Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 204 - Beast Wisdom

“This is ridiculous! The Ye’s will become the strongest family in the region very soon with these treasures!” Images of nine locations flashed inside Ye Wei’s head, followed by the image of a precise runic array design. Ye Wei quickly realized that it was a selective translocation array.

Before his death, Supreme Ye Yu had predicted where the nine treasure spawns were going to be, and placed the arrays to transport the more powerful artefacts from the nine spawns to the tenth location. A location that was chosen by him, protected by ten drops of his own blood.

‘Supreme Ye Yu had created a runic vault…’ Ye Wei thought to himself in shock. ‘The other nine spots are insignificant if the arrays functioned as intended!’

Having prepared to give up all the marks left him no hopes for gaining anything but peace for the city, Ye Wei was startled by what he just discovered.

“How hilarious would it be if they killed each other for the mediocre treasure left by the arrays. Ha.” Ye Wei imagined the conflicts outside that was caused by the nine surfacing sacred marks, chuckled and muttered to himself.

With Helian Jieyuan as a guardian, Ye Wei was not at all worried about the Drakehead location being exposed. The young Runemaster must now gain experience and get inspired from the outside world, staying in the Drakehead would not help him figure out he should transform his cultivation to the returned prime stage.

“This is great! Once I manage to break through I will come back to consolidate my cultivation.” Ye Wei closed his eyes and planned the near future in his head. ‘I will tell granddad about the Drakehead when I become strong enough and when the family has control over the treasures and artefacts...’

After carefully putting the mark away, Ye Wei decided to continue studying the Eternal Star stance. He wanted to stay close to Green Moon City while the storm and battles for the rights to the sacred marks raged on.

‘I will prepare myself!’ The young Runemaster glanced across the hall and saw Helian Jieyuan cultivating, went to sit next to sage-like old man. Both of them were still as statues, the occasional sound of water current crushing was the only sound.

The pillar-shaped will-force reached the stars, drew energy from the constellations back down to Ye Wei. Inside a globe of twinkling energy, the young Runemaster began to interpret the second runic pattern.

***

While Ye Wei was focused on cultivating at the Supreme Yu palace, the Skeleton Demon King’s army, Quadwing Barren Beast’s horde and the Huyan’s forces were shedding each other’s blood, fighting for the marks.

The home to ancient trees and historical rivers was ravaged by the fire of war. Skirmishes between the powerful forces turned woods into desert, many of the North Barren Mountain’s magnificent peaks were flattened to small deserts.

Out of the nine marks, four were obtained by the Skeleton Demon King, two by the Quadwing Barren Beast and two by the Huyan’s. All three forces traced the last mark to a lake three hundred miles north of the bay area.

“Bones, you’ve gotten four already, don’t you think you are a bit greedy?! Get out of the way!” Huyan Haoze, the royal family’s young seven star returned prime Warrior was outraged by his inferiors’ incompetent, which he thought was the reason why he only got his hands on two marks.

“Swoosh!”

A jade colored fire-blade drew a line in the sky, flew right at the Demon King’s right hand where he held the marks.

“The North Barren Mountains is my territory, both of you need to show some damn respect!” The leader of the beast said as his four wings flapped in a quick succession. His body was immediately sped up by the thrust, his twenty-feet-long claws were pointed right at the seven-star returned prime Warrior.

The blood stains on the beast claws were set aflame by the speed it traveled, the smelly of rusty iron filled the air when the paw struck onto the fire-blade, hundreds of shock-waves were sent outwards from the point of impact.

“Stop that winged abomination!” Huyan Haoze commanded, went on to confront the Skeleton Demon King. Three of the royal family’s elders, who were exchanging blows with other demons and beasts, knocked their opponents back and leaped towards the beast’s head.

“The last mark is ours you filthy animal!” They empowered their bodies with Qi, glowing golden and fell at the beast like comets.

On top of a towering peak just a few miles away from the battleground, a sleek-figured girl sat quietly spectating the brawl. She was calmly still, while her cyan dress and violet hair flowed in the pungent wind.

“Your highness, are you sure we should leave the mark be?” The silver-haired old man energetically darted his eyes around to keep up with the fights, turned and asked in an urgent pace, slightly nervous.

“The Dragon ridge is left by a Ye, so it belongs to the Ye’s.” Lin Ziyan stood up slowly and said emotionlessly. Her delicate facial features made the battlefield seem more vile than it already was.

She did consider retrieving a couple of marks for Ye Wei but realized it will do more harm than good considering the Ye family’s current state.

The old man reluctantly looked at the mark that was being contested, moan and asked: “If we are not here for the mark why did you bring us here at all?”

“I just needed some fresh air, my feet led me here.” Her lips curled to a natural, bittersweet smile as her memories brought her back to the moment when she first casted her eyes onto the boy that slept through her lecture.

“Miss, I don’t wish to be minding your business but you will be heading to the Rain Sect soon. You should cut all ties with people from your past, you are going to be in a different world.” He sighed and frowned, understood Lin Ziyan’s sentiment but said what he thought had to be said.

“I know.” She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, her voice clear and sweet as a bell but slightly shaky.

Lin Ziyan knew better than anyone else about her own future, but it only made her realized once she went, she might not be able to see Ye Wei ever again.

“You told me you wanted to relax outside before you head off, that was three years ago. And you have been wandering around since!” The old man sighed again. “I don’t understand, why you picked this kid miss, you’ve met so many outstanding boys in your life, but you shut them all down…”

“Senior Qin, that’s enough,” Lin Ziyan bit her lips and interrupted, “I will get going once the brawl is over.”

“So you are not going to say goodbye to him?”

“No, it’s fine.” Lin Ziyan shivered and shook her head, decided seeing the end of the battle was enough. ‘Him and his family should be safe when these fights end...’

A loud laugh from afar caught her attention.

“Hahahaha! Huyan Haoze, who did you think you were? Your cousin Beiyan?” The Demon King help tight onto the ninth mark, “Have you seen how pasty you face is? I haven’t even used half of my strength!”

The Skeleton Demon King had the strength of an eight-star returned prime Warrior, came from the bloodline of a Demon Emperor, he completely outclassed the human squad’s leader.

“Don’t speak of his name with your filthy mouth! He could have beaten you with just one finger if he was here!” Huyan Haoze was ugly in defeat, extremely displeased to only have gotten two out of nine marks. He enviously gritted his teeth realizing he had no way of competing.

‘This is okay, I can use the Lu’s reports to locate the Drakehead while they go for the treasures…’ The young seven-star returned prime Warrior thought to himself, ‘it will make up for everything!’

For most cultivators, training at the Drakehead speeds up cultivating speed by more than fifty times normal speed, it’s value was not less than the nine treasures put together.

“I will get you another time when my cousin is around!” Huyan Haoze shouted and signaled his men to withdraw.

The Skeleton Demon King and the Quadwing Barren Beast knew that they could win a fight against the human squad but could never wipe them out completely from the past few days of constant fighting. They began a telepathic talk right in front of the returned prime Warriors.

“Ha! You can go if you want!” The Skeleton Demon King gazed at the royal squad, his eyes had a sinister glow, his pupils as red as blood. ‘I know they will be searching for the Drakehead, it is useless for me and you, I will destroy it!’

‘Humans are annoying as they are, we don’t need you to get stronger.’ The Demon King giggled and spoke to the beast’s mind. ‘Him and his silly family has no authority over us!’

‘Wait, Bones, we don’t know where the Drakehead is, how are we supposed to destroy it?’ The Quadwing Barren Beast moved its colossus head, stirred up a storm as he shrugged.

“You can send a couple of your dogs to tail these humans.” The Demon King muttered to himself, sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Smart! We will just wait for them to show us the way huh!?” The leader of the beast found the idea amusing, giggled and ran out of breath.

‘This idiot, how did he even grow that big, did he grow up with man and other beasts dropping dead in front of him?’ The Demon King frowned, ‘I should have listened to dad, I’d rather work with humans than beasts if it wasn’t for their stupid righteousness and self-justifying attitude…’