Cult of the Sacred Runes

“This is a very minor but impactful modification and we all missed it because we looked too close.” Elder Qing Ming felt a chill down his spine as he muttered. “I have never seen anyone with such perception except when Grand-Runemasters refine a stance...”

The Qing elders’ confusion slowly turned into shock, none of them found it easy believe a child was able to pick up on something they have missed for months and the amount of time it took him to do so.

“And that’s why we don’t underestimate others.” Elder Qing Ming spoke to his men and laughed, taking the chance to educate the others. “A different point of view is usually inspiring anyway.”

‘No matter how much it would cost us, we have to tie him with us, and even when that fails Ye Wei must remain our friend.’ The head elder thought to himself.

Qing Yao stood still and observed the four bolts in sheer amusement, her rune sequence moved towards Ye Wei.

Although she had the luxury of being trained and guided by experts in every aspect of cultivation since young age, she had been always been obsessed with runes. Qing Yao’s runic knowledge had been exceptional even among the Qing’s experienced Runemasters, but it was now that she realized her training had caged her mind and what she saw as her achievements were irrelevant when compared to Ye Wei’s mastery.

“Ye Wei! What was that!?” While the others were still speechless, admiring Ye Wei’s work, Xue Er said with a genuine, elevated voice, her eyes shining with admiration.

‘It’s a shame a minor modification like this doesn’t trigger cosmic energy...’ Ye Wei thought to himself.

“I will be on my way now so you will be able to refine the stance further. Thank you for the offer again!” Ye Wei bowed, waved at the Qings then walked towards the door. ‘I certainly hope this meeting was private, I might be in trouble if the other families knew I met with the Qings...’

‘The excessive rune was the smaller problem, the sequence’s arrangement is what they should work on.’ Ye Wei thought to himself, ‘they should try pairing their runes a bit differently, or maybe even adding new runes... anything that might smoothen the flow.’

‘I’ve done enough for them, they should be satisfied by my kind gesture.’ Although Ye Wei was able to vaguely identify the issue, he was yet to discover a way to eliminate the unbalanced energy distribution, he decided not to say a thing as it might give the Qings the idea that he wanted to to work for them.

“How did he come to the conclusion to remove that rune? I’ve looked at that section too, more than a hundred times...” Qing Yao muttered to herself, still slightly in shock. “We’ve had Grand-Runemasters looking at the stance not so long ago and even they couldn’t spot it.”

Focused on Ye Wei’s work, Qing Yao did not notice the initiate was leaving before she heard the creaking door. She turned into a flash, the green lotus beneath her feet carried her between Ye Wei and the door.

“What’s the matter?” Ye Wei frowned, expected the Qings to leave him in peace after his voluntary contribution.

‘You are truly mysterious.’ Qing Yao looked at Ye Wei’s chiseled face from the side, curious of his childhood, the experience that gave him the special insight on runes.

She then tried to soften him with a smile, unlike the elders she was interested in the young initiate as a person, not as a potential addition to the family’s force. Qing Yao wanted to learn from Ye Wei, wanted to satisfy her curiosity.

Only one step away from each other, Ye Wei for the first time had a good look at Qing Yao. Her floral perfume was filling his senses and her laced robe was distracting his focus, but still he was clear that he wanted distance from the fairy-like figure.

“Please, can we have a word? This stance can still be improved, right? Can you just briefly point me towards the right direction?” Qing Yao asked in a sincere tone.

‘Her admirers mustn’t know about this that would make my time here in the palace difficult.’ Ye Wei thought to himself, slightly startled by Qing Yao’s soft attitude as he had the impression that she was cold and unconcerned about others.

“Don’t be hasty! We would like to ask you a few more questions.” The Qing elders also caught up, none of them wanted to let the prodigy slip out of their fingers.

Having witnessed Ye Wei’s capability to refine an Earth stance, the Qings were even more desperate to recruit the initiate, thinking that even just based on the initiate’s talent as a Runemaster Ye Wei could help the Qing’s to reach their new height as a rune-centric martial force.

Unlike the influence of a god’s prime Warrior, a Grand-Runemaster’s contribution would have a lasting impact on martial family’s standing. The elders were surprised by Qing Yao’s forwardness and initiative but didn’t find it necessary to stop her from bothering the initiate.

None of the elders could believe they’ve underestimated Ye Wei, they were ashamed of themselves for making assumptions. On the other hand they were pleasantly surprised by the reality, imagining the future of their family with Ye Wei as their leader.

‘This is the most humble I’ve seen her! I guess it makes sense considering she is interested in runes more than anything else cultivation related.’ Xue Er chuckled as her gaze whizzed back and forth between Ye Wei and Qing Yao.

‘I never thought someone could have cultivation potential like Chi Wuxiu’s and talented as a Runemaster! If the outside world learned about the story of what happened today, Ye Wei would surely be surrounded by girls desperate to become his girlfriend!’ Although clouded by wild thoughts, Xue Er knew better than to get involved in complicated relationships.

Ye Wei sighed and looked sincerely at the elders, “I can try to help with further refinement, but I really can’t join any martial families for now.”

“Can you do that? Do you think there is still room for improvement?” After a brief moment of silence, Qing Yao’s sweet voice sounded. She couldn’t help comparing Ye Wei to the projection of her idol. ‘His sensitivity must be sharp, I wonder how he would weigh up against the Runemaster who found the first Vermilion rune.Thousands of top Runemasters have been researching on the the seven runes and this mysterious person managed to get it done before all of them.’

“Yes, there is some room for improvement.” Ye Wei nodded. “But I don’t know the stance well enough.”

“Is there!?” Xue Yao’s eyes brightened up interrupting before Ye Wei finished his sentence.

Meanwhile, the elders were communicating with each other using the Qing’s own voice transmission technique.

“This kid is extraordinary! His intuition with runes seems almost supernatural, I think he has a better chance of becoming a Grand-Runemaster than becoming a god’s prime Warrior.”

“It’s a blessing from the sages that we got to meet this kid!”

“Don’t be so wishful yet, even if Ye Wei is twice as talented it won’t mean anything to the family before we actually successfully recruit him.”

“Then we should make a decision.”

“I say we do whatever it takes to get him on our side.” Elder Qing Ming expressed his view and all the other elders nodded. “Since he is clear that he doesn’t want to pick a side, we have to influence him delicately.”

While the elders were trying to come up with a solution, Qing Yao showed the Light Slash Finger stance to Ye Wei again.

“Here, this rune doesn’t look right and I have no idea what exactly the problem is.” Ye Wei pointed at the stance. “What do you think? I have not learned this stance, so I don’t know what the Qi flow is like exactly.”

“Oh...” Qing Yao nodded disappointedly.

“Thank you anyway. You have helped us a lot, and you shall be rewarded for your effort.” Elder Qing Ming walked forth and handed over an interspatial bag to Ye Wei.