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Chapter 13: The secrets of Heavenly Jewel Masters (1)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

The camp was just outside the city gates, and Zhou Weiqing walked into the camp excitedly, touching his brand new internal armor and his freshly custom made 1 kg hat. It seems it had totally forgotten what trouble he had gotten himself into yesterday.

As he entered the camp, he bumped into someone familiar. It was the the Company Leader who had asked him how the feeling was like. However, at this time, this fellow's face was all serious, and he held out a hand to stop Zhou Weiqing.

"You're Little Fatty Zhou right?"

Zhou Weiqing gave a honest smile, "Yes! Company Leader Big Bro, I'm Little Fatty Zhou."

The Company Leader said with a stern voice: "What Big Bro? In the army, there is only our posts and ranks. I'm Mao Li, Company Leader from the 5th Regiment, 3rd Battalion, 4th Company. From now onwards, you are a member of my 4th Company, understood?"

Zhou Weiqing replied: "Understood". Although he said that, but in his heart he was slandering the Company Leader: Mao Li? Donkey? Company Leader Donkey?

TL: 毛利 Mao Li is the name, sounding similar to 毛驴 Mao Lu which means donkey.

Company Leader Mao Li did not know that a moment of solemnity had caused that rascal to give him such a nickname, a nickname that would follow him throughout his entire military career.

"Follow me." Mao Li turned and headed towards the main tent.

Zhou Weiqing followed him rather perplexedly, wondering why the Company Leader would personally look after him. After all, he was just a fresh new recruit, normally a squad leader would be handling him. After all, a Company Leader was leading 100 men, and for Heavenly Bow Empire whose army was rather small, they were considered as mid-ranked officials in the army, while a Battalion Commander like Shangguan Bing'er was already considered a high ranking general.

Mao Li brought him deeper and deeper into the camp, into a more desolated area, before finally entering a small tent at the very edge of the camp site.

Zhou Weiqing followed him in. The tent was only 10 metres or so in size, and there was only one bunk in it, without any other decorations or equipment.

Mao Li stood in the tent, saying: "Before the recruitment ends and we head to the recruit training, you will be staying here. This time, our 5th Regiment will be recruiting a thousand men, and our 3rd Battalion alone will be recruiting a hundred, and I estimate we'll probably take at least half a month to finish recruitment.

Zhou Weiqing said in surprise: "Wow, Company Leader, the treatment of our soldiers are so good, we all have our own personal tents?"

"Heh heh" Mao Li laughed, saying: "Of course not, this is specially for you. You rascal, I can't help you here, you'll have to take responsibility for your own actions. Alright, you just rest for now. The army mess is at the left quadrant of the camp, and should be very easy to find. When it is time for us to head for the recruit training, someone will inform you." With that, he turned and left the tent.

After Mao Li had left, Zhou Weiqing had a very bad feeling about the current scenario. He took off his longbow and quiver and left them on the floor before exiting the tent as well.

Previously, he had not examined the area closely. Now, with a wary heart, he took a more detailed survey of his surroundings, and realised that the closest tent to him was 50 metres away. It could be said that his tent was on the very edge of the camp.

Could it be that his real identity had been discovered? That shouldn't be possible! He had been so careful. Suddenly, an beautiful but angry face flashed into Zhou Weiqing's mind, and his heart sank, muttering to himself: "Shangguan Bing'er that chick is the top genius in the Empire, she shouldn't be a big-boobed bimbo and be so fussy and vindictive against me right?"

"Zhou….Little…. Fatty….!!!!" At this time, an angry voice which clearly was with teeth gritted sounded in his ear. The voice was as enchanting as an oriole's chirp, but the tone in it did not bode well for Zhou Weiqing.

Zhou Weiqing spun around quickly, to see Shangguan Bing'er dressed in army fatigues with a dark purple longbow on her back. Zhou Weiqing couldn't help but stare at her in a daze; her air was tied up in a ponytail, and she was not wearing any armor, allowing the dark purple fatigues she was wearing to further accentuate her curves. Coupled with the longbow on her back, she was a lovely picture of a valiant warrior. Unfortunately, the expression on her lovely face was extremely black, almost as if she were about to spit out fire, clearly she had heard him say the words 'big-boobed bimbo'.

Ugh, what sort of luck is this? Zhou Weiqing sighed in his heart, quickly putting on his signature honest smile, "Lord Battalion Commander! I was just uh praising you .. uhm .. on your growth uhh.. development …. …." Having been caught red-handed, even the glib Zhou Weiqing had no idea how to talk his way out of this one.

Shangguan Bing'er was furious! She had originally asked Company Leader Mao Li to assign Zhou Weiqing to this isolated tent so that she could take some revenge on him. At first, she was feeling a bit guilty about it, questioning if she was being too hard on him; after all Zhou Weiqing was just a new recruit, and while he was infuriating, his previous 'misdeeds' had all been accidental. But after listening to his words just now, how could she still be fooled by his honest outlook.

"Private Zhou, Attention!" She shouted loudly.

Zhou Weiqing hurriedly stood at attention, there was no comparing the two of them, after all Shangguan Bing'er was not only his commanding officer with a much higher rank, she was also a Heavenly Jewel Master. As the saying goes, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him.

Shangguan Bing'er reached out with her right hand and took out a horse whip from around her waist, and glared and Zhou Weiqing coldly, saying: "Private Zhou, for insulting a superior officer, your punishment is 10 whips, the penalty will be administered by Shangguan Bing'er. Little Fatty Zhou, turn around now."

Zhou Weiqing looked mournfully at the whip in Shangguan Bing'er's hands, crying in his heart. He did not imagine that he would be whipped on the first day in camp, but now he was under her command and he could only turn around with an unwilling, heavy heart.

Shangguan Bing'er gave an angry hrmph, with a quick stride she was behind Zhou Weiqing, and *Pah* sounded resounded as it whipped across Zhou Weiqing's back.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!" Zhou Weiqing's shrill screams sounded like he was being castrated, his whole body fell onto the floor face first, rolling around in agony.

Shangguan Bing'er looked at the whip in her hands questioningly, thinking hesitatingly: Was it that painful? I didn't use any Heavenly Energy in that blow! This Little Fatty Zhou looks so stout, who knew he is so frail?

Zhou Weiqing's acting was actually so realistic, his body writhing around in pain as he rolled on the ground as if he was about to die.

If we were talking about getting beaten up, who had more experience than him? Since young, he had been punished by beatings countless of times by his father, and he was fully experienced in all sorts of trickeries when he was being beaten.

When Shangguan Bing'er whipped him, he had already dove forward in perfect timing to reduce the impact on his back, and then acted out the scenario to use his pain to win sympathy. He had a lot of experience using this tactic, and was extremely skilled in pulling it off, to the point where it was almost second nature. In truth, this rascal was gloating in his heart, after all he was wearing the titanium alloy internal armor, added to the fact that Shangguan Bing'er had not used any Heavenly Energy, he pretty much did not even feel anything. As such, his act of pain was only a subconscious act that he had performed, and since he had started with it he might as well milk the situation.

Looking at Little Fatty Zhou's pain, Shangguan Bing'er couldn't bring herself to hit him a second time. After rolling around for a while, Zhou Weiqing finally quietened down, but still lay there twitching, as if he couldn't make it already.

Chapter 14: The secrets of Heavenly Jewel Masters (2)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

Shangguan Bing'er hrmphed in anger, "Little Fatty Zhou, I'll administer the remaining 9 whips another time. With your weak physique, how can you be a proper soldier? Before the recruit training starts, this Battalion Commander will be giving you some personal tough training. If you can't finish it, just get lost from here and don't throw our 3rd Battalion's face! I'll come and find you after lunch." After saying that, she spun around and stalked off.

Zhou Weiqing watched her leave, after which he leapt to his feet, the sly expression on his face gone. "There is such a difference between people's personalities. From now on, I shall not anger this Battalion Commander already. Compared to Difuya, she is such a kind soul." Honestly, he had not imagined that he would be let off so easily, he could easily foresee that if the person administering the beatings had been Difuya, he would definitely have to suffer all the remaining 9 blows. Zhou Weiqing had clearly seen the expression on Shangguan Bing'er's face after the first blow, that she couldn't bear to hit him a second time, and he had a very good impression and liking of her. Of course, for this rascal, that liking caused him to slyly think back of the feeling in his hands from the previous day, causing him to drool again.

Soon it was noon; the lunch in the army was nothing special, it was simple and only meant to ensure stomachs were filled. Since Zhou Weiqing wasn't used to any special treatment or foods at home, he was fine with just filling his stomach with the standard fare. Of course, he was eating at the ordinary soldier's mess, the officers had a separate mess area. By the time he got back from lunch, he saw that Shangguan Bing'er was already standing outside his tent waiting for him, dressed in the same outfit as earlier in the morning. Zhou Weiqing was secretly thinking, how great it would be if she were his girlfriend waiting for him. Of course, it was just a passing thought – Zhou Weiqing's greatest strength was that he knew his limits, he would not really expect that the top genius in the empire would fall in love with such a trash who could not cultivate like him.

"Greetings Battalion Commander." Zhou Weiqing quickly walked up towards Shangguan Bing'er and gave her a smart salute.

Although Shangguan Bing'er had a very kind nature, but she was also very intelligent. In the morning, after she had left Zhou Weiqing after the whipping, she realised that she had been fooled. After all, she had not used much strength, how could he be in such pain? That rascal had clearly been acting. He might look very honest but that Little Fatty Zhou was definitely not a good person, if she did not punish him for that she would not be able to assuage her anger. To think that the first man to ever touch her body was such a rascal, Shangguan Bing'er almost couldn't control her anger.

"Little Fatty Zhou, let me ask you, to an archer what is the most important?" Shangguan Bing'er asked solemnly.

Zhou Weiqing answered unhesitatingly: "Speed, strength and accuracy."

Shangguan Bing'er heard his swift and accurate reply and was rather surprised, "Very good, you're right. From your conduct this morning, your physique is in bad shape and not up to standard for an archer. As such, from now onwards, I will be conducting special training for you."

Upon hearing that, Zhou Weiqing's face changed, "Lord Battalion Commander, can we start later? I just ate lunch, and need an afternoon nap."

Shangguan Bing'er said angrily: "Do you have the qualification to bargain with me? A soldier has to follow orders, I hope you remember that point, or you will never be a good soldier, let alone an officer. I'm going to prepare some things, the special training will start in an hour."

After Shangguan Bing'er left, Zhou Weiqing laughed and said, "Although this girl acts tough, but her heart is really soft. She has given me an hour of rest, haha in front of this young master there is no point acting. Alright, I'll go take a nap. Afternoon naps are a good habit, good for the complexion."

When Shangguan Bing'er returned in an hour carrying a heavy duffel bag, all she heard was the snoring sounds of Little Fatty Zhou.

Shangguan Bing'er was both amused and vexed at the same time. This Little Fatty Zhou rascal really just ate and slept, couldn't he tell that she was using her rank to take revenge on him? It was unbelievable that he could still sleep so soundly.

"Little Fatty Zhou, Wake up!" Shangguan Bing'er shouted loudly outside the tent, she naturally would not enter his tent, what if that rascal was sleeping naked?

The snores continued.

A sly light flashed in Shangguan Bing'er's beautiful eyes, and she suddenly shouted loudly: "FIRE!! FIRE!!"

"Aaaahhh…" A loud screech resounded from within the tent, preceding Zhou Weiqing rushing and stumbling clumsily out of the tent. Luckily, although he was dishevelled, at least he was still clothed.

"Where, Where?" shouted Zhou Weiqing as he rushed out, face was filled with panic.

Shangguan Bing'er said exasperatedly: "Are you so afraid of death?"

By now Zhou Weiqing had finally fully woken up, and looking around, he realised that there wasn't any sight of flames around and immediately knew that he had been tricked. His face full of indignation, he said: "It's human nature to be scared of death, those who aren't scared of death are fools. If there's nothing else, I'm going back to sleep." Having said that, he actually turned around and headed back to his tent.

"You wretch, stop right now!" Shangguan Bing'er realised that every time she faced Little Fatty Zhou she would always fall into a rage.

"Battalion Commander, is there anything else?" Zhou Weiqing asked impatiently.

"Special training." Shangguan Bing'er gritted her teeth as she looked at the rascal, and she lifted her hand and threw the duffel bag into Zhou Weiqing's arms. She had already decided that no matter what, she would teach him a lesson today and assuage her anger.

Zhou Weiqing felt his hands filled with a sudden weight, and upon opening the bag, he saw it was filled to the brim with rocks, weighing about 20kg in total. Immediately, he didn't dare to act anymore and said with a pitiable expression: "Battalion Commander, this is too harsh right."

Shangguan Bing'er said coldly: "As an archer, your speed and strength are far from passable, if you don't get a large amount of physical training, how can you survive?"

Zhou Weiqing said: "But, shouldn't being accurate at shooting be enough?"

Shangguan Bing'er asked suspiciously: "Is your archery very accurate?"

Zhou Weiqing had some confidence in his archery, and immediately nodded.

Shangguan Bing'er said: "Okay, if your archery is more accurate, or at least equal, to mine, then you won't have to undergo my special training. Take your equipment and follow me."

Zhou Weiqing shouldered his bow and brought his quiver, and followed Shangguan Bing'er out of the camp.

Once they were out of the camp, Shangguan Bing'er stopped, and pointed towards a large tree, whose trunk was about as thick as a human, about 200 yards away: "See that tree? To be a passable archer, you need to be able to shoot a human figure at least 200 yards away. Your target now is the centre of the tree trunk. Go ahead."

Zhou Weiqing took down his longbow, and took out an arrow of around 90 cm long from his quiver, nocking it to the bow. He drew the bow and took aim – the tree at 200 yards away was but a slim figure – before releasing the arrow.

Chapter 15: The secrets of Heavenly Jewel Masters (3)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

With a swooshing sound, the arrow flew out and embedded itself firmly with a thud into the tree trunk, just a little left of the centre mark. The shot was already considered quite accurate, in the 3rd Battalion, it was mostly only the Company Leaders who could do so well. Although the passing mark of 200m accuracy on a human sized target was true, but the number of soldiers who could actually pull it off was not many.

"Haha! I hit!" Zhou Weiqing waved his bow at Shangguan Bing'er smugly. He actually did not have a 100% confidence in hitting the target, for his skill it was likely he would hit 7 out of 10 times, which was one of the reasons why he chose to join the archer unit in the first place.

"Is that even counted as a hit? I asked you to hit the centre of the trunk. I can shoot more accurately than you even using my feet." Shangguan Bing'er said scornfully.

Zhou Weiqing immediately seized upon her words, "Using your feet? Prove it! If you can use your feet to shoot the centre of the trunk, I'll listen to you and do the training."

"I'm your Battalion Commander, you're supposed to listen to my commands anyway! Give me your bow and arrow." Shangguan Bing'er said with some anger.

Zhou Weiqing handed over his longbow and arrow, and Shangguan Bing'er said coldly, "Watch this." As she said that, she kicked off her army boots, revealing a pair of white soft feet. Before Zhou Weiqing could react, she used her foot to grasp the bow's handle, her right leg moving back to raise the whole bow up. Next, she supported herself upside down with both hands, and used the other foot to grasp an arrow from the quiver.

What made Zhou Weiqing gape in awe was that, Shangguan Bing'er's (reversed-side) body was arched in a bow-shape, right foot in front, left foot nocking the arrow to the bowstring and pulling it in a crescent shape. Her shapely buttocks were almost pressed upon her own head, and her long legs were right in front of Zhou Weiqing.

Her right foot released the string, and with a swoosh, the arrow shot out like lightning. Zhou Weiqing followed it with his eyes, to see the arrow slam into the tree trunk – right smack in the middle.

That was possible? That skill of using her legs to shoot was unbelievably graceful. Zhou Weiqing praised in his heart. She is truly worthy of being the top youthful genius in the whole empire! What Shangguan Bing'er displayed earlier was totally her body's flexibility and control, and she did not use a single bit of Heavenly Energy or her Heavenly Jewels, but followed Zhou Weiqing and only used ordinary physical abilities to shoot the arrow.

With a flip, Shangguan Bing'er righted herself to stand in front of Zhou Weiqing, before throwing him back the bow and quiver. She said quietly: "Now are you convinced?"

Zhou Weiqing looked at her earnestly and said: "Battalion Commander, I think that the next time if you are wearing a dress, you shouldn't use such a skill, else you will reveal everything. But really, your legs are very beautiful." He also had a sentence he kept to himself: Your buttocks are really shapely too!

Shangguan Bing'er had seen his dazed look earlier and thought he had been impressed by her, little did she expect that he would say something like that, making her eyes blaze in anger again, her face flushed in embarrassment. "What is your head is filled with, always thinking such dirty thoughts? Now, Immediately, without delay, carry this bag and run around the camp until I say stop or I'll change the training to sparring with me!!!"

"I'll run now.." Zhou Weiqing said with a wronged look, and he shouldered the bag and started running slowly. Unfortunately for him, no matter how pitiful he acted now, in Shangguan Bing'er's eyes he had a provoking look that made her want to hit him.

"Faster!" Shangguan Bing'er gave him a kick to the behind, before wearing her boots and following him. She would personally oversee his running, and not give him a chance to slack off.

Zhou Weiqing turned his head to look at Shangguan Bing'er, and realised that she now had 2 bright red gems around her wrists.

Are those heavenly jewels? Zhou Weiqing looked on in wonder. Although running while carrying a weight of 20kg was not easy, but he could still handle it for now. Towards Heavenly Jewels, he had a lot of natural curiosity and yearning, and he couldn't help asking: "Battalion Commander, are those your Heavenly Jewels? I've heard that Heavenly Jewel Masters have both Physical and Elemental Jewels, your Elemental Jewels are of the Fire alignment rubies?" The 2 red gems were indeed very similar in look to the fire elemental jewels of Difuya, the only difference he could see was the brightness of the glows. Compared to Difuya's Jewels, the Jewels Shangguan Bing'er's left wrist were much brighter, almost twice so. Also, as compared to the more costly feel of the rubies of Difuya, the 2 red Jewels on her wrist now had a more softer, agile look that gave a comfortable peaceful feeling.

Shangguan Bing'er said: "If you run faster, I'll tell you." Although she was angry with Little Fatty Zhou, she did not have any guarded feelings against him. As a Heavenly Jewel Master, she could tell that Zhou Weiqing did not have any Heavenly Energy within him.

At this point, Zhou Weiqing did not bother trying to slack off anymore, and hurriedly picked up the pace. Although it would be more difficult, but his curiosity about Heavenly Jewels overcame all of that.

Shangguan Bing'er said: "Heavenly Jewel Masters are different from individual Physical or Elemental Jewel Masters. It isn't just as simple as having both types of jewels. You seem to know the basics of Physical and Elemental Jewel Masters, can you tell how mine differs?" As she said that, she showed the Jewels on her right hand as well.

Around her right wrist were two Jade Jewels, both light green and translucent emeralds.

"Dragonstone Jade…. Pure?" Zhou Weiqing said in surprise. Dragonstone Jade were considered high-grade for Jewel Masters, as they signified an improvement in agility. But this was not what gave Zhou Weiqing the surprise, instead it was the sheer purity of the gem. He could see that Shangguan Bing'er's physical gem had no other jades mixed in, and was purely the agility type Dragonstone Jade.

Shangguan Bing'er said: "The Physical Jewels of Heavenly Jewel Masters differ from those of Physical Jewel Masters in terms of purity. That is to say, Heavenly Jewel Masters only have one type of physical enhancement, for example mine is agility. However, the amount of enhancement is equivalent to 1.5 times that of a normal Physical Jewel. All these knowledge are taught in Jewel Master schools.

Purity, so it was purity. Zhou Weiqing was suddenly enlightened to the difference between Physical and Heavenly Jewel Masters. Although there was only one attribute that was enhanced, but a difference of 150% for every level meant that for the same level, no matter what physical attribute Heavenly Jewel Masters were boosted by, a normal Physical Jewel Master could never be of a match.

Shangguan Bing'er continued: "As for my Elemental Jewel, it isn't a ruby as you mentioned. My element is not fire, but wind." Actually, she had no need to explain everything to Zhou Weiqing; she didn't know why but she felt a sense of happiness looking at that fellow's shocked face.

"Wind? But Wind Elemental Jewels should be green tourmaline!" Zhou Weiqing was once again surprised.

Shangguan Bing'er shook her head and said: "Similarly, Heavenly Jewel Master's Elemental Jewels are also different from ordinary Elemental Jewel Masters'. This Elemental Jewel of mine is also a tourmaline, but it is the rarest of all tourmalines – a red tourmaline, also known as King Tourmaline. This is another difference between Heavenly Jewel Masters and Elemental Jewel Masters – although both are wind elementals, but my King Tourmaline's wind attribute is about 1.5 times that of an ordinary tourmaline. It's the same for other attributes, in simple terms, Heavenly Jewels are always the highest grade of Elemental Jewels."

Chapter 16: The secrets of Heavenly Jewel Masters (4)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

"Wow, so fierce? Does that mean that a single Jewelled Heavenly Jewel Master is stronger than a 2-jewelled Physical or Elemental Jewel Master?" Zhou Weiqing said in shock.

Shangguan Bing'er said: "In terms of raw strength, yes. However, Heavenly Jewel Master's also have a tougher time cultivating than ordinary Physical or Elemental Jewel Masters. Throughout the whole mainland, Physical or Elemental Jewel Masters who are able to cultivate to the 9th Jewel are still quite plentiful. However, we still have not heard of any Heavenly Jewel Master who has been able to cultivate to the maximum. In fact, Heavenly Jewel Masters should be considered a different profession altogether. Legend says that the strongest Heavenly Jewel Masters can train up to 12 Jewels, such a level is already against nature's law, able to change anything in the world." As she continued speaking, her eyes revealed a yearning for such a level.

12 Jewels, so Heavenly Jewel Masters could actually cultivate up to 12 Jewels, and not the 9 of the ordinary Physical or Elemental Jewel Masters. Only after listening to Shangguan Bing'er's elucidation, did Zhou Weiqing finally realize how strong his father was. After all, his father was an 8-Jewel Heavenly Jewel Master!

As such, Zhou Weiqing asked probingly: "I hear that our Heavenly Bow Empire's Admiral Zhou is also a Heavenly Jewel Master, is he very strong?"

Without hesitation, Shangguan Bing'er said: "Of course he's strong! Admiral Zhou is the person I respect the most! His level is considered strong even in those large countries, let alone in our Heavenly Bow Empire. His Majesty once said before, even all the Jewel Masters in our Heavenly Bow Empire together would not be able to defeat Admiral Zhou alone. After all, Admiral Zhou has already cultivated up to 8 Heavenly Jewels, and is a mid level Tian Zong. In the whole mainland, he is still considered a first class expert. Furthermore, Admiral Zhou's elemental alignment is one of the 4 top elemental alignments.

Although Shangguan Bing'er was praising his father, Zhou Weiqing somehow could not be overjoyed. The reason was simple, after his burst of exertion running quickly, his stamina was almost drained bare; he was totally drenched in sweat and panting, even speaking was too difficult now.

"Hurry up." The whip appeared in Shangguan Bing'er's hands, and looking at Zhou Weiqing's face streaming with sweat, she couldn't help but feel a sense of joy. This rascal actually had quite a good physical condition, after running so long with the load he was still able to persevere, it was clear that the pain he showed earlier in the morning after the one whip was all acting.

"Battalion Commander, I can't continue anymore, let me rest a while please." Zhou Weiqing wiped the sweat from his face, looking at her pleadingly.

Unfortunately, this time Shangguan Bing'er had already resolved to not fall for the same trick again, her beautiful face turned cold, and her whip lashed out like lightning to land on Zhou Weiqing's buttocks. The pain caused Zhou Weiqing to shudder, and his slowing footsteps picked up speed again. His internal armor did not cover his buttocks after all.

On the other hand, Shangguan Bing'er who was running alongside Zhou Weiqing, was almost like a ghost, her feet lightly touching the ground and every step she seemed to float almost 10 metres; her running seemed almost effortless. Her Physical Jewel attribute was to increase agility and speed, and her Elemental Jewel was also the fastest attribute wind; it could be said that she had the perfect combination of attributes for an agility type Heavenly Jewel Master. If she ran at her top speed, even a 4-Jewel Physical Jewel Master would not be able to catch up with her.

"Ahh! The pain is killing me!" Upon getting the whipping, Zhou Weiqing subconsciously followed the momentum to try and fall down again. However, just as he was about to do so, a slim fine foot appeared in front of him, the toes hooking his chest and stabilizing his falling body. Following which, another whip fell upon his buttocks, causing him to yell in pain again.

"Try acting some more." Shangguan Bing'er said with gritted teeth. She had barely used any strength on her first blow as a test, and just as she had expected, that fellow had failed the test miserably, proving he was acting all along.

In front of Shangguan Bing'er, Zhou Weiqing did not even have the chance to fall down. She was like a purple shadow following him, as soon as he slowed down, a whip would land; as soon as he pretended to fall, he would be stabilized followed by another whip. This time, he had really gotten the worst of it, his buttocks were burning in pain, and his body was getting more tired by the second, and his lungs were like on fire, but he still could not slow down at all.

"Battalion Commander… I… I… I was … wrong." Sweet talking was Zhou Weiqing's specialty, and he was no stranger to admitting his mistakes. After all, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. Alas, once bitten twice shy, after being fooled so many times, Shangguan Bing'er was not falling for his tricks once again.

"Now you know you're wrong? It's too late." Shangguan Bing'er said angrily.

After 15 minutes, Zhou Weiqing's army uniform was already totally drenched in sweat; after all he was carrying 20 kg weights while running! Furthermore, he was only 13 years old, how could he withstand such a high intensity workout.

His vision blurred and blacked out, and his body fell forward once again. Shangguan Bing'er's foot reached him again as usual, but this time although she had hooked him up, but before her whip could fall once again, Zhou Weiqing's body continued falling down. Shangguan Bing'er blanked for a moment, then with a flash she was behind him, supporting his body down onto the ground with her foot. Only then did she realise that this fellow had actually really fainted this time.

"Oi, Oi. Little Fatty Zhou." Shangguan Bing'er nudged his body with his foot twice. The tourmaline on her left wrist flashed, and a pale red glow flew out to land on Zhou Weiqing's wrist. She did not want to touch him, and thus used her energy to check his pulse.

"He really fainted?" Shangguan Bing'er's Heavenly Energy was already at the 8th stage of Heavenly Jing Energy, although she was only using her Heavenly Energy from her Elemental Jewel to check Zhou Weiqing's physical condition, but it was clear that this time he was not acting and had really fainted from exhaustion.

Chapter 17: Immortal Deity Technique, Heavenly Jewel Awakens (1)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

Admiral's Mansion.

In the parlor, 2 men sat at the head seats, one of them was the current Emperor of Heavenly Bow Empire, Di Fengling. On the other side was a sturdy man who was like an iron pagoda, looking around 50 years of age, with bronzed skin that seemed the shine with a healthy glow, with a squarish face, a set of tiger-like eyes, straight nose and squarish mouth*. Although he was seated, anyone could easily see his tall, large frame. The muscles that seemed hard as rock were accentuated by his uniform, and his eyes were full of energy, the black irises seemed to glow from within. This man was the pillar of Heavenly Bow Empire, Admiral Zhou Shuiniu**, also Zhou Weiqing's father.

Admiral Zhou was similar to Shangguan Bing'er, he was also born from a common family, and he grew up taking care of water buffaloes for a living, which was the reason for his name. Of course, no one dared to laugh at his name, anyone who did so was already dead.

"Your Majesty, look at this. Someone sent it to me this morning, it's that little brat's handwriting." Zhou Shuiniu handed Di Fengling a letter.

"Big Bro Zhou, are you making this up to comfort me? I've made up my mind already, if anything happens to Weiqing, Difuya will accompany him in death." Di Fengling said firmly. He had brought Difuya to the mansion yesterday to apologise personally, but had then heard that Zhou Weiqing had not returned, and immediately sent a large number of men to search around the city to no avail.

Zhou Shuiniu said gravely: "Your Majesty, how would this official dare lie to you? You shouldn't be tricked by that brat's honest appearance, he's actually more cunning than anyone, even I have been tricked by him many times. My guess is this time he knows that he has gotten in serious trouble and is afraid that I'll beat him up that's why he doesn't dare to run home*. He has described it so beautifully, hmph, going out and making a living by traveling; I call bullshit, it's more likely he doesn't dare to come home, we can just ignore him."

Di Fengling said with a bitter smile: "As long as Weiqing does not come home safely, I can't be at peace! This situation is Difuya's fault after all, big bro, if Weiqing returns home you must not beat him. After all, this child, such a poor thing, he didn't ask to be born with his meridians blocked, you shouldn't make things more difficult for him already."

"Hmph" Zhou Shuiniu gave a sound of displeasure, saying: "Tiger father, dog son. But that little rascal knows his own limits at least. He's right, how can he be a match for Her Highness the Princess? In my opinion, we should do as he says and call off the engagement."

Di Fengling's face changed, "How can that be! Difuya is now part of your Zhou Family, and will die as a Zhou Family ghost. Big bro, you know that kings do not say things lightly. There should be no more discussion of this matter, if I look down on Weiqing just because he isn't a Jewel Master and break the engagement, how can I have the face to call you bro."

...

When Zhou Weiqing regained consciousness, he found himself back in his own tent. As soon as he awoke, he felt that his whole body was in pain, and his body was unbearable with the stench of sweat. His legs hurt especially so, feeling like they were made of lead, and any movement was as if a thousand needles were jabbing into him, causing him to moan in pain.

"Shangguan Bing'er you just wait, some day I will press you under me and ravage you."

After resting for a while, Zhou Weiqing managed to crawl up from his bunk. As soon as he sat up, he saw that beside the bunk lay 2 large bowls as well as a handwritten note.

In the two large bowls, one of them held 3 large steam buns, and the other had 2 dishes of food, one fried vegetables and the other was stewed meat. Zhou Weiqing had expended all his energy in the afternoon and was starving, so he immediately helped himself to the food, thinking: At least she has some conscience. The steamed buns and dishes are still warm, and the taste is quite good, it definitely did not come from the normal soldiers' mess. As he ate, Zhou Weiqing looked at the note, which only had 4 words on it: We will continue tomorrow.

"Damnit, it hasn't ended! I just touched you once!" Zhou Weiqing said in exasperation, then wretchedly squeezed the steamed bun in his hands with all his mind, as if trying to remember the feeling in his hands.

Zhou Weiqing made short work of dinner, then quickly left the tent, enduring with great difficulty the pain while taking a bath. Although this rascal was cunning and afraid of death, but he had one good point at least, he loved to be clean. He also washed his clothes; do not think that because he was of noble birth he did not know how to do household chores, in fact it was the opposite, he was experienced in all the various household chores from cooking to cleaning, mainly because of his strict father. In the Admiral's mansion, Zhou Weiqing stayed alone in a little courtyard, after the age of 6 he was forced to be self reliant, with no servants to wait upon him, although everything he needed was supplied. Because of this, Admiral Zhou and his wife got into many fights, but Admiral Zhou was stubborn about it, and in the end the Lady Admiral could only get the right to teach Zhou Weiqing to do the chores personally.

After cleansing himself and the uniform, Zhou Weiqing changed to a fresh set of uniform and returned to his tent. By now, the entire camp was quiet.

After returning to his tent, Zhou Weiqing opened the cloth bag that he carried with him, inside were the sundry goods that he had bought after leaving the blacksmith, including powdered cooking condiments, lamp oil etc, though they were trivial items but still necessary for living. The thing he was most worried about becoming a soldier was not being fed well, so he bought those condiments so it would make it easier for him to make some food if necessary. As for the lamp oil, that would come in handy right now.

Zhou Weiqing took out the rice bowl that he had washed, and poured some lamp oil into it before taking a few thin threads twisted together and soaked them in the oil for a while before making it into a wick. He then lighted it, thus creating a temporary lamp, lighting up his small tent.

After doing that, he stuck his head out of his tent and looked around to ascertain that he was alone, before bringing his head back in. He then reached into his shirt carefully and took out a oil-cloth bag that was kept there.

"Luckily I wrapped it carefully with this oil-cloth bag, I sweated so much today, if it had been ruined then I'd be in deep trouble."

He carefully opened the bag to reveal an old book resting inside; it wasn't even made of paper but was bound together using high quality goat leather, was around 2 inches thick and was around several tens of pages long. It definitely looked primitive in nature, and the edges were all frayed. On top of the book were 4 large words: The Immortal Deity Technique*.

*不死神功 – Literally 不死 means Not dying or Undying – I used Immortal in place here

This was the treasure that Zhou Weiqing went to retrieve in the Stars Forest yesterday. It was something he had found when he was ten years old and Admiral Zhou had thrown him into a deep old patch of forest to train his survival skills; he had found it on a skeleton then, and hadn't told anyone else even Admiral Zhou, but hid it in a small hole in a tree within the Stars Forest since then.

As he opened the cover to reveal the first page, it showed a small line of words: Immortal Deity Technique General Principles.

Those without strong willpower cannot learn this, those who do not have the will to die learning this cannot do so. Immortal Deity Technique is actually Definite-Death Deity Technique, but it is to turn the impossible into the possible, using the 36 Large Death Acupuncture Points as cultivation points, retrieving life from death, if not careful it will mark certain death. Be careful, be careful. Those who can break through the 36 Large Death Acupuncture Points will be able to receive and use the energy of the world, to live as long as the world.

Chapter 18: Immortal Deity Technique, Heavenly Jewel Awakens (2)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

Originally, when Zhou Weiqing got this Immortal Deity Technique, he was scared off by the general principles, and thus never dared to start learning it. He had only merely glanced at the contents of the Immortal Deity Technique.

To cultivate Heavenly Energy, one had to have a training art, and using the training art to cultivate Heavenly Energy, absorbing the Heavenly Energy from the surroundings to strengthen one's body and improve their internal Heavenly Energy. Heavenly Energy was split into four large stages, Heavenly Jing Energy, Heavenly Xu Energy, Heavenly Shen Energy and Heavenly Dao Energy, and each stage was again split into 12 different levels. This Immortal Deity Technique was one such training art, but it was extremely unique and differed greatly from the normal training arts.

Normal training arts, no matter what class, were usually various styles of meditation or training the body; all different ways to stimulate the inner talent to absorb the surrounding energy as a foundation. However, the Immortal Deity Technique had carved a totally new path of cultivation instead, it could be said that at the very core of the technique it was very simple – to breakthrough the body's Great Acupuncture Points. There was no real need to absorb heavenly energy from the surroundings through meditation or body training – every time one broke through a Death Acupuncture Point, his Internal Heavenly Energy would raise a level. Collecting Heavenly Energy would be for the purpose of breaking through the Death Acupuncture Points. As such, it could be said that this training art was extremely simple, yet extremely hard to actually cultivate. If he could breakthrough all 36 of the body's Death Acupuncture Points, then his Heavenly Energy could breakthrough to the 36th level, which would be the Heavenly Shen Energy stage, thus entering the last stage of cultivation. After all, his father Admiral Zhou, as the Empire's top expert, was only at the 32nd level of cultivation, the Heavenly Shen Energy Stage 8, and he had not been able to advance for the past 5 years.

When Zhou Weiqing was young, Admiral Zhou used to look for many different training arts to let him try cultivating, and at least throughout all the many arts that he had attempted using, none of them would ever pass by the important Death Acupuncture Points in the body.

That was the main reason why Zhou Weiqing had not dared to start trying out this training art. However, after all these years, almost every year Admiral Zhou would examine him body, but still there was no sign of his blocked meridians improving upon his growing older. At this rate, he would continue being a trash forever. Zhou Weiqing had struggled with this decision for a long long time, the decision whether or not to start learning this Immortal Deity Technique, and it was not only til today that he had finally made his decision and firmed his resolve.

Admiral Zhou was a Heavenly Jewel Master, and it was usually hereditary; most descendants of Heavenly Jewel Masters would also likely have Heavenly Jewels, as long as they could awaken it. However, on examining Zhou Weiqing's body, it was found that several of his blocked meridian passageways were actually passing through a few Death Acupuncture Points. That was the reason why Admiral Zhou had never dared to use his own Heavenly Energy to try and force open Zhou Weiqing's meridians, despite his aspirations that his son succeed him. At that time, Zhou Weiqing had thought that if he could master this Immortal Deity Technique and break through those Death Acupuncture Points, he could also solve his blocked meridian issue and start cultivating Heavenly Energy.

Today, after listening to the secrets of the Heavenly Jewels from Shangguan Bing'er, the desire to become a Heavenly Jewel Master far surpassed the pain he was feeling in his body now. He had made up his mind to at least try out this Immortal Deity Technique; if he did not even try, how could he be reconciled to his fate so easily. He knew clearly that he did not have much time left – if humans did not Awaken their Power Jewels by the age of 16, they would forever lose the chance of doing so. By that time it would mean he would forever be a trash, and who really was satisfied being so forever given a choice? Even though Zhou Weiqing was afraid of death, but he was even more afraid of being a trash forever.

Taking a deep breath, the usual honest look on Zhou Weiqing face had disappeared, replaced with a look of serious determination. Making use of the dim light from his makeshift lamp, he turned the next page of the old manual. The 2nd page of the manual depicted the first of the Death Acupuncture Points to breakthrough for the Immortal Deity Technique.

On the old lamb leather it was inscribed : The human body has 52 Single Acupuncture Points, 300 Double Acupuncture Points, 50 Outside-Meridian Special Acupuncture Points, and a grand total of 720 Acupuncture Points. Of which, 108 were vulnerable points, and 72 were nonlethal and 36 were fatal, the Death points mentioned previously.

Immortal Deity Technique First Part, Upper, Lower Limbs Training Arts. First Death Acupuncture Point: Clavicle Point.

The Clavicle Point was situated at the upper part of the shoulder.

The page depicted clearly how to breakthrough the clavicle point, including pictures and labels to distinctly show the points.

The Clavicle Acupuncture Point was a double point, one for left and right each. Zhou Weiqing tried pressing softly on his own left Acupuncture Point, and felt his whole left side go numb for a while, scaring him – it was indeed formidable. It must be known that for the 36 Death Acupuncture Points, there were stronger and weaker ones, and after flipping through the Immortal Deity Technique, he found out that the later ones were all much stronger. The Technique was split into 4 parts; the first part were the Points on the limbs, consisting of 5 Points, the second part was the back, consisting of 8 Points, 3rd was the frontal chest portion, consisting of 14 points, and the last was the head area which consisted of 9 points. It could be said that it was from easy (relatively) to tough. Even so, even the easiest clavicle Acupuncture Point brought such a feeling, this made Zhou Weiqing shudder in fear. Could these Death Acupuncture Points really be broken through?

After hesitating for a while, he finally firmed his resolve again, as the saying goes, if it's meant to be yours, it will be yours; if he could pull it off he could finally have a chance to be a Heavenly Jewel Master, if he did not try he would be a trash forever.

To no longer be a trash. This was the conviction in his heart that let Zhou Weiqing finally take his first step to his life of cultivation. He concentrated quietly, and started cultivating according to the Immortal Deity Technique.

Focusing his consciousness to his Clavicle Acupuncture Point, he started sensing his whole body quietly. The toughest part of any foray was the always the starting point, the first step. In this case, the most difficult first part was to sense the very weak Internal Heavenly Energy within his body, and start focusing the energy to breaking through the Acupuncture Point. According to the manual, the Clavicle Point was the easiest to breakthrough out of all the 36 points, and the true key was whether or not he could survive this. Once he survived the breakthrough, he would have gotten past the critical first stage.

After an hour, the fatigue and sore pain was causing Zhou Weiqing to be unable to maintain his calm, he also couldn't sense any hint of internal Heavenly Energy at all. However, although he was afraid of death, but he was also had a mental fortitude in him, as long as he decided to do something, he will definitely follow through to the end.

2 hours passed… it was already late at night by then and only the occasional cricket sound would interrupt the absolute silence of the night.

Am I really fated not to be able to cultivate? Even this Immortal Deity Technique seems impossible for me? Zhou Weiqing was on the verge of giving up, it was already 2 whole hours, and his back and waist was already aching badly, and his feet going numb, from sitting still for so long, yet he still could not sense any Heavenly Energy.

Chapter 19: Immortal Deity Technique, Heavenly Jewel Awakens (3)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

All of a sudden, just as he was thinking of giving up, he suddenly felt an icy feeling in his lower gut, the exact description in the manual.

He could sense the Heavenly Energy! Zhou Weiqing rejoiced in his heart, and hurriedly focused all his attention at the lower gut area, gingerly feeling the stream of cold there and guiding it upwards.

What seemed to surprise him was that, after the stream of cold had appeared, it started growing more and more obvious, unlike what was described in the Immortal Deity Technique of it only being a tiny trace. As soon as it reached his chest area, it had since grown into a small ball; the whole process seemed very smooth, and it appeared that it was about to reach the Clavicle Death Acupuncture Point.

I must succeed! Zhou Weiqing screamed in his heart, he was at the point of no return now, and he gritted his teeth and willed with all his might, causing the stream of cold to viciously smash into his left Clavicle Acupuncture Point.

*Zeng* As soon as the cold stream rushed into the point, Zhou Weiqing felt as if his entire left side was struck by a bolt of lightning, losing all sensation there. Moments later, the numbness started to spread from his left side to the right, and soon his entire body had lost its feeling except for his head.

A violent, maniac air seemed to burst forth from his left Clavicle Acupuncture Point, running amok through his body. However, at this point, Zhou Weiqing did not feel any pain, but instead felt his consciousness start blurring, and with a "FWAH" sound, he spat out a mouthful of blood. He did not know that in cultivating Heavenly Energy, pain was actually not the scariest thing, but what was happening to him was indeed. Numbness, usually signified that cultivation had gone terribly wrong. The Principles outlined earlier had stated that the Immortal Deity Technique could be likened to a Certain-Death Technique, and it certainly seemed that way. However, in the cultivation world, a lot of things also depended on luck, and it could be said that success usually comes only to one in 10 thousand people. It seemed obvious that Zhou Weiqing was not such a person.

Failing to break through the Death Acupuncture Point, there would only be one result – Death.

This poor fellow did not know what he was about to face, and was still trying his best to carry on. He only felt like his left Clavicle Acupuncture Point felt like a funnel point, funneling out all his life energy from his body. At this point nearing death, he did not feel any pain but instead felt a sense of pleasure.

As his consciousness started fading away, Zhou Weiqing still had hopes that he had gotten lucky – Have I succeeded?

At this point, a small stream of cold erupted from his lower gut again, as if a large ice ball had shattered in his stomach, splitting apart into countless shards of ice arrows, shooting into his various meridian passageways crazily.

A second ago, Zhou Weiqing was still floating around in pleasure, and the next moment, it was as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. The numb sensation was replaced by an unbelievable cold. At this point, his heart was overwhelmed by a strong sense of bloodlust, his eyes turned bloodshot instantly, his short black hair all standing up, and his body seemed surrounded by a greyish-black aura.

The energy gushing out from his Clavicle Acupuncture Point had stopped with the appearance of the black aura. If we were to liken the breaking-through of the point as Zhou Weiqing puncturing a hole in a football, then the black aura had sealed the hole.

Zhou Weiqing's body began shaking uncontrollably; the cold was not from the surrounding, but rather from deep within the bones, it permeated his bloodstream, down to the marrow of his bones. All he could feel was waves of cold emitting out from his body repeatedly, and along with the cold he could clearly see a black – grey layer of dust forming around his skin. The extreme cold caused him to lose control of his body, and he fell down to the ground, his mouth opened involuntarily, and every breath he took caused a gust of black-grey airstream to gush out from his body, and it seemed like the outer layer of his skin was soon covered with 2 sets of tattoos – black and grey.

Zhou Weiqing starting to learn the Immortal Deity Technique was tantamount to suicide, after all a one in ten thousand chance was certainly not high. Still, though he did not seem to have much luck on the innate talent training side, but he seemed to be extremely lucky in other ways. And this luck stemmed from the black pearl that he had swallowed in the Stars Forest.

If successfully training the Immortal Deity Technique was a one in ten thousand chance, then swallowing the black pearl was a unique chance that could only happen once. Due to him activating the Immortal Deity Technique, causing his Clavicle Acupuncture Point to break open, it somehow also stimulated and awoke the black pearl which had been lying dormant in his body. The scenario happening now was indeed caused by the black pearl's awakening.

Originally, when the black pearl entered his body, it only exerted a subtle influence in improving his body slowly, but when he started on the Immortal Deity Technique this night, it had triggered the energy within the pearl in advance.

An unspeakably evil presence seem to swell up in his body, the ice cold feeling was actually the black pearl's immense energy; energy which was invading every corner of Zhou Weiqing's body without any hesitation – it was indeed domineering.

If it were anyone else, perhaps he might have self-imploded by now, but Zhou Weiqing's body was greedily absorbing the energy of the black pearl in a frenzy.

In fact, this was the true reason why the black pearl had chosen to enter his body after appearing in this spatial region.

At that time, it had been drawn to Zhou Weiqing���s anger and un-resigned will after he had been struck down by Difuya's fireball. It had just broken through the spatial dimensions into this world, when Zhou Weiqing had coincidentally spat out a mouthful of blood onto it. Zhou Weiqing's blood itself contained a dark energy, which was also aligned with the black pearl's own energy, and thus it had chosen Zhou Weiqing.

As for why Zhou Weiqing's blood contained the dark alignment energy, it was simple – because Admiral Zhou's Elemental Jewel Alignment was Darkness. Since Zhou Weiqing was of the Admiral's bloodline, he naturally inherited the same alignment, as such he was able to attract and fuse together with the black pearl.

However, the energy within the black pearl was too domineering. Besides the darkness attribute, it also contained several other elemental attributes, of which included the spatial attribute which it had used to arrive in this world, along with many other hidden attributes. The sheer amount of energy and various elemental attributes mixed together and entering his body was now changing Zhou Weiqing's internal elemental attributes, which was the reason why the pain he was experiencing was so strong. It was definitely a much greater suffering than the muscle fatigue and soreness that he had been experiencing earlier.

Chapter 20: Immortal Deity Technique, Heavenly Jewel Awakens (4)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

Although Zhou Weiqing was afraid of death, but his willpower was also a lot more tenacious than most, he had to thank his father for that; if his father had not given him such a tough training and treatment from young, he would certainly not have turned out this way.

As the minutes passed, Zhou Weiqing felt his body turning hot and cold randomly, at times feeling all numb and sore, at times unbearably itchy, causing him to roll around in the tent uncontrollably. Layers of black grey dust kept seeping out from his skin, spreading around in the tent until it was almost fully permeated in it.

His eyes were turning more and more bloodshot, and his consciousness was fuzzy from the pain. In his mind's eye, he seemed to see a strange image, or perhaps to say a strange creature.

It was a huge black tiger, fully pitch-black without any other colours, its whole body was also covered with a black-gray aura, and its bloodshot eyes filled with death. A green blue airstream also swirled around its body, but the strangest thing was its tail which wasn't a usual tiger's tail, but instead was a large scorpion's tail.

What was that creature? Zhou Weiqing was filled with surprise and uncertainty. He was no fool, in fact he was a very intelligent person, if by this time he did not realise that the changes in his body was due to the black pearl that he had swallowed, he would not be Zhou Weiqing. However, all of this was not under his control and he could only lie back and accept it.

What he did not know was that the blocked meridians that had plagued him for 13 years was now cleared out by the domineering black-white energy swirling around his boy, and the impurities of his body were also being quickly expelled in his body as he withstood the extreme pain. He was going through a whole body-remoulding that was the benefit of cultivating the first 3 levels of Heavenly Energy.

There were only 2 companies consisting of 200 soldiers stationed at this camp outside of the Heavenly Bow City. One company was archers and the other was infantry. After all, they were only here for recruitment purposes, thus 200 soldiers were sufficient.

As the Battalion Commander, Shangguan Bing'er was the highest ranking officer in the camp, and her tent was situated right in the middle of the camp. At this moment, she was seated cross-legged on her bed cultivating Heavenly Energy.

No matter Elemental, Physical or even Heavenly Jewel Masters, Heavenly Energy was the basic core necessity, if you wanted to level up your Jewels, you needed to cultivate Heavenly Energy first.

All of a sudden, Shangguan Bing'er's eyebrows twitched. A pale green airstream emitted from her mouth before being sucked back slowly through her nose, and her hands slowly rested back down onto her knees, and her eyes opened.

"What is that aura? Such cold; Elemental and Physical? Heavenly Jewel Master? There's a Heavenly Jewel Master Awakening in the camp?"

With a swoosh, Shangguan Bing'er got out of bed swiftly, her eyes uncertain. As a Heavenly Jewel Master, her senses were 10 times sharper than a normal persons', especially towards fellow Heavenly Jewel Masters.

When Heavenly Jewels Awakened, there was usually a loud burst of energy, as both Physical and Elemental Jewels formed. Towards such a phenomenon, it would induce a strong reaction in Heavenly Jewel Masters in the vicinity. Of course, the range of this was limited, at least Admiral Zhou who was in the Admiral's Mansion could not sense it.

Pausing a while to regain her composure, Shangguan Bing'er concentrated her focus on the source of the aura. Quickly, her gaze locked on upon one direction. She had determined clearly that it was definitely a Heavenly Jewel Master Awakening, and rejoiced in her heart.

The whole Heavenly Bow Empire only had 2 Heavenly Jewel Masters – Admiral Zhou and herself, and to a country, especially one so small like Heavenly Bow Empire, every Heavenly Jewel Master was a huge deterrent*. The reason why Kalise Empire was always suppressing Heavenly Bow Empire was because they had 3 Heavenly Jewel Masters. If not for the fact that Admiral Zhou's cultivation level was higher than them, Heavenly Bow Empire might already have been wiped out by Kalise Empire. After all, the Kalise Empire had lusted after their territories for quite a long while, especially the Stars Forest.

Shangguan Bing'er did not stop moving as she thought, she knew that it was very dangerous for Heavenly Jewel Masters when they were Awakening. If they were not careful, their bodies could be destroyed by the immense energy brought about by the twin Jewels Awakening. One of the reason why there were so few Heavenly Jewel Masters was also because of this reason – almost 3 out of 10 Heavenly Jewels would perish from that reason alone. As such, she needed to find the person who was Awakening immediately and do her best to assist and ensure success.

Following her senses, Shangguan Bing'er quickly found the source. As she passed through the various tents in the camp and reached the small tent on the outskirts, she couldn't help but pause, numbed in surprise.

It's him? How can it be him? Isn't that the tent where Little Fatty Zhou fainted in exhaustion this afternoon? In actuality, she did not hate or have a sense of disgust towards Zhou Weiqing, it was just a coincidence that Zhou Weiqing had angered her so many times that she had decided to punish that rascal once. In her eyes, Zhou Weiqing was just a small soldier in her Battalion, one who was outwardly honest but inwardly sly and cunning, and there wasn't anything strange about him. After seeing him faint from fatigue earlier that day, she had already decided to reduce the weight of the stones tomorrow. Of course, the reason why she was doing this was not just to punish Zhou Weiqing, but also she was impressed with his talent in archery. If Zhou Weiqing knew this, who knows what he would think.

Shangguan Bing'er was very kind by nature, and although she was dazed outside of the tent by shock for a while, but she quickly recovered herself. After all, Zhou Weiqing was her subordinate, without mentioning the fact of the benefits to her Battalion for bringing up a Heavenly Jewel Master – personally as a Heavenly Jewel Master, since both were members of Heavenly Bow Empire, she would definitely help Zhou Weiqing.

As such, she did not hesitate any further, and sped towards Zhou Weiqing's tent. Before she even entered the tent, Shangguan Bing'er already felt a large burst of ice cold airstream. Even for her at the eighth stage of Heavenly Energy, she could not help but shiver with the cold, as if her whole bloodstream was frozen. She quickly circulated her Heavenly Energy to resist against the cold.

What a strong burst of energy, in the day she had not noticed that this fellow had any sign of Heavenly Energy, how could he Awaken his Power Jewels at night? Could it be that in this short period of time, he had raised 4 stages of Heavenly Energy? Heavenly Jewel Masters were different from Elemental or Physical Jewel Masters – they had to raise to stage 4 before their Jewels Awakened as compared the 3 stages for Elemental or Physical Jewel Masters. As she thought about all that, Shangguan Bing'er was filled with confusion. What made her even more surprised was the extreme cold that chilled to the bone. Even a Water Elemental Heavenly Jewel Master would not emit such energy, even their ice powers would only be icy cold, but not this sort of dark coldness. Could it be that his Elemental Attribute was Darkness?

When comparing Heavenly Jewel Masters, the Elemental Attribute of their Elemental Jewels was a large factor in determining strength. Amongst all the attributes, the strongest attributes were Darkness, Light, Spatial and Life. These four elements were considered the 4 Great Attributes. Not only were they extremely rare, but they were also much stronger than ordinary attributes. Amongst them, Darkness Attribute was considered the most mysterious. If this Little Fatty Zhou was really Darkness Attribute, then his future prospects was extremely promising, and he might even exceed her.

Upon thinking about this, Shangguan Bing'er dared not prolong any further, and immediately entered the tent. As soon as she entered, the first thing she saw were a pair of deep red bloodshot eyes.

Chapter 21: Tourmaline Sacrifice, Alexandrite Cat's Eye (1)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

What sort of eyes were those? When Shangguan Bing'er stared into the pair of bloodshot eyes, she was suddenly dazed, and a sense of cold ten times stronger than outside the tent assaulted her.

In the pair of bloodshot eyes lay many negative emotions, ice cold, evil, violence, demonic, and many others she couldn't identify. Even though her Heavenly Energy Level was not very high, but she was after all a Heavenly Jewel Master. Even so, when she saw the pair of eyes, she felt the world spinning around her, as if her soul was being sucked away by those evil orbs.

During that moment of being stunned, a great strength was applied onto her, and Shang Gong Bin Er felt her body instantly enveloped in an unyielding embrace. A lady's inborn protection of her body caused her to clear her mind a little, and as she opened her eyes, she realised that the owner of the pair of bloodshot eyes was indeed Little Fatty Zhou.

At this moment, Zhou Weiqing's body seemed to have grown larger by a full size, all his muscles had expanded considerably, and the surface of skin was glowing with a demonic black-grey tattoo. He seemed to be giving off an unruly and wild aura. The army fatigues he had been wearing had long since been vaporized, only the shiny inner armor was left, supported by his tough muscles. Luckily, the snake sinew was extremely tough and flexible, and the inner armor had not been destroyed by his enlarged body.

"Let go of me." Shangguan Bing'er said angrily, trying to make use of her Heavenly Energy to break free of Zhou Weiqing's embrace. However, at that instance, an evil light flashed in Zhou Weiqing's eyes, and he lowered his head and kissed her on her lips.

Shangguan Bing'er felt a surge of icy cold energy invade her body, and the Heavenly Energy she had been gathering seemed to freeze up and she was unable to manipulate it. What caused her to sink into fear and despair was that within that ice cold, there was a unique animal desire within, that made her whole body to go limp and aching. As her body turned colder, her inner heart suddenly started feeling hotter, the base human desires were sparked by the energy breathed within her.

Sacrificial Offering. In that instance, although Shangguan Bing'er's consciousness was not very clear anymore, but she subconsciously thought of the 2 words.

It was a legend; which said that there were a bunch of unique Heavenly Jewel Masters. Though their numbers were few, but they were among the strongest of all the Heavenly Jewel Masters. However, they were the very embodiment of evil. When their Heavenly Jewel Awakened, they would generate a unique attribute alignment which was above other Elemental Attributes. This attribute was called the Evil Attribute, and this Evil Attribute would ignite their own body, causing them to be overcome with bloodlust during their Jewel's Awakening. At this moment, they required a sacrificial offering to appease the Evil Attribute and stop it from destroying their bodies. The sacrificial offering would usually be the person closest to them – which was likely their closest kin, friends or even lovers. As such, once they had gone through the sacrificial offering and successfully Awakened their Heavenly Jewels, they would have the Evil attribute added to their elemental attributes, becoming a Heavenly Jewel Master who was way above average.

However, in doing so, the one close to them who was used as the sacrificial offering had no other outcome but death, sometimes even being raped brutally before being killed. This was not under the control of the Awakening Heavenly Jewel Master. In fact, many of these Heavenly Jewel Masters had committed suicide after Awakening and realising what they had done. Even those who did not commit suicide would experience a serious change in personality, becoming a deviant in the Heavenly Jewel Masters' ranks. Such a group were considered the most terrifying, definitely not people to be trifled with. Shangguan Bing'er had never in her wildest dreams ever imagined that one day this would happen to her.

Actually, this was because she had not been careful, after all she was only 15 years old. Although she had felt the large energy fluctuation inside the tent earlier, but she had naturally assumed that Little Fatty Zhou who was just Awakening his Jewels could not compare with herself who already had 2 Heavenly Jewels. As such, she did not even activate her Jewels before entering the tent, and had been caught by surprised and subdued by Zhou Weiqing instantly.

This is it, this is the end. Am I just going to die like this? Mommy… mommy… Shangguan Bing'er's last moments of lucidity was to think of her mother, and 2 rows of tears streamed down her cheeks. The next moment, her body, as well as that of Zhou Weiqing who was embracing her, were both enveloped in a bout of crazed desire.

The black-grey air-stream emitted out crazily from Zhou Weiqing's body, and seemed to form a huge cocoon, surrounding and covering his and Shangguan Bing'er's body.

Shangguan Bing'er's clothes were torn into shreds and tossed out of the cocoon one by one, and loud, heavy gasps and pants, as well as pained yet happy moans resounded from within the cocoon.

Creaks and groans issued from Zhou Weiqing's bones unceasingly, and his internal vital organs were wriggling around, the blood flow in his body was almost five times the usual speed while his body was being remoulded by the evil yet miraculous power. The black tattoos on his skin were now more dense, and green, blue, silver lights were now interlacing the black cocoon.

After an unknown amount of time, everything settled down, and the red bloodlust in Zhou Weiqing's eyes seemed to be even stronger. At that moment, he was overwhelmed with the desire to devour the innocent lamb in his arms. It was as if the black pearl wanted to swallow the King Tourmaline. However, just at that point, he saw the 2 gentle, beautiful blue eyes of Shangguan Bing'er.

No, No, I can't devour her. That was Zhou Weiqing's last thought, and the next instance he was holding her body tight, and both their bodies started trembling strongly. Zhou Weiqing then fainted from the pleasure of his Jewels Awakening, and everything seemed to fade away as the Jewels formed around his wrists.

When Shangguan Bing'er came to, the first thing she noticed was a queer smell, then as she started to regain full consciousness, the pain in her body caused her to moan out loud.

What happened to me? Her memories were vague from the time where her consciousness had been fading, and as she opened her eyes dazedly, she realised she was lying on a solid chest. In the next instance, she started to shudder uncontrollably as she realised that both she and the body below were totally naked, and pain was also coming in waves in her lower body.

As she struggled to support herself in climbing away from Zhou Weiqing, her memory started to return slowly.

Chapter 22: Tourmaline Sacrifice, Alexandrite Cat's Eye (2)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

I… I actually became the sacrifice for his Heavenly Jewel Awakening. Tears started to flow from her eyes, she never expected that her first time would be taken in such a dubious manner, by such a man. Kill him, I have to kill him.

As she tried to gather her Heavenly Energy, she woefully realised that she only had a shred of Heavenly Energy left, and she wasn't even able to summon her Heavenly Jewels. Without any other choice, she started to look around for a sharp weapon.

"En…" At this time, Zhou Weiqing made a sound as he started to wake up, mostly because when Shangguan Bing'er got up she just happened to land on his arm.

As he opened his eyes in a daze, the first thing he saw was the naked Shangguan Bing'er, and instantly his eyes widened. Shangguan Bing'er froze in place, her eyes filled with anger and killing intent, and she glared at him. However, to her utmost surprise, Zhou Weiqing's surprise quickly eased away, and he even closed his eyes immediately, muttering to himself: "That scared me to death, I must be having a wet dream. I must continue dreaming, who knows something might happen between the two of us."

"I'm … Going… To … Kill…. You….!" The five words seemed to be squeezed out from Shangguan Bing'er's gritted teeth. By now, she had found the sharp weapon she had been looking for, as she struggled to move her body and draw an arrow from the quiver lying there, then lunged with it towards Zhou Weiqing.

When Zhou Weiqing heard her cry, he had already cleared his head and came to, just in time to see Shangguan Bing'er lunging at him. In shock, he quickly flipped his body around, at a much faster speed than ever before, and instantly flipped away from the bunk and dodging Shangguan Bing'er's blow. After launching this attack, Shangguan Bing'er's last shred of energy was drained, and she couldn't attack any further.

"This… is real?" Zhou Weiqing stared in shock at Shangguan Bing'er. As his mind cleared, this time he really wasn't acting but was really shocked by the scene in front of him.

What he saw was not just the naked Shangguan Bing'er, but the fact that her soft skin was almost covered fully with ugly green-purple bruises, and her long legs were still blood-stained.

Zhou Weiqing's first thought was that he was doomed, he had finally remembered some of what had happened last night, but his last clear memory was seeing a strange tiger with 2 pairs of wings on its back and a scorpion's tail, after which he had lost control of his body and lapsed into semi-consciousness, immersed in inhuman agony. However, the feeling had changed later on, as if he had found a relief outlet, and a comfortable feeling had replaced the pain. The various energies rampaging through his body had slowly straightened themselves out, and the pain had vanished. At that time, he still remembered a flash of clarity, and what he saw at that point was indeed Shangguan Bing'er below him, moaning…

Although Zhou Weiqing was rather cunning and a little dirty-minded, being precocious for his age, but he did not have a bad character. Having met with such a scenario, his entire mind blanked out. Sullying her, and even with such violence, no matter how Shangguan Bing'er took revenge on him, he would not have any complaint.

Shangguan Bing'er struggled again to get up, tears flowing down her cheeks. With much difficulty, she raised the arrow in her hand, and once again stabbed down towards Zhou Weiqing.

*Ting* A light metallic sound rang out as the arrow struck Zhou Weiqing's chest area, and was blocked by the titanium alloy inner armour. Shangguan Bing'er did not have much strength left, and her exertion actually caused her to fall back into Zhou Weiqing's arms.

Zhou Weiqing subconsciously embraced her soft, bruised body, Shangguan Bing'er's stabbing caused him to fully wake up.

"I'm so… sorry, I really did not mean to, it was not intentional, I don't know how that happened. Although I know I am not worthy of you, but if you don't mind, I will take responsibility for everything, and take care of you." When Zhou Weiqing said that, he was being very serious, and had none of his usual bantering. In the past at home, only when he had committed a serious mistake would he use such a tone.

Shangguan Bing'er's body stiffened in Zhou Weiqing's arms. At this moment, as she was in his arms with her head turned, her gaze just happened to fall upon his left wrist. What she saw was a rose-red Elemental Jewel that looked similar to a ruby. The reason why it was similar was because the colour was exactly the same, but there were some very unique markings on the Jewel, markings that seemed to be like a narrow cat's eye. Yes, in fact, this was the very characteristic of a cat's eye jewel.

As a Heavenly Jewel Master, Shangguan Bing'er was extremely sensitive to Heavenly Jewel Master's Elemental Jewels. Even though she was in immense grief at the moment, it still didn't change her instincts. The reason she had stiffened suddenly was because she had noticed this strange Jewel, in her memory she could not remember an Elemental Jewel with such an attribute.

Heavenly Jewels consisting of Cat's Eye did exist, it symbolised one of the 4 Great Attributes – the Spatial Attribute. However, an ordinary Elemental Jewel Master with the Cat's Eye Jewel would have it in a dark yellow colour, this was universal. As for Heavenly Jewel Master's with the Cat's Eye Jewel, it would usually be the prime quality Chrysoberyl Cat's Eye. Chrysoberyl Cat's Eyes were a light gold with an inner pale jade green glow, not the rose red colour that Zhou Weiqing's was showing.

Shangguan Bing'er raised her hands to try to wipe off her tears in order to see clearly. However, this made Zhou Weiqing who was holding her misunderstand, and he thought that Shangguan Bing'er was trying to hit him again.

Although Zhou Weiqing was wearing the titanium inner armour, it only protected his upper body. Shangguan Bing���er was after all a Heavenly Jewel Master! The innate fear of death he had made him subconsciously let go of Shangguan Bing'er, and with a roll he had dodged into the edge of the tent.

Shangguan Bing'er fell down onto the bunk again, and the pain caused her to curl up. This also caused her to recover from her shock and her anger to return.

Zhou Weiqing had taken off his outer clothing when he started cultivating last night, as such when his Jewels were Awakened, only his underclothes were torn apart. As such, now that his fear of death mode was activated, he grabbed his pants and coat, flipped around and ran out of the tent at a much faster speed than usual.

It was now the first glimmer of dawn, and the first signs of light were just showing in the outside skies.

As soon as he was out of the tent, Zhou Weiqing donned his clothes in a jiffy and ran. He knew he had done much wrong to Shangguan Bing'er, but nevertheless he was just running for his life now.

Chapter 23: Tourmaline Sacrifice, Alexandrite Cat's Eye (3)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

As soon as he started running, Zhou Weiqing quickly realised the change to his body. Compared to the past, it seemed as if his body was ten times lighter, and every step he ran was 5-6 metres. The aches in his body from the previous day's run was totally gone.

Zhou Weiqing then remembered the true origin of everything that happened last night, and groaned inwardly: Oh no. He had left the Immortal Deity Technique manual in the tent when he ran out just now.

The dismay was soon replaced by happiness though, as he thought to himself: Did I master the Immortal Deity Technique? At this point, he had already ran out of the army camp, and ran in a single direction. At the same time, he focused his attention on his Clavicle Acupuncture Point.

Zhou Weiqing realised that his Clavicle Acupuncture Point seemed to have become like a whirlpool – but it was no longer like yesterday where it was drawing his energy in, but instead it was now drawing it from the world outside; it was truly unique and amazing.

When he concentrated upon the whirlpool, Zhou Weiqing immediately felt the energy suction power strengthen, and strands of cold energy flowed unstoppably into his body from the environment, finally entering his Dantian. He also quickly realised the other changes in his body.

When he focused on the Clavicle Acupuncture Point, 3 other Acupuncture Points also gave him a similar feeling.

First were the the ones on both wrists, although Zhou Weiqing had not fully memorised the whole Immortal Deity Technique, but he had gone through the first few pages many times and remembered clearly that this was the second Death Acupuncture Point in the first section – the Taiyuan Acupuncture Point, which when focused would disrupt the Hundred Meridians, causing internal injury. Taiyuan Acupuncture Points was similar to the Clavicle Acupuncture Points, being a double Point, each on a wrist.

Besides the Taiyuan Acupuncture Point, there were also the points on the outer knee, the ZhuSanLi Point, and the SanYinJiao on the ankles. These 4 large Death Acupuncture Points were now similar to his Clavicle Acupuncture Points, each having generated a whirlpool which was now constantly drawing energy from the atmosphere.

Zhou Weiqing knew that this was all the contribution of the black pearl, and it was the one which helped him breakthrough the four Death Acupuncture Points. In one fell swoop, he had almost completed the whole first section of the Immortal Deity Technique, without only one last Point to go. His Heavenly Energy had also shot up to an impressive 4th stage.

This fellow had rather thick nerves*, a while ago he was still full of regret and pain from hurting Shangguan Bing'er, and now he was full of excitement from the successful cultivation of the Immortal Deity Technique.

*TL: 神经粗壮 – literally translated to thick nerves, it's a Chinese phrase that is rather difficult to translate to an English meaning. It has connotations of being undiscerning or uncaring or naive to a relatively minor degree, depending on the context used. Can be used in a good or bad sense.

Heavenly Energy 4th stage, doesn't that mean I have Awakened my Power Jewels?

Zhou Weiqing quickly realised the implications, and looked down at his wrists. As soon as he did so, he suddenly stopped running, raising his hands in front of him, cackling insanely out loud.

"Haha! Wahahaha! Heavenly Jewel! I finally have Heavenly Jewels, I'm a Heavenly Jewel Master! Wahaha, now who can say I'm a trash!!" This bout of insane laughter caused him to almost spit out saliva all around. Years of repressed feelings were suddenly released, and he couldn't help but to express the sheer joy he was feeling.

On Zhou Weiqing's right wrist was a white pearl, glittering and translucent, as if it were an ice crystal. There were no impurities at all; it was the pure jade of a Heavenly Jewel Master, but it was different from Shangguan Bing'er's Dragonstone Jade, and was instead the Icy Jade, which gave him a pure strength boost.

On his left wrist, was a strange and unique jewel. It was totally dark blue in colour, yet on top there was a bright marking which was glowing in white and seemed to move along when Zhou Weiqing moved his wrists, always ensuring that the white marking was always facing the top. As compared to when Shangguan Bing'er saw the rose-red Cat's Eye Gem, what Zhou Weiqing saw was a dark blue Cat's Eye Gem, and within the bright markings there was a trace of grey.

What kind of attribute is this Elemental Jewel? Could it be of the Spatial Attribute? Zhou Weiqing knew that Cat's Eye gems usually signified the Spatial Attribute, however although he wasn't as clear as Shangguan Bing'er on the various Jewels, but he also knew that the Cat's Eye Gems were not usually of this colour. Furthermore, Admiral Zhou was of the darkness attribute; as his son, he should have inherited that attribute, yet why did his turn into this strange Cat's Eye Gem?

Unfortunately I'm not able to go back and ask Shangguan Bing'er. It looks like my plan to join the army has failed, I better run first. As for Shangguan Bing'er, when I'm stronger in the future, I will find a way to repay and compensate her. After all, I'm also a Heavenly Jewel Master now, who knows maybe next time we can actually be together? Heh heh.

As his thoughts ran along, Zhou Weiqing was suddenly filled with regret – Shangguan Bing'er's body was so bruised, what had he done to her that would be hated by both man and god! As he scolded himself, he also thought slyly: What a shame, if only I had been awake to experience that….

Just as Zhou Weiqing was about to move off again, he suddenly felt a cold feeling at the back of his neck, and a sharp pain, and his whole body froze on the spot.

"Little Fatty Zhou, you sullied my body and now you want to run away?" a voice full of anger and hate caused Zhou Weiqing to shudder in fear. He quickly raised his hands in surrender, "I'm not running, I'm definitely not running. Battalion Commander, let's talk things through, don't be so fast to take action, let me explain myself!"

Shangguan Bing'er came around from behind Zhou Weiqing, the arrow in her hand pointed at Zhou Weiqing's throat. Although she was still dishevelled, but her body was now covered by the army uniform that Zhou Weiqing had washed yesterday.

Shangguan Bing'er was after all a Heavenly Jewel Master, and her physique was much stronger than any ordinary human. If an ordinary girl had been abused like she had been yesterday, even if she didn't die, she would have been bedridden for at least half a month. However, Shangguan Bing'er was boosted by 2 Heavenly Jewels, and after recuperating for a short while, she had restored some Heavenly Energy and was able to move. Seeing that Zhou Weiqing was about to escape, how could she content? She quickly grabbed the clothing left in the tent to cover herself before giving chase.

When she spotted Zhou Weiqing, that fellow had his hands raised, cackling gleefully to himself, and Shangguan Bing'er had also hesitated a while when she saw his wrists again, which was why she was late to subdue that rascal.

"Show me your left hand." Shangguan Bing'er said coldly. Her once beautiful and gentle eyes now had streaks of blood within them, and they were filled with a cold, angry light. If not for the fact that the Jewel on his left hand was so shocking to her, she would probably have stabbed down with the arrow.

Chapter 24: Tourmaline Sacrifice, Alexandrite Cat's Eye (4)

Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations

Zhou Weiqing did not dare to hesitate, and hurriedly raised his left hand in front of Shangguan Bing'er.

After closely examining the Elemental Jewel on Zhou Weiqing's right wrist, Shangguan Bing'er was clearly shaken, the hate-filled eyes seemed to be in a trance. "Alexandrite… Alexandrite Cat's Eye. It really is Alexandrite Cat's Eye. Why? Heaven, why do you mock me so, why did you let him have Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewel!" she said with an ugly tone.

Changing the topic was undoubtedly one of the best ways to quell anger, and Zhou Weiqing quickly seized the opportunity to ask softly: "Battalion Commander, what's this Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewel? How come I've never heard of it?"

Shangguan Bing'er said in a muttering manner: "Alexandrite, is a very special gemstone, belonging to the Chrysoberyl family of gems, under daylight it shows as a blue-green colour, the most beautiful of which would be the colour of emerald-jade. At night, under lamp or candle light, it appears to be rose-red or purplish red. As such, it is known as the emerald of the day, ruby of the night. In the world of gemstones, it is the rarest gemstone. And when the Alexandrite has the Cat's Eye markings, it becomes an Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewel, and is the world's most valuable gemstone, a hundred times more valuable than even diamonds."

Zhou Weiqing had never heard of Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewels, but as he examined it closely, sure enough its colour changed as the sun rose further, the dark blue colour slowly turning into a rich green, and the cat's eye markings also seemed more obvious.

"You mean to say, this Elemental Jewel of mine is Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewel? But, what attribute is that?" Zhou Weiqing asked curiously, even momentarily forgetting the arrow at his neck.

Shangguan Bing'er was still in a dazed mode, and she said: "Alexandrite being the Elemental Jewel can only happen to Heavenly Jewel Masters. Besides being of higher quality and having a stronger elemental attribute, there is also one more possibility for Heavenly Jewel Masters – to have multiple Elemental Attributes. When a Heavenly Jewel Master has 2 or more elemental attributes, then his Elemental Jewel will be an Alexandrite."

Zhou Weiqing blinked and said, "Does that mean I have more than 2 elemental attributes? Isn't that better than having a single attribute?���

Shangguan Bing'er raised her head slowly, the dazed look in her eyes vanished, replaced with a rather complicated look. She shook her head, and the arrow in her hand moved a little – the pain at his throat silencing Zhou Weiqing and causing him to shiver. "It's not 2 or more attributes, but 4 or more attributes. Alexandrite Cat's Eye is a legend amongst Elemental Jewels; when it appears it means that the Heavenly Jewel Master has more than 4 elemental attributes."

Zhou Weiqing looked at Shangguan Bing'er, stupefied, and he started laughing, "I'm a legend?" Having been a trash for 13 years, yet suddenly turned into a Heavenly Jewel Master of legend, even though he was facing death, the sudden change still made this rascal proud of himself.

Shangguan Bing'er's feelings now were extremely complicated. Even if Zhou Weiqing was just an ordinary Heavenly Jewel Master, she couldn't kill him now. After she had chased him out of the tent, her emotions has settled a littl. She was clear that the events that occurred yesterday was truly an accident. When Zhou Weiqing's Heavenly Jewels Awakened yesterday and he had required a Sacrifice, she had just happened to stumble in. According to what she knew, under that circumstance, Zhou Weiqing had lost control of himself and the usual result should have been her death. However, she managed to survive, which meant that Zhou Weiqing's willpower was extremely firm, and had managed to hold back at the last second, sparing her life. Although he had committed a grave sin against her, but he had actually not been fully in the wrong. After all, he had not been conscious when doing so, and had been controlled by the Evil Attribute when his Heavenly Jewel Awakened.

But could she really just let it go like that? Shangguan Bing'er was really not reconciled, not willing to let the matter rest just like that. Which young girl did not dream of romance? In her heart, she had often daydreamed about what her future husband would be like, handsome, modest, gentle, upstanding moral character, preferably a Heavenly Jewel Master, a man who was deeply in love with her, and treated her and coddled her like she was precious. Only then would she give herself to him on their wedding night.

Alas, at this moment, all her daydreams and fantasies had evaporated, and her innocence had been ruined in such a muddled fashion by such a honest looking person who was actually so sly in nature, this rascal who had such an ordinary appearance. Not to talk about love between them, there was barely any affection.

She really felt like ignoring everything and just killing him, but reason and logic told her that if she killed him just like that, she would never be able to reverse it. He was after all a Heavenly Jewel Master, and one with a legendary innate talent, having the Alexandrite Cat's Eye Jewel! For her country, she could not kill him. In the future, he could possibly advance to one of top, or even possibly the top Heavenly Jewel Master in the whole Mainland. How could she just ruin such a future talent like that?

Taking a deep breath, Shangguan Bing'er tried her best to calm herself down, and she sharply withdrew the arrow in her hand, and shouted harshly: "Get lost, get out of my sight now!"

With no more threat to his life, Zhou Weiqing suddenly felt like he was granted amnesty. "I'm getting lost right now!" As he said that, he started running off toward the distance.

"You wretch! Come back here, I asked you to get lost back to camp!!" Shangguan Bing'er saw that the rascal was trying to run away, and instantly got angry again. With a flying kick, she caused him to stagger, but also causing her own lower body to ache in pain. That rascal always seemed to make her angry so easily.

Zhou Weiqing dropped his head down as if he were being wronged, "Don't be angry, I'm going back to the camp now okay? I promise, no matter how much you trample on me, I won't resist."

Just now, in that instance when Shangguan Bing'er drew back the arrow in her hand, Zhou Weiqing felt a strong stabbing pain in his heart, an extreme heartache. She was really too kind, he had treated her like that but she still spared his life. In that moment, Zhou Weiqing found that he had fallen for Shangguan Bing'er. If we were to say that previously, he felt unworthy of her, but now he would no longer have such a feeling. After all, he had also become a Heavenly Jewel Master, furthermore one with the legendary Alexandrite Cat's Eye. He truly believed that if he worked hard in cultivating, one day he would be worthy of her, and he vowed silently that he would always take good care of her.

Of course, no matter what, Zhou Weiqing's mind also always had some dirty thoughts. While he was deeply touched, this fellow was also thinking: If one day I bring Shangguan Bing'er home as my wife to show Dad, I wonder if that Dad of mine who never smiles would show any shocked expression.

Looking at Zhou Weiqing leaving with a pitiable expression, Shangguan Bing'er suddenly seemed to collapse like a deflated balloon, and she sat down on the floor, the arrow dropping to the ground, and hugged her knees sobbing out loud. She had never been a particularly firm girl, and such a massive change and events caused her to be overwhelmed with emotion and to break down and cry.

Zhou Weiqing had not gone very far, and hearing Shangguan Bing'er cry, he stopped in his tracks. He gingerly walked back, first taking up the arrow on the ground and throwing it further away, before carefully squatting down beside her. He did not know how to comfort her, and could only squat at the side in company. At the same time, he was thinking to himself: She is truly worthy of being called the top beauty in the Empire! Even when she's crying she's so beautiful!