Sage of Humanity-Chapter 553 - 551 Rune Tattoo Path

He left Emerald Bamboo Peak and headed straight for Bright Heart Peak.

He had not paid his respects to Madam Yun since his return, and it was also time for him to exchange some books for new ones. The books he had brought from Madam Yun's place had been read over and over until he knew them by heart.

Bright Heart Peak was always so tranquil and peaceful. Although some disciples of the Righteous Blood Sect now had the freedom to come and go between the sect headquarters and their stations, none would dare to set foot on Bright Heart Peak without good reason. Only Lu Ye could come and go without notice.

Upon arriving at Bright Heart Peak, he met with Madam Yun under the guidance of the mute maid.

Lu Ye paid his respects with great reverence.

To Lu Ye, Madam Yun was held in high esteem. Although his cultivation journey as a spirit runes master was triggered by the Talent Tree he bore, strictly speaking, Madam Yun was the true guide on this path. Though they did not have the formal title of master and disciple, their relationship was as such in practice.

Madam Yun was undoubtedly very pleased with Lu Ye's intelligence and talent. She had even once considered taking Lu Ye as her disciple but had to give up the idea due to certain reasons.

Even so, Madam Yun's guidance for Lu Ye was without any reservation. She genuinely treated him as her own disciple, imparting her knowledge wholeheartedly.

In the great hall, as in the past, Madam Yun examined Lu Ye's recent practice in the Path of Spirit Runes. Lu Ye answered every question one after the other and demonstrated by hand.

Although he received no praise from Madam Yun, the look in her eyes was enough to show that she was very satisfied with Lu Ye's progress in the Path of Spirit Runes.

Afterward, Madam Yun created some complex spirit runes for him to solve, and Lu Ye completed each one flawlessly.

This game of Madam Yun creating spirit runes and Lu Ye solving them was a method that swiftly improved a spirit runes master's understanding of rune construction. According to Madam Yun, knowing how to create spirit runes simply meant copying others, but truly mastering a spirit rune meant understanding how to quickly solve it.

After the examination, Madam Yun smiled and said, "Now you can be considered a true spirit runes master. However, humility brings benefits while arrogance causes losses. Remember never to be complacent."

"Yes," Lu Ye respectfully replied. After some thought, he spoke up, "Disciple wishes to learn the Rune Tattoo Path from Madam."

"Oh?" Madam Yun seemed surprised. "Why the sudden interest in this area? You have some achievements in Array Path. Why not continue to delve into that?"

Lu Ye said, "Disciple will certainly not give up on Array Path, but besides that, Disciple also wishes to explore the Rune Tattoo Path. Currently, our sect is still developing, and although it's early days, our foundation is weak. In the future, when departing from Spirit Stream battlefield to enter the Cloud River battlefield, inevitable conflicts and frictions will arise. If Disciple could learn the Rune Tattoo Path, I could also help them by tattooing some spirit runes, providing them with some assistance."

Madam Yun chuckled upon hearing this. "Those are worries the old immortal should be considering. You need only focus on your cultivation."

The "old immortal" she referred to was the sect master.

Lu Ye said, "Disciple also wishes to contribute his part. Moreover, having multiple skills won't be a burden. Understanding more things may necessarily not bring benefits, but it surely doesn't do any harm."

Madam Yun nodded slightly, "Since you wish to learn, then learn. A rune tattoo master is a branch of spirit runes masters. You already have rune tattoos on your body, so you should know what they are."

Lu Ye nodded.

"However, being able to construct a spirit rune doesn't mean you can tattoo that rune onto someone else. This requires very delicate techniques and control over one's spirit force. Additionally, it requires some special materials for assistance. These materials are not limited to various beast blood, medicinal herbs, and so forth. Often, the materials needed for each kind of rune tattoo vary."

Having agreed to teach Lu Ye the Rune Tattoo Path, Madam Yun began explaining all sorts of basic knowledge about rune tattoos. Even though Lu Ye was already familiar with some aspects, he still listened attentively.

For anyone, having the opportunity to receive teachings from a top spirit runes expert like Madam Yun is an invaluable chance.

Through Madam Yun's explanations, Lu Ye slowly gained a systematic understanding of the Rune Tattoo Path.

Only then did he realize that the Rune Tattoo Path was not as simple as he had imagined. However, in his pursuit of mastering the Rune Tattoo Path, Lu Ye had some unique advantages.

The control of spirit force and the strength of his spirit were among his advantages. No cultivator of the same rank could match him in these aspects.

As time slowly passed, Madam Yun taught earnestly for more than two hours before she stopped and called for Lu Ye, "Come with me."

Lu Ye got up and followed.

Before long, they arrived at the library.

Madam Yun glanced around and with a sweep of her hand, dozens of books varying in thickness flew off the shelves. She placed these books in front of Lu Ye.

"These are written by various rune tattoo masters, containing their own foundational insights into the Rune Tattoo Path. Take a look at them, and I'll come to teach you more tomorrow."

"Yes."

Reading was not a chore for Lu Ye. Ever since studying the Path of Spirit Runes with Madam Yun, he had read no fewer than several hundred books on the subject.

On the Spirit Stream battlefield, and at Cloud River, during his leisure time, he also enjoyed holding a book and reading. This had almost become a habit for him.

Randomly flipping through a book, Lu Ye studied it intently.

Madam Yun had already left.

Lu Ye spent the entire night reading over a dozen books. After all, these were not extremely profound works, so they were not difficult to read, and he gained quite a bit from them in his heart.

The next day, Madam Yun directly came to the library to continue teaching Lu Ye more about the knowledge of the Rune Tattoo Path.

In this way, day by day, Madam Yun verbally and practically instructed him, and by night, Lu Ye would read and study in the library; life was calm and uneventful.

It was not until ten days later, after testing Lu Ye's theoretical knowledge on the Rune Tattoo Path, that Madam Yun nodded in satisfaction, "You have already understood the basics of the Rune Tattoo Path quite well; what's left is hands-on practice now. The essence of the Rune Tattoo Path lies in practice, and it carries significant risk, which is different from other branches of spirit runes masters."

No matter what, rune tattoos are meant to be tattooed on living bodies to function, and if a rune tattoo master's techniques are not skilled enough, or their craftsmanship isn't refined, a failure in tattooing is a minor issue. More seriously, it might even cause irreversible damage to the person being tattooed.

If that happened, things would become very troublesome.

"Before you start practicing, you need to have a set of tools of your own," Madam Yun spoke and extended her hand, and a jade box appeared on her palm. She slid it toward Lu Ye, "These are a set of tattoo needles I used in earlier years. They've been unused for many years, but today I'm giving them to you."

Lu Ye accepted them respectfully, "Thank you, Madam."

This was a great help to him; if he didn't have these from Madam Yun, he would have had to find a set of tattoo needles himself. Perhaps there were some for sale in the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, but they would surely cost a lot of merit, and their quality would certainly not match the set given to him by Madam Yun.

Upon opening the jade box, he saw forty-nine tattoo needles of varying lengths neatly arranged within. Taking one at random, he found that the needles were hollow, which mainly facilitated the injection of materials, such as a mixture of beast blood and herbs...

Moreover, these tattoo needles varied not only in length but also in firmness; some were extremely hard, while others were incredibly soft.

Each needle had its own role to play, and when tattooing a rune, a rune tattoo master would often need to use many different tattoo needles.

"When you first start practicing tattooing, you should choose some simple spirit runes. With continuous practice to familiarize yourself with the tattooing techniques, you can select more complicated tattoos once your skills become more refined."

"Yes," Lu Ye responded, then curiously asked, "But Madam, what should I practice on?"

Madam Yun revealed a meaningful smile, "The initial practice subject for a rune tattoo master is only one, and that's yourself!"

Lu Ye's eyes couldn't help but twitch; he had previously thought about whether he could catch some wild animals or demon beasts to practice on.

"Only by working on yourself can you precisely grasp the essence of rune tattooing and better familiarize yourself with the force of the tattoo needles. After all, the feedback from your own body is the most real and the most clear-cut. When you first practice, don't think about becoming a master in one step by directly tattooing spirit runes. Instead, start from Yin-Yang Dual Origins, just as if you are learning the Path of Spirit Runes from scratch."

"Disciple understands."

Madam Yun smiled slightly and with a gesture, a jade vial appeared in front of Lu Ye.

"The vial contains some medicinal solution. Use this for practice. Even if you fail, it won't cause any harm to you."

After a moment, Madam Yun left, and Lu Ye looked at the tattoo needles and the vial of medicinal solution laid out in front of him. After some thought, he rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, revealing his forearm, picked up a needle with his left hand, dipped some medicinal solution, and quickly, yet decisively, tattooed onto his right arm.

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The technique of dropping the needle was already second nature to him; it needed to be quick, accurate, and stable. Moreover, at the instant the needle dropped, he also had to inject the material dipped from the needle into his body to form a basic element. Each needle could only create one basic element, which meant that to tattoo a spirit rune, as many Yin-Yang Dual Origins as the rune had, that many needles had to be dropped.

This undoubtedly posed a great test for a rune tattoo master's mental focus and control over spirit force.

The first needle fell, and unsurprisingly failed.

Building Yin-Yang Dual Origins with spirit force was second nature to Lu Ye, but creating them with a tattoo needle was extremely difficult.

Madam Yun's statement to start over in learning the Path of Spirit Runes was not wrong.

Lu Ye felt like he was a beginner who had just started learning about spirit runes, with everything to learn from the ground up.

The first attempt failed, the second attempt failed, the third, the fourth...

On Lu Ye's right arm, a succession of tiny needle holes appeared, each exuding a faint purple hue, the color of the medicinal solution.

It was more than two hours later when, with the fall of Lu Ye's needle, a basic element was finally completed.

His brow lifted, he promptly re-dipped the needle in the medicinal solution, and the second needle fell.