Chapter 0238: Senior Runes Master

Chapter 0238: Senior Runes Master

Carving runes was a breeze for Qin Yun. Especially when carving ordinary runes, the process was even smoother.

Zhuochuan watched from the side, feeling a mix of admiration and unease. He thought it wouldn’t take long for Qin Yun to surpass him in the art of runes.

"You’re a real prodigy, kid. You completed the refinement of a top-grade spirit weapon so quickly. Many senior Runes Masters would need at least a few days, or even over a week, to finish. And for more intricate work, it would take even longer," Zhuochuan said with a sigh.

As soon as Qin Yun held the carving knife, he began to carve the runes smoothly and naturally, drawing on the hard blade as if he were drawing on paper with a pen. It looked extremely effortless.

This was due to the Ming Yang Flame within his Blood Soul Power. Because of this, he could easily carve runes onto the blade without needing to use the tip of the carving knife.

This was also why he could use a mid-grade carving knife to engrave on top-grade Bone Steel.

Zhuochuan was quite surprised by this, though he didn’t say anything. He knew that Qin Yun’s Blood Soul Power was terrifying; otherwise, it would be impossible to carve top-grade Bone Steel with a mid-grade carving knife.

"Qin Yun, you'd better switch to a better carving knife, so others won't have so many suspicions," Zhuochuan advised seriously.

Qin Yun nodded, trusting Zhuochuan enough not to worry about revealing the unique nature of his Blood Soul Power. "Yes, I’ll take some time to refine one for myself."

"Refining a carving knife requires a detailed blueprint. Do you have one?" Zhuochuan asked.

"I don't have one yet," Qin Yun replied. He had learned about the process of refining carving knives and knew that it required strict adherence to the blueprint to refine a good one.

Zhuochuan said, "I have a blueprint for a top-grade carving knife. Do you want it?"

"I don’t need it for now. When I do, I’ll come find you," Qin Yun smiled.

A few hours later, Qin Yun had finished carving the runes. A top-grade spirit weapon, a long blade, was completed within just a few hours.

Zhuochuan took it and examined it, exclaiming in surprise, "The quality is really good. It’s not easy to refine something of this quality in such a short time."

Qin Yun smiled. "So, how many crystal coins can this blade be sold for?"

"Probably around 20 to 30 million crystal coins. It’s excellent in all aspects, but because it uses ordinary runes and doesn’t have any other outstanding features, that’s the price it fetches. Other lower-quality top-grade spirit weapons would only go for around 10 million crystal coins," Zhuochuan explained.

Qin Yun successfully passed the second round of the assessment, and the final task was to create a top-grade spirit formation. This was also easy for him.

He created an Air-Gathering Formation using the hide of a ninth-rank Demon Beast. The circular formation was over two meters wide. The Air-Gathering Formation was designed to draw in nearby energy. For example, if there was a dense concentration of spiritual energy or other energy emissions nearby, the formation could draw it in.

Lower- and mid-grade Air-Gathering Formations existed, but they paled in comparison to the top-grade version.

The top-grade Air-Gathering Formation was quite commonly used, and its greatest strength was its ability to draw in spiritual energy and condense tiny spirit pearls at the center of the formation.

Zhuochuan immediately recognized that Qin Yun was making an Air-Gathering Formation and nodded inwardly. During the assessment, creating such a commonly used formation made it easier to evaluate the quality.

Since Qin Yun could create complex formations like the Nine Sun Spirit Gathering Formation, making the relatively simpler Air-Gathering Formation only took him a few hours.

"Good, you've passed everything. You are now a senior Runes Master!" Zhuochuan exclaimed in awe. Although he had personally witnessed the birth of a 16-year-old senior Runes Master, he still found it hard to believe it was real.

Zhuochuan made a senior Runes Master badge for Qin Yun and smiled. "Even in Wuhuang, finding a senior Runes Master as young as you would be rare. Your talent in the application of runes is truly astonishing."

The deeper one's understanding of runes, the more perfectly and naturally one could carve them, allowing multiple complex sets of runes to integrate without interference. This was the importance of talent.

Many Runes Masters couldn’t advance further because they couldn’t handle the compatibility of multiple sets of runes, leading to significant interference. The runes couldn’t absorb energy or be activated to display their unique abilities, resulting in failure.

Qin Yun accepted the golden badge with a smile on his face. "I’m a senior Runes Master now. I really didn’t expect this!"

Zhuochuan laughed heartily and asked, "Qin Yun, would you sell the blade and the spirit formation you made to me? I’ll buy them for 50 million."

"I'll give it to you, no crystal coins needed!" Qin Yun felt that Elder Zhuochuan was a good person and would likely be able to help him a lot in the future.

Zhuochuan said, "You spent all your crystal coins buying the Solid Essence Spirit Pill, didn't you...? No need to be polite. Take out your crystal coin card."

Qin Yun thought about it and realized he didn't have a single crystal coin left on his card, and he still owed Lan Fengjin three hundred million.

"Then I won't be polite!" Qin Yun took out his crystal coin card, handed it to Zhuochuan, and asked, "Elder, what do you need my crafted items for?"

Zhuochuan smiled, "For keepsakes. Maybe in the future, when you become a remarkable Runes Master, the knife and spirit array I bought from you will greatly increase in value."

Qin Yun took back his crystal coin card, stuck out his tongue, and laughed, "Who knows when that will happen! Elder, I'm heading back now. I'm a student of the Heavenly Prodigy Academy, and it's not appropriate for me to wander around with my mentor."

"Then I won't see you off. Be careful on the road!" Zhuochuan nodded and smiled.

When Qin Yun returned to his suite, he saw Lan Fengjin deeply engrossed in practicing the runes of the Nine Sun Spirit Gathering Formation.

"Mentor, guess what this is?" Qin Yun took out a golden round badge and grinned.

"Impressive! It's rare to see someone so young become a senior Runes Master, even in the Wuhuang region," Lan Fengjin sighed.

Qin Yun felt that Lan Fengjin's identity was quite extraordinary. With such high talent, she was definitely not an ordinary person.

"Let's head back!" Qin Yun was very satisfied with his trip to the Runes Hall and had gained a lot.

"Wait for me to finish engraving this set of runes before we leave." Lan Fengjin said.

Qin Yun walked over, watched her engraving the runes, and smiled, "Mentor, your technique is great. Your understanding of runes is quite deep to have mastered them so well and so quickly."

"Are you making fun of me?" Lan Fengjin snorted lightly. She knew her talent in runes was far inferior to Qin Yun's.

Previously, when Qin Yun helped her refine that strange talisman, he quickly mastered those runes.

"No way, I'm praising you!" Qin Yun grinned.

Lan Fengjin gave him a sideways glance and continued to engrave the runes seriously. For now, she was only engraving runes on beast skins and hadn't started making actual spirit formations yet.

After more than an hour, Lan Fengjin finally finished, and she and Qin Yun left Runes Spirit Mountain to return to the Star Profound Martial Academy.

……

After a couple of days of travel, Qin Yun and Lan Fengjin returned to the Heavenly Prodigy Academy at the Star Profound Martial Academy.

As soon as they returned, they saw Xue Ziye sitting in the hall, her face pale.

When Xue Ziye saw Qin Yun and Lan Fengjin return, she quickly stood up but looked unsteady, clearly severely injured.

Both Qin Yun and Lan Fengjin were secretly shocked. Xue Ziye's Martial Soul was mysterious and unique, capable of rapidly healing injuries. Even if she suffered serious injuries, she would recover with rest.

"Ziye, what happened? Where are Huo Zhong and Mo Rong?" Lan Fengjin hurried over and supported Xue Ziye.

"Mentor, we... we encountered a very strong opponent in the dueling arena. They used a secret technique that gravely injured our Martial Souls, severing the connection between our Martial Souls and our bodies." Xue Ziye's eyes were red-rimmed, her face twisted with pain and fear. "Huo Zhong and Mo Rong were badly hurt and taken to other places for treatment."

A Martial Soul was crucial to any warrior. Losing it was akin to being ruined. Xue Ziye was a strong woman, and for her to be so desperate meant something terrible had happened.

Lan Fengjin carefully examined Xue Ziye's Martial Soul, her expression growing increasingly serious. "The Soul-Severing Palm, a low-tier earth-level martial skill! Only those with high status in the South Palace can learn this skill. There shouldn't be anyone with this skill in the Heavenly Prodigy Academy! As far as I know, there's no one like that in the academy!"

"That person isn't from the Heavenly Prodigy Academy, and I'm not sure if he's from the Blue Spirit Star Palace! He looked very young, named Zhou Zhonghui." Xue Ziye bit her lip and asked, "Mentor, can my Martial Soul recover?"

Lan Fengjin motioned for her to sit, then began pacing the hall, her brow furrowed in deep thought.

"Zhou Zhonghui is indeed from Blue Spirit Star Palace and was once a highly talented disciple in the South Palace. However, when he was twelve, he was imprisoned for killing more than ten outer disciples! I didn’t expect him to be released so soon. He was only imprisoned for six years! He was originally sentenced to sixty years."

She walked over to Xue Ziye, sighed deeply, and said, "I’ll do my best to help heal your Martial Soul. Don’t worry too much for now… But it will take time. It might be a few years before that elder emerges from seclusion."

"If my Martial Soul can be restored, waiting a few years isn’t an issue!" Xue Ziye nodded, feeling much more relieved.

"Ziye, can I check your Martial Soul?" Qin Yun said. "I’ve had issues with my Martial Soul before, so I want to see where your problem lies now."

Xue Ziye immediately nodded.

With her consent, Qin Yun placed his hand on Ziye’s lower abdomen, gently pressing and releasing his mental energy to probe her Inner Element.

Closing his eyes, Qin Yun focused his mental energy and quickly observed the state of Ziye’s Inner Element.

The Inner Element glowed with intense purple light, but it was chaotic and formless.

Normally, a Martial Soul would be condensed into a cohesive form.

When Qin Yun saw Ziye’s Inner Element, he was greatly shocked. Her Inner Element was purple-gold, and the disordered Martial Soul inside was also purple-gold. This indicated that Xue Ziye’s Martial Soul was a Purple-Gold Martial Soul!