Chapter 47 – Four Star Student
“Just stay home and rest for the next few days. I will search for Welkin Leaves, you will be the first to know if I get a hold of one.” Master Yi earnestly rubbed Ye Wei’s head, and he could feel his grieving apprentice’s frustration. The Runemaster also understood there was no point training Ye Wei right now because distracted minds don’t process knowledge efficiently; Ye Wei could even hurt himself training if he’s not focused.
“Thank you master!” Ye Wei gratefully answered.
“Ye Wei, I will get out there and also see if I can gather any information regarding Welkin Leaves! Promise me you will take care of yourself!” Lin Zi Yan could see the sorrow in Ye Wei’s frown; it was a heartbreaking sight.
“Yea, thanks so much Zi Yan!” He nodded.
Master Yi and Lin Zi Yan boarded the runicle together and left.
Although they left, what they did today would stay in people’s hearts forever. Nobody in Green Moon City would dare to make a move against them in the foreseeable future!
A while after they left, the Ye’s placed Ye Zhong in a quiet part of the mansion, and he was carefully guarded by a dozen men.
Days after the duel the mansion became a busy place. It was filled with representatives from different martial families wanting to see Ye Wei. As for the hot topic himself, he occupied a room in Ye Zhong’s quarter, and kept his door closed to meditate and cultivate.
In a house on the east side of Green Moon City, a slim built, handsome man was furious. His name was Lu Feng. A few feet away from him there was a bed where the stern-faced teenager was lying, spasming every half a minute or so.
“Imbeciles! You had one job! Damn it! Why was Master Yi there? How did some nobody from the Ye family suddenly became his legacy apprentice?” Lu Feng threw vases onto the floor, Master Yi’s intervention destroyed his plan completely. He was greatly discouraged, but he had not given up. He went back to the drawing board, ‘No more mistakes! I need their ancestral land!’
Though for now he would have to lay low because their family name was mentioned in the Ye family arena, and even his father feared Master Yi. ‘Ye Wei huh? Just you wait, I will love to see what a little Student can do without your master!’ An insolent smile appeared on Lu Feng’s pale face.
Back at the Ye mansion.
Although Ye Wei was still a child, his position in the Ye family has changed drastically. His uncles and aunts would talk to him before making some decisions regarding the family business, even the patriarch would sometimes consult him.
However, Ye Wei’s mind was elsewhere. He was distracting himself from worrying about his cousin by cultivating. The bullying from his classmates, betrayed by Joe Yan, and more recently the dispute with the Du family… All these little events became motivation for Ye Wei; he hungered for power, he wanted control.
Strength is the most realistic foundation of anything in this dog-eat-dog world. He realised he had been saved by dumb luck too many times, and one day his luck might just run out.
‘My rune consonance is dirt, I have to train as hard as I can! Maybe a miracle will happen… I can’t let Master Yi down. I can imagine teaching someone like me would be easy for him.’
‘I wonder what Zi Yan said or did to change Master Yi’s mind. Anyway, I can’t let either of them down now that everyone knows I am his legacy apprentice!’ While taking a break from self-training, Ye Wei looked back on the past few weeks.
Both Lin Zi Yan and Master Yi did not mention anything to anyone including Ye Wei regarding the actual result of Ye Wei’s rune consonance test. It was safer that way, when Ye Wei was stronger he would figure it out himself, and furthermore Master Yi thought the lack of confidence was a good trait to have for an apprentice. He wanted to keep it that way. Pride has always driven people away from greatness.
‘I just want to be able to use stances… Why didn’t Master Yi take me to train?’ Ye Wei clenched his fists so hard his knuckles went white and his veins bulged.
Learning about his non-existence rune consonance was more traumatizing than being told about his red Sentient, but one’s attitude can change things. ‘Usually Students can use stances when they reach the seventh star, but maybe I will be able to use stances when I am a Warrior! I just have to train!’ His eyes showed determination.
‘My body feels… stronger. Did Master Yi do something to me other than healing?’ The Runemaster did mend his muscles, bones, and even his Sentient, but what strengthened Ye Wei’s body was the golden flash in his Sentient. Little did Ye Wei know his body was ready for another breakthrough. “Let’s get back to work…” Ye Wei mumbled to himself while carefully reached for a jade pill bottle. He then poured a Fiery Sun Quencher pill onto the middle of his palm.
The Ye Patriarch gave Ye Wei quite a lot of Quencher pills, but none of them could compare to the ones Lin Zi Yan gave him. Ye Wei only consumed one out of the ten Fiery Sun Quencher pills, which aided his breakthrough to two star level days ago.
‘Ye Wei, one small step at a time.’ He took a few slow, deep breaths to clear his mind. When his mind was as calm as a still lake’s surface, he took the pill. It melted in his mouth immediately, and it took only moments before his body started heating up from the surge of energy entering Ye Wei’s bloodstream.
The hot but tender energy circulated through Ye Wei’s veins, and it turned his skin red. From the bloodstream into his muscles and bones, the surge was absorbed almost immediately. HIs muscles started vibrating at a high frequence as they grew bigger and tougher. There was even a soft metallic glow on his skin where his pressure points lay, as the Quencher upgraded his body. The vibration quickened and turned into a humming sound. This was a sign of the breakthrough into four star level!
As the humming sounds intensified, so did the glow on his pressure points. The metallic green glowing points suddenly started linking to one another, and Ye Wei’s body was slowly covered by a shining green web.
It took Ye Wei around four hours to fully absorb the pill’s energy. The green glow on his skin became brighter and clearer and all the muscles and bones in his body were shaking, this was it! His Sentient glowed gold as he became a four star Student!
“Did I just became a four star Student!?” Ye Wei was euphoric. He opened his eyes and looked at his glowing body.
Normally it takes Students years to reach the four star level, but in the frame of merely few days he advanced three levels! After his next breakthrough, the green web would become an inner skin that glows when Qi flows into it, this reinforcement will make Ye Wei’s skin hard as iron.
From the worst in class to a four star Student, at the age of thirteen, Ye Wei had now overtaken most of the Students around his age is his class. There were only seven of his classmates at four star level, and of course Xiao Qi who was a five star Student.
He couldn’t yet compare himself to the prodigies in class of the gifted, but he was above average to say the least, and not the piece of trash he once was!
‘Falling Star form!’ Ye Wei didn’t stop after the breakthrough. He adjusted his breathing, and made a complex hand seal then started cultivating again. A will-force vortex formed and grew between his eyebrows, it sucked energy into his body from around him. He was taught a mid Myst form by his family, but a few days ago Ye Wei discovered that the Falling Star form was originally a high Myst form when he was hallucinating.
Ye Wei’s improved Falling Star form purifies energy a few times quicker because of its complex routes. It directs the silver primal energy through one hundred and eight meridians as opposed to the simplified form’s thirty-six.
After running the improved Falling Star form the whole night, a vast amount of primal energy had circled Ye Wei’s body been purified and now was stored in Ye Wei’s dantian ready to be used by the new four star Student.
‘I forgot to tell gramps about the improved Falling Star form! I need to do that when I see him, so he can start teaching it to the others!’ Ye Wei opened his eyes after a whole day of training. During which many visitors had asked to see him, but were kindly declined by the Ye Patriarch.
Seeing the graceful morning he immediately narrowed his eyes again because of the bright sun. He relaxingly took a deep breath as summer breeze caressed his childish face, after which he stretched his body and felt his newfound strength.
“Things are going well… Hopefully I’ll get news from Master Yi or Zi Yan soon…” Ye Wei mumbled to himself, though he was in a good place, he was still bothered by his cousin’s condition.