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Lower nine was a planet multiple times the size of earth, possessing two moons.
Once every few months, a phenomenon that would cause panic amongst the people would appear.
Since the world was not a scientific one and relied mostly on its cultivators, the common folk didn't know anything about celestial phenomenon's and even the cultivators themselves didn't have an in depth knowledge, thanks to the fact that they were not scientifically advanced.
As such, whenever the all encompassing sun's light would be covered by another celestial body, that celestial body being the moon, the humans in the region effected would go in a panic, doing countless unimaginable deeds.
Han Imperial calendar Time, second day of the first month, year 6233, an eclipse that lasted for three hours happened on the Xieye Empire.
Total pandemonium appeared on the region, as countless evil practitioners utilized the panic spreading through the public and the weakness of the royal family to mass sacrifice people, to 'appease' the gods.
However, the evil cultivator's reign didn't last long, as in the third hour, the crown prince of the empire came out and chanted a spell, absorbing all of the sacrificed blood and subsequently moved the moon from covering the sun.
These news spread out across all the continents like wildfire, shocking all who heard them.
Soon after, more shocking news spread, as the previous emperor of the Xieye Empire had passed away, as the crown prince took his place.
Inside an isolated room, a youth sat cross legged.
His long hair was neatly cut, having a unique shape to it, while his white pupils looked in front with focus.
This of course was Rui, who after his sixteenth birthday was finally able to cut his hair as he pleased.
He was extremely concentrated with the task in front of him, as the thing he was trying to nurture for so long was finally about to hatch.
The golden egg shone in a mysterious light, as it had finally absorbed more than enough yang energy to be born.
Using his skills, Rui inspected its status.
[Golden Crow egg]
[Owner: Guang Rui
Incubation rate: 100% (hatching)
Trust: 89%
Pet Item
An egg of the mythical beast 'golden crow' also known as the 'three legged crow'.]
It had taken him over a year to finally give it enough energy to hatch, while at the same time building its trust in any way he could.
From the records he had read, the three legged golden crow was a runic creature with an unrecorded background, its powers being completely unknown to most.
There existed nine ranks to runic creatures, just like the nine ranks of cultivators.
1st rank - Runic cub
2nd rank - Runic Beast
3rd rank - Runic spectral beast
4th rank - Runic earthly beast
5th rank - Runic heavenly beast
6th rank - Runic archaic beast
7th rank - Runic king beast
8th rank - Runic celestial beast
9th rank - Runic Emperor Beast
But there also existed primordial runic creatures, but they are extremely rare and obscure.
Since the talent and future of the beast was tied to its bloodline, it was extremely unlikely that it could unlock its bloodline shackles and reach a higher stage.
For example, the common runic beast, [spectral rat] was a beast that could at best reach second rank, being the leader of the mischief. However, there were still cases of a [Rat Kingdom], where a [spectral rat] would reach third rank by unique methods, be it interference from a third party, or the acquisition of extremely precious materials through sheer luck.
The [Golden Crow] was an extremely rare creature, as such it had no classification and cultivators didn't know its peak potential.
Rui waited patiently, as the egg slowly cracked open, the chirping noises of a baby bird could be heard, as it struggled to get out.
Looking at the tiny creature, Rui was taken aback by its appearance.
It was black, with some golden feathers decorating its small head. A crown like pattern could be seen on the top of its skull.
Being curious of it status, Rui used [understanding] and [analysis].
[Three Legged Golden Crow]
[Owner: Guang Rui
Cultivation stage: Runic Cub
State: Hatchling
Abilities: 'Evocation of the Sun' 'Three legged Slash' 'Golden aura'
Trust 90%
A hatchling golden crow. It is born with the majesty of the sun, containing the purest yang energy. As it was nurtured with great love and care, the golden crow has great affection for its master.]
Being stared at by its master, the crow chirped in happiness, as it slowly approached him, constantly falling down in the process.
Seeing the little bird try its hardest to get close to him, Rui's heart couldn't help but feel warm.
Although the little guy had just hatched, his strength was already at the same level as a rune master of the first rank.
Spreading his hands, he picked up the small crow, petting it with his hands.
It was still a newborn, so it required great care. Thankfully, as a runic creature considered a 'divine beast' it had an incredibly fast growth rate, in both size and cultivation.
Since it was now hes beast companion, he had to come up with a name for it.
He racked his brains, trying to come up with a good name for a long time. In the end, he decided to go with something simple, yet catchy.
"Since the golden crow represents the sun, you will be called Sunny, lighting up the world wherever you go!"
Hearing its name, the bird chirped excitedly, as a new system window popped up in front of Rui.
[Pet 'sunny' has been added to your beast mount]
[As the age of the beast mount, including its size and current strength doesn't meet the standard requirements, the mount will be classified as 'growing']
[Trust with pet has reached 100%]
[New ability, 'Unity' has been unlocked]
[Unity]
[Gives the function of communication with companion beast through emotion.
Description: The ultimate level of bondage between man and beast.]
Rui smiled as soon as he saw the system windows, quite pleased with the results of his interaction.
Grabbing sunny, he placed on his shoulder and got up.
The little crow latched all three of its legs tightly on his robe, making sure it wouldn't fall, as it was still unable to fly.
A year passed since Rui had been training in the ancestral home, cultivating with diligence.
Despite that, he was still not at the second rune master stage, due to the immense amount of runic energy required to fill his bowl.
Unlike normal first rank rune masters, he required at least nine to ten times the amount of runic energy to complete his rune forming.
Another factor that had stopped him from advancing, was the consequences of doing so.
Since he had a physique and bowl that was extremely abnormal, Rai had informed him that there was an extremely likely chance of a heavenly tribulation.
Heavenly tribulations were common in the world of rune masters, however they usually came at later stages of cultivation. However, due to the fact that Rui had achieved unimaginable things for his stage, the world rules wouldn't let him progress in peace.
He had already made plans to advance soon, fully consolidating his rune, completing the rune forming stage and entering the second rank of rune masters.
Exiting his isolated training room, Rui headed towards the center most building, where the elders of the family would gather.
Today, the younger generation of the family would undergo an awakening test, including his younger brother.
After his father had been released of his curse, they returned to the tavern and ran it like usual.
It took a long time for them to explain the situation to Guang Ya, as she was completed flabbergasted when her husband who was a normal human for so long, suddenly was awakened as a rune master.
Thankfully, she took it quite well, and even pridefully announced the fact in her circle of friends.
Since her husband and son were rune masters, this made all of them extremely envious, pleasing Guang Ya.
Entering the central hall, Rui glanced around, finding Liliang having a conversation with Wuya San.
Seeing Rui approach, the both of them greeted him with a grin, petting the small bird on his shoulder.
Rui had already told them about the small pet he was going to hatch, but he didn't tell them what sort of species it was.
Rui used his skills on both of them, measuring the amount of progress they had made the past few days he was in isolation, waiting for Sunny to hatch.
[Waya San, 15
Cultivation level: Formed Rune stage (Archaic spiritual roots)
Physique: Soul Immortal Physique
Combat Power: 20000
Character Personality Path: Sage of the end
Luck 230]
[Xiong Liliang, age 16
Cultivation level: Middle sea stage(heavenly spiritual roots)
Physique: War God physique
Combat power: 35000
Character personality path: Unbreakable demon.
Luck: 90]
Looking at their statuses, Rui smiled bitterly.
Although he had made considerable progress as well, he was still not in the rune forming stage, while his cousin who was a year younger was already at the stage.
Xiong Liliang had truly changed his fate, fully dedicating his future. Although Rui didn't know how the luck stat was affected, it was clear that after Liliang joined the family as a runic master, his luck increased slowly, reaching 90.
Rui glanced at his own status, lamenting at the slow recovery rate of his luck stat.
[STATUS]
He had level upped four times in the span of a year, thanks to the small amount of quests he had completed on missions carried out with the rest of the family.
Of course, they were situations similar to bandit den, making them used to killing as soon as possible.
The things he had gotten from the quests were a small amount of store currency and a few skills, such as [Breath], [Circulate], [Leap], [Sneak] and [Waste].
[Breath]
[The ability to breathe with ones whole body and not just the respiratory system.
Gives the ability to breathe underwater for a short period of time.
Increases quality of air.]
[Circulate]
[Performs a full rotation of runic energy inside the body, increasing the users physical strength for a few seconds.
Makes the skin healthier.]
[Leap]
[The ability to input runic energy at the souls of your feet to induce a leap with increased height.
Increase in the users speed for a few seconds.]
[Sneak]
[Makes the users footsteps more unnoticeable and increases movement speed while crouched.
Confuses enemy senses for a short period of time.]
[Waste]
[Clears the body of any impurities in an instant through circulating the users runic energy.
Side effects might include diarrhea.]
They were all skills that Rui could perform on his own, however, they were useful, since they were like shortcuts to perform actions.
While others had to do a hundred things to perform the action, for Rui using the skill would be doing it in one action.
Wuya san had refined his physique eight times, using the best resources of the family and at the same time learning to use spiritual energy.
Spiritual energy was different from runic energy, only being sensed and used by a few.
Since Wuya San possessed the soul immortal physique, he was literally born to use spiritual energy, growing its mastery in a short period of time.
Inside the hall, all of the family's rune masters waited patiently for the elders to come inside and begin with the testing.
Guang Jian looked around in excitement, his eyes darting all over, looking for his older brother.
He had just arrived a few hours ago with his father and mother, but they were unable to greet Rui due to his isolated training.
Seeing that Rui had arrived to witness his awakening test, Jian grinned happily and waved at him.
Rui waved back and told him not to worry about anything.
Hearing his elder brother reassure him, Jian tried to contain his anxiety that was masked by his hyperactivity.
Waiting for a few more minutes, finally, the group of elders walked in.
As soon as they saw the elders come in, everybody bowed their heads in respect.
Seeing this scene, the grand elder waved her hand to stop them.
After what had transpired with Guang Ryuji, the elders came to an agreement when it came to supervising future awakenings. They didn't want to go through the same situation, losing a talent without realizing it.
The talent testing was done in mass, as all the elders tested someone at the same time, while the grand elder did a backup inspection of all the teens.
Jian approached grandpa Xin, being the person he was assigned to for his testing.
Guang Xin looked at Jian with a peculiar gaze, as he injected runic energy into his body, at the same time analyzing his bone structure and spiritual root.
Unlike the public testing, awakenings done in higher clans was done with a thorough inspection, testing all of the things they could.
Of course, this required an individual of a high stage conducting the testing, being able to come to accurate results.
Rui had gotten hold of information that grandpa Xin was at the rune soul stage, meaning that he was a fourth rank rune master.
This information matched up greatly with Rui's scrambled data of grandpa Xin.
[Guang Xin, Age 324
Cultivation stage: ██████████████
Physique:█████████
Combat Power: ██████████████
Character Personality Path: ██████████████
Luck: ████]
The only thing he could see was his age, it being a mind blowing 324.
Rui couldn't help but wonder just how old higher ranked rune masters were, since it took so long to reach the fourth stage of rune masters.
As soon as the runic energy entered Jian's channels, a great aura permeated his body.
A rune slowly appeared on his forehead, shining in a dazzling white light.
Expecting nothing else to happen, Rui couldn't help but want to peek at what rune his little brother had awakened with.
After glancing at it, both Rui and Xin jumped up in surprise.
The grand elder, Guang Zhe stared in pleasant surprise, as the rune Jian possessed was exactly the same as her's and Guang Tian's.
"The ancestral rune."
Muttered grandpa Xin, before promptly laughing and patting Jian on the shoulder.
"Great little guy… Both you and your brother have promising futures! Who would expect that brat Ryuji to have such talented sons!"
The ancestral rune, also known as the hereditary rune was the sign of a great rune master clan.
Just like Han Dong became the crown prince of the empire after awakening with the rune of the emperor, Jian awakened with the rune of their ancestor.
Rui had become aware of the fact that the grand elder and his grandfather possessed unique runes, but this situation cleared his doubts.
Jian was brought to the grand elder, getting inspected. She then sent a telepathic message to Rui.
"What is Jian's physique?"
Hearing a voice in his head, Rui looked at Guang Zhe in surprise, before promptly trying to answer, but realizing he was unable to send a sound transmission back.
"Just try to sync your runic energy with mine, I will do the transfer."
Understanding her orders, he proceeded to release small amounts of runic energy, following a path that was created between the two of them.
Thanks to his physique, he was able to see runic energy as waves, so finding the sound transmission wave was easy.
"The sword god physique."
Hearing Rui's answer, the grand elder was taken aback.
"The sword god physique is able to increase understanding in any sword style, being known to use the body as the sword and the sword as the body. They refine a sword created by their own rune after awakening, it is known for its powerful attacks, being a stage higher at the least than what they are supposed to be."
She muttered under her breath, completely recalling the specification of physique.
It was a physique perfect for their ancestral rune, making Jian an incredible genius when it came to the path of the sword.
Rui had re-entered secluded cultivation as soon as the awakening ceremony was over.
He had reached the peak of his energy and was preparing to form his rune.
Having already made preparation for a tribulation, he stood at the center of an array.
This was a heaven sealing array, made to create an optimal environment to surpass tribulations.
Rui's heart ached, as it was an extremely expensive store item, using all of his currency to purchase just one of them.
He was now flat out broke, and gaining system currency itself was hard. He could only earn less than a hundred per week at best.
The array was extremely important for the current situation, but Rui knew, that it could not protect him from the the wrath of the world rules for long.
Unlike bowl formation, Rune formation was extremely easy. Since the foundation was already solid, all Rui had to do is brand his bowl with his innate rune, that of course being the ansuz rune.
He began by taking the energy of his entire body and channeling it to his bowl, at the same time imagining the ansuz rune and inscribing it on the bowl.
This process took a few hours of painstaking effort, but it was finally completed to perfection.
As soon as he entered the Formed Rune stage, black clouds covered the skies above the family estate.
Everyone stared in awe, as thunder roared, falling towards the room Rui was cultivating inside.
It was just a single bit of red lightning, but that single thunderbolt caused a destructive amount of damage to the surroundings and Rui himself.
Even though he was fully prepared, that single attack had rendered him unable to move, as his whole body smelled like smoked pork.
Somewhere in the oceans of lower nine, a small island existed.
The island was isolated from other places, only accepting some trades with outside merchants, having a self reliant and self sufficient environment.
Beneath a white pergola, a young man was resting on a hammock, a young woman was feeding him grapes while he shook from side to side.
A white fluorescent sword stood next to him, floating in mid air.
The woman had a motherly feeling to her, as if she was nourishing the world itself. Her appearance could be considered beautiful by everyone, being extremely pleasant to the eyes. A lotus like rune glowed on her forehead.
The young mans appearance was majestic, as if he was a god looking down the mortal world.
Pearlescent jade white skin, long black hair and blood red eyes. A rune exactly the same as Jian's shone on his forehead.
Suddenly, the young man jolted, alerting the woman.
"What is the matter, darling?"
Asked the woman with a concerned look.
"I felt it again… our little Ren's aura…"
The woman's hands froze, as she dropped the grapes she was holding.
The lotus like symbol on her forehead shone pink for a second, causing her to calm down.
"Darling, can you track it down?"
The young man nodded, concentrating at the minuscule amount of energy he felt, and unleashing countless runic seals with a flip of his hand.
This time, he was able to feel the presence more clearly, having made a strong connection.
"It has been established. It seems to be in the northern continent, the place where Ren went. I still can't believe this matter is not finished yet, I just wonder what death seeking bastard would mess with my family…"
Hearing his words, the young woman held his hand tightly, trying to ease his sorrow, anger and pain.
"It's fine, Lianhua, as the rune sword immortal, I only desired for one thing, the prosperity of our family. I made it clear to them, if my family is harmed, I will start moving again, otherwise my name isn't Guang Fu Wen Jian."
Said the man, releasing an incredible amount of pressure, making the sea boil and resonate with his voice, shaking the neighboring empires to their cores.
Rumors started spreading about the ruthless rune sword emperor returning to the scene…