Heavenly Jewel Change Chapter 61-70

Chapter 61 Since I’m willing to bet, I’m prepared to lose.

“I’ve lost… Since I’m willing to bet, I am also prepared to lose. Come on then.” Lin TianAo repeated.

Seeing the resolute look on his face, Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “There’s no rush. Let’s leave ﬁrst then.” As he said that, he did not wait for either of them to speak, and turned to leave.

As the three of them left the Underground Arena, Lin TianAo couldn’t help but ask: “Don’t you have any Sealing Skills for your Darkness Attribute?”

Zhou Weiqing stopped and said: “Of course I do.”

Lin TianAo furrowed his brow and asked curiously: “Why didn’t you just use it on me earlier then?”

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “There’s no rush, let’s head back to the shop 77 ﬁrst before we do anything further. There’s no need to rush to do so in the arena room.” A gleam ﬂashed in Lin TianAo’s eyes as he said: “Aren’t you afraid I will go back on my word? The binding contract of the Underground Arena is powerful, but if I really want to run, it is unlikely they will be able to catch me now that we are already outside.”

Zhou Weiqing shook his head and said: “No, I’m not afraid. I do not think you are such a person. If you really do run off, then I will just have to blame my own vision and for being terrible at judging characters.”

Yun Li, who was at the side, couldn’t help but exclaim angrily at that. “Do you mean to say that I am such a person? You were so anxious to Seal me earlier.”

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “A little, not as sure as I was of him anyway. Furthermore, we were already in a quiet sealed off chamber at that time, it was convenient right? Now now, we are all a big family now, why nitpick?!”

Yun Li gave a humph, then took a look at Lin TianAo at the side. All of a sudden, he broke out in a big grin and said laughingly: “At least now there’s someone to suffer with me, I feel a lot better now.” Lin TianAo said angrily: “Damn it, what do you mean?”

Yun Li grinned and said: “Heh… Big guy, getting angry is useless. Although I am not a powerful as you are, but in terms of speed, you are no match for me. How can I be truly afraid of you? We are after all brothers in the same boat, both of us have been fooled by this little rascal here. However, I have to admit you are much more powerful than I am. If even you lose to this little rascal, why should I feel conﬂicted anymore? Hahahaha.”

Only then did Lin TianAo realise something, and he asked curiously: “Do you mean to say that you actually lost your bet earlier when you were competing in creating Consolidating Equipment Scrolls? And you have already been Sealed by this little brat?”

Yun Li said with an exasperated humph: “Yes… he is just too sly.”

“Oei Oei.. I say… you two… what’s with this rascal this and brat this. After all, I’m your Boss! You have to respect your Boss.” Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but say.

Yun Li and Lin TianAo chorused: “Respect my ass!” Seeing both their indignant expressions, Zhou Weiqing did not pay heed, instead laughing out and saying: “Heh heh… Aiiyahhh, some people have just lost their lifelong freedom… I can understand the need to let loose a little. No problems, this big brother here is very generous, you all can continue letting loose some steam. Haha… come on, let’s go back to the shop 77 to buy some stuff, and also place the Seal on Bro Lin while we’re at it. Hahaha…”

At this point, Shangguan Bing’er was waiting anxiously at the shop 77, standing beside the window staring into the distance where the three had disappeared to earlier.

Finally, the familiar ﬁgure appeared in her sight. When she ﬁrst saw his battered and messed up look, she was given a big fright. However, she immediately spotted the smug smile on his face, and she relaxed.

Qin Feng was also quickly notiﬁed about their approach by his employees, and quickly headed down together with Shangguan Bing’er to receive them.

“Master Zhou, your bet…?” Qin Feng asked curiously. Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “Ahh… it was a draw… another draw… Hahahahahaha.” He was just too happy and pleased with himself, and couldn’t help but let loose a smug laugh.

Once again, Yun Li and Lin TianAo spawned the same notion at the same time… In their lives, they had never wanted to beat someone up so much…

“Big Bro Qin, we still need to borrow your chamber once more. The three of us have taken to each other, and there are some things we need to discuss. Is that convenient?” Zhou Weiqing said with a smiling face.

Qin Feng quickly said: “Of course, that is no problem at all. Please.” He currently had many doubts in his heart. After all, a second draw seemed rather convenient. However, he did not recognize Lin TianAo at all, and did not know how powerful Lin TianAo was. As such, although he had some suspicions, he did not ask further.

Yun Li stopped and turned to Zhou Weiqing, saying: “You guys go ahead, I will not join you two. I need to bid farewell to Bro Zhou Changxi.” He was afraid that if he looked at the Sealing, his own memories would be sparked and he would feel depressed again. As such, he decided to just avoid it. Zhou Weiqing said: “Alright then, you go ahead. I’ll see you later then. Bro Qin, one more thing, I also need to purchase these goods, could you please help me prepare them? I will pay you after we are done. Thank you.” He took out a list that he had prepared beforehand. Due to his good mood, he didn’t even ask about the price.”

Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Bing’er and Lin TianAo headed to the quiet chambers. Just like what Zhou Weiqing had expected, Lin TianAo was an upright person, and did not try to break his word. Although he was rather sad and pained in the heart, he did not try to resist and allowed Zhou Weiqing to use the Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness on him. As such, another powerful Heavenly Jewel Master of mighty defense was now Following Zhou Weiqing.

“Bro Lin, in the future, you can just call me by my name. Today, I was indeed just too lucky. However, you were the one who placed the bet, and you can’t blame me for it. To be honest, you are of much higher cultivation level than me, and if one day, your level exceeds me by more than twelve levels, the Seal between us will automatically dissolve.”

After completing the Seal, Zhou Weiqing kept his grinning face and spoke to Lin TianAo in a very serious tone. Lin TianAo gave a long sigh and said: “Greed was truly my downfall today. Earlier, when I saw both of you, such talented genius among Consolidating Equipment Masters, I was struck by the thought of tricking one of you into being my Follower, hoping that in future I can complete and perfect my Assembly

Set Shield. Alas, who knew that I would not gain anything, but instead lose myself in the process. I did not lose to you, but I lost to the words Underestimate. Do not worry, since I have already lost the bet, in the future, I am your man.”

Zhou Weiqing’s mouth twitched as he couldn’t help but think to himself: What do you mean ‘you’re my man’. Don’t make it sound so… dirty. However, he knew that Lin TianAo had to be in a bad mood, and did not try to joke around, and just nodded his head.

“Master, I have a favour to ask.” Lin TianAo said, bowing down as he brought his hands to his chest in a saluting position.

Zhou Weiqing quickly said: “Bro Lin, no problems, just speak your mind. We are now a family, and you can just address me like brothers.”

Lin TianAo shook his head and said: “I have lost the bet, and I am your Follower, you are my Master. There is nothing to hide about it. Master, I have something important to me to accomplish. Can you please give me three months? After the three months, I will deﬁnitely return to your side and be your Lifetime Follower.”

Zhou Weiqing really felt like rejecting the request. After all, even though he had not been in the Fei Li City for a long time, he had already had his life threatened. With such a powerful Heavenly Jewel Master by his side to protect him, it would deﬁnitely be much safer. However, in the end, he still nodded his head in agreement. After all, Lin TianAo had already lost his whole life’s freedom, how could he not allow him to tidy up his own things ﬁrst? As such, he arranged the time and place to meet with Lin TianAo in three months.

Lin TianAo looked deeply at Zhou Weiqing, saying a word of farewell before turning to leave. Although he did not say anything further, Zhou Weiqing could clearly see the look of gratitude in his eyes.

Three months it shall be. At most, I shall try to keep a lower proﬁle during these three months. Zhou Weiqing thought to himself.

Qin Feng’s shop 77 had been a open for a long time, and he had a good stock of various goods. Even if he were lacking anything that Zhou Weiqing needed, there were many other shops around with a good stock that he could get them from. In barely an hour, he had ﬁnished preparing the items from Zhou Weiqing’s list.

“Do you have any personal matters to ﬁnish up? If you do, I’ll also give you the same holiday.” On seeing Yun Li return to the shop 77, Zhou Weiqing asked him after a quick explanation.

Yun Li shook his head and said: “I’m all alone in this world now. I was orphaned at a young age, and was brought up by my teacher. Two years ago, my teacher passed away, and I have no one else. I can follow you now.” As he said that, he snuck closer to Zhou Weiqing and whispered in his ear: “Later, let me examine your pair of hammers, I want to research on them as well.”

Earlier, when he had seen Zhou Weiqing wielding the twin Legendary Hammers, an itch had appeared in his heart. After all, to a Consolidating Equipment Master, what was more attractive than a powerful or rare Consolidated Equipment? Even the pain of his own loss had been diminished by his lust to examine the hammers.

“No problem, I’ll let you examine them later.” Zhou Weiqing replied easily. As a Consolidating Equipment Master himself, he totally understood how he must be feeling now. Furthermore, he also wanted to exchange pointers with Yun Li. After all, even though he had learned a lot from Huyan Aobo, but a lot of that was hard memorising, and it was still a long while before he could fully assimilate everything. Without question, Yun Li was much more experienced, and was also from a different school of learning. Exchanging pointers would beneﬁt both of them, and Zhou Weiqing would be able to reach

the rank of High Level Consolidating Equipment Master much

earlier.

“Bro Qin, how much will all of this cost?” Zhou Weiqing kept the various materials that Zhou Weiqing had prepared for him into his Spatial Ring, then remembered to ask about the cost.

Qin Feng hesitated a while before biting his lip, saying: “Bro, just 260,000 gold coins for you.”

Zhou Weiqing started, saying: “So much!” He only had 450,000 gold coins, having put 400,000 into the member cards. Earlier, he had already paid 100,000 gold coins for the repair fees of the arena, and with another 260,000 gold coins payment, he would nearly be wiped out.

Yun Li looked at Zhou Weiqing’s sad face and nudged him exasperatedly: “Stop speaking like a unprofessional. Boss Qin has already given you an amazing price. The items you bought would cost about 400,000 gold coins in the open market. It’s likely that Boss Qin has already given them to you at cost price. Hurry up and pay up.”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Haha… Sorry, Bro Qin… I am unaware of market prices. Here’s the payment.” He passed over his and Shangguan Bing’er’s membership cards in order to pay for his purchases. Qin Feng laughed heartily and said: “Master Zhou, Master Yun, in future if you both have any requirements, you can head over here. Although I dare not say that I have stock of everything, at least most of the common necessities I will deﬁnitely have them, and I will be willing to sell them to you at cost price.” Indeed, he had not earned anything from Zhou Weiqing himself, but without a doubt, the bet and great battle between these two young talented Consolidating Equipment Masters had drawn many eyeballs to his shop. As such, even though it was already late, there were still many customers in his shop, and he had gotten much business in the past few hours. Having a talented and outstanding Consolidating Equipment Master buying from him was better than any advertising he could do.

Bidding farewell to Qin Feng, Zhou Weiiqng and Shangguan Bing’er led Yun Li back to their house. Their house was rather huge after all, and it was no problems ﬁnding a room for Yun Li as well.

As soon as they entered, Zhou Weiqing could sense that Ming Hua had not returned. He did not take much notice of that, as long as the Heavenly Demon Sect did not come after him again, he was more than happy to let them be. The only regret he had today was that although he had heard Tian Er’s voice once more, he had not been able to see that amazing beauty once more, causing him to have some regret in his heart.

Yun Li did not really care about his living accommodations, and did not even bother checking into his room. Without any hesitation, he barged right into Zhou Weiqing’s room with a look of excitement on his face. As soon as the door closed, he quickly urged to examine the dual hammers once more.

Even Shangguan Bing’er saw his eager and impatient look and couldn’t help but giggle to herself, turning to the kitchen to prepare some refreshments for them as she knew they would be holed up there for a long time. After which, she headed back to her room to cultivate as well.

In a ﬂash of dark gold light, Zhou Weiqing once again let loose the hammers which were the ﬁrst of his Legendary Set. When Yun Li started examining them at close proximity, a besotted look entered his eyes.

“No wonder you were able to shake that terrifying Lin TianAo. This is amazing… so beautiful… Legendary Sets are truly worthy of the word Legendary! That being said, how did you manage to successfully Consolidate this? Could it be that your sect is able to create an entire Set of this? Even if a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master created this, it would likely take ten Scrolls for a guaranteed success right?”

Zhou Weiqing said curiously: “How come I heard from my Teacher that it shouldn’t take ten?! Anyway, I was just extremely luck, my sect only had a single scroll, and I just tried it and succeeded in Consolidating it.”

Yun Li stared at Zhou Weiqing like he was a monster. “Damn… Disgusting… Totally disgusting! I have such bad luck, I’ll be facing two disgusting monsters daily from now on. Ahhh… my life is so bitter!” Thinking how he had trained so hard for so many years, and just as he was about to become somebody important, he had bet and lost his own life and freedom… he couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow arise within him.

Seeing the sorrowful eyes of Yun Li, Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “That being said, you really did get tricked by me. However, that was also because of your own pride and ego right? Alas, Lin TianAo was the one who came over and sent himself to me. That rascal’s defense is really inhuman! Even not considering his defense, his strength alone is terrifying… It is indeed strange, he is deﬁnitely not a Strength Attribute Physical Jewel Master, yet his strength is unbelievable.” Yun Li thought for a while before saying solemnly: “Weiqing, if I do not guess wrongly, I think Bro Lin has the bloodlines of the Barbarian Tribes, that is the reason why he has such a terrifying strength. In addition to that Consolidated Equipment Assembly Set, it is truly a perfect match. If not for

the fact he had been restricted by so many terms of our bet, even with your equally inhuman Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Jewel and both of us attacking together, I doubt we can defeat him. Although your twin Legendary Hammers are extremely powerful, they are after all just a single piece. Without the

boost that the Set provides, even if you use your full power, you will not be able to hurt him. Furthermore, his Heavenly Energy is extremely full and vigorous, with much stamina. Without question, he will be able to outlast us. In a real ﬁght, we would deﬁnitely lose to him.”

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “Real ﬁght? Why would I ﬁght with him headon. If I can’t beat him, I can easily outrun him right? Everyone has their own weak points. The reason why he chose to bet with us with his defense is exactly because of that, he is extremely conﬁdent in that, but has no conﬁdence in his speed. However, this is also the ﬁrst time I have witnessed the true power of the Consolidated Equipment Assembly Set. That is also with it being used on defense… I wonder what it’d be like if used on offense…” As he spoke up to that point, they both exchanged looks, and couldn’t help but shudder involuntarily. Yun Li said seriously: “Weiqing, it looks like we had better research on this, and perhaps design some Assembly Sets. This might be a good source of income.”

Zhou Weiqing’s eyes lit up and he struck his own leg suddenly as he cried out: “That’s right! Great idea! Furthermore, we have Lin TianAo, this disgusting fellow, as a living advertisement. Heh heh heh.”

“Alright, you have the face to call him disgusting? Aren’t you just as disgusting? If your cultivation level was also equal to his ﬁve-Jeweled stage, your overall power level will deﬁnitely be more terrifying than his. Hey, don’t keep your hammers, let me continue examining them…”

With two Consolidating Equipment Masters together, especially with their relationship allowing them to not hide anything from each other, it caused them to have a sleepless night of discussion and exchange.

The next morning, both of them exited the room with panda eyes. Yun Li had a face full of excitement as he said: “Boss, I’m going to get something to eat and I’ll head to bed. I already have a plan for a new design, when you’re back from class we can continue our discussion.” As he said that, he turned and headed for the kitchen.

After a whole night of discussion, Yun Li was much clearer about Zhou Weiqing’s current situation. After Zhou Weiqing had been forced to agree to help him look for the materials for his own Legendary Set as well, Yun Li had started calling him boss. After all, it was already a fact, and calling him Boss was no detriment to himself. However, Zhou Weiqing was also happy to help him. After the night of talking, they had gotten much closer to each other. At least, they had a similar goal – to complete their Legendary Sets and to wear them sometime in the future.

“Little Fatty!” Shangguan Bing’er, who had ﬁnished preparing breakfast, looked at him with an admonishing gaze.

Before she could say anything, Zhou Weiqing quickly said with a smile: “It won’t happen again, I promise.”

Shangguan Bing’er gave him a clean set of school uniforms to change, and as she looked at his tired face, she felt a tinge in her heart. Touching his face lightly, she said softly: “Little Fatty, I know you are worried about the situation of our Heavenly Bow Empire, but rushing into things will not help. You are already doing very well. Promise me, in future, you will not risk yourself so much alright? I do not want you to use your future and life as a bet any more. What happens if you meet someone with a hidden ace, someone more powerful?”

Zhou Weiqing held her in his arms, feeling her warmth and the sweet scent from her hair, he said softly: “I was indeed too impulsive yesterday. I promise, I will not do this again, alright?”

Shangguan Bing’er nodded and said: “Don’t overdo the sleepless nights as well, I do not like to see you suffer so much.”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and whispered into her ear: “It’s easy to have a good sleep… as long as I can hug my beautiful Bing’er to sleep every night, who would want to stay up to work!”

“Hmph! We’re being serious here, stop playing around. Go eat your breakfast.” Shangguan Bing’er blushed red again and squirmed out of his embrace, turning back and heading into the kitchen. However, what Zhou Weiqing himself would not expect was that her defenses were being eroded by his constant teasing, at least deep in her heart, her resistance to him was slowly being lowered. After all, she had already thought of him as her husband.

After breakfast, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but keep yawning. After an entire night of focus and learning, he was indeed very tired. Washing his face quickly with cold water, he ﬁnally cleared his head a little. As they headed out towards the academy, he gave Yun Li’s room an envious look. At least that fellow can get some sleep! Ahh, I have to suffer in class today.

Zhou Weiqing held onto Shangguan Bing’er’s soft little hands, and they headed towards the academy together. After all, Zhou Weiqing had already announced their relationship, and Shangguan Bing’er had come to terms with it and wasn’t so embarrassed.

In the distance, the academy’s gates were already in sight, but the two of them were give a surprise. That was because there were many unexpected horse carriages parked in front of the academy, with quite a crowd standing in front of the gates looking around. From what they could see, there were more than a dozen horse carriages and almost two hundred or so people standing around, some of whom seemed to have a digniﬁed, noble air. “What’s this? Did something happen? Why’s there so many people around?” Zhou Weiqing paused in hesitation and asked out loud.

At that moment, Shangguan Bing’er had been deep in her own thoughts, thinking to herself whether or not to agree to her Little Fatty’s request. If she were not intimate with him, what if he couldn’t contain himself? Furthermore, there was that beautiful and alluring Ming Hua staying in the house with them…

Hearing Zhou Weiqing’s words, she looked up in a loss. When she saw the situation in front of the academy, she was also taken aback. “Even during the registration dates, there weren’t that many horse carriages!”

All of a sudden, a voice rang out close to them. “Junior, this is actually all because of you.” Zhou Weiqing turned towards the voice, only to see Ye Paopao walking over from the distance, dressed in his noble uniform. He was alone today, and seeing his handsome and harmless look, it was hard to imagine that this fellow was one of the noble leaders of their academy students.

“Because of me? Senior, what do the horse carriages have to do with me?” Zhou Weiqing asked curiously, vigilance rising in his heart. This Ye Paopao was a master at controlling his emotions and expressions, and it was hard to read him. To be able to be the leader of the noble students, how could he be a simple person?

Ye Paopao said in a helpless tone: “Junior, have you forgotten? Did you think that after your commoner class one beat up so many noble students yesterday, there wouldn’t be any repercussions? Speaking of which, you guys sure beat them up rather savagely! Out of that entire second year class, almost half of them had broken bones, and many of them were severely injured.”

Zhou Weiqing said with an innocent look on his face: “We can’t be blamed for that, the academy has already punished both sides very fairly, what else can I be blamed for.”

Ye Paopao laughed heartily and said: “Although I do not know how you managed to accomplish that, you are indeed something to be able to have to academy not come after you after that. However, do not forget that this is the Fei Li City, and many of the nobles are here. To them, you are the instigator of beating up the noble students, and when you beat up the young ones, the old ones will naturally pop up to look for justice. The ones at the gates are all waiting for you. Inside the carriages are many of those who had been beaten up yesterday, here to point you out. Even if the academy doesn’t take action on you, do you think the nobles will let everything slide?” Zhou Weiqing furrowed his brow and said: “Thanks for the warning Senior. However, isn’t our lady Principal the Princess? How could these nobles dare be so arrogant?”

Ye Paopao couldn’t help but laugh as he said: “Junior, you are an intelligent person, how could yo say something like that. If not for the fact that it was Her Highness, the Principal, at the head personally settling things, these people would not be waiting outside for you, and would have long since stormed inside to ﬁnd you. However, even with our Principal’s status, facing so many nobles, it will be tough for her to withstand such pressure. Junior, you need to prepare yourself. However, I still believe that the academy will be able to deal with the situation. After all, they have already announced their decision, and it is unlikely they will change their tune suddenly.”

Zhou Weiqing said impassively: “Thanks so much for Senior for taking the trouble to come here to inform me about the situation. I will not forget this favour.”

Ye Paopao waved his hand and said: “I did not come here to warn you in order to get any favour. Did you think any ordinary person is worthy of my time to warn? I did not come here to get a debt from you. In my eyes, I consider you the dangerous sort, especially your future, it is just too danger. I do not want to be an enemy to someone so dangerous… as such, I can only try to be your friend.”

Their eyes met, and Zhou Weiqing smiled and nodded. Extending his right hand, he said: “From now on, we are friends. However, my principles will not waver, do not think you can get any of the commoner students from me.”

Ye Paopao laughed and said: “Since we are friends, those commoner students are considered under you, what big difference is there if they are under me. I have heard that you have proclaimed that you will deﬁnitely become a High Level Consolidating Equipment Master within the next four years. I am looking forward to that! In the future, if you have any Consolidating Equipment Scrolls for sale, do remember to look for me, I will deﬁnitely give a good price. Come on, let’s go, I’ll bring you to the side to enter. These people are fools, as if blocking the main entrance will be of any use, and we can’t just vault over the wall.”

To be honest, Zhou Weiqing did not really want to be friends with Ye Paopao, at least not at this point in time. That was because he was unable to read this person, and he felt that he posed almost as much danger as Ming Hua. However, right at this moment, he did not have any choice. After entering the Fei Li Military Academy for just barely a few days, he had already made so many enemies. If he made another enemy for no purpose, that was just being foolish. Furthermore, he was extending a friendly hand now.

After detouring around the main entrance, the three of them entered from the sides. It had to be said that the Fei Li Military Academy walls were actually extremely high, almost six metres tall, with sharp metal spikes on the top as well. This was highly difﬁcult for any ordinary person to scale, but to powerful Jewel Masters like them, it was not much of an obstacle.

Ye Paopao pointed above and smiled, saying: “Let’s enter from here then.” As he said that, he lifted his right hand, and a dim blue light shone forth from his palm, and an ice pillar coalesced. An amazing sight followed, as the ice pillar continued growing larger, bringing Ye Paopao’s body along with it. In a matter of moments, it had grown past the six metre mark, and Ye Paopao quickly stepped off over, dropping down beyond the wall.

Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er exchanged a rather surprised look. Both of them had sensed that when Ye Paopao created the ice pillar, he had not used any skill. WIthout question, his Elemental Jewel was water, and he had made use of water to form ice just with his Heavenly Energy and Attribute. That sheer control and amount of Heavenly Energy was rather impressive. From that, it was clear that he was likely of higher cultivation level than them, perhaps about the same as Ming Hua, a four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. The reason why he was most likely a Heavenly Jewel Master was because only they would have the purity of Element to be able to change water to ice so easily.

Zhou Weiqing held Shangguan Bing’er by her slim waist, and striking the ground with his right foot, a mufﬂed *Bang* sounded out, and the two of them ﬂew all the way above the six feet wall to the other side. With this, he totally used only physical strength, and was also carrying another person to boot. With that, he slightly showed down Ye Paopao. Of course, this was due to the power of the Demonic Right Leg, but since Ye Paopao had already showed some of his power, how could Zhou Weiqing back down. To be friends with a person like Ye Paopao, one had to prove to be his equal, otherwise the friendship might turn into something else.

“Junior has indeed much skill.” Ye Paopao praised him, a ﬂash of surprise crossing his eyes. Although he did not personally look at Zhou Weiqing jumping, he could still tell from the energy in the air that Zhou Weiqing had not used any Heavenly Energy at all. “Senior is also extremely powerful, even if you were to be in the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, I estimate that Senior will be one of the top echelons.” Praise was after all free, and who didn’t know how to dole it out freely? However, not everyone had the great acting skills of Zhou Weiqing, who made it sound so sincere.

Hearing his words, Ye Paopao shook his head bitterly and said: “Junior, the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy is not as simple as you think. To be brutally honest, in our academy, there are few who can compete with me. However, if we compare it to the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, I would be hard pressed to squeeze into their top 50 ranks, out of their mere student population of only slightly more than a hundred. The Principal of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy is our Empire’s top strongest Heavenly Jewel Master, he has broken past the Zong Stage and is the only ten-Jeweled King Stage Heavenly Jewel Master in our Empire. Furthermore, their focus is on ﬁghting capabilities, and they have a lot of combat experience, while a lot of our studies and focus is on military knowledge, how could we possibly match them. Without any exaggeration, I would probably be unable to beat a three- Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master student of theirs.

“King Stage Heavenly Jewel Master?” Both Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er drew sharp breaths when they heard that. It might sound like a mere set of Jewels from 9 Jewels to 10 Jewels, but it was not as simple as that. High Level Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Masters were already extremely rare, but you could probably still ﬁnd more than twenty or so in the entire Fei Li Empire. However, there was only the one single King Stage Heavenly Jewel Master, and that was already a

whole new power level. To put things in perspective, a single Low Level King Stage Heavenly Jewel Master could easily take out ten High Level Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Masters.

Ye Paopao smiled faintly and said: “There is no need to be so surprised, Junior. The Principal of the Heavenly Jewel Master also has another status, which is our Fei Li Empire’s Skill Storing Palace Master, and is also our Empire Premier Master, and he is already a Mid Level King Stage Heavenly Jewel Master.”

Once a Heavenly Jewel Master reached the King Stage, the High, Medium and Low Levels were no longer according to the number of Jewels, but according to Heavenly Energy cultivation level. Just from that alone, one could tell how difﬁcult it was to increase in power at that point.

Zhou Weiqing took a deep breath and said: “I never thought that the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy would be so powerful, and have such a background.” Ye Paopao gave a cold smile and said: “No matter how powerful a Heavenly Jewel Master is, they are still a single individual. How can they compare with us, who will become great generals in the future? No matter how powerful an individual is, they will never be able to compete with an entire

large army. After all, there is a limit to the amount of Heavenly Energy one can have, and it will run out eventually.”

“Alright, I’ve said enough. Junior, I have to head back to my class. If you have any issues, do come and look for me. However, I might have to leave in a few days time. If possible, I suggest that you do not leave the academy in the near future, and just stay in the dorms for a while for your own safety. With our Princess as our Principal, no one will dare to come into the Academy to look for trouble. After yesterday’s ﬁght, your commoner class one has already gained their reputation, and it is likely that any of the students will cause more trouble.”

Zhou Weiqing smiled and said: “As long as Senior doesn’t come looking for trouble with me, I am not afraid of anyone else.”

Ye Paopao laughed heartily and waved towards Zhou Weiqing, before turning to leave. When Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er reached their classroom, they immediately felt that the atmosphere was rather strained.

The class was extremely quiet. Ming Hua had already arrived, and was seated at the front with her brow furrowed slightly. When Zhou Weiqing entered, everyone turned to look at him, and some of the students even stood up.

“Boss, are you alright?” At least a dozen concerned voices sounded out instantly.

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “What is up with you all?

It’s just a small matter, how could anything happen to me?”

Ming Hua said exasperatedly: “You have caused trouble with more than a dozen noble families, of which there are two Dukes, six Marquis, and nine counts, the rest being viscounts. Is that still considered a small matter? Even the Principal is having trouble dealing with them, and you are treating it as nothing?”

One of the other classmates stood up abruptly, exclaiming: “Monitor, yesterday’s incident was done by all of us. Damn it, since a young age, I have never experienced such a great feeling. If the academy punishes you, count me in, I will share the responsibility.”

As soon as he said that, it resonated with all the commoner students, and instantly a commotion arose in the entire class.

“That’s right, boss! We will all share responsibility! Didn’t you say before, we are an entire family. All for one, and one for all!”

Seeing his classmates’ excited expressions, Zhou Weiqing felt a warmth in his heart. He knew that his efforts over the past few days had not gone to waste. Not only had they approved of him, their competitive spirits and ﬁghting spirits had also been sparked. This was the most important gain.

Even Ming Hua stared at the entire class, stunned. She had after all been through the student phase, but she had never seen a class so united, a single student so respected and beloved by everyone. This was just a few days from the start of school, what was going on? If this went on for a longer period, would these commoner students be even willing to die for him?

At this moment, Ming Hua suddenly felt that her father’s insight was indeed clear. Zhou Weiqing was not just a simple sly, cunning and powerful person. He had a strange leadership quality that just could not be described. Unlike her big brother’s leadership, Zhou Weiqing’s was the sort that could make his followers crazy, perhaps leading them in some ‘bad’ ways. Ming Hua was unable to describe the feeling, but she could clearly feel that it was just like her father had said, they could no longer afford to antagonize him further, to make him an enemy of their Sect.

“Alright, alright. Everyone quieten down.” Zhou Weiqing raised his hands, motioning for silence. With a faint smile, he said: “Enough said. Yesterday, our Principal has already announced her decision, and there will not be any further changes. Furthermore, even if anything crops up, I do not need you to share the responsibility. After all, that is what the monitor is for. Do you think you call me Boss for nothing? The Boss is there to take the pressure!”

Chapter 62 Five Great Saint Lands

“The Boss is there to take the pressure!” As soon as he said that, he gave a hearty laugh. However, he was quickly forced to stop laughing embarrassedly, as no one had joined it. However, all the students were staring at him, as if something was ignited in their gazes.

With a cough, he continued: “Everyone, don’t stare at me like that, I will feel shy. Come on, it’s time for class, everyone sit down.” As he said that, he headed towards his own seat.

“Weiqing, go to the Principal’s ofﬁce, she is looking for you.” Ming Hua’s voice rang out.

Zhou Weiqing started momentarily, turning to look at Ming Hua. All the students also turned their gazes towards her, and instantly the atmosphere in the class turned nervous.

Ming Hua furrowed her brow and said: “Everyone, do not worry. I can guarantee that nothing will happen to your monitor. Although this matter is a little troublesome, but our Principal is after all the Princess of our Empire, and not someone the nobles can easily triﬂe with.” “Boss, we’ll go with you.” Kou Rui said excitedly.

Zhou Weiqing turned back around to face his classmates, and with a peaceful gaze he said calmly: “Very good, we now truly feel like a real team, a family. As for going with me, it isn’t necessary. After all, Teacher Ming Hua has already said that nothing would happen right? I’ll be back soon, you guys study hard, it is class time after all. Stop standing around, all of you sit down.” As he said the last line, he glared at them, and the rest of the commoner students ﬁnally settled down.

Ming Hua sighed to herself inwardly as she sat behind the podium, thinking. Perhaps, this class might turn into the best class that the Academy has ever taught. This Zhou Weiqing is really something, this is true unity. For a class of students to truly unite, there needs to be a core, a heart, and this core was apparently not herself, the teacher, but instead Zhou Weiqing. Of course, in order to become this core, he had also done a lot, so much that even though Ming Hua felt a little envious, the emotion she felt the most was admiration. As she settled her various personal feelings about Zhou Weiqing and calmed down, she could analyse the entire situation, and see why her father and brother looked so highly upon him.

As Zhou Weiqing left the classroom alone, he calmed himself down and walked slowly towards the Principal’s ofﬁce. At the same time, he pondered what could be the possible outcomes.

It was unlikely that Ming HUa would lie to him about the situation, after all she had stated it in front of the entire class.

That was to say… the beautiful lady Principal would protect him. However, at the same time, as Ming Hua and Ye Paopao had mentioned, it would not be easy for her to withstand all the pressure from so many nobles. It looks like he would have to give something up, perhaps get a slightly heavier punishment. This was likely the reason Principal Cai Cai was looking for him.

He could deal with a bigger punishment without any problems, after all that did not affect his overall plan. Zhou Weiqing quickly smiled. Since he had gotten Yun Li and Lin TianAo as Followers yesterday, and seen the unity of his classmates today, his mood was currently extremely good. As such, he was not troubled by the upcoming punishment.

When Zhou Weiqing reached the fourth level where the Principal’s ofﬁce was, he just happened to see a group of noble students dressed in their splendid uniforms walking down the stairs, looking glum and dissatisﬁed. Without question, these were the ones who had tried to lodge a complaint against him. Looking at their expressions, Zhou Weiqing was certain of his guess, that the Principal would not submit to them.

Knocking twice on the door, he tidied his uniform unhurriedly, his usual honest smile appearing on his face. Whether or not others would believe it was one matter, but he would always maintain his act.

“Come in.” Cai Cai’s solemn voice rang out from within. Zhou Weiqing pushed open the door and entered.

Cai Cai was not alone in her ofﬁce, and Dean Xiao Shi was also there, seemingly deep in discussion with her.

As soon as Zhou Weiqing entered, Cai Cai’s expression sank, and she turned to Xiao Shi and said: “Dean Xiao, let’s continue this later. Indeed, our Academy’s customs needs to be stricter. If there are any more ﬁghts, no matter what status both sides are, we will expel both sides.”

Xiao Shi gave a respectful bow of agreement before turning to leave. As he passed by Zhou Weiqing, he gave a helpless smile. This incident had also put a lot of pressure on him. After all, he was the Dean of Students, and the discipline of the school was also part of his responsibilities. Many of the nobles could not do anything to the Princess, and instead turned to put pressure on him. If not for Cai Cai’s support, he might have been in deep trouble.

As Xiao Shi left, Zhou Weiqing advanced forward a few steps with a big smile on his face. With a courtly bow, he said: “Good morning, Principal.”

Cai Cai gave a cold humph and said: “You troublemaker, do you know how much problems you have caused to the academy with your actions?”

Zhou Weiqing said honestly: “It is all my fault, I am so sorry to have caused the Principal and the academy so much trouble. If there needs to be any further punishment, please punish me alone. It was I who couldn’t stand it and instigated my classmates to take action. I just beg that I have the chance to continue staying here to learn, and not expel me. I still have mmuch to study and learn.”

The Zhou Weiqing now was looking totally sincere and honest, with his expression holding just a hint of depression from being wronged. That look wa smiles apart from that overjoyed and smug look he had last night after getting two great Followers.

Originally, Cai Cai had called in Zhou Weiqing to give him a big scolding before getting on to the main matter. However, with him admitting his mistakes, apologising and willing to take up the responsibility and any extra punishments, she couldn’t help but feel her heart soften.

Everything else aside, just the fact that Zhou Weiqing was willing to take the punishment on behalf of his classmates was extremely admirable, and that willingness to shoulder responsibility and admitting fault was also something she appreciated.

As such, Principal Cai Cai’s expression eased up a little, and she said passively: “I hear that you are the class monitor of commoner class one?”

Zhou Weiqing nodded, his eyes reddening as he said: “Yes, my classmates have honoured me. Principal, please do not worry, I will not make things difﬁcult for you. When I go back to class, I will resign my post, I just hope that you do not expel me.” Although he said that, our dear Little Fatty was grinning inside his heart. He was highly experienced at taking beatings from his father since a young age, and without even using his eyes, he could just tell from Cai Cai’s tone that she had already softened and was on his side. This was likely to result in anything bad for him today.

“Nonsense, what making things difﬁcult for me.” Cai Cai exclaimed angrily. “Yesterday, I have already made my decision on the matter, and I will not change it. Do they think that they can pressure me with just the few of them? This is the Fei Li Royal Family Military Academy, not their nobles’ backyard!”

Zhou Weiqing wisely kept his mouth shut at this point in time. Things seemed to be going pretty well, and no matter what he said now, it might actually have an adverse effect.

Cai Cai stood up from behind her desk, slowly walking out. Although Zhou Weiqing had his head bowed down, he was still able to see her beautiful and graceful ﬁgure. Is she really thirty- ﬁve years old? Even a twenty ﬁve year old might not be able to compete! He couldn’t help but think to himself. This rascal had a zero immune system towards beauty, and couldn’t help but swallow a large gulp of saliva. Both of them were princesses, but comparing Difuya and Cai Cai’s aura and they way they carried themselves, it was just like night and day.

Cai Cai walked towards Zhou Weiqing and said: “I have already shouldered this matter, and the nobles will not dare to come to the academy grounds to cause trouble. However, I will not be able to stop them from doing anything underhand. After all, I can’t possibly send a few men to guard you around the clock. This time, you are way too obvious of a target. Just like you said, you were the one who instigated it. Do not think that

you can try to trick me with a few words, I have already understood the entire matter. However, since you still seem sincere in apologising and admitting your mistakes, and the matter is already settled, I will not give you any further punishment. However, in order to ensure your safety, you will have to leave the academy for a short while.”

“Ahh? No!” Zhou Weiqing was stunned in his heart, not expecting that Cai Cai would actually ask him to leave. At this point, they were barely two yards apart, and this rascal leapt forward towards Cai Cai, hugging her feet, sobbing as he said: “Principal, don’t expel me!! I know I’m wrong… please let me stay…”

Cai Cai had never expected that Zhou Weiqing would suddenly pounce on her out of the sudden, and actually was too surprised to react. In her thirty over years of living, this was the ﬁrst time she had been so close to a man, and in that instant, she was stunned into silence. In truth, Zhou Weiqing had not expected to hug Cai Cai. After all, it had been an involuntary reaction, and also he knew she was extremely powerful. After hugging her, Zhou Weiqing’s weak willpower regarding females instantly changed again, after all Cai Cai was only wearing a thin teacher’s robe, and her slim legs were in his arms, even the feel of them through the robes caused this rascal to bleed from the nose… and onto the robes.

Wow, that was so awesome! The sweet scent from Cai Cai caused Zhou Weiqing to put his face onto her leg, as he started crying in such a heartbroken manner. After all, do not forget who his teacher is… a man with the nickname of God Eye Scoundrel!

Mu En had once told him that in front of those weaker than him, he had to take control, but in front of those clearly stronger than him, he had to be shameless. This was especially so with women. Naturally, our dear Student Little Fatty was following his teacher’s instructions, and was enjoying it as he did so.

“Let go of me!” Cai Cai cried out. After a moment of shock where she didn’t do anything, her beautiful face ﬂushed totally red, forgetting all about her power, and only just pushing Zhou Weiqing’s head away from her legs. “No, I won’t let go. Principal, you want to get rid of me, if I let go you will throw me out.” Zhou Weiqing cried as he held on stubbornly. This rascal’s physical strength was after all extremely high, and furthermore, such an advantage, any extra second was a huge advantage!

“Let go of me, I’m not getting rid of you, really! I’m not throwing you out.” Even with Cai Cai’s usual strong demeanor of a tough woman, she was almost on the verge of tears. That rascal’s strength was so high, holding her so tight, and when he tightened his hands, she didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, but his hands were already at her buttocks.

“Really?” Zhou Weiqing lifted his head, his hands still locked tight, as he looked at her with a hopeful look.

“Of course it’s real, let go of me now!” Cai Cai’s face was already beet red.

Although Zhou Weiqing was rather reluctant in his heart, he ﬁnally let go. After all, he was afraid that if pushed past the limit, Cai Cai would just use her power and smash his head. Zhou Weiqing let go of his arms, clambering up slowly and saying ingratiatingly: “Thank you, thank you Principal.”

As he let go, Cai Cai staggered back a few steps, her legs a little weak as she leaned on her desk to prevent herself from falling.

“You… You…” Cai Cai pointed at him, caught rather speechless. She felt like beating him up, but knew that he had just been showing his emotions of not wanting to leave the academy. As such, she had a stomach full of anger which could not be expended. The area where he had grabbed was aching a little, and the thing that angered her the most was that rascal had two streaks of blood down his nose, and even her robes were stained with some.

“What’s up with your nose?” Cai Cai said angrily.

Zhou Weiqing looked up with an innocent look on his face, saying: “Just now, just now, I struck my head on your legs. Right there.” As he said that, he still pointed to her legs, as if he were about to go forward and point it out personally.

“Stand right there, if you touch me again I will kill you.” Cai Cai’s breathing was rather unsteady as she headed back to her seat, keeping her distance from Zhou Weiqing and preventing him from seeing her legs again, before she ﬁnally settled back down.

Zhou Weiqing was grinning to himself secretly. This Principal Cai Cai seems to be even more voluptuous than Ming Hua! He thought to himself. If Shangguan Bing’er were to be described as a beautiful ﬂower on the verge of blooming, Ming Hua would be one which has just bloomed, and Cai Cai would be one which had bloomed and at the peak of its beauty… A ripe fresh fruit. That hug earlier also somehow reminded him of Xiao RuSe, after two years of not meeting her, he imagined that she must have also blossomed well.

After a short period of panic, Cai Cai calmed down. However, the warmth she felt towards Zhou Weiqing earlier had already evaporated, and she said coldly: “Zhou Weiqing, the academy isn’t expelling you, and we are just sending you on a mission out of school in order to protect you. The period of time will be three months, and you will return after that, still a student.”

“Mission? What mission?” Zhou Weiqing asked curiously as he looked at her questioningly.

Cai Cai said: “This is actually a mission of utmost honour, and if you manage to provide any signiﬁcant contribution, then not mentioning the over dozen noble families you have provoked, even if you anger my father the King, I can still help you withstand it! Have you heard of the Five Great Saint Lands?”

Zhou Weiqing shook his head blankly as he said: “No, what is that?”

Cai Cai explained: “The Five Great Saint Lands are basically the top ﬁve strongest powers in the land. This includes the Top Valley of the East – Passion Valley, the Top Hell of the South – Blood Red Hell, The Top Evil of the West – Heavenly Demon Sect, and the Top Mountain of the North – Heavenly Snow Mountain. Last of all is the Top Palace of the Central – Heaven’s Expanse Palace. These ﬁve make up the Five Great Saint Lands, and all of them have the top powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters in the entire continent. More importantly, all of their Heavenly Jewel Masters have their own specialities. Amongst them, the strongest would be the Heavenly Snow Mountain and the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. The Heavenly Snow Mountain’s power is the most obvious, as it has fought against the Heavenly Demon Sect, Passion Valley and Blood Red Hell all by itself and still managed to hold its own. However, each of the Five Great Saint Lands govern themselves, and they do not have much to do with each other. As for the Heaven’s Expense Palace, it has always maintained its neutrality, and will usually keep from mixing itself in others’ ﬁghts. It is situated in the strongest Empire in the entire Continent, the ZhongTian Empire, on a ﬂoating island right above the Empire, known as the Heavenly Jewel Island. In truth, it is because of the Heaven’s Expense Palace’s existence that prevents the Heavenly Snow Mountain from supporting the Wan Shou Empire from starting a war to conquer the world.”

“Wait a minute, Principal, what did you just say? Floating island?!” Zhou Weiqing exclaimed in surprise.

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Yes, it can be said so. In truth, it isn’t actually ﬂoating in the air. It is a huge mountain, but a very strange mountain range. It is almost ﬁve thousand metres tall, reaching the clouds, and takes up a huge amount of land mass. However, the center of the mountain is totally empty, with the top part being supported by sixteen ‘pillars’ of various mountain tops ranging across the entire land mass, making it seem as if it were ﬂoating in mid air. Hence, it has been called an Island, and was then given the name of Heavenly Jewel Island.”

“The names of the various Five Great Saint Lands were actually given by themselves, and they are actually just the ﬁve top strongest groups of Heavenly Jewel Masters. Each of them have some extremely powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters, and as such they have quite a transcended status in the entire continent.”

Zhou Weiqing said curiously: “Surely it can’t be that the Five Great Saint Lands can actually match the various empires?”

Cai Cai gave a scornful humph and said: “How can that be possible? The power of an individual person is ultimately limited. Even a twelve-Jeweled, God Level, Heavenly Jewel Master would not be able to totally ﬁght against an entire Empire by himself. However, although they do not have the strength of an entire Empire, but it is undoubted that they do not lack of any powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters, powerful beings that could individually effect great changes like killing a general in the midst of an army. As such, even the royal families of the various Empires will not be too willing to offend the Five Great Saint Lands. At the same time, each of the Five Great Saint Lands also have some connection to the empires that they reside in, and in times of need, they also act as the protectors of that particular Empire. The most obvious example would be the Wan Shou Empire. The Heavenly Snow Mountain is just known as the Heavenly Mountain in the Wan Shou Empire, and they can often inﬂuence the decisions of the Wan Shou Emperor. With the Heavenly Snow Mountain being the enemy of the other three Great Saint Lands, and the Heaven’s Expense Palace being a neutral party, this has formed a scene of all ﬁve Empires being in a strange balance.” All of a sudden, a look of surprise entered Zhou Weiqing’s eyes as he exclaimed: “Principal, since you have described the Five Great Saint Lands in such detail to me out of the blue… could it be that this mission you mentioned has something to do with them? I… I’m just merely a three-Jeweled Heavenly

Jewel Master, just a small fry. How could I have anything to do with anything so grand…”

Cai Cai said exasperatedly: “You sure think grandly. Who do you think you are, to be able to inﬂuence the Five Great Saint Lands? As you have guessed, your mission does have some connection to the Five Great Saint Lands, and the reason why I introduced them to you is just to let you have some knowledge of them, lest you throw our academy’s face.”

By now, Zhou Weiqing’s curiosity had been sparked. From Cai Cai’s tone of speaking, he guessed that the mission shouldn’t be too difﬁcult. However, being connected to the Fie Great Saint Lands, it was likely to do with many powerful beings, how could it be easy?”

“Principal, what exactly is this mission? Please reveal some details, so at least I have some preparation in my heart.”

Cai Cai said: “Amongst the Five Great Saint Lands, although the Heavenly Snow Mountain seems to have an equal power to the Heaven’s Expense Palace, its ranking is still second the Heaven’s Expense Palace. This is because the Heavenly Jewel Island does not only contain the Heaven’s Expense Palace, but it is also the place where all Heavenly Jewel Masters dream of going. On the Heavenly Jewel Island, it has all sorts of precious materials and treasures like ores and herbs, many of which are absolute top end items for Consolidating Equipment Masters like yourself. It can be said that, all Consolidating Equipment Masters would dream of going to the Heavenly Jewel Island, and it is one of the places where they can advance…

Zhou Weiqing’s eyes lit up and he said: “Does that mean the Heaven’s Expense Palace often recruits some High Level Consolidating Equipment Masters?”

Cai Cai’s eyes showed a helpless look as she said: “It’s not just as simple as some Consolidating Equipment Masters… In fact, it can be said that maybe half of the entire Continent’s of the high ranking Consolidating Equipment Masters are all in the Heaven’s Expense Palace.”

“That is also one of the reasons why its ranking and status is so high. There are only three ways to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. The ﬁrst is to be a Consolidating Equipment Master who has reached the Grandmaster Rank, and they will be allowed to bring a single Follower to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. As long as they join, they have an extremely favourable treatment, being able to use their own Consolidating Equipment Scrolls to exchange for the various materials available on the Heavenly Jewel Island. Since making high level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls is the key for the Masters to improve and rank up, you can imagine how many of them are attracted by the favourable conditions to join. Furthermore, the Heaven’s Expense Palace has the power to be

generous, and the most important condition for them is that

they do not restrict the freedom of those Consolidating Equipment Masters, who can leave whenever they want to. As such, in the Consolidating Equipment Master world, the Heaven’s Expense Palace is like their background supporter, and can be said to be the most respected place amongst all the Consolidating Equipment Masters. This reason alone has forced the other four Great Saint Lands not to offend the Heaven’s Expense Palace, as it is also one of the places to easily ﬁnd Grandmaster and above Consolidating Equipment Scrolls.”

“As for the mission that you will be going on , it actually has to do with another method of entering the Heavenly Jewel Island. Besides the ﬁrst method I mentioned, there are two more methods. One of which is to get a special permit to enter. This is extremely rare, and usually only for those High Level Zong Stage and above Heavenly Jewel Masters might be able to get one of these permits. The last one is the only way for low level Heavenly Jewel Masters or even Elemental Jewel Masters to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island! That is the great Heavenly Jewel Tournament that is held once every three years.”

Zhou Weiqing said curiously: “Heavenly Jewel Tournament?”

Cai Cai nodded and said: “The Heavenly Jewel Tournament was ﬁrst created to give the various Empires a chance to have some of their people enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. There are just two restrictions for participants of the Grand Tournament. First of all, the participant has to be below the age of thirty, and secondly, the participant has to be a student of one of the Academies of the Empire. Including the Wan Shou Empire, there are a few dozen Empires in the entire Continent, but there are barely a few truly strong ones. The Heavenly Jewel Island will reward the top four Empires of the Tournament, with each of the attendees getting a plaque. With that plaque, one is able to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island three times. At the same time, the Semi-Finals of the Tournament is held in the Heavenly Jewel Island, so the attendees from the top four Empire will already be enter it that time, which isn’t included in the three times of the plaque. More importantly, this Heavenly Jewel Plaque is not linked to a particular person, and anyone holding it is able to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island.” As she spoke up to that point, Cai Cai paused and gave a sigh before continuing: “At the start, every empire had a chance of getting into the top four, and getting the plaque. Alas, as time passed, the other four Great Saint Lands realised how important it was to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. As such, although they were too embarrassed to directly enter their own team, they actually started to cooperate with their Empires, even helping to groom some outstanding young Heavenly Jewel Talents. As such, they are able to get their Heavenly Jewel Plaques through such a method. The only exception is the Top Demon of the West, due to their Evil Attribute, they are only able to hide in the darkness, and they do not dare to directly try to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. As such, it can be said that for every Heavenly Jewel Tournament, the top three has already been taken up by the three Great Saint Lands. The rest of the Empires only have a single last spot to ﬁght for. Furthermore, there is the extremely powerful ZhongTian Empire’s team. Alas, our Fei Li Empire has not gotten a single Heavenly Jewel Plaque for the past seventy years, not even when we try to purchase it at a high price.”

Zhou Weiqing ﬁnally understood what was going on, and said hesitatingly: “Principal, do you mean to say that I will be going to join this Heavenly Jewel Tournament?” Cai Cai pursed her lips and said: “You’re just of the three- Jeweled cultivation level, you naturally will not be able to join as an actual team member, but you can still be a substitute member. I still have the power to decide that. Every Empire’s team is restricted to eight members, of which ﬁve are actual team members and three substitute members. Without question, the ﬁve actual team members are from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, while the substitute members are chosen from our Fei Li Royal Family Military Academy. The main reason isn’t to actually help out, but rather for our outstanding students to gain some valuable experience. These three limited places are highly sought after, and this time you are just so lucky to get this advantage. In truth, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island, but just being able to witness and experience the various powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters and the great ﬁghts of the Tournament, it will be of great aid to your future training and cultivating. At the same time, it is also a great reason for you to hide out for the next few months, and by the time you return, your status as a person who has attended the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, even as a substitute, will be sufﬁcient to protect you.”

Looking at Cai Cai, Zhou Weiqing’s expression changed a little. He suddenly felt a sense of regret, regret that he had disrespected this Principal. He had never expected that this Principal, whom he had only met twice brieﬂy, would give him so much help and plan everything so completely for his sake. To be able to enter this Heavenly Jewel Tournament, to witness ﬁghts of such scale and power, it was deﬁnitely something extremely beneﬁcial to him. Furthermore, he was just to be a substitute, and would hardly even need to ﬁght, and would not be any danger. Such a post was undoubtedly extremely valuable to the Fei Li Military Academy, and yet she had actually given it to him, a mere ﬁrst year commoner student.

“Principal, thank you.” Zhou Weiqing bowed to Cai Cai very sincerely.

Cai Cai’s mouth ﬁnally twitched upwards in a faint smile, and she said: “It’s good that you understand my efforts. This time, the three substitutes that we are sending will be you, your little girlfriend and Ye Paopao. After all, everyone in the school knows about you and Shangguan Bing’er as well, so it is safest that she goes along with you. Once you both are back, you will have to go through some extra tuition to catch up. Remember, Ye Paopao will be the leader of your small group, after all he is the most powerful amongst our students. Also, you better rein yourself in, do not clash with the members of the main team from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, and throw our academy’s face. Understood?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “I’m actually not one to cause trouble, as long as nobody causes trouble for me, I won’t go around causing trouble as well.”

Cai Cai gave an exasperated humph and said: “Enough of your nonsense, do you think I know nothing about you? Alright, you can leave now. You all will be leaving for the Heavenly Jewel Tournament after three days. For the next three days, both of you should just stay in the academy. Do not leave the academy grounds, and in three days you will be sent directly to the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy.”

Zhou Weiqing quickly agreed. Just as he was about to turn around to leave, he suddenly thought of something, stopped and said: “Principal, is our academy hiring teachers?”

“Humph.” Cai Cai looked at Zhou Weiqing curiously. “Who are you introducing to the academy to be a teacher? He or she must have a speciﬁc talent to even have a chance of entering our academy.”

Zhou Weiqing said: “What about a High Level Consolidating Equipment Master, does that count as a speciﬁc talent?”

Cai Cai’s eyes brightened as she said: “You have a high level Consolidating Equipment Master friend coming to our academy?” Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “My Senior just reached the Fei Li City and will be staying for a while. Since he has nothing much better to do, if the academy needs a teacher, he can come over to be an assistant teacher or something.”

Cai Cai looked meaningfully at Zhou Weiqing, her noble grace and beauty causing him to stare dazedly for a second as she said: “Are you trying to give a plum in return for a peach?”

Zhou Weiqing scratched his head and said: “Well… not exactly also. After all, when I leave, someone needs to help take care of my commoner class one, and Teacher Ming Hua might not be able to do so alone. If my class can have another assistant teacher in charge, then there should be no problems. Furthermore, I did promise my classmates that I would take care of their Consolidating Equipment Scrolls.”

Cai Cai laughed and said: “Alright, at least you’re honest about it. Fine, I agree to this. You can go back and ask him to report directly to me when he comes to the academy.”

“Many thanks to Principal Cai Cai for allowing this.” Zhou Weiqing once more bowed politely before exiting the ofﬁce. Speaking to someone as intelligent as Cai Cai, it was much better to speak the truth whenever possible. After all, Zhou Weiqing was also an intelligent person. He knew that Cai Cai would be able to read many things from various actions, and he might as well just tell the truth and get a favourable impression instead of trying to hide things.

After leaving the Principal’s ofﬁce, Zhou Weiqing took a deep breath, a look of anticipation appearing in his eyes. He was just too interested in the Heavenly Jewel Tournament.

All of a sudden, he thought of a question for Cai Cai, and quickly turned back around, pushing open the door to enter once more. As he had just thought of it suddenly, he didn’t knock and just barged in.

As soon as he entered the room, Zhou Weiqing was totally stunned, and so was Cai Cai.

At that moment, Principal Cai Cai was only wearing her underwear, only covering her most private parts. Her snow white skin and voluptuous ﬁgure was almost entire displayed in front of Zhou Weiqing, especially the legs that Zhou Weiqing had hugged earlier, with a light red streak showing where he had hugged earlier.

*Poof* Two lines of blood streamed down from Zhou Weiqing’s nostrils. This time he was unable to give any excuse, as even some saliva drooled out.

“GET — OUT —!” Cai Cai’s furious roar rang out, and Zhou Weiqing ﬂed out of the ofﬁce as fast as he could.

What happened was that Cai Cai was a very fastidious person. Earlier, her robes had been stained by Zhou Weiqing’s blood, and as soon as he had left, she could not wait and quickly started changing to a new one. Who knew that Zhou Weiqing would actually barge back inside without knocking, causing the previous scene.

As Zhou Weiqing rushed out, he did not run far, instead yelling from outside: “Principal, I’m wrong! It was not on purpose!”

“Wretch, get back in here now!” This level of the building was all the high ranking members of the school staff, and since Cai Cai had quickly donned a fresh robe, when she heard him yelling outside, she was so angry that she almost passed out, and quickly called him back in.

When Zhou Weiqing stepped back into the Principal’s ofﬁce, he couldn’t help but tremble in fear. In his senses, she seemed like a boiling volcano on the verge of eruption. By now, Cai Cai had already worn a fresh clean set of robes. However, the expression on her face was very ugly, and even her hair was a little messed up, showing how ﬂustered she had been.

“You little brat, don’t you know how to knock the door?” Cai Cai’s hands were clenched in ﬁsts. In her thirty odd years, she had never felt like beating someone up so much.

Zhou Weiqing said with an innocent look on his face: “Principal, I’m wrong. I just suddenly thought of an important question to ask you, and accidentally barged in without thinking, and did not expect to see what I wasn’t supposed to see.”

“Shut up! If you dare say anything about this, I will gouge out your eyes.” Cai Cai cried angrily. Even her noble grace and poise had been ruined by Zhou Weiqing, and she was breathing hard due to her rage.

“Speak then, what did you want to ask? Ask quickly and get lost.” Cai Cai ﬁnally calmed down. Looking at Zhou Weiqing’s innocent look, she ﬁnally suppressed her rage. With her status, how could she possibly actually beat up Zhou Weiqing just like that? Zhou Weiqing said: “I… I just wanted to ask, if you really do get top four in this Heavenly Jewel Tournament, are we able to keep the Heavenly Jewel Plaque we get?”

“Hmph, with just you few, do you really think you can get the Heavenly Jewel Plaque? You must be daydreaming! If you really do manage to get it, I will allow you to keep yours.”

“Thank you Principal, I’ll be heading off then.” Facing a volcano that could erupt at any time, the best way to deal with it was to leave quickly. Zhou Weiqing got the answer he wanted, and quickly ran off.

Looking at the closed door, Cai Cai suddenly felt that she had been rash in her anger. What if they truly got into the top four and managed to get the Heavenly Jewel Plaque? She knew how important they were to the Empire. However, her furrowed brow quickly eased. After all, it wasn’t that easy to get the plaque. Even though there were quite a lot of extremely talented and well trained students from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, they were still far from being able to compare with those from the Four Great Saint Lands. It was just nearly impossible to enter the top four. As for Zhou Weiqing and the other substitutes, they would not be able to ﬁght. That damn brat, how dare he hug her and even look at her! As she thought up to this point, Cai Cai blushed deeply, striking the air hard, as if at Zhou Weiqing.

When Zhou Weiqing returned to the class, he was surprised to see that class has not even begun. Yet, he remembered that the ﬁrst lesson should have been taught by Ming Hua.

However, at that moment, Ming Hua was still seated at her seat behind the podium, and the students were all chit chatting.

“Ehh? Don’t we have class today?” Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Ming Hua glanced at him and said: “Without you back, how could any of them concentrate on class. How was it?”

He uses honoriﬁcs here.

If I remember correctly, I’ve translated this before – basically direct translation of 投桃报李, meaning returning a favour with a gift Not exactly fastidious, but more like obsessed about cleanliness, or as the slang goes, ‘neat freak’

Chapter 63 A Seal that cannot be Extinguished

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “Everyone relax, our Principal was looking for me for some good news…” As such, he told Ming Hua and his classmates a summary about what had happened. After all, there was nothing to hide about it.

After listening to him, the greatest reaction was undoubtedly from Ming Hua and Shangguan Bing’er. Shangguan Bing’er had a light in her eyes. As a Heavenly Jewel Master herself, she knew how great the beneﬁts it would be to be able to attend such a Tournament. As for Ming Hua, her face was full of shock.

“The Principal actually let you represent the Academy to join the Heavenly Jewel Tournament?!”

Zhou Weiqing said: “What’s wrong with that?”

Ming Hua shook her head and said: “Normally, this honour is only reserved for the fourth year students who are about to graduate, I never expected that both you and Shangguan Bing’er would be given such an honour, such an advantage. You were right, this is indeed something good. During the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, you will be able to observe all the top talents in the Jewel Master world ﬁghting. It will be extremely good for your ﬁghting experience, and open up your eyes.”

Zhou Weiqing asked curiously: “Does that mean that Teacher Ming Hua was lucky enough to join it before as well?”

Ming Hua inclined her head in a slight nod, saying: “Yes, the previous Tournament, I was our Academy’s representative. You both can set your minds at ease and go, as for your studies, when you return, there will be special remedial lessons for you to cover the lessons missed.”

Zhou Weiqing looked at Ming Hua with an uncertain look in his eyes. It seemed like today Ming Hua was in a peaceable mood, and did not have the hostility she used to have against him. Although he did not know the reason for that, he took it as a good sign anyway.

Turning to his classmates, Zhou Weiqing cleared his throat and said: “This time, I will likely be going for several months. However, everyone need not worry, I have already looked through all of your requests and data. For those Physical Jewel Masters that require Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, there are still three more days before I leave. During these three days, I will try my best to ﬁnish preparing a set of Consolidating Equipment Scrolls for all who require it. After all, to completely ﬁnish all the Scrolls, it should take at least a few months, and it should last until I return. Furthermore, the academy will soon send an assistant teacher to our class, he is recommended by me, and is my senior brother. He is a High Level Consolidating Equipment Master, and for those scrolls which I do not manage to complete, he will help you. However, do remember what I said, the most important to all of you now

is to cultivate your Heavenly Energy. Consolidating Equipment and Skill Storing will all come in time, and in the future perhaps even Consolidating Equipment Sets. However, your level of Heavenly Energy can only depend on your own hard work.”

Ma Qun grinned and shouted out from behind the class: “Boss, do not worry about us, set your minds at ease and go ahead to the Tournament! We aren’t at a rush at all. I, for one, am deﬁnitely willing to wait for you to make me a Consolidating Equipment Set! Boss, I want a 9-piece set ok! Heh heh!”

Zhou Weiqing laughed as he scolded: “You sure aren’t greedy eh. If you have the ability to cultivate to nine Jewels in this four years, I will get you a 9-piece Set!” Ma Qun immediately revealed a shameless look in his face as he cried out: “Who said that I can’t continue following you after graduation! Can’t I be your Follower? I believe that Following Boss will be extremely beneﬁcial. My only request is that Boss, you must leave me some hot chicks!”

Hearing his words, the entire class burst out laughing. However, in the midst of laughter, many of their eyes seemed to have something change inside. At least, Ma Qun’s words had sparked something within them; after all, jokes aside, his words rang true. Following their Boss Zhou was deﬁnitely a good option. However, were they able to become Followers after that?”

These few days, Ma Qun had thought hard about things. The pride in his heart had slowly diminished in front of Zhou Weiqing’s massive accomplishments. That wasn’t to say that he really idolized Zhou Weiqing so much, but rather he felt that Following Zhou Weiqing was of great beneﬁt to him as well, without much or even any detriment. Not even considering Consolidating Equipment and Skill Storing, it just felt great to be able to do as they felt.

Zhou Weiqing shook his head helplessly and said: “Consolidating Equipment, Skill Storing, that is no problem. However, I can’t help on the beautiful ladies front, that’ll have to depend on your own skills. Picking up girls is dependant on your own charisma, charm and overall attractiveness. Just take your great monitor for example, so young, handsome, suave and talented, literally incomparable in the world, that’s why all the beautiful ladies come ﬂocking right? Heh heh heh heh.”

Sitting on the front row, Shangguan Bing’er glared at Zhou Weiqing, but did not say anything. At this sort of time, she wanted to give her man face. However, inside, she changed her decision to let him be more intimate with her.

If Zhou Weiqing knew that his moment of boasting had cost him his long-awaited intimacy with his beloved Shangguan Bing’er, he probably would have slapped himself silly.

“Alright, now that Zhou Weiqing is back, let’s begin our class.” Ming Hua waved for Zhou Weiqing to take his seat before she started on her lesson.

Zhou Weiqing went back to seat and immediately slumped down onto the table, not even hearing a single word that Ming Hua said. In less than a minute, this rascal had fallen asleep. After a whole night of not sleeping, he was too exhausted, especially after the debacle in the morning. Furthermore, after thinking about how he had to leave in three days time, and having to continue creating more Consolidating Equipment Scrolls at night, naturally he wanted to recuperate a little before that. As such, he openly chose to fall asleep right in class.

Due to his position at the back of the class, Ming Hua did not realise he was sleeping at ﬁrst. However, when the snoring sounds came from behind, her expression turned ugly.

Ming Hua looked towards Shangguan Bing’er, who said helplessly: “He did not sleep the whole night, his body probably couldn’t take it anymore…”

Ming Hua blushed a deep red before saying softly: “You two must restrain yourselves.”

Shangguan Bing’er started a moment, then realised the gazes of the surrounding classmates had turned really strange, before she suddenly realised what Ming Hua meant. She immediately blushed as well, protesting: “Teacher, what are you saying! We.. we didn’t… yesterday he went to the Trading Center to buy some materials for Consolidating Equipment Scrolls and ran into something… that’s why he didn’t sleep.” Zhou Weiqing did not know about Shangguan Bing’er’s minor embarrassing incident, and this sleep of his lasted all the way til class ended, and he was awoken by Shangguan Bing’er’s “Time for food!”

After the sleep in the morning, he fell back asleep for the afternoon lessons. For someone of Zhou Weiqing’s cultivation level, Ming Hua only just warned him not to snore during the other teacher’s class. The other classmates also tried their best to cover for him, with the tall Ma Qun switching places with the student in front of Zhou Weiqing, covering him with his large build. As such, Zhou Weiqing remained undisturbed for the rest of the day.

By the time Zhou Weiqing awoke once more, it was the end of the afternoon class. Stretching lazily, he gave a sigh of contentment before leaving together with Shangguan Bing’er.

“Ma Qun, Kou Rui, come here a while.” Standing at the entrance of the classroom, Zhou Weiqing called out.

Ma Qun and Kou Rui quickly headed over.

Zhou Weiqing said: “For the next three days, can you and the other members of the dorm squeeze with other members of the class? I have to stay in the academy for the next few days, and I need quiet to complete the Consolidating Equipment Scrolls for the rest of our classmates and need absolute quiet. Ma Qun patted his chest and said: “No problem, it’s easy to ﬁnd a place to stay. Boss, look at me, I’m so loyal, when can you start on my six piece Consolidating Equipment Set?”

Zhou Weiqing glared at him exasperatedly and said: “You concentrate on cultivating ﬁrst. Come to think of it, actually I have a good plan for you, however I do not have the ability to create that type of Consolidating Equipment Scroll yet. You might need to wait a year at least for that. However, if you can wait that long, a unique six-piece set might not be impossible… and perhaps be much better for you. If you cannot wait, I can start on something else for you.”

Without question, when he spoke of this, Zhou Weiqing had thought of Lin TianAo. Ma Qun was of the exact same attributes as Lin TianAo, both being Heavenly Jewel Masters of pure defense. If Ma Qun could follow in Lin TianAo’s route of development, this could be of great help to him.

Ma Qun thought for a moment, then said: “Boss, I trust you.

I will wait.” Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and patted him on the shoulder, saying: “Well, perhaps… Just wait for me to return from the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, and I will ﬁnd you a specialised teacher.” Thinking about the time, that should also be around the time Lin TianAo would return from his own business.

Just as Zhou Weiqing was about to head to dinner before returning to his dorm to start creating Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, he was suddenly blocked by the few bald seniors once again.

Ma Qun and Kou Rui revealed a guarded look in their eyes, but Zhou Weiqing just smiled faintly and said: “Senior Zang Lang, I thought it was about time you would look for me. Ma Qun, Kou Rui, you both go ahead to eat ﬁrst, I’ll be ﬁne here.”

Zang Lang said: “Zhou Weiqing, let’s speak alone.”

Zhou Weiqing nodded, and led by Zang Lang, both of them walked to a corner near the stairway.

“So, what are your decisions?” Zhou Weiqing smiled and said. Zang Lang took a deep breath and looked hard at Zhou Weiqing once more before asking: “Is it really impossible to be the same as your classmates?”

Zhou Weiqing said passively: “I am not running a charity. Furthermore, you should know, every Consolidating Equipment Master has his limits. It is because you are my schoolmates that I am giving you face and not having any extra limitations. After all, each of you have your own values to stick to.”

Zang Lang sighed and said: “You’re right, there is no free lunch in this world. I have discussed the issue with my classmates. Amongst the forty four of us, including myself, originally only three were willing to become your Follower. However, after your class beat up that noble class, there are now sixteen of us who are willing to become your Followers.”

Zhou Weiqing smiled and said: “Have you heard of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament?”

Zang Lang started, not expecting Zhou Weiqing to change the topic so strangely at this point in time. “Yup, of course I have heard of it.” Zhou Weiqing said: “In two days time, I will be representing the Academy to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament as a substitute team member, and I will only be back in about three months time. You do not need to rush to give me an answer, you can let your classmates think about it more. When I’m back, that will be their last opportunity. At that time, you can bring all those who wish to Follow me and look for me.” He had to leave soon, and did not have the time and energy to get them all to Follow him. After all, there was no rush to complete this, and he could easily wait til he returned.

After hearing that Zhou Weiqing would be attending the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, Zang Lang was taken aback. Originally, he had thought of Zhou Weiqing as merely a relatively strong person, the more important thing about him being his Consolidating Equipment Master status. However, it seemed that he was more than just an ordinary Consolidating Equipment Master… at least, his relation with the Academy was not ordinary! Not only did he get off easy after beating up nobles, he was still able to represent the academy for such a tournament! This was an honour that wasn’t easily granted, and was normally only for 4th year seniors!

“I understand. I will let everyone know about this. Have a safe and successful trip.” Zang Lang extended a hand towards Zhou Weiqing. Zhou Weiqing shook his hand, and said: “Train hard. What is a substitute worth. My goal is to try to become a ﬁrst line team member, and also to bring those fellows from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy to vie for the top four positions, and enter the Heavenly Jewel Island! Hahahaha.” In the midst of laughter, Zhou Weiqing turned and walked off.

Looking at Zhou Weiqing’s disappearing back, Zang Lang was suddenly struck by a strange feeling… that this youth before him was not exaggerating. Zhou Weiqing had given him a few more months of time, but Zang Lang knew that if in that time he truly managed to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island, his requirements for Followers would deﬁnitely become much higher. By that time, it wasn’t a matter whether or not he and his classmates were willing to Follow him, but a matter of whether Zhou Weiqing was whether to accept them.

With a light sigh, he suddenly felt that what Zhou Weiqing said was right. Instead of thinking so much, it was better to concentrate on training and cultivating hard. Personal strength was the most important after all.

After eating his dinner, Zhou Weiqing did not rush back to his dorm, but vaulted across the wall instead, stealthily heading back to his home. His goal was simple, to get Yun Li to head to the Academy as well. After hearing that it had to do with creating Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, Yun Li naturally did not protest. Both he and Zhou Weiqing had not ﬁnished their discussion last night, and he was more than happy to follow him into the Academy. As such, they both headed to the Academy and sneaked in.

Zhou Weiqing quickly explained the current situation to Yun Li, who couldn’t help but cry out in surprise: “Are you mad? To create so many Consolidating Equipment Scrolls for so many people… and for free?! What are you up to?”

Zhou Weiqing sighed and said: “I will not hide anything from you. Both myself and Shangguan Bing’er are from the Heavenly Bow Empire. Our empire is small and weak… and the only way to change that is to have large numbers of talents. These commoner classmates of mine can all be called talents. Outstanding talents! Not only are they all Jewel Masters, they also have an outstanding grasp on military skills and tactics. My plan is to ﬁnd a way to recruit some of them back. As the saying goes, One is obliged to help in return after receiving something, as long as a third of them are willing to Follow me wholeheartedly, my investment will have paid off.”

Yun Li shrugged and said: “Well, I’m just your Follower, if you’re willing to make that kind of investment, I will do as you say. Since you asked me to stay here, I can just stay here as a teacher. However, I will not be teaching anything, and will be researching on Consolidating Equipment Scrolls still.”

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “No problems, the reason I asked you to enter the school was mostly to help protect my classmates, and not let them be bullied by the noble students. Come on, let’s discuss on the best designs for their Consolidated Equipment.”

Yun Li nodded, he was naturally most interested in anything to do with Consolidating Equipment Scrolls.

After much discussions, the fact was proven that indeed Yun Li’s experience was a lot greater and more varied than Zhou Weiqing’s, especially in terms of design. According to the information provided by the commoner students, analysing and trying to ﬁnd a most suitable ﬁt for them, the two of them started designing the various scrolls. Their whole night was spent discussing and designing. Zhou Weiqing learned much from Yun Li, especially the experience in using the most basics to complete designs, that was extremely valuable experience. However, at the same time, Yun Li also learnt a lot from Zhou Weiqing, with his various strange and peculiar ideas which seemed to leap around, as well as Zhou Weiqing’s sect’s unique creation methods. In short, both beneﬁtted greatly from that night’s work. In the next two days, Zhou Weiqing ended up just skipping lessons using the Heavenly Jewel Tournament as an excuse. Besides bringing Yun Li to see Cai Cai once in order to conﬁrm his hiring as an assistant teacher, as well as going out for meals, both he and Ming Li barely rested for four hours per

day, and that was usually spent in cultivation. The rest of the time, they were all spent designing and creating Scrolls.

In terms of design, Zhou Weiqing was far from Yun Li. However, when it came to actual creation, even ten of Yun Li was no match for Zhou Weiqing. In a short span of three days, Yun Li had only creating three sets of Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, while Zhou Weiqing had already completed twenty seven sets, not only successfully meeting all the current requirements of the commoner students, but with some spare to boot!

Zhou Weiqing left these extra scrolls with Yun Li, for him to use to purchase materials while he was gone.

When Zhou Weiqing entered the commoner class once more, he was almost chased out… as his appearance was almost so different that he couldn’t be recognized.

His clothes were all dirty, with many places stained with Consolidating Ink – which was almost impossible to wash out. His hair totally messy, and even with beard and mustache growing out. Furthermore, a person who hadn’t bathed for three days, how could he smell good? Although it wasn’t at the level of having his socks stick to the walls, it was already quite a sight…

“Little Fatty, are you okay?” Shangguan Bing’er ignored the ﬁlth on Zhou Weiqing, as she asked with an aching heart. The others might only notice his clothes and hair, but Shangguan Bing’er could clearly see that in these three days, Zhou Weiqing had lost weight substantially.

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “No problem, no problem at all. These few days, I have indeed accomplished much. Don’t stare at me like that, isn’t it all because of you all. Come come, it’s time to give out Scrolls, everyone has their own!” These few days, he had indeed accomplished a lot, and his personal gain was also huge. After the mutual learning with Yun Li, added on to his powerful Time Attribute, Zhou Weiqing could clearly feel that he had improved drastically. His Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls were almost in some ways equal to High Level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, especially in terms of Consolidating success rate, improving from the usual 3 in a thousand chance to almost 7-8 in a thousand chance. As soon as he improved a little more, he was very close to breaking through to the High Level Consolidating Equipment Master rank! Hearing that it was time to distribute Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, a spark grew in all the students’ eyes. This time, Zhou Weiqing gave out almost twenty sets of scrolls. Besides the few Elemental Jewel Masters, only Shangguan Bing’er, Yan Zhexi and Ma Qun, the three Heavenly Jewel Masters did not get Scrolls.

Yan Zhexi and Ma Qun did not question them. Both of them had easily guessed that Zhou Weiqing did not give them their scrolls now in order to create stronger ones for them in the future… perhaps even an entire Set!

Ming Hua had arrived midway when Zhou Weiqing was giving out the scrolls. Looking at him grinning away as he gave out the scrolls to the Physical Jewel Master students, Ming Hua suddenly felt a cold fear grip her heart. She could clearly see the fanaticism arise in the students’ eyes as they received their Consolidating Equipment Scrolls. It wasn’t a fanaticism towards the Scrolls in their hands, but towards Zhou Weiqing, their monitor! After all, they were all commoners! This was the ﬁrst time that each and everyone of them had their own Consolidating Equipment Scroll. Just like how a girl’s ﬁrst time was most memorable to her, without question, this class monitor Zhou Weiqing had branded a seal in each of his classmate’s hearts… an unbreakable seal!

Chapter 64 Fei Li Battle Team

“When you all are about to Consolidate the Scrolls, I recommend that you should meditate for a few hours and bring yourself to top condition before you do so. You will want to be able to fully focus and concentrate when Consolidating, to feel the every change, ﬂow and movement of your Heavenly Energy. Once you immerse your mind and soul into it, your chances of succeeding will be higher. You must remember, although there are a hundred scrolls in every Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Scroll set, it does not guarantee a hundred percent success. As such, you should treasure every scroll and try to ensure your success. When I return, I hope to see that everyone of you has their ﬁrst Consolidated Equipment. At the same time, our class will soon have an assistant teacher, as I mentioned before. He is also a Consolidating Equipment Master, and if you all have any questions in this area, you can ask him. That fellow is sleeping right now, and I estimate that he’ll probably sleep for two days before he wakes up.”

Indeed, Yun Li was now in deep sleep in the dormitory, while Zhou Weiqing was standing here with dark circles around his eyes. After giving out all the Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, he relaxed. With Ming Hua and Yun Li here, along with the protection from the Academy, the commoner students were not likely to suffer any bullying. Furthermore, their ﬁghting spirit had been sparked, and anyone who tried to bully them would have a ﬁght on their hands indeed.

“Bing’er, I’m heading back home to take a bath ﬁrst. If the Principal sends someone to look for us, just get him to wait a while. Brothers and Sisters, I am heading off ﬁrst. You all can wait for great news about your Class Monitor’s exploits on the ﬁeld of the Grand Heavenly Jewel Master Tournament! Hahaha!” As he said that, Zhou Weiqing ran off quickly.

This time, Zhou Weiqing did not even bother leaping across the walls. With his current look, most people who weren’t familiar with him would not be able to recognize him.

Quickly rushing home, he took a cold bath before changing into a set of clean clothes. However, this time, he did not wear his school uniform. After that, he headed back to the academy, vaulting over the wall once more. These few days, the Little White Tiger Fat Cat had always been together with him, and was currently sleeping in his bosom.

As they leaving today, Shangguan Bing’er also brought Da Huang and Er Huang together. Perhaps it was because of constant exposure to Little Fat Cat, these two large fellows also loved sleeping. Each time they slept, it was almost for several days, and because they ate so much, they grew extremely quickly.

By the time Zhou Weiqing returned to the Academy, he saw Shangguan Bing’er and Ye Paopao waiting t the front gate. Beside them stood the Dean of Students, Dean Xiao. Ye Paopao was still dressed in his school uniform, and was not carrying bag, clearly equipped with a Spatial Item. Zhou Weiqing had heard from Kou Rui that Ye Paopao was actually the eldest grandson of the Prime Minister of the Fei Li Empire. He was considered and being groomed to be the successor of the Ye Family, and was deﬁnitely the most promising and outstanding amongst the youths of the Ye Family. This was also one of the reasons why he had such a status in the Fei Li Military Academy.

By now, it had just entered the autumn season; although it was still relatively hot, it was already starting to cool down. At such an early hour of the morning, the air was clear and fresh, especially with the close proximity to the Fei Li Lake, causing the air to be damp and cooling, giving them a refreshing feeling. “Dean Xiao, good morning.” Zhou Weiqing went forward and bowed to Xiao Shi.

Xiao Shi smiled faintly and said: “This time, the three of you will be representing our academy to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament. Although you are only substitutes, you are still representing our academy, and more importantly, representing the entire Fei Li Empire. All of you are intelligent young kids, so I will not emphasize any further. Amongst the three of you, Ye Paopao is the eldest, so he will be your leader during this period. At the same time, you all must maintain good relations with the members of the main team from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy; do not clash with them and try to coordinate well with them.”

The three of them exchanged glances, before nodding to Xiao Shi, who then took out a card and handed it to Ye Paopao. “He is two thousand gold coins, meant for emergency funds for during your three months. It isn’t much, but it’s just a token from the Academy. The team uniform will be given out at the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy later. Alright, that’s it, let’s head out.”

The Heavenly Jewel Master Academy was very close to the Fei Li Military Academy, barely a few walls apart. Although the entire student population of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy barely numbered more than a hundred, the size of their academy was no smaller than the Fei Li Military Academy. Heavenly Jewel Masters were after all considered the cream of the crop amongst Jewel Masters, and not only did their Academy not have any school fees, their students actually received some form of pocket money. Some especially talented and outstanding students actually got their Consolidating Equipment and Skill Storing paid for and handled by the academy. Even the living accommodations of the dorms were much better, with each student have their own large personal room, unlike the shared living accommodations of the Fei Li Military Academy.

After Xiao Shi led the three of them over to the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, they saw a teacher standing outside the gate waiting for them.

The waiting teacher looked to be about forty years of age, a stable solid countenance with a dependable air about him. When he spotted Xiao Shi, he headed forward with a big smile on his face; at the same time, his gaze swept across the three young students.

Although he did not particularly reveal his aura of power, but when his gaze swept past them, Zhou Weiqing and the others could feel a sense of pressure, proving how powerful that teacher was.

“Dean Xiao, good to see you, we have troubled you to escort your students over.” The teacher said politely to Xiao Shi.

Xiao Shi laughed and said: “No problems at all, that is my duty. This has to do with our Empire’s reputation and honour after all, and it is also both our academy’s honour. The Principal asked me to bring these kids over, I will have to trouble Teacher Li to take good care of them.”

Zhou Weiqing had been looking at this Teacher Li all this time, and he noticed a ﬂash of disdain spark in his eyes when Xiao Shi spoke about the honour of both academies. Clearly, he did not think much about them.

Teacher Li said: “Dean Xiao is too courteous. I shall go ahead and bring them in then. This Tournament, our team is being led by our top student. He actually attended the previous round of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, and we have much conﬁdence in him and his leadership, and we will not be sending a teacher along.” When Xiao Shi heard that, he couldn’t help but exclaim in shock: “To have a student lead the team without an accompanying teacher? Isn’t that too careless?”

A ﬂash of pride appeared in Teacher Li’s eyes, as he said: “Our top student has been praised many times by our Principal, and more importantly, his power is probably no lesser than mine. After this Heavenly Jewel Tournament, he will also graduate. Perhaps, this round, under his leadership, it might be time for our Empire to shine, perhaps even with the possibility of entering the top four.”

Xiao Shi couldn’t help but feel surprised. After all, he knew that this Teacher Li was one of the top powerhouses amongst the six-Jeweled High Level Zun Stage Heavenly Jewel Masters, although he had not reached the Zong Stage yet. Even so, for him to praise a student like that, it could be seen how outstanding that student was.

As such, Xiao Shi smiled and said without a change of expression: “If that is true, we are lucky to beneﬁt from association. Teacher Li, I will take my leave now then.”

That Teacher Li bowed slightly in return, watching Xiao Shi leave, his smile also vanishing at the same time as he nodded towards Zhou Weiqing and the rest and said: “Come, follow me.” After saying that, he turned around and left.

Ye Paopao’s faint voice sounded in Zhou Weiqing’s ear: “Little bro, do not feel out of sorts from that. The Heavenly Jewel Master Academy has always been like that, but they can back that attitude with their power. It can be said that most of the powerhouses in our Fei Li Empire has come from that Academy.”

Zhou Weiqing nodded slightly. Conﬁdence comes from Power, that was a principle he could understand.

Teacher Li did not even turn his head around once as he led the three of them deeper into the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy. The main building of the academy was not as huge as the Fei Li Military Academy’s, but their ﬁelds and sports grounds were much larger, being divided into several sections, though they could not tell what each section was for yet.

The Teacher Li led them forward all the way to the center of the ﬁeld before ﬁnally stopping and saying: “The three of you, wait here. The main team members will soon join you here before you all set of. Remember, your actions represent our Fei Li Empire’s honour, you do not need to ﬁght any battles, but you all better be careful with your mouths and actions, and do not cause any trouble or impede the main team. Otherwise, even if you aren’t from our academy, we will still punish you severely when you return. Understand?”

A sharp, forceful gaze shot forth from Teacher Li’s eyes, and an invisible pressure seemed to tighten around Zhou Weiqing and the rest of them. Ye Paopao quickly said: “We understand.”

On hearing that, Teacher Li ﬁnally left, expressionless.

After he had left, Ye Paopao said rather helplessly: “The are indeed from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, full of pride and arrogance. Weiqing, what do you think of that Teacher Li’s cultivation level?”

Zhou Weiqing’s face was peaceful. After all, he was used to such gazes from a young age, being looked down upon was something he could easily ignore.

With a smile on his face, he said: “That Teacher Li’s cultivation level should be very high. My estimate is that he is at least at the ﬁve, probably six-Jeweled level.” Ye Paopao nodded and said: “I’ve heard that the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy’s recruitment is extremely stringent. Not only do the students’ cultivation level have to be at least of the two-Jeweled stage, they must also go through a series of extremely strict tests. If their Stored Skills or Consolidated Equipments are trash, they may be rejected from the academy. As for teachers who are actually able to be hired here, the minimum requirement is at least ﬁve-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Masters. It can be said that the academy only has the elites among all elites. Our Academy produces the most generals, while this place is the birthplace of many a power house. Luckily, we are complementary and not competing, otherwise, their attitudes towards us might be even worse. Earlier, that Teacher Li said that this time the leader will be the top student of their Academy… Could it be him?”

“Him? Who is him?” Zhou Weiqing asked curiously.

Ye Paopao paused, and said: “I’ve heard that there is this young talent from the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy. In the past, when he entered, he was already at a three-Jeweled cultivation level at such a young age, and after the ﬁrst year, he actually broke through to the four-Jeweled level. By now… he is probably at least ﬁve-Jeweled, otherwise that Teacher Li wouldn’t say he could ﬁght with him. This top student usually keeps a very low proﬁle, and although I have tried to investigate more about him, I have not been able to ﬁnd anything out. The Heavenly Jewel Master Academy has deﬁnitely protected him and his secrets well. In fact, after my father found out about my investigations, he gave me a huge scolding. It looks like today we will ﬁnally be able to meet this legendary person.”

Just as he ﬁnished speaking, ﬁve people walked out of the main building, heading towards them. The ﬁve of them were all dressed in a dark green, tight ﬁtting outﬁt. Amongst them, the one right in the middle, ahead of the pack, had a gold lining around his clothes, while the others had a silver lining embroidered around. Around their left chest, there was a small gold symbol of the Cross Sword, about the size of an egg, and the entire attire gave them a valiant, inspiring look.

Among the ﬁve, the most eye-catching one was the person right on the left. That person was almost two metres tall, wide shoulders and solid looking, with a pair of huge hands that was just so striking. The crux of the matter was that this huge person was actually a girl, the only girl among the ﬁve!

If we were to talk about looks, this female student was deﬁnitely not ugly. In fact, the opposite was true. She had a pair of large eyes, and a soft, gentle well rounded face, with well deﬁned and good looking features. However, when you took into account her immense body, that was rather shocking. That ﬁgure could not be called voluptuous, perhaps the word explosive would do it justice.

Without question, this female student was the one which drew the most attention, however Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er’s gaze did not stay on her for long before they turned their gaze away, instantly landing on the leading person right in the middle. That was because, this was a person they actually recognized! It was Lin TianAo, the Five-Jeweled Ultimate Defense Heavenly Jewel Master with the ﬁve-Jeweled Assembly Set Consolidated Equipment who had bet with Zhou Weiqing and Yun Li… and lost!

“Why is it him?” Shangguan Bing’er couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.

Zhou Weiqing quickly turned to her, motioning to her, and she immediately calmed down, keeping quiet.

Ye Paopao looked at them curiously and said: “You recognize them? These ﬁve should be the main members of the our empire’s Heavenly Jewel Tournament battle team.”

Zhou Weiqing said: “I have seen the one in the middle once before, could it be he is the leader of the team?”

By now, Lin TianAo had led the other four and walked to them. Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er had recognized him, and he had naturally also recognized them, and was currently staring a little dazedly at them. As both sides got closer, out of the other four members, only the female student looked at them interestedly, while the other three just looked bored and uncaring.

As Lin TianAo stopped, Ye Paopao headed in front to greet him. “Hello, my name is Ye Paopao. The three of us are the representatives from the Fei Li Military Academy and will be joining you in attending the Heavenly Jewel Tournament. Please do take care of us.”

Lin TianAo nodded and extended his right hand to Ye Paopao as he said: “Welcome.”

Zhou Weiqing grinned at him and said: “The Heavenly Jewel Tournament is the thing you mentioned you had to handle for three months?”

Lin TianAo nodded and said: “You are actually a student of the Fei Li Military Academy?”

Zhou Weiqing smiled and said: “Indeed, I’m the monitor of commoner class one, Zhou Weiqing. Hello everyone.” Lin TianAo’s mouth twitched a little as he thought to himself

– Not only is he from the Fei Li Military Academy, but only Year One? With that talent and cultivation level, why didn’t he join the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy instead! Alas, no matter what, a loss was a loss, and he could do nothing about

it.

Another huge, well built student standing next to Lin TianAo said curiously: “Leader, you know him?”

Lin TianAo nodded, and was about to open his mouth, but Zhou Weiqing quickly said: “I was lucky to meet Leader Lin brieﬂy a few days back in the Trade Center.” As he said that, he quickly gave Lin TianAo a subtle signal.

Although Lin TianAo did not know why Zhou Weiqing wanted to keep their connection hidden, he was more than happy to comply. After all, this Heavenly Jewel Tournament was extremely important to him, and he did not want anything to possibly affect it adversely.

Giving Zhou Weiqing a deep meaningful look, Lin TianAo said: “Let me introduce everyone.” As he said that, he pointed to the ‘large beauty’, and said: “This is Crow, 21 years old, and also our only ﬁrst year student in the team. She has only joined our academy this year, and has an extremely powerful Strength Attribute. Upper level Shi Heavenly Jewel Master, 3-Jewels.”

Crow? For a girl to have such a name, Zhou Weiqing was rather surprised. Although he loved beauties, with her sheer size, she just wasn’t his type.

Crow smiled and said: “Hello everyone.” Her voice was deeper than most girls, but had a unique quality about it.

Next, Lin TianAo pointed to the person standing beside Crow, a skinny youth who had such a huge contrast in stature with her, only 1.5 metres tall. “We all call him Little Four, you can all call him that too. Lower Level Zun Stage Heavenly Jewel Master, Four-Jewels.”

Little Four did not say anything, just grinning as he swept his gaze across the three of them, and instantly all three of them felt a chill, as if having been locked on by a venomous snake.

Lin TianAo then pointed to the large fellow who had asked him the question earlier. “This is Ah Bao, we all call him Drunken Bao. Besides an over- strong love for his beers, he doesn’t have any other ﬂaws. Mid Level Zun stage Heavenly Jewel Master, Five-Jewels.” Next was the last student, who did not have any particularly outstanding features, with an ordinary face, ordinary stature. His eyes seemed emotionless, and he stood there like a wooden block. “Xiao Yan, Mid Level Zun stage Heavenly Jewel Master, Five-Jewels.”

Finally, he gave a self introduction. “My name is Lin TianAo, and I’ll be the team leader for this Tournament’s Fei Li Battle Team.”

Zhou Weiqing listened to his introduction quietly, at the same time observing the ﬁve in front of him. He found that besides Lin TianAo, the person who gave him the most dangerous feeling was the one called Xiao Yan. Although he seemed emotionless, he gave Zhou Weiqing a feeling like he was melded with the surroundings. Such a person might seem very normal, but was usually one of the most dangerous sorts.

Lin TianAo narrowed his eyes, a brilliant light shooting forth from them as he said solemnly: “Without any exaggeration, it can be said that this is possibly the strongest battle team ever ﬁelded by our Academy. Our goal is simple, to enter the top four.”

If previously Zhou Weiqing and Ye Paopao had some thoughts regarding the competency of the main team members, after seeing the ﬁve and listening to Lin TianAo’s introductions, they knew that these ﬁve were deﬁnitely extraordinary. There wasn’t much else to say about the ﬁve- Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Masters, for someone of less than thirty years of age to reach such a cultivation level, that just showed their power and talent! As for that Four-Jeweled Little Four, just from his stature, he was probably an agility or speed type with an extremely talent in that area. As for Crow, being able to represent the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy at just a Three-Jeweled cultivation level, she must have something special to offer as well.

As the leader of the Fei Li Military Academy team members, Ye Paopao quickly said: “Hello everyone, we are pleased to meet you all. We’re from the Fei Li Military Academy, and I’ll do a quick introduction as well. This is Zhou Weiqing, High Level Shi Heavenly Jewel Master, three Jewels. This is Shangguan Bing’er… uhh… Lady Bing’er, I’m afraid I do not know what your cultivation level is?”

Shangguan Bing’er smiled and said: “I also have three- Jewels, High Level Shi Heavenly Jewel Master.”

Ye Paopao nodded and said: “As for myself, I’m Ye Paopao, four-Jewels, Lower Level Zun Stage Heavenly Jewel Master. For the next three months, we will be following you all to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, please do take care of us.”

The skinny student called Little Four twisted his mouth in scorn and said: “Do not need to speak such pretty words, you all are just substitutes, mostly here to watch the ﬁghts, and not to join in. Know your own positions, and do not cause trouble for us.”

A cold light entered Ye Paopao’s eyes as his gaze hardened. He was after all the leader of the noble students, and was also the grandson of the Prime Minister of the Fei Li Empire, and he had never been looked down upon like that before. He had already been extremely polite and patient, but Little Four’s words were extremely provoking. If he continued holding back, he wouldn’t be Ye Paopao, the future leader of the Ye Family.

“We know our own positions well enough, and we’re not here to try to ﬁght with you or snatch any glory. However, do remember, we are also here to represent the Fei Li Military Empire. Perhaps our ﬁghting capabilities might not be as strong as you all, but as a soldier, if you continue insulting us, then we will be mortal enemies.” Ye Paopao said the last few words resolutely, in a steely tone, as the aura of a noble used to being in charge extended out.

This was also the ﬁrst time that Zhou Weiqing had seen Ye Paopao like that, and he nodded inwardly to himself. This Ye Paopao was indeed not to be triﬂed with, just that pressure from his aura alone, that was not something any ordinary person could withstand.

Little Four’s expression changed. “Hmph, mortal enemies, I’d like to see…” Just as he said, he was interrupted by Lin TianAo’s severe glare.

Lin TianAo said solemnly: “No matter main team or substitute, from this moment onwards, we are now teammates and companions. We need to work together to reach our goal, and I will deﬁnitely not allow any inﬁghting to cause any problems for us.”

Little Four glanced at Ye Paopao once more, his eyes full of cold disdain.

Right at that moment, Zhou Weiqing suddenly spoke out lazily. Yawning, he walked over to Ye Paopao’s side. At that point, his appearance was nothing to be praised about. Although he had washed up and changed to a fresh set of clothing, there was no hiding the gaunt look and dark circles around his eyes. He had not slept for the last few days, and his spirit and energy was extremely low.

“Leader Lin, before leaving, I have a question to ask you.” Zhou Weiqing stretched lazily as he turned to Lin TianAo and asked.

Lin TianAo’s gaze turned to him. After losing to Zhou Weiqing, he had been in a rather bad mood the last few days, but could do nothing about it. After all, he already had the seal, and there was no way of breaking it. Attending this Heavenly Jewel Tournament could be said to be his last wish before joining Zhou Weiqing and keeping his promise, who knew he would meet this rascal here again. Towards Zhou Weiqing’s scheming, he was rather afraid, especially afraid he would ruin their Tournament chances this time. Hearing his words, he immediately asked solemnly: “What question?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “I just wanted to ask, is the determining of main team members and substitute members a matter of power and strength? If a main team member is weaker than the substitute… should there be a swap of positions?” Little Fire Lin TianAo started, looking at Zhou Weiqing searchingly, a hint of hesitation in his eyes. Amongst all the people in the ﬁeld, perhaps anyone else might underestimate Zhou Weiqing, but he was the last person who would. Although in terms of overall power Lin TianAo was higher than Zhou Weiqing, and he knew Zhou Weiqing would not be able to beat him. However, Lin TianAo was very clear that it was also because it was his ultimate defense just happened to be very effective against Zhou Weiqing. It could be said that they coincidentally were able to counter Zhou Weiqing’s powerful attacks and myriad of abilities. If not for that, facing Zhou Weiqing’s powerful attacks, strong control skills, and various capabilities, any normal Five-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master might not be able to defeat this fellow. If Zhou Weiqing were also at the ﬁve- Jeweled cultivation level, Lin TianAo knew that he would no longer have the conﬁdence in beating him, and even forcing a draw would be difﬁcult. As his mind raced and he thought up to this point, he suddenly realised that perhaps Zhou Weiqing joining might not be such a bad thing after all. With his various abilities completing his own, that would be extremely great for their entire team.

“Little brat, you’re just at the three-Jeweled cultivation level, and you even dare dream of trying to contend for a main team position? What a joke!” Before Lin TianAo could even open his mouth, Little Four had already spoken out mockingly. Ye Paopao did not try to stop Zhou Weiqing, instead looking coldly from the side. His understanding of Zhou Weiqing was also from hearsay, and he had not personally witnessed Zhou Weiqing’s power. Since he was willing to come forward, Ye Paopao was naturally happy to watch, especially since he was

pretty angered by their attitudes as well.

Zhou Weiqing looked towards Little Four and gave him a big grin: “Does that mean, the spots are up for contention? How about you then, shall we try it? This place is large enough. If you lose, then we’ll swap our main team and substitute positions, how about that?”

As soon as Zhou Weiqing said that, Little Four laughed, and even the large fellow whom Lin TianAo had called Drunken Bao, as well as Crow, both laughed as well. Both of them knew Little Four’s strength, furthermore it was a three-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master ﬁghting a four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master… in their eyes Zhou Weiqing was just being foolishly overconﬁdent. However, Xiao Yan still remained impassive, while Lin TianAo furrowed his brow.

With a quick ﬂash, Little Four appeared in front of Zhou Weiqing, barely one chi from him as he said: “Little brat, if I lose, I will let you have my main team position. What about if you lose?” Zhou Weiqing smiled and said: “If I lose, I will give you a set of Consolidating Equipment Scrolls created by a Consolidating Equipment Grandmaster, how about that?” As he said that, he lifted his hand to his Spatial Necklace, and a wooden box appeared in his hands.

Opening his box to reveal the Consolidating Equipment Scrolls within, Zhou Weiqing said: “This is a set of ninety nine Grandmaster Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, called the Overlord Bow. It is created for Strength Type Heavenly Jewel Masters, and although it is lacking one piece, the success rate is already very close to a hundred percent. Such a Consolidated Equipment which comes already with a socket is extremely rare, and I do not need to speak more about the value right.”

Nobody had expected that Zhou Weiqing would place such a huge bet for just the place in the main team, especially since it was just a chance at it, and in their eyes, an extremely low chance. After all, such a set of Grandmaster Consolidating Equipment Scrolls was at least ﬁve hundred thousand gold coins in the market, or perhaps even higher.

Little Four turned to look at Lin TianAo, an inquiring look in his eyes. Although Zhou Weiqing’s Overlord Bow was no use to him personally, such a set could be very valuable, either selling for gold, or more importantly, being used to change for a set of Scrolls that he could use. As such, as soon as Zhou Weiqing took it out, his eyes glowed with joy. However, he highly respected Lin TianAo and did not directly agree.

Although Lin TianAo did not understand why Zhou Weiqing want to do this, he could guess. Firstly, to gain status, and next was to become a main team member, and be able to actually join battles. Seeing Zhou Weiqing’s resolute gaze, as his Follower, what else could he do!

“Since this Little Bro Zhou wants to have a ﬁght, then you two can battle it out. Do not go all out, restrain yourselves. The bet will be as you both discussed.”

As Lin TianAo said that, Little Four’s face brightened. In his eyes, the three-Jeweled Zhou Weiqing was just like an ant. For him to be able to represent the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy for such an important tournament, he had gone through many trials and tribulations, and fought his way through nearly all the other four-Jeweled power houses in order to get this spot. Little Four had the conﬁdence that even if he were to face any ordinary ﬁve-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, he would still be able to hold his own… let alone a three-Jeweled opponent. Drunken Bao said leisurely: “I bet… ten moves. Who’ll take it?”

Xiao Yan glanced at him, and said passively: “Eight moves.”

Crow pursed her lips and said: “Seniors, you have too little conﬁdence in Little Four. I think ﬁve moves is more than enough.”

Hearing the three of them, Ye Paopao’s expression changed. These fellows truly looked down upon them… without question, they were betting on how many moves it would take for Little Four to beat Zhou Weiqing.

“I’ll bet with you all.” In that moment, a clear, enchanting voice rang out as Shangguan Bing’er stepped forth with an icy look on her face. Although she was usually gentle and kind, she could not back down when someone tried to bully her Little Fatty.

Zhou Weiqing watched on silently with his eyes narrowed, not at all worried, while Little Four gave a cold smirk. No matter who it was, looking at Shangguan Bing’er would deﬁnitely give a feeling of causing their eyes to brighten. Earlier, for the few of them besides Crow, most of their attention had been on Shangguan Bing’er. Perhaps there was a hint of wanting to show off to her when they had provoked Ye Paopao and Zhou Weiqing. Seeing Shangguan Bing’er step forward, the few of them couldn’t help but grin.

Drunken Bao grinned and said: “Beauty, how are you going to bet with us? Why are you so protective towards this little brat, he couldn’t possibly be your boyfriend right?”

Shangguan Bing’er’s gaze did not waver as she said: “He is my ﬁance.”

As soon as she said that, everyone at the other side started. From appearance alone, it was without question that Zhou Weiqing was deﬁnitely not a good match for Shangguan Bing’er, and they had never expected such an answer.

Zhou Weiqing felt a great sense of satisfaction as a smug look appeared on his face. This was the ﬁrst time that Shangguan Bing’er had actually voiced such a thing out in public. “Ahhh, it’s really a beautiful fresh ﬂower stuck in the you- know-what.” Drunken Bao said regretfully. Xiao Yan did not open his mouth, but the look in his eyes seemed rather weird. As for Crow, she looked rather puzzled, looking towards Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er, as if examining how it could be possible between the two.

Shangguan Bing’er’s voice was even colder, as if not having heard Drunken Bao’s words. “Three moves. I bet that in three moves, Little Fatty can beat your Little Four. However, my bet is really huge… do you all dare to accept the bet?”

As soon as she said that, Drunken Bao and the others started. Although it seemed to them as if Shangguan Bing’er was talking nonsense, she deﬁnitely had an imposing air about her as she spoke, that conﬁdence in her causing them to waver a little.

Xiao Yan opened his mouth at last: “What do you want to bet?” His voice was deep and low, with a rather stunning feel.

Shangguan Bing’er continued coldly: “If he does not beat Little Four in three moves, both of us will be willing to become your Lifetime Followers, with a lifetime Seal, and vice versa for the terms of the bet. Who is willing to accept the bet?” Hearing Shangguan Bing’er’s words, both Zhou Weiqing and Lin TianAo almost rolled their eyes. Zhou Weiqing had never expected that Shangguan Bing’er would actually learn from his actions just a few days ago.

As for Lin TianAo, his thoughts were much more complicated. At ﬁrst, he had felt that this beautiful girl who was always following Zhou Weiqing around was a gentle, innocent and naive girl, but now he felt that it was indeed true that ‘he that lies down with dogs must rise up with ﬂeas’ They were using this same move again, and so righteously as well; her level was deﬁnitely higher than Zhou Weiqing’s! He did not feel like Shangguan Bing’er was taking any risk at all. After all, just a few days ago, didn’t the exact same thing happen to him when he thought he had a certain victory in his bag? Alas, the ﬁnal result was clear. This husband and wife pair deﬁnitely wouldn’t do anything they didn’t have a ﬁrm grasp of. Lin TianAo was extremely clear about Little Four’s abilities, and although he was very powerful, he was still far from reaching Lin TianAo himself. If he himself could be tricked by Zhou Weiqing, how could Little Four possibly win?

Of course, Lin TianAo did not attempt to remind his brother in arms. Not because he was an indifferent or uncaring person, but because he was already Zhou Weiqing’s Follower. No matter what, he had to put Zhou Weiqing’s gain at the forefront. To put it bluntly, he was no longer the Lin TianAo of the past, but the new him has a master now.

“I will bet with you!” Before anyone else could open their mouths, Little Four had ran over urgently and yelled out. He had never expected that anyone would look down on him so much, let alone such a beauty. Three moves? She had actually said that little brat of only three-Jewels would take three moves to handle him? That was deﬁnitely an ultimate insult, and he could never stand for that!

Looking at Shangguan Bing’er, Little Four said: “If I win, I don’t need that little brat, I just want you as my Follower.”

“Hey, wait a minute! Little Four, you can’t do that. I was the one who came up with the bet ﬁrst, if you get the beauty, why should I bother betting? Who wants that little brat!” Drunken Bao said with a dissatisﬁed look on his face. However, at that point, Ye Paopao and Zhou Weiqing who had been observing coldly at the side realised that both Crow and Xiao Yan were now keeping quiet, with nary a hint that they would join in.

Shangguan Bing’er said passively: “Without considering the result of this battle, Little Fatty is a Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Master. Even though your cultivation levels might be higher than him, in the Jewel Master world, your status’ are far from his.”

Hearing the words Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Master, Drunken Bao’s eyes brightened. Everything else aside, this little brat was even younger than himself. Reaching such a Consolidating Equipment Master rank at such a young age, what would he be in the future? Perhaps even a Grandmaster Consolidating Equipment Master or better!

If he could get such a Follower, that would be an immense gain!

Lin TianAo sighed inwardly. He knew that at this moment, both Drunken Bao and Little Four had fallen into the trap. Just like he himself had been a few days ago, they were only looking at their possible gains, and not the hidden danger behind this enticing bet.

Chapter 65 My luck is just too good?

“I’ll bet, I’ll bet! We can discuss how we split the gains later, let’s place the bet ﬁrst.” Drunken Bao said hurriedly, unable to hold himself back. Such an amazing beauty like Shangguan Bing’er, and a Heavenly Jewel Master to boot, and a Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Master like Zhou Weiqing… in his and Little Four’s eyes, this was an amazing win for them! Furthermore, with Little Four taking part in the bet, he was deﬁnitely conﬁdent that Little Four would not go easy, and this was a deﬁnitely win. Under such a mindset, he did not hesitate a bit, and agreed to the bet.

By now, Ye Paopao had noticed something, but he did not say anything. Although Little Four and Drunken Bao were more powerful than him, in terms of experience and worldly knowledge, they were far from being able to match him. Ye Paopao clearly knew that with great gains, also came great risk. As such, no matter which side would win the bet, he would stay clear of it. In his heart, he could sense that Shangguan Bing’er and Zhou Weiqing had something up their sleeves. Perhaps it could have been argued that Shangguan Bing’er was just being impulsive, but since Zhou Weiqing did not stop her, that in itself spoke volumes. However, despite that, Ye Paopao did not join in the bet. After all, the terms of the bet was Lifetime Following, how could he possibly do such a thing, unless he had gone crazy! As such, he just watched on from the side. After all, no matter who won the bet, it wouldn’t affect him in any way.

Xiao Yan looked to Drunken Bao and said solemnly: “Think twice before you act.”

Alas, by now Ah Bao could not possibly imagine them losing the bet, and he just laughed heartily and said: “I believe in Little Four. Little Four, it’s just three moves right, even if you can’t beat him, you can easily run away.”

Little Four said angrily: “Run away? Do you really think he can beat me? Hmph, they’re just trying to trick us into being afraid, if I fall for their trick, how can I hold my head up in the future? Boss, come and be the judge, if the bet ends and they try to break their word, you have to intervene.”

Lin TianAo furrowed his brow and said: “Are you all sure of this?”

Little Four and Drunken Bao nodded without any hesitation, and Lin TianAo turned to look at Zhou Weiqing, a questioning look in his eyes. Zhou Weiqing smiled and said: “Since my wife has requested for the bet, how can I refuse it? Come on then.” He was the only one who knew why Shangguan Bing’er had so much conﬁdence in him.

Lin TianAo said solemnly: “In that case, both of you make a vow to your Personal Power Jewels, so no one can break their word after the competition.”

As such, the four of them did as suggested, taking the oath on their Power Jewels. It could be said that both sides were extremely conﬁdent in themselves, and at this moment there was no backing down.

Currently, the entire ﬁeld of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy was extremely quiet, and the others had backed to the side. As the judge, Lin TianAo stood close to them, not just as the arbiter of the ﬁght, but also ready to jump in to prevent any real injuries.

If it were any normal circumstance, as the team leader, Lin TianAo would never allow such inﬁghting to happen. However, now, as Zhou Weiqing’s Lifetime Follower, he would not stop something that Zhou Weiqing really wanted to do. Zhou Weiqing and Little Four stood about twenty yards apart, while Lin TianAo stood at the side, in between them. By this time, both Zhou Weiqing and Little Four had released their Heavenly Jewels, though both had their sleeves covering their Elemental Jewels, not allowing their opponent to see their Attributes.

Lin TianAo said solemnly: “Are you both ready?”, to which both nodded in conﬁrmation.

Lin TianAo then shouted out: “Very well, then Begin!”

As soon as the shout rang out, Little Four shouted out loud: “Incoming!” A powerful and intense aura erupted from him, as a strong ripple of Heavenly Energy burst forth in a thick white light. His body instantly bounded up, as if he were a jumping ﬂea leaping forth in an amazing feat. However, to everyone’s surprise, this Little Four who seemed to hate Zhou Weiqing so much and want to beat him up actually leapt backwards. Two green lights shone forth, consolidating into two gold wings around his back as he jumped, and as they ﬂapped swiftly, they brought him backward into the air.

“Damn, that’s so shameless!” Even with Ye Paopao’s steady character, he couldn’t help but cry out at that. As for Drunken Bao who was standing beside him, he smirked coldly. “Taking care of Little Four in three moves? Even our Boss cannot handle that. Little Four’s greatest strength is ability to dodge, and he is also the only one amongst us who has the ability to ﬂy temporarily. With him in midair, I’d like to see how a three- Jeweled little brat like you can win in three moves.”

Ye Paopao turned to look towards Shangguan Bing’er, but he was surprised to see that she did not look worried at all, instead with a faint, conﬁdent smile on her face.

Little Four’s pair of wings was not a single Consolidated Equipment piece, but two, and was a very rare type of set. The only use it has was to let him ﬂy in the air when infused with Heavenly Energy, as well as a long time of training. The wings would not just allow him to ﬂy, but also perform agile evasive maneuvers in mid air, as well as acceleration, and he was able to use it in tandem with his other abilities, forming a unique ﬁghting style of his own. However, at this moment, he did not even think of ﬁghting Zhou Weiqing directly.

Although previously it seemed that Little Four and Drunken Bao were very rash and impulsive, jumping into the bet like that, but in truth, these two fellows were actually very shrewd. Three moves? No matter what special abilities you have, as long as I do not keep in contact with you, how can you possibly beat me in three moves? That was their thought process indeed. As such, as soon as the ﬁght started, Little Four made use of his Dragonstone Jade Physical Jewel’s speed advantage to jump away. Along with his wings, he instantaneously widened the gap between them to almost ﬁfty yards, a distance that even most Elemental Jewel Skills would not be able to reach.

When Little Four leapt backwards, Zhou Weiqing was actually caught by surprise. However, when he saw Little Four soar into the air, he laughed. He did not seem urgent at all, as he coolly lifted his right hand. At the same time, the judge of the match, Lin TianAo, closed his eyes. The instant that Little Four jumped up and ﬂew into the air, Lin TianAo knew that the winner had been determined. If Little Four had chosen to charge forward and ﬁght head-on, he might actually have some chance to win the bet. However, in chosing to dodge, he had fallen right into Zhou Weiqing’s hands. After all, he was an archer! No matter how fast Little Four ﬂew, in such a short period of time he would never be able to ﬂy out of Zhou Weiqing’s shooting range. Furthermore, Zhou Weiqing’s Consolidated Equipment Bow still had two sockets!

As the icy mist gathered and the Overlord Bow appeared in Zhou Weiqing’s hands, the smile on Drunken Bao’s face slowly vanished. Both he and Little Four had estimated various possibilities of Zhou Weiqing’s powers, but they had overlooked the possibility that he would be an archer. Bow drawn to the max, Zhou Weiqing’s gaze ﬁxated on the airborne Little Four. At the same time, Little Four also spotted the bow in his hands, and fear gripped his heart. However, he was still a powerhouse in the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, no matter what circumstances he faced, he did not panic. So

what if he was an archer, he just had to avoid three arrows, and he would still be able to get the victory.

A loud shrill sound rang out as the arrow shot into sky like a bolt of lightning, and the onlookers could only see the air distort and warp slightly, as the arrow shot from the Overlord Bow reached Little Four.

Although Little Four had already ﬂown quite a distance in that short period of time, but it was deﬁnitely not yet a hundred yards yet. At such a close distance, trying to dodge the arrows from the Overlord Bow was not something easy!

However, at that moment, Little Four proved to the audience that even if something is difﬁcult, it isn’t impossible. In a ﬂash of silver light, his body actually disappeared.

Ye Paopao and Shangguan Bing’er both cried out in surprise: “Blink!” Right up to that point, this was the ﬁrst time that Little Four had revealed his Elemental Jewel. Indeed, his Elemental Jewel was not the Wind Attribute like Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er had guessed, but was the Spatial Attribute! When Zhou Weiqing lifted the Overlord Bow, he had started making preparations, and without a moment of hesitation, he managed to dodge the ﬁrst arrow.

That single blink brought him ten yards away; clearly Little Four’s Blink Skill had a greater effect than Zhou Weiqing’s, due to his Four-Jeweled cultivation level.

At that point, Little Four was gloating in his heart. Three moves? Even if it’s thirty moves, I still will not lose! Not only do I have Blink, I have other more powerful Spatial Attack moves. Hmph. No matter how fast or powerful your arrows are, I will not lose to you. Three-Jeweled vs Four-Jeweled, this is just the difference in power!

Alas, just as he was basking in his own praise, the audience below were suddenly shocked. The reason was because they could clearly see Zhou Weiqing’s arrow suddenly stop in midair, and it actually stopped right at where Little Four had been earlier, as if the arrow was meant to stop as soon as it hit him. Only Shangguan Bing’er was clear that this was a type of archery technique, to control the distance of the shot arrow, and it was a skill that both of them were able to pull off easily.

In the next moment, what truly caused them to be surprised was the twelve black lights that shone forth like tentacles, each almost thirty-ﬁve yards long. At that point, Little Four had that gloating grin on his face, and the next instant the grin froze awkwardly as a black tentacle wrapped around his entire body and wings.

That was not the only thing. As the black tentacles were released, there was also the sound of lightning crackling, and all of the sudden, the entire area in a hundred yard diameter was lit up in a shocking blue light. As the blue bolts of lightning crackled and twisted like snakes, causing a series of explosions in the sky. Due to his conﬁdence in his Blink Skill, Little Four did not manage to react in time, and his entire body was enveloped in the blue lights right after being wrapped by the black tentacle, shocking him til his hair stood up as if he had been fried, as white smoke rose from around him.

At the same time, Zhou Weiqing’s second arrow reached him. This time, Little Four was unable to react due him being controlled. Without any other option, he could only use his skills defensively, and a small and exquisite looking shield appeared in front of his chest, and a layer of silver light also shone forth around him. At the same time, he struggled to break free of the black tentacles.

With a huge explosion, the Overlord Bow’s arrow had a powerful piercing strength, added to its inbuilt explosive capabilities, the silver light around Little Four shattered. The strangest thing was that his body seemed to freeze, and the little shield and the wings behind his back both disappeared, and he plummeted down from the skies. At nearly a height of a hundred yards, if he really fell down, it would deﬁnitely kill him.

These two arrows of Zhou Weiqing’s might seem rather simple, but in truth there were many profound subtle secrets and foresight hidden behind them. When Little Four ﬂew into the air, Zhou Weiqing had already guessed that he would have some sort of escape or dodging powers. As such, his ﬁrst arrow had been imbued with two area of effect (AOE) skills.

One was of course the AOE skill, the Touch of Darkness, and the other was his only AOE attacking skill, Thousand Lightning Strikes. Both were not very powerful, but their strength lay in their large area of effect.

As expected, Little Four had an evasion skill, and it was even Zhou Weiqing’s favourite Blink skill. However, even the Blink skill was not sufﬁcient to bring him out of the range of the Touch of Darkness’ area of effect, and he had been caught and bound at the edge. The next Thousand Lightning Strikes had then hit him, and although it wasn’t sufﬁcient to even harm him a little, it had numbed him for a split second, causing the Heavenly Energy in his body to lose control for a short time.

That short period of time was more than sufﬁcient for Zhou Weiqing’s second arrow to reach him, and both effects combined were more than enough to cause Little Four to be unable to dodge it, and could only block it. However, by that time, no matter what defense he put up was already pointless. That was because that second arrow had been imbued with two Absolute skills – Absolute Delay and the Heavenly Lightning Shock. The Absolute Delay would ensure that Little Four would remained controlled even if he managed to break free of the Touch of Darkness, while the Heavenly Lightning Shock would

instantly break the Consolidated Wings and Shield that he was using. Men were not birds after all, and without the wings, no matter how powerful Little Four was, he would be helpless in midair. His genius plan of ﬂying into the sky had been great, but ultimately been his downfall.

Lin TianAo sighed before taking action, and in a ﬂash, he reached the bottom of Little Four’s falling body. With a wave of his right hand, he caught Little Four’s body, accepting the force of the fall on his behalf and protecting him.

Naturally, Zhou Weiqing did not try to stop him. By this time, the victor was clear.

Everyone’s gaze turned to the Overlord Bow in Zhou Weiqing’s hands, and besides Shangguan Bing’er and Lin TianAo who knew the truth, the rest of them instantly thought that the miraculous two arrows that Zhou Weiqing had shot forth was likely effects from this Consolidated Equipment Bow. None of them had expected Little Four to lose so easily, so quickly… it hadn’t even been three moves… to be accurate, he had lost in just two moves!

Drunken Bao’s jaw had dropped by now, his mouth gaped open large enough to ﬁt an apple, his eyes bulging from their sockets. Crow was rubbing her eyes in disbelief, as if trying to reassure herself that she was not having visions. As for Xiao Yan, his brow was furrowed as he studied Zhou Weiqing, as if deep in thought.

The effects of the skills on Little Four vanished by now, although his hair was still standing up from the lightning strike, giving him a strange appearance.

Zhou Weiqing released his Overlord Bow, smiling as he said: “Thanks for giving way, I never expected my luck to be so good, Senior Little Four actually knew I was an archer, and ﬂew into the air to become my target.”

Lin TianAo helped Little Four to his feet, who stared dazedly at Zhou Weiqing. Jumping up suddenly, he cried out angrily: “I was tricked, I can’t accept such a loss!” Everything had happened so quickly, and he had not even used any of his power before losing. He wasn’t even clear about how he lost, how could he feel convinced by the loss. After all, this was to do with his lifelong freedom!”

Right at that moment, a deep and powerful voice rang out from the main building. “TianAo, why are you all still standing around instead of leaving? Did a ﬁght occur?”

The voice gave them a rather intangible feel, seemingly coming from all directions. Everyone could clearly hear it although it wasn’t shouted, and could sense it came from the general direction of the main building, but could not tell its source.

Hearing the voice, a notion popped into Zhou Weiqing’s mind as his eyes swirled around their sockets, and he made a quick decision.

“Senior Little Four, just now we were just playing some jokes on each other. Let’s hurry up and get a move on. Look, your academy teachers are already angry.”

Little Four started, and Drunken Bao also recovered his composure. “Joke? What joke?” Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “I was saying, that bet earlier was just a joke. We still have to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, how can we let such matters affect our relations, after all we have to work together for the next three months. Leader Lin, shall we move out then?”

Seven surprised gazes fell upon Zhou Weiqing as everyone fell silent in shock. After all, that bet was clearly Zhou Weiqing’s win, yet under such a circumstance he had chosen to give it up? Drunken Bao and Little Four were some of the most talented and outstanding amongst the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy students, and at their ages reaching Lower Level and Mid Level Zun Stage respectively, how could anyone possibly give up such Followers? Yet, Zhou Weiqing had done so!

Zhou Weiqing shrugged and said: “Why are you all staring at me? I’m just speaking the truth! I’m just a student, why would I need a Follower now? I was just itching to try my hand earlier, and I was indeed just too lucky. In terms of real power, I am deﬁnitely weaker than Senior Little Four. This matter is over then, although we did swear an oath, but I can release you both from your oaths. Leader Lin, what are we still waiting for, let’s go!”

Hearing Zhou Weiqing’s words, Drunken Bao and Little Four felt as if they were lucky survivors of some disaster. Even though Little Four had jumped up earlier and shouted out that he couldn’t accept such a loss, his heart had already sank to his stomach. After all, he knew inside he had lost, and with both sides having taken their oath, and with the fair Lin TianAo as the judge, he knew he had no choice but to become Zhou Weiqing’s Follower. Who knew that Zhou Weiqing would suddenly release them from their oaths. In that instant, both Little Four and Drunken Bao had an embarrassed look on their faces, as they remained quiet.

Lin TianAo looked deeply at Zhou Weiqing before nodding and said: “Alright, let’s move out then.”

As the eight of them headed out of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, each of them were still immersed in the events of the past few minutes. No one could understand what Zhou Weiqing was thinking.

In his heart, Zhou Weiqing gave a cold laugh. The real reason he had changed his mind was because of the sudden voice questioning them. That voice had given him a chill, not only letting him feel how unbelievably powerful that person was, deﬁnitely not someone he could handle, and also given him a reminding jolt of where he was right now. This was the Fei Li Empire, right in the middle of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy! In this place, there were the most outstanding and powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters of the entire Empire, and even more so, the Skill Storing Palace Master, the Principal of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy!

Clearly, their ﬁght had drawn the attention of someone powerful, and if he insisted on making Little Four and Drunken Bao his Followers, they would have to remain in the school for quite some time. If any teachers, or worse, the Principal, came to investigate what happened, would they allow it to continue? For their Academy’s most outstanding students to become someone else’s Followers, who could stand for such a thing to happen! Even if Zhou Weiqing really managed to get the two of them as Followers, it might have future repercussions. Most importantly, Zhou Weiqing was afraid that Lin TianAo’s situation might be found out. In his heart, even adding both Little Four and Drunken Bao together, they were nothing compared to Lin TianAo in his heart. As such, he would not risk it being found out and disrupted just to gain two Followers.

Another reason was of course because of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament. If Little Four and Drunken Bao became his Followers like this, perhaps the relations between the eight might become strained, and deﬁnitely affect their unity and teamwork. Drunken Bao and Little Four might even be affected adversely and not be able to perform in ﬁghts. That was something Zhou Weiqing did not want to see.

Although these two Heavenly Jewel Masters were powerful and talented, in Zhou Weiqing’s mind, their importance was much less than Yun Li, let alone LinTianAo. Besides, no matter how important they were, he did not want to risk his Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Jewel being discovered by anyone else.

After all, the Touch of Darkness and Thousand Lightning Strikes were very obvious skills, and it might lead to the discovery of him having the Darkness and Lightning Attributes. If he continued staying in the academy grounds, who knew what else might be discovered. As long as they quickly left, Zhou Weiqing was conﬁdent in keeping it a secret. After all, no matter what, Little Four and Drunken Bao would owe him a big favour.

With all of that in mind, Zhou Weiqing had quickly decided to give up the opportunity to gain two new powerful Followers.

Just as the eight of them left the Academy grounds, right on the top of the main school building, a red robed old man walked to the window, looking at them their fading ﬁgures with a pondering look on his face. “The ﬂuctuation of Heavenly Energy isn’t very strong, but it contained the Darkness and Lightning Attributes… both extremely rare and useful attributes. It looks like this time Princess Cai Cai has found some gems, with two of the three members having such rare attributes. Too bad they did not join our Heavenly Jewel Master Academy.” As it turned out, Zhou Weiqing’s quick decision was indeed wise. This red robed old man saw that they were leaving and did not pursue the matter, and just summed the matter of the two attributes as two members having taken action.

As soon as they left the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, both Drunken Bao and Little Four walked along silently, their brows furrowed, no longer having the arrogant air as before. Xiao Yan’s gaze was constantly on Zhou Weiqing, a pondering look on his face.

On the other hand, Crow had a much more straightforward nature. As soon as they exited the academy gates, she walked up to Zhou Weiqing and clapped him on the shoulder, saying: “Brother Zhou, not bad, not bad! Being lenient when you are in the right, from now on, you are my friend.”

Being embraced by her, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but start a little. Crow’s body was just too huge, even taller than him by half a head, and clasping her hand around his shoulder was just a right ﬁt. However, that big sis had forgotten that she was after all, a girl! Her voluptuous bosom rubbed against Zhou Weiqing’s shoulder, but she was completely unaware. “Big Sis Crow, males and females shouldn’t be so close, shouldn’t you let go?” Zhou Weiqing sidled a glance at Shangguan Bing’er, afraid that she might be angry, but all he saw was her hiding a grin.

Regarding Zhou Weiqing not taking Little Four and Drunken Bao as Followers, Shangguan Bing’er did not think much aybout it. She was an intelligent girl herself, and being together with Zhou Weiqing for so long, she had a lot of conﬁdence in him. Her thinking was simple, Little Fatty deﬁnitely had his reasons for doing so.

Crow gave a humph and said: “We’re all Heavenly Jewel Masters, I’m a girl and I don’t even mind, yet you’re so shy… are you a man! Anyway, who are you calling big sis? I’m only 17 years old.”

“Uhh…” Zhou Weiqing lifted up his head in surprise to stare at Crow and her ﬁgure, his heart twisting around in surprise. You’re only seventeen and already so huge, doesn’t that mean there’s room to grow?!

“But… I’m not even seventeen years old yet!” Zhou Weiqing said with an honest smile. “What?” Crow’s eyes was ﬁlled with shock. Not just her, but everyone else also stopped and turned. Even Ye Paopao did not know Zhou Weiqing’s real age. Now that he heard that Zhou Weiqing was younger than seventeen, the expression on his face changed several times. Even worse were Little Four and Drunken Bao who had just lost their bet, both exchanged looks, with an expression on their faces like they were about to cry.

They had actually lost to a youth who wasn’t even seventeen years old!

Lin TianAo was also stunned. If Little Four, Drunken Bao, Crow, Xiao Yan, or even Ye Paopao had thought that earlier Zhou Weiqing had won by trickery, only he knew that Zhou Weiqing’s true strength was deﬁnitely much higher than Little Four’s. After all, he had clearly seen that Alexandrite Cat’s Eye for himself.

Seventeen years old… he was actually not even seventeen yet! All of a sudden, Lin TianAo relaxed, feeling that he had truly not lost in vain. This Zhou Weiqing in front of him was truly a genius among geniuses. A seventeen year old ‘normal’ High Level Shi Heavenly Jewel Master was already rare enough, let alone one of his power, and that was not even counting him being a Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Master! “Stop! I can’t stand it anymore!” Right at that moment, Drunken Bao gave a loud shout, taking two quick strides and rushing towards Zhou Weiqing, giving everyone a sudden scare. Only by then did they realise that Drunken Bao’s eyes were totally red.

“Zhou Weiqing, right! From now on, I’m your Follower. Since I’m willing to bet, I am willing to lose… who asked me to be so foolish. If I break my word, I will always remember it in my heart, and it will be my downfall. Instead of that, I might as well become your Follower.”

Little Four gave a bitter smile and said: “Bro Bao, you can you do that! If you do so, what about me?”

Drunken Bao said angrily: “Damnit! If not for you losing, how could I be in such dire straits now, how dare you ask me!? Don’t you know the Zong Stage Barrier? If I do not keep my word now, in the future if I ever have a chance to attempt to breakthrough the Zong Stage Barrier, I will deﬁnitely have a ﬂaw in my mindstate. My lifelong goal has always been to become a powerful person, a powerhouse in the world, and if that isn’t possible, then what’s the point? I would rather become a Follower and not give up that chance of being a powerhouse. Furthermore, to Follow such a young and talented Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Master isn’t something to be ashamed of.”

Hearing Drunken Bao’s words, Lin TianAo nodded slightly, and Ye Paopao said softly: “Truly a man.”

Little Four looked at Drunken Bao, a conﬂicted and hesitating look on his face. Finally, he sighed and said: “Bro Bao, you are right. Although, there is barely a ten percent chance for us to actually breakthrough the Zong Stage Barrier, but it is still better than not having a single chance. We pride ourselves on our talent, on being genius, and if we do not even have a chance to breach the Zong Stage Barrier, we would have wasted our lives as Heavenly Jewel Masters. Follower… so be it. It is my fault after all for losing.” As he said that, he slapped himself on the ﬁrst so hard that it started swelling.

Looking at the two of them, Zhou Weiqing smiled. Originally, he did not really have much liking for the two of them. Looking at them now, he found that these team mates for this Heavenly Jewel Tournament were indeed to be trusted. At least, their stubborn pursuit of power and their character in not wanting to break their word was something he liked.

“Leader Lin, what is the Zong Stage Barrier?” Zhou Weiqing asked Lin TianAo. Lin TianAo started a little. “You do not know about the Zong Stage Barrier? To us Heavenly Jewel Masters, that is the most difﬁcult, almost impossible, hurdle or barrier to pass. No matter how hard we train or cultivate, more than ninety percent of Heavenly Jewel Masters will never be able to pass through this barrier. The Zong Stage Barrier refers to breaking through from Heavenly Xu Energy to Heavenly Dao Energy, to pass from the Zong Stage of 9-Sets of Jewels to the 10th Set of

Jewels cultivation level. The number of nine in our levels is extremely important, and it can be said that from one to nine, our cultivation is going alongside the will of the universe, while to get to ten and above, it is in reversal to the will of the universe. As such, this barrier is unbelievably difﬁcult for any

Heavenly Jewel Master. Those who breakthrough it, can be

said to have taken a step into heaven, having the power to change the world. Not only will their lifespan be increased severalfold, their power will also increase likewise. Those who do not break through this barrier, will forever be stuck at the Zong Stage.

Zhou Weiqing nodded his head slightly and said: “I see.” Little Four could not help but say: “You’re a High Level Shi

Stage Heavenly Jewel Master, and you do not know something

so basic?” He couldn’t help but feel that his loss was truly too wronged, no matter he had just decided to become Zhou Weiqing’s Follower. Zhou Weiqing said: “The two seniors are indeed men who follow their emotions, and men of your words. I truly respect you all for that. However, I also do not want to withdraw my words. However, according to our bet, it is indeed for you both to be my Lifetime Followers, but there is no mention for a Seal.

If both of you insist on Following me, how about this – You can Follow me as long as you want, if you change your minds, you can leave at any time. As mine and Bing’er’s Followers, you will not be restricted by any Seals. This way, you will have no restrictions on your personal freedom. Isn’t that a win-win situation for both of us?”

Hearing Zhou Weiqing’s words, Drunken Bao and Little Four’s expressions turned much better. This was indeed a good compromise; they would not be breaking their oaths, and would also not be have their freedoms restricted too much. As such, their looks on Zhou Weiqing turned much friendlier and gentle.

Lin TianAo, on the other hand, had a glum expression on his face as he looked at Zhou Weiqing, thinking to himself: How come I did not get such a good treatment?

How could he know that in Zhou Weiqing’s heart, his importance was just too great. Not to mention how great their talents were in cooperation, or how powerful his defense would be in those unforeseen circumstances, just Zhou Weiqing’s personal feelings would cause him to place a huge importance on Lin TianAo. After all, no matter how powerful Zhou Weiqing was, he was at the core that young Little Fatty who was afraid of death. Remember his original wish to have

that unbreakable shield. At this point, it seems like it would be impossible for him to Consolidate that. However, with Lin TianAo by his side, that would be equal to having a live shield. As such, after seeing Lin TianAo’s power that day, although Zhou Weiqing knew he was a loyal, steadfast person, he still

wanted to place the Seal on him. That was because Lin TianAo was just too important to him.

Drunken Bao thought for a while and said: “Since Bro Zhou is so generous, then let’s keep it this way then. However, do not worry, even without the Seal, I will obey your commands.”

Little Four said: “Same here. Oh, yes, and my main team spot will also be turned over to you.”

Zhou Weiqing waved his hand and said: “No, that part is not necessary. Earlier, I managed to defeat you due to being lucky, not that I am that much more powerful than you. Senior Little Four, do you know why I was willing to go through the bet with you?” “Why?” Little Four asked anxiously. That was also something he could not comprehend.

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Heh, from your ﬁgure and stature, I could easily guess that your abilities would have something to do with speed or agility. My original guess was that you would be an ultimate agility Heavenly Jewel Master, with Wind and Agility Attributes. Just like Leader Lin’s Defense type would be a direct counter to someone like me, my abilities are a direct counter to yours. I do not have many attack type abilities, as my main focus are on Control Type Skills. Adding on to the fact that I am a master archer, with an extremely powerful Consolidated Bow, I had a huge conﬁdence in winning. Furthermore, by placing such a bet, it would be likely that you wouldn’t attack me, instead choosing to keep some distance between us. That actually gave me a greater space to use my archery. It can be said that your loss to me was due to my abilities countering yours, as well as some bad luck on your part. As such, this main team place should still be yours. If during the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, we meet some opponents I can counter, I can always take those out.”

Little Four stared at him helplessly, before saying sadly: “I hate archers…” Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily. Naturally, he would not tell Little Four that he also had the Blink Skill, and he could have made use of that and his Demonic Right Leg to close the gap extremely quickly. Furthermore, his Control Skills were not as simple as being something his Bow contained, but actually his own Skills. However, no matter how good an impression he had of these people, he would not reveal his secrets. This was especially so since Ye Paopao was present.

Chapter 66 Fat Cat Leveling up!

Due to the rarity of Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Elemental Jewels, as such, only Lin TianAo and Shangguan Bing’er who already knew the facts, none of the others had any suspicions about it, all of them thinking that the Lightning Attribute and Darkness Attribute Skills were actually inscribed on his Consolidated Bow.

Zong Stage Consolidating Equipment Masters were able to create Consolidated Equipment with such capabilities. It had to be done so by sacriﬁcing a socket, and instead inscribing a skill upon it permanently. That would bring an extreme power to this Consolidated Equipment, but it was also a huge drain on Heavenly Energy due to the difference in attributes. Furthermore, the drawback as compared to sockets was that it was ﬁxed, and it was deﬁnitely not as ﬂexible in ﬁghts as socketing different Elemental Jewel Skills. Also, it would forever remain at that power level, and would not improve like personal skills as cultivation level increases. However, it was still worth it when inscribing a powerful Skill.

The eight man Fei Li Battle Team left the Fei Li City under Lin TianAo’s leadership, boarding a ship across the Fei Li Lake, heading towards the east. As they travelled along, Lin TianAo explained more to the three of them about the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, letting them know more about the entire event, which would be held in the ZhongTian Empire’s Capital City, the ZhongTian City.

The Boundless Mainland was extremely huge, and there were several dozen Empires all around, large and small alike. The Empires’ strength were measured in various rankings, and amongst them all, the two strongest were the Zhongtian Empire and the WanShou Empire.

The WanShou Empire occupied nearly the entire northern boundary of the entire mainland, and their territories amounted to almost a fourth of the entire landmass. As for the ZhongTian Empire, they occupied the entire center of the mainland, which was mostly arable land suitable for farming, and their entire territory was even larger than the WanShou Empire. As such, these two Empires alone were about four seventh of the entire Continent. Even the next two largest empires, the Fei Li Empire and the Bai Da Empire were barely half of either Empire when added together.

As for high level Empires like the Fei Li Empire, there were a total of ﬁve in the entire continent. Besides the Fei Li Empire and Bai Da Empire, there was also the Dan Dun Empire at the south, the Bao Po Empire and the Geritimo Empire in the east. These ﬁve ‘2nd’ ranked Empires, along with the two top Empires, would make up more than ninety percent of the continent’s landmass. The remaining ten percent would be consisted of the other twenty odd small empires, and the Heavenly Bow Empire which Zhou Weiqing came from was one of these smaller, unassuming Empires.

As such, the main competition of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament was actually only amongst the seven large Empires. Although the smaller Empires might occasionally produce a powerhouse or two, it was rare and far in between, and would do little to affect the status and ranking of these seven large empires.

On the last Heavenly Jewel Tournament, the Fei Li Empire’s Battle Team had actually scored a pretty decent result, achieving a good 5th position, almost making it into the top four. Alas, it was just too difﬁcult to actually make it. This round, of the ﬁve students who made up the main battle team members, only Lin TianAo had attended the previous Tournament three years ago.

After passing the Fei Li Lake, Lin TianAo bought eight good horses, and all of them mounted up to continue on their journey. According to Lin TianAo’s plan, the earlier they reached the ZhongTian City, the better it would be. Firstly, they could rest up and nurture their strength in preparation for the ﬁght, and it would also allow them to prepare battle plans.

Among the eight of them, Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Bing’er and Crow had never ridden a horse before. In the past, when they were in the Heavenly Bow Unit, they had always headed out for missions in Hua Feng’s luxurious carriage. Now that they had to ride horses, both of them felt it was a novel experience. After all, they were Heavenly Jewel Masters with exceptional physiques, and under the tutelage of Lin TianAo and the rest, they quickly picked up the trick to riding.

The only one with problems was Crow, causing her to feel rather gloomy. In the ﬁve days that day had taken to travel to the borders of the ZhongTian Empire, she had actually had to change steeds six times, with each horse barely lasting a day. The reason was simple, this beautiful young lady’s weight was unbelievable. Even the stoutest mount was barely able to carry her along for a day before frothing at the mouth.

“Big Sis Crow, you’re truly too valiant… you have to change horses again…” Zhou Weiqing said rather speechlessly at Crow, who was staring helplessly at her frothing steed. Crow gave a cold humph and said: “I’m just a little heavy?

These little horses are just too weak.”

Zhou Weiqing said curiously: “To be honest, though you’re slightly bigger than me and Leader Lin, you shouldn’t be that much heavier than us right? Why can’t your horses take it?”

Crow glanced at him and asked: “How heavy are you?”

Zhou Weiqing replied: “Less than 200 jin I think?” With his well muscled, 1.9m tall frame, such a weight was very healthy. Amongst normal humans, he would be considered huge.

Crow looked to Lin TianAo and asked: “Leader, what about you?”

Lin TianAo was even larger and more muscular than Zhou Weiqing, and he replied: “I’m about 230 jin or so.”

Crow grinned and said: “The both of you added up together are still lighter than me.”

“Ahhh?” This time, everyone was startled. Zhou Weiqing and Lin TianAo added up together was already more than 400 jin! Although Crow was large, she deﬁnitely did not look to be 400 jin!

Crow said proudly: “I don’t mind telling you all my secret. I’m from one of the minority tribes at the northern border of our Fei Li Empire, the Gold Crow Tribe. We are born with extremely dense bone and musculature structures, and also with great physical strength. My weight is about 600 jin!”

“Damn!” Besides Shangguan Bing’er and the steady, unﬂustered Lin TianAo, everyone else couldn’t help but let loose a curse at that.

600 jin? Was that even human?!

Drunken Bao muttered: “No wonder your strength is so terrifying, you are actually one of the Gold Crow Tribe! The Gold Crow Tribe, they are known as Berserker Tribes! During their greatest times, they numbered over a hundred thousand members, and they were famous for their ﬁve thousand strong Gold Crow Axe Troops, who were undefeated in battle. At the peak of their fame, they were comparable to the WanShou Empire’s Barbarian Wolf Fang Tribe, both considered one of the strongest infantry forces in the entire continent. However, nobody knows what happened but the numbers of the Gold Crow Tribe started dwindling, and eventually lost their prestige and might. However, no matter what, whenever a member of the Gold Crow Tribe joins the army, they are still very highly rated and are usually given a high rank. On the battleﬁeld, the Gold Crow Tribe Members are like a battle machine on their own.”

Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er listened attentively to assuage their curiosity. After all, the rest of the team were from the Fei Li Empire, and they more or less knew about the Gold Crow Tribe, as they nodded in agreement.

Little Four said curiously: “However, as far as I know, the Gold Crow Warriors are at most Physical Jewel Masters. I have never heard of a Heavenly Jewel Master amongst them, yet Crow, you are one!”

Crow’s expression grew dejected, and she said slowly: “Indeed, our Gold Crow Tribe members are all born with immense physical power, and we can be said to be unmatched in terms of strength, even without Power Jewels. Due to our physical density, any of the normal adult Gold Crow Tribe members, no matter male or female, will be at least over 500 jin in weight. Furthermore, our skins and muscles are extremely tough, giving us a natural ‘armour’. It can be said that any ordinary Gold Crow Axe Warrior can be a match for a normal Jewel Master.” “Alas, one day, our Gold Crow Tribe started having problems in reproduction. Nobody knows why, and it happened quite suddenly. None of our tribe members were able to reproduce when mated with one another. With no choice, we could only seek to ﬁnd mates outside the tribe. Alas, our weight is also extremely heavy even as a fetus. As such, our males are unable to ﬁnd mates outside the tribe, otherwise any normal human females will be killed by the heavy fetus breaking through her womb. Only our females will be able to ﬁnd mates outside. However, you can tell how we look like… In the entire Gold Crow Tribe, I am already considered the most beautiful. As for the other female members, even the shortest is at least 2 metres tall. Which normal human would be willing to marry us? As such, this has caused our population to drop drastically. In truth, the original reason I came to the Fei Li City and entered the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy was to look for my ﬁance. That bastard… when he saw what I looked like, he actually ran away from home! I heard he came to the Fei Li City and came here looking for him… but I still have not managed to ﬁnd him yet.”

“I myself am a product of an ‘outer’ marriage, my mother is the current chieftain of our Gold Crow Tribe, and my father is the chieftain of a Barbarian Tribe from the WanShou Empire. Years ago, my father had gotten into trouble while exploring the world, and had been rescued by my mother. Later on, they had me. As such, I am not a pure blood Gold Crow Tribe member, which is why I am a Heavenly Jewel Master.” Hearing Crow’s explanation, everyone couldn’t help but feel a sense of solemnity. This was indeed the sorrow of an entire race!

Zhou Weiqing said apologetically: “I’m sorry Big Sis Crow, I did not know that your weight was due to your racial attributes.”

Crow shook her head and said: “No problem, who asked my weight to be so unique. That said… Bro Zhou, looking at your physique, it seems pretty good… and your Physical Jewel is also Strength Attribute right? Why not come to our Gold Crow Tribe, you do not even have to marry anyone, you can just leave your seed with us.”

Zhou Weiqing almost fell off his horse, looking at Crow in abject horror. “No please! Big Sis, please let me go! My little body, how can I withstand 600 jin!!”

Crow looked at Zhou Weiqing slyly and smiled, saying: “You can be on top!”

At that, besides Shangguan Bing’er who ﬂushed a deep red, everyone else burst out laughing. It was rare to see Zhou Weiqing to be rendered speechless after all. By now, the eight of them were mounted on their steeds, racing along the ofﬁcial roads of the ZhongTian Empire. Although Zhou Weiqing did not know much about this No. 1 Empire in the world, he could still read many things from this immensely wide ofﬁcial road.

Not even speaking of the Heavenly Bow Empire, even the ofﬁcial roads of the Fei Li Empire were barely twenty metres wide, and that was considered one of the top roads. Yet, this ZhongTian Empire’s ofﬁcial road was more than thirty metres wide. Along the broad road, there were large trees growing neatly along the road, and the entire road seemed to show the prosperity and bearing of a massive empire.

The Fei Li City was at the northern part of the Fei Li Empire, while the ZhongTian City was also at the northern part of the ZhongTian Empire. The Fei Li Empire’s eastern border met with the ZhongTian Empire’s western border. As such, it wasn’t really too far from the Fei Li City to the ZhongTian City. Riding their horses, they should reach in about a dozen or more days. By now, they were already about halfway to their destination. Just as Zhou Weiqing was getting nervous from being stared at and examined by Crow, he felt something twitch and shudder in his bosom. Almost at the same time, a low wuuu wuuu sound rang out, and the Little White Tiger, Fat Cat, sprang out from his arms.

Being carried around by Zhou Weiqing all day, naturally everyone had already seen Fat Cat. In their eyes, although it was rather unique looking, it looked extremely young, and seemed to be just any ordinary young Heavenly Beast, and no one paid it much heed.

As soon as Fat Cat jumped out, Zhou Weiqing immediately sensed that something was wrong. That was because as it leapt out, it landed straight on the broad neck of the horse, its fur standing out and its body shuddering intensely, as if suffering great pain. Its deep blue lines on the fur seeming to twist and turn strangely, almost as if they were alive as an eerie light glowed forth.

Seeing the glowing patterns, Zhou Weiqing was immediately reminded of the tiger tattoos around his body when he went into the Demonic Change State. However, the aura around Fat Cat’s body was vastly different from when he was in that State, without any sense of the Evil or Demonic Attribute. In contrast, there was a strangely refreshing light scent from its body. At the same time, Zhou Weiqing could also hear a cracking sound from its bones.

*Rooarr* A low cry rang out from Fat Cat’s little throat.

The eight horses carrying the team immediately fell to the ground upon hearing the cry, paralysed on the ground without even a sound, their mouths frothing and mixed with blood.

Luckily, all of them were skilled Heavenly Jewel Masters, and although they had been caught by surprise, they were still able to vault off the horses in time to their feet, staring at each other in confusion.

Zhou Weiqing quickly picked Fat Cat up into his arms once more, a look of concern and urgency on his face. Although he usually loved to tease Fat Cat, they had been together for more than two years, and could be said to be inseparable. Furthermore, it had saved him a few times, and Zhou Weiqing already treated it like family in his mind. With this sudden change, how could he not feel urgent? As Zhou Weiqing hugged it, he quickly realised that Fat Cat’s eyes were closed tight as it shivered uncontrollably. Although it was not emitting any energy, he could still sense through their contact that an immense power was swirling beneath its skin.

“Fat Cat, Fat Cat, what happened? Are you ok? Don’t scare me!” Zhou Weiqing cried out urgently.

Lin TianAo’s solemn voice sounded out: “It looks like it is on the verge of levelling and evolving. Weiqing, it seems like you have quite a high ranked Heavenly Beast over there. Being able to scare these eight strong horses to death with just a cry, it will deﬁnitely be extremely powerful when it grows up.”

Zhou Weiqing looked at him pleadingly: “What do I do now then?”

Lin TianAo furrowed his brow, then said: “When a Heavenly Beast levels up, they will only be able to depend on themselves, and us humans will not be able to help in any way. However, during that time, they were give forth a strange aura, and is also the time they are the most vulnerable, luring other Heavenly Beasts to devour them. As such, what we can do is to protect it, especially now that it doesn’t have any of its own family here to protect it as usual. Luckily, although the road is surrounded with forests, I do not think there are any powerful Heavenly Beasts so close to the main roads. Come on, let’s head into the forest and ﬁnd a place which is good defensively. This little fellow’s shouldn’t take that long for this level up – perhaps about three days.”

Zhou Weiqing gave a bitter smile and said: “So sorry, I am delaying everyone.”

Drunken Bao laughed heartily and said: “No problems, we have a lot of time. Furthermore, if your little white tiger is able to level up and have some power, it could prove useful in the tournament!”

Zhou Weiqing started, saying in surprise: “We can use Heavenly Beasts in the Heavenly Jewel Tournament?”

Drunken Bao said: “Haven’t you heard of a profession in the WanShou Empire, the Beastmaster? Their own personal power isn’t very strong, but they are able to tame Heavenly Beasts to ﬁght with them. As such, in the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, Heavenly Beasts are allowed to join in the ﬁght. However, when doing so, the person isn’t allowed to use Consolidated Equipment or Stored Skills, and there is also a limit of one Heavenly Beast. Even so, the WanShou Empire team is usually able to easily enter the top 4 doing so. This is also one of the reasons why the WanShou Empire is so strong.” By now. Zhou Weiqing could not care anymore about the Beastmasters, as Fat Cat’s shivering was getting worse. Since the horses were all dead, there was nothing holding them back, and all of them headed into the forests to the side of the roads. Very quickly, under the leadership of Lin TianAo, they found a

good spot at a little cliff in the forests.

“Crow, make a cave, let Weiqing protect the little fellow in there. We will have an easier time just guarding the entrance of the cave.” Lin TianAo told Crow.

As the leader, not only was he the most powerful, he also had the trust of all the members of the team. Even someone so proud like Ye Paopao had been impressed by his stable, steady character after just a few days of being together. In fact, Ye Paopao had spoken to Zhou Weiqing in secret, that someone like Lin TianAo was the sort who would be good at anything he put his mind to. If he had chosen the path of a general, he would probably have been a great leader, and general. Alas, that was not the path he had chosen. At that time, when Ye Paopao praised Lin TianAo, Zhou Weiqing did not say anything, instead only giving a foolish grin.

Crow nodded, motioning to the rest to step back. With a wave of her hands, two black lights shone forth, and a large broadaxe appeared in each of her hands. Looking at the pair of axes in Crow’s hands, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He ﬁnally understood what it meant by ‘broad’ axe, they were almost as large as a door frame!

The pair of broad axes was totally black, giving forth a thick cold aura. Each was almost six chi long, with a huge axe head which was even larger than Zhou Weiqing’s huge legendary hammers. The tip of the axe was a spike, almost as thick as a man’s arm, and only Crow’s large hands were able to ﬁt on them comfortably. The axe blades were inscribed with strange patterns, which glowed in a dark gold colour. When the axes appeared in her hands, it seemed as if a dark cloud blotted out the very skies. Coupled with her huge frame, it gave her an extremely valiant, menacing look.

“This… this is a Consolidated Equipment?” Ye Paopao almost stuttered as he asked.

Crow grinned and said: “Nope, this is a heirloom passed down from my ancestors, and it is called the Gold Crow God Axes. The one on the left weighs six hundred and twelve jin, and the one on the right weighs seven hundred and eighty one jin, totally a thousand three hundred and ninety three jin. These are the legendary weapons of our tribe, and only our Gold Crow Tribe members are able to use them.” Ye Paopao, Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er exchanged looks. They ﬁnally understood why Crow was able to be the main member of the team with just a three-Jeweled cultivation level. Although the pair of axes weren’t Consolidated Equipment, they were probably just as good or even better! More than a thousand jin in weight combined, they were indeed terrifying!

With a loud shout, the three Icy Jade Strength Jewels around Crow’s right wrist glowed. The two massive battle axes in her hands seemed to be like little twigs, as she spun around like a whirlwind. Her entire body was enveloped in a dark gold glow, and in a huge clashing sound, she smashed right into the hill.

As Crow and her axes collided with the hill, the entire team could feel the ground shake violently. In the next instant, a huge explosion sounded out, and Crow started digging into the hill like a bulldozer.

Zhou Weiqing felt his gut clench. He had always thought that amongst any three-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, he would be invincible. Looking at Crow’s abilities, he suddenly felt that he had been way too overconﬁdent. If he actually had to face Crow in combat, he did not feel certain of victory. Perhaps, he might only be able to win if he entered the Demonic Change State. “Her ability just happens to counter mine.” Lin TianAo’s voice sounded softly in Zhou Weiqing’s ear.

Zhou Weiqing turned his head around in surprise, staring at him, as he looked back with a bitter smile. “No one can understand her true power without facing her in combat, the true terrifying power of those legendary axes of hers. The reason why she actually respects me is because I am the only one in the Academy who is able to block her attacks. That girl is extremely valiant, in the selection trials we held to choose the team members, no student was willing to ﬁght with her besides myself. She was actually the ﬁrst to be selected! In terms of her overall power, I am not even sure what her limits are. The Gold Crow tribe are indeed all born warriors, and Crow is known as their most outstanding talent in more than a thousand years. You can imagine the extent of it just from that.”

Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but swallow a gulp of saliva, muttering to himself: “If she were to enter the battleﬁeld, she would truly be a meat-grinder.”

Right at that moment, the rumbling sounds ﬁnally diminished, and in a ﬂash, Crow appeared once more. She had actually forcibly dug a 2.5 metre tall, 3 metre wide cave entrance leading into the hill. The scariest thing was that she did not even have any dirt on her, looking calm and unﬂurried with not even a drop of sweat or sign of exertion!

“Big sis, I am impressed, very impressed!” Zhou Weiqing gave Crow a big thumbs up, before hugging Fat Cat and dashing into the cave.

Crow’s strength was indeed amazing. In just that short span of time, she had actually dug a ten mere deep cave!

Basically, broadaxe is 板斧 in chinese, literally ‘board’ and ‘axe’, where 板 means board, but can also a short form for 门板, which is door frame. A play on words of sorts. Zhou Weiqing could only feel a great sense of relief that it had not been Crow who had placed the bet with him the other day. He knew that besides his Demonic Right Leg, his strength was not able to match hers.

Fat Cat’s trembling was getting worse, and just as Zhou Weiqing sat down, it suddenly raised its head, and a white mist emitted from its mouth.

A sweet scent, ten times thicker than before, seemed to envelop the area, and Zhou Weiqing felt as if the scent was invading his very pores, causing his body to heat up.

In a whooshing sound, Fat Cat jumped up from Zhou Weiqing’s body, its fur lit up with a thick bright white light, almost forming a shield of light around it. With a low howl, the light ﬂew off its body, reaching the entrance of the cave, forming an opaque barrier around the entrance and blocking it off totally.

“Roaaarr” Another low roar ensued as Fat Cat turned around to look at Zhou Weiqing, its eyes a deep purple. In the next instant, its body expand rapidly, and soon it became the ﬁve metre long huge white tiger. Currently, Zhou Weiqing was suffering quite badly. Earlier, when Fat Cat emitted the mouth of white mist which pervasively invaded his body, he felt his entire body heating up from within. By now, the ﬁre within had actually caused his clothes to evaporate. The strangest thing was that not only did

his Heavenly Jewels automatically appear around his wrists, even the tiger tattoos which usually appeared only during his Demonic Change State had steadily appeared on his skin, and the attribute wheel in front of his eyes was spinning around uncontrollably.

When it had ﬁrst started, the internal heat had felt rather comfortable. However, it had soon turned into a burning sensation, and he felt as if he was burning up from within. His eyes turned bloodshot, and his muscles expanded and tightened, while his bones creaked out loud and the ‘King’ word appeared on his forehead once more – he had entered the Demonic Change State involuntarily! Fat Cat had somehow managed to cause him to enter the state with that breath of white mist.

Fixing its gaze on Zhou Weiqing, although Fat Cat’s body was still trembling, its eyes were steady and solemn. As it grew larger, it took in a deep breath, causing itself to expand even further. In the next moment, it breathed out another mouthful of mist, this time a mixture of white and gold colour, which enveloped Zhou Weiqing’s body. Originally, the Demonic Change State would put Zhou Weiqing in his strongest state, where his senses were at the maximum. Alas, at this moment, he found that he could not move a single muscle, and the Heavenly Energy in his body was raging about, the twelve Death Acupuncture Points and the energy whirlpools almost stinging in pain and emitting a whirring sound as they spun crazily, devouring the mist that Fat Cat had emitted. As it entered Zhou Weiqing’s body, the

burning sensation grew worse, making him feel as if he was on

the verge of melting.

Ever since his Heavenly Energy had entered the Heavenly Shen Energy stage from the Heavenly Jing Energy stage, Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy had compressed into a liquid form. As compared to his widened meridians, the ﬂow of the liquid- form Heavenly Energy could be said to be a tiny stream. After all, he had barely entered the Heavenly Shen Energy state for a short period of time, and was only at the 12th stage of Heavenly Energy, and hadn’t reached the 13th stage, which was the ﬁrst stage of the Heavenly Shen Energy.

However, Zhou Weiqing quickly realised that the white liquid-form Heavenly Energy in his body was actually evaporating, turning back into a gaseous state. However, it was now different from its original white colour, as it merged with the mist from Fat Cat, turning into a dim gold colour. This gold coloured gas raged through his body, as if about to break him apart and spring free.

Zhou Weiqing’s entire meridian stream was stained with gold as the gold-coloured gas Heavenly Energy charged through them.

Right at that moment, the glow from Fat Cat’s eyes intensiﬁed, as two purple lights shot out right into Zhou Weiqing’s eyes. In the dancing purple glow, Zhou Weiqing felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, his entire body shuddering as his entire mind blanked out.

The huge Fat Cat continued shuddering as it took an unsteady step forward. A strange scene then occurred, as the gold-white mist enveloped its body, it started to change in shape, as limbs elongated and the body shrank. In the short period of time where it took the step forward, to the dimming of the glowing mist, it had changed form from the huge white tiger into a human being… a person that Zhou Weiqing had seen before… the one who had rescued the Silver Emperor… saved Zhou Weiqing… Tian Er!

Currently, Tian Er was totally naked, a head of long white hair cascading down her back all the way to her buttocks, covering them. Her eyes were lit with a purple glow, and her body was still shuddering. Her originally pure white skin was totally covered with tiger tattoos, though they were different from Zhou Weiqing’s black coloured ones, instead a brilliant sky-blue colour. The two of their tattoos seemed to attract each other, and as Tian Er turned into human form, the undulations

of the tattoos seemed to grow stronger.

With a forward wave of her hands, Zhou Weiqing’s unconscious body ﬂew up into the air and into her grasp.

At that moment, Tian Er’s eyes were ﬁlled with a strong killing intent. Her ﬁngernails seemed to grow, extending into a ﬁve inch long claw, glowing with a cold light as it rested upon Zhou Weiqing’s shoulder.

All of a sudden, Tian Er lifted her right hand, hovering above Zhou Weiqing’s head. With her intense ﬂuctuation of Heavenly Energy, if the claw struck down, it would immediately pierce into Zhou Weiqing’s head.

However, at the same time, a look of hesitation appeared in her eyes, as if she were at a loss. In her mind, the images of the past two years ﬂashed past, the time they had spent together. Once again, she lifted the claw, biting her lip as she steeled her determination and shoved it down. However, as the claw reached barely an inch from Zhou Weiqing’s head, it stopped once more…

“Why? Why can’t I kill him?” Tian Er’s trembling voice rang out. “I should kill him, that was my plan all along… and only then can I get the greatest beneﬁt. But… but… why am I unable to ﬁnish it? What’s going on? Could it be… could it be… no, that’s not possible… how could I possibly like such a shameless and despicable fellow who only knows how to bully me. I must kill him!”

Tian Er’s voice was very resolute, but the claw above Zhou Weiqing’s head still hovered there, unable to strike down that last short distance.

All of a sudden, she took a half step forward, spreading her arms and embracing Zhou Weiqing tightly. Both of them were naked, and their bodies pressed closed together. If Zhou Weiqing had been awake, blood would probably have spurted out from his nose.

After embracing Zhou Weiqing, she bit him on the shoulder hard. As their bodies pressed closely together, the tiger tattoos on their bodies seemed to meld together. Black and blue tattoos extended outward in a strange undulating dance.

Tian Er was stunned, not expecting such a thing to happen. The strangest thing was that despite her biting down, it did not even break his skin, just leaving teeth marks on his shoulder.

Blazing heat, seemed to transfer from Zhou Weiqing’s body to Tian Er, as the black and blue tiger tattoos seemed to meld together in a crazy rhythm.

Tian Er’s face, which was originally a mask of pain, relaxed a little as the two different tiger tattoos melded together, and in a strange move, the black and blue light left their bodies, swirling around them both.

As time passed second after second, the black and blue light grew stronger and more intense, until it was almost blinding.

On top of this cocoon of light, four different coloured glows of light gradually formed. The two above Tian Er’s head was gold and purple, while the ones twisting above Zhou Weiqing’s were grey and colourless respectively. The four lights each occupied their own space, forming a strange barrier around both of them, causing the entire cocoon to look extremely weird.

Of course, this strange sight within the cave was not visible from outside. However, things were also not peaceful outside.

Earlier, when the cave entrance had been sealed by the barrier of white light, everyone was taken aback. However, they quickly realised it had to be some sort of self-protection ability of Fat Cat’s. From the sheer power radiating from the barrier, Lin TianAo and the rest could sense how extraordinary Fat Cat was.

“Everyone, be careful. Lady Bing’er, stand beside me. Little Four, go out and scout for us. Drunken Bao, Crow, both of you guard the ﬂanks. Xiao Yan, you and Ye Paopao are ﬁre and water attributes respectively, you will be in charge of supporting with ranged attacks.”

With a simple line, Lin TianAo had assigned everyone’s duties clearly. As a leader, his stable calm poise gave his companions much conﬁdence. Furthermore, as the strongest person amongst them, he was the gel that held them together. His role was also to take action in case anything unforeseen occurred. As everyone took their positions, Little Four soared into the air agilely, vanishing into the trees silently.

Shangguan Bing’er stood beside Lin TianAo, and she quickly took out the gift that Hua Feng had given her from her Spatial Ring – the Green Spirit Bow. The green coloured longbow was smaller and obviously more nimble than Zhou Weiqing’s Black Dawn Bow; just a quick look at it gave the impression of being quick and light.

Looking at the bow in Shangguan Bing’er’s hands, Lin TianAo asked: “Lady Bing’er, you are also an archer?”

Chapter 67 Shocking Archery – Shangguan Bing’er

Shangguan Bing’er nodded, saying: “My speciality is rapid ﬁring. Although my offensive power isn’t comparable to Little Fatty, but my ﬁring rate is way above his. I do not have any Control Skills like him, but Leader Lin you can treat me like any ordinary three-Jeweled archer.” She immediately stated her capabilities, so that Lin TianAo could arrange his strategy. After all, they were a team, and if the leader did not know everyone’s capabilities, how could he direct the team to their maximum possibility.

Lin TianAo nodded with approval. Perhaps Shangguan Bing’er might not be extremely powerful, but this young lady of unrivalled beauty gave off an amiable, approachable feel.

“Alright then, you will also focus on ranged attacks, but do not go beyond ﬁve yards from me.” Towards Shangguan Bing’er, Lin TianAo naturally wanted to protect her – not just because she was the lowest cultivation level present, but also because of her relationship with Zhou Weiqing. As Zhou Weiqing’s Follower, protecting his girlfriend was something he had to do. Barely ﬁfteen minutes after Zhou Weiqing had entered the cave with Fat Cat, Little Four had returned from his scouting. Alas, his expression was bleak as he ﬂew directly to Lin TianAo. “Leader, things are looking bad! As I was moving around, I noticed that many of the smaller animals and beasts seemed to be affected by something, and were all in an excited stimulated state, though they seemed to be afraid of something as well. However, the thing they had in common was that they were all looking in the same direction – our direction. What is that little white tiger of Zhou Weiqing’s? Just a simple level up has caused such a huge commotion… It seems likely that any Heavenly Beasts nearby will be attracted here.”

Lin TianAo also furrowed his brow. However, no matter what happened next, they would have to protect Zhou Weiqing and Fat Cat; they could only pray that there were no powerful Heavenly Beasts nearby.

As the time passed slowly, the surroundings remained quiet. Before long, an hour had passed, and the team members who had been nervous ﬁnally relaxed. However, Lin TianAo still did not let down his guard, motioning for everyone to keep positions.

All of a sudden, a sudden angry roar sounded out from their west. Although it wasn’t very close, but the great soundwave caused everyone’s expression to change.

Lin TianAo said solemnly: “Everyone, prepare.”

Not long after, a sudden stench ﬁlled the air. All of a sudden, a swooshing sound rang forth as eight huge Heavenly Beasts appeared.

The Heavenly Beasts looked like lions, and the leading one was almost 4 metres long, 1.5 metres tall! It had a ﬁery red mane, their eyes glowing ﬁercely like two red rubies. Flanking it were seven of the other lion-like beasts, though they did not have manes; likely to be the lionesses. Their main similarity was the ﬁery red fur covering their entire bodies.

As soon as the lions appeared, they immediately split up, surrounding the area in an almost semi-circular formation, facing the cave and roaring constantly.

The leading lion roared angrily into the sky, the ear piercing sound giving the team members a chill down their spines. Obviously, the roar they had heard earlier was from the lion. The eight lions clawed and pawed at the ground restlessly, showing their unsteady emotional state as they stared ﬁxedly at the cave behind them.

Lin TianAo said solemnly: “Everyone, be careful, these are Blood Blaze Lions, and that leading male lion is probably a Low Level Zong Stage Beast, while the rest of the lionesses seem to be about Mid Level Zun Stage Beasts. This will be trouble… we must not hold back if we want to have a chance.”

Crow grinned, twisting her wrists and spinning the huge axes in her hands. As for Drunken Bao who was standing at the other side of Lin TianAo, he gave a cold smirk as he also lifted his wrists, and ﬁve Black Jade Physical Jewels appeared. His Physical Jewels were of the stamina attribute, and in the next moment, they shone brightly as one coalesced into a pitch black cudgel in his hands. At the same time, a similar pitch black armour formed around his head, chest, waist and wrists. Clearly, his Consolidated Equipment was a Set, and was not a completed set yet! This was at least a top level Zong Stage Consolidating Equipment Master’s design, with the entire Set at least consisting of eight pieces.

Little Four’s Consolidated Wings was already unleashed, and he quickly took ﬂight silently, hovering in the air as he ﬁxed his gaze on the lions, preparing to take any action as required. He was in charge of harassing attacks, to strike wherever any opportunity presented itself, or in case of any danger.

Xiao Yan and Ye Paopao both circulated their Heavenly Energy as well, and surprisingly, both actually summoned a short staff in their hands, about four chi long, with an spherical crystal orb mounted on top.

These sort of short staffs were a unique type of Consolidated Equipment which were meant to boost Elemental Jewel Stored Skills, greatly boosting the power of Elemental Jewel Stored Skills. They were most suited for those Heavenly Jewel Masters who focused on Elemental attacks.

Standing right in the center of the team, Lin TianAo lifted his right hand, releasing his Assembly Set Consolidated Shield, though he only used a set of three for now. His eyes focused unwaveringly on the head lion. For the member of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, this was not the ﬁrst time they had faced Heavenly Beasts; previously to cultivate their teamwork, they had spent a period of time hunting Heavenly Beasts. As such, although the eight Blood Blaze Lions in front of them were very powerful, they were calm and unﬂurried.

*Rooar* Facing Lin TianAo, the male Blood Blaze Lion gave a savage roar as it struck the ground with its right front paw. With a loud clang, its entire body seemed lit up with a blood- red ﬂame, as if its fur had been set on ﬁre. Not just itself, the other lionesses followed suit, though their ﬂames were much weaker in comparison.

“Coming!” Lin TianAo shouted.

At the same moment as he shouted out the warning, the seven lionesses sprang into action. Blood Blaze Lions, amongst all the lion-type Heavenly Beasts, were considered relatively weak comparatively. That’s not to say they were weak, as their physical strength was extremely strong, tough hide giving a natural armour, and when they attacked they also had a natural ﬂame which gave natural extra elemental damage. However, their greatest weakness was their lack of a ranged attack, and their natural ranking was relatively low. Even a Blood Blaze Lion King was at most Mid Level Zong Stage, while this male lion was not even at that stage yet.

As the seven lionesses pounced forward, their speed was astonishing, as if seven bolts of blood ﬂashed towards the team.

Strangely enough,perhaps it was because of Crow’s imposing physique and aura deterring the lionesses, none of them actually attacked her. Instead, three sprang towards Drunken Bao, while two pounced towards Shangguan Bing’er. As for the remaining two, they circled around swiftly in an attempt to reach Xiao Yan and Ye Paopao. WIthout question, their main focus of attack was on Drunken Bao.

Lin TianAo did not move, as he had absolute trust in his comrades. His gaze remained ﬁxed on the male lion leader, as he knew that this Zong Stage Beast was the most dangerous, and not even he had conﬁdence in beating it alone.

However, none of the team members expected that among all of them, the ﬁrst one to take action would be Shangguan Bing’er.

Almost at the same instant that the seven lionesses attacked, seven green lights sprang forth. None of them had actually seen Shangguan Bing’er move, but only felt her bow ﬂicker in her hands before the seven green lights ﬂew from the bow.

The arrows ﬂew towards the all the lionesses, but her main focus were the three pouncing at Drunken Bao. Shangguan Bing’er’s attack had been directed very strategically, with the arrows ﬂying at different speeds, aimed to reach their speciﬁc targets at different times. The ﬁrst two struck ﬁrst, the arrows imbued with Wind Attribute Heavenly Energy ﬂying swiftly as they struck towards the Blood Blaze Lionesses’ eyes. Although these Heavenly Beasts had an extremely tough defense, their eyes were still their weak spots. As such, the two lionesses were forced to stop a moment, but the arrows were too quick to dodge, and they could only close their eyes so that their eyelids could protect their vulnerable eyes.

As the arrows pierced through the ﬂames of the Blood Blaze Lions, they slowed noticeably. Even so, as they struck the eyelids, it caused them to howl in pain, their movements slowing and their pounce skewed slightly. Not just these two lionesses, all the others leaping from the different directions had the same result. At that moment, Shangguan Bing’er’s last arrow struck towards the last lioness pouncing at Drunken Bao.

This was by her design; as three lionesses had pounced at him, two had been slowed and brought astray by her arrows, revealing the last one. Drunken Bao had originally been under a lot of pressure being attacked by three lionesses, and now that only one was left, he immediately seized the opportunity. The black cudgel in his hands glowed with a sudden gold as he spun a half-circle, smashing forth with the cudgel savagely at the head of the last lioness. The cudgel seemed to ﬂicker in mid air, feinting left and right deceptively, causing the lioness to be unable to judge the blow properly, while the gold light actually caused the ﬂames around the lioness to ﬂicker and weaken. Just as Drunken Bao’s cudgel struck out, Shangguan Bing’er’s last arrow also reached. The target was once again the eyes of the lioness, but this time, it struck down hard with a loud thud, piercing forcibly through the eyelids.

Out of all seven arrows, this was the one that Shangguan Bing’er had imbued with the most Heavenly Energy. Furthermore, she had actually used her Elemental Jewel Stored Skill on it – Silent Tracking Arrow. Not only was its piercing power much more powerful, it was also better able to resist the ﬂames defending it.

The last Blood Blaze Lioness had been focusing on Drunken Bao’s attack, and caught by surprise, its eyelids was pierced through by the arrow. Although it did not dig in deep and the injury was not serious, at least it would not be any permanent blindness, that was still the eyes! Towards most living creatures, the eyes was one of the weakest spots. Being shot by an arrow, one could imagine how much pain it was in. The next instant, a loud bang reverberated around the clearing as Drunken Bao’s cudgel smashed hard onto the lioness. Distracted by the pain in its eye, the lioness was not able to even attempt to dodge the blow, and wasn’t even able to use its energy to block Drunken Bao’s blow properly. As such, Drunken Bao had also managed to seize the opportunity to strike in a rather cunning spot – not the head which was extremely tough, but the spot between the head and the shoulders. Being struck by the cudgel, the lioness ﬂew back into the air, spinning around before smashing heavily into the ground, its entire body stained by the gold light from the cudgel, rolling back several rounds before getting up with much difﬁculty.

Drunken Bao was after all a Mid Level Zun Stage Heavenly Jewel Master, and in terms of power he was no weaker than that lioness. With the lioness injured in the eye, distracted and unable to defend itself properly, his blow had deﬁnitely dealt a major injury to it. That was even with its tough skin; any weaker Heavenly Beast without such a beneﬁt would have been killed by such a blow.

Just as everyone had been stunned by Shangguan Bing’er’s amazing seven arrows, she showed them what she had meant by ﬁring rate.

Both feet planted ﬁrmly on the ground, she held her position as green bolts of light shot continuously from the Green Spirit Bow, like a ﬂow of lightning bolts spitting forth. Each bolt of light ﬂew unerringly to a Blood Blaze Lioness’ eye, no matter how they moved or dodge, those arrows seemed as if they had eyes upon them, always hitting their mark.

With just the Green Spirit Bow, Shangguan Bing’er’s offensive power was undoubtedly insufﬁcient, especially since her cultivation level was only three-Jeweled, with her Heavenly Energy the lowest in the entire team. However, despite that, she had accomplished, all by herself, what seemed an impossible mission to the others.

All seven of the Mid Level Zun Stage Heavenly Beasts had been suppressed by her alone! Besides the single lioness who she had deliberately let through to Drunken Bao, none of the other lionesses were able to even reach within ten yards of the team. All of the Blood Blaze Lionesses were roaring angrily, but despite that, they could only attempt to block their eyes. Even then, her arrows were still able to slide through gaps or twist around their defenses, striking towards their eyes. With their vision impaired and continuously subjected to this barrage of arrows, no matter how strong these Blood Blaze Lionesses were, they were unable to unleash their power.

Their greatest weakness had been fully exploited by Shangguan Bing’er. Without any form of ranged attacks, they were actually suppressed by her alone, at least for this short period of time.

In the air, Little Four could only stare with his eyes wide open, his jaw gaped wide open. He could still remember how he had mocked Zhou Weiqing the day they had all met in the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy. At that time, Shangguan Bing’er had stepped forward angrily to bet with him. Only now did he know that although this young couple might not have a high cultivation level, their unbelievable archery skills were not to be underestimated.

Facing such a barrage of arrows, perhaps Lin TianAo with his ultimate defensive might easily dismiss it, perhaps Crow with her dense musculature and thick skin could also deal with it easily. However, what about the rest of them? Even though they might have a higher cultivation level than Shangguan Bing’er and Zhou Weiqing, perhaps being stronger than them, but if they were more than ﬁfty yards apart, who could say they could close the gap to either of this pair of archers. Lin TianAo’s observational skills were even stronger than Little Four’s, and he read a lot more into things – Shangguan Bing’er’s calm, unhurried countenance and her grasp of timing was impeccable. Without question, as soon as he saw the ﬁrst seven arrows, he understood that Shangguan Bing’er had deﬁnitely been on the battleﬁeld, and had deﬁnitely fought against Heavenly Beasts before. This was only the ﬁrst time they had fought together as a team, yet she was already able to

perfectly support Drunken Bao. This was deﬁnitely not just an ordinary archer who depended on her ﬁring rate. Besides her relatively weaker offensive power, having such an archer in the team was undoubtedly a huge blessing!

In truth, this was barely the tip of the iceberg for Shangguan Bing’er’s skills and power. After all, her greatest strength wasn’t just the rapid ﬁre rate, but rapid ﬁre rate while moving at high speeds. After all, she was an ultimate agility Heavenly Jewel Master. When it came to speed, even though she wasn’t able to ﬂy, just in terms of pure speed and movement, even the four-Jeweled Little Four who was able to ﬂy would not be able to beat her.

What was the Heavenly Bow Unit? It was the Paradise Strange! As the disciple of the leader of the Heavenly Bow Unit, Hua Feng, Shangguan Bing’er’s archery was actually even better than Zhou Weiqing’s. Originally, Paradise Strange did not have a single Heavenly Jewel Master, yet they had managed to assassinate so many powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters… How had they done so? With their unpredictable and varied archery skills! It could be said that if either Zhou Weiqing or Shangguan Bing’er had to face any of their teammates from a distance of a hundred yards, besides Lin TianAo whose ultimate defense countered them, no one else would have a chance at all. So what if they had ﬁve sets of Heavenly Jewels? Facing a powerful archer, who could say with certainty they could block or dodge all the arrows and close in on them?

Another loud explosion rang out as Crow sprang into action, her body shooting forth like a cannonball, targeting one of the lionesses that Shangguan Bing’er had been suppressing.

At the same time as Crow made her move, Ye Paopao and Xiao Yan both lifted their staves.

A brilliant, almost blinding, blue light coalesced above Ye Paopao’s head, forming an ice spear. Before long, it had grew to almost as thick as an arm.

Ye Paopao had always been a prideful person, and now that both Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er had shown their power, as the leader of the Fei Li Military Academy team members, how could he not do his best as well? In this blow, he put forth a huge amount of Heavenly Energy, showing off his four-Jeweled cultivation level to his best.

Simultaneously, Xiao Yan had also launched his attack together with Ye Paopao. A mass of ﬁery light gushed out from his staff, made out of many ﬁreballs. Fireball, a mere two star rating Fire Attribute Skill, and normally any talented Fire Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master with sufﬁcient funds would not deign to Store such a Skill. However, Xiao Yan had gone against the norm; while others might summon a single Fireball, he actually managed to launch nine at once! This was not any ordinary Fireball, but was the evolved version, turning into a ﬁve star rated Skill, Chain Fireball. Even so, a ﬁve star rated skill was considered only average, while Ye Paopao’s Ice Spear was a powerful eight star rating attack. As the son of the Prime Minister, he naturally did not lack money.

However, was Xiao Yan’s power that simple? Very soon, Ye Paopao’s gaze was ﬁlled with shock.

The nine ﬁreballs ﬂew into the sky, but did not directly strike towards a Blood Blaze Lioness. As they ﬂew up, the ﬁrst ﬁreball suddenly stopped, and the second one smashed into it. Following, the ones behind crashed into the ﬁrst one, one after the other. In moments, the nine ﬁreballs had all collided, and the original yellow ﬂames of the ﬁreball had now merged together into a bewitching red colour, which ﬂew directly into one of the Blood Blade Lionesses where a massive explosion ensued. Even with the powerful and tough body of the Blood Blaze Lioness, being struck by the merged Fireball caused it to ﬂy almost ten feet backwards, the explosion ripping its body apart to revealing the chilling white bones beneath, and it clearly would not be able to live much further.

It had to be known that the Blood Blaze Lions were also of the Fire Attribute, and had a natural strong resistance towards ﬁre. Under such a circumstance, Xiao Yan was still able to deal such a killing blow to one who was at the same power levels as himself. From that, one could see how truly powerful his nine merged ﬁreballs were. How could this be even comparable to the normal Chain Fireball Skill?!

Ye Paopao quickly estimated that if it were him facing Xiao Yan, just from that skill alone, perhaps he would have been blasted into smithereens before he could even make a move.

Difference… this was truly the difference between them. Ye Paopao thought to himself as he launched his own attack. Alas, his attack did not have the same effect as Xiao Yan’s. Seeing that one of his lionesses had been killed in the explosion, the leading Blood Blaze Lion was enraged. It’s immense body soared into the air, the ﬂames around its body dancing furiously, making it seem like a single huge ﬁreball sailing through the air.

Ye Paopao’s ice spear had been targeting another lioness, but it was quickly intercepted by the angry lion. In a ﬂash of blue light, the spear melted right into its blazing hot ﬂames.

Shangguan Bing’er had also attacked it at the same time. With her ﬁring rate, she naturally could take on another opponent. Alas, her arrows also met the same fate as the Ice Spear, melting to the Lion’s ﬂames before it could even reach the body. As a Low Level Zong Stage Heavenly Beast, the Blood Blaze Lion was much more powerful than the lionesses, and even its protective ﬂames were impenetrable to such ordinary arrows.

As the Blood Blaze Lion pounced forward, it wasn’t just to block the Ice Spear, but to launch an attack. It’s target wasn’t Lin TianAo, who was standing opposite it, but instead Crow. When Xiao Yan had killed the lioness with his Fireballs, Crow had also taken action. Although she was a Strength Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master, her speed was not to be dismissed. Charging forward, against a lioness who could barely open its eyes, how could she not seize the opportunity? The Gold Crow Tribe members were born for battle, and had from an early age faced many Heavenly Beasts. The huge battle axes in her hands shone with a brilliant dark-gold light, and with that charge and swipe, the lioness had already been chopped into two.

However, that attack gave the Blood Blaze Lion an opening, and it immediately sprung towards her in anger. Luckily, as it did so, Lin TianAo also sprang into action. He did not move extremely fast, instead moving steadily to intercept it at the point where the Blood Blaze Lion would have to get to strike at Crow.

Just as the Blood Blaze Lion was barely ﬁve yards from Crow, Lin TianAo managed to intercept it. With a loud crash, his shield smashed into the lion from the side.

Of course, he did not manage to successfully strike the lion’s body. Despite being in mid air, the Blood Blaze Lion had managed to sense the incoming danger, and had instantaneously twisted in mid air, striking out with its claws.

Alas, although its reaction was blindingly quick, facing Lin TianAo, it was made no difference. As soon as Lin TianAo sprang into action, the shield in his hands was instantly formed into its Five-Shield Assembly state. Facing a Zong Stage Heavenly Beast, he knew he could not afford to underestimate it, and had to use all the power at his disposal. Lunging forward, shield held forward, the two clashed together. After the clash, Lin TianAo’s body actually slid back two feet, but his body and shield remained ﬁrm and stable. As for the Blood Blaze Lion, the impact threw it back as well, causing it to roll on the ground.

Crow was about to leap to the attack, but Lin TianAo quickly stopped her. “Kill off all the lionesses ﬁrst, I will hold of the Lion Leader for now.”

By now, out of the seven lionesses, only ﬁve remained, and all of them were still being suppressed by Shangguan Bing’er. Although they were roaring angrily, trying to force their way through the rain of arrows, they could only run about crookedly, unable to reach their targets.

Crow, Drunken Bao, Xiao Yan, Ye Paopao did not relax, each gathering their power and launching attacks to the best of their abilities.

At ﬁrst, they had held back a little, somewhat worried that Shangguan Bing’er’s rapid ﬁre rate might cause them some incidental injuries. However, such thoughts quickly vanished. Shangguan Bing’er’s archery was just too amazing, with some of their arrows actually arcing around them to reach the targets, and even at such speed of ﬁring, not a single one even grazed any of them.

Under such a circumstance, even though these Blood Blaze Lionesses were Mid Level Zun Stage Heavenly Beasts, facing such a powerful and united team who worked so well together, how could they be of any match?

As for the most powerful Blood Blaze Lion, facing Lin TianAo, it was also unable to break through his defenses.

Originally, when Lin TianAo had bet with Zhou Weiqing and Yun Li, he had limited himself a lot by standing still, and was unable to unleash much of his power. Now, he showed his unique power, letting Shangguan Bing’er understand why Zhou Weiqing placed so much importance on him.

Without question, this Zong Stage Blood Blaze Lion Leader was equivalent to a seven-Jeweled cultivation level, and was much more powerful than any of the team members. Its destructive power was astonishing, and though Crow’s strength might be impressive, she would not be able to do much against the ﬂames of the lion. As for the others, Little Four also wouldn’t be able to stand against it, Xiao Yan was not as good in close combat, and though Drunken Bao might be able to hold his own for a while, it deﬁnitely would not be for long.

However, facing this ultimate defense of Lin TianAo, the Lion Leader was stopped in its tracks.

Lin TianAo did not move extremely quick, not even with any sort of rhythm. From an onlookers perspective, it might seem that he was just moving his immense shield slowly. However, even so, he was still able to always get his defense in the right place at the right time; no matter what the Lion Leader tried, it was still unable to break free of him.

With just that single ﬁve-shield Assembly Set Piece, Lin TianAo was still able to give the impression of being everywhere. Every time the Blood Blaze Lion Leader wanted to change directions or attack someone else, Lin TianAo would just take a single step or move his shield, stepping onto the lion’s steps and preventing it from gathering its power or unleashing it, causing it to lose balance.

As such, Lin TianAo and the Lion Leader were in an unbelievably close proximity, engaged in such close combat, it looked extremely dangerous. Even so, the Blood Blaze Lion was still unable to break through Lin TianAo’s defenses, nor could it jump to its companions’ defense, and could only watch as its Lionesses fell one by one to the members of the Fei Li Battle Team.

Crow’s attacks were just too ferocious. With the pair of axes weighing more than one thousand three hundred jin weaving about in her hands, even the Blood Blaze Lion Leader’s defense might not be able to hold up, let alone the lionesses. Out of the ﬁve remaining lionesses, by now, three of them had been killed by her! The strangest thing was that as soon as blood stained the blades of the axes, it seemed to be absorbed by them, causing its dark gold glow to brighten. These legendary axes were deﬁnitely no ordinary weapons!

Shangguan Bing’er had stopped ﬁring her arrows, calmly collecting some of the arrows which remained undamaged. She knew that at this point, she was not required for the rest of the ﬁght. That Lion Leader was not something she could handle, or even harass easily.

As Xiao Yan ﬁnished off the last lioness, Crow and Drunken Bao approached Lin TianAo from two different sides.

“Boss, let’s take action then.” Drunken Bao grinned and said excitedly. Lin TianAo said solemnly: “Ye Paopao, use your ice spear to shoot it.”

Ye Paopao did not have much tacit understanding with the rest of the team, and with less battle experience, he was not able to work well with them yet. Without Lin TianAo’s instructions, he was really quite at a loss what to do. Now, he coalesced the ice spear with all his might; although he did not understand why Lin TianAo wanted him to do so, he would just follow orders. In his mind, his own Ice Spear would not even be able to get through the protective ﬂames of the lion!

In about ﬁve breaths, Ye Paopao’s Ice Spear was completed, and with a loud shout, it ﬂashed into a cold blue light, striking forth towards the Lion Leader.

At the same time, Lin TianAo showed Ye Paopao and Shangguan Bing’er what the true power of his ultimate defense was.

As Ye Paopao shouted out and released his spear, Lin TianAo also let loose a loud shout. Right foot stamping hard on the ground, his Assembly Shield ﬂashed in a brilliant earth-yellow light, and the entire shield smashed savagely into the side of the Blood Blaze Lion. In that instant, the ﬂames of the Blood Blaze Lion were suppressed by that yellow light. That unknown Skill of Lin TianAo had caused the Blood Blaze Lion to be stunned for just a split second, but it was just at a perfect timing as Ye Paopao’s Ice Spear reached.

In that short period of time, Lin TianAo actually managed to strike the Lion a second time; not aimed to damage it, but to move it! As such, he somehow managed to reposition the Lion so that the Ice Spear struck right into its eye!

With a sickening thud, the powerful eight star rated Ice Spear Skill of Ye Paopao’s pierced deep into the Blood Blaze Lion Leader’s eye, embedding into the socket for a moment before being evaporated by its internal ﬂames. No matter how powerful and tough the Lion Leader’s defenses were, that moment of being stunned, losing its protective ﬂames for the split second, its eyelids were after all still just eyelids, how could it possibly protect it against such a powerful spear! As such, it sustained a heavy injury as it howled in rage and pain.

Drunken Bao and Crow did not waste the opportunity, springing into action.

Drunken Bao raised the cudgel in his hands, the brilliant gold light ﬂashing once more as he struck forward, the cudgel seeming to split into three illusory images as he did so. His body ﬂashed forward quickly, quick as lightning, as he struck forward in one fell swoop. If one did not look carefully, the three cudgel images would superimpose as if just a single one.

This was not a Elemental Jewel Stored Skill, but instead a cudgel martial skill that Drunken Bao had trained hard in, called the Triple Evil Smite. Coupled with the Light Attribute’s Righteous Smite Skill that he had used, although the offensive power wasn’t particularly strong, it had a powerful stunning effect.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* The three cudgels slammed onto the head of the lion, and its shrill howls were interrupted, and the suppressed ﬂames around its body were once again unable to recover.

Chapter 68 Mysterious Black-Clad Young Lady

Just as they ﬁnished collecting the precious materials from the bodies of the Blood Blaze Lions, they were suddenly surprised by another loud howl, and another pitch black giant ape leapt out of the forest.

“Careful!” Lin TianAo shouted out. This time, he took the initiative to move ahead.

None of them had expected that another Heavenly Beast would come so quickly after the pride of lions. Furthermore, there had been no warning as the giant black ape had approached so silently. Its current position was extremely close to Little Four, and its two metre long thick arms ﬂung out towards Little Four, its giant palms wide open as they smashed down towards Little Four.

The giant ape was about three metres tall, covered with bright black fur, and its yellow eyes were ﬁlled with a vicious rage. The Heavenly Energy around its body seemed even stronger than that of the Blood Blaze Lion Leader. Little Four had a lot of battle experience, and being alerted by Lin TianAo’s shout directed at him, he did not hesitate and immediately used the Blink skill.

The huge black claw smashed through the position where Little Four was a split second ago, right as he reappeared ten yards away thanks to the Blink, breaking out in cold sweat from that close shave.

Of all Heavenly Beasts, the giant apes were closest to humans, and they were further blessed with a natural physical strength and offensive power. Even the powerful cats like lions and tigers would rarely taken them on willingly.

This giant ape in front of them did not seem to have any unique points on ﬁrst look, but on closer examination, they could see a strange, diamond shaped scale in the center of its forehead.

Little Four exclaimed in surprise: “It’s a Dark Demon Ape, everyone be careful! That fellow is likely at least Low to Mid Level Zong Stage!”

Just from the ranking alone, this Dark Demon Ape would seem to be pretty much the same as the Blood Blaze Lion. However, do not forget about the word Darkness. Even at the same rank, the Heavenly Beasts with a Greater Attribute like that was deﬁnitely tougher to deal with.

At that moment, everyone couldn’t help but think to themselves… what was that little white tiger of Zhou Weiqing’s! For it to attract the attention of several Zong Stage Beasts from so far away while it was leveling up, that showed its appeal and attraction!

However, now was not the time to think about such things, and everyone sprang into action. Shangguan Bing’er’s bowstring sounded out quickly, as arrow after arrow streamed towards the Giant Ape’s eyes.

A layer of black light rippled out from the Dark Demon Ape, and any arrows which entered the light seemed to melt away like snow before even reaching the ape.

With a howl, the Dark Demon Ape leapt up towards Shangguan Bing’er, but at the same time, Lin TianAo had reached it.

With a swift sidestep, he bounced ahead, the full ﬁve-Shield Assembly appearing in his hands glowing with a thick yellow glow as he forcefully blocked the Dark Demon Ape. With a loud crash, the two smashed into each other, and Lin TianAo was sent back by the blow, rolling with it before landing on the ground. However, he had managed to successfully block the ape. However, a series of explosions rang out on his shield.

“Careful! Its attacks have a corrosive nature!” Lin TianAo shouted out. Even when facing such a powerful Zong Stage Beast, he remained calm and unﬂurried. A glow in his eyes, he did not hesitate as he stepped forward once more with his left foot, a strong yellow light from his shield enveloping his body. In the next moment, he had charged forward like a bulldozer towards the ape again.

This was one of the skills imbued in the Assembly Set Shield, called Shield Rush. Earlier, when he had managed to stun the Blood Blaze Lion Leader momentarily, it had been the merit of this very skill.

Alas, the Dark Demon Ape was not the Blood Blaze Lion. It had several advantages over the lion, agility and speed being one of them. Its powerful legs struck the ground hard, a savage aura bursting forth from its body as it lifted both hands in front of itself in a sudden burst of acceleration, striking forward towards Lin TianAo. *BANG*! A massive but slightly mufﬂed explosion rang out, accompanying a yellow ﬂash reverberating around the area as the two clashed once more. The impact caused the Dark Demon Ape to fall back almost ten yards before stopping, but Lin TianAo also did not have it easy. Shield in hand, his body slid back several yards before ﬁnally stopping when he slammed into a tree. Sustaining injuries, he couldn’t help but spurt out a mouthful of blood.

This was also a Zong Stage Heavenly Beast, but unlike the Blood Blaze Lion whose Physical Attribute was not Strength, not only did this Dark Demon Ape have the rare Darkness Attribute, it also had the a Strength Attribute! Despite Lin TianAo’s preparation and usage of his Skills, he still sustained some internal injuries from their clash.

However, this clash did have its results, as the Dark Demon Ape was momentarily stunned. Once again, Lin TianAo’s powerful defense had awarded his companions with a great opportunity.

Xiao Yan’s attack was launched almost at the same time as the Dark Demon Ape was sent ﬂying back by the impact, once again with the fused Chain Fireballs. With another massive explosion, the fused Fireball struck the Dark Demon Ape’s body. At that time, it was still in a stunned state from Lin TianAo’s blow, and its protective black shroud had dimmed considerably. The explosion from the Fused Fireball sent it ﬂying back once more. However, its fur had an even greater defense than even the Blood Blaze Lion Leader, and it did not seem to have sustained any serious injuries.

Unfortunately for it, this was after all an entire team. Crow had also moved at the same time as Xiao Yan’s attack. Her entire body launched up high into midair, axes in each hand held up high, and she cleaved downwards with all her might.

As her heavy axes smashed downwards two glowing gold lights shot towards them like a bolt of lightning. Its target was not the ape, but Crow’s legendary axes. As the twin gold lights landed on the axes, the originally Dark-Gold glow of the axes brightened considerably.

The Dark Demon Ape only had the time to lift its arms to block as the axes landed.

*Craackk* *Craaackk* The thick arms of the Dark Demon Ape were actually smashed and broken by the heavy blows of the twin axes, and they continued on their path to bite savagely into the thick muscles of its neck. With a pained howl, the Dark Demon Ape whirled around in anger, a ripple of black and blood-red light expanding from its body.

Little Four who had ﬂown into the air by now shouted out: “Careful, it’s the Death Wave!”

As he spoke, ﬁve yellow lights sprung into the air, each a circular shape spinning around quickly. Two shot in front of Crow, one in front of Little Four, and the last two in front of Shangguan Bing’er and Drunken Bao respectively.

There was a strange buzzing sound as the Death Wave exploded outwards in a circle, and the ﬁve yellow lights darkened considerably as it passed. However, those protected by the ﬁve lights were totally uninjured, as the dark circles retreated back towards the same direction.

Naturally, the one who had saved everyone at such a critical moment was Lin TianAo, his Assembly Shield actually splitting into ﬁve. Indeed, those ﬁve yellow lights were his individual shields, and under Lin TianAo’s full power, they had barely managed to block the Death Wave. The rest of the team was able to see the results of the Death Wave. The entire area it had passed by was ﬁlled with death and destruction; no matter grass, plants, rocks, everything had disintegrated and vanished. Such a terrifying destructive power was indeed a sight to behold.

Having sustained such heavy injuries, followed by unleashing its greatest attack, the Dark Demon Ape seemed exhausted. However, its eyes were still ﬁxated upon the cave.

With a sudden sickening thud, a thick Ice Spear embedded itself into the Dark Demon Ape’s eye, spearing right through and carrying its body several yards back, as large amounts of blood spurted out of all its wounds.

The one who had dealt the ﬁnishing blow was naturally Ye Paopao with his Water Attribute Skill – Ice Spear. However, it wasn’t that he had managed to ﬁnd such a great opportunity, but rather everything had happened so quick that his skill had been unleashed late, and his attack had only just arrived. In terms of tacit understanding and teamwork, he was still far from being able to have good timing with the team. After all, he did not have the same amount of real battle experience as Shangguan Bing’er did. Luckily, things had worked out well for them. Crow took a quick step forward, grabbing her axes once more, before swinging them around to lop off the ape’s head. It wasn’t that she was cruel, but these Heavenly Beasts were tenacious and tough, with much life force within them. If they did not ensure the kill, they could actually burst forth with a last attack, and if anyone could be caught off guard and injured or worse, killed. Under such a circumstance when they might continue facing attacks from other Beasts, it might prove the downfall of the entire team.

Lin TianAo’s face was pale and ugly. This ﬁght might have been extremely short and seemingly simple, but he had expended a huge amount of energy and effort. He had used more than half of his Heavenly Energy, and more importantly, he had sustained several injuries.

Shangguan Bing’er looked on from the side. She was extremely clear that both the Blood Blaze Lion and Dark Demon Ape were actually much more powerful than their entire team. The only reason they had managed to deal with them was because of teamwork, and more importantly, because of Lin TianAo.

Lin TianAo’s blows were always at the right time, right angle, and right place. It was only because of his powerful defense and combat ability that these two Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts had not been able to utilise their full power, and had been quickly ﬁnished off with everyone’s combined attacks. If not for that, if the Dark Demon Ape had been able to unleash its full arsenal, it could have easily killed most, if not all, of them. Although Lin TianAo’s methods were vastly different from that of the Heavenly Bow Unit’s, the overall goal was the same; to make use of teamwork and skill, not allowing the powerful Heavenly Beasts to unleash their power before it died.

There had not been much of a time gap between the Blood Blaze Lion Pride’s appearance to the even more powerful Dark Demon Ape’s appearance, and everyone’s face grew serious and worried. Zhou Weiqing had brought the little white tiger into the cave for only an hour, and they had already fended off two waves of powerful attacks. Who knew what else lay ahead?

“Do not harvest the materials from these Heavenly Beasts anymore, just take the Heavenly Cores quickly. Everyone, rest up and recover your Heavenly Energy.” Lin TianAo quickly made the decision and gave out an order. As compared to the excitement outside the cave, it was deadly quiet within the cave itself. The four coloured lights shone over the large cocoon, energy rippling forth in strange patterns around it as black and blue lines could be seen subtly ﬂuctuating around. At ﬁrst, it seemed like the blue lines were more powerful, but as time passed, the black lines seemed to be stimulated, growing in power until it matched the blue lines.

As the two twisted and undulated around each other, the four lights also grew stronger.

…

The Fei Li Battle team’s luck was still considered relatively good. As Lin TianAo had said earlier, being so close to the main ofﬁcial roads of the Zhong Tian Empire, there weren’t that many Heavenly Beasts. Of course, there were many more Heavenly Beasts deeper in the forests, but it was quite a distance from where they were, and the aura that the little white tiger would give off when evolving had a limited range. After the two attacks from the Blood Blaze Lion and the Dark Demon Ape, it was another six hours before a third round of attacks from Heavenly Beasts arrived. After which, they were attacked every few hours, but with smaller scale attacks. Although it was extremely tough, they still managed to pull through.

At the same time, the team members also realised something important – the Heavenly Beasts which attacked them had all lost control, in some sort of an unstable frenzy. That was also the main reason why they had not been able to make use of their full power. Also, these Heavenly Beasts were mostly either all Zong Stage, or led by Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts.

…

Time seemed to ﬂy, and soon three days had passed. During that time, they had been constantly attacked at intervals, and the toughest ﬁghts were when they were attacked by two High Level Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts. At the last moment, Shangguan Bing’er had released the two Icy Soul Heavenly Bears to help out, and they had ﬁnally managed to hold their own. With much teamwork, and the sacriﬁce of several members sustaining heavy injuries, in the end they barely managed to ﬁnish off the High Level Zong Stage Beasts. Little Four sat on the ground heavily, panting and gasping for breath. “I can’t make it anymore Boss, I’m dead beat. If this continues, even if we don’t get killed by Heavenly Beasts, we’ll go crazy!”

For the last three days, they had spent every single second tensed up and with their nerves frayed, not knowing when they would be attacked by Heavenly Beasts. They had to maintain a high alert at all times, and as they fought wave after wave of Heavenly Beasts, it had taken a huge toll on them. After all, these Heavenly Beasts were all frenzied, and although that had helped a lot in reducing their intelligence and skill, it had also caused them to not be able to be chased off, and they could only ﬁght to the death.

The wounds on their bodies and the constant drain of Heavenly Energy was taxing, but the worst toll was on their spirits. Three days and nights of constant ﬁghting and limited rest, even the toughest person would feel exhausted and low in spirit. For someone ﬁrm and resolute like Lin TianAo, or someone whose character was rather thick skinned like Crow, it was still relatively okay, but the rest of the team members were almost on the verge of breakdown.

At this point, it was also clear the difference in overall power and character amongst the entire team. The ﬁrst one to fall was not the one with the lowest cultivation level, Shangguan Bing’er, but Ye Paopao.

Although Ye Paopao was a four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, as the son of the prime minister, he had lived an easy life of luxury since young. Despite his cultivation, he had never had much actual combat experience, let alone such high intensity ﬁghting. At this moment, he was leaning against the cave entrance, unconscious.

As for the second person who was having trouble was still not Shangguan Bing’er After her two years of tough training and experience in the Heavenly Bow Unit, this was not her ﬁrst rodeo facing such tough battles. Furthermore, the person they were protecting was her precious Little Fatty. Under such a circumstance, she would never give up no matter how exhausted she was, just through sheer will. Shangguan Bing’er might not be extremely powerful, and against Zong Stage Heavenly Beasts, she could barely do anything but harassing attacks. However, if it was a Zong Stage Heavenly Beast leading several Zun Stage Heavenly Beasts, she turned into one of the most important keys of the team defense. Just her rapid ﬁring archery alone could suppress a large number of Zun Stage Heavenly Beasts, allowing her companions time to leisurely deal with all the enemies. By now, Little Four was nearing the end of his stamina. His job was to run around to wherever needed help the most, and any issue that cropped up, his speed was usually the key to a successful save or support.

At the same time, he also had to go around scouting.

Naturally, the drain on his spirit was also extremely huge.

Lin TianAo furrowed his brow, glancing back at the cave entrance. As a team leader, how could he not be worried? Looking at the weakened condition of his team members, as well as the constant attacks, he grew increasingly worried as time passed. As soon as a Heavenly Beast which they could not deal with attacked, that meant they could possibly all fall here. Taking a deep breath, Lin TianAo made his decision, a resolute look crossing his face as he said solemnly: “Crow, Drunken Bao, both of you lead the rest away and head for the city. I will stay here to defend the cave.”

As soon as everyone heard that, they were shocked. Drunken Bao said urgently: “How could we possibly do that? To leave you here alone?!”

The past three days, the person who had taken on the most pressure was deﬁnitely Lin TianAo. Every single Zong Stage Heavenly Beast was taken on by him, and it was only because of his Rock Like defense and stable ﬁghting skills that had allowed their team to last for so long. In terms of energy consumption, who could be more exhausted than him!

Lin TianAo said solemnly: “This is an order. With your numbers, you will still be able to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament. Even if Zhou Weiqing and I do not make it, it should not affect the entire team. Hurry up and leave this place. As long as you do not stay near the cave entrance, you should be safe. If Zhou Weiqing and I make it, we will catch up with you.”

“Big Bro Lin, I deﬁnitely will not leave. I will stay here and defend the place with you.” Shangguan Bing’er said unhesitatingly. With her Little Fatty still inside, how could she possibly leave?

Little Four summoned all his energy and propped himself up in a sitting position. “I will not leave you here alone as well, Boss. If we leave, what will happen to you? If you want to leave, we will leave together, but I think we should all stay. I can still last a while more.” If it were anyone else, he might have suggested that everyone leave together, and abandon Zhou Weiqing. However, Zhou Weiqing had done him and Drunken Bao such a huge favour, and they could have been said to be in his debt. Although Little Four’s character was probably the most casual amongst the entire team, at this point he couldn’t help but say he would stay to defend Zhou Weiqing.

“Nonsense. I said, this is an order!” Lin TianAo cried out angrily, showing the dignity and aura of a leader.

Alas, at this moment, no one would listen to this order. Crow turned her head to look away, stretching lazily as she worked out the kinks in her muscles. It had to be said that Crow was deﬁnitely worthy of her name of the Gold Crow Tribe’s top genius; after three days and nights of furious battles, she was the only one who seemed unaffected. Any time a Heavenly Beast appeared, her attacks were always the most ferocious. Despite some wounds on her body, she still looked unconcerned and relaxed. Perhaps, in terms of cultivation level and power, she might not be as powerful as Drunken Bao or Xiao Yan who were ﬁve-Jeweled. However, if it was a ﬁght to the death, the likely ﬁnal result would her victory. After all, the Gold Crow Tribe was renowned for their battle prowess, and she was considered the top genius of her generation! Even amongst her tribe members, not counting her Heavenly Jewels, she was famous for her physical strength alone.

Little Four kept his mouth shut, while Drunken Bao sat on the ground resting, humming a tune to himself. Xiao Yan just looked at Lin TianAo and said resolutely: “We are a team.” All of a sudden, a clear crisp voice rang out. “Waaah! So many corpses! So scary!”

Everyone started upon hearing the voice. For the past three days, they had faced so many Heavenly Beasts, but this was the ﬁrst time they had met any other humans. After all, this was quite a distance from the road, and even if any traveller were resting at the side of the road, they would not head so deep into the forest.

Along with the bell-like voice, a young lady walked out from the trees. She looked to be even younger than Shangguan Bing’er, about sixteen to seventeen years of age. Two black braids of hair at her sides, she looked the picture of the girl next door. Her large eyes were bright and touching, but the thing that caught their attention the most was her pupils, which were a dim grey colour. That was deﬁnitely something rare.

The young lady was not very tall, about 1.6 metres tall or so. However, she was pretty well-proportioned, in the bloom of puberty, full of the attraction of youth. Wearing a long black dress, she looked attractive. However, the strangest thing was that although they were in the forest, her feet were naked, yet she did not seem to feel anything as she walked across the forest ground. At this moment, she was looking at the blood in the area, and the mass of dead Heavenly Beasts. Patting her chest, her large eyes widened as she blinked, a picture of fear.

Crow laughed and said: “Little sis, where did you come from? Where are your parents? It’s dangerous to come into the forest alone.”

The black clad young lady looked at Crow, face full of surprise as she said: “Wow! Big sis, you are so tall! I have never seen a sister so tall like you, much much taller than me!” As she said that, she used her hands to motion the difference between their height.

Crow laughed again, walking towards the girl, lifting her hands as if to pat her on the head. However, just as she was about a yard from her, her hands suddenly shot out, striking out towards the girl’s neck.

At this point, for such a strange young lady to appear all of a sudden, how could anyone not be suspicious. Although Crow was thick-skinned, she was deﬁnitely not stupid. In fact, the reverse was true, with her hiding her intelligence behind a seemingly foolish appearance. With her taking action so suddenly, not only was the black clad girl caught by surprise, even the rest of the team were also taken aback. How strong was Crow? With her strength, even if Lin TianAo at his higher cultivation level was caught by the neck by her, he would probably not be able to resist.

However, just as her hands were about to reach the girl’s throat, the girl seemed to slide aside like a puff of smoke. Seemingly slow, but easily sliding out of the grasp of Crow without any problems. Her large eyes seemed so innocent as they misted over, looking over at Crow with a wronged face.

It was afternoon, and the sun was shining bright above, streaming down through the trees, bringing a gentle warmth to everyone amongst the shadow of the leaves. However, accompanying that easy sidestep of the black clad young lady, everyone’s heart was suddenly gripped by a deep chill. The reason for the sudden chill was because they could clearly see six deep red Physical Jewels glowing around the right hand of the black clad girl, showing a large contrast with her black outﬁt.

Amongst Physical Jewels, the Red Jade referred to coordination, and the pure colour also signalled that she was a Heavenly Jewel Master. None of the team members had expected that someone so young like her, looking only sixteen years old, could have such a powerful cultivation level! Furthermore, with her movement like a black mist earlier, it showed that her Elemental Jewel had at least the Darkness Greater Attribute!

Something out of the ordinary deﬁnitely signiﬁed something was up, and a sense of danger sparked in all their hearts. Lin TianAo quickly shouted. “Crow, come back!”

Accompanying Lin TianAo’s shout, although everyone was extremely exhausted, they gathered their energy and quickly gathered together, blocking the cave entrance. Though Crow was vexed that she had not succeeded, she followed his instructions, quickly jumping back and taking her position with the rest of the team.

The black clad girl who still had a wronged look on her face just a moment ago suddenly giggled as she looked them, saying: “Oooh, you guys are so vigilant! Am I that scary?”

As she said that, she took a step forward, her body seeming to ﬂy ahead close to the ground, and in a matter of moments, she appeared right in front of Lin TianAo, her ivory palm moving towards his chest…

Without question, this black clad lady was an enemy, and not a friend. In the short time, she had already determined that Lin TianAo was the leader of their team.

With a ﬂash of white light, Lin TianAo had released his full ﬁve-shield Assembly Set. However, as compared to three days ago, its glow was a lot dimmer. No matter how tough Lin TianAo was, how much he focused himself now, ﬁghting with all his might for three days and night had deﬁnitely taken his toll, and he was barely able to unleash ﬁfty percent of his full power. A soft *poof* sounds rang out, followed by a ear-splitting crash. That seemingly simple palm had actually managed to leave a small grey palm imprint on Lin TianAo’s Ultimate Shield! As for Lin TianAo himself, his entire body shuddered as a icy cold, evil air invaded his body through the shield. If not

for the fact that his shield had taken the brunt of the blow, perhaps this attack alone might have ﬁnished him off. Even so, his already wounded body was once again damaged, and a sweet taste rose in his throat as he vomited out a large mouthful of blood. As the blood ﬂew in the air, it turned into an icy mist, ﬁnally coalescing into a solid red ice ball and falling onto the ﬂoor. However, Lin TianAo had managed to expel this extravasated blood, and barely warding off more damage from her blow.

“Eeh?” A hint of surprise appeared in the girl’s eyes, clearly taken aback that her palm had not ﬁnished off Lin TianAo. In the next instant, her body had turned into black smoke and wafted aside for an instant. Crow’s axes smashed right through the black smoke, and right after that, a golden barrier appeared, surrounding the girl.

Everyone could clearly tell that the black clad girl deﬁnitely had the Darkness Attribute, and naturally the best attribute against that was the Light Attribute. However, her power was just too strong. Ignoring the fact that she seemed to be able to easily avoid physical attacks with her mist skill, which was clearly at least from a King Stage Heavenly Beast or higher, just her strange offensive power on Lin TianAo had stunned everyone.

A ﬂash of grey light appeared, and although the golden barrier had totally enveloped the black smoke, it was quickly swallowed by the grey light.

The black clad girl’s voice, sounding like silver bells, rang out once more in the air: “You have the nerve to use such a puny amount of Light Energy to face me? All of you… Die!”

As the voice rang out, her body reformed once more in a strange ﬂash, swiftly avoiding Xiao Yan’s Chain Fireball attack. As she landed on the ground, she had already appeared beside Drunken Bao, and a swift palm shot towards his head.

Facing such an attack, the team members’ faces changed. After all, even Lin TianAo with his ultimate defense had been wounded by her palm. If she managed to hit Drunken Bao, he would likely be killed.

However, at this moment, Drunken Bao also showed his power as a Five-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. Earlier, when he had attacked the girl with his Light Attribute Skill, he had already guessed that he would be the next target. After all, the Light Attribute was the natural enemy or counter to the Darkness attribute. As such, although he wasn’t in prime condition, he was still ready for the attack.

When the black clad girl descended from the sky and struck out at him, Drunken Bao’s body swiveled around in a circle, his Consolidated Equipment actually all kept back, with both palms held together in front of his chest, forming a cross with his arms. In the next instant, he pushed his palms outwards, and a brilliant gold light exploded out from them, forming a huge gold pillar all around his body.

Another ﬂash of surprise once again showed on the black clad girl’s face, but her palm did not stop, striking forward, and hitting Drunken Bao’s palm. At that moment, the brilliant gold light pillar around Drunken Bao expanded out instantly, covering everyone in the area.

Instantly, as everyone was bathed in the gold light, a warm, sunny feel enveloped them as the brilliant Light Heavenly Energy entered their bodies, causing them to perk up immediately, rejuvenating them both physically, mentally, and even their Heavenly Energy seemed to pick up. However, for the black clad girl, she noticeably stalled as soon as she was enveloped by the gold light, her palm striking out obviously weakening. Even so, Drunken Bao still let out a mufﬂed grunt as their palms met, and his entire body ﬂew back like a rubber ball, ﬂying almost thirty yards back as he smashed through trees before landing.

The Skill that Drunken Bao had used was called ‘Brilliant Light – Heaven and Earth’, and it was the skill stored in his ﬁfth Jewel. It was a support skill, and when using this skill, it would increase his defense three-fold for a single second, extremely useful in blocking any powerful enemy attacks. However, that was not its only effect, as it was also able to buff his companions in the vicinity, giving their attacks an additional Light Attribute, and also giving a small healing and rejuvenation effect. Although the healing power of the Light Attribute was not as strong as the Life Attribute, it was still pretty decent.

At the same time, this was also an especially useful skill against enemy Darkness Attribute Heavenly Jewel Masters, having a minor offensive attack, as they were opposing attributes.This was also why he had barely managed to survive the attack from the black-clad girl. Even so, being struck back into the forest, Drunken Bao vomited a large amount of blood, frantically using his Light Attribute Heavenly Energy to suppress the ice cold energy which ﬂowed in him. In doing so, he barely managed to survive, and it was clear he was not able to join the ﬁght any further. Was the six-Jeweled level really that scary? No, what wasn’t scary was the six-Jeweled cultivation level, but his black-clad girl! From the two small clashes, Lin TianAo had already been able to judge that this young girl did not simply have the Darkness Attribute alone. After all, the Darkness Attribute alone did not have such a powerful penetrating power, offensive capabilities, and that evil air.

The black clad girl was not in any hurry, but failing two attacks caused her to feel a little discontent. Standing there with a pout on her face, she muttered: “You guys truly have some power, no wonder you were able to kill so many Heavenly Beasts. Alas, you all are barely at ﬁfty percent of your powers, otherwise, I might be in a little trouble.”

At this point, two of the Fei Li Battle Team members exploded into action. A thick yellow light along with a heavy aura, and the imprint from the girl’s blow earlier started to vanish from his shield. The ﬁve Elemental Jewels socketed on the shield shining brilliantly. Immediately, one of the inbuilt set Skills of the shield was activated, causing the already huge shield to grow even larger and heavier. At the same time as Lin TianAo took action, Xiao Yan also launched his own attack. Amongst the entire team, he was the most silent. At the same time, he was also the one who Zhou Weiqing had deemed most dangerous when they had ﬁrst met. In such a dangerous time where their lives were all on the line,

he ﬁnally erupted out with his full power.

With a loud shout, the ﬁre staff in his hands disappeared, turning back into the Physical Jewel. In the next moment, a strange, almost miraculous scene occurred, as all ten of his Heavenly Jewels, Physical and Elemental alike, ﬂew outwards away from his wrists. The ﬁve Physical Jewels on the outer ring, and ﬁve Elemental Jewels within.

A brilliant ﬁery red light shone from from within, and Xiao Yan’s face turned ashen. With his hands in front of his chest, he made a strange motion, and a white ﬂame spat out from his mouth.

The black clad girl blinked her eyes in surprise. “Wahh, you sure are putting your life on the line! Flame of Life, Dance of the Heavenly Jewels! Looks like I have underestimated you all, for you to actually know and use such a skill!” Despite her words, she did not seem worried, not rushing to attack Lin TianAo. Instead, she vaulted back two yards, looking at Xiao Yan curiously. In the middle of the thick red light, Xiao Yan’s face clearly had an ugly expression. His ashen pale face slowly turned a sickly yellow, then green. At the same time, the light around him was growing stronger and more brilliant. All of a sudden, he gave a huge shout, and the ten Heavenly Jewels around him

rose up along with the light. In the next moment, a strange cry rang out, sounding like that of a phoenix, and a huge three metre long gold-red phoenix fully created from ﬂames actually rose from the light.

Xiao Yan pointed towards the black clad girl, and after doing so, he collapsed onto the ground, spewing out blood.

The ﬁre phoenix spread its wings in the air, its shrill cry ﬁlling the air as it ﬂew towards the black clad girl. The air in the entire area heated up considerably, nearly a hundred metre radius, and the air seemed distorted in a shimmering look.

By now, the black clad girl had a serious look on her face. Lifting both her hands, a short grey blade appeared in her hands, only one chi long. It looked rather strange, with one side black and the other side grey. At the same time, two layers of light arose from her body, and she seemed to glide forward towards the ﬁre phoenix.

Chapter 69 The Powerful Little Witch

Xiao Yan was a powerful ﬁve-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, and when he put his entire life on the line to power this Skill, one could imagine the sheer power of it. Even the black clad girl who was a whole level higher than him could not dismiss it easily. After all, Xiao Yan’s teacher was the strongest Heavenly Jewel Master in the entire Fei Li Empire, a King Stage powerhouse!

As Xiao Yan released his ten Heavenly Jewels, the colour of the Physical Jewels were totally overshadowed by his Elemental Jewels. As a Fire Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master, his Elemental Jewels were the blindingly brilliant Star Red Rubies. As compared to ordinary red rubies, the Star Red Rubies were brighter and more brilliant, at the same time they seemed to outline show the brilliant lines of a red star, and that was the reason for its name.

The ﬁve Star Red Rubies seemed to explode, rising in ﬂames behind the ﬁre phoenix, and the already hot temperature continued rising, causing ripples in the air in the hundred metre radius.

“Blue Rain Hibiscus Mutabilis!” The black clad girl struck forward with her black-grey blade, at the same time crying out softly.

A large Hibiscus Mutabilis, glowing a brilliant blue, bloomed swiftly from behind her, and rays of blue light ﬂoated out like small rays of rain, looking soft and gentle, but as they ﬂowed out, the increasing heat in the air slowed down to a standstill.

*Weng*

A huge buzzing sound roared out in a strange picture, as the thick ﬂame met with the uncountable blue lights, intertwining with the ﬁre phoenix which was ﬂying towards the girl.

It had to be known that this ﬁre phoenix was made of pure energy, and was at an unbelievably high temperature! Yet, at that moment, for it to be able to be suppressed by the frail looking blue lights! At the same time, the black clad girl’s grey blade struck forward in an arc.

A bright ﬂash ensued, before the air darkened as the ﬁre phoenix scattered into innumerable bright glows. At the same time, the blue Hibiscus Mutabilis also disappeared slowly. “You actually used your Flame of Life to attack me! Little Witch is getting angry!” The black clad girl pursed her lips, her entire person disappearing in a ﬂash.

Earlier, the Flame of Life that Xiao Yan had unleashed had also been imbued with the Light Energy from Drunken Bao’s ‘‘Brilliant Light – Heaven and Earth’ Skill. Although this black clad girl who called herself Little Witch was extremely powerful, such a clash had taken its toll on her energy as well.

However, with Xiao Yan fainted, the situation had also turned dire for the Fei Li Battle Team. Currently, the only ones who were still able to ﬁght was Lin TianAo, Little Four, Shangguan Bing’er and Crow.

Alas, facing Little Witch’s skill of turning into mist, their physical attacks would not be of much use. Their hearts sank rock bottom. None of them had expected for it to end like this for their entire team. After holding strong for three days, they had not been done in by the hordes of Heavenly Beasts, yet it looked like they would die at the hands of this young girl.

As the black mist gathered once more, this time the target was Lin TianAo. The grey blade indistinct, appearing and disappearing in the midst of the black mist, like a vicious fang seeking and waiting for a chance to strike at any moment of weakness.

Lin TianAo remained calm, his face cold and impassive. The ﬁve-shield Assembly Set slammed down onto the ground, as the ﬁve Elemental Jewels socketed in the middle lit up at once, covering him with a thick stony armour.

Unexpectedly, Lin TianAo suddenly closed his eyes. Without hesitation, the huge shield danced around in the air, as he moved his feet slowly, stably receiving Little Witch’s attack

*Ding* *Ding* Clashing sounds mixed with ear-piercing screeches of metal against each other rang out. The black mist was also slammed around by Lin TianAo, spreading and gathering constantly.

At the same time, a loud cry sounded out. Little Four had been gathering his power the whole time, and at that moment he descended swiftly from the sky, his entire body enveloped in a thick silver light, making his entire body look like a huge silver ball of light. In a ﬂash, he had joined the ﬁght, making use of his swift movement to its maximum. A blade grasped in hand, Little Four’s wings ﬂapped swiftly, controlling his movement in the air, pouncing down to attack and swooping away. His entire person seemed like a silver whirlwind, slicing around and dancing about the black mist as he attacked at great speed.

Little Witch could easily ignore ordinary physical attacks. However, she still had to respect Little Four’s attacks which were imbued with a massive amount of Spatial Energy, not to mention the minor buff from Drunken Bao earlier. Although her main focus was still Lin TianAo, the harassing attacks from Little Four deﬁnitely affected her as well.

Crow also took action as well. Knowing that her powerful melee attacks would be useless against the mist, she ﬁnally revealed her Elemental Jewels for the ﬁrst time.

Just like Xiao Yan, Crow’s Elemental Jewels were the Star Red Ruby of the Fire Attribute. However, in terms of her Skills, she did not actually have any that were actually offensive, instead they were all support-types! Even so, she showed her true power on the path she had chosen.

The two huge legendary axes actually ﬂew into the sky, and it could clearly be seen that the two axes were actually attached to a bright red chain. The chain was about ten metres long, and under Crow’s control, they ﬂew up and down as if part of her hands, swiftly changing positions and slashing at the black mist from various angles.

By now, the legendary axes had turned a full ﬁery red. Crow’s strength was in close combat melee, and her Skills were all tailored to improve that. Her Fire Attribute Skills were all the rare Support Skills in the Fire Attributes, and they were certainly not used often. As for the chain, it was actually her Physical Jewel Consolidated Equipment, and was specialised to link to and control her Legendary Axes, imbuing them with the Support Skills.

Currently, what Crow was using was one of the secret combat axe styles of the Gold Crow Tribe: Ten Thousand Beast Shatter Strike. This axe style had been used by their ancestors to great effect, killing many Heavenly Beasts. It could be used at a close distance or ranged combat, and it was extremely powerful.

Shangguan Bing’er also took action. This time, she kept her bow and arrows, instead choosing to release her second Physical Jewel Consolidated Equipment, the socketed Wind Wielding Boots.

With the boots on, Shangguan Bing’er with her Ultimate Agility was like a gust of wind herself, speeding around at insane speeds around the outer periphery. As she ran, she constantly kicked out a large Wind Blade, each made up of seven small wind blades. Although she did not have such a skill like Xiao Yan to compress all his Fireballs together, but the seven small wind blades were all close together, striking forward at the same time. Even though its offensive power was not great, it was still sufﬁcient to harrass Little Witch.

Although Shangguan Bing’er was only at the three Jeweled cultivation level, with the socketed Wind Wielding Boots and her full power, her speed was even faster than lightning. Facing the various attacks from various directions, Little Witch could not catch deal with her easily.

In that moment, the four remaining members of the Fei Li Battle Team surrounded Little Witch, attacking her from all angles with all their might. They knew that this was their last chance. As long as she managed to take down one more person, especially someone so important like Lin TianAo, then they would all be doomed.

With the four of them using their full power, adding to that the Light Energy from Drunken Bao’s ‘‘Brilliant Light – Heaven and Earth’ Skill, it was certainly a deadly combination. Even a Zong Stage Heavenly Beast would not be able to deal with this easily. However, Little Witch showed to them that human minds were deﬁnitely incomparable to ordinary Heavenly Beasts, at least humans which had such unique abilities like hers, such a powerful Heavenly Jewel Master.

Facing the attacks by all four of them, Little Witch was not ﬂustered at all. All of a sudden, the black mist solidiﬁed, revealing her original form once more, and her left palm struck out at Lin TianAo’s shield.

Another ear splitting explosion occured, and Lin TianAo’s expression changed as he took three steps back involuntarily. Another palm imprint appeared on his shield, even deeper than the previous one! Just as he caught his balance, ﬁghting to deal with the Evil Aura that had invaded his body once more, the imprint on the shield suddenly exploded. The intense explosion was at such an opportune time that it not only destroyed an incoming attack from Shangguan Bing’er, it also caused Lin TianAo to get knocked back ﬁve more steps, causing him to spurt out a few mouthfuls of blood. His entire body turned cold as his face paled rapidly.

After striking out with the palm and knocking Lin TianAo back, Little Witch did not stop to admire the results. Without any hesitation, she moved swiftly, the grey short blade in her hands ﬂickering out like lightning, striking thirteen times. Each of the strikes landed on the Legendary Axes, and it could clearly be seen that the ﬁery red light around the axes were slowly diminished as the grey light overtook it, before ﬁnally being overwhelmed with the grey light. That grey light then continued on through the chain, ﬂowing down towards Crow. Even all the Energy that Crow had infused into the chain was not able to halt the progress of the grey light, and the axes fell down, smashing heavily onto the ground as Crow lost control.

Right at the same time, Little Witch spun on her feet like a black whirlwind, taking on Little Four’s onslaught. In a series of swift clashes, Little Four gave a strange cry, as he was slammed back nearly twenty feet before catching his balance again. Pausing, blood ﬂowed out from his mouth, the Consolidated Wings behind his back vanishing. His face was grey and ashen, and the buff from Drunken Bao’s ‘‘Brilliant Light – Heaven and Earth’ Skill had been eliminated from him.

In the short span of time, Little Witch had beaten back three of the team members. At that point, her beautiful face was stained in a red ﬂush, as a brilliant blue light expanded outwards, and the Blue Rain Hibiscus Mutabilis appeared once more, ﬂoating in midair.

At that moment, Shangguan Bing’er tried to retreat, but it was already too late. She felt that her entire body was surrounded by an icy cold aura, slowing her movements by a huge margin. Before she could react, her body had been engulfed by the blue light, freezing her in place.

Little Witch twirled around in a half circle, the grey blade in her hands slashing down towards Shangguan Bing’er, and a grey light seemed to split the air between them. If Shangguan Bing’er were hit by this, she would undoubtedly perish immediately. This all happened so quickly. From the time that Lin TianAo had been knocked back, to everyone else being struck down, to Shangguan Bing’er facing her death, it had barely been the time taken to take two breaths. At this moment, no one would able to save her!

All of a sudden, a brilliant gold light shot forth from within the cave, smashing into the grey light that Little Witch had struck out at Shangguan Bing’er. With a loud explosion, both lights disappeared at the same time. It was only at this point that everyone abruptly realised that unknowingly, the white shield of light at the entrance of the cave had dissipated.

Seeing that her attack had been blocked, Little Witch was shocked. Her gaze turned to the cave entrance, before she sighed and said softly: “So, it really is you… What a pity… I really came too late. Since you’ve already succeeded in evolving, then that’s it for today. I will catch up with you one day!” Lin TianAo and the rest were puzzled by her words, but she ignored them as she glanced around at the injured team. Breaking into a brilliant smile that seemed so lovable and innocent, she then disappeared in a buff of black smoke and vanished into the forest. From the time that Little Witch had appeared to the end of the ﬁght had been a very short period of time. However, in those few minutes, this young girl had left a profound impression on all the members of the Fei Li Battle Team. Besides Ye Paopao who had already been unconscious when the

ﬁght started, out of all the other six, only Shangguan Bing’er and Crow had escaped injury. Lin TianAo, Drunken Bao, Xiao Yan, Little Four, all four of these main team members had sustained severe injuries.

Presently, Crow was sitting on the ﬂoor, panting and gasping for breath. It was true that she had immense strength, but she was after all still a three-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. Facing Little Witch had put her under immense stress, especially the last thirteen strikes on her axes, and the Evil aura that had invaded her body from that, had indeed put a huge pressure on her. In fact, all of them were now enduring the different degree of Evil Aura’s invasion.

Shangguan Bing’er also collapsed on the ﬂoor, exhausted. With the massive exertions in the last three days, and facing such a close shave with death moments ago, she felt entirely drained, and she couldn’t even head into the cave to have a look like she wanted before she collapsed. Within the cave, the four coloured lights and the cocoon had both disappeared. Zhou Weiqing was lying on the ﬂoor unconscious, the black tiger tattoos on his body slowly dissipating. However, he was covered in a shimmering white light about three inches from his body, giving forth a light

suction power, drawing Energy from the atmosphere around and into his body.

Tian Er, totally naked, stood right beside Zhou Weiqing, her back to him as she faced the cave entrance. Her purple eyes glowed indistinctly, and it could clearly be seen that the original six Heavenly Jewels around her wrists had now turned into seven. The blue tiger tattoos around her body had already disappeared, and her alluring body was fully revealed in the air, though no one was around to witness the sight. Her white hair fell down along her back down her entire body, and she gave forth a rather cold, profoundly mysterious, even holy aura.

“She was actually nearby… this time I am really in debt to this scoundrel’s companions.” Tian Er muttered to herself. As she did so, she turned back to look at Zhou Weiqing who was sleeping soundly, and a complicated look appeared in her eyes.

“Why! Why can’t I kill him! I obviously can, and should kill him, to get the most beneﬁt from him. That was my plan all along… but why can’t I do it? I’ve followed him for two years, and that scoundrel has kept bullying me! I should have taken the fruits of my labour in this level up! Sigh… yet I am still unable to do so? Furthermore, during this level up, it wasn’t just me who beneﬁtted greatly, he has also beneﬁtted quite a

lot? Hmph, that rascal has gotten the advantage again.”

Squatting down slowly, Tian Er examined Zhou Weiqing closely again, her eyes unclear. Lifting her hand, she placed it gently on Zhou Weiqing’s face, and feeling the warmth of his skin, she ﬂushed lightly.

“This scoundrel, hmph, he dared to catch me and force me to bathe with him. I want to kill him, really!” As she said that, she gave his face a savage pinch and twisted it.

Suddenly, she burst out giggling: “This rascal is really the worst that I have ever seen. Fine, I’ll let him live for now. When I break through the King Stage, that’s when I can get the greatest beneﬁt from his death, at that point I will be able to harden my heart. Yes, that’s right.”

Having made her decision, Tian Er seemed to relax, her face showing her relieve. Looking at Zhou Weiqing’s body who was coming into sight as the black tiger tattoos vanished, the blush on her cheeks deepened. Lifting her right hand, she tapped his forehead with her index ﬁnger, and a pale purple light entered his head. At the same time, she was enveloped in a bright white light, and her body shrank slowly. By the time she reappeared, she was in the form of the cute little white tiger once more.

Looking at him exasperatedly, she opened her mouth and bit Zhou Weiqing hard on the arm, before hufﬁly climbing onto his chest and lying down to sleep.

Deep in sleep, Zhou Weiqing did not know that he had been bitten by little Fat Cat, but he certainly felt the pain. Shuddering, he slowly regained consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, he felt rather dizzy, as if his brain was mufﬂed. Looking around in the cave, he was totally at a loss at what had happened.

Where am I? Why am I here? What was I doing? What happened?! He stared dazedy at the surroundings for a moment, before his memory started to return.

Oh! I should be with Fat Cat, protecting it while it levelled up! Zhou Weiqing leapt up abruptly on that thought. Alas, that caused Fat Cat, who had just settled down comfortably, to fall down, and as her soft body tumbled down Zhou Weiqing’s body, he did not think much about it. However, when her body fell down to his legs, it was stopped by something…

As she opened her eyes, she saw that ‘ugly thing’ right in front of her, and was almost enraged to death. Zhou Weiqing! I will kill you! Just as she was about to lift her little claws to thwap the ‘thing’ in front of her, she suddenly felt her body rising up.

Zhou Weiqing had grabbed Fat Cat right in front of him, looking at it in the eyes, he asked curiously: “Fat Cat, you succeeded in levelling up?”

Fat Cat closed her eyes, twisting her mouth, as her little ears ﬂopped down, totally an image of ‘I’m ignoring you’.

“Ehh? I say. Don’t you have a conscience? I just helped you to level up, and you treat me like that?!” Zhou Weiqing said exasperatedly, pinching Fat Cat’s soft little butt. Looking down again, he then realised that he was actually totally naked.

Instantly, his eyes widened. “What’s going on? Where’s my clothes?! Fat Cat, what did you do to me? My… my… virtue! Ahh!” This shameless rascal looked at the little tiger in his hands with a sorrowful face, pulling its ears as he said: “Fat Cat, why did you get rid of all my clothes? Did you do something unspeakable to me? You perverted cat, how could you be so shameless, you must take responsibility for me! Why are you glaring at me like that?”

Fat Cat ﬁnally opened her eyes, ﬁnally enraged to the breaking point by the scoundrel, and a killing intent arose in the air. She truly felt that she had really made a wrong decision by sparing this fellow, she should have torn him into shreds earlier!

“Ehh… Never mind, who asked us to be together for so long. Sigh, I’ll just suffer in silence, and not pursue the matter anymore.” Zhou Weiqing, cunning as he was, could naturally sense that the atmosphere was growing bleak for him. Thinking about Fat Cat’s power, he naturally decided to back down.

Taking a fresh set of clothes from his Spatial Necklace, he put Fat Cat back in his arms before heading out. Fat Cat glared angrily for a while, before closing her eyes hufﬁly.

Earlier, he had not noticed anything different, but as soon as he moved and his blood circulated, he was shocked to ﬁnd that his body had gone through a considerable change! Ever since he had swallowed the black pearl, his body had been changed from within, and was already much tougher and stronger than any ordinary Jewel Master.

However, a comparison had to be made, it was as if his previous body was formed out of thin steel wires, and now, it was formed out of thick steel wires!

From deep within all the way to the outside, from skin to bone, meridians, internal organs, all of them gave him the impression of being complete reborn. Concentrating inwardly with all his senses, Zhou Weiqing could sense that his entire body, down to his cells, seemed to be enveloped in a thick wrap of purple energy, and it was this purple energy that had massively improved his body.

Originally, Zhou Weiqing could always feel the remaining residual energy from the black pearl in his Dantian, but this was totally gone now. His internal organs were all refreshed, almost glowing even, and every breath he took seemed allowed the internal organs to release a burst of energy throughout his entire body. Muscles, bones, meridians, everything seemed a lot tougher, even tensile. Just taking the single step forward, he felt as if he was lighter than before, almost stepping two yards far in that single bound. At the same time, Zhou Weiqing realised that his ﬁnal Death Acupuncture Point of the second portion of his Immortal Deity Technique, for the waist-back area, had been broken through! It was the WeiLu Acupuncture Point at the caudal vertebrae. This meant his second portion of the Immortal Deity

Technique was ﬁnally complete, and more importantly, the eight Death Acupuncture Points were all linked up properly and in proper circulation.

These eight Death Acupuncture Points of the waist-back which were now broken through quickly linked up with the ﬁve of the limbs which had been broken through in the ﬁrst portion. Just like a constellation in the sky, they were linked in a formation, a total of thirteen energy whirlpools with the QiHai Acupuncture Point as the central point. Every breath Zhou Weiqing took, it felt as if every pore of his skin had a life force of its own, under the direction of the thirteen energy whirlpools, they drew a huge amount of Energy from the atmosphere, being stripped, puriﬁed there before circulating around the body and returning to the QiHai in his Dantian.

Along with the fact that his meridians were toughened, more ﬂexible and widened considerably, Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy had deﬁnitely grown by leaps and bounds. The liquid- state Heavenly Energy was plentiful, and he had ﬁnally ofﬁcial reached the ﬁrst stage of the Heavenly Shen Energy. In that moment of distraction, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but look down at his chest. He knew that without question, the change in his body had to be connected to Fat Cat’s level up. Although he did not know what happened when he was unconscious, but it was obvious that he had deﬁnitely gained a lot from Fat Cat, not to mention that he had not experienced any of the usual pain when breaking through to this key Death Acupuncture Point.

Lifting his hands, he stroked Fat Cat on the head, and said with much emotions: “Thanks, Fat Cat. So you got rid of my clothes in order to help me… Thank you.”

Fat Cat, who had been stewing in anger, was startled by the sudden touch. Hearing his words, she did not know why but she suddenly felt an unspeakable sense of warmth. Such a feeling was new to her, not having even felt that from her father.

As they spoke, Zhou Weiqing had walked out of the cave. At ﬁrst, he had been planning to praise Fat Cat more, but the moment he stepped out and saw the scene in front of him, his entire body shuddered in shock. In a ﬂash, he charged forth to Shangguan Bing’er, who was lying on the ground. “This… what happened?” Zhou Weiqing held Shangguan Bing’er in his arms, blood-red ﬂashing into his eyes, and a ﬁerce killing intent erupted from his body. As he held her, his Heavenly Energy poured into her.

The scene in front of him had indeed given him a big shock. The ﬂoor was ﬁlled with blood and littered with corpses of Heavenly Beasts. In the Heavenly Bow Unit, he had attended several missions facing Heavenly Beasts, and he naturally had a lot of experience in dealing with them. On ﬁrst look, he could already tell how powerful these Heavenly Beasts were. Furthermore, each and every one of his companions were sitting or lying on the ground, wounded, how could he remain calm!?

With the infusion of Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy, Shangguan Bing’er recovered a little. Amongst the team members, she was one of the rare few who had remained injury free, and the reason she collapsed was because of sheer exhaustion and the stress of the previous battle. Seeing that Zhou Weiqing was in front of her, safe and well, she heaved a sigh of relief. Snuggling in his arms, feeling his warm embrace, she ﬁnally relaxed as her eyes reddened.

“Little Fatty, I thought I’d never see you again. It’s great that you are okay.” Zhou Weiqing held her closely, a strong sense of fear ﬁlling his heart, causing his face to go pale. He could not imagine losing Shangguan Bing’er, and he had never felt such terror before.

“Little Fatty, I’m alright, just a little exhausted, you should go look at the rest. These three days, in order to protect you and Fat Cat, we have gone through at least a few dozen battles. Just a moment ago, there was this black clad young girl, she almost killed us all.”

Zhou Weiqing quickly cleared his head; he was no fool after all, and had only just been distracted by the sight of Shangguan Bing’er on the ground. He immediately understood that these Heavenly Beasts attacks had been due to Fat Cat’s Level Up, and the rest of the team had spent the last three days ﬁghting to defend them. Three days! For Shangguan Bing’er to be so exhausted to fainting, he could imagine how tough the ﬁghting had been.

Carefully, he placed Shangguan Bing’er back onto the ground in a comfortable spot, before quickly heading to Lin TianAo.

It had to be said that Lin TianAo was indeed worthy of his title as the leader of the team. His injuries were serious, but he was still the only one who managed to sit there cross legged, meditating and cultivating to heal himself.

Just that resilience and determination alone, it was far beyond anyone.

“Leader, how is it?” Zhou Weiqing looked to Lin TianAo concernedly. He was rather taken aback, as Lin TianAo was currently pale and ashen, with uneven breathing and his muscles twitching, clearly in a large amount of pain. Zhou Weiqing knew very well how powerful his defense was, and for him to take such damage in the ﬁght, it was clear how violent the ﬁght had been.

Zhou Weiqing did not have the Lie Attribute, and could not help heal Lin TianAo. The only thing he could do was the infuse him with Heavenly Energy, to help him in his process of self-heal.

Sitting behind Lin TianAo, Zhou Weiqing placed both his palms onto Lin TianAo’s broad back, slowly infusing his own Heavenly Energy.

As soon as he did so, Zhou Weiqing found something peculiar. In Lin TianAo’s body, there was a strangely familial energy, and as Zhou Weiqing infused his own Heavenly Energy, the feeling grew stronger.

Very quickly, a cool refreshing energy returned through Zhou Weiqing’s palms into his body, and the attribute wheel in front of his eyes automatically rolled to the grey area, signifying the Demonic Attribute.

“What’s going on?” Zhou Weiqing was caught by surprise. Could it be that when he broke through the second portion of the Immortal Deity Technique, he could control the Devour technique outside of the Demonic Change? But… it was Lin TianAo in front of him, he did not want to Devour him!

Just as Zhou Weiqing was trying to puzzle things out, the cool energy entering his palms grew stronger. Furthermore, he quickly realised that this energy was not what he ﬁrst thought; it was deﬁnitely not Lin TianAo’s Earth Attribute energy, but an icy cold Demonic Heavenly Energy!

As the Demonic Attribute Heavenly Energy was drawn away by Zhou Weiqing, he could obviously feel that the tensed muscles on Lin TianAo’s back relaxing a little, and he was also able to sit up straighter. This pure Demonic Heavenly Energy was also mixed in with some Darkness Heavenly Energy, and as soon as Zhou Weiqing drew it in, it was absorbed by his thirteen Death Acupuncture Points, being transformed into his own, and Zhou Weiqing could feel that his Heavenly Energy had actually grown, along with his cultivation level!

“I’m alright now.” Lin TianAo released a breath. Earlier on, when Little Witch had struck his Assembly Shield with her ﬁnal blow, it had almost been destroyed. These three days, Lin TianAo had been the mainstay of the entire team, the pillar holding them together, and the drain on him was just too immense. If not for that, Little Witch would not found it so easy to deal with him. After sustaining such a heavy injury, the thing that was of the greatest problem to Lin TianAo was just that cold Demonic energy. As soon as it had invaded his body, it had started nibbling away at his energy, damaging his meridians. He had to spend a large amount of Heavenly Energy just to suppress it, but was unable to clear it. With that, he was unable to put his focus on healing the other injuries. He knew that if this continued, even if his other wounds were healed, the Demonic Energy would remaining in his body, continuously leaving him with a major injury.

Just as he was getting worried, Zhou Weiqing arrived, and as his hands were placed on his back, Lin TianAo could feel the hugely problematic cold energy get drawn away by Zhou Weiqing. Without that Demonic Energy, he heaved a sigh of relief, as he could now focus on healing the rest of his wounds. “Weiqing, head over to the other side to look at Drunken Bao. He sustained the heaviest injuries, and he is also plagued by the Evil Energy. Save him ﬁrst, then Little Four and Crow. Ye Paopao is just exhausted, and Xiao Yan burnt his own life energy to summon the Flame of Life, and he can only slowly recuperate by himself.”

Even at such a time when he was so heavily injured, Lin TianAo was still a responsible team leader. He knew it wasn’t time to ask Zhou Weiqing about how he was able to deal with the ice cold Evil Energy in his body, and it was much more important to deal with everyone’s injuries.

In the next hour, Zhou Weiqing ﬁnally managed to draw all the Demonic Energy within all his companions’ bodies, alleviating much of their injuries. At the same time, the mass inﬂux of Demonic Energy was also like a tonic to himself, giving a huge boost to his cultivation level.

As the team gathered together, only then did Zhou Weiqing realise the seriousness of the matter. Among the seven of his companions, the only one who remained uninjured was Shangguan Bing’er. Ye Paopao had just awoken, but he had sustained some injuries during the past three days of ﬁghting. However, both he and Crow’s injuries were still relatively light. Especially Crow, whose main toll here was the invasion of the Demonic Energy, which was already drawn out by Zhou Weiqing. However, the rest of the team was in dire straits.

Drunken Bao was severely injured, and although Zhou Weiqing had helped him draw out the Demonic Energy in his body, it had already one the damage within. Added to his other injuries, it would take a long time for him to recover. The next worst was Xiao Yan, whose meridians had sustained quite a serious injury. In order to ﬁght with Little Witch, he had burnt his life force to summon the Fame of Life. He did not sustain a lot of injuries, but it had drained his vitality and life force, and both he and Drunken Bao were in a coma. Little Four was only slightly better than the other two; just like Lin TianAo, he had sustained internal injuries and would require some time to recover.

Out of the entire eight members of the Fei Li Battle Team, four out of the ﬁve main team members were heavily injured. Yet, it was barely twenty days to the Heavenly Jewel Tournament! Twenty days was deﬁnitely not enough time for the four of them to complete their recovery.

Zhou Weiqing slowly and quietly harvested the various materials from the dead Heavenly Beasts. Despite knowing that his team members were safe now that he had drawn the Demonic Energy from their wounds, his brow was still furrowed. In order to protect him and Fat Cat, these seven companions had not abandoned him, ﬁghting with all their lives for three whole days. No matter what happened, this put him in severe debt to them. More importantly, in order to protect him, with the four main team members injured,

especially Lin TianAo, what would they do for the Heavenly Jewel Tournament?! They had come to this tournament with high hopes to enter the top four, especially for Lin TianAo who was already twenty nine years old, it could be said that this was his last chance, and something he had worked towards for the past few years. It had been that ﬁnal thing he wanted to

accomplish before returning to Zhou Weiqing to be his

Lifetime Follower.

…

Since Fat Cat had already completed her level up, the aura drawing the Heavenly Beasts was no longer up. As such, they rested in the clearing for the next three days, managing to recover from the worst of the situation. Xiao Yan and Drunken Bao ﬁnally woke up, and though no one blamed Zhou Weiqing, he could still see the depression in all their eyes.

As night dawn, they sat around the ﬁre, eating the dinner that Zhou Weiqing had prepared. Everyone remained awkwardly silent. All of a sudden, Drunken Bao who had his head lowered down with a slight reddish tinge in his eyes raised his head and said: “Leader, let’s go back home.”

With so many injuries, how could they possibly continue attending the Heavenly Jewel Tournament?!

Chapter 70 Let me be the mainstay

“Leader, let’s go back home.” Such a simple line, yet it caused everyone’s face to change, their expressions turning ugly. Little Four’s ﬁst gripped tightly, a vexed look upon his face. Xiao Yan closed his eyes, sighing softly. Crow was still relatively okay, as she was still extremely young and could always join the next Heavenly Jewel Tournament, but she still looked disappointed.

Lin TianAo looked at Drunken Bao, and after a while, he sighed deeply, shaking his head. Softly, he said dejectedly: “Man proposes and Heaven disposes. You are right. Rather than forcefully go ahead and be humiliated, we might as well go back. I will take full responsibility for this matter.”

“Wait!” Just at that moment, Zhou Weiqing suddenly stood up in an abrupt motion, looking around at the disappointed faces of his companions. He said solemnly: “We can’t go back like this, we need to attend the Heavenly Jewel Tournament.”

“En?” Drunken Bao looked at him, brow furrowed. “Under such a circumstance, what’s the point of attending? Our purpose isn’t just to attend. With our injuries, I’m afraid we will not even be able to get past the ﬁrst round, let alone the later stages, or even dream of the top four. It would be a humiliation.” Zhou Weiqing drew in a deep breath. He had already thought the entire thing through before speaking up. He knew how important this tournament was for the ﬁve members of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, especially the seniors, and it could be said to be their dream. Yet, this dream was almost dashed because of himself and Fat Cat. If they went back like this, he would never be able to live with himself, and the rest

would have to live with this regret as well, and this was deﬁnitely something he did not want to see. At that point, the heroic character that he had inherited from Admiral Zhou rose up in his chest for the ﬁrst time, and he made up his mind that he would deﬁnitely attend this Heavenly Jewel Tournament, even if he had to reveal his Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Jewel. It might bring him a lot of trouble, but if he didn’t do it, he would regret it for life.

Of course, he had also pondered through the possibilities before ﬁnally coming to his decision. After all, the mysterious white haired young lady Tian Er had said previously that the Heavenly Snow Mountain had their eyes on him. If he got into trouble from the Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Jewel being revealed, he could either join the Heavenly Snow Mountain or even the Heavenly Demonic Sect if there was no other choice.

“We shall continue to join the Heavenly Jewel Tournament. I will be the mainstay member.” Zhou Weiqing said solemnly. As soon as he said that, everyone looked at him in surprise.

Little Four’s eyes revealed a hint of appreciation, but he sighed and said: “Bro, it’s ok. I know that you feel terrible about this situation, but it is not your fault. No one expected this to happen, and sometimes bad luck just strikes.”

Zhou Weiqing shook his head. Currently, his eyes did not have the usual mischievous light within, instead a cold calculating brightness as he said: “We have eight of us in the team, and from the looks of things, the four of you are heavily injured. However, both I and Shangguan Bing’er are totally uninjured and will have our full combat powers. Crow and Ye Paopao should also recover in a few days. As such, by the time the Tournament starts, the four of us will be able to ﬁght in the tournament. From the look of your injuries, Leader should take about a month or so before he recovers to prime condition, and Little Four, you should be about the same as well. As for Xiao Yan and Drunken Bao, they are much more severely injured, and will probably take a longer time. As long as the four of us are able to get pass the ﬁrst two rounds, then our entire team’s combat ability will have recovered to at least eighty percent. If we can last til the top eight, we would have recovered almost ninety percent. Who’s to say we will not have the ability to forge on into the top four by then? The most difﬁcult ﬁghts for us will be the ﬁrst two rounds, but if we get relatively lucky with draws, we might get some weaker teams. We deﬁnitely still have a chance.”

Listening to his analysis, everyone’s face changed, and a glow of hope seemed to rise in their hearts.

Zhou Weiqing continued: “Senior Ye Paopao is a four- Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, and his cultivation level is deﬁnitely enough to attend the Heavenly Jewel Master. Crow, with her natural abilities, can be almost compared to a ﬁve- Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master in terms of direct attacks. Bing’er might not be extremely powerful, but as a ultimate agility Heavenly Jewel Master, her speed is way beyond most non agility Five-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Masters. Furthermore, though her offensive capabilities might not be too powerful, but she can pretend to be a Beastmaster to bring a Low Level Zun Stage Icy Soul Heavenly Bear on the ﬁeld, coupled with her archery, that is a formidable force already.”

Drunken Bao said solemnly: “Even so, that might not be enough. You know how important this tournament is, even if we ignore the top teams, those smaller Empires will still send their best and most brilliant Heavenly Jewel Masters.”

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “There’s still the mainstay member – me. I have the conﬁdence that as long as we are facing any team that isn’t backed by one of the Great Saint Lands, I will be able to suppress two or more of our opponents. Although I do not wish to deal you a blow, I have to say now that Senior Little Four, previously when I beat you, it was not luck at all.”

As soon as Zhou Weiqing said that, Little Four’s expression turned strange. “Weiqing, are you trying to comfort me or provoke me?! Are you saying that you think you are stronger than me?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Heh, deﬁnitely stronger than you!”

Little Four said with a glum look on his face: “You, this fellow, you’re bullying me that I am injured now and can’t test the truth of your words for myself. I know that your intentions are good, and you want us to join the tournament, but we cannot bet your lives on such a chance. After all, in the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, in order for the competitors to be able to be able to unleash their full powers, killing is not against the rules.”

Besides Lin TianAo, who looked to be deep in thought, and Shangguan Bing’er, who was sitting down calmly and expressionless, the rest of the companions looked at Zhou Weiqing with a look of disbelief on their face. Even Ye Paopao was no different.

Previously, Ye Paopao had felt that his power was not bad. However, in the last three days of ﬁghting, he had realised that there was just an immense, almost insurmountable gap between his power levels, and the members of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy. Their unity, teamwork, their awareness, reactions, combat abilities, even powerful skills, those were something he sorely lacked. At this point, hearing Zhou Weiqing saying that he was more powerful than Little Four, he did not believe it at all.

“Crow.” Zhou Weiqing ignored Little Four, turning to Crow instead.

“What?” Crow replied, sitting on the ﬂoor and looking at him uncertainly. She had not sustained injuries in the ﬁght, and had only been affected by the Evil Energy of Little Witch. Since it had been drawn away by Zhou Weiqing, coupled with a whole day of rest and her strong physique, she had pretty much recovered already.

Zhou Weiqing looked at her, his mouth curved in a smile as he said: “Let’s compete in physical strength.” “What?? You want to compete in physical strength with me?!” Crow’s eyes bulged. Her expression was clearly saying ‘Bro, are you ill?!’ She was not the only one, all the rest were staring at Zhou Weiqing with a similar expression. Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Come on then! My Physical Jewel is also the Strength Attribute. We’re both at the three- Jeweled cultivation level, why not compete?”

Little Four laughed heartily and said: “Weiqing, you are asking for trouble? Isn’t it just a tournament? Crow’s legendary hammers… even boss will get a headache!”

Right at point, Lin TianAo suddenly spoke out. “Crow, go ahead. Compete with him.”

“Ahh?” Everyone looked at Lin TianAo with surprise.

In truth, Zhou Weiqing’s analysis had really tempted Lin TianAo. Just like what Zhou Weiqing had thought, this Heavenly Jewel Tournament was extremely important to Lin TianAo, and could be said to be his goal these last few years. Three years ago, when he had attended the Tournament for the ﬁrst time, he had been left with an extremely deep impression. The next three years he had spent working his heart out, all so that he could once again ascend the stage and bring honour to the Fei Li Empire. Crow stood up slowly, looking at Lin TianAo curiously: “Leader, are you sure? Although he has some meat on him, but… to compete in strength with me…”

*Poooh* Ye Paopao had been drinking water at that time, and he spat out a whole mouthful in laughter, his mouth twitching. “What do you mean, has some meat on him…”

Lin TianAo smiled faintly and said: “I have my reasons for doing so, just try for yourself and ﬁnd out.”

As they spoke, all of a sudden, Crow lifted her right hand, striking out towards Zhou Weiqing abruptly.

Zhou Weiqing was close by to her, and with her height, she barely needed to take a step before reaching him.

Zhou Weiqing did not dodge, instead swiftly stepping to the left with his left foot, bending down in a slight crouch as he positioned himself. With a low grunt, he also lifted his right hand, ﬁngers spread out as he received Crow’s hand with his own. Their palms struck together with a meaty slap, and their ﬁngers interlocked tightly.

Everyone’s gaze fell upon the two, as they silently watched the struggle.

Crow had absolute conﬁdence in her strength, and grabbing onto Zhou Weiqing’s hand, she pulled hard, thinking to ﬂing his entire body up.

“En?” As soon as she exerted strength, a look of surprise appeared on her face. Despite her pulling, Zhou Weiqing did not budge at all, his right hand steady as bedrock, with nary a motion.

As a member of the Gold Crow Tribe, and an outstanding one, Crow had a terrifying strength. Although she had pulled rather casually, it was already more than several thousand jin of power. This was more because of her own estimation of Zhou Weiqing’s capabilities as a three-Jeweled Strength Heavenly Jewel Master.

Regarding Crow’s surprise, Zhou Weiqing’s mouth twitched upwards in a small smile. Crow’s competitive spirit was aroused, and she shoved her right leg ﬁrmly on the ground as a pivot, shouting out: “Come here!” Her entire body rippled as she focused her strength, her right arm ﬂexing as she pulled back hard in a burst of power.

Zhou Weiqing also gave a low shout, his eyes glittering as the muscles of his entire body tightened, his arm muscles taut as his entire power was focused on his right hand.

*Bang* A small explosion rang out as the clothes on Zhou Weiqing’s right arm actually shredded into pieces, revealing a strong, robust arm. Currently, the muscles were rippling, full of power and beauty.

Facing Crow’s sudden explosive pull, Zhou Weiqing only swayed a little, yet was not pulled back at all.

At this point, shock was displayed on all the members of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy, as well as Ye Paopao. If the ﬁrst time could be explained by Crow underestimating Zhou Weiqing, the second pull was clearly already with a considerable amount of power, yet it had still been easily blocked by him. The members of the Heavenly Jewel Master Academy had all experienced Crow’s terrifying power ﬁrst- hand; and just those two pulls alone was deﬁnitely beyond what any normal Strength Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master could withstand.

Not only did Crow inherit the power of the Gold Crow Tribe, she had also inherited the power from her father’s side, the strength of the barbarian tribe. In this marriage of strength, her physique was one of the most outstanding in the tribe, yet she had still not managed to move Zhou Weiqing.

“Again!” Zhou Weiqing shouted out. Facing Crow’s power was also extremely strenuous for him; before the beneﬁts he had gained during Fat Cat’s level up, he would deﬁnitely have been moved by Crow by now. However, this time, all of Zhou Weiqing’s potential had been drawn out, allowing the remaining power of the black pearl to be completely diffused into his body, fusing together with him. As such, Zhou Weiqing had ﬁnally completely inherited the powers of the black pearl. With the huge boost to his physique, his strength was no weaker than the top genius of the Gold Crow Tribe, Crow.

Zhou Weiqing’s shout also awoke Crow’s battle thirst. She had never lost in a contest of strength before, and with a shout, the sleeve of her right arm also shattered, as her entire arm was covered in a layer of gold light. Taking a huge gulp of air, her entire body seemed to expand a degree. The power of her pull increased yet again, and this time, both their hands gave a faint creaking sounds as their bones strained.

Icy Mist glowed as their Physical Jewels both appeared around their wrists. Without question, their strength had been boosted to their max, all the way including their Physical Jewels.

In truth, by this point, everyone had a clearer understanding of Zhou Weiqing’s true strength.

However, Crow was still Crow after all, and under her full power, Zhou Weiqing’s body was slowly pulled forward, his upper body slowly moving towards her direction. Although it was just a little movement, but without question, in terms of pure physical strength, Zhou Weiqing was still inferior by a tiny margin. Just as everyone thought that she had won this match, all of a sudden, a blood red light shone forth from Zhou Weiqing’s eyes, and in the next moment, a clear black layer of tiger tattoos slowly enveloped his arms. His already huge, taut muscles grew even larger, and even his palms seemed bigger.

Stamping his feet on the ground so hard that the ground seemed to reverberate, a terrifying strength exploded forth. At that moment, it seemed as if Zhou Weiqing was lifting an entire mountain, as he forcibly pulled Crow over to his side as his arms ﬂexed in a push pull motion, then an abrupt upward swing, as he actually lifted up the over six hundred jin heavy Crow!

Ye Paopao, Drunken Bao, Xiao Yan, Little Four, all four of them stared in disbelief at the scene in front of them, their mouths gaped open as they couldn’t trust their own eyes. In a while, Little Four muttered to himself: “A monster… is this a monster?”

It was exactly because they knew Crow’s strength so well, having witnessed her immense unyielding power along with her legendary axes and that insane offensive power, that it caused such a visual impact on their senses to see Zhou Weiqing beat her in a strength contest!

With a swipe of his right arm, Zhou Weiqing threw Crow over to the side, and as Crow landed heavily on her feet with a loud thud, only then were the shocked spectators jolted from their reverie.

At the moment, Crow’s face was also a mask of disbelief as she stared at her hands, stunned. Looking at Zhou Weiqing, and then back at her hands, she was temporarily unable to process the situation. A Heavenly Jewel Master of the same cultivation level… she had lost in terms of strength?!

As the tiger tattoos subsided and slowly disappeared from Zhou Weiqing’s arms, he shook his head. In truth, he did not know how they managed to appear in the last moment to provide him with the last burst of required explosive strength, as he normally had to fully enter the Demonic State to access such power. At that instance, he had felt as if his strength was sufﬁcient to topple mountains and ﬁll the seas.

Shaking his arms to stretch his muscles, Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “How about that? Bro Little Four, if you had bet with me again just now, don’t you think you would lose again? Heh heh.”

Indeed, in comparison to his ﬁrst victory over Little Four, this victory of his over Crow in a feat of strength was even more unbelievable to the audience.

Little Four struggled to defend himself: “This… this… Even if you have the strength, it still isn’t the same! Crow has her legendary axes, you have seen their power, it is that combination that destroys everything in their path!” Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “I may not have axes, but I have my hammers! Look!” As he said that, he extended his arms, shrugging them in a swift motion, and a brilliant dark- gold protective shroud of the Legendary Equipment burst forth as his twin hammers appeared in his hands.

As the twin hammers glowed brightly, the smiling and crying face enameled on them giving forth a powerful aura. Holding the huge hammers in hands, the 1.9m tall Zhou Weiqing looked like the bronze statue of a war god, standing proud and tall in front of them valiantly.

Just in terms of looks alone, the twin legendary hammers were slightly smaller than the legendary axes, but were in terms of design, they looked better.

Little Four muttered: “How can those compare with Crow’s Legendary Axes? Is it silverware which looks good but made out of wax, great to look at but useless?”

Xiao Yan glanced at him and said passively: “It’s terrifying to be so uncultured. That light just now showed that those hammers are Consolidated Equipment created by God Tier Consolidating Masters. I agree to join the Heavenly Jewel Tournament.” After saying that, he closed his eyes, sitting back with a faint smile on his face for the ﬁrst time since the battle in the forest.

Drunken Bao said with a helpless look on his face: “These youngsters nowadays are absolutely terrifying. One pair of hammers, one pair of axes, if they stand at any entrance, they can be the guardian spirits, it will deﬁnitely be a good sight. I also agree to continue with the Tournament.”

Zhou Weiqing hefted the hammers meaningfully as he grinned at Little Four: “Bro Little Four, do you want to try out the feel of my hammers?”

Little Four quickly shook his head: “Don’t, don’t… I agree alright! Damnit, I’m tricked by you, this scoundrel, once again. Sinister and crafty! That’s you in a nutshell!”

Just as Zhou Weiqing was grinning smugly to himself for getting the team’s approval, all of a sudden, Crow walked over to his side. The two metre tall, top beauty of the Gold Crow Tribe, looked at him exuding tenderness and feeling in her eyes as she said sweetly: “You… you hurt my arm just now Weiqing, come to our Gold Crow Tribe. Although I already have a ﬁance, there are still many unwed girls in the tribe! They love such strong men like you. It doesn’t matter, they will not ask you to take responsibility, you just need to leave your seed in the tribe. How about that?”

Zhou Weiqing’s face muscles twitched as he looked at Crow. After a moment of silence, he ﬁnally said with a glum, woebegone look on his face: “Big sis, I’m terriﬁed. Please let me go.”

Hearing his reply, everyone burst out laughing, and even Shangguan Bing’er was giggling to herself. Little Four was laughing so hard he almost burst open his wounds again, hurting yet laughing until tears ran down his cheeks. However, in that moment, their battle spirit had been invoked once more. Heavenly Jewel Tournament… here we come!

Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Heavenly Jewel Change Chapter 61-70

Chapter 61 Since I’m willing to bet, I’m prepared to lose.

Chapter 62 Five Great Saint Lands

Chapter 63 A Seal that cannot be Extinguished

Chapter 64 Fei Li Battle Team

Chapter 65 My luck is just too good?

Chapter 66 Fat Cat Leveling up!

Chapter 67 Shocking Archery – Shangguan Bing’er

Chapter 68 Mysterious Black-Clad Young Lady

Chapter 69 The Powerful Little Witch

Chapter 70 Let me be the mainstay

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