Heavenly Jewel Change

Zhou Weiqing first spotted Ao Le in the midst of the crowd. Without speaking, he walked up to Ao Le, putting his hand to Ao Le’s shoulder and released his Devour Technique, drawing out the poison from within.

After completing that, he spun around and walked towards Zhan LingTian. The process repeated itself silently, and the poison was also drawn out from Zhan LingTian’s body. Finally, Zhou Weiqing turned to Shangguan Longyin, giving him a slight bow before turning around and walking off without saying a word.

Shangguan Longyin watched him leave, his brow slightly furrowed, though he remained silent.

One of the ZhongTian Battle Team members couldn’t help but pipe out: “Elder, if not for this Zhou Weiqing, perhaps we would have succeeded today. That is an entire dragon’s corpse and a dragon egg! Furthermore, that dragon egg has to be a mutated one, otherwise it shouldn’t be that large.”

Shangguan Longyin looked at him coldly, and the member who had spoken up felt a chill run down his spine, and quickly kept his mouth shut.

Shangguan Longyin said solemnly: “Bring LingTian to heal, his hand needs attention as soon as possible, go ask Sixth Elder to help.”

The members of the Battle Team made a sound of acquiescence, and turned towards the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. Shangguan Fei’er also tiptoed along, hoping to sneak away with the rest of the team.

“Fei’er, you stay here a while…”

Shangguan Fei’er winced slightly as she stopped in her tracks, before turning and saying sweetly: “Yes Fourth Uncle, is there anything I can help you with?”

Shangguan Longyin glared at her: “You are truly getting bolder and bolder! You actually sneaked into the Heavenly Jewel Tournament! Don’t you know, if not for the fact that you sneaked into the Tournament, and also broke the rules, I could have severely punished that Little Witch from the Heavenly Demon Sect and that Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger from the Heavenly Snow Mountain.”

According to the rules that the Five Great Saint Lands had worked out for the Tournament, none of their direct bloodlines were allowed to join in the Tournament. This round, it was clear that the rules had been flouted.

Shangguan Fei’er lowered her head, silent, but her eyes continued darting around, watching the retreating figure of Zhou Weiqing in the distance.

Shangguan Longyin continued solemnly: “Zhou Weiqing, that child, actually has connection with the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Heavenly Snow Mountain. This was definitely out of my expectations. From your observations in the Lustre Spatial Realm, can you tell what is his actual relations with those two?”

Shangguan Fei’er finally spoke: “From what I can see, he is not very close with that Little Witch from the Heavenly Demon Sect, but it seems he is quite close to the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger from the Heavenly Snow Mountain. However it seems like even the other Heavenly Snow Mountain members do not know that she is with him. When she appeared, all the WanShou Battle Team members were shocked; that was clearly not an act, and they definitely did not know about this previously.”

Shangguan Longyin nodded and said: “What about Zhou Weiqing himself? What do you think about him?”

Without hesitation, Shangguan Fei’er said: “He is a lot better than I had first thought. When he went to rescue that dying female dragon, it was clearly without any ulterior motive, just purely wanting to rescue an injured mother. It definitely surprised me, rather far from my previous first impression of him. Fourth Uncle, you should know that I have always had a good eye especially in sizing people up. At that moment when he took action, his body language, and more so, his eyes, definitely could not lie to anyone.”

In that moment she spoke, she couldn’t help but think of those resolute eyes of Zhou Weiqing’s when he had taken action. Without knowing why, Shangguan Fei’er suddenly felt that her curiosity of him had overtaken the anger towards him… As she thought of those resolute eyes, and then his sheer presence when he had unleashed the Dragon Silencing Seal, she suddenly felt her heart race involuntarily.

Shangguan Longyin nodded, saying: “Indeed… but he did destroy such an unbelievably rare chance… perhaps the only chance of our lifetime. I’m afraid that in the next few hundred or even the next few thousand years, we will never get another chance like that again. Furthermore, from the way he rushed out of the Lustre Spatial Realm and the way he acted after that, it’s likely he did not even gain anything from those dragons. Once again… that was out of my expectation.

Shangguan Fei’er burst into giggles as she said: “From his expression, I could see that too. Didn’t you see, when he came out, he looked as if everyone owed him money. Bing’er has certainly found an interesting husband.”

Shangguan Longyin gave a humph and said: “You are just too mischievous. This time I will definitely have to report this to Second Palace Master… this time you are too much! If he doesn’t ground you for a few days, you will not learn!”

“Nooo! Fourth Uncle, please don’t, I know I’m wrong already!” Shangguan Fei’er gave a heartrending cry and she turned and fled, disappearing swiftly into the distance.

Looking at her fleeing figure, a faint smile appeared on Shangguan Longyin’s lips. Towards this mischievous ‘little demon girl’ of theirs, even the First and Second Palace Masters could not do anything about her, let alone himself.

…

When he returned to the inn, Zhou Weiqing did not speak to his companions, instead returning to his room. In truth, he had always been an easygoing person, and by this time most of his anger had already dissipated, though he just did not feel like speaking then. Sitting cross legged on his bed, he started cultivating once more.

This time in the Lustre Spatial Realm, he had fought several tough fights, especially against those much stronger than him. That had given him valuable combat experience, especially in the usage of his own skills, and their various mixes and combinations. Now, it was the perfect time for him to carefully consider them and properly assimilate that experience to his own combat styles.

Before this, who would have thought that the final champion of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament would be their Fei Li Battle Team? Even amongst their own team, it was likely that none of them had thought it would be possible. It could be said that he had actually brought about the result all by himself, forcibly dragging them to the top spot through sheer power, luck and judgement. Otherwise, with the overall power of their team, how could they possibly defeat the other three teams?

His cultivation lasted the entire night, and it was only until the next morning that Zhou Weiqing roused from his cultivation, brimming with energy. At the same time, he could sense that he was on the verge of breaking through to the next level.

As soon as he broke through the fifteenth Death Acupuncture Point, his Heavenly Energy would reach the fifteenth level, one step closer to his Fourth Jewel.

“Weiqing, are you awake?” All of a sudden, Lin TianAo’s voice rang out from behind his room door.

Zhou Weiqing said: “Leader? Come on in.”

The door opened, and Lin TianAo walked in. He was alone, and as he walked towards Zhou Weiqing, he suddenly opened his arms and gave Zhou Weiqing a big hug.

Zhou Weiqing was totally taken aback, shocked into silence.

Lin TianAo finally let go of him and said: “Thank you Weiqing. Thank you for letting me end my previous life on a perfect note.”

“Do you know? At that time when I lost the bet to you and became your Lifetime Follower, I was so depressed, as if all my hopes and dreams had been dashed. Almost thirty years of hard work, cultivating, with my whole life and bright future ahead. I had a grand ambition. All that, gone, as I was just going to become someone’s Follower. And all of that because I got too greedy. At that time, when I asked you for three months of time, it was for this very Heavenly Jewel Tournament. I had hoped to go all out, to test my limit and do my very best in this Tournament, to at least give my previous life a good ending.”

“In the end, you actually joined the Fei Li Battle Team as well. As time went by, and the more I interacted with you, I slowly realised that being your Follower wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Although your cultivation level is still far below mind, but with you around, it seems like things are always exciting, keeping my blood afire. Furthermore, your character is definitely trustworthy, and you have a talent that is far beyond myself, far beyond even what I imagined possible. Perhaps, being your Follower will be the luckiest thing that happened to me. Together with you, I believe that a few dozen years down the road, I will be able to witness a miracle happen… a miracle that belongs only to you…”