“Lu Ren, young one, you have misunderstood what I have said. In no way am I undermining the Lu family’s authority. Yes, it is true what you have said about us. Currently, we are in our best and strongest form since a long time. Nevertheless, we are still insignificant compared to the city’s Big Three. The Ye family is simply incapable of giving you more people! We need our Warriors!” Ye Zheng Qing was frustrated. Lu Ren and Lu De were showing no signs of backing off, and the Ye family was far from strong enough to challenge the Lu’s.
Only few days ago, twenty more ten-star condensed prime warriors from the Lu family arrived at Green Moon City. The latest addition of two returned prime Warriors of the Lu family quickly established themselves in the city. So much so, Ye Patriarch knew better than to anger them.
“Mister patriarch, we are just following orders. This is not easy for us at all. Please, understand. I am sorry we have to be this pushy.” Lu De explained.
Both Lu Ren and Lu De were ten-star condensed prime Warrior. One of them acted tough while the other acted considerate. Their tactics appeared to be persuasive in the most subtle, suggestive way.
“Pfft, do you realize that the rest of the top ten families other than yours were able to send two hundred Warriors to help us with our project? Ye Zheng Qing, please, don’t say one thing and do the other! I don’t care for your excuses! If you don’t have two hundred men by noon tomorrow, my brother and I will show no mercy!” Lu Ren stared coldly at Ye Zhengqing. He threatened him even though they knew the Ye’s were running a tight ship; it was more likely than not the Ye family was unable to provide that many men.
‘I am still too weak!’ Ye Wei angrily thought. He clenched his fists angrily, feeling helpless.
Ye Wei was powerless before the Lu family. ‘I still cannot protect my family from them! There are too many of them in the city, and they all seem incredibly strong. Yet,I cannot just sit here and let them humiliate my family!’
“Sir, we really do not have that many Warriors in the Ye family. The best we can do is to send thirty more men. One hundred and fifty is a nice, round number, and it is the best we can offer. Please understand the situation we are in!,” Ye Wei slowly lifted his head. He looked at the two Lu family ten-star condensed prime Warriors. Lu De narrowed his eyes in response; he tried analyzing the cocky teenager who stood in front of him.
“Please consider my words even though I am young.” Ye Wei sincerely spoke as he took out the Runemaster badge and flashed it to the two Lu’s.
“Three-star Runemaster?!” Lu Ren was stunned, ‘This boy looks not a day older than sixteen, but he is already a Runemaster?!’
The men didn’t really care about a three-star Runemaster, it was not enough to surprise them. However, achieving that position at Ye Wei’s age was definitely something extraordinary.
“I think the Ye’s are trying their best. Will you two just be reasonable?” The older runemaster in the hall looked at the two Lu’s and commented.
“Okay then, if you say so Master Yi. Fine, one hundred and fifty it is!” Lu De smirked then thought to himself, ‘Where did all these Runemasters come from?’
‘A teenaged one and the old one. We were told by the elders, specifically, not to mess with Master Yi. This is a bit of a sticky situation.’ Lu Ren thought again.
“Thank you for your flexibility. Now, would you like to stay here and have dinner with us?” Ye Zhengqing made a polite hand gesture, planning to get closer and see if he could get some useful information from the brothers.
“Thank you for the offer, but there are other things that need our attention,”Lu De and Lu Ren stood up simultaneously. They took another look at Ye Wei, so they could recognize his face later on. Not long after the negotiation, they left the mansion.
They hurried to report to their family elders that the Ye family had a sixteen-year-old three star Runemaster.
Ye Patriarch felt relieved as he watched Lu Ren and Lu De leaving his family’s mansion. The news about Ye Wei’s accomplishments quickly spread across the mansion, and the family held a great feast in his honor.
After dinner, when everyone went back to their rooms to get ready to sleep, Ye Wei quietly snuck out of the window. He wanted to look at the mountains and valleys, which spread wide outside the city.
“North Hill Bay.” He murmured to himself as he casted his gaze afar.
Standing on top of the oldest tree in the city, he saw distant mountains across the river, bathed in moonlight.
North Hill Bay was a large wasteland full of rugged rocks on the further side of the riverbank.
“When was I last there? Ten, maybe, maybe?” Ye Wei gazed upon his family’s ancestral land from a distance. ‘I would like to know what hidden treasure the Lu’s are searching for; especially, since they want to take over an entire city just to uncover it.’ Ye Wei muttered to himself while shivering in the chilly night wind.
Even though Ye Wei stood on the tip of a tree during a windy night, he was steady as a mountain. His recently improved Qi and will-force made him agile, strong, and balanced.
“If our family records are correct, we did have a Supreme Warrior in the founding generations.Thus, if there will be any treasure hidden in North Hill Bay, there is a large possibility the treasure would be related to that specific great – great – great – great granddad of mine!”
The blood of a Supreme contained mysterious power. It was an inherited power, similar to Ning City’s City Lord who was the descendant of a Supreme. Although the power has been diluted, lost in following generations, Chen Yuan was still able to use that power to do what a lot of people his generation thought impossible.
The power of the Supreme’s blood had faded through generations without any worthy young cultivators being able to discover the extraordinary potential hidden within their blood. This was partially the reason why the Ye family began to decline centuries ago.
The knowledge about the Supreme Warrior had as well been forgotten through generations. No one was able to put the Supreme’s teaching to use. There was no way Ye Wei could have known about this, but after his Sentient began to host the Mystic Mount, he spent a great amount of time researching more about his family’s lineage and how the mysterious book ended up in their possession. He started to suspect a connection between the mysterious volume and their fabled ancestor.
‘The Lu family spent many resources investigating what could be hidden at North Hill Bay. Even if this has nothing to do with the fabled Ye Supreme, this could be a great discovery!’ Ye Wei shook his head to stop himself from getting too deep into his own mind. He leaped forth, channeled his Qi to his back, and glided across the night sky like a falcon, flying over the river into the Ye’s ancestral land.
‘I can sense a disturbance in the air,’ thought Ye Wei as he landed on North Hill Bay’s ground.
Abruptly, the Progenitor’s hoarse voice sounded in Ye Wei’s mind. ‘The land of the Supreme…’
Ye Wei’s brows twitched and arched, his eyes shone bright, and, although, he was not sure what the term meant, he was able to gather that it was indeed related to a Supreme.
‘Who was the Supreme of this land?’ An air of adventurous curiosity swept over Ye Wei’s face. He reached into his bag and touched the scale.
‘Wouldn’t you like to know that! Hmph…Why should I tell you?’
Like I care?! You stupid dog, pfft!” Ye Wei heard the insolence in the Progenitor’s words and ignored the demon’s voice entirely.
‘Hahaha, you can say whatever you want! I am still not going to tell you!” The Progenitor just discovered a new way to annoy Ye Wei, and he wasn’t going to back down that easily.
‘Well, ugly monster, I think you are forgetting that I am a three-star Runemaster who has all the access to books and information imaginable.’ Ye Wei turned his Runic Badge in his hand, ‘I can find anything in here, like I need a dog’s help!’
‘Damn you, mortal!’ Disappointment and anger poured from the Progenitor’s consciousness, ‘And damn that Combat Master as well! He couldn’t even cultivate properly, and, instead, wasted his time developing gadgets and pathetic devices.’
Ye Wei completely ignored the demon’s words; he was already busy searching through the information available to him. Most of the information was free, but some a Runemaster needed to pay contribution tokens to acquire it. The information Ye Wei was looking for costed only one thousand tokens. ‘It’s good that I saved some contribution tokens! This is cheap!’
“That’s what I thought!” Ye Wei exclaimed. He was in shock after reading the information which confirmed his intuition. He looked down at North Hill Bay’s mountain range, a range that pertained to him.
The passages read:
“When a Supreme dies, his flesh becomes soil and his spine becomes rocks. Sometimes a Supreme’s death can give birth to mountains. These mountains are often charged with concentrated primal energy.
“After a millennia, these agglomeration of mountains will become Supreme Dragon Ridge.”
“There are three parts to each Dragon ridge, the Drakehead, Draketorsal and Draketail. A Draketaill contains runic arrays. Formed naturally, they are able to absorb primal energy from the skies and the earth and store the land’s essence distribute it within the Dragon ridge.
“The Draketorsal is the longest part of the ridge. It stretches over a thousand kilometers. Nourished by the Supreme’s residual energy, the soil and rocks are often denser, catalyzing the process of formation of rocks and minerals crystals. Qi stones and primal minerals are abundant within these mountains. Furthermore, materials needed for the crafting of soul weapons, like Ancestor gold and Purple gold, are harvested exclusively from these mountains. Emperor jades can also be found, but they are much rarer.”
‘But Emperor jades are not available in common markets and can’t be bought from ordinary traders!? They cost as much as sky stances do!’ Ye Wei switched his focus from the text projected to the mountain range around North Hill Bay. He felt euphoric as he traced the mountains’ ridge with his eyes.
“Draketail absorbs energy; Draketorsal contains treasures, but the Drakeheads are the most significant phenomenon, especially for cultivators.”
“The energy gravitation at a Drakehead is different to the outside world. When a person cultivates at such place, his effort will be amplified ten times more. Drakehead is also part of the Dragon ridge that contains clues regarding where the Dragon ridge’s treasures are located.”
“So, there was a Supreme in my family! As well, my family was buried at the place where he died.” Ye Wei muttered to himself. A shiver went down his spine, “If the Supreme was a Ye, then all of this belongs to my family!”
“…The treasures of the Draketorsal are deep under the surface. They won’t be exposed until the Dragon ridge explorers activate a runic array at the Drakehead.”