Chapter 0767: Moon Leading the Star Wind

Chapter 0767: Moon-Pulled Star Wind

Upon learning they could carve runes, the Runes Masters brightened with excitement.

"How long do we get to carve the runes?" asked a middle-aged Mystic Rune Master.

"I’ll unleash a wave of Star Beasts shortly. After you finish killing them, I’ll send another wave an hour later. During that hour, you can either rest or use the time to carve runes," said Jian Shitian.

The joy on the Runes Masters' faces instantly faded—the window was too tight for proper rune engraving.

Qin Yun and Jian Linglong exchanged a telepathic glance.

"Let’s handle the second wave first, then carve runes," suggested Jian Linglong.

"Agreed!" Qin Yun shared the same thought.

He still hadn’t settled on what runes to carve and wanted to assess the situation first.

Jian Shitian rose into the air, as did the other Runes Masters. They would maneuver their Crystal Artifacts from above using mental energy to slay the Star Beasts.

"I'm about to release the Star Beasts!" Jian Shitian announced, hurling a tower that rapidly expanded.

Suddenly, a torrent of Star Beasts spilled out from the base of the tower, dark as a waterfall.

The Star Beasts were wolf-shaped, as large as bulls—smaller than most Star Beasts.

Soon, the arena below was filled with a pack of Black Wolf Star Beasts.

Some Runes Masters immediately began controlling their Crystal Artifacts to attack the Black Wolves.

Qin Yun employed the Divine Control Technique to manipulate his Crystal Artifact—a long blade.

Under his command, the blade swiftly cut down the Black Wolves.

Most of the Runes Masters were either Martial Kings or Emperor Wu, but their mental energy control over the Crystal Artifacts wasn't significantly stronger than Qin Yun's—at best, their only edge was greater stamina.

In terms of mental energy intensity, they were roughly on par with him.

The Black Wolves were tough to put down.

Due to the Crystal Artifacts' limited strength, the blades often failed to pierce the Black Wolves' hides, needing repeated blows to succeed.

After breaking through the hide, the Crystal Artifact had to drive into the wolf’s flesh and channel a burst of mental energy through the weapon to brand the killer's name onto the Star Beast's core.

The ritual was grueling; if not done correctly, the core wouldn't bear a name, rendering it invalid.

Qin Yun strained under the effort, but he was determined to fight tooth and nail to win.

Ten thousand cores were at stake!

Obtaining them would greatly benefit him.

Jian Linglong's mental energy was formidable—she killed just as many Black Wolf Star Beasts as the veteran Mystic Rune Masters.

Qin Yun, however, lagged slightly behind. After all, he hadn't even reached the Mystic Martial Realm yet. He couldn't help but ache to break through.

If he successfully refines the Dao Mystic Pill, his mental energy would get a major boost.

Finally, after about half an hour, two thousand Star Beasts were slain.

Jian Shitian had his men collect the cores and tally them.

The other Runes Masters wasted no time resting!

Hardly anyone was carving runes!

Only Qin Yun and Jian Linglong were engraving runes.

Those Mystic Rune Masters didn't bother with rune carving.

Time was too tight, and they had already expended a great deal of mental energy during the earlier hunt of the Black Wolf Star Beasts.

If they were to carve runes onto their Crystal Artifacts now, they would miss their rest window and would further deplete their mental energy.

With only an hour of rest, they couldn't carve anything worthwhile.

An hour was also cutting it close for Qin Yun and Jian Linglong.

Because they too needed to rest.

Qin Yun had already decided what runes to carve—two types. One was a moon rune called Moon-Draw Rune, capable of attracting other objects!

The other was called Star Wind Rune, which could generate an eerie wind capable of dispersing mental energy.

These runes were learned from the Runes Sect.

Qin Yun possessed two runic spirits—Moon Maiden and Star Lord—letting him whip up these two spirit runes in no time.

Jian Linglong, on the other hand, was carving a Dao Rune, that looked formidable too.

The crowd was astonished to see Qin Yun and Jian Linglong doggedly working to carve runes.

Earlier, Jian Linglong had wanted that kid dead, but now they appeared to get along quite well.

At this moment, Jian Shitian started calling out the counts of cores from the first round.

Qin Yun and Jian Linglong’s team had a total of thirty-five cores.

Among them, Qin Yun had ten, while Jian Linglong had twenty-five! The difference between them was stark.

The team with the highest count bagged sixty cores—a duo of Mystic Rune Masters from the Jian family.

Before they knew it, an hour passed!

Jian Shitian started unleashing the Black Wolf Star Beasts!

The second round of hunting commenced!

As it started, the crowd burst into shouts!

Qin Yun and Jian Linglong held back but instead continued carving runes on their Crystal Artifacts.

This was something they had worked out between them—not only would they get their runes just right, but they would also rest properly to recover their mental energy.

So they sat out the second round!

"Sister Linglong, during the third round, you focus on killing while I block them, hehe!" Qin Yun whispered to Jian Linglong.

"Got it! The rules don’t say we can’t stop others anyway!" Jian Linglong replied.

The second round of hunting soon ended.

Even if Jian Linglong and Qin Yun had participated, they would have only secured thirty-four Star Beast nuclei at most. So, their participation wouldn't have changed much for many.

Clearly, in the second round, Qin Yun and Jian Linglong’s group ranked last.

In the overall standings, they were now fiftieth—rock bottom!

"Even if they engraved those runes, so what? At best, they’ll just kill a few more Star Beasts!"

"Exactly, they’re so foolish! This must be Jian Linglong’s idea!"

"Women—all looks, no brains!"

The group of Mystic Rune Masters mocked Jian Linglong from a distance.

Hearing this, Qin Yun burned with anger on her behalf and snapped, "You pompous old goats! Just wait and see who really has ‘short sight’!"

"Oh, this little devil wants to play the white knight?" A middle-aged man burst into laughter. "A brat still sucking his mother's milk, dreaming of pursuing Jian Linglong?"

"Doesn’t he know her temper? She’s the famous ‘Fiery Beauty’!" remarked a Mystic Rune Master from the Jian family.

"Little devil, you defend her so fiercely, but she doesn’t even care. Isn’t that embarrassing?" another middle-aged Mystic Rune Master sneered.

Jian Linglong snorted lightly, then leaned close to Qin Yun and kissed him on the lips. "I do care. Got a problem with that?"

The middle-aged Mystic Rune Master’s face froze, flushed with shame.

Jian Linglong had just kissed the boy in front of thousands—everyone was stunned.

The Jian family knew her best, so their shock was the greatest. They couldn’t believe this "Firebrand Tigress" had such a tender side.

Qin Yun hadn’t expected it either—she’d actually kissed him!

For now, the Jian family could only assume she was just being defiant.

Jian Linglong had finished carving her Dao Runes. She brandished her Crystal Artifact triumphantly and grinned. "We’re definitely coming out on top! I carved Dao Runes into my Crystal Artifact—they’re even more powerful. Just wait and see!"

"Linglong, as far as I know, you don’t have any high-quality Dao Runes, especially ones that enhance mental energy," a senior Mystic Rune Master from the Jian family mocked.

"Pfft, we’re not afraid of you!" a middle-aged Jian member laughed.

"Linglong, just admit defeat. Come back and help us carve Bright Runes like before."

Jian Linglong didn’t lose her temper. Instead, she said coolly, "You think the Immortal Armament City is as petty as you? They’ve given me plenty of excellent Dao Runes!"

This was true—Bingxing had decreed that she be given special treatment, so the Mystic Rune Masters in the Immortal Armory Palace freely handed over their Dao Runes to her.

The Jian family’s Mystic Rune Masters were floored.

They’d assumed Jian Linglong would still be stuck with only carving Bright Runes in the Immortal Armory Palace.

Yet, the palace’s Mystic Rune Masters had actually bestowed upon her precious Dao Runes!

The break was over in no time.

Everyone got excited, eagerly anticipating the start of the third round!

Because in this round, Jian Linglong would participate again, using a rune-engraved Crystal Artifact.

People were only looking forward to Jian Linglong, paying no attention whatsoever to the young man Qin Yun.

Since Jian Linglong possessed the Dao Lord Rune Soul, allowing her to engrave Dao Runes in a short time, her Crystal Artifact was seen as incredibly powerful.

As for that young man named Qin Yun, the runes he engraved were surely just ordinary spirit runes, so nobody gave him a second thought.

In terms of difficulty, the lunar and stellar runes Qin Yun engraved were quite complex, making his Crystal Artifact just as powerful.

Jian Shitian released two thousand Black Wolf Star Beasts from the tower!

"Begin!" he shouted, and the Runes Masters immediately deployed their artifacts.

Qin Yun and Jian Linglong's Crystal Artifacts also entered the field, blazing with intense light—a clear effect of the engraved runes.

Unexpectedly, Qin Yun's Crystal Artifact didn't attack the Black Wolf Star Beasts but instead started circling the battlefield.

As it spun, it generated a powerful gravitational force, pulling the other Crystal Artifacts toward it.

Thus, except for Jian Linglong's, everyone else's Crystal Artifacts were forced to circle around Qin Yun's.

This left the Runes Masters completely stunned!

Furious, they began shouting curses, desperately trying to regain control of their Crystal Artifacts—but to no avail!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Jian Linglong's Crystal Artifact was incredibly deadly, unleashing waves of sword shadows—projections formed from mental energy—that pierced into the Black Wolf Star Beasts, quickly cutting down large numbers of them!

The spectators reacted with a mix of emotions—some shouting insults at Jian Linglong for her shameless tactics, while others marvelled at the extraordinary power of those runes.