Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 212 - First in Ten Years

Baili Hengtian could not understand Ye Wei’s calmness. He kept winking and widening his eyes, hoping that Ye Wei would get the message and stand down.

The young Runemaster followed the caretaker’s eyes to the hilltop where the veteran group hid, staying placid and refusing to step back. ‘Thank you very much for the advice, but I will be responsible for myself from here on out.’

The caretaker shook his head, feeling resentful as Ye Wei’s feistiness reminded him of himself as an initiate. He was regarded as the cultivator with most potential back in his region, and this particular trait, the pride, was the exact reason why he had a hard first year. He learned that there were always a higher mountain somewhere else and that his talent was tiny, not worth mentioning to the palace’s elite.

‘If I can’t get through to you, reality will…’ Baili Hengtian thought.

“Are you done defending this nobody, Baili?” Feng Shan grew impatient. He respected the caretaker as a stronger cultivator, but being better connected, he could do what he pleased.

“Ye Wei is just joking around. Come on, apologize and step aside.” Baili Hengtian took a step back warily. He could not afford to offend the people behind Feng Shan. He took the gift from Ye Wei and did all he could to watch out for the newcomer. Everything subsequent to his intervention was out of his hands.

Honoring Baili Heng’s interference, Feng Shan held his strike and straightened his back. He quietly stared at Ye Wei, waiting for an apology.

“What are you waiting for?! Apologize and kneel with the rest of the newbies. I will let you off this one time because Baili Hengtian spoke for you!” Feng Shan looked as unpleased as he sounded.

Ye Wei’s cold gaze did not leave Feng Shan’s face for a second. “You are just a powerful owner’s loud dog. Let me speak with the person who put you up to this silly bullying act. I don't want to waste my time beating a pet.”

“You want to stand out? I will paint you red so everyone can see you from miles away.” Feng Shan’s face turned red as he slowly walked towards Ye Wei. For each step he took, primal energy in the air condensed under his feet, forming a transparent staircase.

“Brother, thank you for stepping up for me, but don’t get yourself hurt. Just stay quiet for now and we will make him pay when we are stronger. I, Hong Hai, will remember your kind act and pay you back someday, somehow.” The injured teen clumsily sat up and shouted as loud as he could.

“Argh!” Blood came gushing out of Hong Hai’s fresh wounds as he moved.

“Speak to me when you’ve recovered!” Ye Wei did not pay the slightest attention to Feng Shan and looked down, concerned. “Jian Chen, please take care of Hong Hai for now.”

“Yea.” Jian Chen calmly obliged, taking the injured to lay against a wall at a corner.

More than a hundred initiates were startled, ready to run. On the contrary, each of Ye Wei’s moves and words reflected his calm and collected state of mind. He acted casually as if he did not feel Feng Shan’s murderous presence.

The initiates, who had all witnessed how easy Yue Tieniu and Hong Hai fell, wondered if Ye Wei had a death wish.

“I see you have been speaking with your fist all this time. I think I know just how to communicate with you.” Ye Wei stared ahead at Feng Shan and channeled his Qi.

Before the young Runemaster could step forward, Feng Shan’s Qi quickly turned into the shape of a hand again, grabbing onto his body.

“Got you!” He clenched the giant hand as tight as he could.

“You don’t know who you are fighting against.” Ye Wei was not only not affected, his muscles effortlessly bulged up against the pressure.

“You are no match for my strength.” His eyes lit up as he pushed back the grip entirely. Feng Shan’s stance fell apart in just a second.

“Swoosh!”

Ye Wei’s figure turned into a blur while he was still speaking, disappearing in thin air before the very eyes of his opponent.

“What is this speed!?” Feng Shan was slightly nervous about the fierce presence closing in. He sensed danger and immediately tried to channeled his will-force, but in the blink of an eye, Ye Wei was already next to him before he could react.

“Holy Sages!”

The initiates gasped for air, having no clue as to how Ye Wei accelerated as he did. Baili Hengtian was the only one whose eyes followed, frightfully surprised by what he saw.

“Crack!”

A chilling sound echoed in the initiates’ consternation and Ye Wei’s fist sank into Feng Shan. The strike’s focused energy had dug a pothole on the scar-faced cultivator’s chest.

“You…”

Startled by the punch, Feng Shan’s body tightened in agony, the seizure denying him a chance to defend himself.

Ye Wei then turned his waist to power his fist, spinning a full circle before sending his opponent flying down to ground.

“Bang!”

Feng Shan’s body landed with the momentum of a meteorite. The square rumbled, and everyone, including the two-star returned prime Warrior, were stunned like statues.

None of them expected the person who defeated Yue Tieniu with one blow was defeated by one blow himself. They were completely silent, and at the same time confused yet euphoric.

“Feng Shan could not even return a strike…” Baili Hengtian rubbed his eyes in disbelief, as if he had just seen a ghost in daylight. ‘Yue Tieniu was just loud and big, but Ye Wei is insanely strong. I think it is clear now who really is the best initiate.’

“I didn’t see anything. He must have beaten Feng Shan with one strike!”

“Is he really one of us!?”

“He must be a three-star returned prime Warrior!”

The initiates were all curious about the hero of the minute, trying to figure out how strong Ye Wei was and why he did not step up against Yue Tieniu.

Ye Wei did not look older than the other newcomers on average, but his strength obviously exceeded the mean by miles. The boys were becoming envious and the girls were having a crush. However, they were also inspired to become stronger, as respect seemed to come with strength in the Million Stars Palace.

They were threatened, kneeling down and ready to give up their dignity, but Ye Wei stopped their suffering with just one punch. The initiates were now curious about what was coming next, hoping that their new idol would have a way to handle the veterans.

“This kid is stronger than I expected. He might even be stronger than me! Haha! So he tricked me into believing he was still a condensed prime Warrior!” Baili Hengtian was certainly not weak, but he was only respected almost exclusively by the initiates due to his poor connection with the cultivators higher up on the ladder.

Behind Feng Shan, there were Zhou Kuang and Bai Qing, both of them peak three-star returned prime Warriors. Apart from the black dragon listers, the duo were among the strongest within the premises. Being close to many of the top thousand, they were almost authorised to take care of monitoring the palace while the listers focused on cultivating and competing for the top spots.

‘However, Zhou Kuang and Bai Qing are not the kind of people you want to cross, especially not when you are new.’ Baili Hengtian was impressed, but he did not think things were looking good for Ye Wei. ‘Unless he gets into the black dragon list, which is going to be hard regardless of how strong he is…’

Zhou Kuang and Bai Qing both creased their brows as they saw Feng Shan’s crushing defeat from the hills.

“This newbie is not weak at all, and he surely knows it himself.” Bai Qing said.

Their reputation was now hanging on a thin thread. If the duo failed to tame the initiates, they would undoubtedly become the laughing stock among the veterans.

“This is an outrage! What does he think he is doing!? His incompetence is causing us to lose the respect we worked so hard for! How the hell did he manage to lose against a newbie? He was hit only once!” Zhou Kuang’s glare was cold as ice.

The whole group remained silent in fear as they sensed their leaders’ aggression, stepping back quietly. Meanwhile, they deemed themselves lucky that Feng Shan took the fight, thinking the swift defeat would probably mark the end of his privileges.

“I can’t blame Feng Shan for this…” Bai Qing said coldly, “that boy is a mean fighter, and he had been hiding throughout the fight series. All the recruits are eighteen or younger, and most of them are condensed prime Warriors. It’s reasonable to be caught off guard.”

“This kid is probably the first initiate in a decade who has the kind of strength to defeat a two-star returned prime Warrior!”

“You don’t really see under eighteen two-star returned prime Warriors these days. Not even the ones that bury themselves in the secret realm to cultivate all day and all year can reach this newbie’s level.” Bai Qing curled his lips to a discreet smile, “first in a decade, like you said. Am I the only person finding it interesting?”

“Do you want to fight him?” Zhou Kuang raised his brows.

“Of course I do!” Bai Qing nodded, turning his head to his partner. “But first, I would like to see with what style he fights. Luo Han, make the newbie move a bit.”

“Sure!” A well built teenager walked out of the group, his blue eyes set right at Ye Wei.