Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 191 - Seventh Selenic Stance

The Thunderbird Seal was one of the nine most powerful stances the Lu’s possessed. The Myst stance consisted exclusively of specialized runes.

Although to activate the stance only required as much energy to activate any other ordinary Myst stance, the rare specialized runes that composed it translated the energy more efficiently, making it as powerful as an Earth stance.

Lu Qianhuan had no desire to hold back; his brother’s death confirmed Ye Wei’s extraordinary talent. He did not want to leave anything to chance, tried to make the kill as quick as he could and get out of the fight uninjured.

All of Lu Qianhuan’s opponents who saw this stance, including a three-star returned prime Warrior, died from it. The elder left very little to chance, and this was why he was completely ruthless--no chances taken, no hope left.

“Die!” The hoarse voice sounded out like a warhorn. A large bird flew up through the clouds and spread its wings as the the elder screamed the word.

“Crack! Crack!”

The thunderbird vigorously flapped its wings, the fanning motion of its wings created a golden gust. Ye Wei’s Qi sword was instantly crushed and scattered. Unexpected by even Lu Qianhuan, Ye Wei’s sword turned against him because of the raging current.

“Crack! Crack!”

Ye Wei was stunned and almost paralyzed by the sudden burst of energy; under the pressure of the thunderbird, he stood staring while his bones creaked.

“I expected less from you considering how weak your brother was!” Blood gushed out of Ye Wei’s mouth. His pale face wore an aggressive look, though.

“Insolent child!” Lu Qianhuan’s cold eyes bore into Ye Wei. He lifted his hand and pointed his right index finger at him.

“Flop!”

The thunderbird’s eyes widened. Its intense gaze pointed straight at Ye Wei. Its shrill caw sent shivers down his spine.

While Ye Wei was still immobilized by the gust of energy, bolts of lightning came out of the bird’s eyes and rained down upon Ye Wei, striking him in a quick succession.

The pressure Ye Wei endured was great enough to crush his entire body. The only thing stopping it from doing so was the support from the runes on his bones. His veins constricted, and the drop of Supreme blood expanded against the pressure.

The expanding energy circulated throughout his body, a subtle but dense energy held Ye Wei’s body together.

The power of the Supreme blood grew within him. In a matter of seconds, Ye Wei was strong enough to spring back up on his feet. He bent his knees and gathered strength, briefly aimed at the thunderbird and launched himself up into the sky.

“What the hell is going on with this kid?” Lu Qianhuan exclaimed. He was dumbfouned to see Ye Wei’s ability to strike back, but he also mocked Ye Wei at such a poor decision. “Shouldn’t you be trying to run?”

Ye Wei saw the true, unreserved power of Lu Qianhuan. The specialized runes in the elder’s stance was a rare sight. Lu Qianhuan’s power inspired Ye Wei and provided him the conceptual base structure of the seventh Selenic stance.

Although Ye Wei had been spending as much time cultivating as he did trying to figure out the seventh Selenic stance, he was not able to create an effective energy flow in the given runes.

Before Ye Wei’s eyes was a well calibrated specialized Myst stance, he was not going to let the chance slip. He closed his eyes to feel the exact kind of flow he had been trying to create for the past few days.

‘Selenic Armor.’

‘Triple Selenic Punch.’

‘Searing Selenic Palm.’

‘Selenic Descend.’

‘Selenic Ironbark Seal.’

‘Selenic Triple-Primal Sword.’

Ye Wei activated the Falling Star form and began to steal Qi from the very stance that Lu Qianhuan wanted to take his life with. Using the stolen energy, he quickly drew all the runes to the first six Selenic stances; he rearranged the sequence to the order he had in his head all in a matter of minutes.

“The seventh, Selenic Reveal!” He mumbled as he put together the six stances’ essence. The specialized rune sequence rattled and transformed into a mile tall Selenic beast figure.

On top of the beast’s head were three long and sharp horns. The runic patterns on its scales constantly flowed and transformed. The beast’s image gave Ye Wei flashbacks of his visit to Bloodmist Valley; he smiled and charged forward the skinny elder.

“Roar!” The Selenic beast’s cold gaze set onto the thunderbird. Its jaws wide open, and its nose pointed right at the thunderbird. The provocative sound seemed to have a mockery undertone.

The Selenic beast crouched then leaped. With a mysterious aura and momentum, the beast lunged at the bird. It froze time and space on its path. The lightning bolts were held still in the air.

“Swoosh!” After another roar, all three horns on its head grew in length. They glowed ghastly green; each of them became a sword that could cut the sky in halves.

Within seconds the Selenic beast’s nose was touching the bird’s torso. The three horns impaled into the core of Lu Qianhuan’s strongest stance. A destructive shock wave and rumble quickly spread throughout the sky.

The powerful thunderbird was torn apart with ease, but the Selenic beast wanted more bloodshed. It decisively turned its head around and stared at Lu Qianhuan. The ghoulish beast then aimed its claws at the elder’s head. The runic Selenic beast was not only as large as a real one, it was also as smart as one.

“What stance is this!?” Lu Qianhuan was intimidated by the gigantic runic Selenic beast. His calm was quickly replaced by fear; his breathing quickened and the golden ball of energy in his dantian shook uncontrollably, making the Qi flow in his body extremely unstable.

“I am not going to let you live!” Lu Qianhuan scream, and he exhaled deeply. The elder tried to suppress the raging Qi in his body. He desired to utterly destroy Ye Wei, which shown in his facial expression. a Qi disturbance no weaker than the thunderbird stance’s quickly developed as he successfully tamed the energy, transformed the surge into a rune sequence.

Lu Qianhuan ignored the high odds of being injured by the recoiling energy. He activated the peak-low level Earth stance that he had yet gain full control over. He felt that the danger of being consumed by his own Earth stance was worth the risk. He would certainly die if he did not retaliate against the wrath of Ye Wei’s seventh Selenic stance

‘Sun-shattering Lightning Stance!’ Lu Qianhuan grunted. His hair rose and flew behind his head; his robe fluttered to the surge of energy his Earth stance emitted.

The Lu elder’s Qi immediately condensed into a ball of energy in the sky. The ball released its power in the shape and speed of a large lightning bolt and shot at the large Selenic beast.

“Bang!”

The entire bay area shook as the bolt impacted against the beast. The crash of Qi brewed collided and erupted in the sky, and the lightning bolt became dimmer as it broke apart the runes that made up the Selenic beast.

Ye Wei could feel the pressure from behind the beast. The energy flow in his body was disrupted by the imposing strike. He grew nervous as the lightning bolt advanced and penetrated the runic beast’s torso.

The seventh Selenic stance took a toll on Ye Wei’s will-force and Qi reserve; the third Supernova Evolution’s amplifying effects beginning to fade.

Ye Wei came to the realization that Lu Qianhuan’s gamble was paying off. The three-star returned prime Warrior was stronger than himself. He had to decide now whether he should try to counter or he should run.

‘The seventh Selenic stance will be stronger when I have time to work on it. I should not fight an unsure battle.’ The young Runemaster thought to himself. He placed his hand onto the selenic beast, and he absorbed as much energy as he could. He then used that energy and turned himself into a globe of runic light, which blinked and flashed backwards.

“Bang” not only did Ye Wei successfully escaped, he tempered the residual energy into small dense shapes. They all fired at once and caught the skinny elder off-guard.

“Damn it! You sneaky little bastard!” Lu Qianhuan was hit from all directions. He screamed as blood gushed out from his mouth. He suffered from not only the recoiling force of his own stance but Ye Wei’s surprise as well.

The skinny elder stopped and adjusted his Qi flow. With the momentum of the lightning bolt behind him, he rapidly leaped towards Ye Wei’s direction. He distributed his energy to nourish the injured parts of his body.

Ye Wei could feel the elder catching up. He closed his eyes and ran the Falling Star form at its full speed. A constellation-like runic array projected into the air from inside his Sentient, and it became a light clone.

The clone tackled the chaser and stopped the elder as Ye Wei kept moving forward at incredible speed, finally disappearing into the woods. 　　　

“What the hell is this?!” Lu Qianhuan was forced into a close-combat fist fight with the light clone. He could not ignore any of the clone’s strikes no matter how much he wanted to. Each punch and kick was precisely aimed at his body’s weak spots and strong enough to knock him out.

Lu Qianhuan had not had a fist fight since decades ago. By the time he neutralized the light clone with his rusty moves, Ye Wei was already miles away and nowhere to be seen.

***

Deep inside the woods, Ye Wei landed on a flat land covered by the tree’s shade. He felt safe enough to sit down. He adjusted his breathing and regulated the Qi flow in his meridians.

With closed eyes, Ye Wei felt the drop of Supreme blood in his vein. He located it close to his waist and tried to manipulate the energy within with his will-force.

With the aid of the Falling Star form and the vast energy in his blood, he refilled in dantian with Qi. His will-force began to also recover. After replaying the seventh Selenic stance in his mind a few times, he grabbed the runic badge from his inside pocket.

“Master, are you there?” Ye Wei spoke into the badge and waited for a replay.

“Wei! Where are you!?” Master Yi’s nervous voice sounded after the badge rattled. “You have to be careful, I heard the Lu’s found you, is this true?”

“They did, but I am fine. I killed Lu Qianying, but his brother is still on the loose, please take care of the Ye’s master! The Mansion might be his next target! Can you maybe take them out of town to somewhere safe?” Ye Wei replied in a desperate and solemn tone.

“You killed who?” Master Yi’s voice broke, “how did you manage to take care of a returned prime Warrior?!”

“Not now master, please. I promise I will explain everything to you when all of this get settled!” said Ye Wei.

“It should be fine. I contacted one of my old friends from the union. He is a returned prime Warrior. Lu Qianhuan won’t be able to do much to us for now. I will look for the suitable place for your family to hideout before the Lu’s send any reinforcement.”

“Thank you master!” Ye Wei felt relieved, smiled and said.

“Please take care of yourself. I will keep you updated!” Master Yi said in a light tone, glad that his apprentice was still alive.

‘Pu Yuan will be able to help me with the Selenic stance!’ After ending the conversation, Ye Wei took out a jade trinket and started channeling his Qi.

A figure appeared and grabbed Ye Wei’s shoulder and stopped the teleportation.

“Who are you!?” Ye Wei panicked. He looked to his left to see a wrinkled hand on his shoulder.