Heavenly Jewel Change

Chapter 144 Good beginnings! (1)

The potential problems that lurked beneath Zhou Weiqing’s impressive power were clear to the Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor, naturally how could he and Shangguan Tianyang not be clear of it as well. However, they had their own status and position in mind, and were waiting for Zhou Weiqing to realise this on his own and look for them when he reached that bottleneck. At that point, they could easily bring that little rascal into the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, and Bing’er could marry him in a simple rational progression. With his outstanding talents and the Heaven’s Expanse Palace’s resources and guidance, the future him would become Shangguan Xue’er’s future right hand man, and this future generation would definitely be able to support the Heaven’s Expanse Palace to a far greater height.

Alas, Shangguan Tianyue had never expected that his second daughter would actually run off with that little brat as well. Her excuse was that she was keeping an eye on him and not allowing him to shift affections and abandon Bing’er… However, did keeping an eye require her to do so personally? Or to take so long? She had even refused to come back even when Zhan LingTian had asked her too...

As for the Blood Red Hell, on the contrary, Shangguan Tianyue was not worried about them. Before Zhan LingTian had even returned, he had already received news from the Blood Red Hell about what had happened. Regarding the matter, the Second Hell Master of the Blood Red Hell had actually came down to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace personally to apologize. Furthermore, he had brought along a gift of a Heavenly Emperor Stage Heavenly Beast as an offering to their continued friendship, and that was clearly a strong sign of good faith. More importantly, the result of the attack had been that no loss or harm had come to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, and thus it was easily resolved.

“LingTian, in your eyes, how did Fei’er treat Zhou Weiqing?” Shangguan Tianyue finally asked solemnly.

Zhan LingTian lowered his head and said: “It’s hard to say.”

“Hard to say? Speak the truth!” Shangguan Tianyue raised his voice slightly.

Zhan LingTian hesitated for a moment before saying: “Second Young Miss seems to be overly close to that Zhou Weiqing, and they do not seem like ordinary friends. Yet, they are not intimate in any way. As for what is the exact relationship between them, I do not know.”

With the eyes of a Heavenly Jewel Master, it was an easy task to see whether a girl was still ‘whole’, and though Zhan LingTian was still a virgin, he could still easily see that. It was also the reason why he was willing to take his time to come back, not at all in a rush to report back. He was more than happy to have Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er end up having intimate relations, and having Shangguan Tianyue angry with Zhou Weiqing.

At the same time, Zhan LingTian also hid a truth. He did not mention anything about the Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor, as he did not want Zhou Weiqing to grow more important in Shangguan Tianyue’s eyes.

“Hmph!” Shangguan Tianyue gave an angry grunt. “That little brat, courting one of my daughters isn’t enough for him? Is he trying to chase Fei’er as well? Our Little Demon Girl Fei’er actually didn’t cause trouble for him, instead staying together with him? Hmph, that brat!”

Alas for Zhan LingTian, no matter how he listened in, he just felt that Shangguan Tianyue’s voice was rather weird… as if he wasn’t really that angry.

“Second Palace Master, should I go back again and bring Second Young Miss back?” Zhan LingTian asked tentatively.

Shangguan Tianyue glanced at him and said exasperatedly: “Can you really bring Fei’er back? With Fei’er’s cultivation level, and with Zhou Weiqing’s help, the two of them working together… even you will not be able to do anything against them. Look, even Han Tianyou actually took damage from the few of you.”

Zhan LingTian’s expression instantly turned slightly ugly, but he did not protest at that truth.

“Alright, dismissed. This time, you have done well, and you have not thrown our Heaven’s Expanse Palace’s face in front of the Blood Red Hell. Still, you need to work hard and cultivate. Xue’er is yet another step closer to the eight-Jeweled stage.

Hearing those words, Zhan LingTian’s body shook. With Shangguan Tianyue saying that she was one step closer, that naturally meant she had raised a level of Heavenly Energy. In that case, Shangguan Xue’er had already caught up with him in terms of Heavenly Energy, reaching the same stage! More so, she was much younger than he was! Instantly, an invisible pressure seemed to weigh down on Zhan LingTian, causing him to find it difficult to even breathe.

“Yes, Second Palace Master, I will definitely work hard and cultivate.”

Zhan Lingtian bowed down respectfully before Shangguan Tianyue before backing out of the room.

Watching him leave, the anger on Shangguan Tianyue’s face slowly subsided, and he gave a soft sigh before muttering to himself: “LongTian, this child, he is truly not bad. Alas, his view of the bigger picture is just too narrow, not even a match for Zhou Weiqing. Such a shame...”

“Father, I will go get Fei’er back.” A cold, clear voice rang out from the shadows at the side, and a cold-faced Shangguan Xue’er walked out.

Clearly, she had been there for quite some time, only Zhan LingTian did not know about it.

Shangguan Tianyue looked at Shangguan Xue’er and he said: “Xue’er, what do you think the reason Fei’er followed Zhou Weiqing?”

Without hesitation, Shangguan Xue’er said: “Curiosity and revenge. Don’t you know Fei’er’s character? At that time in the Lustre Spatial Realm she lost out to Zhou Weiqing, how could she possibly let it go so easily? Furthermore, add to that the curiosity about him, that is probably the reason she ran off to follow him.”

Shangguan Tianyue gave a bitter smile and said: “That little brat Zhou Weiqing, he wouldn’t chase another one of my daughters right. Hmph, that would be too huge a loss.”

Shangguan Xue’er definitely knew her father much clearer than Zhan LingTian did, and she looked at him suspiciously as she said: “Father, why do I feel like you are very happy instead, not angry about Fei’er and Zhou Weiqing?”

A faint smile crossed Shangguan Tianyue’s lips and he said: “Do I? You can even tell… Xue’er, looks like you have improved a lot. Well, Fei’er following Zhou Weiqing is actually not a bad thing in my eyes. At least, that will let us have some idea what this little brat is up to. Zhou Weiqing this little rascal is extremely different from most youths. The most outstanding and impressive thing about him is not his cultivation level or power, but his will, tenacity and sight. In that aspect, no one in your generation is able to compare to him, not even you. However, that sort of thing also poses another problem, a strong draw towards females, especially when combined with that impressive power and talent of his, that is even more so. With Fei’er by his side, at least that is far better than having those Heavenly Demon Sect or Heavenly Snow Mountain ones by his side. Furthermore, he is at least choosing to develop himself at our ZhongTian Empire, not any other place.”

Upon hearing her father’s words, Shangguan Xue’er was stunned. She had not imagined that not only did her father’s outward showing of being indisposed towards Zhou Weiqing just an act, he actually placed such importance upon him.

“Father, but… Zhou Weiqing and Third Sis is already a pair! What would happen if Fei’er mixed in between them? It was just not long before Third Sis had just returned to us, and she is still in the midst of closed door cultivation… No, no, this will not do. If anything happened between Fei’er and Zhou Weiqing, what would Bing’er do? Mother is still ignoring you, if such a thing happened on top of everything, I’m afraid.”

Hearing Shangguan Xue’er mention Tang Xian, a helpless look appeared on Shangguan Tianyue’s face. Thinking for a moment, he said: “You are right, but you should know that girl Fei’er’s temper. If she decides on something, not even ten dragons can drag her from it. I will go speak to your mother about this. You head to the northern border; you are the only one who can bring her back. However, I do not want you to show yourself directly straight away. As the saying goes, The players in the chess game might be blind to the situation,while a bystander sees everything clearly’[1. This is a direct translation of an idiom, but the meaning should be pretty clear:)]. You take a close look on Zhou Weiqing’s development in the north and let me know all about it. At the same time, keep a close eye on that Little Demon Girl your sister, don’t let her and Zhou Weiqing advance too far beyond, otherwise things might be troublesome. If she really has that thinking, you bring her back.”

Shangguan Xue’er nodded and said: “That is the only thing we can do now. In that case, I will pack up and leave then.”

Shangguan Xue’er took her leave as well, and looking at his daughter’s retreating figure, Shangguan Tianyue did not know why but he suddenly had a bad feeling about things.

If at this moment Zhan LingTian knew that by not bringing Shangguan Fei’er back, it had ended up in Shangguan Xue’er actually being sent to keep an eye on Zhou Weiqing, perhaps he would puke blood. This was truly a miraculous scheme of his to backfire, to lose one's wife as well as one's soldiers[2. Another direct translation of an idiom (赔了夫人又折兵), basically it means that a scheme has ended up with a double penalty, or losing the bait along with the fish]!

...

Northern Border. Peerless Battalion.

Zhou Weiqing sat cross-legged in his large tent, fully concentrating on cultivating. A month had passed since he had returned, and ever since that time, he had spent almost all his time in his tent. As for training the Peerless Battalion, there was Shangguan Fei’er, his seven masters of the Heavenly Bow Unit, Wei Feng and the others, and that was more than sufficient.

Lin TianAo had returned to the TianBei City to take command there and to ensure things went well. Of course, at the same time, he brought Yun Li and Little Miss Muddle back there with him. After all, they would be much safer there than at the Peerless Battalion. Their importance to Zhou Weiqing and the entire Peerless Battalion was without question.

Ever since his return, Zhou Weiqing had started training in theSix Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts. Of course, he had first memorised the entirety of the little booklet and followed Long Shiya’s instructions to destroy it after.

The training of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts was much more difficult that he had expected. It was totally a complicated type of energy manipulation, conversion and connection.

If one had to make a metaphorical comparison, it would be tantamount to using the the Three Thousand Tempering Method, but instead of using it on an individual Skill, it was focusing on the control of Heavenly Energy, but it was tempering all six types of Attributes Heavenly Energy all at once.

In Zhou Weiqing’s hands, he held six Heavenly King Stage Heavenly Beast’s Cores, just exactly corresponding to his own six Attributes. The six Heavenly Cores flew about in his hands, and the Heavenly Energy he was unleashing also changed at lightning speed as per the Attribute. At the same time, as he swapped them about, he also had to unleash an ordinary Heavenly Skill.

However, that Heavenly Skill was not one that he had Stored, but an imitation with his Heavenly Energy. Of course, being a mere beginner, his imitations were far from the power that Long Shiya could bring forth. His current puny imitation couldn’t even kill a rabbit if he tried.

A month of hard work had finally given Zhou Weiqing some understanding of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts. It truly had a high requirement of understanding Heavenly Energy, the various Attributes and all their aspects, as well as fine grained control over it all. At his current state, he had barely taken a first step into this world, and had a much longer road to travel down this path. The more he trained in it, the more he improved, but at the same time, the more he realised the sheer intricacies and deep profound secrets that lay within the tip of the iceberg of cultivation. Furthermore, what Long Shiya had given him was actually only the entrance level of the manipulation arts, a mere beginning. Examining his own progress, Zhou Weiqing was certain that without at least a year or two of hard work, he would not be able to fully grasp it.

Trying to reach the maximum capabilities of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts was definitely not something that could be accomplished easily or quickly. It could be said that by training in it, for the foreseeable future Zhou Weiqing’s actual combat prowess would not increase directly at all.