A few hours later, I stood in front of the mirror in the guest chamber and looked at the reflection of the light on my body as it showed my handiwork.

  "It is probably better to hide the more obvious runes," was the thought that came to me as I traced my fingers over the interwoven triangles of the hexagonal pattern that marked my abdomen – the Titan’s Crest.

  "Yes, Master," Azure agreed. "Cultivators may be able to recognize the runic patterns, even if they are not able to decipher their exact use."

  I nodded. Anyone who saw patterns like this on my body would probably conclude that they were some sort of formation, and while they wouldn’t entirely be wrong, it was better to avoid any unnecessary questions.

  Which meant some runes, like the Explosive Seed rune on my right index finger and the Vine Whip rune on the back of my right hand that needed to be inscribed on a certain place in order for them to be effective, needed to be covered up.

  My gaze drifted over to the black gloves lying on the desk. They were another gift from Wei Lin, I had offered to pay for them, but he had laughed in response.

  "These?" he waved his hand, "I never wear them, not of my style at all. Besides, I know that you will get better use of them than I ever would."

  He was right.

  Not only were the gloves comfortable. but they were perfect for maintaining a low profile as they would cover my hands completely.

  Putting on the gloves, I began to mentally catalogue the runes that I had inscribed so far:

  The Fundamental Rune placed on my chest, with its tree-like pattern extending from just above my heart. Below It, the Worldroot Conduit’s endless knot furnished the pathways needed to manipulate the elements. The Woodweave Seal rested against the right side of my chest, ready to heal me if needed. The Titan’s Crest rune on my abdomen would give me bursts of enhanced strength, while the rune for the Blink Step on my left thigh would let me move short distances at almost instantaneous speed. The Vine Whip and Explosive Seed runes on my right hand would give me long-range attack capabilities.

  All that was left were the other two runes from my original collection: the Aegis Mark, and the flying rune. The latter wasn’t a priority - flying wasn’t exactly common at Qi Condensation realm. Better to keep that particular trick hidden for the moment.

  As for the Aegis Mark… I sighed and tried to twist around to catch a glimpse of my own back. That rune would have been extremely useful in the duel against Chen Wu, unfortunately, there were some places which were simply impossible to reach alone.

  Now would be a great time to develop some sort of cloning ability.

  “You seem troubled, Master,” Azure said softly.

  “Only a little frustrated,” I replied, giving up my efforts at contortion. “If I only had time, I could probably find a way of being able to manipulate vines enough to inscribe the pattern myself.”

  “Do you trust them enough for that level of detail?”

  “No, which is exactly why I’d need time to practice first. If they inscribe one line even a little wrong, then the whole rune could backfire pretty spectacularly…”

  The thought made me shudder.

  “The physical runes are but a temporary solution, anyway,” Azure reminded me. "Once you're proficient with the pure energy inscriptions, location won’t matter anymore."

  "True." I nodded, thinking about the eventual goal.

  Once I learned to make runes from pure energy, I could then inscribe these runes in the elemental system I had. Then it wouldn’t matter where I traveled, I would have access to my Skybound cultivation.

  I went to the private training field to test the runes to make sure that there were no nasty surprises.

  Starting with Woodweave Seal, I cut shallowly into the arm with Wei Lin's knife, then caused the rune to become active. The wooden fibres came forth slowly from the edges of the cut, but their growth seemed uneven.

  I frowned and concentrated to guide the process as Elder Molric had demonstrated, but healing was clearly not my strong point. The fibres wove clumsily, forming a rough bark-like growth that barely covered the cut.

  "You need to work on your control," Azure said in a diplomatic tone.

  I looked at the ugly patch which had been formed and at the blue sun in my inner world, and an idea occurred to me.

  "What is it, Master?"

  "What do you think would happen if I tried to channel the energy of the blue sun through the Fundamental Rune?"

  "Given that these runes were likely created by Skybound cultivators specifically to channel the red sun's energy," Azure replied, "it would surprise me if they could handle the blue sun's energy."

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  "Would there be some sort of an explosion if I tried it?" I asked, only half-joking.

  "No," Azure said reassuringly. "The Fundamental Rune wasn't made to "explode" when being exposed to energy types it doesn't want to encounter, at worst, it will simply reject any kind of energy that it wasn't made to work with."

  "Well, in that case, I might as well try it." I reached out to the blue sun's energy, my eyes flashing azure, and directed a small amount of the energy toward the Fundamental Rune.

  The silvery pattern began absorbing the energy for a moment, but then like Azure had predicted, it immediately rejected it, forcing it back out without reacting any further.

  "Hmm,” I sighed. “What about the other runes?"

  I activated the Titan's Crest and tried to direct the blue sun's energy at it, but nothing happened.

  "It seems that these runes were not designed with the blue sun's energy in mind," Azure observed.

  I shook my head, but then paused as another thought occurred to me. "Azure," I said slowly, "you know how I give off a demonic aura when I use the red sun's energy?"

  "Yes, Master."

  "Well, what if I channeled the blue sun's energy at the same time through my body when I activate one of the runes using the purified red sun's energy? Wouldn't the overwhelming righteousness mask the demonic aura?"

  There was a moment of silence, then Azure responded. "That's actually something I've been wanting to suggest you try. Shall we test it now with the Woodweave seal? You still have that cut to heal after all."

  "I might as well," I replied, glancing at that unsightly patch of bark to look at. "It can't really look any worse now, can it?"

  I channeled the blue sun's power though my body, and not into the rune itself. My eyes had turned blue and the righteousness of it was overpowering. It felt like having a baptism in holy water while angels sang hymns above.

  The wood fibres suddenly swelled and twisted themselves into a braid whose vein structure matched my own skin perfectly. In a second, the rough patch became something which resembled the work of a master healer.

  I stood looking at the effect of the treatment, still not quite able to think. The two energies had not just existed side by side, but had intensified each other. "Azure, what if the two suns weren’t actually enemies? What if they were always meant to supplement each other?"

  “An interesting theory, Master,” Azure answered, "the priests and Skybound cultivators regard them as opposites, but perhaps that is where they made their mistake."

  I nodded slowly, watching with delight the last traces of the blue and red energy fade from the healing patch that was now perfect. "The red sun causes destruction, the blue sun gives life, but maybe both are necessary for true cultivation."

  "The only thing, Master, is we must now try and see if the blue sun's energy truly masks the demonic aura," Azure reminded me. "The Woodweave Seal's energy signature was quite subtle, perhaps we should try something more dramatic?"

  I nodded my head as I channeled the red sun's energy to the Titan's Crest once again. The usual demonic aura seemed to dissolve itself into the radiance of the blue sun.

  A quick Blink Step took me to a training dummy, where a simple punch reduced it to scattered splinters of wood and straw.

  I couldn’t help but smile, even while thinking how impressive that would have looked had I not known these particular dummies were only designed to withstand attacks to the 4th Stage of Qi Condensation.

  “Did any of the red sun’s aura leak through?” I asked.

  “None that I could detect," Azure said. "Though, you certainly were the very picture of righteous power.”

  “Let's not go quite that far down that road,” I shuddered slightly, remembering the look of madness in the eyes of the fanatical priests. “And let's see if that holds true for the elemental runes as well."

  Still channeling the energy of the blue sun through my body, I activated the Vine Whip rune.

  The vegetation growing in the training field around me responded immediately, three thick vines shot from the ground like snakes. I directed them in a series of complicated movements and was pleased how intelligent they acted. The vines reached another training dummy, and wrapped around it tight enough to leave deep grooves in the wood.

  Finally, it was time to try the Explosive Seed.

  While keeping both energies flowing, I pressed my right index finger to the ground and directed energy through the tiny rune. A small innocent looking little seed appeared where I had held my finger. I blinked away, stepping back around twenty meters, and then I detonated it.

  The explosion wasn't large, but it was concentrated, which made it ideal for distractions and traps.

  "I cannot find any trace of the demonic aura," Azure informed me. "It seems the energy of the blue sun masks it completely, regardless of which rune you’re using, but you might want to look over the changes in your stats."

  The familiar display blurred into view before my eyes:

  Cultivation: Qi Condensation Stage 4

  Inner World: Radius of 8 meters

  Soul Essence: 103

  Spiritual Essence: 45

  Physical Essence: 25

  I stared at the display. I had thought that I felt something different when channeling both energies simultaneously, but the cold fact of the figures convinced me. "The spiritual essence..."

  "Yes," Azure confirmed. "It seems that each of the energies has its particularity. The red sun affects physical essence, the blue sun affects spiritual essence, and when the two energies are combined, it gives a boost to spiritual essence."

  "And that is only with the raw energy of the blue sun," I thought. "If I could create a rune like the Fundamental Rune for it..."

  “Master, I believe you may be right about the two suns. They don't seem to be opposing forces at all, but rather complementary ones that work best in harmony."

  I nodded. The possibilities were intriguing, but they would need to wait. I had no immediate plans to return to the Two Suns world. Being transformed into pure light once was enough for now, thank you very much.

  I let the blue sun’s energy fade away.

  My stats and my physical appearance returned to normal, while that obnoxious aura of righteousness receded.

  The sun was high in the sky when I finished tidying up the remains of the training dummies, I did the best I could. But I suspected that the servants of the Wei family were used to clearing up the mess that took place after cultivation practice.

  Back in my room, I finally allowed myself to feel the bone-deep exhaustion that came with inscribing so many runes in one night. Even with the blue sun's energy keeping me going for the time being, my body needed rest to properly integrate all the new patterns.

  As I lay down, I could not help smiling a little. Less than two days until the duel with Chen Wu. Hopefully Wei Lin would have detailed information about his fighting style by the time I woke up; he seemed to take intelligence gathering very seriously.

  "You know the saying," I murmured as sleep began to claim me, "that battles are won in the preparation, not the execution.”

  "That is very wise of you, master," replied Azure, "but I think the original quote was about war and not about duels."

  "It’s the same thing," I yawned. "And tomorrow, we continue preparing."

  The next chapter is the day of the duel!

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