A Chaotic World

Sky crystals lit up all around the arena, illuminating not just the field area where the participants were, but also the seating area where the audiences were seated.

The Inscription Meet had been going on for hours by now, and the sun had already begun to set in the horizon.

Thankfully, after martial artists reached a certain level, staying up all night would not affect them one bit. In fact, they could even stay awake for days or weeks on end without exhibiting any signs of exhaustion.

Of course, that was only if they were not exerting too much effort during this time, something that was clearly not the case for the remaining participants of the Inscription Meet.

The concealing formation hid their figures from everyone else so no one was able to notice, but most of them had already drenched in sweat.

In fact, this was a rather peculiar sight. These were all extremely skilled inscription masters, so merely drawing the inscription should not have required such great exertion from them.

It was just that the results mattered too much this time.

All of them were putting in their fullest concentration, not wanting to make even the slightest of mistakes. Every stroke they wrote, every line they carved, all of it had to be done to absolute perfection or they would not be satisfied.

That was the reason why this process was taking a much greater toll on the participants than usual.

Well, almost all the participants, at least.

Among the eight, there was one person who attracted everyone's attention as he stood there unmoving.

Lu Tianzi.

In the previous round, everyone had been confused when he and Grandmaster Xiqin did not immediately start working on their inscriptions, only to be surprised later by their remarkable speed.

This time, the audience was no longer confused since they understood that he was indeed capable of completing the task in a short span of time.

Instead of confusion, they felt a mix of scorn and disappointment.

There was a reason why the other participants were making full use of the time to work on their inscriptions.

Was it because unlike Lu Tianzi, they were unable to complete their inscription in a short amount of time?

No, definitely not.

If nothing else, Grandmaster Xiqin had already proven that he could do just as much. Yet even he had wasted no time in starting to work on his inscription.

Rather than that, it was because the more time they had, the more that could be done to improve the inscription.

With time on their hands, they could afford to redo every bit of imperfection while working on their inscriptions. Even after the completion of their inscriptions, they could continue working on refining the rough edges.

Did Lu Tianzi really think that he was still competing against the same bunch of people?

This time, his competitors were only the cream of the crop, true elites who had been filtered out from thousands of participants. To even think about giving his current competitors a headstart, he was truly young and arrogant!

His previous submission only managed to do well because of a trick. There were already not many who thought well of his chances of winning in this round, yet he still chose act cool instead of putting in his all?

Did he really think that the world was an easy place?

Or had he already given up on winning?

Even Young Master Xuan Hao could not help but clench his fist in anxiousness when he saw this. "Come on, Brother Tianzi... get started already!"

Watching while biting on her lower lips, Ruan Ling stretched out her hand to hold that of Nanlan Qianxue who was sitting by her side. This time, she could sense that Nanlan Qianxue was feeling rather worried, and she was not wrong.

Nanlan Qianxue was indeed worried, but it was naturally not because she thought that Lu Tianzi was trying to act cool.

Unlike others, Nanlan Qianxue knew that Lu Tianzi must have a reason for not starting yet. As for what that reason was, she could only guess.

It's okay as long as you do your best!

Nanlan Qianxue cheered for him in her heart. At the same time, she could not help but resent the judges for banning the Eternal Flame Inscription out of nowhere.

There were people scorning him, and there were people cheering him on. But the current Lu Tianzi cared not about all that.

No, it might be more accurate to say that he was unable to care about all that.

By now, Lu Tianzi had already entered a state of deep meditation, with countless scenes from his memory resurfacing one by one, flashing by in his head.

Paragraphs of information that formed the very basis of the art of inscriptions...

Inscription Master Nanbai's numerous demonstrations on the ways to place inscriptions...

The various inscription skills that he had activated before, as well as the numerous other inscriptions he had done up along the way...

Badump-!

And then there were his teacher Formation Master Beimu's words about how inscriptions were similar to formations.

The Formation of Heaven's Blade back at Ivory Rock City...

The table top formation back at the Beimu Clan...

Beimu Fei's killing formation that took down Fourth Prince Mosha at the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet...

The Thousand Spirals Killing Formation that took down the God of Pestilence...

Formation Master Beimu's grand killing formation that ended the war...

The exquisitely complex formations in Lord Er's tomb...

The naturally forming formations of the Valley of Finesse...

As well as the many other formations that he had constructed and deconstructed along the way...

These were all scenes that he had seen and experienced prior to today, things that summed up to define him as both an inscription master and a formation master.

Badump-!

Like formations, like inscriptions.

Like inscriptions, like formations.

By attaining a certain level of expertise in both the art of inscriptions and the art of formations, as well as understanding the relationship between the two, his knowledge in the two fields had come together to form a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

And then there were more.

Scenes from the first round – that of numerous inscription masters using their secret techniques to give themselves an edge. From amplifying the overall effect of the inscription, to making it such that the inscription runes gel together better, as well as many other unique ways of applications, these were invaluable skills that further bolstered his arsenal of techniques.

He did not settle for just seeing how it was done either.

As a skilled inscription master himself, Lu Tianzi was able to break down these techniques further and deduce the underlying theories behind them.

And now, all this information was coming together in Lu Tianzi's head, as though they were originally parts of a whole and were simply returning to their origin.

Badump-!

Lu Tianzi's heartbeat gradually became faster as he assimilated this new trove of knowledge. It was almost as though his body had instinctively understood what kind of qualitative change he had just undergone.

In terms of the art of inscriptions, Lu Tianzi had taken a huge step forward. It was no exaggeration to say that he was now completely different from the Lu Tianzi of yesterday.

Still, that alone was not enough.

Armed with all that newfound knowledge, he now had to come up with an inscription that would help him stand out among the participants.

But what kind of inscription would be most suitable here?

What could possibly stand up to the works of all these talented inscription masters who had spent years researching this field?

Badump-!

As Lu Tianzi dug deeper and deeper into his memories for answers, he suddenly felt something awakening within him.

He started to burn up, and his blood started to boil.

It seemed that his state of mind had triggered something within.

Badump-!

Next, an unfamiliar scene floated up in Lu Tianzi's mind. Unfamiliar, yet also strangely familiar at the same time.

On a mountain that rose into the clouds, a divine griffin with six magnificent wings stood at the very top as it cast its gaze over the vast lands before it, watching the countless beasts that were running away in all directions.

It did nothing and watched on silently.

But just when these beasts finally managed to put some distance between them and the mountain, the griffin elegantly raised its talon and pointed forward with one of its claws.

It was a seemingly insignificant action, yet it brought about earth shattering consequences.

Common sense lost its meaning as time itself started to warp.

The movements of the winds and clouds reversed. The countless escaping beasts were also forcibly pulled back to their original positions by the world laws themselves, only to be released and start running away in a frenzy once more.

This time, they got a little further before the griffin repeated its actions, once again pulling them back to their original spot.

The beasts did not give up, still struggling with all their might to escape. This was all they could do in the face of absolute power, and this they did.

Unfortunately for them, no matter how much they struggled, it did nothing to change their eventual fate.

This repeated two more times, as though the griffin was having fun toying with them, revelling in their desperate struggle to escape.

That's right.

In its eyes, these beasts, many of which would have been considered apex predators in most worlds, were actually not even qualified to be called its prey.

No, they were more like toys, mere playthings destined to sacrifice themselves for its amusement.

It did not take long for the six winged griffin to get bored of them either.

This time, it no longer raised its talon.

Instead, it spread out its six wings before letting out a majestic roar, and the world itself quaked.

What followed was an event at a catastrophic level, or perhaps even that was insufficient to truly describe it.

The world collapsed, with the very fabrics of space shattering according to the griffin's will.

In a matter of seconds, everything within this world had vanished without a trace, as though they had never existed in the first place. The vast lands, the towering mountain, as well as the countless beasts... all of them were reduced to nothingness as the space itself folded in.

In the end, there was only the six winged griffin alone that was left silently flying away into the empty void.

It was the absolute annihilation of an entire world.

Yet this was done with such incredible ease that something that should have been extremely horrifying actually felt surreal to witness instead.

***

Lu Tianzi took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, eyes that shone with a silvery light.

His mind was clear now.

He now had a vision of the inscription that he wanted to create, not just for the Inscription Meet, but to satisfy himself as well. Furthermore, he had also figured out a way to create it.

Unfortunately, there was still one other problem.

Creating an inscription required the corresponding inscription materials, and it would be impossible to create the inscription in his head with just the materials in his possession right now.

To be fair, he had already prepared quite a bit for the event, bringing along many materials that he did not even intend to use, just in case of any emergencies. However, it was still not enough. What he needed now was simply too rare.

There was no helping it, he would just have to improvise a little and create a lesser version of the inscription.

Lu Tianzi's hands finally started moving, much to a mixture of both relief and scorn from the audience.

Now, all eight participants had begun working on their inscriptions.

Each of them exhibited their abilities to the fullest, and the audience watched on with bated breath. Without anyone realising it, three hours had passed in a flash.

And with that, the Inscription Meet officially entered its final phase.