Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 123 – Star Shifter Formula

‘Triple Selenic Punch!’

In front of everyone’s widened eyes and frightened glares, Ye Wei’s fist solidly landed on Qi Xiu’s back causing a chilling noise to be heard.

“Crack!”

The dense energy of Ye Wei’s fist sent Qi Xiu flying like a spinning kite with its string cut, and after a few rotations in the air, the motionless body wrapped in a black robe slammed onto the martial platform creating a small dust storm.

Apart from his immense forward momentum, Ye Wei’s punch also contained a spinning energy due to the unique path his Qi flowed.

“Has brother Qi… lost?!” The Polaris cultivators rubbed their eyes in disbelief. They were just staring at a bump on the platform covered in dust finding it hard to convince themselves a nameless cultivator from a mediocre school could beat their ace. The ace who just happened to be one stance away from beating a God’s Seven in a fight a few days ago.

‘Was there a stance behind that punch? Otherwise I would assume we are looking at a condensed prime Warrior who is skilled at hiding his cultivation as well as his age, or maybe this is something else…’ The audience seated the clouds were a little wary as they had heard rumors about demon infiltrations just a few months prior to the tournament.

“He won! Ye Wei won!” Cao Ning, Chen Mo, and the rest cheered as soon as they got over their shock.

Ye Wei slowly pulled back his fist, and the mark on the back of his hand faded. It was at this time that he noticed some slight movement behind the smokescreen in front of him.

A wave of surprise swept over the faces on the cloud platform.

“This kid from South Star is not bad at all!” The City Lord smiled as he looked at Ye Wei’s graceful posture. He then looked at Qi Xiu and said, “It’s lucky for Qi Xiu; if Polaris had not of taught their best students the Star Shifter formula he would have lost.”

“Indeed!” The men in golden armor nodded. They glanced at Qi Xiu with a penetrating glare.

“That was a powerful punch but the moment it connected to Qi Xiu most of the energy was deflected and slid of his body.”

“He is basically as strong as a condensed prime Warrior so he could take the punch anyway.” The Mo Patriarch looked at the dusty platform and said, “Everyone knows he lost to Xuan Yu, by only one stance. What people don’t know is that Xuan Yu was already a condensed prime Warrior when they fought.”

“Qi Xiu has mastered the Star Shifter formula pretty well. I actually think this formula is the reason Polaris was ranked so high last year, and even their lineup was not as strong this year’s.”

“That other kid is impressive but it will take more than impressive to beat Qi Xiu.”

None of the young cultivators could see what Qi Xiu did but the audience on the clouds could see clearly. What they did not not know though was how Ye Wei threw such a powerful punch.

On the amethyst platform, Qi suddenly floated in a strange manner. Qi Xiu did a backflip and got back on his feet. He then hatefully stared at Ye Wei. Luckily, he was able to activate his Star Shifter formula the moment he was hit, however Ye Wei’s speed resulted in two of his ribs fracturing.

Bone fractures were not a serious concern to cultivators of Qi Xiu’s caliber as he just casually snapped his bone back to place and mend it by his nourishing Qi.

“Brother Qi!”

“He is okay!”

The Polaris cultivators excitedly screamed.

“What just happened? Ye Wei’s punched should have crushed him! How can Qi Xiu still stand up? I heard the sound of bones cracking!” The smiles of the South Star students disappeared as their eyes widened. They were staring at the dusty black robe with disbelief.

“Apart from Xuan Yu, you are the strongest cultivator I have fought but that does not mean you can beat me! You are not even close!” Qi Xiu exhaled gently and said slowly.

“What a wonderful formula Polaris Academy’s Star Shifter is!” Ye Wei exclaimed. He did expect Qi Xiu to stand back up, and he could feel the strength of his fist being diverted to different directions.

It was not Qi Xiu’s intention for Ye Wei to learn more about his Qi flow, but inspired by Qi Xiu’s narrow deflection Ye Wei was able to find ways to strengthen his family’s Falling Star Form.

“Sorry, I’ve underestimated you, but I guess it’s fair because you did too. Do you think we should stop the dancing and actually fight?” Ye Wei was not frightened in the least, on the contrary he was even more excited and competitive. He was interested in discovering the way Qi Xiu’s Star Shifter technique worked.

The Qi around Ye Wei’s body shook violently.

“What did he just say?” The gathering audience could not believe what they had just heard. They were shocked to learn they had yet to show their full strength when the martial platform was already broken by these two monsters.

Qi Xiu frowned as could not believe Ye Wei could tell what trick he used to reduce the impact of the punch.

“Don’t hold back anymore; I don’t want to hurt you.” Ye Wei looked at Qi Xiu and loosened his joints. “Let me see how well you can use the Star Shifter!”

Ye Wei’s expression became serious as his robed began to flutter. He released the seal in his dantian, and his presence exploded like a dragon who had just broke free from chains. He was now multiple times stronger than a normal peak ten-star Warrior.

Although cultivation-wise Ye Wei was just a peak ten-star Warrior, when it came to his Qi and the will-force in his Sentient his foundation was such that nobody on the same level could be remotely compared to him.

“How can he be this strong?!” The young South Star, Polaris, and Galaxy cultivators were actually terrified and a series of scream sounded around platform ten.

“Interesting, looks like we should not blink starting from now. This kid is surely a top class fighter at his level,” The City Lord was impressed by how Ye Wei could route his Qi and will-force, and how that made Ye Wei four times stronger than most talented peak ten-star Warriors he had encountered.

‘He should be able to breakthrough soon, if he hasn’t already. On the other hand if Qi Xiu uses the Star Shifter formula to its full potential even if Ye Wei breaks through right now it wouldn’t mean much…’

“Qi Xiu is unbelievable with Star Shifter formula, but that South Star kid’s foundation is on its own level!” The men in golden armor were chatting to one another and all nodded satisfyingly. “This is more like it; now they could actually join our reserve infantry or at least bootcamp!”

“Your lordship, would you happen to know the South Star kid’s name?” The leader of the military group asked.

“Is the Green Army interested in him too? The City Lord frowned. He was clearly bothered that Ye Wei had the Green Army’s attention.

In fact most of the guests on the cloud platform were interested in Ye Wei. A young cultivator with such foundation would surely become great, but seeing as the City Lord and the Green Army were taking notice of him, they could only shake their heads reluctantly as they knew they wouldn’t have a chance to recruit him.

“We’ll see. Undoubtedly that South Star boy is something special but I still think he does not compare to them…” The Green Army cultivators exchanged a look and started whispering.

Qi Xiu and Ye Wei’s display attracted a lot of attention because they were still fighting long after the other fights had finished. All the other schools sent their students to platform ten hoping they would be able to get some information about both South Star and Polaris.

Apart from people’s eyes, warm rays of the sun were also on Ye Wei and Qi Xiu as noon approached. The sunlight was refracted by the runes in the air forming a complex and dazzling web of light.

Ye Wei stomped the ground and launched himself out like an arrow towards Qi Xiu. His speed was even quicker than before and most of the audience could no longer follow his moves. All they could see were blurred the after images he left behind.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The students could not see how Ye Wei attacked but they could clearly hear continuous, daunting explosion ring out.

Many of them rubbed their eyes and tried refocusing them but Ye Wei’s speed made it impossible, and all they could see was a blurred figure whizzing around Qi Xiu.

After a series of aggressive attacks, Qi Xiu’s face changed. There was undisguised shock in his eyes as he didn’t think Ye Wei would be this fast and this strong.

Even though Qi Xiu was protected by the Shifting Star formula, Ye Wei’s increasing speed and power began to have a disrupting effect on the delicate and mysterious Qi flow in his body.

Although Qi Xiu was able to deflect the impact from punch after punch, but his body’s strength was still lackluster compared to Ye Wei’s. He had soon reached the limit of what his body could take.

“I guess I will have to…” Qi Xiu ground his teeth as he started to consider using the Myst stance he had never used in the eyes of the public.

When he challenged the third strongest of the God’s Seven, he held this stance back even though he knew it was his only chance to win. He was not willing to use his secret weapon so close to the tournament.

The other reason he held it was that his secret weapon was a forbidden low-level Myst stance, and he knew that his Qi and will-force would be immediately drained when he use this stance. Also the recoil would heavily injure him.

But at this moment, Qi Xiu was too involved to care. Ye Wei fist landed on him again and again, and he could no longer keep the Star Shifter formula up. “You forced me!”