Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 222 - Muse

“Six howls? So what? When my name got on the list for the first time, the dragon howled eight times, just one less than Chi Wuxiu and he is the strongest on the list!”

Qing Mu was annoyed by howling sound, he grinned disrespectfully while staring at Ye Wei, ‘you are good, but not good enough for me to care.’

The Spiritualist always admired Qing Yao, but the attention had never been mutual. He was therefore relieved to know Ye Wei earned less howls than he did, in hopes that Qing Yao would stop giving attention to the initiate.

‘In terms of cultivation I can crush you with one finger, in terms of my potential I am two roars ahead of you…’ Qing Mu rolled his eyes downwards, glaring at Ye Wei. ‘You could be the best newbie ever but I just do not care...’

“Howl!”

The Spiritualist was startled by a ground-shaking noise. His mind went completely blank, his confident building thoughts evaporated.

‘Seventh!?’

His lax turned into nervousness, he felt threatened as the last cultivator who earned seven howls ended up in the top ten of the black dragon list.

The veterans thought the same, captivated by the seven howls all looked at the tradition-defying initiate that triggered the rare phenomenon.

“Something is wrong, there is no way this kid is worth that much. Why is the howls spaced out like that?” Qing Mu glared at the dragon’s head, his eyes were covered by a web of bulged capillaries.

Devoted to keep himself at a peaceful mindstate for the sake of his physical and mental cultivation, the spiritualist was almost embarrassed by the rage and envy that was filling his body and soul.

Meanwhile, the veterans were also focused on the revolutionary achiever, looking at Ye Wei under another light, with utmost respect.

“Seven howls! It means it’s almost certain that he will be in the top ten in the future!”

“I don’t get it, why is the black dragon statue struggling to determine this kid’s potential. What do the pauses mean?”

“It could mean that there are hidden strengths that he inherited but yet to uncover, it has happened before with cultivators related to the royal families.”

“Will there be an eighth howl!?”

“I would worry for him it that happened, he would be on Qing Mu’s level and I don’t think the Spiritualist likes threats.”

The crowd was becoming emotional for various reasons, but they were all focused on the same thing. None of them could take their eyes off the circling black dragon; among the current thirty thousand cultivators of Million Star Palace, ten of them had earned seven howls and only five of them made the dragon howl more than eight times.

Considering the history of the palace, most of the veterans knew that the eighth howl would imply that they were looking at an initiate that was also a future god’s prime Warrior, a force of nature that will possess the strength respected by the royal families.

Only the sound of breeze and slow heavy breathing could be heard upon the cloud where the crowd gathered. They were speechless, anticipating to witness of a historical moment.

Qing Mu the Spiritualist broke silence after a pause, there was a slight tremble in his otherwise aggressive voice, “That’s it, silence! This is just another newbie and he will never get himself into top five on the lis...”

“Howl!”

The dragon statue shook again, its divine howl drowned out Qing Mu’s voice.

“No, no, this is not possible.” Qing Mu murmured, did not have the strength to even move his lips more than half an inch as he was stunned by the dragon’s howl.

Ye Wei had already won over the veterans’ approval by a display of sheer mastery of physical and runic techniques, in contrast they came to dislike the level of suppression Qing Mu was trying to apply out of paranoia and his tyrannical believes.

Although they were all too weak to speak up the disapproving thoughts were brewing in their minds.

‘Why are you so bitter? Boundaries are bound to be broken one day. A person in your position should be more open to challenges. Spiritualist? Ha! I expected more from you.’

‘Why would you choose to be jealous of a newbie instead of welcoming the challenge? What does that say about you?’

‘Your denial is giving the newbie power over you, idiot!’

‘This is embarrassing, the fifth strongest cultivator here is jealous of an initiate…’

Even the fifth strongest cultivator at the palace, Qing Mu had no way to stop others from having disapproving thoughts.

“Eight?” Qing Yao suddenly spoke, staring right at the initiate, her clear eyes glinted with a strange, pulsing twinkle.

“Maybe this Ye Wei can get to Chi Wuxiu’s level, he could be a nine howler too…” She was quiet but her distinct voice caught all the veterans’ attention.

“Nine howls?”

“Are you serious?”

In the recent years, there had only been five cultivators who triggered eight howls or more and one of them was the strongest cultivator Million Star Palace had seen in decades. The gathering veterans were shocked to hear the suggestion but could not rule out the possibilities.

Chi Wuxiu was the only person in palace to have reached ten-star returned prime level. Whereas both of his main competitors, Li Taiyi, the second on the list, and Qing Yao being the third, were at eight star returned prime level.

Regarded as the summit of Million Stars Palace, Chi Wuxiu was known to be powerful, to a point that he was able to defeat the rest of the top ten with one blow.

To the veterans, Chi Wuxiu was the ultimate power, the unreachable force. They all chuckled when they heard Qing Yao’s words, even they have just witnessed what was thought to be impossible before Ye Wei actually did.

Even the young initiate had just broken records and rebelled traditions, he did not manage to bring his status up high enough to compare with the one who stood on top.

Just as the veterans began laughing, a trembling noise filled the sky and drowned out the casual chatter.

“What!?”

“That’s the ninth howl!?”

“It’s not just me right? That was the ninth!”

“The newbie has the potential to become as strong as Chi Wuxiu!?”

Stunned and in awe, the veterans couldn’t believe they just witnessed a series of unlikely events all in the matter on an hour.

“So let’s put things in perspective, this is only his first week and he is already on the black dragon list.” Helian Zhenshan spoke to his companion while staring at the ancient mirror. “I want to say I expected the dragon to howl for him more than eight times but that would make me sound unappreciative.”

Having seen too many eye-catching youngsters in their time of duty, the two elders were reluctant to compliment Ye Wei too much. After actually verifying his potential, they were absolutely ecstatic.

While the veterans were limited to knowing who have earned nine howls, the elders were aware what the nine howls implied, that the cultivators’ meridians have nine times the capacity for an ordinary returned prime Warrior.

Meridian strength was the fundamental requirement of holding concentrated Qi, which was a precursor to any god’s prime Warrior’s cultivation foundation.

To a family as large as the Helian, their god’s prime Warriors’ strength was critical and directly affected how influential these families were.

“Two nine howlers in the same peer group! This is the sages’ blessing!” Helian Zhenkong said emotionally. With each peer group spanning over thirty years, from time to time the two elders would not see one nine howler for the time it took several peer groups to leave the palace.

“Zhenkong, I suggest that we give Ye Wei the same clearance as Chi Wuxiu, and give him full access to the Supreme Mystery Runegraph and the Originless Realm.”

“Zhenshan, be patient!” Helian Zhenkong slightly frowned, slowly shook his head after thinking for a brief moment. “He is still sixteen, we can’t pull him so he grows quicker. We should observe and react accordingly. If he is hardworking and humble then we will guide him.”

“You do have a point, so say… three months? Then we will revisit the subject.” Helian Zhenshan knew that he was ahead of himself, he let out a long breath then nodded.

Meanwhile, Xue Er enthusiastically flew down to the square, emotionally grabbed hold of Ye Wei’s arm. “ Woah! Nine howls! You are amazing! Truely amazing! I have never seen the dragon statue this excited before!”

After laughing at Xue Er’s childlike behavior, Ye Wei shook his head feeling embarrassed, “I don’t believe in these tests, I believe more in hard work and that potential is trivial.”

Ye Wei was attracted by Xue Er’s fresh exuberance, blushed as she kept pulling onto his arm.

“You don’t have to be so humble, the dragon statue has never been wrong. Out of the thirty thousand cultivators here, only two managed to to earn nine howls and you are one of them! You should be proud of yourself.” Xue Er said as she pinched Ye Wei’s arm. “However, you would still have to train as hard as you can. You are the only hope, the only person here who could possibly dethrone Chi Wuxiu.”

“Get to ten-star returned prime level quickly! I will root for you. I’d rather have you as the palace’s best than that snubby Chi Wuxiu any day. You should teach him some manners!” Xue Er suddenly puffed up her cheeks.

“From what you are saying, this Chi Wuxiu sounds like a powerful character, would you tell me more about him?” Ye Wei smiled and said.

“What!? Who else do you think I meant? Don’t you know who is the strongest cultivator here in the black dragon palace? He is so strong that even Qing Yao never beat him once!”

“The best? Ten-star level…” Ye Wei widened his eyes, couldn’t quite process all the information and expectations at once.