Chapter 404: Scorn
Humans on earth had a deep understanding and knowledge about runes, which gave them more information on how they were able to utilize the runes. Runes were not only there as characters, nor alphabets--they were even more important than the weapons that protected warriors' lives.
The runes were widely used in many areas. As such, the Cloud Sect's cultivation places were established with magical arrays that were made of runes and other materials. Many weapons were seen inscribed with runes on their blades. These weapons were revered. Not only were these weapons used for protection, but rather they were enforced with great power.
When it came to guarding, there were different kinds of sect protecting arrays which were closely related to runes. For pill refiners and weapon refiners, they used fire runes to strengthen the flames' power. All beings should be thankful for the runic experts who gave their time and effort into studying those materials. If it weren't for them, the powers and wonders of the runes would not be harnessed.
The cyan dragon's divine texture was otherworldly, a heritage from another broader world. Its conception was far beyond the common runes people knew. And its creation, design, and power were so intricately well thought of that the runes in the Central Region were no match for it. The divine texture's powers were among the cream of the crop, exceptional.
“The divine texture? So...can I start practicing the divine texture now?” Zen asked nervously while containing his happiness.
“Yes, you may. But even if you take the soul essences, you might not be able to handle it since yours is still not very strong. Moreover, if you must start to learn the divine texture at this very moment, mind that you will only be able to master the lowest grade. Are you sure you want to learn it now?”
Zen replied, light glinting in his eyes, “Rome was not built in one day. And the longest journey begins with the first step. If I don't take the first step, when will I ever start?”
“Yes, you're right. Drawing the divine texture would consume a lot of your spiritual power. But at the same time, it is a good way to temper your spirit. This is the right time for you to learn it...” The cyan dragon continued. Slowly and firmly, he said, “But the first step of creating the divine texture is to infuse your spiritual power to the tip of the paintbrush.”
“The tip of the paintbrush? What paintbrush?” Zen asked with confusion.
“Of course it is the paintbrush that is used to draw the divine texture. But it seems that you don't have all the materials needed to draw it. If you really want to learn the technique, you must first gather all the materials,” the cyan dragon said lightly.
“I think it won't be difficult for you to infuse your spiritual power to the tip of the paintbrush. After all, you have already practiced Spiritual Thorn and have already comprehended the process of turning a soul into a thorn. Gather and prepare the materials tomorrow, then I will teach you to draw the first divine texture stroke. After that, I'll assess whether you have the talent to master the skill.”
Then a list of materials appeared in Zen's mind.
Zen felt giddy seeing the cyan dragon's list of materials. Runic experts or weapon refiners didn't become masters in one day. No one became experts in a day. It was all about patience, practice, and heart. It was just like the case when Zen wanted to refine weapons with the heavenly essence. The real technique of weapon refining could not be grasped by relying only on the guidance book of the weapon refining master Chase. Even if there was a famous teacher who could demonstrate each step and give guidance, it would still be extremely difficult for him to go anywhere by relying on his own understanding of the skill.
And that was why some Cloud Sect disciples from the noble clans and the Cloud Hall disciples from the influential families despised someone like Zen, who was from the grassroots. People from the noble clans were people born with silver spoons in their mouths. But Zen was different. He had to double up his efforts into achieving his goals for he didn't have much. The noble clans had the resources to get anything that they had wanted. If they had wanted to learn anything, their family could have easily hired a famous teacher and their performance couldn't be as bad under the guidance of a successful master.
That was also why it was difficult for the disciples from the grassroots to stand out, as ninety-nine percent of these disciples were already left behind when they were born.
Doors were opened for a chance at mastering multiple skills. Now that Zen had finally found the legendary teacher, the cyan dragon, nothing could stop him from achieving greatness.
The sun shone brightly on Zen's face. He got up, yawned and stretched. He was about to go to the dining table for breakfast when suddenly, he felt his body trembling uncontrollably. Saint Morphens was controlling him. He wasn't able to do anything but be the victim. He struggled with it, fighting the Morphens controlling his body when suddenly, his body flew out of the room and zoomed towards the grey building.
To Zen, fighting three battles a day was a big burden. He had to stand out among the disciples, proving to himself and to others that poor family couldn't make him less of a warrior.
Yesterday, only about one hundred disciples were there in the grey building. But today, when Zen entered the hall, he was surprised by what he saw. There weren't one hundred people. The people doubled!
Zen could not believe his eyes. So many people were in the hall that a warrior could not pass without having to break the sea of people. He wasn't sure how many disciples were usually there in the building, but he was sure that it wasn't this many. As the name suggested, only the elites were allowed to enter the Elite House. Warriors had to go through numerous and difficult tests to be ever considered worthy of entering the Elite House. Even the warriors of the Cloud School, which was affiliated to the Cloud Hall, and the warriors of the other five great sects, had to undergo the series of tests. Was this a regular scene?
Zen was baffled. He never thought of meeting this many more people than ever before. More than that, he was surprised at the sight of some Internal Elixir Realm masters in the hall.
Zen raised an eyebrow. He had unintentionally poured scorn on them. But it was not his doing. He was controlled by Tia. Did they have to make such a fuss? Those Internal Elixir Realm masters were not the members of the Elite House, Zen supposed.
In all honesty, those Internal Elixir Realm masters were not from the Elite House. Zen thought of a reason for their presence--his manners. Stories of Zen's unruly manners for the past two days had spread around the Cloud Hall.
All the disciples of the Elite House knew that there was a new member who was extremely arrogant. And that new disciple was only a nature creature. The news was not only known to the disciples of the Elite House. The news spread even to other members and masters. It was not surprising that even some of the elders of the Cloud Hall knew about this obnoxious nature creature.
And Fernandez was one of elders that was stirred by this news.
When Zen was on the Cloud Road, Fernandez had shown special care for Zen. Within his ability, he would like to speak for Zen, vouch for him to get him out of any trouble. Fernandez saw Zen's potential. He saw that Zen would become an extraordinary disciple in the Cloud Hall in the future. He got great talent. And it was only a matter of time for him to achieve success. Fernandez believed in him.
But Fernandez didn't expect that Zen could ever behave that way. He was surprised to hear that Zen, a new member of the Elite House, just sent out a challenge to everyone in the hall. What an ambitious warrior! It was all too soon.
Driven by curiosity, Fernandez decided to go to see the scene himself. He was an elder, and it was not appropriate for him to make an appearance in the grey building. Eager to see what was happening, he made himself invisible.
As soon as Zen reached the grey building, Fernandez uttered a surprising sound. With his level, he was able to notice the glimmers of light that surrounded Zen. “What happened? Zen is being manipulated!”
Fernandez was confused. His eyebrows moved closer together.
Just like using a thread to control a puppet, the puppet master was able to deprive anyone of the control of their own bodies. The most famous puppet master of them all in the Cloud Hall was saint Morphens. Aged as Fernandez was, he was a highly esteemed elder, a wise man indeed. Fernandez soon pieced every clue together, solving the mystery of how Zen could act so differently. And he just figured out what might be the case.
“I got it,” Fernandez exclaimed. Fernandez had known Zen for so long and he knew Zen would never act like that. Even if Zen had every right to boast about his strength and skills, he would not still do it. Fernandez believed that Zen knew better. He wouldn't be so bored to do such a stupid thing.
If it was not Zen's doing, then the commotion must have had something to do with the leader of Cloud Hall.
Fernandez was able to see through the facade. He knew what was behind all this. The disciples of the Elite House had no clue that it was a trick. They were really infuriated by Zen's arrogant manner these two days. Warriors in the hall looked like they were about to burn a witch. Their hands were clenched, jaws set, and knuckles popped. They were all ready to give Zen the lesson he would remember for the rest of his life. They were ready to beat him up into a pulp!
The fight commenced. Punches were thrown. One, two, three punches were dodged by Zen. Fists were flying across the hall. But to everyone's dismay, Zen had defeated three Elite House disciples. All three were at the fifth grade of Illuminating Soul Realm. Zen did not know what to make of the situation. He fled and left the angry disciples behind.
Zen still chose the weak opponents. He knew what he was capable of and thought that it would have been a huge mistake to choose disciples at the seventh or eighth grade of the Illuminating Soul Realm. After all, he was allowed to choose his opponents since the Elite House disciples had no other way to deal with him.
After competing in the fight, Zen was tired, his muscles ached, his body weakened. But this did not stop him. He was focused on the mastery of the divine texture. He rushed to the market of Cloud Hall, limping a bit. He could not believe himself that the exhaustion brought by the fight made him almost forget about the materials he must get for the cyan dragon.
As a community, the disciples of the Cloud Hall created a market that provided convenience for the disciples. They traded, sold, and bought from the stores. The biggest business alliance in the Central Region, the World Commercial Alliance, also had a store in the market.
The market was at the edge of the Cloud Hall. Walking towards the end of the street, Zen saw the vast sea of clouds, They were a live reminder of what beauty was. It was so unreal, he could not see the ground because he was literally tens of thousands of feet high in the air!
The smell of forged metal filled the air. Books written by masters lay on the ground. The noise of traders bargaining, the hustle and bustle of the busy market street flooded the atmosphere. Zen flipped through the stalls as if they were book pages in search for the store which could give him the materials he needed.
He came across this store. He looked for a signage, but he found none. He looked up, down, sideways, nothing could determine which store he was in. He walked a little bit to the left and he saw this big board, with something written on it. But the text was so small that all he made out of it was that they were small characters carved in ancient calligraphy. He squinted his eyes to see what they read--World Commercial Alliance.
The World Commercial Alliance was not foreign to the disciples at all. It was well known in their area. In fact, the organization had a strong background. Rumors circled in that although the World Commercial Alliance didn't belong to any sect, when it came to the strength and influence, it was even more powerful than the Cloud Hall. It was almost a fifth grade organization. Not too much of an intimidation to the customers, but also not the weakest. The World Commercial Alliance played a neutral ground--it never got involved in any sect fight, never got too political.
Zen walked into the store, his eyes wandered and saw all kinds of materials showcased on the shelf.
Zen's eyes widened as there were a wide variety of strange materials. He saw something like Stapelia Variegata Linn, Wood Thunderlight Stone, and even a block of rotten cloud basswood that lasted for over thirty thousand years. The rare, the strange, the beautiful, this store had it all.
The mastery of runes required a deep learning and understanding. It was a heavy and important topic to learn because the art of runes contained and covered everything. Thanks to the studies of the ancient men from tens of thousands of years ago, warriors could harness the potential that the runes gave them. They created the technique through hard study and experiment and refined it along the way. And it became what it was today--a powerful and magic martial arts technique.
In the store, an old man was sitting behind the counter. The man lowered his head, with a round glass in his hand. Looking intently on the material on his other hand, he seemed to be examining the small and closely-written characters on a jade pendant. The jade was very special, perhaps because it was, after all, a rare and ancient jade. The characters on it were very strange, an unknown language to Zen.
“Boss!” Zen called out after he entered the store.
The old man was startled as he had been too focused on the thing he was doing. He raised his head and saw Zen. When he found that the customer was only a nature creature, he seemed confused. The people who came to this market were mostly at the level of Illuminating Soul Realm or above. As he knew it was rare for a nature creature to enter the Cloud Hall. Even if anyone in the Cloudy City wanted to go to the market, they at least should have the ability to fly up here. But only Illuminating Soul Realm cultivators were able to do that.
“What's up?” The old man asked in an angry tone. It was irritating to be disturbed, and worse, Zen was only a nature creature, and that didn't deserve any respect.
“I want to buy some materials, and a paintbrush to draw the runes,” Zen said while looking around, avoiding the old man's eyes.
“Materials and paintbrush? You want to make runes? You?” The old man asked, let out a little laugh, a glint of mockery in his eyes.