Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 173 - Supreme Palace

‘The deeper I dive into the pond, the stronger the pressure will be, together will the freezing cold, I should be able to compress my Qi enough. Then I will use the Falling Star form at full speed to heat up my body, my meridians should be able to expand that way! I’m just going to try it!’ Ye Wei’s eyes shone a glimmer of determination, he activated the runes on his bones, his Qi amplified, strengthened his body to ten-star condensed prime level.

Ten-star Runemaster, Master Yi, South Star Academy’s principal Gu Qing and the City Lord were the strongest cultivators in Green Moon City, all three of them were peak ten-star condensed prime Warriors.

Now Ye Wei could consistently use the Supernova stance second evolution, he had joined the three in terms of combat power, there were only a handful of cultivators below return prime level that could threaten him.

‘I really need a hot bath after this!’ Ye Wei thought to himself as he dove in.

With the aid of Spindrift Steps, Ye Wei focused on shielding his body, navigated the deeper parts of the pond with relative ease.

‘Hundred and twenty feet!’

‘Hundred and thirty feet!’

‘Two hundred and fifty feet!’

‘Am I finally at the bottom?’ The freezing temperature caused Ye Wei’s muscles to spasm, he ground his teeth and sped up his Qi flow. So his body does not stiffen up. The water current Ye Wei’s Qi flow created stirred up the sand and mud at the pond’s bed.

‘This pressure is vast, but it’s still nothing comparing to the demon king’s grip, I need more pressure on my body, this will not compress the runes on my bones enough to transform them.’ Ye Wei’s thought, his feet were touching the soft, muddy pond bed.

‘Eh? What is that?’ A faint blue light caught his attention. Surrounded in darkness, a spark of hope lit up in Ye Wei’s mind.

After a few propelling strokes, Ye Wei was only an arm’s length away from the luminant blue pebbles that lit up the dark depth.

‘So this is the real Drakehead!?’ Ye Wei frowned, examined the bright pebbles that covered pond bed, the freezing cold and the crushing water pressure felt less agonizing now his focus had been shifted.

‘I should try cultivating right here!’ Ye Wei sat himself on the bottom of the pond, the vast energy in his body weighed him down, he couldn’t tell if he was shivering from the cold or the excitement.

‘I am cultivating nearly forty times quicker than usual, just one day of cultivating here makes up for more than a month of training anywhere else!’

‘If I can stay here all the time I can even become a returned prime Warior in merely a week.’ Ye Wei shook his head and thought, ‘only if the Supernova stance’s effect could last longer...’

‘Could this be the scared mark?’

Ye Wei swam around to investigate but nothing really stood out.

‘But I can’t get any deeper, where is the Dreakhead if this isn’t it!?’ Ye Wei thought to himself, confused.

‘Eh?’ While feeling frustrated, Ye Wei felt a turbulence of chilling water crashing onto his back.

He looked behind, to the left, realized the current came from a two meters wide crack at the corner of the pond

‘There is a tunnel!’ Ye Wei’s eyes brightened up, eager to find out what what was at the other end.

‘I have to hurry!’ Ye Wei grit his teeth, ignore the cold and swam slithered into the confined space like an eel.

The pressure increased and the temperature dropped even lower as he reached further into the tunnel. The runes on his bones were wiggling, shining gold and the remaining tadpole shaped patterns were turning into yin yang shapes.

‘This is it! I can come down here to evolve the Supernova runes after I’ve rested!’ Ye Wei thought to himself as he felt the vibration from the transforming energy on his bones.

‘What is that?’ Ye Wei had reached the end of the tunnel, he could see a chamber in front of him, made visible by the same shade of blue glow as the pebbles on pond’s bottom.

But instead of pebbles, he could see a ten feet tall, thirty feet wide small palace. The bricks and stones were covered by algae and mud, dimmed out the ghostly blue glow.

‘This building is draining the heat, I can feel it!’

Ye Wei shivered, his veins were becoming purple, his muscles tightened up, his jaw was shaking, a knocking sound went through his skull.

‘I can’t get closer!’ Ye Wei wanted to evolve his Supernova stance but he knew better than to damage his body irreversibly by the freezing cold.

The nine hundred feet between him and the building structure was so close but yet so far.

‘I need to know what I am looking at!’ Ye Wei was determined though in agony, he waved his palm, sent forth a dense Qi strike.

“Bang!”

A compressed water current flowed quickly from Ye Wei’s hand to the palace, ridding the vegetation and dirt off the blue structure.

“Rumble!”

The burst of water revealed the blue runic engravings, the temple resembled a runicle, only larger and the rune sequences were more complex.

‘Supreme Yu Palace! The name Ye Yu does ring a bell!’ Ye Wei read the letters on the entrance and thought to himself, ‘this is the Drakehead, there is no mistaking!’

Ye Wei was eager to explore but he could not deal with the cold, he could only look at the palace from distance. ‘

‘Supernova stance’s effect is fading, it’s a shame I can’t train here any longer...’ He knew he would have to rest before he could dive down again. Ye Wei gave the palace a last glance before finding his way back out and up.

“Slosh!”

Ye Wei broke through the pond’s surface, the splash of water refracted the setting sun, projected a colour spectrum onto his cheek/

Ye Wei’s runic badge was twinkling, notifying him about Lu Feng’s message.

‘Wei, I can’t doing anything now, they have developed a method to track energy disturbance, it will not be long before they figure out the Drakehead’s location.

Ye Wei frowned after he processed Lu Feng’s words, ‘we have to act now, before they tell their superiors, otherwise we won’t have a way to protect the spot when they send even more reinforcement.’

“Lu Feng, I need you to come to the pond now, so that we can make a move tonight!” Ye Wei sent the message through his badge.

“Are you sure about this? We will have to deal with eight ten-star condensed prime Warriors and some weaker cultivators also at condensed prime level! Ye Wei, this is a serious matter, and there will be no going back if we decide to fight them. Since they have not found the place yet, shouldn’t we wait a little longer? We are still not strong enough.” Lu Feng’s voice was shaking, he was nervous and it could be heard even through the badge.

Lu Feng shook his head on the other side. ‘I’ve told him that all eight of them are stronger than Lu Ren, why is he acting so stubborn?’

“You have defeated Lu Ren swiftly but that drained everything out of you, that was a week ago, have you even recovered yet?”

“No more waiting, we will do it tonight! I told you, it had been all or nothing ever since we decided to kill Lu Ren and the Du’s.” Ye Wei’s determined voice came through the badge again, ‘I have not been training so I could watch while they raid my family’s sacred place. With my Qi at peak ten-star condensed prime level, I can fight many at once or even win if we manage to set up an ambush.’

“Okay then, if you say so! I will be on my way!” Lu Feng put away the runic badge and rushed towards the pond.

Although the duo had made a heavenly oath and decided to work as a team, the leading role had been shifting towards Ye Wei without either of them noticing.

***

Lu Feng arrived at the pond to see Ye Wei calmly sitting on the grass, resting, after a brief moment he broke the silence.

“Ye Wei so what is the plan?” Lu Feng could not wipe the concern off his face although his partner seemed at peace. “Or do you have a plan at all?! You might lose your life!”

“Calm down, I am not stupid, I will not risk our lives,” Ye Wei patted Lu Feng’s shoulder, smiled and said: “We will attack from the dark, they will not even know who we are if we execute my plan correctly.”