36 Heavenly Spirits

[Vextor]

The Outlaws of The Marsh doesn't have anything like the True Runes. The "heavenly Spirits" you are referring to are the 36 stars of heaven, which are all of the Stars od Destiny that start with "ten-", such as "tenkai" and "tenkan." Those stars are supposed to symbolize the 36 original bandit chieftains in history who rebelled against the Sung Dynasty.

It probably has nothing to do with Konami's original idea of having 36 True Runes.

[Harukaze]

Those stars are supposed to symbolize the 36 original bandit chieftains in history who rebelled against the Sung Dynasty.

Somehow I missed that. Either the translation I read was that bad or it's been so long I simply forgot. Who, then, are the 72 spirits of earth?

[Vextor]

The 72 Stars of Earth (the chisatsu stars) come from the 72 characters who were later added onto the folklore through time.