"Patriarch Wang, this young friend we invited indeed uses First-Grade Divine Runes. However, they are *Multiple Divine Patterns*. I wonder how you’re feeling now?" Zhu Tianhong immediately began to taunt him, rubbing it in his face. Just moments ago, they were all mercilessly mocking his side. Now, it was his turn to do the mocking.

What goes around, comes around.

Zhu Tianhong immediately burst into loud laughter. He had thought Yi Tianyun was a fraud, but now it seemed he was the real deal!

Zhu Yuwei and Zhu Yuxuan both had delighted expressions. This was the true strength of their Elder Yi.

"How is that possible? How can someone so young inscribe such powerful Multiple Divine Patterns?" Patriarch Wang’s expression darkened. ’How can a boy that young possess such astonishing talent?’

Offstage.

Standing nearby, a shocked Lin Li exclaimed, "How is that possible? Multiple Divine Patterns are so difficult to inscribe. How could you possibly pull it off?"

The disdain in his eyes had long since been replaced by shock; he was utterly stunned by what Yi Tianyun had done.

"Sigh, I can only inscribe First-Grade Divine Runes. Looks like I’ll have to go back to drinking milk to cultivate... But if I have to go back to drinking milk, what about you? Do you need to return to your mother’s womb for a do-over?" Yi Tianyun glanced at Lin Li, his casual tone landing like a vicious slap to the face.

"What did you say!" Lin Li’s face flushed with anger, provoked by Yi Tianyun’s words. But this was not a place where he could teach him a lesson, so he could only glare at him furiously.

"I didn’t say anything. I was just telling it like it is, repeating what you said earlier," Yi Tianyun said with a calm smile. ’This Lin Li is used to being arrogant. Does he think that just because he’s the strongest, he can mock others as he pleases?’

He had always been one to return disrespect with a vengeance. ’If he tells me to go back to drinking milk, then Lin Li can go back to his mother’s womb!’

"Don’t get cocky! I don’t know how you cultivated, but I can inscribe Multiple Divine Patterns too!" Lin Li refused to admit defeat. "Don’t think you’re the only one who can do it! There are still more rounds to go!"

He was now a bit unsure of Yi Tianyun’s actual skill level and didn’t dare to mock him any further. He would wait and see what happened in the later stages of the competition.

He hadn’t expected some freak to show up out of nowhere and completely crush him with Multiple Divine Patterns. He had practiced Multiple Divine Patterns before, but he wasn’t very proficient. The required precision was too high; one had to perfectly embody the principle of "accuracy" to inscribe them flawlessly. Otherwise, the consequences of failure would be dire.

Normally, no one would dare to attempt such a thing without absolute confidence.

In this round, Yi Tianyun had delivered a resounding slap to the faces of his detractors in the most powerful way possible, earning a perfect score and instantly drawing the attention of many. He had demonstrated an outstanding level of skill in this round, but could he maintain it in the next?

Perhaps he could only inscribe First-Grade Divine Runes. Even though they were Multiple Divine Patterns, they were, in the end, still First-Grade Divine Runes. It was possible to achieve such an effect if one dedicated their life to researching it.

’Can a Multiple Divine Pattern really withstand an attack from an eighth-level Spirit Refining Stage expert...’

Yi Tianyun was quite satisfied with this result. Just because the armor was inscribed with Multiple Divine Patterns didn’t mean it was truly impervious to the impact of an eighth-level Spirit Refining Stage attack. It simply meant it could hold out for a few more hits. A few more attacks, and it would undoubtedly shatter completely.

Soon, the first round ended. Yi Tianyun took first place with a perfect score, and second place went to Lin Li. However, since Lin Li also received a perfect score, they were technically tied. Still, in terms of skill, Yi Tianyun was clearly a cut above.

After the first round ended, the second round of the competition began.

"In the first round, someone took first place with an exceptionally skilled use of Multiple Divine Patterns. That was something I hadn’t expected." The person Li Tianlong was referring to was, of course, Yi Tianyun. After sweeping his gaze over the crowd, he continued, "For the second round, I will slightly alter the rules and content to make the scoring less rigid, so we don’t have a repeat of the first round’s situation. After all, every family’s circumstances are different, which I find very gratifying. The branches are growing stronger and stronger, and for our Star Pavilion, this is a good thing."

As soon as he said this, the expressions of several deacons changed slightly, which meant the content of the competition was about to change. The faces of people from many families also changed slightly, because the content was changing!

Word always gets out, and these deacons were able to learn the competition’s content in advance. Therefore, many people from the various families had spent a great deal of money to get this information from them. Now that the rules were changing on a whim, it was possible the second round’s content would be altered beyond recognition, meaning all their money had gone down the drain.

And the one who had caused this change was Yi Tianyun, the very person they had been mocking earlier. This made them feel extremely displeased. If the content changed, all their prior intensive training would have been a complete waste of effort.

Now, they could only pray that the content wouldn’t change much, perhaps just a slight tweak to the rules.

As the Grand Pavilion Master, Li Tianlong was impossible to bribe unless he was deliberately biased towards a particular family. As a Divine Rune Master and the most powerful Grand Pavilion Master, who could possibly bribe him?

After pondering for a moment, he finally said, "The content of the second round will test ’speed’! Within one hour, the more Divine Runes you successfully inscribe, the higher your score! Grade will not be disregarded; the lower the grade, the lower the score, and the higher the grade, the higher the score. A First-Grade Divine Rune is worth one point, a Second-Grade Divine Rune is worth two points, a Third-Grade Divine Rune is worth five points, and a Fourth-Grade Divine Rune is worth ten points! There is no upper limit to the score!"

The content of the second round was also very simple, centered on the principle of "speed." But when everyone heard it, they realized the content had been drastically changed. The previous rule was to see who could inscribe a Divine Rune in the shortest amount of time, with higher grades earning more points.

This meant that low-grade runes were basically useless. Even if you could successfully inscribe a First-Grade Divine Rune in one second, it was still only worth one point due to its low grade, making it essentially meaningless.

Now, it was different. While the content still centered on "speed," the specifics had been turned upside down. This was now a competition to see who could inscribe the most Divine Runes within the same time frame, undoubtedly turning it into a mad dash for points.

This required them to consider how to allocate their time over the hour. Mindlessly churning out high-grade Divine Runes wasn’t necessarily a good strategy. For example, if the highest someone could inscribe was a Third-Grade Divine Rune and it took them the entire hour to create just one, they would only get five points.

But if, within that same hour, one could inscribe three Second-Grade Divine Runes, they would get six points, completely crushing the score from the single Third-Grade Divine Rune. It all came down to proficiency. Of course, if one’s speed at inscribing high-grade Divine Runes was similar to their speed with Second-Grade ones, then prioritizing the Third-Grade Divine Runes was undoubtedly the best choice.

The rules had changed, but everyone felt it was still acceptable.

"Ding! Chain Quest Part 1 successfully completed. Reward: 500,000 EXP, 1,000 Skill EXP in Divine Rune Mastery!"

"Ding! Chain Quest Part 2 accepted: ’Achieve victory in the second round of the competition.’ Reward: 500,000 EXP, 1,000 Skill EXP in Divine Rune Mastery!"

He accepted another quest with its reward, which made Yi Tianyun grin from ear to ear. The Skill Level was exactly what he was after! If this kept up, breaking through to Advanced Divine Rune Mastery wouldn’t be difficult at all!