Heavenly Jewel Change

As he walked almost blankly towards the paradise-like Palace, Zhou Weiqing was still lost in shock. At the same time, he was filled with curiosity. Everything else aside, just the looks of this place was already enough to live up to its name of Great Saint Land.

Very quickly, they arrived in front of the Palace. Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but ask his guide: “Senior, don’t you have guards here?” Naturally, the reason he asked was because he could not see or even sense any guards in front or around the massive Palace.

The white clad guide turned his head towards Zhou Weiqing and said passively: “Our Heavenly Palace does not require any guards.”

Zhou Weiqing scolded himself inwardly for asking such a foolish question. Since he had already guessed that this Heaven’s Expanse Palace was in a solitary Spatial Realm of its own, unless one had the gemstone he had previously used, who else could get in easily?

It was only after they entered the Palace that Zhou Weiqing finally saw other people – four youths dressed in light blue robes, standing at both sides of a large hall.

The decorations within the Palace were not very grand or resplendent, just a simple light blue colour with a few gems embedded to complete the simple but beautiful look. However, each of those gems were sufficient to give Zhou Weiqing a shock, as their size, hue and purity was definitely breathtaking. Any of these gems would be worth a fortune in the outside world.

The white clad guide walked to the center of the large hall, lifting his right hand and a light blue gemstone appeared in it. Soon after, a light blue light shone forth from the gemstone, spreading out swiftly and instantly covering every nook and cranny of this thousand metre large hall.

A magnificent sight accompanied the splendour of the blue light as it spread around the whole hall. The surrounding walls, ten metres tall, all with various gemstones inlaid. These gemstones seemed to be activated by the incoming blue light, and all of them burst forth with their own light as well. In that moment, the entire hall was filled with a cacophony of colours, strange yet beautiful.

On the floor, symbols and formations started to appear one after the other, varied colours, from simple designs to complicated formations. The thick Heavenly Energy filling the entire hall caused Zhou Weiqing’s shocked heart to reverberate once more.

The white clad guide gestured towards Zhou Weiqing, signalling for him to follow behind, before turning and walking to one of the gold formations that had appeared in the midst of the hall floor.

Subconsciously, Zhou Weiqing followed suit. Before he could even see what the white clad guide had done, another gold ray of light appeared around them, and once again their surroundings seemed to blur. Another teleportation.

In that moment, Zhou Weiqing seemed to grasp a certain understanding of the structure of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. He understood that whether or not the actual Heaven’s Expanse Palace was this Palace, or part of it, this grand hall was merely a transfer station. In order to reach the more important portions of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, the only way would be to go through these formations’ teleportations. Furthermore, he guessed that depending on one’s rank within the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, the number of formations one could access would differ accordingly. No wonder the Heaven’s Expanse Palace did not require guards; even ignoring the difficulty of accessing the Spatial Realm from the Heavenly Jewel Island, just differentiating and breaking through all of these teleportation formations was unbelievably difficult.

Another flash of gold light, and both Zhou Weiqing and his white clad guide appeared in another space. It was another wide hall, but this time the colouring was all different; from the light blue of the previous hall to a light gold colour. The entire hall was covered with a light mist, and on inner side of the hall there were three grand large chairs raised up slightly atop a dais. There were three men at the area, and Zhou Weiqing suddenly realised that he recognized two of the three men.

Of the three chairs, two were filled, the center and left one, with the one on the right empty. There was another man standing right below the left chair.

The man standing there was the most familiar to Zhou Weiqing; Shangguan Longyin, the ZhongTian Empire Skill Storing Palace Master.

The ZhongTian Skill Storing Palace could be said to be largest, most well stocked, and most powerful Skill Storing Palace in the entire Boundless Mainland. As its Palace Master, even ignoring Shangguan Longyin’s own considerable personal power, just the resources and manpower he could mobilize and bring into play was absolutely terrifying. Yet, even so, in this hall, he did not even have a seat, instead standing there with his hands by his side.

As for the two seated, Zhou Weiqing also recognized one of them, the one seated on the left. He was dressed in a long white robe, a gold crown with an inlaid dragon symbol on his head. He looked young and handsome, but his eyes showed his maturity and profound insight. Just from appearance alone, it was definitely difficult to tell his real age.

This man had once left a deep impression on Zhou Weiqing. That was because he was the father of the beautiful triplet sisters, Shangguan Bing’er, Fei’er and Xue’er, the Second Palace Master of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, Shangguan Tianyue.

With men of power like Shangguan Longyin standing respectfully to the side and Shangguan Tianyue seated at the side, it was not difficult to guess the identity of the one seated in the main seat.

Seated up straight on the main seat was a middle aged man. His features were at least seventy percent similar to Shangguan Tianyue, though seeming warmer and gentler in comparison, giving forth a harmless, innocuous feel. This was especially so for his eyes; the moment Zhou Weiqing looked into those eyes, he felt as if he was bathed in warmth, like a fresh spring breeze had filled the room, giving him a feeling as if he were very close to the man.

The white clad guide who had brought Zhou Weiqing here gave a ninety degree bow to all three men before slowly moving back. Before long, he had disappeared into the mist behind.

After a short moment of analysis in his heart, Zhou Weiqing quickly readjusted himself. Bowing slightly, he said evenly, neither haughty nor humble: “Hello three Seniors…”

Shangguan Tianyue said coldly: “Zhou Weiqing, do you know what you have done wrong?!”

Zhou Weiqing looked at his future father in law, a surprised look on his face as he said: “Father in law, may I know what your little son in law has done wrong?”

Hearing this ‘father in law’, both Shangguan Longyin and the middle aged man in the middle started. Shangguan Tianyue’s body froze in place. He had not expected that in the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, this little rascal Zhou Weiqing would actually dare to call him that.

“Who’s your father in law?!” Shangguan Tianyue shouted angrily. In truth, he was actually very good at controlling himself, but who knew why, every time he saw Zhou Weiqing, especially now with that surprised look on his face and the way he called him father in law, he just couldn’t control his anger.

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Father in law, you might as well accept my address of you. I will definitely marry Bing’er, and Bing’er will also definitely marry me. Since I will have to call you that in future, why not now than later?”

Hearing his words, both Shangguan Longyin and the middle aged man couldn’t help but reveal a smile on their faces.

In using such shameless methods at this point, Zhou Weiqing actually had much deeper meaning, it was not just some senseless provocation of Shangguan Tianyue.

Since the Heaven’s Expanse Palace was already willing to give them the Heavenly Jewel Tournament rewards, it already proved that they were not about to make things difficult for him. However, he had after all ruined their great chance in the Lustre Spatial Realm, so they would definitely have to pressure him a little, perhaps even make use of this chance to lower the price for the Immortal Deity Technique trade. Now, with him shamelessly calling Shangguan Tianyue his father in law, not only would it relax the entire atmosphere, it was also a subtle reminder to the three men of status in front of him – as if saying ‘Don’t try to scare me, my psyche is stronger than you think. Furthermore, I’m already your Heaven’s Expanse Palace future son-in-law, we’re all the same family, don’t be too hard on me’.

Shangguan Tianyue smacked his palm on the armrest of his chair, an overbearing pressure instantly enveloping Zhou Weiqing, as if about to tear his body apart.

Zhou Weiqing immediately felt as if the air around his body was congealed into a solid, pressuring against him from all directions like several mountains were pressing down. His entire bloodstream seemed to slow, as if following suit with the air around him and congealing.

However, the smile on his face did not break, and he stood there smiling faintly at Shangguan Tianyue.

How could Shangguan Tianyue not understand that smile. This little rascal clearly knew that he could not kill him. In truth, Shangguan Tianyue indeed could not kill him. After all, his own beloved daughter had already been taken advantage of by this little rascal, and was fully head over heels in love with him. What would happen to her if he was really killed off?

“Alright, enough, Tianyue.” The middle aged man in the middle lifted his right hand slightly, and instantly Zhou Weiqing felt his body lighten, all the pressure disappearing in an instant. Shangguan Tianyue gave an angry humph, glaring at him coldly for a moment before turning his gaze away.

“Weiqing, before you actually become our Heaven’s Expanse Palace son in law, I’ll call you this first.” the middle aged man smiled faintly as he said. It was as if he would never ever lose his temper, his voice as gentle as his gaze. Along with his intimate addressing, it was easy for anyone to have a favourable, close impression of him.

Zhou Weiqing’s observation skills were not to be trifled with. When the middle aged man opened his mouth, he felt his heart skip a beat. Even when compared to Shangguan Tianyue, this smiling, gentle middle aged man gave him an even greater pressure inside. The reason was simple – as soon as he started speaking, Zhou Weiqing could clearly see that Shangguan Longyin, standing at the side, revealed a respectful look on his face. Even when Shangguan Tianyue was speaking earlier or putting pressure on him, Shangguan Longyin had been smiling as he watched. That could only mean that Shangguan Longyin’s respect towards this middle aged man was far beyond that towards Shangguan Tianyue.

Zhou Weiqing’s judgement was pretty accurate. The gentle warmth of the middle aged man was not actually due to his own character, but a natural phenomenon caused by the Heaven’s Expanse Palace main training technique, the Boundless Infinitum Technique, being cultivated to the maximum. As for Shangguan Tianyue, his cultivation was still quite a distance from the middle aged man’s.

“My name is Shangguan Tianyang, the Heaven’s Expanse Palace Master. I believe you should know very clearly the reason why we have called you here. Now that the Heavenly Jewel Tournament has ended, the trade that we have agreed upon can be carried out.”

This Heaven’s Expanse Palace Master, the leader of the top of the Five Great Saint Lands, one of the strongest people in the entire Boundless Mainland. With just a simple, almost casual statement, he dismissed the entire incident of Zhou Weiqing ruining the ZhongTian Battle Team’s actions in the Lustre Spatial Realm, as if nothing had happened. Just this generous bearing of his alone, it was definitely enough to make one admire him deeply.

Zhou Weiqing bowed slightly towards Shangguan Tianyang before saying: “Hello Senior Shangguan. In that case, we can start our trade then. However, before that, I have another small request, would Senior be okay with that?”