The Growth of a Titan in the Cultivation World

"Damn it. No wonder those Formation Arrays look so familiar! They were created using the Jeagal Clan bastards' overlapping and linking method! Brother Sol, are you sure you want to gift this to me?"

"If I try to comb through too many Formation Arrays at once, I might face resistance and trigger them all, so I have to do them one at a time. But if I were to do that myself, I would need several days to make a path across this three-hundred-meter distance. But you already have some understanding of this method of overlapping and linking runes, so I need your help."

Mar-Dule immediately slapped his chest and said.

"Don't worry, Brother Sol, I'll help you!"

Mar-Dule then flipped open the book, skimmed past information he already knew, and read a few pages of the ones he didn't.

After a minute or two, he slapped the book shut and frowned.

"Ask me any questions you have and I'll answer them."

Yoon-Jae and the others, upon hearing this, realized it might take a while for Mar-Dule to learn how to disable these Formation Arrays.

So, while Sol and Mar-Dule sat near the starting of the black tiles discussing how to disable the Formation Arrays, the others sat off to the side and waited.

Though the wait was relatively short. After only an hour had passed, Sol and Mar-Dule were seen getting up.

"Who is going to lead?"

"Why don't we play Dan Tao Mo to decide?"

"What's that?"

Sol asked, a bit confused.

Mar-Dule showed a surprised expression when he heard that Sol didn't know how to play this game.

"Brother Sol, everyone from the Barbarian Race knows how to play this game."

"Oh, is that so. Could you remind me, Brother Mar-Dule? Ha-ha..."

Sol laughed nervously.

Mar-Dule looked at Sol strangely before shaking his head and explaining.

"Place your dominant hand behind your back, and we will both form a rune from either of the six elements on the count of three. Based on the strengths and weaknesses between each element, there will be a loser and a winner."

Sol nodded before placing his right hand behind his back.

"Ready?"

Sol nodded.

"Dan…"

As Mar-Dule started counting, both he and Sol were forming hand signs with their other hand in front of them. But also immediately, Mar-Dule realized he was way over his head.

The whole point of this game was reading someone's hand signs and beating them in speed to create a counter rune within that three-second count.

Mar-Dule was the second-best Dan Tao Mo player in their Barbarian Race because of his abnormal senses. Even without looking at someone's hand signs, he was able to sense the elemental fluctuations of the rune the person was creating behind their back.

But that tattoo on Sol's hand made it impossible for him to sense the elemental fluctuations of the rune he was creating. For the first time, Mar-Dule had to look at a person's hand to try to outdo them. And while he was initially confident despite that fact, Sol's speed was too dumbfounding. He couldn't keep up!

"…Tao! Mo!"

Mar-Dule finished counting, and the two youths dramatically revealed their hands at the same time.

Splash!

The blue rune in Mar-Dule's hand burst apart, and water splashed onto the ground from his open palm.

He wasn't able to form the rune in time, but even if he had, he would have still lost.

In Sol's palm was a green rune radiating peaceful Wood-type Aether Energy.

Mar-Dule was speechless. He had lost.

If this were any other time, his prideful nature would kick in, and he would demand a rematch, but now wasn't the time.

Mar-Dule recovered and gave Sol a thumbs up.

"You're fast, Brother Sol. Should we get started?"

Sol nodded and went to sit down just inches away from the black-tiled ground. Little Abdu came over and leaped onto his head.

Mar-Dule sat behind him before Sol formed a hand seal and created a red rune.

The others approached and watched as Sol motioned his hand for this rune to float over to the black-tiled ground.

Crackle!

Crackle!

Sparks flew everywhere as a Formation two meters in radius appeared and began producing azure lightning.

Crackle!

Yoon-Jae and the others instinctively took a step back.

These lightning bolts were about half a meter thick. The destructive force from them felt strong enough to leave a hole in them.

As soon as the Formation appeared, Sol's red rune started seeping into it. At this time, Mar-Dule formed a hand seal and created a red rune as well. He swished his sleeve and sent the rune flying out.

Just as Sol's red rune finished fusing into the terrifying Lightning Formation, Mar-Dule's rune overlapped with it.

After the two runes fused with the Lightning Formation, the terrifying azure lightning they were releasing vanished.

Sol was responsible for finding the end of the hair, while Mar-Dule's role was to trace it back to the root.

Suddenly, another Lightning Formation appeared beside the one that was disabled.

The two did the same thing for this one, but three more soon appeared.

These five Lightning Formations formed a five-pointed star Lightning Array Formation.

Now with all five temporarily disabled, Sol and Mar-Dule started drawing in the air using their Aether Energy in synchronization.

This was an advanced method of Rune Inscription. There was no prior explanation of whether they could do this, as both of them thought it was given that the other could.

Using the air as their canvas, Sol and Mar-Dule drew several ordinary-looking lines. When they were done, there was nothing coherent in this finished product.

They merely looked like randomly drawn lines.

Slowly, these lines floated together towards the five-pointed star Lightning Array. They then positioned themselves horizontally over it and lowered themselves to fuse with it.

The Lightning Array flashed for a brief moment before the lines that fused with it started to rise into the air. It brought along with it parts of the Lightning Array that caused the entire Array to lose power.

Sol reached out, and these lines were absorbed into the blue tattoo that lit up briefly on the back of his right hand.

If he wanted to, he would be able to place these pieces back and activate this Lightning Array again.

The process was a lengthy explanation, but in reality, it only took Mar-Dule and Sol a few seconds to completely disable this Lightning Array.

"Did it work?"

Yoon-Jae asked as he looked at the Lighting Array that was now a shade of dull gray.

Sol nodded.

"If things go according to plan, we'll be able to split up our attention and do each Formation Array separately. But for now, we're planning to do a few toget-"

Swoosh!

BANG!

CRaKle!

Before Sol could finish his sentence, the Lightning Array that they thought they had disabled suddenly regained color before frantically started sucking in Aether Energy from the surroundings and then spitting out azure lightning like crazy.

Sol and Mar-Dule instantly retreated from the black-tiled ground, but it was too late.

Crackle!

Crackle!

The Lightning Array erupted, and several two-meter-thick azure lightning bolts shot towards them.

Little Abdu reacted immediately and, with a motion of his paw slamming down, a large black paw materialized and followed his actions.

With an echoing bang, Little Abdu's paw destroyed the azure lightning bolts.

The shockwave from the clash of powers caused Sol and Mar-Dule to stumble back.

"You okay?'

Yoon-Jae, who was holding Little Zeel, caught Sol before he could fall. Mar-Dule, meanwhile, helplessly tumbled to the ground as Sol responded.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, thanks to Little Abdu. But I don't understand what happened."

Everyone looked toward the Lightning Array that was erupting with even more fury. It seemed as if... terrifyingly enough, like it was going out of control.

"Something isn't right! This is-?!"

Mar-Dule had the fat on his body giggle due to the shiver that went down his spine.

"FUCK!!"

He cried out in shock once more before he jumped off the ground like a startled cat.

Immediately as he did, spiraling marks ran from the black-tiled ground where the Lightning Array was to below their feet and further into the surroundings.

Heon-Tae's eyes went wide when he saw them.

"A-Aren't these Formation Arrays as well?! Fuck! Why are they appearing below us when they were supposed to be over there?!"

Everyone felt their scalps go numb at this scene. This was akin to stumbling into a heavenly disaster of considerable magnitude.