Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 13 – The Du Family

South Star Academy was located in the north-eastern corner of Green Moon City, whereas the Ye family Manor was positioned in the south-western corner. They are pretty much on the opposite side of town.

Although Ye Wei is now a two star Student with enhanced strength and speed compared to ordinary folk, it would still take around ten hours for him to get to the family manor on foot.

In Green Moon City, the three most popular means of transport were as follow: ordinary horse carriages, for a more expensive option one could use the beast carriages, and the most prestigious way to travel would be by runicles!

A normal horse carriage cost around one to three thousand silver, beast carriage around thirty to fifty thousand silver, but runicles are a bit special because you can’t pay for their service.

Runicles are not pulled by horses or beasts. They are vehicles forged by rare metals, which were then engraved by Runemasters. The runes engraved onto the runicle draws primal energy from the sky and the earth, which powers it. Not only are runicles speedy, they also ride extremely stable, and runicle owners in Green Moon City could be counted with one hand.

The Ye family’s chosen means of transport is a green-maned unicorn carriage worth forty thousand silver. Green-maned unicorns are a hybrid species, they are cross bred between unicorns and green-maned horses. In green-maned unicorns the green-maned horse’s genes in the hybrid hinders the unicorn beast’s violent nature, while its endurance and strength was retained. It was an entry-level beast for a carriage.

Ye Wei walked down the road with only himself for company, the scotching sun shone down sunlight and caused droplets of sweat to appear on his face. From time to time there were horse and beast carriages passing by. And then he saw a runicle, which pedestrians and carriages gave way to.

“One day, I will ride in a runicle!” Ye Wei whispered slightly envious.

Of course it was just a daydream now, as Ye Wei has not even traveled in the family beast carriage let alone him being able to ride in a runicle.

It was a balmy summer day, the temperature abnormally high and sadly with Ye Wei’s two star cultivation, he couldn’t even expel the heat out of his body with Qi, all he could do was grind his teeth and tolerate it. But thinking about seeing his family again put a smile on his childish face and made the hot conditions just a bit more tolerable.

By the time the sun started setting in the west Ye Wei had covered more than half of his journey. Meanwhile back at South Star Academy the school bell rang loud and clear. It was the end of school day and the midterm and South Star Academy students get a seven day break every three months.

As the bell rang, South Star Academy went from peaceful to hectic in an instant. Junior, intermediate, senior, and the one and only class of the gifted all came alive as students left the classrooms quickly heading out one after another to enjoy their break.

In the junior three classroom where the teacher just left, a group of senior students with overwhelming energy presence blocked the classroom door, the weakest being an eight star Student, and the alpha of the group who was dressed in a white robe was a very powerful and young individual, he was a Warrior!

The white robed youngster was Du Ming Ze, the strongest student in senior five, the fifteenth strongest student in whole of South Star Academy! And also at the same time an avid admirer of Lin Zi Yan!

Rumours of the of Ye Wei and Zi Yan’s little venture has spread through every corner of South Star Academy, about how they were together at Green Phoenix Hall and how they were linking arms and holding hands.

This pack of Zi Yan’s fanatic admirers were provoked like piranhas that just picked up the scent of blood, they didn’t even rest until they had found out everything related to Ye Wei’s identity. And three days was more than enough time for the admirers to gather every gritty detail from people around campus.

“I am here to see Ye Wei, everyone else… leave!”

The group of senior students surrounded the white robed youth like they were bodyguards, his ice-cold eyes emotionlessly scanned through the faces of everyone in junior three.

“He is Du Ming Ze! The Du Ming Ze who is ranked fifteen on the South Star standings!”

“Leave the room! Just get out!”

“He is looking for Ye Wei? This time he is surely done for… How did he get into trouble with Du Ming Ze? Ming Ze is a Warrior! And the Du family is one of the three families, they basically run Green Moon City!”

“Even if Ye Wei has the talent to become a Runemaster, talent is just talent before he actually becomes a Runemaster, he can’t handle the Du family!”

Junior three students with bottomless respect looked at the youth in a white robe, and they started to sympathize with Ye Wei. They quieted down as the tension in the classroom built up. One by one, avoiding the middle of the room where Du Ming Ze stood the students almost held their breaths when exiting the room without making a sound.

‘Hahaha! Ye Wei, who will save you this time!?’

Xiao Qi appeared to be calm and collected, but he was bursting out in laughter inside.

Since Ye Wei displayed his potentials of becoming a Runemaster and turned his image upside down, Xiao Qi, even being the top student of junior three had no leverage to mess with Ye Wei. During these few days Xiao Qi had been frustrated and felt an extreme level of unease. Seeing Du Ming Ze here looking for trouble with Ye Wei soothed his need for revenge!

‘But Ye Wei had not attended any classes for three days, is that lucky gu going to get away with it…’ Xiao Qi looked at the empty chair Ye Wei usually sat in, shaking his head in regret.

‘Ye Wei must be in his dorm room!’ Xiao Qi’s eyeballs spun around slowly and made a guess.

While a student is purifying primal energy, it’s a written rule in South Star Academy that the student shall not be disturbed by anyone under any circumstances, not other students, not any member of staff. This is one of the main reason Xiao Qi assumed Ye Wei was training in his dorm room.

Moments after the class evacuated, Xiao Qi was left alone. Being the only junior in junior three that was left in the classroom!

“So you’re Ye Wei?” The white robed Du Ming Ze’s facial expression resembles a restless untamed mustang, as he posed the question in a chilling tone, his dark eyes looked like a merciless predator’s.

“No no no! Ming Ze, brother, I am Xiao Qi, son of the senior five tutor Xiao Han Ji. I stayed here wanting to tell you that he hasn’t shown up for lectures, I think he is hiding in his dorm room and I know where that is!”

Facing the ice-cold Du Ming Ze, Xiao Qi brown nosed without hesitation.

“Tutor Xiao’s son?”

Du Ming Ze softened a little as he heard the familiar name, he is the proud understudy of senior five’s tutor Xiao.

“So when Miss Zi Yan was substituting for our class, not only did that bastard Ye Wei sleep through half of her lecture, he screamed and shouted when he woke up. He angered Miss Zi Yan and towards the end of lecture he criticised Miss Zi Yan’s stance, saying it was flawed and embarrassing her in front of the whole class. I never liked that kid! If he didn’t show the potential to be a Runemaster…”

Xiao Qi walked close to Du Ming Ze as he trashed talked and made Ye Wei sound as bad as possible. He stopped the moment he realised he shouldn’t say anything about Ye Wei’s shocking display.

It’s common knowledge the Du family was one of the ‘Big Three’ in Green Moon City. What Xiao Qi didn’t know, however was that the Du family’s willingness to provoke potential Runemasters. It would be against Xiao Qi’s interest if Ming Ze refused to mess with Ye Wei because of the Du family wanting to befriend upcoming Runemasters. Xiao Qi realised he said too much, and he was now looking for ways to explain himself.

“Little Xiao Qi, I don’t like people who are indirect and I also dislike hearing half a sentence!”

Du Ming Ze looked at Xiao Qi, his thick sword-shaped eyebrows were dark as black ink, they tilted up slightly showing Xiao Qi he was not pleased with the partial truth he was told. The presence only a Warrior has pressed down onto Xiao Qi like a forcefield.

Xiao Qi was finding it hard to breath against the mountain like presence of Du ming Ze, he actually got knocked off balance and had to take a few steps back, before he could regain his balance and stand up straight. His body covered with cold sweat, Xiao Qi casted his eyes on Ming Ze with utmost respect.

“Ming Ze, brother, Ye Wei acquired knowledge about runes from god knows where, and answered a few question in Miss Zi Yan’s lecture correctly which made her think he had the talent to become a Runemaster. Then Miss Zi Yan took him away from the classroom after the lecture. That’s.. that’s all I know. If you want to get to Ye Wei’s dorm room, though I can show you the way there!” Xiao Qi said carefully and tried to avoid eye contact with Du ming Ze, “It’s school break now and nobody will be guarding the residence halls!” Xiao Qi added.

“Lead the way!” Du Ming Ze was satisfied from what he heard for the time being, he nodded and walked up next to Xiao Qi patting his shoulders: “If anyone is looking for trouble with you in South Star Academy, you can drop my name anytime you want!” Du Ming Ze expressed his appreciation towards the helpfulness of tutor Xiao’s son.

“Thank you”

Xiao Qi was flattered and he nodded. Although both Xiao’s parents were tutors at South Star it is an inconvenience for tutors to interfere and take sides in disputes between students. Not only is Du Ming Ze a direct Du descendant, he is also a Warrior and the fifteenth strongest person on the South Star rankings, there was no better patron than Du Ming Ze.

While having these thought and being proud of his new connection, Xiao Qi led Ming Ze and his gang to Ye Wei’s room.

“Here we are!”

Xiao Qi pointed at a shut door after they entered the building and said excitedly.

Du Ming Ze didn’t say a word he just nodded. With his eyes, he signaled the gang of senior students to break and enter, the act was prohibited in South Star Academy but the residence halls was not staffed today due to the break, the place was basically unmonitored!

Bang!

The tall and sturdily built eight star Student stepped forward towards Ye Wei’s room, he punched the door ferociously with his enormous fist.

Boom!!

The door split open with a muffled rumble. There was nobody inside and there was nothing in the tight space except a wooden bed and a simple wooden table.

“He’s not here?”

Xiao Qi was dumbfounded by the fact that Ye Wei was not in his room!

“Break them!”

Du Ming Ze said furiously, he stared at the empty room with a gloomy face.

“Yea!”

Without hesitation, the gang of seniors initiated the destructive act. There wasn’t much to wreck in the room and it only took them seconds to turn everything into ruins.

Despite this Du Ming Ze was still not satisfied by the poor state of Ye Wei’s room and he commanded everyone to piss on Ye Wei’s bedding before he led them out of the room.