Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 122 – Triple Selenic Punch

After Ye Wei broke through to become a five-star Warrior, he went back to the Glacial Temple. There in the temple he found seven selenic beast statues inside one of the hidden chambers, and there was an encrypted formula for the stance to each of these statues. This stance was one of the techniques he learned during his visit.

The Selenic Descend was one of the Selenic Seven created by the Glacial Emperor when he was inspired from watching two selenic beasts fighting each other. Although it was only a forbidden high-level Spirit stance, its unusual Qi flow gave it power comparable to low-level Myst stances.

In the past three years, Ye Wei was able to learn five out of the seven stances during the breaks in training schedule made by Master Yi.

“Nice stance!” Qi Xiu could clearly tell Ye Wei used a stance, but the Qi flow of it was anything but ordinary, and he could not recognize most of the runes or the stance itself. The astounding energy within the Qi beast caused Qi Xiu to be very cautious as he swung his sword flinging rows of green windblades in Ye Wei’s direction from above.

Ye Wei could hear the destructive windblades raining down before he even lifted his head to see them. He narrowed his eyes and flipped his palm striking upwards. This caused the Qi beast to widened its eyes and roar.

“Roar!”

The piercing sonic waves accumulated quickly like waves in a storm, and they carried immense pressure crushing towards the green light.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The swaying screen of green was shattered by the energetic sonic waves before they were even close to Ye Wei.

As the green light faded, a pair of Qi wings appeared on Ye Wei’s back. They shook and the momentum they created turned him into a blur as he advanced towards Qi Xiu with the Qi beast following closely behind leaving two lively after images where he stood previously.

“This speed...”

The audience exclaimed in awe. They were impressed by both Qi Xiu’s and Ye Wei’s fluid display of the mastery of their stances, and it became increasing apparent that the two were at the summit of cultivation for their age.

The paw of the beast crushed down with fearsome pressure on course to turn everything in its path to dust.

“He’s trying to counter my Myst stance with a Spirit stance? Some people just never learn to respect their opponents!” Qi Xiu mumbled to himself and shook his sword holding hand to create more windblades; he then threw the sword into the air and increased the total number of Qi swords floating in front of him to ten.

A green breeze appeared under Xi Qiu’s feet, and with it he was able to pull himself backwards as he made a number of hand seals.

“Zoom! Zoom!”

The row of Qi swords reacted to Qi Xiu’s seals. The ends then joined together to form a sword wheel which flew towards Ye Wei while spinning rapidly.

The sword wheel tore through the air and shot out arced shards of green. It resembled a burning meteorite.

“Eh?” Ye Wei frowned and flapped his wings. With a small tornado behind him he moved ten meters to the side letting the sword wheel pass to his right, but despite this many of the Qi shards managed to land on Ye Wei’s body. Ye Wei was lit up as the green runic sparks came to life from the contact between the attack and his light armor.

Ye Wei’s armor chipped as the sound intensified and lines of red began to appear on his skin followed shortly after by blood dripping to the ground.

“Ha, nice dodge,” Qi Xiu coldy chuckled at Ye Wei while he gracefully landed on the platform. Then he made a few hand seals brightening the space in front of him with runes.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, the sword wheel turned around and sped towards Ye Wei’s location.

“Fine, I shall see if this stance of yours is worth dodging!” Ye Wei’s gaze sharpened as a crest with the shape of a selenic beast appeared at the back of his eyes.

‘Triple Selenic Punch!’ Ye Wei grunted and a surge of Qi came bursting out of his body. The Qi beast behind him shrunk and melted into the back of his hand giving off a pressure wave no weaker than the last stance.

“Rumble!”

Ye Wei immediately swung his fist heavily against the sword wheel as it entered his reach.

“Bang!”

The contact caused a massive explosion and the audience was forced to narrow their eyes because they were blinded by the green light that reached up to the sky. The explosion left deep fissures in the amethyst platform.

“That is terrifying!” The scars left on the solid platform were deep set as if an army had dragged thousands of swords and spears on the surface.

“What kind of stance was that?”

Feeling the sharp breeze on their faces, the jaws of the gathering students dropped yet again; they were both scared and surprised. They never expected to see this level of combat from an unknown face and Qi Xiu. Furthermore they knew they would be shredded to pieces if they stood closer to point of impact.

The fight had lasted longer than the Mo Patriarch ever anticipated, and he was starting to come out of denial. He had to admit to himself that Ye Wei was at least as strong as his favorite in this matchup.

Qi Xiu stared at the blinding green explosion with narrowed eyes. The brightness did not seem to affect his vision too much. He knew better than anyone else just how strong the Thousand Shadow Windblade stance was, and he was quite frustrated that Ye Wei had survived the stance he would confidently use to fight even condensed prime Warriors.

“Naive!” Qi Xiu stared at the green light’s core, and a cold smiled appeared on his face. ‘A threat like you needs to be eradicated when it’s still possible...’ He was ready to kill Ye Wei now, and to go to great lengths in order to make it look unintentional.

“What happened?!”

“Is Wei okay?” Joe Yin, Cao Ning, Chen Mo, and the rest of South Star’s cultivators looked up nervously with narrowed eyes hoping to see if Ye Wei was okay as he was engulfed by the explosion of runic light.

Inside the globe of light, shards of broken Qi blades whizzed around at Qi Xiu’s command. They mercilessly grazed Ye Wei’s body, but he was quick to react. He was able to utilize his Selenic Armor and Driftwind Steps to avoid the lethality proposed by the shower of green Qi shards.

Although Ye Wei was bleeding, the injuries were too minor to be life-threatening.

While fighting Qi Xiu’s Qi swords, a spark of inspiration struck Ye Wei. This helped him gain a deeper understanding of the rune flow that he could apply to the third Supernova evolution. Although bleeding, he appreciated his opponent and the insights he had gained.

Ye Wei thirsted to fight more than ever before. “I can see why you thought you were strong enough to challenge a title holder!” Ye Wei grunted, and his bones shone bright golden and a surge of energy flooded his body.

He has yet to use the Supernova stance but he was able to condense his Qi to a similar intensity just by altering the meridian path. Which also caused his strength to multiply instantaneously, reaching a frightening level.

The raging energy and violent Qi quickly formed a storm around his body.

The green light then started to fade and Ye Wei was seen bursting out of the fading color towards Qi Xiu. His lightning speed was not achievable even for ordinary condensed prime Warriors unless they were under the effect of speed enhancing stances.

A intense air current followed behind him and the young cultivators watching nearby felt the pressure on their eardrums while the weaker ones had trouble keeping steady footing.

“How is he still alive and got even stronger!?”

The smile on Qi Xiu’s face evaporated, and his pupils dilated. He was struggling to believe what he was sensing because he expected the complete opposite to happen. Within a blink of an eye, he made the decision to retreat. He kicked the ground hard and slid back twenty meters.

“Bang!”

Ye Wei’s fist was quicker than Qi Xiu’s escape attempt, and a pothole appeared in the middle of the martial platform where purple rubble splashed up. A huge web of fissure grew and a screen of dust thickened as a thundering rumble shook everyone around platform ten.

Qi Xiu wiped off the blood on the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. If he had been a moment slower with his reading of the situation or his sidestep, he would now be a part of the broken floor.

‘Was that even a stance...’ Drops of cold sweat fell from Qi Xiu’s pale face onto the platform.

“You are one of the first to push me this far!” Qi Xiu ground his teeth. “I will not let this go! You are done for!” A surge of Qi powered through his body as he grunted. He flicked his black sleeve and a violent breeze caused all the surrounding dust to vanish.

“Buzz!”

Qi Xiu’s veins were bulging as he began to draw runes in the air.

“Too slow.” Ye Wei sped up again before Qi Xiu could finish his runes. He had become a flash of light and disappeared.

Qi Xiu panicked and felt a chill behind his back. When he turned around, he saw a fist with the selenic beast patterned crest on its back. It was flying towards his spine and the moisture around it was condensing quickly.