Cult of the Sacred Runes

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Wave after wave of force rippled and burst from Jian Chen like a tsunami with each wave becoming stronger than the last.

As the ball of moon-shaped energy became larger its redness became more vivid and shone brighter.

“The bloodmoon behind him was filled with aggression. What kind of stance is this?” Ye Wei thought, startled from this unknown but impressive stance. A shiver went down his spine as he felt like a leaf floating in the middle of the ocean during a storm and that he could be crushed at any moment.

Although Ye Wei was under the effect of Supernova stance, his strength that was comparable to a four-star condensed prime Warrior did not make him feel any safer while confronting Jian Chen’s stance.

Ye Wei was struggling, and on the verge of being brought down to his knees; his bones began to crack, and the runes on his bones circulated at an accelerated speed.

‘Supernova stance, second evolution!’

Ye Wei screamed in pain as the energy in his body condensed further, before Jian Chen released the immense surge at the bloodmoon.

Jian Chen felt the aggressive, rampaging surge of energy and looked concerned. He could never have imagined that Ye Wei was capable of matching the power of his best stance. He slowly lifted the sword up causing the bloodmoon behind him began to rotate.

The two different colored dark and pale energies expanded and contracted in a cycle. Jian Chen’s stance resembled the various phases of the moon from full to gibbous, to crescent, then to new moon and back again.

The pulsing moon cycles shocked and impressed the audience high up in the sky.

“It’s that stance! I never would have thought!”

“He is capable of using this stance… That is incredible! Jian Shi Yu is full of surprises, and I am sure he has created a monster!” The lively speculation went on.

Even the City Lord joined in and became uncharacteristically chatty.

Xu He’s face expressed a sense of wariness. He anxiously looked at Jian Shi Yu, “Principal Jian, please make sure Jian Chen doesn’t become too reckless, he can kill Ye Wei!”

Jian Shi Yu smiled, and replied with a gentle tone, “Relax Xu He, Jian Chen knows where to draw the line”

‘Relax!? What do you mean relax?!’ Xu He turned his head back towards the martial platform. His legs shook from just looking at the bloodmoon and feeling its pressure. He nervous for Ye Wei..

Meanwhile, Ye Wei’s Qi still expanded while his Supernova stance second evolution was reaching its peak. The condensed Qi rushed into his limbs, creating a shrill, cracking sound.

‘Ha, you think you can beat that stance just with Qi? You will need to do more than that if you want to survive! You will drop dead once he has finished channeling the stance!’ The Progenitor suddenly commented, chuckling.

‘Shut up you!’ Ye Wei grunted, secretly acknowledging the truth in the Progenitor’s statement. He looked steadily at the bloodmoon, and he could feel a fearsome presence hidden deep within the flowing, pulsing energy.

‘I will show you the way this one time. This stance is called Skywheel Bloodmoon. You can easily defend against yourself against by activating your Qi and use these runes!’ the demon projected a few shapes in Ye Wei’s mind. His mesmerizing voice echoed in Ye Wei’s mind.

Jian Chen pointed his sword towards the sun, “Brother Ye, careful now, this is Blood moon Assassination Sword. The Sword Master during his prime created it. Though it was an unfinished creation, it is so powerful I cannot even fully control it.”

The Progenitor was dumbfounded, ‘God damn it! The stupidity of humans shocks me; Are you humans really this stupid? You two are opponents. Why in the hell would you tip each other on what stance you will use?!’

‘Well, you are so knowledgeable why does it even matter? It took you no time at all to figure out what stance he was using.’ Ye Wei sarcastically replied.

‘Pfft, if you keep up that attitude than I don’t care! It’s you who will be demolished by the Sword Master’s stance.’ The Progenitor was becoming irritated.

‘Blood Moon Assassination Sword?’ Ye Wei narrowed his eyes.

Ye Wei’s Sentient flashed golden. Jian Chen’s stance suddenly slowed down and the runes became clear. The young Runemaster could now see the mystical ways the blood moon was constructed.

“So this sword stance is simply an extension of the other stance he used earlier!” Ye Wei stated. He stared right at Jian Chen’s stance to analyze its structure.

Ye Wei’s eyes lit up, ‘The flying wheel covers the sky, the blood moon floats then it sinks, where it starts is where it ends!’ Ye Wei finally comprehended Jian Chen’s stance’s power cycle from the mild new moon phase to the power surge of the full moon phase.

‘Only full moons can be nicked, the rounder an object is, the more stress its surface, the high one gets the faster one falls!’ Ye Wei grunted. His body filled with condensed Qi to a point he overflowed with power. It bursted out in every direction, thickening the air around the martial platforms.

While most of the spectating crowd thought Ye Wei’s chance to beat Jian Chen’s stance would be at the blood moon’s dimmest phase, Ye Wei favored the opposite.

‘Six, seven, eight-star condensed prime Warrior level.’ As every rune on Ye Wei’s bone glowed golden. The rune circulation strengthened his cultivation from a two-star condensed prime warrior to almost a peak eight-star level warrior.

His Qi burst like a river,but as the Qi fell into his hands it become swords, using them to fall upon his foe simultaneously.

Exactly what Ye Wei calculated, the rune structure of Jian Chen’s stance maxed out Jian Chen’s power when the blood moon was at its largest. The red moon shape slowly shrunk as some of the bonds between runes were broken by Selenic Triple-Primal Sword.

The timing of Ye Wei’s strike was perfect.

Ye We’s Qi crushed the blood moon’s structure, causing its spherical shape to fall apart.

The Progenitor watched everything that had just occurred inside Ye Wei’s head. He was stunned; he couldn’t imagine Ye Wei still concealed aces up his sleeves and how perfect the counter strike’s timing was.

The Supernova’s stance in second evolution phase granted Ye Wei the power of an eight-star condensed prime Warrior. Jian Chen was lucky to know how to use the Sword Master’s stance, or he would not have stood a chance.

Jian Chen represents the summit of Qing state when it came to cultivation. The sage’s stance he learned contained power which even exceeding Myst stances. This stance allowed him an edge over most other young cultivators in the region.

However, Jian Chen’s cultivation was too low; as a result, he could not use the Sword Master’s unfinished stance to its fullest potential. If a returned prime Warrior used the same stance, he could defeat anyone at the same cultivation level. And this was only an unfinished stance, a person who would finish or complete would be able to found their own clan.

After the blood moon disintegrated, the crowd was rendered silent. No one dared to even breath because of such shock and anticipation of what was next to come. could be heard as everyone held their breath in shock.

“How could that burst of energy be so powerful?! I wouldn’t dare to think the blood moon could be defeated by anyone lesser than a returned prime Warrior! He didn’t use a scroll right?” The youngsters al came up with their own speculations.

“Eight-star condensed prime cultivation! How… How is that possible!? The audience high up were not only impressed but concerned as well from Ye Wei’s display of power.

“He is just sixteen! I have never seen anyone like that in Ning City… No, actually, I have never seen someone this young as strong as this in the whole of Zhou dynasty.

“Now, that is a powerful amplification stance!” The City Lord stared at Ye Wei’s back while murmuring, “Yi Yan… What did you feed this young monster!”

City Lord Chen Yuan ruled f thirty-six cities in the region. He could gain any information he desired on any person that caught his eye. In fact, he had his men investigat Ye Wei after he saw the fight between South Star and Polaris on day one.

This was how he knew Ye Wei was Master Yi’s apprentice, and Ye Wei was from an old martial family in Green Moon City. It was already unbelievable enough for the City Lord to believe that the Runemaster’s apprentice became a Runemaster. Now, he did not know what to think about the teen’s eight-star condensed prime Warrior cultivation level.

“So, you were able to push your cultivation through the eight-star condensed prime level, huh? I highly doubt you can use this technique more than once though. Nevertheless,this is getting interesting!” Tu Fu Sheng’s pupils dilated, impressed by this threatening power.

While Tu Fu Sheng was visually analyzing Ye Wei, nobody dared to disturb his personal space. He was giving off an intense aura. The alluring girl near him was nowhere to be found.

“Wow, Jian Chen just lost. Truly, Master YI’s apprentice is quite something. Just like his mentor, he defies human logic!” Jian Shi Yu disdainfully shook his head while looking at the dispersing blood moon.

In Jian Shi Yu’s eyes, he had no way to calculate that Ye Wei was actually able to channel the power of a eight-star condensed prime Warrior. Moreover, figuring out the weak spot of a sage’s stance and countering after just a brief look was not expected by Jian Shi Yu at all.

Xu He’s jaw dropped as he looked at Ye Wei’s graceful posture, “this kid is not to be underestimated!” He exclaimed after clearing the thoughts in his head, surprised by the unimaginable talent of Master Yi’s legacy apprentice.

Although he did not realize Ye Wei was that powerful, he was now getting used to Ye Wei surprising him.

“I surrender!” Jian Chen was startled and astonished. He could not but help staring at the place his vanished blood moon had been.Embarrassed by defeat, his face was completely red, but his eyes shone a light of determination. He muttered to himself, ‘It is my own fault. Ever since I was toddler, I have been learning this stance, and still after a decade I have not completed it. I must thank brother Ye He has helped me realize what my next step must be.’

To Win or to lose was no longer important for Jian Chen.

Though he felt heartbroken, he still looked graceful; his white robe was flowing in the air, and two faded lines of tears were on his cheeks.

Hearing Jian Chen’s surrender, Ye Wei pulled his right hand back and canceled his stance. He inwardly thought, ‘I must give him credit being able to use one of the sages’ stance is indeed impressive. I should thank him for showing me everything.If he had learned the whole stance, I would be the one surrendering right now.’

In the end, Jian Chen’s age meant a lot, he simply lacked experience.

During the fight, Ye Wei forcefully accelerated the Supernova stance’s second evolution to its limit. The runes on his bones were now shining brighter and appeared as a mysterious star system.