Heavenly Jewel Change Chapter 151-160

Chapter 151 Adulation of Angels!

Zhou Weiqing looked curiously at Mu En, thinking to himself: Teacher Scoundrel, how did you manage to do that? Of course, now was not the time to ask questions, and he could only hide his curiosity in his heart.

Hearing Zhou Weiqing call out ‘Teacher’, Shen Bu sensed a massive pressure about her, coming from all directions, making her feel as if she could not breath. However, that pressure was actually self inﬂicted. That Zhou Weiqing fellow was already so disgusting, and his teacher was actually also in the army camp. Although he was dressed in an ordinary army uniform, looking in disarray, the waistline of his pants stretched to its maximum limit… still, he was still Zhou Weiqing’s teacher!

Long Shiya walked over to Zhou Weiqing’s side before tilting his head. His eyes still seemed a little drowsy from drink; clearly he had not used his Heavenly Energy to detoxicate himself.

“Ehh, isn’t that the little brat Green Wolf? He was still drinking happily with me last night, and Your Father, I, managed to drink him under the table. Why is he laying here pretending to be dead?” As he said that, Long Shiya bent down and grabbed hold of Green Wolf.

“Teacher, Green Wolf is critically injured. You…” Zhou Weiqing hurriedly said. However, before he could complete his sentence, his eyes widened.

As Green Wolf was hoisted up, a layer of dim gold light sprang about his entire body. Atop his head, an illusory looking gold symbol formed out of the gold light, looking like an extremely cute little angel. The next moment, Green Wolf’s entire body seemed to turn gold in colour, as if someone had painted his entire body with gold paint.

“Aiiiyyyaaah, that hurts so bad!” Green Wolf’s cry of pain suddenly rang out.

Long Shiya’s other hand clapped down on his chest before puling back, looking rather clumsy as he did so. However, that caved-in chest of Green Wolf’s seemed to puff back out, and under the cover of the gold light, his entire body started to tremble and shake.

“Tonight, remember to come and accompany this old man to drink again.” Long Shiya ﬂicked his wrist, and Green Wolf stumbled and reeled to the back. However, a miracle occurred as Green Wolf stumbled… Originally on the verge of death, he suddenly recovered his balance and stood up tall. His own face was a mask of surprise, but no matter how they looked at him, he did not look like he had been on his last breath just

moments ago. If not for the fact there was still blood at his lips, no one would believe that this fellow had been injured at all.

“Master, you’re too great!” Zhou Weiqing was overjoyed. At this moment, he truly felt like jumping over to hug his teacher and give him a kiss. In truth, he was also in a tough dilemma, having ridden a tiger and was now ﬁnding it hard to get off. Previously, he had been in such a rage, and he could not easily take back those savage words; otherwise he would lose all credibility in front of his Peerless Battalion brothers.

However, if they really took action against the Sixteenth Regiment, although they would not have any problems taking them down, that would also mean the end of them being able to stay in the northern army camp. That would be a huge blow to Zhou Weiqing’s original plan. At the same time, he did not have any time for regrets, and could only hope that Shen Bu would give in. However, his own demands were extremely harsh and severe, and it was unlikely that she would do so. Now, Long Shiya and Mu En’s appearance could be said to be at a perfect moment. With a single easy action, Long Shiya had healed green Wolf. Ignoring the stunningly frightening power he showed, just the fact that Green Wolf would live meant that the greatest conﬂict between both sides had been resolved… and there was a chance for a favourable turn to events.

“Battalion Commander.” Green Wolf looked towards Zhou Weiqing. Such a tall stout man like him, but his eyes reddened in that moment. He had known of Zhou Weiqing’s arrival, and had also heard all his words clearly, though he had not been able to speak due to his injuries. He had never expected that Zhou Weiqing would go far with the Sixteenth Regiment for his sake.

Being a rufﬁan or scoundrel did not mean that they did not have feelings, just that perhaps they were much better at hiding their feelings than ordinary people, masking it under their surface cunning or violence. However, once such people actually opened their hearts, they would undoubtedly be much stronger than ordinary.

In that instance, Green Wolf looked to Zhou Weiqing totally as his true big brother… no matter that his own age was actually higher than Zhou Weiqing. At this point, if Zhou Weiqing were to send him to his death, he would do so unhesitatingly. A gentleman would die for a patron who recognizes his worth, a scholar would die for his bosom friend. These words were a perfect description of Green Wolf’s current feelings.

Zhou Weiqing glared at him exasperatedly. “You useless bum, can you do things properly? Losing a ﬁght and almost being beaten to death… if you lose don’t you know how to call for help?! Or run?! Tcheh, go back there, I’ll deal with you after we settle this over here.”

“Yes, yes, Battalion Commander, this old wolf will take any punishment. In the future, this life of mine is yours, absolutely loyal to the core.”

Zhou Weiqing almost burst out laughing, the tightened muscles of his face couldn’t help but twitch as he restrained himself. “Loyalty your head! Your Father, I, do not love men that way! Get lost!”

As soon as he said that, the Peerless Battalion soldiers, who had been full of anger, all burst out laughing. Green Wolf also turned red in embarrassment, though his heart was also ﬁlled with gratitude, as if being scolded by Zhou Weiqing was an honour. He quickly turned and ran to the back. “Wait…” Zhou Weiqing called him back. “You fool, who just saved your life?!”

Only then did Green Wolf react. He was after all an intelligent man, and he suddenly knelt down towards Long Shiya and kowtowed down. “Thank you, sire, for saving my life.”

Long Shiya laughed heartily and said: “Get up… just come accompany this old man drinking at night. Look at how you seem now, so useless, what are you kneeling for.”

Green Wolf grinned and made a wine-drinking action at Long Shiya before hastily running off to the back.

Wei Feng had been looking on at the side, and he saw that the opportune time had come. As the Vice Battalion Commander, he was clear that it was a good time for him to step forward in a mediating role. After all, now that there was an excuse, it would be a good thing for both sides to step back… otherwise would they really slaughter the entire Sixteenth Regiment party?

“What are you all doing? Aren’t you tired of drawing your bows for so long? Settle down ﬁrst, wait and see.” Wei Feng said exasperatedly to the men. His words were naturally designed to ease up the atmosphere, but also to show to the Sixteenth Regiment that though they were taking a step back, this matter was not ﬁnished yet.

Right at that moment, a hurried galloping sound could be heard in the near distance. Hearing the sound, Zhou Weiqing heaved a sigh of relief inwardly. He knew that they would not actually end up ﬁghting for real after all. Lifting his leg, he gave a kick and sent the Heavy Cavalry Battalion Commander back in front of Shen Bu. That fellow had been nearly fully drained by Zhou Weiqing’s Devour Skill, and he just lay there unmoving. If not for the fact that Zhou Weiqing had held back, he would have already been drained til death. After all, the Devour Skill could not only drain Heavenly Energy, but also life force, and it all depended on what Zhou Weiqing wanted to focus on. As for the suction force that had pulled him in earlier, that was actually a form of the Devour Skill that he had used the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts to mimic and change.

After two days of ﬁghting, the more Zhou Weiqing used the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, the more miraculous he found it was, always seeming to have an endless possibility in usage and myriad potential to delve deeper in. Who said that it would not be able to help him now… just the ﬁne grained control in his various Attribute Heavenly Energy was similar to Shangguan Fei’er’s close combat skills, helping him in all forms of combat. Most noticeably, when he was using any Skills, he was able to save a lot of Heavenly Energy by reducing wastage. Zhou Weiqing had barely stepped into the doorway of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, learning everything on his

own for the past six months without direct tutelage from Long Shiya, and he found that his anticipation of this Skill was growing by leaps and bounds.

Shen Bu’s expression was ugly, but… she somehow did not ﬂare out. Instead, her gaze was constant ﬁxed upon Long Shiya, a ﬂash of fear and doubt ﬂickering in her eyes.

All of a sudden, the Sixteenth Regiment soldiers parted to form a path, and the Legion Commander of the Seventh Legion, Shen Ji, under the escort of over a dozen of his personal guards, rode in. He swiftly dismounted as soon as he reached the front.

“What is going on? All of you calm down.” How could he not sense the strong smell of gunpowder in the air between both sides. Luckily, Shen Bu had some sense in her, and she had sent word to Shen Ji before bringing her men over. Seeing that her Senior Brother had arrived, only then did Shen Bu breathe a sigh of relief. Shen Ji’s expression was also not pretty. The reason why he had asked the Rufﬁan Battalion to return to the main northern army camp was mainly because of the background of Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er, and the fact they were from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace; to get in their good books. Who knew

that just a single day after the Rufﬁan Battalion had returned, trouble had arisen… and from the looks of things, the trouble was not small at all.

Facing Shen Ji’s piercing and forceful gaze, Zhou Weiqing did not back down. Although he felt regret now that his rash impulsion had caused the Peerless Battalion’s power to be revealed despite his efforts in hiding them, there was no use crying over spilt milk. As such, he might as well carry on in an aggressive and arrogant fashion, to teach the Sixteenth Regiment a lasting lesson.

“What is going on? Legion Commander Shen Ji, you will have to ask your Junior Sister that question.” Zhou Weiqing said coldly.

Shen Ji looked towards Shen Bu curiously, and she dared not hide anything, telling her everything that had happened.

Hearing her words, Shen Ji’s expression grew even ugly, and he gave her an angry look. He couldn’t help but think inwardly: I have already warned you not to provoke these rufﬁans, why must you still cause all that trouble? If this grows any further, even Master will not be able to save you!

“Ridiculous! What do you both think this place is? This is the main camp of the northern command army, and both of you are ofﬁcers in your own right, and yet you allow such a thing to happen?”

Zhou Weiqing said coldly: “Legion Commander Shen Ji, I have already given you a lot of face by not taking action right away. Now that you are here, that is good, you better uphold justice. Those Sixteenth Regiment soldiers purposely threw rubbish in our camp site, and all I did was to get my brothers to return it to them. This morning, they actually dared to come to our camp again to cause trouble.”

“If I do not remember wrongly, according to army rules, without prior permission, no soldiers are allowed to enter other barracks or camps which do not belong to them. I ask that Legion Commander Shen Ji upholds military law and justice.”

“Nonsense, it was clearly your men who attacked ﬁrst!” One of the Battalion Commanders at Shen Bu’s side cried out angrily. Zhou Weiqing said disdainfully: “My men took action ﬁrst? Very good… let me ask you… if someone came to your house, entered the door, and started scolding you, what would you do? This is our Peerless Battalion camp, our territory, and your men came here to look for trouble. Who knows if you are spies from the WanShou Empire, disguised here to look for information. Not killing you all is already very kind of us.” With reason and rules on his side, how could Zhou Weiqing not take advantage of that? Zhou Weiqing was deﬁnitely adept in the art of argument.

Of course, Shen Bu was no easy foe, and she immediately retorted: “What about your entire Battalion drinking? The rules also state that there can be no drinking in camp, this is a very serious rule… do not tell me that you do not know.”

Zhou Weiqing did not even bother looking at her, instead turning to Shen Ji, saying: “As long as Legion Commander Shen Ji can give me a proper accounting about the Sixteenth Regiment coming to cause trouble, I can easily give you an accounting about the drinking.”

Upon hearing those words, Shen Bu started. Causing trouble in camp was deﬁnitely no small matter, but both sides did not have any casualties, so it would not be too serious. However, having an entire Battalion drinking to a drunken state, that was deﬁnitely much more serious. As the ofﬁcer in charge, if charged with maximum punishment, Zhou Weiqing could even be beheaded. Upon hearing that, Shen Ji was also in an awkward situation. At this point, he was clear that he needed to be absolutely fair in handling this matter. If not for the fact that Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er were from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, perhaps he would have already ordered their arrest. Still, his

vision was extremely sharp, and he had also been given a huge shock upon seeing the mail armour that the Peerless Battalion soldiers were wearing. From the look of it and the glow, it all seemed like titanium alloy! How could that be…!?

“The Sixteenth Regiment has intruded into the First Unique Battalion’s Camp to cause trouble, Regiment Commander Shen Bu has not exercised properly leadership and will be recorded with a serious demerit. All those who participated in this incursion, step out now. Each will be punished with forty strokes, to be carried out immediately.” Shen Ji bit the bullet and made the decision on the spot, giving the order.

If Green Wolf had really died, Zhou Weiqing would not have let the matter slide so easily with just that. However, since his teacher had already saved Green Wolf, and the Peerless Battalion did not have any actual losses, there was no necessity in further increasing the enmity to an irreversible point. As such, Zhou Weiqing did not sound off during the process, watching the over hundred soldiers from the Sixteenth Battalion, including the two Battalion Commanders, get dragged out. They had already gone through a beating from the Peerless Battalion, and now the other Sixteenth Regiment soldiers had to administer the beatings upon them, and watching this happen, Zhou Weiqing’s anger subsided. The other Peerless Battalion soldiers also showed looks of satisfaction on their faces. However, several of them still had

worried looks on their faces. After all, no matter what, a collective drinking was no small matter, and they waited in silence to see how Zhou Weiqing would handle the matter.

Shen Bu’s face had almost turned green as she watched her subordinates get beaten, but she could not do anything about it, and she could only watch on, stewing in anger.

After the forty lashes, most of the Sixteenth Regiment men who had been beaten could not even get up, and they had to be carried away. As she watched that all happen, though she knew she should not continue provoking Zhou Weiqing, she could not help but ask him angrily: “My men have already received their punishment, so what is the accounting you said? You were all drinking, and even those Regiments camped around could smell the wine. What do you have to say to that? Don’t tell me that you lost your memory, let’s see how you account for that.”

Zhou Weiqing said passively: “Since I have already said I will give an accounting, I will deﬁnitely do so. Men, bring the remaining of the food we ate last night, and let Legion Commander Shen Ji and Regiment Commander Shen Bu have a look.”

Shen Ji was originally rather irritated that Shen Bu would continue pushing the issue, but now that he heard Zhou Weiqing’s words, he started in surprise. He was really going to give an actual accounting? After all, drinking in camp was a very huge issue. Previously, he had already been prepared to gloss over the matter, and if not for Shen Bu suddenly speaking out, he was already about to leave with his men. In his eyes, Zhou Weiqing was after all from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, how could he possibly go to military court? Even if he did so, they would not be able to actually punish him. However, now that he looked closely at Zhou Weiqing, he saw the conﬁdence in him. It was clear he had something up his sleeve.

Yet, what reason could he possibly have for allowing his men to drink?

In a matter of moments, several large cauldrons were carted up, holding the remains of the last night’s meal. They had been drinking and eating through the night, and naturally they had not managed to clear it up yet. The cauldrons still had some remaining food, large pieces of meat ﬂoating in oil. Seeing the large cauldrons in front of him, Shen Ji looked towards Zhou Weiqing questioningly.

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “Legion Commander Shen Ji, this is what we ate last night. You have been ﬁghting in the northern borders for many years, and I am sure you can tell what meat this is right?”

On hearing his words, a notion struck Shen Ji, and he quickly stepped forward to examine the contents.

The war wolf bones were not the same as other ordinary wild beasts, and ordinarily army rations would not be able to feed their soldiers with so much meet. Shen Bu also stepped up to look at the contents of the cauldrons, as she did not understand what Zhou Weiqing had meant.

All of a sudden, she exclaimed in surprise: “What… this is…?

Is this wolf meat?”

Shen Ji had also noticed the same thing, and he said: “This… it looks like the war wolf mounts of the Wolfman Tribe. The war wolf meats are large and tough, much unlike other wild animals, and their bones are also shaped differently and extremely tough.” Zhou Weiqing nodded in agreement and said: “That is right, this is the meet from war wolves. This time, we have returned to the Seventh Legion, and we have also brought a gift for Commander Shen Ji. Men, bring over two hundred of the war wolf corpses for Legion Commander Shen Ji!”

Shen Bu said uncertainly: “What does that got to do with your drinking?”

Zhou Weiqing looked at her disdainfully before saying mockingly: “For you to be able to become a Regiment Commander with that brain of yours, I can’t help but say that you must have gotten in through the back door and connections. Let me ask you, in the army, under what circumstance is it allowed to drink?”

Shen Bu said angrily: “What circumstance? There is no circumstance, it is against the rules.”

Zhou Weiqing gave a humph and ignored her, turning his gaze to Shen Ji.

By that point, Shen Ji had begun to understand, and he said solemnly: “There is only one circumstance where it is allowed to drink… that is after a victory over our enemies. Furthermore, it has to be a major victory before soldiers are allowed to drink in celebration. So many war wolves… Battalion Commander Zhou, you fought with the Wolf Cavalry soldiers?”

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Before we returned to camp yesterday, our Peerless Battalion fought again the Swift Wolf Regiment.”

Hearing the words ‘Swift Wolf Regiment’, both Shen Ji and Shen Bu’s expressions changed. They had spent quite some time in the northern borders and had clashed many times with the WanShou Empire armies, and the losses every year was extremely high. Sometimes, they were even forced to retreat to the TianBei City for a last ditch defence. How could they not know of the notorious Swift Wolf Regiment? That was the absolute elite of the Wolfman Tribe, and their leader Butler was a well known nine-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, extremely ferocious and savage in combat. Even if the entire Seventh Legion were to clash with them directly, they would not be at any good advantage.

“Nonsense, with just the few of you, if you really met the Swift Wolf Regiment, you would all be dead.” Shen Bu’s expression was full of disbelief. Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “I do not need you to believe me, as facts are louder than words. The Wolfman Tribe corpses are still littered in that area, and Legion Commander Shen Ji can always dispatch men to check. We only brought back a portion of the war wolf mount corpses as our spoils of

war, and left all the rest there. In the battle against the Swift Wolf Regiment, we killed four thousand of them… is that considered a major victory? In the ﬁght against the ferocious Swift Wolf Regiment, we did not sustain any injuries, yet when we returned here, we were injured by our allies. Legion Commander Shen Ji, if it were you, could you tolerate such a thing? Today, my brother here was lucky not to die, otherwise, I would not have let it go so easily.”

Shen Ji looked at Zhou Weiqing with a complicated expression in his eyes. Just like Shen Bu, he could believe what he had heard… could not believe that it was all true. After all, the Peerless Battalion only numbered how many people? At the most, slightly over a thousand men… being able to take down four times their number against the Swift Wolf Regiment, he just could not believe it. The war wolf mounts were unbelievably quick, and even if the Seventh Legion fought against them, as long as it wasn’t some sneaky ambush, they would not be able to get such a similar grand result.

All of a sudden, Shen Bu’s expression changed. However, she did not speak, instead tugging at Shen Ji’s sleeve, and her gaze shifted subtly towards Long Shiya.

Although Shen Ji did not know what his junior sister meant, but he could easily tell that she wanted to beat a retreat.

After a slight hesitation, Shen Ji said: “Battalion Commander Zhou, I will deﬁnitely check out what you mentioned. If things are as you said, the Peerless Battalion has indeed accomplished an outstanding merit, and I will report up to the higher ranks to award you all. Also, since it is a celebration, last night’s drinking is of no issue. Regiment Commander Shen Bu, lead your men away. Battalion Commander Zhou, I will also take my leave now.”

He did not stay any longer, as he had many things to investigate before reaching a ﬁnal conclusion. At the same time, he could sense that Shen Bu had something to tell him, and it would be best to leave this place as quickly as possible. Staying here in such a stalemate would also be a loss of face to him if it spread to other Legions.

Zhou Weiqing said passively: “In that case, I will not send you all off. I hope that no other Battalions will intrude in our Peerless Battalion camp, otherwise if something like this happens again, Legion Commander Shen Ji you can’t blame me.” Shen Ji nodded and said: “I will give the order for the entire Legion to keep their men under control. Farewell.”

Shen Ji led Shen Bu and the other men away, and after they left the Peerless Battalion camp, they heard a loud cheer from behind, as if they had chased away some plague. The Peerless Battalion men’s loud cheers and laughter showed their lack of qualms or inhibitions, causing Shen Bu’s expression to turn ugly once more. If her psyche was any lesser, perhaps she would have been so enraged that she would have vomited blood.

Indeed, the Peerless Battalion soldiers were all extremely excited. Zhou Weiqing had sided with them without hesitation, standing up against an entire Regiment for their sakes, perhaps even against the entire Seventh Legion. Such a Battalion Commander, where else could they ﬁnd one like him? In that moment, Zhou Weiqing’s standing and prestige in the entire Peerless Battalion was raised to a new maximum, and before he could even speak, the soldiers had swarmed forward to throw him up in the air in celebration, shouting and cheering as they did so.

Shen Ji’s face was extremely overcast, but in order to save Shen Bu’s face, he remained silent until they entered her Sixteenth Regiment main tent. Once her guards had left, he shouted angrily: “Shen Bu, what are you doing? Didn’t I warn you not to provoke that Zhou Weiqing? Why didn’t you listen to me? If he were to actually kill you all today, how could I answer to Master?” Shen Bu also knew that today was truly her fault, but she still could not help but protest: “It is all that Zhou Weiqing… he is just too arrogant, and I could not tolerate it. Senior brother, even if they come from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, do we have to endure everything? I… I just cannot restrain myself.”

Shen Ji glared at her coldly: “Cannot restrain yourself? If you cannot restrain yourself, then you better step down from your position ﬁrst. Later on, you return with me to the Legion headquarters… for now, let Shen Yi take over the Sixteenth Regiment temporarily.”

Shen Bu exclaimed in surprise: “Senior Brother, you… you are removing me from ofﬁce?”

Shen Ji continued coldly: “With your current psychological state, you are not suitable to be an ofﬁcer in charge of an entire Battalion. Don’t you know that your actions could easily cost your subordinates lives… once internal conﬂict arises in the army, even I cannot bear such a penalty. In the entire army, this is the most dangerous thing, and the thing we fear the most. Who asked you to throw rubbish in their camp… now they have reason on their side, let alone they are from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, even if they aren’t, according to the army rules, I cannot punish them. Do you understand?”

Shen Bu’s face was still ﬁlled with a wronged grievance as she said: “I do not understand, but his men were still drinking… are we going to ignore that?”

Shen Ji said solemnly: “Looking at that Zhou Weiqing’s actions, it does not seem like he is bragging or exaggerating. Anyway, at that time, why did you tug on my sleeve?” At this point, only then did Shen Bu recall her original point and quickly described the entire scene about Green Wolf being close to death and being saved by Long Shiya.

Hearing Shen Bu’s description, Shen Ji sucked in a cold breath. “Are you absolutely sure? That man… when he used his Skill, there was such a light?”

Shen Bu nodded and said: “I am very sure, it was just so miraculous that I could not possibly mistake it. In theory, although the Light Attribute has some healing properties, it is no match for the Life Attribute in terms of Healing Skills. However, that man just waved his hand, and that dying Company Leader of the Peerless Battalion instantly recovered, even his broken bones seemed to be ﬁxed. It was truly a miracle. If that man is a top level powerhouse, then it is deﬁnitely possible that the Peerless Battalion could kill four thousand of the Swift Wolf Regiment… That was the reason why I tugged at your sleeve just now.”

Shen Ji’s expression changed several times as he thought things through for the next minute or so as Shen Bu watched him, but he did not make a sound.

“Senior Brother, say something? Are we just going to let things go just like that?” Shen Bu asked questioningly.

Shen Ji abruptly lifted up his head and said: “Let things go? Of course not. Come with me to see Master.” Shen Bu was immediately delighted. She knew that Shen Ji was their Master’s favourite, and as long as he spoke on her behalf, she would have a chance to take revenge.

“Great! As long as Master is willing to help, so what if they come from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace? We can still take care of them, especially that bastard Zhou Weiqing. Senior Brother, when that time comes, you must let me deal with him personally, otherwise I will not be able to vent my anger.”

“Take care of him personally?” Shen Ji looked at her coldly. “If you really want to die, please do not implicate Master and myself, and your sister Shen Yi.”

Shen Bu looked at him in surprise before saying: “Senior Brother, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Don’t you know what Skill that middle aged man used? To be able to produce that kind of result… that amount of recovery, and with the Heavenly Skill Image you described… There is only one possibility, often described as the most godlike, impossible Skill of the Light Attribute… that Skill is called the Adulation of Angels. For Zhou Weiqing to possess a Skill with the Heavenly Skill Image, I really do not know, but he is only at the Four-Jeweled cultivation stage, and I guess it should be some sort of trickery of sorts. However, that Adulation of Angels is a totally different matter. For that Skill, besides being unable to resurrect the dead, it is no weaker than any Life Attribute healing Skill, being able to cure even the most serious of injuries, as long as there is a single breath left in the person… that even includes poisoned wounds.”

“To be able to unleash such a Skill so easily… not only does that require a cultivation level of Heavenly Dao Energy, he must be far within that stage as well, deﬁnitely a top level powerhouse. Do you know what kind of person you have provoked? That middle aged man that Zhou Weiqing calls Master is likely to be one of the Elders of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, and one of high standing and importance. His cultivation level might not even be at the Heavenly King Stage… most likely at the Heavenly Emperor Stage. Even in the entire Heaven’s Expanse Palace, there aren’t that many Heavenly Emperors. How many heads do you think you have, that you dare offend a Heavenly Emperor stage powerhouse?”

“I am bringing you back to Master to ask him to help act on your behalf, to bring you to apologize humbly and take responsibility, to ask for a lenient punishment. This time, the Heaven’s Expanse Palace has some actions they are taking.”

Hearing Shen Ji’s analysis, Shen Bu felt a chill down her spine as sweat beaded around her forehead. She was totally stunned. As a Heavenly Jewel Master, she naturally knew what a Heavenly Emperor powerhouse entailed. Even if she was already at the six-Jeweled cultivation level, it could be said that a Heavenly Emperor was a legendary status to her. In the entire north-west army command, there was only a single Heavenly King Stage powerhouse, and even the entire North Armies of the ZhongTian Empire did not hold a single Heavenly Emperor! If Zhou Weiqing truly had such a Master, not only her being unable to offend them, even the entire Northern Army Command was unable to offend them! That was at the power level of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace Palace Master!” “Senior Brother, I… I…” At this moment, Shen Bu was truly at a loss for words. Regret was not enough to fully describe her current feelings. Looking at her pale, ashen face, Shen Ji sighed and said: “There is no such thing as regret medicines, if you had known it would come to this, you would have acting differently… Still, you do not need to be too worried. After all, we are all allies and part of the same Empire. That Zhou Weiqing might have a strange disposition, but he has the overall big picture in mind. Otherwise, with such a powerful Master at his side, if he really wanted to slaughter all of you just now, no one could do anything about it. As long as we show sufﬁcient sincerity in our apologies, the situation can still be redeemed. However, I’m afraid you will no longer be able to hold the position of the Sixteenth Battalion Battalion Commander, at least not for some time. Come on now, let us go see Master.”

…

Back on the other side, Zhou Weiqing naturally did not know that Shen Ji and Shen Bu had been given a huge fright by the presence of Long Shiya. After a time of cheering and celebration, Zhou Weiqing gave the order for the Peerless Battalion to have three days of rest and recovery, to readjust themselves before resuming their training. At the same time, he announced that their training regiment would be increased. If that announcement had come before their time here, perhaps there would have been many complaints.

However, after the previous ﬁght and major victory against the Swift Wolf Regiment, coupled with what had happened this morning, the current Peerless Battalion was in extremely high spirits and morale, united together as one, actually proud of being part of the Peerless Battalion. Who did not wish to become stronger? Not just for themselves, but especially more so now that becoming stronger also had a clear set of further rewards in the Peerless Battalion. As a result, there was not a single voice of complaint towards the announcement, only a respectful acquiescence.

As a Company Leader, Green Wolf was also punished by Zhou Weiqing, giving him forty lashes. The reason for the punishment was simple… who asked him to lose in a ﬁght? Throwing the face of the Peerless Battalion!

Green Wolf only felt lucky that he was being punished, as if it was some sort of blissful happiness. After being beaten forty times, that fellow had a smile on his face, an earnest sincere one to boot as he looked on at Zhou Weiqing, causing him to be afraid and suspicious that that fellow’s sexual orientation was extremely different. …

After everything was done, Long Shiya called Zhou Weiqing to his tent. “Little Fatty, come and tell teacher about your overall plan.”

Zhou Weiqing started momentarily. After all, when he ﬁrst met Long Shiya and was taken under his wing as disciple, this teacher of his had said that he would have to accomplish everything himself, and he would give him any help. Yet, now he was interested in his plans?

How could Long Shiya not be able to tell what Zhou Weiqing was thinking inside, and he said exasperatedly: “Just tell me when I ask you, as if your teacher will harm you? I was just thinking that your Peerless Battalion is really quite interesting… none of them are acting or anything, yet all of them are like rufﬁans. Still, that is not a bad thing, the thing I hate most are those pretentious people, like those Heaven’s Expanse Palace fellows. Of course, that old Heavenly Snow Mountain fellow is just as irritating.”

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily. How could he let go of such an opportunity; if he did so he wouldn’t be Zhou Weiqing! “Teacher, this is my plan ………” As such, he began to explain his plan towards Long Shiya. “…… Of course, plans are just plans, and changes will deﬁnitely occur along the way, and I will constantly adjust it according to what happens. Even so, I expect that within ten years, I will deﬁnitely have a troop of absolute elites, able to ﬁght against any of the Bai Da Empire’s elites.”

As he spoke, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes gleamed brightly, getting more excited as he spoke about his plan.

Hearing his disciple, not even twenty years of age, speak in such detail of his plan, seeing how meticulous and deliberate it was, Long Shiya only had shock and amazement in his heart. It was clear that Zhou Weiqing’s talent was not just in his Heavenly Jewel Master talents. Perhaps, his plan was slightly optimistic and idealized, but without question his general view and big picture grasp was extremely impressive, and his creative imagination in doing things was also extremely surprising.

The reason why Long Shiya held so much interest in the Peerless Battalion was not just because he found it so fun, but more so because he had personally witnessed how the Peerless Battalion had defeated the Swift Wolf Regiment the day before.

When the Swift Wolf Regiment had appeared, Long Shiya had actually already reached the area, and he had been prepared to take action as soon as the Peerless Battalion was showing signs of losing. With his Heavenly Emperor stage power levels, perhaps he could not take down an army of hundred thousands or millions, but just a Regiment numbering ten thousand was not an impossible feat. Especially for Long Shiya, with his Six Attributes and the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts allowing him to mimic and unleash so many Skills and without cooldown, it would not be too difﬁcult to

slaughter the Wolf Cavalry Soldier en masse. That was also the

reason why Shen Ji and Shen Bu had placed the victory of the Peerless Battalion on the shoulders of Long Shiya, as a Heavenly Emperor powerhouse deﬁnitely had that capability.

However, in the end, it had been Long Shiya and Duan Tianlang who had been the shocked ones as they watched the Peerless Battalion in action, not just their impressive power levels, but also their preparations, tactics and strategy.

An entire Battalion of archers… that was deﬁnitely out of conventional logic. An entire troop without close combat capabilities and only ranged attacks, this sounded impossible. After all, what would happen if their enemies reached them, wouldn’t they be wiped out easily? Without close combat specialists to defend them, how much of their power could archers actually unleash?

Chapter 152 Highest Level of the Demonic Change State!

However, it wasn’t long before Long Shiya and Duan Tianlang were given the surprise. The ﬁrst was the sheer offensive capabilities and killing strength of the Peerless Battalion archers.

Seeing row after row of Consolidated Bows shooting out arrows at lightning speed, how could Long Shiya not understand that almost the entire force of thousand soldiers of the Peerless Battalion were all Jewel Masters!

To a Heavenly Emperor powerhouse like him, an ordinary Jewel Master was almost nothing, pretty much like an ordinary person, a mere ant when compare to him. However, with over a thousand ordinary Jewel Masters gathered together, the sheer combined forces they could bring into play was deﬁnitely startling. The rain of arrows they were showering upon the Swift Wolf Regiment was indeed proof of that.

The next surprise that came to them was the tactics used. The trench of ﬁre that had been prepared, able to efﬁciently block the enemy’s charge while taking down the ofﬁcers’ mounts. Zhou Weiqing’s ferocity and how he had actually managed to block a nine-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master… all of that was totally out of Long Shiya’s expectations. Originally, he did not really like the fact that Zhou Weiqing had Stored so many Skills, but when he truly saw Zhou Weiqing in action with his full power, only then did he realise that with the help of the Demonic Change State and his own proper usage and compatible integration, Zhou Weiqing was able to make full use of the advantage of his many Attributes. Making use of his opponent underestimating him, he was able to bring the

surprise and unleash his greatest power in a short period of time.

Even at that point, Long Shiya still did not believe that the Peerless Battalion would succeed to the end. After all, the Wolf Cavalry Soldiers still numbered more than eight thousand and were starting to route around the ﬁre trenches. Once they reached melee range, even if all the Peerless Battalion soldiers were Jewel Masters, they were mostly at a single Jeweled cultivation, with maybe a few at two-Jeweled. Facing the charge of the powerful Wolf Cavalry soldiers, it was doubtful they could hold their ground.

Yet, once again, Long Shiya was quickly proven wrong. When he saw the three hundred Peerless Battalion Air Force soldiers appear in the skies, there was only shock and admiration left in his eyes. What kind of unique thinking that was to bring out the latent potential in such an army troop! Instantly, Long Shiya knew that Zhou Weiqing deﬁnitely had the support of some Consolidating Equipment Masters, otherwise how could he possibly get so many Consolidating Equipment Scrolls to create such an army.

The Peerless Battalion Air Force, their arrows and the javelins, not only were they extremely efﬁcient in killing, they were also able to buy enough time for their allies to retreat safely. In the end, the Swift Wolf Regiment did not dare to pursue them and had to retreat, licking their wounds with a terrifying forty percent loss.

Total Victory. No other term could describe it. This was a true victory belonging to an unheard of, fully ranged army troop. Tactics, Strategy, Personal Strength. In this entire ﬁght, it could be said that all three had played their own major roles, and the Peerless Battalion had made use of their strengths to perfection, defeating their opponents in a crushing fashion.

Long Shiya knew from Zhou Weiqing that he had only been in the northern borders for about half year. In half a year, being able to form such an army and having them grow to such a height… if he was really given sufﬁcient time, what would this Peerless Battalion end up becoming? Would they become even more disgusting? All of a sudden, Long Shiya felt as if he had a fresh feeling of anticipation, something that he had not felt in over several dozen years. More importantly, this Peerless Battalion Battalion Commander was his own disciple!

All his life, Long Shiya had been a lone ranger, learning, ﬁghting and living on his own out in the world. Yet, when he witnessed Zhou Weiqing’s Peerless Battalion ﬁghting together on the battleﬁeld, he suddenly felt as if commanding a troop in battle was actually an interesting thing after all. As such, he did not mind aiding his disciple in improving the Peerless Battalion and making them stronger.

“With only ﬁve to six thousand men, will it be too few? After all, you will be facing one of the ﬁrst rate Empires in the entire Mainland. Although the Bai Da Empire is not comparable to the top end Empires like the ZhongTian Empire, its army still numbers at least ﬁve hundred thousand or more, and the amount of powerhouses they have cannot be underestimated. With just the few thousand men you plan to have, I’m afraid it’s not enough to ﬁght against an entire Empire like that.” Long Shiya said.

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “If my aim was to conquer them, it is naturally not enough. However, if we are just trying to damage and hurt them, I feel it is more than sufﬁcient. Indeed, they have many men, but what use is a ragtag band no matter how much they number? No matter how many rabbits swarm an adult male lion in his prime, they cannot kill it. The greatest advantage of our small numbers is our speed and ﬂexible movements. You have already seen for yourself how my Peerless Battalion is mainly ranged combat… and the true reason I plan to give them all the Consolidated Wings is just so that in case we meet any foes we cannot ﬁght, we can easily run away. At the same time, we can easily choose where we want to ﬁght, able to switch battlegrounds at our will. In a single day, we can appear in various different places to ﬁght just from our sheer mobility. In such a case, as long as the Bai Da Empire does not have any troop like us, it will be impossible for them to stop us and wipe us out.”

Long Shiya said: “So… how do you plan to continue training these men in the future?”

Zhou Weiqing replied: “That Legion Commander Shen Ji already promised to send me the rest of the northern army Rufﬁan Battalions, and I estimate that it will bring our total numbers up to more than four thousand, maybe ﬁve thousand. That is a sufﬁcient number, just right by my calculations. What comes next will be to go all out in forging them into not individual ﬁghters, but a great unit. I need to ensure that all their interests are linked to mine, and also to constantly improve their personal strength. Once their teamwork and morale is up to speed, and they are able to ﬁght together, then our main focus will be to improve everyone’s personal strength. If one day, all my Peerless Battalion soldiers can reach the pinnacle of their Physical or Elemental Jewels, then I can easily sweep through any Empire.”

Long Shiya examined Zhou Weiqing closely for a moment, but in his eyes, Long Shiya did not see any vast ambition, just a strong ﬁghting spirit. Indeed, Zhou Weiqing was not a man with much ambition, but all he wanted to do was to revive him Empire. Yet, someone like him, if he truly accomplished what he had just set out to achieve, then perhaps he would become a Legend and a Myth in his own right…”

“Little Fatty, just go ahead according to your plan, teacher will support you. In this world, as long as you dare to think and try, there will always be opportunity and chances that arise. Who knows… perhaps in a few dozen years time, you will create the Sixth Great Saint Land in the mainland.”

Great Saint Land? Upon hearing those words, Zhou Weiqing started. He had not expected that his teacher would look so highly upon him. Seeing Long Shiya’s smiling face, he couldn’t help but grin and say: “Heh heh, Master, if I were to really create a new Great Saint Lands, then you would become the Grand Founding Forefather!” “Hahaha!” Long Shiya might not have spent a lot of time with Zhou Weiqing, but compared to many of those who had been with him for a long time, he actually understood this little rascal very well.

“Buttering me up like that, are you trying to con me again? Don’t even think about it! When I said I will support you, it is morally and spiritually, not materially. Little brat, I have already given you my entire life fortune, you better not splurge it all at once. Upkeeping a huge army with that may be impossible, but to sustain your ﬁve thousand men for a few dozen years should not be a problem.”

Zhou Weiqing was slightly embarrassed, saying in an abashed tone: “Teacher, I’m not asking you for money, you have already given me more than enough. However, as you see, though my Peerless Battalion’s overall strength is still alright, but we just lack true powerhouses. Now, I have a few Heavenly Jewel Masters who have just Awakened, but they are still at the single-Jeweled stage. However, their latent potential would be the highest amongst the entire Battalion… if Teacher can give them a few pointers, then they would beneﬁt greatly from it for life.”

Long Shiya said exasperatedly: “I just knew you little brat would not be so good. Still, although those men are Heavenly Jewel Masters, they are much older than you, and their Heavenly Jewels are only just Awakened. There is deﬁnitely no hope for them to break through the Heavenly King Stage. Are you trying to make me waste my effort?”

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “Just some simple pointers… even if you really wanted to teach them seriously, I would be the one who would be unwilling! I can be a jealous disciple!”

Long Shiya couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Alright alright, I get it. Simple pointers, do you really need me? What are you for then? Also, there is that Heaven’s Expanse Palace little girl, you two are more than enough to teach them.”

As he spoke up to that point, Long Shiya suddenly grew very serious and he said solemnly: “Weiqing, there is one thing I have to warn you. By creating such an army, you will deﬁnitely run into problems… that is jealousy.”

“Jealousy?” Zhou Weiqing started. “What do you mean, teacher? Why jealousy?”

Long Shiya said solemnly: “Do you know the true reason why the Heavenly Demon Sect has always been discriminated against and suppressed so hard by the other Great Saint Lands? Do you really think it is because they are unable to control their Demonic Change State or are inherently evil? In this world, there is one rule that always remains constant. The victors are the good guys, and the losers are always the evil side. So what if a power tends to the evil side? Does it mean a person with the Evil Attribute cannot do good? Or vice versa? The true reason why the Heavenly Demon Sect has always been suppressed to such a degree, that they have become the weakest of the Great Saint Lands, and never been able to grow past that…… it is because the Demonic Change State is just too

powerful, so powerful that all the other four Great Saint Lands

were jealous of it. Not just jealous, but also afraid that if the Heavenly Demon Sect would grow to surpass them and stomp them below their feet.”

“This same principle can apply to your current position. By forming an entire army of several thousand Jewel Masters… do you really think you will not strike fear and jealousy into others’ hearts? As soon as your men grow past a certain strength, it will be certain to invoke jealousy in some others’ hearts, and it will only grow stronger and stronger. In fact, there is only one single way to solve this problem.”

“What method?” Hearing Long Shiya’s words, fear gripped Zhou Weiqing’s heart. His teacher’s words struck true to the heart, and he knew that this was the voice of experience speaking, and this was something very real that he had not thought about previously.

A bright light gleamed in Long Shiya’s eyes and he said: “As the saying goes, only a useless person will never evoke jealousy from others. That solution is simple, but not easy. You, as the leader and main dominant force of the Peerless Battalion… must be powerful, sufﬁciently powerful enough. Only when one day your personal power reaches my level or beyond, then can your Peerless Battalion truly become a Great Saint Lands.”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Why not Master takes the lead then, and be our ﬁgurehead and powerhouse, and you can be the leader of the Great Saint Lands too!”

Long Shiya looked at his little disciple with a bit of a headache. “You think too much. I have already seen through you, little brat, you do not have any whit of ambition in you. If not for the fact that your home, your Empire, and your family had such a terrible thing happen to them, I would guess that at most you would only cultivate and train by yourself, and not attempt to build up such a force.”

Zhou Weiqing scratched his head sheepishly and said: “It is as teacher said… though I do hope that I can strengthen my homeland Empire to a sufﬁcient degree.” Long Shiya said: “Alright, you already understand all the underlying principles and dangers, and I do not need to talk too much anymore. The reason why I mention all this to you is to let you work harder, and improve as fast as you can. Before the age of thirty, you must deﬁnitely break through the Heavenly King Stage. Only then do you have enough time to handle to difﬁculty of cultivation which you will face after reaching the Heavenly King Stage.”

Zhou Weiqing quickly agreed.

Long Shiya continued: “From now on, you will train under me for sixteen hours, and the remaining eight hours will be for you to rest or handle your Peerless Battalion matters.”

“Sixteen hours!?” Zhou Weiqing stared at Long Shiya with his jaw agape, thinking to himself that it was absolutely too much. After all, it was not just simple meditation and cultivation if he was learning from his master. Although he already had previous experience in such tough training methods when he went through the Three-Thousand Tempering Training, that previous time was because his hand was forced. Yet, it seemed like his teacher was saying that he would have to do this from now on for the foreseeable future. Long Shiya totally ignored his protests, saying passively: “We will start now. Today, let’s ﬁrst talk about your Demonic Change State.”

Zhou Weiqing started once more, this time more in curiosity. His teacher was not focusing on the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, instead focusing on the Demonic Change State?”

Long Shiya said: “Do you think that your current manipulation of your Stored Skills is not bad?”

Zhou Weiqing scratched his head and grinned: “It is alright, right?”

Long Shiya said passively: “Little brat, remember my words clearly: Pride will cause one to stop improving, to even deteriorate. Remember this, as long as you have the will, there is no limit to improving any ability. Watch this.”

As he said that, Long Shiya ﬂicked his wrist, and a Wind Blade appeared on his palm, consolidated and solid almost like a real blade. At the same time, his own Heavenly Skill Image appeared.

“What do you think about this Wind Blade of mine? Is it already at the maximum that the Wind Blade can reach?”

Zhou Weiqing nodded without hesitation and said: “Of course, this is a Wind Blade that can be favourably compared to a Heavenly God Tier Skill.”

Long Shiya smiled faintly and said: “Look again.”

As he said that, Zhou Weiqing was shocked to see green light shimmer around Long Shiya’s surface skin, staining his entire body with the green, mixed with several ﬂickers of a metallic glow. The Heavenly Skill Image above his head also shimmered slightly and seemed to grow clearer, more solid.

Along with the changes in his body, the Wind Blade in Long Shiya’s palm also started to change. It was still as well formed and solid as ever, but it rapidly grew larger. In a moment, it had almost doubled in size. “What about now? How would this Wind Blade compare to the one before?” Long Shiya looked at Zhou Weiqing and asked.

By this moment, how could Zhou Weiqing not understand what his teacher was trying to convey. Respectfully, he said: “I understand the lesson now. As long as we keep on training, practicing and improving, with greater Heavenly Energy backing it up and improvement in technique, there is no limit to any Skill. The so-called limit is just the limit of our own cognition and perception, or perhaps preconceived notions.”

Long Shiya nodded in satisfaction. Teaching an intelligent disciple was deﬁnitely an enjoyable task.

“Very good. Alright then, now tell me about your experience and understanding of this Demonic Change State Skill.” The Wind Blade in Long Shiya’s palm disappeared at once, as if that little object that held the terrifying power to level an entire hill never existed in the ﬁrst place.

Zhou Weiqing nodded his head and said: “The Demonic Change State arises from the union of a bloodline power and the Demonic Attribute, the body is stimulated by the Demonic Attribute Heavenly Energy, evoking and triggering some unknown power in my bloodline… from there it instantly boosts the user’s body. Strength, defense, offense… almost every single attribute is raised substantially, even my senses become far more acute. Also, I am able to use the bloodline aura to frighten some weaker Heavenly Beasts. Once in the Demonic Change State, I am able to always unleashed a

hundred twenty percent of my power in combat; at the same time all my Demonic Attribute and Darkness Attribute Skills seem to have some additive power to them. For example, my Dark Demon God Lightning… with my current cultivation level, I can only actually use it to its full effect when I am in the

Demonic Change State.”

Long Shiya did not even bat an eyelid as he continued: “Alright, then of all of the powers you mentioned the Demonic Change State provides, which is the most important one?”

Zhou Weiqing started in surprise, and for a moment, he was at a loss for words. From his perspective, every single one of the powers the Demonic Change State granted him was extremely important. When he used the Demonic Change State in actual combat, even without considering his powerful Skills and his own powerful physique, it already enabled him to ﬁght equally against an opponent with one more Heavenly Jewel. That was to say, the Demonic Change State could be said to be ‘giving him’ an extra Heavenly Jewel worth of power, just without the extra Skill. In complement to his six Attributes, his vast array of powerful Skills and Legendary Set Consolidated Equipment… that was the reason why he was able to defeat so many enemies of much higher level than himself. Of course, a lot of it was also due to luck and being underestimated, it was without question that his unique, strange Skills and the Demonic Change State had all been a major factor in those

victories.

However, if he really had to rate all the various powers the Demonic Change State granted him, and to state which was the most useful, he was truly unable to do so. Even the Heavenly Demon Sect’s Demonic Manual did not mention anything about such a thing.

“You’re unable to pinpoint it right?” Long Shiya continued solemnly after a pause. “Remember this carefully. The most important boost that the Demonic Change State grants you is not the obvious power, defense, or even what it grants to your Demonic or Darkness Skills. It is the perception and sensory boost.”

“Perception?” Zhou Weiqing was rather surprised. He had truly not expected the answer to be along this line of thinking.

Long Shiya nodded and said seriously: “That’s right. Perception, or your senses. Think back in detail, whenever you enter the Demonic Change State, when you are facing your enemies, aren’t you able to better focus and easily sense the changes in your enemy’s attack patterns and movements? Also, your control over your body, your Energy and your Skills, it is much clearer. Lastly, you are much better able to ﬁnd any weak points in your enemies, especially in between their Skill usage and compatibility.”

Zhou Weiqing thought for a moment, before realising that it was all true.

Long Shiya gave a cold laugh and said: “The true reason why the Four Great Saint Lands discriminate against the Heavenly Demon Sect is because of that ice cold perception. All those that I mention will allow a person to always be able to use his capabilities at a hundred and twenty percent, to reduce the chances of mistakes and yet capitalize on your enemies’ ones. This is not something that just strength, defense, offense, or Skills can bring to you. And this is what we term the ‘Ice Cold Perception’, and the true strength it brings…

In this state of ‘Ice Cold Perception’, not only will your judgement of both sides’ strength will improve, it will help you in choosing and using what Skills to use, judgement of the battleground and clarity in your surroundings and everything happening at once. Even if you lapse in consciousness, your personal strength can still be subconsciously brought into play at full power. However, in your previous usage of the Demonic Change State, it can be said that you have slightly neglected this most important tool it has provided, and as such you have not fully made use of the Demonic Change State.”

Zhou Weiqing’s heart was struck by a thought, and he said: “The Heavenly Demon Sect had once let me read their Demonic Manual to try and get me on their side… however, there was no mention of this at all in that Demonic Manual.”

Long Shiya laughed heartily and said: “The true power of the ‘Ice Cold Perception’, and how to improve it… that is the absolute core secret of the entire Heavenly Demon Sect. Unless you actually join them and become part of their core members, how could they possibly reveal it to you? Although the Heavenly Demon Sect is the weakest of the Five Great Saint Lands, none of the other four would underestimate them. In the Heavenly Demon Sect, there may not be many members who actually have the ability to use the Demonic Change State, at most over twenty people. Out of those, there are probably only six or seven who have reached the Heavenly King Stage or higher. Even so, with just these few powerhouses who are able to enter the Demonic Change State, even if they face off against ordinary Heavenly Emperors, they can still hold their own. According to conventional thinking, a Great Saint Lands requires at least one Heavenly Emperor Stage powerhouse to hold the fort, yet the Heavenly Demonly Sect does not have a single one, and even their Sect Master is at the Max Level of the Heavenly King Stage. Yet, even if I were to face off against him, if he went all out without caring about his own life, although he will not be able to defeat me easily, if I wanted to kill him, he would have a forty percent chance of dragging me into hell along with him… Do you know how terrifying that is… how

massive the gap between the max level Heavenly King Stage

and max level Heavenly Emperor Stage is? I can tell you accurately that the difference between the two is just like the gap between you currently with a Heavenly King Stage powerhouse. From the Heavenly King Stage onwards, each small stage is a major power increase, let alone the large stage. In such a circumstance, for the Demonic Change State to enable him to somewhat close that gap, you can imagine how terrifying that is… and why the other Four Great Saint Lands are so afraid of the Heavenly Demon Sect.”

At this moment, Zhou Weiqing felt unbelievably lucky in his heart, not because he had the Demonic Change State, but because he had a teacher like Long Shiya. It just felt so good to have a teacher to teach him and guide him on to the right path, allowing him to refrain from making wrong turns and mistakes.

“Master, then how should I practice this ‘Ice Cold Perception’? How do I bring the Demonic Change State to the maximum?” Long Shiya fell silent for a moment as he lapsed into thought, before he said: “I once duelled with the Heavenly Demon Sect Sect Master and defeated him. However, it gave me the chance to witness the maximum power of the Demonic Change State… which is not having Demonic Change State…”

“Wha–?!” Zhou Weiqing’s eyes widened, his jaw agape. That answer had truly stunned him.

Long Shiya said: “What I mean by not having the Demonic Change State, could also be called a permanent-state Demonic Change State. That is to say, when one has trained the Demonic Change State to the maximum, on the surface you do not have any change, but your body is already permanently in the Demonic Change State.”

“This is the true maximum level of the Demonic Change State, but as for how to reach it, I’m afraid that only the core members of the Heavenly Demon Sect would know this. Perhaps, this is something you have to fumble your way around to ﬁgure out… or maybe when you reach the Heavenly King Stage, you will be able to sense some clues and traces on how this will come to be. However, the link between the maximum level of the Demonic Change State and the ‘Ice Cold Perception’ is only in the sustaining of it forever, but the true profound secret in actually improving ‘Ice Cold Perception’ is in the training your mental and spiritual force.”

“What determines the strength of our perception and senses is actually our mental and spiritual force. The ‘Ice Cold Perception’ of the Demonic Change State is actually just using your body to consolidate your spirit and increase your sensory perceptions. As such, to improve the ‘Ice Cold Perception’, the main focus is to increase your spiritual energy. Out of the four Saint Attributes, Time, Spirit, Divine and Demonic, I do not even have one, but you actually have two of them! The best way to train your spiritual energy will be to to stay in the center of a spiritual force ﬁeld, constantly being battered by outside spiritual energy forces, from weak to strong, constantly using that external stimulation to let your own spiritual energy grow.”

At this point, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but ask: “Master, in that case, the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tigers of the Heavenly Snow Mountain two Saint Attributes, the Divine and Spirit Attributes. Doesn’t that mean their sensory perception is also extremely strong? They would not be weaker than the Demonic Change State in that case right?”

Long Shiya said with a hint of surprise in his voice. “Not bad, you little rascal, you even know about the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger, you know quite a lot for your level! Actually, I was just about to say that if you want to improve your spiritual energy, you will actually need to ascend the Heavenly Snow Mountain. I have fought a few times with that old fellow on the Heavenly Snow Mountain, and have grown to have a slight friendship from that. As for your question, that is a good question indeed. Your guess is right, the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tigers of the Heavenly Snow Mountain also have extremely strong perceptions. However, their perception is improved through a spiritual force ﬁeld, and they can use that extended

senses to activate their attacks. On the other hand, the ‘Ice

Cold Perception’ of the Demonic Change State is more towards a supportive role that is like a passive effect than an active one. The key phrase are the words ‘Ice Cold’, to be in the calmest coldest state to utilise one’s senses. It can be said that both have their own beneﬁts and advantages compared to the other. After

all, the Divine Attribute is also a Saint Attribute.”

Zhou Weiqing had a bitter look on his face: “I doubt I can actually ascend the Heavenly Snow Mountain to train right…” As he spoke those words, he suddenly thought of Tian’er, about that night, and his heart ﬂuttered. However, he knew very clearly that with his current power, he did not have the qualiﬁcation to ascend the Heavenly Snow Mountain to look for Tian’er.” Long Shiya laughed heartily and said: “Well, there is another simpler method to train the ‘Ice Cold Perception’, but at the same time it is much less efﬁcient and a lot slower. That is, you constantly maintain the Demonic Change State, to constantly feel and experience the ‘Ice Cold Perception’ while in that state

and all the various intricacies, learning all you can about it. At the same time, when you are cultivating and training normally, you can do so while in the Demonic Change State, for as long as you can.”

… “My Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts is split into several large attainment states. The ﬁrst is mimicking, that is the one you have barely stepped into. The second state is compression, for this you have also started learning the basis. However, your learning was not in an orderly, gradual and structured manner, and this is not a good thing. As such, I need you to focus on training on the mimicking stage to the maximum in the following time when you are training with me. Your ﬁrst step is to bring your mimicking to the absolute max. That is to say, whatever your cultivation stage is at, you must be able to mimic all the Skills of your Attributes that your cultivation stage can handle, and be able to swap around freely.”

Zhou Weiqing said: “Master, what other attainment states are behind then?”

Long Shiya said: “Mimic, compress, next up is control. Once those Skills you mimic are compressed, their power is naturally increased exponentially, and their Star Rating is also increased. By this point, it will be the main test of your control over your Skills. As compared to Stored Skills, mimicking Skills have a much greater requirement on your control, not just while mimicking, but also the fact that when you are attacking, you need to make those Skills become an extension of your body. If you are able to reach this third attainment stage, then you will be considered having the ﬁrst step of success in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts. The next will be the fourth attainment stage, sublimation and evolving, and this much more intricate and involves many profound

mysteries. On the surface level, it is about letting a Skill evolve constantly, and at this point, you need to make some difﬁcult choices.”

“For those of us at the Heavenly Emperor Stage, in truth we do not use many Skills, just a few. However, each and every one of those thoroughly tempered and well-seasoned, with countless of possibilities and myriad changes. After all, no matter how many Skills you have, if you are facing a powerhouse, what is the point if you do not have the chance to use them all? As such, when it comes to the Heavenly King Stage and beyond, the greatest aspiration of all Skills is to be instant-cast. Simply put, let’s say we are at equal levels and you have a Heavenly God Tier Skill, but I only have a mere ﬁve Star Rated Skill. However, when we ﬁght, I use my Skill to instantly kill you, what is the point of your Heavenly God Tier Skill then? That is the reason why up to a certain power level, the true powerhouses will be pursuing the increase of power of Skills with the premise that they have to be instant-cast. In a ﬁght against such equals, not only is the control of your own Skills of utmost importance, the control of the battleﬁeld and control of your opponents in not allowing them to gather power and unleash spells. All of that is necessary.” Without question, all that Long Shiya was describing was opening a whole new world to Zhou Weiqing, giving him a sudden enlightenment towards his future, to know the path towards being a true powerhouse in the future and the direction his cultivation and training had to take.

“Teacher, what are we waiting for then? Please start guiding me now. How about this, I will learn and practice your Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts under your guidance while still maintaining the Demonic Change State. In this way, not only can I gain experience in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, the increase in senses will also help in that factor. At the same time, I can also train in my Demonic Change State and the ‘Ice Cold Perception’. As long as I keep in mind and remember all the various changes of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts while in the Demonic Change State, it will also help me improve in my normal usage outside of it.”

Long Shiya laughed heartily and said: “Very good, you are indeed a promising student. That is exactly what I was about to ask you to do. Your resting time will be when your Heavenly Energy is not enough to maintain the Demonic Change State, and you can meditate and recover during that period.”

“Yes!” …

Long Shiya began to ofﬁcially start teaching and guiding Zhou Weiqing in his cultivation. As for the training of the Peerless Battalion soldiers, it was still left to Shangguan Fei’er, Wei Feng and the seven god archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit.

The more he personally taught Zhou Weiqing, the more Long Shiya realised how terrifying his young disciple’s innate talent was. Perhaps, in terms of his self coordination and control, Zhou Weiqing was not the greatest. However, his mind was his greatest weapon. As long as Long Shiya gave some simple pointers, he was almost always able to comprehend it and draw inferences to many future steps ahead, and more importantly, able to make use of it in actual practice, ﬁnding the simplest method to implement the lessons into his cultivation.

The next surprising thing for Long Shiya was the sheer speed of Zhou Weiqing’s recovery. By this time, his Immortal Deity Technique had reached the nineteenth stage, with nineteen energy whirlpools of the respective Death Acupuncture Points whirling and drawing in energy at full power, causing his Heavenly Energy to recover at insane speeds far beyond any Heavenly Jewel Master of equal power, or even beyond. After all his Heavenly Energy was expended, it barely took him ﬁfteen minutes to fully recover once more. At the same time, he was starting to practice in limiting his Demonic Change State, to maintain the ‘Ice Cold Perception’ while cutting down on other energy expenses conservatively.

It might sound complicated, but in truth, what Zhou Weiqing did was to reduce the physical boost that the Demonic Change State brought to his body. With that reduction, it also greatly reduced the toll it took upon his Heavenly Energy.

Such an innovation allowed him to maintain his ‘new’ Demonic Change State for almost an hour, even at his mere nineteenth stage of Heavenly Energy. Such a feat was truly out of Long Shiya’s original expectations.

At the same time, with Long Shiya’s personal tutelage and the aid of the ‘Ice Cold Perception’ of the Demonic Change State, Zhou Weiqing’s training in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts also improved by leaps and bounds, taking great strides in it every single day.

…

In the twinkling of an eye, a week had passed. Just as Zhou Weiqing was immersed in the joy of continuous improvement, he was surprised by yet another good news passed down to him. The other Rufﬁan Battalions from the other northern armies had been sent to him, with Shen Ji personally leading men to escort them to the Peerless

Battalion. The total number of them was about three thousand seven hundred men, of which the Central Northern Command had sent almost two thousand men. After all, the Central Northern Command was the biggest army in the entire north, almost the equal of the North West and North Eastern Armies combined.

With the arrival of the new batch of Rufﬁan soldiers, Shangguan Fei’er came to ask Zhou Weiqing how they were to deal with them.

Three thousand seven hundred men had already surpassed Zhou Weiqing’s original expectations, and he immediately called a meeting of the upper echelons of the Peerless Battalion to discuss their further plans.

The upper echelon of the Peerless Battalion was still the original few, though of the seven Heavenly Bow Unit archers, only Hua Feng attended. Besides that, there was Lin TianAo, Shangguan Fei’er, Wei Feng and the other ten Company Leaders. Currently, they were all gathered in Zhou Weiqing’s large Battalion Commander tent.

Currently, all of them had overjoyed expressions on their faces. After all, the Peerless Battalion could now hold their heads up high after the previous chasing away of the Sixteenth Regiment. Ever since that incident, no one had dared to come to cause trouble to them, and even all their requests for supplies had easily been green lit without any problems.

Now that another three thousand seven hundred fresh blood was incoming to their ranks, it would undoubtedly be a great boost to the Peerless Battalion.

…

That day, Shen Ji had brought Shen Bu to see their Master and adoptive father, the Vice Commander of the entire North- West Armies. However, that wise and farsighted old man did not bring them to offer an apology or attempt to smooth things over. He knew such belated actions would not have any great effect. Instead, he pushed for the North-East and Central North armies to hasten the process in sending their Rufﬁan Battalions over with a strong escort. Indeed, a strong escort was required to do so; otherwise what if those rufﬁans started causing trouble or run amuck? Without question, this was what the Peerless Battalion most required now, and putting more effort in accomplishing those tasks was far more useful than just a mere apology. Actions spoke louder than words, and this was further represented by specially sending over pay and provisions. As for whatever supplies the Peerless Battalion required and requested for, as long as the North West Army Command had sufﬁcient

supplies, they would approve and send it without delay.

Indeed, given Zhou Weiqing’s description of the battle, the remaining corpses of the Swift Wolf Regiment had been quickly found, further ‘proving’ to Shen Ji and the others about Long Shiya’s power. At the same time, it had also given them the false impression that the Heaven’s Expanse Palace was planning to make a move in the border wars, and as a result they did not hesitate to give their full support to the Peerless Battalion.

…

“Battalion Commander, once our Peerless Battalion gains these new men, we will have the strength of almost half an entire Regiment already. Hahaha.” One of the stronger Company Leaders, an Eight-Jeweled Physical Jewel Master known as ‘Mammoth’ exclaimed excitedly. Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “You must be planning how much bigger your Company will grow right?”

Mammoth grinned and said: “Heh heh, Boss, as you know, as our First Company is primarily made up of the Air Force Troops, we are the elite amongst even our Peerless Battalion. If there are any top quality fellows, you must give us the priority to grab them up!”

Naturally, the other Company Leaders would not take that lying down, and the tent burst out in arguments as they all tried to ‘snatch’ the top talents incoming.

“Alright, enough, everyone keep quiet. First, Second and Third Company, you all already have so many Air Force soldiers, it can be said that all my ﬁnest warriors are with you three, why are you still trying snatch from others? My goal is to let the entire Peerless Battalion be powerful, without any weak. Vice Commander Wei Feng, you record this and take note, there are a few things that I need to trouble you to coordinate and arrange.”

“Yes sir.” Wei Feng glared slightly at the noisy Company Leaders before giving a proper army salute towards Zhou Weiqing. Zhou Weiqing said solemnly: “The ﬁrst thing is to get an accurate census of the men, and get all the details of all the new three thousand seven hundred of them. How many are Jewel Masters, Physical, Elemental or Heavenly Jewels, what their cultivation level is, how many have Heavenly Energy,

what all their Heavenly Energy stages are, down to their Attributes etc… All of it in detail and recorded down. If they do not even have Heavenly Energy, reject them back for Legion Commander Shen Ji to handle.”

Wei Feng nodded and said: “Those who are totally without any Heavenly Energy at all are likely to be a minority. After all, in the northern borders, no matter which army’s Rufﬁan Battalion should be in a similar circumstance. Those without conﬁdence in themselves would never dare to cause trouble in the army, and correspondingly would not end up in the Rufﬁan Battalion. Our registration and recording process has already started.”

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “If we run into any trouble, let Chief Instructor Fei’er accompany you. Absolute strength is absolute truth. Fei’er, is that okay with you?”

Shangguan Fei’er glanced at him, then said passively: “It will be good to see some new blood with itchy skins, I really enjoy treating such ‘illnesses’.” Upon hearing this, the entire tent gave a collective shudder involuntarily, with the exception of Hua Feng and Lin TianAo. The Company Leaders all suddenly fell quiet. It was clear all of them had been ‘treated’ such before.

Wei Feng continued: “Now, the biggest problem is that with those over three thousand men here, there are deﬁnitely a lot of new troublemakers with attitude problems. More importantly, some of them have pretty decent strength as well… if not for the fact that the Seventh Legion has stationed two Regiments around their temporary camp to guard them, perhaps some serious trouble would have already arisen. We need to be able to deal with that as soon as possible.”

…

Chapter 153 Shangguan Sisters!

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “That is ﬁne, we will still stick to our old plan, guidance through proﬁt. When they go through the registration, those who do so without any trouble, give them each a silver coin. We do not need to give too much, just a token silver coin will do. Those who cause trouble, beat them up; as long as they are not crippled or killed, that is ﬁne. Once registration is ﬁnished, immediately split up all three thousand seven hundred of them.”

“We will split them up according to their cultivation level and power, equally distributing them to the ten Companies. At the same time, we will have to do some reorganization. Due to our unique qualities of our Peerless Battalion, we will add an additional establishment and rank. In the future, all ten of you original Company Leaders will now be Senior Company Leaders, each of you will have ﬁve Companies under you forming a sub-Battalion, each back down to the usual one hundred men. As for how you choose your Company Leaders, I do not have to teach you right. The same principle holds, might is right.”

“Each of your original one hundred and ﬁfty men from your sub-Battalion, I want each of them to be mixed with and in charge of two to three of the new men. We do not need them to rush them into training or to actually lead them, but to ﬁrst speak of them how our Peerless Battalion came to be and how we grew to such strength, as well as the rules, rewards and punishments of our Peerless Battalion.”

Mammoth asked curiously: “Boss, is there such a necessity?” Those of them from the original Rufﬁan Battalion all preferred to call Zhou Weiqing ‘Boss’. After all, a Boss was usually the one who gave out the pay right? Currently, all their waist pouches were at least ﬁlled.

Zhou Weiqing glanced at him and said: “Of course it is necessary. This is called ideological education, and it is extremely important to bring everyone on the same page. This must go on for at least ten days before we resume the original soldiers’ regular training. Let the new soldiers watch and see for themselves, they do not need to join the training yet. We will let this go on for another ten more days.”

Wei Feng took note of all that Zhou Weiqing had mentioned. History had already proven that Zhou Weiqing was usually right, and he had absolute conﬁdence in him.

Zhou Weiqing continued: “Ten days after, we will hold a ﬁghting competition for the entire Battalion. I want you all teach those new men a painful lesson in that competition. Vice Commander Wei, send someone to requisition a sum of pay and provisions from the Seventh Legion, to be used as the grand prize for this competition. Fei’er, you take notice and choose a few of those most exceptional amongst the new men, and give them Consolidating Equipment Scrolls. Also, choose a few who have Heavenly Energy and have good potential but

have not Awakened their Personal Jewels, and help them Awaken it with the medicine. With all that, within a month I want all three thousand seven hundred new men to fully integrate into the Peerless Battalion. After the ﬁghting competition, we can start bringing them along to the various

trainings. Big bro Lin, as for our arms, weapons and armour, continue along with our original plan. However, in terms of Scrolls, ask Yun Li and Little Miss Muddle if it’s possible to increase the speed of production.”

Lin TianAo nodded and said: “We have been continuously producing and purchasing the required armours and Scrolls as per your previous requirements, and in this half a year, we have some accumulated. The only lack would be the Consolidated Wings, but as for the rest of the gear it will not be a problem. By the time the annual WanShou Empire armies attack, I estimate that all the new soldiers would have at least their Consolidated Bows and titanium mail. That, at the very least, will be no problem.”

Zhou Weiqing’s original estimate for the Peerless Battalion was about ﬁve thousand men, and as such, even after the original one thousand ﬁve hundred men had been fully equipped, they had continued production of equipment and Consolidating Equipment Scrolls in preparation for the future.

Shangguan Fei’er furrowed her brow and said: “The time might be too limited; with at most two months, and although we should have enough medicine, it might be difﬁcult to help all of those who haven’t Awakened their Personal Jewels to do so.”

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “In that regard, we’ll just have to do our best. Vice Commander Wei, please assist Fei’er in that matter too. It just takes second level of Heavenly Energy and higher to help assist in the medicine to take effect. Choose a few men from our original crew to aid Fei’er after the ﬁghting competition is over, and our target is to help everyone Awaken their Personal Jewels in the shortest possible time. At that point, you can inform the new members that they do not have sufﬁcient merits earned, but we will advance this special treatment to them due to special circumstances, and they will have to pay back from their future pay and rewards.”

“Yes Sir!” Wei Feng agreed once more.

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and continued: “Besides that, everything else should be going according to our original plan. Training and equipment must be kept up to date to keep apace with all our progress. When the WanShou Empire armies attack, that will be the true test for our Peerless Battalion. Tell the brothers, losing more sweat in peacetime means losing less blood in wartime. I don’t want anyone dying on the battleﬁeld,

let them all know that if anyone dares to do so, all their money

will go to our public funds. This time, after our ﬁght with the main WanShou Empire armies, I will personally reward the top ﬁfty soldiers with the best merits and contributions. Your Father, I, will bring them into the city to ‘eat chicken’.”

“Eat chicken? Top ﬁfty and you only reward them with a meal of chicken? Aren’t you being too stingy.” Shangguan Fei’er said with a dissatisﬁed tone.

The entire tent fell silent momentarily, as everyone had a strange look on their faces, with some of them struggling to hold back their laughter.

Zhou Weiqing glared at them with a swift, forceful glare. “No one is allowed to tell her what that means, at least not until I am gone. Anyway, I have already given out all the orders, everyone, let’s work hard to get through the next few months. Vice Commander, you, Master Hua Feng, Bro Lin and Fei’rer, you all can discuss to deal with any unforeseen problems that crop up. If nothing especially important crops up, do not disrupt my training. I will be going into training in an attempt to reach the Five-Jeweled stage within the next two months.”

After ﬁnishing those words, Zhou Weiqing did not sit around and wait for Shangguan Fei’er to react and ﬂare up. With a quick Blink, he disappeared directly out of the tent, running to look for Long Shiya to train.

What kind of temper did Shangguan Fei’er have? With a quick lift of her hand, she grabbed the huge Mammoth who towered over her by more than half a metre, dragging him down closer to her as she said savagely: “What eat chicken, hurry up and tell me, otherwise… you know….”

Mammoth shuddered involuntarily and he quickly said: “Lady Boss, I’ll say, I’ll say alright.” His huge ﬁgure was about the same as Ma Qun’s, and with his current frightened look in front of this small lady, it looked extremely funny. However, no one around laughed at him.

Hua Feng smiled and walked out of the tent, while Wei Feng had to restrain his laughter as he followed behind outside. As for the other company Leaders, those fellows were deﬁnitely taking pleasure in Mammoth’s misfortune. Shangguan Fei’er blushed deeply at him calling her ‘Lady Boss’, and she glared savagely at him once more, and he quickly bent down closer to her ear and whispered a few lines.

As soon as Shangguan Fei’er heard his words, her slightly ﬂushed face turned as red as a ripe apple.

“ZHOU–WEI-QING, you bastard!”

A certain fellow who was running back to his tent felt a chill run down his spine, thinking to himself how lucky he was to have ran so quickly.

Alas, in the large tent, all the Company Leaders who had been watching in good humour were now in trouble… as their ‘Lady Boss’ Chief Instructor was extremely angry, and gave them all an ‘extra lesson’ without hesitation.

Of course, though they were beaten up by Shangguan Fei’er, none of these Company Leaders gave any complaints or grumbles. They had already truly accepted and respected Shangguan Fei’er for all she had done for them all. In the Peerless Battalion, the one with the highest prestige and power was undoubtedly Zhou Weiqing, as it was exactly because of his arrival that had brought all these unbelievable changes to the Peerless Battalion, transforming them from a mere exiled Rufﬁan Battalion to the Peerless Battalion of today.

It was Zhou Weiqing that had given them their power today,

living a well fed and well clothed life, with hope for the future and strength to grow. This organization called the ‘Peerless Battalion’ had slowly been accepted by them all.

Besides Zhou Weiqing, the next in line for prestige was deﬁnitely Shangguan Fei’er. Even Wei Feng and the seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit were no match for her in this regard.

The entire Peerless Battalion’s close combat skills had been taught by Shangguan Fei’er, and their acceptance of her was not just because of her own personal power, but because of her teachings without reservations. In this half a year, under her tutelage, it could be said that every single Peerless Battalion soldier had experienced much pain and suffering under the tempering of her devil-like training. However, at the same time, their power had also grown signiﬁcantly, almost as if their entire world had been turned upside down. If not for the fact that what Zhou Weiqing had done was just too strong, perhaps her prestige would be far beyond even him.

After ‘taking care’ of all those fellows, Shangguan Fei’er went back to her own tent. Of course, she wasn’t really truly angry, and she needed to rush back to go through her own set of preparations in order to properly take care of what Zhou Weiqing had assigned her to do.

Having been at the Peerless Battalion for so long, Shangguan Fei’er had also experienced a totally new feeling, that of being swamped with work. The reason why she kept at it, persisting in doing all of this, even ﬁnding pleasure in doing so, it was not just simply because she wanted to help Zhou Weiqing.

Having been born from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, Shangguan Fei’er had never felt that women were any lesser than men. However, she never had the opportunity to be given free rein to bring all she had into play, being protected as the Little Demon Girl of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. She had always been a competitive person, and after coming to the Peerless Battalion, seeing with her own eyes and also through her own actions how this original Rufﬁan Battalion which had no sense of unity, just a mere heap of loose sand, had grown to such a state… it had truly given her a sense of satisfaction that she had not experience hitherto. This was something that truly belonged to her, something that she had worked hard for and used her own efforts to ﬂourish in. Although she was spending all her time together with a bunch of rufﬁans everyday, it was truly a unique experience that none of them treated her with that same caution and fear as in the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. Although they were also afraid of her, but it was one that was with true respect. More so, in private, these rufﬁans were more her friends than subordinates.

Such a feeling was truly very good. It could be said that even without Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er was leading an extremely satisfactory life in the Peerless Battalion. As such, her hopes and expectations for the Peerless Battalion was no less than Zhou Weiqing; the amount of effort she had put in also no less, and she truly hoped that the Peerless Battalion would grow stronger and stronger, until they truly lived up to their name as being Peerless in the world.

After issuing the array of detailed commands to his subordinates, Zhou Weiqing resumed his role as a leader leaving everything to his subordinates. However, none of them would complain. Although it seemed on the surface that Zhou Weiqing did not do anything, it was exactly his big picture view, direction and plans, as well as his unique unconstrained style of thinking that had brought them so far; truly a respectable and outstanding leader indeed. If the leader of an army always had to spend all his time troubling over everything, down to each and every minute detail, that could only prove that he was just mediocre. What was a leader’s true duty and responsibility? It was to lead, to ﬁnd and seek out talents and all their various gifts, to develop them, to direct them, unite them together in a strong sense of camaraderie. In the most critical times, the leader had to be the spiritual pillar and foundation of the entire troop, and all this was the most important part of a leader’s duty. Without question, Zhou Weiqing excelled at all of the above. Although he did not personally do many things, with just all that, he had already brought up the Peerless Battalion to its current strength.

…

Finally reaching her tent, Shangguan Fei’er thought of Zhou Weiqing and couldn’t help but grit her teeth and scold inwardly: Hmph! Scoundrel! After their intimate moment in the tent last night, she would still blush deeply and feel her skin heating up whenever she thought about it. More touching to her were the words that Zhou Weiqing had spoken to her. She was clear that her line of defense against that fellow was growing weaker and weaker by the day, and who knew when it would totally collapse. However… what about Bing’er!

Just as she opened her tent ﬂap and stepped in, she stopped abruptly as an abrupt sense of alarm tore her from her thoughts, and her unfocused gaze instantly gathered swiftly and she snapped out: “Who’s there?”

She did not unleash her Consolidated Equipment yet, but her Heavenly Energy immediately circulated to the maximum. At the same time, she made use of her step into the tent to enter a defensive stance that was ready to spring into action at anytime.

“Come in.” A cold voice, with a hint of anger, rang out softly in Shangguan Fei’er’s ears.

It was a very familiar voice, one that she had heard for all her life, and a voice that ﬁlled her heart with shock. If we were to say who Shangguan Fei’er was currently the most afraid of seeing now, it was undoubtedly Shangguan Bing’er, and the next after that would be the owner of this voice.

Quickly stepping fully into the tent, Shangguan Fei’er instantly saw a ﬁgure who looked exactly like her, dressed in the ZhongTian army uniform. It was Shangguan Xue’er, standing right in the middle of the tent, the exact same features with the only difference was that frosty look on her face, and even her clear eyes held a hint of cold and anger as she looked towards Shangguan Fei’er.

“Big Sister, you, why are you here?” Even Shangguan Fei’er could sense the noticeable tremor in her voice as she asked the question.

“Why am I here? What do you think? If I did not come any sooner, I’m afraid you would do something to let down Bing’er right?” Shangguan Xue’er’s voice was ﬁlled with anger. This was actually the ﬁrst time that Shangguan Fei’er had seen her like this.

Both these sisters were triplets after all, and though Shangguan Bing’er had not grown up together with them, the two of them had, and they were extremely close to each other. Although their ages were less than an hour apart, Shangguan Xue’er had always shown the bearing of an elder sister since a young age. No matter what, she would always give way Shangguan Fei’er in all things. However, when it came to critical moments, if Shangguan Xue’er got angry, Shangguan Fei’er would deﬁnitely listen to her obediently. It could be said

that in the entire Heaven’s Expanse Palace, even the two brothers Shangguan Tianyang and Shangguan Tianyue were unable to control the Little Demon Girl, and only her elder sister could make her afraid. However, she was not afraid of Shangguan Xue’er’s power, but that Shangguan Xue’er would ignore her, and lapse into a cold war.

Even in the past when they were growing up together in the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, no matter the argument or their worst deadlocks, they had only entered a cold war. This was actually the ﬁrst time that Shangguan Xue’er had scolded her like that directly.

“Sis, what are you talking about!” Although Shangguan Fei’er refused to admit anything, her heart started racing.

Shangguan Xue’er gave a cold humph and said: “What am I talking about? I already witnessed it with my own eyes last night, do I still need to say anything else?” “Last night… it was you?” Shangguan Fei’er instantly felt as if she had been doused with a bucket of ice cold water. The next moment, her face turned totally red.

However, to her surprise, Shangguan Xue’er’s face also turned red.

What Shangguan Fei’er did not know was that as triplets, under such a close proximity like last night, they had somehow sparked an induction of emotions, causing Shangguan Xue’er to clearly sense what Shangguan Fei’er had been feeling, that sense of joy while she was being intimate with Zhou Weiqing, as well as that feeling of excitement. It was also because of that feeling she had never sensed before that she had quickly ﬂed that scene so hurriedly instead of showing herself then. At this moment, seeing her sister in front of her, she suddenly remembered what she had seen and felt last night, not to mention that day on the Heavenly Jewel Island which she would never forget, the kiss that caused her to grit her teeth in anger. That was her ﬁrst kiss!

“Sis, I’m wrong…” Shangguan Fei’er lowered her head in shame. If the Peerless Battalion’s rufﬁans soldiers saw such a sight, their jaws would drop all the way onto the ground. Was this still their valiant, ferocious drill instructor who would smack down anyone who caused trouble?!

Shangguan Xue’er’s expression eased slightly. After all, her relationship with Shangguan Fei’er was extremely close. In the past, every time Shangguan Fei’er did something wrong and was caught by her, she would admit her mistake just like that, and every time, Shangguan Xue’er would forgive her. They had not spoken heart to heart for quite some time, and with those familiar words, Shangguan Xue’er felt her heart melting. However… this time… was what she did so easily forgiven?

“Fei’er, don’t you know you are playing with ﬁre? He is Bing’er’s man! They are already engaged to be married, yet… yet… that actually happened. How, how could you be intimate with him? Is that fair to Bing’er?” Shangguan Xue’er paused for a while, biting her lip, but she ﬁnally gritted her teeth and steeled herself to continue.

Hearing her words, the rosy red cheeks of Shangguan FEi’er suddenly turned ashen pale. She bit her lip lightly and said: “I’m sorry, Sis, I really am… I know I am wrong, but … but… I really could not control myself. I also do not know when it was that I actually fell for him. Sis, feelings and emotions… it is not something that can be controlled. When I ﬁrst ran to look for him, I was just curious about him, and more so, to take some revenge against him for both myself and your sake. Who asked him to steal our ﬁrst kisses! However, that bad fellow seems to have some strange magic about him. The longer I spent with him, the more I was inﬂuenced by that… unable to extricate myself. I…”

As she spoke up to that point, her beautiful eyes were misty and welling up, her body shuddering slightly as she clenched her hands tightly.

Looking at her like that, Shangguan Xue’er could not bear to continue. Although she was always icy on the surface, it was just a cover for her soft heart. In truth, amongst the three Shangguan Sisters, she was the most tenderhearted. However, she had always used her icy cold demeanor to cover that tender-heartedness. Seeing her little sister in such pain and suffering, her own heart ached in tandem.

Taking a few steps forward, she embraced her sister, who fell into her arms and started crying.

In the past few months, her relationship with Zhou Weiqing had been the greatest problem plaguing Shangguan Fei’er. She had put her all into training the Peerless Battalion soldiers, not just because she enjoyed it, but also also in an attempt to lose herself in it and prevent herself from thinking too much about things. She had also started trying to avoid Zhou Weiqing, but even though she did not see him, it was as if he held some magnetic power, and she could not escape it.

Currently, seeing her own big sister, the emotions she was hiding in her heart burst forth, and in opening the ﬂoodgates of her tears, she found she was unable to stop. In moments, Shangguan Xue’er’s shoulder clothes was soaked with her tears.

Seeing her sister crying in such sorrow, Shangguan Xue’er could no longer speak the words of admonition on her lips. Stroking her back softly, she gritted her teeth and said: “That bastard Zhou Weiqing, playing around with one of my sisters isn’t enough for him, and he has to incur another one. I really feel like killing him with one sword strike.”

“No… please…” Hearing that, Shangguan Fei’er’s crying suddenly stopped and she grasped hold of Shangguan Xue’er urgently, looking up in fright.

“You…” Looking at her like that, Shangguan Xue’er was left speechless. “Fei’er, you have really fallen for him beyond help.” Her brow furrowed tight, Shangguan Xue’er was currently in an inward dilemma. She did not know how to face both her sisters. Originally, the words she had prepared to speak out, she found she was unable to say them. Her heart ached for Bing’er, and did not wish for her husband to be taken away, but Shangguan Fei’er was also her sister! How could she hurt one sister for another? That was something she could not possibly do, not at all. In truth, Shangguan Xue’er had never been an ambitious person. In her eyes, even the Heaven’s Expanse Palace Palace Master position was no match for kinship and familial love. Even the reason why she worked and trained so hard was to make her uncle and father happy, to maintain their family and protect them from being hurt by any enemies.

“Sis, what should I do? I truly am unable to let it go. There have been many times in the past few months that I have tried to garner my courage to leave him, but every time I tried to step out of the camp, that sense of loss… it is as if I am being torn apart from the inside, and I could not help myself and walked back in. I really like him, and also like this Rufﬁan Battalion we have here. Everyone here, although each and everyone of them has their ﬂaws, but they are extremely genuine… so real. No matter what they think, they will show it out instantly, even if they might seem rough, even vulgar and coarse, but as compared to our Heaven’s Expanse Palace, they just feel more authentic to me. I truly do not wish to leave.” Looking at Shangguan Fei’er’s pitiful look, Shangguan Xue’er could only remain silent. Even if she asked her what to do, she too did not know!

Shangguan Fei’er said softly: “Did Father ask you to come and bring me back?”

Shangguan Xue’er shook her head and said: “Father only asked me to come and keep watch on that Zhou Weiqing; he did not ask me to bring you back.”

“Really?” Upon hearing those words, it was as if Shangguan Fei’er had been injected with stimulants. She leapt up abruptly, exclaiming: “Great, that’s awesome! Sis, you are the best!” As she said that, she planted a big kiss on Shangguan Xue’er’s cheek.

Caught by surprise by the sudden kiss, Shangguan Xue’er ﬂushed slightly and said: “Stop it. Although Father did not ask me to bring you back, but I am also here to keep watch on you as well. I have already been here for some time… previously everything was still okay, and you were still able to keep your distance from him. However, what happened yesterday? Fei’er, you know, Bing’er has been separated from us for so long, since birth, and it is Father who has let her and Mother down. Now that she has ﬁnally returned to us, if you really steal her beloved, how are we going to face her in future?! She is so kind and goodhearted…”

The excitement that had just risen up disappeared once more, and Shangguan Fei’er sighed softly. “I also do not know, Sis, I truly do not know how to face Bing’er. It isn’t like I haven’t thought about it… if not for Bing’er, I would have already accepted Little Fatty long ago…”

Shangguan Xue’er couldn’t help but ask: “Is that fellow really that good? Is he really worth you being like this?”

To her surprise, Shangguan Fei’er nodded without hesitation, saying: “It is true, Sis. Although Little Fatty might seem bad at times, rougish and a scoundrel… But, the things he shows subconsciously has truly infected me. If I have not truly fallen in love, I would not be suffering so much now. What should I do!”

Shangguan Xue’er took a deep breath and sighed deeply, saying: “Fei’er, such a thing can only depend on yourself.”

“I… I…” Tears welled up once again in Shangguan Fei’er’s eyes. Shangguan Xue’er thought deeply for a moment and said: “Fei’er, you go back home then. You have to.”

“No, I.. I do not want to leave.” Shangguan Fei’er replied almost as a reﬂex. Looking at the strange look in her sister’s eyes, she lowered her head and said: “Sis, I’m afraid that if I leave, I will never see Little Fatty again. Furthermore, there are still so many things for me to do here at the Peerless Battalion. I really cannot leave!”

Shangguan Xue’er pulled at her once more. “Silly girl, you cannot just leave things like this forever, or keep avoiding the topic. You will have to solve the issue eventually. You deﬁnitely have to return to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. If you think you truly love that bastard, then the only way is to speak to Bing’er and get her forgiveness! Although I do not want to see such a thing happen and give that fellow such an advantage, but… who asked you both to…”

Hearing those words, Shangguan Fei’er was struck dumb, opening her mouth and staring at Shangguan Xue’er in amazement.

Being stared at like that for so long, Shangguan Xue’er felt rather embarrassed, and she retorted: “What are you staring at me like that for?” All of a sudden, Shangguan Fei’er took a big step forward and gave her a big hug, giving her another kiss on the cheek. “Sis, you are just too smart! Why didn’t I think of that? That’s right, isn’t that the perfect solution? Both Bing’er and myself can marry Little Fatty! Hehehe, that’s too good!”

“Good? Good your head!” Shangguan Xue’er gave her a light thwap on the head with her hand. “You are really hopeless. What so good about that fellow you are so eager? You silly girl! Furthermore, whether or not you can persuade Bing’er remains to be seen.”

Shangguan Fei’er smiled happily and said: “I’m sure there is a way. Bing’er is so kind and gentle, I’m sure she will forgive me. She can be the ﬁrst wife, and I’ll be the second, anyway we are sisters. That Zhou Little Fatty is such a player, there is still that Tian’er, better to let our own gain the advantage than outsiders! With me and Bing’er together, we can unite together against the others, and we won’t lose out.”

It was Shangguan Xue’er’s turn to be struck dumb. She truly could not understand what her sister was thinking, and no matter what, she could only think how terrible this Zhou Weiqing was. Yet, in her sisters’ eyes, that fellow was like some treasure, and she truly could not understand it. “You… You are really making me angry!” Shangguan Xue’er pushed her away lightly in exasperation. “Hmph, you decide for yourself then, I shall not interfere in this matter anymore.” As she said that, Shangguan Xue’er turned around. Currently, she did not have any sign of her usual icy outlook.

Shangguan Fei’er said merrily: “You can’t not interfere, who asked you to be my sister! You can’t cut off blood ties like that.”

Shangguan Xue’er gave another exasperated hmph. Looking at her back, Shangguan Fei’er abruptly thought of a daring idea. Although she felt guilty towards Shangguan Bing’er, she had after all grown up with Shangguan Xue’er, and if she were to say who she was closer to, it would deﬁnitely be Shangguan Xue’er. When that daring idea popped up in her head, her heart raced instantly, and her eyes swirled about in her sockets as the idea took hold in her mind.

Hearing her sister’s words cut off so abruptly, Shangguan Xue’er turned back in curiosity, only to see her with her head lowered, as if deep in thought. She did not suspect anything, asking: “Fei’er, when are you prepared to return?”

“Ah?” Shangguan Fei’er was broken out of her reverie, and quickly said: “Sis, I cannot return at such short notice, at least until things here are relatively stable. Anyway, Bing’er is still in closed door cultivation, you wouldn’t want me to disturb her training now right?”

Shangguan Xue’er insisted: “At least you need to set a time. I will not interfere between you and Zhou Weiqing, but before you get Bing’er’s permission, I will not allow you to be intimate with him.”

Shangguan Fei’er said: “We are just about to receive a new batch of soldiers. In two months, the WanShou Empire armies are going to attack. Weiqing said that this is the best opportunity for us to temper our Peerless Battalion, to put them through the grinder of true combat. In such a critical moment, how could I leave him? Leave them? How about this, I will return as soon as the WanShou Empire armies are beaten back.”

Shangguan Xue’er thought about it for a moment, and decided her words made sense. Nodding slowly, she said: “Alright then, but you must honour your words.” Towards this Little Demon Girl, she was all too familiar with her character.

Shangguan Fei’er said seriously: “Sis, I will listen to you. As soon as the WanShou Empire armies are beaten back, I will deﬁnitely go back. At the same time, I also promise you that during this time, I will deﬁnitely not… you know… with Little Fatty. However, I also have something to ask you, how about that?”

Shangguan Xue’er got her promise and relaxed inwardly.

Subconsciously, she replied: “What is it?”

Shangguan Fei’er said: “Sis, you have also seen for yourself, this Little Fatty has such a ‘ﬂowery’ heart, and our ZhongTian Empire armies also allow females to join. For example, that Shen Yi from the Sixteenth Regiment beside us used to have good feelings towards Little Fatty, and even wanted to marry him. That’s why, if I really leave, I cannot help but be worried. Furthermore, if I go, these Peerless Battalion brothers will not have anyone to take care of them. Your power is greater than mine, if I leave, it will be stealthily, then you can replace my chief instructor position and not let Little Fatty discover it. Firstly, to help me take care of the soldiers here, and secondly to keep watch on him for me and Bing’er. Don’t let me have any other women, otherwise you can beat him up!”

Upon hearing her words, Shangguan Xue’er did not feel anything amiss. After all, what Shangguan Fei’er said was true, that Zhou Weiqing was just too much of a player, if no one kept him in check, who knew how many other women he would attract. Her own two sisters had already fallen for this fellow, and Shangguan Xue’er naturally did not want anyone else to come into the picture.”

Shangguan Fei’er had truly spent too much time with Zhou Weiqing and had been inﬂuenced by him, even her words in the art of trickery was at a much higher level. She ﬁrst sincerely agreed with all her sister’s requests, before giving a small request of her own… with all of it for Bing’er and her own sake. Naturally, Shangguan Xue’er would not be suspicious.

“Alright then, I will help you keep watch on him. If he dares to court any other girls, then my sword will…” As she said that, Shangguan Xue’er made a downward chopping motion.

Shangguan Fei’er was laughing inwardly. She had not expected that her sister would rise to the bait so easily. Her daring idea was on the ﬁrst step to coming true.

Inside, she thought to herself: Little Fatty, it is all up to you to succeed. If you can drag Sis down as well, Heh Heh… then us three Sisters can stay together forever, and we three can bully you! Hmph hmph, we’ll see if you dare bully me next time. If Shangguan Xue’er knew what Shangguan Fei’er was thinking at that moment, she would deﬁnitely run over and slay him with a single sword strike. Alas for her, she did not know that she had fallen into her sister’s trap.

“Sis, then will you still hide in the camp?” Shangguan Fei’er asked.

Shangguan Xue’er shook her head and said: “How can I stay here, I have been observing you all from nearby the camp. I brought enough food.”

Shangguan Fei’er said happily: “Don’t… stay here! You can stay in my tent… anyway besides that fellow, no one else would dare intrude here. He is in closed door cultivation in the near future, and will not come here as well. We have not seen each other for so long, I want to keep company with you!”

Shangguan Xue’er could only nod helplessly and say: “Alright alright, you silly girl! What can I say to that. However, if I stay here, you’ll have to tell me everything that has happened between you and that Zhou Little Fatty. Let me see what he has done to make you fall for him so hard. Don’t you know that what you said just now, I truly cannot believe that you are my sister, the Little Demon Girl of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace.” Shangguan Fei’er laughed and said: “No problem, I’ll tell you everything, even all the details of our intimacy, how about that?”

Shangguan Xue’er’s face turned cold. “Fei’er, your skin is getting itchy right?”

Shangguan Fei’er giggled and said: “Too bad there isn’t enough space, otherwise I do want to have a practice ﬁght. Although I did not have much practice time by myself since I came here, however perhaps because I have been enjoying myself while teaching these fellows, I also have learned a lot. I have the feeling that I am almost about to breakthrough to the Seventh Jewel, almost catching up with you!”

Shangguan Xue’er smiled faintly and said: “You better work hard then. I’m afraid that you currently can’t ﬁght with me still.”

As she said that, Shangguan Xue’er closed her eyes. Instantly, a gentle aura rose from her body, ﬁlling the entire tent with a strange sensation, as if the entire air had been turned into liquid, reverberating. The soft, gentle sensation seemed to envelop Shangguan Fei’er. There was no strong Heavenly Energy ﬂuctuations, but Shangguan Fei’er could feel as if she was in a swamp, restricted in an uncomfortable feeling. “You… you already grasped the Boundless Inﬁnitum Technique?” Shangguan Fei’er said in shock.

Shangguan Xue’er nodded slightly, saying: “My Heavenly Energy cultivation level has almost caught up with Big Bro Zhan.”

Shangguan Fei’er gave a speechless look before saying: “You are truly born to cultivate… I don’t think my talent is any lesser, but how come I can never catch up to you? Nevermind, although I can’t catch up to you, but my man will deﬁnitely do so.”

“What do you mean your man?! So unpleasant sounding, next time don’t speak about such things like that.” Shangguan Xue’er furrowed her brow once more.

Shangguan Fei’er said happily: “Why not, even you have agreed, so he is now my man.”

Chapter 154 Evolving of the Peerless Battalion!

“Tcheh, when did I agree.” Shangguan Xue’er said exasperatedly.

Shangguan Fei’er smiled and said: “How can it not be an agreement? If you didn’t give tacit approval, how could you get me to look for Bing’er? A silent approval is still approval, and approval is agreement right? Hehehe, Sis, don’t deny it any further. I’m so happy today~ Don’t you know, these few days, I have been feeling so terrible. Now that you are here, I ﬁnally have someone to talk to. Tonight, let us sisters talk through the entire night!”

Shangguan Xue’er said: “Just now you said, that Zhou Weiqing has hope of surpassing me?”

Shangguan Fei’er nodded and said: “It’s not just a chance, but a certainty.”

Hearing her words, Shangguan Xue’er was instantly unwilling to accept it. As the heir to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, she had always been the top of her generation. It could be said that even amongst all the disciples and heirs of the Five Great Saint Lands, she was still at the top of the pyramid. Zhou Weiqing did not even have the backing of any Great Saint Lands, though she had to admit his talent was not bad, but how could he possibly surpass herself with the Boundless Inﬁnitum Set. No matter what, Shangguan Xue’er was

unwilling to believe that was possible.

Naturally, Shangguan Fei’er could understand what her sister was thinking. With a smile, she said: “Sis, don’t think I am exaggerating or lying. Before I spent time with him, I was also unwilling to believe such a thing was possible, or that he could even surpass me. However, after all this time together, I have no choice but to accept that Little Fatty is truly a monster. The speed of his cultivation is just too shocking.”

Shangguan Xue’er furrowed her brow and said: “Well, say then, what sort of advancements has he made, and in what areas?”

Shangguan Fei’er said: “Do you remember what stage he was at during the Heavenly Jewel Tournament? As far as I know, when he ﬁrst left the Fei Li Empire to join the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, he had just reached the Three Jeweled Stage, barely entering the Heavenly Shen Energy stage. Yet… now? His Heavenly Energy has already reached the Nineteenth Stage, almost reaching the Five-Jeweled Stage! This time, he is entering closed door cultivation for the purpose of breaking through to that Mid Level Zun Stage…That might seem like nothing to you or me, but just think about it, from three to ﬁve Jewels, how long has it taken him? It is only about a year… even for you … when you were at that stage, you never rose at

such a speed right?”

Hearing Shangguan Fei’er’s words, it was as if Shangguan Xue’er’s eyes were suddenly opened.

All this time, she had never really put Zhou Weiqing on the same level as herself. Perhaps at most she had been surprised by his six Attributes, thinking his talent was just ‘not bad’.

However, upon hearing her sister’s words, only then did she realise that it was indeed true. In just a year, his Heavenly Energy had raised six stages, and he was about to breakthrough to the Five-Jeweled stage. After all, the higher one’s Heavenly Energy cultivation level was, the harder it was to continue raising. At the three-Jeweled stage, perhaps Shangguan Xue’er’s speed was no lesser than Zhou Weiqing, but at the Five-Jeweled stage, her speed was already slower.

Although it seemed like Zhou Weiqing was extremely far from Shangguan Xue’er’s current Seven-Jeweled cultivation level, she was suddenly reminded of a very pertinent fact by her sister’s words… a fact that she had overlooked before this.

Shangguan Bing’er had previously told them that Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy had only Awakened about four to ﬁve years ago. That meant that in just this short period of time, his Heavenly Energy had skyrocketed to what it currently was… from zero to the almost ﬁve-Jewels now. Furthermore, Zhou Weiqing was about two years younger than them, and did not previously have any support from any Great Saint Lands. Who knew what his cultivation level would grow to in two years time!

Shangguan Fei’er continued: “Now you understand what I mean right? That Immortal Deity Technique of Little Fatty’s is truly terrifying, almost disgusting even. Although we are unable to cultivate it, as it is almost tantamount to suicide, but it seems to have been made for him. With that cultivation technique, I am certain that before the nine-Jeweled stage, his speed of advancement will not slow much. That is to say… I estimate that within four to ﬁve years, maybe less, he will reach the Upper Level Zong Stage.”

“By that time, who knows, he might actually even be able to reach the Heavenly King Stage before the age of thirty! That is something that not even Big Uncle was able to accomplish! Sis, just think about it, in four or ﬁve years, are you certain that you will deﬁnitely reach the Heavenly King Stage? Furthermore, we are slightly older than he is. That is the reason why I said that he would deﬁnitely be able to catch up with you in the future.”

Shangguan Xue’er looked at her gleeful little sister and said passively: “Heavenly Energy cultivation level is important, but it is also not the deciding factor for everything. Furthermore, all of that is just your estimations.”

Shangguan Fei’er laughed merrily as she said: “Sis, looks like you really aren’t convinced! Well, what about actual combat? Even though you have the Boundless Inﬁnitum Set, that fellow also has the ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set! Perhaps in terms of comparing Legendary Sets, his might be slightly weaker than yours, but how much of a difference can the two have? Do not forget, he also has the Demonic Change State and the Six Attribute Elemental Jewels. In terms of actual combat, I currently dare not say that I will deﬁnitely be able to defeat him. Even if I can, it will deﬁnitely be at a heavy price. This is even because I know most of his Skills very well. Although you are much stronger than I am, if you are not clear about his abilities, even if you can defeat him, it would also be at a heavy price.” All of a sudden, Shangguan Xue’er giggled. “Fei’er, do you know what you look like now?”

Shangguan Fei’er started momentarily before saying: “What do I look like?”

Shangguan Xue’er continued saying laughingly: “Just now, you looked totally like a mother hen protecting her little chicks. You haven’t even married that fellow yet, and you are already so protective of him. Well, besides the fact he hasn’t caught up with me yet, even if he becomes stronger than me, so what? Anyway, we are not enemies.”

“Sis, you dare say I am like a mother hen?! I… I…” As she said that, Shangguan Fei’er suddenly sprang savagely at Shangguan Xue’er.

…

While the two sisters were joking around with each other at one side, Zhou Weiqing had started his closed door cultivation in his own tent. This time, the closed door cultivation was not at Long Shiya’s behest, but something he had requested of his own accord. After being taught by Long Shiya, Zhou Weiqing became clearer and clearer about his own ﬂaws and what he lacked. On the surface, his talents were amazing. However, he had not been in the Heavenly Jewel Master world for long, and his ﬂaws were plentiful as well. These ﬂaws might not seem like much, some extremely tiny, but if an enemy managed to grab hold of one and make use of it, it could be a possible point that sent him to eternal doom.

More importantly, the Peerless Battalion had been replenished with so many new men, and Zhou Weiqing could feel the weight on his shoulders increasing. Although he did not speak out about this, that feeling in his heart was deﬁnitely growing. Closed door cultivation to break through to the Five- Jeweled cultivation level was his current goal. Furthermore, this time, he would do so by training in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts while in Demonic Change State.

Long Shiya would remain in the same tent as Zhou Weiqing throughout this period. During the time when Zhou Weiqing was training in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, he would give detailed pointers and correct any mistakes. In his eyes, Zhou Weiqing’s passion and persistence towards cultivation was far below his own. Back in those days, Long Shiya had gone through so much in order to increase his cultivation and gain power, barely forging his way through countless of trials and tribulations. Yet, at the same time, he

had no choice but to admit that this disciple of his was far superior to himself in terms of understanding and comprehension. In addition to his other talents, it was deﬁnitely a startling cultivation speed. If he examined himself, Long Shiya knew that he was already being extremely critical

and strict, but Zhou Weiqing would still give him a pleasant surprise every day. The Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts in his disciple’s hands was slowing starting to look decent. After all these days, at least in terms of the ﬁrst stage of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, Zhou Weiqing was already starting to enter deeper and at a much more stable state. At least for all Skills below the Five-Jeweled stage, he was already able to mimic them.

Of course, that was not to say that Zhou Weiqing would practice mimicking every single Skill, but it was more a particular talent or attribute that he had to master in mimicking; basically training hard in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts’ mimicking capabilities. As the saying goes ‘The Methods used may vary, but the Principle always remains the same’. As long as he knew the key to the method, it would be much easier to mimic any Skill within his capabilities. To Zhou Weiqing, having two months to breakthrough to the Five-Jeweled stage was not a particularly difﬁcult task. After all, his Immortal Deity Technique was truly ‘disgusting’. Just like what Shangguan Fei’er had said, the speed of growth of his Heavenly Energy had never slowed, not even as his cultivation level increased.

Normally, Heavenly Energy cultivation would become harder and harder as one’s cultivation level increased. However, in Zhou Weiqing’s case, whenever he raised a stage of Heavenly Energy, his own Death Acupuncture energy whirlpools would also increase by one, and the draw from the atmospheric energy was greatly increased, and this would offset the extra difﬁculty in cultivation speed.

Originally, Zhou Weiqing had been very worried what would happen to him after reaching the thirty sixth Stage of Heavenly Energy and reaching the Heavenly Xu Stage and the Heavenly King Stage. After all, that was the limit of the Immortal Deity Technique with the thirty six Death Acupuncture Points, and he did not have another higher level cultivation technique. Now, he did not need to worry too much about the future; with a teacher like Long Shiya, that was no longer any problem. At least, before he broke through the Heavenly King Stage, it was clear that Long Shiya would not easily leave his side. As Zhou Weiqing entered the close door cultivation, everyday he would enter the Demonic Change State to train in all his various Skills, not just to train in the ‘Ice Cold Perception’, increasing his senses and knowledge in the profound secrets in that state, but also to increase the time he could remain in that

state. At the same time, he was also constantly improving in his Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts and Heavenly Energy. It could be said that it was not only training in Skill usage, but also Heavenly Energy, without neglecting either. This was Zhou Weiqing’s greatest advantage compared to any other

Heavenly Jewel Master, an advantage from the Immortal Deity

Technique, the advantage that would allow him to slowly catch up with the Shangguan Sisters.

At the same time, the development of the Peerless Battalion was on the right path, following the instructions that Zhou Weiqing had laid out. The three thousand new rufﬁans who had joined were quickly dispersed amongst the various new Companies, and with the lure of food and money, as well as the ‘propaganda’ from the older Peerless Battalion soldiers, soon converted them all. The Peerless Battalion training was not in the actual campsite. Everyday, they would all head out of the camp, running twenty kilometres to a empty space for their training.

For other units, if they were to move out without consideration like that, they would deﬁnitely draw the attention and criticism from the headquarters. However, ever since Shen Ji knew about the presence of Long Shiya, it was as if the Peerless Battalion had gained a permanent green light, and they had no problems in doing such training daily.

The ﬁrst time these new recruits saw the Peerless Battalion soldiers in their titanium alloy mail and all of them having a Consolidated Bow, they were truly shocked to the core.

The current Peerless Battalion was far different from what it had been when Zhou Weiqing had ﬁrst arrived at the old Rufﬁan Battalion, in terms of cultivation, equipment, power, even conﬁdence. Naturally, it was much easier to ‘conquer’ the hearts of these new recruits as compared to previously. Looking at the ‘old’ Peerless Battalion soldiers using their Consolidated Bows to continuously destroy targets at an impressive distance of a thousand yards, then witnessing the impossible sight of the Peerless Battalion Air Force lift off… If one were to say that these new Peerless Battalion soldiers were not highly tempted, it would deﬁnitely be a lie.

The ‘brainwashing techniques’ that Zhou Weiqing had brought up was also of critical effect. Hearing all the miracles that had happened over the past six months, the great stories of growth and strength… slowly the new rufﬁans grew to accept the Peerless Battalion.

Against such people, just beating them down alone was deﬁnitely not enough. After all, being sent to the Rufﬁan Battalion, which of them weren’t scoundrels and rogues, old experienced hands? Only with the addition of being lured by the promise of proﬁt and gain, power, a slow methodical guidance to bring them onto the right path… only this would bring about the effect that Zhou Weiqing hoped for.

The facts proved themselves once more. Everything that Zhou Weiqing had done was extremely successful. After barely a month, the new Peerless Battalion was basically basically integrated. After the ‘Battalion wide competition’ that was held, the ﬁve thousand three hundred soldiers of the Peerless Battalion were ﬁnally fused together as one unit.

Five thousand three hundred men. Ten large main Companies and a unique ‘Commando’ Company.

This ‘Commando’ Company was specially selected and led by the seven Heavenly Bow Unit God Archers. As for the original ten Company Leaders of the main Companies, four of them had actually changed after the large competition.

Amongst the three thousand seven hundred new rufﬁan soldiers, there were some powerhouses who were much stronger than the original Rufﬁan Battalion the Peerless Battalion had consisted off. Most of these powerhouses came from the strongest of the northern armies, the Central North Army, with some of them even originating from the Ghost Demon Horse Cavalry Troop.

Amongst them, the most valiant and impressive was a fellow called Lei Zi. Lei Zi was twenty seven years old this year, and was originally the Battalion Commander from the Central North Army Rufﬁan Battalion. Indeed, the Battalion Commander. As a Heavenly Jewel Master, he was actually already at an impressive Six-Jeweled stage… at only twenty seven years old! Even in the Great Saint Lands, that was already considered a very good result. Yet, he was a free cultivator not belonging to any Clan.

Lei Zi’s Elemental Jewel Attribute was that of Earth, while his Physical Jewel Attribute was Strength. Ordinarily speaking, with such attributes, even if he weren’t an ultimate Defense type like Lin TianAo, most would still focus on defense as the main.

However, this fellow acted in the totally opposite manner. His aspirations were towards offense, chasing after the strongest attacks possible, even choosing the rarer offensive Skills amongst the Earth Attribute. Although he still did not have Consolidated Equipment, he had already ﬁnished Storing all his Skills. More importantly, he had been able to use his own control and understanding to develop two Skills of his own. Such a talent… it was truly impressive.

Such a talent like himself should have had a glorious career ahead of him, but the reason he had been exiled to the Rufﬁan Battalion was because he offended someone.

This Lei Zi was originally part of a specially created Battalion in the Central North Army, consisting totally of Jewel Masters, and he had been one of the top in that unit as well, reaching the rank of Company Leader in that Battalion. Alas, he had killed that Battalion Commander’s little brother, and had thus been sent to the Rufﬁan Battalion. Being able to stay alive despite that was only because of all the military exploits and merits he had earned over all the previous years.

Such a person, when he entered the Peerless Battalion, naturally his natural talent would shine forth brightly. Lei Zi himself never dreamed that he would have another chance, leaving a special Battalion consisting totally of Jewel Masters, and ending up in yet another such Battalion. Furthermore, from the surface of things, though the Peerless Battalion’s individual soldier strength might not be comparable to his original special Battalion, in terms of numbers it was far superior.

In the Battalion Competition, Lei Zi cut a conspicuous ﬁgure, defeating all of his opponents, even some of the older Company Leaders who had been personally taught by Shangguan Fei’er, and had been extremely arrogant.

He requested to take over as Battalion Commander, to become the Battalion Commander of the Peerless Battalion. After winning the championship of the Battalion Competition, he challenged Zhou Weiqing to a ﬁght. At that moment, all the new recruits were extremely excited. They wanted to see for themselves how strong their Battalion Commander was. However, all the old Peerless Battalion soldiers all said a silent prayer for Lei Zi. The reason was simple – to gain the right to challenge the Boss, he had to ﬁrst get past the ‘Lady Boss’… and was she that easy to deal with?

Very quickly, Lei Zi learned why the ﬂowers were so red. In front of Shangguan Fei’er, he was like a little child, not standing a chance at all. Both were six Jewels, but Shangguan Fei’er easily beat him up without breaking a sweat.

At ﬁrst, he had not been satisﬁed with that loss, thinking that the only reason Shangguan Fei’er could win was because she had God Tier Consolidated Equipment. However, she just kept all of her Consolidated Equipment, and without even using her Elemental Jewel Stored Skills, just depending on her ferocious close combat skills, she defeated him time and time again. At last, Lei Zi had accepted his loss.

As such, Lei Zi had taken over Mammoth’s original position, becoming the Main Company Leader of the First Company, with Mammoth becoming his Vice Commander. Mammoth was also not unsatisﬁed. After all, he had lost. At the same time, Lei Zi was still harbouring some doubt in his heart; after all, being convinced of Shangguan Fei’er’s strength did not mean he could easily be convinced by Zhou Weiqing so indirectly.

After all, since the new recruits had come, Zhou Weiqing had not even made an appearance.

There were three others in a similar state as Lei Zi. All of them were Heavenly Jewel Masters, though not as high a cultivation level as Lei Zi, they too had defeated some of the old Company Leaders and taken over their positions.

After this Battalion Competition, Shangguan Fei’er’s prestige grew even higher. Not only because of her sheer strength and power, but also because of the gratitude the older soldiers held for her. It could be said that if not for Shangguan Fei’er teaching them close combat skills, perhaps even if not all of the Company Leaders would be swapped out, at least eight of them would be knocked out of the running. It was Shangguan Fei’er’s selﬂess teaching and the half year of tough training that had allowed them the chance to defeat their opponents and keep their rank and status.

At the same time, this Battalion Competition was also a big alarm bell to the entire Peerless Battalion. No one had an absolutely guaranteed rank and status, and only strength and power was the most important, the most consistent thing. This type of meritocracy was the fairest way of doing things – who held the greatest power could ascend in rank. This also gave all of the Peerless Battalion soldiers further incentive to train harder, to protect their rank or to advance further.

Besides all of that, the Peerless Battalion spared no effort in gearing up the new recruits. Although they did not currently have any military merits or awards, each of them had a record, and the equipment would be given to them ﬁrst and they would ‘pay back’ later.

Perhaps at this point in time, these new recruits did not realise what this debt truly meant. After all, with their rufﬁan soldier nature, many of them did not even plan to pay back. Alas for them, in the near future, when Zhou Weiqing returned from his closed door cultivation, they would soon understand that not returning was not an option for them.

…

Just like that, two months passed by swiftly as if in a blink of an eye. The entire Peerless Battalion had gone through these two months of training and equipping, and could now be said to be armed to the teeth. At the same time, the various Companies had also gone through several different rearrangements according to their combat strength.

The main lack was the Consolidated Equipment Wings, which were not so easily ﬁnished. Although Yun Li and Little Miss Muddle were getting much more familiar with creating them, it still took considerable time to create these Consolidating Equipment Scrolls due to their sheer complexity and the fact that two were needed for the complete wing set. As such, in a short period of time, it would be impossible to fully gear the entire Peerless Battalion with them.

A chinese phrase that means getting beat up terribly. Ie. Beaten up until you know what the feeling of bleeding means / the blood stains the ﬂowers red. This phrase actually was a song lyric from an old movie, originally depicting the ardour of rebellion and war. Later on in popular culture it started to be used for the reason of violence, especially in dialogue (ie. people threatening each other before a ﬁght), until it took over as the de facto meaning

Chapter 155 Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord!

However, the new Peerless Battalion soldiers had already started Consolidating their Consolidated Bows, with some lucky ones already successful. Besides that, all of them were already equipped with the longbows that all the older soldiers had as well.

However, the thing that had shocked the new recruits the most would deﬁnitely be when Shangguan Fei’er and the strongest hundred of the older Peerless Battalion soldiers had started helping those new recruits who had not Awakened their Personal Jewels to do so.

In just the mere short two months of time, the entire Peerless Battalion, all ﬁve thousand odd of them had already Awakened their Power Jewels. Such a magniﬁcent feat was truly unbelievable. After completing that, Shangguan Fei’er had been so exhausted that she fell ill for three days before recovering. By this time, her prestige in the Peerless Battalion had reached such a height that rivaled or perhaps even exceeded Zhou Weiqing, who had not appeared for two months. No matter how arrogant or unbridled rufﬁans were, they were still humans with feelings, and the gratitude they held for Shangguan Fei’er was in their hearts. Furthermore, this military instructor of theirs was so beautiful, and it could be said that she had become the Goddess in the hearts of the entire Peerless Battalion.

Despite their advancements, the Peerless Battalion deﬁnitely still needed much time to continue growing. The current ﬁve thousand men were still far from the unity that the original one thousand ﬁve hundred held, and what they needed was time to work together and develop feelings. Of course, time waited for no man… according to reports from scouts, the WanShou Empire was already starting to gather their troops. The time for the annual attacks would soon come, and it would also be the time for the Peerless Battalion to truly ascend their stage for the ﬁrst time.

… …

The snow gleamed white, covering the entire mountain peaks. The temperature was extremely cold, more than forty degrees below zero.

One did not even need to drip water to form ice, even exhaling a breath could form little ice particles that dropped down to the ground. Right on the top of the snowy mountain peak, there was a massive old castle. The castle was totally white, as if it had been fully carved out of ice.

The castle seemed to be conjoined with the peak itself, rising far up and above. From the distance, when there was sunlight, it seemed as if it was adorned with a halo of gold.

The tranquil peak of this majestic snowy mountain, with only the shrill sound of wind around. This was the heart of the entire WanShou Empire… the grand temple and sanctuary of the WanShou Empire hearts. The Heavenly Snow Mountain.

Indeed, this was the Heavenly Snow Mountain, one of the ﬁve Great Saint Lands. Here, the Strongest in the world resided.

No one dared to come here easily to offend the owner of the castle. In the WanShou Empire, the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord was like a god. In fact, he did have the power of the Heavenly God Tier… amongst the entire Heavenly Jewel Master powerhouses of the land, he was the only one who had reached the Heavenly God Tier! Undefeated! The Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord had already reached such a stage for several dozen years. Legend spoke that if not for the Heaven’s Expanse Palace having a large number of powerhouses, as well as the Blood Red Hell and Passion Valley supporting the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, along with the Boundless Inﬁnitum Set and the sheer wealth of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace… perhaps the Heavenly Snow Mountain would be the First amongst the Great Saint Lands. More so… the WanShou Empire would have been led by them to conquer the entire world.

There was a saying in the WanShou Empire: In the hearts of the WanShou Empire citizens, there was a mountain in everyone’s heart, a Heavenly Snow Mountain. From that, one could imagine what kind of status the Heavenly Snow Mountain held in the WanShou Empire.

…

In any case, currently, this stately Heavenly Snow Mountain had two visitors, and they were climbing up towards the peak with much difﬁculty.

To be more accurate, it was not two men climbing, but one climbing as he carried the other on his back. The two men were extremely large and muscular, with faint greenish grey fur barely visible around their bodies. The one climbing looked to be rather old, his ears show what Tribe he was – the Wolfman Tribe. Indeed, he was a Wolfman, and along his head fur, there was a mix of gold, clearly showing his

noble status.

Similarly, the one on his back was also a Wolfman, even stouter and more muscular than himself, though his features held some similarities to this old Wolfman. However, he was currently ashen and with an ugly expression on his face. His eyes were closed, his entire body shuddering violently uncontrollably. Yet, it was somehow clear that this shivering was not due to the cold, as his face constantly ﬂickered with three different colours… black, grey and blue.

This Wolfman was none other than the Regiment Commander of the Swift Wolf Regiment, the heir to the Wolfman Tribe, Prince of the Wolves, Butler. And the old Wolfman carrying him up was none other than the current Wolfman Tribe Leader, Batulu.

That day, when the Swift Wolf Regiment had received their ﬁrst utter defeat and returned, Butler had not even had the time for regrets and heartache from it. That was because he had to deal with his own current physical condition. When he had ﬁrst been struck with Zhou Weiqing’s Dark Demon God Lightning, Butler had not thought much about it. Although he could sense that this energy was extremely strange, it was after all from a mere four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. No matter how strong his attack was, Butler

believed that it was only a four-Jeweled offense, and with his own Heavenly Energy, at most it would take a large expense of energy to deal with and to force it out.

As such, when he returned to his tent, Butler had quickly started to force out the venom with his Heavenly Energy.

Very soon, Butler realised that something was wrong… his Heavenly Energy was unable to inﬂuence the venom at all. His cultivation level was extremely powerful, and his Nine-Jeweled Heavenly Energy was able to greatly slow the advance of the Tri-Attribute Venom of the Dark Demon God Lightning. Alas, slowing was one matter… but he was unable to get rid of it!

Butler had been shocked to ﬁnd that as time passed, although the venom did not move faster, it continued slowly eating away at his body, a slow but unstoppable juggernaut of invasion. Even his Heavenly Energy was slowly being eroded by this strange venom, and no matter what he tried, he was unable to force it out of his body. This was extremely shocking; after all, he was not only a Wolfman, but also with Royal Blood, and his physique was much tougher and stronger than any human. Despite all that, he was slowly falling under the power of the Tri-Attribute Venom.

When his subordinates found that Butler was unable to make it, they did not dare delay, hurriedly sending him back to the Wolfman Tribe. The Wolf King had no time to blame his son for the loss, and he sent all around for the best doctors in his tribe to come and heal Butler. Alas, was the Dark Demon God Lightning so easily removed?

The Wolf King Batulu had many children, but of them all, only his eldest son was the most promising, the most talented and outstanding one. He was already old, and he had planned to pass the mantle of Wolf King to his son after another few years. Who knew such a thing would happen at this point. He no longer had the time to lament over the great loss of the Swift Wolf Regiment, and could only hope that his son could recover.

For this matter, Batulu did not even care about his old face, going to some of the stronger Beastmen tribes of the WanShou Empire to beg for help, even to the noble tribes. Alas, even as they examined Butler’s body, the only answer Batulu got was a shaking head. No one was able to remove this strange fusion Tri-Attribute Venom. Batulu could not afford to lose this son, his chosen heir. After an entire month of seeking help, Butler’s body was getting worse every day, his Heavenly Energy also weakening constantly, and more so, it was visible that his Life Force was slowly draining from him. At last, after begging the WanShou

Empire Royal Family, he was given the chance to seek help in the Heavenly Snow Mountain.

In the eyes of the Beastmen, the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord was their greatest leader, all powerful, almighty, even omnipotent. For this eldest son of his, Batulu would risk everything to come to beg for help, even if it might draw the ire of their greatest leader.

Batulu’s cultivation level was actually the same as his eldest son, Butler, at the nine-Jeweled stage. He had been stuck at this stage for a long time, never managing to break through to the Heavenly King Stage.

The weather at the Heavenly Snow Mountain was just too cold, and as they ascended the slopes, the lower the temperature grew. This was a major contrast from the Ten Thousand Beast Heavens right below with its warm and welcoming temperature. The highest peak of the Heavenly Snow Mountain was about six thousand metres, even higher than the Heavenly Jewel Island. Although Batulu was a powerful Heavenly Jewel Master, but carrying his son on his back while having to constantly use his Heavenly Energy to protect his son and keep him alive, it was getting tougher and tougher for me to climb up.

“Halt.”” A low, magnetic sounding voice rang out abruptly. The voice was not loud, but it seemed to explode in Batulu’s ears like a bomb.

Batulu looked up quickly in shock, only the realise that not far ahead from him, there stood a man, though he did not know when that man had appeared.

Dressed in snow white robes, with a closer look he seemed to only be wearing those, a single layer of clothing. A head full of ﬁery red, gold hair with natural curls, a stark contrast from the cold white world around him. He was tall and slender, seeming to be not particularly muscular, but as he stood there, it gave the feeling as if he was the core of the universe.

Looking at the luscious head of long gold-red hair that seemed to twirl around against the backdrop of snow like the dancing of ﬂames, Batulu’s body began to shiver. Such a hair colour… in the entire WanShou Empire, only one Tribe had that. It was the current Royal Lion Tribe, the ruler of the WanShou Empire, the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe! In the WanShou Empire, there was a rule passed down from the beginning – the Mountain Lord of the Heavenly Snow Mountain could only be from two Tribes. One was naturally the current Lord’s Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe, and the other was Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe. However, since the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe had been so powerful for so many generations, many had already forgotten that the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe could also inherit the position of Mountain Lord. They, too, had highly

noble bloodlines amongst all the Beastmen. As tradition went, when the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe held the position of Mountain Lord, then the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe would hold the position of ruler of the WanShou Empire; and vice versa.

Without even asking, Batulu was able to guess the status of this young man in front of him. With his own cultivation level, a person of that age who could remain undetected by himself in the entire Divine Spirit Flame Lion Tribe of the Heavenly Snow Mountain could only be one person.

“You, you are the Lion Prince, Your Highness right? This old wolf Batulu greets His Highness.” As he said that, Batulu bowed respectfully towards him, helping his son down from his back. Hearing the words Batulu, the Lion Price’s face eased up. “So it is you, the Wolf King. My Father has already sent word to me previously about your situation, and I have come here to wait for you.” Naturally, with his rank and status in the Heavenly Snow Mountain, he would not come to the middle of the mountain side for no reason.

Hearing those words, Batulu was immediately ﬁlled with gratitude, tears sliding down his cheeks. The Beastmen were normally all very straightforward in character, and seeing how the Lion Prince, the future ruler of the Empire, would actually wait for the two of them here in the cold windy mountain side, although Batulu knew that he was trying to draw them to his side, it did not stop him from feeling gratitude. “Your Highness, how can I trouble you to wait here for me. I… I…” As he said that, the old Wolfman King’s eyes reddened.

The Lion Prince said passively: “Wolf King, Master already knows you are here. He does not like to wait for others. I have already reported to him regarding your issues, come with me quickly.” As he said that, he took Butler from Batulu’s hands, and instantly, a faint reddish gold light sprang from his hands to envelop Butler’s body, whose ashen face turned slightly better.

Upon hearing that the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord would receive them, Batulu felt slightly dizzy, and he fell to his knees with a loud thud, kowtowing towards the peak of the Heavenly Snow Mountain several times before standing up once more, following the Lion Prince to the peak.

…

Soon, the Lion Prince brought the Wolf King directly to the inner hall of the Heavenly Snow Mountain Castle, which was where the main matters of the Heavenly Snow Mountain were processed every day. The Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord seldom appeared normally, and most of the ordinary internal matters of the Heavenly Snow Mountain was handled by the Lion Price. As such, though his cultivation level was nothing compared to most of the powerhouses in the Heavenly Snow Mountain, due to his rank and status, added on to the fact that he was the top of his generation, having reached the eight-Jeweled stage at a young age of thirty one, only a single stage of Heavenly Energy from breaking through to the Nine- Jeweled stage, he was deﬁnitely not one to be underestimated.

After all, his future was bright indeed, with limitless

possibilities… as the main disciple of the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord and the possible heir to the WanShou Empire, one could imagine that as long as no unforeseen circumstances cropped up, he would deﬁnitely breakthrough to the Heavenly King Stage, and perhaps even the Heavenly Emperor Stage.

“Wolf King, please wait here for a moment, I will request for Master to receive you.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” The Wolf King said, overwhelmed with tears of gratitude. With the Lion Prince’s Divine Healing, Butler had somewhat stabilized. The Lion Prince disappeared for a while before returning. Looking at Batulu’s hopeful gaze, he said: “Master will be out in a while. Later, when Master asks you any questions, just tell him the truth simply and directly, do not beat around the bush or exaggerate things. He does not like those who speak too

much.”

“Yes.” Batulu quickly agreed. Although the Lion Prince only spoke that few lines, it was guidance of utmost importance.

Batulu waited for nearly an hour before he suddenly felt as if the entire atmosphere around him changed in a strange way. Subconsciously, he moved his gaze where it had been resting upon his son’s face which was twisted in agony, and he realised that before he knew it, there were two more people in the hall.

Both were dressed in white, the one on the left a young lady with silvery white hair cascading down her shoulders to the back. Her brilliant purple eyes were cold, indifferent, almost apathetic… as if the entire world meant nothing to her. If one examined those eyes closely, they would feel as if those seemingly beautiful eyes did not have any light of life within them, as if they were dead inside, like a zombie.

The young lady was positioned slightly behind the one on the right, who looked to be a youth about the same age as the Lion Prince. He, too, had a head full of silver hair, but much shorter, only an inch long. His eyes were purple as well, a much deeper colour. He was also dressed in clean, snow white clothes, without any ornaments or decorations. To the Wolf King Batulu’s surprise, this youth did not seem to have any aura of

power about him, with only his looks similar to the young lady

behind him.

The Lion Prince was standing right there, his gaze ﬁxed upon the white clad young lady. His eyes were slightly dazed, with a complicated look within, and for a moment, he actually forgot to speak out.

The youth furrowed his brow, glancing at the Lion Prince. There was no obvious aura or energy, but the Lion Prince seemed to be jolted awake suddenly, and he said respectfully: “Greetings, Master.”

Batulu was caught by surprise. He had never seen the paramount of the WanShou Empire, the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord, but he had never in his wildest dreams imagined that he would look so young. Who would think that the strongest powerhouse in the world, Xue AoTian, would actually be that young. Batulu did not dare hesitate, and with a loud thud, he knelt onto the ground with both knees, kowtowing down so hard that his head made several thumping sounds.

“Enough.” The white clad youth said passively. As he said that, he lifted his hands slightly, and Butler, who was originally lying in Batulu’s arms before he knelt down, had ﬂown up into the air, before Batulu even had a chance to react. He did not sense any Heavenly Energy reverberations; it was as if the surrounding air was gently lifting his son away from him.

In a split second, Butler had arrived before Xue AoTian, his entire body levitating horizontally above ground, as if he could ﬂy.

Xue AoTian swept his gaze over Butler’s face, before he gave an abrupt soft curious sound. “Eh, what a strange power.”

Hearing those words, the Lion Prince’s gaze ﬁnally snapped away from the white clad young lady, his face full of shock. For his Master to actually be surprised, what kind of strange power was that? Was it really that strong? After all, in his eyes, Xue AoTian was invincible and omnipotent! Xue AoTian slowly lifted one hand, and Batulu could see that the hand was transparent, as if carved from a block of ice… not even looking like a human hand.

Xue AoTian placed his hand on Butler’s head, and instantly, his entire body turned a brilliant gold colour, as if he had been abruptly injected full of gold.

Batulu continued kneeling down there, his eyes ﬁxed on the scene unblinkingly. At the same time, his heart had ﬁnally relaxed. Now that the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord was willing to help, what couldn’t he accomplish?

However, in the next instant, that settled heart leaped to his throat once more. He actually saw the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord, even nicknamed as the Old God in the WanShou Empire, actually furrowed his brow.

The Lion Prince at the side was even more shocked. Xue AoTian had helped heal others before, and no injury, wound or illness was a match for his boundless spiritual energy, with just a single look sufﬁcient for him to diagnose everything easily. Yet, this time, his Master had taken such a long look, yet seemingly still unable to fully conﬁrm what was the ailment. Such a situation, it was the ﬁrst time the Lion Prince had witnessed it. Still, he dared not interrupt Xue AoTian’s judgement.

The gold light disappeared, and Xue AoTian slowly put down his hand, murmuring slightly to himself: “How strange. Such a fusion of energies, this is truly the ﬁrst time I have seen it. Could it be… the Heavenly Demon Sect? Even so… hmm… let’s see then.”

As he said that, his hand extended out once more, this time pressing upon Butler’s forehead.A strange, faint gold light slowly appeared, seeming to twist the air all around. At the same time, a tall Heavenly Skill Image appeared behind Xue AoTian’s back; it was of himself.

If Zhou Weiqing were here, he would deﬁnitely be able to recognize that was the sign of a Heavenly God Tier Skill that was self created, and this was what his teacher Long Shiya was most skilled at. Of course, it was clear that this self created Heavenly God Tier Heavenly Skill was somewhat different from what Long Shiya used.

When the Skill was unleashed, Xue AoTian’’s’ entire body was enveloped in a layer of faint gold light. Silver hair, gold light, the entire image combined to frame him in a divine, saintly light that one could not directly stare at. Xue AoTian slowly moved his hand back, and a gold speck of light was left glowing in the middle of Butler’s forehead. The next moment, bright gold light ﬂashed from Xue AoTian’s eyes, shooting directly into Butler’s eyes.

The next moment, Butler started to tremble violently, as if in extreme pain.

Batulu, anxious for his son, couldn’t help but stand up at that. The Lion Prince glanced at him and said: “Wolf King, hold still. Master has his own ways.”

Only then did Batulu realise that his actions could be read as mistrust for Xue TianAo. Even if Xue TianAo wanted to kill Butler, what could he do? Resisting would only bring ultimate disaster to the entire Wolfman Tribe. He quickly knelt down, trembling with fear and deference.

“Here it is.” Xue AoTian muttered to himself. All of a sudden, the gold speck of light in Butler’s forehead glowed brightly, shooting forth a ray of light into the air, forming a circular image resembling a panel.

Batulu’s eyes widened in shock. Such a miraculous sight, he had never experienced before. The eyes of the entire room, even the listless eyes of the beautiful young lady beside Xue AoTian, were suddenly drawn to the circular image that had appeared.

The image was hazy at ﬁrst, but it slowly turned clear… showing a tall muscular youth who was naked from waist up, his upper body rippling with nearly perfect muscles.

Behind the youth, there was a hazy looking, purple Heavenly Skill Image, and he was in the midst of leaping up in midair, his right foot smashing down like a battle axe. Without doubt, this youth was an image from Butler’s memory, and it was from his perspective that was being showed to the rest of the room. The Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord Xue AoTian had created a Spirit Attribute Skill with his own considerable power to show the image of what had happened previously.

“Ahhh!” An involuntary cry of shock rang out from the beautiful young lady’s mouth, and her body started shivering uncontrollably.

Xue AoTian started slightly, his brow furrowed, but he said gently: “Tian’er, what’’s wrong?” Indeed, that silver haired young lady was Tian’er, who had snuck off from Zhou Weiqing previously. Naturally, the image that was shown was Zhou Weiqing, in the midst of using the Dark Demon God Lightning to strike Butler.

Seeing Zhou Weiqing appear suddenly in the image, how could Tian’er not be shocked. Subconsciously, she brought her hand to her mouth, but tears streamed down her cheeks uncontrollably.

It’s him, it’s him! My love! He… why is he in the north… how could this be…

The image on the round light screen was indeed the exact scene when Zhou Weiqing had knocked Butler back.

Xue AoTian’s brow was furrowed, but he ignored his daughter. The image changed slowly, and under his control, the image resumed back to the previous scene before playing out once more.

Without knowing when, the Lion Prince’s hands had balled into ﬁsts. With his inteligence, how could he not see that the youth in the image had a unique connection to Tian’er. He was the ﬁance that Tian’er had mentioned previously. Xue AoTian only had a single child, and he had gained this daughter at a rather old age, and he truly loved her very much. However, according to the rules of the Heavenly Snow Mountain, females were not allowed to inherit the position of

the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord. As such, with the condition that the Lion Prince would swear to give up the position of future King of the WanShou Empire, leaving the future King to be chosen from the Tigermen Tribe instead, Xue AoTian had betrothed Tian’er to him. This was an absolute

secret in the WanShou Empire, and only the few of them knew

about it. Alas, who knew that when Tian’er heard about the betrothal, she ﬂed from home to escape that marriage.

More so… when she had ﬁnally returned, both Xue AoTian and the lion prince Xin had discovered that she was no longer… untouched.

Flying into a rage, Xue AoTian almost killed his own daughter with his own hands. However, in the end, he only had this one daughter, and he could not land the ﬁnal blow.

As for the Lion Prince, he could only swallow his pride and anger to accept it. For the sake of the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord position, as well as for the fact that he truly liked Tian’er, he could only endure it, telling Xue AoTian that he was still willing to take Tian’er as his bride. Feeling guilty towards him, Xue AoTian ended up doting more on this disciple of his.

Half a year had already passed, and the engagement ceremony was already complete despite all of Tian’er’s protests. Even when she threatened to take her own life, she was unable to change Xue AoTian’s mind, and he brought his daughter alongside himself. The stubborn Mountain Lord truly believed that time could change everything, and such an outstanding talent like the Lion Prince Gu Yingbing would eventually move his daughter and enter her heart.

In order to sever Tian’er’s remaining fantasies, Xue AoTian personally set their wedding date, which was three months from the current day.

“This is the Dragon Silencing Seal from the Demonic Dragon Lady.” Xue AoTian said solemnly as he analyzed the image. “… Underestimating your enemy is always the worst ﬂaw. Nine- Jewels against Four-Jewels, and he could still be tricked. Batulu, how did you teach your son?” Although he did not release his aura, Xue AoTian’s words caused Batulu to start sweating profusely despite the icy cold temperature.

“Demonic Change State… Dragon Silencing Seal… And this… Darkness, Demonic and Lightning Attribute Fusion Skill… Hmm… a tri-Attribute Venom made from those energies.” As he spoke to that point, Xue AoTian’s eyes narrowed.

“YingBing, arrange for a place for Batulu to get some rest, he can come collect his son in three days time.” The Dark Demon God Lightning might be too much for a Heavenly King Stage powerhouse like Shangguan Longyin to handle, but it was unable to stop the strongest man in the world, who held the Divine Attribute. Of course, Butler had already been suffering from the venom for such a long time, and even for Xue AoTian, it would not be an easy feat to totally remove the poison.

Batulu felt so lucky, as if he had struck the jackpot. He did not know what to say or do, and could only kneel there kowtowing in gratitude.

The light image ﬁnally disappeared, and Tian’er stood there as if her soul had been drained out of her. The next instant, a brilliant ﬂash shone forth, and both Xue AoTian and Tian’er disappeared. Along with them, the unconscious Butler also disappeared.

When his Master had ﬁnally disappeared, the Lion Prince Gu Yingbing abruptly punched out viciously, his ﬁst stabbing into the empty air, causing a loud explosion. His entire body seemed to be vibrating with sheer rage, his head of golden red hair whipping about in the wind.

“Bastard, it must be that bastard!” Gu Yingbing felt as if his rage was about to erupt out of his body. Abruptly, he took a step forward, grabbing the Wolf King Batulu and howling angrily: “Tell me, where did your son meet this youth? Tell me everything in detail, don’t leave anything out, not even the most insigniﬁcant thing.”

Batulu was given a fright by the sudden outburst of the Lion Prince Gu Yingbing, and he dared not delay, hurriedly telling everything he knew.

“ZhongTian Empire… Northern borders… the North West Armies… Good, very good.” The words were spat out through gritted teeth, grinding so hard that the sound was audible. He felt as if the blood was about the burst out of his body with anger, and his eyes danced with rage and the light of mania, killing intent clear as day in the atmosphere.

…

Deep in the Heavenly Snow Castle… a room that was almost sealed airtight with sculpted ice… the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord appeared with his daughter. As for Butler, he had disappeared to another area.

Currently, Tian’er’s heart was still shaken. She had not seen Zhou Weiqing for more than half a year, and seeing him so suddenly without warning, how could her heart be at peace? The emotions and feelings she had buried deep within erupted like an active volcano, uncontrollable despite her best efforts. Alas, she could only lower her head in silence, not daring to look at her father.

“Is it him?” Xue AoTian said passively.

Tian’er did not reply, biting her lower lip softly. She did not dare make a sound, as fear and dread rose slowly from her heart, sinking deep into the pits of her stomach.

“Is it him?” Xue AoTian’s voice grew sterner.

With a sudden thud, Tian’er knelt down in front of her father. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she said in a trembling voice: “Father, please, I beg you, let him go. I will marry Bro Gu, I won’t look for him anymore, okay? Please, let him go.” She was clear that if her father wanted to kill someone, no matter even if the person was the leader of a Great Saint Lands, he or she might not be able to escape… let alone Zhou Weiqing. To be able to ﬁnd him, that was an easy task for Xue AoTian.

To her immense surprise, Xue AoTian actually sighed. “Get up, I won’t kill him, and I won’t blame you anymore.” He held her and helped her up, a strange look of being deep in thought on his face.

A ﬂick of his ﬁngers, and the tears on his daughter’s face disappeared. “Silly girl, why did you not tell me about him? If I knew that was so… father would not be so strict with you. Indeed, this cannot be blamed on you.”

“Ahh?” By now, Tian’er was totally confused, not knowing what her father was speaking about. She could only stare in surprise at Xue AoTian, whose face had a hint of regret and apology.

Xue AoTian said: “No wonder you would be so attracted to him, that is not your fault, but it is a certainty due to the Attributes he has. Who would think… that someone like that would actually exist in this world… to have both the Demonic Attribute and Time Attribute at the same time! More so, his Demonic Attribute looks to be of the purest kind, a ﬁrst generation who Awakened it. Both you and he have two Saint Attributes, added to the fact that his Demonic Change State is also of a tiger bloodline… naturally he would hold a great attraction to you. Being together with him… that should have a strong beneﬁt to your cultivation right?” Tian’er nodded subconsciously. Naturally, she remembered how they had met in the ﬁrst place, and she had known about the Saint Attributes being a beneﬁt to her cultivation. It had been that strange aura that had drawn her to him in the ﬁrst place, and being together with him all that time had indeed

sped up her cultivation greatly. She had even originally thought about staying with him all the way until she broke through the Heavenly King Stage to make full use of him.

Xue AoTian sighed once more. “What a shame… if I had met him ten years earlier… perhaps I would not have opposed you marrying him.”

Tian’er stared at her father with her jaw agape. She had never imagined that her father would actually show such a sudden change after watching Zhou Weiqing’s ﬁght in the image.

“How old is he?” Xue AoTian thought for a moment before asking.

Tian’er said: “Seventeen years old… not even eighteen I think.” Another look of shock appeared on Xue AoTian’s face, and he exclaimed: “Seventeen years old only…” His brow furrowed deeply, as if he had met with a problem he could not solve.

Light ﬂashed in his eyes, but no one could tell what he was thinking about.

Tian’er did not hold any hope about the sudden change in her father’s attitude. In all her memory, as long as her father had made a decision, it could never be changed.

“Father, you really won’t kill him?” Tian’er asked tentatively once more.

Xue AoTian nodded and said: “This could be a chance, a turning point, for our Heavenly Snow Mountain… for you. If you had told me about him earlier, perhaps there might still have been a chance to deal with things between you and Yingbing, to turn things around. Alas, it is too late, you have already gone through the engagement ceremony. Things are troublesome then.”

“Turn things around?” As soon as she heard that, Tian’er felt joy overwhelm her, and she asked excitedly. Xue AoTian continued: “He has the Demonic and Time Attributes, and you have the Divine and Spirit Attributes. The four Saint Attributes, when gathered together and cultivating, both of you would have an extremely high chance of breaking through the Heavenly King Stage before the age of thirty. If

that was so, you two might actually reach the Heavenly God Stage in the future, perhaps even breaking through together… and more importantly, have the chance to break through to a stage that I have never reached and beyond.”

“If you had told me details about him earlier and brought him back, perhaps I could have taken him as disciple and maybe even allow you two to be together. Although our Heavenly Snow Mountain rules disallow passing on the position of Lord to females, but if you can truly raise to the cultivation level of Heavenly God Tier and beyond, who would dare speak otherwise, not even the other powerful Tribes of the WanShou Empire.”

Tian’er was stunned, totally stunned. She had never in her wildest dreams imagine that her father would speak of such to her. Clearly, in her father’s eyes, Zhou Weiqing’s talent was truly important, perhaps even causing him to regret making the deal between the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe and Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe. “Father, let me go look for him now and bring him back, okay?” Tian’er said urgently.

Xue AoTian shook his head sternly and said: “No, it is too late for that. One cannot go back on their word. You have already been betrothed to Yingbing, and you will be married to him soon. Although that little boyfriend of yours is extremely talented, but he is still after all just one person. Unless he has sufﬁcient powers behind him that can awe the lions, and after that, able to snatch you away from Yingbing in a fair ﬁght… otherwise, even I cannot change such a decision that has already been made.”

The hope that had just risen up in Tian’er’s heart was once again cruelly dashed, her heart turning ice cold in despair. What force or inﬂuence did Zhou Weiqing have behind him? Even if he had some connection with the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, it was not enough for them to support him in such a matter. Let alone the fact that the Heaven’s Expanse Palace were mortal enemies with the Heavenly Snow Mountain, whether or not their aid would be of any help in such a matter… just the fact that his connection was through his relationship with Shangguan Bing’er, how could that possibly be of use? How could the Heaven’s Expanse Palace possibly help him come seek her hand in marriage? Xue AoTian sighed and said: “Alright, enough, don’t think so much about this. Go back and prepare to be a bride… Yingbing truly likes you alot, no matter what you had done previously, he still does not reject you. Such a husband, what do you have to be dissatisﬁed with? Go then, Father needs to cultivate now.”

When Tian’er left, she had resumed her previous zombie-like semblance, causing Xue AoTian to furrow his brow in worry. Despite his adamant stance, he did love his daughter very much. At the same time, in his heart, he started to feel curious about Zhou Weiqing, wanting to have a look at this youth who had stolen his daughter’s heart so strongly, to attract her so much.

Should I arrange things in secret? What a troublesome mess.

At this point, it was extremely rare, nearly impossible to ﬁnd something to cause trouble to the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord. Yet, such a thing had just appeared right now. With his status, how could he possibly allow his daughter to secretly cultivate together with Zhou Weiqing. Yet, the two Saint Attributes that Zhou Weiqing had caused even Xue AoTian’s heart to itch on his daughter’s behalf. This was an unbelievable opportunity after all. The Thirteenth Heavenly Jewel. What would that be like? The legendary Heavenly Jewel Change Stage!

Chapter 156 Five Jewels!

…

“Battalion Commander, Legion Commander Shen Ji requests your presence at the headquarters military conference.” Wei Feng told Zhou Weiqing.

Three days ago, Zhou Weiqing had ﬁnally completed his closed door cultivation. His entire body had shrank a notch, and when Shangguan Fei’er saw him like that, her heart ached for him, and these two days she had stewed some meat soup which was extremely nourishing.

As soon as Zhou Weiqing had ﬁnished his closed door cultivation, the ﬁrst thing he had checked on was the status and progress of the Peerless Battalion. Luckily, things had progressed close to his expectations, and the Peerless Battalion training was on the right track. Although it was still quite some distance from the true, peerless and matchless elite force in his heart, he knew it was not an easy feat to actually get to such a height, and such immense progress was already more than satisfactory.

“Ask me to join a military conference?” Zhou Weiqing said curiously. Ever since the previous event, none of the Seventh Legion soldiers had dared to come provoke the Peerless Battalion, and even Shen Ji had not come looking for him since.

Wei Feng nodded his head and said: “Perhaps it has something to do with the WanShou Empire armies. I have heard the rumour that this year, the WanShou Empire armies are far greater than past years, and the situation at the border is extremely tense. The higher ups in the headquarters must be contemplating whether or not to clash against them head on or to retreat to the TianBei City to hold the defense.”

Zhou Weiqing furrowed his brow deeply: “Retreat to the TianBei City? How could that be possible? What about the surrounding little towns and villages, wouldn’t they be left out cold to die? Fine, I shall go to this conference then.”

After saying that, Zhou Weiqing changed into his Battalion Commander armour before following Wei Feng out.

As they exited the large tent, they bumped into a man. He was extremely large and muscular, his eyes radiating with vigour and power. The titanium mail of the Peerless Battalion allowed him to cut a dashing and valiant ﬁgure, but with a roguish brigand air about him, just like a hunting panther ready to strike at any time. His head of short, inch long black hair accentuated his manly features.

Seeing Wei Feng and Zhou Weiqing, he did not show any signs of respect, striding towards them with large steps.

“Vice Battalion Commander Wei, this is?” The youth looked towards Zhou Weiqing with curiosity, his gaze drawn to the helmet with the yellow feathers denoting the Battalion Commander rank.

Wei Feng laughed heartily and said: “Lei Zi, let me introduce you. This is our Peerless Battalion Battalion Commander Zhou. Battalion Commander, this is our new First Main Company’s Company Leader, Lei Zi. He achieved victory in the last Battalion martial Competition. Mammoth is now his vice commander.”

“Oh? Welcome to the Peerless Battalion.” Zhou Weiqing said politely. However, in Lei Zi’s eyes, this youth who looked to be several years younger than himself actually extended his hand with an honest look on his face, to shake hands with himself, and his heart was ﬁlled with disdain. This young fellow, how could he be qualiﬁed to be the Battalion Commander of the Peerless Battalion! Lei Zi grasped Zhou Weiqing’s hand, a mirthless grin on his face as he said: “Battalion Commander Zhou, I have already been with the Peerless Battalion for some time. I think your policy and rules are very well set, allowing us to be united together. However, may I know if the rules that you set also apply to yourself? If I defeat you, does that mean I can become the Battalion Commander?”

After more than two months, the over three thousand new Peerless Battalion soldiers had almost fully integrated into the entire unit. The many impressive means of the Peerless Battalion had impressed even those wild and intractable people like Lei Zi, but he was undoubtedly curious about this so-called legendary Battalion Commander Zhou Weiqing. If Zhou Weiqing was powerful enough, then he would accept it, but right in front him was such a young fellow, looking to be honest and naive. Instantly, that recalcitrant nature within him rushed out, his rufﬁan nature out to the core and he could not resist challenging Zhou Weiqing right at that moment.

Wei Feng said solemnly: “Lei Zi, do not cause trouble. Battalion Commander Zhou has to attend a meeting at the Seventh Legion now.”

Lei Zi glanced at him dismissively. Wei Feng’s power was actually no match for him, but he had no interest in the position of Vice Battalion Commander, feeling he would rather lead a main Company of his own, which was the reason why he had not challenged Wei Feng. However, it also meant he did not fear or respect Wei Feng at all.

Pursing his lips, he said: “Vice Battalion Commander Wei, that is not correct for you to say. Since the army rules are for everyone, then if I defeat him, I will be the Battalion Commander, and I would be the one going to the Seventh Legion meeting.”

For the three of them to be standing in the center of the Battalion camp and speaking so loudly, several of the Peerless Battalion soldiers passing by had seen it. Naturally, they stealthily walked closer to watch. The older soldiers all knew Zhou Weiqing well, but the newer soldiers were all extremely curious. Lei Zi’s position and prestige in the Peerless Battalion was not low, especially after the Battalion Competition, and he was extremely hardworking in his training as well. Furthermore, his character was extremely valiant and he loved to ﬁght, and he had deﬁnitely garnered much respect amongst his peers. More so, he had actually dared to do something that caused everyone to take a second look at him, actually attempting to chase after Shangguan Fei’er. Although that had resulted in him being beaten up severely, but at least he was the only one who had ever dared to do such a thing. As a result, his prestige in the entire Peerless Battalion was extremely high, especially in his own First Main Company.

Seeing the wild arrogance and obstinate look in Lei Zi’s eyes, Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly. Shaking Lei Zi’s hand, he looked to Wei Feng and said: “No problem, it shouldn’t take much time. Alright, you want to challenge me right? Very well, if you win, the Peerless Battalion Battalion Commander position is yours. However, challenging me has a price. What if you lose?”

As Zhou Weiqing spoke, the gentle smiling look of his gave Wei Feng a chill down his spine. He had been working with Zhou Weiqing for almost a year now, and he deﬁnitely understood this young Battalion Commander of his. The happier he smiled, the more honest he looked, the more evil thoughts he was up to… Lei Zi ahh Lei Zi, you are asking for trouble yourself!

Lei Zi gave a humph and said: “If I lose, you can deal with me however you wish.” He was originally a person who feared nothing in the heavens or earth, and he couldn’t help but think to himself: Even when the chief instructor herself beat me up, I was still ﬁnd. What more can you do?

Zhou Weiqing nodded to him and smiled, saying: “Very good.

Come on then.” As he said that, he released Lei Zi’s hand. However, right at the instant that Zhou Weiqing loosened his grip, Lei Zi had charged forth abruptly. He did not pull back his hand, instead using it to strike upwards towards Zhou Weiqing’s throat.

In order to become the ZhongTian Central Army Rufﬁan Battalion Battalion Commander, Lei Zi had deﬁnitely forged his own way up the ranks through ﬁghts. Although he was only thirty years old, he was already battle hardened and experienced. It could be said that after joining the army, he had earned his power and rank by clambering through the ranks of the dead powerhouses.

His actual combat experience was just too abundant, deﬁnitely not like ordinary Heavenly Jewel Masters who might have the cultivation level but not the wherewithal to use it. He had always been chasing the ﬁght, and as long as he could win, no matter what the method was, he would use it.

Due to his sheer speed, even Zhou Weiqing did not have time to react, and he could only move his head slightly in an attempt to dodge Lei Zi’s strike.

Sweeping his right hand forward, Lei Zi struck out once more at Zhou Weiqing’s neck. At the same time, his entire body of Heavenly Energy was already circulating at the max, a thick white light covering his palm. He was not using any Stored Skills, just purely Heavenly Energy. After all, the two of them were originally already at such a close distance, and with his Heavenly Energy unleashed, it almost instantaneously reached Zhou Weiqing’s neck.

If this palm really hit, perhaps Zhou Weiqing’s head might be sliced off. Around Lei Zi’s wrist, six Icy Jade Physical Jewels shone brilliant, showing his powerful status as a six Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master.

However, even as Lei Zi felt his sudden attack had succeeded and was about to soften the blow slightly, he abruptly realised that his hand was suddenly unable to move. The air around his hand seemed to have coalesced into something, actually binding his hand and causing it to halt in midair. Although it was just a very simple block, Lei Zi’s Heavenly Energy was also successfully stalled by it.

With just that short instant, Zhou Weiqing had spun around to face Lei Zi’s palm. He did not try to dodge again, instead lowering his head abruptly and slamming his forehead onto Lei Zi’s palm. At the same time, his own right hand lifted up towards Lei Zi, a bright silver light ﬂashed out towards his face. Lei Zi lifted his left hand, an earth shield consolidating in front of him to block Zhou Weiqing’s attack, while his right hand slammed into Zhou Weiqing’s forehead.

*Peng**Peng* Two collision sounds rang out simultaneously. Lei Zi’s earth shield in his left hand shattered. At the same time, he felt a sudden pain from his right hand as an immense force slammed into his entire body, causing him to spin around and almost fall down.

“Careful!” Zhou Weiqing’s voice rang out in his ears. The next moment, he saw a green blade of light, a purple-blue ball of light and a silver blade of light ﬂy towards him from different directions. Their speeds did not seem fast, but the sheer pressure from them instantly hit Lei Zi’s entire body.

Three Attribute Elemental Jewel? Lei Zi’s heart was ﬁlled with shock. Although he could see that Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Jewels only had ﬁve sets, one less than his own, but if Zhou Weiqing had three Attributes, then he would have many more Skills than his own. Furthermore, with just that single strike of Zhou Weiqing’s forehead on his own hand, he could sense that this young Battalion Commander’s physical strength was not to be underestimated. There was no time to think, and Lei Zi instantly struck the ground with the tip of his feet, his entire body lunging back in a quick retreat. Before defeating an enemy, one had to protect oneself, this was the law of survival on the battleﬁeld. Still, Lei Zi’s retreat was not unplanned, and every time he took a step back, the previous position he was at would shoot up with an earth spike, accurately striking forth towards the three Skills that Zhou Weiqing had launched.

Alas, to Lei Zi’s surprise, the three seemingly unassuming Skills seemed to come to live, easily dodging his earth spikes. Although their speed did not increase, not fast or slow, they still managed to continue chasing his retreating body.

Lei Zi’s had a discerning vision after all from all his battle experience, and with a look, he could easily tell that these three Skills were highly compressed. If any of them landed on him, it would deﬁnitely not be a good feeling. As such, with the stress of the three advancing Skills, he had no choice but to keep retreating.

Zhou Weiqing did not chase forward after him, his hands weaving out in a gesture before striking out once more, and another three bouts of lights shot forth towards Lei Zi. One was a grey whirlwind, one a dark green ball of light, and the last a twisting ball of light, forming a triangular symbol of transparent energy.

These Skills were all unleashed directly from his hands, without any preparation time, instantly unleashed. Six Skills all at once, six different Attributes, and all six of these Skills all came ﬂying into different directions and attacking Lei Zi from different directions. Wei Feng had been standing at the side, and all he saw was Zhou Weiqing’s ﬁngers dancing in a rhythmetic movement, like butterﬂies dancing through a sea of ﬂowers. At the same time, the six Skills were like puppets, following his instructions, constantly dodging Lei Zi’s attempts at blocking, chasing him unrelentingly and getting closer all the while. Lei Zi ﬂew into a rage. Being chased like this was deﬁnitely not a good feeling, and he was being completely suppressed so easily.

With an angry howl, he stopped retreating abruptly. With a sudden motion, a brown rock armour appeared around him, and his right foot stomped hard on the ground. At the same time, a large earth spike appeared under him, abruptly pushing him forward in the opposite direction instead of the retreat, causing him to shoot forth like a cannonball towards Zhou Weiqing. At the same time, sixteen earth spikes erupted from all around Zhou Weiqing’s position, each striking towards different positions of his body.

The smile on Zhou Weiqing’s face did not lessen, and all he did was a simple motion, lifting his right foot and placing back down.

A massive explosion, right below Zhou Weiqing’s feet and his surroundings. All the earth spikes which had been striking out at him vanished abruptly, the combination of sheer physical strength and powerful Heavenly Energy reverberations causing a shockwave that dissipated all the Earth Attribute energy, causing them to lose their form and being unable to sustain the attack. At the same time, the six Skills that had originally been chasing Lei Zi also changed suddenly.

The green wind blade and the grey whirlpool clashed into each other, and the wind blade actually melded into whirlpool, following the direction of the spin. The other four Skills separated out into the surroundings, as if turning into audience, watching the now green-grey whirlpool move into Lei Zi’s path.

By this time, Lei Zi was unable to dodge even if he wanted to. Furthermore, in his eyes, what could a mere single whirlpool do to him?

An earsplitting sound of chaﬁng rang out. A Wind Blade was just a one-Star rated Skill, and even if it were compressed, it was normally at most two-Star. The Rock Armour that Lei Zi had summoned to protect himself was much higher Rated, and under normal circumstances, a Wind Blade could never break its defense.

However, along with the earsplitting sound, Lei Zi felt a sudden cold on his chest, and he was shocked to see that the Rock Armour at his chest was totally unable to block the swift slash of the Wind Blade, which had clearly been boosted severely by the grey whirlpool. Not good!

It was too late to dodge, and at this moment, Lei Zi’s ferocious nature showed itself. He howled angrily into the air, ignoring his own chest and the attack on it, instead lifting his hands into the sky. Instantly, a thick yellow light burst forth, and dozens of massive rocks consolidated in midair, smashing down savagely onto Zhou Weiqing.

Rock shower. One of the most useful and pragmatic of the Earth Attribute offensive Skills, an area of effect attack to boot. With Lei Zi’s six-Jeweled cultivation level, despite that attack being summoned hastily and without preparation, its power was not to be underestimated.

Alas, just as he unleashed the Skill, an icy cold sensation invaded his entire body, as if he had been plunged into ice, and the momentum of his forward charge plummeted drastically. When he lowered his head to look, he was surprised to see that without knowing when, the blue-purple ball of light that had shot off in another direction earlier had actually somehow reached the front of his chest, entering the Rock Armour through the cut the Wind Blade had opened.

*BANG* The blue-purple light exploded, causing Lei Zi to be sent ﬂying up into the air. There was not much pain, just a strong numbing sensation, as well as an icy cold Demonic Attribute invading his body, causing his entire body to be in a paralyzed state momentarily.

Such powerful control! That was the only thought in Lei Zi’s mind currently. For such a direct combat specialist Heavenly Jewel Master like himself, it was not easy to be controlled by just a few low rated Skills, yet Zhou Weiqing had managed to do so.

However, Lei Zi did not think that this would mean his loss. His Rock Shower Skill had already been put into action, and that was the key for him to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Even if Zhou Weiqing could deal with it, it would not be easy for him to do so while controlling so many Skills. As long as it gave him enough time to force out the Demonic Attribute Heavenly Energy and wait out the numbing effect of the Control Skill, he would still have a chance of victory.

Alas for Lei Zi, still in midair where he had been sent from the explosion, his next sight was a miraculous one. His Rock Shower Skill had just sent over thirty, almost forty falling rocks down, but as they ﬂew to about ﬁve yards from Zhou Weiqing, they all halted in midair. The reason was simple. Under each and every single rock, a small Wind Shield appeared.

In normal circumstances, it was impossible for a Wind Shield to block the Rock Shower. After all, the Rock Shower was Five- Star rated, a powerful Earth Attribute offense Skill. However, if it was several dozen Wind Shields, each blocking a rock with perfect timing? That was a major difference. Not only were the falling rocks stopped from falling by the Wind Shields, they slowly wrapped around the Rocks and gently set them onto the ground, without even making a sound.

The Wind Shields that Zhou Weiqing had unleashed were merely two-Star Rated Skills. After Long Shiya’s teaching, he truly understood that it was not that low Star Rated Skills were useless. Although their power might be small, they also did not have much drain on Heavenly Energy. If one was able to make use of these lower rated Skills to just accomplish a task, what was the point of using a more powerful Skill? That would just be a waste of extra Heavenly Energy!

After Zhou Weiqing had trained for the past two months on the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, even the strict Long Shiya had ﬁnally said that he had some initial success in it, and was through the gates of the ﬁrst level of the Skill. Currently, as he used it in actual combat, it seemed to come so easily to him. All of the Skills that he had used thus far were not Stored Skills, but just skillful manipulation of Heavenly Energy to consolidate them.

The various Rocks disappeared soon after they landed on the ground, after all they were part of a Skill formed by Heavenly Energy. At the same time, Lei Zi fell hard on the ground with a mufﬂed grunt. In the end, Zhou Weiqing did not hit him with the rest of the six Skills. Although those Skills might not be very powerful by itself, he did not plan on actually hurting Lei Zi, just breaking all of his attacks and knocking him down.

In terms of absolute strength, due to the fact that Lei Zi did not have Consolidated Equipment, he was just slightly stronger overall than Wei Feng. Facing Zhou Weiqing with all his Consolidated Equipment and Stored Skills, what chance did he have?

Lei Zi executed a roll on the ground to break his fall and jumped up to his feet. With his powerful Heavenly Energy circulating, the numbness of the Control Skill had ended, and the Icy Cold Demonic Energy had also been purged from his body. Lifting his head, he saw Zhou Weiqing smiling at him.

In truth, although he knew he had lost, he totally did not know how he had lost. It was just a few puny little Skills, yet he had been forced into such a tight corner like that, and he chalked it up to him being too over eager and underestimating his opponent. Lei Zi was still not convinced, vexed at this loss. He was no gentleman, to admit his defeat just like that. With a low howl, he suddenly squatted down, both ﬁsts slamming

down hard on the ground.

Another massive explosion, and an earth dragon rose into the air accompanying the powerful shockwaves, charging threateningly towards Zhou Weiqing. This was Lei Zi’s strongest Skill, Earth Dragon Transmigration. Zhou Weiqing responded immediately, the Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Elemental Jewel on his left wrist lighting up as he struck his palm towards it. A ball of silver light ﬂew out, striking the earth dragon on its forehead accurately. He no longer planned to waste any more time ﬁghting with Lei Zi, and if he only used the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, it would take some time to take down Lei Zi whose cultivation level was higher than his own.

With a soft thud, that originally ferocious charging earth dragon that looked like it could take down an entire hill stopped abruptly. A large hole opened in its forehead, and as the silver light vanished, the entire earth dragon fell apart. Before Lei Zi could react, he was shocked to ﬁnd that Zhou Weiqing had appeared right in front of him. He did not even know how that had happened, and before he could do anything, he found he was unable to move.

A simple Blink, followed by the combination of Absolute Delay and Fetters of Wind. Even if Lei Zi’s cultivation level was higher than Zhou Weiqing’s, he was totally unable to break free within three seconds. The next thing that ﬂew into him was the Lightning Suffering, with its multiple paralysis effects.

His entire body paralyzed, Lei Zi could only watch and see as Zhou Weiqing’s left hand moved slowly to his own forehead. The next instant, a terrifying Darkness Energy ﬂowed directly into his mind, invading his very thoughts.

His spirit wavered as he somehow lost focus, and within a blink of an eye, Lei Zi could tell that it was a Darkness Sealing Technique. No! I cannot be Sealed like that, or I’ll end up a mere slave! His spirit and consciousness struggled with all his might.

Alas, at this moment, he saw a pair of purple red eyes staring right into his own. Two ﬂashes of purple red light shot forth into his own orbs, and his struggling spirit energy was dispersed. The next moment, he felt a cold sensation on his forehead, followed by a sudden heat. A drop of blood appeared on Zhou Weiqing’s ﬁngers, forming a symbol seared there… It was the Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness!

Under ordinary circumstances, Zhou Weiqing could only use the Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness to seal a person if he was willing and cooperative. Otherwise, it would be easy for him to suffer from backlash. This was especially so since Lei Zi’s Heavenly Energy and cultivation level was higher than his own.

However, with just the spiritual oppression and crashing from the an overpowering Skill like the Demonic Dragon God Seal, he was already able to break through his opponent’s defenses, allowing the Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness to succeed.

Using these two Skills in tandem was a suggestion that Long Shiya had made to him. Under his guidance, Zhou Weiqing was now able to fully control the Demonic Dragon God Seal to unleash a powerful spiritual attack. This was tantamount to making this single Skill have two purposes. Facing enemies with stronger cultivation levels, he was able to use it as a spiritual attack, while facing those weaker than him, he could use it for the original ‘controlling’ purpose. Now, even when compared to the Dragon Silencing Seal, it had become just as useful.

Withdrawing his left hand, Zhou Weiqing beckoned to Wei Feng and said: “Big Bro Wei, let’s go then…”

Lei Zi remained standing there, stunned. It was only after a few minutes that he ﬁnally came to his senses, subconsciously touching his forehead. With his memory coming back to him, he was suddenly ﬁlled with regret.

He had been Sealed just like that, forcefully Sealed just so easily. Why did this happen? How could this happen?

In truth, he was muddled by the forceful win by Zhou Weiqing. In truth, the entire series of Skills that Zhou Weiqing had unleashed was extremely draining on his Heavenly Energy. He had made use of a highly concentrated and focused Spatial Rend to destroy the Earth Dragon Transmigration. The Earth Dragon Transmigration was a seven-Rated Skill, but the Spatial Rend was a ten-Star Rated, basically remedying the difference in their Heavenly Energy. Furthermore, Zhou Weiqing had used his powerful control abilities to compress the Spatial Rend into a single point, thus destroying the Earth Dragon Transmigration had seemed so easy. Right after that, Zhou Weiqing had used the Blink Skill to get right next to Lei Zi, before combining the Absolute Delay, Fetters of Wind and Lightning Suffering, three powerful Control Skills to restrict Lei Zi, before ending with the near- Heavenly God Tier Skill Demonic Dragon God Seal and the Blood Rites – Seal of Darkness.

Let alone Lei Zi, even if it were a more powerful six-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Masters with all Consolidated Equipment and Stored Skills, it was unlikely he or she would be able to withstand that ﬂurry of Skills.

Of course, Zhou Weiqing did not really want him to become his Follower, but was just teaching this wild and intractable fellow a painful lesson. If the lesson was not strict enough, and he kept coming to challenge him in the future, wouldn’t that be a bother? As such, he had used such a show of force to take down Lei Zi so seemingly easily, at the same time it was also a display for the other newer soldiers to awe them into submission.

…

Seventh Legion Command Headquarters. When Zhou Weiqing and Wei Feng reached, the headquarters was already full of the senior ofﬁcers of the Seventh Legion. Those who were there were at least of the Vice Regiment Commander rank or higher, with their armour clearly depicting their status.

Zhou Weiqing and Wei Feng’s arrival did not rouse anyone’s attention, as they were currently listening to Shen Ji.

However, Shen Ji glanced towards Zhou Weiqing, and his originally strict face smiled faintly for a moment, and he nodded to Zhou Weiqing before continuing.

Although he was a little afraid of Zhou Weiqing’s background, at this moment, Shen Ji would not give him any special treatment. After all, that would easily reveal his identity and status.

Zhou Weiqing also nodded back to Shen Ji in greeting, before standing right behind the rest of the other ofﬁcers.

Due to Shen Ji’s attention, the ofﬁcers in front also subconsciously turned back to look at Zhou Weiqing. For the others, it was still alright, but when Shen Bu saw Zhou Weiqing, her expression changed and she quickly turned her head away. To Zhou Weiqing’s great surprise, he saw a blush stain her face as she did so.

Zhou Weiqing blinked in surprise before turning to Wei Feng beside him and saying in a low tone: “Old Wei, that Shen Bu girl is a little… strange today? Why did she blush when she saw me?”

Wei Feng gave a low snigger and said: “Battalion Commander, for this… no matter how intelligent you are, I am sure you will never guess the reason.”

Zhou Weiqing started momentarily before saying: “What… could it be that she has also fallen for me? That can’t be right… even though I am extremely suave, attractive and charismatic, I will not like women of her age!”

Wei Feng almost burst out laughing, restraining himself into a smothered giggle, and he shook his head at Zhou Weiqing. Some of the ofﬁcers closer to them turned to give them an angry look. In their eyes, it was already very strange that these two low ranked ofﬁcers were attending this meeting, and they actually dared to chat and laugh in such a serious meeting. Zhou Weiqing did not appear to see their angry glares, asking softly: “Quick tell me, what is going on?” He was also extremely curious to ﬁnd out.

Wei Feng grinned and said: “Heh heh, ever since they had taken such a huge disadvantage from us at the start, Shen Bu was indeed well behaved for some time. Anyway, as you know, Bro Lin is very hardworking, and he would go outside of the camp every single day to train in his martial skills. One day, he bumped into Shen Bu… due to the fact that they had both clashed before, and Shen Bu did not dare take revenge against you… when she saw Bro Lin, they ended up ﬁghting. Naturally, the result was her being taken down by Bro Lin. She knew that Bro Lin would train there every day, and she also ended up looking for him to ﬁght every day. Bro Lin fought with her everyday, but did not injure here. Who knew… after a period of time, it seems like their connection is a little…”

Zhou Weiqing’s eyes widened in surprise, and he muttered to himself: “Well, I’d be damn, even if you had beaten me to death I could never have guessed it! That is a thing?” Due to his shock, his voice had gone a little too loud, and this time, almost all the ofﬁcers turned back to glare at them.

Shen Ji also heard Zhou Weiqing’s voice, and his brow furrowed slightly before he said: “Battalion Commander Zhou, please come to the front…”

Zhou Weiqing immediately restrained himself, hiding the surprise in his heart, before taking large strides to the front. When he passed by Shen Bu, he gave her a strange look. Well, this lady’s looks and cultivation level were not bad indeed, deﬁnitely a good match for Lin TianAo. Well, this was a little unexpected! Such a stable and silent person like Bro Lin, silently ﬁnding a wife like that so easily! He thought to himself.

As he stepped to the front, Zhou Weiqing bowed slightly to Shen Ji with a greeting. “Legion Commander Shen Ji.”

Shen Ji also nodded back to him before turning to the other ofﬁcers and saying: “Let me introduce him to everyone. This is the Battalion Commander of the Peerless Battalion. The Peerless Battalion is a unique existence in our Legion, a special forces unit, and they will be attending this year’s battle. They are fully consistent of archers. Although Battalion Commander Zhou is only at the Battalion Commander rank, his Peerless Battalion numbers over ﬁve thousand troops.

As he said that, understanding dawned upon the ofﬁcers present. No wonder a Battalion Commander ranked ofﬁcer was able to attend this high level meeting; he was leading a much larger number of troops, and had the right to be here. Shen Ji continued: “Alright, back to the main topic. This year’s situation does not look good at all. Normally, every year’s WanShou Empire forces are mainly focused at the Central North region, and the pressure there is the greatest. However, this year, their forces are extremely huge, and our pressure will not be small as well. According to preliminary reports from our scouts, the northwest border already has seventeen Regiments of the WanShou Empire soldiers gathered. This is a

truly unprecedented show of force. After all, the WanShou Empire only has a total of ﬁfty eight Regiments that we know of. This time, it can be said that they are sallying forth in full strength, attacking us from all fronts. As for our Northwest Army, besides the normal Fourth, Seventh, Eighth Legions

stationed here with around three hundred thousand troops, we can also link up with the Ninth and Tenth Legions who are stationed in the TianBei City. Along with some reserve forces, our total strength is slightly over six hundred thousand. Although our ﬁghting forces number about four times that of

our enemies, but as you all know, that is not sufﬁcient. The

circumstances this year does not look good at all.”

Hearing Shen Ji describe the relative military strength between both sides, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but feel shock in his heart. No wonder that every year the WanShou Empire was able to loot some from the ZhongTian Empire… The difference in strength was truly large! Although it would be an exaggeration to say that one Regiment of the WanShou Empire could take on a Legion of the ZhongTian Empire, after all the ZhongTian Empire also had some extremely powerful units. Even so, it would already be a stretch for the six hundred thousand troops on their side to ﬁght against ten Regiments of the WanShou Empire, and to

do so would already be extremely good. In terms of ﬁghting

directly in a clash on terrain like the vast open plains, the WanShou Empire troops were at a greater advantage, being better able to make full use of their abilities. Let alone now that there were seventeen Regiments of enemies… After a couple of ﬁghts, perhaps the Northwest Armies might not even be able to stop their advance.

“Seventeen Regiments? Boss, could it be that the scouts are wrong? Every year, our Northwest Armies face at most six to seven Regiments, and that is about our limit as well. How could they double the numbers this year?” One of the Regiment Commanders, the yellow feather in his cap denoting his rank, seated in the front row exclaimed in surprise.

Shen Ji said solemnly: “Wrong? I also wish it was wrong… Alas, the facts are now before us, and we have to deal with it. This year’s situation is extremely strange… the Central Northern armies are facing only ﬁfteen Regiments of the WanShou Empire, about their usual amount. The Northeastern Armies, only ﬁve, also their usual amount or less. Even the Bao Po Empire and Fei Li Empire are only facing ﬁve Regiments of the WanShou armies each. On the other hand, it is us who have the face the greatest number of enemies. This time, the WanShou Empire actually sent out more than forty Legions, and more than a third of them are gathered at our side. Our

headquarters have already sent word to the Central North Command to request for reinforcements, and hopefully they can spare us some forces.”

Shen Bu said: “Legion Commander, I’m afraid that is extremely difﬁcult right. They are also facing great pressure… perhaps it would be better to request for reinforcements from the Northeastern Armies?”

Shen Ji did not reply, but the atmosphere in the large tent had become extremely oppressive. All of them knew that the chances of gaining reinforcements was extremely low, almost impossible. After all, the WanShou Empire forces were just too strong, and even ﬁve Regiments could not be underestimated. Each of them were ofﬁcers, commanders, and who would be willing to send out their troops to help others when they still had their own battles to ﬁght? If that caused their own defenses to break, it would be a serious offense.

After a moment of silence, Shen Ji ﬁnally said: “Now, the Northwest Command has not yet decided whether or not to retreat to the TianBei City. In any case, while we are waiting for our orders, I want everyone to start preparing for a tough ﬁght, every bit of preparation is of utmost importance, as the WanShou Empire could attack at any time. Do not be disheartened, I still have a piece of good news to share. The

Central North Armies have already agreed to send us some aid. Although the numbers are small, but they will be lending us their strongest elite team, the Special Forces Battalion. This way, no matter what, we should still be able to hold on for some time.”

What followed next was Shen Ji arranging his subordinates and handing out tasks and assignments. Generally, preparations like digging trenches and other battle preparations. There were also other military deployments that Zhou Weiqing did not understand.

At last, after giving out the commands, Shen Ji said: “Alright, we shall end the meeting here today. Everyone, go back and get prepared. Prepare your soldiers to be able to ﬁght at any time.”

“Yes Sir!” The ofﬁcers gave a salute in unison before heading out of the tent. Before he could leave, Zhou Weiqing was stopped by Shen Ji. “Battalion Commander Zhou, please stay for a while.” “Legion Commander, do you have any instructions?” Zhou Weiqing stopped and asked.

Shen Ji looked at Zhou Weiqing, hesitating for a moment before asking tentatively: “Battalion Commander Zhou, may I know if your teacher is still together with your Battalion?”

How intelligent was Zhou Weiqing; hearing that question he instantly knew what Shen Ji was trying to get at. With a faint smile on his face, he said: “I’m sorry, Legion Commander Shen Ji. As you know, my teacher is a powerhouse who cannot join such ﬁghts, or it might lead to worse ramiﬁcations. However, our Peerless Battalion is part of the Seventh Legion after all, and no matter what, we are willing to ﬁght and carry out any requested assignments.”

A hint of disappointment ﬂickered in Shen Ji’s eyes as he said: “Thank you for your support, Battalion Commander Zhou. Your Peerless Battalion soldiers are all archers, and when the ﬁght starts, I will deﬁnitely need you to support our main forces.”

In truth, Shen Ji did not have much hopes for the Peerless Battalion. Although he had already personally witnessed some great changes in the Peerless Battalion, they were after all still a bunch of rufﬁans, and he dared not easily let such a troop enter the battleﬁeld. What if any problems occurred, it could possibly affect the rest of their allies and cause their downfall. As such, he could not easily set his mind at ease towards the over ﬁve thousand rufﬁan soldiers.

The person Shen Ji truly regarded highly was naturally Zhou Weiqing’s teacher. If he had not guessed wrongly, he would be a Heavenly King Stage powerhouse, perhaps even a Heavenly Emperor powerhouse. With the help of such a powerhouse, it could at least threaten one of the enemy’s Regiments, greatly helping their side. In critical moments, such a person might even be the key to victory on their end. Alas, from the way things were going, it seemed like it would not be easy to make use of such a powerhouse.

Support the main forces? Hearing Shen Ji’s words, Zhou Weiqing also felt a little disappointed. From Shen Ji’s tone and words, it was clear that he did not plan on letting them be part of the main ﬁght. Yet, if they did not ﬁght, how could he accomplish his goal of training his Peerless Battalion?

Just as the two of them were lost in thought, they were abruptly interrupted by an urgent voice coming from outside. “Sir, Reporting!”

Chapter 157 Arrival of the two powerful Tribes!

“Come in.” Shen Ji said solemnly.

The tent ﬂap raised, and a scout rushed in, kneeling down on a knee as he said urgently: “Legion Commander, Sir, reports have come in from the front that two of the WanShou Empire Regiments have already entered our borders. However, they have met up against an unknown force and both sides are in the midst of battle.”

Upon hearing such a news, Shen Ji started. “Outside force?

Unknown? What could this force be? Where is it from?”

“I’m sorry sir, I do not know. These outsiders seem to be extremely valiant. They are currently in a defensive position, and even though they are facing two Regiments of the WanShou Empire, they actually haven’t been run over yet. Furthermore, they seem to have many large carts in tow… from the looks of it, they might be migrating.”

A sudden thought gripped Zhou Weiqing’s heart, and his expression changed as he cried out involuntarily: “Oh no! Could it be them?” Right at that moment, a charming yet annoyed voice rang out from outside: “Get out of my way, or don’t blame me if I take you down.”

“Fei’er!” Zhou Weiqing no longer had time to care about Shen Ji, rushing out of the tent immediately, only to see Shangguan Fei’er trying to force her way in but being blocked by a group of Shen Ji’s personal guards. By now, she had already knocked out a few of them, and was making her way towards him.

Seeing Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er immediately cried out urgently: “Little Fatty, things aren’t good. Ma Qun and Crow’s Tribes have reached our previous Peerless Battalion camp site to look for us, and they met the two vanguard Regiments of the WanShou Empire armies. Both sides have already started ﬁghting. We just received word of this… quick, think of something.”

Zhou Weiqing’s guess had indeed been proven right, but he was deﬁnitely not happy about it as he furrowed his brow. This was two Regiments after all, and it was not a battleground they had prepared like in their previous ﬁght, nor could they ﬁght and retreat at the same time as in the previous case if they wanted to rescue the two tribes. Fighting to the end was the only choice if they wanted to rescue the two tribes. However, even dismissing the possibility of WanShou Empire reinforcement, just ﬁnishing off two entire WanShou Empire Regiments was deﬁnitely not an easy task.

After a brief moment of thought, a resolute look crossed Zhou Weiqing’s face. At the same time, Shen Ji had come out from the tent, motioning his personal guards to retreat before heading up to ask: “Battalion Commander Zhou, what is wrong?”

Zhou Weiqing replied solemnly: “The unknown forces being surrounded by the WanShou Empire forces you were speaking of in the report are my Peerless Battalion men. Legion Commander Shen Ji, can you please lend me ﬁve thousand war horses?”

Looking at Zhou Weiqing’s keen gaze, Shen Ji couldn’t help but feel surprised. Peerless Battalion men? Those unknown outside forces belonged to the Peerless Battalion? Driving carts? What was going on? Even more so, Zhou Weiqing was only borrowing war horses from him, not troops to make the rescue.

“Things are extremely urgent, legion Commander Shen Ji.” Zhou Weiqing prompted once more urgently. All of a sudden, he had realised that it was truly impossible to not have warhorses. Even though his target for the Peerless Battalion soldiers was to gear them with Consolidated Wings, with their cultivation level, it was impossible for them to ﬂy for long periods of time, even if all of them were equipped with

it now. It looks like they would have to take care of this neglect and start to prepare warhorses for the entire Peerless Battalion.

Shen Ji furrowed his brow tightly and said: “Battalion Commander Zhou, it is no small matter to mobilize ﬁve thousand warhorses. Even for myself, I have to get permission from above.”

“Don’t you know, saving lives is like putting out a ﬁre, urgency is of the utmost importance! What asking for permission bullshit. Let’s go.” Zhou Weiqing was extremely furious, pulling Shangguan Fei’er and turning to leave instantly, Wei Feng following closely behind as they rushed towards the Peerless Battalion.

The surrounding personal guards of Shen Ji couldn’t help but stare in shock, their eyes wide open. What kind of Battalion Commander was this? He even dared to scold the Legion Commander like that? Shen Ji was also angered by Zhou Weiqing’s scolding, but he was after all a wise commander of an entire Legion, and he quickly calmed himself down. He immediately called for his warhorse, personally heading to the Northwest Army Headquarters to report the situation.

…

On the other side, as the three rushed towards the Peerless Battalion, Zhou Weiqing asked Wei Feng: “Old Wei, how many warhorses do we have?”

The entire internal affairs of the Peerless Battalion was handled by Wei Feng, and without hesitation he replied: “We have eighteen Ghost Demon Horses and around six hundred ordinary warhorses.”

Hearing those words, Zhou Weiqing was given a pleasant surprise: “So many?”

Wei Feng replied: “Originally, we managed to get over a hundred warhorses from the Sixteenth Regiment. Furthermore, after that, several times when Senior Mu En and Luo Ke Di went to requisition resources from the quartermaster, they managed to get warhorses a few times. A few times? That was nearly ﬁve hundred more warhorses! The Scoundrel Rogue pair of the Heavenly Bow Unit truly lived up to their name!

“That’s great. When we return, immediately give the orders to prepare to move out. Of all the Main Companies, I want all Main Company Leaders, Ordinary Company Leaders, Vice Company Leaders, all ofﬁcers to gather. All the Peerless Battalion soldiers with Consolidated Equipment Wings are also to gear up fully, with sufﬁcient arrows and javelins, before gathering. We will be leaving as soon as they gear up. Big Bro Wei, I will personally lead them as a speedy vanguard, and I want you to lead the rest of them men to back us up as quickly as possible.”

In order to rush to the rescue of the Gold Crow Tribe and the Berserker Tribe, Zhou Weiqing could no longer sit and make a perfect plan with all details mapped out. Although he had wanted to train his newly replenished and equipped Peerless Battalion with a ﬁght against the WanShou Empire armies, he had not expected the ﬁght to come so soon and so urgently.

Wei Feng quickly agreed.

As soon as they returned to the Peerless Battalion, the orders were immediately passed down. The speed of gathering was extremely impressive, and it was barely ﬁfteen minutes before all the warriors Zhou Weiqing had requested for were gathered.

After such a long period of training, these Rufﬁan soldiers were after all eager to ﬁght, and by this time they were eager to test the fruits of their training. The older soldiers had already told the newer ones about how their Peerless Battalion’s ﬁghting was always aimed at having zero losses. This was a great chance for them to make a fortune! This was especially true now, as before entering the battle times, the Northwest Armies had already made the announcement that once the battle started, a single Beastman soldier head was worth ten gold in bounty!

Zhou Weiqing stood in the central open space of the Peerless Battalion camp awaiting his men to gather.

When he had ﬁrst received news, he only had worry and urgency in his heart. However, by now, he had calmed down. His character had always been rather emotional, but he would never lose sight of logic due to emotions. This was also why one of his ﬁrst plans had been to create the Peerless Battalion Air Force, to eventually gear all his soldiers with the Consolidated Wings. As soon as they met with powerful enemies beyond their power, at least he had the conﬁdence they would be able to retreat safely.

“Battalion Commander.” Wei Feng quickly walked up to him and gave him a salute. “Reporting, the First Main Company is fully gathered, all ﬁve hundred of the Air Force troops. Please give the orders.”

Although the ofﬁcers had tried to divide the troops so that all the Main Companies had a relatively equal strength, but after some discussion, they still decided to concentrate the Air Force into the First Main Company, at least for the time being. This would allow them to be better directed in a ﬁght.

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Everyone mount up, get ready to move out.”

Wei Feng replied: “Yes Sir.” However, he did not pass down the orders immediately, instead lowering his voice and asking: “Do you want to bring the Special Forces unit along as well?” The Special Forces unit was totally made out of the Heavenly Jewel Masters and Elemental Jewel Masters, mostly Elemental Jewels, and was under the personal control of Hua Feng and the other Heavenly Bow Unit archers, currently number slightly over two hundred men. Zhou Weiqing shook his head and said: “No need, you bring them along with the main forces to back us up. I estimate that you can set an ambush about a hundred li from where the current battle is. Do not advance too far out, but also not too little. You will need to move out as fast as possible after us.”

If they advanced too far, it would put them at risk of being surrounded and taken down by their enemies. However, if they were not far out enough, and too close to the Northwest Armies encampment, the enemies might not chase them as well. It was a tricky balance indeed.

After giving the simple instructions to Wei Feng, Zhou Weiqing mounted his own Single-Horned Ghost Demon Horse. The rest of the Peerless Battalion powerhouses and the First Main Company also mounted their horses and they galloped out of the camp towards the northern border.

This time, it could be said that all the top forces of the Peerless Battalion had followed Zhou Weiqing out. Shangguan Fei’er, Lin TianAo, the seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit, as well as all the Main Company Leaders, Company Leaders and other ofﬁcers. The only ofﬁcers he did not bring along were the Squad Leaders, and the only reason for that was because he was afraid Wei Feng might have trouble controlling the entire army if he did so. The current Peerless Battalion had ﬁve Main Companies and a special forces unit, thus numbering six Main Company Leaders and twenty seven Company Leaders. These ofﬁcers were generally at least six-Jeweled Physical Jewel Masters or higher, with some Heavenly Jewel Masters like Lei Zi. It could be said that these were the absolute pillars of the entire Peerless Battalion. Including the most elite forces of the First Main Company, the ﬁve hundred men whose combat abilities could be said to be at least a third of the entire Peerless Battalion’s power.

Zhou Weiqing did not disturb his teacher who was cultivation in his tent. Let alone the fact that Long Shiya had already made it clear previously that he would not join in such ﬁghts, he would ﬁnd it embarrassing to have to ask his teacher for help in this matter.

From the time that the Peerless Battalion scouts had sent word back, to the time that Zhou Weiqing led his men out, it had barely taken an hour. About ﬁfteen minutes after the ﬁve hundred elite had left, the rest of the entire Peerless Battalion started moving out under Wei Feng’s command, heading steadily towards the north. The daily strict movement and training came into absolute great use here, as the men gathered quickly and in neat formations, almost incomparable to the other Regiments of the Seventh Legion. It could be said that the Peerless Battalion had already grown to be the strongest troop in the entire Northwest Armies! …

At the Seventh legion, Shen Ji rushed back to his own headquarters and quickly sent ordesr down for all the Light and Heavy Cavalry troops within his Legion to gather, and prepare for battle.

When he had reported the news to the Northwest Headquarters, he had been given a scolding by his Master and Godfather. That had been such a great opportunity to grant a favour to the Peerless Battalion and get back on their good side, and he had not seized it immediately. The WanShou Empire armies had not fully attacked yet, and this was merely a probing attack. Furthermore, who knew who those people were that Zhou Weiqing had mentioned? What if they came from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace?

As such, as soon as Shen Ji returned to his Legion, he quickly sent orders for his Cavalry troops to assemble.

The Seventh Legion’s troops were well geared, and they had about ten thousand Light Cavalry Troops, and there were also four Battalions of Heavy Cavalry, and the total cavalry troops numbered fourteen thousand men, at least thirty percent more than most Legions. Besides the Seventh Legion, the Northwest Army Command also dispatched Five Regiments from the Eighth Legion to the front lines as backup. However, by the time the Seventh Legion’s Cavalry gathered and started moving out, the infantry of the Peerless Battalion had already moved out for more than

two hours.

As Zhou Weiqing and his vanguard continued galloping, he continued receiving reports from the frontline scouts.

The Gold Crow tribe and the Berserker Tribe had truly come at a bad time. Although the two Tribes were not large tribes, added together they still numbered more than ten thousand. They had streamed in from the Fei Li Empire through the border between the WanShou and ZhongTian Empires, with nearly a thousand horse carts in tow with all their belongings.

When they had arrived at the old camp of the Peerless Battalion, they had unfortunately met with the two Regiments vanguard of the WanShou Empire. The two Regiments was the Wild Wolf Regiment made of Wolf Cavalry soldiers, and the second was an even stronger Unicorn Regiment. Both were powerful cavalry troops and their original intent in entering the area was to sweep the border zone of the ZhongTian enemy scouts, preparing the way for the main army to move in.

However, the Gold Crow Tribe and the Berserker Tribe had been too huge and obvious a target, especially with so many horse carts in tow. To the two Regiments, it was like a huge piece of delicious meat dangling in front of them, and how could they resist? Naturally, they charged to the attack, making full use of their speed and movement, swiftly encircling and surrounding the two tribes. The Peerless Battalion had some scouts in the area, and had quickly realised things were going badly and quickly dispatched men back to request aid. Things were indeed not going well over there.

“Big Bro Wei, do you know anything about the Unicorn Tribe Regiment?” Zhou Weiqing asked Wei Feng.

Wei Feng’s expression was grave and solemn as he said: “The Unicorn Tribe Regiment is extremely powerful. In terms of speed, they are no lesser than the Wolf Cavalry troops, but in terms of combat capabilities, they surpass the Wolf Cavalry troops. The Unicorns are similar in look to your Ghost Demon Horse, but are even larger. Each Unicorn has an inborn talent of gliding; although they are not actually able to ﬂy, these

powerful beasts are able to glide in the air for about a hundred

metres, using the small wings they have behind their backs. The Unicorn Beastmen are also known as the beastmen with the greatest combat skill, stronger than the Wolfmen and extremely skilled in using long spears on horseback. The Gliding Charge of the Unicorn Cavalry Troops is so powerful that even the Heavy Cavalry of our ZhongTian armies are unable to withstand it at full charge. Furthermore, they are also skilled archers, and are much better at harassing than even the Wolf Cavalry troops. In the entire WanShou Empire, the Unicorn Cavalry troops are counted amongst the absolute elite, and they only number two Regiments. I never expected we would meet one of them so early.”

Archer Cavalry Units? Upon hearing that, Zhou Weiqing’s brow furrowed once more. That would mean that even the Peerless Battalion Air Force would not be absolutely safe.

However, he did not have any other choice but to rescue the Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribes. At this point, he could only hope that the two Tribes were sufﬁciently powerful enough to hold their own, and only by working with them could they have a chance to repulse to two enemy Regiments and retreat to safety.

Two hundred li was nothing in the eyes of the swift cavalry, and two hours of swift galloping ensured they reached their destination.

In the distance, the sounds of ﬁghting, metal clashing against each other, and the air of killing intent ﬁlled the atmosphere. The chaos of the battle in the distance was clear, but they could not see anything for sure.

“Peerless battalion, get ready for battle. Remember to conserve your Heavenly Energy.” Zhou Weiqing shouted out loud.

As they got closer, when Zhou Weiqing could ﬁnally see the actual battleground. No matter him, or the other Peerless Battalion soldiers, were absolutely surprised.

The ﬁght was not on the original hillside that the Peerless Battalion had once camped one. The Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribe had not even bothered to retreat to the tunnel network that the Peerless Battalion had dug, instead being fully surrounded by the two WanShou Empire Regiments in the vast open plains. However, the reason why the Peerless Battalion was so surprised was that from the outlook of the battleground situation, both sides were pretty much locked in a stalemate, and not the WanShou Empire armies having a large advantage as expected.

Shangguan Fei’er said to Zhou Weiqing: “I’ll go ahead and scout a bit ﬁrst.” As she said that, she spread her wings and soared off into the sky. The battleﬁeld was extremely messy, and it was nearly impossible for them to look clearly from their perspective and direction, and could only see that the ﬁghting ahead was violent and ﬁerce.

In a matter of moments, Shangguan Fei’er had returned.

Zhou Weiqing was surprised to see shock on her face.

“The Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribes have gathered all their horse carts together, with their old, women and children also gathered and hidden in the inner circle of the horse carts. The warriors from both tribes add up to around four thousand or so, surrounding the horse carts as they ﬁght against the WanShou Empire attacks. However, it seems like their injuries and death aren’t high… surprisingly, it seems like the Wolf Cavalry Troops and Unicorn Cavalry Troops actually have higher casualties. The ﬁghting capabilities of the Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribe are indeed impressive.” She quickly described the situation.

For Shangguan Fei’er to actually praise them so much, one could surely imagine that the Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribe had truly impressed her and left a stamp in her mind. Hearing her words, Zhou Weiqing was overjoyed.

Immediately, he seized the opportunity and called out to his Peerless Battalion brethen. “Brothers, our comrades are now being surrounded and attacked by the WanShou Empire armies. Everything else, I shall not speak, but let me just tell you that the Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribe are full of countless beauties. For the sake of our beautiful female comrades, get ready your Consolidated Bows!”

Hearing Zhou Weiqing’s words, Shangguan Fei’er almost vomited out a mouthful of blood. What sort of pre-battle motivational speech was that?! However, to her surprise, upon hearing Zhou Weiqing’s words, all the Peerless Battalion soldiers howled out excitedly, their ﬁghting spirit raised to the max.

Zhou Weiqing’s grasp on human nature was learned from Mu En, and such a motivational speech was perhaps very different and… strange, and would never have worked on any ordinary army unit. However, the Peerless Battalion was just too different. These rufﬁan soldiers had not felt the touch of a woman in such a long time, and perhaps even a female sow would excite them, let alone hearing about female comrades! Women, such a term was perhaps far more important to them

than gold.

Hua Feng shouted: “Single Line Battle Array!”

Ordinarily, Zhou Weiqing did not participate in the training of the troops, and naturally he was not the one to directly command the battle. The First Main Company was truly the ﬁnest of the Peerless Battalion elites, not just because of their strength, with each of them at least three-Jeweled Physical Jewel Masters or higher. Spurring their warhorses, the ﬁve hundred soldiers swiftly arranged into their single-lined formation.

On the other side, the two WanShou Empire Regiments had long discovered the over ﬁve hundred cavalry troops advancing towards them. However, the WanShou Empire troops had always looked down on the ZhongTian Empire troops, and their only reaction was to send two hundred men Wolf Cavalry Companies to break off and charge towards Zhou Weiqing’s troop. It could be said that the WanShou Empire troops that the Peerless Battalion had the most experience in ﬁghting were exactly the Wolf Cavalry soldiers, and they were very experienced in facing them. None of them were ﬂustered or panicked, instead feeling excitement.

“Consolidated Bows, prepare!” Hua Feng’s voice was not loud, but all the Peerless Battalion soldiers could clearly hear it.

Five hundred Consolidated Bows drew at the same time, and row after row of titanium tipped arrows glinted coldly in the sunlight.

As the enemies entered the ﬁve hundred yard range, Hua Feng ﬁnally gave the order to shoot.

Ear piercing shrill whistles resonated through the entire battleﬁeld. The Consolidated Bows with the Overlord Bow as a base blueprint showed their power once more in the battleﬁeld, their disquieting shrieks causing the entire battleﬁeld to freeze momentarily.

A series of thuds as arrows met ﬂesh, and they could clearly see a cloud of blood rise up into the air along with explosions as the explosive effect of the Consolidated Bows came into effect.

Five hundred men attacking at the same time, but there was no confusion or disorder. One arrow targeting the beastmen, one arrow targeting the war wolves. After just one round, the two hundred wolf cavalry soldiers charging at them were whittled down to a mere several dozen. These remaining were either extremely lucky or some of the more powerful soldiers or higher ranked ofﬁcers amongst the wolf cavalry soldiers.

“Master Hua Feng, you take care of command here. I will be charging ahead to contact the two tribes.” Zhou Weiqing quickly told Hua Feng before spurring his Single-Horned Ghost Demon Horse, charging towards the dozen remaining wolf cavalry soldiers. Just these few remaining stragglers were not worthy of the Peerless Battalion soldiers shooting another salvo.

The shrill sounds immediately drew the attention of the two WanShou Empire Regiments, and when they saw the two Wolf Cavalry soldier Companies almost wiped out so easily, they were all absolutely shocked.

At the same time, Zhou Weiqing did not charge forward alone. Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo ﬂanked him on each side respectively, charging together simultaneously. …

Meanwhile, the Company Leader of the First Main Company, Lei Zi, was in a relatively good mood now. That was because, while they were shooting their arrows, he had received a message from Zhou Weiqing. As long as his performance in today’s ﬁght was satisfactory, then Zhou Weiqing would release him from the Darkness Seal.

…

Three Ghost Demon Horses, forming a tiny triangular formation as they charged forward. The remaining dozen or so Wolf Cavalry Soldiers were undoubtedly the most powerful amongst the two Companies, and though they saw their comrades fall like wheat culled before their eyes, they were not afraid. Instead, they shouted their Totemic Activation Chant “Bathulu!” as they charged towards the incoming trio.

Zhou Weiqing’s trio did not stop, and both sides seemed to pass the other without any contact. Even with Hua Feng’s vision, he was not able to catch sight of what had happened, but moments after the two sides had crossed, the dozen Wolf Cavalry soldiers and their war wolves all fell to the ground… dead. Shangguan Fei’er was right besides Zhou Weiqing, and currently her heart was ﬁlled with surprise. She had been very close to him, and had thus been able to observe everything clearly. Just before both sides had crossed, Zhou Weiqing had said a simple line: “Let me.”

The next moment, Shangguan Fei’er had seen many tiny, inch-long Wind Blades appear out of nowhere, right in front of every single Wolf Cavalry Soldiers and their war wolf mounts. Even though there were two three-Jeweled Company Leaders on the enemy’s side, none of them were able to react in time, and their tough fur was also unable to defend against this at all.

Highly compressed Wind Blades… is this the consummate Skill that the Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor taught him? Shangguan Fei’er thought to herself. Little Fatty has indeed grown much stronger… even I am not able to truly know his strength now.

The WanShou Empire Regiments reacted extremely quickly. As soon as they saw their two Wolf Cavalry soldier Companies had been slaughter so easily, they realised that the incoming cavalry soldiers were not to be dismissed easily. Several cries that Zhou Weiqing could not understand sounded out, and an entire Battalion of Unicorn Cavalry soldiers wheeled around immediately and started charging towards the trio.

Both sides were speeding towards the other at breakneck speeds, and the gap between them closed almost instantly. This was the ﬁrst time Zhou Weiqing had seen the Unicorn Cavalry troops. The Unicorn Beasts could no longer be described as horses, their bodies massive and muscular, especially their shoulder areas, rippling with sleek muscles. The single horn on their heads were almost a chi long, the base as thick as an adult’s ﬁst, the tip sharp and pointy, looking extremely deadly. From his ﬁrst look, they did look rather similar to Zhou Weiqing’s single-horned Ghost Demon Horse, though they did not have the scales which it did. However, below their ribs, there were two metre-long wings.

The Unicorn Beastmen were all about 1.9 metres tall, dressed in black heavy armour, with three metre long spears in their hands.

As both sides were about to reach once more, all of a sudden amongst the Unicorn Cavalry, about a dozen or so of them accelerated in an abrupt burst. The next moment, the dozen or so Unicorn Cavalry troops leaped and actually ascended into the skies, their wings spread as they charged towards Zhou Weiqing’s trio savagely. As they now had the advantage of high ground descending upon them, their speed had increased more than ﬁfty percent. Backed by the powerful inertia of the charge, they hurtled towards Zhou Weiqing’s trio with an indomitable force and aura. The single Unicorn Beast right in front was extremely massive, larger than its kin by a considerable amount. Even its Beastman rider atop him was far more muscular and well built than the others, though Zhou Weiqing and the others were currently unable to see any Power Jewels around his wrists.

Zhou Weiqing lifted his hands, the two Legendary Hammers shimmering and appearing into his grasp along with the dark gold colour of the Consolidating Equipment God Protective Aura. His Single-Horned Ghost Demon Horse seemed to be provoked by the opposing mounts, and it too accelerated abruptly without prompting, causing Zhou Weiqing to break free from the triangular formation to charge right ahead.

The Unicorn Beastman leader pointed the spear in his hand directly towards Zhou Weiqing. In the instant that it seemed the two would clash, his spear sudden moved back a half metre. From the looks of it, it was as if he wanted to avoid a direct clash with Zhou Weiqing’s warhammers. At the same time, Zhou Weiqing could clearly hear him shouting something, causing both he and his Unicorn Beast to light up in a brilliant white, before the long spear in his hands darted out like a bolt of lightning once more.

Zhou Weiqing was secretly surprised in his heart. This Unicorn Beastman leader truly had his own unique talents indeed. However, though he was thinking that in his heart, that did not stop him from countering instantly, the crying- face hammer in his right hand striking upwards in a simple arc, without any Skills activated.

In terms of a direct strength competition, Zhou Weiqing had never been afraid of anyone, even if it were a clash against someone with higher cultivation level. As the successor to the ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set, once he could wear the entire set one day, he would deﬁnitely be the strongest person in the entire world, at least in pure physical terms. Even the Heavenly God Tier Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord would not be able to compare to him in just that respect alone.

On the battleﬁeld, sometimes just pure physical strength was more effective than martial skill, as it was faster and more direct. *Clang* Another loud sound of the two powerhouses clashed hard. The Unicorn Beastmaster had absolute conﬁdence in his physical strength, but he abruptly felt the grip of his hands heat up as a massive power forcefully struck his spear aside. Next, another Hammer smashed down savagely, striking hard on his beloved Unicorn Beast mount’s head.

Although Zhou Weiqing’s Dual Legendary Hammers were one fake and one real, its greatest power was the fact that it could be swapped at will between the hammers. As long as he did not strike down with them at the same time, it was nearly impossible to tell that one was fake and one was real. Even if the enemy had prior knowledge, it would not be easy to read the truth of the matter as well.

Zhou Weiqing had used his ﬁrst hammer strike to smash his enemy’s spear aside, before smashing down with the second hammer, neatly switching it to its ‘real’ and weighted form before the strike actually hit. Although the Unicorn Beast’s horn was extremely tough, how could it easily take a blow from Zhou Weiqing’s powerful hammer?

A sickening thud, and the entire Unicorn’s head along with its horn exploded like a watermelon being split apart. The Beastman rider’s hands had been injured by the previous strike, and the death of his mount and his own inertia caused him to jerk forward uncontrollably. With another swing of his hammer, Zhou Weiqing ended his life in an unbelievably easy method.

The clash was seemingly complicated, but it all happened in a blink of an eye as the two crossed paths.

On the other hand, Shangguan Fei’er’s ﬁghting style was very different from Zhou Weiqing’s. As both sides met, her legs hooked onto the saddle of her mount, her entire body leaning to the front as her pair of God Tier Consolidated Claws appeared, glinting with cold light. The Unicorn Beastmaster she faced had a pretty decent combat ability, alas when compared to her, the gap was just too great. A ﬂurry of claw afterimages, and all that could be seen was the splattering of blood.

As for Lin TianAo, his ﬁghting style was the simplest. A quick Rock Armour Skill, covering him and his mount along with a fresh infusion of massive Heavenly Energy. Just like that, he continued galloping headlong, forcefully smashing into his opponent. No matter the enemy rider or his Unicorn Beast, both were sent smashing to the ground, broken bones and in a twisted mess. The three of them, with Zhou Weiqing in the center, galloping ahead with his hammers wielded, as if he could take down ten thousand men by himself. His ﬂanks were guarded respectively by Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo, and just like a spear they drove right into the side of the Unicorn Cavalry Battalion.

The charge of cavalry troops were extremely quick, especially for powerful Heavenly Beasts like the Unicorns, and they were also in the perfect triangular formation. Alas, their formation was quickly smashed into by Zhou Weiqing’s trio, as the three of them bore right through the entire ranks.

The ﬁrst one who had been slain by Zhou Weiqing was actually the Battalion Commander of this Unicorn Cavalry Battalion. Although the Unicorn Cavalry troops of the Unicorn Beastmen tribe were extremely powerful, their rank in the WanShou Empire was not high. The main reason was because their tribe did not have any Heavenly Jewel Masters. As such, even though their mounts and ordinary cavalry were far superior to the wolf cavalry troops, their rank in the WanShou Empire was actually not even comparable to the Wolfman Tribe, with their strongest powerhouses lacking. As Zhou Weiqing rode in, he forged a path right through with his hammers swinging, smashing along like an unstoppable demon god. Anyone struck by his hammers were either killed instantly or critically injured, with not a single Unicorn Cavalry soldier could stand a round against him. Just like that, the three of them carved a road of blood right through the Unicorn Cavalry Battalion, speeding towards the main battleﬁeld.

One of the most important things about a cavalry charge was momentum, and the air of unstoppability. No matter how elite the Unicorn Cavalry were, having their entire formation carved through like that, their momentum was dulled, throwing them into a mess. Right at that time, the next salvo of arrows from the Peerless Battalion First Main Company ﬂew out, along with the shrill cries in the air.

The Two Companies had failed earlier, but was a single Battalion sufﬁcient this time? Furthermore, it was one which had their entire momentum deﬂated. Five more salvos, and the entire Battalion had been wiped out again.

As the ﬁnest of all the Peerless Battalion elites gathered together to form this First Main Company, ever since they had been formed, this was the ﬁrst time they had shown their prowess on an actual battleground. The terrifying power of the Consolidated Equipment Bows was once again proven without a doubt. The sudden change in the battleﬁeld once again drew the attentions of the two WanShou Empire Regiments. After all, an entire Battalion and two Companies had been wiped out with the shrill sounds of the arrows, and besides a few stray Unicorns ﬂeeing into all directions, not a single Beastman was left alive.

Barthez, the Regiment leader of the Wild Wolf Regiment, was actually the younger brother of Butler, the Regiment Leader who had been so severely injured by Zhou Weiqing’s Dark Demon God Lightning previously. Of course, as compared to Butler, his cultivation level was no match, but he was just as ferocious and valiant.

As soon as he discovered that the situation was not right on the other side, he immediately thought of his brother’s Swift Wolf Regiment and the massive defeat they had suffered previously.

When Butler had ﬁrst returned to their Tribe, he had still been conscious, and he had described the loss in detail to his tribesmen. Although Barthez was a rougher and more straightforward character who did not enjoy thinking too much into things, he was certain that he had deﬁnitely met the archery Battalion that had given his brother’s Swift Wolf Regiment such a crushing defeat. After all, his brother had mentioned that the ﬁght had occurred around this area.

Yet, only ﬁve hundred men had appeared now, where were the other one thousand? That was the ﬁrst thought in Barthez’s mind as cold sweat streamed down his back. He could remember clearly how his big brother had mentioned how the powerful charge of the Swift Wolf Regiment had been met with a forty percent loss result.

“Campora, leave this place to our Regiment. You bring your Regiment to take care of those ﬁve hundred archers. Do not underestimate them, make use of all your abilities including your archery, do not just charge in blindly.” Barthez turned to the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment’s Leader and said.

The two of them had been watching from the side and had not joined in the battle previously.

“Who are those people? Such powerful bows and arrows, to be able to kill my warriors at a ﬁve hundred yard distance.” The Unicorn Cavalry Regiment Leader Campora was also both angered and shocked. After all, their entire Unicorn Beastmen Tribe only had the two Regiments of warriors, and having an entire Battalion wiped out, how could he not have a severe heartache?” “How would I know who they are? Hurry up, go. They might have bows and arrows, but don’t you Unicorn Cavalry soldiers also have them? Aren’t you all always calling yourselves born archers? Hurry up and get rid of them, and I will recommend extra merits and commendations for you to the higher ups.” Barthez said passively.

Although in terms of overall strength, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was stronger than the Wild Wolf Regiment, in terms of personal ranking, as a seven-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, Barthez was much higher ranked than Campora.

The Beastmen were all aggressive and warlike, and Campora did not have prior news about the Peerless Battalion from Butler. As such, he did not suspect anything, and howled out loudly. Instantly, all his Unicorn Cavalry troops wheeled around and gathered, charging forth towards the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, with Campora leading them.

The reason why he was so eager to lead his troops over was also because the ﬁghting on this side was not easy at all. The Gold Crow Tribe and Berserk Tribe were a much tougher foe than they had anticipated. Were those really humans? They seemed even more like Beastmen than the actual Beastmen! Each with unbelievable strength and toughness; they were clearly not wearing any armour, yet spear strikes on them only left marks on their skin. Especially those massive female warriors, their defensive capabilities were shocking, even the Bear Tribesmen might not be a match for them in that aspect. After both sides had clashed for so long, those who had fallen were actually a majority from the two WanShou Empire Regiments! As for the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes, their injuries were ever increasing, but they still fought on valiantly, repelling attack after attack with seeming unending endurance.

If they continued ﬁghting like this, it would deﬁnitely be possible to end up killing all of these powerful humans; after all, they barely numbered four thousand ﬁghters in total, and their equipment were simple; without any armour and some even lacking proper weaponry. Many of them were actually using some of the fallen Wolfmen cavalry or Unicorn cavalry soldiers’ weapons. As their injuries increased, their blood loss would as well, and it was likely they would eventually die of exhaustion or their injuries. However, by that time, it would deﬁnitely also be a heavy cost to the two Regiments. Up until now, they had already lost almost two Battalions worth of troops, and who knew what would be the ﬁnal toll to end the ﬁght. Previously, both Barthez and Campora were still wondering since when humans had become so tough and difﬁcult to deal with. Since Barthez had asked Campora to deal with the Peerless Battalion, he was more than happy to do so. At the same time, Barthez did not stay idle, charging forward with his four Battalion Commanders by his side.

After Zhou Weiqing’s trio had pierced through the previous Battalion’s formation, they were in the heart of the battleﬁeld. His Dual Legendary Hammers were just too terrifying, and with just physical strength alone combined with the two, everywhere he went it was just a mess of bloody meat ﬂying about. He did not even need to infuse them with Heavenly Energy, and the only Heavenly Energy expenditure was what was needed to maintain the two Hammers, plus whatever physical fatigue in wielding them. In fact, his Immortal Deity Technique’s recovery speed was even faster than the expenditure! After all, he had already broken through twenty Death Acupuncture Points when he reached the Five-Jeweled cultivation level.

The power of the Beastmen and their advantage against humans was only comparative to ordinary human soldiers. Against Heavenly Jewel Masters like the trio, ordinary Beastmen would only be courting their own doom, unless they used major numbers to overload them and sacriﬁce themselves to take down the Heavenly Jewel Masters, otherwise they would be no threat to such powerhouses. Naturally Barthez could not stand there and just watch his tribesmen get slaughtered, and he immediately rallied the several powerhouse subordinates together and charged forth.

Chapter 158 Hell’s Angel!

The Wolf Cavalry troops did not give Zhou Weiqing much pressure, allowing him to keep up constant observation of the entire battleﬁeld. Currently, the trio had already invaded deep into the ranks of the enemies, and they were totally surrounded by the Wolf Cavalry soldiers. Even their titanium mail armour was starting to show signs of wear and tear from the constant strike of the sabres of the Wolf Cavalry soldiers.

“Haaaah!” Zhou Weiqing shouted loudly, a powerful yet cold aura of bloodlust bursting forth from his body in an explosive manner along with his shout. The angry howl could be clearly heard by the entire battleﬁeld of several tens of thousands of warriors. The few of the closest war wolf mounts actually had their legs buckle and they fell to the ground from the sheer force of the shout. The immense powerful pressure of the Dark Demon God Tiger bloodline was released as he entered the Demonic Change State. In doing so, he was also able to help relieve some pressure from the Gold Crow Tribe and Berserker Tribe at the same time.

As soon as he entered the Demonic Change State, his beleaguered titanium mail was forced open, and he just threw it aside to reveal a body full of rock hard muscles. His upper body naked, the tiger tattoos swirled with black light, giving him an extra wild and violent look. Instantly, he used the Tornado Strike, with both Hammers in hand, forcefully carving a path of blood almost ten yards long like a raging bulldozer, with at least twenty Wolf Cavalry soldiers knocked out of his path. It was truly any slight graze causing injury, and a direct collision was death. The ‘Hate

Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set coupled with the explosive

power of the Demonic Change State could only be described as disgusting. From the start of the ﬁght until now, the number of soldiers who had died under Zhou Weiqing’s hammers already totalled an entire Company!

It’s deﬁnitely him…

The moment Barthez saw Zhou Weiqing enter the Demonic Change State, he immediately thought about his big brother’s description of his ﬁght. Without question, this Dual Hammer wielding fellow was the damn brat who had injured his big brother.

Barthez had deﬁnitely took his brother’s poisoned injury to heart, and wanted to take revenge. Of course, with his brother’s warning in mind, he would not underestimate the young ﬁghter.

“Bathulu Sabre Formation!” Barthez shouted out loud. He did not continue charging forward. After all, with his big brother’s powerful nine- Jeweled cultivation level, he had still fallen prey to this youth’s trickery. His own power was no match for his big brother’s, what if he too fell to that terrifying venom?

As the Wolf Cavalry soldiers heard Barthez’s order, their formation which had started to fall into disarray started to stabilize and reform, spreading out momentarily. The next instant, they all shouted “Bathulu!” in anger. Their large sabres all ﬂew out with a strange aura, striking out towards Zhou Weiqing from all directions.

This was a special formation created by the Wolf Cavalry soldiers specially against Heavenly Jewel Master powerhouses, a ﬁghting style and technique designed to take down a lone person far more powerful than themselves. After all, no matter how strong a Heavenly Jewel Master was, he ultimately still had a limit to the amount of Heavenly Energy he had. In theory, even a Heavenly God Tier powerhouse could be surrounded and eventually killed.

The sabres were infused with the powerful totemic energies of the Wolfman warriors, full of bloodthirst and wild rage. Most importantly, mixed within the sabre formation were also the sabres that the Heavenly Jewel Masters of the Wolfmen Tribe had thrown out, and if one was not careful, it would be easy to get struck.

Zhou Weiqing gave a cold humph, the Hammers in his hands swirling about. At the same time, a bout of green light ﬂew out from his hammer, causing a green circle of airﬂow to form around his body. The various sabres were furled up by the green light and thrown away before returning to the Wolf Cavalry soldiers. Some of the unluckier ones were actually struck by their own returning sabres, and once again blood ﬁlled the scene.

Currently, Zhou Weiqing was ﬁlled with bloodlust, excited with the ﬁght. All of a sudden, a loud clanging sound, and a sabre actually forcefully broke through Zhou Weiqing’s Wind Attribute protective whirlwind. Although Zhou Weiqing reacted extremely quickly, using the haft of his hammer to strike at it, the power imbued within the sabre was just too strong, and it also had a violent Wind Attribute Skill within. In a ﬂash of green light, it struck down at Zhou Weiqing’s sabre.

The Immortal Deity Technique and its Immortal Deity Shield came into effect. Where the green light struck, a layer of thick white light shone, blocking and warding off most of the offensive power. At the same time, his formidable physique after the Demonic Change State also helped mitigate some of the damage. Even so, a wound appeared on his shoulder, blood seeping out. Although the wound started healing with the aid of the Demonic Change State, and he did not feel much pain in such a state, Zhou Weiqing was still taken by surprise.

In the Demonic Change State, he had the power of the ‘Ice Cold Perception’. Yet, he had not been able to discover the difference of that particular sabre and the strength it held. One could imagine, the that sabre deﬁnitely had some unique Skill imbued within, perhaps something similar to Silent Tracking Arrow Shangguan Bing’er had once used. Furthermore, the person who threw that sabre was deﬁnitely not too close to him, and to be able to break past all his various defenses to actually injure him, that meant he was a powerhouse of at least six-Jeweled cultivation level or higher.

Naturally, the knife had been thrown by Barthez. All this while, he had been standing not far off waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, and he had ﬁnally succeeded in injuring Zhou Weiqing. Alas, the wound was not deep or serious at all. However, stuck in the sabre formation, Zhou Weiqing did not have the time to look for him.

Barthez gave a cold smirk. No matter how powerful a person was or how great the Skills he had, it was still personal strength. Compared to the strength of an entire well trained army, death would still be the ﬁnal result for him.

On this side, Zhou Weiqing’s trio seemed to be stuck in a tight corner. However, on the other side, for the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, the reverse was true.

Without Zhou Weiqing’s direction, Hua Feng also knew how to ﬁght this battle. Their ultimate goal was to rescue the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes, but at the same time, the precondition was that they had to preserve the strength of the Peerless Battalion, to incur as few losses as possible.

Seeing the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment charge towards them, the Peerless Battalion’s Consolidated Bows showed their power once more.

If they ﬁred from a distance of more than ﬁve hundred yards, perhaps with the power of the Unicorn Cavalry troops, their skill, training and sheer physique, it might be possible for them to block the arrows. However, Hua Feng waited speciﬁcally until they had charged to within the range of ﬁve hundred yards before he gave the order to shoot once more. In just a single salvo, several hundred Unicorn Cavalry troops had fallen once more. This time, their enemies were just too many, and they could no longer spare the time to deal with the Unicorn Beasts as well, mainly shooting down the riders as priority. Without the riders’ directions, those Unicorn Beasts would not be able to stay properly in formation and attack.

These Unicorn Beasts were indeed extremely fast, especially with their gliding capabilities, able to instantaneously burst forth with a sudden terrifying speed for a short period of time.

From the time the Peerless Battalion First Main Company had started shooting, they only managed to shoot ﬁve rounds of arrows before the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment had charged to the three hundred yard distance. At this distance, the Unicorn Cavalry were ﬁnally able to make use of their own longbows to retaliate, and arrows also began to be shot forth from their side.

However, to the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment Leader Campora’s anger, as soon as that happened, the Peerless Battalion actually turned tail and ran. They did not seem to have any intentions of staying to clash with them, and the most hateful thing was that as these fellows ran, they constantly turned back to ﬁre some arrows, continuously taking a toll on his men.

In terms of overall combat strength, the Unicorn Beasts were deﬁnitely above the War Wolves. However, just in terms of speed, besides the burst of speed when they were using their gliding charge, their usual speed was actually no match for the War Wolves. Of course, that was still faster than ordinary horses. Still, that was still a limit of how much faster they could be. As the Peerless Battalion were ﬂeeing at full speed, it was not going to be easy to catch up with them in a short

amount of time. At the same time, the Peerless Battalion’s archery was not to be triﬂed with, and the front lines of the chasing Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was constantly being shot down, thus causing their chasing speed to slow down slightly.

Campora could only place hope in their own bows and arrows causing enough harm to their enemies. The Unicorn Cavalry troops were well geared in terms of equipment and their longbows were ﬁnely crafted, able to shoot pretty accurately at the three hundred yard range.

Alas, very soon, Campora wanted to start cursing out loud. The reason was simple – the Peerless Battalion soldiers did not seem to even care about their arrows, not even bothering to dodge.

Besides the difference in accuracy, just the difference in the effect of being struck with arrows on both sides was just too huge, more than enough to cause Campora to be so enraged that he wanted to puke out blood. On the side of the Unicorn Cavalry troops, if they were struck by the titanium arrows shot by those powerful Consolidated Bows, even if they did not die, they would be knocked out or be out of ﬁghting shape. Yet, what about their opponents? They were armed to the teeth, and they totally

ignored the incoming arrows, allowing them to bounce off their titanium mail. They were even using their own small round shields to protect their horses’ behind!

At a distance of two to three hundred yards, how could ordinary bows and arrows break through the defense of the titanium mails the Peerless Battalion were wearing? At most, it would leave a small mark.

The Peerless Battalion warriors were extremely overjoyed. No matter how their enemies ﬁred, they remained injury free. Such a feeling was just too amazing. As they retreated, they continued ﬁring, and the death and injury toll on the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment continued growing steadily. The power of the Consolidated Bows when in such numbers was not to be easily dismissed. Even though the Unicorn Cavalry troops also had armour, how could it be compared to the titanium alloy mail of the Peerless Battalion?

The Unicorn Cavalry Troops did not have the same charging technique as the Wolf Cavalry Troops. They did not shrink their formation or use a single line charge to reduce the damage. Instead, they spread into two sides, pincering down onto their opponents like a massive claw.

“Target their horses, shoot down all their horses!” Campora howled in anger. In just a matter of minutes, he had lost yet another Battalion of men. How could he not be enraged? In today’s’ ﬁght, his entire Regiment had already lost at least three whole Battalions worth of ﬁne warriors!

Campora’s plan ﬁnally worked. As soon as the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers started targeting their enemies’ mounts, this tactic of ﬁghting while beating a retreat by the Peerless Battalion was ﬁnally halted in their tracks.

After all, those warhorses were not equipped with titanium mail like they were. Although the twenty or so ofﬁcers led by Hua Feng on their Ghost Demon Horses were staying at the back to defend the retreat, and they had their shields to protect their steeds, their numbers were just not enough to protect the entire Main Company, and there were constantly Peerless Battalion soldiers whose horses were killed.

At this point, the individual power and combat abilities of the ﬁnest of the Peerless Battalion, the First Main Company, showed itself. Every time a soldier’s steed was killed, a companion at the side would quickly pull him up on his own horseback. As such, the chasing Unicorn Cavalry Regiment could only see horses perish, but not a single Peerless Battalion soldier had been killed thus far.

“Boss, this will not do. Eventually, we will not be able to save everyone.” At this moment, Yi Shi was extremely serious, a rare sight for ‘her’, as she said solemnly to Hua Feng.

The seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit had deﬁnitely killed the most enemies. Each arrow they shot out at least killing one or more enemies.

Hua Feng looked to Mu En, who nodded back to him. “Everyone, dismount. Use your horses as temporary shelter. Get ready for close combat!”

Indeed, they had not heard the wrong command. Hua Feng had ordered for them to ﬁght in close combat, not to rise up into the air!

Zhou Weiqing wanted to train and temper the Peerless Battalion, and just being skilled in ranged combat was far from sufﬁcient. After all, once their enemies were familiar with the Peerless Battalion, it was easy to start specially countering their ranged capabilities. Eventually, it would be impossible to avoid ﬁghting in close range. Only with continuous actual combat experience could these Peerless Battalion soldiers put their close combat training to use, making it their own and soaking thoroughly in it. This would bring up the entire

quality of the Peerless Battalion, to make them an all rounded elite unit. The First Company warriors swiftly dismounted, pulling their horses to the side to block the arrows of the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment. At the same time, they returned ﬁre with their own Consolidated Bows. Although they could not bear to sacriﬁce their warhorses like that, this was a battleﬁeld, not a training exercise, and some sacriﬁces had to be made. The most important thing was to protect their own lives while taking down the enemy.

Seeing that the enemy had actually dismounted to retaliate, Campora was overjoyed. The enemy only numbered around ﬁve hundred, and previously it was only the advantage of their bows and arrows that had caused such a toll on his own forces. Now, let’s see where else you can run to!

The Unicorn Cavalry troops were extremely battle hardened and experienced, but they had never experienced such losses like today. Before Campora even gave the order, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment swiftly formed an encirclement around the Peerless Battalion, quickly surrounding them, while still ﬁring back all the time. Once the Peerless Battalion had been fully surrounded, the Unicorn Regiment charged forward as one. The powerful charge of the Unicorns coupled with the three metre long spears in their riders’ hands… if one were really struck by it directly, even an ordinary three-Jeweled Physical Jewel Master might be hardpressed to take such a blow easily. This was also the reason why Hua Feng gave the order to

dismount and use the warhorses as cover. With the horses to block the ﬁrst strike, the speed of the Unicorns would be affected. More importantly, once the ﬁrst strike was blocked by the horses, the Peerless Battalion soldiers would have a much easier time to turn the tide.

“Conserve Heavenly Energy as much as possible.” Hua Feng shouted out loud.

He did not need to explain much further, and the Peerless Battalion soldiers instantly knew the meaning behind his words. The reason why they dared to face their enemy in close combat was because they all had the capability of ﬂying, able to break away from battle anytime they chose. However, if they expended too much Heavenly Energy in the ﬁght, they would no longer be able to ﬂy, and wouldn’t that be a tragedy?

The Peerless Battalion First Main Company were all equipped with large sabres. Interestingly enough, the sabres in their hands were actually all looted from their previous battle with the Swift Wolf Regiment. Those sabres were well crafted and perfectly suited for the battleﬁeld, almost four chi in length, with the handle taking up about one chi. It could be gripped with both hands, and the blade was wide and thick. Its edge was not particularly sharp, but due to its heaviness, striking down with it at a good position, even a horses’ head could be cut off at once. More so, these sabres were now held by a bunch of powerful Physical Jewel Masters.

Even if some of the Physical Jewel Masters were mainly Agility, Coordination or Flexibility type Physical Jewel Masters, their body had been enhanced by Heavenly Energy, and their strength and toughness were far beyond any ordinary soldiers. With their Heavenly Energy, in terms of strength and ﬁghting power, they would not lose to these Unicorn Cavalry soldiers.

The ﬁve hundred Peerless Battalion soldiers stood in a circulation formation, just like a giant hedgehog, all their sabres facing outwards. They were grouped in duos, teaming up perfectly with each other with practiced ease. In an instant, both sides clashed and ﬁghting ensued.

This time, not only had Zhou Weiqing brought the ﬁnest elites of the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, he had also brought along most of the powerhouse ofﬁcers in the entire Battalion! All the Main Company Ofﬁcers, Company Ofﬁcers and their Vice ofﬁcers burst forth with their greatest strength. These ofﬁcers were all spread out in the entire troop, forming the steadfast pillars of the entire circular formation. With their powerful Six-Jeweled cultivation levels or higher, they could still use Heavenly Energy in their ﬁght as long as they did not overdo it, and that would not affect their ability to ﬂy later if necessary. There were almost forty or more ofﬁcers in total, fortifying the entire formation. Adding on to the fact that there were the seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit in the center shooting with all their might, even though they had been totally surrounded by the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment, they were able to hold their own with no problems, at least for now.

After just a few moments of attacking, the entire Unicorn Cavalry Regiment ﬂew into a rage.

Shameless, just too shameless! These humans are just too shameless! That was the only thought in the entire Unicorn Cavalry Regiment soldiers’ minds.

As both sides had started close combat ﬁghting, the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers were all extremely conﬁdent. After all, they were used to their charge, attacks having a great effect, especially with their formidable skill with the spears. In their eyes, the enemy were all ranged specialists, and now that they had caught up, it should not take them long to wipe out this ﬁve hundred men.

Alas, when it really came to the actual ﬁghting, only then did they realise how difﬁcult it was to deal with these bunch. The Peerless Battalion First Main Company’s most shameless action was that they did not even bother trying to defend themselves, focusing only on offense!

By sacriﬁcing their own warhorses to block the charge of the Unicorn Beasts and to slow them down, even when the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers used their spears to stab at them, they did not dodge. At most, they would turn their bodies slightly to prevent being hit on critical areas.

As the spears stabbed down on the titanium mail armour, all that happened was sparks ﬂying out, and not any actual damage caused. In fact, those who actually left a mark would already be the stronger ﬁghters amongst the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers.

Since they did not need to dodge or defend themselves, they naturally could attack at will, recklessly. You’re stabbing me? Fine, I will use my sabre to cut your Unicorn’s legs! Although the Unicorn was a low level Heavenly Beast, its defense was not comparable to the Ghost Demon Horses with their scales. If their legs were cut or damaged, what would happen? As riders fell to the ground, before they could get up, their heads would be cut off by the large sabres.

The massive sabres ﬂew out without any care, as if they were willing to exchange life for life, without a care about defense. The thing that made the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers so angry was that the circular formation was constantly revolving like a massive meat grinder. Any time there was a tougher ﬁght, one instant they would be facing an ordinary Peerless Battalion soldier, the next instant it would be a powerful ofﬁcer level Jewel Master.

Much unlike their expectations, the situation in close combat was not much better for them than when they were ﬁghting at ranged. For the moment, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was being killed at will by the circular formation, blood and meat ﬂying everywhere as the death and injury toll rose.

It was not to say that the Peerless Battalion First Main Company were stronger in terms of combat abilities as compared to the Gold Crow and Berserk Tribes. Although they were all Physical Jewel Masters, in terms of their physique, strength, durability and even toughness, they could not compare to these two powerful tribes. However, Zhou Weiqing had after all spared no expense in gearing them up, it could be said that the entire Peerless Battalion was armed to the teeth, let alone the most elite First Main Company. They were all like walking iron fortresses which could not be easily taken down, and this sheer superiority in equipment coupled with their Physical Jewel Master advantage caused the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment to be at a large disadvantage.

Quickly, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment started to change tactics, backing away and using their Unicorn Beasts to glide charge from a height. This way, they could bypass the warhorses blocking in the front and make full use of their cavalry advantage.

However, the shameless tactics of the Peerless Battalion showed themselves once more, causing the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment to ﬂy into a rage again. As the Unicorn Beasts glided above the Peerless Battalion, the Peerless Battalion soldiers reacted swiftly, all crouching down at once and lifting their sabres point up. The defense of the Unicorn Beasts were decent, but not great, especially their underbellies which were unprotected. As a result, almost every Unicorn Beast which had glided above the circular formation had gotten their bellies sliced open.

Luo Ke Di stood right in the center of the circular formation together with the other Heavenly Bow Unit God Archers. They had not stopped ﬁring arrows ever since the battle had started, taking down all the riders who had just lost their mounts but had fallen into the circular formation. At the same time, he complained out loud scoldingly: “So shameless, this is just too shameless. They are actually using the tactic ‘Targeting Bottom Sabres’. Old Scoundrel, what do you say your mind is made out of? Such a shameless tactic, how could you even think of it?”

Mu En glanced at him, his face beaming with a large smile. “What Targeting Bottom Sabres or Stabbing Breast Spears, who cares! As long as it works, it is a good tactic. What so shameless about that? Or is letting your opponent kill you less shameless? If you are willing to do so, go ahead and run forward and let them kill you! This big bro won’t stop you.”

Indeed, that ‘Targeting Bottom Sabre’ tactic was indeed thought of by Mu En. Of course, such a tactic was not just restricted for the circular formation, with many other practical uses. It was just that there was no other opportunity to use them yet.

Although the Peerless Battalion overall chief instructor for melee combat was Shangguan Fei’er, in the last few months, she had been busy helping all the soldiers Awaken their Personal Power Jewels. As such, some others had to support her and take over some of her teaching duties. In terms of one versus one combat, Shangguan Fei’er’s techniques were deﬁnitely top notch. However, in terms of ﬁghting on a battleﬁeld, many useful techniques were actually the simplest ones. This ‘Targeting Bottom Sabre’ was indeed thought up by Mu En, and when he passed down this extremely

simple yet effect Skill, he had told the Peerless Battalion soldiers in a very serious tone: “In this world, sometimes the more wretched or shameless a technique was, the more effective it was. As long as it could work, then it would no longer be wretched, it would be called being ﬂexible and able to adapt, or even being experienced in combat. In the end, in a war, it was either your life or the enemies’ lives.”

What origin were these Peerless Battalion soldiers from? They were either rogues or scoundrels themselves, and this whole series of ‘Shameless Tactics’ from Mu En were extremely suited to them, and they deﬁnitely picked it up at an unparalleled speed. This current usage of the ‘Targeting Bottom Sabre’ was also born out of those teachings.

However, using this ‘Targeting Bottom Sabre’ tactic in the circular formation was at the base foundation of having the Seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit in the center of the formation supporting them all. After all, although these Unicorn Beastmen soldiers might have lost their mounts, they were still able to ﬁght, and if they managed to get to a certain number to pincer attack with their comrades outside the formation, it would be extremely detrimental to the Peerless Battalion side.

At that moment, the seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit also showed their full power, showing the Peerless Battalion First Main Company soldiers their true strength for the ﬁrst time.

A single sound of the bowstring, at least ﬁve arrows would shoot out at once, each ﬁnding a different target. Each and every single one of the riders who fell from their Unicorns, before they could even stand up, their lives had already ﬂed from their eyes.

The Beastmen were also people, with their own feelings and emotions, and they treasured their mounts like their own lives. Even though the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers knew that if a large number of them glided into the center of the formation, even the seven powerful archers opposing them would not be able to take care of all of them. However, that meant it would be sacriﬁcing all their beloved Unicorn Beast mounts!

As such, they hesitated, and soon they were once more caught up in the dogﬁght, entangled in ﬁerce ﬁghting. As the ﬁghting progressed, more marks were left on the Peerless Battalion titanium mail armours, and on the other side, their enemies paid with their lives.

The surrounding Unicorn Cavalry soldiers numbered more than six thousand at ﬁrst, but their numbers were dwindling slowly. With Campora’s orders, the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers stopped attempting to glide above to attack. Instead, they continued attacking slowly, using the length of their spears to extend their formation. Their target was to kill off all the horses blocking their path ﬁrst before moving out to attack again in a constant cycle. In this way, they were ﬁnally able to hold their own with their cavalry advantage.

As this side was tangled up in a tough ﬁght, on the other side, Zhou Weiqing was just about to show his invincible prowess.

The sabre formation of the Wolf Cavalry soldiers had indeed given Zhou Weiqing some problems. Wrapped around the handle of their sabres were thin long metal chains, and as soon as the thrown sabres fell to the ground, they were immediately pulled back to their owners. In this way, the sabre formation could be in an inﬁnite loop. Currently, besides Lin TianAo who was in full defense formation and was not having a big problem, even Shangguan Fei’er was in a ﬂurried frenzy as she too was beset by the sabre formation.

“You two back off, get away from me at least a hundred yards.” Zhou Weiqing yelled out to Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo, who had been working their way towards him to gather and join forces.

Shangguan Fei’er was currently extremely furious, being surrounded by the sabre formation and struck at by so many, causing even her to ﬁnd it hard to cope with. After all, her own God Tier Consolidated Equipment were still not enough to cover her entire body, and though the ordinary sabres would not have any effect on her even if they landed, but there were a few powerhouses whose sabres were imbued with various Skills, that were extremely hateful.

Shangguan Fei’er was after all still a young lady, and even if a single injury left a permanent mark on her body, she would not be happy about it! As such, she could only try her best to dodge or block all the attacks, before unleash bout after bout of Wind Blades from her feet to kill her opponents. Hearing Zhou Weiqing’s words, Lin TianAo turned to the side and charged towards Shangguan Fei’er. It did not take him long before he reached her side, and the Assembly Shield Set in his hands whirled about as he blocked the majority of the sabres striking out at Shangguan Fei’er. The clash of metal against metal rang out loud, but Shangguan Fei’er felt the pressure upon her lessen considerable. With Lin TianAo covering them, the two of them immediately retreated back according to Zhou Weiqing’s instructions.

At the same time, Zhou Weiqing started his own series of actions. Tired from running about and having the marks of Barthez’s sneak attacks on his body, he suddenly lifted the crying-face hammer up high. The next moment, a thick layer of grey light burst forth from within, enveloping his entire body. All the incoming sabres which struck the newly formed shield of grey light just bounced off, and the sabres actually started corroding swiftly.

Standing right in the middle of the grey shield of light, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes were serious and he focused all his attention. By now, he had sent his Ghost Demon Horse back into his Spatial Ring, afraid that his own Skill would injure it by accident. He stood there awaiting for Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo to get a safe distance, while the surrounding Wolf Cavalry soldiers gathered closer, constantly attacking at him. Finally, he unleashed his attack. This shield of grey light was called the Ward of the Demon God, and it was another Demonic Attribute Skill that had automatically Awakened for Zhou Weiqing when he had reached the ﬁve-Jeweled stage; in a similar fashion to how his Dark Demon God Lightning had Awakened previously.

The Ward of the Demon God was not a Fusion Skill like the Dark Demon God Lightning, purely only of the Demonic Attribute. However, once he stood in the Ward of the Demon God, the Demonic Attribute Heavenly Energy seemed to have a new and unique circulation fashion, able to Devour all the Evil, Demonic and negative emotions in the atmosphere for its own use. To use it in the middle of a battleﬁeld could be said to be like a ﬁsh entering water, and the grievances and negative emotions of all the fresh deaths of soldiers swarmed into the grey shield of light like many rivers streaming towards the sea. The Ward of the Demon God had an extremely powerful defensive capabilities even at the start, and this increase in energy only made it stronger. Even Barthez’s sabre was not able to break through the layer of defense, not even leaving a mark.

When Zhou Weiqing realised that he had Awakened a purely defensive Skill, he had been so overjoyed that tears almost streamed down his face! This could be said to be a dream Skill of his, especially given his character and how afraid of death he was. At that point, one could imagine his sheer joy and excitement. This was also the reason why he had dared to bring Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo alone to invade so deeply into enemy territory. Indeed, in order to break through his current Ward of the Demon God, even for a seven or eight Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, if they did not have a God Tier Consolidated Equipment, they would not be able to do so.

After the raised Dual Legendary Hammers released the Ward of the Demon God, in the next instant, above the Hammers a pitch black light shimmered into existence, slowly spreading outwards into a vague human shape, with three sets of wings behind its back. Although it was hazy and unclear, its basic shape was still relatively recognizable.

The six black wings spread out slowly, and a strong and majestic aura pressured down the entire area, as if making it difﬁcult for them to breathe.

The senses of the war wolves were deﬁnitely much keener than their riders, and in that instance they all sensed danger, desperately attempting to retreat. However, as they were in the midst of the sabre formation, which was extremely tightly packed, how could they retreat so easily like that?

What… what is that?! Barthez was given a big shock. He was at the outer regions of the formation, and without hesitation he retreated. He had heard so much from his big brother about how Zhou Weiqing had used the Dark Demon God Lightning on him, and how a shadowy image had appeared then.

Behind the six black wings of the shimmering image, a deep purple colour appeared, and the presence and pressure intensiﬁed. In that very moment, it was as if the bright sun in the sky grew dimmer.

A thick darkness seemed to fall over them all, along with the beating of the six wings. With Zhou Weiqing in the center, the darkness spread outwards, enveloping a hundred yard radius totally.

Originally, with Zhou Weiqing’s Five-Jeweled cultivation level, when he unleashed this Skill, it would only be a radius of ﬁfty yards. However, with the boost from the Legendary Hammers, it allowed him to extend the radius of the Skill to affect a hundred yard radius.

Usually, the boost of the Legendary Hammers were not as effective on the offensive power of Skills, but very effective on the lasting time or area of effect of the Skills. For example, if it were the Fetters of Wind, the boost would be on doubling the time it lasted. After all, Zhou Weiqing was still only a ﬁve- Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. Of course, with the boost on the power of Skills also came the increase in drain of Heavenly Energy, though with the effect of the Dual Legendary Hammers, the gain in the effect far outweighed the increase in Energy used.

As the black purple light ﬂashed across, all the Wolfman Cavalry soldiers suddenly felt a terror deep in their hearts. However, they were soon surprised to realise that they were all ﬁne after all. That dark purple light had ﬂashed once and disappeared, as if having no effect or damage on them at all. Even the swiftly retreating Barthez started momentarily as he saw his soldiers in front were totally ﬁne. It was clear that the Skill was different from the one his brother had described, but could it be that it was just a useless Skill that was only for scaring others? Well… the answer could only reveal itself next.

The ﬂoor on the radius of hundred yards which the light had covered had somehow turned a dark purple colour unknowingly. The next instant, several large dark purple bubble of air rushed out from below the ground, as if there was boiling water below. The entire zone turned into a world of black and purple, and screams rang out from within. Any Wolfman Cavalry soldier enveloped by the bubbles were totally melted swiftly into a black gooey liquid before being totally swallowed up, and the bubbles continued growing, swallowing everything before them. All of this did not seem to happen at a very fast speed, but it was deﬁnitely an overpowering and brutal, unstoppable force. Facing such a terrifying destructive power, even some of the low ranked Heavenly Jewel Masters amongst the Wolf Cavalry soldiers could not escape or hold out against it. These black-

purple bubbles seemed to have a strangely powerful suction, and even if the soldiers tried to get their war wolves to bound over them to dodge it, it was a futile attempt. In the end, no matter blood, ﬂesh or bone, all matter seemed to be dissolved within that terrifying bubble to become part of it. A thick ﬁeld of negative emotions seemed to grow continually over the area, concentrating over the center where Zhou Weiqing was, causing his Ward of the Demon God to continually grow stronger. In truth, even Zhou Weiqing was startled, as he did

not imagine this Skill of his would have such a terrifying effect.

This was a Skill that he had Stored in the Heavenly Jewel Island, from a top level Heavenly Emperor stage Heavenly Beast. That Heavenly Beast was the most powerful one in the entire Heavenly Jewel Island for Darkness Attributes, at least amongst those that were open to public. Just like the Demonic Dragon Lady, a Heavenly Skill Image also appeared when he used the Skill, showing that it was as close to a Heavenly God Tier Skill as possible. Long Shiya had told Zhou Weiqing previously that although these Skills had a Heavenly Skill Image, they were not truly at the Heavenly God Tier stage yet. The difference between the two was that a true Heavenly God Tier Stage Skill’s Heavenly Skill Image would be extremely clear and distinct, and they

would also change accordingly as the Skill activated.

Even so, though Zhou Weiqing’s Skill was not truly at the Heavenly God Tier Stage, its power was terrifying enough, deﬁnitely not one to be scoffed at. Previously, the reason why Zhou Weiqing had chosen it to be his Fourth Darkness Attribute Skill was because of its mass area of effect.

The name of this Skill was Hell’s Angel. This was Zhou Weiqing’s ﬁrst time using this skill, and even he had not expected that its power would be so terrifying. Within the radius, not a single person was able to withstand the Skill. Every contact with the bubble taking a life… and the entire glowing blackish purple light seemed to denote the descent of hell on earth. The shimmering image of the Hell’s Angel Heavenly Skill Image seemed to grow thicker and more solid; at the same time Zhou Weiqing could sense his Heavenly Energy draining out of him at a shockingly rapid rate. The Hell’s Angel Skill was one that could be continually maintained, and would move along with Zhou Weiqing as he moved. That was to say, if Zhou Weiqing stepped forward, the Skill and its radius would move along with him. Of course, that was at the premise that he had sufﬁcient Heavenly Energy to maintain it.

After a short moment of shock, Zhou Weiqing recovered his senses. Without hesitation, he activated a Tornado Strike Skill, charging forward. In the next moment, another large bunch of Wolf Cavalry soldiers were covered within the new radius. However, after a fresh release of the bubbles, Zhou Weiqing immediately dropped the Skill. In just that short time he had held up the Skill, his entire Heavenly Energy was expended by more than sixty percent. From the start of him unleashing the Skill to dropping it, it was barely three seconds!

What a shame! Zhou Weiqing lamented to himself inwardly. If he had started moving the instant he activated the Hell’s Angel, perhaps he could have taken down many more wolf cavalry soldiers. Such a Skill, it was just too terrifying, not just in its effect but its toll on him! The Hell’s Angel was also one of the rare Skills that he had not gone through the Three Thousand Tempering Training, as such mass area of effect Skills did not require much ﬁne control. Furthermore, such a Skill was just too powerful, and Zhou Weiqing could not possibly massacre everything around him when practicing it.

From the start of Zhou Weiqing’s cultivation up until now, this was the ﬁrst offensive Skill amongst all his Darkness Attribute Skills, and its power was certainly considerable… terrifying! Even though he had made some mistakes and not utilized its power to the maximum, also with some holding back due to being on a large scale battleﬁeld… even so, just unleashing it for three seconds and moving a little, he had already caused over three hundred Wolf Cavalry soldiers and their war wolf mounts to disappear from this very world, not a remaining sign left of them! No matter how ferocious and valiant Beastmen were, they were still mortal, and subject to

mortal emotion. Seeing such a terrifying sight happen right before their eyes, the surviving beastmen’s hearts were ﬁlled with fear and shock, and they backed away in panic, not even caring if them bumped into each other. In their eyes, Zhou Weiqing was no longer a human, but a devil!

Chapter 159 Lion Prince!

When he had ﬁrst chosen the Hell’s Angel Skill, Zhou Weiqing only had one purpose, that was to increase his offensive capabilities in the battleﬁeld. Normally, area of effect attack Skills were no match in terms of offense compared to single target Skills of the same level. However, it was clear that this Skill was not just good in its area effect, even its sheer power was unbelievable. Just a single Hell’s Angel had not only broken the Wolf Cavalry troop’s sabre formation, it also wiped out a large number of them. Seeing the dark purple light slowly dissipate, another bright illusory ﬁgure started to appear above Zhou Weiqing’s head, replacing the previous one. This time, it was a purple red colour, as the ﬁgure of the Demonic Dragon Lady appeared out of nowhere, with an even more powerful presence.

No order was required. The wolf cavalry troops scattered like crazy in all directions. Who knew what crazy Skills would come next.

Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo quickly caught back up to Zhou Weiqing, who watched the enemy retreating with the Heavenly Skill Image of the Demonic Dragon Lady above his head. After they regrouped, they headed towards the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes.

Alas for the Wolfman Cavalry troops, how could they have known that the second Heavenly Skill Image was just a trick, its purpose just to scare them… and it had succeeded amazingly. The Dragon Silencing Seal was indeed a powerful Skill, but it was totally useless against ordinary soldiers like

them, let alone so many of them. Only powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters would be afraid of such a Skill. Of course, with the prior Hell’s Angel, this bluff was not easily called, and the effect was effective indeed. Soon enough, they reached the defensive lines of the two tribes.

When the Peerless Battalion had came earlier, the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes had instantly noticed it. Especially when the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment had moved out to attack the Peerless Battalion, the pressure on them had lessened considerably. Naturally, they had also clearly seen the dark purple light of the Hell’s Angel and its effect on the Wolfman Cavalry Regiment. Now that the enemy was retreating, the two powerful tribes also heaved a sigh of relief.

They had been surrounded and attacked for more than two hours, and though they had deﬁnitely given much trouble to the Wolfman Cavalry and Unicorn Cavalry Regiments, the two tribes had not remained unwounded. After all, they were severely lacking in armour and weapons, and no matter how tough they were, they could not possibly last forever against the continuous charges of the powerful cavalry units, and several of them were already critically injured. If not for the timely appearance of the Peerless Battalion, perhaps their injuries would have increased to the point that their lines would collapse. By that time, they might even be in danger of being wiped out eventually, no matter the toll that would take on the two Regiments.

As they got closer, Zhou Weiqing immediately saw how the tribesmen of the two Tribes were all injured. The two tribes were rather easy to differentiate, with the Gold Crow Tribe consisting of more females, with fewer males. As for the Berserker Tribe, they had a good mix of both sexes, with the males mostly all with their upper bodies naked, grasping all different sorts of weapons. Various wounds and injuries could be clearly seen on their bodies, and right in front of their defensive line there were large numbers of the WanShou Empire soldier corpses.

Too strong…

Zhou Weiqing knew that he was as stout and muscular as they were, yet when he compared himself to the two Tribes, he found that he was nothing compared to them. From just a single look, he could not even ﬁnd one less than two metres tall. All of them were so muscular that they did not even seem human, with some of the larger ones almost built like mountains, reaching at least 2.5 metres tall, their shoulders broad and thick as city walls.

“Boss!” Ma Qun’s excited voice rang out and the next moment he charged out with his large Consolidated Assembly Set Shield, pouncing onto Zhou Weiqing and giving him a bear hug. He was currently covered in blood, and it was as if he had seen his closest kin when he spotted Zhou Weiqing.

Ever since they reached this place and were surrounded, both Crow and Ma Qun’s eyes had reddened. They were under so much pressure in convincing their tribes to migrate and move, and when this had happened, they could clearly feel their entire tribe’s eyes on them, no matter whether it was true or not. After all, they were responsible for bringing their tribesmen here, yet upon reaching they had been greeted with such powerful enemies. Let alone speaking of the danger of having their entire tribes wiped out, even if a single of their tribe members were killed, they would be the greatest sinners of their tribe.

Being hugged by Ma Qun, Zhou Weiqing could clearly sense that this brother of his was trembling. Such a stout and muscular fellow, yet he was currently giving off such a weak feeling, obviously totally drained of strength from the long ﬁght. “Good bro, don’t worry, our reinforcements will be coming soon. I will deﬁnitely bring your tribes safely to our new camp.” It was no time for lengthy explanations, and Zhou Weiqing’s strong and resolute voice brought Ma Qun a fresh bout of conﬁdence.

At this moment, due to the Wolf Cavalry Soldiers being frightened by Zhou Weiqing’s terrifying Skills, Barthez gave the order to retreat temporarily and regroup slightly ahead, reforming into a different formation. At the same time, this gave the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes a rare and highly treasured chance to rest.

Two massive ﬁgures disengaged from the crowd and walked towards them, both covered in blood. Along with them came Crow, carrying her massive Gold Crow Legendary Axes.

Zhou Weiqing and Ma Qun stopped hugging and went ahead to receive them.

The two ﬁgures together with Crow were a male and a female. The man was so huge and tall that even with Zhou Weiqing’s size, he had to totally raise his head to be able to see his features… He is at least a metre taller than I am! That was Zhou Weiqing’s ﬁrst thought upon looking at him. As he looked closer, he could see that the huge man resembled Ma Qun, and in his large grip, there was an enormous Great Hammer in each hand, much larger than even Zhou Weiqing’s considerable Dual Legendary Hammers. His broad muscular chest were ﬁlled with many small wounds, and his entire body was covered with blood. Still, it was evident that most of the blood were from his enemies.

As for the lady, her ﬁgure was even taller than Crow, with a head of short hair, carry a pair of massive war axes. As the two of them strode towards them, it was deﬁnitely an intimidating and valiant looking group.

“Boss, let me introduce you. This is my father, our Berserker Tribe Tribe Leader.” Ma Qun quickly said.

Zhou Weiqing took a few steps forward and extended his hand to the huge man.

Ma Qun’s father gripped the two Great Hammers in a single hand before extending the empty hand to grasp Zhou Weiqing’s. “My name is Ma Long.” His voice was loud, deep and rich, with an almost slight metallic tone to it. Just a few words, yet Zhou Weiqing’s ears were almost ringing with that. “Uncle Ma, good to meet you. I’m sorry that we have come so late, we never expected that your arrival would coincide with the WanShou Empire’s attacks.” Zhou Weiqing said with an apologetic look on his face.

Zhou Weiqing’s hands were not small, but in the middle of Ma Long’s massive hand, it was as if it was totally enveloped, like a baby’s hand.

Zhou Weiqing felt a ﬁrm grasp and a large strength applied. However, his face did not change, and he too applied more pressure, not going on the offensive but just maintaining his grip without allowing Ma Long’s strength to overwhelm him.

Ma Long continued slowly increasing the pressure, his gaze ﬁxed upon Zhou Weiqing though he did not speak.

After a moment, surprise slowly showed on Ma Long’s face. He felt as if Zhou Weiqing’s hand was a tough bedrock; no matter how much force he applied, Zhou Weiqing would respond with an equal strength. At this point, he was already using seventy percent of his strength, but looking at Zhou Weiqing, he was smiling with an honest look, not ﬂinching or showing any sign of weakness at all. “Very good, no wonder that little brat Ma Qun was praising you so much. That strength, it is indeed impressive.” Ma Long ﬁnally let go of his grip, looking at Zhou Weiqing approvingly as he nodded.

“Let me try.” The middle aged lady warrior who had came together with Crow passed the axes to Crow, taking a large stride forward to Zhou Weiqing. She was even more direct, not hiding the fact that she was about to test Zhou Weiqing.

Crow quickly piped out: “Weiqing, this is my mother.”

The middle aged lady warrior was even more straightforward and forthright, saying: “My name is Hong Yu, you can call me Aunty Hong Yu. Crow said that your strength is even greater than hers, let me see for myself.”

As she said that, she extended her hand out, one that was no smaller than Ma Long’s.

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “Please kindly guide me Aunty.” As he said that, he extended his hand out without batting an eye. They were fully pitting physical strength, as such neither side released their Power Jewels.

Hong Yu was unlike Ma Long; as soon as the two gripped palms, Zhou Weiqing instantly felt a surge of power come from her. His expression changed slightly, and he dared not be careless and quickly focused his full attention. Instantly, a surge of power came from deep within, and the skin of their two palms where they met immediately turned pale from the sheer strength between.

“Alright, alright… Hong Yu, do you really think that your strength is greater than mine?” Ma Long said exasperatedly. With a swift tap of his left Great Hammer onto the two tightly gripped palms, Zhou Weiqing and Hong Yu released their grip at the same time.

Hong Yu glanced at Ma Long and said: “What? Are you unwilling to concede? Of course your strength is not comparable to mine. If you dare, don’t enter your Berserk state, and we can just compete purely in physical strength, how about that?”

Ma Long said angrily: “Hmph, if you have the capability, bring down your weight and mass to an ordinary human level!” Zhou Weiqing’s lips twisted awry as his heart spasmed slightly. It looked like these two were not too harmonious normally.

At the side, Crow suddenly burst into giggles before saying: “Weiqing, don’t mind them. My mother and Uncle Ma are just too used to arguing all the time. In truth, they are very good friends.” Ma Long glanced at Crow and said exasperatedly: “In those days past, if not for your father hijacking my love, you will not be my daughter in law, but my daughter!”

Hong Yu responded exasperatedly: “Bullshit, as if I would fall for you? Stop dreaming. Be careful, or I will report your words to sis.”

To Zhou Weiqing’s surprise, such a stout and muscular berserker warrior like Ma Qun, upon hearing Hong Yu’s words, he actually turned back with a guilty look. His voice lowered much obviously, as she said: “Hmph, who knows what you were thinking, you are so large, yet you can fall for such a tiny man.”

Hong Yu said angrily: “Shut your mouth! If you dare mention him again, don’t think I won’t kill you.” Zhou Weiqing could only intervene at such a moment. After all, they were still not in a good state, and who knew if the WanShou Empire would send reinforcements as well. “Two Tribe Leaders, we still have not escaped danger yet, we should leave ﬁrst before continuing such conversation.”

Ma Long furrowed his brow and said: “Those Wolf Cavalry soldiers… they still number at least seven to eight Battalions worth of men. How can we leave like that?”

Zhou Weiqing said: “You all retreat while protecting your tribesmen. I will lead my men to cover your retreat.”

“Your men?” Both Ma Long and Hong Yu were slightly puzzled, and they couldn’t help but look to the distance.

No matter the two Tribes or the Wolfmen Cavalry Regiment, they could still see the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment in the distance surrounding and attacking the small Peerless Battalion troop. They had experienced the charge of the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment for themselves, and as compared to the Wolfman Cavalry Regiment, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was deﬁnitely a greater threat to them. No matter the Gold Crow or Berserker Tribe, most of their wounds were from the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers. If not for the fact that they had moved out to attack the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, perhaps their defensive line would have already collapsed before this.

Of course, as they were being surrounded and in a deep ﬁght as well, they had not closely examined their reinforcements, or how many there were. However, at this moment, they could clearly see that the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was surrounding those reinforcements, and the circle was rather small. It was obvious that the number of reinforcements was not too high… perhaps not even able to escape the fate of being wiped out themselves…how could they possibly help cover their exit?

Naturally, Zhou Weiqing could guess what the two Tribe Leaders were thinking about, and he turned to give a signal with his eyes to Shangguan Fei’er.

Shangguan Fei’er nodded and took out a bugle from her Spatial Ring before blowing on it ﬁercely. The sound of the bugle was low yet piercing, and on such vast empty plains, they deﬁnitely traveled far. What happened next would quickly cause Ma Long and Hong Yu to stare slack jawed at the miraculous sight.

Right in the distance, in the area where the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was gathered, several hundred ﬁgures ﬂew into the air, soaring high into the sky.

The First Main Company of the Peerless Battalion, the Peerless Air Force, had ﬁnally taken to the skies! The Consolidated Wings ﬂapped in the air, bringing them several hundred metres up swiftly.

Previously locked in the stalemate clash, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was already down to almost sixty percent of their original numbers. The previous ﬁght against the two tribes, combined with the toll from the Consolidated Bows followed by close combat with the Peerless Battalion elites, their losses had indeed been high.

As the Peerless Battalion Air Force rose into the air, they seized the opportunity to hurl down a salvo of javelins, with the heavy javelins from behind their backs, they carved a bloody path right through the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers. The seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit did not have Consolidated Wings, and they quickly seized this opportunity to charge out and break free. They all had Ghost DEmon Horses, whose defense and speed was able to smash valiantly through the gaping hole in the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment’s ranks, right as the second salvo of javelins smashed

down from above.

All of this happened just too quickly. Although not every single javelin was able to take down one enemy, with two rounds of throwing, at least six hundred Unicorn Cavalry soldiers had perished.

Campora had never dreamed that something like this would happen so suddenly. Although they had been rebuffed for such a long time and taking so many losses, the war horses that the Peerless Battalion were using as shields were mostly dead by now. In his eyes, they were on the verge of defeating these tough opponents. Although his own losses were already high, he could only grit his teeth and continue, otherwise if he let these powerful foes go, their powerful bow and arrows would deﬁnitely cause more problems and losses for them, let alone in the future war. Yet, who could have imagined that these enemies would suddenly take ﬂight and soar out of their reach. “Retreat!” Almost without hesitation, Campora gave the order for the remainder of their entire Regiment to retreat at top speed. The WanShou Empire armies were indeed powerful, but their method and chain of command was very different from the uniﬁed commands of the human empire armies. The WanShou Empire armies were still attached to their respective tribes, and could be said to be the elites of the particular tribe.

If a particular tribe’s armies grew too low and were not able to sustain their original status or rank, then it could lead to the entire tribe’s decline.

As such, the WanShou Empire’s total power might be great, and they were indeed ferocious and good at clashing directly. However, if their death toll grew too huge, they would deﬁnitely not ﬁght to the death. That was not because of any cowardice, but because they needed to maintain the status of their tribe.

Previously, Zhou Weiqing and the Peerless Battalion had met with the Swift Wolf Regiment, and that had been the exact case. This time, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment would follow suit. Seeing that their losses were just so huge, and the enemies had even soared up into the air out of their reach, Campora instantly made the decision that it would be pointless to take more losses. As a result, he instantly gave the order to retreat… at least, they would disengage from the battleﬁeld before deciding their next step. Otherwise, who knows what kind of damage this tiny troop of archers with their disgustingly tough armour could bring to them. It was truly the ﬁrst time he had met such a tough ‘meal’ to digest in the many wars against the ZhongTian Empire he had fought in.

As the saying goes, ‘A rout is like a landslide.’ Upon seeing that the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was beating a retreat, Barthez on the other side did not hesitate to give the same order to also pull out.

In truth, Barthez was personally rather afraid now. He deﬁnitely did not want to follow in his big brother’s footsteps, and the power that Zhou Weiqing had displayed had struck fear in his heart. If he questioned himself honestly, he knew he was no match for that young man. Barthez might seem rough and straightforward, but to be able to be a Regiment Commander, he deﬁnitely had his own calculations and intelligence. He could clearly see that Zhou Weiqing was already at the Five-Jeweled cultivation level, while his brother had said that when they had faced off, he was only at the Four- Jeweled cultivation level! Since he had already conﬁrmed that Zhou Weiqing was indeed the person who had faced his brother, then it was a certainty that he had already grown much stronger since then. Furthermore, his own strength was no match for his brother’s, and he knew he would not be able to take on Zhou Weiqing in a direct clash. Furthermore, the main goal of the WanShou Empire attacks were in raiding and looting, not in slaughtering all their enemies. After all, that was why they always attacked before the cruel winter, not just for invasion to conquer lands, but to loot the various resources to ensure that their people would be able to survive in the bitter winter cold. So what if they could kill off all these enemies? By taking such a huge loss themselves, it was deﬁnitely not worth it, and anything they

could loot from them was not worth all their deaths.

Previously, Barthez had already been irresolute, his fear warring with himself internally, after all, he had came together with Campora. Of course, now that Campora had retreated ﬁrst, he had all reason to do the same. Instantly, he ordered his Wolfman Cavalry Regiment to follow Campora’s Unicorn Cavalry Regiment, gathering together as they sped back towards the north.

Naturally, the inner thoughts of these two WanShou Empire Regiment Commanders were unknown to Zhou Weiqing and the others. However, from the surface look of things, especially in Ma Long and Hong Yu’s eyes, it was as if as soon as the First Main Company of the Peerless Battalion rose into the air and attacked two rounds, killing off a large number of enemies, both the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment and Wild Wolf Regiment ﬂed like whipped curs. Such a sight was truly a huge surprise to them all. As the two Regiments retreated, only then did Ma Long and Hong Yu realise that not only were there many corpses left on the battleﬁeld, the most attention catching thing were the Unicorn Beasts that had lost their masters. They had not been brought away, as they would only listen to their master’s instructions. In total, besides those Unicorn Beasts which had been killed, there were actually around two to three thousand Unicorn Heavenly Beasts left milling about.

On the other side, the two Tribe Leaders were lost in their own thoughts. Those ﬂying guys… could they be ‘birdmen’?? They were even mistaken, thinking that Zhou Weiqing had brought a troop of winged Beastmen with him.

“Let’s retreat, let’s leave this place as quickly as possible. We can chat later.” Seeing the two Beastmen Regiments speeding away, his eyes ﬂashed in a brilliant light of deep thought. After having two large scale ﬁghts with the Beastmen, he was starting to see some of the styles and particular characteristics of the Beastmen.

This was the northern border after all, and who knew when any powerful foes would appear. Zhou Weiqing had only brought ﬁve hundred men, and though the First Main Company were all elite Physical Jewel Masters, they would deﬁnitely not be able to last for too long in ﬂight. Otherwise, Zhou Weiqing would not have needed to look for horses previously, and just brought them to ﬂy here. In any case, it was best to leave this place as quickly as possible, at least retreating about a hundred li and hopefully meeting up with the rest of the Peerless Battalion behind. Only then would they

be relatively safe.

Ma Qun and Hong Yu also knew the seriousness of the matter, and they dared not hesitate, swiftly ordering their respective tribes to break formation and start moving out with all their belongings, heading down back towards the direction of the North West ZhongTian Army camp. As for the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, they landed back down on the ground, following behind to cover the retreat. Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo were the last to leave, covering the ﬁnal retreat as they also observed the north.

Right at this moment, a low, powerful voice rang out from the distance, ﬁlled with power and a strong ﬁghting spirit.

“ZHOU– WEI– QING!”

Just three simple words, but Zhou Weiqing was surprised to ﬁnd that the owner of the voice was approaching at startling speeds. From the far north, in the direction that the two Beastmen Regiment had retreated towards, three ﬁgures were speeding towards them at lightning speeds.

“So strong!” Shangguan Fei’er’s expression changed. From the sheer speed of the approaching trio, they could easily tell how powerful they were.

Zhou Weiqing pulled on his single-horned Ghost Demon Horse and said to Hua Feng: “Master Hua Feng, you bring the others to cover the retreat of the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes at top speed. These three seem to be here for me. We will hold them off for a while before catching up to you all.” They had gone through so much trouble to rescue the two Tribes, and ensuring their safety was his top priority now.

The massive troop of people retreated as quickly as they could, while Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo stopped to wait for the three approaching ﬁgures. After reaching the ﬁve-Jeweled cultivation level, Zhou Weiqing was still rather conﬁdent about his own power. Although he did not know who the approaching trio was, nor did he know why they knew his name, he had the conﬁdence that even if he could not defeat them, the three of them could still make their escape without problems. After all, he still had the Silver Emperor Little Red Bean with him. More so, he couldn’t possibly always have the bad luck to meet Heavenly King Stage powerhouses in this desolate icy wasteland right?

Alas for Zhou Weiqing, a human’s judgement could not always be accurate, and even the lowest possibilities could sometimes occur!

As the trio got closer, Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er’s expressions changed immediately.

In terms of cultivation level, perhaps Lin TianAo was still stronger than Zhou Weiqing. However, in terms of judgement and estimating an enemy’s power, Zhou Weiqing still surpassed him slightly.

The three charging from a distance were so fast that Zhou Weiqing knew that even if he went at top speed with the powerful explosive power of the Demonic Right Leg, he still could not match them. What did that entail? It meant that the cultivation level of all three approaching ﬁgures were far beyond his own. Furthermore, he also noticed one more ﬁne detail… despite the trio’s speed, they did not seem to make any sound. That was to say, they were already able to control their personal Heavenly Energy and energy about them to such a ﬁne degree, able to use their Heavenly Energy to cut through the air to reduce any friction and air resistance, allowing their speeds to go higher. Using such a method to travel was deﬁnitely an extravagant method, any only those conﬁdent in their own Heavenly Energy resources and recovery would dare do so. More importantly… normally those who could do so would be at least at the eight-Jeweled cultivation level or higher!

Three Eight-Jeweled powerhouses at once? Such a degree of powerhouses would deﬁnitely have an important rank and status even in the WanShou Empire. Although the WanShou Empire did not have the same army ranking structure and formations as the human empires did, all using Regiments as their base organizational unit… to have such a number of powerhouses show up at once, could it be they were somehow specially targeting him? A strong sense of danger rose in Zhou Weiqing’s heart, but it was unfortunately too late for him to leave. The three were moving just too quickly, and only Shangguan Fei’er could possibly escape with her Consolidated Wings. However, since the three were already reaching, Zhou Weiqing also wanted to ﬁnd out how they knew about him. Keeping his guard up, Zhou Weiqing gave Shangguan Fei’er a signal.

If the encroaching trio were ordinary eight-Jeweled powerhouses, they might not need be too afraid. After all, both Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er were powerful beyond their level, both having Legendary Sets. With Lin TianAo’s powerful defense to support them, they might not lose in a three versus three ﬁght.

The three ﬁgures ﬁnally landed about a dozen yards from Zhou Weiqing’s trio. Just as Zhou Weiqing was seizing them up with a critical eye, he heard a surprised cry from Shangguan Fei’er. “Lion Prince!”

Zhou Weiqing had not expected that Shangguan Fei’er would actually know their opponents, and he started slightly before focusing on them. Of the three ﬁgures, the one in the middle was clearly the leader. He was tall and well built, even taller than Zhou Weiqing by half a head. His hair was a brilliant golden red, the long hair swirling in the wind behind his back, and his features were handsome and resolute; especially his eyes, which were

staring ﬁercely at Zhou Weiqing, giving him a sense of a powerful pressure. He was dressed in light gold robes, giving him an impressive and digniﬁed overall look…… Lion Prince?

Indeed, this was the Lion Prince Gu YingBing. Gu YingBing was ﬂanked on each side by an old man, both looking to be about sixty years of age or so, equally large and muscular built, red haired and with the same pale golden robes. However, the greatest difference between them and Gu YingBing was that their hair did not have the same lustrous golden hue, and this was also the reason why any onlooker could clearly see why the Lion Prince was the leader with just a single look.

Shangguan Fei’er’s expression was extremely ugly. Naturally, she knew the Lion Prince Gu YingBing very well. Three years ago, both she and Shangguan Xue’er had accompanied their Uncle and Father to join the Five Great Saint Lands Fight on the Heavenly Snow Mountain, and she had met him then. If Shangguan Xue’er was the top ﬁghter in the Heaven’s Expanse Palace younger generation, then this Gu YingBing was the strongest ﬁghter in the entire of the Five Great Saint Lands younger generation. Three years ago, he had already reached the top level of the seven-Jeweled stage, and by now, she could easily guess that he had long broken through to the eight- Jeweled cultivation level.

Not only was the Lion Prince the main disciple of the Heavenly Snow Mountain, he was also the future heir of the WanShou Empire Royal Family, the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe. Whether or not he would actually inherit the throne in the future, or become the next Leader of the Heavenly Snow Mountain, it was without a doubt that he was of utmost rank in the entire WanShou Empire. For one such a the Lion Prince to appear here so suddenly, and furthermore it was he who had shouted out Zhou Weiqing’s name, could it be he was here to take revenge for the two Regiments? Yet, how could he have known and responded so quickly? More so, the Heavenly Snow Mountain was also restricted by the Five Great Saint Lands agreement, and they would not easily intervene in the ordinary wars of lands.

Since she did not know the reason why Gu YingBing had appeared here, Shangguan Fei’er said coldly: “The grand main disciple of the Heavenly Snow Mountain, future heir of the WanShou Empire, actually deigns to enter deep into our ZhongTian Empire territory, are you breaking the promise of the Five Great Saint Lands to intervene in the war between the Empires?” Shangguan Fei’er was extremely intelligent in her own right, and her words mere directed both at Zhou Weiqing and the Lion Prince, to inform Zhou Weiqing of the other’s identity and status, while using the words to also spite the Lion Prince.

Gu YingBing’s gaze had been ﬁxed upon Zhou Weiqing the moment he arrived. In fact, the whole reason why the WanShou Empire had increased the amount of armies here against the Northwest Armies was because of him. He was here specially to look for Zhou Weiqing, ever since he had seen the image of him that day. However, the Northwest Armies numbered more than a hundred thousand strong, and it would not be easy to look for him. As such, the Lion Prince brought two attendants to the border to wait.

Previously, he had suddenly received news from the front lines that two of their vanguard Regiments had met with formidable enemies. Instantly, he had thought about Zhou Weiqing bringing his men to snipe the Swift Wolf Regiment previously. With that thought in mind, he immediately rushed over as quickly as he could. The three of them had been quite a distance away, but he had sensed the presence of a Heavenly Skill Image. In terms of his senses, as a member of the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion, he had one of the strongest Heavenly Beast bloodlines along with the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tigers. Their senses and perception were much stronger than most others. The sensory feeling of the Heavenly Image Image conﬁrmed Gu YingBing’s guess to himself, and that was the reason for the shout earlier. The name ‘Zhou Weiqing’ he had learned from Tian’er. After he had brought the Wolf Prince to the Heavenly Snow Mountain to receive healing, Tian’er and Gu YingBing had another series of interactions, but in the end he had still

came to the border to look for Zhou Weiqing and settle everything. However, even he had not expected that this meeting between he and this human who had stolen his ﬁancee’s heart and body would come so soon.

As soon as he looked at Zhou Weiqing, the Lion Prince’s eyes were ﬁlled with ﬁre as he ﬁxed his gaze. Since he had already seen him in Butler’s memories, he deﬁnitely would not be mistaken about his identity. Only now when he heard Shangguan Fei’er’s voice did he pay her attention.

“You’re from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, that Shangguan…” The Lion Prince’s thick voice was ﬁlled with suppressed rage and mania.

“I am Shangguan Fei’er.”

The Lion Prince said coldly: “You ask me why I am here, what about you? If I did not guess wrongly, you are the one who should have intervened in the ﬁght between our Empires. However, I do not have time to waste on you. Today, I am here for him, and it is a personal matter.”

Zhou Weiqing’s brow furrowed slightly. “Personal matter? I do not think I know you right?” He was rather curious inwardly. After all, with Shangguan Fei’er’s introductory words, how could he not understand the sheer power of this Lion Prince. All of a sudden, inspiration struck him, and his face changed. He suddenly thought of a possible reason why the Lion Prince would look for him.

“You do not recognize me, but you should recognize Tian’er right? I am Tian’er’s ﬁance.” Gu YingBing’s words were forced out through gritted teeth. He truly did love Tian’er. In terms of age, he was more than ten years older than Tian’er, and could be said to have watched her grow up. He had always been waiting for her, and their marriage was not just only totally a political one. Otherwise, once he had known about how she had lost her ‘virtue’, he could have refused the marriage and gotten other beneﬁts from his teacher instead. However, he did not do that, instead persisting in wanting to marry Tian’er. It was not to ingratiate himself with Xue AoTian, but because he truly loved Tian’er.

At this moment, as he saw this man who had stolen Tian’er’s heart and body, how could he not be ﬁlled with hatred. This time, Zhou Weiqing totally understood his guess was right. He might not know why the Lion Prince knew about him or how he managed to ﬁnd him, but he knew that there was totally no longer any room for manoeuvre in this matter.

“Is Tian’er alright?” Facing his love rival with eyes spitting with ﬁre, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but be ﬁlled with worry about Tian’er, and he subconsciously asked.

Gu YingBing said coldly: “What right do you have to ask anything about Tian’er? What do you think you are?”

Zhou Weiqing’s gaze turned cold. Both men stood there, staring at each other, like two raging bulls ready to ﬁght for a mate. The scent of gunpowder between them grew stronger and stronger, as if a ﬁght would erupt at any time.

Lin TianAo subconsciously took a step closer to Zhou Weiqing. As he grew closer, he could naturally sense the sheer power and danger from Gu YingBing.

“I challenge you. If you are a man, stand out and ﬁght.” As he said that, a powerful violent aura of Heavenly Energy burst forth from Gu YingBing, along with a brilliant golden-red light that enveloped his entire body, spreading outwards. Eight Icy Jade Physical Jewels denoting the Strength Attribute appearing ﬂagrantly around his right wrist, as his hand pointed towards Zhou Weiqing, the ferocious light in his eyes as if wanting to tear him apart.

“Little Fatty, no!” Shangguan Fei’er said urgently. She could naturally hear that Zhou Weiqing and Gu YingBing were ﬁghting because of a woman… in fact, she had met Tian’er before, but at this moment, she could no longer care about being jealous. She was very clear what power Gu YingBing held. After all, even her sister Shangguan Xue’er was not comparable to the Lion Prince Gu YingBing, let alone Zhou Weiqing. The Lion Prince Gu YingBing was no ordinary eight- Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master indeed!

Zhou Weiqing turned to look at Shangguan Fei’er, before saying in a serious tone. “This is not a challenge that I can back down from.” As he said that, he turned back to Gu YingBing and said solemnly: “Please.”

This ﬁght was because of Tian’er, a ﬁght between men, and there was nothing else to be said about it. Only strength and power could solve the dispute between them, the enmity between them. Both sides held equally strong killing intent towards the other. Even though he knew that his power was no match for his opponent, Zhou Weiqing would not back down. Otherwise, he would no longer have any qualiﬁcation to love Tian’er.

Zhou Weiqing was indeed afraid of dying, but in some scenarios, he would never back down. Hidden deep within the marrow of his bones, there was that hot blood and burning ardour of youth indeed.

Gu YingBing waved back, and the two old men who were ﬂanking him slowly stepped back, forming an empty space about them.

Shangguan Fei’er was about to speak out more, but was stopped by Lin TianAo, who stepped back ﬁrst. Although Shangguan Fei’er was totally unwilling, what could she do at this point? She could only scold Zhou Weiqing in her heart for being such a playboy, while trying to hide her worry inside. At the same time, she was fully prepared to intervene if the Lion Prince really tried to give Zhou Weiqing a killing blow.

As the other four stepped away, only Zhou Weiqing and Gu YingBing were left facing each other. Neither of them backed away, their gazes locked in a ferocious, forceful glare. This was a ﬁght between love rivals, and there was no turning away.

The one who struck out ﬁrst was Zhou Weiqing. His cultivation level was no match for his opponent, and he would not allow the Lion Prince to continue building up his aura to the maximum. If that happened, it would be easy for him to be taken down in a single blow.

With a low howl, Zhou Weiqing charged forward like a speedy arrow. In mid air, he had already completed a series of actions, entering the Demonic Change State instantly. He knew that without the Demonic Change State, he would not even stand a tiny chance. At the same time, the Heavenly Skill Image of the Demonic Dragon Lady appeared above his head. The Dragon Silencing Seal was another critical key to his small chance of victory.

As soon as Zhou Weiqing moved, Gu YingBing had also reacted. With a loud shout, his hair of golden red hair billowed in the wind, a thick gold light gushing out of his body as he charged forward. He did not have any ﬂourishes, just punching directly towards Zhou Weiqing’s chest.

Chapter 160 Fight between Love Rivals!

However, one could never underestimate such a simple ﬁst… a simple punch. When When Gu YingBing punched out, Zhou Weiqing felt as if all the air had been sucked out from before him, caving in totally as an unbelievably strong suction force seemed to force him to face that ﬁst directly. Furthermore, his entire body was pressured so hard that it felt terrible. Unless you used a Skill like Blink, otherwise he knew he would deﬁnitely not be able to escape such a ﬁst.

Zhou Weiqing could not retreat. In the ﬁrst place, he was best at this type of direct clash of physical strength and Heavenly Energy. Secondly, as a man, facing a challenge from his love rival, he could never back down so easily from just the ﬁrst blow, otherwise he would already lose out in terms of psychology.

In that instant, Zhou Weiqing gave up the thought of ﬁnishing the Dragon Silencing Seal, as that would force him to expend extra effort and thought on it, and all his focus was now on facing this powerful blow from the Lion Prince.

The Demonic Change State was now fully in effect, and Zhou Weiqing’s hands were now like large tiger paws, almost twice the size of his usual ﬁst. With all his explosive strength behind him, he struck out directly back at Gu YingBing’s ﬁst. Two men. Two love rivals. The ﬁrst clash between the two happened just like that.

*BANG*

A violent explosion seemed to shake the entire earth as the two ﬁsts smashed against each other directly, without any ﬂourishes. Those watching from a distance had the strange feeling as if the entire air around where the two had clashed had somehow shattered momentarily.

Gu YingBing staggered back two steps before regaining his balance, his right ﬁst feeling totally numb at that moment.

Zhou Weiqing was even worse off, as he had clearly heard a soft cracking sound from the bones in his right hand. Although they were not actually broken, he found that he was unable to apply strength with his entire right hand. At the same time, a powerful a violent bout of Heavenly Energy had invaded his entire body. If not for the fact that his strength was greatly multiplied by the Demonic Change State, just this blow alone from Gu YingBing could have killed him. Zhou Weiqing’s had been sent ﬂying back, and while that was happening, he could only think inwardly: Such strength, what a punch!

He ﬂew back more than a dozen yards, back to almost his original position, before he ﬁnally caught his balance, barely managing to land on his feet shakily, the sheer impact of it causing his feet to leave deep imprints on the ground.

Gu YingBing’s eyes narrowed slightly. Zhou Weiqing was thinking that he was strong, but he too was taken aback by Zhou Weiqing’s strength. He had never imagined that a mere ﬁve-Jeweled little fellow would be able to receive his own blow just with the aid of the Demonic Change State. From the looks of things, he was not heavily injured either.

In truth, with their sheer difference in cultivation level, Gu YingBing’s punch should have totally shattered Zhou Weiqing’s arm. However, after Zhou Weiqing had inherited the bloodline of the Dark Demon God Tiger, his entire body down to bones and marrow were far stronger, tougher and more ﬂexible than normal, allowing him to escape serious injury now.

Gu YingBing did not pursue and attack right away, instead waiting for Zhou Weiqing to regain his balance. Only then did he raise his hands and crook a beckoning ﬁnger at Zhou Weiqing, a disdainful mocking look on his face.

In the Demonic Change State, Zhou Weiqing was not easily excited to give in to compulsion, and he would not fall for his opponent’s provocation. The Ice Cold Perception allowed him to keep his perspective and focus, to stay in a stable state. Behind him, the Heavenly Skill Image of the Demonic Dragon Lady shimmered into existence again as he prepared to unleash the Dragon Silencing Seal once more. Gu YingBing’s punch was already so terrifying, if he was allowed to use his other Skills and Consolidated Equipment, Zhou Weiqing knew that he would not stand a chance at all.

Gu YingBing’s eyes were contemptuous as he said mockingly: “If one were to compare Consolidated Equipment, no one can match the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. However, comparing Stored Skills, who can be a match for us Heavenly Snow Mountain?” As he said that, a golden-red light started to coalesce above his head, and one could barely see the image of a majestic gold-red lion forming in the light.

The light around Gu YingBing’s body grew stronger, clearer, and he lifted his right hand. As he did so, the gold-red lion made of light above his head suddenly sprang into action, actually charging towards the Heavenly Skill Image of the Demonic Dragon Lady above Zhou Weiqing’s head.

He is actually able to command his Heaven Skill Image to launch an attack? Zhou Weiqing was caught off guard and surprised totally.

The lion was just too quick, and there was no time to dodge at all. As it crashed into the Demonic Dragon Lady, a strange sight happened next.

Zhou Weiqing did not feel as if he had suffered any attack personally. However, the Heavenly Skill Image of the Demonic Dragon Lady vanished into thin air. Furthermore, in the Attribute Wheel in his eyes, the position denoting the Demonic Dragon Lady’s Skills darkened, and no matter what he tried, he was unable to activate them.

What is going on? This was the ﬁrst time something like this had happened to Zhou Weiqing, and he could not understand what the Lion Prince had done to him.

The Lion Prince could naturally see the shock in his eyes, and he said disdainfully: “Don’t you even know that when Heavenly Skill Images clash, they will offset and neutralize each other? A useless trash like you without any background, and you dare to taint Tian’er with your presence? Deﬁle her? I cannot understand what she sees in you.”

Zhou Weiqing retorted coldly: “I do not know what Tian’er sees in me, but I am deﬁnitely sure that she loves me, and not you, her so-called ﬁance. She will forever belong to me.”

“Bastard!” The Lion Prince was provoked into a rage. What Zhou Weiqing said was after all true, and that was what hurt him the most… Even though before he left the Heavenly Snow Mountain to look for Zhou Weiqing, Tian’er had agreed to become his wife, he knew that her heart was not with him.

A burst of red-gold light once more, and the Lion Prince charged at an unimaginable speed towards Zhou Weiqing.

The Dragon Silencing Seal had been neutralised and Zhou Weiqing was no longer able to use it. However, how could he admit defeat just like that? Two bouts of dark gold light sprang around him as the Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palms formed around his hands.

Another loud crash, this time a more mufﬂed one. The Lion Prince actually managed to use his powerful Heavenly Energy to smash through and forcefully shatter both layers of Consolidating Equipment God Protective Aura. In the next instant, his ﬁst ﬂickered out again towards Zhou Weiqing’s chest.

Previously in a direct clash, he had already suffered a disadvantage. In a true ﬁght, naturally Zhou Weiqing would not choose to do the same again, otherwise wouldn’t he just be asking for death?

His two hands slid downwards, the Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palms pushing down at the Lion Prince’s ﬁst. At the same time, Zhou Weiqing’s body became lighter, as a shimmering layer of green light enveloped him. It was his Wind Attribute Heavenly Energy.

With a soft pufﬁng sound, Zhou Weiqing’s entire body ﬂew away. At the same time, his hands held together towards his chest, forming a strange hand seal.

The Lion Prince had once again sent Zhou Weiqing ﬂying with punch, but this time he did not gain much advantage, as Zhou Weiqing had just used the momentum to retreat. Furthermore, at the same time as Zhou Weiqing ﬂew back, Gu YingBing could clearly sense a powerful suction force coming from the pair of God Tier Consolidated Gloves, forcefully drawing away some of his Heavenly Energy before they lost contact.

Gu YingBing immediately lowered the previous disdain in his heart for Zhou Weiqing. Lifting his hands, a dark gold light ﬂashed and a God Tier Consolidated Equipment appeared in his palms.

It was a long staff, about four metres long, the thick staff body was carved in a dragon form, ending in a top with a massive dragon’s head. Just by looking at it, one did not need to hold it to be sure that this Dragon Head Staff was extremely heavy. After all, Gu YingBing’s Physical Jewels were the Strength Attribute.

With the Dragon Head Staff in his hands, Gu YingBing used it to point forward, pushing it towards Zhou Weiqing’s body. However, just in the instant that his entire body charged forward, he abruptly moved to the side. The movement of the staff did not change, but his entire body ﬂipped to the right twice, deviating several chi to the right from his original path.

Right where Gu YingBing would have moved previously, a silver light ﬂashed and disappeared. Although the time it appeared was extremely short, the powerful Heavenly Energy ﬂuctuations that burst forth in that instant was able to show its sheer terrifying destructive capabilities. Earlier, if Gu YingBing had continued along his original path, his throat would have slammed right into the position of the silver light.

Spatial Rend. One of the Skills that Zhou Weiqing was most adept in. By this time, he was already able to control the Spatial Rend to its maximum. However, such a well hidden Spatial Rend which showed no signs before it appeared was actually so easily dodged by the Lion Prince.

Such powerful senses! Zhou Weiqing’s heart was ﬁlled with shock, and he subconsciously used the Blink Skill. Due to him using the Spatial Rend, he no longer had the time to physically dodge the Dragon Head Staff.

As his body disappeared and reappeared in a ﬂash, Zhou Weiqing appeared over a dozen yards away from his previous position. From the start of their ﬁght until now, he had been heavily suppressed by his opponent, no matter what he tried, giving him a feeling like he had the strength but could not use any of it.

He did not know that at this moment, Gu YingBing was also extremely shocked. Zhou Weiqing was after all only at the ﬁve- Jeweled cultivation level, but no matter his strength or even the sheer control he had over that Spatial Rend Skill just now, it far surpassed the scope of a ﬁve-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. Was that bastard really a Heavenly Jewel Master without background, and not from a Great Saint Lands?

Although both of them were each harbouring their own thoughts, the ﬁght still continued raging on. Gu YingBing’s feet tapped on the ground, his body once more pouncing at Zhou Weiqing like a ball of ﬂame. He did not seem to be wielding the Dragon Head Staff with any particular unique skill, only a simple stab forward, and the eyes of the Dragon Head seemed the glitter with a gold light, as if about to unleash some powerful Skill.

Since he started the ﬁght, Gu YingBing had only used this one single Consolidated Equipment, and not any other Skills. Zhou Weiqing had been training together with Long Shiya for a time now, and his vision and outlook was at a much higher point than previously. He knew that the reason why Gu YingBing did this was not because he was underestimating Zhou Weiqing, but because he had sufﬁcient self conﬁdence. His Skills would only be used at the most important, most critical moments, when they were truly needed, and he would not use them normally and waste Heavenly Energy. Yet, Zhou Weiqing himself had already been forced to use several Skills. A light ﬂashed in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes as a plan hatched in his heart. Aren’t you all about efﬁciency and keeping your cards close to your chest? Very well, I will unleash it all and give you a big surprise, let’s see how you deal with being caught off guard!

In terms of tactics and strategy, Zhou Weiqing was always able to judge things clearly. Seeing the Dragon Head Staff reaching him, abruptly, two bouts of dark-gold light sprang out around him. Around Zhou Weiqing’s chest area, a round Heart Mirror appeared abruptly, a symbol inscribed on its front as it shimmered with dark gold light. The entire Heart Mirror seemed to swirl with light, moving from the top and down both sides along the thick dark gold metallic chains on the sides. At the same time, shoulder pauldrons appeared, connecting and fusing with his Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palms.

The Heart Mirror also appeared behind his back, at the center area where his heart would be. Front and back, the Heart Mirrors in the center glittered with bright light, strange dragon-like tattoos shimmering faintly from within. When the Heart Mirror appeared, a strange, unique aura burst forth from Zhou Weiqing, and in that instant, it was as if he had warped into an ancient Titan with inﬁnite ancient power, his entire aura changing. The Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palms were also connected to the Heart Mirror by the two gold chains, and once the connection was set, the dark gold light seemed to come to life, pouring strength into Zhou Weiqing. Even under the Demonic Change State, he could clearly sense his power and strength growing explosively.

As soon as his cultivation level had broken through to the ﬁve-Jeweled stage, Zhou Weiqing had not hesitated to Consolidate the Fourth piece of his ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set that he had gotten from the Heavenly Jewel Island previously. Improving his power was of utmost importance to him, and naturally he would not delay in such an important addition to his arsenal.

As Long Shiya had the ‘Hate Sky No Handle’ Legendary Set, he was relatively familiar with the usage of Zhou Weiqing’s ‘Hate Ground No Handle’ Legendary Set. After all, both were of the same origin, and while there were some differences, his experience was more than sufﬁcient to cover that. As such, he had explained the miraculous usage of the Heart Mirror to Zhou Weiqing. The name of that Heart Mirror was the ‘Source of Strength’, and it was one of the main core components of the ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set. It did not have any other attached or imbued Skills, and all it did was a pure Strength boost, as well as the main effect of joining all the other pieces together. The more Legendary Set pieces Zhou Weiqing had, the greater the effect it would have, and the greater the boost to strength as well. At the same time, it would naturally also help protect his chest/heart area and his internal organs. As for how much the total strength boost would eventually be, even Long Shiya was not able to conﬁrm.

Appearing together with the Source of Strength was naturally the Dual Legendary Hammers. Seeing his enemy charge forward, the crying-face Hammer in Zhou Weiqing’s right hand slammed upwards as he shouted: “Open!”

*BOOM*

To the jaw-dropping surprise of all the watching onlookers, Zhou Weiqing burst forth with a unbelievably terrifying power, despite the fact he had been on the back foot all this time.

The addition of the two God Tier Consolidated Equipment’s boost, and more importantly the Source of Strength’s boost in joining the Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palms and Dual Legendary Hammers, along with Zhou Weiqing’s own personal strength and Demonic Change State, it had already brought his pure strength to a new height.

The ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set was deﬁnitely the best Legendary Set for Strength Attribute Heavenly Jewel Masters, and how could it be so simple. Long Shiya had once told Zhou Weiqing that if he could wear the entire Legendary Set, even if his cultivation level did not reach the Heavenly God Tier, his strength would far surpass the Heavenly God Tier powerhouse Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord. The overall boost from the Source of Strength was just too insane, bringing Zhou Weiqing’s strength to a terrifying state instantly. With the Source of Strength, it had ﬁnally unlocked the true potential of the ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set.

The Dragon Head Staff and the crying-face Hammer slammed into each other, and Gu YingBing felt a massive strength instantly explode against his Dragon Head Staff, causing its large dragon head top to ﬂy upwards uncontrollably, causing his entire body to leave the ground along with it.

How was that possible? That was the ﬁrst thought in Gu YingBing’s mind. In the next instant, it was Zhou Weiqing’s turn to charge forward, having activated his Tornado Strike.

At such a critical moment, Zhou Weiqing could not even afford to use the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts. After all, to the current him, the effect of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts was still not comparable to his various powerful Stored Skills in tandem.

The Tornado Strike caused Zhou Weiqing to speed up, and at the same time, a Curse of Doom landed on Gu YingBing. Zhou Weiqing was able to use his Hammers to unleash the Skills one after the other without any delay, using the short opportunity where Gu YingBing’s body had been knocked upwards, and he just threw several Control Skills as quickly as he could on Gu YingBing.

Zhou Weiqing was extremely clear that the only chance he had to win was to explode forth with all his power at once, making use of his short term explosive power that had worked so well for him thus far, as well as his many powerful Skills able to unleash as much damage as possible in a short amount of time. That would allow him the seize the opportunity while Gu YingBing was not going all out. Only then would he be able to defeat the powerful young Lion Prince.

The Fetters of Wind and Absolute Delay fell upon Gu YingBing one after the other, causing his entire body to slow down and freeze momentarily. At the same time, the laughing- face hammer on his left hand turned a bluish purple as he had already started imbuing it with the Lightning Suffering Skill as he charged forward. As for his true attack, it was hidden in the right hammer, the crying-face hammer shimmering with three colours. Wasn’t it just Zhou Weiqing’s strongest offensive attack, the Dark Demon God Lightning?

In just that short moment of time, Zhou Weiqing had unleashed seven powerful Skills. More so, after training in the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, he was able to unleash these Skills to their strongest potential of his level.

However, at this moment, Zhou Weiqing could clearly see that above Gu YingBing’s head, a piercing gold light sprang forth. A pure white Heavenly Skill Image of an Angel with six wings appeared. The pale gold light turned into several halos, descending from the sky and covering his body.

A Heavenly God Tier Skill? Zhou Weiqing was caught by surprise. However, he quickly made the judgement that it too was not a Heavenly God Tier Skill, as the Heavenly Skill Image of the white six-winged Angel was similar to his own Heavenly Skill Images. Without question, this was also a Skill that was inﬁnitely close to the Heavenly God stage, but just beyond.

Instantly, the Fetters of Wind and Curse of Doom effects both vanished. Gu YingBing withdrew his Dragon Head Staff calmly and unhurriedly, not even caring about the hammers Zhou Weiqing were striking down upon him. Instead, his Dragon Head Staff sliced down from above, striking down savagely to his head.

Right at this moment, Zhou Weiqing had two choices. Although the Dragon Head Staff was extremely long, but Zhou Weiqing had launched his attack ﬁrst, so he could still ensure his attack would deﬁnitely land ﬁrst. However, even if he did so, he would still be facing that gold halo which looked so powerful. If his own attack was unable to break through the defense of that Skill, then he would be taking Gu YingBing’s blow for nothing. The second choice would of course be to save himself ﬁrst and abandon his own attack.

Naturally, Zhou Weiqing did not think that even if he was wearing several God Tier Consolidated Equipment and was in the Demonic Change State, he would be able to take his enemy’s blow head on. At the same time, he was just too familiar with such disgusting Skills that were close to the Heavenly God Tier stage, and he was almost certain that his own attack would not be able to break through that defense. As such, he quickly made his choice, instantly sending the Hammers upwards, the crying-face Hammer in front and the smiling-face Hammer behind, using them to receive Gu YingBing’s Dragon Head Staff.

Another loud explosion. This time, Zhou Weiqing did not have the advantage, as the gold light around Gu YingBing also extended through his hand and covering the staff. At the same time, his entire Dragon head Staff also lit up, boosting his strength considerably. Both Zhou Weiqing’s feet sank deep into the ground, his right arm going numb. The inﬂuence of the ﬁrst ﬁst had now come into effect. Although he had not felt pain due to his Demonic Change State earlier, and his recovery rate was indeed powerful, in such a sheer contest and clash of strengths, any minor disadvantage would be multiplied several times over.

The greatest shock to Zhou Weiqing was not all that, but rather that all his imbued Skills had totally no effect. The Lightning Suffering Skill on the smiling-face Hammer was instantly dissipated by the gold light, and the Skill that he had been depending on so much, the Dark Demon God Lightning, also disappeared after it was struck by the Dragon Head Staff.

Zhou Weiqing was deﬁnitely not in a good state, but Gu YingBing was not feeling great either. The sheer power held within the two Hammers were indeed unbelievably terrifying, especially with the boost from the Tornado Strike, causing his offensive power to increase substantially. At this moment, Gu YingBing’s arms were both aching and numb, as he was sent staggering back six, seven steps.

Facing a ﬁve-Jeweled opponent, being forced to such a degree was a true insult, real shame. Furthermore, he had even used his most powerful defensive Skill, the Divine Guardian Angel, to block Zhou Weiqing’s attacks. The Divine Guardian Angel was actually already at the Heavenly God Tier Stage, and in order to Store such a Skill, Gu YingBing had paid a heavy price. Even with his powerful Bloodline powers, he had barely succeeded. In this, Zhou Weiqing had actually judged the Skill wrongly, as it was truly a real Heavenly God Tier Skill, not a ‘False’ one like he had expected. However, it was because Gu YingBing’s current Heavenly Energy cultivation level was not sufﬁcient to unleash the Skill to its full potential, as a result it had not seemed as strong as it could have been.

When Zhou Weiqing had unleashed a whole chain of Skills onto Gu YingBing, he found that he had no other choice but to use this powerful defensive Skill to protect himself. That Zhou Weiqing’s strength was just too terrifying… just like how Zhou Weiqing did not dare get hit by Gu YingBing’s Dragon Head Staff, in the same vein, Gu YingBing also did not dare let Zhou Weiqing’s Dual Hammers strike him without any defense. As such, he could only turn to this Skill.

Standing back ﬁrmly, Gu YingBing’s expression was extremely ugly. Gripping his Dragon Head Staff tightly, he pointed to the front, and abruptly his eyes turned bloodshot. He muttered something, but Zhou Weiqing was not able to hear what he had said clearly, and in the next instant, Gu YingBing’s golden-red mane ﬂew out like it was in an explosion, and his entire body expanded in a burst of muscle, as an intense aura and killing intent came out from within to surround him.

Zhou Weiqing did not realise but the change that had came upon Gu YingBing was the totemic bloodline abilities that the WanShou Empire Beastmen had, just like how the Wolfmen had used previously. However, this totemic ability of his was deﬁnitely one of the strongest in the entire WanShou Empire, known as the Lion King Transformation. Although the Lion King Transformation was not comparable to the Demonic Change State, it was still able to allow Gu YingBing’s speed, strength and Heavenly Energy and control to all be boosted by a considerable amount.

Zhou Weiqing also ﬂew into action. He knew that things might not go well for him today, but he would never give up without pitting his all. During the time of the Lion Prince’s Transformation, he used the Blink Skill once more, and in a ﬂash he appeared right before Gu YingBing. However, this time, Zhou Weiqing had already stealthily kept his Dual Legendary Hammers, using his Yin Yang Giant spirit Palms as he grabbed towards Gu YingBing’s shoulders. In truth, he did not have much other choice. Previously, his entire series of Skills were indeed powerful, but throwing them all out at once had almost drained him of his entire Heavenly Energy pool. This was especially so for the Dark Demon God Lightning, which was an even greater toll.

Zhou Weiqing did not know how he could possibly destroy that protective gold shield around Gu YingBing, but he deﬁnitely had to give it a try.

The Yin Yang Giant Palm struck down on the golden shield of the Divine Guardian Angel, and Zhou Weiqing felt a ﬁery hot power stream into him, as if his entire soul was being burnt. Even though he was wearing the Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palm, the strange feeling of heat caused even him to cry out in pain, his entire body leaping back instantly.

Gu YingBing gave a cold laugh and said: “You have the Demonic and Darkness Attributes, and you actually dared touch my Divine Guardian Angel? Don’t you know that the Divine Attribute is the antithesis to all Darkness Type powers…” At this moment, Zhou Weiqing’s heart felt as if he had ﬁnally seen the light. He ﬁnally understood why he seemed to suppressed on all levels by Gu YingBing. It was not just the sheer difference in power between them, but also the addition of the attributes clashing. His opponent had the Divine Attribute, one of the Four Saint Attributes, which just happened to counter both his Demonic and Darkness Attributes, and thus causing some of his strongest Skills to be rendered useless. That was the reason why the Dark Demon

God Lightning had been so easily destroyed by the Divine Attribute, as it consisted of both the Demonic and Darkness Attributes!

Gu YingBing took a large step towards Zhou Weiqing. Naturally, he could tell that currently Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy was almost totally expended. Although he had not expected that taking down Zhou Weiqing would take him so long and so much trouble, but it was undoubtedly his victory.

Zhou Weiqing took a deep breath, his eyes focused totally. At the same time, the over twenty energy whirlpools of his Death Acupuncture Points were at their absolute maximum, spinning crazily as they drew Heavenly Energy from the atmosphere to help him recover. Gu YingBing’s right hand waved, and the Dragon Head Staff in his hands actually ﬂew towards Zhou Weiqing, glowing brilliantly with gold light. In that moment, the gold light glowed hard and the Dragon Head Staff seemed to come to live, warping into a large two zhang long golden wolf pouncing directly at Zhou Weiqing. This was the imbued Skill from this God Tier Consolidated Equipment of his.

A layer of almost crystalline grey light lit up from Zhou Weiqing’s body, and in a loud *PENG* sound, it actually managed to block the charge of the massive gold dragon. At the same time, Zhou Weiqing lifted up his head, looking directly at the Lion Prince Gu YingBing, and two bouts of purple red light ﬂashed from his eyes.

Even if there was just a slightest chance, Zhou Weiqing was not willing to give up. What he was using now was the spiritual attack portion of the Demonic Dragon God Seal.

Almost at the same time, two gold lights ﬂashed in Gu YingBing’s eyes, and the two different glows actually clashed in mid air, causing violent sparks. Zhou Weiqing felt his eyes hurt in a sudden stabbing pain, and his entire body stumbled back uncontrollably as his entire brain felt as if it was being smashed repeatedly with a mallet. “Hmph, to actually use a spiritual attack against me… one who has the Spirit Attribute… what a conceited joke. Your cultivation level and Skill are just too far away from me…”

The Lion Prince said disdainfully, as he walked closer and closer, and Zhou Weiqing had no choice but to use Ward of the Demon God to barely resist the gold dragon’s attack, his body being shoved back uncontrollably. Although his Heavenly Energy recovery rate was extremely fast, under the incessant onslaught of the massive gold dragon, the expenditure of Heavenly Energy of the Ward of the Demon God was far beyond his own recovery rate.

“Enough! Gu YingBing, you dare…” Shangguan Fei’er could no longer hold back, and in a ﬂash she charged forward.

At the same time, the two old men who had came together with Gu YingBing appeared in a ﬂash in the path of Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo.

“Heavenly King…” Shangguan Fei’er couldn’t help but cry in shock.

What status did Gu YingBing have? In the entire WanShou Empire, he was deﬁnitely at the top of the pyramid. The Lionman Tribe had been the Royal Family of the WanShou Empire for so many years, and they had unbelievable resources. Naturally, these two Heavenly King stage powerhouses were specially here to protect him as his bodyguards.

Lin TianAo and Shangguan Fei’er might be extremely powerful, their Heavenly Energy cultivation level or combat abilities not to be underestimated, especially for their ages. However, with each of them facing a Heavenly King Stage powerhouse, what could they do? They were not able to get past them so easily. Of course, the two Heavenly King Stage powerhouses would not take action against them without Gu YingBing’s orders, just blocking their way. Otherwise, perhaps all three of them would die right then.

Gu YingBing did not seem to hear Shangguan Fei’er’s words, slowly stepping towards Zhou Weiqing with a ferocious look in his eyes. Looking at this love rival, his heart was ﬁlled with a strong killing intent. Today, he had won, but he was also clear that this live rival was more than a dozen years younger than he was. More importantly, he had already won Tian’er’s heart.

At last, Zhou Weiqing’s Heavenly Energy fully ran out. Facing a true powerhouse, the weakness he had in having a ﬁghting style totally about an explosive burst of offense. He did not have sufﬁcient Heavenly Energy to sustain all the various Skills he used to block against the Lion Prince’s powerful attacks. Furthermore, many of his Skills were fully suppressed by Gu YingBing.

The Ward of the Demon God also dissipated into sparks of light, and the giant gold dragon smashed savagely into Zhou Weiqing’s chest.

Zhou Weiqing’s entire body was sent ﬂying up in the air, fresh blood spurting from his mouth. If not for the protection of the Source of Strength, he would have been instantly killed by that blow.

The Gold Dragon swooped back to the Lion Prince’s hands, turning back into the Dragon Head Staff. He took a last step forward to reach Zhou Weiqing.

That blow was just too savage. Zhou Weiqing did not even have a single bit of Heavenly Energy left, the Yin Yang Giant Spirit Palms and Source of Strength vanished, with nothing left to sustain them. At the same time, the Demonic Change State faded back into his body. Zhou Weiqing fell down, his face pale and ashen, his innards feeling like they were being turned upside down and thrown about, causing him to vomit out a mouthful of blood involuntarily. At this point, he found it difﬁcult to even breathe.

Gu YingBing did not continue attacking, not giving him that one ﬁnal ﬁnishing blow. He just stood there, looking down upon the fallen Zhou Weiqing, tall stout and handsome as his eyes ﬂashed in a ferocious light, a hesitant, pondering look on his face.

Looking at the Lion Prince’s eyes, Zhou Weiqing felt his a ﬁlm of red cover his eyes. Despite the utter pain his entire body was in, he still forced himself, pushing himself bit by bit to clamber to his feet. Even if he was about to die, he would not die in such a position, but would stand tall in front of his love rival.

Gu YingBing looked at him coldly, saying: “Do you know how many years I have loved Tian’er? Let me tell you… from the day she was born, she was already destined to be become my wife, the wife of the Lion Prince Gu YingBing. Since a young age, I have cared for her, protected her, not yet her suffer the slightest bit of pain or agony. With her mischievous nature, even though I was punished severely by Master several times, I was happy to do so. Every day, I watcher her grow up, watched her grow more and more beautiful, and my heart was ﬁlled with love and hope, knowing that she would be my wife eventually. Yet… you, you bastard, you dared to trick such a innocent girl who knows nothing about the world, stealing her heart from me and even her body. However, no matter what, I will not give up, and I will win her heart back.”

Zhou Weiqing spat out another mouthful of blood and said: “Bullshit. Your so called love is a one-sided one. What do you mean trick? Tian’er loves me, and I love her as well, and we have spent a few years together. You will never win her heart back, she will only be mine, as I am hers. Even if you kill me, you will never change that fact. Even if I die, I will still live on in Tian’er’s heart. Come on then! Kill me… hahaha”

That stubborn and obstinate nature within Zhou Weiqing’s nature was totally stimulated. At that moment, he totally forgot about being afraid of death. Even if he could not defeat this love rival in front of him, he would not bow down, would not show any signs of weakness and back down.

Gu YingBing slammed his foot into Zhou Weiqing’s abdomen in a savage kick, sending him ﬂying back. In a ﬂash, he disappeared and reappeared in mid air, catching up to Zhou Weiqing, slamming continuous blows onto the ﬂying body. At that moment, Zhou Little Fatty had become a true sandbag. “Little Fatty!” Shangguan Fei’er’s eyes also reddened, and she unleashed all her power at once, not caring about defense, fully pitting her life in reckless abandon attacks against the Heavenly King Stage powerhouse in front of her. Alas, he was a Heavenly King Stage powerhouse after all, and in a short time

she could not break through his defenses.

Right at that moment, a sudden soft sound rang out together with a ﬂash of silver light. The Lion Prince, who had been beating on Zhou Weiqing, suddenly froze in midair, the Divine Guardian Angel around his body actually shattering.

In that abrupt danger, Gu YingBing displayed his sheer strength and power, forcefully moving his body at the last possible moment to avoid his critical vital points from getting hit. In the end, the silver light was only able to leave a deep cut along his ribs, blood welling from the injury.

Indeed, the one which had taken action so suddenly was the Silver Emperor Little Red Bean, Zhou Weiqing’s last ace in hand.

With a loud thud, Zhou Weiqing landed back onto the ground, blood spewing from his mouth, even leaking from his nose and ears. He had already been injured previously, and the new series of blows caused him fall into semi consciousness, only a sheen of red in front of his eyes. Both his arms and his left leg were broken, and only his unbelievably tough Demonic Right Leg was tough enough to stay unbroken, though at least ﬁve of his ribs were broken. Even so, he was still alive. No one knew why, Gu YingBing could have easily ﬁnished him off, but did not end it there and then.

“Hmph. A puny little Silver Emperor…” Gu YingBing had been injured, but it was nothing to a powerhouse like him. Still, the ferocious light in his eyes ﬂashed even stronger, and his hands circled suddenly in mid air, a powerful golden red light spreading out, seeming to congeal the air in a ﬁfty yard radius. The next moment, the gold red light seemed to form a net, forcefully stopping the Silver Emperor Little Red Bean as it was enclosed within.

“Die!” Two beams of gold light shot forth from Gu YingBing’s eyes, landing directly on Little Red Bean. Originally, it had been attempting to break free of the encirclement with the Spatial Rend and Silver Emperor Lightning Pierce, but its body froze, shuddering violently before going limp. The net of light seemed to collapse inwards on it, and with a terrifying and disgusting sound, Little Red Bean’s little body was totally shredded by the terrifying net, falling into little bits of meat and blood, indubitably dead. A max level Zong Stage Heavenly Beast… yet it seemed to frail and weak in front of Gu YingBing’s Divine and Spirit Dual Saint Attributes. It was clear that if he really wanted to kill Zhou Weiqing, perhaps even if there were ten Zhou Weiqings, they would all be dead now.

Gu YingBing lifted his hand towards Zhou Weiqing, and a powerful suction force dragged his body right in front of him.

“Gu YingBing, if you dare kill him, our Heaven’s Expanse Palace will not let the matter go so easily. Weiqing is our Heaven’s Expanse Palace son in law…” Shangguan Fei’er shouted angrily.

Gu YingBing looked at her coldly. “If I wanted to kill him, even if he is the son of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace Master, so what? He would still die now…”

Zona Novel Online

Heavenly Jewel Change Chapter 151-160

Chapter 151 Adulation of Angels!

Chapter 152 Highest Level of the Demonic Change State!

Chapter 153 Shangguan Sisters!

Chapter 154 Evolving of the Peerless Battalion!

Chapter 155 Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord!

Chapter 156 Five Jewels!

Chapter 157 Arrival of the two powerful Tribes!

Chapter 158 Hell’s Angel!

Chapter 159 Lion Prince!

Chapter 160 Fight between Love Rivals!

Post a Comment

Zhao Ge Chapter 1-10

Shen Yin Wang Zuo Chapter 851-860

Record of the Missing Sect Master Chapter 111-120 (End)

Shen Yin Wang Zuo

List of Novels A-Z