A young man wearing a bamboo hat entered an inn, the doors closing behind him as he headed towards an empty table.

A little boy, posing as the server came over to take his order.

The young man asked a few questions pertaining to the local cuisine and the server answered him excitedly.

Since the prices were reasonable, the young man ordered every local food he could, having a feast for himself.

After eating and paying for accommodation, he entered his room and spoke to the air.

“Yue, how far away is the slip?”

“Two kilometers underground.”

The young man frowned, puzzled by the location.

Of course, this was Rui, hiding his appearance.

It would have been weird for a rune master of the second rank to wander in such a remote village, especially in a foreign country.

The Xieye empire and the Illusive empire had a small rivalry with each-other, but they had long come into a peace treaty hundreds of years ago.

Thanks to this, people were able to travel across borders without any hassle and there weren’t even any border guards or check-ups.

The openness made Rui wonder how such a system worked, but he guessed that there was no need for it, since rank 9 rune masters were the empire rulers, being able to see anything within their territory.

He knew he could be under the watch of foreign cultivators at any moment, so establishing a suitable disguise was needed. He used one of the family bandannas, completely hiding his runic energy.

The Guang family’s bandannas were a spiritual artifact of the spectral grade.

[Hidden Bandanna]

[A spectral grade spiritual artifact with the ability to hide the user’s runic energy]

It was a convenient item, although it was unable to bypass the probing of the truly strong.

Rui had spent a total of two and a half weeks to travel to the borders of the Xieye empire, finally reaching the area of the second jade slip.

Comparing the size of the Illusive empire to countries of his previous life, the difference was massive.

Rui’s traveling speed easily compared to that of an average car’s running at max speed, now that he had reached the second stage.

The fact that it took that long to travel and reach the border signified how large the empire was.

He had seen countless villages and cities, passing through mountains, grasslands and even lakes.

The scenery was truly stunning, making his time roaming the world truly useful for his cultivation.

He used the time he was traveling and resting to further refine his martial arts and increase his runic energy, having small success in creating his runic sea.

The runic sea was the second step after one created their rune(core).

Rui used his understanding and imagery of galaxies of his previous life to create a vortex of energy surrounding his runic core.

It wouldn’t be long till he established his runic sea, being able to advance into further stages.

As he had an extremely stable foundation, things were progressing smoothly, the only thing bothering him being a technique for energy manipulation.

Energy manipulation arts were the core of a runic master, being the most important technique to absorb and transform runic energy. Essentially it was why Rui was searching for the second part of the [heavenly demon mantra].

The village itself was extremely similar to the places Rui had been so far, the only difference being the slight difference in customs and appearance.

People here had darker skin than the people of the illusive empire, but of course they were still Asian, as this was the eastern continent.

Eastern continent, western continent and central continent all had people of different colors and appearances. Rui even heard of people with bluish skin in the colder regions.

It was a world that didn’t lack diversity and racism was the least of their problems.

As long as one had power, by the means of either political or cultivation, one could be respected despite their skin color or appearance.

Although humans dominated most of the planet, other races existed as well, being far more seclusive, or owning land of their own. Rui had even heard myths of mystic realms, parallel and hidden worlds that had restricted access to outsiders.

Rui had his work cut out for him, as the target he was searching for was underground, possibly in the village’s sewer system or even a secret path.

Sighing deeply, he decided to use his map to map out the whole village, as he wondered around, trying to find the places of entrance to the underground area.

It didn’t take long for him to discover a sewer canal, and from what Yue was telling him, this was the best path to reach the jade slip.

In absolute disgust, Rui frowned as he looked helplessly at the system store.

Since he was lacking any currency, he couldn’t buy items to get rid of smell or even get a cleansing powder of sorts.

With no other options, he chanted and wrote some words in mid-air.

This was a runic hex, and an extremely basic one that took a long time to cast. As he was still a beginner to the concept, even knowing the meaning and casting method was not enough to do them correctly. It required adequate training and concentration just to perform a single line.

Finally finishing the hex after a few minutes of continuously chanting, a thin and transparent barrier covered his body.

This was a runic barrier and an extremely weak one at that. It could only block a singular attack from a rune master with the same strength as him, but it was still better than nothing.

The reason he used it was simple, to not be covered in the filth of the sewers.

His body entered the feces filled canal slowly, submerging till his waste.

Even though he couldn’t truly feel it, thanks to the barrier, he still felt extremely disgusted.

‘I can’t believe I’m doing this kind of shit for a single cultivation method, but I guess the outcome is worth it if things go smoothly.’

Rui couldn’t help but curse in his mind, despising his current situation.

After walking for a while, the area widened, clearly being dug out just recently.

Rui scowled, as this was truly a hideout of sorts.

“Yue, position.”

“three hundred meters to the right.”

Rui’s expression tightened even further, as he was now reaching his goal.

He didn’t know what to expect, but he proceeded slowly with silent steps.

Using his unique vision, he was able to track down a weird and corrupted runic energy coming from the direction Yue pointed out.

The runic energy itself was impure and constantly leaked to the surroundings.

It was the first time Rui felt such energy and seeing it with his own eyes made it far more fascinating.

He was sure that the cause of the corrupt energy had no connection with the [heavenly demon mantra] since, even though the mantra was of the demonic path, the energy it cultivated was extremely pure.

What truly made the technique demonic was the alterations it did to your body and mind, causing it to be warped, not the energy it gathered.

After a few minutes of sneaking around, he finally caught a glimpse of the person who had currently hold of the jade slip.

The figure of a skinny and lanky young man huddled up in a corner, sleeping while weeping, trying to produce as little sound as possible.

Contaminated runic energy flowed from his body, continuously weakening him.

Rui was shocked at his appearance, not expecting to see such a scene.

He had thought of many scenarios, mainly ones that included strong rune masters, but this completely turned around his wildest imaginations.

Using [understanding] and [identify], he examined his status.

[Gui Xue, Age

Cultivation stage: First Light stage (Unknown Spiritual Roots)

Physique: A̸͎͛m̷͖͇͒͐a̵̤̓̏l̵̺͌g̶̢̰̉ā̶͕̚m̸͕͓͊ḁ̴̮́t̴̛̗̃ḭ̷͔͂o̶̻̮̕n̸̫̚ ̸̱̗̅̊

Combat power: 102

Character personality path: Abomination

Luck: -20]

He opened his eyes wide in disbelief as soon as he read his information.

‘What the fuck is this?’

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Just the fact that he possessed luck in the minus made it a case worth studying, but all of his stats were mostly warped and his personality path came out as ‘abomination’.

‘He doesn’t even have an age for gods sake! What am I supposed to make out of this.’

Having no other way to get information, knowing full well that his combat strength was much higher than his, he approached the skinny figure slowly.

Taking a closer look at him, he noticed the countless stitches, as well as the different bundles of hair. The warped rune on his forehead released contaminated energy non-stop.

He frowned at this scene, not because of his appearance, but for the circumstances such a young teen had been through.

Sleeping on sewer canals, clearly running from someone, while at the same time having gone through grotesque amounts of pain, he couldn’t help but feel disgusted at the things humans did for their own benefits.

However, he then thought of what he was about to do.

He was going to snatch the jade slip from him, possibly even ruining his future.

Smiling bitterly, he was about to swipe it from his hands, but he was stopped from a strong shock-wave.

The barrier covering his body instantly shattered into pieces, as the patchy young man rushed towards him with full force.

Taken aback by the sudden force, he was shocked at the power the patchy young man could exert.

For the barrier to shatter, one needed to be of similar strength to his, making the combat power [analysis] had shown completely invalid.

Not understanding what was going on, he once again used his skills on him, at the same time using [bloodline suppression] and taking the ornate knife out of his inventory, promptly changing it to a sword in an instant.

[Gui Xue, Age

Cultivation stage: First Light stage (Unknown Spiritual Roots)

Physique: A̸͎͛m̷͖͇͒͐a̵̤̓̏l̵̺͌g̶̢̰̉ā̶͕̚m̸͕͓͊ḁ̴̮́t̴̛̗̃ḭ̷͔͂o̶̻̮̕n̸̫̚ ̸̱̗̅̊

Combat power: 35132

Character personality path: Abomination

Luck: -20]

His combat power had shot up to over thirty five thousand in instant, while his cultivation stage had remained the same.

He could see the runic energy surrounding his body burning, clearing the corruption.

Glancing at him, he decided to probe first and then act.

“Hey, thanks for the greeting, but I mean no harm, I just want the jade slip in your hand for a few seconds, that’s just all…”

Said Rui, trying to be as relaxed as possible.

He tried to use his negotiation skills, but it was far more awkward than he expected, and the situation itself was not the best.

Gui Xue looked at him weirdly, slowly inspecting his appearance along with gear.

After a while of just staring each-other, Gui Xue looked at the jade slip in his hands and threw it at Rui.

Taken aback, Rui barely caught it.

Expecting a surprise attack, Rui stayed guarded, making sure Gui Xue didn’t act.

Seeing that he didn’t even move, he put energy into the jade slip, at the same time channeling his [Heavenly runic mantra].

Instantly, a force began infiltrating his mind, but it was stopped as soon as it started.

[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 2’ has been converted to earth grade ‘Heavenly Runic Mantra 2’]

[First and second part of the ‘Heavenly Runic Mantra’ are resonating]

[Beginning Technique merging]

[Heavenly grade ‘Heavenly Runic Mantra’ has been acquired]

[‘Heavenly Runic energy’ has been acquired]

[‘Heavenly Aura’ skill has been acquired]

[Heavenly Runic Energy]

[A variant of the Heavenly Demon energy, being converted into a natural energy from a demonic one.

Gives the user sharper but harder to control attacks.]

[Heavenly Aura]

[The ability to coat weapons and body with the heavenly runic energy, making them stronger.]

In a short instant, Rui’s skill arsenal grew by two and he acquired the second rank cultivation method, even upgrading it.

He smiled happily, glancing at the air.

Being done with the jade slip, he threw it back at Gui Xue.

Gui Xue looked at him in incredulity, clearly not believing that he would return it soon after.

“What? I told you I only needed it for a bit… Also, don’t use that thing to cultivate, its flawed, unless you have the right encryption and permission.”

Gui Xue stared at him and just remained silent, not knowing what to say.

After a while of just looking, he spoke up.

“What sect are you from? Are you from the righteous guys that helped me escape the puppet sect, or are you not even related to this?”

Rui looked at him weirdly.

“Puppet sect? First time I hear of it. I told you the truth, I’m only here for the jade slip…”

“Then how did you find me.”

“That jade slip can be tracked by the successor of the technique at any moment, so I came straight here. Though I got to say, I didn’t expect to enter a sewer system for it.”

Gui Xue remained silent for a while, trying to process what had just transpired.

This uninvolved person was his only chance of getting out of here.

Mustering his courage, he spoke.

“Can you perhaps help me escape from here? I will owe you my life if you do.”

Hearing him ask for help all of a sudden, Rui had already understood what was going on.

“Honestly, I don’t want to get caught up in this and would like to return to cultivating in seclusion as fast as possible, though I still have to get the third piece just in case.”

Anxiety instantly filled Gui Xue’s face, as he hurriedly tried to explain his situation.

Having time to spare at the moment, Rui decided to hear him out, constantly checking for rune masters on his map.

His story was incredibly heart wrenching, basically he had been turned into a monster with only the image of a human body.

The puppet sect and his situation reminded him of Frankenstein’s monster.

Frankenstein and the puppet sect were quite similar in this act, but he knew that they had different goals.

From what he understood, the puppet sects goal was to create the most indestructible body(puppet), to be used by their martial masters.

They were people that would transfer their souls to stronger bodies if they were able to get the possibility, even resulting to the most horrible acts that violated the unwritten laws of rune masters.

Stopping at nothing to get what they wanted, even resulting in the most horrific acts.

Feeling a bit of empathy for Gui Xue, he regrettably decided to assist him, but only if he signed the family contract.

Having no other choice, Gui Xue gave up his future freedom to escape his current predicament, even if he was of no assistance in the future.

Finishing the procedures, Rui took the jade slip from him and placed it into his inventory.

The inventory was a unique space that was undetectable by even his family’s grand elder. He was sure that no one would be able to track down the jade slip like this.

Escaping was relatively easy, the only thing that made them able to track him down being the extremely corrupt runic energy surrounding his body.

All Rui had to do is place his bandanna on his forehead and all of the runic energy fluctuations ceased.

Thanks to this, they were able to escape unscathed and even traveled for a few hours towards the Illusive empire’s border, as the third jade slip was located a few days away from there.

Inside the sewers, a group of rune masters ran around, trying to find Gui Xue.

They were the Puppet sect members that had initially began the experiment, not wanting to lose such an important specimen for their research…

It had already been weeks since they started the search and every time he was able to escape within fractions of a second, making the matter far more annoying.

Since the searching part consisted of only a few second stage rune masters, they were unable to catch him when he released an outburst of energy.

But they had finally found clues for him again, having approached a certain area and surrounded every possible exit.

They were sure they would catch him today.

Taking things slowly, each of them proceeded forward rhythmically, being completely in sync.

Finally, they pounced into the area, only for a bunch of sewer waste to be sprayed in each direction.

Wiping it, they focused on where he had gone, only to find a small relatively big rodent wearing his clothes.

Since Rui wanted to be careful, he brought out a new set of clothes and gave it to him, at the same time covering in a barrier.

They left his scent, along with all his belongings on a [Spectral Rat] making him the bait for their escape.

Realizing they were tricked, the group leader attack the rat, killing it in one strike.

Frowning, he used a tracking runic hex, but it all led to the rat’s corpse.

He couldn’t comprehend how he was able to escape the sewers, while they had all the exits blocked.

“Did you guys properly block all exits?”

“Yes sir!”

“Then how the fuck did he escape from here? Search around once more!”

Being unable to control his anger, he lashed out at his subordinates, ordering them to search for more exits.

After a while of searching around, they found a separate exit that led just outside an inn, being hidden by the large amount of feces.

Luckily, Rui had walked through the only path that was free, not encountering any of them in the process.

Learning the incompetence of his subordinates, he killed the most useless one out of anger, wanting to show what would happen to the rest, if they didn’t follow his orders.

“Search, search, search! He couldn’t have gone far! It’s just a test subject that survived by luck for fucks sake! You useless pigs!”

“YES SIR!!”

Saying so, they scattered around, each of them taking a separate direction, searching with the best of their abilities.

Although the puppet sect mainly used refined corpses to do their bidding, there still existed squads that refined their own bodies to extremities and this group was one of such groups.

They were solely trained for jobs like this and this was his first mission as a squad leader, making him extremely frustrated at the lack of progress.

Inside the imperial palace of the Illusive Empire, Han Dong trained inside an isolated room, being completely immersed in his actions.

Han Dong preferred the fan as his main weapon, using poison needles as a secondary.

He had just recently entered the second rank as well, utilizing his unique talent in hexes to learn as many of them as he could, increasing his arsenal.

The court had been peaceful lately, as the Empress had taken proper actions to suppress the disappearance of the Illusion emperor.

Han Feng had completely disappeared from the royal palace, a search party being sent after him, but it ended in nothing.

Han Dong didn’t know what had transpired with him, but he hoped he wasn’t going to have thoughts of something like revenge.

A knocking sound was heard from the door, as a servant walked in.

“Your highness, Xiao Long has arrived and is waiting in your quarters.”

“Thanks Kaye, you can rest after you bring us beverages.”

“Yes, your Highness.”

Han Dong smiled bitterly, knowing full well that Kaye wouldn’t rest for even a second.

Wiping his sweat with a towel provided by Kaye, he headed over to his living quarters to meet Xiao Long.