Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 32 – Trump Card

“Old Du, the young ones are hot-headed aren’t they! I am sorry your grandson was injured, hopefully he will recover quickly. I will have a serious talk with Ye Zhong when this is over, as you mentioned just now it’s not very nice to stomp your opponents like that especially when they’re rubbish, it’s hardly constructive is it?” Ye Zheng Qing waved slightly and bowed making an apologetic gesture.

‘An eye for an eye!’

Du Yuan Ming was ashen-faced as he viciously stared at Ye Zheng Qing.

‘Ye Zhong you sneaky child! You’ve been hiding your breakthrough all this time when we were training? How did you, how could you?’ Ye Patriarch was as glad as he was puzzled. Then he realised everything was linked. That the night he heard the tiger’s roars were related to Ye Wei’s soul sensibility and that Ye Zhong actually broke through thanks to his little cousin’s soul sensibility.

‘My family can become great again! I have to somehow lead us out of this mess so the young ones can blossom. Even the weakest of them is showing great potential, I can’t let their efforts go to waste.’ He saw the silver lining during their darkest hours. If little Wei can achieve something seemingly impossible so could he.

“Little Zhong is full of surprises!” Ye Yi wore a satisfying smile as he turned to the others and said.

“Yi, brother, thank you.” Ye Hai answered as a few drops of tears ran down his face.

Ye Yi as well realised his son contributed vastly to Ye Zhong’s breakthrough, he felt like a better father and was extremely proud of his son. He had seldom gotten appreciation from his siblings.

“Cousin Zhong is my new idol! He just became a four star Warrior not long ago! How does he do it?” The young ones too gained respect for him, and they were looking at their big cousin standing in the middle of the arena imitating his moves.

“Get out of the way now!” Ye Zhong muttered and kicked the unconscious Du Xian Hong in the air, towards the Du camp’s direction.

“Well fought!”

Feeling humiliated, Du Yuan Ming’s face was black. He let out a low hum and flicked his long sleeves out to catch his grandson which was empowered with Qi to make it supportive like a cushion. He wrapped his sleeve around the limp body then placed it next to where the medics were waiting.

“Han Yue, looks like they’ve gotten themselves a five star Warrior. What do you say about playing with him a bit before killing him?” He couldn’t look at the bloody mess which happened to be his grandson for more than a second. Revenge was the only thing in his head, and his voice was slow, low, and cruel when he spoke to Du Han Yue.

He never thought he would have to send Du Han Yue out to get his hands dirty as the plan was to let Du Xian Hong and other five star Warriors finish the deed until Ye Zhong displayed his capabilities. “Han Yue, respect your opponent and give it your all. If anything happens dad has your back?” He stared at Ye Zhong and said with the intention to kill.

“Understood!”

Du Han Yue nodded. He squinted his eyes in the direction of Ye Zhong, planning how to knock him out cold. He shifted his balance to his forefeet, bent his knees then launched himself high up in the air, towards the arena.

The Ye family all had worrying faces as Du Han Yue’s shadow entered the ring, the ones that had seen him fight were more anxious than the others who had not. The six star Warrior’s unique ruthless fighting style etched a bloody image on the minds of whoever witnessed him in action.

Ye Zhong couldn’t win with power and speed, the cultivation difference was to much; nor did the Ye family have an advantage when it came to stance variety because the Du family had a big library of them. The odds were stacked up against Ye Zhong…

“Little Zhong…” Ye Hai has seen Du Han Yue fight, there was no reason for him not to be worried. At this point it was fair to say the Ye family and the Du family had fallen out completely. It would not be a surprise if the Du family wanted Ye Zhong badly injured, or dead to gain some face after Ye Zhong humiliated them.

“Cousin Zhong, Please protect yourself!”

It’s not they didn’t have faith in Ye Zhong, the old and the young Ye’s were worried because they were aware of Du Han Yue’s status as one of the top five youngsters in Green Moon City. They knew that he had real talent to back up the name he made for himself.

The air froze in and around the arena. Ye Zhong was in a long light green robe and Du Han Yue in white. Standing ten meters away from each other exchanging looks, both imagining ways to overpower his opponent.

All eyes were on these two. This was the matchup everyone was here to watch. Talents speak for themselves and there were two of them standing off right here, right now; early on the crowd learned what the stake was during the patriarchs’ verbal exchange. It wasn’t just any fight. The clash of these two geniuses will affect future affairs in Green Moon City and the result of this fight would be as interesting as the fight itself for those who were not present.

“Ye Zhong being a five star Warrior has little effect on the outcome of this fight. Even if he breaks through to six star here and now in front of us, he still won’t be able to beat Han Yue, and that’s a big and impossible if!” The talkative General Zhou couldn’t bare the silence. He smiled as he turned his head towards the two who sat next to him.

“I don’t think anyone who has less than a seven star cultivation will be able to challenge Du Han Yue… Good luck finding someone like that in Green Moon City! Or in the Ye family in this case! Hahaha!” President Dong agreeably nodded.

Du Han Tue came to fame because of a fight six months ago where he beat not one, not two, but three six star Warriors… People have since kept an eye on his development.

“What’s your name again? Ye Zhong right?” Du Yue Ming was getting into the mood to fight. He was feeling pretty confident after hearing praises from the audience’s chatter and the sardonic smile on his pale face reflected just that.

“You guessed it!” Ye Zhong was on the alert. A fight with someone stronger than himself can be over in a matter of seconds. Although he is now a five star Warrior and has mastered a low level Myst stance, he could not reveal the stance before the right moment; the stance has to connect and finish the fight, using it defensively would not help him win the fight against this six star Warrior who stood before him.

“So, I was watching your fight. I counted seventy-eight punches and sixteen kicks. I am here to collect the debt!”

“I will punch you seventy-eight times and kick you sixteen times. I will keep count and won’t stop before we’re even, if it means punching and kicking your corpse, so be it!” Du Han Yue laughed and made the first move. He moved his right foot forward, his white robe and shoulder length hair were flowing in the wind giving off the bloodthirsty aura of a wild beast as he got into a half crouch position.

“You sure talk a lot!” Ye Zhong too moved his right foot forward, dust spread out in a rippling motion when he stomped the ground to show off his strength.

“I will see how long you can stay on your feet!” Du Han Yue said with an impassive expression. He quickly channeled his will-force and Qi, his finger were moving fast, drawing eighty-three runes in no time.

The screen of runes veiled Du Han Yue therefore Ye Zhong lost clear sight of him. There were some movements behind the veil but it was blurry.

“Swoosh! Swoosh Swoosh!”

The veil was transparent on Du Han Yue’s side and he could evaluate where Ye Zhong’s weak spots were, then he injected more Qi into the rune sequence, transforming it into a blood red ancient looking blade.

‘Peak high level Spirit stance, Phantom Ichor Blade!’

Known for its brutal force; this stance was one of the Du family’s most famous weapons.

Du Yue Ming then pointed his finger at one of the weak spots, the phantom blade vibrated and flew towards Ye Zhong’s heart, leaving a crimson trail in the air.

The phantom blade was sharper and more powerful than any mortal blade and it left a tiny ravine wherever it flew.

Ye Zhong knew there was no way to parry this attack and that he was dead if he took it head on.Thus he immediately drew a string of runes and stepped on the wave’s crest and disappeared in a flash. The blade missed him by about three meters.

He knew Spindrift Steps would now be very useful thanks to Ye Wei. If Ye Wei didn’t refine this stance with him, the fight would have been over already.