Chapter 127 – Demon (1/2)

Chapter 127 – Demon

Soon after the match between South Star and Polaris finished the gathering crowd dispersed and returned to their accommodations to rest. Everyone needed to prepare for the second day’s matchup of this month-long tournament.

“Hahaha! Wei, you truly are an impressive cultivator! You didn’t give Qi Xiu any breathing room towards the end of the fight! You have avenged Mu Feng and our school. I don’t think anyone from Polaris Academy will have the guts to mess with us from now on!” Liu Jian enthusiastically said hugging Ye Wei like his own brother.

The excitement of victory did not disappear for the South Star youngsters; they were still talking about details of the fights and their saliva was flying all over the place as they discussed how Ye Wei defeated Qi Xiu.

Cao Ning in particular was feeling ecstatic. He was proud to have performed better than anyone expected and glad for his best friend who had grown to become unimaginably strong.

“Qi Xiu used a forbidden low-level Myst stance! I could feel its recoil all the way from the back! I don’t think he will recover without half a month’s rest. Judging by how things are going, Polaris would need to wait until next year if they want to get into top ten!” Liu Jian was ecstatic because the bully finally became the bullied.

“Alright enough, stop bothering Ye Wei. Everyone go get some rest! Tomorrow is as important as today if not more!” Xu He gave each of the students two pills, one for healing and the other for restoring Qi and will-force.

“Yes sir!”

Everyone took their pills and hugged Ye Wei before they went back to their own rooms. All of them had used up a large amount energy and some of them were quite injured despite what their newfound confidence let them believe.

Ye Wei was debriefed by Xu He before he went back to his own room. Soon everyone was cultivating and preparing for tomorrow as they knew time was of the essence. There was an unspoken sense of urgency as the contestants’ condition would ultimately dictate their final ranking.

The mountain eventually calmed down as night fell on this day of bloodshed. Everyone who fought was now focused on recuperating before they would once again have to be at their best again tomorrow.

The clear moon hung high in the dark sky shining down its white light onto Ye Wei’s body. He had his eyes closed while cultivating and visualizing the Shifting Star form he learned from fighting Qi Xiu.

“It’s still not enough… Although fighting Qi Xiu taught me a lot, it’s not enough to help me to become a condensed prime Warrior. But who knows, if I get the chance to fight more cultivators of his caliber or stronger I might just find how I need to strengthen my body in order to breakthrough.” Ye Wei opened his eyes as a spark of inspiration hit him, and he mumbled to himself as a smile shone on his face.

After learning the principals of the Star Shifter formula, Ye Wei worked on refining Driftwind Steps for the rest of the evening. He knew how he wanted the stance to develop but had not yet tasted any success; however, he could feel the pieces slowly coming together.

When the moon was high in the sky, Cao Ning decided to join Ye Wei in training. They ended up working on the Onyx Tortoise stance.

Helping Cao Ning refine his stance turned out to be great revision of basic rune flow for Ye Wei, and they were both enthusiastic to take advantage of the situation.

“Yea, that’s it, just take it slow.Don’t hurry!”

In the dead of night, Ye Wei guided Cao Ning under the faint moonlight. They were productive and refreshed by the breeze. Cao knew he was not the most talented cultivator, but what he lacked in talent he made up for with hard work.

All of a sudden, the cold breeze brought an intoxicating scent to the pair’s faces. Ye Wei could not help but closing his eyes at the pleasant smell but then he faintly felt a strange presence.

“Who is it?”

Ye Wei widened his eyes, and his posture changed from relaxed to alert as he stared at the empty space in from of him.

Cao Ning was shocked as he did not expect Ye Wei to shout; he turned his eyes from the runes in front of him to where Ye Wei was looking.

“Wei? What’s wrong?” Cao Ning could see nothing but the patchy moonlight on the floor. He looked over confused.

Ye Wei kept staring at the air completely ignoring Cao Ning.

“Kikiki, outstanding Soul Sensitivity! I must admit you scared me!” Just when Cao Ning was about to ask again, a cold, hoarse voice sounded out.

A thick black mist suddenly appeared from where the voice came from, and a completely black silhouette of a robed person appeared within the mist.

“Who are you!?” Cao Ning felt a chill in his scalp, and his clothes were immediately soaked in cold sweat before he took a few clumsy steps back.

“Farther back!” Ye Wei placed his hand on Cao Ning’s shoulder and sent him flying backwards with a gentle push while he tried to figure out what exactly he was looking at. He was increasingly convinced that whatever he was looking at was not human due to its peculiar presence. ‘If he is from the Blackmist clan, this could go really bad…’

“How courageous of you sneaking around Galaxy Academy’s grounds. You do know some of the best human cultivators of this region are here with us right?” Ye Wei was cautious but not scared. He was wondering how a demon managed to infiltrate the tournament under the strict security.

“Don’t worry about me, worry about yourself. These powerful cultivators you speak of did not notice how I got in, and they will not know that I killed you!” A pair of sharp white teeth appeared in the black mist together with the sound of chuckling.

The demon then loosened its grip and dropped a black jade pendant onto the floor. The pendant shattered and each of the broken shards had scale-like patterns on them.

“Whoosh!”

The jade scales after hitting the ground bounced back up, flew into the night sky and then fell to the ground with a curve leaving a semi-spherical body of black mist isolating a spot in the courtyard from the rest of the palace.

“Black Scale Array!” Ye Wei looked up worryingly to see a distorted moon through the mist. His pupils dilated as he breathed in the thickening air inside the concealed space.