THE MARTIAL KING - Season 8 Episode 38

The fine tip of the runic brush glided smoothly over the smooth surface.

Although it was just a third-star rune, Zen had drawn it quite swiftly.

A rune master might not have a high cultivation level, but his soul force was more powerful than those cultivators of his level.

Meanwhile, Dillon and the stewards watched Zen in amazement. Zen finished the first rune swiftly without a break. ‘His soul’s strength is incredible!’ Dillon thought.

His eyes darted to a steward of the World Commercial Alliance who stood next to him, and then he winked.

The steward understood and proceeded to open a jade box with a black pill inside, and then he handed it to Zen.

“What is this?” Zen asked dubiously as he glanced at the box.

“This is the top-grade Soul-nurturing Pill. You can nourish your soul with this, since you must have consumed some during the drawing,” the steward replied politely.

“No need! I didn’t use much of my soul force,” Zen grinned and said. The steward nodded and quietly went back with the jade box.

Ever since Zen’s soul had entered the Fighting Soul Realm, his soul had been enhanced every day. He didn’t need to rest even if he had drawn five hundred third-star runes, so he didn’t need the Soul-nurturing Pill to nourish his soul either. Besides, the Soul-nurturing Pill still contained some impurities even if it was of the best quality. Zen thought that it was inconvenient if he had to refine the impurities in it after he had consumed the elixir. Thus, he refused to accept their gift.

On the other hand, Dillon glared at the three runic experts and internally cursed them. After they had drawn half of a rune, they would bathe themselves, wash their hands, burn an incense stick, and swallow a Soul-nurturing Pill. They were afraid that their souls would be hurt when they drew the rune.

They were quite arrogant, but the runes they had drawn weren’t even that powerful. However, the runes they sold were shockingly overpriced. They had a fixed price list, and the people of the World Commercial Alliance or other dealers had never gotten any discounts at all. People from the Runic Tower certainly made a big fortune.

However, the Runic Tower needed to turn in a part of its income to the World Commercial Alliance. Even then, Dillon didn’t quite like the organization. He disagreed with the way they dealt with things.

That was why he was quite pleased when Zen, a talented runic expert, arrived. ‘He could make those three old men realize how lame they are, ‘ Dillon mentally sneered.

And he did get what he wanted, as the three runic experts including Nate had all lowered their heads now. A teenager easily drew the three-star rune. Although Zen didn’t look down at them, they felt ashamed of themselves.

‘What a Perfect Brushwork! I can’t reach his level in rune making even if I spend the rest of my life practicing runes, ‘ the three of them thought.

After Zen had drawn the first rune, he became excited. He didn’t waste a minute and immediately started to draw out lines on the stone tablet.

“What’s going on? Why did Zen repair the runes?”

“Weren’t you updated? The three old fellows from the Runic Tower said that they needed three days to repair them, but Zen said that he could do it in two hours!”

“Three days? Are they kidding me?! Who would spend three days watching them repair some stupid runes?”

“But why would Zen be able to repair those runes? I heard that the Runic Tower is the sacred place for runes in the Central Region.

Zen is not a runic expert from there, but a warrior. How could he do that?”

“Since he knows how to draw runes, it means that Zen is a rune master himself.

It’s not fair. Now a warrior of the Illuminating Soul Realm, who has defeated warriors at the Internal Elixir Realm is even proficient in drawing runes…”

The audience started to whisper among themselves. In reality however, they knew nothing about runes. They had no idea how to appreciate the Perfect Brushwork or what it meant to do it in such a fast speed like Zen did. Then again, the three old men of the Runic Tower needed three days to complete the runes, while Zen only needed two hours to finish them.

Therefore, they concluded that Zen was better at runes than those runic experts.
The leaders of Bloodwood Cliff, Mysterious Luna Hall and Ethereal Spirit Sect just swallowed as they observed how fast Zen drew the runes.

‘The Cloud Hall is so lucky to have such a disciple!

Not only is he an amazing cultivator, but he’s also well-versed in runes, ‘ the three leaders thought. In fact, Lady Poison-blood of the Bloodwood Cliff and Raven of the Black Mountain Sect had dropped by and paid Nate a big sum for his runes.

But according to what they observed, Zen was more adept in runes than Nate was.

What made the three leaders the most envious was Zen had presented his leader a top-grade sacred weapon. ‘What a rich, generous disciple!’ they thought with admiration.

Meanwhile, Lady Poison-blood had mixed feelings as she stared at Zen. A few seconds later, her gaze went to Letitia, who was on the platform and thought, ‘This boy is really something. If I was Letitia, I would be quite fond of him too—but there is a huge gap between them with regard to their cultivation.

Although this brat has just entered the Illuminating Soul Realm, he already defeated Eden, who is a divine-level talent. This means that Zen is more talented than Eden. It is just a matter of time before he would step into the Virtual Tribulation Realm.’

While Lady Poison Blood was busy with her thoughts, Letitia beamed as she observed Zen. A man appeared more charming than usual when he was focused on something.

One stone tablet, five stone tablets, twenty, fifty…

Zen restored the runes on the burnt stones one by one.

Soon enough, he had repaired 126 stones. After that, a few stewards from the World Commercial Alliance came forward, picked up the stones, and walked away.

They needed to arrange the stones in a sequence, so that the runes could show their real power.

In addition to these third-star runes, there were still three larger pieces of stones with fourth-star runes left.

Clearly, it was more difficult to draw fourth-star runes than the third-star ones.

Zen’s initial plan was to directly restore those fourth-star runes. However, he caught a glimpse of his sister before he had started to draw on the stone in front of him. Devoid of any facial expressions, Yan was more like a robot except that she could breathe.

Zen’s face turned cold, and the brush in his hand glowed brilliantly. He drew out the first line based on its former pattern on the stone, and then made some adjustments.

He drew a special rune on that particular stone tablet. It was a divine texture!

However, Zen had a special method to make it look like a common fourth-star rune. Only Nate and the other excellent runic experts could notice the difference after they infused their souls into the rune. Still, Nate couldn’t even raise his head after being teased by Dillon, not to mention pay attention to the fourth-star rune Zen was painting.

A fourth-star rune’s pattern was much more complicated than that of a third star one.

Fifteen minutes later, Zen finally completed the fourth-star rune.

The ink of the four-star rune was the Gold Cloud Powder, which was made of bones that had existed way before, and other materials. Thus, the patterns on the stone gave off golden radiance, and a mysterious divine texture was hidden under the radiance.

When Dillon saw that Zen had drawn the fourth-star rune, he sighed in relief.

“Nate, it looks like you need to hang your name upside down on the wall!” he said to Nate with a smile. To hang one’s own name upside down on the wall was a way to show that he had been humiliated by himself.

Nate stared at Zen’s fourth-star rune. “I’ll do that when I’m back!” he responded after a long pause.

Each runic expert of the Runic Tower had their names written with runes on their room doors. He could hang his name upside down on the door, but it was a huge insult to him.

‘I finally taught you a lesson. I’m sure you will be less chirpy, ‘ Dillon scoffed in his heart.

After a while, Zen finished drawing the second and the third fourth-star runes. The stewards picked up the three fourth-star runes and started to place them carefully.

Dillon walked towards Zen and greeted him. “Mr. Luo, you have painted over a hundred runes. I was wondering if you need to nourish your soul,” he said with a smile. “If you don’t like the Soul-nurturing Pills because they have impurities, I have a Soul-nurturing Jade which can help you nourish your soul. It is an extra reward for your work,” he added.

“Soul-nurturing Jade!” the three runic experts, including Nate exclaimed. Their eyes gleamed with envy as they stared at the Soul-nurturing Jade.

They all knew that the World Commercial Alliance had a jade, which could cultivate one’s spirit. Nate and the other runic experts had previously asked for it in the past few years, but their requests were denied. To their surprise, Dillon was now giving it to the young lad.