Runes!!

Luo looked at them and said "You know it's things like these that can hurt a man's feelings." They still maintained the distance although they were grinning a little bit.

"So, what is your cultivation level right now Hua?" Luo asked him.

"Peak of the 5th layer of the Qi condensation realm, you?"

"Half step Qi condensation realm (as in almost into the Qi condensation realm 1st layer). So we have both made good progress huh. Thanks to all those pills that Xun'er bought for us from our sales of the 36 walls of Soul manual."

"Yeah. I felt that even my share was quite a bit of money and mine was just around 2% of the share. Not to even mention your huge 90% share. What do you even plan on doing with that much money?"

" I have a few ideas. I will tell you once they pan out" Luo smirked and started to stretch.

"Ohh acting all mysterious are you? Before you act all smug, you should know that you smell worse than a skunk. Let's go wash up in the hot springs."

They headed off to the hot springs and talked about what techniques they practised in the secluded cultivation. To no surprise, both of them had practised the 36 walls of Soul to the final layer but fell short of attaining proficiency in the Last layer of the technique. They could not grasp what it was that was needed for the final layer.

"I think some external pressure is required maybe. You know there was this Zither technique that Master Fu Lin had played once that put my soul under pressure and even Xun'er had opened her Qi meridians under the pressure of that Zither. Perhaps we could ask her to assist us in the breakthrough of the Last layer?" Luo wondered aloud

"That's a great idea. Let's go do that immediately."

"Yeah you go and ask Master and take any others who have also reached our level of understanding of the technique. I will make a small detour and catch up with you guys."

"Alright. Don't be late, or you'll never catch up to me. HAHAHAHAHA" Hua jumped out of the hot springs and grabbed his robe, excited to go seek out Master Fu Lin.

Yin's voice sneakily mused in Luo's head "Welllll brat, I sense that you are up to something. What is it that your 'detour' will gain?"

"Ohh master. I was just about to ask you...You remember Cai MingZhu speaking about a Runemaster staying with her family? I was going to go and ask him to teach me a few runes, especially ones that enable Soul cultivation. That's possible isn't it?"

"It very much is brat. And what's more, your master is one of the best runemasters in all the realms, although I rarely think to use them. I just rely on my sword a lot I suppose...hmmmm. Okay I have decided. Since you are my disciple, you might as well learn a few of your master's tricks. I will teach you a few runes. Now whether you can grasp the art behind them or not will be up to you of course since not everyone is a genius like you master here. HAHAHAHAHA"

Luo rolled his eyes and then asked "Then I don't need to go and talk to the Runemaster?"

"Ohh you still need to talk to him. There are a lot of tools that will be required and gathering them will be a pain, but since that fellow is a runemaster he must have quite the collection of items. Any aspiring Runemaster does. Now make your way to him"

Luo dried up and found Cai MingZhu practicing her Zither near the esplanade. He asked her if she could introduce him to the Runemaster and she agreed and led the way to her family's residence.

It was a huge mansion with even the walls and pillars screaming of wealth and opulence but not in a gaudy way.

As they walked into the garden of her house, she asked Luo to wait and then went and sought permission from the Runemaster to give the audience to Luo. She came back after a while and said "It will cost you to meet him. He doesn't even pee for free , that cheapskate Runemaster' Cai whispered into Luo's ear.

He laughed and then the both of them made their way to meet the Runemaster.

"Greetings Esteemed Runemaster. My name is Luo Lianhao. I wanted to speak with you about certain matters and of course I will compensate the esteemed master well for his time."

The tall man with slender wisps of hair for a mustache , stroked his silky flowing beard and nodded in agreement after a few moments. "Very well. You know well the way to speak to an elder Luo. You may call me Elder Long Bo. Now what do you need from me and don't dilly-dally because I don't wish to waste my time on trivial matters."

Yin's voice boomed in Luo's head "This haughty cheapskate, look at how he is putting on airs. Amusing fellow. Anyway, Luo ask him for supplies needed for writing runes and a good brush….hmmmmm...yes, the one on that table should do nicely for now I think!"

Luo did as his master told him and asked for Rune writing supplies and then asked for the brush that laid on a table beside Long Bo. Long Bo immediately laughed and said "HAHAHAHA, do you even know the worth of what you are asking? It would take a million gold taels for me to give you my personal brush, not to mention all the writing supplies. Can even a rich brat from a famous family afford it? I think not!!! HAHAHAHA...so you may go now. You have amused me enough"

Luo breathed heavily as if trying to deal with an especially tiresome task and then proceeded to take out a Jade slip from his pocket that bore the seal of the Treasury of the Ancient Zither Abode. Long Bo stopped laughing when he saw that. "This...Why do you have this young master? You need to have a minimum of a million gold taels to get that jade slip from the treasury of the sect. Does that mean..."

Luo nodded. Greed flashed in Long Bo's eyes and he made the deal to give Luo the supplies and the Runic brush very smoothly after Luo had discussed the matters of transferring a million gold taels to Long Bo. He even threw in a few rudimentary runes for beginners for free to express his gratitude.

As they made their way to the rest of them to meet Master Fu Lin, Luo explained to Cai MingZhu what his plan was without telling her where he had learned a rune for enabling Soul cultivation from. She wanted to point it out but let it go, to be picked up for another time.

Yin had floated a few more memories of him learning several basic and useful runes into Luo's mind and Luo continued behind Cai as she led the way to meet master Fu lin. His eyes were glazed and did not really take in much as he was lost internally in perceiving what his master had taught him.

He focused especially on the runes that enabled Soul cultivation and found that two of them pretty easy to comprehend for him since he had been cultivating the 36 walls of Soul technique for a pretty long time now.

As they made their way to her house, Hua and the others were waiting, with master Fu Lin on a small elevated dais, her Zither lying gently over her thighs. She was tuning it a bit and looked very calm and at the same time about to burst anytime into a melody.

Once she tuned the Zither she looked at Cai and Luo and said "Good now that you are all here, I will play for you a piece called the 'Blossom and the Mount Tai'. It exerts pressure on your soul and you will feel it in various depths as the melody goes on. While I cannot promise that you will break through the final layer of the 36 walls of Soul technique, I do know that it will definitely help you. Now , shall I begin?"

Luo interjected and said "Master, could you please give me a few minutes? I want to try something"

"What is it you want to do Luo?" Fu Lin and the others looked at Luo.

"I have learnt 2 runes that will enable and aid in any soul cultivation techniques so I wanted to try that out. One is to be painted on the body and the other can just be held in the hand. I want to try both of these. I will use both for myself. Who wants to try it with me?" Luo looked around like an excited kid trying to show a trick he had learned to his friends. They nodded and he immediately began his work.

He took out his Runic brush and using the necessary dyes created from the monster core essences and traced out the patterns for the two runes. The outer rune that in his head was pronounced by his master as WEI and then the inner rune that was pronounced in the memories as ZAI.

He traced ZAI on the napes of their necks while he put it on his chest as that was more convenient. He then took out 7 rune papers and traced out WEI on all of them and handed one to each of them.

Then he just needed to pour Yang Qi into all of the runes for them to be activated. But then he asked Yin in his head "Master If I have to activate them, won't they dissipate after a while?"

"That is not correct. Runes have to be activated by your Qi but after that they keep absorbing the Qi from the nature, the Heaven and Earth Qi and continue to function as intended. That is why Runes are so practical and powerful if they can be comprehended to a high degree.

Unfortunately, not many can comprehend the intricacies and complexity of runes as you try to make them more powerful and try to use a lot of different interactions. That is for some other time. Focus on what you are doing right now."

He poured his Qi into all of the ZAI and WEI runes he had traced and they were activated.

As if they were half expecting it to fail ,they were all surprised when the runes actually activated and they could sense that there was a pressure on their Soul.

Fu Lin thought ' That is similar to the ones that Array masters use to set up cultivation rooms. But how did he know how to use them? Hehhh, he is full of surprises, this one.'

"Alright then, everyone be sure to thank Luo if you actually manage to breakthrough because of his runes and my music"