Chapter 0539: Totem Showdown

Chapter 0539: Totem Duel

Many Runes Masters here know totem patterns, though most are relatively ordinary and primarily used for crafting puppets.

Long Yuetao, being a Runes Master, naturally knows how to carve totem patterns.

But Qin Yun, who isn’t even one, can also carve them?

This stunned everyone.

"Qin Yun, do you actually know how to carve totems?" Long Yuetao still found it hard to believe, suspecting Qin Yun might resort to trickery.

"Scared I’ll cheat?" Qin Yun replied with unwavering confidence. "We already made the bet. Do you think I’d back out? I’m not like some people!"

Long Yuetao took out a piece of beast hide and said, "Let’s carve on this hide. We get four hours."

Carving totems takes forever, and four hours is considered quite fast.

"Deal!" Qin Yun nodded.

Many onlookers, seeing Qin Yun’s confident demeanor, were itching to know more.

They only knew that Qin Yun was at the Ninth Layer Martial Path. Even if he understood the Way of Odd Patterns, he might barely qualify as a Runes Master.

Only by stepping into the Spirit Martial Realm could one become a high-level Runes Master.

Someone like Liu Jingmeng was one in a million.

Even Long Yuetao only became a Runes Master in his fifties.

With his talent, Long Yuetao was among the very best.

The Long and Yang families hated Qin Yun’s guts.

Especially Long Yuetao and his group, who had just been totally humiliated—called cowards and worse. Now, he needed payback.

Qin Yun held the Spirit Rhyme Mystic Brush and smoothly carved the hidden lines of the totem pattern.

Witnessing his smooth strokes, the crowd was astonished.

Qin Yun looked like a seasoned Runes Master, yet his speed was freakishly fast.

What puzzled everyone was how a Ninth Layer guy could pull off such advanced rune techniques.

Seeing Qin Yun effortlessly carve the hidden lines of the totem pattern, Long Yuetao was sweating bullets.

Of course, Long Quan, the Grand Master of the North Hall, bore the greatest pressure. If they lost, the North Hall was toast.

"Although Yuetao entered the Medicine Immortal Valley, their rune game is strong," Long Quan said. "After all, the mystical weapons and Dao Artifacts needed for alchemy in the Medicine Immortal Valley are crafted by them. Even the Immortal Blade Sect wouldn’t dare say they’re better than the Medicine Immortal Valley!"

Many in the crowd murmured in agreement, acknowledging Long Quan’s words.

The Runes Hall was formed through the collaboration of multiple sects, so various factions held influence within it.

The Nine Sun Sect and a few other superpowers called the shots, while other factions managed different regions, locked in power struggles.

Originally, the Nine Sun Sect was the strongest among the Nine Wastelands, but years of backstabbing allowed many other forces to rise.

To maintain their dominance, the Nine Sun Sect allied with numerous sects and families, turning them into puppet factions.

Many clans and factions may appear unrelated to the Nine Sun Sect on the surface, but they are bound by hidden ties.

Of course, there are also sects and noble clans that defy the Nine Sun Sect’s dominance, quietly amassing power to surpass it!

In the Nine Wastelands, while the visible powerful factions are vast, hidden overlords pulling the strings silently rule this world.

For example, the Five Great Clans of Spirit Wasteland have flourished so strongly, undoubtedly due to their ties with the Nine Sun Sect—even if they are not direct subordinates, they maintain close cooperation.

Now, the Nine Sun Sect has shrunk to eight sects, and many newly risen forces aspire to become the ninth, vying fiercely for that seat.

When Long Yuetao etched the totem runes, he was not very skilled, making his progress extremely slow.

Still, he managed to proceed.

Long Yuetao had initially assumed that Qin Yun, only in his twenties and at the Ninth Layer Martial Path, would be mediocre at etching totem runes even if he knew the Way of Odd Patterns.

Surely, he couldn’t compare to Long Yuetao, who had reached the Spirit Martial Realm.

However, after stealing a glance at Qin Yun, Long Yuetao was shocked to see him etching the totem runes with astonishing speed, his blade a blur.

"Qin Yun, are you even serious?" Long Yuetao snarled. "Are you just mocking us? What if you cheat and refuse to hand over the Dao Artifact?"

Since Qin Yun was carving the hidden runes, no one could see what he was working on—only the rapid movements of his engraving.

In contrast, Long Yuetao proceeded with meticulous care, his carving knife moving slowly as he focused intently—the very image of how totem runes should be carved.

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"Shut the hell up!" Qin Yun snapped coldly. "You spineless worms wouldn’t even wager your lives—why waste time with all this nonsense?"

Long Quan huffed in rage. "You clearly have the help of the West, East, and South Halls! Even if our North Hall wins, you might still cheat, leaving us powerless!"

"What, are you backing out now?" Tian Ruoleng asked sharply.

"How could we possibly back out?" Long Quan roared furiously. "You’re spitting on our honor!"

"It’s not disrespect—it’s just that you lot are all the same!" Yue Wulan shot back with an icy scoff.

Midway through etching the totem runes, Qin Yun yanked out a massive Dao Artifact saber and slammed it down before Long Quan. "Here’s collateral. Satisfied now?"

The onlookers sucked in breaths, their eyes widening at the Dao Patterns on the saber.

Even Long Quan was stunned that Qin Yun would casually throw over a Dao Artifact.

Of course, Long Quan didn’t dare to take it.

Everyone knew that Manor Lord Chu Binyu’s gentle face hid a wolf’s fangs.

The competition was set for four hours.

After one hour, Qin Yun finally finished the hidden runes and began carving the visible ones.

As the visible runes emerged, the Runes Masters in the crowd whispered in reverence.

"It looks like a genuine totem rune!"

"A golden simian’s silhouette is gradually taking shape through the runes."

"How is Qin Yun etching runes at this speed?!" Chu Binyu was no Runes Master—he was just a dabbler.

Despite his age, he was still just a Runes Master. But he could tell Qin Yun’s skills were far from lacking.

Mu Fengxiao had long suspected Qin Yun was no ordinary guy, but he realized he’d still underestimated him.

Jian Lang suddenly recalled how Qin Yun had once critiqued the Flying Tiger artifact. He shot a quick glance at Manor Lord Chu Binyu, cursing under his breath.

He was dead sure this harmless-looking Manor Lord had played him!

"Grandpa, he’s insane! That totem rune’s no joke, but he carved it crazy fast!"

Liu Jingmeng stood behind the bald guy, staring in awe, her adorable little face filled with astonishment as she whispered.

The bald guy actually liked Qin Yun. If Qin Yun hadn’t stepped in earlier, the Long father-son duo from the North Hall would’ve hounded them forever.

Two hours flew by—only half the time left!

Yet, Qin Yun had already finished.

With the Spirit Rhinoceros Brush—imbued with the Beast King Rune Soul—he carved beast totems and runes like it was nothing.

Qin Yun held back—going any faster would’ve looked suspicious.

"Done and dusted!" Qin Yun grinned at Long Yuetao. "No rush, Medicine Immortal Valley’s prodigy. Take your sweet time!"

Long Yuetao’s morale tanked. He was indeed talented, with an exceptional grasp of runes, yet now he had been outshone.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. Precision’s what counts—no way yours is any good at that speed!” Long Quan sneered.

Sitting there, Qin Yun observed the totem rune Long Yuetao was carving and remarked, "Nice work—wait, a *pig* totem?"

The crowd of Runes Masters burst out laughing.

"How long’ve you been working on this? What’s it even *do*? Enlighten us!" Qin Yun asked mockingly.

Everyone was curious about Long Yuetao's totem rune, only to discover it was a pig totem!

"Qin Yun, stop distracting Yuetao!" Long Quan roared in anger.

Qin Yun just smirked and shut up.

Sweat pouring down his face, Long Yuetao kept at it. The pig totem was basically useless—just practice fodder.

For a rookie Runes Master, even junk totems helped sharpen the basics. Later, tackling harder totems would be a breeze.

Meanwhile, Qin Yun’s Golden Ape Totem was the real deal. Top-tier beast totems packed a serious punch.

After four grueling hours, Long Yuetao was finally done!

Gotta admit, his pig totem wasn’t half bad.

Now for the real test: precision!

"Qin Yun, sixth-grade precision!" Chu Binyu called the results.

Next, the bald guy ran his own test—same result: sixth-grade.

Of course, Long Quan had to check for himself!

"Just level six precision?" the crowd murmured. "Liu Jingmeng and those senior Rune Masters before all achieved level eight precision!"

"Exactly! Qin Yun used his own carving knife and only managed level six precision—pretty weak!"

"With skills like this, how does he dare to show off like that?"

"Our North Hall's gonna score a few Ancient Dao Artifacts for sure! Long Yuetao's got this in the bag!"

The people from the North Hall cheered.

The crowd also felt Qin Yun's precision was too low.

Outsiders naturally didn’t understand what level six precision in totem runes signified.

But the senior Rune Masters knew—it was damn impressive.

"Long Yuetao's totem rune—level four precision!" Chu Binyu called out happily.

Earlier, Chu Binyu had worried Long Yuetao’s precision might be high, but it turned out to be much lower than Qin Yun's.

Qin Yun chuckled as he picked up the Dao Artifact greatsword, saying, "I won. Your North Hall needs to honor the agreement now!"

"This can't be right! How could your totem rune reach level six, and so quickly?" Long Yuetao shot back.

After inspecting Qin Yun's totem rune, Long Quan's face fell.

"There’s no issue at all! The Spirit Wasteland's huge, with countless people—what's the big deal about a few geniuses emerging?"

"Aren't you yourself a freak talent? Are you the only one allowed to have talent, while others can’t?"

The old bald guy cracked up, as according to the bet, their West Hall could now establish a branch in the North Hall.

Thus, the West Hall, led by the old bald guy, came out on top—able to open branches in both the South and North Halls!

Long Quan collected himself with a deep breath and said, "Qin Yun, you up for another round? I'll take you on myself!"

Long Quan, the Grand Master of the North Hall, was stepping up himself!