Ou Yangming rubbed his hands and released the Appraisal Light on himself.

[Race: Human]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Human, Yin Grade, Class Four]

[Power: 9]

[Agility: 9]

[Physique: 13 (9+4)]

[Mental Power: 43 (41+2)]

[Skills: Military fist art, military blade technique, Military Fire Smithing Art, appraisal art, Precious Stone Embedding Art, Blood Flight, Substitution (Passive), Suicidal Throat-locking Spear, Runes Formation]

[State: Integration of Heaven and man, thoroughly meticulous]

As Ou Yangming's martial arts cultivation base was increased to Class Four, his basic attributes increased correspondingly. Much to his surprise, his mental power improved too.

The extra points for Physique and mental power were contributions from the Blood Flight waist sash.

Overall, the increase of attribute points proved that his cultivation efforts were not in vain.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming was shocked to see the Runes Formation Skill.

He only learned the Runes Skill and had not touched on the legendary formations. Even so, he knew that appraisal art was the result of Heaven and Earth's mighty power, so there could not have been a mistake.

Before long, Ou Yangming was struck with a flash of wisdom. It turned out that the stone arrangement that seemed like it was casually set up by Elder Universe was a formation.

Since Ou Yangming accidentally shifted the formation into his sea of consciousness, it meant that he had also learned a formation. Although he had not grasped any knowledge about formations, appraisal art approved of his ability.

Ou Yangming smiled embarrassedly and focused on his consciousness one more.

This time, he noticed a strange occurrence.

In the center of his sea of consciousness, the Runes Formation turned into a circle and released a mysterious power, which triggered his mental power to circulate. The enormous mental power kept spiraling around the formation like a stream of water, and each time it circulated, subtle energy was produced.

The happening ran on the same theory as when Ou Yangming cultivated under the moonlight, but the only difference was that the cultivation environment was shifted to the center of his consciousness, and he could cultivate at any time and anywhere.

Moreover, the formation stimulated more than just his mental power; items that were wrapped by the purple lights were also eager to move.

Whether it was the purple attributes or the four other runes, they all expressed the eagerness to enter the center of the Runes Formation.

When Ou Yangming put an act to his thought, a run instantly flew up. It was the most solid Upgrade Rune, and it quietly floated to the center of the formation.

Since Ou Yangming was the one who built the formation, the other runes could not enter without his permission, but the formation could not stop them if he gave the order.

The rune landed in the middle of the formation map, then it floated again and somehow became more solid than it already was. Besides, Ou Yangming was in disbelief because a faint unreal image was seen beneath the rune.

Ou Yangming observed it for some time, then his face took on an odd expression.

This was because he identified what the imaginary image was.

It turned out to be an arm guard. Beneath the rune, the unreal image of an arm guard slowly appeared.

The rune's effect was to upgrade inexpensive arm guards' grades and ranks, allowing a Common Grade arm guard to advance to Good Grade. In that case, it made sense for an arm guard's image to appear below the rune.

Nevertheless, Ou Yangming looked confused while he kept his eyes closed.

He had a vague feeling that he had neglected something.

All of a sudden, his body shook, and the mental power that spiraled around the Runes Formation paused as well.

Ou Yangming's heart began to pound drastically, and a bizarre yet seemingly achievable thought appeared in his mind.

The center of the Runes Formation could be utilized to reinforce other runes.

If the process was carried out in reverse, could other runes be derived?

Ou Yangming inhaled deeply and used his mind to guide the rune out of the middle of the formation. Even though the rune left the center, the faintly visible arm guard did not disappear.

It was evident that the formation had an incredible function.

Despite that, it was not the right timing to study the formation map. Ou Yangming paid full attention to the visualization process.

The young fellow was a great Military Fire Blacksmith. He had not been in the trade for a long time, but he had certainly produced several types of equipment.

Therefore, Ou Yangming had a good understanding of various equipment.

He needed to visualize a weapon at the moment.

After some considerations, Ou Yangming decided to first visualize a military saber.

While he was the most adept in spear technique now, the commonly used weapon in the military was the military saber. If he entered the forest, he could not carry a spear, which could be a burden.

As Ou Yangming focused on his sea of consciousness, he tried his best to recall a military saber's structure.

Fortunately, his mental power was exceptional, and he had experience in visualizing runes. Hence, he was able to visualize a weapon very quickly.

A military saber's image slowly appeared in Ou Yangming's sea of consciousness. This was the weapon that he had smithed and understood the most.

As soon as the image was visualized, Ou Yangming sent it into the Runes Formation.

The visualization was a perfect imitation but without the purple light's reinforcement, the visualized image would disappear whenever Ou Yangming stopped focusing on his consciousness.

Once the visualized military saber was sent into the Runes Formation, an extremely weird change occurred.

The circulating mental power released hints of energy that flowed into the formation map and was channeled into the visualized image.

Among the streams of mental power, some of them glowed in purple.

Ou Yangming was surprised but also overjoyed because he had a feeling that he succeeded.

Sure enough, as the purple light and mental power gushed into the military saber's visualized image, it finally solidified. Even if Ou Yangming left his sea of consciousness, it would still be in the center of the formation.

Ou Yangming calmed down and chanted in the sea of consciousness.

'Upgrade Rune, Upgrade Rune, Upgrade Rune…'

The voice was as soft as an insect's buzz, but as Ou Yangming kept repeating it, it fluctuated drastically in his consciousness. In the end, even the mental power around the formation started to shake.

Eventually, the entire sea of consciousness vibrated because of the voice.

This was Ou Yangming's sea of consciousness. As the owner, the place was his territory, and he could do anything as he wished.

Following that, Ou Yangming was surprised by a wonderful evolution from the military saber in the center of the formation. Above the visualized image, a rune's imaginary image appeared.

It was not a clear image, it looked like it would disperse at any time, but Ou Yangming could tell that it was slowly coming together.

The joy that Ou Yangming felt at that moment could not be put into words.

He knew that the Runes Formation, which he had set up by coincidence, had a marvelous effect that was beyond his imaginations.

The formation's function of constantly improving his mental power was only one of its basic features, whereas the abilities that were revealed as it expanded were more exaggerated.

When Ou Yangming placed the Upgrade Rune in the center, the rune became steadier, and its shortcomings were made up for.

On the other hand, a brand new rune was created when Ou Yangming did a reversed derivation.

The new rune was still an unreal image, and Ou Yangming did not know how long it would take for it to be fully formed. However, with the Runes Formation, everything was not an unrealistic fantasy anymore, but an anticipated target.

Ou Yangming observed the rune for some time before he left his sea of consciousness.

Instead of making adjustments, the young fellow needed to wait in silence. He believed that the rune would successfully emerge soon.

Ou Yangming stood up and pondered for a while, then he headed toward the library, which he had once previously visited.

The library was one of the forbidden areas in the Ni residence.

Among the young generation in the Ni family, apart from Ni Yunhong and his younger sister, nobody was allowed to enter the library. In fact, there were very few elders in the clan who could enter and leave the place freely.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming was not obstructed when he arrived outside the library, and he entered the room without any issues.

This was the privilege that he gained after having given a magic tool and displaying his outstanding potential.

Ou Yangming missed Ni Yinghong very much, but he knew very well that his priority was to enhance his and the military's strengths. The young fellow could speak extravagantly about the matter, but unless he could kill the spirit beast, Ni Yinghong's ending would remain the same.

Hence, he could not afford to waste any time.

After Ou Yangming entered the library, he continued to look through books to gain a better understanding of runes.

The Runes Formation in Ou Yangming's sea of consciousness was deriving an Upgrade Rune at the moment, but the better his understanding of runes, the more beneficial it would be to the process. Moreover, he needed an excuse for the creation of the new rune.

Even if one was a genius, one could not achieve anything without learning hard.

On the contrary, if a genius who studied hard and put his knowledge into practice achieved a shocking result, it would not be too surprising.

With that, Ou Yangming isolated himself in the Ni family's library to study for a month, where he carried out his daily routine inside. While the other people were astonished, they only whispered to one another about it as they felt uneasy.

When Ou Yangming left the library after a month, he was not very used to the sunlight.

Nevertheless, he did not stay in the residence; he left the prefecture and headed straight to the military camp.

Even so, Ou Yangming had no idea that the moment he left the Ni residence and went out of the prefecture, everything about him was fully presented to the Ni family's Three Great Ancestors.