Cult of the Sacred Runes

“Master Yi, how did he do?” Zi Yan asked curiously, with that beautiful smile her face looked even prettier than it usually did.

“To my standards, he answered perfectly! I definitely underestimated him in the end. It’s unbelievable how much he knows about runes considering he has only been living for thirteen years!” Master Yi exclaimed, when he was thirteen his understanding of runes was elementary!

This was the standard entry exam of Master Yi’s on runic knowledge. From experience, youths ages twenty to thirty would be lucky if they answered sixty percent of the questions correctly and the people who could reach seventy percent were considered geniuses.

Last year when Master Yi recruited apprentices, there were thirty-eight candidates in total. Only four people got sixty percent on the entry exam and nobody reached seventy percent.

Ye Wei answered all the questions perfectly and with incredible speed on top of his accuracy!

“Ye Wei, what will happen now is that I am going to test your rune consonance, with your soul sensitivity and runic knowledge, if your conscience is not too shabby then I will be able to do something with you!” Master Yi smiled at Ye Wei, it had been quite a while since Master Yi was enthusiastic about a candidate. He who was usually calm and collected could not wait to test Ye Wei’s rune consonance.

As the Runemaster mentioned, to become a Runemaster Ye Wei would need soul sensibility, runic knowledge, and rune consonance. Without anyone of the three, it was not possible to become a Runemaster!

“Sure!” Ye Wei nodded, he was confident at this point due to the praise, he just wanted to get the formality done with and ask Master Yi for help. He was way more relaxed now that he had two out of three topics covered aced.

“Ye Wei, you can do it!” Lin Zi Yan clenched her little fist and cheered for Ye Wei.

This was the last step!

“Thanks Zi Yan!”

Ye Wei smiled and nodded his eyes sparkling with confidence.

“I know you have a red Sentient, but you should not worry about these small details. Sentient is not that important to us, Runemasters, it wouldn’t be a problem even if your Sentient was black!” Master Yi stared at Ye Wei, his eyes flashing inside his black irises you could faintly see runes appearing, decomposing then reassembling. Suddenly the room was filled with the master’s majestic invisible energy.

Ye Wei and Lin Zi Yan felt as if they were two little rafts drifting in an ocean of runes.

Astounding power! It was a lot denser than a seven star Condensed Prime Warrior’s energy Du Patriarch made Ye Wei experience just a while ago!

Though Master Yi’s real power should be even more monstrous than this!

Then the unthinkable happened. The ceiling was covered by phantoms of blooming golden lotuses. A grand and mysterious monastery was vaguely visible in another dimension behind the curtain of flowers, and a loud bell chime could be heard.

Is this the Mythical Holy Conservatory? It was a belief that only the most powerful Runemasters could summon the Conservatory and seems like Master Yi maybe one of them!

This is the Flaming Golden Lotus Stance, it was passed down from the Holy Conservatory to test one’s rune consonance. Its purpose is to physically express the performer’s potential therefore it was not a graded stance.

“This test is very simple, I just need you to focus when you perform this stance, if three flaming lotuses appear, it’s a pass; if four appear it’s a distinction; if five or above appear I will give you a kiss!” Master Yi looked at Ye Wei and started sketching in the air using will-force and Qi on his finger as ink.

In no time, Master Yi finished drawing eighty-one runes. They were quietly floating in the air and shone with golden brilliance as Qi passed through them, remolding the runes into four glamourous golden lotuses. They were on fire and the heat wave quickly diffused, filling up the room!

Master Yi’s Flaming Golden Lotus Stance bloomed four lotuses, his rune consonance belonged to the high level; it was nothing too exceptional, but it got him to where his was today. Consonance is something that does not get better alongside one’s cultivation, what you are born with will stay the same for the rest of your life!

“Ye Wei, now it is your turn!” Master Yi placed his hand on Ye Wei’s shoulder, lending Ye Wei Qi from his seemingly bottomless dantain. Ye Wei felt extremely energised and sensitive to his surrounding, so this was what it feels like to be powerful.

Lending Qi to others is one of the tricks only Runemasters can do.

This is the only way Ye Wei could perform a stance without reaching seven star Student level!

“Okay!” Ye Wei nodded again. This time though he did it with a straight face. He was completely focused while observing the eighty-one floating runes.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

Ye Wei’s body undulated at the speed he was breathing, it was faster than normal due to his nerves. Performing the Flaming Golden Lotus stance was the last obstacle he needed to tackle before becoming Master Yi’s apprentice.

He could not wait to show everyone; gramps who was stressed, his strict but caring big uncle, his protective parents, that he was worth something to the family. And now is the critical moment, if he can save the family by bringing Master Yi to the arena it would be the best contribution anyone could give the family!

He always wanted to be a functional member, ever since the entry exam when he learned about his red Sentient, the thought had been implanted deep in his mind. Three lotuses, that was all he needed to become who he wanted to be.

He studied the eighty-one golden runes Master Yi drew carefully, then he closed his eyes and made sure he remembers every changes and turn of the sequence. He started to draw rune after rune.

He kept a very slow pace, he was paying attention to every single detail as if his life depended on it; it took him a long while before finishing!

All three people present in the room were holding their breath as the eighty-first rune was drawn.

How many?

Lin Zi Yan wanted the best for him, whereas Master Yi was just curious and Ye Wei just wanted to save his family’s future; they wanted different things but they were all desperate to see the result.

“Bup, bup, bup...”

Ye Wei’s heart was beating like crazy, he could hear his own heartbeat while staring at the runes he just drew. He felt like time had stopped, just staring and hoping he would get at least three lotuses.