Chapter 145 – Jian Chen
“What is it?” one of the Grand-Runemasters asked, seeing a buoyant smile on Yang Shuo’s face, “could it be the question regarding the specialized runes?”
“Yes!” Yang Shuo nodded heavily. As he was reading the answer his voice broke from pure excitement, “all thirty-six runes in the Sonic Rune Set are very powerful, but the set has been extinct since centuries ago. Recently, there has been a project to rediscover them. Thirty-five of them were recovered by Grand-Runemasters, but the thirty-second rune of the set is still nowhere to be found. I think that rune holds the key to me being able to create the Sonic Lion Roar stance. The stance I have been working on for years!”
All the sources on the Sonic Rune Set the Grand Runemasters have read mention the elusive thirty-second rune. None of the Grand Runemasters could find, so they eventually gave up, ending the project prematurely.
“This is it! It finally makes sense!” Yang Shuo excitedly screamed after carefully inspected the rune Ye Wei drew just moments ago. He could imagine the rune’s similarities and continuity with the rest of the set.
Yang Shuo’s heart ecstatically raced. He couldn’t believe, after all, this time, the hardest of the three questions listed on the wall had been answered. Especially, the one answer he desperately needed to be answered but did not expect, let alone, be answered correctly. He was more than happy to pay out the two-hundred thousand tokens for him this was no problem.
“Ha! Maybe I should get in contact with this person… Wait, what!? He’s sixteen years old? And he’s a three-star Runemaster!?” His eyes bulged at the knowledge a sixteen-year-old three-star Runemaster answered his unanswerable question. Since he was the president of a branch, he could check the identity of individual members.
“A teenager!?” The other two Grand-Runemasters dropped their jaws, exchanging a look of shock amongst themselves, “maybe he just got lucky and found the rune in his family’s library.”
“This genius of a kid is called Ye Wei. He passed with flying colors. So, I can see here… He didn’t just randomly stumble upon the fifty-third wall. Instead, he answered a few questions before this one. Usually only Grand-Runemasters will browse this far, but still, I don’t think luck played a part in this,” Yang Zhuo said. Clearly, he was interested in Ye Wei and trying to deduce from the information he had, “I always thought Zhou dynasty was weak in comparison to us!”
Yang Zhuo memorized the young Runemaster’s name, hoping he would meet Ye Wei one day.
Basking in blissful joy for earning two hundred thousand contribution tokens, Ye Wei was completely clueless to how much he impressed a president of a powerful monarchy. Although he was still unable to afford everything that caught his eyes earlier on, the amount was very much impressive. The amount motivated Ye Wei to save up for the most expensive items in the catalog instead of spending the tokens on something more affordable but less useful.
“I will pause now and take a break from answering questions… Wait, I have been here for two days, I should return now!” Ye Wei exclaimed, realizing how effortlessly he passed the time.
After bidding farewell to Zuo Qiu Ming, Ye Wei left the union branch and ran towards the Galaxy Academy. He remembered that South Star was scheduled to face Zhoutian Sword School today. As well, he knew for a fact if he was not present, South Star would not stand a chance.
Though Jian Chen was not yet a God’s Seven, it didn’t mean he was not as strong as one. He just hadn’t faced any of the seven yet; therefore, he didn’t have a chance to claim the title officially.
Arriving at the meeting between the two schools, Ye Wei felt an immense Qi disturbance in Jian Chen’s body. Jian Chen’s Qi level could easily equal that of Shi Hun Tian’s Qi at full strength.
This was why Ye Wei looked forward to fighting with Jian Chen. After fighting three powerful opponents, he had learned a few new stances, improved in cultivation, and could not wait to use his new techniques in combat.
While Ye Wei was running to the tournament venue, contestants from all the thirty-six school were vigorously competing with each other.
On platform two, Jian Chen of Zhoutian Sword School was wearing his simple white robe, as usual, standing in the middle of the amethyst platform, smiling at the South Star camp.
“Excuse me by any chance, would any of you know where brother Ye is and when will he be here?” The tournament had already started an hour ago, and a lot of matches were even ending soon, but Jian Chen refused to start fighting.
Jian Chen had yet to see Ye Wei, and the rest of South Star was too weak to fight him. He was not willing to sabotage the good relationship between Zhoutian Sword School and South Star. He knew he could effortlessly destroy all of South Star’s, so effortlessly, in fact, that would disgrace and embarrass himself. He would be more of a bully than a respectable fighter.
The understanding was also mutual; Liu Jian, Chen Mo and the rest of South Star were patiently waiting for their ace to show up.
“If I win without defeating brother Ye, it would be unfair. Don’t be offended, please. I mean no disrespect at all, and I am happy to wait,” Jian Chen had been looking forward to this fight ever since he saw Ye Wei’s performance. He did not see the point of fighting with South Star if he wasn’t able to fight Ye Wei.
The tournament was halfway over. There were only four teams that had not drop one match: Galaxy Academy, South Star Academy, Seven Star School, and Zhoutian Sword School.
“We’ve seen Jian Chen fighting every day for more than two weeks. We know how strong he is; there is no point for South Star to fight without Ye Wei present.”
“Do you think Ye Wei is scared of losing his title? Maybe that’s why he’s not showing up!”
“I don’t think so. You see, cultivators of that caliber take great pride in their cultivation. They are extremely competitive and will not cowardly skip a fight! We can just watch Galaxy fighting Seven Star before Ye Wei shows up. I want to watch last year’s champions ending Seven Star’s winning streak!”
The young cultivators around platform two were all curious and started to get impatient.
Meanwhile, on the cloud platform, the influential people were looking at each other, confused and frustrated.
“I have not seen Ye Wei for two days now.” The Green Army generals looked unpleased and unimpressed because of Ye Wei’s absence.
“Generals, I recently heard some news from the Runemaster Union. Two days ago, two cultivators just passed the entry exam and became Runemasters here in Ning City,” the City Lord stated calmly to the military personal.
“So, what has that got to do with anything?” one of the generals disdainfully replied back. The general despised talking about the Runemaster Union since the army often found themselves competing with the union recruiting new blood.
“Well…actually, it has everything to do with the South Star fight, one of those two youngsters who passed the exam is called Ye Wei, coincidentally,” the City Lord continued, grinning.
“Coincidentally? You mean…” the Green Army generals narrowed their eyes and looked at each other; they understood what the City Lord implied.
Their conversation was interrupted by the noisy crowd below.
“How could this be!?”
“How did all three of them lose?”
“The three strongest cultivators from Galaxy Academy just lost to a nobody from the Seven Star School!”
“The fights took no time at all! What’s the kid’s name from Seven Star again?”
The whole crowd went wild as three of the God’s Seven were defeated within such a short time frame.
“I asked myself the same question, but that kid defeated them way too fast! I guess those three from Galaxy could not see his moves either! No wonder, they couldn’t defend themselves properly!”
The ending result was entirely unexpected. Even the audience watching high up in the clouds did not foresee the outcome. They looked down at the dark skinned Tu Fu Sheng. The dark horse’s moves were too fast for the young ones; however, the influential people saw Tu Fu Sheng’s power. They understood that such agility and strength came from a cultivation level over a five-star condensed prime.
Unfortunately for the trio of Galaxy Academy who were by no means weak, they faced an opponent that significantly outclassed them.
Nonetheless, both young and old were impressed by such a fight; whereas, the City Lord and the generals of the Green Army realized they were looking at a youngster who would be able to rank high even in state-stage.
Tu Fu Sheng slowly stopped after sorely beating his opponents, “Now, how did you three become God’s Seven, again?” Tu Fu Sheng chuckled, looking at his badly defeated opponents from afar.
The defeated top three cultivators felt humiliated, resentment and bewilderment shown on their faces. None of them imagined themselves losing to this upstart, a newcomer with no past. It was not just his speed they could not match; it was also his strange fighting style that they could not have prepared for despite all their hard work.
“I will admit you fought well, but we will beat you next time,” Feng Yi said calmly, even in defeat. He then led his teammates away from the amethyst platform.
Tu Fu Sheng looked towards platform two, right into Jian Chen’s eyes. Both their gaze intensified as they realized they were looking at each other. Moments after, he jumped down the platform and exited with swagger.
Platform two remained quiet while crowds elsewhere screamed at the teams who were finishing their fight.
Chen Mo decided to break the silence, “brother Jian, we appreciate your gesture, but we shouldn’t make you wait any longer, let’s…”
He was interrupted by the screaming of his schoolmates.
“He’s back!”
Joe Yin, Cao Ning screamed, and the rest of South Star cheered. Looking towards the entrance, they saw a young man in green robe; his energy condensed into two feathered wings which flapped as he quickly headed towards platform two.
“About time!” vice-principal Xu impatiently and excitedly looked at the young man coming.
“Brother Ye, are you okay? After such a long wait, I started to worry about you!” a heartfelt smile appeared on Jian Chen’s chiseled face. He stood straight to show respect, greeted Ye Wei, and grabbed his beloved sword.
Though Jian Chen appeared cold and insensitive, in actuality, he was caring and understanding, maybe too much so, and he just didn’t know how adequately to express his emotions without seeming weak.
Like Jian Chen, Ye Wei did not think about winning or losing; instead, he just wanted a good, competitive fight where he could learn from his opponent.
The crowd became louder since this match would decide the second team that remained undefeated and possibly crown a new God’s Seven.