Book 2 - Meteoric Tear
B2C1: Qin Yu After 8 Years (1)
Time goes by. It has been 3 years since that great battle between only one person and more than 100 mounted bandits at the hamlet. Qin Yu has also changed from an 8 year old kid who clenched his teeth to train very hard into a real 16-year-old external expert. 16 years old is the standard age at which a person is considered an adult on the Qian Long continent.
Xiao Lu was seriously injured and Qin Yu took her to Misty Villa to recuperate. Tie Shan was also taken to Misty Villa to start to train in martial arts under the guidance of the experts at Misty Villa. The father and mother of the two had both passed away so they moved into Misty Villa free of burdens, only that they often return to the village to take a look.
Breezes are blowing and sweeping fallen leaves up in the air. Outside the main entrance of Misty Villa, 2 guards are chatting to each other in a relatively relaxed manner.
‘’Xiao Tian, this time Third Prince seems to have been out for a half month without returning, right?’’ A guard with a relatively advanced age looks at the 20-something year old guard on the other side of the entrance and says laughingly.
The young guard nods and says with a smile: ‘’Since Third Prince returned 3 years ago, he has often gone out. It’s usual for him to go out for 10 days or a half month. But Third Prince has been trying real hard in practice. Every time he returns from the outside world, he stays at Misty Villa for a few days, but he even spends every single one of those days to train desperately until it is late.’’ Saying up to here, the young guard sighs emotionally.
The elderly guard shakes his head and says: ‘’Xiao Tian, you don’t know about this. You’ve been here for only a few years so you still don’t know how hard-working Third Prince actually is in training. At that time Third Prince was just 8 year old but his training then was so terrifying that us crack soldiers couldn’t even bear to see it. 8 year old, you couldn’t have imagined. At age 8, the kids of the other families are all playing but Third Prince trained from dawn till dusk. That kind of training must’ve been much more painful than the training of the Fierce Tiger Corps!’’
The young guard nods. All of the crack soldiers and servants at Misty Villa have liked and felt sorry for Qin Yu since the beginning. After seeing his limit training, these crack soldiers and servants even started to admire him in their minds. But for the last 3 years, East Vanquishing Prince Qin De has only visited Misty Villa once.
‘’Xiao Tian, see, Third Prince has returned!’’ The elderly guard’s eyes suddenly brighten as he points high toward the sky and says. The young guard also looks up promptly.
High in the sky, a huge black eagle is soaring with wings spread. This black eagle is even over one size bigger than a normal eagle. The golden feathers on its head look like a crown. The eagle glances over various places down below with its lightning-like sharp eyes, radiating an extremely startling haughtiness. Its sharp claws shine with ice-cold rays of light. No one can have any doubts about their sharpness.
Such a huge eagle perhaps will be taller than even humans when it stands upright on the ground.
A black-clad young man is sitting with legs crossed on this black eagle, only that the eagle is flying too high so for the moment no one on the ground can see clearly how this young man looks.
Suddenly the huge black eagle dives down. The young man on back of the eagle also stands up. At this moment, the guards below can totally see the appearance of the young man. He is about 1.8 m tall and has well-defined facial features. There is always an amicable smiling expression on his face. However he is only wearing a black undershirt made from special materials and a pair of black pants. That black undershirt makes the young man’s muscles completely stand out.
‘’Xiao Hei, you can go find food yourself,’’ says the young man as he pats the black eagle’s back in a friendly manner. From approximately 100 m high in the air, he unexpectedly jumps off the back of the eagle directly and dives down at an extremely fast speed. His body is like a bolt of lightning and he lands on the ground in just a moment. He dived down at such an extreme speed yet he did not cause any sounds of wind.
“Third Prince!” The two guards kneel down and say respectfully at once. ‘’Uncle Lan, A’Tian, you are on duty today? All right, I’ll come in first. Let’s talk later.’’ Qin Yu says to the 2 guards with laughter. He does not insist that these guards, who he knows well, should not kneel down because he also understands that this is a rule of the princely mansion.
Qin Yu heads directly for the west garden. The servants he meets on the way are all pleasantly surprised.
‘’Hah, training hard outside is still not as comfortable as staying at the villa.’’ Qin Yu takes off the black undershirt on his body and throws it onto the ground, creating a bang. The noise of the undershirt smashing on the ground is unusually loud, as if a mass of iron has been smashed down.
This undershirt is made of black gold threads and is strangely heavy. Black gold is extremely valuable, 100 times as valuable as gold. Forging experts were asked to pull black gold into threads then make an undershirt with them. This 100 jin black gold undershirt therefore is a priceless item. The last time Qin De visited Misty Villa, he gave it to Qin Yu. Even if the black gold undershirt could not protect the body, it is still an exceptionally useful piece of equipment for weight-carrying training. Qin Yu naturally was very delighted to receive it.
Having taken off the guards on his arms and legs, Qin Yu relaxes his entire body.
A pair of black iron arm guards and a pair of black iron leg guards, added to that a black gold undershirt, and the total weight reaches 300 jin. Qin Yu never took them off even when he was out training hard or went to sleep. But at this moment he is going into the hot spring to take a bath. Without the 300 jin of weights on his body, Qin Yu feels very comfortable.
‘’Ha-ha, hot spring, I’ve missed you to death!’’ Qin Yu laughs out loud and says. Wearing only a pair of shorts and with nothing on the top half of his robust body, he jumps into the hot spring.
“Phew, it feels good, really good.” Qin Yu lets out a deep sigh comfortably. Even though Misty Villa’s hot spring can transform a body fantastically Qin Yu has often soaked in it since he was little and therefore it can no longer improve his body. However its fatigue-relieving effect is still as good as before. When he has been soaking in the hot spring for a half hour, Lian Yan comes to the west garden.
‘’Xiao Yu, I knew you would come here once you returned. Almost your entire body has become relaxed, right? It’s time to get out.’’ However Lian Yan has been specifically waiting for a half hour. Only after estimating that Qin Yu’s whole body has become all but relaxed does he come here.
‘‘Wait a minute, Grandpa Lian.’’ Qin Yu washes the black gold undershirt, leg guards and arm guards on the shore of the hot spring then rushes directly into a room beside the hot spring. It is a locker room. In a short while, Qin Yu, having changed completely into clean clothes, comes out.
As Lian Yan looks at Qin Yu, his eyes are filled with kindness. Seeing that Qin Yu has become an adult from a kid, Lian Yan’s heart is full of satisfaction.
‘’Xiao Yu, it is your sixteenth birthday in 3 months. At that time your father will invite a lot of guests to the princely mansion and carry out a ceremony of adulthood for you. You must remember this. Don’t stroll about outside so far that you won’t be back in time for the ceremony of adulthood,’ says Lian Yan with a smile.
‘’Don’t worry. How can I forget my own birthday? Ceremony of adulthood, there’ll surely be a shocking number of people in the princely mansion at that time.’’ Qin Yu says with emotion. He remembers his second brother’s ceremony of adulthood 4 years ago. At that time there were also so many people that he was shocked.
‘’There’s no need to mention it. This is the ceremony of adulthood for a son of East Vanquishing Prince’s. Even the emperor will send people to attend it. Most of the rich and powerful people in the whole Chu kingdom will also come,’ says Lian Yan with a laugh, but also with a hint of haughtiness. After all East Vanquishing Prince has a high status in the Chu kingdom. It can be said that he is second only to the Chu emperor. ‘’Alright, Xiao Yu, I won’t trouble you anymore. Ah, Xiao Shan and Xiao Lu both have returned to the village for a visit. You’re really unlucky with your return this time.’’
‘’Well, I even found it strange just now. Every time I returned before, Xiao Lu immediately came to find me. But today she hasn’t come yet. So that’s the reason.’’ Qin Yu nods and says laughingly. Then Lian Yan leaves. Qin Yu immediately goes to his familiar training ground.
On one side of the training ground, there are various blue rocks. The smallest of them weighs only 100 jin, but the heaviest is over 1000 jin.
“Hah!”
Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten. Uttering a low shout and using a kick with his tiptoes, he unexpectedly sends a 300 jin blue rock flying 7 or 8 meters up in the air. Qin Yu extends his right hand and with only this hand he grabs and stops this 300 jin blue rock completely. After holding the rock in the air for about 10 seconds, he makes a shaking movement with his right hand and conveniently throws it to one side.
‘’Supporting 300 jin with one arm while carrying weights is almost my current limit.’’ Qin Yu secretly makes a judgment.
Because his arm can lift 300 jin, when he throws a punch, the offensive force of the punch will be really terrifying. It can even be heavier than 1000 jin. After all, what weight an arm can lift and the offensive force of a punch are totally different things. Today, if Qin Yu encountered Wu Tuan again, he would definitely be able to kill Wu Tuan without resorting to the Yuchang sword.
Still wearing weights on his body, Qin Yu goes into the middle of the sandbag formation. Sandbags are hung all around him. If a sandbag moves, the other sandbags will move as well. Therefore the sensitivity requirement of training with them is very high.
Bang!
Qin Yu suddenly throws a punch. The sandbag he hit immediately moves. The other sandbags also move. The sandbags around Qin Yu ram into each other. Qin Yu, however, closes his eyes with a smile. His fists easily punch any sandbag which approaches him.
If the truth be told, Qin Yu’s speed at the moment is not fast at all, but he is still warding off the attack of all the sandbags.
He can do this thanks to his profound body-maneuvering skill. Whenever a sandbag comes at him, it causes changes in the wind. Depending on the changes of the wind, Qin Yu can easily ward off every single strike of the sandbags. In fact, at the moment Qin Yu would not be able to move faster even if he wanted to because he is carrying 300 jin of weights. If he could still move like lightning under these conditions, he would be too terrifying.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ……
Following a series of explosive noises, every sandbag has been burst by Qin Yu with a single punch. At this moment, Qin Yu finally opens his eyes. There is a hint of a satisfied smile on his face. “The body-maneuvering skill I created myself — the Seven North Stars Moonlight Dance — is really not bad after its completion.’’
At this moment Qin Yu remembers the battle that night — how he himself killed the opponent with the Yuchang sword in the moonlight. Because this body-maneuvering skill uses the Seven North Stars principle of Qi Men Dun Jia as its foundation, and it was completed in the moonlight, it has been named the Seven North Stars Moonlight Dance. After this body-maneuvering skill was completed, not only can Qin Yu confuse the enemy with the effects of Qi Men Dun Jia, he also does not experience any wind resistance and does not cause any wind noises when moving.
B2C2: Qin Yu After 8 Years (2)
A month later, on a street of a city, it is already late at night so there is not a soul to be seen. The cold winds, which are sharp like knives, cause sumptuously-dressed Hao Tan, who is standing in the middle of the street, to narrow his eyes uncontrollably. His entire attention is being focused on a silvery-masked man before him.
This silvery-masked man is about 1.75 m tall and is standing with his arms crossed on the street. The silvery mask only reveals his mouth, nose and eyes.
‘’Hao Tan, quickly prepare well, I’ll get started soon,’’ says the silvery-masked man with an ice-cold voice.
‘’Oh, since when have the Heavenly Net’s silver card assassins been so righteous?” Hao Tan says with a cold laugh. ‘’Silver card assassins, only the assassins who have killed peak-Houtian experts can have the qualifications to get a silvery mask. Too bad … assassins all hide in the dark and use sneak attacks. If you had sneaked up on me, you might’ve been successful, but you intercepted me on the street…’’ Hao Tan is confident. His power has reached the peak of the Houtian level. A silver card assassin is also a peak-Houtian expert so the two of them are on a par. This assassin before him must be out of his head to have intercepted him openly. Hao Tan thus feels confident.
‘’This is bad. Who holds such a grudge against me that he issued a mission to kill me at the Heavenly Net? If it’s true then this is terrible.’’ Hao Tan’s head cannot help breaking a cold sweat.
The Heavenly Net is undoubtedly the number one assassination organization. Its history is longer than 1000 years and its influence has spread throughout the whole Qian Long continent. Its foundation is even more profound than that of the 3 big dynasties. The 3 big dynasties also have no way to find out who the leader of this Heavenly Net organization is. The Heavenly Net is powerful, and no one has ever had any doubts about this.
The Heavenly Net is divided into Inner Net and Outer Net. The Inner Net is made up of the assassins whom the Heavenly Net trains by itself and who are absolutely loyal to the Heavenly Net. The Outer Net consists of some mercenary experts. These experts do not want to pledge allegiance to and join the Heavenly Net therefore they have become members of the Outer Net.
The membership of the Outer Net is very complicated. Even a great master might be one of its members. But it does not matter who a member is, they do not know the identities of the other Outer Net members. Even the Heavenly Net itself has never investigated the real identities of the Outer Net members.
The assassins are divided into gold card, silver card and copper card. Copper card assassins are the ones who can kill middle-phase Houtian experts. Silver card assassins are the ones who can kill peak Houtian experts. And gold card assassins are the ones who can kill Xiantian experts.
The 2 great systems Inner Net and Outer Net of the Heavenly Net have enabled the organization to become an extremely terrifying entity. The Chu kingdom, the biggest kingdom on the Qian Long continent, has no more than approximately 100 Xiantian experts altogether but the Heavenly Net’s Outer Net already has over 20 gold card assassins. As for the Inner Net, no one knows how many gold card assassins there are in it. But no one doubts that the Inner Net’s experts are very fearsome.
This is the Heavenly Net, an assassin organization with more than 1000 years of uninterrupted history and more influence on the Qian Long continent than any of the 3 big dynasties has.
Because his own name has appeared on the mission board of the Heavenly Net, Hao Tan is worried.
‘‘Are you ready?’’ says the silvery-masked man indifferently. Hao Tan immediately focuses his entire attention on the silver card assassin before him. His internal energy starts to circulate at a very fast speed. In an instant he is ready to deliver the most powerful strike.
The corners of the silvery-mask man’s mouth slightly curve up all of a sudden. He is smiling.
Afterimages!
2 afterimages of the silvery-masked man’s entire body unexpectedly appear all of a sudden. One afterimage is ahead of the other. One is on the right hand side and the other is on the left. In a moment, a strong gust of air has reached Hao Tan’s face, causing his hair to flutter up. Hao Tan cannot help narrowing his eyes.
“What a frightening speed!” Hao Tan is startled. Only by concentrating energy in his eyes can he barely see the man’s shape. Unable to see anything else, Hao Tan starts to attack the shape in front of him madly. The various silhouettes of his legs spread all over the air and attack the whole body of the silvery- masked man.
“Ah!’’ Hao Tan suddenly feels an acute pain in his right foot. He cannot help uttering a miserable shout with his eyes protruding. At the same time he hears a clack sound of bones being broken while his whole body is sent flying. It subsequently smashes fiercely onto a wall on one side of the street.
The silvery-masked man’s frosty voice rises: “Your speed is still alright, but your explosiveness is too bad!” In a mere moment, the silvery-masked man actually broke Hao Tan’s right ankle directly.
“Humph.” With one hand Hao Tan props himself against the wall and stands up. He looks at the silvery-masked man in front of him with hatred: “Your fingers are really strong. Your speed is also very fast. Too bad they’re not enough for you to kill me.’’ Hao Tan could feel how strong the enemy’s fingers are. They even broke the defense of his internal energy in a grab.
“Really?” The corners of the silvery-masked man curve up again. At the same time, his body becomes a blur and creates another afterimage.
Hao Tan immediately opens his eyes wide like 2 balls. His entire body’s internal energy is completely activated. He stares at the silvery-masked man with all of his attention: ‘’It doesn’t matter if my lifespan will greatly decrease, I must execute this one strike.’’ There is a hint of ruthlessness in Hao Tan’s eyes. His face becomes pasty at once. The silvery-masked man seems to also notice Hao Tan’s changes but he continues to attack.
“Soul-Destroying Claw!”
Hao Tan suddenly shouts loudly. His whole face becomes savage. His 2 claws attack the silvery-masked man before him at an extremely fast speed. The speed of the claws has reached a terrifying level. There are even various black streams of energy between the 2 claws which connect them to each other.
Both of them have excellent claw techniques but it seems Hao Tan’s Soul-Destroying Claw is more freakish. In terms of speed, he is inferior to the silvery-masked man. He cannot even touch his enemy, but …
“Gotcha!” A black stream of energy has unexpectedly tied the silvery-masked man’s hands up in front of Hao Tan, who has become extremely excited: ‘’Ha-ha, I can see that you’re fast. But even if you were faster, would you be as fast as my Soul- Destroying Silks? Your 2 hands have been tied up, now prepare to die. Ha-ha, huh? Why aren’t you using internal energy to resist?’’ Hao Tan looks doubtfully at the silvery-masked man.
‘’You got excited to soon.’’
A shaft of black light flashes by.
‘’How … can?’’ Hao Tan’s eyes pop out of his head then he falls down powerlessly with a loud thud.
“That claw technique was really fantastic. It even generated a silk-like kind of energy.” The silvery-masked man takes off his silvery mask. He is an unfamiliar man. This man’s body suddenly stirs repeatedly while emitting cracking sounds. The body unexpectedly becomes taller and his face also starts to change.
After a short while, the silvery-masked man who is about 1.75 m tall has changed into 1.8 m tall Qin Yu. If someone saw this scene, they would surely be extremely shocked. Just now Qin Yu used the Appearance and Bone Changing art, which can be considered the peak of disguising arts. By means of controlling the muscles and bones of the whole body, the Appearance and Bone Changing art allows the user to alter his face and height.
Generally, only Xiantian experts can manage to change their appearances thanks to Xiantian energy, which means, in the eyes of other people, the Appearance and Bone Changing art can only be used by Xiantian experts.
However Qin Yu has been trying hard to control his entire body’s muscles and bones since he started training as a little kid. He has been training for 8 years and, moreover, has often been absorbing internal energy into his flesh and bones, therefore the flexibility and toughness of his whole body’s muscles and bones have reached a shocking level. Depending on his muscles and bones alone, Qin Yu can still change his appearance.
‘’Evildoers will cause their own violent deaths!’’ When Qin Yu has taken Hao Tan’s head, his body shoots up into the air. There seems to be something high up on one side. It is none other than Xiao Hei. There is a small box on its body. Qin Yu puts the head into the box then sits down on Xiao Hei.
‘’Xiao Hei, let’s go!’’ Qin Yu warmly pats Xiao Hei’s neck.
Xiao Hei immediately utters a happy cry and soars into the sky.
Sitting on Xiao Hei’s back, Qin Yu looks down at the boundless ground below then looks up and feels the strong winds of the late night.
Following the great battle that day, Qin Yu determined to practice outside through fighting. His targets were mostly some evildoers. After a period of time, Qin Yu joined the Outer Net of the Heavenly Net and became an assassin named Liu Xing! The targets of the missions he has chosen were all evildoers who had provoked the fury of both Heaven and men.
In this way, firstly, he can eliminate some scums and, secondly, he can practice real close-quarters combat techniques as well.
‘’Xiao Hei, after turning in this mission, we’ll return to Misty Villa directly. Let’s go!’’ says Qin Yu laughingly. Uttering a cry, the black eagle speeds up greatly at once and flies eastward like a beam of light.
B2C3: Secrets (1)
The East Vanquishing Prince mansion in Yan City today is decorated with lanterns and streamers. It is only the early morning at the moment but there is already heavy traffic on the outside of the mansion. Rich and powerful people, aristocrats and noblemen from every part of the whole Chu kingdom all exchange cordial greetings then enter the mansion carrying their gifts and invitation cards.
Today is the ceremony of adulthood for Qin Yu, the third son of East Vanquishing Prince’s.
In terms of importance, there is very little difference between a ceremony of adulthood and a wedding ceremony on the Qian Long continent. Compared to them, a birthday is not important at all. When Qin Yu celebrated his 10th birthday, some people in the princely mansion only congratulated him a bit. However, to prepare for his ceremony of adulthood, invitation cards were sent out extensively. Even the Chu emperor may attend it. 8 years ago, when the ceremony of adulthood for Qin Yu’s big brother Qin Feng was held, the Chu emperor Xiang Guang personally gave him his compliments. In the morning, the 3 brothers Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin Yu come to the outside of Qin De’s room together to send their father their greetings. Among the 3 brothers, the big brother Qin Feng is the tallest, about 1.9 m. His body has an air of chilliness and his face rarely has a smiling expression. Only
when he is with his brothers can he smile. Qin Zheng and Qin Yu are nearly as tall as each other. Their heights are common.
‘’Your son pays his respects to father.’’
As soon as the 3 brothers see Qin De, they kneel down and greet politely.
Looking at the 3 sons before him, Qin De feels delighted because they are all handsome and refined. His eldest son Qin Feng chose the path of martial arts. Not only is he a general in the army, he also became a Xiantian expert last year. His name has become known very quickly. There are no more than 100 Xiantian experts in the whole Chu kingdom so to become a Xiantian expert at the age of 23 is an extremely outstanding achievement. His 2nd son Qin Zheng is better than even Qin De in such areas as governance, politics and so on. Today, his 2nd son is in charge of nearly all the matters of the 3 Eastern region counties, whether important or simple.
As for his 3rd son Qin Yu … Qin De casts a look at Qin Yu. Seeing Qin Yu, Qin De cannot help feeling a bit guilty in his mind.
‘’No matter how he practices external techniques, at best he can only reach the peak of the Houtian level. Since he can’t become a Xiantian expert, his path is a dead end after all.’’ Qin De secretly sighs. In Qin De’s view, his 3rd son Qin Yu will not have much chance of success even if he worked harder.
‘’If he can reach Zhao Yunxing’s level, even though it isn’t the Xiantian level, his offensive force will be as good as that of an early-phase Xiantian expert. What a pity it will take him 30 years to reach that level. Until now Yu’er has been training for 8 years, so there are still 22 years to go.’’
Too bad, Qin De does not know that Qin Yu’s flesh has been absorbing internal energy and that he has been improving fast, much faster than Zhao Yunxing’s estimation.
‘’All of you stand up first,’’ says Qin Du with a smile. Then he looks at Qin Yu and says: ‘’Yu’er, today is your ceremony of adulthood, a big day of your life. After this day you’ll be an adult and, whatever happens, you’ll have to strive to face it on your own.’’
‘’Don’t worry, father.’’ Qin Yu nods and says with a smile.
Facing his life alone? Qin Yu has been soaring in all directions on his black eagle alone for 3 years. Thanks to the speed of the black eagle, he has roamed around nearly the entire Chu kingdom. Having experienced many things, Qin Yu has already gained his own understanding of life.
‘’All right, there are already many guests outside at the moment, all of you follow me to greet them.’’ As Qin De is saying he goes out first. The 3 brothers Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin Yu also go out after him. Today, the East Vanquishing Prince mansion is extremely noisy. Every aristocrat, nobleman, and also magnate and the like comes forward to congratulate. These people of course show absolute respect for East Vanquishing Prince in front of him. However, there are still 2 other princes with the same level of authority as East Vanquishing Prince. One is South Vanquishing Prince and the other is North Vanquishing Prince.
South Vanquishing Prince Mu Lan of the 3 Southern region counties personally congratulates Qin Yu. North Vanquishing Prince Shangguan Hong of the 2 Northern region counties also congratulates Qin Yu personally. The 4 Western region counties are under the complete control of the Xiang royal clan. This time Emperor Xiang Guang does not come personally. Instead, he let his own younger brother Xiang Shuo congratulate Qin Yu.
Qin Yu does not know how many tables have been set for the feast and how many guests there are in the end. But he knows one thing, that is, the gifts he received have filled 2 whole rooms, and therefore he can imagine how large the number of the guests is. After all, this is the ceremony of adulthood for a son of East Vanquishing Prince’s. After a noisy day, late at night, the princely mansion is very quiet because all of the guests have left.
In a secret room,
Qin Yu has never entered this secret room. It is already after midnight at the moment. There are only 5 people in the secret room: Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Qin Yu and Xu Yuan. Except for Qin Yu, who has a doubtful expression on his face, the other people all seem to know something.
Qin De first goes to an armchair and sits down then he waves his hands and tells the other people: “Everybody sit down first.’’ Qin Yu and the other 3 people also sit down around the long table. Xu Yuan, who is still holding a folding fan, slightly smiles at Qin Yu.
‘’Father, what do you let me come here for?’’ asks Qin Yu. At the moment his mind is still in a fog.
Qin De calmly nods and says: ‘’Yu’er, haven’t you always been wondering what your father is doing and what plans I’m carrying out? Indeed, I’ve been concealing quite a few things from you. Today you already turned 16 so I’ll tell you some secrets.’’
Qin Yu’s eyes immediately brighten.
He knew early that his father is carrying out some plans. He has also been wondering why Qin De has never told him anything. Now, having heard his father’s words, he realizes there seems to be many things he himself does not know about. But today his father has finally decided to tell him about them.
‘’Yu’er, do you know that in the history of the Qian Long continent there was once a dynasty which unified the whole Qian Long continent?’’ Qin De asks Qin Yu.
Qin Yu says with a smile: “This goes without saying. A long time ago, the Qian Long continent had always been in a state of fragmentation. It was not until 3000 years ago that the whole Qian Long continent was brought into a state of unprecedented unity. It was none other than the Qin dynasty which unified the whole Qian Long continent. Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng’s famous name is still reverberating like thunder, only that the Qin dynasty was too short-lived. 100 years after its unification of the continent it fell to pieces. Then the Ying clan of the Qin dynasty was eliminated completely.’’
Qin De slightly nods and says: “The 1st secret I’ll tell you today is … our Qin clan is made up of Qin Shi Huang’s direct descendants!”
Qin Yu only feels as if his head has been struck by a series of thunderbolts. For the moment he was dumbfounded.
Only after a long time has Qin Yu become a bit more clear- headed. He looks at his father in disbelief then looks at his big brother, second brother and Uncle Xu Yuan. But all of these people are all looking at Qin Yu. He totally understands the implication in their eyes.
“Shouldn’t Qin Shi Huang’s direct descendants have the last name Ying?” Even though Qin Yu is somewhat stirred, he still asks. Qin De shakes his head and says with a sigh: “After the destruction of the Qin dynasty, people in the whole world tried to eliminate the Ying clan, how could we still dare to use the last name Ying? We changed out last name to Qin also to prevent us from forgetting that Qin Shi Huang was our
ancestor. Yu’er, you may know that our Qin clan’s heirloom internal technique wasn’t called the Ancestral Dragon Art originally, but it was called the Shi Huang Ancestral Dragon Art. Yu’er, remember that the blood flows in the veins of the Qin clan’s people is the same as Qin Shi Huang’s.” Qin De’s eyes
radiate sharp rays of light.
B2C4: Secrets (2)
Qin Yu’s mind is in turmoil uncontrollably.
In the mind of every person on the Qian Long continent, Qin Shi Huang represents supremacy. Not only did he unify all the lands, his personal power also reached a very high level. In both controlling power and personal power, Qin Shi Huang reached his limits and no one could even remotely compare with him. Now Qin Yu has just discovered that he himself is actually a descendant of Qin Shi Huang, how can he not be shaken up?
‘’Yu’er, as a descendant of Shi Huang, you mustn’t forget the glories of the Qin dynasty. Yu’er, do you know how Shi Huang died?’’ asks Qin De while staring at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu recalls what he has read in books and says: ‘’Qin Shi Huang’s internal energy was extremely profound. It is said that he reached the Shangxian level. In theory he would’ve lived more than 1000 years but later he was killed by Xiang Yu, the West Chu Conqueror and a peerlessly powerful man. He was also the 1st emperor Xiang Yu of our Chu dynasty.’’ ‘’Yes, it was Xiang Yu, the Conqueror of West Chu.’’ Qin De’s eyes radiate dazzling rays of light. “The 4 Western region counties were all strongholds of the Xiang clan. It had been running them for more than 1000 years. It got rich thanks to the 4 Western region counties and started to fight for the control of all the lands. Among Shangxian-level experts at that time, Xiang Yu was known as the number one. The West Chu Conqueror Xiang Yu killed our ancestor. If Shi Huang had not died, how would our Qin dynasty have possibly been destroyed? But…”
Qin De says with a cold laugh: ‘’But 1 year later, that West Chu Conqueror was also killed by the combined effort of 2 great Shangxian experts of the Qin dynasty. His jindan was destroyed and he died after falling into a river.’’
Even though the Chu dynasty was founded by the West Chu Conqueror Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu himself could not enjoy the high position and great wealth of a peacetime emperor.
‘’As descendants of Shi Huang, the few of us must restore Shi Huang’s glory. But we can’t rush things. We must select a target. At that time the number one culprit in the Qin dynasty’s destruction was the Xiang clan. Therefore the 1st thing we must do is exterminate the Xiang clan to take control of the whole Chu kingdom.’’ Qin De’s eyes radiate terrifying rays of light.
To exterminate the Xiang clan to take control of the entire Chu kingdom,
At this moment, Qin Yu is trying hard to calm down. What Qin De has said to day is really too shocking to Qin Yu.
Xiang Yu killed Qin Shi Huang and destroyed the Qin dynasty. Then top experts of the Qin dynasty joined forces and killed the West Chu Conqueror Xiang Yu. Otherwise, with Xiang Yu’s terrifying might and the real power of the Xiang clan’s great army, he would have possibly eliminated the other 2 powers and unified the entire Qian Long continent. Because of this, today the Qian Long continent is divided into 3 kingdoms.
Qin Zheng puts a hand on Qin Yu’s shoulder. Qin Yu turns his head and looks at his 2nd brother. Qin Zheng says cordially while staring at Qin Yu: ‘’3rd brother, big brother and I, and father as well, have always been trying hard for so many years because of this goal. Third brother, remember that we are descendants of Qin Shi Huang and we must restore Shi Huang’s glory.’’
Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Xu Yuan beside them all look at Qin Yu.
Seeing the look in his father’s eyes, Qin Yu thinks for a while then finally nods.
‘’In 5 years, everything will be ready. At that time our Qin clan will spring into action. We’ll definitely eliminate the Xiang clan and unify the whole Chu kingdom in due course.’’ At this moment, Qin De’s body automatically radiates killing intent. His eyes also radiate very astonishing rays of light.
After hearing, Qin Yu raises his eyebrows because he too knows the situation in the entire Chu kingdom.
The Chu kingdom is mostly divided up between 4 big clans. First is the Xiang royal clan. It totally controls the 4 Western region counties and has charge of 800,000 troops. The 200,000 strong armored cavalry of the Xiang clan is very well-known.
Second is the Qin clan of the 3 Eastern region counties, which has charge of 600,000 troops. The 50,000 strong Fierce Tiger Corps in its army is held in awe by every entity of power. However, because the Qin clan has 200,000 troops stationed at the Black Water mountain range to keep the number one bandit headquarters under threat, it actually has only 400,000 troops to deploy.
Third is the Mu clan of the 3 Southern region counties with 500,000 troops. Fourth is the Shangguan clan of the 2 Northern region counties with 400,000 troops in total.
This is because in the beginning the Xiang royal clan made a regulation that every county can only recruit 200,000 troops. The whole Chu kingdom is made up of 12 counties, which are divided up between the 4 big clans. However, the other 2 big clans border the Xiang clan and they both have satisfactory relations with the Xiang clan. ‘’Father, if we are to eliminate the Xiang clan won’t the other 2 big clans hinder us? Moreover, even if they don’t hinder us, if after we have eliminated the Xiang clan, they take advantage of our forces’ heavy losses to eliminate us, what should we do?’’ In a short while, Qin Yu sees the problem.
Qin De slightly smiles.
However Qin Zheng says to Qin Yu: ‘’3rd brother, don’t worry about this matter. Of those 2 big clans, the Mu clan is very loyal to the Xiang clan. But the Shangguan clan of the 2 Northern region counties is a fence-sitter. It should be easy to draw it in. Moreover… on the surface our Qin clan has 600,000 troops, but we’ve been around for so many years, how can we only have that many?’’
Qin Yu shakes his head and says: ‘’No, 2nd brother, as the Xiang royal clan is ruling, it must have an intelligence agency to supervise the kingdom. Our Qin clan has 600,000 soldiers, if we want to recruit more troops, say, only 100,000 more, we’ll have to prepare an awful lot of food, armor, weapons, and so on for them, and it will really be too hard for us to hide this from the investigation of the Xiang clan’s intelligence agency. Also, the Mu clan is loyal to the Xiang clan, so they’ll have 7 counties together. That Shangguan clan is a fence-sitter, but it definitely won’t depend on us. After all, our power is still inferior to the Xiang clan’s.’’
Qin Yu is somewhat unconvinced by his own family’s plan to unify the Chu kingdom.
‘’Moreover, the Black Water mountain range is the number 1 bandit headquarters. On the surface those bandits claim there are 200,000 of them but no outsider knows how many bandits they actually have. 200,000 troops of our forces must be deployed to deter them. Otherwise, the 3 Eastern region counties will be in chaos once so many bandits rush every place of the region like locusts. Therefore, we’ll be able to use only 400,000 troops. Even if we have 100,000 troops in secret, there’ll be merely 500,000 troops in total. How are we going to fight the Xiang clan? Our Fierce Tiger Corps is formidable, but the 50,000 Fierce Tiger soldiers are equivalent to 230,000 troops at best. The 200,000 armored cavalrymen of the Xiang clan are really no pushover,’’ says Qin Yu again.
In a short while, he has found many problems. ‘’Moreover, if there is a civil war in the Chu kingdom, the Han and the Ming dynasties definitely won’t cause any trouble? If these 2 big dynasties come on the scene, there’ll be real chaos,’ says Qin Yu again. Having said this, it is obvious he cannot imagine how his own clan will unify the entire Chu
kingdom.
Qin De, Qin Zheng and Qin Feng all looks at Qin Yu with a smile.
‘’Not bad, Yu’er, I couldn’t have imagined that you had a pretty good view of the overall situation and would think about so many matters in such a short time. But war is not as simple as you think at all. It’s definitely not just to compare who has more power. Such matters as army provisions, military operations and so on are all very complicated. Moreover, the 4 big clans of the Chu kingdom are not what they look like. Don’t worry, our Qin clan has been preparing for several hundred years. Various plans specified early on what to do. Wait till 5 years later, you’ll see how we’ll destroy the Xiang clan,’’ says Qin De resolutely.
But Qin Yu looks at his father doubtfully. He cannot understand how his father can be so confident when of the 4 big clans, the Mu clan and the Xiang clan are on the same side, and the Shangguan clan will definitely not rely on the Qin clan. So what if they have been preparing for several hundred years? Could it be several hundred years of preparation would turn 600,000 troops into 800,000 troops? Moreover, the troops stationed at the Black Water mountain range cannot be mobilized. Otherwise, the 3 Eastern region counties will be plunged into chaos, which will really be
terrible. After all, this region is the base of the Qin clan.
‘’Don’t worry, your father has taken everything into consideration,’’ says Qin De with a smile.
Qin Yu does not know what his father is thinking, but in his view, it will be very difficult for the Qin clan to unify the entire Chu kingdom. After all, the Han and Ming dynasties both are not incompetent. However, seeing the look in his father’s eyes puts Qin Yu’s mind at ease a lot.
B2C5: Meteoric Tear (1)
The Qin clan’s people have been subjects of the Chu kingdom for several hundred years without putting their plans into action. Why, after several hundred years, have they decided to spring into action?
Wondering about this point, Qin Yu looks at Qin De and asks doubtfully: “Father, our Qin clan hasn’t done anything for the last several hundred years. Why must we spring into action 5 years later? Could it be we’ll really need several hundred years of preparation to destroy the Xiang clan? If we’re going to fight, why don’t we take action early?” Qin Yu is naturally not convinced that this is right.
“Yu’er.” Qin De’s face suddenly looks a bit upset. ‘’Now that you asked, I’ll tell you another secret.’’
At this moment, big brother Qin Feng looks even colder. There is also no smiling expression on the face of second brother Qin Zheng while Xu Yuan stops waving his fan. Qin Yu also feels that the whole atmosphere in the secret room has changed. He knows the matter his father is about to mention is unusually important.
Qin De’s look seems to be able to go through space-time. He says in an indistinct voice: ‘’Yu’er, 14 years ago, when your big brother turned 10, your mother died. On that day, a very large fire broke out. In the past I told you that … your mother died in the fire. But the truth is … your mother was murdered!!!’’ The
muscles on Qin De’s face all start to tremble. There are only sorrow and hatred in his eyes.
“Bang!” Qin Yu feels as if there is a series of explosions in his head. His face suddenly turns very pale.
‘’Mother was murdered?’’ For the moment, Qin Yu’s mind is in complete chaos. He lost his mother when he was 2. 2 years old, at that time he was still very little and simply could not remember his mother’s appearance.
Thinking about mother,
The first thing emerges in Qin Yu’s mind is that picture. Not long after he was born, when he was just one-month old, a painter was asked to draw that picture. In the picture, there is a young married woman holding a baby. The young married woman is smiling at the baby in her bosom. Her loving eyes are emitting a motherly radiance.
When Qin Yu was very little, there were countless times when he stood foolishly viewing the picture and said to himself: “This is my mother,” while his mind tried hard to remember his mother’s appearance. There were many times when his mother’s appearance lingered on in his dreams. Whenever Qin Yu saw other children with their mothers in Yan City, he wished his mother had been living. How he wished his mother had been alive as well! When he was very little, he wept to his father time after time, asking for his mother.
As he gradually grew, Qin Yu did not weep asking for his mother anymore. Every time little Qin Yu thought about his mother, he watched the stars, because Grandpa Lian had said deceased people would go up into the sky and become stars. This is also one of the reasons why Qin Yu likes to watch the stars.
Now that little Qin Yu has become an adult. But at this moment, he is unexpectedly told that … his mother did not die because of the fire and, moreover, she was murdered.
‘’Who killed my mother?!” Qin Yu stares at Qin De and shouts. His eyes have reddened.
His only mother — That pulsating emotion at the bottom of his soul — The picture of mother in Qin Yu’s mind suddenly shatters into pieces like glass. A stream of wrath erupts from the depths of his soul and reaches his chest in an instant. This is hatred. This is absolute wrath!
‘’Who? In the end who murdered my mother?!’’ The muscles of Qin Yu’s hands all start to tremble. His whole body has started to boil!
Qin Feng’s and Qin Zheng’s eyes also radiate hatred.
‘’Could it be…’’ As if a ray of light suddenly flashes through Qin Yu’s mind, he immediately suspects one possibility. He stares at his father: ‘’Father, could it be mother’s murderer is Xiang clan’s? Yes, it must’ve been so.’’ ‘’Yes, it’s Xiang clan’s. Moreover, the murderer is the current Chu emperor Xiang Guang. It’s he who murdered your mother. Also, your big brother witnessed this incident with his own eyes,’’ says Qin De in an ice-cold voice. For the moment, there is a complete silence in the secret room.
‘’Xiang Guang, he thought that after driving Jing Yi to death then faking a fire what he did will be shrouded in absolute secrecy. He thought he had put me off the scent and I would never discover what happened. But … he didn’t know Feng’er, 10 year old at that time, was in Jing Yi’s room.’’ Qin De’s killing intent surges up.
‘’At that time, if it hadn’t been for Uncle Feng, I would’ve died and no one would’ve known the truth about mother’s death,’’ says Qin Feng coldly.
Everything has come to light.
Everything has been made clear. Even though the Qin clan’s people are Qin Shi Huang’s descendants, for the last several hundred years, they have had complete control over the 3 Eastern region counties and have been enjoying life without worrying about things. Quite a few ancestors of the Qin clan advocated for a peaceful life. After all,
it would be too difficult for them to usurp the Chu dynasty and the Qin clan would possibly be finished instead. For the last several hundred years, the Qin clan has always been unable to make up its mind to give up its current lifestyle and overthrow the Chu dynasty. However, the death of the wife of the current clan head Qin De caused him to make up his mind. Therefore, 14 years ago, Qin De started to arrange a seizure of power, and he even set in motion some plans prepared several hundred years before.
‘’Father, I want to join the army. I’ll definitely avenge mother’s death!’’ Qin Yu says resolutely while looking at Qin De. There are only 2 ways for him to seek revenge. First is to use assassination. Second is to use the army to destroy the Xiang clan directly then it will be easy to kill Xiang Guang.
Assassinate Xiang Guang? Qin Yu thought about it for a while then gave up. As the Chu emperor, Xiang Guang is protected closely by countless experts. Even a Xiantian expert will have absolutely no chance of killing him. Needless to say, Qin Yu practices external techniques. Therefore, he has no choice but to join Qin De’s
plan.
“Nonsense!” Qin De stares at Qin Yu and reproves him. ‘’You’re just a boy. You haven’t learned the art of war or the art of ruling. How will you lead the army?”
“Then I’ll be a vanguard soldier. I’ll be a small soldier,’’ replies Qin Yu immediately. He understands he knows nothing about leading soldiers in combat but he cannot bear the thought of standing idly by on one side. After all, this is a blood feud over the murder of his mother.
“A vanguard soldier? A small soldier?” Qin De shakes his head and says: ‘’If we are to destroy the Xiang clan in a war, the soldiers will have to be mobilized by the hundred thousand. On the battlefield, after the soldiers are lined up, you basically won’t even see the ends of a row. With so many people fighting together closely, what will be the use of you? As long as you’re not a Xiantian expert, you won’t be able to save your own little life in the middle of a large army!”
Qin Yu is speechless.
‘’But …” He wants to dispute.
Qin De walks to his side, strokes his shoulder and says sincerely: ‘’Yu’er, you must understand, you’re a son of the Qin clan. The blood of our Qin clan absolutely doesn’t tolerate mistakes. Your big brother is a general and has also reached the Xiantian level, so I’m certainly not worried about him. Your 2nd brother will stay far back from the front line to handle political affairs so I’m not worried about him either. You want to become a vanguard soldier, if you were to die, how would I explain it to the ancestors? How would I explain it to your deceased mother?”
“Yu’er, don’t be stubborn. If you joined the army, you would only make me more worried about you. Yu’er, you’ve become an adult, you must learn to consider the big picture,” says Qin De while staring at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu thinks for a while.
He understands he himself cannot help in handling political affairs. If he became a normal vanguard soldier, his father would be negatively affected when marshaling forces because he would not be able to ignore his own son in a certain troop.
Moreover, the offensive power of an individual like him would be negligible in the middle of a large army.
Qin Yu has made a judgment in his mind. If he joined the usurpation plan, he would be of no use. Worse still, he would have negative effects on it.
‘’Father, I already understand. I won’t become a hindrance to all of you,” says Qin Yu with a nod. Then he turns around and leaves immediately. Seeing Qin Yu leaving, Qin De cannot help feeling unhappy. Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Xu Yuan all stand up and follow his back with their eyes. When Qin Yu reaches the door, he suddenly stops, turns around, looks at the other people and says: ‘’Father, big brother, second brother, Uncle Xu, please avenge my mother’s death.’’
‘’Third brother, don’t worry, we’ll definitely eliminate the Xiang clan,’’ says 2nd brother Qin Zheng resolutely. Qin Feng also nods solemnly to Qin Yu. Xu Yuan and Qin De also look at Qin Yu to let him totally understand their intentions.
“Thank you!” As Qin Yu finishes saying, he goes out of the secret room directly without looking back and gets in the corridor. It is already late at night. The sky is filled with countless visible stars. The cold winds of the late night are blowing, causing Qin Yu’s whole body to slightly tremble uncontrollably.
Qin Yu suddenly turns around and looks at that room beside the corridor. The secret room is under the ground of that room. ‘’Perhaps father and the others are discussing some important plans but I can’t offer them any help.” Qin Yu smiles bitterly then turns around and leaves immediately.
B2C6: Meteoric Tear (2)
In the morning of the next day, Qin Yu leaves the princely mansion alone and returns to Misty Villa. Only Xiao Hei goes with him.
After getting back to Misty Villa, Qin Yu trains even harder. In his plan, even the time for him to go out to execute assassination missions is sharply reduced. Most of his time is spent on improving his power nonstop. When Qin De hears about this he can only smile bitterly. He does not know what to say.
Late at night a half month later,
Qin Yu walks out from his room and stand in the middle of the courtyard. Making a swaying movement with his body, he gets to the top of the room in a flash. Sitting on the top of the room, Qin Yu watches the boundless sky in silence. Xiao Hei also stays quietly beside him.
Misty Villa is located on the side of the mountain. On the top of the room, Qin Yu can even see a cliff not far from there. One cold wind after another reaches him from the depths next to the cliff but Qin Yu feels nothing.
‘’Xiao Hei, I feel that I’m too useless, extremely useless.’’ Qin Yu looks at Xiao Hei beside him and says in a low voice.
With its shiny black eyes fixed on Qin Yu, Xiao Hei spreads its huge wings and puts them around Qin Yu as if it is consoling him.
Looking into the sky, Qin Yu says in a voice which is a bit indistinct and a bit bitter: ‘’When I was little, I thought father didn’t care about me, so I trained very hard only for him to spend more time with me. When I grew up, I discovered father truly cared about me. But … he has his own business and doesn’t have time to stay with me. To destroy the Xiang clan to avenge mother’s death is indeed very difficult. Father, big brother and 2nd brother have always been trying hard, but I
…”
“But I’m absolutely useless. I’m not proficient in political affairs. And I can’t command troops either. My body doesn’t have any internal energy so I’ll be of no use in the middle of a large army.” Qin Yu cannot help clenching his fists. “Actually … I want to help father as well. Actually, I also want to make myself a bit useful to them. Any bit will do.”
He hates the fact that he cannot power up at once.
He hates himself, hates himself for being useless.
Qin Yu is an adult now but since childhood, he has always felt lonesome. Even though he can feel that his father cares about him, in 10 whole years between age 6 and 16, the time he and his father met does not amount to more than 1 month.
He does not hate his father. He only hates himself for being useless.
Now that he already knows what his father is doing, he wants to do something. He also wants to help his father, but he really cannot help in anything. “In father’s eyes, perhaps I’m a burden. The Xiantian level, when will I reach it? At the moment my power is improving very fast but to reach the peak of external practice it’ll take me at least 5 or 6 more years,” sighs Qin Yu.
After a long time, he suddenly stands up and lets out a deep sigh. His eyes glitter with resolution.
‘’Big brother, 2nd brother, father, all of you are trying hard nonstop to prepare for the war 5 years later. Therefore in the next 5 years I’ll train hard as well. At least in 5 years … I’ll reach the level of Master Zhao Yunxing, reach the peak of the Houtian level.” Qin Yu sets himself a goal.
Merit, anyone living in the world should have merit. At least, they must be of some merit in the eyes of their parents, otherwise their life will be a waste. Qin Yu does not like to depend on his father’s status like a profligate son of a rich family. He wants to achieve something worthwhile. At the minimum … being able to help his father will be enough.
…… The Qian Long continent is extremely large. However, the ocean beyond the boundary of the Qian Long continent is ten to hundred times as large as it is. Suddenly —
The boundless ocean heaves up and down violently. There is not a hurricane at the moment so how can it be heaving up and down without a reason like this? At the same time, the holy energy in the whole world starts to shake in an instant. The ocean waves surge to 100 zhang high then smash down with a loud noise. All of the martial art practitioners in the world can feel that the world’s holy energy has become so chaotic that for the moment they simply cannot absorb any of it.
Whizz!
In the sky, an exceptionally bright meteor suddenly appears out of thin air and flashes toward the Qian Long continent in an oblique straight line at an extremely fast speed. It is even making sharp buzzing sounds. In a short while, the meteor has disappeared. Then the holy energy in the world reverts to its stable state. The boundless ocean also goes back to normal. ……
“Meteor!” Qin Yu sees a meteor coming through the sky at an extremely fast speed in the distance. He immediately watches it carefully from the top of the room. That meteor unexpectedly comes directly toward Qin Yu. With his eyes brightening, he says laughingly: “Impossible. This meteor can’t be flying directly to Misty Villa.”
Qin Yu, however, knows that some meteoric metals have mostly been created by the meteors which have landed on the ground.
“Maybe I can still find a big chunk of meteoric metals.” Qin Yu thinks to himself. But Qin Yu is somewhat disappointed because when that meteor is halfway down in the air and when there is still a very long distance between it and him it disappears.
“Forget about it. But I was pretty lucky to be able to see a meteor.” Qin Yu slightly smiles. Then he takes a leap to get down from the top of the room. But when he is leaping, his eyes suddenly brighten.
‘’What is that?’’ Qin Yu vaguely sees a light shining faintly in the west garden. He cannot help feeling doubtful. He immediately goes to the west garden. After entering the west garden, he searches carefully in all directions but he does not find anything unusual.
He takes several steps on the side of the hot spring. Suddenly he notices a gleaming light on the ground.
‘’What’s that?’’ Qin Yu vaguely sees a crystalline object on the ground. He squats down and looks carefully. It is a red crystal which looks like a pendant gem. After picking it up and putting on his hand, he sees that this crystal has the shape of a tear.
‘’A blood-red crystal in the shape of a tear, it should be a piece of glass.’’ Qin Yu looks at the crystal in his palm. His mind unconsciously takes a liking to this ‘piece of glass.’
“Let’s embed this piece of glass in something to dress it up. A necklace will be pretty good. Xiao Lu will definitely like it very much. Hmm, if so what should it be called?” Qin Yu frowns and thinks. Then his eyes brighten: ‘’Ah, I got it after watching a meteor and it has a tear shape so let’s call it the Meteoric Tear.”
The Meteoric Tear, Qin Yu is very satisfied with this name.
Qin Yu even tries it a bit on his chest then he nods in satisfaction. But suddenly Qin Yu’s hand feels a bit lighter. The ‘piece of glass’ he found just now has unexpectedly disappeared strangely. It was right in the palm of Qin Yu’s hand, yet it has just disappeared like that.
Qin Yu’s eyes cannot help popping out of his head.
“What the hell has happened?” Qin Yu is shocked. He has never seen such an odd occurrence.
An object in his hand has disappeared without a reason as if it has never existed. But he is absolutely certain that just now he found a blood-red crystal in the shape of a tear and he even named it the Meteoric Tear.
“How come I can’t see it? Could it be some Xiantian expert or Shangxian took it directly using telekinesis?” Qin Yu ponders. “No, it couldn’t. I was grasping it in the palm of my hand. Even if someone had used telekinesis, I would’ve felt that ‘piece of glass’ moving in my hand. Could it be it just disappeared without a reason?”
Qin Yu cannot imagine what kind of magic power can move an object away in such an inexplicable manner.
“Not even Shangxian have this kind of magic power for certain. Moreover, why would such a super expert play tricks on me in the middle of the night?” He is filled with bewilderment.
In the west garden, bewildered Qin Yu thus ponders for a long time. Then, after finding absolutely no reason, he has no choice but to leave the west garden in bewilderment.
B2C7: Leaping Through The Sky (1)
“I’ve never felt so good, so fresh and cool.” Qin Yu stretches his sluggish waist and takes a fresh and clean breath. Suddenly his eyes flash with fierceness. “Alright, let’s start to try hard. In 5 years I’ll definitely reach the peak of the Houtian level.”
His heart is full of enthusiasm. He immediately starts his morning training session.
Qin Yu has always been carrying 300 jin of weights on his body. He thus runs out of Misty Villa and heads directly for the foot of the mountain. From the foot of the mountain, he runs up to its peak. Then he runs from the peak down to the foot of the mountain again. He keeps running back and forth like that.
As usual, Qin Yu wants to run nonstop until he has no strength left to run. Only then will he stop.
“Phew!” Qin Yu is constantly gasping for breath. One after another, beads of sweat are falling down from his chin. At this moment he has reached his limit. Because he runs like this every day, he already knew his limits early. But who could have thought today he would unexpectedly run 1 more lap than yesterday? Moreover … he is not completely exhausted yet.
Even though at this moment he is extremely tired, he feels very excited: “My condition today is really not bad. If I can improve like this every day, I soon won’t be far from reaching the level where I can lift 800 jin with 1 arm and deflect weapons with my body. It seems Heaven is helping me.” Qin Yu cannot help giving a faint smile.
Qin Yu can feel clearly the reactions of his entire body’s muscles. He also knows at this moment he has reached his physical limit the first time.
Suddenly —
An extremely comfortable clear stream of energy starts to flow to every place in his entire body. Qin Yu feels that his entire body’s muscles, which have reached their limits, vying with each other to absorb this clear stream as if they are a thirsty traveller in the desert who can drink water all of a sudden… Qin Yu is completely dumbfounded. He can feel clearly that his body, which has reached its physical limit, and his muscles, which are tired and aching, are suddenly recovering quickly. He can feel his whole body’s muscles regaining strength … and they are even being enhanced to some extent.
“What’s going on?” Qin Yu suddenly stops. “Where does this clear stream of mysterious power come from? What is really going on?”
This is too strange. Qin Yu has been training for 8 years but he has never experienced anything like this. Every time he reached his physical limit, he had to try hard to overcome them. But today, who could have thought a mysterious stream of energy would suddenly appear? Qin Yu basically did not feel its existence in his channels, as if it disregarded the channels. Instead, it directly spread throughout his body. When his muscles absorbed this clear stream, they also became stronger.
Qin Yu frowns deeply while pondering about the sudden appearance of this clear stream. But after thinking for a long time, he still does not know how this could happen.
‘’Let’s continue to train. Let’s see what will happen when I reach my physical limit again.” Qin Yu immediately continues to run. This time he even runs a longer distance than he did last time. In today’s morning training session, Qin Yu has run a longer aggregate distance than he ever did in any previous session.
“I’ve finally reached it!” Qin Yu feels that he has reached his physical limit again. Even though his legs are still running very fast, his mind and energy are mostly concentrated on the inside of his body.
A stream of energy starts to be generated……
“It’s the chest.” Qin Yu’s eyes brighten. “The source of that mysterious energy is in the chest.” Qin Yu feels clearly how comfortable it is when this stream of energy spreads throughout his body. This feeling is more comfortable than how he feels while soaking in the hot spring, and much more comfortable than how he feels while massaged by Old Dr. Weng Xian. Qin Yu suddenly pulls open the black gold undershirt, which covers his chest. He stares at his chest —
There is a faint mark on the chest. If he had not looked carefully, he would not have noticed this mark. It has the shape of none other than the Meteoric Tear. But there were never any marks on Qin Yu’s chest. He remembers very well he did not see it while soaking in the hot spring yesterday, but now it is here.
“The Meteoric Tear, yesterday evening’s Meteoric Tear!”
Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head. He is so astonished that he is basically speechless. The sudden disappearance of the Meteoric Tear yesterday shocked him and made him doubtful for a long time. But now, with the appearance of the Meteoric- Tear-shaped mark on his chest, Qin Yu cannot help thinking about one matter.
“Could the clear stream of mysterious power appeared just now have something to do with this mark? Is this mark related to the mysterious Meteoric Tear yesterday?” Qin Yu simply has no way to know everything about what is going on.
But he is not a country bumpkin. As East Vanquishing Prince’s son, he knows that some rare treasures in the world can fuse with the body. Objects which are superior to both mundane-grade and Xian-grade weapons and are equal to Shangxian’s weapons can fuse with the body.
But Qin Yu has never heard of a crystal which can fuse with the body. However, as soon as he thinks about what happened just now, he knows …
He has struck it rich!
Limit training … …
… … is to break through the body’s limits time after time. But every time a limit is broken through, the body’s flesh and bones are put under a great deal of stress and will require various recovery methods later. In the past, Qin Yu would try to persist until he surpassed his limits, and when it was impossible for him to go on, he would have to use various recovery methods such as soaking in the hot spring, applying medicinal wine and so on.
However, now that he has the fantastic clear stream of energy, Qin Yu will not have to waste time on recovery. He can transcend his limits nonstop. Moreover, when that clear stream fuses with his flesh, it seems to also enhance his flesh’s capabilities.
“Heaven is helping me. Heaven is helping me!” Qin Yu clenches his fists. His eyes radiate a shocking fierceness. “Even Heaven is helping me. At first I thought it’d take me 5 or 6 years to reach Master Zhao Yunxing’s level, but with this Meteoric Tear, perhaps 2 years will be enough!”
Qin Yu’s eyes glitter with excitement.
From his childhood to his adulthood, in his father’s eyes, he has always been inferior to his big brother and 2nd brother. Not only can big brother lead troops in battle, he is also a Xiantian expert. And 2nd brother is proficient in governance. Only he, the 3rd brother, born with a dantian which cannot accumulate internal energy, is the most useless.
However … the Meteoric Tear has given him an opportunity.
An opportunity to change his life,
“Father, I’m not useless. I don’t want to hide and live shamefully behind your backs. I’ll let you know that I’m as good as big brother and 2nd brother.” The most resounding sounds rise in his mind. At this moment, his great ambition soars as high as the sky.
“Alright, let’s start training!”
Qin Yu starts his training immediately.
He trains like crazy, much crazier than in the past. Even if Zhao Yunxing came here personally, he would be scared stiff upon seeing how Qin Yu is training. The reason is that Qin Yu’s current training does not take into account his body’s endurance. He is totally torturing himself!
However, other people simply cannot know that every time Qin Yu reaches a physical limit, that mysterious clear stream will permeate through his muscles and relieve their fatigue. And whenever he transcends a limit, the muscles become stronger. As Qin Yu can continuously surpass his limits, he is improving extremely fast, like a shooting star leaping through the sky.
In the evening, Qin Yu returns to Misty Villa. His face is full of confidence. He has been going through a day of mad training, with the training load being over 10 times as heavy as in the past, however at this moment his entire body’s muscles are unexpectedly still full of vitality.
B2C8: Leaping Through The Sky (2)
That night, Qin Yu sits with legs crossed in his room.
Every night he executes the Ancestral Dragon Art’s technique to turn the world’s holy energy into internal energy then, as it automatically disperses, lets his entire body’s muscles absorb some of this internal energy. Tonight is the same. Qin Yu executes the Ancestral Dragon Art again.
If there were an observer, he would see …
Various endless streams of the world’s holy energy start to whirl around Qin Yu at a very fast speed. Their number is shockingly large. Because there are too many of them, these holy energy streams unexpectedly form a blue mist. It looks as if Qin Yu’s entire body is wrapped in a hazy layer of blue mist. His body is only a blur through the blue mist.
Materialization of holy energy! The materialization of holy energy according to legend!
If an internal expert or a Xiantian expert saw this, they would be scared stiff. Holy energy absorption speed naturally represents a person’s power improvement speed. And when the materialization of holy energy is achieved, the practice speed of that person will reach a terrifying level.
According to legend, Shangxian’s holy energy absorption is at a level where the holy energy is materialized. And even Xiantian experts are definitely below this level.
At the moment, however, the materialization of holy energy is happening on the body of a young man who is only 16 and practices external techniques.
At this moment Qin Yu’s face is very red. His body is slightly trembling, as if he has received a very great provocation. Beads of sweat have even stuck out on his forehead. The expression on his face shows that he is both in pain and shocked. However, the surging holy energy is still entering Qin Yu’s body nonstop.
“Why is this happening? So much holy energy.” Qin Yu is so shocked that he is speechless.
When he executed the Ancestral Dragon Art, the holy energy in his vicinity was very obedient and let itself be absorbed by him at a very fast speed. But because it was too obedient and too easy to maneuver … Qin Yu has unexpectedly absorbed an amount of holy energy over 10 times as much as usual in a short while.
“Could that Meteoric Tear be the reason?” Qin Yu automatically thinks about this. But he immediately smiles bitterly: “My goodness, you’re killing me!”
At this moment, the surging holy energy in his body starts to roll into his channels. If a footpath which can only accommodate 3 people walking abreast is suddenly walked on by people 10 abreast and, moreover, the number of people taking this footpath increases nonstop, it is easy to imagine how overcrowded it will become. At this moment, the channels in Qin Yu’s body are exceptionally overcrowded. The amount of holy energy which far exceeds those of the past is totally clogging his channels.
“Absorbing too much holy energy isn’t a good thing. What should I do now?” Qin Yu can feel continual tearing pains in his channels. He makes every effort to circulate the holy energy in the channels. But because there is too much holy energy, even starting to keep it under control is hard for him.
This is like how while an instructor can still easily control the movements of 100 people he will not be able to direct the movements of 1000 people by himself.
“So painful, will I die because of the channels breaking into pieces?” Qin Yu smiles bitterly in his mind. “At first I thought this mysterious Meteoric Tear was a treasure. Now it seems to be a disaster for me instead. So much holy energy is already enough to squeeze into my channels until they break.”
Qin Yu can feel that every place of the channels in his entire body is in continuous pain.
Qin Yu’s channels have adapted themselves to those smaller amounts of holy energy of the past, but today’s amount has increased to 10 times the normal amounts, so how can they endure it? His channels have been overfilled. Moreover, they seem to be about to break apart because of that. Qin Yu can only see everything happening without being able to do anything.
Fizz, fizz ~~~
A place of his channels finally can no longer endure the pressure of the squeezing and starts to tear.
“No good!” Qin Yu’s face immediately goes very pale.
“Fizz, fizz~~~” In a short while, the channels in his entire body continuously tear in every place.
“Father, I thought I was still of some use and would be able to help you. But now it looks like … I’m completely useless as before.” Qin Yu is disappointed. However, despite facing death, he has absolutely neither fear nor sorrow.
“Maybe father will grieve for me after I die?” For some odd reason, Qin Yu unexpectedly thinks about this.
However, while he is having a bee in his bonnet, the Meteoric Tear in his chest sends out various clear streams of energy which immediately flow throughout Qin Yu’s body. These mysterious clear streams have some unknown power which unexpectedly lets those tattered channels easily take shape again.
Moreover, the newly formed channels are considerably wider than the previous ones.
“Ah.” Qin Yu is astonished. He watches this scene in stupefaction.
It seems … the Meteoric Tear is not as simple as he thinks at all.
However, because the current amount of holy energy is 10 times, or even over 10 times, larger than the normal amounts, the newly formed channels are still too narrow for it. In a short while, following the increasingly slower circulation of energy, the blockage in the channels becomes more and more serious, and the channels even tear again.
This time Qin Yu does not despair. He attentively waits for those mysterious clear streams from the Meteoric Tear.
As expected, the Meteoric Tear does not disappoint Qin Yu. Once again, a clear stream comes out from the Meteoric Tear with no difficulty and he can feel clearly that wherever it goes to the channels there recover quickly. After a short while, all of the channels have been formed again. This time they are even wider than before.
Tearing — Mending!
Even though there is too much holy energy, after experiencing the ‘Tearing — Mending’ process continuously, the channels have finally become able to withstand it. Qin Yu finally succeeds. However, the pain of having his channels tearing again and again was much more terrifying than the pain of practicing external techniques.
Various vigorous streams of internal energy swarm into his dantian then move outward in all directions. Like dry sandy soil, the flesh in Qin Yu’s entire body draws internal energy off nonstop. The more internal energy his flesh and bones absorb, the more formidable they become.
However, as time goes by, the flesh and bones absorb less and less internal energy.
After 4 hours, Qin Yu opens his eyes.
“Sure enough, just as I anticipated, when the training load increases, the flesh and bones become stronger and also absorb more internal energy. A day ago my training load increased to over 10 times the normal load, now I’ve only been absorbing for 4 hours, but the amount of internal energy absorbed was already about 10 times larger than in the past.” Qin Yu’s face is full of sweat.
The pain of the channels tearing just now has caused his entire body to be drenched in sweat.
“After my flesh and bones absorbed so much internal energy, now I feel…” Qin Yu kicks fast and fiercely with his legs, causing whizzing wind sounds. He also punches continuously with his fists, splitting the air before him. “Now I feel … my entire body is full of power!”
Qin Yu’s eyes glitter with extreme excitement.
After going through this one day of training, he can totally notice that his own improvement speed is extremely fast.
“2 years, will I need that much?” There is a hint of a confident smile on the corners of his mouth. It is pointless to guess how long it will take to reach the peak of the Houtian level. He can only undergo real training and wait for the facts to speak for themselves. Time goes by.
Qin Yu starts to train like crazy. He throws caution regarding daily training load to the winds and completely attacks the endurance limit of the human nerve. Even if Xiantian experts came to see how he trains, they would be horrified to death by this madman. This kind of training is suicide.
With 300 jin of weights on his body, he holds high 2 huge rocks which weigh several hundred jin each using his hands. He thus runs at his fastest speed for 1 hour. Afterwards, he throws the rocks away and swims in the lake while carrying 300 jin of weights more than 100 round-trips. Then he repeats these forms of training…
This is totally beyond the human imagination. There is simply no way to explain it. Is this really what a person can endure?
However, Qin Yu is happy and lively. His body’s toughness, flexibility and agility improve day by day. His eyes also become increasingly swifter and fiercer.
Qin Yu always tests his arms’ strength while carrying 300 jin of weights. From lifting 300 jin with one arm, the weight he can lift with one arm continuously increases to 400 jin, 450 jin, 500 jin, 550 jin, 600 jin …… 700 jin …… However, even though his arms’ strength improves, there does not seem to be an upper limit on Qin Yu’s one-armed strength.
A peak-Houtian expert has 700 to 800 jin of strength in one arm?
To sum up, in just a year Qin Yu’s one-armed strength has surpassed this so-called peak of one-armed strength. His strength, agility and even his body’s attack resistance have all been continuously challenging the presumptive peaks of external practice on the Qian Long continent. Qin Yu is still improving very fast without showing any sign of deceleration. Moreover … he does not feel any bit of Xiantian energy at all, which means he is still a Houtian expert.
No one knows how great Qin Yu’s attributes will be at the peak of the Houtian level. In conclusion, the current Qin Yu’s achievements cannot be predicted using common sense. A miracle of external practice is being initiated by him……
B2C9: Rock Within Rock (1)
Mount Dong Lan is 3000 m high. Such a high mountain is naturally thickly wooded. There are even wild beasts hiding in the depths of the forests on the mountain.
However, at the moment, in a very remote wood on Mount Dong Lan, a silhouette of a man is moving back and forth extremely fast. He is agile like a panther and skillful like a monkey. In an instant he even leaps up several tens meters onto a tree fork then easily leaps from this tree fork to another.
The most extraordinary thing is that while this man is moving extremely fast he does not cause any wind sounds at all.
The silhouette suddenly dives down from several tens meters high like lightning. With a ferocious splash he gets into the small lake in the depths of the wood. The lake, which is clear and beautiful as if made from jade, immediately ripples. This nameless small lake is very clear and it is even possible to see clearly the cobblestones at the bottom of it. “It feels really good.” Qin Yu suddenly emerges from the bottom of the water. He spontaneously shakes his head, scattering water sprays around.
Qin Yu has had the Meteoric Tear for one and a half years. A half year ago, his strength reached the level of Man Dong, a man born with great physical strength. His agility is even more peerless. And because normal weapons can no longer hurt him a bit, it is obvious how great his flexibility and toughness are.
Even though Qin Yu is not wearing gloves, his fingers can still grab blue stones into pieces with ease. Moreover, his finger skin has not been hardened in the slightest. This is totally out of line with Zhao Yunxing’s theory. How can a person’s fingers remain sensitive and become extremely tough at the same time?
In theory, because Qin Yu has reached Zhao Yunxing’s level or has even surpassed it, he should have reached the so-called peak of the Houtian level.
However … Qin Yu’s various bodily capabilities are still improving at an extremely shocking speed. Feeling that his progress was too terrifying, he went directly into the depths of the forests to train lest the people at the villa chatter about him.
In the depths of the forests, huge rocks are seen everywhere. Moreover, training here is even more beneficial to his Seven North Stars Moonlight Dance body-maneuvering skill. After all, there are basically no roads in the depths of the forests, only a great variety of obstacles. This kind of conditions is very useful for practicing body-maneuvering skill.
“In only 1 and a half years my one-armed strength has reached 1000 jin. If I talk about this …” Qin Yu gives a faint smile.
The lifting strength of an arm and the impact force of a punch are totally different concepts. It is much more difficult to lift than to punch with one arm. If an arm can lift 1000 jin, the impact force it generates when throwing a punch will definitely exceed the weight of 10,000 jin. Even Man Dong, who is known by reputation as the strongest external expert, would be dumbfounded by such a terrifying force. “For the last half year I’ve almost never taken off these 300 jin of weights. How fast will I be after taking off these weights?” Qin Yu thinks to himself. If other people heard about this, they would have no way to believe it.
Just now in the wood, Qin Yu was moving back and forth extremely fast. His speed was even faster than those of ordinary external experts. However, this was merely his speed while carrying 300 jin of weights.
“Bang!” Following several loud noises, the black iron arm guards and leg guards and the black gold undershirt have already been shed to one side.
“Ha-ha, let’s try it now.” Qin Yu suddenly shoots into the sky like an arrow leaving a bow. He leaps out of the water directly then makes a swinging movement with his body in a relaxed manner in midair. Unexpectedly … he comes to rest! Yes, he comes to rest, albeit for only about 2 or 3 seconds.
This is the subtlety of how Qin Yu’s body-maneuvering skill makes use of wind forces.
“Whizz!” With a shaking movement of his body, Qin Yu dives down extremely fast and lands on the ground. “Bang!” Following a push with his feet, his entire body disappears with a ‘shua’ noise. Then the large trees in the surroundings start to shake continuously. A vague noise is shuffling back and forth
in the wood like lightning.
Landing!
Qin Yu suddenly appears beside the lake. His face looks extremely excited: “After taking off 300 jin of weights, my speed has increased by more than 1 level. Really extremely fast, but …” Qin Yu frowns. “Only that at such a fast speed, wind resistance becomes too terrifying. Even with my current level of the Seven North Stars Moonlight Dance, I still can’t neutralize the resistance completely.”
The faster the speed is, the stronger wind resistance becomes. Qin Yu’s speed just now reached an unprecedented level. He could neutralize wind resistance with ease in the past, but with such a fast speed, he has no way to nullify wind resistance perfectly.
“Well, looks like I’m not strong enough. I must keep trying hard. I even want to see what my limit is in the end.” Qin Yu’s eyes are blazing with excitement and passion.
******
Qin Yu continues to train hard in the depths of the forests on Mount Dong Lan….
Late at night, in Hua Yang House of the imperial palace in the Chu dynasty’s capital,
Hua Yang House is where Imperial Concubine Yu lives. Tonight the Chu emperor Xiang Guang is paying a visit to Imperial Concubine Yu’s Hua Yang House. After being intimate with each other, Xiang Guang and Imperial Concubine Yu have been sound asleep. The 2 ladies-in-waiting outside the door have been drowsing but they are still trying hard to keep their eyes opened. Xiang Guang, who has been sleeping deeply, suddenly starts to shake. Beads of sweat have stuck out on his forehead. It seems he is in a state of extreme panic and agitation.
“No. Don’t. Don’t…” Xiang Guang continuously says in a very low and confusing voice. It is simply impossible to hear clearly what he is saying. However, next, even Xiang Guang’s entire body shakes and Imperial Concubine Yu beside him is woken up with a start.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, are you alright, Your Majesty?” Seeing that Xiang Guang’s face is very red, Imperial Concubine Yu cannot help panicking.
“Die!” With his eyes still closed, Xiang Guang suddenly shouts and brandishes his arms, which immediately smash on Imperial Concubine Yu’s body.
“Bang!” Imperial Concubine Yu is knocked down from the bed. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, she looks at Xiang Guang in disbelief because she is the imperial concubine the emperor pampers the most. At this moment Xiang Guang also wakes up. He sees that Imperial Concubine Yu has been seriously injured by himself but his expression is still frosty.
“Someone call an imperial doctor.” After saying, Xiang Guang stops paying attention to Imperial Concubine Yu. He gets dressed and goes right past heavily-injured Imperial Concubine Yu without even looking at her.
In a short while, Xiang Guang has appeared in the imperial study. A hawk-like hook-nosed man dressed in black is respectfully standing on one side.
“Yang Li is in charge of the 3 Eastern region counties, right?” Xiang Guang asks coldly.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The hook-nosed man replies respectfully.
Xiang Guang suddenly stands up, stares at the hook-nosed man and says: “Integrate all the intelligence about Qin De then let me know. Also, increase the supervising force in the 3 Eastern region counties. I don’t believe he only has 600,000 troops. You must investigate and ascertain what tricks he has up his sleeve. Yang Li has only found out so little info after so many years. He’s really useless. From now on, let Zhen Xu have charge of the entire secret service in the 3 Eastern region counties. Transfer Yang Li back.”
“Yes!” The hook-nosed man gets down on 1 knee and says.
“You can go.” Xiang Guang dismisses him with a wave of a sleeve. The hook-nosed man bows then disappears directly in the imperial study with shaking movement of his body.
Xiang Guang looks forward but his mind is thinking about something else.
“If I don’t investigate and ascertain everything about Qin De, I won’t be able to sleep and eat well.” Xiang Guang has a recurring nightmare in which he is killed by Qin De. What he is worried about the most is that Qin De discovers that past incident so he wants to wipe out the Qin clan. However the Qin clan has been controlling the 3 Eastern region counties for several hundred years and therefore, to Xiang Guang, it is a deep-rooted problem which he cannot eliminate simply as he wishes.
At the moment, Xiang Guang’s tactic is to investigate Qin De clearly. If Qin De gives any indications of rebellion, he will mobilize the entire kingdom’s forces to destroy the Qin clan. If Qin De is still unaware of that past incident and does not rebel against him then this matter will be over.
“This idiot Yang Li is completely useless. But Zhen Xu will surely find out everything. Qin De, you better not know about that incident. You should know your place as East Vanquishing Prince. If you really want to rebel, then …” Xiang Guang’s eyes radiate ferocious cold rays of light.
B2C10: Rock Within Rock (2)
Beside a small lake in a wood on Mount Dong Lan,
“It’s been 10 whole days.” Qin Yu is resting his back against a huge rock. Holding a blade of grass in his mouth, he looks at the lake in front of him with a powerless expression on his face.
Qin Yu is now 18 years old. For 10 whole years from age 8 to age 18, his body continuously improved and transformed. After obtaining the Meteoric Tear, he improved especially fast, like a meteor leaping through the sky. However, some time ago Qin Yu discovered that his progress started to slow down. And for the last 10 days, he has rarely seen any improvement.
“It looks like … I’ve finally reached the peak of my Houtian level!” Qin Yu suddenly bursts out laughing: “At the peak of the Houtian level, other people have 700 to 800 jin of strength in one arm. Today, with 300 jin of weights on my body, I can still lift a 1400 jin object with one arm. If I take off the weights, perhaps I’ll be able to lift even 1500 jin.” Agility … Compared to his strength, his agility is even at a higher level. Relying on the body-maneuvering skill he created himself, he can even neutralize the wind resistance at his fastest speed. If Qin Yu moves with his entire power, his whole body will become a blur. Those with insufficient power will not even be able to see his silhouette.
Strength, agility, sensitivity, body’s resistance, Qin Yu has reached an inhuman level in every aspect.
In terms of strength alone, even Xiantian experts are far inferior to him. However, if Xiantian experts use the Xiantian internal energy in their bodies, it will be difficult for Qin Yu to defeat them. Those who have Xiantian energy are Xiantian experts. In spite of everything, they belong to the Xiantian level. Xiantian and Houtian are essentially different.
“After breaking through the peak of the Houtian level, I should be at the Xiantian level. But I practice external techniques. What must an external practitioner do to reach the Xiantian level?” Qin Yu whispers. For the moment he cannot come up with any solutions. After all no one has ever reached the Xiantian level through body training. Suddenly a resounding eagle cry rises. Then the sharp whizzing sounds of an incoming gust of wind reach Qin Yu. A huge black eagle descends from the sky and lands beside him.
“You’ve arrived, Xiao Hei. This time you unexpectedly went out for 3 whole days. Brat, I even thought you’d forgotten me!” Qin Yu strokes the black eagle’s ‘crown’ cozily and says. Only he can stroke the black eagle’s ‘crown.’ Other people simply cannot touch it.
The black eagle is even one size larger than 2 years ago. It reaches 2 m in height by merely standing. Once it spreads its wings, Qin Yu can even turn his body round while lying on the back of the black eagle. The ‘crown’ was pure golden in the past, but now there is a tint of red in it, which makes it look like a flame.
The black eagle looks at Qin Yu resentfully and even flaps its wings hurriedly. As soon as Qin Yu sees this he laughs. He and the black eagle have been together for so many years so he can totally understand the meaning of every expression in the black eagle’s eyes. “Alright, alright, you haven’t forgotten me. I misunderstood you, okay?” says Qin Yu laughingly.
Only now does the black eagle nod its head. Qin Yu cannot help giving a laugh.
“Xiao Hei, come, I haven’t fought you for a long time. Let’s spar.” As Qin Yu is saying, his body instantly charges toward the black eagle. He turns his hand into a claw and grabs at the eagle.
The black eagle gives a shake of its big head as if it is in a jolly mood. With a wave of its wing, it easily blocks Qin Yu’s blow. When Qin Yu’s eagle claw smashes on the black eagle’s wing, it unexpectedly makes a noise which sounds as if it has just hit steel. Qin Yu’s fingers are even stronger than that Eagle Claw King’s, yet the offensive force of his fingers cannot hurt the black eagle.
“Your black feathers are already even comparable to black iron.” Qin Yu retreats a step. Seeing that his fingers’ powerful offensive force could only leave a mark on some outermost feathers, he cannot help feeling powerless.
The black eagle’s feathers are shiny black and extremely sharp. It wings are covered in a thick layer of feathers, but Qin Yu’s fingers’ offensive force could not even break a small area of the feathers, therefore it can be imagined how terrifying the black eagle’s defense is.
The black eagle shakes its head proudly while flapping its wings in a disorderly manner.
“Don’t be cocky. It looks like I’ll have to use this one move.” Qin Yu quickly takes off his black iron arm guards and leg guards and the black gold undershirt. He immediately feels light as if his entire body is a swan feather.
The black eagle’s defense is awfully strong but its offence is even more shocking. Those 2 claws can even break black iron into pieces easily. They are definitely comparable to extremely good Xian-grade weapons. But the defense of Qin Yu’s body has difficulty withstanding even black iron weapons, not to mention the black eagle’s claws. “Ha-ha, are you ready to be plucked?” Qin Yu’s whole body starts to move like a flash.
Yes, his only solution — use speed!
The black eagle’s speed in midair is fast. Its agility on the ground is also pretty good. But compared to Qin Yu, who has extraordinary agility, it is still a bit slower. However, only after taking off the 300 jin of weights did Qin Yu become faster than the black eagle.
Whizz!
With a push of his feet, Qin Yu’s entire body turns into a blur. As soon as his feet touch the surrounding trees or rocks, he changes direction extremely fast. When he reaches his fastest speed, it looks as if he is attacking the black eagle from all directions at the same time.
With a wave of its wings, the black eagle starts to move extremely fast as well. It can also change direction very easily with a wave of the wings. The eagle’s body is designed entirely for the sake of speed so the wind resistance it experiences is minimized.
One man and one eagle are attacking each other extremely fast.
“Taste my Vigorous Diamond Finger!” Qin Yu’s forefinger pierces the air like a sharp arrow and hits the black eagle’s chest hard. This is his strongest finger force but it can only damage a small area of the feathers, while there is a thick layer of feathers on the black eagle’s chest.
The black eagle seems to be very angry. It unexpectedly redoubles its speed. In an instant, only various blurs can be seen at the site of the fight.
“Whoa, have you gone mad?” Qin Yu shouts loudly. His speed has also reached its limit. Using the Seven North Stars Moonlight Dance, he looks like a dancer in the moonlight. He easily moves extremely fast beside the black eagle while attacking it nonstop with his hands. Even though the black eagle’s speed is fast, every strike it executes is spotted very early by Qin Yu. This is because the basis of Qin Yu’s body- maneuvering skill is to make use of wind forces, but every time the black eagle attacks the winds automatically change, which is also detected by Qin Yu.
Suddenly —
A resounding eagle cry rises. The black eagle has finally gone mad.
“Hoo hoo ~~~” It flaps its wings extremely fast like crazy. In an instant, a typhoon seems to have started at the site of the fight. All of the nearby trees are bent toward the ground by the wind. Then, with several “clack” sounds, some branches are continuously broken. Naturally, this terrifying wind speed adversely affects Qin Yu’s movements.
Qin Yu gives a smile.
“Still the same old move.” Qin Yu’s body rushes northward very fast. Having fought each other frequently, he and the eagle are extremely familiar with each other’s techniques. Therefore, upon encountering this skill of the black eagle, he wastes no time rushing to a place.
The rocky forest!
The rocky forest’s name says it all. This is a place where rocks stand in great numbers. However, because this place have gone through several great fights between Qin Yu and the black eagle, all of the smaller rocks have already been blown away or broken into pieces. Now there are only some huge rocks which weigh several thousand jin left.
In the rocky forest,
Qin Yu is shuffling back and forth in the rocky forest easily. The black eagle is chasing him like a black thunderbolt. In terms of speed alone, the eagle is actually just a bit inferior to Qin Yu. But it is much less sensitive than him. Qin Yu can easily change direction while moving. Even if he is running eastward extremely fast, he can turn westward in an instant.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! …… Qin Yu continuously attacks the black eagle with different forms of hand strikes including knife hand, fist and spear hand while the eagle attacks him using a combination of its beak and wings. Those sharp claws, however, are not used to attack because, after all, only by flying up can it attack Qin Yu with the claws. But if it flies up, Qin Yu will not be able to do anything other than get attacked passively as he cannot fly, and the fight will become boring.
“Bang!” The black eagle makes a wave of a wing. After Qin Yu dodges the wing, it smashes on a huge rock on one side. Because the hardness of the eagle’s wings is really excellent, that wing actually shatters the huge rock.
Qin Yu suddenly throws a palm strike at the eagle’s neck but the eagle flashes away with a movement of its wings. Qin Yu’s heavy palm strike then fiercely hits a huge rock. Naturally, that huge rock is broken into pieces by this palm strike because, whether in terms of force or in in terms of toughness, Qin Yu’s palm strike is even more formidable than that of the Iron Sand Palm expert among the 8 great external experts at that time. A man and an eagle keep fighting this way. It is really unlucky for the entire rocky forest because they blow up various huge rocks wherever they go to.
“Hah!” Uttering a loud shout, Qin Yu suddenly shoots up into the air then strikes down toward the black eagle. At this moment, the eagle is resting its back against a huge rock and basically has no way to dodge. But with an easy movement of its wings, it, unbelievably, moves away sideways several meters. Qin Yu’s heavy palm strike therefore hits the huge rock the eagle was resting its back against.
Boom!
The rock is shattered, but Qin Yu stops moving.
“Xiao Hei, let’s stop.” When Qin Yu’s palm strike hit, he felt something wrong because there was an intense reaction from this huge rock. There were also reactions when he shattered other huge rocks before, but they were nothing special. However, this huge rock’s reaction was really so tremendous that even his palm tingled.
Hearing Qin Yu’s shout, the black eagle also comes to see in doubt.
“This … what is this?” Qin Yu looks at the flaming red rock before him in astonishment. No, it should be called a crystal rather than a rock. Can a rock which radiates flaming red rays of light still be called a rock?
Who could have thought that after a 10,000 jin huge rock was shattered there would be a flaming red crystal inside? This crystal is very large, almost half as tall as Qin Yu, and is a near perfect cylinder. To be exact, it is a rod, only that this rod is much shorter and thicker than normal rods. It is as thick as a human thigh.
Qin Yu holds this crystal with both hands and feels that it is warm.
“Oh, so heavy.” He is amazed to discover that the crystal is unusually heavy. He immediately exerts the strength of his hands. Suddenly, with a low shout, he lifts the flaming red crystal up. Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head at once: “Oh my goodness! Who could’ve thought such a small cylinder would weigh about 2000 jin?”
B2C11: Forging Grandmaster (1)
“What is this thing actually?” Frowning, Qin Yu examines the flaming red crystal in his hands carefully. “This crystal is unusually heavy and even radiates flaming red rays of light. The crystal itself is also warm.”
Qin Yu has seen quite a lot of treasures in the princely mansion and has also read many books at Misty Villa so there are only few treasures on the Qian Long continent he still does not know about. However, when it comes to this flaming red crystal, he has absolutely no idea what it is.
Qin Yu drops the flaming red crystal. It causes a bang as it falls on the ground. Obviously it is shockingly heavy.
“Let’s test its hardness first. This crystal is so heavy, moreover, that rock-shattering palm strike of mine couldn’t break it, so it should be very hard.” Qin Yu forms a claw with his hand then executes the Eagle Claw Art technique. He fiercely grabs at the flaming red crystal. A loud metallic noise rises. The flaming red crystal does not get even a scratch.
“Ss ~~” Qin Yu takes a deep cold breath. He feels the 5 attacking fingers tingling. That claw strike was executed with his entire power yet he could not even scratch the crystal therefore it is easy to imagine how great its hardness is. Qin Yu frowns and thinks. Suddenly he turns around and says: “Xiao Hei, you come and test how hard this crystal is.”
Xiao Hei shakes its head a couple of times in excitement. With a wave of the wings, it flies up then dives down. Using those sharp claws it grabs at the crystal ruthlessly.
A loud metallic clatter rises again but the crystal still does not get even a scratch. Xiao Hei lands on the ground and gives Qin Yu a wink, looking very disheartened as if it feels aggrieved because its claws have been defeated.
Qin Yu is dumbstruck. Only after a long time do his eyes glitter with excitement: “Ha-ha, I struck it rich. I struck it rich. Xiao Hei’s claws can even tear black iron easily like paper. Their hardness can match Xian-grade weapons’. Since even his claws can’t break the crystal, it’s at least a precious forging material. Well, let’s test again with the Yuchang sword.”
Whizz!
Qin Yu makes a wave with a hand. A shaft of black light flashes by, hacking fiercely at the flaming red crystal. A clang is heard. Holding the Yuchang sword in his hand, Qin Yu looks at the flaming red crystal before him in excitement: “Such a huge piece of first-class ore is definitely a priceless treasure. Perhaps it can even be forged into high-Xian-grade weapons.”
The Yuchang sword is a low-Xian-grade weapon.
Ores have to undergo many complex processes to be finally forged into weapons. But weapons are much harder than the ores they are made from. For example, the meteorites from which the Yuchang sword was forged would definitely not be able to withstand the chops made with the sword. Even the Yuchang sword cannot leave a mark on this flaming red crystal therefore its hardness must be at a shocking level. Not even middle-Xian-grade ores can remain unblemished after being chopped at with the Yuchang sword, then how can this flaming red crystal?
“This is high-Xian-grade ore or perhaps … even better.” Qin Yu’s eyes shine. It is simply impossible for normal people to imagine how much a martial art expert craves for a first-rate weapon. Qin Yu, of course, has been dreaming about an absolutely excellent weapon.
The crystal itself is already so much harder than the Yuchang sword, if it is forged into weapons, then…
“Xiao Hei, let’s return to the villa.” Qin Yu takes off his coat and covers the flaming red crystal with it. Then he lifts the crystal up in a hug. He also knows that he cannot let everyone know about such a treasure as this crystal. Even though he does not mind, he knows the rules of the princely mansion. In the mansion, even weapons of the Yuchang sword’s caliber are kept in secret, not to mention this much more precious flaming red crystal. Hugging the 2000 jin crystal, Qin Yu immediately runs back to Misty Villa. Perhaps only he, who is so extraordinary, can carry this crystal.
At Misty Villa, Qin Yu walks out from an underground secret room in a relaxed manner.
“Carrying 2000 jin back from the depths of the forest was really a bit tiring.” With a smiling expression on his face, he moves his arms about. Having obtained such a treasure, Qin Yu is in high spirits: “If father hears about this, he’ll definitely be delighted.”
With a smile, Qin Yu goes toward Lian Yan’s habitation. Suddenly 2 people are approaching him from behind. One of them is a young man who is a bit taller than Qin Yu. The other is a delicately pretty young girl dressed in green. The young man is very robust while the young girl has dainty facial features. The most attractive thing about her is that air of delicacy.
“Brother Yu.” Seeing Qin Yu, the green-clad young girl’s eyes immediately brighten. She quickly runs up to him. “Brother Yu, this time you’ve already gone out for almost several days. Why don’t you see me for a while?” The young girl mutters.
“Xiao Lu, wait until I’m free, I’ll definitely spend more time with you.” Qin Yu tenderly strokes Xiao Lu’s head.
This green-clad young girl is none other than Xiao Lu and the young man beside her is Tie Shan. The brother and sister have asked to become Lian Yan’s disciples. Xiao Lu does not like fighting or killing so she has only been practicing her internal technique and usually spends her time piping. The jade pipe on her waist was given to her as a present by Qin Yu.
“You’re always saying when you have free time, but you’re always busy. Brother Yu, why can’t you take a break?” Xiao Lu looks a bit discontented. Her brother Yu usually says he will spend time with her when he is free, but heaven only knows when he will have free time.
“Take a break?” Qin Yu is slightly startled. From age 8 to age 18, the number of breaks Qin Yu really took can be counted on the fingers of one hand. He has always had a single-minded determination to train hard so that he can help his father as soon as possible and become a capable assistant to his father.
“Xiao Lu, don’t fool around.” Tie Shan reproves her then turns to Qin Yu and says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, you’re looking for Master, right? He’s taking a rest in the courtyard.”
“Good, then I’ll go find Grandpa Lian first.” Qin Yu bids them a farewell then goes toward Lian Yan’s place.
Xiao Lu, however, follows his back with her eyes. She slightly wrinkles her nose and says: “Brother Yu has always been busy. When will he ever have a rest?” Xiao Lu has been staying at Misty Villa for nearly 5 years so she naturally knows how hard Qin Yu trains.
“Xiao Lu, don’t say that. Xiao Yu is different from us. Even though he’s East Vanquishing Prince’s 3rd son, he chose external practice, the most painful path in martial arts. I remember when I first came here I saw him shoving his hands into iron grains!” Tie Shan seems to be recalling that scene he saw. Shoveling iron grains could only be used as a form of training after Qin Yu’s finger strength had reached a very high level. If he had used iron grains from the beginning, his fingers would have been finished.
Tie Shan’s eyes are full of wonderment: “Shoveling iron grains, his fingers must’ve hurt as if pierced by needles. The nerves of the fingertips are linked with the heart. Xiao Lu, you simply can’t imagine the pain he had to endure. However, finger strength training was only one of the numerous forms of limit training he underwent every day. From dawn till dusk, every form of training he did challenged the human body’s limits. His body has always been enduring the torment of defying limits. And he’s been training like this … since he was 8.”
Following Qin Yu’s back with his eyes, Tie Shan has nothing but admiration for him.
Following Qin Yu’s back with her eyes, Xiao Lu’s eyes glisten.
In her heart, brother Yu is always carefree, big-hearted, and warm like the Sun. However, this brother Yu, despite being East Vanquishing Prince’s son, has been experiencing those utmost tortures to the body since 8 years old.
Despite having the Meteoric Tear, if Qin Yu wants to make use of its positive effects, he also has to train until reaching a physical limit. He has to train his fingers until they hurt as if broken off. He has to do deep squats until his legs have muscle cramps and his head is pounding … Only when he reaches a physical limit will the Meteoric Tear release its fantastic power.
If he wants to get something, he has to pay first.
In order to reach his current level, Qin Yu has paid a lot, an awful lot.
In Lian Yan’s courtyard, Lian Yan is lying in a deck chair, drinking tea and enjoying the tranquility of the moment.
“Grandpa Lian.”
As soon as he hears Qin Yu’s familiar voice, Lian Yan smiles to the point where his eyes start to narrow. He turns to Qin Yu and says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, it’s so hard to see you. It’s still light now, yet you already returned from training.” Lian Yan is always unable to suppress his delight when he sees Qin Yu, just like how a grandpa can never help rejoicing at seeing his grandson.
Qin Yu goes up to him through the door of the courtyard. He wants to find a forging expert to handle that flaming red crystal. Naturally, when he wants to find a forging expert, the 1st thing he thinks about is to ask Lian Yan.
B2C12: Forging Grandmaster (2)
“Grandpa Lian, I’ve obtained an extremely precious piece of ore. According to my estimation, it should be a high-Xian- grade ore.” Qin Yu’s first sentence makes Lian Yan suddenly jump up.
Lian Yan’s eyes are full of astonishment. He looks at Qin Yu in disbelief. Only after a long time does he says: “Xiao Yu, you can’t joke about this matter. High-Xian-grade ores are what even Xiantian experts dream about. The weapons forged from them will definitely be marvelous. How can first-rate ores of this kind be obtained easily?”
To people on the Qian Long continent, weapons are simply divided into mundane-grade ones and Xian-grade ones. The Xian-grade is then divided into 3 sub-grades. And it is the same with ores. Even East Vanquishing Prince with such a great influence only has several tens weapons hidden in the Weapon Storing Warehouse. Most of them are low-Xian-grade, some are middle-Xian-grade, but only 2 of them are high-Xian-grade.
“Grandpa Lian, how can I deceive you? I made a chop with the Yuchang sword to test and couldn’t even leave a mark. What can it be if it’s not high-Xian-grade?” Qin Yu immediately explains.
“You couldn’t even leave a mark when chopping with the Yuchang sword?” Lian Yan understands, if even the Yuchang sword cannot leave a mark, this piece of ore is definitely high- Xian-grade. “Xiao Yu, what does this piece of ore look like? How large is it, about the size of a fist?”
In general, the size of a piece of ore is inversely proportional to its value. If it is about the size of a fist, it will already be enough to forge such a weapon as a short sword or a short knife.
“A fist?” Qin Yu says in surprise.
The flaming red crystal he obtained is approximately 1 m high and as thick as a human thigh. It is much larger than a fist.
“Is it even smaller than a fist? Then it can only be made into a weapon such as a dagger and the like. But that’s still pretty good. At least you’ll have a high-Xian-grade weapon.” Lian Yan says laughingly. Only now does Qin Yu beside him understand what he means. He cannot help bursting out laughing.
“You’re wrong, Grandpa Lian. The piece of ore I found is very big and looks like a rod. It is 1 m high and as thick as a human thigh. It’s much bigger than a fist,” says Qin Yu while gesticulating with his hands.
Lian Yan’s eyes immediately pop out of his head. His cheeks even redden.
“A rod … even 1 m high?”
Lian Yan is not Qin Yu. He thinks about many other things. Such a large piece of ore, and even of the high Xian-grade, will probably be enough to make several tens weapons. And they will be the most marvelous weapons of the high Xian-grade, no less!
Several tens weapons, what kind of idea is this?
“Of course it’s true. You needn’t ask.” Qin Yu feels at a loss when Lian Yan keeps asking again and again. However, he does not understand that this is because Lian Yan cannot believe what he said. If a pie was dropped from the sky, anybody would find it very hard to believe temporarily.
“Quick, let me have a look at it.” Lian Yan immediately says to Qin Yu, who nods his agreement at once. He then hurries Lian Yan to that underground secret room.
In the underground secret room, Lian Yan’s eyes glitter as he sees the flaming red crystal.
The flaming red crystal radiates a light red glow. It is very lustrous and clear. And even the grain inside the crystal can be seen. As soon as Lian Yan sees the crystal’s appearance, he knows this piece of ore is a priceless treasure. When compared with it, pearls and agates pale into insignificance.
Lian Yan gives his waist a pull. A purple flexible sword unexpectedly appears. He makes shaking movement with his hand and the purple flexible sword is straightened out perfectly at once. It then turns into a purple shaft of light and slashes at the flaming red crystal.
“As expected.” Lian Yan’s eyes shine with fierceness as he stares directly at the flaming red crystal before him: “Even my Purple Core flexible sword cannot damage it. It’s definitely high Xian-grade.” Lian Yan turns to Qin Yu on one side and says seriously: “Xiao Yu, such a priceless treasure must be taken to the princely mansion at once. If you want any superb weapons, you can ask Mr. Hei, a forging grandmaster, to make them for you. With such a big crystal, after you’ve forged your weapons and suit of armor, there’ll surely be some remnants. I think giving your father the remnants is not a bad idea, don’t you think?”
Hearing Lian Yan’s words, Qin Yu immediately understands everything.
The weapons made from such a priceless piece of ore will definitely be superb weapons. If these weapons are sent to his father, his father will surely be able to unleash their power in war. And Qin Yu never cares about money or treasures. “No problem, I only need a tenth of this flaming red crystal.
I’ll give father the rest.” Qin Yu says with a smile.
Looking at Qin Yu, Lian Yan’s eyes are full of approval: “Xiao Yu, you’re so young but you’re not bewitched by such a priceless treasure. Your mind has really far surpassed ordinary people’s minds.” When a person can stay unconcerned in front of such a priceless treasure, this person’s mind definitely cannot be matched by those of ordinary people. If a martial artist wants to make breakthroughs, their mind must be well- matched to their martial prowess.
Seeing the look in Lian Yan’s eyes, Qin Yu says: “Grandpa Lian, don’t look at me like that or I’ll get embarrassed.” He even looks very shy as he is saying. Seeing this, Lian Yan cannot help laughing out loud.
A person must cultivate their mind. As he has gone through difficult times, Qin Yu is such a person. Every time he breaks through a limit, his mind is trained, and he has been doing limit training since 8 years old, therefore his mind is much tougher than ordinary people’s. Generally, people who are alone are independent and self- reliant. This is because if a person is usually alone they will naturally ponder.
Pondering about life, pondering about their own values, the more they ponder, the more thoroughly they can understand things.
Qin Yu is also like that. As a child, oftentimes he was alone and watched stars by himself. Later, after experiencing some events, his mind has fully matured. Now he totally understands what kind of person he should be — To him, nothing in the world is as thick as blood or as important as family relationships. As far as money and treasures are concerned, if he already has enough to meet his basic needs, what is the use of having more? When 20,000 liang of silver are enough for a person to spend all their life, what is the point of wanting 100,000 liang? Therefore, he is naturally not greedy.
People have dreams. Qin Yu also has a dream. To him, family love comes first and his dream comes second. As for his own life, without family love and dreams, living would be no different from being a zombie.
Qin Yu likes the blood-boiling feeling he has after every time he breaks through a limit. He likes close-quarters combat and the intense emotions the moment life and death are decided. Qin Yu’s dream is to burn his passion of life like a meteor. To him, life must be blood-boiling like this…
“Grandpa Lian, have you arranged for someone to deliver this flaming red crystal to the mansion?” Qin Yu says with a smile.
“Right, I’ll make arrangements immediately.” Lian Yan says hurriedly. In dealing with serious matters, he must not relax his concentration a bit. He goes to make arrangements at once. Qin Yu takes a look at the flaming red crystal and thinks: “I didn’t think this crystal would be so useful to father. This can also be considered a benefit.” Then he turns around and leaves the secret room while smiling.
****** In a separate courtyard in the East Vanquishing Prince mansion, quite a few people have gathered together by this time, including East Vanquishing Prince’s 3 sons, Lian Yan and Manager Ge Min. There are also 3 bare-chested large men and a black-clad middle-aged man. All of them are looking at the
flaming red crystal in the center.
“Is it possible to forge it, Mr. Hei?” Lian Yan asks the black- clad middle-aged man.
The black-clad middle-aged man does not reply. He goes up to the flaming red crystal, opens his eyes wide and carefully examines every place of the crystal. His attention is being concentrated highly. Seeing him acting like that, Qin Yu and the others on the side are all consciously unwilling to disturb this forging grandmaster.
B2C13: Forging Grandmaster (3)
The black-clad middle-aged man examines for a long time, then, with his face full of extreme satisfaction, he turns to Qin Yu and exclaims in admiration: “Originally I thought this kind of priceless treasure could only be seen in the Immense Wilderness, the most dangerous place in the world. But 3rd Prince found this priceless treasure on the ordinary Dong Lan Mountain. This is really unbelievable.”
“I was just lucky,” says Qin Yu with a smile.
The black-clad middle-aged man turns to Lian Yan and says: “Senior Lian, since Mount Dong Lan had such a priceless treasure, you’ve searched again in the surroundings of this crystal, haven’t you?”
“Of course I searched.” Lian Yan shakes his head and says with a sigh: “But this kind of rare natural treasure can only be obtained by people with a predestined affinity with it. Xiao Yu found this treasure accidentally, but the several hundred experts I sent didn’t see a bit of ore even after turning the whole rocky forest over and shattering all the huge rocks.” But Qin Feng says: “This flaming red crystal alone should already be enough for us. It was Xiao Yu’s destiny to find this flaming red crystal. So, when we searched again relentlessly, we shouldn’t be disheartened despite getting nothing.”
“That’s right. I’ve never heard of such a big chunk of first- class ore.” The black-clad middle-aged man stares at the flaming red crystal as if he is a cat looking at a fish.
“Mr. Hei, are you sure you can forge this flaming red crystal?” Qin Yu on one side asks. All the other people immediately stare at this forging grandmaster. Forging is not simple at all. Even when good materials are ready, it still requires a good forging expert.
East Vanquishing Prince actually had to pay a very high price in the past to obtain the services of this Mr. Hei. He has been staying in the princely mansion for over 10 years.
Mr. Hei shakes his head. All the others are stupefied. “I can’t be certain without trying first.” With a grab, Mr. Hei takes off his black gown, revealing the naked top half of his body. He cannot help smiling slightly. It is only because he is extremely excited that he smiles. “It’s been a long time since I was in action with my entire power.”
“Bring me the Blue Flaming Water.” Mr. Hei gives an order.
“Yes!” A bare-chested large man immediately goes back to his room. After a while, he brings out a glass bottle. The bottle is containing a blue liquid. The strangest thing is that there is unexpectedly a light-colored layer of flames on the surface of this blue liquid.
Mr. Hei receives the glass bottle. Suddenly his hands start to redden. A heat flow starts to permeate through the air.
The eyes of the 3 bare-chested large men on one side all glitter.
“Master is finally getting into action. It’s been a very long time since we saw he was this serious.” “Master’s Sky Burning Art has already reached the highest level. How formidable it is in action, I wonder?” The 3 large men are discussing with each other. These men are none other than Mr. Hei’s 3 personal disciples so naturally the East Vanquishing Prince mansion has placed emphasis on training them as well.
Qin Yu, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Lian Yan and Ge Min are all also watching this Mr. Hei.
Mr. Hei removes the glass bottle’s stopper. At the same time, he slightly tilts the bottle in his hand. The Blue Flaming Water immediately drops onto the flaming red crystal at once, causing a series of “ss ss” noises. The Blue Flaming Water is changing violently.
“This flaming red crystal is truly formidable. Even the Blue Flaming Water can’t leave a mark on it.” A disciple of Mr. Hei’s says in amazement. After a while, that Blue Flaming Water has turned into a membrane which completely covers the flaming red crystal.
“Humph!” Mr. Hei utters a cold humph. His eyes suddenly glitter. His 2 hands immediately spew 2 streams of incandescent flames out directly onto the membrane on the surface of the flaming red crystal. That membrane is what the Blue Flaming Water changed into. However, the flaming red crystal unexpectedly remains unaffected.
“Martial brother, even Master’s Sky Burning Flames coupled with the Blue Flaming Water couldn’t leave a mark on it. How is this possible?” A disciple of Mr. Hei’s is shocked.
“Not even high-Xian-grade crystals can remain intact under Master’s Sky Burning Flames. This …” Another disciple also becomes doubtful.
The excitement in Mr. Hei’s eyes heightens. Suddenly his face becomes very red then turns ashen. At the same time the flames on his hands start to shrink. However, the temperature in the courtyard suddenly increases.
“So strong.” Qin Yu is shocked. He can totally feel how terrifying the flames are. In his mind, he has a feeling that … he is definitely no match for Mr. Hei. He even feels that the air in the entire courtyard has started to vibrate because of the high temperature.
Qin Yu’s guess is totally correct. Not only is this Mr. Hei a forging grandmaster, he has also reached the peak of the Xiantian level. He is one of the very best experts among East Vanquishing Prince’s subordinates.
“The special flames produced from Xiantian internal energy are much more formidable than ordinary flames. General Xian- grade ores can only be melted by flames like these.” Qin Yu praises Mr. Hei highly in his mind. But as soon as he takes a look at that flaming red crystal, he is dumbfounded.
Under such conditions, the flaming red crystal is still unimpaired. “Humph!” Mr. Hei’s face suddenly blackens. “Bang!” With a loud bang, Mr. Hei’s entire body sends forth flames, which even burn away all of his clothes, except for his shorts. This pair of shorts is unexpectedly made of black gold threads.
Mr. Hei’s school obviously knew that when he utilized his internal energy to the utmost his whole body would send forth flames, therefore this black gold pair of shorts was passed down to him. Because they were knitted out of black gold threads, they are a real masterpiece. Only after saving for a long time did the elders in Mr. Hei’s school have that much black gold.
“That pair of shorts seems to be made of the same material as my black gold undershirt.” Qin Yu thinks to himself.
At the same time, the flames on Mr. Hei’s hands shrink even more, but they also become increasingly more incandescent. Heat waves start rolling in the entire courtyard one after another. All of the people around cannot help backing away a long distance. “What flames! Even Xiantian experts’ bodies will be burnt up by them without leaving any ashes.” Qin Yu praises highly in his mind. Such flames can even melt Xian-grade ores, not to mention the human body.
Qin Yu and his 2 brothers, Lian Yan … and the 3 disciples as well all stare at the flaming red crystal, hoping that this crystal can melt. If it cannot even be melted, how are they going to forge something out of it? As every second goes by, everybody’s eyes totally focus on the flaming red crystal.
Suddenly —
“Pu!” Mr. Hei spits out a mouthful of blood. The color of his face changes from being black to very white. In an instant, the flames on his whole body disappear as well.
“Master!” A disciple from behind immediately hands clothes to him. After getting dressed, Mr. Hei looks at the flaming red crystal and lets out a deep sigh. Then he turns around, looks at Qin Yu and the other people and says: “Gentlemen, I have no way to deal with this flaming red crystal.” Seeing that Mr. Hei’s face is so pale, everybody knows that this forging grandmaster has tried his best.
“How is this possible? Mr. Hei, didn’t you forge this superb high-Xian-grade weapon for me some years ago? How come you can’t even melt the crystal now?” Qin Feng, grasping the battle knife on his waist, asks Mr. Hei. When Qin Feng reached the Xiantian level, in order to reward him, Qin De had a chunk of a high-Xian-grade ore forged into a superb weapon and gave it to Qin Feng.
Mr. Hei looks at the battle knife, shakes his head and says with a smile: “Idiot, you still don’t get it? This is certainly because this flaming red crystal is already superior to the high Xian-grade.”
Startled, Qin Yu asks doubtfully: “Could it be the highest grade of ores isn’t the high Xian-grade?” In Qin Yu’s mind, weapons are divided into mundane-grade ones and Xian-grade ones. In theory, the high Xian-grade should represent the best quality possible. How can there still be something ranked higher than the high Xian-grade?
“All of you know nothing.” Mr. Hei’s eyes radiate loftiness.
In the forging business, he is definitely a figure at the top of the pyramid.
“That so-called division of weapons into the mundane grade and the Xian grade only applies to us mortals. I’m asking you, what weapons do Shangxian use? Humph, even a high-Xian- grade battle knife, when coming up against a Shangxian’s flying sword, will be pierced through easily like paper.” There is a hint of loftiness on the corners of Mr. Hei’s mouth.
Everybody present is immediately shocked.
That is true. Because Shangxian can hover on the 9th level of the sky and kill an enemy from thousands of li away, what must the grade of their weapons be? Actually, Qin Yu and the others have heard that those flying swords can fly extremely far and kill someone from thousands of li away and, moreover, not even high Xian-grade weapons can withstand them. “Mundane grade and Xian grade are merely terms coined by us mortals. The scope of our understanding is only that big. It’s simply impossible for us to imagine the world of Shangxian. This flaming red crystal, if I guess correctly, should be a material to forge Shangxian weapons.” Staring at the flaming
red crystal, Mr. Hei says very firmly.
Qin Yu looks at the flaming red crystal. It is still intact and emits a light red glow.
“What’s the use of this flaming red crystal? It can’t even be melted, how can it be forged into weapons?” Qin Feng shakes his head and says. Everybody, including Lian Yan and Qin Yu, has a powerless expression on his face. That is right. They cannot even melt it, how can they make weapons out of it?
Qin Yu shakes his head and says with a smile: “Forget it. When even Mr. Hei can’t melt it, there aren’t any people in the world who can melt and forge it.”
“Well, don’t be so disappointed, Third Prince. I have no way to melt it. But there’s still a real forging grandmaster who can melt and forge it,” says Mr. Hei with a smile. Hearing this, everyone looks at him in doubt, including his 3 disciples.
A real forging grandmaster?
“There’s still a forging grandmaster more capable than Mr. Hei?” Qin Zheng says doubtfully. All the people present are looking at Mr. Hei in doubt.
Mr. Hei says with a confident smile: “All of you don’t know about this so I’ll tell you a secret, but don’t spread it. Actually, not only is a Shangxian an invincible expert, at the same time
… he is definitely a forging expert as well.”
“Oh?” All of the people present know that Shangxian are invincible and that their flying swords can kill people very easily. However, they do not know anything about Shangxian’s level in forging.
“All Shangxian can use a kind of flame. That flame is much more formidable than the flame of my internal energy. With that kind of flame, won’t it be very easy to forge a weapon? In fact, you’ll all understand if you think about it. Every Shangxian has at least a flying sword, but where do their flying swords come from? Could they be dropped from the sky, or are they forged?” Mr. Hei says to everyone in a mysterious manner.
Only now does everyone realize what he means.
“Right, I’ll send for Shangxian Fengyuzi at once,” says Lian Yan immediately.
However, Qin Yu looks up and gives a whistle. He then looks at everyone and says: “Xiao Hei has the fastest speed. Xiao Hei and I will go to invite Uncle Feng.” In a moment, a beam of black light shoots down directly from the sky. It is none other than the black eagle. Qin Yu gets on its back like a flash. The black eagle then utters an eagle cry and flies outward directly extremely fast.
B2C14: The Xiuzhen World (1)
The Qian Long continent has a strangely large number of species of wild beasts. Quite a few people have tamed wild birds and beasts. However, these tamed birds and beasts in general are only loyal to their own masters, therefore other people basically cannot ride them and, moreover, it is difficult to domesticate wild beasts on a large scale. Ordinarily, their job is to help deliver messages or invitations as Qin Yu is doing.
When war breaks out, most of those bird owners will become military intelligence personnel or form airborne raiding squadrons. There is a wide variety of ways to fight a battle on the Qian Long continent. The use of various kinds of birds and beasts makes the fighting even more colorful and unpredictable. Moreover, everyone in an army does internal practice. For example, in the army under East Vanquishing Prince’s command, any junior soldier who has joined the army for a year is eligible to practice the lowest consummate technique of the Five Consummate Military Combat Techniques. Every junior soldier in this army is powerful enough to kill 7 or 8 ordinary people. When a soldier has more military merit, he will have a higher status, which will also allow him to practice the higher levels of the Five Consummate Military Combat Techniques. On the Qian Long continent, when war breaks out, urgently recruited soldiers simply cannot compare with regular soldiers. At least in terms of quality, they are so much inferior to regular soldiers. A 200,000 strong regular corps can eliminate a large army of 1,000,000 ordinary people who have been enlisted forcibly.
Sitting on the back of the black eagle, Qin Yu looks down at the ground. In a short while he has already gone out of Yan City.
“In terms of speed, it seems I’ve never heard of any kind of bird which can match the black eagle.” Qin Yu strokes the black eagle’s neck while smiling.
The speed of the black eagle is astonishingly fast. At least according to Qin Yu’s knowledge, there are no birds as fast as the black eagle. After all, eagles are already always extremely fast, and Qin Yu’s black eagle is a special kind of eagle which is even 2 or 3 times faster than ordinary eagles.
The black eagle dives down, heading directly for a thatched cottage. This thatched cottage is exactly where Fengyuzi usually lives. There is a lake in its surroundings. The area around the cottage is very quiet. Since it shows no signs of human habitation, no one will come to disturb him.
At this moment, a Xian crane flies up from the lake nearby on one side of the house. It is none other than Fengyuzi’s transport. Fengyuzi himself is standing outside the thatched cottage. Looking up at Qin Yu, who is descending from the sky, he smiles broadly.
“Uncle Feng,” shouts Qin Yu in excitement after jumping down directly from the back of the black eagle.
“Xiao Yu, why have you come to my place?” Fengyuzi says with a smile. Fengyuzi himself is so much older than even Lian Yan but he and Qin De treat each other like brothers. He is the kind of person who does not regard age as important.
When Qin Yu is about to say, he suddenly notices that Fengyuzi’s eyes are unexpectedly totally focusing on the black eagle. “Uncle Feng, what’s the matter? You know what Xiao Hei is, don’t you?” asks Qin Yu doubtfully. Fengyuzi is staring at the black eagle but the black eagle simply does not give him a look. After a long time, Fengyuzi shakes his head and says: “That’s strange. Judging by the crown of its head, this seems to be a Golden Flame Eagle, the king of eagles. But not only does a Golden Flame Eagle have a flame-like golden crown, its entire body’s feathers are also golden. Moreover, it is covered in blazing flames while this black eagle’s body is pitch-black and its claws also have an ice-cold black color.”
For the present, Fengyuzi still cannot tell what it is.
“Moreover, the Golden Flame Eagle is extremely powerful. Even when it’s just a few years old, using its body-protecting golden flame alone it can already cope with Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists. But obviously this black eagle is equal to a Xiantian-level mortal at best. It’s much weaker than a Golden Flame Eagle,” says Fengyuzi while frowning.
Hearing Fengyuzi’s words, Qin Yu also knows he cannot recognize what kind of bird the black eagle is either. “Uncle Feng, you mentioned Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists or something, who are they? According to your meaning, they seem to be even more formidable than Xiantian experts. Aren’t Shangxian the ones superior to Xiantian experts?” asks Qin Yu doubtfully.
“Ah …” Only now does Fengyuzi shift his attention away from the black eagle. Seeing Qin Yu’s doubtful expression, he shakes his head and says with a smile: “Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists, I, your Uncle Feng, am a Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist.”
“Uncle Feng?” Qin Yu immediately frowns deeply.
In his mind, Xiantian experts are already extremely formidable and Shangxian, who are superior to Xiantian experts, are invincible beings. Now that Qin Yu has heard Fengyuzi say he is only a Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist, he is wondering what Fengyuzi means. What is a Xiuzhenist? And what is the Jindan-stage?
Fengyuzi says with a smile: “Alright, let’s talk about this later. Ah, why have you come to find me? You can’t be here just to see your Uncle Feng, right?” Only now does Qin Yu remember why he has come here. He quickly puts the matter regarding the Jindan stage and Xiuzhenists aside and says: “Uncle Feng, I obtained a flaming red crystal. That crystal is too hard. Even Mr. Hei using his entire power couldn’t leave a mark on it. Mr. Hei said …”
“What?!” Fengyuzi suddenly says in astonishment.
Qin Yu is startled by Fengyuzi’s amazement. In his mind, Fengyuzi is always collected with a smiling expression as if nothing in the world, not even world-shattering events, would be able to shock him. However, unexpectedly the eyes of this Shangxian are popping out of his head in front of Qin Yu.
“Even that brat with the last name Hei in the princely mansion couldn’t leave a mark on it?” Fengyuzi asks again to confirm.
Qin Yu can only nod without understanding Fengyuzi’s meaning. Fengyuzi’s eyes immediately glitter: “That brat Hei’s Sky Burning Art or something has reached the highest level, added to that his school’s unique Blue Flaming Water, then even pretty good ores can be melted easily. But this flaming red crystal didn’t even get scratched. What precious kind of ore is
this flaming red crystal actually?”
“Where is this flaming red crystal?” Fengyuzi stares at Qin Yu and asks.
“In the princely mansion.” Qin Yu immediately replies.
“Good, let’s go now.” Fengyuzi does not call the Xian crane. A flying sword suddenly appears under his feet and expands. He grabs Qin Yu and makes him also stand on the sword. Then, paying no attention to the black eagle, he thus flies directly toward Yan City.
“Uncle Feng, we want you to come to …” Qin Yu hurriedly says. Even though he came to ask Fengyuzi to forge the flaming red crystal, he has not told him about this yet. Fengyuzi says with a smile: “You needn’t say. I know why you came. That precious kind of ore simply isn’t something any of you can forge. Only the Samadhi flame of Xiuzhenists can help forge it.” Qin Yu also understands what Fengyuzi says. However, he is curious about what the Samadhi flame is.
In just a while, Qin Yu’s attention has totally been shifted onto the flying sword. As for the black eagle, he is not worried about it. He knows the black eagle can find him easily. It does not matter where he is, the eagle can always find him. This is perhaps because a special telepathy has been formed between him and the eagle after being together for the last 11 years.
“So this is a flying sword.” Qin Yu stares at the huge flying sword in wonderment.
There are written talismans and markings on the sword. At the same time, the sword sends forth fierce gusts of air successively. In his mind, Qin Yu is certain that, if Fengyuzi wants to kill someone, the fierce sword air of his flying sword alone can put to death Xiantian-level experts. The flying sword is alterable in size, which is extremely marvelous. And it is very fast, even much faster than the black eagle.
In only a short while, the 2 of them have already arrived in the princely mansion. Without waiting for Qin Yu to say anything, Fengyuzi lands directly on that courtyard. Seeing Fengyuzi, all the people in the courtyard including Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Lian Yan and Mr. Hei hurriedly salute: “It is an honor to see you, Shangxian.”
Fengyuzi’s eyes, however, are totally focusing on the flaming red crystal before him and shining very brightly.
“My heaven, it is In-rock Flaming iron.” Fengyuzi remembers that, when he was still practicing in the Overseas Immortal Islands, an elder of his school was so happy after finding a chunk of In-rock Flaming iron in the depths of the ocean. A flying sword was then forged from it and given to a Yuanying- stage senior of his as a reward for meritorious service.
But that In-rock Flaming iron chunk was not like the chunk of In-rock Flaming iron before him. It was only a tenth as large as this one.
“Whose is this?” Fengyuzi immediately asks the people around.
“Xiao Yu accidentally found this on Mount Dong Lan.” Lian Yan immediately replies. Fengyuzi turns to Qin Yu, his heart full of disbelief. He once spent a good few years searching in the Immense Wilderness but could only find ordinary ores.
He has always thought that no place on the Qian Long continent other than the Wilderness has an ore of this caliber.
“Good, I’ll forge this crystal. Xiao Yu, as the owner of this crystal, you are to decide what to do with it. So follow me.” Fengyuzi makes a wave of his hand. A vigorous stream of energy instantly covers the flaming red crystal. The 2000 jin crystal thus flies up.
“Yes!” Even though Qin Yu is doubtful, he still follows Fengyuzi.
In the princely mansion, Fengyuzi has some specialized secret rooms. Without his permission, even East Vaquishing Prince Qin De cannot enter these rooms. At present, Fengyuzi takes Qin Yu into a secret room which is specifically used for forging holy objects.
B2C15: The Xiuzhen World (2)
Holding a teacup in his hand, but Qin De is looking outside through the window.
“Xu Yuan, that Shangguan Hong has already come as well, hasn’t he?” Qin De slowly asks.
Standing in the dark behind Qin De, Xu Yuan says with a nod: “According to intelligence, North Vanquishing Prince Shangguan Hong has already arrived. Since tomorrow is the day of negotiation, given this Shangguan Hong’s foxiness, he definitely can’t arrive on the last day.”
Xu Yuan suddenly says: “Your Highness, there are still 3 years until our great undertaking is started, why do you want to meet Shangguan Hong this urgently?”
Xu Yuan also knows that South Vanquishing Prince’s Mu clan is very loyal and will definitely stand by the Xiang royal clan. East Vanquishing Prince Qin De simply has no hope that he will be able to persuade South Vanquishing Prince to join him. Only a fence-sitter like North Vanquishing Prince can be persuaded. Therefore, he wants to draw the Shangguan clan to his side.
Qin De puts the teacup down. The corners of his mouth slightly curve upward: “Xu Yuan, there’s no other way. Today leader of the Xiang clan’s secret service in the 3 Eastern region counties has been replaced with Zhen Xu.”
“Zhen Xu!” Xu Yuan immediately has a mental picture of an eerie cold pair of eyes.
“Yes, it’s exactly Zhen Xu. In the past I knew very clearly about the level of that leader. He definitely wouldn’t be able to find out the real power of our army. But this Zhen Xu isn’t useless like him. In my estimation, a half year will already be enough for him to discover the real number of troops we have in the 3 Eastern region counties,’ says Qin De with a somewhat solemn expression.
Xu Yuan is also very intelligent so he instantly understands what Qin De means. “Your Highness, then this time isn’t your trump card in negotiation …” In his mind, Xu Yuan cannot help admiring Qin De.
“Yes, it’s just like that.” Qin De’s face only has a smiling expression. “After seeing his reactions following this event I’ll have to decide which side this Shangguan Hong will go to and seek refuge with. Of course, we mustn’t entrust our hope to him regardless.”
Xu Yuan nods and says: “To be able to make Shangguan Hong remain neutral will already be enough.”
“Your Highness, I still have a piece of good news.” Xu Yuan is all smiles as he hands Qin De a letter.
“Oh!” Qin De receives the letter. As soon as he looks at it, his eyes brighten. He then laughs out loud: “Yu’er has been a big help to me. It’s such a big chunk of ore, and it’s even the high Xian-grade. Many superb weapons can be forged out of such a big chunk of ore. This is really good news.” This letter was written by Lian Yan. Lian Yan also wrote for Qin Feng and Qin Zheng, who then returned to the princely mansion. However, Qin De has not returned because of an important matter. He simply does not know that the flaming red crystal is definitely not a high-Xian-grade ore. Rather, it is In-rock Flaming iron, which is even much more precious than high-Xian-grade ores.
“Good, good, when I return I’ll definitely give Yu’er a handsome reward.” Qin De is immediately in high spirits. “Xu Yuan, you go make careful arrangements for tomorrow event once again. There mustn’t be a mistake.”
“Yes, I take my leave!” Xu Yuan folds his hands and says.
Then he leaves the room.
Qin De grasps the letter in his hand. His face has a faint smile of an affectionate father.
…… In Yan City, in Fengyuzi’s specialized secret forging room in East Vanquishing Prince mansion,
The roof of the secret room is a dome and its floor is square, implying the notion that the sky is round and the ground is square. In the center of the room, there is a gold-plated symbol of the Eight Diagrams. Various rays of light are moving between the Eight Diagrams. A billowing current of air is naturally spreading out from the symbol and sweeping through the entire secret room. There are 3 bulrush mats outside the 8 Diagrams. At the moment, Fengyuzi is sitting on the middle mat while Qin Yu is sitting on one side.
“Go!” Fengyuzi points with a hand and the In-rock Flaming iron chunk is sent flying directly into the center of the 8 Diagrams. As it arrives, he withdraws his internal energy. That chunk of In-rock Flaming iron unexpectedly keeps floating above the 8 Diagrams as if being supported by a miraculous power from the gold-plated 8 Diagrams.
Seeing this miraculous scene, Qin Yu is very shocked and becomes even more curious about the world of Shangxian. Flying swords, Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists, the Samadhi flame, and the miraculous 8 Diagrams before him …
Any of those things makes Qin Yu wonder in curiosity what the world of Shangxian actually is.
“Xiao Yu, you found this chunk of In-rock Flaming iron so it’s naturally yours. I wonder if I can take a small piece of it, about the size of a fist,” say Fengyuzi in a somewhat embarrassed manner. As a Shangxian, he is very ashamed to ask his junior for a piece of the treasure.
However, Fengyuzi really thirsts for a piece of In-rock Flaming iron. Even though his flying sword is pretty good, in terms of material, it cannot compare with In-rock Flaming iron. To Xiuzhenists, both medicinal pills and good crystals are the most desirable things.
“Of course you can. Just take as you wish, Uncle Feng.” Qin Yu is no longer a kid. He understands very well that this Fengyuzi is the ultimate expert on his father’s side. Moreover, if Fengyuzi has an even better flying sword, his overall power will increase. In addition, since the chunk of In-rock Flaming iron is so large, Qin Yu does not care about a piece as small as a fist.
“Of course, since I can take a piece of In-rock Flaming iron the size of a fist, I now owe you a great favor. If you have any request, just say it. Uncle Feng will promise you anything,’ says Fengyuzi hurriedly. As a Shangxian no less, he naturally has to return the favor after being given a piece of treasure by another person.
“Any request is possible?” Qin Yu’s eyes brighten.
Fengyuzi nods smilingly: “Yes, any request that I can fulfill is possible.”
“Then please tell me about the world of Shangxian. You’ve mentioned things like Xiuzhenist and Samadhi flame, I’m very curious about them,” says Qin Yu hurriedly.
“Only this request?” Fengyuzi is startled. Qin Yu says smilingly: “Yes, only this request. In fact, what I want the most is that my dantian will become normal so that I can accumulate internal energy and become a Xiantian expert, or even a Shangxian. Uncle Feng can pick one of these 2 requests.” Qin Yu gives a he-he laugh.
Fengyuzi shakes his head with a forced smile.
“I too can do nothing about your dantian. Alright, then I’ll explain the world of Xiuzhenists to you.” Fengyuzi arranges his mind a bit then says: “Actually, the so-called Shangxian on the Qian Long continent are not real immortal beings at all. They are merely Xiuzhenists, that is, people who seek to become immortal beings.”
“Xiuzhenists?” Qin Yu says doubtfully.
Fengyuzi says: “Yes, if a mortal wants to become an immortal, he’ll have to go through countless tribulations. At the completion of the Xiantian level he will encounter the 4-in- 9 Minor Heavenly Tribulation. If he can overcome this minor heavenly tribulation, he will join the ranks of Xiuzhenists and become a Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist. Your Uncle Feng is none other than a Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist.”
“4-in-9 Minor Heavenly Tribulation?” Qin Yu does not understand this name at all.
Fengyuzi says with a smile: “Practicing is an act of rebellion against Heaven so the practitioner of course must endure heavenly tribulations. The 4-in-9 Minor Heavenly Tribulation is even much easier than the succeeding 2 major heavenly tribulations. The extent of Xiuzhenists’ power is divided into the Jindan stage, the Yuanying stage, the Dongxu stage, the Kongming stage, the Dujie stage, and the Dacheng stage. Each stage is divided into 3 phases: early, middle and late. Only by going through countless tribulations and reaching the Dacheng stage will the practitioner be able to ascend to a higher world and finally become an immortal. To be frank, I’ve joined the ranks of Xiuzhenists for only a short time, but on the Qian Long continent I’m already called Shangxian. I’m really deeply ashamed.”
Only now does Qin Yu understand. It turns out these experts who are thought to be Shangxian on the Qian Long continent are merely Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists. They are still a long distance from becoming immortals.
“The path of a Xiuzhenist is beset on all sides by dangers. After going through the 4-in-9 Minor Heavenly Tribulation, his lifespan will increase to over 1000 years. A Yuanying-stage Xiuzhenist can live more than 5000 years. After reaching the late phase of the Yuanying stage, upon his completion of this phase, he will call forth the 6-in-9 Major Heavenly Tribulation. Only by overcoming this 6-in-9 Major Heavenly Tribulation can he enter the Dongxu stage, where his yuanying and his soul can merge together. Only from this point can his yuanying leave his body, which makes him practically immortal.” Fengyuzi’s eyes glitter.
“Pity the 6-in-9 Major Heavenly Tribulation is too terrifying. Moreover, the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation is not something everyone can encounter. To reach the Dongxu stage from the Yuanying stage, the practitioner’s soul must experience the most fundamental transformation. Many experts have reached the late Yuanying stage for several thousand years. Eventually they will only die if they can’t make a breakthrough in their souls and call down the 6-in-9 Major Heavenly Tribulation,” says Fengyuzi with a sigh.
Qin Yu’s mind is in turmoil.
A thousand years?
A Xiuzhenist’s lifespan is counted by the thousand and upon reaching the Dongxu stage he is practically immortal. What kind of world is that?
B2C16: The Xiuzhen World (3)
“Moreover, the 4-in-9 Minor Heavenly Tribulation and the 6- in-9 Major Heavenly Tribulation simply can’t compare with the last one, the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation. The terrifying dangers of the 9-from-9th Tribulation simply aren’t what a little Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist like me can imagine. Dujie-stage experts all have enough power to shake the world, but under the 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation, there may not be even 1 who can definitely survive it in every 10 of them. Failure means that their souls will be destroyed completely and they will never be reincarnated.” Fengyuzi’s eyes are full of fear.
According to his school’s elders’ exaggerations, the 9 From 9th Heaven Tribulation is an absolute disaster.
“Less than 1 out of 10 survives? Complete destruction of the soul?”
Qin Yu is totally shocked. Now he totally understands what kind of being Xiuzhenists are. They are a group of people who go against Heaven. In order to overcome the human limits, they fight Heaven and Hell. They are not afraid of anything.
When tribulations descend from the sky, Xiuzhenists can only risk their lives to endure them. If they succeed, they will continue to advance on the way to the ultimate universal principle. If they fail, their souls will be destroyed completely.
Having totally understood, Qin Yu cannot help sighing: “Jindan stage, Yuanying stage, Dongxu stage, Kongming stage, Dujie stage and Dacheng stage, it seems to be difficult to break through any of them. To enter the Jindan stage, one must endure the Minor Heavenly Tribulation. To enter the Dongxu stage, he must endure the Major Tribulation. When he reaches the Dujie stage, he must endure the 9 From 9th Heaven Tribulation. With the 3 heavenly tribulations blocking the 3 critical points on the road of Xiuzhen, perhaps only very few people can finally become real immortal beings.”
Hearing Qin Yu’s words, Fengyuzi’s indignation seems to be aroused. He says with a cold laugh: “It’s far worse than there being only very few of them. All who want to overcome the 9 From 9th Heaven Tribulation to become immortals are extremely talented but they still have to protect themselves with top-grade holy weapons and use holy pills and so on. But how can ordinary people obtain top-grade holy weapons and a large number of holy pills? When I reached the Jindan stage, my school bestowed a flying sword on me but it was merely a low-grade holy weapon. To someone like me, overcoming the later major heavenly tribulations is no more than a dream without high-grade holy weapons. But I don’t have an advantaged background. In my school I’m only an insignificant disciple, how can I obtain a high-grade holy weapon?”
As soon as Qin Yu hears that he totally understands. He thinks to himself: “Looks like Uncle Feng was not valued while practicing in the Immortal Islands originally.”
“These holy weapons and holy pills, what are they actually, Uncle Feng?” asks Qin Yu.
Fengyuzi takes a deep breath to calm down then says: “Xiao Yu, there’s a similarity between a Xiuzhenist’s power and a martial artist’s internal power to the extent that you can make a comparison between holy weapons and normal weapons. With a good holy weapon, the overall power will increase greatly.”
Qin Yu totally understands this analogy.
It is just like when he fought that mounted bandit leader Wu Tuan at the age of 13. His overall power was obviously inferior to Wu Tuan’s, but thanks to the Yuchang sword, eventually he was able to penetrate Wu Tuan’s body-protecting internal energy and kill him directly. This is the benefit of weapons.
“Xiuzhenists use very many weapons. Most of them are flying swords but there are also some strange weapons. All of them are uniformly called holy weapons. Holy weapons are divided into 4 grades: low grade, middle grade, high grade and top grade. As for holy pills, they are various kinds of medicinal pills with different effects. When undergoing a tribulation, your body’s elemental energy will be drained most seriously, so it’s best to take medicinal pills to replenish it. Similarly, holy pills are divided into 4 grades: low, middle, high and top.” Fengyuzi explains carefully.
Qin Yu absorbs every bit of information about Xiuzhenists’ power stages, the subdivision of the stages and the effects of holy weapons and holy pills while continuously arranging them in his mind. He remembers clearly that there are 3 heavenly tribulations and there are 6 stages from the Jindan stage to the Dacheng stage.
“Elemental energy? Could it be how the energy of a Xiuzhenist’s body is called?” asks Qin Yu.
“Yes, upon forming the jindan, a Xiuzhenist’s internal energy will transform from Xiantian energy into elemental energy,” says Fengyuzi smilingly. Then he says with a sigh: “Xiao Yu, the world of Xiuzhenists isn’t as nice as you think. In the Xiuzhen world, they can kill each other because of natural treasures or because of a piece of a good ore. For example, this chunk of In- rock Flaming iron can even lead to a great battle between many Xiuzhenists. A great battle between Xiuzhenists, especially those experts who have reached the Dongxu stage or the Kongming stage, can turn the ocean over and shake the world. Natural treasures, holy pills, holy weapons and so on can all drive Xiuzhenists crazy,” says Fengyuzi with a smile.
But Qin Yu’s mind is in turmoil.
He is totally imagining how a great battle between Xiuzhenists looks like. When a Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist is already so formidable that he is absolutely invincible on the Qian Long continent, then how terrifying will a great battle between Xiuzhenists of the Yuanying stage, the Dongxu stage, or even the Kongming stage, the Dujie stage and so on, be?
Once a Xiuzhenist gets so furious that he goes on a killing spree, mountains will collapse and the ground will crack, rivers and the ocean will be turned over, and countless mortals will die as well.
Even if a Xiuzhenist’s hands are tied, flying his sword, he can soar to the 9th level of the sky and disappear on the horizon, and mortals simply cannot catch up with him.
To sum up,
Xiuzhenists and mortals are basically on 2 different levels. Regardless of who a Xiuzhenist wants to kill, mortals have absolutely no way to resist.
“Perhaps in the eyes of Xiuzhenists, the people on the entire Qian Long continent are no different from ants. These are 2 different worlds. The world of Xiuzhenists is about pursuing the endless Way of Heaven and striving to overcome tribulations to become immortal whereas mortals kill each other for power,” thinks Qin Yu emotionally to himself.
Qin Yu has totally understood what a Xiuzhenist is. At the same time his mind has been broadened.
The Qian Long continent’s Shangxian? They are no more than some most common Jindan-stage Xiuzhenists from the Overseas Immortal Islands. In the world of Xiuzhenists, the Jindan stage is merely the lowest level, yet these few Jindan- stage Xiuzhenists are called Shangxian and are supreme beings on the Qian Long continent.
An idea suddenly springs to Qin Yu’s mind.
“Uncle Feng, as far as I can see, Xiuzhenists seem fight Heaven and Hell to overcome the human limits. But, to pursue the human limits, is the way of entering the Jindan stage then forming the yuanying as you said the only way? Could there be another way?” says Qin Yu doubtfully. According to his thinking, because Xiuzhen is about pursuing the human limits, there should be various ways.
Uncle Feng thinks for a while then shakes his head and says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, forget about it. I don’t know who the first Xiuzhenist was. Perhaps there were already Xiuzhenists several million years, or even several tens million to 100 million years ago. You mentioned different ways. There are different ways. Humans can choose either Xiuxian or Xiumo while most animals take the Xiuyao way. Xiuxianists and Xiumoists go different ways but they all form the jindan then the yuanying. Animals form the neidan, but I don’t know too well about the Xiuyao way.”
“Is it a must to form the jindan then the yuanying?” Qin Yu whispers.
Could this be a manifestation of the fact that different ways lead to the same ultimate universal principle?
“Ah, right.” Fengyuzi suddenly says. “Xiao Yu, a long, long time ago, of course I hadn’t been born at that time, a great incident happened on the Qian Long continent — the War of Immortals. Perhaps that mysterious man who fought in the War of Immortals didn’t follow a way of practice which forms the jindan and yuanying.”
B2C17: The 3 Diagrams
“War of Immortals?” Qin Yu asks doubtfully.
With his eyes glittering, Fengyuzi says: “Yes, I heard about it from my seniors when I was still practicing in the Overseas Immortal Islands. The participants in that event consisted of several loose immortals and several tens Kongming stage and Dujie stage experts. Their leader was even a Dacheng stage Xiuzhenist…”
“Hold on, what’s a loose immortal?” Qin Yu says hurriedly.
Fengyuzi shakes his head and says with a smile: “I even forgot to talk about loose immortals. While enduring the 9 From 9th Heaven Tribulation, some Xiuzhenists knew they wouldn’t be able to overcome it so they tried their best to save their own yuanyings and souls. Because their physical bodies then got destroyed, they could only keep practicing as loose immortals. You should know that loose immortals are very powerful. Generally they’re a bit more powerful than even Dujie-stage experts.” “Loose immortals are this powerful? A Dacheng-stage Xiuzhenist, who had overcome all the tribulations, several loose immortals, and even several tens Kongming-stage and Dujie-stage experts, why did they gather together?” asks Qin Yu.
“To kill a man. Only to kill a man.” Fengyuzi’s expression becomes solemn.
“To kill a man? So many experts only to kill a man?” Qin Yu cannot imagine that so many people gathered just to kill a man.
Who was this man? Qin Yu even thinks about a real immortal.
Fengyuzi says with a nod: “Yes, according to the Xiuzhen world’s legends, that mysterious man basically wasn’t a yuanying Xiuzhenist. In the end, he went mad and burst forth an incandescent kind of energy, as if he was … the Sun. This energy was world-shattering. It killed all of that many experts at that time including the Dacheng-stage Xiuzhenist!” Saying to here, Fengyuzi even becomes excited.
“Xiao Yu, do you know what happened next? Do you know?” Fengyuzi’s entire body has become excited. He holds Qin Yu’s shoulders with a movement and asks him while staring at him.
Qin Yu hurriedly shakes his head.
He cannot imagine there was such a powerful person, who could kill even a Dacheng-stage expert in addition to several loose immortals.
“Those weak Xiuzhenists who were hiding very far away unexpectedly discovered that … after killing so many people that mysterious man started to undergo a heavenly tribulation. It was the 9 From 9th Heaven Tribulation. My goodness, he killed a Dacheng-stage expert, he killed so many loose immortals and Dujie-stage experts, but that mysterious man hadn’t even gone through the last tribulation!” Fengyuzi’s entire body becomes excited. “He hadn’t gone through the last tribulation, Xiao Yu. Without going through it his power was already at such a great level. If he had overcome the tribulation then …” Qin Yu is also shocked.
Who would have thought that a man who had not experienced the last tribulation would kill a Dacheng-stage expert and even kill so many loose immortals and several tens Kongming-stage and Dujie-stage experts? This is simply unimaginable. If he had been practicing the jindan-yuanying way like the other people, how could the difference between their power levels have been so enormous?
“Countless elders have confirmed one thing: This mysterious man was also a Xiuzhenist, but he definitely wasn’t a Xiumoist, a Xiuxianist or a Xiuyaoist. He was a new kind. The Sun-like incandescent energy he burst forth from his body in the end alone simply isn’t something Dujie-stage experts are capable of. Even if Dacheng-stage experts faced such a great power, they would also get killed.” Fengyuzi seems to be imagining the War of Immortals that year.
Qin Yu is also imagining it.
After a long time, Fengyuzi slowly calms down. He looks at Qin Yu and says smilingly: “Xiao Yu, the story about this War of Immortals has always been circulating. The people in the Overseas Immortal Islands all seem to know about it. Even many people on the Qian Long continent also know about this event.”
“Oh, many people on the Qian Long continent know about this?” Qin Yu is slightly startled. If it had not been for Xiuzhenists’ narration, how could people on the Qian Long continent have known about it?
Fengyuzi nods and continues: “Don’t worry. At that time many Overseas Immortal Islands’ elders were watching from afar and saw with their own eyes how this mysterious expert underwent his tribulation.”
“Did he overcome it?” Qin Yu somehow is somewhat worried about this mysterious man.
Fengyuzi shakes his head and says: “He failed. When the 9 From 9th Heaven Tribulation came down, the mysterious man’s entire body turned into a sun. Unlike the other Xiuzhenists, who use holy weapons and so on to resist heavenly tribulations, he always used his own body’s power to resist the tribulation directly. After fighting several tens Xiuzhenists in a great battle, this mysterious man basically had to endure the heavenly tribulation without being able to take a break. When the 9th thunderbolt struck down, the mysterious man couldn’t persevere anymore. His body was shattered and his power suffered a huge loss.”
“But he didn’t die immediately. He gathered the last bits of energy and gave his final talk to the entire Qian Long continent’s population including the Xiuzhenists around –“ Fengyuzi seems to be enwrapped in his memories.
Qin Yu does not dare to disturb Fengyuzi’s recollection but he is curious about it.
“I’ve been roaming the boundless space and experiencing the cosmos’s evolution. I’ve been drifting around for some thousand years and visited countless celestial bodies. How come today my soul is falling apart? Heaven doesn’t help me. Stellar transformations! How can the Sun be the final destination? How?! How?! Everyone on this continent listen, today I’ll leave behind the 3 Trans-Heaven diagrams. Anyone who can obtain them and figure out their secret will inherit my technique. Ha-ha …… O blessing, O disaster ……” With an indistinct voice, Fengyuzi recites every sentence.
Qin Yu continuously ponders about the meaning of these few sentences. What is the boundless space? What is the cosmos? What are celestial bodies? And what are stellar transformations? He cannot understand their meanings but he understands the meaning of the mysterious man’s last sentence. Obviously those 3 Trans-Heaven diagrams contain the mysterious man’s entire technique.
However, what is the meaning of the “O blessing, O disaster” exclamation afterwards? Could it be obtaining this technique is also a disaster?
“Before the mysterious man died, using a great amount of energy, he created 3 diagrams. They were none other than the 3 Trans-Heaven diagrams. The 3 Trans-Heaven diagrams were scattered on the Qian Long continent. As countless years went by, even people from the Overseas Immortal Islands were able to collect the 3 diagrams. For so many years, so many people have also been able to bring the 3 diagrams together. But no one has ever been able to discover the secret of these 3 diagrams and obtain the mysterious man’s legacy,” says Fengyuzi with a sigh.
It is not difficult for Xiuzhenists to gather the 3 diagrams but no one has been able to figure out the 3 Trans-Heaven diagrams’ secret.
“Your ancestor Qin Shi Huang once gathered all the 3 diagrams as well but he couldn’t find out their secret either. If he had been able to figure out the secret, perhaps he wouldn’t have died,” says Fengyuzi with a smile.
Qin Yu, however, is having a sudden impulse. That is a yearning from the bottom of his heart, a yearning for the world of Xiuzhenists.
“Xiuzhenists can fly their swords to the 9th level of the sky, or dive into the boundless deep ocean, or explore the Immense Wilderness, or fight the Wilderness’s demonic beasts. Ordinarily, they absorb the world’s holy energy. To pursue the human limits, they fight Heaven and Hell. Disregarding live and death, they fight experts of the same level. This kind of life is really enjoyable,” thinks Qin Yu and sighs emotionally. Having heard about the world of Xiuzhenists, he yearns for it badly from the bottom of his heart.
Qin Yu heaves a sigh.
After withdrawing his mind from this description of the Xiuzhen world, he understands he is merely a mortal. Worse still, he has not reached the Xiantian level. Even among the Qian Long continent’s 10 billion mortals, he cannot be considered a figure on the top of the pyramid either.
He needs to be realistic because those 3 Trans-Heaven diagrams or something are very vague. At the moment Qin Yu’s greatest pivots are — the Meteoric Tear and his own effort. Relying on the fantastic Meteoric Tear and his own effort, he must reach an unprecedented level in external practice, the Xiantian level.
“Xiao Yu, what holy weapon do you want? I’ll forge it for you.” Fengyuzi looks at Qin Yu and asks. The things regarding the Xiuzhen world are just like an indistinct legend to Qin Yu. At the moment he is still very, very far from that world. He is only a son of the Chu kingdom’s East Vanquishing Prince on the Qian Long continent and a common expert who does external practice, the most painful path in
martial arts, and has not even reached the Xiantian level.
“Holy weapon?” Qin Yu is startled.
“Weapons forged out of In-rock Flaming iron are certainly holy weapons. But you don’t have elemental energy so you can only make use of a holy weapon’s physical sharpness without being able to alter its size or use some special strikes.” Fengyuzi shakes his head and says. “But a holy weapon can fuse with the body. Moreover, its sharpness is far superior to that of you mortals’ weapons. Having a holy weapon you won’t have any problems protecting yourself. I think you’d best forge a suit of armor as well.”
Qin Yu says with a smile: “That’s not necessary. Please help me forge a short sword based on the Yuchang sword’s measurements. Also, please forge a pair of gloves to protect the knuckles for me. And just forget about the other things. I want to leave my father a bit more.” “Only these?” Fengyuzi asks in disbelief.
A short sword and a pair of gloves use very little In-rock Flaming iron whereas, after all, this chunk of In-rock Flaming iron belongs to Qin Yu.
“They’re already enough. I practice external techniques. If I depend too much on external objects, it won’t be good for my training. Uncle Feng, I won’t bother you anymore. I’m leaving first.” Qin Yu immediately bows then turns around and leaves.
Fengyuzi follows Qin Yu’s back with his eyes. Only now does his mind become clear. He immediately says: “It’ll take quite some time to forge these weapons, about 35 days.” After Qin Yu has left, Fengyuzi lets out a sigh: “Perhaps this brat wants to forge only a few things just to give his father a bit more of this In-rock Flaming iron chunk.”
After exiting the secret room, Qin Yu looks skyward. It is dark at the moment. Cold gusts of wind are blowing. “I’ve never helped father in anything since childhood. This can also be counted as the first time I’ve helped him.” Qin Yu’s face has a faint smile. It then disappears suddenly. “Well, there are still 35 days. During this period of time I’ll still have to train hard and, moreover, with an extremely heavy training
load. I want to see if I can reach the Xiantian level through external practice or not.”
With that thought in his mind, Qin Yu immediately gives a long whistle. In a short while, a black eagle dives down. Qin Yu gets on its back in a jump. They then leave the princely mansion and Yan City directly.
B2C18: Stratagems (1)
The Chu kingdom is the number 1 kingdom on the Qian Long continent. At the moment, the clan heads of Qin clan and the Shangguan clan among the 4 big clans are in a secluded small courtyard.
Qin De is sitting at a stone table with a calm expression on his face. Xu Yuan standing by his side is also waiting calmly.
“Ha-ha … Brother Qin De. Long time no see.” A white-haired old man walks to him in strides. This old man is unexpectedly wearing a pair of gold earrings. His eyes are very cold and sinister. However, at this moment they are full of enthusiasm.
Qin De stands up, points to one side and says smilingly: “Brother Shangguan, please sit down.”
Shangguan Hong, the Chu kingdom’s North Vanquishing Prince, controls the 2 Northern region counties. At the moment, there are 4 people in the courtyard including Qin De and Xu Yuan. The other 2 people are Shangguan Hong and his subordinate Zhuang Jun. However, outside the courtyard, a large number of experts are secretly guarding it.
“Brother Qin De, why do you look for an old man like me this time?” Only after slightly fixing his silver hair does Shangguan Hong sit down. Obviously he cares a lot about his own hair. His subordinate Zhuang Jun stands behind him.
Qin De says smilingly: “I’m not going to beat around the bush. Please help me. We’ll seize the Chu kingdom together.”
Shangguan Hong is startled. He did not think that Qin De would be so straightforward even though he has already guessed why Qin De secretly meets him this time. Shangguan Hong then bursts out laughing: “Brother Qin De, you shouldn’t joke like this. This can cause you to lose your head. I can act as if I’ve never heard about this matter.”
Qin De slowly shakes his head and says: “I ask you, you’ll do it or not?” Shangguan Hong, however, does not reply. Only after pondering for a long time does he raise his head and ask: “Even if we join forces, how much certainty will you have?”
“80 percent!” says Qin De indifferently.
But Shangguan Hong says laughingly: “Brother Qin De, don’t fool me. That Mu clan has 600,000 troops. The 4 Western region counties have even more than that, 800,000 troops. They amount to 1,400,000 troops. My 2 Northern region counties only have 400,000 troops altogether and yours have no more than 600,000. So how can you be 80 percent certain?”
“I want to destroy the Xiang clan so I can only show 600,000 troops,” says Qin De with a smile.
Shangguan Hong’s eyes glitter: “Oh? It seems brother Qin De also has quite a lot of troops in secret. But the Xiang clan and the Mu clan have 1,400,000 troops together. How many troops do you have in secret that you dare to say you’re 80 certain? Moreover, when your troops secretly increased, how could this have escaped the detection of the Xiang clan’s intelligence service?” Shangguan Hong is obviously very unconvinced.
“I still have 200,000 troops in secret.” Qin De says with a smile. “This brings the total amount to 800,000 troops. My Fierce Tiger Corps is only 50,000 strong but in terms of real offensive power it is equal to 200,000 to 300,000 troops.”
Shangguan Hong’s eyes brighten.
He certainly knows how formidable the Fierce Tiger Corps is. He calculates in his mind at once then says with a smile: “If we only talk about quality then your 3 Eastern region counties’ army is the best. If you really have 200,000 troops in secret then we’ll still have some hope. But according to what I know, 200,000 troops must be used to threaten the bandits in the Black Water mountain range. Otherwise, those bandits will wreak havoc on the 3 Eastern region counties and plunge your den into chaos.”
Qin De says in a totally unconcerned manner: “You needn’t worry about this. They’re merely bandits. It’s hard to exterminate them because the Black Water mountain range is so vast, but the thing is … the Black Water mountain range’s bandits are no more than bandits. We only need to negotiate with them and give them some benefits, they will quiet down.” Qin De’s eyes suddenly brighten: “So, my entire army can attack. You must know that my 3 Eastern region counties are next to the Wilderness and my army often trains here. Compared to the attack of the Wilderness’s demonic beasts, the army of the 4 Western region counties, which hasn’t fought a real battle for several decades to 100 years, means absolutely nothing.”
Qin De is very confident.
Shangguan Hong nods his confirmation.
Indeed, among the armies of the 4 big clans, the 3 Eastern region counties’ army is definitely the strongest in terms of fighting power. The reason for this is that the 3 Eastern region counties’ army is based in the Immense Wilderness and often fights the Wilderness’s ferocious beasts so its troops have really experienced bloodshed.
In contrast, the armies of the Xiang clan, the Mu clan and the Shangguan clan have never seen real action for several decades to 100 years.
Shangguan Hong keeps thinking nonstop. After a while he raises his head and says: “Then how am I going to benefit from this? How can you assure me that you won’t destroy me after destroying the Xiang clan?”
Qin De smiles slightly: “Very simple, among the 4 Western region counties, the 2 counties next to the ocean in the North will go to you. Together with your 2 original counties, you’ll have 4 counties in total. None of these 4 counties is separate from the rest and, moreover, the ocean is behind them. You’ll have these 4 counties and have the ocean at your back, so you don’t have to worry that I’ll go back on my word. What do you think?”
“The 4 counties next to the ocean?” Shangguan Hong’s eyes glitter. Obviously his interest has been aroused.
These 4 counties are linked together. If they all go to him, even if Qin De later wants to eliminate him, it will be a difficult thing to do. After all, when having the natural barrier which is the ocean at his back and holding the 4 counties in his hands,
at least defending himself will not be a problem. Moreover, after the war, the Qin clan will probably not have enough power left to deal with him next either.
“Then if the Han dynasty takes advantage of this and attack, what can we do?” Shangguan Hong continues to ask.
Qin De stands up and says with a wave of a hand: “You don’t have to be worry about this. The Han dynasty will definitely have no chance to interfere. As for the Ming dynasty, I believe that weak kind of dynasty which has only got attacked and has never dared to attack won’t ask for much.”
Shangguan Hong considers.
After a long time, he nods: “I promise you my support. But my 2 Northern region counties’ troops definitely won’t be the vanguard.”
“Good, that settles it.” Qin De and Shangguan Hong slap each other’s hands to pledge allegiance.
“Ha-ha …” Qin De and Shangguan Hong look at one another and burst out laughing. However, nobody knows what these 2 men are actually thinking. Must a pledge made by slapping hands definitely be fulfilled? On the Qian Long continent, no one believes in making a pledge by slapping hands.
……
The next day, in a manor, Shangguan Hong is sitting at an escritoire and writing fast. Zhuang Jun is standing respectfully on one side.
After a while, Shangguan Hong finishes writing. He reads everything carefully once and cannot help feeling satisfied.
“Humph, that idiot Qin De actually wants to rebel. He even wants to pull me into the water. Won’t it be very good for me if I keep contentedly being North Vanquishing Prince? 4 counties are also very attractive, though. What a pity.” Looking at the sheet of paper on the escritoire, Shangguan Hong cannot help bursting out laughing.
Zhuang Jin on one side says: “Your Highness, this Qin clan’s offer is not bad. Moreover, it’s sincere. Are you really not giving them a chance?”
Shangguan Hong turns his head and looks at Zhuang Jun. He then burst out laughing: “Zhuang Jun, we can’t lose. Do you understand? Therefore we must put money on both sides. It doesn’t matter if the Qin clan wins or the Xiang clan wins, we’ll always benefit.”
Zhuang Jun still does not understand.
Shangguan Hong gives a smile. Zhuang Jun is his most loyal subordinate and is also the number 2 man in the 2 Northern region counties. He has saved Shangguan Hong’s life twice so Shangguan Hong naturally values him to the utmost.
“Zhuang Jun, I feel certain about this matter. You needn’t worry. You can leave now.” Shangguan Hong says with an indifferent smile.
“I take my leave.” Zhuang Jun immediately leaves the room.
Shangguan Hong’s face suddenly turns cold: “Deliver this letter to the Emperor.” A black silhouette suddenly flashes by and the letter on Shangguan Hong’s escritoire has already disappeared.
Shangguan Hong narrows his eyes and looks outside through the window. He thinks to himself: “Qin De, you simply can’t imagine the relationship between my Shangguan clan and the Xiang clan. You can only blame your bad luck. Even if I don’t help either side, how can your clan contend against the Xiang clan and the Mu clan? After the 3 Eastern region counties are exterminated, maybe I’ll gain some benefits.”
Shangguan Hong’s thinking is so optimistic but will the Qin clan entrust its hope to him?
B2C19: Stratagems (2)
In the study of the imperial palace in the capital,
“Ha-ha …” Grasping 2 letters in his hand, Xiang Guang cannot help laughing out loud.
“Zhen Xu really doesn’t disappoint me. 200,000 more troops in secret, with so many troops, their expenses alone amount to a huge number. If Qin De didn’t have it in mind to rebel, why would he play with so many more troops? Could it be he dislikes having a lot of money?” Xiang Guang laughs coldly.
Zhen Xu has been in charge of the intelligence service in the
3 Eastern region counties for only a half year but he has discovered the truths behind many things.
“Your Majesty, by now that Qin De has secretly recruited 200,000 more troops but the Black Water bandits have been keeping him at bay. He won’t dare to mobilize his entire army. Otherwise, the Black Water bandits will plunge his den into chaos. So, basically we don’t have to be worried about anything,” says the hook-nosed man from a dark corner behind him.
Xiang Guang puts the letter in his hand down and says: “What do you know? Even though the Black Water bandits’ leadership has been rendered ineffectual by unruly subordinates, they are after all merely bandits. He only needs to give them some benefits and they won’t cause any trouble. That Qin De can still declare war on the Xiang clan with 800,000 troops.”
“Your Majesty is brilliant.” The hook-nosed man bows and says.
“Zhen Xu has found out the evidence that in the 3 Eastern region counties army provisions, materials and so on have all been prepared to a certain extent. Add to that 200,000 more troops have been enlisted and, moreover, they have been enlisted for over 5 years and have become crack troops, everything shows clearly that Qin De really wants to rebel!” Xiang Guang’s eyes immediately radiate cold rays of light.
The hook-nosed man does not dare to make a sound.
“Very well, this is rebellion.” Xiang Guang unexpectedly has a hint of satisfaction on his face. “Remember, immediately send someone to negotiate with the Black Water bandits, offering them gold, jewels, or treasures and so on and telling them to plunge Qin De’s den into chaos when war breaks out!”
The hook-nosed man thinks for a while and says: “What if those bandits are too greedy?”
“Idiot!” Xiang Guang suddenly turns around and stares at the hook-nosed man. “No matter the price, you must make them agree. You can even promise to give them a county after the war.”
“Offer a county?” The hook-nosed man is startled. Then he also understands. “Your subordinate already understands. Even if we give it to them, they won’t have the luck to enjoy it.” Having been following Xiang Guang for so many years, he knows very well about Xiang Guang’s character. Xiang Guang nods in satisfaction: “You’re clever. After Qin De has been removed, they’ll be no more than a gang of insignificant Black Water bandits. I only need to give an order and they’ll be wiped out, only that I can make use of them at the moment.”
“Your Majesty is brilliant. Now I already know what to do.” The hook-nosed man responds.
Xiang Guang reads the other letter and says: “Uncle Shangguan’s letter has also confirmed everything Zhen Xu has found out.”
The hook-nosed man moves his eyes in a circle then suddenly says: “There is an alternative, Your Majesty. To catch the rebels we had best catch the leader first. We can secretly send someone to assassinate Qin De. In this way, they will be a group without a leader, so if we send our army out next, we can surely destroy the Qin clan easily.”
“Stupid!” Xiang Guang says with a cold laugh. The hook-nosed man’s body immediately trembles.
“If we sent an assassin now, needless to say we wouldn’t even sure he would succeed, even if he succeeded, the Qin clan could change its head immediately. According to what I know, among his 3 sons, except for the 3rd son, who isn’t up to much, the other 2 sons both are really outstanding. Moreover, when the assassination happened, the Qin clan would go mad and attack. Its 800,000 strong army is really no joke,” says Xiang Guang with a cold laugh.
“Moreover, if we assassinated him, the Qin clan would definitely suspect that Shangguan Hong has sold them down the river so we would lose more than we gain. Do you understand?” Xiang Guang stares at the hook-nosed man and says.
“I have been an imbecile!” The hook-nosed man hurriedly says.
A hint of complacency appears on Xiang Guang’s face: “We won’t assassinate him. We’ll let the Qin clan rebel and let the Shangguan clan help them. After the Qin clan has totally put their guard down, the Shangguan clan will suddenly switch sides at a crucial moment during the war and stab the Qin clan hard in the back. Humph, let’s see if that Qin clan will still be able to avoid destruction!”
The hook-nosed man’s eyes brighten at once. He says hurriedly: “Your Majesty is brilliant. If we give them a stab in the back at a crucial moment during the war then attack with our armored cavalry we will be able to destroy the Qin clan easily.”
Xiang Guang is very satisfied with his own stratagem. He nods and says indifferently: “All right, you should go do your work now. Try every means to pull in the Black Water mountain range’s bandits. Gold, jewels, beautiful women, treasures and so on, anything can be used. You must make them agree to wreak havoc on the Qin clan’s den during the war. As for the Qin clan and the Shangguan clan, we’ll just pretend we know nothing.”
“I understand. I take my leave.” The hook-nosed man bows and says. Then his body disappears like a flash. After a while, the hook-nosed man appears in a manor.
“You have returned, darling.” A beautiful married woman walks to him.
“Daddy,” a lovely boy also runs to him. The hook-nosed man lifts his son up in a hug. He also hugs his wife and says: “Honey, let’s go back to our room. It’s cold out here.” Every servant in the manor is very respectful to him.
After entering the room, the beautiful married woman quietly asks: “Hasn’t the Emperor asked you to do something, darling? When can you decline to do what you’re told? It’s always like this and I always feel anxious.”
The hook-nosed man tenderly embraces the beautiful married woman to his bosom and says: “Don’t worry, honey. How can’t I know that this work is dangerous? But I know too much about the Emperor’s secrets so I absolutely can’t refuse to do what I’m told. Don’t worry. Given that Xiang Guang has so little wisdom, I’m still certain I can deal with him.” The hook-nosed man suddenly frowns and ponders: “Judging by Xiang Guang’s character, when he knew that Qin De would rebel for real, he would’ve sent someone to assassinate Qin De early. How come this time he unexpectedly calmed down and even pretends not to know anything to let the Shangguan clan eventually switch sides?”
As the chief of Xiang Guang’s secret service, how can the hook-nosed man really be such an idiot?
Everything he did in the imperial study was just an act. If he wants to be trusted by Xiang Guang, he has to let Xiang Guang detect his weaknesses. However, how can he really let the Emperor detect his own weaknesses? Therefore, it is best to deliberately pretend that he has some weaknesses.
The hook-nosed man’s guess is correct. There is actually still someone behind Xiang Guang. If Xiang Guang was really this intelligent, he would not have done that idiotic thing in the past.
…… In the previous courtyard, Qin De is looking into the sky with his hands folded behind his back.
“Given Xiang Guang’s character, perhaps he’ll try to kill me directly.” Qin De gives a smile. In his mind, Xiang Guang is absolutely not worthy of attention. Even though Xiang Guang is not a fool, in terms of strategy, he is still very far from being considered an expert.
Xu Yuan on one side says: “Your Highness, even if that Xiang Guang sends an assassin, we still can’t tell if the Shangguan clan is unreliable. Because that Zhen Xu can find out some information, Xiang Guang can also conclude from what Zhen Xu finds out that we want to rebel and sends someone to assassinate Your Highness.”
Indeed.
Even if there is an assassination attempt, it will still be impossible to say that the Shangguan clan has betrayed them. “Do we need to know for sure if the Shangguan clan will betray us?” Qin De says with a smile.
Xu Yuan also bursts out laughing.
Yes, do they have to know clearly about that?
The goal of this negotiation is not to pull in the Shangguan clan but to create some diversions. It only needs to produce the effects desired by the Qin clan.
Xu Yuan nods and says: “Indeed, we came to this negotiation only to cause some diversions. It doesn’t matter if the Shangguan clan will betray us or not because this clan’s ending has been decided. We aren’t going to give the Shangguan clan any chance to stab us in the back during the war.”
It does not matter what happens, the Qin clan does not tolerate mistakes. It is not going to take a chance on the Shangguan clan. “In my estimation, Xiang Guang will offer the Black Water bandits some materials and so on,’ says Qin De with a laugh.
Xu Yuan also laughs.
“There is a secret letter from the princely mansion, Your Highness.” A man runs into the courtyard and hands over a secret letter. Xu Yuan immediately receives it then passes it to Qin De.
“What’s happened in the mansion again?” Qin De opens the secret letter and glances at it. His eyes immediately brighten: “Ha-ha, Heaven has helped me. This time Yu’er has done me a great service. I’ve always been worried by the Xiang clan’s 2 Shangxian. Now, having such a priceless treasure, I’m assured. Ha-ha, this is really wonderful.”
At this moment, Qin De’s excitement is simply indescribable.
“Has something very exulting happened?” Xu Yuan on one side is very curious. Qin De immediately gives him the letter to read. As soon as Xu Yuan reads it, he is very happy. He says at once: “Congratulations Your Highness. Congratulations Your Highness.”
Qin De laughs out loud and says: “This time Yu’er has done me such a great service. When I return I’ll definitely reward him very nicely. Well, Xu Yuan, quickly dispatch people. We’re returning to the princely mansion at once.”
“Yes!” Xu Yuan immediately bows and says. Qin De cannot help laughing. He never thought that his 3rd son would give him such a great pleasant surprise. At first he thought it was only a chunk of a high Xian-grade ore but now it turns out to be a treasure which can be forged into holy weapons.
Holy weapons, no less!
Xu Yuan on one side totally understands how important this chunk of In-rock Flaming iron is to Qin De. In terms of importance, it is even equal to 200,000 troops, so how can Qin De not get excited like crazy?
B2C20: Completion Of The Holy Weapons (1)
The East Vanquishing Prince mansion is full of carved railings, marble steps, pavilions, terraces and towers. It is really imposing and magnificent. Every one of its guards is glancing around its surroundings while leading along a Fierce Tiger. One can deduce from this how strictly the mansion is guarded. It is late at night right now. A man and an eagle are sitting on the top of a pavilion. Even though the guards know about this, they pretend not to see anything.
“I’ve been training hard for 3 days, but my body’s power has increased just a little.” Qin Yu groans in his mind.
He has been training hard alone since Fengyuzi started to forge the weapons. He knew Fengyuzi would need 35 days to forge them therefore he trained hard outside and did not return until 3 days ago. For the last 3 days, Qin Yu has been at his utmost limit, training desperately. Despite having the recovery power of the Meteoric Tear, his body still has not made much progress. He knows very well that he has truly reached the peak of his Houtian level.
“Xiao Hei, in internal practice, one can consult various methods left by his seniors when advancing to the Xiantian level from the Houtian level. But I practice external techniques, what method should I use to make a breakthrough? I can’t consult any seniors’ methods.” Qin Yu talks to Xiao Hei beside him. Even though he asks Xiao Hei, is it any different from asking himself?
Xiao Hei pats Qin Yu with its huge wings while staring at him. Qin Yu also feels Xiao Hei consoling him. He smiles because Xiao Hei seems to also know that his sprits have sunk to the bottom.
Suddenly, Qin Yu is startled.
“Consult, ah, that’s right.” His eyes suddenly brighten. He gives his own head a fierce slap and says: “Qin Yu, you’re such a fool. You can’t consult any external seniors, but you can still learn from internal practitioners and how they break through to the Xiantian level in internal practice.” Some sentences Lian Yan once said to Qin Yu immediately echo in his mind — “To become a Houtian expert, one only needs a suitable practice method. But to become a Xiantian expert, it is extremely difficult. There are 2 requirements that must be met to become a Xiantian expert: First, you must complete your Houtian level. And second, you must have some intuitive enlightenment on the Natural Way of Heaven.”
Qin Yu talks to himself in a low voice: “Complete the Houtian level; my current level in external practice can also be regarded as the complete Houtian. As for the intuitive enlightenment on the Way of Heaven … this is really mysterious.”
Qin Yu does not know how to have intuitive enlightenment on the Way of Heaven. It is simply unable to be explained in words. If it could be imparted, Xiantian experts would not be so rare, so precious on the whole Qian Long continent. Qin Yu continuously ponders.
“Intuitive enlightenment on the Way of Heaven, intuitive enlightenment on nature, alright, I’ll try feeling what nature actually is.” Suddenly, Qin Yu closes his eyes. His entire body and mind enter a state of vague blankness just like when he was trying to feel his internal energy in the past, only that he does not absorb the world’s holy energy this time. In this state of blankness, Qin Yu starts to feel the natural airflow.
Quiet ……
As every second goes by, Qin Yu remains motionless. His body is motionless and his mind is motionless …..
He does not hear, does not smell, does not see ……
Qin Yu does not notice that, slowly, as he seems to become completely nonexistent, various streams of holy energy deliberately converge at his body. To be exact, they converge at the Meteoric Tear. Qin Yu thus has become the center of a maelstrom. He has a wonderful feeling, as if he is soaking in the hot spring. He can even feel the holy energy streams in his surroundings. That feeling of closeness is so captivating. While Qin Yu, with his mind cleared of all thoughts, is immersing himself in that wonderful, warm feeling —
The Meteoric Tear sends out a warm stream of energy.
This energy stream is different from the clear energy streams in the past. It is a warm stream of energy. Like a warm stream of water, it slowly enters Qin Yu’s mind. In the depths of his mind, there is a mass of energy which looks like a disc. Moreover, various electric sparks are zigzagging around that disc. It is none other than the most basic component of the human body — the soul!
As a person trains, his soul becomes stronger and stronger. Qin Yu has been doing limit training since he was little so his soul is much stronger than ordinary people’s.
In a short while, this flowing-water-like stream of energy has already arrived at the depths of his mind. As soon as his soul comes into contact with this stream of energy, it seems to get excited and continuously gobbles up this energy. In just a short while, that disc has become even deeper in color and also more materialized.
Originally the disc was merely rather indistinct but now it radiates clear seven-colored rays of light and is also somewhat real. The electric sparks around the 7-colored disc have become more powerful as well.
“2nd brother, that lowlife Xiang Guang has made Zhen Xu the head of the intelligence service in the 3 Eastern region counties. This has made it a bit hard for us to act. That Zhen Xu also has a gang of specialized subordinates. They are very formidable in investigation. Worst of all, our activities will get bigger with time, so it will be really difficult to escape their detection in the future!”
“Big brother, don’t worry. When father went out this time, he must’ve had a solution to this problem. However, this Zhen Xu fellow is really quite difficult to deal with. He just sticks to us like a plaster.”
…… Qin Yu suddenly wakes up with a start.
The moment he opens his eyes, the holy energy in the surroundings goes back to normal and Qin Yu can no longer feel it clearly. At the same time the Meteoric Tear reverts to its usual form and that warm energy disappears. But Qin Yu’s body has undergone a huge transformation.
Good ears and keen eyes, this is an expression which describes a person who can hear clearly and see very far.
But the current Qin Yu can even hear clearly what his big brother and 2nd brother are saying quietly from several tens meters away and the sounds of an earthworm’s movements from afar. Moreover, his eyes can even see clearly every movement of the earthworm. So, can the ‘good ears and keen eyes’ expression still be used to talk about him?
“Big brother, 2nd brother, they …” For the moment, Qin Yu still does not notice this. His mind is full of his big brother’s and 2nd brother’s words.
Qin Yu knows that his father’s plan is to destroy the Xiang clan to seize the kingdom of the Chu dynasty. But now, it seems the chief of the Xiang clan’s intelligence service in the 3 Eastern region counties is a difficult person to deal with.
For a moment, Qin Yu thinks about many things. He considers what his big brother and 2nd brother have said. His father’s departure, the relationships between the 4 regions and that intelligence chief, his mind has made a complete and clear list of all of these matters.
“I.” Qin Yu is immediately astonished because in just a moment ago he unexpectedly thought about many things. “Since when has my mind become so quick?”
He finally discovers that he himself has undergone a huge transformation. As he looks around, he is dumbstruck.
“What happened just now? How come I’ve transformed so much?” Only now does he notice his astonishing transformation. After a long time, he finally calms down. He lowers his head and looks at the Meteoric Tear mark on his chest. He then shakes his head and jumps down from the top of the pavilion.
His whole body flashes through the air, creating 2 afterimages. He has already landed on the ground.
“I can feel wind several times more clearly than in the past as well.” Qin Yu feels that his body-maneuvering skill has become even more perfect. “Moreover, my body’s flexibility and toughness and so on are much better than they were.”
It is impossible for other people to know, but Qin Yu himself knows how natural his movements were and how relaxed his body was when he finished just now. The whole thing was like a walk in the park. He can feel that a fundamental transformation has occurred in his body.
“Could it be I have touched the door between the peak of the Houtian level and the Xiantian level?” Qin Yu thinks to himself. But he has no way to confirm it because he still cannot feel Xiantian energy being generated in his body.
Suddenly his eyes turn to a courtyard far away. There is a secret room under that courtyard, which is none other than Fengyuzi’s secret forging room. Just now, Qin Yu unexpectedly heard the sound of that secret room’s door opening.
“Have the holy weapons been completed?” Qin Yu immediately goes to that courtyard.
B2C21: Completion Of The Holy Weapons (2)
No sooner does Qin Yu enter the courtyard than Fengyuzi comes out of the secret room. Because he immediately sees Qin Yu, he cannot help feeling stupefied. He then says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, what a coincidence. I just finished forging and you immediately appeared.”
As soon as Qin Yu hears that, he becomes excited.
Holy weapons, no less! These are the weapons which only Shangxian possess. When Qin Yu is getting excited, Qin Feng and Qin Zheng quickly come out of the room on the side. Seeing Fengyuzi, the 2 of them immediately say with their faces full of excitement: “Uncle Feng, have Xiao Yu’s weapons been completed?”
“Completed, completed, Xiao Yu, these are the gloves to protect the knuckles and the Yuchang-sword-like short sword that you want.” Fengyuzi extends his hand and a pair of gloves and a short sword immediately fly toward Qin Yu. The gloves are dark red and even have light-colored flames on their surface. The short sword is also dark red but the flames are condensed inside completely. Its surface absorbs and emits sword air just like a normal flying sword.
“Thank you Uncle Feng.” Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Qin Yu receives the gloves and short sword.
Fengyuzi says with a sigh: “Xiao Yu, Uncle Feng’s power is limited and the level of my Samadhi flame is insufficient, so, even with such a precious chunk of In-rock Flaming iron, I can only forge middle-grade holy weapons from it. If a Dongxu- stage expert came here to forge, he’d surely be able to make high-grade holy weapons. Also, holy weapons are different from mortals’ weapons. Just drop your blood on them and you’ll be able to suck them into your body. They will appear on your hands entirely as you wish.”
In-rock Flaming iron is indeed a precious forging crystal. Fengyuzi is merely at the middle phase of the Jindan stage so his Samadhi flame is still at the weakest level. Therefore, naturally, he cannot bring forth the efficacy of In-rock Flaming iron completely, and can only forge middle-grade holy weapons.
“That’s enough. Middle-grade holy weapons are already enough for me.” Qin Yu knows what middle-grade holy weapons mean in the Xiuzhen world. Even Fengyuzi’s flying sword in the past was merely a low-grade holy weapon.
What makes Qin Yu excited the most is that after establishing his ownership of them by blood he can suck them into his body as he wishes.
“Xiao Yu, why don’t you forge a suit of armor?” Qin Zheng says while slightly frowning.
Qin Feng also says: “That chunk of In-rock Flaming iron is so large, even if you forge a suit of armor, perhaps 3 tenths of it will be enough. With the suit of armor, most of your body’s vital points will be protected. Why did you forge a short sword? And why a pair of gloves which only protects your knuckles, and not that kind of glove which covers the whole fist? Together these 2 things will only take a little more In-rock Flaming iron.” To Qin Feng and Qin Zheng, the most important thing in the world is this 3rd brother of theirs. Their mother passed away early and, moreover, Qin Yu cannot practice internal techniques so the 2 brothers naturally care a lot about Qin Yu.
“Xiao Yu wants to use a bit less In-rock Flaming iron so that he can leave his father a bit more of it.” Fengyuzi on one side says. Qin Feng’s and Qin Zhen’s bodies tremble. They are immediately speechless and can only look at Qin Yu. Their eyes have slightly reddened.
Qin Yu says with a smile: “Big brother, 2nd brother, there’s no problem. Both of you also know that I practice external techniques. If I’m protected by armor, my progress in practice will naturally slow down. So, it’s better not to wear armor. Moreover, having a pair of gloves and a short sword is already enough.”
This is fooling himself and others.
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng both are outstanding people so naturally they are not fooled by such simple reasons given by Qin Yu because it is a holy-class suit of armor they are talking about. If he does not want to be protected by it, it would be sucked into his body. And if he encountered unavoidable dangers, he could protect his body with it.
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng both can see through Qin Yu’s mind.
“Xiao Yu, you found this chunk of ore so it’s yours. It doesn’t matter how many holy weapons you want to forge, no one will say anything about that. Not even father will say anything.” Qin Zheng says while staring at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu shakes his head with a smile but he says nothing.
“Holy weapons are really outstanding.” Qin Yu laughs out loud and changes the subject of the conversation. By now he has already dropped some blood on the gloves and the short sword respectively. In just an instant, as soon as he thinks about them, the gloves and the short sword completely disappear in his hand.
For the present, Qin Feng and Qin Zheng also shift their attention onto the holy weapons.
“They’re really formidable. In a fight, if your hand which is empty at first suddenly has a weapon out of thin air, you can definitely take the opponent by surprise and kill him.” Qin Feng’s eyes brighten. He has figured out the benefits of holy weapons at once.
Qin Yu can feel clearly that the gloves and the short sword are in the immense space of his dantian.
The dantian is only a small component of the human body but it works according to the ‘a grain of sand, a world’ principle. Just like the reflections of the Sun and the Moon in a lake, the gloves and the short sword are only some points in a corner of the dantian.
Qin Yu suddenly clenches his fists and the gloves immediately appear on his fists. These dark red gloves are protecting his knuckles.
The optimum offensive parts of a fist are the knuckles. With the protection of these middle-grade holy gloves, Qin Yu can meet some superb weapons head on using his fists without worrying about hand injuries. What makes Qin Yu feel most comfortable is that the gloves are like skin and do not hinder the flexibility of the knuckles in the slightest.
Hu!
A shaft of black light flashes by but Qin Yu’s hand is still empty as before. Just a moment ago, a black short sword suddenly appeared on his hand then disappeared.
“They were forged from In-rock Flaming iron so these gloves will be called Flaming Gloves and this short sword will be called Flaming Sword,” says Qin Yu smilingly. At the moment, his heart is filled with excitement. To a martial artist, obtaining his favorite weapons is definitely a very happy occasion.
Fengyuzi says with a smile: “Xiao Yu, I carved some restrictive spells on that short sword so its radiance disappeared completely, giving it a dark color. Alright, I’m returning to the secret room to continue forging.” This time Fengyuzi returns to the secret room to forge a flying sword of his own.
Having obtained In-rock Flaming iron, his original low-grade holy flying sword can already be abandoned.
“Xiao Yu,” Qin Feng and Qin Zheng look at Qin Yu.
“Big brother, 2nd brother …” Qin Yu cannot help giving a forced smile as he sees his big brother’s and 2nd brother’s expressions. He immediately says: “Xiao Hei, let’s return.” A black eagle dives down from the sky at once. Slightly pushing his feet, Qin Yu jumps on its back. They then leave the princely mansion as if fleeing from a calamity.
Qin Feng and Qin Zheng give each other a look, feeling powerless.
“We’ve been caring too little about Xiao Yu.” Qin Feng lets out a deep sigh. Qin Zheng says nothing either. As big brother and 2nd brother, together with their father Qin De, they have always been busy with their own matters and have not had time to care for this 3rd brother.
Were Qin Yu finding In-rock Flaming iron this time not such an important matter, perhaps Qin Feng and Qin Zheng would still be busy doing their own things right now.
……
3 days later,
With his face full of gladness, Fengyuzi comes out of the room. He has finally finished forging his own flying sword. This sword is a middle-grade holy weapon. Even though there is only a one-grade difference between the middle grade and the low grade, their power levels are several times different. With this middle-grade holy weapon, Fengyuzi can even give late-Jindan-stage experts a good fight, of course, provided that those late-Jindan-stage experts use low-grade holy weapons.
“Brother Feng, congratulations, congratulations.” Qin De folds his hands and says to Fengyuzi. He returned to the princely mansion last night.
That dark-red flying sword hovers around the top of Fengyuzi’s head then fuses with his body directly.
“Ha-ha, Your Highness, I must thank Xiao Yu for this. Only by having In-rock Flaming iron could I forge this treasure.” Fengyuzi is obviously very excited.
Qin De also nods.
Fengyuzi continues: “Your Highness, you’ve been worried by the 2 Shangxian on the Xiang clan’s side, haven’t you? One of these 2 fellows is at the middle Jindan-stage and the other is at the late Jindan-stage. With this In-rock Flaming iron weapon, I can handle that lowlife Wu De. As for that middle-Jindan-stage Wu Xing, letting several Xiantian level experts attack him together using middle-grade holy weapons will be just as effective,” says Fengyuzi smilingly.
Whether an expert is at the Jindan-stage or at the Yuanying stage, if his physical body is destroyed, his soul, whose existence is dependent on this body, will automatically break apart. Only when he has reached the Dongxu stage, at which his soul can merge with his yuanying, can he live practically forever.
However, without their physical bodies, even Dongxu-stage experts, Kongming-stage experts and Dujie-stage experts can only keep practicing as loose immortals. Therefore, physical bodies are very important to Xiuzhenists.
Fengyuzi’s meaning is that they can send some Xiantian experts to attack middle-Jindan-stage Wu Xing together using middle-grade holy weapons to destroy his physical body. If those experts succeed, Qin De’s great undertaking will be successful as well. A Xiuzhenist’s body-protecting elemental energy cannot be breached with normal weapons but with middle-grade holy weapons they can defeat it.
The chunk of In-rock Flaming iron Qin Yu found is as important as 200,000 troops.
“Xiao Yu has done a really great service this time. I’ve always been worried by the enemy’s 2 Shangxian but now I’m somewhat assured,” praises Qin De highly. Then he responds: “Xiao Yu, why hasn’t he come out?”
When Qin De just returned, he sent people to find Qin Yu.
“Xiao Yu rode his black eagle back to Misty Villa once. After that no one knows where he went. That black eagle can fly very high and very fast so it’s simply impossible to trace Xiao Yu,” replies Lian Yan on one side immediately.
Qin De nods: “This time I must reward Xiao Yu very nicely.” Qin De suddenly turns to Fengyuzi and says: “Brother Feng, how much of the In-rock Flaming iron is left? Have we still got half of it?”
“Xiao Yu and I together used no more than a fifth of it.” Fengyuzi makes a movement with a hand. A stream of elemental energy flies directly towards the secret room at once. Then, with a sound of its door opening, the chunk of In-rock Flaming iron flies out. One can deduce from this scene how magnificent a Xiuzhenist’s abilities are. The chunk of In-rock Flaming iron looks a bit shorter but in the other aspects it basically has not changed.
“What did Xiao Yu choose to forge? How did he use so little ore?” Qin De asks doubtfully.
In Qin De’s opinion, this chunk of In-rock Flaming iron was found by Xiao Yu so it will be pretty good even if he uses a half and leaves his father the other half. However, Qin Yu used so little ore, which baffles Qin De.
“Xiao Yu only wanted a short sword and a pair of knuckle- protecting gloves. He didn’t even want a suit of armor,” Qin Fen says with a sigh.
“He just wanted to leave father some more of the In-rock Flaming iron.” Qin Zheng sighs and says. “But Xiao Yu even said he wanted to train his body so being protected by a suit of armor would make it hard for him to improve.”
All of the people present are extraordinary people so they naturally know a middle-grade holy suit of armor can be sucked into the body. Moreover … among the most powerful experts of external practice, has there ever been anyone whose body’s defense can match that of a middle-grade holy suit of armor?
At the peak of external practice, the body’s defense is still not as good as a middle-grade holy suit of armor, then why did Qin Yu act like that? This question simply does not need answering.
Everything he did was only for the sake of his father Qin De.
A wave of mixed emotion surges uncontrollably in Qin De’s heart. This chunk of In-rock Flaming iron is such a priceless treasure but his son did not care about it and only used a little ore, leaving most of it to him.
“Xiao Yu,” Qin De is also speechless for the moment. He remembers when he told Qin Yu his secrets in that secret room, Qin Yu strongly asked for his permission to join the army so that he could also fight but was not allowed to do so by him. Qin De can remember clearly how lonely his son’s back looked when he was leaving that room.
This son of his has always been training hard since childhood. In fact, he has suffered a lot more than his big brother and 2nd brother have.
“I hate Heaven for being so unfair. Even if Yu’er trains harder and reaches the peak of external practice, he still can’t become a Xiantian expert. According to Zhao Yunxing’s estimation, Xiao Yu’s current external power is only around the Houtian level’s middle phase.” Qin De groans in his mind.
Other people can estimate the power level of an internal expert based on his internal energy. But even Xiuzhenists cannot guess how much power an external expert has in his muscles. After all, it is really difficult to estimate how strong or weak the muscles’ power is. It can only be estimated based on how many jin the expert can lift with one arm.
In Qin De’s mind, his 3rd son Qin Yu is only a child who works hard in external practice but eventually will not succeed. “Find Yu’er and tell him to come to see me. As for what to forge from this chunk of In-rock Flaming iron, let’s discuss again in the evening.” As Qin De finishes saying, he turns around and leaves immediately. At the moment, his mind is a bit confused …
B2C22: Gold-Card Mission (1)
It is late at night. Qin Yu is sitting with legs crossed on the back of the black eagle, which is flying through the clouds.
Cold winds are whizzing and hitting Qin Yu in the face like sharp blades but he remains motionless. His whole body is being surrounded by thick holy energy streams which are astonishingly real and look like smoke. The world’s holy energy continuously permeates into Qin Yu’s entire body.
Using the method of the Ancestral Dragon Art, he transforms the holy energy in his body into internal energy then lets it permeate through his entire body. Every fiber in his entire body, and even every cell of his body, is transforming nonstop. His body is undergoing changes which other people cannot know.
This kind of change has started since he absorbed that warm stream from the Meteoric Tear on the top of a pavilion in the East Vanquishing Prince mansion that day… Suddenly, Qin Yu opens his eyes, shooting out 2 fierce rays of light which are extremely shocking.
“What a wonderful feeling.” Qin Yu’s eyes glitter. This is a kind of feeling he has never experienced before. As an external practitioner, he has always been pursuing this feeling. However, by now he has already found it. “My entire body has achieved unity. Flexibility, toughness, strength, sensitivity and so on, everything … everything has been united into one. Now everything is in the palm of my hand!”
Control, Qin Yu is having a feeling of control.
Even if his body is trained better, his strength is greater, and his bones are tougher, it will be pointless if he cannot make good use of them. Therefore, Qin Yu has continuously been training his flexibility and toughness so that he can control his every movement more easily. However, after experiencing that indescribable transformation, the current Qin Yu’s flexibility and toughness have reached a level which Qin Yu himself considers perfect. Everything in his body is just like one thing. When he throws a punch, his body’s entire power can be concentrated in a point. His control of the body has reached a new level.
“Xiao Hei, go down.” Qin Yu suddenly burst out laughing. The black eagle immediately dives down. Gradually, Qin Yu sees a huge city below. He once bought a house in this city under a false identity.
All of a sudden, the muscles and bones in Qin Yu’s entire body start moving slowly. His face’s muscles, however, only move a bit. In a short while, he has changed from a manly, sunny, 1.8 m high young man into a 1.75 m high cold man.
The Appearance and Bone Changing art!
“Xiao Hei, you can go play alone, but don’t expose my identity, ha-ha ~~” Qin Yu gives a laugh then jumps down from several hundred meters high in the air.
He would not have been able to jump down from such a height in the past. However, now he is very confident of himself.
He closes his eyes, enjoying the winds of his extremely fast fall.
Suddenly, with a swaying movement, Qin Yu’s body starts drifting in the air like a falling leaf. His terrifying falling speed unexpectedly decreases in an instant. Qin Yu’s body then makes another swaying movement and he unexpectedly accelerates again. Moving extremely fast and slowly alternately, Qin Yu, however, is coming down without causing any wind sounds.
Qin Yu, whose eyes have always been closed, suddenly opens his eyes.
Whizz!
Like a sharp arrow, he shoots down toward the ground directly in a completely straight line, causing a sharp whistle through the air. At this moment, he is simply not using his body-maneuvering skill. The moment Qin Yu lands, he props a hand on the ground skillfully and easily like a wild cat.
By simply discharging the kinetic energy into the ground through the muscles of his legs and hand, the pressure of the dive on his entire body is unexpectedly removed completely.
“Indeed, I can control every muscle in my entire body finely.” Qin Yu looks at his palm. A happy expression appears on his face. If Zhao Yunxing were here, he would have totally understood how formidable this move by Qin Yu was. This is also Zhao Yunxing’s idea about the peak of external practice but it is a pity that he has never been able to reach this level for several decades.
By simply using the muscles of the legs and a hand, Qin Yu could even neutralize the impact force of such a dive. This shows that his control of the muscles has reached an extremely high level.
“The feeling at the Xiantian level is really different.” Qin Yu gives a faint smile. Suddenly, he slightly frowns because he hears clearly a bandit running toward him very fast from several hundred meters away. Not wanting to meet this person, his body immediately disappears like a flash on the street in the middle of the night.
The Xiantian level,
After leaving the princely mansion a few days ago, Qin Yu guessed that his sudden transformation could mean he was on the threshold of the Xiantian level but he had no way to confirm it. Afterwards, he remembered that Xiantian experts are capable of one thing — Xiantian Fetus Respiration.
Qin Yu immediately jumped down to the bottom of a lake and held his breath. However, he did not know that in fact he had barely reached the threshold of the Xiantian level. He held his breath until his entire face was very red. Eventually, he could only rely on his willpower to persevere. He then even felt dizzy at the bottom of the lake … to the extent that he lost his sense of direction. When his mind was in a state of extreme confusion and obliviousness, his entire body finally shook once. Every single pore in his body seemed to open wide and started to absorb the world’s holy energy. Qin Yu had finally transcended that limit. Qin Yu does not know at all that, even though his soul was very strong thanks to his external limit training, only after his mind inexplicably entered a state of vague blankness in the mansion, causing the fantastic Meteoric Tear to send out a stream of a mysterious warm energy and allowing his soul to absorb that energy stream, did he start to undergo very fast transformations.
Qin Yu’s soul was very strong, even stronger than ordinary Xiantian experts’ souls therefore, in theory, had things gone on like this, he would have been able to enter the Xiantian level after some time. But Qin Yu was so impatient that he forced himself to that extent at the bottom of the lake. Luckily for him, he succeeded in the end.
Thus, Qin Yu became the first Xiantian external expert in the history of the Qian Long continent.
How powerful is a Xiantian external expert? No one on the Qian Long continent knows the answer to this question, not even Qin Yu’s father Qin De. At the moment, because of Zhao Yunxing’s estimation, Qin De even thinks that Qin Yu is merely a common external practitioner who can lift about 300 jin at most with one arm.
Not even Xiuzhenists can estimate how strong the muscle power of an external expert, especially Qin Yu, is. His muscles have been absorbing internal energy and the Meteoric Tear’s miraculous clear streams so their power is concentrated inside completely. Judging by his appearance alone, one can only say
that Qin Yu looks powerful like a leopard.
Qin Yu stops outside a grand residence. At the moment, he is wearing a silvery mask.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ……
After he knocks several times, a person opens the entrance in a short while. Seeing Qin Yu’s silvery mask, they instantly stand aside to let him come in. This grand residence is none other than a relatively important branch of the no. 1 assassination organization — the Heavenly Net.
“So powerful, there are 5 Xiantian experts and many Houtian experts as well.” As soon as Qin Yu comes in, he senses that there are some experts in the grand residence.
When his soul absorbed that mysterious stream of energy in the princely mansion, Qin Yu’s perception became much stronger than before. Now, no one can escape his sense within a radius of several hundred meters, except when that person has a better sense than his.
Qin Yu does not know that this marvelous kind of perception is none other than the ‘holy sense,’ which can only be seen in Xiuzhenists.
The Heavenly Net has made several important large branches of its known to the public, one of which is this place. However, for over 1000 years, no one has ever been able to find out the location of the Heavenly Net’s headquarters. At the moment, because there are already 5 Xiantian experts in this important branch alone, Qin Yu can imagine how powerful the Heavenly Net actually is.
When Qin Yu is still shocked by the true strength of the Heavenly Net, he has already entered a specialized small courtyard where assassins receive their missions. There is a stunning woman in the center of the courtyard.
“Silver card assassin, this is the list of missions. You can choose one you like,” says the stunning woman in a very cold and clear voice while putting a list of missions before Qin Yu, who immediately opens the list of missions.
A silver card assassin can receive any gold card mission. If he succeeds, he will become a gold card assassin. Of course silver card assassins generally do not risk their lives doing so because gold card missions are all claimed by the Heavenly Net to be achievable only to Xiantian experts.
Today, Qin Yu turns directly to the ‘Gold Card Missions’ section.
There are not many gold card missions, only 13. Among them, only 5 are Chu-kingdom-based missions. And there is only one of these whose location is in the 3 Eastern region counties —
“Zhen Xu!” Qin Yu raises his eyebrows. He immediately remembers the discussion that day between his big brother and 2nd brother, which he overheard without doubt. This Zhen Xu is obviously the intelligence chief of the Xiang royal clan in the 3 Eastern region counties. However, there is very little information in this mission’s introduction to
Zhen Xu.
After reading the data on Zhen Xu, Qin Yu slightly frowns. This mission is really very difficult. In principle, as someone who just reached the Xiantian level, he should perform a simple mission first, but after thinking for a while, he says coldly: “The 12th gold card mission.”
As soon as the stunning woman hears that, her eyes brighten. She then says smilingly: “Please wait a minute. I’m sorry. The information about Zhen Xu’s movements isn’t at my place.” Almost as she finishes saying, an old man appears. He gives Qin Yu a look then puts a letter before him.
“This is the information about Zhen Xu’s movements in the last few days. Tut-tut … challenge a gold card mission. Too bad this mission is very difficult. A gold card assassin even died while carrying it out. Do you want to give up?” says that old man while staring at Qin Yu.
Qin Yu takes the letter and gives the old man a cold look. He then turns around and leaves immediately.
The beautiful woman takes out a black book whose front cover has 2 words — Liu Xing!
“On the 8th of the 11th month, at 2.10 am, assassin Liu Xing received a gold card mission — to kill Zhen Xu!” A beautiful line of a small regular handwriting appears on a new page.
B2C23: Gold-Card Mission (2)
In a gloomy room of an old house, there is a candle on a desk. The candle, with its dusky light, is shining on one side of the face of a man who is sitting at the desk. Under the flicker of the candlelight, that man’s face is only a vague shape.
The only exception is that pair of eyes — a pair of eyes which radiate so much eeriness and grimness that they are both pronounced and frightening. At the moment, this pair of eyes is staring at the top of the desk where a hand is writing nonstop with a pen.
After a while, the pen is put down.
Suddenly, the candle’s flame brightens, lightening the face of this man clearly — it is a handsome and pale face. At first sight, even though this man is already in his forties or fifties, there is an air of a sickly beauty about him. However, when coupled with that pair of eyes, the entire bearing of this man changes.
This man is none other than Zhen Xu, the absolute genius of the Xiang royal clan’s intelligence service. Even the head of the intelligence service will tremble upon seeing him. He is also the one person Xiang Guang appreciates the most.
Zhen Xu takes out from his bosom a square block of jade, which radiates gentle rays of light. There seems to be some marks on this square block of jade. Zhen Xu examines the marks carefully then slightly shakes his head and says: “Trans- Heaven diagrams. This is the first Trans-Heaven diagram. Pity after a half year of research I haven’t achieved anything. I better give it to the Emperor. Perhaps I’ve been delaying for so long that he can’t wait anymore.”
Zhen Xu gets an iron case from the side of the desk. At the same time he puts the secret letter and the square jade black in it. Then he closes the lid of the iron case and locks it up using a key.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ……
Suddenly Zhen Xu continuously pokes the iron case several times. The case gives a series of clacking sounds then the key hole disappears. This case uses the same security mechanism as the iron case the Qin clan used to keep the secret books. Someone who does not know the method of opening simply cannot get anything from it.
However, at this moment outside the room, a silvery-masked man is standing in the center of this old house’s courtyard.
Qin Yu’s eyes are closed.
“Trans-Heaven diagrams.” Qin Yu’s interest is aroused. His marvelous perception allows him to sense clearly everything happening in the room which is several tens meters away from him, including the several places Zhen Xu poked at on the iron case. Qin Yu commits them to his mind completely.
Thanks to the benefit of the Meteoric Tear, Qin Yu’s soul is now as strong as a Xiuzhenist’s. His strong soul has given him a marvelous perception, which is also a Xiuzhenist’s ‘holy sense.’ As the soul becomes stronger, the range of the holy sense will also become longer.
Qin Yu does not make any wind sounds when walking and he is holding his breath so, for the moment, Zhen Xu in the house actually does not know that he is outside.
“Little brother, take this iron case into the palace at once. You must be quick and this key must be hidden carefully. There’s a Trans-Heaven diagram in the case so you mustn’t be careless,” says Zhen Xu suddenly.
A man who has been staying in a dark corner walks out. This man will make other people feel as if he is a juvenile. However, Zhen Xu knows this juvenile-looking man is already over 40 years old because he has been following him for more than 20 years.
Zhen Xu’s 2 subordinate generals — Nalan Feng and Nalan Dan.
The Nalan brother and sister are very weird. Despite being in their 40s, they still look like juveniles. According to the Nalans’s guess, this has something to do with their eating a kind of holy fruit during their adolescence. The Nalan brother and sister only listen to Zhen Xu’s orders and do not even care about Emperor Xiang Guang in the slightest.
“Don’t worry, big brother. I’ll attach this key to my key chain.” Nalan Feng takes out a key chain and strings the iron case’s key on it. He also suddenly takes another key out from the key chain and puts it in his chest as if it is very important.
“Little brother, you’re still the same,” says Zhen Xu smilingly.
Nalan Feng raises his eyebrows and says: “Big brother, precautions avert perils, right? Even if someone killed me, he would surely think the key in my chest is the right one and wouldn’t think that the real key is on my key chain. Moreover
… I’ll even let a subordinate of mine carry this key chain.”
“Feng, you’re always thinking that you’re so clever.” A cold and clear voice rises. A grim girl also comes out from a dark corner of the room. She sticks her tongue out and gives her palm a lick. In the palm, there is …
“A heart!” Outside the room, Qin Yu’s body suddenly trembles once. A hint of solemnity flashes in his eyes uncontrollably. Through his holy sense, Qin Yu knows clearly what that young girl is holding in her palm.
It is a very small heart and cannot be the heart of an adult.
Nalan Feng slightly frowns and says: “Dan, can’t you change your habit? When you eat a child’s heart, don’t eat it in front of us, okay? I’ve been telling you so for so many years but it has all come to nothing.”
“You know it is useless then why bother saying it? Moreover, you’ve been saying it for so many years. You seem to have never stopped for the last 22 years. Feng, you’re really ridiculous,” says Nalan Dan coldly.
“Pal, why have you come to my place in the middle of the night?” Zhen Xu says coldly all of a sudden. His loud and clear voice resounds through the entire house. However, the strange thing is that every servant in the house is still sleeping like a log and no one wakes up. Qin Yu gives a faint smile. Just now because his holy sense discovered that there was a child’s heart in the palm of the young girl, he was shocked and his breathing was disrupted. Zhen Xu, therefore, immediately detected him.
“Why? I’m a Heavenly Net assassin. You think why I’ve come here?” says Qin Yu coldly. Since he started to undertake assassination missions, he has never assassinated anyone sneakily. He has always killed his targets fair and square. This time is no exception even though Qin Yu has discovered that Nalan Feng and Nalan Dan are also Xiantian experts.
Bang!
The room’s door suddenly opens. A black silhouette shoots up into the sky then lands on the center of the courtyard. It is a black-clad juvenile. At the same time, another black silhouette shoots up into the sky then lands beside the black-clad juvenile. It is none other than a black-clad young girl.
Afterwards, a while-clad, pale-faced, handsome middle-aged man slowly walks out. At first sight, his entire body seems to be very weak, but when combined with that cold grim pair of eyes he looks like a frightening lone wolf.
“Silver card assassin?” Zhen Xu slightly frowns while looking at Qin Yu.
“To be exact, it’s silver card assassin Liu Xing,” says Qin Yu coldly. He has never been afraid of telling his opponents his assassin name. After all, they will all die at his hands soon, so he should let them know who will kill them, should he not?
“Liu Xing?” The corners of Zhen Xu’s mouth slightly curve upward into a smile. “You dare come to kill me and just now you even stayed in the courtyard for so long without being detected so you should be a Xiantian expert, right? But that’s strange. Who would’ve thought I wouldn’t be able to see through you?” says Zhen Xu in a slightly amazed manner.
Qin Yu casts a glance at the Nalan brother and sister then looks at Zhen Xu and says: “I’m also amazed. It’s already unbelievable that a Xiantian expert took up a lowly post like the intelligence head of the 3 Eastern region counties. But he even has 2 Xiantian experts as subordinates. There are no more than 100 Xiantian experts in the entire Chu kingdom, but you even have 3 here.”
“You talk too much.” Nalan Dan suddenly says. “Assassins shouldn’t talk too much.”
“Assassins shouldn’t kill people fair and square either, right, Miss Baby-heart-eater?” Qin Yu says laughingly. “Ah, right, you must actually be older than a miss. Perhaps I should call you auntie.”
Nalan Dan’s face immediately changes color. What she loathes the most is that other people mention her real age.
Qin Yu takes a look at that room whose door is wide open. He knows there is an iron case on the desk in that room which contains a Trans-Heaven diagram. Of course, in order to obtain that Trans-Heaven diagram, he must kill all of the 3 people before him. Worse still, they are all Xiantian experts.
Nalan Dan casts a look at Zhen Xu, who slightly nods.
“Assassin Liu Xing, right? Too bad, the life of a meteor is always very short.” Nalan Dan laughs coldly then, with a movement of her body, she seems to turn into a gust of cold wind and sweeps across Qin Yu’s surroundings completely. For the present, there are unexpectedly several afterimages in his surroundings.
This is the 1st time Qin Yu has had a death match against a Xiantian expert but there are even 2 other hostile Xiantian experts watching on one side.
B2C24: Liu Xing Rises
Nalan Dan is using her body-maneuvering skill, which is what she most excels in, to move around Qin Yu very fast. She wants to make it impossible for Qin Yu to tell where her body actually is. But Qin Yu is still standing stock still. Because he is wearing a silvery mask, other people simply cannot see that he is giving a faint cold smile.
Competing in speed?
As a result of Qin Yu’s body training, speed has always been his strongest point. When he was 13, he could only lift 100 jin with one arm but his speed was already superior to that of an ordinary Houtian expert. The current Qin Yu just became a Xiantian expert at one stroke and his entire body’s muscles and cells have been undergoing transformations since. When he was still at the peak of the Houtian level, he could already lift 1500 jin with one arm. Now, his one-armed strength must not be lower than 2000 jin, then what level has his speed reached?
Moreover, in terms of control, muscles are naturally easier to control than Xiantian energy. And in terms of endurance, muscle power is much more durable than Xiantian energy as well.
“I detest being called auntie the most.” Nalan Dan’s ice-cold voice comes into Qin Yu’s ears. Using her beautiful hands, with which she rips babies’ hearts out, she creates countless illusions, which together look like a full-blown lotus, and attacks Qin Yu.
“How great is the strength of the 1st Xiantian external expert since antiquity?” Qin Yu thinks to himself. He then smiles as he looks at the countless attacking illusions. “I’m testing it on you now.” He immediately throws a punch with his entire power.
Straight line!
“Whizz ~~~” An extremely sharp whistle rises. Qin Yu’s right fist comes at Nalan Dan directly with a mountainous force.
As Nalan Feng and Zhen Xu hear that terrifyingly sharp whistle, their faces change color. When Nalan Dan is still unprepared, the fist has already come close to her face. The wind of the punch hurts her face like needles. Having no time to think much, she suddenly withdraws the full-blown-lotus- like illusion into her hands and starts to madly channel the
Xiantian energy in her body to the midpoint between her hands. But she basically cannot concentrate more Xiantian energy at the midpoint because the fist has already arrived!
Bang!
It hits the midpoint between Nalan Dan’s palms fiercely like a smash of a great iron hammer. Nalan Dan’s body swiftly retreats but her expression has become very ugly.
Qin Yu has over 2000 jin of strength in one arm and yet he executed this one punch with all his might. Strength in fact has never been Nalan Dan’s strong point and, moreover, she is only at the early phase of the Xiantian level so this punch has hurt her arms to the point where they tingle. All of a sudden Nalan Dan does not dare to continue her attack.
“This bloke is a freak. He’s too strong,” says Nalan Dan in a frightened voice.
Zhen Xu says with a faint smile: “With so much strength, he must be a Xiantian expert who has been practicing a technique which puts emphasis on strength such as the Impertinent Bull Power.” If Qin Yu did not exist in the world then Zhen Xu’s conjecture would probably be correct. After all, it is extremely hard even for Xiantian experts to reach such a terrifying level in strength.
“Little brother, little sister, both of you must attack together.” Zhen Xu gives an order.
After circulating her Xiantian energy, Nalan Dan’s arms are no longer in pain. Even though they are still a bit uncomfortable, she can continue to fight with them. Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng exchange a look then suddenly turn into 2 blurs and attack Qin Yu again, only that this time they both use weapons — scimitars.
The scimitars are crescent-shaped and radiate ice-cold rays of light. Qin Yu slightly narrows his eyes. At the same time, he suddenly clenches his fists and throws 2 fierce punches in 2 different directions. Carrying the extremely great power of a Xiantian external expert, his fists seem like 2 aquatic dragons coming out of water. Afterwards, with 2 bangs, Qin Yu’s fists smash on one side of the scimitars precisely.
Bang ~~~
Nalan Dan’s and Nalan Feng’s bodies get a shock.
“Dan, how can this scumbag be just a silver card assassin? Even among gold card assassins, this bloke would definitely be considered a high-class figure,” says Nalan Feng using controlled sound transference. At the moment he also feels that his opponent’s punch carried a terrifying force. That fierce strike has made him feel uncomfortable in the chest.
“Feng, let’s use speed. We can only rely on speed.” Nalan Dan’s voice is transferred confidentially to him.
Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng are very distressed.
Qin Yu’s fists are really too heavy. Being hit with a punch from him is as uncomfortable as being smashed on by a huge rock. When a 2000 jin rock smashes down, at least the interface will be very large. But Qin Yu focuses the force
equivalent to the weight of 2000 jin in a fist so the impact pressure he causes is even stronger.
Qin Yu still remains motionless despite 2 people moving extremely fast around him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ……
Qin Yu is punching in a relaxed manner but every punch from him is heavy like a huge rock falling or an iron hammer smashing. Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng are about to go mad because whenever they approach him to attack, he sends them backing off with a punch each, forcing them to keep moving so fast all the time, which has also been causing them to consume huge amounts of Xiantian energy. By contrast, Zhen Xu is coldly watching. There are only images of Qin Yu’s strikes in his pupils. It is impossible to know what he is thiking.
“I just reached the Xiantian level. In principle, I’m also at the early Xiantian level, but I’m an early phase Xiantian external expert. You’re merely early phase Xiantian internal experts.” Qin Yu thinks. “But they’re too weak. Alright, let’s finish them off quickly.”
Qin Yu has always been fooling around. After all, this is the 1st time he has fought a Xiantian internal expert.
However, Qin Yu is wrong. It is not that the opponents are too weak but that a Xiantian external expert is really so extraordinary. To other external practitioners, being able to lift 700 to 800 jin with one arm at the peak of the Houtian level is already an outstanding achievement. But Qin Yu could lift 1500 jin with one arm at the peak of the Houtian level.
Now that Qin Yu has reached the Xiantian level, how can ordinary early phase Xiantian experts compare with him?
“Let’s end this!” Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly shine brilliantly.
“No good!” Only at this moment does Zhen Xu discover that everything is far from all right. But … it is already too late.
He only sees Qin Yu’s body turn into several afterimages then the afterimages merge into one. Qin Yu is still standing at his original place, as if he has never moved. But Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng are now motionless like 2 statues. Suddenly —
Thud! Thud!
Nalan Feng and Nalan Dan unexpectedly fall on the ground directly. The reason is that in just a moment ago Qin Yu, like a flash, used his spear hands to smash 2 vital points of the two’s throats, killing them instantly.
“Actually … my strongest point isn’t strength at all, but speed!” Qin Yu’s indifferent voice rises in the silent courtyard.
“Little brother, little sister.” Looking at the dead Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng, Zhen Xu slowly says in a low voice which has a note of extreme grief. Then he raises his head and stares at Qin Yu. The coldness radiated from his eyes makes Qin Yu’s whole body feel chilly. At the same time, his entire bearing suddenly becomes fierce.
Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng have been following Zhen Xu for over 20 years. During these years, the Nalans only listened to Zhen Xu’s orders. The 3 of them have been treating each other like real brothers and sister. But just now Qin Yu attacked too fast so, when Zhen Xu to reacted, it was already too late.
A deep and low yowl of extreme hatred rises.
Boom ~~~
The air suddenly starts to vibrate. Zhen Xu’s hairband breaks abruptly. His long hair starts to flutter freely. An extremely terrifying force bursts forth from inside his body like a volcano eruption. A furious Xiantian energy then spreads over the outside of Zhen Xu’s body. Under the covering of the Xiantian energy Zhen Xu’s entire body is only a blur, but his ice-cold eerie eyes still look frightening.
Even though Zhen Xu is not the chief of the Xiang royal clan’s intelligence service, his status is not lower than the chief’s in the slightest. For so many years he has never disappointed Xiang Guang and Xiang Guang also always believes in this mysterious general to the utmost.
However … no one knows his real power. How powerful is this sickly-looking man actually? Zhen Xu stares at Qin Yu like a viper and only says curtly: “Prepare to die.”
Boom!
The air shakes quickly for a short while and becomes chaotic like ripples. Zhen Xu’s body suddenly disappears then appears again at Qin Yu’s face.
“Bang!” Qin Yu is totally astonished. At the same time he retreats extremely fast. A raging force hits his body squarely. The silvery mask he is wearing is broken into pieces at once with a bang. At the same time, the coat on Qin Yu’s body is reduced to shreds, which scatter all over in the air. After backing away a long distance, Qin Yu looks at Zhen Xu in front
of him in astonishment.
With just a strike, there is only the black gold undershirt left on Qin Yu’s body. Even his mask has been destroyed.
“Very fast speed and very terrifying energy; with such strong body-protecting energy, he must be a late phase Xiantian expert.” Qin Yu confirms in his mind. Even if Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng faced Zhen Xu together, they would still get killed with 2 blows. This Zhen Xu is really too formidable.
2 early phase Xiantian experts are simply no match for a late phase Xiantian expert.
Zhen Xu stares at Qin Yu and says coldly with a smirk: “Your speed is not bad. What a pity, your fastest speed is inferior to mine. Your strength is pretty good but when I attack with Xiantian energy, my offensive force is even stronger than your punches. In offense, speed and defense you’re far inferior to me, this time you’ll surely die.”
Zhen Xu has declared his judgment.
“My speed is only not bad?” Qin Yu suddenly laughs. “Sorry, please wait a minute.”
As Zhen Xu watches in amazement, Qin Yu takes off the black iron arm guards and leg guards on his arms and legs. “Bang!” He throws the black iron arm guards and leg guards on the ground, causing a series of heavy deep metallic noises. This shows that the guards are very heavy.
Zhen Xu is astonished.
Only now does he understand that even though Qin Yu’s original speed was so fast, it was merely his speed while carrying the black iron arm guards and leg guards. After taking them off, how much faster has Qin Yu become? “Taking off 200 jin of weights has lightened my entire body by half. Even if my speed can’t double, at least it must’ve increased by 50%. Now I can nearly match that guy in speed. Let’s not take off this black gold undershirt. Reducing 200 jin is
already enough. Moreover, this black gold undershirt’s defense
is very strong as well.” Qin Yu thinks to himself.
“Looks like I have to reassess you,” says Zhen Xu with Qin Yu’s body reflected in his pupils but his mind is scheming precisely.
Qin Yu, by constrast, is staring at Zhen Xu before him with full attention.
Shua! Shua!
The 2 bodies suddenly disappear. At the same time, an extremely urgent wind whistle starts to be heard. Yes, there is exactly only one whistle. Even though Zhen Xu is moving extremely fast and his body-maneuvering skill can also be considered ingenious, he is experiencing an extremely strong wind resistance, which is causing the whistle. Qin Yu, however, is moving fast like lightning without causing any sounds.
The 2 of them are chasing each other, but because of the wind resistance, Qin Yu is slightly faster than Zhen Xu.
“Break!”
Qin Yu suddenly utters a low shout. He executes a lightning kick with his right leg and hits the side of Zhen Xu’s left leg directly. Even though Qin Yu has 3000 jin of strength in one leg, after shaking for a while, Zhen Xu’s body-protecting energy has unexpectedly withstood Qin Yu’s heavy kick.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! ……
Sharp noises of the air being pierced through can be heard. Qin Yu’s face changes color: “Concealed projectiles!” This is Qin Yu’s first reaction. However, his holy sense discovers clearly what caused those piercing noises — the fingers of Zhen Xu’s sharp claw. A claw looks like that of an eagle. Zhen Xu’s left hand’s 5 fingertips are all radiating golden rays of light and are piercing through the air to come at him.
“Back!”
Qin Yu throws a palm strike and backs away very fast.
Whizz! … Qin Yu hears 5 sharp whistles. His holy sense discovers clearly that the light on Zhen Xu’s fingers has unexpectedly left the fingers. 5 golden shafts of light are continuously shooting at him at an extreme speed. Qin Yu is fast, but even if he was faster he would not be able to outstrip those shafts of light. He only has enough time to make a movement.
Among the 5 shafts of light, 2 miss but the other 3 hit Qin Yu in the stomach.
The black gold undershirt really deserves to be called a defensive treasure. Even though the shafts of light hit it with a bang, it unexpectedly remains intact. However, the impact force still penetrates the black gold undershirt and gives Qin Yu’s body a shock.
“Your power is not bad, worthy of my using weapon. This is a high Xian grade weapon — the Bloody Soul Claw. This claw is made from a claw of a demonic beast in the Wilderness. It could only be completed after going through several tens forging procedures,” says Zhen Xu suddenly. A huge blood-red claw appears on his right hand.
Qin Yu slightly narrows his eyes. That claw is really forged from a demonic beast’s claw and not from ordinary steel ore and the like.
“There’s only one chance. I must grab it.” Qin Yu thinks to himself.
“Ha-ha, I’ll let you taste my strongest special skill — the Heart Piercing Ten Thousand Claws!” In only an instant, Zhen Xu’s eyes have reddened like blood and have the same color as that Bloody Soul Claw. At the same time, the fingertips of the Bloody Soul Claw shoot out various shafts of light.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! ……
Using some unknown technique, Zhen Xu continuously shoots the surging Xiantian energy in his body out from the fingertips of the Bloody Sould Claw in the form of golden shafts of light like spraying bullets. In an instant, several tens shafts of light have been shot out.
The strangest thing is that those shafts of light seem to be controlled by Zhen Xu.
“What technique is this?” Qin Yu simply cannot understand how it works. “Forget it. There’s no time left.” He clenches his teeth. His body suddenly dashes obliquely in a different direction. Then he pauses and dashses in another direction.
Qin Yu is moving like lightning but he does not cause any wind sounds. However, with time there are more and more shafts of light attacking him. Even though these shafts of light cannot penetrate his black gold undershirt, his head is unable to resist them. Therefore, Qin Yu can only keep moving like a flash with all his might to evade them. Whenever he cannot dodge, he uses the black gold undershirt to defend.
“The final blow!” Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten.
His entire body turns into a beam of light and charges directly at Zhen Xu.
“Ha-ha, instead of running away using your speed, you come to get killed.” Zhen Xu’s heart is extremely excited. He cannot help having a faint complacent smile on his face. The Bloody Soul Claw pierces the air and comes at Qin Yu’s head. Qin Yu’s eyes flash.
Flaming Gloves!
A light flashes on Qin Yu’s hands. The gloves suddenly protect the surface of the fists. With a movement, he extends his left hand and boldly moves it on a collision course with the Bloody Soul Claw. “Just a death-wish,” thinks Zhen Xu disdainfully. His Bloody Soul Claw is high Xian-grade, why should he be afraid? He even accelerates the Bloody Soul Claw a bit.
“Ah!”
Zhen Xu is shocked all of a sudden because Qin Yu’s left hand has unexpectedly grasped the Bloody Soul Claw on his right hand. The glove on Qin Yu’s left hand seems to be very strange. Not even the extremely strong tearing force of the Bloody Soul Claw can damage it in the least. Moreover, at this moment, Qin Yu’s right fist has already got close to him in a strike.
Bang!
Zhen Xu’s left hand also blocks Qin Yu’s right fist with a movement. However, there is a Flaming Glove on Qin Yu’s right fist whereas Zhen Xu can only use his vigorous Xiantian energy to defend.
“Brat, you think this can stop me from killing you?” The corners of Zhen Xu’s mouth suddenly have a faint smile. Golden shafts of light again appear between the Bloody Soul Claw and Qin Yu’s left-hand fingers, which are in a deadlock with each other. At such a close distance, when those shafts of light are shot out, Qin Yu simply cannot dodge.
Zhen Xu cannot help getting excited. He seems to be picturing Qin Yu’s head being shot into pieces on the spot.
Qin Yu’s eyes suddenly brighten — the middle-grade holy- class Flaming Sword!
Whizz!
“Ah!” cries Zhen Xu miserably.
Just now a dark short sword suddenly appeared in Qin Yu’s right hand, which was being locked in a stalemate originally. The dark short sword, which is extremely sharp, unexpectedly cut off Zhen Xu’s left hand in a slash and, moreover, it is proceeding to slash at his throat. Zhen Xu simply has no way to dodge it at such a close distance. He utters a loud shout and chokes back the agony of having a hand severed. His body- protecting energy suddenly intensifies.
“Die!” Zhen Xu’s eyes flash with fierceness.
Knowing it is too late to dodge, he can only rely on his own body-protecting energy. Moreover, as Zhen Xu becomes ruthless, the golden light on the Bloody Soul Claw becomes more luminous and shoots out at Qin Yu’s head ferociously. Naturally, Qin Yu’s head cannot withstand such sharp golden shafts of light.
At this moment, when his fate is hanging in the balance, Qin Yu resolutely and ruthlessly cut through the body-protecting energy using the Flaming Sword then slashes at Zhen Xu’s throat. At the same time, using his left hand, which is wearing a Flaming Glove, he executes a strike with the most powerful penetrating force — a spear hand strike — and aims directly for the center of the Bloody Soul Claw’s palm.
Pu! Blood splatters!
It is the blood spouting from Zhen Xu’s slashed throat. At the same time, it also contains the blood spouting from the holes on Qin Yu’s pierced left arm. There is also the blood spurting from Qin Yu’s mouth in it.
Just a moment ago, relying on a Flaming Glove, Qin Yu executed a spear hand strike and gave Zhen Xu’s palm in the Bloody Soul Claw a shock. Naturally, the Bloody Soul Claw was affected and the direction of those shooting shafts of light was also suddenly altered. 2 of them hit Qin Yu’s left arm while the others hit him in the chest.
2 holes immediately appeared on his left arm, spurting blood. Moreover, even though his chest is protected by the black gold undershirt, because this time the distance was too close and the impact force was too strong, Qin Yu was still injured internally and could not help spouting blood from his mouth.
“So dangerous.” Qin Yu looks at Zhen Xu, who has already died because his throat was cut, and takes a deep breath. He channels the fresh air into his stomach then heaves a sigh of relief.
The Flaming Sword must be used at the right time. If Qin Yu had used it from the beginning, given Zhen Xu’s sharpness, he surely would not have given Qin Yu any chance to harm him with the short sword. Qin Yu succeeded in killing Zhen Xu also thanks to the Flaming Gloves and the Flaming Sword appearing in quick succession near the end of the fight, which caught Zhen Xu off guard. Even so, Qin Yu was almost finished.
“Xiao Hei!” Qin Yu suddenly sees a black eagle appear in front of him. The eagle is staring at Qin Yu.
When Qin Yu and Zhen Xu fought just now, the distance between them was so short and life and death were decided in just a moment so the black eagle simply could not come in time to help Qin Yu. However, as an exceptional animal, it knows that Qin Yu was in serious danger and now it feels unhappy because it could not help him.
“Xiao Hei, I’m all right. Ss ~~” Qin Yu draws a cold breath and takes a look at the holes on his arm. His internal injury is not bad but it is very difficult to tell if such serious wounds as the 2 holes in his left arm can heal. Moreover, Qin Yu feels that it seems … his left arm’s bones, tendons and channels have all been seriously damaged.
After casting a look at the 3 dead bodies, he quickly gets the iron case which contains the Trans-Heaven diagram and the key to it. Then he takes Zhen Xu’s head and gets on the black eagle’s back. With a shake of its wings, the eagle soars directly towards the horizon, leaving this city.
……
In the depths of a nameless canyon, there is a manor with a great number of experts, including more than 10 Xiantian experts. Outside the manor, there is a bamboo forest and a creek. A middle-aged man is sitting in a bamboo chair beside the creek, quietly drinking tea and enjoying the scenery. No one can know what he is thinking.
Suddenly, a gray-clad old man and a blue-clad old man approach the middle-aged man from behind. The shocking thing is that these 2 old men are late-phase Xiantian experts.
“Leader, Zhen Xu is already dead,” says the gray-clad old man respectfully.
“Oh?” The teacup in the tea-drinking middle-aged man slightly jerks. “Tell me the facts in detail.”
“Leader, at the place where Zhen Xu was killed, there were also the corpses of his 2 subordinates Nalan Dan and Nalan Feng. Moreover, there were even fragments of a silvery mask where this incident took place. It must have belonged to silver card assassin Liu Xing, who was on the mission,” says the blue- clad old man.
“Silver card assassin? Liu Xing?” That middle-aged man puts the teacup down and stands up. “Well, no, now that Liu Xing should already be considered a gold card assassin. You two quickly check the data on him once.”
Even the head of the Heavenly Net is interested in such a gold card assassin who killed 1 late phase Xiantian expert in addition to 2 early phase Xiantian experts.
“Leader, but assassin Liu Xing still hasn’t submitted the head to complete the mission ever since. Morever, an examination of the blood at the scene showed that it contained the blood of another person besides the 3 dead people. We are sure that Liu
Xing was seriously injured,” says the blue-clad old man while bowing.
“Oh, but he could leave the scene so he’s obviously still alive. This kind of person won’t die so easily,” says the middle-aged man with an indifferent smile. Then he says indifferently: “All right, get ready at once. It’s time I returned to Yan City.”
“Yes!” The 2 old men bow and take the order.
The middle-aged man mumbles in a low voice: “Yu’er has gone out for so long. Why isn’t there any news about him?” He turns around while still frowning. This mysterious leader of the Heavenly Net is shockingly none other than East Vanquishing Prince — Qin De!