Cult of the Sacred Runes

A cold wind tickled Ye Wei’s cheek as he carefully looked around but it was useless as inner demons couldn’t be seen, touched, or even sensed.

But Ye Wei knew that it was close by.

Ye Wei was not yet a Warrior; therefore, he had not come across inner demons before. He had absolutely no idea how to defeat them or how to defend against them. He had no experience at all.

Ye Wei could only cautiously stay on guard.

“Argghhhh!”

While Ye Wei was carefully waiting for something to happen, an unbearable, soul shaking pain struck him.

This pain was not physical; this was a wound to the soul! There was a limit to physical pain. It stopped worsening when one’s body turned numb. But this kind of pain of one’s soul was far worse. It seemed as if there would be no end!

Ye Wei’s eyeballs seemed to almost pop out, and blood vessels around his face were almost bursting. His face was completely red, and the muscles unconsciously twisted and twitched; his handsome face became a hideous mask.

The veins on his forehead and neck were strained, and some of his capillaries had already burst causing his forehead and face to be covered in blood. He looked as scary as a devil.

“No! Hold on. I have to hold on!” Ye Wei tightly ground his teeth as his consciousness started to become blurry.

At this moment what Lin Zi Yan said earlier echoed in Ye Wei’s mind. ‘Little Wei, this will be a rough ride, but it will all be fine if you don’t lose yourself!’

‘Yeah, I can’t lose myself!’ Ye Wei’s eyes shone with determination and stubbornness. He was aware that if he gave in he would spiral out of control and would never get out of this abyss of pain.

Ye Wei guessed that inner demons would be scary, but never could he have imagined them to be this fearsome. They struck without warning. There was no way to defend against it, and there was no escape. One could only take it as it comes.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!!”

The fearsome, agonizing pain was like a tide hitting Ye Wei’s consciousness over and over again. A tide that sought to drown Ye Wei’s consciousness, but Ye Wei ground his teeth not losing himself.

Two hours, four hours, six hours!

These six hours felt much longer than three years for Ye Wei.

‘No matter how much pain my body and soul is feeling, I just can’t give up! With my heart, I shall master the way of the universe; with my heart, I will calm my mind. I will cultivate my mind and control my heart with my mind!’ Everything he learned continuously flowed into Ye Wei’s Sentient, and in the Sentient a golden light twinkled like starlight.

The distractions his mind generated from the pain faded, and now Ye Wei felt euphoric; he felt how his soul was purified, refined.

In the end, Ye Wei was still young, and he hadn’t experienced too much; therefore, his mind was relatively pure compared to adults. This made it easier for Ye Wei to defend against his inner demons.

The pain weakened and eventually faded into nothingness.

“It’s finally over!” When the pain disappeared, Ye Wei’s soul shook. He felt utterly exhausted, and he fell to the floor sitting down.

“Boom!!”

Right as he sat down an explosive noise sounded through the entire realm he was in, and a white pillar of light suddenly fell from the sky onto Ye Wei.

A surge of thick, dense energy with an awe-inspiring presence rushed into his body. The energy flowed around him nourishing everything. Ye Wei’s muscles, bones, and organs strengthened at an extremely fearsome speed as his body transformed!

Seated on the ground, Ye Wei looked completely dumbfounded, and shortly after a glint of surprise flashed through his eyes.

Before stepping into the first floor of the Karma Tower, Ye Wei’s cultivation was already at the peak ten-star Student level, and he was qualified to attempt a breakthrough in every way.

Now that Ye Wei had successfully defended himself against the inner demons’ invasion, and because his cultivation level was sufficient, his body started transforming.

When the strength of Ye Wei’s body was at its limit, the vast cosmic energy rushed into his dantian crazily expanding its space.

“Warrior level!” Ye Wei could feel his cultivational breakthrough, and the power of the next level brought him delight.

When Ye Wei became a seven-star Student, his dantian was as big as nine-star students’ dantian. After he refined the Supernova stance and brought it to the second evolution, cosmic energy descended and Ye Wei’s cultivation shot up to the ten-star Student level making his dantian even bigger than it had been.

At this point, Ye Wei’s dantian was already at a Student’s limit almost as big as a Warrior’s.

And now that Ye Wei had reached the Warrior level, after being purified by cosmic energy, the size of his dantian multiplied again.

After just moments, Ye Wei’s dantian doubled in size.

When cultivators breakthrough to the Warrior level their dantians would double in size. Because Ye Wei’s foundation was too good, his dantian was now three times bigger than a normal one-star Warrior’s; it was almost as big as three-star Warrior’s dantian.

The bigger a cultivator’s dantian was, the more Qi it could hold and the more powerful their stances would be.

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

Ye Wei’s Sentient started expanding after his dantian enlarged. His Sentient was as strong as a Warrior’s after absorbing the Blood Devourer crystals’ energy, and after the breakthrough, his Sentient had the strength of a three-star Warrior!

Ye Wei now had the ability to fight a three-star Warrior, if it was only a short fight! Sadly, the strength of his body was not enough to contest a three-star Warrior, and apart from the amplification Supernova stance, Ye Wei did not know any other stances, and the one stance he knew he used it with help from Pu Yuan.

Body strength was not enough to decide the winner when the cultivators reached the Warrior level. A fight between two of the same level would be about how skillfully they used their stances.

“So this is the Warrior level?” Ye Wei slowly stood up. His eyes were shining brightly, and he slightly clenched his fist. He could feel how much his body had grown. He could feel a large amount of Qi rushing through his body. He knew that he was now multiple times stronger than he had ever been before.

‘After I stepped inside this Bloodmist Labyrinth, I’ve been very lucky. All of these experiences improved my cultivation by miles. When I get out of here, I have to learn and study all the stances I can get my hands on.’ Ye Wei thought as he looked forward to sharing the good news with his friends and family.

Not long after his breakthrough, a greenish blue light enveloped Ye Wei, and he could feel the dimension he was in distorting. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on the second story of the Karma Tower.

The first story of the Karma Tower was build for Students, and now that he had become a Warrior the runes in the tower teleported him to the second story.

Ye Wei stayed on the first level of the tower for more than six hours, and when he was teleported to the second story Jin Yan and Lin Zi Yan were long gone. They had been teleported out of the tower while Ye Wei was breaking through.

Jin Yan stayed on the second story for four hours until he couldn’t hold out any longer.

Lin Zi Yan lasted a bit longer than Jin Yan, but she had also stayed there for four hours. In the end, she was only a two-star Warrior, and it was a bit of a reach to overcome mid-level inner demons with her cultivation level; however, although she did not overcome the challenge she learned a valuable lesson. With this experience, she should not have as much trouble while breaking through like other cultivators would.

***

‘It’s been six hours...’ In the darkness, Jin Yan was gazing straight at the twinkling tower and frowned.

He had been the first to be teleported out of the tower. There was no way he would obtain the Glacial Emperor’s legacy, and he felt lost after getting so close. It was understandable how down and angry he felt, but with this experience, he was confident he would become a condensed prime Warrior on his next attempt to breakthrough.

Lin Zi Yan was the second person to be teleported out of the tower. As of now, Ye Wei was the only person left in the tower, and there was no doubt that he would become the Glacial Emperor’s successor!

During the first test, not only did Ye Wei deciphered the basic Supernova stance, but he was also able to refine it into its second evolution!

And in the second test, he was the contestant who lasted the longest.

‘That kid was sent to the first story of the tower to fight low-level inner demons, in what way is that impressive? He just has to endure some pain! When I was a Student, I defended myself against low-level demons without any problem!’ Even though Ye Wei had stayed in the tower for longer than he did, Jin Yan was still not able to admit defeat.

‘Before entering the tower little Wei’s cultivation was already at the ten-star Student level, he should be ready to breakthrough to become a Warrior. Now that six hours have passed, he should have already defeated his inner demons to become a Warrior...’ Lin Zi Yan thought while looking at the tower from a distance. Her eyes were soft, and she felt happy for Ye Wei from the bottom of her heart.

“The boy has just entered the second story!” Pu Yuan certainly did not expect this development causing him to narrow his eyes while he stared at the middle of the tower.

“What? That kid is on the second level?!” Jin Yan’s voice broke, “He is just a Student, how is it possible for him to enter the second floor?”

“Obviously, if he defended himself against the low-level inner demons, he can of course advance to the second floor!” Pu Yuan stated calmly while watching the tower from afar. Ye Wei had surprised him greatly.

‘There is a lot of luck and help involved, but little Wei is getting stronger very quickly. He is now a Warrior, and if he keeps advancing like this he should be able to catch up with those people...’ Lin Zi Yan pondered in her heart as she looked in the tower’s direction but her focus was far beyond.

“Mid-level inner demons are nothing to be joked about. The more experience little Wei can obtain now, the easier he will breakthrough to the condense prime Warrior level when that day comes. I wonder how long he can last.” Lin Zi Yan mumbled as she nervously paced around.

“A mere Student won’t be able to do much on the second floor; he will be kicked out in no time!” Jin Yan grunted angrily. His eyes were narrowed as he spoke to himself with an envious tone. ‘I came so bloody close!’

‘He used three days to decipher the Supernova stance and refined it in the process; now he went through a major breakthrough in the Karma Tower... Master, I wish you were here to see this!’ Thought Pu Yuan.

Pu Yuan, Lin Zi Yan, and Jin Yan stared into the darkness. All were slightly anxious to see how Ye Wei would do for different reasons.

Ye Wei appeared right in the middle of a large chamber on the tower’s second story. The runes in this chamber were far more complex than the ones below it, and they came alive the second Ye Wei’s feet touched the floor.

‘The mid-level demons on the second story is completely different to what’s on the first floor,’ Pu Yuan chuckled, he was happy that he could hand Ye Wei what his master left behind and was excited to see what kind of future this young genius would forge.