Heavenly Jewel Change

Shangguan Fei’er giggled and said: “We three sisters are already being given to that naughty fellow, he is already getting such a big advantage… how can we let him go without some pressure? That fellow, we need to punish him a bit first.”

Shangguan Xue’er gave a humph and said: “Is that really a punishment? More like a gift.”

Shangguan Fei’er giggled, saying: “Big sis, don’t just say me. What stage have you and that naughty fellow advanced to? If I did not guess wrongly, he must have taken advantage of you somehow. Otherwise, with your character, how could you easily fall for a man?”

Shangguan Xue’er blushed faintly, glaring slightly at her sister before saying: “If you keep talking about this, I’ll disqualify you from participating in the Heavenly Jewel Tournament. Furthermore, if you want to marry him, just go ahead and marry him, what connection is there with me?”

Shangguan Fei’er continued smiling, saying teasingly: “Is that true? Hmmmm… but… I don’t know who it was who heard Papa speak about how Zhou Weiqing told him about the Saint Energy, using the fact that he can help us consolidate Saint Core Nucleus in exchange for Papa’s agreement to our matter… who was it who was so touched? Sis, I have never you seen you so touched by another man. Us sisters have such strong empathy with each other, it is no point acting.”

Shangguan Xue’er gave a humph, but she did not refute Shangguan Fei’er’s words. “That is because you do not know what the Saint Energy truly means. I never expected he would do such a thing. That Saint Energy that he and Tian’er cultivated, as long as he is given sufficient time, he will become the most powerful in the entire… not one of.”

Shangguan Fei’er’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Even that one on the Heavenly Snow Mountain also can’t?”

Shangguan Xue’er nodded seriously.

Right at that moment, Shangguan Bing’er suddenly lifted up her head where she had been crying in Shangguan Xue’er’s embrace. With eyes still blurred from tears, she said: “Big sis, Second Sis, I miss Little Fatty, I really miss him…”

Shangguan Xue’er gently patted her sister’s back, saying softly: “Bing’er, don’t be so anxious, you will get to see him very soon.”

“You have just finished your closed door cultivation, and you need to recuperate your body in this period; you need to refrain from overwhelming yourself with emotions. He won’t run away, don’t worry. He is no longer the same Zhou Weiqing as he was years ago. Currently, even if a Heavenly King Stage powerhouse tries something against him, it won’t be so easy to succeed.”

Zhou Weiqing returned to the inn, telling Yun Li and the others that he would be entering a short closed door cultivation with Tian’er before heading back to his room.

He told Tian’er about everything that had happened in the Heavenly Jewel Island, not hiding anything at all. This was where Zhou Weiqing showed his intelligence. He knew he had been a playboy, and if had to keep trying to hide or balance the relationships between the girls, he would never have time for anything else. As such, Zhou Weiqing had long decided that he would treat all his wives equally, speaking the truth about matters. Although sometimes the truth wasn’t comfortable to listen to, at least once you told the truth, you didn’t have to worry about covering up lies and stumbling.

Tian’er listened to Zhou Weiqing’s telling, and she just remained quietly in his embrace, holding his hand but remaining quiet.

Zhou Weiqing asked tentatively, a little nervous: “Dear, aren’t you jealous?” As soon as he asked that, he wanted to slap himself. Who would ask such a question? Alas, the words were already out of his mouth, and he couldn’t take it back.

Tian’er gave a light humph. “What is the point of being jealous? If I really was jealous, would you abandon them? I have already thought things through, if you really don’t want me in the future, I will take the child and live by myself. Anyway I already have a precious baby, you aren’t so important anymore.”

“Ehhh… Why does it sound like I’m just a studhorse…” Zhou Weiqing gave a depressed look as he said.

Tian’er giggled and said: “You are exactly just a stud horse1.”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Dearest, since you want a child, then we should make the best use of our time. After all, we don’t really know if we truly have a child together yet right? Heh heh.”

Tian’er gave him a light punch, saying: “Didn’t you say we were going to cultivate in closed door cultivation, to do some last minute training?”

Zhou Weiqing looked at her beautiful face and smooth skin, and his hands couldn’t help themselves as they ‘roamed’ about. “Well… it won’t take that long… it’s just to get us in the mood for cultivating.”

Tian’er: “….”

…

Days passed, one after the other, and as it got closer and closer to the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, the ZhongTian City also grew more crowded, bustling with life. Although the ordinary citizens did not know the unique underlying currents in this year’s Heavenly Jewel Tournament, and they did not know about the changes in the Lustre Spatial Realm of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace which caused it; to them, it was still one of the grandest events they could experience every time it was organized.

All the rooms in the inns were already filled up, and some of the Battle Teams which had come later had to go to the ZhongTian Empire to arrange places for them to stay.

The lively atmosphere infected almost everyone in the entire ZhongTian City, and various news about the Heavenly Jewel Tournament also spread like wildfire. This was especially so for all the estimations of each Battle Team’s strength; there were so many various editions spreading around.

After all, the Heavenly Jewel Tournament was also one of the ZhongTian Empire top betting events. After all, there were so many people joining the Tournament, and if one could seize the opportunity to bet on a dark horse, they could possibly gain a fortune overnight. For example, the last Tournament’s Fei Li Empire… Although many had lost a lot of gold, there were the few who had made off like kings with the sheer odds… especially during the fight against the Dan Dun Empire where it had been a 100 to 1 odds… Zhou Weiqing was not the only one who had earned from that.

Amongst the over twenty Battle Teams that had joined, the most attention was naturally focused on the powerful Battle Teams which had the Great Saint Lands behind their backs. This was a normal situation that happened every single Heavenly Jewel Tournament. However, this year, another team was also under high scrutiny, and that was naturally the Fei Li Battle Team.

After all, the Fei Li Battle Team had been the biggest dark horse in the previous Heavenly Jewel Tournament, perhaps even in the history of the Tournament itself. More so, it had actually won all the way, even obtaining the final championship, shocking the entire world. This round, naturally there were many who looked at them with high hopes and expectations. Of course, every single Battle Team was doing their best to keep their team members and strength secret. As such, the news that ordinary citizens could get was highly limited, and amongst them, the Fei Li Battle Team was one of the most mysterious ones… and also one that had greatest anticipation for many.

As for the Heavenly Bow Battle Team, no one would pay attention to them. Every session of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, there would be countless of small empires joining the Tournament, but all of them just served as a foil or contrast to the large empires.

Only a few observant people would notice that this Heavenly Bow Empire which had already been destroyed, had actually appeared on the main namelist of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament… what did that mean? Of course, even if they noticed it, they did not pay much attention to it. Who would treat such an unknown Battle Team as one of the hot favourites?

By this time, the registration period of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament had ended. This year, there were a total of twenty five Battle Teams, representing their respective Empires. Similarly to past years, they were split into four groups, three with six teams each and a fourth with seven Battle Teams. For that particular group, it would perhaps be relatively harder to advance.

The lot-drawing ceremony has also completed yesterday, and the one to represent the Heavenly Bow Empire to draw lots was Yun Li. However, when he returned with the results of the lots and told Zhou Weiqing, it gave Zhou Weiqing such a huge shock that he could only stare with jaw agape.

The group which the Heavenly Bow Empire had been placed into could truly be called the ‘Group of Death’. Not only was it the only group with seven Battle Teams, the real reason it was called the Group of Death was because there were actually TWO of the Battle Teams backed by the Great Saint Lands! Perhaps what made Zhou Weiqing speechless was that several of them were even old enemies and foes, or those with links to them.

This group had seven teams which included the ZhongTian Battle Team, Dan Dun Battle Team, Bai Da Battle Team, Kalise Battle Team, Mi Ou Battle Team, Geritimo Battle Team and of course, the Heavenly Bow Battle Team.

“Big bro… are you toying with me? Please say you are.” Zhou Weiqing looked at Yun Li’s calm face, then back down at the group list and schedule, his brow twitching violently.

Yun Li glanced at him, but did not speak.

Zhou Weiqing had a ‘speechless’ look on his face, as he said: “My dear big boss, this is not true right?! Are you trying to play me to my death?! What kind of enemies did you draw!! All old friends and old foes! If you want me to die, you should just say so directly. This must be a prank right? Quick, take out the real schedule.”

Yun Li said exasperatedly: “This is the real result. If you don’t believe it, you can go look for yourself. Isn’t it just a bit of bad luck, it’s not like I did it on purpose. Anyway, this is also a good thing right? Any enmity, we can deal with it all at once.”

Zhou Weiqing’s heart was bleeding! “Big brother… is this really just a ‘bit’ of bad luck?! Look at all the enemies? ZhongTian Empire… nothing much more needs to be said right? With the three Shangguan Sisters… we don’t have to imagine that they will go easy on us. Don’t forget your precious Little Miss Muddle will be part of them… I dare say their average cultivation level is at least seven Jewels or higher.”

“Next is the Dan Dun Empire… that is an old enemy of mine. I heard that the previous team leader Shen Little Demon has already reached the seven-Jeweled stage, yet this time she couldn’t even make it as the Vice Leader. So… yeah, they can’t be underestimated either. Besides that, well… at least the Kalise Empire and Bai Da Empire are great, those are the two that I had hoped to meet the most. At least I can vent my anger then…”

“Then, there is the Geritimo Empire… This is also a large Empire equal to the Fei Li Empire, and they have just lost a war against the Dan Dun Empire… they will definitely be gearing up their best to take revenge in this Heavenly Jewel Tournament… so it will be safe to say that their Battle Team will also not be weak.”

“Overall… besides the Mi Ou Battle Team which should be an easy fight… we will have three extremely tough fights ahead of us just in the group stages alone. And there will only be two Battle Teams which can advance from ths group stages. I… I…”

Yun Li said helplessly: “The lots have been drawn, it is already set in stone… what else can I do?”

Zhou Weiqing said savagely: “What else can you do… hmph… every round you will be the first to fight. Let’s see what else you can do. Hmph Hmph.”

Yun Li was also staunch and unyielding. With a humph of his own, he retorted: “Fine, I’m fine with being first to fight!”

…

At last, the official start date of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament was finally here. Before dawn, the entire ZhongTian City was already bustling with life and cheer. The sounds of sales, shouting, breakfast, all of it rose and fall from every single corner of the city.

After having breakfast, the ZhongTian Battle Team members were all called to Zhou Weiqing’s room.

Straw/Bamboo Hat”Wear these clothes, and these bamboo hats. We will set off soon.” Zhou Weiqing pointed to the pile of clothes on the table. Both he and Tian’er had already changed into them.

These were unbelievably simple clothings. Grey, plain common clothes. Indeed, simple cotton clothing which weren’t even military attire. The only redeeming feature about the clothes was that they were of pure cotton, so they were at least relatively comfortable. There was pretty much no difference between these clothes and that of ordinary work attire of porters and haulers… without any decorations or embellishments.

Besides the grey clothes, there was a simple bamboo hat, with a simple tassel. In any case, once they wore that hat, as long as it wasn’t someone with x-ray vision, no one could tell how they looked like.