New runes were displayed on the steel one after another, and as time passed, Ou Yangming was bound to feel weary.

After carving five runes consecutively, Ou Yangming finally stopped. He sat with his legs crossed and took a rest in silence. At this instant, he missed the big multicolored tiger's carcass.

It was a formidable half-spirit beast, after all. If Ou Yangming could replenish his Qi and blood through the carcass' flesh and blood, there was no need for him to rest at all, and he could simply remember all runes in one go.

The young fellow subconsciously glanced at Elder Universe, who felt an intense chill once more.

Nonetheless, the Supreme Great Ancestor could not figure out why even if he racked his brain. It was true that Ou Yangming did not have a reason to attack him at all, but the elder was unaware that the young fellow was not looking at a senior just now; he was looking at flesh and blood, which contained plenty of energy.

Elder Universe shook his head and curbed his thoughts. He fixed his gaze on the steel that was placed beside Ou Yangming.

A rune drawing was seen on the surface, and it looked the same as the veined pattern on one of the stones around the young man.

It was worth noting that it was not the first drawing made. Elder Universe noticed that Ou Yangming had made five rune drawings earlier, each one was perfectly replicated without any mistake.

Elder Universe would be extremely pleased to see an ordinary person having such an ability.

On the contrary, he thought that Ou Yangming was still lacking if this was all he could do. At the end of the day, Ou Yangming's mental power was far beyond a normal person's, hence his performance should be good enough to suppress other people.

Carving runes on steel and visualizing runes were two entirely different matters.

After resting for 15 minutes, Ou Yangming opened his eyes and picked up the steel to continue etching runes on it.

The pitiful steel was constantly being kneaded by him, where veined patterns were formed, removed, replaced, and the cycle kept repeating.

If another person had carried out the same process, one could not have withstood it even if one had greater mental power than Ou Yangming.

This was because the engraving of runes not only consumed mental power, but also enormous energy.

Without sufficient energy, one would deviate from the right path of runes. At times, even if one forced oneself to form a rune, it might not be qualified; even if it was qualified, it would only be a poor product.

For instance, Master Lu could produce molds, but due to his limited strength, the molds that he made only had a 50% success rate in upgrading pieces of equipment.

It was not the result that Master Lu was aiming for, but given that his strength was restricted, he could not accurately grasp the runes' veined patterns. Consequently, he could not enhance the molds' qualities.

On the other hand, Ou Yangming had achieved the thoroughly meticulous state. Under the state, the runes that were imitated by him would be rated as perfect.

Nevertheless, when the eighth veined pattern was formed, an accident took place.

The purple light, which Ou Yangming was hoping to see, did not appear. The young fellow was in a daze as he looked at the veined pattern on the steel like a fool.

'What's going on?'

For the first time, Ou Yangming was feeling uneasy.

The purple Military Fire had always been his greatest support and his trump card. In fact, even the Devouring attribute from the Sky-devouring Devil God was inferior to it.

Therefore, when the mysterious purple Military Fire malfunctioned without warning, the impact on Ou Yangming was so huge that it was unimaginable.

Elder Universe looked at Ou Yangming and remarked, "You consumed too much mental power today, so you should rest."

Ou Yangming was stunned. A strange thought crossed his mind when he looked at the elder, then he shook his head and uttered, "Let me try again."

He changed to another stone and began to carve according to the rune drawing.

It did not take long for the drawing to be completed, and the purple light in his mind emerged as it should.

Ou Yangming's eyebrows twitched because he finally knew what was wrong earlier.

He reached out to point at the previous stone. "Senior, is there something wrong with the rune on this stone?"

Elder Universe was startled, and he was slightly furious when he turned to look. "Nonsense. I etched the runes by myself, so how could there be a mistake!"

"But…" Ou Yangming frowned and explained, "I remember seeing the same rune from one of the Ni family's ancient books, and this one's a little different…"

"Oh, the Ni family?" Elder Universe was taken aback. He was one of the people who knew the Ni family's background very well, so if the rune was truly recorded in one of their ancient books, he dared not claim that he was right.

The elder raised his hand, causing the stone to fly up and land in his hand.

Elder Universe studied the stone carefully with his bright eyes, then an unusual look was seen on his face after a brief moment. If Ou Yangming was not mistaken, he even noticed a hint of red on the elder's cheeks.

It was quite rare to see the thick-faced powerhouse, who was over a hundred years old, blush.

"Uhm…" Elder Universe cleared his throat. "The rune on this stone is indeed wrong, but it doesn't affect its function. Hmm, I'll bring you another one."

He turned his wrist and retrieved another stone from an unknown area, then he tossed it to the ground.

Once the stone landed on the previous stone's spot, there was a subtle change in the environment.

Ou Yangming sensed a boost in Heaven and Earth's power in this area. Although it was not much, the enhancement was legitimate.

The young fellow nodded and began carving according to the new rune.

When the new rune was made after some time, Ou Yangming finally sensed the purple light.

He finally understood that the purple light was mysterious indeed. If he carved a wrong rune or if the rune was flawed and imperfect, the purple light would refuse to show up.

The purple rune naturally possessed the ability to appraise, and it was so picky that it would not make an appearance if the rune was not perfect.

Ou Yangming grinned and continued to engrave more runes, but Elder Universe was quite infuriated.

'This young fella is quite capable; I can't believe that he spotted a tiny flaw that I made.'

Suddenly, Elder Universe became anxious. If Ou Yangming were to find another flaw, he would be totally embarrassed.

Fortunately, as Ou Yangming controlled his Military Fire to produce more runes and replicated everything, he did not point out another faulty stone.

The moment Ou Yangming opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Elder Universe's look of relief.

Elder Universe scoffed when he noticed Ou Yangming looking at him oddly. He spoke to the young fellow proudly, "Take your time to memorize them; you don't have to rush it."

Despite that, Ou Yangming smiled and informed the elder, "Senior, I've memorized all runes."

"You memorized all of them? Young fella, don't speak carelessly. Hmph, do you think copying the runes means you've remembered and grasped them?" Elder Universe furrowed his eyebrows and sneered disdainfully. "If the path of runes can be learned so easily, I wouldn't have trouble in finding a suitable successor."

Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. He replied to the elder with a bitter smile, "I really memorized all of them."

Elder Universe curled his lips and flapped his sleeves, causing the stones to fly into his sleeves.

Ou Yangming's eyes glowed as he had a question in mind.

'There are quite a number of stones here, so how does Elder Universe keep them in his sleeves? Besides, his sleeves don't look like they've expanded.'

"Since you claim you've memorized them, I'll be testing you," Elder Universe noted with a deep voice. He pointed with his finger and ordered, "Draw the runes that were shown on the stones just now."

With something as a reference, even an ordinary martial artist could reproduce the rune drawings.

Needless to say, without a deep understanding of runes, whatever produced would only have mere appearance; it would not be able to activate the unique power between Heaven and Earth.

That said, even if Ou Yangming understood the path of runes, without references and without visualizing the runes, it was quite impossible for him to replicate the runes.

Elder Universe stroked his long beard and looked at Ou Yangming smilingly. He intended to see how the young fellow would embarrass himself.

However, Ou Yangming closed his eyes and pondered for a while, then he nodded and responded, "Okay."

The Military Fire burned in his hands once more, causing the steel's surface to be flattened right away. Under the sunlight, a striking light was reflected from the material.

Following that, untypical routes appeared on the steel mold's surface.

It was the routes of one of the runes, and the instant the veined patterns surfaced, Elder Universe was fully immersed.

Under the elder's watch, the rune was successfully and accurately drawn. Each route was precise and solid as though the steel became a thin paper while Ou Yangming drew on it.

Upon sensing a hint of aura, which was as firm as a mountain, Elder Universe had a feeling that Ou Yangming had completely grasped the rune. If one had not perceived the rune's true meaning, one could not have carried out the process so smoothly.

Even if one had an amazing memory, it was simply impossible.

This was because runes were closely related to nature, thus it was not something that could be remembered through mere memory.

At last, under Ou Yangming's control, the rune was perfectly displayed to the elder.

Elder Universe looked deeply at Ou Yangming and instructed, "Now, change to this rune.

"Change to another one.

"Change to this one.

"This one, this one, this one…"

Veined patterns of different runes were etched on the steel one after another. With that, Elder Universe was unknowingly looking at Ou Yangming with a completely different look.