Rui had spent over a year refining his cultivation level, advancing with considerable speed and reaching the middle Sea stage.
After a month of secluded cultivation, he headed over towards the direction of the fourth jade slip, finding it between the borders of the Emirates Union and the Illusive empire.
He found it weird that most of the jade slips so far were located inside or near the Illusive empire, probably due to the fact that the previous owners were part of the ex- Han Empire.
He had a bit of an adventure there, due to the large amount of time spent exploring the underground caverns.
It was the first time he had encountered the so called ‘Holes’, places where runic beasts hoarded and fought for ground, probably due to the rich runic energy in the area.
In the end, he found the fourth jade slip next to the corpse of a rune master that had clearly died long ago, his skeleton crumbling with just a touch.
The weird part was the fact that he possessed nothing else, just the jade slip, as if all of his belongings had faded in the passage of time, but the jade slip didn’t have as much as a scratch on it.
[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 4’ has been converted to earth grade ‘Heavenly Runic Mantra 4’]
[First, second, third and fourth part of the ‘Heavenly Runic Mantra’ are resonating]
[Beginning Technique merging]
[Archaic grade ‘Heavenly Runic Mantra’ has been acquired]
[‘Heaven Shattering Fist’ skill has been acquired]
[‘Heaven's Divine Path’ skill has been acquired]
[Heaven Shattering Fist]
[A martial art technique focused on pure destruction, created by the heavenly demon.
It can be utilized in any way, being completely formless.
Requires Heavenly Runic energy.
May destroy the body if over-used.]
[Heaven’s Divine Path]
[A movement technique created by the heavenly demon focused on pure speed, be it in land, water or air.
Requires Heavenly Runic Energy.]
The rewards were ample, having gained two much needed martial arts in his hands.
As for the technique itself reaching the archaic stage, after only four of the nine, put him in a dazed state for a while.
He pondered over how powerful the whole technique was and what stage of treasure would it be considered as.
As his stage rose, it became much harder to advance, taking months for a single minor advancement, especially comparing it to the previous advancement speed.
Since Rui cultivated with such high grade and unique methods, having a [true bowl] and a ten times refined body, he needed to absorb at least ten times the runic energy to advance.
This of course made him stronger in the same stage, but it had the drawback of being much, much, much slower…
It was as if he was absorbing enough energy for ten people, having to advance all ten people at the same time. However, thanks to his [parallel thinking] skill he was able to still progress through with no issues, encountering no bottlenecks.
In the span of a year, he had not gotten many quests, and the ones he had received had insignificant rewards.
[A Missing Toy]
[For a child, a toy, especially one given from their deceased parents, is as important as their life.
Quest Clear Conditions:
Find the missing toy and return it to Guang Meimei.
Quest Clear Rewards:
200 Ѻ, [Search] Skill]
[The Stars Are Weird]
[Due to your previous knowledge of planets and space, you find your current sky different from your previous one, possessing a much impossible view for you.
Quest Clear Conditions:
Come to a conclusion about your current planet.
Quest Clear Rewards:
1000 Ѻ, [Way Finder] Skill]
These two quests were the only ones that gave him good rewards, much needed skills.
[Search] gave him the ability to see things in much wider range, being able to zoom in on things, or even find a needle in a haystack if he tried hard enough, making his [identify] skill much more malleable.
As for [Way Finder], it was a skill that used the stars to always give him a sense of direction, making him able to navigate any environment and still knowing the way back.
Even if he was unable to see the stars, he would still be able to sense them in a way, not needing to directly see them to find his way. As long as they existed, he would always find his way.
As for Rui’s reason to head over to the eastern mountains, it was of course another quest that was generated after he got hold of the information pertaining to the sect gathering.
[Realm Explorer]
[Realms are unique and obscure phenomenon that are either artificially created or naturally generated through unknown means. The Eastern mountains sect gathering takes place in one of those unique Realms, known as the Realm of Fortitude.
Quest Clear Conditions:
Explore the Realm of Fortitude.
Quest Clear Rewards:
20000 Ѻ, [Explorer] Skill]
Of course, if it was just for this one quest, he wouldn’t have rushed over with Sunny.
[Growth (1)]
[The three legged golden crow is a mythical creature that requires a vast amount of experience and treasures to mature into a true myth.
Quest Clear Conditions:
Upgrade beast companion “sunny”
Help beast companion obtain its “core”
Quest Clear Rewards:
Upgrade in Bloodline]
The amount of rewards he could get from this one trip were massive, making it an extremely precious experience for him.
As for his current predicament, he couldn’t care less about Arsalat.
Arsalat Alsama, also known as the sole saint candidate of his generation, possessing the rune of the previous saint, Mohamed.
What made Rui react like that to him wasn’t disdain, but rather, a challenge.
He wanted to see how a saint candidate, someone of his age group would fair in a fight, and he could immediately conclude from their first interaction that he was just a spoiled young master.
People stayed away from Rui, not because he was intimidating, but because the bloodline of a golden crow was incredibly powerful, directly subverting anyone and any runic creature that desired to head towards him.
Arsalat being immune to the bloodline suppression meant that he possessed a bloodline of considerable strength.
Of course, the arrogance he had displayed made Rui quite displeased, so he decided to counter back.
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Arsalat couldn’t comprehend the situation, completely taken aback by Rui’s reaction.
‘Guang Rui? Who is that?’
He tried to recall anyone of importance with that name, but he couldn’t find anyone.
After thinking for a while, skimming through the information he was given, he decided he was no-one important and proceeded to pull out his weapon.
Although Arsalat was arrogant, being spoiled rotten, he didn’t lack in talent and prowess, especially as a saint candidate.
Since he was the chosen candidate of his generation, he would slowly have to fight with future and newer generations for the position of Saint.
His weapon was an ornate sword with a moon shaped blade, commonly known as the khopesh.
Rui could tell with a glance that the weapon was a combat armament similar to his sun-cutter, due to the unique energy emanating from it.
However, it was clear that it was of lower grade than sun-cutter, as its luster seemed to diminish in the presence of his sword.
Arsalat chanted something, not caring about his image, as the rune on his forehead shone brightly, blinding all of the surrounding spectators.
The sect representatives only glanced at them, completely uncaring of the situation. Fights between candidates were allowed, and in fact, even encouraged.
It would temper and strengthen their resolve, however, they would still interfere if the fight got too serious and one of the two was unable to participate in the mystic realm.
Seeing that Arsalat began chanting, Rui didn’t hold back and used [Leap], along with his [Identify], [Clairvoyance], [Search], [Heaven’s Divine path] and put his runic energy into Sun-Cutter, utilizing his [beginning sword: birth] stance.
Despite using so many skills at the same time, it all happened in a split second, causing a streak of runic energy to permeate the area, shocking the spectators by the sheer amount of force he exerted.
That attack alone was enough to instantly kill any runic master of the second rank.
Sensing the incoming attack with sheer instinct, Arsalat pulled out a mirror from his pocket, activating its defensive functions in the fraction of a second.
A giant luminescent sphere encompassed him, completely absorbing the brunt of the attack, but cracking a few seconds afterwards by the following shock-wave.
Arsalat was sent flying back, his eyes full of disbelief.
On the other hand, Rui looked at his sword in awe, as he did not expect to perform such a powerful attack.
All this time, he had cultivated and only utilized normal methods when sparring. It was his first time he had fought someone of the same rank who was considered a genius of his generation, and he clearly felt the large gap in power between them. Even though Arsalat was two stages ahead, he still lost in a single exchange.
Comparing Arsalat to the bandits he had killed would be disrespectful, since Arsalat was clearly much more powerful and talented, as his status window displayed.
[Arsalat Alsama, age 16
Cultivation stage: Peak sea Stage (heavenly spiritual roots)
Physique: Sand Asp Physique
Combat Power: 65325
Character personality path: Competent Ruler
Luck: 269]
Seeing the large difference between them, Rui opened his status window to glance at his combat power.
Originally, his combat power was slightly below Arsalat’s, but it had skyrocketed to 120000 after he used all of his skills.
Completely taken aback by the revelation, he couldn’t help but suck in a deep breath.
Suddenly, Arsalat’s body melted into sand, as Rui was inspecting his status.
Without any warning, he appeared behind Rui, his eyes resembling that of a snakes, while his body was covered in brown scales.
However, to his dismay, his attack was foiled by Sunny’s claws, that threatened to take his life.
Rui was taken aback and quickly thanked Sunny for the save, returning to his previous domineering state.
Seeing that his attack had failed, Arsalat retreated just as fast as he came, vigilance still clear in his eyes.
The barrier he had created earlier was an artifact of the Spectral grade, made to withstand one attack from a third rank rune master.
The fact that Rui managed to destroy it and send him tumbling backwards had completely awakened him from his arrogance, at the same time recognizing his family name.
‘Guang family, also known as the hidden masters behind the royal family of the illusive empire… No wonder this guy is so powerful.’
He could easily see that he was talented, and the fact that he belonged to a clan of killers made his strength all the more understandable.
They were fundamentally different from other clans that were based on just martial arts or improving their cultivation and status. They were a clan that focused solely on killing and the sword, making them much stronger than others in the same stage.
As a saint candidate, having such information was a must, and even though he was arrogant earlier, he had the wit to understand the situation.
Clasping his hands, he bowed and spoke to Rui.
“I, Arsalat Alsama admit defeat to Guang Rui of the Guang family.”
Rui looked at him in surprise and bowed back, slightly gnashing his teeth at the provocation.
“Thank you for going easy on me, a member of a small family, Saint Candidate of the Emirates Union.”
Arsalat gnashed his teeth as well, after hearing his words.
The spar had turned from a physical one to a verbal one, trying to one up the other through their wit.
Thankfully though, the mystic realm was about to open, so their exchange was stopped short, before it went into a full on fight.
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An elderly man walked up the podium, his old withered hands clasped behind his back. Although he was old, one could still see that he was quite handsome in his younger years. His long white hair draped behind his back and his bright green eyes looked at the crowd below.
Seeing that all of the crowd gathered was looking at him, awaiting for his speech, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Since you all have gathered here, you know what this gathering is about. The mystic realm of trials, also known as Realm of Fortitude is a mystic realm that existed longer than any of us can imagine. We don’t know when it was created, or even if it was man-made at that, but we do know some of its functions.”
Although he wasn’t using any amplifiers, his deep and soothing voice could be heard clearly in everyone’s ears.
“The Realm of Fortitude has a limit of cultivation level, having the absolute rule of only accepting second ranked rune masters. Of course, this doesn’t mean that one can’t advance into the third stage inside, but it will not allow anyone who is about to breakthrough to enter. It will only allow those that advance stages inside.”
“Inside the Realm you will find different stages, also known as ‘tests’ that will test out every aspect of your talents, giving you corresponding rewards. Since the flow of time is different inside, you may spend years there, but out here only a few days at most would have passed.”
“Later, after you have finished all of the ‘Tests’ you will be given a badge by the realm that will determine the ranking you acquired. The badges that have been seen so far range from White, green, yellow, red, blue and purple. If you wish to enter any of the sects after obtaining one, just showcase your badge to them. Don’t forget, that even obtaining a white badge is a great achievement, meaning that you have passed all of the tests, so you will be accepted into any sect you wish as long as you obtain one.”
“That will conclude the basic explanation for the Realm. The gate will open up shortly and you may all enter freely.”
Everyone’s blood boiled at the elderly man’s speech, as they couldn’t wait to participate in the mystic realm tests.
After waiting for a few more minutes, a gigantic gate opened up behind the sect representatives, covering a few kilometers.
Rui stared in awe at the fantasy like size, as he couldn’t believe his eyes.
So far, although he had experienced amazing things, especially the system, they still felt grounded to some sort of reality, due to the small scale.
But now, looking at the giant gate, he couldn’t help but comprehend how truly insignificant he was in this world.
People rushed in like a tsunami as soon as the gate opened up, including disciples who were already part of a sect.
Finding it difficult to enter with all of the people hoarding over the gate, Rui ordered Sunny to fly him there.
Sunny had grown considerably in size, now being the size of a harpy eagle, and he even resembled one.
Rui grabbed his legs and Sunny was easily able to lift him up and bring him to the gate.
Reaching the gate Rui put his hand in, getting the feeling like he was touching water. Seeing that nothing happened even after he just touched it, he ordered Sunny to go in, feeling like he had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, completely blurring his vision and numbing his senses.
After a few seconds, his vision returned, finding himself inside a small empty room, with Sunny perched on his shoulder.
﴾Welcome To the Realm of Fortitude. We will now proceed with the first test.﴿
Suddenly a voice was heard, shocking Rui out of his thoughts.
﴾Test number one will now start, please find the Jade slip(s) hidden around the area. ﴿
﴾Time Remaining 24:00:00﴿
Rui opened his eyes wide, as the small room he was occupying expanded exponentially and grassed covered the ground, the ceiling completely disappearing and getting covered by a bright blue sky.
The sounds of birds, crickets and other animals could be instantly heard, as they slowly populated the area.
Rui glanced at the timer, seeing the twenty four hours slowly trickle down.
Wanting to understand the situation better, he used his skills, identifying everything in the surroundings, but finding that everything was real.
He tried to activate his [Way finder] Skill, but he was unable to do so.
Perplexed by the situation, he asked the System.
“Rai, what is this phenomena? Are we still inside that small room, or is this a completely different area?”
╓ Analysis of the area has already been done, concluding that you are still inside that small room. From what my data shows, this seems to be a high grade illusion, or simulation of an environment, able to completely fool your eyes and the system’s functions. The realm itself seems to be functioning on different laws from our normal world, since the molecular parameters seem to have changed somewhat, making it hard for the system to correctly compute. ╖
Rui only understood half of the things Rai had explained. Not wanting to bother with over-thinking his situation, he decided to clear out the first test as fast as possible.
Activating [understanding],[Search],[identify],[parallel thinking] and [Clairvoyance], he actively foraged for the so called ‘jade slips’.
After a few minutes of searching, he had found eight of them scattered around the area, some discretely hidden beneath trees and others held by animals.
Glancing at the eight jade slips, his slowly inspected them and put runic energy inside.
[You have come into contact with spectral grade technique]
[Technique is used to artificially end the test]
[8/10 jade slips have been acquired]
Looking at the new system windows Rui smiled bitterly.
‘So I need two more, but I’ve already searched all the areas, I can’t seem to be able to find the last two.’
Opening his map window, he changed the elevation to a lower one, finding a small cave entrance nearby.
Heading in, he found that it opened up to a much bigger cavern filled with water.
At the center of the cavern, a jade slip floated, clearly taunting him in some way.
Rui headed over after carefully scrutinizing every corner of the cave and grabbed it.
In that very instant, the voice was heard once again.
﴾Participant has cleared the first test, do you wish to proceed to the next test?﴿
Listening to the announcement, Rui was taken aback.
He was sure that the system told him that there existed ten jade slips, so why was the test over after finding nine?
Not wishing to progress to the next stage yet, he didn’t reply and continued to search for the last jade slip.
﴾Participant has cleared the first test, do you wish to proceed to the next test?﴿
The voice continued to ache him on, but Rui didn’t care and continued the search.
After an hour of searching every single inch of the area, he looked at the clouds and inspected them.
Truth be told, they were not real clouds, but rather solid objects.
Using Sunny, he was able to reach up there and find the last missing jade slip.
[All jade slips have been acquired]
[skill ‘End’ can be used during the duration of test one]
Without saying anything, Rui activated the skill, disintegrating the surroundings and returning to the small room from before.