Heavenly Jewel Change

After crying for a while, Yun Li finally stopped. As he lifted his tear streaked head up, he saw Zhou Weiqing lounging on the sofa on the opposite side, looking at him with a smiling face.

“Sigh, a loss is a loss, let’s find a place to go through the Sealing then.” Yun Li said with an angry hmph, before keeping his own design from the table.

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “Bro Yun Li, I know you are angry and unreconciled in your heart, perhaps extremely unwilling. However, I can give you two opportunities to escape your fate; as long as you reach any one of them, I will dissolve our agreement and any Seal on you…”

Yun Li started, his eyes filled with wariness as he said cautiously: “What else do you want? I’ve already lost my entire self to you, isn’t that enough?”

Zhou Weiqing shrugged and said: “As you said, your whole self is lost to me already, what else do you have to lose? What I want to say is, if your Heavenly Energy cultivation level can ever reach twelve levels above mine, I will dissolve the agreement. The other option is, as long as you can reach God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master before me, I will also dissolve the agreement. How about that?”

The wariness in Yun Li’s eyes turned to surprise, and he stared at Zhou Weiqing for a while. “… Why? You do not need to do that. My bet with you is a Lifetime Following. Since I have already admitted my loss, I will not go back on my word…”

Zhou Weiqing stood up and walked over to Yun Li, laughing heartily as he said: “What I want is a Follower who is talented, outstanding, and can possibly become a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master. I do not want a person who has lost his soul just because he lost a bet, a trash who has given up on himself. If I do not give you hope, how could you possibly continue working hard in training and cultivation? However, do not think that these two conditions are easy at all.”

Yun Li was dazed for a moment, and after a while, he finally gave a long drawn sigh before saying: “Although you are much younger than I am, your intelligence and foresight is beyond mine. Alright, I accept your proposal. Surpassing you by twelve levels of Heavenly Energy is probably beyond me, but I will definitely work hard and become a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master before you! Do not forget that I am already a High Level Consolidating Equipment Master, a step ahead of you, so the advantage is mine.”

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “I do wish that you can become a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master as soon as possible. That way, even if you aren’t my Follower, we can still be friends. I, Zhou Weiqing, swear by my Personal Jewels. If in the future Yun Li becomes a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master before I do, then I will personally release him from his Seals. If I break my word, my Personal Jewels will explode and destroy me…”

Yun Li’s emotions calmed down, and the look in his eyes were resolute. He had made up his mind to work hard to reach the rank of God Tier before Zhou Weiqing, to regain his freedom.

Zhou Weiqing lifted his left hand and grinned, saying: “Alright, I have given my promise, now it’s time for you to complete yours. Shall we begin Sealing then, I will need your complete cooperation for it.”

“… Sealing…?” Yun Li stared at Zhou Weiqing in shock. “Are you saying that you can do the Sealing by yourself? Do you mean to say that you have Stored a Sealing Skill? That’s impossible! Even though it is rumoured that our Spatial Attribute does have Sealing Skills, they are extremely rare. Furthermore, each and everyone of our Skills are so important to us; besides the Darkness Attributes which major power lies in Sealing, who else would waste an opportunity to Skill something else?”

Zhou Weiqing gave a faint smile, moving his left hand in front of Yun Li, before saying carefully: “Look closely now, there is definitely no shame in losing to me.”

As he said that, he circulated his Heavenly Energy, and a dim black light shone forth from the Ring of Concealment on his left hand, shining upon his Elemental Jewels. Instantly, they changed back into their original form; although they were still Cat’s Eye Jewels, in the dimly lit room, they changed to the rose red of the Alexandrite Cat’s Eye for Yun Li to see.

“This… what is this?”

Another black light shone from Zhou Weiqing’s left hand, turning his entire index finger black, and at the tip a blood-red light shone from within.

“… Alexandrite Cat’s Eye?” Yun Li suddenly raised his head, staring at Zhou Weiqing in shock.

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Indeed. Come then, let us complete our Seal of Agreement. This is the Skill, ‘Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness’. Now, you should believe that if your Heavenly Energy surpasses me by twelve levels, it will automatically dissolve right.”

After arriving in the Fei Li City, Zhou Weiqing had gone through Skill Storing in the Skill Storing Palace. For his second Darkness Skill, he had chosen to Store this Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness. This was one of the Darkness Seals that was specially targeted at Sealing servants or slaves. Once the master died, the Sealed servant would also perish. The only escape from that was what Zhou Weiqing had promised Yun Li – a secondary contract.

The Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness wasn’t the most powerful Seal amongst the Darkness Attribute Sealing Skills, but it had one of the strongest binding effects. If the servant disobeyed the master, a single thought from the master could cause untold pain to the servant, and was one of the more vicious of the Sealing Skills. At the same time, it was also one of the most widely used of the Darkness Seals.

Yun Li nodded somewhat woodenly, closing his eyes. In the next moment, Zhou Weiqing’s left hand reached his forehead, pressing his index finger onto the center between Yun Li’s eyebrows.

Instantly, a thick dark red light enveloped both of them. Although this Seal was extremely powerful, it had severe restrictions as well – the person it was being used on had to accept it by his or her own free will, and any resistance would break the Skill while it was being cast.

As the dark red light thickened, a red light also flashed in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes, as the blood-red light from his finger also brightened.

Yun Li grunted involuntarily, his entire body convulsing violently as the dark red light was sucked into his body. At the same time, it subsided from Zhou Weiqing, being drawn towards Yun Li.

This was Zhou Weiqing’s first time using the Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness. He felt as if more than a third of his Heavenly Energy being drained from him, clearly showing how much Heavenly Energy this Seal required. By the time all the dark red light had entered Yun Li’s body, Zhou Weiqing could vaguely feel a connection within his mind, like a string, linking him to Yun Li’s life.

Although this Seal did not telepathically link them, Zhou Weiqing could still feel the frailness of Yun Li’s life in his hands… This was the tyranny of the Blood Rites Seal.

Slowly lifting his left hand, Zhou Weiqing could see a small drop of fresh blood on his left index finger tip. That was Yun Li’s blood, and was also the medium for the Blood Rite. As the drop of blood slowly seeped into Zhou Weiqing’s hands and into his body, a strange, dark red symbol formed on Yun Li’s forehead.

The Darkness Aura in the room slowly diminished, and Yun Li finally opened his eyes, his body no longer shuddering. Everything seemed to return to normal, even the dark red symbol sinking into his skin, hidden from view. However, both he and Zhou Weiqing knew that this would accompany him for life, unless he could reach the terms of the agreement that he and Zhou Weiqing had made; only then would it dissolve.

Yun Li stood up. Although he still wasn’t used to this yet, he still turned to Zhou Weiqing and bowed deeply, saying: “Master…”

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “You are the first person I used this Blood Rite – Seal of Darkness on. I never expected my luck to be so good. You do not need to call me Master, you can just call me by name. I have never thought of treating you like a slave or servant, and I hope that we can become friends instead, and we can exchange ideas and learn together on Consolidating Equipment Scrolls.”

Yun Li gave a humph and said: “Friends? If you wanted to be friends with me, why did you use that bet to cheat me!? Hmph. In any case, from now, you’re in charge of providing me with food, drink, lodging, and all my expenses. All the expenses for my materials on researching High Level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls should be paid by you too…”

Zhou Weiqing started a little, before saying exasperatedly: “Why does it sound like I’m the one who has been enslaved…”

“Oh right, Yun Li, when we leave later, do not tell anyone else that you have lost to me. Just say that we had a draw for our bet, and none of us will be the Follower of the other.”

Yun Li asked curiously: “Why?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “It’s good to keep a low profile, understand? If the word gets out that you have become my Follower, I will never ever have a peaceful time in my time here…”

“Hah. You still know about keeping a low profile? Challenging me to such a bet in front of so many people, how can you possibly keep a low profile?” Yun Le was rather speechless.

Zhou Weiqing patted him on the shoulders and said: “If I didn’t do that, how could I get you to take the bait; hook line and sinker! In truth, I am usually a person who loves to keep a low profile. Heh heh. Come on, let’s go now, I’m sure all of them are anxiously waiting.”

Since he had entered the Fei Li City, besides the first moment that he had been reunited with Shangguan Bing’er, this was probably the best day of Zhou Weiqing’s life. Now, including himself, his Heavenly Bow Empire had two Consolidating Equipment Masters! Furthermore, they were both talented genius who each had a Legendary Set Design!

…

Outside the door, Qin Feng was a little puzzled why the anxious Shangguan Bing’er suddenly seemed so relaxed. All of a sudden, the doors of the chamber opened, and both Zhou Weiqing and Yun Li walked out from within.

Qin Feng asked curiously: “Masters, your fight is over? May I know who is the victor?”

Zhou Weiqing laughed and said: “Master Yun Li is indeed of an extremely high level. I barely managed to drag our second round to a draw, and alas I lost the third round. As such, our final result is an overall draw. It looks like even the Heavens do not want us to become each other’s Followers. Oh well… what can we do?”