Chapter 21 – Bothersome
The dantian of a five star Warrior can’t normally support a Myst stance. Unless the Warrior upgraded the stance from Spirit to Myst through refinement. As such with the aid of cosmic energy, performing the Blazing Horned Tiger’s Assault was made possible for Ye Zhong.
The other two stances him and Ye Wei worked on produced decent results as well.
Spindrift Steps was considered a simple high level Spirit stance, after the second night of refinement, it was now a peak high level stance.
Also a simple high level Spirit stance, Triple Plunder Sword had more potential out of the two stances. On the third night it reached forbidden high level after three corrections.
Forbidden was not just a name, while performing forbidden stances the user’s Qi is essentially compressed and causes great stress to one’s meridians and Sentient as the compressed energy passes through the body. Practicing these techniques were eventually tabooed as the lives they claimed accumulated over the years.
Ye Wei was quite aware of the wild Qi flow with Triple Plunder Sword, therefore he swapped in runes that slowed the Qi flow down during the refinement process. The stance was now more Qi demanding, but less damaging to the user’s body! Though, even with that in mind, Ye Zhong would not use it unless the timing was perfect, as the pressure Triple Plunder Sword gave to his body is not something he needs while fighting a stronger opponent where avoiding taking hits is crucial.
Ye Wei was the only person in the household who knew Ye Zhong broke through and became a five star Warrior, also all the refinements were kept secret between the two of them for multiple reasons.
Although Ye Zhong’s strength was still outmatched by the six star Du Han Yue, the odds of Ye Zhong coming out on top increased a lot due to the element of surprise and the intensive well rounded training!
It was now the eve before the big fight and the challengers from the Du family would be at the manor’s gates by dawn. The two cousins were sitting above the yard on the branch of a century old antique willow sharing their hardships under the mellow moonlight.
They talked about everything, Ye Wei even shared his unpleasant and complicated relationship with Joe Yin.
“That is crazy! Just who does she think she is? Those exact words actually came out of Joe Yin’s mouth?” The insults and Joe Yin’s behavior were deemed outrageous by Ye Zhong, and his face twisted in anger while cracking his knuckles as he spoke.
“We can’t blame it all on her, she is strong enough to get herself a bed at Green Phoenix, it’s okay to have some pride. On the other hand though, she was right I should be stronger considering how long I have been training at South Star Academy!” Ye Wei sounded modest but in his mind he was eager to prove everyone wrong.
“Little Wei, never underestimate yourself! One day you will be the dragon and her the snake, and then she will wish she had never said that to a Runemaster!” Ye Zhong patted his little cousin’s shoulder, although he was not a South Star Academy student he could imagine how much mockery and bullying from schoolmates Ye Wei had to endure over the years after hearing Ye Wei open up and talking about what had been bothering him.
Ye Zhong witnessed Ye Wei and Joe Yin growing up, he knew how close they were, therefore understood the pain and suffering Ye Wei had to go through. Getting betrayed and insulted by a childhood friend is more agonising than an outsider could ever imagined. Trying not to be affected by emotions before the big fight, he took a deep breath and suppressed his anger.
In the past, Ye Zhong asked his little cousin how school was going, but the conversations never lasted longer than two sentences. Tonight was the first time Ye Wei felt comfortable enough to open up about his experiences at school and let others see the scars on his heart.
After unloading the burden he had been carrying around for the first time, Ye Wei felt content and relieved. He was pleased to have a caring cousin listen to him.
“Oh well… Guess I just have to get used to it! With Joe Yin though, I’ve always treated her like she was my little sister, I never thought she would turn her back on me. Even if she won’t respect me, I will! I do not need disloyal friends around me!” Ye Wei was leaning on the thick tree trunk, looking up at the silver moon enjoying the heartwarming moment with an honest smile on his face.
‘Having real family caring about me is good enough, Joe Yin can live her own life the way she wants to, I won’t let that bother me.’
Thinking about all the people who really care for him, Ye Wei couldn’t help himself and was thinking about Lin Zi Yan. Her figure appeared in his mind out the blue. ‘Apart from my family, Zi Yan might be the only person who really cares about me..’
“From what you’ve said about her that substitute teacher Lin Zi Yan seems to be a nice person. She must be a genius then as she is in the special class. How old is she? Ye Zhong wanted to lighten the mood, guessing there might be something romantic going on between her and Ye Wei, so he cheekily changed the topic.
“Lin Zi Yin? I think she is fifteen, maybe?” Ye Wei pretended he wasn’t sure.
Ye Wei could hear from cousin Zhong’s tone of voice that there were subtexts to him changing the topic. He started blushing and shook his head a little.
“Oh just two years older than you? That’s not bad. You two should have loads to talk about!” Ye Zhong grinned as he spoke.
“Cousin Zhong, this is not funny when she gave me the bottle of Fiery Sun Quencher pills she did not look like she was going to miss them. It is obvious her family is extremely rich, even if I like her I am not good enough for her…” Ye Wei shrugged, although he likes Zi Yan, he would not consider anything other than being a friend to her before becoming a Runemaster.
“That is nonsense, no girl on this planet is too good for you! Lin Zi Yan… I cannot recall any Lin family in Green Moon City, is she from around here?” Ye Zhong was curious about her background, but he could not recall anything remotely related to a Lin family.
“Hey Cousin Zhong, it is getting late and you haven’t been resting properly at all and this is the third day in a row now; what do you say about having a good night’s worth of sleep? Fighting for the family is going to be stressful!” Ye Wei looked at the darkening night sky, and told Ye Zhong who appeared to be in a deep thought.
The result of tomorrow’s fight will have a great impact on our family in every aspect!
Ye Zhong was reminded that it was not only his fight and he has a great burden of responsibility on his shoulders. ‘Yea! I will win and defend my family till my very last breath if that is the case!”
The family’s land, reputation, and future is in his hands. There was no other way than to win.
“I will head back too!” Ye Wei nodded nervous but spirited. He leaped down from the branch and walked towards his room.
“Okay!” Ye Zhong looked at the round moon, and thought about how it symbolizes family unity. He clenched his fists and swore to himself: ‘My body and my strength belong to this family.’
Being a strong young Ye had never meant as much as it did today to him. He was ready to take on the greatest obstacle he had ever seen in the seventeen years he’s been alive.