Heavenly Jewel Change

“The Lustre Spatial Realm rainforest is inhabited by many different types of Heavenly Beasts, from the lowest stages to the top end ones, and even we from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace do not know exactly where they may be found, as they could move around. In fact, every time we activate the Spatial Realm, the inner workings seem to be slightly different as well.”

“In order to activate and enter this Spatial Realm, it requires ten Spatial Attribute Upper Level Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Masters or higher working together at the same time, infusing their Heavenly Energy into the formation. Even with all them working together, the maximum time we can keep it open is a month. As mentioned, your final fight will be held in this Lustre Spatial Realm, and once the fight begins, you all will be transported to this spatial realm at random. That is to say, each and every one of you will appear in a random location in the Spatial Realm, and we have no way of controlling that. Your next month will be spent there, and what happens next is dependent on all of your luck, power, and skill combined. What you all need to do is to do your best to survive while looking for your teammates, defeating your opponents and also enduring attacks from various Heavenly Beasts. The Battle Team which has the last remaining survivor or team of survivors will be the champion. If by the time the month ends, there is more than one survivor, then the ranking will be determined by the number of people left in the Lustre Spatial Realm.”

“Please do note that there are countless of Heavenly Beasts in the Lustre Spatial Realm, not just in terms of numbers, but also types. At the same time, any gains from killing Heavenly Beasts you all get is considered part of your rewards, and you do not have to submit them to our Heaven’s Expanse Palace. If you are actually able to capture and bring out any live Heavenly Beasts, you can also sell them to us, or go through any equivalent trade.”

“After this briefing, we will be giving each of you a small Lustre Gem and a Spatial Ring that can contain live Heavenly Beasts. These two objects will have to be returned to us when you exit the Lustre Spatial Realm. During the entire month which the fight lasts, if you meet an opponent that you feel you are unable to face, you can infuse your Heavenly Energy into the Lustre Gem, and it will instantly transport you out of the Lustre Spatial Realm.”

As he spoke up to that point, Shangguan Longyin’s voice turned sombre and serious: “Life is extremely precious, especially for all of you, so young… so talented… all of you are the cream of the crop of your generation, and your empire, your teachers, they have spent much time and effort in cultivating all of you. I’d like to ask that you do not treat your lives lightly, as soon as you meet anything you cannot face, you should activate the Lustre Gem immediately to save your lives. I will have specialised personnel in charge of healing any wounds you all suffer in the Lustre Spatial Realm. I know how important this Tournament is, and the honour it signifies, but in the end, your life matters the most as well.”

After a slightly pause, Shangguan Longyin turned his gaze to the members of WanShou Battle Team and said: “I must remind you that in the Lustre Spatial Realm, if you are bringing your own Heavenly Beasts, I recommend that each one of you only bring one. That’s because within the Lustre Spatial Realm, there is a strange energy in the atmosphere that will cause non-native Heavenly Beasts to become irascible, violent and uncontrollable, and Heavenly Jewel Masters will need to continuously use their own spirit energy to aid their Heavenly Beasts and keeping them in a normal clear-headed state. Under such a circumstance, a single Heavenly Jewel Master is usually only able to protect one Heavenly Beasts, if you try to bring more in, it might possibly lead to all of them losing control.”

Hearing Shangguan Longyin’s words, the Fei Li Battle Team members exchanged helpless looks.

It was obvious that all of their plans had gone to waste, and even Shangguan Longyin’s warning to Zhou Weiqing had gone to waste. It was indeed a team battle, but a rather unique one, in a special environment and highly different rules. In fact, once they entered the spatial realm, they would all be separated, and had to depend on their own personal strength in order to fight and survive. Without question, this was the worst possible scenario for the Fei Li Battle Team. After all, in terms of pure cultivation level and battle strength, they were definitely the weakest of all four teams, even with the addition of Little Witch.

Shangguan Longyin gave a broad wave of his hand, and instantly one of the employees of the Heavenly Jewel Island walked up, handing each of the competitors a Spatial Ring and a Lustre Gem.

The lustre gem they received was almost exactly the same as the ones they had seen in the Skill Storing Palace, just a lot smaller. It was actually embedded into the top of the Spatial Ring, and it was easily accessible by just infusing Heavenly Energy through the ring and to the gem, easily activating it.

After everyone had gotten their Spatial Ring and Lustre Gem, Shangguan Longyin nodded, saying: “Within the Spatial Ring we have passed you, there is also sufficient food and water for thirty days. Prepare yourselves now, we will soon start the teleport.” As he said that, he lifted his hands in a signal to the ten old men behind him.

Ten white figures flashed in instant motion as they vanished into the mist.

Without a doubt, these ten old men were the ten Spatial Attribute Upper Level Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Masters required to activate the Lustre Spatial Realm that Shangguan Longyin had mentioned earlier.

For the other three teams, they were pretty used to it. After all, they had been attending the finals of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament every three years, and they were also from their own respective Great Saint Lands. However, for the members of the Fei Li Battle Team, seeing all that happen in front of their eyes was a barrage against their sensibilities indeed.

The Spatial Attribute, one of the four greater attributes, was considered rather rare. To be able to cultivate up to the Upper Level Zong Stage, they were all considered rare powerhouses in their own right; out in the world, they would probably be renowned. Yet, here in the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, they could send out ten so easily just to open a portal formation. The Heaven’s Expanse Palace, to be known as the top of the five Great Saint Lands, they truly had an impressive wealth and background, living up to their name indeed. Watching the scene in front of them, the entire Fei Li Battle Team, Zhou Weiqing included, could feel how small they were.

The process did not take long. Very soon, the thick mist around the Heaven’s Expanse Palace started to change colour, its original white starting to turn a pale silver, and they could all sense an intense fluctuation of Spatial Energy around the area.

An unbelievably thick roll of atmospheric energy spread across the crowd, causing everyone to perk up. Realisation dawned upon Zhou Weiqing.

No wonder Shangguan Xue’er was able to reach the seven-Jeweled stage at such a young age of below twenty! The atmospheric energy in the whole Heavenly Jewel Island was already much higher than the mainland, and here at the vicinity of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, it was even more so! Any Heavenly Jewel Master cultivating in such an environment would definitely find it much easier, yielding twice the result with half the effort. That was not even considering all their other wealth and treasures which could help their cultivation. The Heaven’s Expanse Palace had indeed made full use of the Heavenly Jewel Island to continually build their lead, walking step by step towards the top echelons of the world.

As the silver in the mist grew stronger, the silver light seemed to swirl and focus around Shangguan Longyin.

Abruptly, a piercing silver light shone forth from the center of the forming energy whirlpool… slowly turning into a gold colour. In the center of the energy whirlpool, it was as if a door was being opened, and if one looked closely, they would be able to sense that beyond the gold light lay another world.

Shangguan Longyin’s voice rang out: “Prepare yourselves to enter. You will enter the portal according to the last Heavenly Jewel Tournament’s placing. ZhongTian, WanShou, BaoPo, FeiLi. Your order of entry will be single file. Begin now!”

The ZhongTian Battle Team was the first to spring into action. Zhan LingTian, the leader of the ZhongTian Battle Team, who had shown such animosity towards Zhou Weiqing earlier, stood right in front; in a flash, he disappeared into the gold mist. Slowly, one by one, the entire team entered the light. Once they had all entered, the WanShou Battle Team followed, then the BaoPo Battle Team.

When it was the Fei Li Battle Team’s turn, Zhou Weiqing silently sent the sleeping Fat Cat in his arms into the Spatial Ring he had received. He did not want any unknown accidents when entering the other realm.

As he did that, he said to his companions in a low tone: “When you all enter the Lustre Spatial Realm, do not rush into any action. Just try your best to stay hidden and slowly familiarize yourself with the area. Avoid any fights if possible, and do not draw attention to yourselves. Our first priority is to try and group up together. If any of us meet up with any opponents or Heavenly Beasts we aren’t able to handle, just use the Lustre Gem directly. We are originally the weakest team, and no one expects more of us, there is no shame even if we get a fourth position.”

They did not have much time, and Zhou Weiqing could not wait for a proper team meeting, and he quickly spoke his mind before they entered.

Lin TianAo nodded in agreement, signalling his support for Zhou Weiqing’s words. The rest of the team also agreed swiftly in understanding. The Heavenly Jewel Tournament had finally started, and all of them were excited and nervous indeed.

Soon, it was finally their turn. Lin TianAo was the first to enter, with Zhou Weiqing following closely behind.

As he stepped into the golden mist, Zhou Weiqing instantly felt an indescribable sense of freedom flood his body, as his entire surroundings seemed to blur into an illusion. Soon after, he felt a strong suction power dragging his body charging in a direction. He did not know how long he moved, or how far it traveled, but he felt as if he had moved a massive distance indeed.

He seemed totally surrounded by a gold colour, and he couldn’t see anything else besides it. Abruptly, the gold light shone brighter, and Zhou Weiqing grunted in pain, closing his eyes. The next moment, his body tightened as the suction seemed to twist in a different direction for a moment, then a sense of realism returned to him.

Subconsciously, Zhou Weiqing instantly opened his eyes, and he was surprised to see that he was actually suspended in midair. Before he could react, he started falling at a breakneck speed.

Luckily, he wasn’t too far from the ground, and his body landed on a thick tree branch. After a succession of breaking branches, softening his blow, he finally crashed through the thick canopy and was now falling to the ground.

Having that buffer time, Zhou Weiqing cleared his mind quickly, unleashing his Heavenly Energy. At the same time, he grabbed out with his hand towards the tree trunk beside him to stabilize himself.

As his hand made contact with the tree trunk, Zhou Weiqing discovered that its wood was extremely tough, perhaps even tougher than his Heavenly Bow Empire’s Stars Wood!

With that stabilizing, he was able to drop down to the ground easily before starting to examine his surroundings.

As he looked around, Zhou Weiqing could not help but give an exclamation of surprise. It was hard to believe that the scene before his eyes was a man-made realm.

A beautiful blue sky and white clouds adorned the scene above his head, and all around him, it was all forestry, with no signs of any humans living there.

The tree beside him which had broke his fall was almost twenty metres tall, a massive foliage. He was surprised to find that he could barely recognize most of the vegetation around him; most of which he had not even seen or heard of before.

The air was crisp and clear, the atmosphere even better than the Heavenly Jewel Island, with the temperature extremely good as well. Although he was surrounded by vegetation, the humidity wasn’t too high. In his eyes, this seemed like an almost perfect place for cultivation. Everything seemed so real, not at all like he was in a different realm. Without question, this was the Lustre Spatial Realm.

Leaning back into the large tree, Zhou Weiqing did not jump into action instantly. Taking his time to take in the sights and sounds, he thought to himself that he was rather lucky. At least, he had not been ambushed by Heavenly Beasts upon his entrance.

After a moment’s pause while he settled down, he quickly released Fat Cat from within the Spatial Ring.