu from Da Shiang Province, with 880 points!"
"#99....."
The man went on for a while until he got to the final ten.
"The list that everyone is waiting for! Who's the genius, the top dog of the first phase?"
"Golden list rankings - reveal them!
1. Hu Shang - 3550 Points.
2. Lin Feng - 2990 Points.
3. Fang Xi - 2815 Points.
4. Cao Ge - 2810 Points.
5. Ling Zhiyun - 2710 Points.
6. Ling Shang - 2660 Points.
7. Kong Mi - 2590 Points.
8. Zheng Mu - 2550 Points.
9. Sheng Zhi - 2550 Points.
10. Lang Zhu - 2500 Points. "
The crowd went wild, and was fervently discussing the rankings.
"I didn't know that Hu Shang was that powerful!"
"Yeah, I seriously misjudged him. But talk about it, I wasn't aware that Lin Feng was that strong too."
"It's a big surprise to all of us."
The host smiled and said, "I know there's a few dark horses this time. It was a good fight. But the first part of the competition was only for establishing the prodigies of this year! The second part is the part that truly matters. A 1 on 1 battle among the participants. It'll truly show who the strongest participant is, the greatest prodigy of the Great Yan Empire!"
"Who will it be? The illusive Ling Zhiyun? The noble Fang Xi? The genius Lin Feng? Maybe the mysterious Hu Shang? Let's find out together in the next round, which begins in 3 days! The participants must also be given enough time to recuperate after all, to show their best side! Till then, keep the hype up!"
The transmission stopped there, and people all through the continent were discussing the tournament fervently.
Particularly, in the bar of the Longevity Peak, people were loudly discussing their picks.
"Ah, Senior Sister Xia, long time no see.", Bu Fang greeted.
"Indeed."
"You're back from the Allsect Tournaments, huh? How was the experience?"
"Don't mention it! It's so embarrassing, I only managed to get 50 points and had to hide away in the end. The gap between ordinary people and geniuses is so high.", Senior Sister Xia sighed.
"By the way, where's junior brother Xu Ming? Is he not watching the tournament?"
Bu Fang and the rest shook their heads and said, "That boy just doesn't stop cultivating. He must still be cultivating or practicing alchemy right now. He doesn't even come out for watching the tournament."
"Sigh, if only his talent were better. In the end, hard work can only do so much against talent....."