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Xiao Long had sunk most of his time into trading as soon as the academy was over.
Being a rune master didn't matter much in the merchant business, as everything could be solved with money.
Possessing a large amount of money, be it silver, gold and even rune stones made dealing with things much easier.
If one needed protection they could purchase artifacts, bodyguards and anything of that sort. Even getting the favor of a powerful rune master wouldn't be impossible with the right bribe.
Han Dong and Xiao Long had been in regular contact, even before the academy started and ended.
The information each provided to the other was important for their current plans, making their relationship purely beneficial.
After a while of waiting patiently, Han Dong arrived, now wearing a more fitting robe for the title of crown prince.
Looking at him, Xiao Long smiled mischievously and spoke.
"Those clothes really suit you, your majesty."
Han Dong's ever-present smile widened, as his eyes turned crescent shaped. A chill instantly permeated the room, as Xiao Long's mocking smile slowly faded.
Han Dong had many things he disliked, but the thing he hated most was being addressed with such honorifics, especially complementing his outfit.
He was someone that didn't wish to be in this position, having complete disdain for the royal family, except for his grandfather, the Illusive emperor.
Since Xiao Long clearly mocked him on purpose, Han Dong decided to retaliate a bit just to spite him back.
Although Han Dong had reached the second stage, having decent talent when it came to cultivation, he knew full well that Xiao Long was just in the body refining stage, having not even completed his fourth refinement.
This was the difference in talent grades, based on the academy standard.
Since Xiao Long possessed E grade talent, reaching the fourth stage of body refinement in two years could be considered extraordinary.
It was clear that he had put a lot of time and resources into increasing his cultivation.
After suppressing his aura, he sat down across Xiao Long, awaiting for an information exchange.
He had recently asked for intelligence pertaining to the people that graduated with them.
Since everyone took their own paths, he was interested in how the future prospects of the empire would fair.
He knew full well that a large turmoil was brewing in the background and the assistance of the empire's rune masters was important.
The exchange began by giving each-other a brief introduction of the happenings inside the court and outside, at the same time trading paperwork with important information.
The whole transaction took only a few minutes, as Xiao Long soon departed, having some other matters to attend to.
Han Dong slowly perused the catalog he had acquired and frowned.
"Rui seems to be traveling towards the Xieye empire with some goal in mind, while the rest of their group was still confined in their isolated training. Some joined sects, while others joined the royal guard, or became mercenaries. The vast majority of scholarly individuals joined the academy as teachers and assistants, while those with relatively low talents just continued their normal lives."
The only information that he found baffling was Rui's travel, while information on Han Feng was completely non-existent, as if he had disappeared from the face of the earth in a single day.
Thankfully, he had trust in Rui's family so he wasn't worried about him abandoning the country. When it came to Han Feng, he was just curious as to where he had gone, as he really didn't care about his wellbeing.
Sighing heavily, he thought about the current state of the empire and the future problems he had to deal with as the direct successor.
As his grandfather was not on his current post, and even if he was, he would retire his position as emperor soon anyway.
Being an individual as strong as him put large restrictions on the places he could govern as an emperor, since there were certain rules applied to them by the world law and higher beings, known as Deities.
Deities were countless, but they weren't omnipotent, omniscient or even omnipresent. They possessed powers that could easily bend the laws of the world, but they were still restricted by it in many ways.
Deities could be born by nature itself, through millions of years of incubation, or by sheer luck.
They were creations with no true form, taking whatever appearance their followers shaped them as.
Although they were essentially regarded as 'higher beings', in reality all of them were weaker than the average ninth rank rune master, but they possessed certain privileges that were different from rune masters.
One large difference between rune masters and Deities was the fact that they didn't only belong to the planet A23, but to the rest of the planets as well, including the middle nines and higher nines.
A23 was known as the fifth planet of the lower nine system.
They were beings with clear restrictions, such as only being able to rule over a village and its inhabitants, being the guardian of an empire and many others, but they could effect all of the 27 planets orbiting Alpha.
Alpha was the sun which provided the right environment for all 27 planets orbiting it, by creating an inhabitable zone for each of them.
Deities could also rule over a certain concept, such as contracts.
If Rui had information on such beings, he would quickly realize that the family contract he had signed was created by one of those deities.
Rui and Gui Xue ran through a forest at their maximum speed, as they were currently being chased by a horde of forest creatures.
Most of them were of the runic variety, having sensed Gui Xue, heading their way just to devour him.
Rui couldn't believe the situation he was in, having completely lost the puppet sect, but still having trouble to escape with no issues.
It didn't take long for trouble to arrive, as in the first hour of rest, countless rodents started chasing after them.
Rui dealt with them with his rune energy, but soon after more followed.
After a few days, the surrounding creatures had all taken an interest in Gui Xue's unique scent and rushed over towards them, making them unable to rest properly.
'I guess that's why he had a luck of -20… I can't believe this.'
Rui felt scammed, since this situation was more than he bargained for. He was fine with getting him outside and saving him from his troubles, but lack of proper rest had made him lethargic these days.
But it wasn't all bad, since he had secured a large amount of meat of low ranking runic creatures, as higher tier ones had no interest in whatever made Gui Xue smell so good to them.
They had already been traveling for a few days, and they would soon reach their destination.
Karune was a port city based next to the Xieye empire and had the largest sea trade in the Illusive empire.
Rui had already expected the location, since Yue had already explained how far away it was.
Using maps to navigate, as well as his own system map, he was able to arrive in a shorter time than he expected.
The city had a unique aesthetic sense to it, being completely built on top of the sea, with countless eastern moats.
Not wanting to be suspicious and at the same time wanting to take a proper rest, they both headed towards the most prestigious inn in the area, using the funds they collected by selling the runic beast meat they had acquired.
Eating a fulfilling meal and taking a proper rest after a few days of relentless chasing put the both of them at ease.
Of course, Gui Xue had to hide his appearance using countless methods, the main one being make up.
Make up was not hard to find and picking a random color for his foundation was enough. All they had to do was cover his entire body with it, making him less suspicious but at the same time weird smelling.
Many of the passers by just assumed he was some sort of sex slave.
Gui Xue didn't care about his appearance, as he had barely stayed alive with the things he had gone through. Being alive was more than enough for him, and Rui could clearly sense that he was harboring thoughts of revenge.
Not wanting to entertain and fuel his anger, Rui didn't say anything and just proceeded with his own plans.
He had to send Gui Xue back to the clan, making sure he was taken care of. He was sure that the grand elder would be interested in his creation and unique rune. Although he would be back to being a lab rat, at least he wouldn't be tortured to death every waking moment of his life.
His main focus right now was on recovering the third jade slip, making his future advancements less of a hassle than they currently were.
Possessing the third slip would literally make his life way easier, since the fourth was in no-ones hands at the moment.
After he had returned Gui Xue to the family estate, he would be back on the hunt for the fourth slip, as it was on the other side of the empire.
In the dark of night, a shadow jumped from roof to roof.
The figure was that of a lean, but muscular young man, wearing completely black, body-tight clothing, covering his facial features with a mask.
He arrived on top of a large building and looked down a small ladder that led inside.
The building was the private library of the noble clan living in the Karune city.
The shadowy figure was Rui, having decided to disguise himself just in case.
Since it was also used as the public library and didn't house many rare books or techniques, making the security less uptight than Rui expected.
Having successfully infiltrated the library, he asked Yue for directions, promptly heading the right way.
It didn't take long for him to find the jade slip, located inside a glass jar.
Seeing the glass jar, Rui felt a strange sense of deja Vu.
'Well isn't this fantastic…'
He scoffed to himself, wanting to forget about the whole situation.
Using runic energy, he levitated the glass off its stand using all of his concentration. The whole thing took him an hour to accomplish.
This wasn't an easy feat, requiring a vast amount of energy just to complete the action and in the most brute force way.
If he wanted to do it smoothly, with precision and speed, he had to practice for a few hundred years, but he didn't have that time in his hands at the moment.
Finally being able to acquire the jade slip, he just slid some of his runic energy inside, making sure he didn't touch it, as it was enough to just make contact with it in any way possible.
This of course was much harder than just stretching his hand and grabbing it, since he had to first remove the lid and then insert his energy inside.
[You have come into contact with a heaven grade cultivation method]
[The cultivation method is tailored for the demonic path, however user is unaffected by "paths"]
['Heavenly Demon Mantra 3' has been converted to earth grade 'Heavenly Runic Mantra 3']
[First, second and third part of the 'Heavenly Runic Mantra' are resonating]
[Beginning Technique merging]
[Extreme grade 'Heavenly Runic Mantra' has been acquired]
['Heaven's wrath' skill has been acquired]
['Heaven's rebirth' skill has been acquired]
[Heaven's wrath]
[An increase in the user's strength and runic energy for a short period of time, having the counter effect of reducing the users potential in the future]
[Heaven's rebirth]
[An increase in the user's potential and longevity
Slowly nurtures user's soul, making it stronger.
Used in tandem with 'heaven's wrath' skill, 'Heaven's wrath' side-affects will be removed.]
Rui smiled in satisfaction, being pleased with what he had acquired.
Just the two skills alone were more than good enough, since they acted in perfect harmony. He had basically acquired a single powerful skill with no drawback and a soul strength increasing ability.
The increase in the rank of the [Heavenly Runic Mantra] was a plus, making him quite pleased, but he also noticed a pattern.
It seemed like the whole cultivation technique was divided into parts pertaining to skills and not cultivation level like he initially thought.
Although, yes, the cultivation stages were also represented, they weren't the main focus of the technique.
It seemed like the Heavenly Demon's paranoia had effected the way he distributed his skills and Rui somehow felt and ominous sensation coming from the combination of each subsequent merging of the jade slips.
Thankfully, he didn't have to worry, as the [Heavenly Runic Mantra] was different from the [Heavenly Demon Mantra], so he was unaffected by any of its problems.
Once again, he spent close to an hour returning the glass to its original place, breathing heavily due to runic energy exhaustion.
'I really have to train my energy control skills, or learn a manipulation skill at least…'
Rui thought to himself, lamenting over the time he had wasted trying to remove and return the glass jar to its original state.
Having completed his goal, he returned the way he came, completely unnoticed by any of the patrolling guards.
Rui scanned them all at least once, realizing that they were mostly mortals and low ranking rune masters.
For the following weeks, Rui along with Gui Xue traveled back to the family estate, trying their hardest to avoid areas with a lot of runic creatures.
Bringing Gui Xue along with him was becoming more of a pain in the ass as time went on, making him lethargic and taking constant stops to rest.
In the end the two week trip became close to a month, but they were finally at the end of their destination.
Rui had tried many things to stop the energy from leaking and masking out his scent, but nothing worked.
Having completely given up, he decided to rush things as much as possible near the end of their journey.
The family estate hadn't changed at all, since less than two months had passed from Rui's departure.
Seeing Rui approach from a distance, the family sent people to bring him over.
Both Rui and Gui Xue were worn and torn in both mental and physical state from the constant running.
Handing Gui Xue over to his family, free of any responsibility, he decided to return to isolated cultivation, only after socializing with his friend and family for a few days.
Although two months was a short amount of time when it came to cultivation, Jian had already made considerable progress, already beginning his second body refinement.
As for his cousin, Wuya San, he had completed his runic sea formation, entering the initial sea stage.
Xiong Liliang was still in the middle sea stage, and he was showing signs of an expected bottleneck.
Since his stage was stagnating due to the lacking energy gathering speed, he needed runic stones to absorb more of it and with greater gusto.
The eastern mountains were known as the central location of the eastern continent, housing some of the most prestigious sects of the world.
An alliance gathering between the elders, leaders and younger generation of sects happened every few years, signaling the start of a new era.
Han Imperial calendar Time, seventh day of the seventh month, year 6234, the alliance gathering was held, heralding in the new disciples that would be soon joining them.
The gathering was a test held by the alliance, made specifically to recruit new talents into their sects.
As the area of the eastern mountains was extremely high up, just getting there was a test of its own, making the new disciples the strongest of their generation, but there were some that used the assistance of money or runic mounts.
The test didn't have any restrictions, allowing any means possible to reach the apex, where the testing was held.
All of the sect representatives stood on top of a giant stand, right in front of a massive pagoda.
They numbered in the hundreds, clearly representing the vast powers of the world, but still, some of them stood out more than the rest.
A bearded, white haired old man possessing dual pupils stood amidst a crowd of white robe wearing elders, scanning the people in the crowd.
There was no age restriction placed on the applicants, but there was a clear difference in their standing and acceptance rate the older one was.
The golden age for cultivators was between their first fifty years, when the human could absorb energy best with their awakened spiritual roots.
Thanks to this fact, most of the people vying for spots were youngsters between the ages of 15 and 25.
This was called the ten year rule, where the most talented people showed their true worth when they were of that age, being older actually made them less probable to join a sect, but of course there were still exceptions.
Many could remember the old man of a random remote village that had lived till the age of 80, still being at the first rune master stage, having had no proper teaching since young and losing his golden opportunity to cultivate.
Deciding he had nothing to lose and wanting to explore the world, he decided to take part in the gathering test, successfully joining a prestigious school and quickly advancing in cultivation, later on becoming an elder of said sect.
This was an inspirational story, making sure that even the weakest and less fortunate of cultivators tried their luck in the summit of the eastern mountains.
Of course, this was a story based on true facts, as that same old man was standing on the platform, representing his own sect, the peasants sect.
Suddenly a commotion spread through the crowd, as a giant armored [Sky Shattering Elephant] made its way through the crowd.
The [Sky Shattering Elephant] was a runic creature known for its size and ferocity, but at the same time it was one of the best mounts, especially for royalty to show off their power.
On top of the elephant, a tan young man wearing gold ornaments stood, his bright honey colored eyes surveying the surroundings. He had a slightly crooked nose with thin lips, but his face was extremely symmetrical, adding for a unique sense of beauty.
A never seen before rune was plastered on his forehead, resembling the eye of Horus.
After scanning the crowd for a while, he found a suitable spot to rest in, an empty area with a single young man who had a black bird perched on his shoulder.
Not caring for the young mans reaction, he rushed his mount towards him, only stopping due to his mounts refusal.
Confused, he tried to order his mount to head forward, but the mount refused, being completely fear stricken by something.
Not understanding the situation, the youth got down from its back and headed towards the young man who was just enjoying his time with his bird.
"What the fuck did you do to my Pomp?! Don't you know who I am?! I am Arsalat Alsama, the saint candidate of the Emirates Union!"
Hearing someone scream at him from behind, the young man turned to look back, only to ignore the youth's shouting and continue to play with his bird.
Being completely outraged by the young man's reaction, Arsalat attacked him with a runic energy blast.
The young man didn't even react, as the bird on his back flew backwards all of a sudden, its three claws gripping his attack and destroying it in an instant.
Seeing this Arsalat became shock, but his surprise didn't end there.
The young man got up, extending his right hand and waiting for his crow like bird to land.
He extended a small knife and transformed it into a sword exuding a menacing aura.
The Ansuz rune glowed brightly on his forehead, as his long black hair flowed in the wind, possessing a slight tint of light blue to it.
His bright blue eyes, along with his white pupils stared into Arsalat's soul, momentarily stunning him.
"My name is Guang Rui, how may I assist you young master of the Emirates Union?"