Cult of the Sacred Runes

Chapter 24 – From Whom?

Du Han Yue’s hand was left hanging, his smile becoming stiff. He could not believe what just happened. When he returned to reality, he embarrassingly pulled his hand back to his body. His face was bright red as if it’s just been slapped.

A hostile look replaced his fake smile as Du Han Yue stared at Zi Yan’s back. If she didn’t walk out of a runicle, he would probably have walked up to her and slapped her.

The strongest teenager in the Du family usually didn’t get ignored in any circumstances unless he was asked to be left alone!

‘Who is this young girl? And what’s with the runicle? She is definitely not an ordinary girl…’ Grandpa Ye Zheng Qing was wondering what business this mysterious girl had here at the arena on the morning of this big fight.

Ye Wei was the only one in the family who knew Zi Yan and even he did not know her intention. Let alone the rest of the family. They were getting increasingly confused and anxious as Zi Yan got closer, especially Ye Zheng Qing, he did not want the situation to get worse than it already is.

“Good morning Patriarch Ye!” Lin Zi Yan politely greeted Ye Zheng Qing with a bow. From how well she presented herself Ye Zheng Qing could tell that this was no ordinary girl. She started searching for someone in the crowd as her sweet voice like an angel’s faded into the crowd’s noise.

Lin Zi Yan looked excited like she had some news to share.

“Hey little girl, are you looking for someone?” Ye Zheng Qing was pretty sure she meant no harm by now, but still, he would like to know what she was after as by the looks of it she was looking for someone from the Ye family… This small disruption actually got his mind off the stress he was under.

‘Does anyone know this girl here?’

“I am looking for Ye Wei.” She answered. There were too many people standing in front of Ye Wei, and despite her greatest efforts she could not see him.

“For whom?”

The Ye family camp was speechless. It was obvious this mysterious little girl had some powerful connections, and she’s looking for Ye Wei?

It would make more sense if she was here for Ye Zhong as he does have some admirers and she could be here to support him knowing how important this fight was. No, not even Ye Zhong was in this girl’s league.

Here for Ye Wei!?

For what the family knew, Ye Wei was still a underachieving one star Student with no talent. Probably his red Sentient was the reason for him being at the one star level for three years despite South Star Academy’s reputation. And now a girl like this was somehow connected to Ye Wei? None of it made any sense to them.

“M… Zi Yan, why are you here?” Ye Wei was still not use to not calling her miss, he slowly walked out of the crowd and answered.

‘Zi Yan? So this is the substitute teacher little Wei was talking about so much? That Zi Yan?’ Ye Zhong was surprised, he knew who she was now, but seeing her in person was another thing altogether. He never imagined her to be this young, graceful, and elegant. On top of her looks, her good manners indicated she was brought up by a great family.

‘No wonder why little Wei seemed to be getting over Joe Yin’s betrayal so well. Having a great person who cares about you certainly helps, and Joe Yin does not even look half as good!’ Ye Zhong was glad his little cousin had someone like that on his side and wondered what she was doing here.

Wei’s dad Ye Yi and gramps were the most shocked out of the lot. ‘What’s between those two?’ They stared at Ye Wei waiting for them to speak.

“Ye, I thought were going to fight? Can people who have no business here just get out of the way!” Du Han Yue was extremely unpleased that he got ignored, he shouted out of anger.

Zi Yan answered him with a frown on her face, sighing she gave Du Han Yue a cold look. “Hasn’t anyone taught you how to behave in public? Interrupting is considered rude.”

‘Rude? You have to be joking right? You’re here for you petty little crush while making a fool of yourself, and you’re calling me rude?’ Du Han Yue was about to give Zi Yan a lecture on how to behave in public.

The Du Patriarch spotted something and that something gave him chill. Du Yuan Ming was trying to find clues that would tell him who this little girl was and as his eyes were darting around that’s when he noticed something on Zi Yan’s dress. There was a tiny tulip embroidering, though it was only thumb sized. Being a seven star Condensed Prime Warrior gave him extraordinary vision and while everyone else was admiring Zi Yan’s beauty, Du Yue Ming saw what they couldn’t see.

‘A tulip… It can’t be them, right?’ Du Yue Ming did not want to take any risks and he placed his hand on Han Yue’s shoulder signaling him to hold his tongue. There is time and place to speak up but this was not one of them.

‘They can wipe us out without even revealing themselves Han Yue, just let it go… No, actually, they can take Green Moon City from the shadows if they really wanted to; we can’t afford to make them our enemy they are too dangerous.’

Du Han Yue was puzzled about why his dad would care so much about this little girl. But he was an obedient son, he got the signal so he stopped. ’Yea, maybe I should just focus on the fight.’

Out of the the corner of his eyes, Ye Zheng Qing caught the Du Patriarch holding his son back. He looked at Zi Yan again curiously.

“Wei, let’s go!” Zi Yan broke the silence as everyone else was talking and guessing what the relationship between Zi Yan and Ye Wei was. “Master Yi is waiting for us!” She didn’t say it loud, but the Ye family could hear every word. As for everyone further away, they could only see her smile and her cherry lips moving.

“Now? But…” Ye Wei looked towards the arena and frowned the fight was about to start and he wanted to stay and support his family. Du Xian Hung was impatiently waiting.

He knew his presence would not mean much, but he wanted to be there to support his family mentally in critical moments like this, an extra friendly face around the arena might make a difference.

It was hard to leave his family behind, especially leaving Ye Zhong behind because they had developed a very tight bond over the past few days.

Ye Wei froze for a few moments. I’ve helped cousin Zhong refine three stances but Du Han Yue is a six star Warrior… I want to be here and see my cousin fight and tell him to get himself out of the arena if it gets bloody.’

“Hey, it’s a very rare window of opportunity. I have no idea when Master Yi will have time for you again after this morning so please come with me!” Lin Zi Yan didn’t know the story behind this fight, and how it would affect the integrity of Ye family, she thought it was just a friendly sparring match.

“But…” Ye Wei was still hesitant. Although Ye Zhong had the element of surprise on his side with the Blazing Horned Tiger’s Assault, he could still lose and in the worst case could lose his life. Ye Wei knew because he would do the same: give his last breath defending the family’s name. And he want’s to be there to drag Ye Zhong out of this exact situation if it shall happen. ‘I don’t want to go…’

“Did I hear right? Master Yi wants to see Ye Wei? What is going on?” The Ye family was discussing between themselves.

Everyone knew the most influential person in Green Moon City was not the City Lord, in fact it wasn’t anyone who lived in the castle. It was Master Yi.

With his infamous weird temper and busy schedule he remained pretty mysterious outside his close circle. Even the Big Three and the city’s officials do not really know much about him.

Ye Zhong walked up to Ye Wei, patted his shoulder and said quietly: “Wei, this is your chance and our chance, you can not let this one slip! If Master Yi likes you you might be able to get him to come here and solve this mess for you!”

“Cousin Zhong…” Ye Wei wanted to say a lot of things, mainly his worries.

“Stop being a little girl and go!” Ye Zhong interrupted him and gave him a push towards Zi Yan.

Ye Wei grinded his teeth: “Zi Yan, I’ll go with you!!” He saw the bigger picture in the end.

Zi Yan was confused by Ye Wei’s indecisiveness, it is great honor for anyone, but Ye Wei seemed hesitant to meet Master Yi.

“Go son don’t make him wait!” Ye Yi also patted Ye Wei’s shoulder. He could feel the cousin duo was hiding something. They had been hanging out a lot lately and now Ye Zhong seemed to be the only person in the arena who had any idea about what was going on.

It seemed a little suspicious, but it was a possible way out of the Ye family’s sticky situation, therefore nobody tried to stop him from leaving.

“I will be back as soon as possible!” Ye Wei took a deep breath and decided to take the opportunity. ‘If I can befriend Master Yi and get him to come save us…’

“Zi Yan, I am ready!” They headed to the runicle side by side.

Not long after they entered the runicle shone bright, primal energy lifted the runicle into the air as the runes lit up. Turbulence picked up some sand and stones as the blue and green runicle flew a hundred meters away in the matter of seconds.