Commanding Wind and Cloud

“This way.” Fanta Rum who lead the way turned back frequently to look at Qian Jin, and he thought, “How come this young man is asking me to tell others that he is going to make potions? He doesn’t look like someone interested in being high-profile.”

“Senior, you don’t know since you aren’t a pharmacist.” Duren Bur walked beside Qian Jin and said, “Pharmacists are all egomaniacs. If you don’t tell them that Qian Jin is making the potions, they would jump out and make challenges, wanting to make potions for your grandson.”

Now, Fanta Rum recalled that every time a new pharmacist joined the family, a few pharmacists could go over to challenge the new person for a few days. Since he was too focused on his grandson, he forgot about that.

Under Snake Emperor Pam Honzi’s secret push and the pressure that Jiliu Feijing of the Lucifer Empire built, Qian Jin’s name was like a powerful spell.

As soon as they heard that Qian Jin was here to make potions, the pharmacists of the Fanta family didn’t try to compete. As if they were chasing after their idol, they all came over, wanting to meet this legendary pharmacist.

Two pharmacists who focused on making potions for adjusting physical conditions were fortunate enough to become Qian Jin’s assistants, and other pharmacists were quite jealous and wondered why they didn’t go on the same path so that they could be Qian Jin’s helpers. If they helped Master Qian Jin, their proficiency in this field would increase, and they could also boast about this experience before their peers.

Qian Jin didn’t think about that much. He put his head into the medicinal ingredients and worked rapidly, making all pharmacists feel dizzy.

Qian Jin didn’t need scales and didn’t even look up to see what ingredients were in the chests. As if he had four hands, Qian Jin grabbed all sorts of ingredients and prepared, shocking everyone here.

No need for measurements? It sounded simple, but when making potions and mystic potions, any amount of inaccuracies would cause big problems.

If they focused all their attention onto this, these pharmacists were confident that they wouldn’t need to measure one ingredient. However, it was impossible not to measure all the ingredients. On top of that, they couldn’t move so fast that everything seemed to be in a blur. Even the former President of the Central Pharmacist Union couldn’t do this if he were here.

The pharmacists thought to themselves, “The rumors are all true! The rumors didn’t exaggerate Qian Jin’s strength but downplayed his abilities!”

These people realized that Qian Jin was even more skilled in front of them compared to the rumors. They didn’t know that Qian Jin’s abilities had improved by a lot; he wasn’t the same person that the Snake Emperor had once known. However, the rumors were enough to make Qian Jin into an [Artisan] in many pharmacists’ minds.

Although Qian Jin was still quite far from the realm of [Artisan], no one doubted that he would one day reach that point.

Bottles of potions were created one after another.

“Senior, Brother Kunsa has to take these potions regularly. Even with these potions, he probably can’t last more than a year,” Qian Jin said with a dark expression.

Deep sadness appeared on Fanta Rum’s face, and tears appeared in his eyes. The pain of the elderly saying goodbye to the young wasn’t something that young people can understand.

“Thank you.” Fanta Rum sounded tired; it seemed like he had never been so tired before. “Young Man, you should take some rest.”

“Eh.” Qian Jin nodded and went to rest under another warrior’s lead. Making potions on this level wasn’t less tiring compared to battling, so Qian Jin needed the rest. Also, he could enter Endless World and consult Uncle Adams to see if Fanta Kunsa could still be saved.

After a night of rest, Qian Jin woke up with what Uncle Adams said lingering in his head.

“Only the God of Stars can have such insane ability to make a dead person come back to life. Perhaps the mystic potion that Eulalia is working on which could potentially turn a pig into a god can achieve this result.”

However, at this point, there wasn’t a potion that could make someone who gifted away their warrior soul live happily ever after.

“Comrade, there are three pieces of news. One of them can either be good news or bad news, one of them is definitely bad news, and last is for sure great. Which one do you want to hear first?” Duren Burg tried his best to tease Qian Jin. After all, they had encountered many situations that both good and bad.

Qian Jin finally obtained his warrior souls, but the price for the three warrior souls was Uncle Fabreidis’ death.

Duren Burg wouldn’t even blink if a saint warrior died, but Fabreidis was different. To some degree, he was everyone’s uncle.

Such a brave warrior battled to death before everyone, and this pain would even sometimes wake up Duren Burg from his sleep, let alone Qian Jin who was much closer to Fabreidis.

What happened yesterday with Fanta Kunsa also stimulated Qian Jin, and Duren Burg was worried that Qian Jin might do something risky.

“The first news is that I heard Zene Skylar had challenged you to a duel. The time is one month before the New Generation Competition, and the location is the Taichi Ocean in Hanley State. He wants to resolve the old grudge since you killed his disciple. If you don’t go, he said that he will come into the center of Zence Empire and attack the merchant caravans of Roll Family until you show up.”

Qian Jin frowned and thought, “I have seen all kinds of warriors, but I never met anyone like Zene Skylar. He directly told everyone the consequences of not going, and it is a threat. If I go, it would mean that I’m afraid of him. However, if I don’t go, I doubt he is lying about this.”

“Zene Skylar isn’t a bloodline warrior…” Qian Jin couldn’t understand why this man decided to challenge him.

“Could it be that he got his hands on a soul weapon?” Qian Jin heard that Zene Skylar was a peak soul-power warrior and could become a saint warrior if he found the proper soul weapon.

However, finding a soul weapon was extremely tough. On top of that, finding a soul weapon that matched a warrior’s body and warrior soul was more difficult compared to looking for a needle in a haystack.

“If he isn’t a saint warrior, did he also go crazy like Fanta Kunsa? And that is why he is challenging me?” Qian Jin couldn’t understand why.

“On top of this news, the Snake Emperor also sent us another small news. The Ray Family had decided to go under Qian Family, and they entered Hanley State and interacted with Zene Skylar.”

“Qian Zhanxuan?” Qian Jin thought but quickly shook his head. “It can’t be. He wouldn’t do that. Even if Zene Skylar is more powerful than me, he won’t be that much stronger than me. If I won, I would have more combat experience.”

“Qian Zhanxuan wouldn’t do that.” Qian Jin shook his head. “That man only trusts himself. He attacked me twice and wanted to kill me directly each time. He doesn’t want me to battle someone close to me in strength. He is an experienced warrior…”

“Comrade, it isn’t important to find out who is behind this. You need to focus on Zene Skylar, who is your opponent.” Duren Burg took out a new notebook and handed it to Qian Jin. “The Snake Emperor asked someone to give it to you. It contains information on Zene Skylar, and it will help you in the duel.”

“Thank the Snake Emperor for me.”

“Why thank him? He is still hoping that you can fix the Second Altar for him.” Duren Burg waved his hand and said, “The second thing… do you still remember that guy you beat? The one from Warrior Hall?”

Duren Burg pouted and said, “Didn’t Cech Flet sneak up and finish him? However, the incident of you beating him still traveled into Warrior Hall’s ears.”

Qian Jin lifted the teacup at the bedside table and wetted his lips. It wasn’t strange. After all, many people were there that day, and some of them must have ill-intentions.

“The Snake Emperor got the news that Warrior Hall is going to deal with you.” Duren Burg dragged his thumb across his neck and said, “They decided to kill you.”

“Take me out?” Qian Jin rested his chin on his hand and said, “This is way too overbearing, no?”

“Why is this strange?” With his hands behind the back of his head, Duren Burg lounged on the couch and said, “Both Warrior Hall and Blood Palace are two organizations not belonging to anyone. They are above the mortal world, and many ordinary warriors and bloodline warriors dream of going there.”

“As time passed, they are almost on the level of religion, and their status is supreme.” Duren Burg yawned and continued, “Once a force is in a unique position for hundreds of years, they will become aloof, let alone Warrior Hall and Blood Palace that have histories of more than a few hundred years.”

“In fact, they even slighted the Royal Family. With edict asking them to send people to the Human-Demon Battlefront, they dared to ignore it and send people when they wanted to. Even when the demons start to attack us aggressively, they can turn a blind eye to it.” Although Zence Matten was commenting with a smile while fanning himself, others could hear the displeasure in his tone.

Duren Burg threw the letter to Qian Jin and said, “This is the latter that the Snake Emperor wrote to you, and the description of Warrior Hall is similar to what Saobao Six had said. Also, the Snake Emperor said that they wouldn’t let this go easily. They even received Qian Zhanxuan’s letter…”

[TL Note: meaning a flashy and enticing person. Here, Saobao Six is Zence Matten’s nickname.]

“Qian Zhanxuan again?” The letter in Qian Jin’s hands crumbled a little. With Qian Zhanxuan’s warning, Warrior Hall wouldn’t only send one to two people if they wanted to kill him. The force that they sent would be deadly.

[Secret Execution Letter]! These were the last few words on the letter that Pam Honzi wrote, and a secret document of Warrior Hall was attached. Just the words alone sounded determinate and murderous.

“Secret execution?” Qian Jin smiled and burned the letter. These two words already showed his status. Before, Warrior Hall could just announce that they were going to take out a man named Qian Jin. Now? They could only try to secretly execution him now. Even though Warrior Hall enjoyed the supreme status, this force couldn’t ignore the leader of many powerful forces. It would cause an uproar if it were public.

Even the overbearing Qian Zhanxuan had to be low-profile. Although Warrior Hall was of supreme status, their strength and reputation weren’t on par with Qian Zhanxuan. All that they could do was secret execution.

“You must be interested in the last thing.” Duren Burg grabbed a piece of metal from behind him.

Seeing the new item in Duren Burg’s hand, Qian Jin instantly froze. This thing was 1,000 times more shocking compared to Zene Skylar’s challenge and Warrior Hall’s secret execution.

Shield! There were many complete and shattered shields in the world, but only two such half shields existed in the world.

Now, only this half shield remained.

Qian Jin thought of many ways to find the other half shield, but he felt like the chance of that was close to zero. However, if the news of his search of a half shield spread, the Qian Family and even the demons would be in on it.

Qian Jin’s forces couldn’t be compared to the Qian Family and the demons’ ability to search for things. Even if the half shield were ground, it would probably fall into the hands of the Qian Family or the demons.

If the demons got it, Qian Jin could still pretend to me Jiliu Feijing and somehow get that half shield. But if the Qian Family got it…

“You are surprised, right? This half shield was always in Fanta Kunsa’s hands.” Duren Burg weighed the shield and said, “After Fanta Kunsa woke up, he discovered that he could still open his warrior dimension, and he gifted everything he had to Fanta Kunge. This way, Fanta Kunge would have some materials for making a soul weapon.”

“While that was happening, I discovered this.” Duren Burg threw the half shield to Qian Jin and said, “He told me that a mysterious person sneaked into the dungeon of Fanta Family and woke him up with a unique technique. Then, this person gave him this half shield and said that it marks the location that hid a saint item set.”

As soon as Qian Jin’s finger touched the half shield, his body shivered. Many unique phenomena appeared before his eyes, and it felt like the shattered half shield came back to life. Warrior power rapidly cycled inside Qian Jin’s body, and the universe that wasn’t complete last time became full this time.

It was daytime, but Qian Jin was seeing the dark universe with many brilliant stars blinking in it.

At this moment, Qian Jin felt like he was among the stars, and many stars were born with his exhales and destroyed with his inhales.

Also, it seemed like a ton of starlight fell from the sky and entered Qian Jin’s body.

Although it was only an illusion, it felt real to Qian Jin.

For a moment, Qian Jin felt like he was a child who was looking up at the dark sky.

For a moment, Qian Jin felt like he was a part of the universe.

For a moment, Qian Jin felt like the stars were toys that he created, and he could easily take them down from the sky

Without him noticing, Qian Jin got lost in the universe and also lost himself. He couldn’t find the exit, and he looked around, forgetting to think.

“Comrade… Comrade…” Duren Burg’s caring voice seemed to have penetrated the endless universe and shattered the stars.

“I… What happened to me?” Qian Jin looked at the half shield in his hand in a daze.

“How would I know? After you got a hold of this shield, you became dull, and more than an hour had passed,” Duren Burg said as he observed.

“More than an hour?” Qian Jin felt like only a few seconds had passed, and it might be less than a second. However, time flew past him.

“Did you hear what I said? Fanta Kunsa said that the person who gave him this half shield said that if he could understand the map on this shield, he can find the location where a saint item set is buried.”

“Saint item set?” Although Qian Jin had been through many situations and had studied with Uncle Blake for a long time, his scalp still numbed when hearing about saint item set.

“Kunge just said that it should be a sea map.” Duren Burg knocked his forehead and said, “I can’t say anything in this field. Right now, they are searching through all the sea maps in the Fanta Family…”

“There is no need.” Qian Jin looked at the half shield that he was spinning on his fingertip as he said, “I thought it was a sea map as well. Later, I realized that it isn’t a sea map.”

“Isn’t a sea map?” Duren Burg looked back at the spinning half shield and asked, “Could it be that the map on this shield documented a place that isn’t discovered?”

Qian Jin’s finger lightly bent and quickly straightened, sending the spinning half shield into the air. Also, his eyes that stared at the shield moved up and down.

“It isn’t a sea map but a star map.”

“Star map?” Duren Burg suddenly became dispirited as he said, “Although star maps seem simple, they are way more complex compared to sea maps. I’m afraid…”

“No need to be afraid of anything.” Qian Jin suddenly grasped onto the half shield and said, “It is inside the Ancient Desert Sea.”

“Ancient Desert Sea!” Duren Burg gasped. Although the air was cold, it seemed dry and burning when it entered his lungs. At this moment, he felt like he was back to that dry, hot, and aggressive Ancient Desert Sea that devoured many beings.

Qian Jin held onto the half shield and thought, “If I got this half shield earlier, and I somehow restored them back into one, then Uncle Fabreidis wouldn’t have died.”

Clearly, this half shield was also a saint item, but it was half and wasn’t complete, so its defense ability wasn’t on the saint-level. Although it was better than warrior weapons, it might be inferior compared to supreme warrior weapons.

With Cech Flet’s Demon Eye of Destruction, he could penetrate the shield with several strikes.

However, if it were a complete shield, even Qian Zhanxuan wouldn’t be able to break the shield even if he had a saint-level sword.