Too Late

o everyone's surprise, the imagined scene of a city-destroying explosion did not happen.

The light ball that landed on the ground spread rapidly around it, like flames igniting the center of a piece of paper, forming a dazzling white ring that expanded outward.

The people caught in its spread were not harmed at all. They relaxed and stopped running, instead watching curiously at the miraculous changes unfolding before their eyes.

The light ring ignored all obstacles and buildings, spreading out from the center like a virus, covering everything in its path without exception.

Everyone soon noticed that the ground, walls, and armor covered by the light ring were now densely inscribed with characters, including themselves. Whether it was helmets, armor, long swords, or maces, everything was covered with dense characters.

These characters, like shallow carvings made by a blade, were neatly arranged in rows, radiating outward.

"This is... This is the inscription from 'The Path of the Martial Artist' and 'The Complete Rune Explanation'! And some strange spherical patterns!"

"You're right, I've read those two books, the content is the same!"

"Could it be that the person just now was indeed the 'Silver Armored Rune Master'?"

"It must be him!"

"Amazing! How did he do that?"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course, it was done with runes!"

"Runes..."

"Runes can achieve such a level! It's incredible!"

"Indeed, I'm now very curious about runes. If we master runes, can we, like him, freely soar in the sky?"

"Not only that, but the wild beasts outside will also no longer be able to threaten us!"

"True, I was really regretful when those two books were listed as banned!"

"Everyone, don't forget, those two books are banned!"

"Banned books? Look, the entire city is covered with the content of banned books. How do you ban that? Cover the whole city with mud? Ha, we can just scrape it out!"

People looked towards the light ring, which continued to spread outward at an undiminished speed. It wouldn't be long before the entire main city of He'an would be covered with inscriptions, and the area outside the city as well.

No one knew how far this light would spread. They all hoped it could persist, persist until no one could stop the spread of runes.

...

Su Hao climbed out of the rubble, shaking off the dust from his body and began to check his condition.

The long sword was broken, the short sword was intact, one side of the wings was cut off, making flight impossible, and some blood energy was consumed by using the "Rune's Radiance," but it wasn't a major issue. He had prepared protective measures before the crash and was uninjured. The only problem was a slight injury from taking a blow from the Human King, but it didn't affect subsequent combat. The bomb "Eight Hundred Explosions" had a dent but was still usable.

"Who would have thought... crashed! Now it's a bit awkward, how should I escape?" Su Hao tightened his grip on the large iron ball he carried and started dismantling the unusable wings, preparing to sneak away.

"Hmm? Human King!!? So fast!!" Within Su Hao's perception range, a surge of immense blood energy rushed straight towards him, almost catching up with his silent flight mode.

Su Hao started running.

"Whoosh-bang!"

Su Hao's vision blurred as an old man in a luxurious golden full-body armor suddenly appeared not far ahead, holding a broken blade, staring sharply at Su Hao with calm eyes.

Su Hao knew he couldn't escape for now. He muttered to himself, "Are grandmasters really that powerful? What's the principle behind it?"

Both stood still, staring at each other.

The atmosphere grew tense.

The Human King slowly spoke, "Traveler?"

Su Hao responded slowly, "Human King?"

His aura didn't lose a bit!

At this moment, the Human King quietly watched the "Traveler" before him, feeling extremely complex. Undoubtedly, this Traveler was the brightest star of the current human race. No one in the past few centuries, or even millennia, could surpass him. Looking back, only the Human Sovereign, who helped the human race break through to the grandmaster level, could compare. He had achieved unimaginable feats.

Indeed!

To the Human King, the Traveler's contributions to the human race had reached the level of the Human Sovereign and the martial ancestor.

He had read "The Path of the Martial Artist" and "The Complete Rune Explanation" thoroughly several times, and they had greatly shocked him!

To others, the shocking point might be that the Traveler brought rune knowledge to the human race, enhancing their competitiveness in the world.

But to the Human King, it wasn't just that.

What he saw was the Traveler bringing a revolution in thought to the human race. The books conveyed a new way of exploring the world, showing everyone another aspect of it with a fresh perspective.

Especially the questions: What are runes? Why are they like this? What is their principle? What is their pattern? How can we use them?

These few short questions seemed to reveal the secrets of runes, touching on the "laws" only gods could master.

Facing such a person, how could the Human King not feel conflicted?

If possible, he would personally take the Traveler as a disciple and cultivate him well.

But now it was too late!

Had this been twenty years earlier, he would have sacrificed everything to support the Traveler in promoting his "Path of Runes."

At that time, he had absolute strength and more time to suppress all dissatisfaction and peacefully promote the runes, leading to a thorough transformation of the human race from inside out.

But now, he was old, and time was running out.

He didn't want to see the human race shed blood or tear itself apart because if the human race weakened to a certain extent, the top beasts from the Northern Icefield and Western Snowpeak would definitely seize the opportunity to destroy them. Who could stop them then?

The human race must not have internal strife at this moment!

The Human King could only sigh helplessly in his heart, "Why didn't you come twenty years earlier!"

The Human King slowly spoke, "Traveler, do you know what you are doing?"

Su Hao nodded, "I know, I studied runes hoping everyone could benefit!"

Since the Human King was willing to talk, Su Hao was happy to oblige because he couldn't win or escape.

Not only was the Human King present, but grandmaster warriors and grand preceptor warriors were also gathering around, surrounding him.

The Human King said, "I agree with your views but not your approach. There's no need to rush. If you wait patiently for fifty years, your Path of Runes will definitely benefit the entire human race."

Su Hao shook his head, "No! The runes I studied are not tools for you to rule the human race. I hope runes can spread, giving everyone a chance to choose and learn runes."

"If we wait fifty years, as you said, the Path of Runes will be used by the entire human race, but it will only be a tool in the hands of the noble class."

The Human King sighed, "You're wrong. Not everyone is fit to be a warrior or use runes. What we can do is improve the efficiency of selecting talents, train qualified warriors, and provide protection for the survival of the human race!"

"You want everyone to become warriors, which is unrealistic. You have to admit, people are born different."