Cult of the Sacred Runes

“I get you, I am not ungrateful! However I am not satisfied with it, I will have to fight more returned prime Warriors soon and I will be needing the clone to fight, not to escape.” Ye Wei shook his head and sighed.

“If the clone has its separate Qi flow, then it is more or less a Qi puppet.” Pu Yuan laughed and looked back at Ye Wei comedically. “Well I didn’t create the stance so I am not sure how it works exactly, but I do know someone who is familiar with clones and puppets.”

Ye Wei nodded, having fought stone giants in the Bloodmist Labyrinth, he knew from the back of his mind that the Glacial Emperor was able to remotely controlling structures with Qi.

“Blood Devourer crystals, they were developed by my master to power his automatic defensive system if you did not already know. You can try to make your clone absorb the crystals’ energy.” Pu Yuan swiped his arm, a small pile of transparent red crystals appeared in the middle of the hall.

“Do it slowly, you know about the side effects of the energy these stones carries.” Pu Yuan pointed at the delicate glowing stones.

“Thank you for the advice!” The young Runemaster said gratefully as he looked at the pile.

‘If the clone can become a little stronger, I will be able to crush Lu Qianhuan at his best with the Selenic stances and my Supernova stance!’ Protected by one of the royal families, Ye Wei was going to use it to his advantage and redeem his family’s reputation in Green Moon City.

“This is not much more than an educated guess, you have to try it to confirm if it works!” Pu Yuan let go of Ye Wei’s shoulder, “That’s all I have to say, I will be looking after you if anything should go wrong.”

“Okay!” Ye Wei briefly replied as he activated his light clone. He was experienced with absorbing energy with crystals and didn’t take Pu Yuan’s advice too seriously.

“Crack!” The light clone grabbed one of the crystals and crushed it. The compressed energy was immediately released as it turned into dust, surging into the clone’s meridians.

As the clone tried to incorporate the crystal’s energy into its own Qi flow, Ye Wei’s consciousness was getting disrupted by an aggressive killing intent.

“I have learned how to deal with this years ago!” Ye Wei muttered, he was completely calm when he called upon the mystic mount’s energy in his Sentient, which purified the aggression.

Now in a nourishing soothened state, crystal’s energy was doing more good than harm, slightly strengthening Ye Wei’s Sentient.

“Zoom!”

When Ye Wei successfully tamed the aggression, his light clone accepted the Qi.

“You are right! I can improve my clone’s strength by using the crystal!” Ye Wei stood up excitedly and exclaimed at Pu Yuan.

‘Keep absorbing!’ He controlled his clone to crush more and more crystals. He was not at all worried about being consumed by aggressive primal energy, within five hours, Ye Wei had upgraded his clone to two-star returned prime level.

“Pu Yuan, do we have more?” Ye Wei said, looking at the piles of dust where the crystals were placed.

“Those are valuable treasures to many! You can’t even buy them from the Runemaster Union! No, I do not have more of those!” Pu Yuan said, annoyed. He blew onto his beard, stared at Ye Wei and thought, ‘I am not going to let him take shortcuts like this! Especially when it comes to using Blood Devourer crystal!’

“Oh, what a shame.” Ye Wei’s lips moved to one side, there was a cold flash in his eyes. ‘To be honest, it should be fine, a two-star returned prime level clone should be able to draw or even knock out someone like Lu Qianhuan...’

“Mister Pu, thanks for your help. I should be going now!” Ye Wei thought about the awkward situation he put his family in, getting desperate to return home.

Ye Wei activated the teleportation array again as he waved Pu Yuan goodbye, his smile slowly faded into nothing as his figure disappeared in front of the temple’s guardian

“This kid is more talented than master was, with Supreme blood in his veins he might actually be able to overtake the Glacial Emperor’s level. Maybe one day I could really return to the livings...” Pu Yuan muttered after Ye Wei had disappeared, he sighed deeply, clearly displaying that he had unfinished business before he passed away to become what he was now.

“I would love to step outside again, maybe visit my old friends.” Pu Yuan’s hoarse voice sounded, his loneliness echoed in the hallways.

***

A heavy shower cleansed North Hill Bay, the drops of rain had washed off layers of dusts and dirt off the leaves, the evidence of the recent violent in the area shedded, settled on the ground.

After a sizzling sound shook a few branches meters above ground, a crack ran deep into the earth and a wormhole appeared. Ye Wei quietly walked out of the darkness boundered by the perfectly circular gateway.

“Now where did you go, Lu Qianhuan!?” Ye Wei was completely dry, the raindrops never reached his hair, it was stopped by an invisible force, the water slid off and revealed a spherical shield around him.

‘Starblink Steps!’ Ye Wei’s straightened his fingers, with great precision he dictated the long sequence of specialized runes, a thousand feet wide Qi belt appeared above the trees.

The belt of runic light rapidly grew in length as soon as Ye Wei jumped atop, stretching towards Green Moon City.

‘Hope I am not too late...’ The young Runemaster thought to himself, the rush of Qi carried him towards his hometown at the speed of over ten miles a second. He was timing himself meanwhile, noticed that he was faster than the Lu Qianhuan as he remembered.

***

The thick rain clouds were just carried away from Green Moon City by the midday breeze.

Thousands had gathered in the center of the City Lord’s castle. Hundreds of long, antique tables and tall chairs were tidily lined up. Each of the furniture pieces was engraved with the city’s crest, they evenly covered large square.

All martial families in Green Moon City except the Ye’s, were invited to a feast hosted by Lu Qianhuan, who sat on the chairman’s seat.

Although in his own premises, Xiao Qingyun, the City Lord was forced to take a seat behind the guest. Next to the City Lord was Gu Qing, the principal of South Star Academy.

Most of the attending families noticed that none of Ye’s were present despite the fact that the Ye Patriarch had lead his family to its recent height and actually deserved a seat in a city gathering.

Lu Qianhuan looked down upon his guests with a spiteful gaze while they were chattering.

“Have you heard the rumors? Lu Qianying died!”

“Seriously? I thought that was just some kind of sick joke! Any idea who killed him? I mean, the man is chubby and kind of clumsy looking, but he is a one-star returned prime Warrior!”

“People are saying Ye Wei killed him, but I am not sure if I should believe it or not.”

“Ye Wei!?” The people involved in the conversation and the eavesdroppers all gasped for air, could not picture the sixteen year old as a killer.

“Haven’t you heard? Ye Wei is one of the God’s Seven since the cultivation tournament in Ning City, I heard he broke through to returned prime level too!”

“A sixteen year old returned prime Warrior? How is that even possible!?”

The martial families’ patriarchs glanced at each other in awe, all of them jealous of the young talent’s achievement, trying not to show their amusement, afraid they might be punished by the victim’s brother.

All of them who heard the news realized that if Ye Wei had truly surpassed the City Lord and South Star’s principal, it would not be long before Green Moon City is ran by the Ye’s.

“Do you think Lu Qianhuan would take his brother’s death lightly?”

“Erm, even the Lu family does influence the government, Ye Wei is now affiliated with the Runemaster Union, he cannot do anything without bringing his family down.”

“Well why do you think Lu Qianhuan invited us then? If Ye Wei is working against the Lu’s should we even be here? I heard from the men we sent to help Lu Qianying that the Lu’s condensed prime Warriors were killed by Ye Wei!”

“The Han’s are out, I care about my family! I’ve sent them on these stupid, dangerous missions for long enough anyway!”

“Yes, that’s a good point!” The patriarchs wishful thinking made them believe Ye Wei was fighting for the city, that they were protected by relation.

“I’ve sent one hundred and twenty-four Warriors to help them searching whatever they are looking for, I even sent my own son out there!”

All of the patriarchs were not happy with the arrangement. They found it more and more ridiculous that the Lu elder seemed to always have extra requests. Now that they had a chance to gather in one place, they couldn’t help but venting out their resentment.

Lu Qianhuan was not in a better mood, he was aware if the family council learned the recent developments around Green Moon City, he will be ordered to make peace with the Ye’s and the Runemaster Union.

The risk of the Lu’s search being exposed was getting higher as more and more cultivators were getting involved, the Lu’s had little chance to cover up if they decided to murder Ye Wei.

Lu Qianhuan was never going to let go, he was a firm believer of the ‘eye for an eye’ principle, therefore he did not report the latest news to the council. Instead, he called them who he thought obeyed him to a meeting.

The skinny elder stood up, his arms were crossed behind his back, his aggrieved stare seemed to be focused on everyone in the square, his spine-chilling Qi presence was filling the space. Mouths were sealed shut by Lu Qianhuan’s slight movement.

“Greetings, everyone! I will be needing three extra condensed prime Warriors from each of Green Moon City’s martial families by noon tomorrow, thank you!” Lu Qianhuan’s voice struck the palace like thunder, his determined tone shook the thick flooring stones.

Quietness fell again as the elder’s voice faded, none of the patriarchs dared to openly challenge the dynasty’s and the Runemaster Union’s authority. Furthermore, sending condensed prime Warriors to capture a returned prime Warrior did not sound like a good idea to anyone in the gathering.

In a small, remote city, condensed prime Warriors were considered rarities. However the request seemed reasonable to Lu Qianhuan’s standards, his rage made him completely blind to this simple fact.

Green Moon City’s patriarchs looked nervous, sweating as if they were sitting on cushions made of needles, they were putting their families’ future in jeopardy by not willing to risk the lives of the cultivators who were going to build their families future.

All of them were feeling helpless. They simultaneously casted their eyes onto Principal Gu and City Lord Xiao, hoping they would come up with a solution.