Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 4 – Triple Tidal Palm Technique

“How could this be? There is no way on earth Ye Wei knows about the forbidden stances, these have to be wild guesses!” Xiao Qi was not pleased. His crazy eyes staring at Ye with rage and jealousy, as this was the first time he had been outshined in junior three.

And right in front of Miss Zi Yan!

This undermined his confidence like a face-numbing slap!

Zi Yan was evaluating the situation; if he got one of the answers correct it might have been luck, but three times out of three? The probability of him being that lucky was too low to even count. Her irises were black resembling shining onyx and they held great clarity, but the way she was looking at Ye Wei conveyed obscurity.

“Ye Wei, may I ask where exactly you gathered information about forbidden techniques at? How they can be formed into thirty-eight low level spirit stances, twelve mid level ones, and six high level ones?”

Zi Yan herself would have had the same answer as Xiao Qi. Thirty-six low level spirit stances, ten mid level spirit stances, and five high level spirit stances could be composed by combining the three runes that she mentioned earlier in the lecture. She thought that was true until recently when she had a chat with the vice principal about the Glacier rune set. During which he unintentionally mentioned forbidden stances, from there she did some research on them.

Ye Wei, an ordinary student from junior three, South Star Academy, should not possess such knowledge.

When passing on knowledge to students, tutors will never mention forbidden techniques, and most teaching materials will not mention forbidden techniques either. Only the Mystic Technique Encyclopaedia published by the Holy Conservatory, that has been amended twenty-eight times, contains this information about forbidden techniques.

Mystic Techniques Encyclopaedia is the most detailed archive of research from every corner of the vast world, from every corner of every continent. The depth of the research is so detailed it turns away the vast majority of potential readers, who are mostly talented scholars with exceptional understanding of runes and stances. The seventy-two book collection which is more than ten million words long is seen as an obstacle for the handful of dedicated researchers that study it. Sadly most of these souls finish taking their last breath without ever getting close to finishing the collection.

“Miss Zi Yan, it’s just a matter of experience. The more you read, the more knowledge accumulates in your mind and one’s educated guesses become more and more accurate. That’s how I knew the answers…” Ye Wei shrugged casually, as he answered Miss Zi Yan’s question.

This unbelievable exchange of words between Miss Zi Yan and Ye Wei was echoing in the student’s minds and now all eyes were on Ye Wei. They were wondering how Ye became so proficient on rune knowledge, and how he also knew about the otherwise unheard of forbidden techniques!

“Is this really Ye Wei standing in front of us? The supposedly inadequate waste of space with red Sentient?”

This thought was shared by the whole class, the prejudice slowly dissolved, replaced by admiration.

Xiao Qi tightened his fist, staring at Ye again with extreme prejudice. ‘So he knows a thing or two about runes, what of it? It’s not like he’s ever going to become anything useful. He can’t rub the red off his Sentient, and he will never ever become a Warrior!’

‘Gaining the attention of the class in one lecture does not grant you bragging rights for a lifetime, you’re still merely a one star Student, and I will get you back very very soon!’ He sat himself down, attempting to calm his aggravated self as his authority in class is being challenged.

Ye Wei’s Sentient is red, but if he could familiarise himself with rune knowledge, maybe he would have an extremely slim chance of becoming a Runemaster! He can try to follow Supreme Chen Feng’s footsteps, creating basic stances and little by little gain energy from the cosmos, therefore refining his Sentient.

An assumption appeared in Miss Zi Yan’s mind, ‘Maybe Ye Wei is not hopeless at practising martial arts, perhaps he stayed up too late reading about runes? That would explain why he fell asleep during the lecture. Maybe he’s walking the path of becoming a Runemaster?’

This idea raised Miss Zi Yan’s heartbeat. It is way more of a feat to train a Runemaster than to train a Warrior, it would be a hundred times more satisfying.

‘To become a Runemaster, soul sensitivity is of utmost importance… Let’s see what he’s got!’

Miss Zi Yan raised her head, excited.

“Look at this stance!”

Zi Yan waved her slender hand. Invisible will-force condensing on the tip of her index finger, primal energy flowed from her dantian to her fingertips, merging with the will-force like ink onto a quill tip. And with her finger as a pen she drew the thirty-six runes in the air.

The complex and winding runes tangled together in a systematic way, forming a pattern that resembles offshore tides. Multiple hefty waves of force erupted from Zi Yan’s hands with a faint sound of crashing waves, echoing in the classroom. The students could almost smell the saltiness of the sea alongside the force of the rushing tide.

When performed to its full potential in real combat, the force of the rushing tide comes in waves, when the first wave impacts the target it creates a small vacuum, drawing the next wave towards the point of impact. The momentum this technique creates therefore ramps up and become stronger, as long as the dantian of the practitioner is not empty.

Unmistakably, it’s the low level spirit mystic stance, Triple Tidal Palm!

The class is looking at the rushing tide patterns in front of of Miss Zi Yan. The excitement make the early teenages look even younger than they are.

“Mystic stance, that was a mystic stance!”

Seven stars is usually the break point when Students start to have enough Qi in their dantian to support a stance, a point nobody in the junior class has yet reached. Even Xiao Qi, the best student here is merely at five stars and incapable of performing a stance. Seeing something out of their reach, the class is electrified from Miss Zi Yan displaying a stance.

“What do you think of this?!”

Miss Zi Yan cast Ye Wei a fiery glance, expecting to be impressed. What the class did not know was that this was a spirit sensitivity test for the celebrity of the day; while executing the stance, she intentionally left a flaw, reducing the power of her Triple Tidal Palm to one third its potential.

“Something is off!”

Unlike rest of the class, Ye Wei was not impressed. He frowned a little as his mildly suspicious eyes set on three specific nodes of the thirty-six runes drawn by Miss Zi Yan.

‘There are three distinct mistakes in your stance!’

‘Miss Zi Yan is a ten star elite from the gifted class, performing low Spirit level stances like Triple Tidal Palm should be a walk in the park, how could she make such simple mistakes?’

Ye Wei is confused but he smelled something fishy, for Miss Zi Yan to make three mistakes is simply ridiculous. He does not know what a perfect Triple Tidal Palm looks like, but this just felt imperfect, on a deeper level it even felt wrong, especially those three nodes!

What Ye Wei did not know was Miss Zi Yan intended to commit only one mistake while performing, not three!

“Miss Zi Yan…”

Ye Wei hesitated, not knowing for sure if his soul sensitivity was being tested, therefore unsure if he should point out the errors in her stance in front of the whole class.

After all it’s not very dignifying getting corrected by none but her own student, in front of the whole class!

“What’s the matter? Just tell us!” Miss Zi Yan could sense Ye’s hesitation, as an attempt to encouraging him, she put a heart-warming smile on her face and patted his shoulder gently.

The encouraging look of Miss Zi Yan only inches away from Ye Wei’s own, a faint hint of her fragrance picked up by Ye Wei’s nose, his face got a bit warm and he started blushing. He grinded his teeth then finished pondering. With certainty he pointed at one of the three ‘flawed’ nodes and started speaking: “This node… It is obstructing your qi flow, I’m guessing your could have gotten more out of Triple Tidal Palm if your qi flowed smoother, Miss Zi Yan…”