Heavenly Jewel Change

Shangguan Tianyue glanced coldly at Zhou Weiqing, saying: “Your power? Is your power to bully those poor Heavenly Beasts of my Heavenly Jewel Island?”

“Uhhmm… that…”

Shangguan Tianyang said: “Alright, we already know about you using the Skill Storing Palace Heavenly Beasts, cultivating the Saint Energy with the Devour Skill right? You need to ensure that no Heavenly Beasts will die because of that. Every Heavenly King Stage Heavenly Beast and above that you Devour, you will need to pay a million gold. Yesterday, you two Devoured from over thirty Heavenly Beasts right, I will round it down for you. Later, pay up thirty million gold before you leave the island. Of course, if you wish to continue Devouring, you can do so. The price is the same.”

“Ahh?” Zhou Weiqing stared with jaw agape at Shangguan Tianyang, who looked serious and stern. “This… Uncle, we are all a family right? Isn’t mentioning money too much of an outside matter?”

Shangguan Tianyang smiled gently: “A family? I wonder who it is who won away two hundred million gold from our ZhongTian Empire, you certainly aren’t courteous in that regard! Oh, right, one more thing, you all destroyed my ZhongTian Plaza today, as one of the main culprits and the victorious side, you should take up the payment for it as well. Let’s give it a discounted price of ten million gold. Also… those three girls, their bride price and betrothal gifts, you still need to give right? Hmmm…. Another hundred million gold… that isn’t considered much right?”

As Zhou Weiqing listened up to this point, his mouth was already gaping open so wide, unable to shut. This… this was daylight robbery! However, the critical thing was…. He was unable to reject it!

At the side, Tian’er was covering her mouth and giggles, but she did not say a word.

Lounging back casually, Shangguan Tianyang said in a relaxed fashion: “So… are you giving or not?”

Zhou Weiqing’s heart was bleeding! Alas, as one was under the eaves, how could he dare to not lower his head? This was a matter of his own future happiness, could he not give the money?

“Give, give, of course I’ll give. Uhh, Uncle, Father-in-law, after our fight with the Dan Dun Battle Team today, we are just too exhausted, our condition isn’t too good. We are going to head back to rest first. Haha, well I didn’t bring the gold with me today, when it is time for the Finals, I will bring it.”

After saying that, he practically dragged Tian’er along as he fled the scene.

Looking at his sorry figure fleeing into the distance, a smile crossed the Shangguan brothers faces.

However, what they did not know was… As Zhou Weiqing brought Tian’er to leave the Heavenly Jewel Island, his panicked face turned into a sly grin, as if a cunning plan had succeeded.

Tian’er asked curiously: “You were just forcefully cheated of more than a hundred million gold, and you can still smile so happily?”

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “Why shouldn’t I laugh? As the saying goes ‘The wool still comes from the sheep’s back, a good sheep means good fur, and a good fur means good money.1 That one hundred million gold was originally their money after all, and we won almost two hundred million in the bets for the preliminary stage, and we are only returning them slightly more than half. That means we have almost a hundred million gold left still. Furthermore, by giving that amount, that means they have subtly agreed to my relationship with Bing’er, Fei’er and Xue’er…”

“Also, it brings an official relationship to ourselves and the ZhongTian Empire as proper allies… before this, we were merely just a chess piece to the ZhongTian Empire. However, our Saint Energy, and the performance of our people in the Crescent City Battle… we have managed to fight for this status. Of course, from the current state of things, the ZhongTian Empire will not treat us as equal allies, but at least we are no longer a mere chess piece. This is a very good beginning. Without the ZhongTian Empire supporting us from behind, with just our powers alone, it will be nearly impossible to fight against the Bai Da Empire, let alone the Dan Dun Empire.”

Tian’er was stupefied. “Why do I suddenly feel like you are such a schemer?”

Zhou Weiqing gave a defeated look as he said sadly: “What scheme is this, you should say this is intelligence and wisdom! Your husband, I, am a wise man! Although I may not have much ambitions, I will still do my best to ensure that in the near future, my homeland will have the power to ensure no one dares offend us easily.”

Tian’er burst into giggles, saying: “Anyway, no matter if you are an Admiral, General or just a farmer, I will follow you.”

…

The Heavenly Jewel Tournament preliminary round had ended, and the top eight fights would only begin after a few days. This year’s Heavenly Bow Battle Team could be said to be far ‘Darker’ 2 than the last tournament’s Fei Li Battle Team. After all, at least the Fei Li Battle Team was from a major empire, and even prior tournaments they had good results of fifth position previously. However, it was the first time that the Heavenly Bow Battle Team had attended the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, and they had already entered the top eight stage. This was truly unbelievable in most people’s eyes.

In the top eight round, the Heavenly Bow Battle Team would be facing up against the BaoPo Battle Team. This time, no one would dare to look down or underestimate this dark horse team. Ever since the last day of the preliminary stage ended, almost the entire ZhongTian City audience who had watched the fight that day were discussing it with great relish, the fight which had brought that so much surprise to them. It was being spread so much that they had almost become myths.

Although Zhuo Weiqing and Tian’er did not go through another round of Devouring Heavenly Beasts, their Saint Energy had after all already reached a level of one hundred and fifty drops each. Just by their normal cultivation using the large Saint Energy whirlpool, though it was slow, they would eventually recover a large portion.

Ever since they had gained the Saint Energy, although Zhou Weiqing would try his best not to depend too much on the Saint Energy, it was considered his last and most critical secret ace in hand for any danger.

Currently, though the Heavenly Bow Empire was in the development stage, perhaps they could even be considered as just starting out; however, with the Peerless Regiment and the Fei Li God General, or rather the now Heavenly Bow God General Ming Yu at the head of development and commanding, they were definitely on the right track. However, the problem was the Heavenly Bow Empire lacked absolute powerhouses.

Without sufficient powerhouses, facing the Kalise Empire was still alright, but in the future when they had to face the Bai Da Empire, things would become far more complicated. This was also the main reason why both Zhou Weiqing and Ming Yu were focusing on building up their strength instead of rushing to extend their territories and destroy the Kalise Empire. After all, with the current Peerless Regiment, it would not be too difficult to take down the Kalise Empire!

If Zhou Weiqing could bring his own personal strength to a much higher level, especially if he could enter the Heavenly King Stage, it would be an immense aid to their future development. This was the reason why he could leave the Heavenly Bow Empire in such a critical point of the Empire’s development, and the Heavenly Bow Empire upper echelons did not have any issues with that, as they knew how important this was.

…

After descending from the Heavenly Jewel Island, both Zhou Weiqing and Tian’er would rest for the next days, not even leaving their rooms. If Zhou Weiqing would have to describe it, the sun was shining brightly outside, but the windows were closed, curtains shut and comforters drawn tight.

In truth, they were deep in cultivation these few days.

With continued use of the Saint Energy, they began to have a deeper understanding of it.

Besides the power of Creation of the Saint Energy, they had another feeling regarding the Saint Energy, which was its extremely powerful self protection. Simply put, no matter how they used the Saint Energy, it would never actually cause any harm to themselves. Just the example when they had infused the Saint Energy into the Ward of the Demon God, releasing such a terrifying and powerful Skill. With the aura and scale of the Demon God, if it continued devouring their Saint Energy, not only their energy would be drained dry, even their life force and souls would be devoured totally, with nothing left.

However, at the critical moment, even with the powerful Will of the Demon God Projection behind it, the remaining Saint Energy was able to automatically cut off the connection, protecting them from harm, so much so that their little Saint Energy whirlpool was still maintained. It could be considered a ‘last second’ save even.

The importance of this could not be stressed more, especially since they were still at the beginning stages of training in the Saint Energy. After all, with their current cultivation level, they were still far from being able to use the true power of the Saint Energy, but with this recognition of the self defensive capabilities, at least when they were experimenting and training in its usage, they could be bolder and take more risks, which would definitely be a good aid in their progress.

Of course, that was not just the only benefit to the Saint Energy. In fact, that day after Devouring from so many powerful Heavenly Beasts and bringing their Saint Energy past a hundred drops, both Zhou Weiqing and Tian’er could sense that in their original Heavenly Energy, there was starting to show signs of a very faint silver-white glow. The glow about their Heavenly Energy might be very dim, but it was extremely beneficial to their cultivation process and speed. Firstly, it seemed like the glow was attached to their meridian channels, not only strengthening the channels but also increasing their absorption rate substantially. Secondly, with this seeming remnant of Saint Energy around, it also greatly increased the absorption rate of the Heavenly Energy they drew in, making the entire process easier… almost by half! The Saint Energy was on a level far above any other individual Attribute, and thus when any Attribute Heavenly Energy had any interaction with the Saint Energy, it became much ‘tamer’.

When Zhou Weiqing and Tian’er sensed this new discovery, they were extremely delighted. Previously, although there had been improvements to their cultivation, it was not as obvious as it now was. They understood the underlying meaning and how it would affect their future cultivation speeds drastically. As long as they had enough time, and enough external energy to transform into Saint Energy, it would perhaps not be too long before they truly consolidated the Saint Nucleus Core. Once that happened, they would no longer need to fear anyone.

Cultivation had always been a dry and monotonous activity, but with the continuous experimentation of the wonders of the Saint Energy, it brought a new and interesting facet to the cultivation. It also gave them much joy and wonder as they tried out various things, experimenting in all sorts of methods. After all, the Saint Energy would not harm them, and thus they were starting to be bolder.

However, Tian’er was also a little vexed. With her background from one of the stronger Great Saint Lands, the Heavenly Snow Mountain, and the only daughter of the strongest powerhouse in the world… yet her cultivation speed was still no match for Zhou Weiqing!

That Immortal Deity Technique of Zhou Weiqing’s was just too overbearing. With his current over twenty Death Acupuncture Points broken through, and the energy whirlpools at work at the same time, it was as if he was a black hole, making a clean sweep of the atmospheric energy around, drawing in all sorts of attribute energies. As soon as those energy whirlpools held a hint of Saint Energy, the sheer cultivation speed he could maintain was shocking, even to Tian’er. It had to be known that currently Tian’er was at a higher cultivation level than Zhou Weiqing, already at the seven-Jeweled stage. Even with such an obvious advantage, she was still slower than him in terms of cultivation.

It could be said that the Saint Energy’s benefit to Zhou Weiqing in this regard was far greater than Tian’er. Of course, this had a strong connection with his Immortal Deity Technique. In the past, Zhou Weiqing always had some qualms and worry about cultivation in his heart. After all, the pain and suffering that the Immortal Deity Technique brought to him everytime he broke through was just too memorable. Even with his considerable willpower, he would still feel fear thinking about it.