Chapter 110 – Root Prison
The tail whip and the three Qi bolts struck simultaneously as Ye Wei just stood still. Dust flew up from the stances’ impact creating a smoke screen covering everyone’s sight.
“Hahaha! Is he stupid? Both Explosive Steps and Triple Phantom Finger are forbidden techniques! I thought Ning Yang said this kid was worthy of his time just now? Why would anyone in their right mind just stand still?”
“I haven’t seen Brother Ning used these two stances in a while. The last time he use them he brought a nine-star Warrior to his knees!”
“Pfft, this kid obviously has a death wish!” The black-robed cultivators mocked and sneered as they looked at the smoke screen.
In their eyes even if Ye Wei was hiding his power, he would be either dead or gravely injured after taking these two stances.
“Sh*t, this is not good. I think that kid is dead; these Polaris Academy students are crazy! Why the hell would they do this? Aren’t they afraid they are going to get punished?”
The crowd felt horrible. They felt pity for Ye Wei and were furious with the Polaris Academy student’s action.
“Wei!” Joe Yin bit her lip, and her eyes were teary as she didn’t think Ye Wei would just stand still and take the hits! She couldn’t believe that Ye Wei might be dead now because of her. ‘Either of those stances would easily knock me out!’
Joe Yin ran towards the smoke screen in a panic shortly followed by Cao Ning, who was as nervous as she was.
“What an idiot. The funny thing is he knew how dangerous those stances were! Haha!” Ning Yang laughed disdainfully.
“Crack! Crack!”
Ning Yang could sense something unusual from Joe Yin and Cao Ning’s direction and stopped laughing.
Just when Joe Yin and Cao Ning stepped into the smog, they felt like they were pulled towards the ground. They couldn’t even lift their feet. Ye Wei slowly stepped out of the settling dust as the smoke screen was quickly drawn to the floor.
Ye Wei looked relaxed, and he casually cracked his knuckles. “I was hoping to learn something from your stances, but I couldn’t even do that!” He glanced at Cao and Joe then turned to stared at Ning Yang.
“Step back a little.” There was a sense of tranquility in Ye Wei’s voice, and he waved his hand at Cao and Joe.
“Okay!” Cao Ning nodded stiffly and followed Ye Wei’s eyes to the seven black-robed youngsters as he tip-toed backwards. He was beginning to believe his old friend might actually be able to crush these visitors.
‘I guess he has been more productive than I was in these past three years…’ He could not imagine how strong Ye Wei actually was, and there was really no way of knowing.
Joe Yin followed Cao Ning backwards; she was still slightly traumatized.
The crowd went crazy. They never would have guessed Ye Wei could survive and walk out gracefully.
“Isn’t that the boy who knocked Mu Feng down with just one swing?” People started to recognize his face after one of them pointed it out.
“What.. What do you want to do to us!?” All seven black-robed cultivators widened their eyes in fear as they subconsciously stepped back when Ye Wei approached.
‘He took on two forbidden high-level Spirit stances directly and survived, and I still cannot feel any Qi from him that normal cultivators give off. I’ve even beaten a nine-star and ten-star Warrior with this forbidden stance combo, how can he not have a scratch…’ The thought sent a chill down Ning Yang’s spine.
“Let’s get out of here!” Ning Yang would much rather leave than to be in the presence of Ye Wei. Up till now neither he nor his six friends had any idea of Ye Wei’s level.
All seven of them then ran towards the gate as if their lives depended on it.
“Hey, you didn’t say good-bye to us.” Just when they could smell the fresh air from the other side of the gate, Ye Wei’s voice sounded, and they all stopped running, froze in place.
They wanted to run but they couldn’t. Something the ground rooted them in place and their legs felt as if they were tied to heavy rocks.
“You… You’re a demon! He has to be! This boy is a demon! What kind of wicked technique are you using?” The red-haired boy shouted. They were scared, and for the six of them, except Ning Yang, the hair on the back of their arms stood up and they started screaming.
“Shut up, stop embarrassing yourselves!” Ning Yang coldly stared at his comrades and said. He knew Ye Wei just used Root Prison. A forbidden high-level Spirit stance that generated a pull to lock them where they stood.
Root Prison was a complicated stance, but Ye Wei was able to finish the stance in mere seconds. It was this moment when Ning Yang knew what kind of opponent he was facing.
“We concede. I would like to apologize for the things we said and did! Here is thirty thousand silver worth of Purple Cloud. It should be enough to heal the injured student!” Ning Yan looked at Ye Wei with fear. He exhaled slowly then bowed to the crowd then he took out a bottle from his bag.
Ning Yan was certain this was the correct move; he would rather have all of them walk out relatively unharmed than challenge this monster to a fight.
“You came to us and injured no less than twenty of us. Do you really think I will let you off so easily?” Ye Wei was not impressed by Ning Yang’s gesture, and he didn’t even look at the pill bottle Ning Yang respectfully presented him.
“I apologized, and this bottle of pills is yours. What more do you want me to do? I admit you are very strong, and I am sure you will beat us even if seven of us come at you at the same time, but I think you should not push us too much. There are stronger cultivators at our school, and you will want to treat us well for when you have to face Qi Xiu in the tournament.”
Ning Yang grunted, and his face became dark, and there was a hint of threat in his voice. ‘If brother Qi Xiu weren’t already at Ning City, you wouldn’t be this cocky.’
“Are you threatening me?” Ye Wei narrowed his eyes.
“You can take a hint. You better let us go now, or I will make sure he pays extra attention to you should you meet in the tournament!” Ning Yang’s chest rose as he spoke in a low voice.
“Kneel and apologize.” Ye Wei said as his face turned cold. His hands disappeared in a flash, and runes appeared in front of him which quickly melted into the ground. Afterwards, the pulling force increased dramatically.
“Pop! Pop!”
The group led by Ning Yang was overwhelmed by the force pulling them down, and their legs softened, forced to kneel on the ground.
All seven of the prideful cultivators were put down to their knees by Ye Wei in front of the hundreds of South Star students. They glanced at Ye Wei with extreme hatred and ground their teeth so hard they started bleeding from their gums.
The fact that they were on their way to Ning City meant that they were strong enough to representing their school in the tournament, and that they were all popular back at Polaris Academy. They had never felt so much shame! The pain in their hearts was a hundred times more agonizing than the physical pain they were feeling.
Ye Wei could see that they were in great pain, but he did not let them go. ‘They should be prepared to be insulted before they came here to challenge and insult us.’
“I will remember the shame you brought upon us today. You better pray that you don’t have to face us in the tournament because I will make sure Qi Xiu hears about how you have disrespected Polaris Academy. I am sure he will be more than happy to avenge us and make you pay for what you did to us today!” Blood trickled down his mouth as he memorized Ye Wei’s face.
“Oh, yea. Now that you mention it there is a tournament coming up right? I didn’t plan on participating, but you’re making it sound interesting. Thank you for kneeling and apologizing! You can leave now.” Ye Wei narrowed his eyes and grunted. He knocked all of them out of the school gate with a burst of Qi.
Drowning in the crowd’s booing noise, Ning Yang stood up and helped his friends back to their feet and walked away.
“Cao Ning, are you okay?” Ye Wei walked over to his old friend with concern on his face and examined his injuries. ‘I should have made them bleed for this… How dare they hurt my friend.’ He then left before the eyes of everyone present with Cao Ning’s arm around his shoulder.
The crowd was completely quiet while Ye Wei and Cao Ning disappeared down the path.
“Who was that? How strong is he!? It only took the weakest of them to beat Mu Feng, but this nameless kid brought them all down to their knees!?”
“That was domineering to the extreme! I think he might even be stronger than Liu Jian!”
The crowd could not stop speculating. They all looked excited and were full of admiration as they watched Ye Wei disappear down the path.
“I remember his face! He was dumped by Joe Yin years ago! I heard he became Master Yi’s apprentice, and got into the gifted class! But he hasn’t shown up for class in a long time. Oh well, it doesn’t look like he needs lessons…”
“Master Yi’s apprentice!? No wonder he’s so strong!”
Joe Yin stood alone to the side, staring at the empty path. She had been training as hard as she could thinking that if she were strong enough, she would have the courage to talk to Ye Wei and apologize.
But after seeing him casually displaying a small bit of his capability, she was scared and felt unworthy. “Why are you so cold… Why wouldn’t you look at me before you left… You could have said something, anything…” There was a bitter smile on Joe Yin’s face because she knew she wounded him deeply and things would never go back to how they were.