A Chaotic World

The increased difficulty was only felt by the participants. For the audience, they were only concerned about how the participants were faring and if anyone was doing better than the rest.

Unfortunately, the grand concealing formation put in place by the Timeless Flame Sect made it difficult for them to do so. Not only were their perceptions restricted, even their visions were blurred.

This made it literally impossible for them to identify the numerous inscription runes drawn by the participants, much less the level of perfection of these completed inscription runes. This left only one obvious way for the audience to gauge the progress of the participants – by the number of inscription runes completed.

Very quickly, this became the only way for the audience to gauge how well a participating inscription master was faring.

Those who were able to attend the Inscription Meet as part of the audience were mostly powerful martial artists in their own right. At their level, they could already be said to possess an almost photographic memory.

Since they had already seen where everyone was standing before the grand concealing formation was activated, the blurring of these participants' figures did not stop the audience from identifying them at all.

"Look, Senior Apprentice Brother is already at his twelfth inscription rune! That's more than double that of those beside him!"

"Senior Apprentice Sister is slowly picking up her speed!"

"Grandmaster Xingyu is on fire! He is already on his fifteenth inscription rune!"

Excited chatter broke out among the audience as they discussed the progress of the participating inscription masters.

However, not everyone was happy with what they saw.

"Why is Junior Apprentice Brother being so slow? He is usually much faster than this!"

"What's the matter with Sheng'er? Why isn't he drawing any inscription runes at all?!"

With the increased difficulty brought about by the field of energy disturbance, many participants were struggling to accomplish what would have been rather simple to them under normal circumstances.

This caused the speed of many participants to slow down significantly, and those with slightly weaker energy control were unable to even draw a single inscription rune!

Faced with such a sight, their supporters could not help but feel anxious.

However, these participants were not the only ones who had yet to draw a single inscription rune.

Many among the audience quickly discovered an interesting peculiarity. The duo standing right before the stage actually had not completed any inscription runes either!

This duo was naturally the two main characters of the Inscription Meet – Grandmaster Xiqin and Manor Lord Lu.

Both of them had already proven their skills to the public in the past. For neither of them to be able to draw a single inscription rune, that was something completely incomprehensible to the audience.

Therefore, the audience could only assume that there must be another reason why the two of them had yet to begin – a reason that none of them could figure out.

"Why aren't you doing anything? Are you too busy thinking about how to explain away your imminent defeat?" Grandmaster Xiqin taunted with a confident smirk on his face.

Lu Tianzi glanced over at him.

He was unable to see Grandmaster Xiqin's facial expression under the effect of the grand concealing formation, but he could at least make out the confident posture of the senior inscription master.

However, Lu Tianzi was not interested in pointless banter, at least not in a situation such as this.

He simply shot Grandmaster Xiqin a quick glance before turning away to scan across the arena, carefully observing the other participants.

"Hah! Not even going to bother defending yourself?" Grandmaster Xiqin scoffed at Lu Tianzi's silence. "I initially thought that I would give you a head start as a form of handicap, but I guess that is unnecessary after all. As expected, you are nowhere near capable enough to even try competing against me."

With that, Grandmaster Xiqin stopped paying attention to Lu Tianzi.

He took a quick glance at the three judges seated on the stage before finally pulling out the dagger that had been given to him earlier. It was the same dagger that had been given to every participating inscription master.

With a wave of his hands, countless inscription materials appeared from within his spatial ring, all of them floating in the air around him.

What happened next could only be described as a grand show of inscription techniques.

As Grandmaster Xiqin got to work, his hands moved so quickly that it was impossible for most people in the audience to catch.

While most inscription masters were more than capable of processing inscription materials at breakneck speed, Grandmaster Xiqin went one step further, processing multiple inscription materials at the same time. He quickly extracted the useful portions of each material and combined them together to form one inscription rune after another.

He alone worked at the speed of multiple inscription masters combined, as though the energy disturbance field had no effect on him whatsoever.

The elegance and proficiency in his movements were simply breathtaking, dazzling even to those who did not understand the intricacies of the art of inscriptions. His practiced precision made it simply too obvious that this was nothing difficult to him at all!

"As expected of the Head Inscription Master of the Timeless Flame Sect's Yellow Spark faction. This is already second nature to him," someone from the audience exclaimed in awe.

"Looks like there is a reason for his earlier confidence. Grandmaster Xiqin is still one level above the rest."

"How can anyone compete against that? It seems like the victor will be Grandmaster Xiqin in the end."

Of course, there were also some who were dissatisfied with the attention that he was receiving. After all, many among the audience were here to support other participants.

"So what if he is fast? What matters the most in inscriptions is stability! Even if he completes it fast, what good would that be if his inscription is weaker than that of the others?" someone remarked bitterly.

However, his companions quickly shut him up.

Even though some of them shared the same thoughts, they were still in the Timeless Flame Sect's territory right now. Any criticisms towards the sect members could just bring about the wrath of the ancient sect!

Just like the others, Lu Tianzi could not help but to admire Grandmaster Xiqin's inscription technique.

Since he was right beside Grandmaster Xiqin, he actually had the best seat in the house when it came to watching Grandmaster Xiqin.

Even though they were competitors, Lu Tianzi could see that Grandmaster Xiqin's fundamental techniques were more refined than his own, capable of getting the same amount of work done with less consumption of energy.

Then again, that was to be expected.

While Lu Tianzi might be able to catch up to his seniors in terms of his understanding of the art of inscriptions, he would always be lacking in terms of actual experience.

Lu Tianzi was only eighteen years old, but Grandmaster Xiqin was someone who had spent at least hundreds of years practising the art of inscriptions.

Given that, it came as no surprise that his techniques had matured into a state of near perfection over the years. After such a long time, even someone with relatively poor talent would have been able to come up with their own tricks to completing a task, not to mention someone as talented as him.

In fact, apart from Grandmaster Xiqin, there were many other exceptional inscription masters among the participants as well.

Some of them had been relatively unknown prior to this. But the moment they took action, others could only stare on in shock.

All of them employed their own personal tricks and techniques, speeding through the initial phase of drawing inscription runes with great finesse.

While the audience was awed by the speed at which the participants drew the inscription runes, they could not help but also lament the fact that the grand concealing formation prevented them from truly appreciating the intricacies of these techniques.

How nice would it be if they were actually allowed to see exactly what everyone was doing?

This was a thought shared by everyone present that day, even the judges and participating inscription masters were no exception.

There was only person who did not entertain such thoughts.

Of course, it was not because this person cared not about such matters. That could not be further from the truth.

Instead, it was because this person was able to see through the grand concealing formation!

Under the effect of the grand concealing formation, not a single person present was able to see Lu Tianzi's eyes shining with a silvery light.

Lu Tianzi palpitated in excitement as he meticulously observed everyone around him.

The grand concealing formation of the Timeless Flame Sect was truly wondrous, capable of keeping out both the sights and perceptions of even Overlord powerhouses.

However, even the upper echelons of the ancient sect had never expected that Lu Tianzi would possess something called the Limitless Mirror Eye.

The Limitless Mirror Eye was not just any eye technique. It was the signature technique of Shafeng, an existence on the same level as Lord Er.

These were existences that held Overlord powerhouses in disdain, possessing the strength to crush such opponents with a single wave of their hands.

Even though Lu Tianzi had yet to practise the Limitless Mirror Eye to the highest level, he had already reached a point where something on the level of this grand concealing formation was no longer enough to hinder his sight!

While it still did not allow him to see everything as clear as day, the energy flow of the surroundings was completely laid bare before him.

Armed with his existing knowledge on the art of inscriptions, that was all he needed to deduce the techniques being executed by the other participating inscription masters.

In other words, this Inscription Meet had become something akin to a grand exhibition to him, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion where he could closely observe the personal techniques of inscription masters from all over the continent!

These were techniques refined by individual inscription masters according to their own interpretations of the art of inscriptions, fine-tuned over countless years. Some of which were even passed down since ancient times, legacies created through the culminated efforts of numerous generations.

It was no exaggeration to say that these were their secrets of the trade, something that defined them as inscription masters.

This was practically a huge treasure trove being delivered right to his doorstep, so how could Lu Tianzi not feel overwhelmed with excitement?

This was the reason why Lu Tianzi had yet to start on his own inscription.

Instead of that, this was far more important.

Even if he failed to get past this round, it would still be well worth it for him as long as he managed to analyse and learn the individual techniques of the many skilled inscription masters present today!