天珠变 ( Heavenly Jewel Change ) by 唐家三少 ( Tang Jia San Shao )

[korendir]

天珠变 ( Heavenly Jewel Change ) by 唐家三少 ( Tang Jia San Shao )

Discussions are welcome, but no spoilers please

Update: - I have moved to Wuxiaworld will be posting there mainly. I'll update with links once a chapter is out - http://wuxiaworld.com/hjc-index/ Thanks!

Hello everyone, I'm a big fan of 唐家三少 ( Tang Jia San Shao ) 's works and found many of his works being translated already (my favourite being Dou Luo Da Lu which is already being done by the great guys over at bluesilvertranslations. 天珠变 is also another one of his works that I enjoy, so I decided to give it a go. It has already been completed and is one of his shorter works in comparison, of around 300+ chapters. It's my first time translating on my own so please feel free to give feedback and I'll try to improve as I go along I don't have a lot of free time so I probably won't be as quick to release as many others but I'll definitely do at least 1-2 a week, hopefully more!

天 - Sky/ Heaven
珠 - Pearl (I used Jewel here as there are several power jewels in the story besides pearls)
变 - Change

I did a rather literal translation of the title here, as I don't think there's any hidden meaning as far as I can tell.

Raw - http://www.qidian.com/Book/1777445.aspx

Synopsis
Every human has their Personal Jewel of power, when awakened it can either be an Elemental Jewel or Physical Jewel. They circle the right and left wrists like bracelets of powr.

Heavenly Jewels are like the twins born, meaning when both Elemental and Physical Jewels are Awakened for the same person, the pair is known as Heavenly Jewels.

Those who have the Physical Jewels are known as Physical Jewel Masters, those with Elemental Jewels are Elemental Jewel Masters, and those who train with Heavenly Jewels are naturally called Heavenly Jewel Masters.

Heavenly Jewel Masters have a highest level of 12 pairs of jewels, as such their training progress is known as Heavenly Jewels 12 Changes.

Our MC here is an archer who has such a pair of Heavenly Jewels.

[korendir]

Chapter 1 - Big Sis, I’m afraid this is a misunderstanding!

Heavenly Bow Empire Capital City, Heavenly Bow City, Official Roads.

Heavenly Bow Empire is a small country in the western regions of Boundless Mainland (Hao Miao Da Lu). It isn’t bound to any larger countries, and its environment and climate are extremely suitable for humans to live in.

The weather was great today, the vast expense of the sky seemed like a large blue crystal, with nary a blemish in sight. The only issue one might find would be that the clarity of the air caused the sunshine to be rather glaring on the eyes. Luckily, the official roads were lined with 100-year or older Sycamore Trees, their thick branches massed with leaves sheltering the wide roadways. This formed the famous boulevard which everyone in Heavenly Bow Empire knew about, stretching for nearly 100 li (50km) into a forest.

Heavenly Bow City had a very unique geographical location, in fact it could be almost described as second-to-none. This was because this capital city was totally surrounded by huge forests, and Heavenly Bow City was just like a brilliant jewel in the midst of the forest. Although Heavenly Bow Empire wasn’t particularly strong, but its capital city was still quite famous. The surrounding forests were called Stars Forest, because this was the only place in the whole continent where the Stars Trees grew. The heart of the Stars Trees were extremely valuable materials in making top end bows. As such, with such an important natural resource, one could imagine the prosperity that Heavenly Bow City enjoyed.

Currently, a youth who looked around 15-16 years old was walking along the boulevard, muttering to himself.

“To be a playboy is to train the mind, to have an affair is to train the heart, chasing after girls will prevent old age, flirting is therapeutic, having a crush on someone means your heart will always be young, being lovesick is the cure for insomnia!

They often say that Heroes are unable to cross the beautiful maiden barrier*, but what hero will think like this? Should the hero leave the beauty to some useless fellow? And what would the beauty think, wouldn’t she prefer to have the hero instead as well?

Another saying is that Rabbits don’t eat the grass near their nests**, but why would rabbits do that? Should they let other rabbits eat the grass? Even the grass won’t think like that, after all being eaten is being eaten, does it matter why who? Why not let someone familiar eat them!

Yet another saying is that if you have money, you can make the devil push the millstone for you***, but the devil would think that it’s a given thing - after all shouldn’t labour of pushing the millstone be rewarded? Even money would think differently, after all, being given to the devil will not harm the devil, but if given to humans the scenario might be different! Hahahaha…”

TL:

* Its a chinese saying that means heroes are often susceptible to a pretty face, causing them to be fallen.

** Literal translation of another Chinese idiom, it means that even villains won’t commit sins close to home. However his rant here is talking on the literal meaning of it

*** Money makes the world go round

The youth was tall, with broad shoulders, with a healthy strong look. He had black eyes and hair, and was dressed in a cloth shirt with its sleeves rolled up, showing off his arms. His skin colour was a healthy sheen of bronze, and his features had a heroic spirit within. He might not be very handsome, but was overall pleasing to the eye. Just judging by outward appearance, the words simple and honest would be an apt description. However, the words that streamed out from his mouth were the total opposite of simple and honest. Of course, he only revealed his true colours when there was nobody else around.

“Sigh… not being able to cultivate heavenly energy is such a tragedy. In today’s day and age, looking good is useless, only heavenly energy and heavenly jewels are king. Ahhhh… Heavens! Earth! Gods! Why do you play me like this, letting I, Zhou Weiqing, be born with such a body with blocked meridians yet such a handsome face? Not letting me be a Heavenly Jewel Master is such a waste of great talent ah!” Of course, the handsome face he referred to was only of his own belief, and as he spoke the youth rudely gave the sky the finger.

Of course, he wasn’t the sort to just blame heaven, after pointing the middle finger he said comfortingly to himself: “Oh well, not being able to cultivate Heavenly Energy has its good side as well. That old geezer is already so strict, if I really awakened a Heavenly Jewel, maybe my life would be worse now by a hundred times? At least now the old geezer has given up on me, and leading the decadent life of a rich official’s son seems not a bad choice. I’ll go take a bath now!” As he spoke, his face revealed his trademark honest smile. Of course, those who really knew him, Zhou Weiqing’s honest smile hid his true weaselly nature.

Even though Zhou Weiqing was unable to cultivate heavenly energy, but his body was still extremely healthy and strong. He was only 13 years old this year, and yet he looked like a youth of 15 - 16. At least in this, he was following in his father’s footsteps.

After walking about 5 li along the boulevard to the Stars Forest, Zhou Weiqing suddenly swerved into the woods. He had grown up in the woods, especially ever since he was 8 years old when he had tested out to have his meridias blocked and unable to cultivate heavenly energy. Zhou Weiqing’s father no longer forced him to train, so his favourite thing to do was to run alone into the forest to play. There were no heavenly beasts in the Stars Forest, and it was one of the safest forests on the continent.

After entering the Stars Forest, Zhou Weiqing could practically navigate his way around with his eyes closed, after all he knew the place like the back of his hand. After walking for about an hour, he finally heard sounds of running water as he neared his destination. Thinking about the sweet, clear lakewater, Zhou Weiqing hastened his steps. It was a hot day and he was eager to relax in the cooling waters of the lake.

Not far from the path in the Stars Forest there lay a lake, and its waters originate from an underground ice spring. It was only about 100m in diameter, and was surrounded by large thick trees. As a result, not many people knew about this lake, but Zhou Weiqing had came across it by accident in the past. He had a natural liking for water and since he had no friends, he spent a lot of time bathing and relaxing in the lake.

Moving around a large tree, the Ice Spring Lake was right ahead. Zhou Weiqing did not rush to dive into the waters, but first took off his clothes and laid them at the side, before squatting down at the edge of the waters to look at his reflection, muttering to himself: “Damn! I’ve become more handsome again!”

Just as he was reflecting on his own looks narcissistically, he suddenly heard a splash, causing him to look up, and the sight that greeted him caused him to gape in surprise.

From the other end of the lake, someone else had just jumped into the water, causing the waters to splash out. As the rays of sunshine shone upon the lake, the refraction of light causing the area to seem to be bathed in gold. In the midst of the water ripples, a head of pink hair captured Zhou Weiqing’s attention.

The Ice Spring Lake’s water was pretty shallow, only a metre or so deep, and the young girl who had leapt into the lake had her back facing Zhou Weiqing, and the lake waters just covered her buttocks. Still, Zhou Weiqing was able to see her slim waist and alluring figure.

“This… this…”

With a light *pooh* sound, 2 lines of blood streamed down from Zhou Weiqing’s nostrils. Even though this fellow often had sexual fantasies, but after all he was merely a 13 year old virgin boy, no matter how precocious he was. Seeing a naked young girl at such close proximity for the first time was so exciting to him that he started nosebleeding.

“Wow, this is so awesome!” Zhou Weiqing quickly held his nose, but his eyes kept staring at the girl, completely forgetting how exposed he was to being found, he could only chant in his mind Turn around! Turn around!

As if the pink haired girl had heard his internal prayers, she actually slowly turned around, she seemed excited and her hands were on the top of the water as she turned towards Zhou Weiqing.

Zhou Weiqing’s eyes widened as his dreams were about to come true. Just at that moment, a feminine voice shouted out “Your highness, be careful! There’s someone here!”

Upon hearing the shout, the pink haired girl acted a startled little bird, quickly ducking into the water up to her neck, as she looked around in panic.

Before Zhou Weiqing could react, he felt his body lighten, and the world spin around him, and with a plopping sound, he landed on the ground.

“What happened?” Although Zhou Weiqing was unable to cultivate heavenly energy, but he had been training under his strict father since young, and his body was in a fit condition, definitely stronger and more agile than any commoner, and he executed a roll on the ground before standing up.

About 3 metres in front of him, a young lady of about 20 years of age stood glaring at him. She seemed rather plain looking, and was dressed in leather armor with a sword in hand, with a bow made of Star Wood holstered on her back.

Zhou Weiqing immediately recognized the symbols of Star Flowers etched upon her leather armor, it was reserved only for the Royal household - could this young lady in front of him be a Royal Guard?

What really drew Zhou Weiqing’s attention was the 3 Jewels surrounding the lady’s right wrist. The 3 jewels were a type of jade, and with Zhou Weiqing’s good vision and the radiance of the jade, he could see clearly that it was about 30% Waxy Jade, 30% Ice Jade and 40% Dragonstone Jade.

Even though Zhou Weiqing personally could not cultivate, but he knew that those 3 jewels on her right wrist were no mere ornament, but a sign of power.

In the Boundless Mainland, a person’s actual strength could be determined in 3 ways, and if you stood out in any particular way, you could be considered a strong person. The 3 ways were Heavenly energy, Physical Jewels and Elemental Jewels.

Humans believed that they were the highest ranked species in the world that the gods have created, and that the human body was truly a gift from the gods. There were many different types of cultivating methods, and the strength achieved from that was known as heavenly energy. Heavenly energy was divided into 4 large hierarchies, Heavenly Jing Energy, Heavenly Xu Energy, Heavenly God Energy, and Heavenly Dao Energy.

Each of those hierarchies were further divided into 12 levels. It was rumoured that someone who had reached the highest level of the Heavenly Dao Energy was able to harness the energies of the universe, able to destroy and create and be extremely long lived. In any case, no matter Physical Jewel Masters or Elemental Jewel Masters, the basics of everything was Heavenly Energy. Without sufficient Heavenly Energy, it did not matter how good the quality of the Power Jewels were.

In the huge Boundless Mainland, when humans were born, they all had their own inborn Power Jewel. However, nobody could tell in advance what their Jewel was, and only when Heavenly Energy had been cultivated till the 3rd level of Heavenly Jing Energy, would their Power Jewels be Awakened.

The cultivation of Heavenly Jing Energy was extremely difficult, especially the introductory stages, one had to have the talent to communicate with their own Power Jewels to be able to cultivate successfully. The first 3 levels of Heavenly Jing Energy was tantamount to being reborn 3 times, and less than 1% of the population could actually complete it.

Once someone could complete the first 3 levels of Heavenly Jing Energy cultivation and Awaken their Power Jewels, then they would finally break out of being a commoner and take the first step into being a powerhouse. As Zhou Weiqing had blocked meridians and could not cultivate, thus he was doomed to be unable to complete the first 3 levels and Awaken his Power Jewels, and could only be an ordinary person.

Power Jewels had 2 forms after Awakening. Those that appeared around the right wrist were known as Physical Jewels. Those that appeared around the left wrist were known as Elemental Jewels. Physical Jewels and Elemental Jewels were inherently different. In general those with Physical Jewels were strong warriors, and each Physical Jewel could not only strengthen the physical attributes of the Physical Jewel Master, but also coalesce into a weapon or armor piece, which greatly strengthened the Physical Jewel Master. On the other hand, those with Elemental Jewels were gifted with greater brain energy, and they could make use of their Elemental Jewels to control the various elements they were aligned to, and they could also seal skills into their Elemental Jewels.

For both Physical Jewel Masters and Elemental Jewel Masters, the basic way to tell their strength was the number of jewels. For them, there was a max of 9 Power Jewels, those who had 1-3 Jewels were known as Shi Stage, 4-6 Jewels were known as Zun Stage, and 7-9 Jewels were known as Zong Stage. Each Stage also had an lower, middle and upper level. As such, the lady Royal Guard in front of Zhou Weiqing now was a upper level Shi Stage Physical Jewel Master.

Although Shi Stage was only the first stage, it would be a big mistake to underestimate the 3 Jewelled upper level Shi Stage Physical Jewel Master in front of him. After all, for a small country like Heavenly Bow Empire, the number of Jewel Masters numbered less than a hundred! This lady Royal Guard in front of Zhou Weiqing was probably ranked within the top 50 strongest in the whole country! As such, you can see how rare a Jewel Master was. Having 3 Physical Jewels also meant that her Heavenly Jing Energy was cultivated to at least 10th Level, possibly even already break-through to the Tian Xu Energy hierarchy. With her power, it would be easy for her to defeat a hundred skilled normal soldiers.

Physical Jewels and Elemental Jewels were formed by different types of jewels. For Physical Jewels, they were all formed by different types of Jade, which also meant different types of physical enhancements. There were 6 different type of jade and enhancements, namely: Ice Jade which boosted strength, Waxy Jade which boosted flexibility, Yellow Jade which boosted toughness, Dragonstone Jade which boosted agility, Red Jade which boosted coordination, and Black Jade which boosted stamina.

All Physical Jewel Masters’ jade were a mixture of the different type of jades. With reference to the lady Royal Guard, with 30% Waxy Jade, 30% Ice Jade and 40% Dragonstone Jade, it meant that if the physical enhancement from one Jewel was 100, she would get boosted 30 flexibility, 30 strength and 40 agility. It was quite a good mixture indeed.

Feeling the anger in her eyes with some killing intent, Zhou Weiqing felt his back covered in cold sweat, and he exclaimed quickly: “Big Sis, I’m afraid this is a misunderstanding!”

“Misunderstanding?” The lady Royal Guard shook her wrist and drew her sword (TL Note: The author wrote this here though he mentioned she had sword in hand previously). Although she did not activate her 3 Physical Jewels, but her sword shone bright with Heavenly Energy. Her heavenly energy was still unable to be released from the sword, so she was likely still in the Heavenly Jing Energy Hierarchy, as those who had broken through to Heavenly Xu Energy would be able to release heavenly energy from their weapons. Of course, she had not even used her Physical Jewels as they would increase the amount of Heavenly Energy expended. Of course, facing Zhou Weiqing who was an unarmed commoner, it was definitely unnecessary to do so.

With a cold flash, the tip of the sword was resting on Zhou Weiqing’s throat, just a small movement forward would end his life.

“Physical Jewel Master Big Sis, this is really a misunderstanding! Besides, I really didn’t see anything! Please let me go” Zhou Weiqing looked pitifully at the lady Royal Guard, and with his honest looking features, it did seem very convincing.

The lady royal guard was clearly bamboozled by his honest appearance, and the anger in his eyes lessened, and she said in a cold voice: “It is not up to me to let you go, Her Highness will decide on your punishment.”

“Highness? Oh my god! Are you referring to Princess Difuya?” Zhou Weiqing said in shock.

“You recognize me?” A proud, cold voice sounded out from behind the lady Royal Guard, a note of anger in the voice was clear as well.

With a flash in front of Zhou Weiqing’s eyes, another person appeared beside the the lady Royal Guard, wet pink hair across the shoulders, with an alluring figure covered in a pink outfit, her fine features showing off a pair of deep blue eyes. Her young bosom was heaving with her anger and emotions.

As their gazes met each other, they both exclaimed simultaneously “It’s you?”

Zhou Weiqing was red in embarrassment, thinking to himself that he was in deep trouble now. He said abashedly: “Hello Princess Difuya, I didn’t expect to see you here.” To escape this crisis ahead of him, he tried his best to sound and look as sincere as possible.

Unfortunately, this Princess Difuya was not so easily swayed. After a short surprised, her beautiful face twisted in anger and her fists gripped together, “So its you piece of trash, how dare you follow me here to peek on me! Niya, kill him!”

The lady Royal Guard Niya unhesitatingly stepped forward to obey the princess’ instructions. Although she also believed it was an error, after all how could this common boy follow the princess with her detecting anything. However, he had looked at the Princess’ naked body, and that was definitely punishable by death.

“Wait!” Zhou Weiqing had not seen Princess Difuya many times, and hadn’t spoken to her before, though he had heard of her proud nature. He did not expect her to suddenly order his death, and if he didn’t speak out he would definitely be killed now.

As Niya’s sword slowed a little, Zhou Weiqing said quickly: “Stop, I’m her fiance!”

Niya paused in confusion and looked towards Princess Difuya, only to see the princess’ ashen face.

“Who says I have such a trash fiance, furthermore you are so wretched and disgusting, how dare you peek at me… Niya kill him now, I will take responsibility!” Difyua shouted out in anger, like a little lioness. She was especially infuriated for a reason, just yesterday she had asked her father to dissolve this marriage, and today that Zhou Weiqing came here to peek at her. In her mind, Zhou Weiqing had heard the news of her request, and came here to do such indecent things. Furthermore, she had always looked down on him who was unable to cultivate, and naturally her anger grew further.

Niya looked at the princess again, then looked towards Zhou Weiqing, and said hesitatingly: “You are Commander-In-Chief Niu’s son, Viscount Zhou?”

Zhou Weiqing had a helpless look on his face, and said self-mockingly: “Yes! I am Zhou Weiqing! The notorious Dog Son of the Tiger Father Dog Son pair*, and also Princess Difuya’s fiance. I really did not mean to peep. I often come here to take a bath, and this was just a coincidence.”

TL: There is a chinese idiom 虎父无犬子 meaning that a tiger father will not beget a dog son, but he has been mocked that his father is a tiger yet he is a dog son.

The lady Royal Guard Niya looked back at Princess Difuya, “Your Highness, perhaps this is really a misunderstanding. The Viscount did not mean to do so, furthermore he is your…”

“Shut up.” Difuya’s brows were raised in anger, and with a step she pulled Niya away and stood directly in front of Zhou Weiqing: “I don’t have such a fiance. I, Difuya, aims to be a Elemental Zong, to be among the strong of the world. My husband has to be a hero who is above all others. How can such a despicable, shameless trash be worthy of me?”

The fawning expression on Zhou Weiqing’s face which he had put on for survival was slowly being replaced with anger. Even the most good natured person had his limit, and his eyes bulged in anger as he swept Princess Difuya with his gaze. “So what if I look at you? According to empire law, you are my fiance, even if I take you now, the Emperor himself wouldn’t punish me! Hmph, I may be despicable and shameless, but i’m despicable and shameless towards my own fiance, what law can govern that? And you, will still have to marry this despicable and shameless trash! What do you have to be proud of? You were just born into royalty and had the luck to be born with talent. If I wasn’t born with blocked meridians, maybe you are now begging me to watch you bathe, even coming on to me. Such a brainless woman with your eyes on top of your head*, you think I really want to marry you?” After ranting, he turned around and walked away. Although this fellow was usually quite smooth and sly, but when his temper came, he was just as stubborn as anyone can be.

*TL: Eyes grown on top of your head is a chinese idiom meaning overly proud person who looks down on others.

If they were just comparing status, although Difuya was a princess, Zhou Weiqing was not afraid of her. Although he personally was considered a joke by most of Heavenly Bow Empire, but still his father was the one and only Commander-in-Chief of Heavenly Bow Empire’s armies, and furthermore he was the strongest person in the whole empire, and could be called the pillar of the entire empire. The Emperor Di Fengling and Zhou Weiqing’s father called each other brothers in private, this was also the reason why Zhou Weiqing and Difuya were promised to each other in marriage since birth.

Zhou Weiqing’ words struck a nerve in Difuya. Just as he said, although she did not want to marry this Empire’s joke, but she could not disobey her father’s orders. In a sudden rush, her old grievances and fresh anger combined together and Difuya’s face paled in anger.

Raising her left hand, a sheen of red appeared around her wrist, and 2 Jewels appeared. As compared to Niya, Difuya’s 2 Power Jewels on her left wrist were 2 bright red rubies, and were her Elemental Jewels. Difuya was 16 years old this year, and was considered one of a rare geniuses in the royal family, her Heavenly Energy had already cultivated to Heavenly Jing Energy 7th level, and she had already gotten her 2nd Elemental Jewel.

Elemental Jewels and Physical Jewels were different, instead of getting physical boosts, they were instead able to control elemental energy. While Physical Jewels were various types of Jades, Elemental Jewels were different types of coloured gems, and their power and type meant different types of elemental affinities. For example, Difuya’s red rubies signified a fire elemental affinity. Besides that, here were sapphires for water affinity, diamonds for earth affinity, tourmaline for wind affinity, emerald jade for light affinity, black pearls for darkness affinity, catseye gems for spatial affinity, and lastly green jade for life affinity. As such, it was much easier to differentiate what affinity that an Elemental Jewel Master was.

“Your highness, no!” Niya shouted out in horror, trying to stop Difuya. However, Difuya was too enraged, her right hand holding Niya away, and her left already pointed towards Zhou Weiqing.

Although Niya was a 9th level Heavenly Jing Energy Hierarchy Shi Master, higher than Difuya by 2 levels, but without activating her Physical Jewels, and being afraid of harming Difuya, she was still stopped by Difuya’s right hand momentarily, and in that short moment, Difuya released an attack towards Zhou Weiqing.

Difuya’s left wrist’s first ruby released a bright light, and a head-sized fireball shot out leaving a trail of fire behind as it slammed viciously into Zhou Weiqing’s back and exploded. Zhou Weiqing cried in agony as the explosion threw him 5 metres before he landed on the ground in a roll, his whole back was a mess of burnt flesh and blood with a terrible scorched odour.

“You… you…” Zhou Weiqing looked up with all his strength and looked towards Difuya who was in shock. He had never imagined that Difuya would actually lift a hand against him so viciously.

Difuya’s face was pale in shock, after attacking in anger she had realized what she had done. She knew how powerful her first ruby’s fireball was, and was in a fluster. After all, Zhou Weiqing was the Commander-in-Chief’s son, but now it was too late for regrets.

As Difuya’s personal royal guard, Niya was also shocked. She was covered in cold sweat. If the princess killed the commander-in-chief’s son, Zhou Weiqing, who had been awarded the title of Viscount since birth, it might cause the whole empire to erupt in chaos. Yet, neither she nor Difuya were skilled in healing, and the 2 females were at a loss.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the fine skies turned dark, and lightning flashed above followed by the loud sound of thunder. In a matter of moments, the skies had turned pitch black and the 2 ladies were struck by a sudden chill in their hearts.

“I… I … didn’t mean to…” Difuya muttered to herself.

Niya came to her senses, and pulled Difuya along while running, saying: “Your highness, the weather is turning bad. Let’s hurry back to the palace and look for a Life affinity Elemental Jewel Master to safe Viscount Zhou.” She knew that the odds of Zhou Weiqing, who did not have any Heavenly Energy, surviving were miniscule. At this time, they had to leave the scene immediately, or if any other people spotted them then they would be finished. Although there weren’t many Fire Elemental Jewel Masters in the Heavenly Bow Empire, but at least it wasn’t only Princess Difuya alone. As long as they weren’t caught at the scene, there was still hope.

Zhou Weiqing lay on the ground paralyzed, but he could hear the departing footsteps of the two. At this point, he felt like his whole body was soaked in magma, his blood felt like it was boiling, and every breath he took was a red mist. The impact area on his back did not hurt anymore, it was totally numb, but the fire venom was spreading through every inch of his body. If a Life Elemental Jewel Master had administered aid right after the attack, he might still be able to survive. However, now that the fire venom was invading his internal organs, his life was ticking away.

Zhou Weiqing was by nature an optimistic person, after all he was a Grand Marshal’s son yet could not cultivate, yet he could maintain his life without falling into depression. He did not want to die, and he still had many things he wanted to do. Never in his wildest imagination did he think that he would die at the hands of his fiance. In fact, he didn’t particularly hate Difuya, but hated the heavens why they did not gift him with a body that could cultivate. If only he could become a Jewel Master, then everything would be different. The sheer hatred and malice in him seemed to coalesce around Zhou Wenqing. He swore viciously in his heart: “Difuya, if I don’t die today, one day I will make sure you kneel in front of me, and beg for me to take you as wife. Then I’ll reject you like you have today.”

After swearing his last curse, Zhou Weiqing was on the verge of unconsciousness. Even the burning sensations were dimming. Is my life just going to end like this - Was his last thought.

All of a sudden, there was a loud sound of an explosion above him, causing the semi concious Zhou Weiqing to be shocked awake. He opened his eyes weakly, only to see a strange scene in front of him.

A strange black gash split apart the air 3 feet away from him, as if a huge black eye opening in the air. Zhou Weiqing’s mouth gaped open, and blood spurted out from his mouth.

At this moment, a strange light emitted from the black opening. A ball-shaped object, as large as an infant’s fist, black as coal but with green, blue and silver colours swirling around it, shot out. Zhou Weiqing’s blood which had spurted out of his mouth just happened to land upon it. Suddenly, a burst of unbelievable cold burst forth from the black object, dashing into Zhou Weiqing’s body in a flash.

His body started to shudder as the previous burning sensation vanished and he felt as if he had been suddenly thrown into an ice cellar. He was jolted awake and suddenly everything seemed crystal clear to him.

The black pearl seemed to be attracted by something within his body, and with a swoosh, it flew right into his mouth. Zhou Weiqing felt a sudden cold in his throat, then his whole body seemed to turned into ice, and his senses were all sealed suddenly, and he blacked out.

The opening above Zhou Weiqing slowly closed, and just as suddenly as it had appeared, the dark skies stilled and cleared, and the sun shone brightly once again in the Star Forest, the rays of sun once again returning to the Ice Spring Lake.

[korendir]

Hope everyone enjoys the first chapter, will be working on the second chapter soon!

Just need a bit of help / advice from the more experienced translators/readers on the naming of the power rankings (it gets terribly long if I just do a literal translate. Its also a bit confusing as there's the power rankings for the cultivation of energy as well as number of pearls, though they are linked.

Will update the chapter if I standardize it to something simpler

[Sleepless]

Very nice so far.

[korendir]

Chapter 2 Weird Black Pearl

Stars Forest, Ice Spring Lake side.

Zhou Weiqing’s body was lay on the ground in a t-shape, deeply unconscious. At the same time, his body was undergoing a strange change.

A layer of black light appeared around his body. Despite the bright sunlight in the sky, the darkness emitted from within his body covered it like a cocoon. The torn flesh of his back from Difuya’s fireball was starting to heal up at a speed discernable to the naked eye. What was most shocking was that while his flesh was healing, his bones, muscles, internal organs and even meridians were being infused with a layer dark grey energy.

It was a nearly indescribable grey colour, giving an impression that was even colder than the black cocoon surrounding Zhou Weiqing, yet still filled with a strange vibrancy and life. However, as this layer of grey slowly spread out from within his body to replace the layer of black covering him, there was a strange change in the vegetation around his body. One could clearly see the vegetation getting infected by the grey, starting from Zhou Weiqing’s body and spreading out in a 5 metre radius, causing a quick withering in the vegetation as Zhou Weiqing’s body healed faster. There seemed to be an evil influence in the air.

The dark grey mixing with the black light started getting thicker and thicker, and the atmosphere grew colder, domineering, evil and demonic, the 4 different auras surrounding Zhou Weiqing’s body. He started to shudder slightly as 3 rays of light emitted from within the black cocoon, flickering above his body. The 3 rays of light were the green, blue and silver colours from the black pearl he had swallowed earlier.

The warm rays of the sun were not able to enter the surrounding of Zhou Weiqing’s body, and on his forehead, a black word “King” slowly appeared. On his skin, a layer of black tattoos slowly formed, below that a layer of grey, similar tattoos could also be seen. The 2 layers of tattoos seemed to have form a 3D image, and they covered his whole body all the way to his face even.

This phenomenon carried on for almost an hour, until all the colours slowly faded away, sinking back into Zhou Weiqing’s body, and the tattoos on his body also disappeared consequently.

The healthy bronze skin colour of Zhou Weiqing seemed a lot paler than before, and his facial features seemed to be a lot more handsome now. His back, which had been torn apart by the exploding fireball, was now totally healed, with not a scar to be seen, as if he had never been injured there before.

After a while more, Zhou Weiqing’s fingers twitched, as he slowly regained consciousness.

As he opened his eyes, he couldn’t help but shiver in a sudden chill. Although he didn’t know what had happened as he was unconscious, he still felt a chill in his whole body after awakening. His heart was cold, and that icy feeling was extremely uncomfortable for him, causing almost an indescribable emotion in him.

“I’m.. not dead?” Zhou Weiqing sat up in a sudden start. He felt his body was a lot lighter than usual, and he hurriedly lifted his hand to touch his back, and on feeling the whole, smooth skin, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock.

“Was that all just a dream?” Zhou Weiqing looked around the him, and then spotted the tattered remains of his clothing, as well as the circle of shrivelled dead plants around him. It was not a dream after all.

Giving himself a facepalm, Zhou Weiqing’s memories slowly returned as clarity returned to his mind.

“That weird black pearl seemed to have entered my body?” Quickly, Zhou Weiqing recalled his last memory before fainting. At that time, he had felt a gust of cold rushing into his belly, and he had passed out from the cold and had no further memory. As for the dead vegetation around him, he subconsciously passed it off as collateral damage from Difuya’s fireball.

As Zhou Weiqing was born with blocked meridians, although he was a noble, but he only attended an ordinary commoner school which did not give explicit lessons on the powers of Jewel Masters, hence he made such a judgement error. If the first skill on Difuya’s Elemental Jewel was that strong as he had imagined, she would not simply be just an ordinary genius. Furthermore, to be able to deal that kind of damage, that fireball would have blown him into smithereens.

“What on earth was that black pearl?” Although his judgement was fully accurate, but one thing Zhou Weiqing knew for sure - he had been critically wounded by the fireball, and it was the black pearl which had healed him.

“Is my moral character that good*? Did a miracle just happen to me?” Zhou Weiqing grew more excited as he thought. Although he had quite an optimistic character that could dismiss the misfortunate of his birth, but being born in such a prestigious family, he naturally had a strong desire to be strong.

*TL : The Chinese believe a lot in karma so he is saying his moral character is so good that something good happened to him

As he swiveled his neck looking around, he immediately locked onto the huge Star Tree beside him as a test target.

The reason for Star Trees’ name was because their leaves were shaped in a 5-corner pentagon manner, just like a star. A 100-year Star Tree was considered full grown, and its wood was extremely strong and tough, yet did not lack in flexibility - that was why it was renowned as one of the best materials for crafting bows.

Zhou Weiqing moved towards the chosen Star Tree, and waving his fist around, he slammed his fist into the thick trunk with all his might.

“PENG!” “Ahhhhhh!” The first sound naturally was the sound of his fist hitting the tree, and the latter was like a cat which had its tail stepped on, an almost inhuman screech.

Zhou Weiqing had been afraid of pain since he was young, the thick Star Tree stood immobile, yet he was hopping up and down clutching his right fist. The intense pain in his right fist made it almost numbing, and the surface skin of the fist was scraped badly, the sheer pain causing him to hop around for almost 10 minutes before getting slightly better.

“****!” The young fellow cursed as he blew on his fist. “Damned, looks like pies dropping from heaven* is not something that will happen to me.”

*TL: Sudden windfall

Luckily, he was still young, and the strength of his fist wasn’t that huge, so he did not harm the bones of his fist. After the pain subsided, he draped on the remnants of his clothing, and his outer robe from the side of the lake, before departing crestfallen.

Unknown to him, about 15 minutes after he had left the scene, on the Star Tree that he had struck with his fist, where some of his blood had been left after his skin had scraped away. The surrounding tough bark of the Star Tree started to rot, and thin layer of dark grey air seemed to dissipate into the air. 3 days later, this 50 plus year old Star Tree vanished totally from the forest. Of course, this would never be known to Zhou Weiqing.

Back on the Star Forest’s Boulevard, Zhou Weiqing grew angrier and angrier as he thought about what happened. Although he had managed to survive by some miracle, but his impression of his fiance had already dropped to rock bottom. If he had not chanced upon the black pearl, he would probably have perished in the forest then.

“Difuya, just you wait. One day, I will have my revenge and make you regret this day.” Zhou Weiqing said viciously. He had never hated anyone so much, even those who had mocked him since young, at least they had never taken direct action against him. Yet, Difuya had been so vicious towards him, furthermore the reason for doing so was in fact just a misunderstanding. Clearly, Zhou Weiqing was someone who could hold a grudge.

As he neared Heavenly Bow City, Zhou Weiqing slowly calmed down. He was wearing only an outer robe with nothing inside. Luckily, he still had a few pieces of gold in the robe. His father was very strict with him, so he did not have a huge allowance.

“Should I go home?” Zhou Weiqing stopped to think. “No, I definitely can’t go home like this. That damned Difuya will certainly complain to her father the Emperor about me peeping on her. If that old fellow hears about it, then it won’t be just a simple beating for me.” Thinking of the stern fierce eyes of his father, he couldn’t help but shudder. He had grown up to many a beating, any time he got into any kind of mischief meant a beating from his father. This time, if his father knew about him peeping at the princess bathing, he wouldn’t be able to defend his actions. For his own safety, he better not go home.

However, if he did not head home, where could he go especially with only a few pieces of gold? Zhou Weiqing was in a dilemma. Although he was tall and well built, he was still a 13 year old kid, and did not have any particular professional skill he could live on. Even if he ran away from home, how could he survive for more than a few days outside and alone.

For a time, Zhou Weiqing looked extremely gloomy. Despite his misgivings, he continued shuffling towards the gates of Heavenly Bow City.

“Eh? Why are there so many people ahead?” Just as the city gates were up ahead, Zhou Weiqing suddenly realised there was an uncommonly large crowd at the side of the gates, almost several hundred people, and there were soldiers guarding the perimeter.

What is going on here? Filled with curiosity, he quickly walked over to have a look. Luckily although the area was crowded, it was not tightly packed, and he was able to squeeze his way to the front to look.

Just ahead of the crowd, here was a row of long desks surrounded by people. Behind the desk was a notice with the large words “Military Recruitment” displayed clearly. Below that was written: To protect the borders of our empire, Heavenly Bow City is now recruiting 3000 fresh troops. Looking for healthy males of 16 to 26 of age, with priority to those with great inborn strength or heaven energy. Country first then home, to join the army and protect your country and home is the manly thing to do.

The Heavenly Energy referred to here was those who level 1 or 2. If someone was able to cultivate to level 3 and awaken their Power Jewel, they would not need to join via this recruitment, and could directly apply to military schools or even Jewel Master schools, which would mean a much brighter future.

Normally, Jewel Master’s Power Jewels were awakened before the age of 16, if not, it was likely that it would be impossible to do so in the future. Thus, the recruitment here was for ordinary soldiers.

Join the army? Looking at the notice, Zhou Weiqing was highly tempted. Of course, if he signed on to the army, he wouldn’t need to go home! He would be fed and paid, and perhaps he could forge a name for himself in the army, lest his old man kept calling him a useless bum. Haha, this was a heaven-sent opportunity!

This fellow was still very young, and caught up in the moment of excitement, he did not think things through and consider the difficulties of joining the army. After all he was at an age where impulses ruled decision-making. Furthermore, after being called useless and trash everyday, and with his father being so strict with him, he did not want to stay at home anymore.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Weiqing squeezed to the front and told an old recruiting soldier : “Big bro, I want to apply, I want to apply.”

Although there were several hundred people in the surrounding crowd, but the actual number of applicants weren’t actually high. After all, Heavenly Bow City was the prosperous capital city of the empire, and the living standards of the commoners here were much higher than the norm. Also, since Heavenly Bow Empire was a small country, there were frequent border clashes with the other small surrounding countries. As a result, joining the army was quite a dangerous occupation. As such, it was not a normal occupation of choice for most people, let alone the nobles of the land.

TL: They should get lectured by Lan Jue from Skyfire Avenue on the duties of nobles!

There were around 20 soldiers in charge of recruitment sitting behind the desks, and they were all veterans, having at least of the rank of platoon leader or higher. The one which Zhou Weiqing was currently facing looked to be around 30 years of age, and though he was just sitting there, his tall and strong physique was clear. From the lazy look that was currently on his face, those who had been in the army long enough would easily recognize and experienced and slick soldier.

“Hey brat, you want to join the army?” Seeing that someone finally approached him, the platoon leader was overjoyed. After all, there were 20 soldiers here, and Zhou Weiqing had chosen to approach him, letting him feel that he had a lot of face.

“Yes! I want to join the army!” Zhou Weiqing exclaimed clearly. Looking at all the platoon leaders dressed smartly in their armor giving off an awe inspiring aura, further firmed his resolve to join.

The platoon leader nodded in satisfaction and asked: “That’s great, which branch of the service do you want to join?”

“Ah?” Although Zhou Weiqing’s father was the commander-in-chief of the army, but he personally did not know much of the inner workings of the army, and he asked weakly: “What’s the difference?”

“Of course there is a difference, although the treatment of all basic soldiers are the same, but the requirements, tests and training of the various branches are quite different. For example, those in the light infantry would be more focused on stamina; on the battlefield they are the busiest, having to run around everywhere. With higher stamina and being good at running, it will improve their chances of survival on the battlefield. In fact, most of the other branches all started out from light infantry, many of the recruits do start training in the infantry. Of course, there are also other basic branches, like wagon supply units, logistics, army cooks etc. However, most of those do not have much future advancement.” As he went on speaking, his mouth twisted in scorn as he mentioned the latter.

As soon as he heard about survival on the battlefield, Zhou Weiqing’s earlier enthusiasm was somewhat extinguished. Oh yes, joining the army would mean having to fight on an actual battlefield, and he did not have that much skills, if he were to die as cannon fodder in a fight, that would definitely not be worth it.

“Ahem, Officer Bro, Can I consider a bit more?” Being afraid of death was human nature, especially for someone like Zhou Weiqing who was only 13 years of age, even though he looked like he was 16.

“What? Are you playing with me?” The platoon leader suddenly stood up angrily. His 1.9m frame towered over Zhou Weiqing, giving off a intimidating aura as he grabbed Zhou Weiqing’s cuff and brought his angered face closer.

“Uhhh… No what I meant was that I need more time to think what branch I should apply for..” Zhou Weiqing said quickly with a bitter smile on his face. As the saying goes, a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him, Zhou Weiqing certainly did not want to get beaten up. In truth, if he had revealed his background, it was likely that all of them would be kneeling in front of him right now. However, although Zhou Weiqing’s character was sly and cunning, but he had always been extremely obedient towards his father’s instructions. Since young, his father had always drilled into him that a real man will work and live on his own merits, and not just depend on his family background. As such, although Zhou Weiqing had one of the highest ranking noble backgrounds in the empire, he had never used it to take advantage of anyone, unlike Princess Difuya.

In fact, even if Zhou Weiqing really reneged on applying, the platoon couldn’t do anything about it. Too bad he was young and inexperienced and had been scared into agreeing without knowing that.

Upon hearing Zhou Weiqing’s reply, the platoon leader sat back down with a satisfied smile, crooking his head to look at him before saying: “Alright, hurry up and decide and then fill up this form and you can take your test. Let me tell you brat, you are very lucky as this is the first of recruitment so we’re still rather lax in our testing. Otherwise, do you think joining the army is that easy?”

Zhou Weiqing asked a sullen expression: “Officer Bro, uhm, can I ask, on the battlefield which unit branch can stand at the back and will not have much contact with the enemy?”

Zhou Weiqing had his own thinking, after all every boy dreamed of being a hero when they were young. He was not willing to just join logistics or to be a cook, if he had to be a soldier he had better be a proper one. If not, if his father heard about it, he would likely be beaten to death! He himself also didn’t want to throw face. But then as a soldier who would have to enter the battlefield, Zhou Weiqing still wanted to look for a role that would be relatively safer, after all in his mind, safety was always number one. To him, being afraid of death was a natural human state, and he wasn’t so heroic that he could just stare death in the face.

The platoon leader’s eyes glinted with a sly look, and said quickly: “That’s easy, of course that would be archers. Archers are generally put in the back-lines, even if they had to fire from the front, but when both sides clash they would retreat back behind to fight. Unless the entire army is wiped out, otherwise archers usually will not have direct contact with the enemy.

Upon hearing that, Zhou Weiqing was delighted and immediately said, “Great, this is great! Of course, why didn’t I think of our Heavenly Bow Empire’s most well known unit. Officer Bro, I want to be an archer!” Archers were usually positioned behind the other close combat units for protection, this much he did know at least.

The platoon leader saw that his cunning plan had succeeded, and gave a laugh of delight before standing up and grabbed his pen: “Name, age?”

“I’m called Zhou…” Zhou Weiqing almost gave out his actual name before catching himself in time. “I’m called Zhou Little Fatty. 16 years of age.” Although Zhou Weiqing was only 13 years old, but he had after all been born in a noble family and was the only son, as such he had some knowledge of the worldly ways of the world, at least a bit more than an ordinary kid. Since he had already decided to join the army, in order to hide the fact from his father, he decided to give himself an alias, it was his kid nickname which hadn’t been used for more than 10 years. It was unlikely that his father could discover him from it.

“Zhou Little Fatty? You’re not fat at all though!” The platoon leader muttered to himself while writing down the details. He did not doubt for a second that Zhou Weiqing was younger than his proclaimed age of 16.

Very soon, the registration was complete, and he passed the form to Zhou Weiqing and pointed to a corner of the area and said: “Okay, go over there to take the test for archers. As long as you pass the test, you will be an official soldier of our empire.”

“Thank you Officer Bro.” Zhou Weiqing happily took the form. In his mind, this was the best possible outcome, joining an actual combat unit which would not put him in too much danger. Perfect.

Rushing excitedly to the test area, there were about 4-5 soldiers there dressed in black and grey uniforms, with light leather armor, custom protective wrist guards, head adorned with a large hat to cover the sun, with a longbow on their backs, and a quiver of arrows slung on each side. This was the normal equipment for archers, and did seem rather valiant looking. Currently, there was no one taking the test, but the few archers were standing at attention. Zhou Weiqing knew how strict his father was by nature, and if he was so fierce towards his own son, naturally his army had to have strict discipline as well. As such, even though Heavenly Bow Empire was quite small, with an army strength of a few tens of thousands, but they were all very elite and were more than able to hold their own against enemies of similar or higher numbers. Zhou Weiqing knew that his father had never lost a battle, and was very well renowned in the surrounding countries.

“Hi big bros, I’m here to take the test.” Zhou Weiqing handed his form over to one of the archers, who looked at him and said “Little bro, well done, congratulations on choosing to join us, the units with one of the best prospects in the army. Here, take this to try pulling it.” The archer unlimbered his bow and passed it to Zhou Weiqing.

Zhou Weiqing took the long bow and examined it closely. It was made out of high quality Star Wood, was around 1.8m long and 0.9m wide. The front of the bow frame was in a circular arc, while the back was straight. The centre grip was about 4 cm wide, getting gradually thinner towards the ends which were wrapped up in sinew.

This sort of long bow had been developed over the ages, across years and years of wars, from the various mixed materials of ancient times in the Boundless Mainland to crossbows which were less than 1.2m long, having a max range of less than 200m and effective range of less than 100m, and a much lower penetrating power. As time passed, bows gradually were developed to be larger, especially with the discovery of top grade materials like Star Wood, allowing the use of longbows to be more widespread. This long bow which was common for the archers of Heavenly Bow Empire was extremely deadly, even the most ordinary ones had a max range of less than 400m, an effective range of less than 250m, almost double that of the old crossbows. Their firing rate was as high as 10-12 arrows per minute which was also better than the crossbow. In the hands of a skilled archer, the accuracy was way higher. Since the long bow was lighter due to its material, it was also easier to wield despite its increased range and damage, suitable for both skirmishes and direct clashes, and thus its appearance had meant crossbows had been rendered obsolete. It could be said that the longbow was the king of the battlefield for ranged weapons.

The sheer rate of fire of the longbow could cause the effect like an artillery barrage, when their own infantry were charging forth, the archers in the backline could fire upwards in a high arc to hit the enemies. This was also the weakness of light cavalry where the mounts were not armored. Fired at max range, the sharp arrows could even pierce through light armor.

Of course, there were also shortcomings of the longbow, namely that the archer had to have a strong body and constitution, have great skill on many different fronts, as well as the ability to cooperate well with each other. This meant a long time spent training and fighting together before an archery unit was mature.

The importance of archers in an army was undisputed, especially so for Heavenly Bow Empire (TL: Hence their empire name). In fact, when Zhou Weiqing’s father was younger and still a commander, he lead troops of archers in an model battle of success for archers. At that time, their opponent was the Kalise Empire on their southern front, whose army was mainly made of cavalry.

At that time, Admiral Zhou had chosen a gentle slope which the Kalise Army would pass by and set up an ambush.

At that time, Heavenly Bow Empire’s archer troops consisted of only 2000 men, divided into 3 units. The unit covering the left used trees and trenches as cover, and the unit covering the right had a river as a natural barrier cover; the last unit was behind the other two and personally led by Admiral Zhou himself. In front of each unit, there were around 150 dismounted heavy cavalry troops equipped with heavy tower shields in a protective formation of 6 rows. With such a formation numbering mostly archers, and facing more than 3 times their number in enemy cavalry, they had won in a convincing slaughter-fest. This was also the battle that propelled Admiral Zhou to fame, and brought him into the upper echelons of the Heavenly Bow Army ranks.

Knowing his father’s history, when Zhou Weiqing held the bow, he couldn’t help but feel a rush of passion and excitement. As his father’s son, he had been trained with a longbow previously, but holding such a longbow which had been on the battlefield just felt different.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Weiqing held the bow in his left hand, while expertly using his thumb, index and middle finger to pull back the drawstring, using his strength to unwaveringly draw the bow into a perfect crescent, taking aim in front.

The soldier’s eyes lit up, and he exclaimed in praise: “Nice! Little bro, you have used a bow before right, very standard actions, but let’s see how your accuracy is. For us archers, as long as we have good accuracy, we are extremely important in the army.”

With such a proper posture, how could Zhou Weiqing not be accurate? After all, as long as Zhou Weiqing’s father was at home, he took pleasure in “torturing” his son with training. Although Zhou Weiqing was not able to cultivate, but in terms of training in different weapons and combat, he definitely had the best possible training. Even when the Admiral was out at work, he would still assign training for Zhou Weiqing to complete, and would even check afterwards. If he failed the check…. hehehehe..

As a result of that, Zhou Weiqing not only knew how to shoot, but was also very accurate, which was also one of the reasons why he had been so happy to choose to join the archer unit. After all, Heavenly Bow Empire was renowned in the region for its archers, and Admiral Zhou had definitely given him a lot of training in that area.

After taking the position for a while, Zhou Weiqing slowly put down the bow, not even out of breath and his back straight. He was after all still 13 years old, and although his strength was no weaker than an ordinary adult, he still could not sustain that position for too long.

“Alright, that’s enough. Little bro, from now on you are one of our brothers in the archery battalion. Our battalion is part of the 5th Regiment of the army, and the 5th Regiment has a total of 10 battalions out of which 4 are archers, and we are of the 3rd battalion.

In Boundless Mainland, the formation of armies in the various countries were pretty much the same.

10 men to a Squad
10 Squads (100 men) to a Company
10 Companies (1000 men) to a Battalion
10 Battalions (10k men) to a Regiment
10 Regiments (100k men) to a Field Army Group

Of course, Heavenly Bow Empire’s army did not consist of Field Army Groups, its entire army was made up of 5 Regiments, totalling 50k soldiers.

“Ah? Is that it for the test?” Zhou Weiqing asked in surprise.

The archer replied with a laugh: “Why? Did you think it would be harder? We’re recruiting fresh troops not picking a son-in-law, as long as the recruit is healthy and in good shape,and is able to draw the longbow, it is considered a pass. You foolish youngling, probably just reached 16 years old right, and you will continue growing in stature so there won’t be any issues there. More importantly, all the recruits will be having a 3 month basic training. Of course we will not be sending fresh recruits into the battlefield. Alright, now go over to that side to collect your equipment. Little bro, let me tell you that you are extremely lucky to be able to enter our 3rd battalion, you will know why when you see our battalion commander who is personally giving out the equipment over there.” As he spoke, he put a tick on Zhou Weiqing’s form before returning it to him.

The archer gave Zhou Weiqing directions to the temporary battalion headquarters which was situated not far from the field, it had likely not been set up for long, and there were still wagons delivering good there.

Was he about to become a real soldier now? Since young, Zhou Weiqing had been scolded by his father for being a useless bum, and he had never felt such a sense of accomplishment as today. Even though the test earlier had been extremely simple, but he had passed it on his own merits. Zhou Weiqing thrusted his chest forward in pride as he strode towards the batallion headquarters.

As he entered the headquarters, the form in his hands was his entrance permit across the various sentry checkpoints, and with the directions from the sentries he was able to easily find the 3rd battalion’s headquarters. In front of a large warehouse there was a sign which read: New Recruits report here.

Zhou Weiqing was so excited by now, and hurried towards the warehouse and raised his hand to move aside the curtain to get in. In an unbelievable coincidence, just as he raised his hand forward, someone was walking out at the same time. It was summer time at the moment, and the curtain on the headquarters was extremely thin, and was mostly just to ward of mosquitoes. Due to Zhou Weiqing’s excitement, his actions were very large, and in grabbing the curtain, he also grabbed onto some round, soft, yet springy. Zhou Weiqing subconsciously squeezed, and at the same time there was a loud hmph from the other end before he was kicked away.

(TL: LOL the grope - squeeze combo? )

The kick was not that heavy, but Zhou Weiqing was still knocked back 7 steps, almost landing on his butt. The curtain was shoved aside and someone strode out.

It was a beautiful young girl, looking to be around 16 years of age, around 1.7m in height and very slender. She had a head of blue hair tied in a ponytail, and was dressed in a suit of black uniform, which Zhou Weiqing recognized as the uniform of a battalion commander. Of course, she was not wearing the armor which would complete the whole battalion commander gear.

Princess Difuya was already very pretty, but was no match in comparison to this young lady who was a whole level ahead in terms of looks. Her skin was as fine and smooth as milk, and her most dazzling feature was her pair of large enchanting light blue eyes which were gentle and nigh perfect. Her features were blemishless, giving anyone who looked upon her an impression of being as gentle as still water.

As he looked upon the young girl, Zhou Weiqing was stunned as he realised he knew her. Although he had only seen her once from far, but she had definitely left an impression on him then. The reason for that as because the girl in front of him was Heavenly Bow Empire’s top genius on the young generation, and was also known as the top beauty of the empire. Her name was Shang Gong Bing Er.

[HasNoLove]

hahaha~
2 or 3 girls in a day got "molested" by our great MC XD

[korendir]

hahaha~
2 or 3 girls in a day got "molested" by our great MC XD

Lol in his defense its 1 peep, 1 "molest" and both were not intentional!
He's only 13 though a precocious kid haha!

[Sleepless]

I'm wondering, will he ever awaken his jewel?

[korendir]

I'm wondering, will he ever awaken his jewel?

click to show/hide spoilers

Yup its in the synopsis actually =) He will awaken Heavenly Jewels

[SilverNight]

Nice, the story is picking up really well!!

[jiraiyanairad]

Interesting i look forward to it

[Drak17]

Thanks for the read. Wow, seems like Tang Jia San Shao likes to write lengthy paragraphs, just like Dou Luo Da Lu...

[blinki]

I like it so far. Thanx for translating this novel.

[ghostpeople]

Thanks for the read. Wow, seems like Tang Jia San Shao likes to write lengthy paragraphs, just like Dou Luo Da Lu...

actually he divides it up into four separate chapters like ____1,____2,____3,____4

[JinYongMA616]

hahaha~
2 or 3 girls in a day got "molested" by our great MC XD

thats when he knew he F**ked up hard *molested girls left and right oh boy this mc is my favorite*
is he gonna get reversed raped?(get beaten up by the female or guards)

[JinYongMA616]

click to show/hide spoilers

Yup its in the synopsis actually =) He will awaken Heavenly Jewels

lol sounds like he has some nice balls (joke about heavenly jewels...)

[korendir]

Chapter 3 Battalion’s Commander Chest Muscles are not bad!

Zhou Weiqing had only seen Shang Gong Bing Er once, and that was at her award ceremony. The countries in Boundless Mainland had very similar titles for nobles, the six titles in order of nobility from low to high - Lord, Baron, Viscount, Count, Marquis, Duke. Of course, for different countries, the various noble titles might have varying amount of power awarded.

Shang Gong Bing Er was born from a common family, but she had been awarded a title of Lord at the age of twelve, Baron the next year. This year she was 15 years old, older than Zhou Weiqing by 2 years, but her noble title was already the same as him at Viscount. However, in comparison, her title was truly earned by herself unlike Zhou Weiqing’s titles which were only because of his father. Even though Princess Difuya was a rising star in the royal family, in comparison to Shang Gong Bing Er, she paled in comparison.

Although Shang Gong Bing Er was younger than the princess by a year, she already possessed 2 sets of Power Jewels, furthermore she had both Elemental and Power Jewels. At the age of 12, Shang Gong Bing Er already managed to cultivate to level 3 Heavenly Energy and Awakened her Twin Power Jewels, which were known as Heavenly Jewels. Such a phenomenon was much rarer than giving birth to twins in families. Especially in such a small country like Heavenly Bow Empire where the number of Heavenly Jewel Masters they have are honestly really pathetic. The reason why Shang Gong Bing Er is held in such regard by the Empire, given the rank of viscount as such a young age, is because she is actually the second Heavenly Jewel Master in the whole empire! And the first Heavenly Jewel Master is actually Zhou Weiqing’s father, Admiral Zhou.

Although Zhou Weiqing’s father was a Heavenly Jewel Master, but the class was still a mystery in Zhou Weiqing’s heart. As he had blocked meridians since young, Admiral Zhou looked down upon him and thus never discussed anything regarding Heavenly Jewel Masters. The only thing that Zhou Weiqing knew was that on the surface, Heaven Jewel Masters seemed to be the combination of a Physical and Elemental Jewel Master. However, while there were many similarities, there were actually quite some differences in terms of cultivation, promotion of Heavenly Jewel Masters, in fact even the look and abilities of their jewels also differed in some ways as compared to the individual Elemental or Physical Masters. However, he had no idea what the differences actually were, all he knew was that Heavenly Jewel Masters were known as having true strength in comparison. Many a time had he daydreamed that he was a Heavenly Jewel Master.

The one time that Zhou Weiqing had seen Shang Gong Bing Er previously was the day that she had been awarded with the title of Viscount. The one who had awarded her the title was the Emperor himself, and at that time Admiral Zhou had brought him along to view the procession. As such, even though he had seen Shang Gong Bing Er before and could recognize this top beauty of the empire at a single glance, but she did not recognize him.

Unfortunately, the facial expression on this top beauty was at this moment extremely ugly, her perfect features were ice cold, brow furrowed in anger and her hands were clasped protectively in front of her chest.

At this time, Shang Gong Bing Er was rather despondent. She had just been walking out of the headquarters when the youth in front of her had suddenly recklessly grabbed the curtains, and had even grabbed her sensitive areas! In fact, from a young age, no male had ever touched any part of her body, she had no idea who her father was, and had been brought up singlehandedly by her mother. In fact, if she had not been protecting herself reflexively from the grasp just now, the kick on Zhou Weiqing would have been a lot harsher.

Zhou Weiqing also awoke to reality at this point, and recalling and associating the words of the archer earlier, he realised that this top beauty in front of him was clearly his superior officer, the battalion officer of the 3rd battalion, the very officer who was supposed to issue him his gear. Also, looking at Shang Gong Bing Er’s face and actions, it was clear to him where he had grabbed earlier.

In the Star Forest earlier, he had only seen the naked back of Princess Difuya and had been exceedingly excited. Now, he had actually touched Shang Gong Bing Er! Could this be his lucky day*? In this one single day, he had had ‘ambiguous’ relations with the 2 most famous young ladies in the whole empire! Thinking of where he had grabbed earlier… *Pooh*, Once again twin rows of blood spurted out of his nose again. Although his face was arranged in an honest expression, that nosebleed betrayed the dirty thoughts he was currently having.

*TL: Lol, he sure forgot quickly how that almost got him killed!

“Who are you?” Looking at Zhou Weiqing’s nosebleed, Shang Gong Bing Er’s expression got even angrier, and she drew her sword and shouted in rage while pointing it at him.

“Ah! It is a misunderstanding, I’m a new recruit here to report to get my new equipment.” Zhou Weiqing quickly waved his form in front of her.

Shang Gong Bing Er took a swift step forward towards Zhou Weiqing, grabbing the form from him to take a look. Her face softened a little, as she knew that it truly had been a coincidence previously, though she was still very angry at Zhou Weiqing.

“Why are you bumbling around clumsily for?” With a *qiang* sound, Shang Gong Bing Er sheathed her sword, the killing intent in her eyes had disappeared but her tone was still cold and angry. After all, what girl would be able to keep her temple after being grabbed that way.

Zhou Weiqing had been observing her expressions, and was very impressed in his heart. Look at Shang Gong Bing Er, though she was born from a common family, the grievance she had suffered was no smaller than Princess Difuya, but clearly her moral character was way better than the princess. If only she was my fiance instead, how great that would be?

“Follow me inside.” Shang Gong Bing Er pushed aside the curtain and re-entered the headquarters.

Zhou Weiqing was about to enter, when someone sidled up next to him. Only then did he realise that a male soldier had actually been following Shang Gong Bing Er out of the headquarters previously. He was wearing light armor covering the vital spots of the body, and with a helmet with a yellow feather, this was the mark of a Company Leader. Previously, all of Zhou Weiqing’s attention had been focused on the alluring Shang Gong Bing Er and he had not noticed his presence.

A voice sounded out in his ear, as soft as a mosquito’s buzzing, “Hey Boy, how was feeling like?”

Zhou Weiqing was at this point gloating inwardly, and he subconsciously praised out loud: “The battalion commander’s chest muscles are not bad!”

The Company Leader had only been teasing him, with a bit of envy mixed in, little did he expect that this young rascal would actually reply him out loud, this seemed rather at odds with his honest outlook. Regarding Zhou Weiqing’s reply, he could only think of one phrase: How intrepid!

A cold light flashed, and Zhou Weiqing felt the ends of his hair stand up suddenly as the curtain in front of him was suddenly cut into two. In front of him, at the doorway, with her sword quivering in her hands, Shang Gong Bing Er stood glaring coldly at Zhou Weiqing: “If you talk some more rubbish, I’ll make sure you become an eunuch.”

“Eh, Battalion Commander, I'm so sorry I was wrong.” Zhou Weiqing had regretted his words earlier the moment they had left his mouth, after all he had been so loud and Shang Gong Bing Er was so close, thus he hurriedly admitted his mistake with a apologetic smiling face.

Shang Gong Bing Er gave an angry hmph, before turning back to head into the headquarters. The Company Leader seeing the situation, gave Zhou Weiqing a big thumbs up before he ran off quickly. Although Shang Gong Bing Er did not put on any airs, and had a very good temperament, but as soon as combat started, she was definitely more valiant than anyone else. He did not want to end up becoming an excuse for her to vent her anger.

“Zhou Little Fatty, come here.” Shang Gong Bing Er’s severe voice came from within. Zhou Weiqing was blank for a while, before remembering that it was addressed to him, and hurriedly proceeded inside.

The huge building was filled with all sorts of army supplies, mostly meant for archers. Shang Gong Bing Er did not sheathe her sword, instead slamming it down onto a table, before saying to one of the logistics soldiers: “Give him a set of equipment and then get him to scram.”

There were more than 10 logistics soldiers in charge of taking care of the equipment and also giving it out. They had not witnessed the earlier debacle, and were really curious why the normally kind battalion commander was acting so angry. One of the veteran soldiers quickly took out a set of archer equipment and handed it over to Zhou Weiqing.

Zhou Weiqing quickly took his equipment and looked through it. There were 2 sets of army uniforms, including socks, shoes and clothes, as well a set of leather armor, a longbow which was even taller than Zhou Weiqing, 2 quiver of arrows and a large hat.

In the whole army, only the archers were issued the hat, and its purpose was not to block the wind, but rather to shade them from the glare of sunlight. After all, archers needed good vision in order to aim, and if they were in a position where they had to stare into the sun, it would adversely affect their aim. As such, all of the archers were issued such a hat to shade their eyes and increase their aim.

The veteran soldier then gave Zhou Weiqing 3 gold coins, telling him: “This is your first year’s pay. You have one day leave to return home and settle everything. Gather back here by noon tomorrow. Remember, do not abuse your army supplies, when you gather back here tomorrow you will need to be dressed in your uniform. Understood?

“Understood.” If not for what happened with Shang Gong Bing Er earlier, Zhou Weiqing would probably be very excited with receiving his equipment. However, he was still immersed in the memory of the feel just now, thinking in his head that he would not be washing his hands for a while now.

According to the normal procedures, Shang Gong Bing Er should be saying some encouraging words now as a battalion commander. However, at this moment, how could she? The only thing she could do was to glare menacingly at Zhou Weiqing, who was rather spooked by the glare and did not dare to stay for long, grabbing things and rushing out of the headquarters.

Shang Gong Bing Er looked at his retreating back, and thought to herself: Zhou Little Fatty, Zhou Little Fatty, just you wait, I’ll make you pay for that!

If Zhou Weiqing knew what Shang Gong Bing Er was thinking, that despicable rascal will certainly answer: Sure, I’ll let you touch me back anywhere! Or perhaps even: My chest muscles aren’t as developed as yours!

As he exited the headquarters, Zhou Weiqing noticed that there wasn’t anyone around, and looking around he spotted an area with a toilet signage, which had a strange symbol he did not recognize.

Toilet? That was great.

He hurriedly grabbed his gear and rushed to the toilet, which was a lot cleaner and pleasant smelling than he had expected, though it only had one cubicle and a wooden door.

Zhou Weiqing found a clean spot to place his equipment, then removed his clothes. Earlier on, most of his clothes had been destroyed besides his over coat, and it was extremely uncomfortable. Since he had already gotten his army uniform, he decided to change into it as soon as possible.

Removing his overcoat, he was now totally naked. He was in no rush to change, but stood there relaxed to take a piss.

At this time, he heard the door opening. Zhou Weiqing was still urinating, and he subconsciously looked back, only to see Shang Gong Bing Er walk in.

As Shang Gong Bing Er entered the toilet, the first thing she saw was Zhou Weiqing’s naked butt, and he was still shaking his ‘tool’ after finishing up. That sight sent her into a shock, and that was the moment that Zhou Weiqing turned around. Their gazes met, and two shrill shrieks sounded out at the same time. The weirdest thing was that Zhou Weiqing’s despicable scream was even more exaggerated than Shang Gong Bing Er’s.

Shang Gong Bing Er’s lovely face was red with embarrassment, and she backed out in a flash. Zhou Weiqing hurriedly shook his ‘tool’ to finish up, and put on his uniform quickly, thinking that he was done for now. Holstering his longbow onto his back, shouldering the quivers and putting on the hat, he took quick steps toward the exit, thinking to himself: I better make a quick run for it and hope for the best.

“Stop!” Shang Gong Bing Er shouted in anger towards Zhou Weiqing, her face pale in anger. “You perverted flasher! Just wait there and I’ll deal with you.” As she said that she rushed towards the toilet.

It was truly another unbelievable coincidence. The reason Shang Gong Bing Er barged in without checking was because that toilet was actually for her personal use, hence the unknown symbol on the signage, which actually referred to the Battalion Commander’s personal use. After all, she was a girl, and also as a Heavenly Jewel Master it was safe to say that she was the hope of the Empire, and it was easy for the Regiment Commander to give her some simple special benefits like a private toilet.

In the first place, she had actually been heading for the toilet when Zhou Weiqing groped her, thus the long delay. After he had left, after she had finally calmed down, she had then heading out to the toilet again. Who knew that she would once again bump into him in such a circumstance to see him in his birthday suit. As such, she was not only both embarrassed and angry, but also confused. Added on to that was her need to use the toilet, although she wanted to beat Zhou Weiqing savagely, but she really needed to finish her own ‘business’ first!

Wait here? Zhou Weiqing thought to himself. Only a fool would wait here, maybe your anger will have dissipated by tomorrow.

This fellow totally disregarded his battalion commander’s orders, and ran off quickly with his bow. Quickly exiting the camp area, he dashed off into Heavenly Bow City. By the time Shang Gong Bing Er came out from the toilet, the Pervert (in her eyes?), Zhou Weiqing, was already long gone. This made her gnash her teeth in hate to no avail.

After returning to Heavenly Bow City, Zhou Weiqing looked for an inn to stay for the night, and got some pen and paper to write a letter to his father:
Father, you always said that I’m useless, and I do feel that way myself, so I will not stay at home to trouble you further. As the saying goes, Reading 10000 books is incomparable to traveling 10000 li, I’ve decided to go out and make a living traveling by myself, to make a name for myself. Also, please help me break off my engagement with Princess Difuya, after all I am just a useless trash while she is a genius, I do not want to hold up her life, especially since she does not like me at all. That’s all I have to say, do take care of mother and do not try to look for me. You know I’m more afraid of death than anyone, I’ll come back alive and kicking, so don’t worry about me.

After writing the letter, he went out to look for a shop providing delivery services, and paid for the letter to be delivered home tomorrow. After which he headed for a blacksmith’s shop - since he was about to become a soldier, his priority was definitely his own safety. As mentioned in his letter, he was more afraid of dying than anyone else. Today was his only free day in a while, so he decided to prepare himself properly before he had to return to the camp tomorrow.

Having grown up in Heavenly Bow City, Zhou Weiqing was extremely familiar with its layout. As he was still young, and had spent his life being scolded severely at home, leaving home this time gave him the enjoyable feeling like a bird let out of its cage; the feeling of homesickness will currently not be felt yet.

Before long, Zhou Weiqing had entered the nearest blacksmith shop. “Hi officer, what would you like to order?” The manager of the shop immediately greeted Zhou Weiqing upon seeing his army uniform. In Heavenly Bow Empire, although the profession of blacksmith was not considered low, but it was still far from a soldier. Here, the most respected profession besides Jewel Masters were the soldiers of the army. After all, the mere 50k strong army of the Heavenly Bow Empire had withstood countless invasions from surrounding countries, and thus they were greatly beloved by the citizens. Although Zhou Weiqing looked very young, but he still looked very smart in his army uniform.

Zhou Weiqing asked: “Are you the boss here?”

“Yes, I am. Our shop might not be very large, but we are a time-honored brand in Heavenly Bow City, and have a good reputation. Whatever you wish to order, I’ll give you a discount since you are defending our country!”

Zhou Weiqing grinned, and lifted his hand to pluck off the hat off his head, looked out the window carefully, before moving closer to the boss and whispering mysteriously: “Boss, I’m from the 3rd Archery Battalion of the 5th Regiment of the army. I’m actually here on a secret mission from my Battalion Commander to forge something. If you do this well, needless to say you will be well rewarded.”

The boss hesitated for a moment, looking over Zhou Weiqing in evaluation. Although this archer looked very young, but he had an honest face and did not look like a cheat.

Zhou Weiqing continued in a low voice: “Don’t you know our 3rd Battalion? As soon as I mention our Battalion Commander you should understand; it’s our Empire’s top beauty, Viscount Shang Gong Bing Er herself. You can go ask around and check for yourself.”

Upon hearing the name Shang Gong Bing Er, the boss’ eyes brightened immediately, “Officer, what does Viscount Shang Gong Bing Er wish to forge?” To the commoners of the empire, Shang Gong Bing Er was like a legend, after all she was also common-born, and was known as the Goddess of Commoners. This unsuspecting boss never expected that anyone would use her name to cheat someone, otherwise that person would be spurned with scorn by everyone. How would he know that the person in front of him was also a viscount. If Shang Gong Bing Er actually found out that Zhou Weiqing was actually making use of her name, who knows if she might just castrate him!

Zhou Weiqing said: “I need a extremely durable, strong but light metal to forge something. And it needs to be in a rush, I need it by today. Money is not a problem, but I need it to be hastened immediately.” As such, he took out the gold coins he had and laid them on the table.

Although Zhou Weiqing was not able to cultivate from young, but his thinking was definitely much more cunning and wily than anyone of his age. The reason why he used Shang Gong Bing Er’s name was because he could not afford to wait for the usual time that such a forging order would take.

The boss immediately nodded and said: “No problem, we happen to have a valuable titanium alloy which has to be refined by a Fire Jewel Master. Although the price is high, it suits your requirements perfectly. It costs around 10 gold coins per kg of the alloy, but since this is for Viscount Shang Gong Bing Er, I’ll give it to you at cost price of 7 gold coins per kg. How’s that?” As soon as Zhou Weiqing took out his gold, the boss had believed his tale.

Upon hearing the words titanium alloy, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes brightened. He had heard of the metal before, as his father had a suit of armor forged with titanium alloy. It was extremely tough and durable, yet extremely light and easy to manoeuvre in, and was considered one of the best materials for forging equipment. As such, he was overjoyed and immediately replied, “Great, that’s it. I want to forge this.” As he said that, Zhou Weiqing handed over his hat to the boss.

The boss was confused momentarily, “Isn’t this the hat for archers?”

Zhou Weiqing nodded, saying: “Exactly, we are looking to forge it like the hat. Just imagine, on the battlefield, the danger that we archers face are usually from enemy arrows. If the hats were made out of titanium alloy, the arrows that the enemy rain down upon us will not be able to hurt us. Furthermore, I require that a handle made from thick canvas be created inside of of the hat. In that way, I can also hold it in my hand like a shield.”

Upon hearing Zhou Weiqing’s explanation, the boss was very impressed by the feasibility of the plan. However, titanium alloy was so rare and expensive, how could it be issued to all archers?

Actually, Zhou Weiqing had thought about such an idea a long time ago. In the past when he was bored at home, he used to spend some time coming up with weird crazy ideas. Earlier, when he had been applying the join the army and the squad leader in charge had told him that archers were the safest unit, he knew that it had been bullshit. As the son of Admiral Zhou, how could he not know about the dangers of the archer units, especially those of Heavenly Bow Empire, which had one of the highest turnover rates. Due to the fact that the damage dealing capability of the archers were so high, they were also often focused heavily upon by enemies. Exchanging fire between archer units were also highly common. The only reason Zhou Weiqing still chose to join the archer unit was because he already had a few ideas on how to increase his safety, and it was also true that they would not engage much in melee combat.

He already had such an idea to turn the archer’s hats into a shield at the age of eleven. To use it in the battlefield would be extremely easy, when they were under fire from the enemy, he would just need to crouch down, and huddle in a little with his head down, and the enemy arrows would likely all be blocked by the hat. Of course, such an idea would not be easy for commoners to think of, only someone like Zhou Weiqing who was inborn with such a fear of death, and had such a sly, cunning way of thinking, would be able to come up with such an idea. At that time, he had wanted to tell his father about the idea, but every time he looked at the stern face of his father he just could not speak up. Who knows if his father would approve or reject his idea, after all trying to outfit titanium alloy hats to the whole army of archers would be impossible.

“Respect! This must be Viscount-sama*’s idea. How creative! Alright, we will take up this job, I’ll get everyone on it and rush it out by tonight. I’ll also only charge you the cost of the materials and not the service charge, so it should come up to around 6 gold coins per kg of titanium alloy.

*TL: 大人 - I really couldn’t think of an english translation

This was the great part about tricking someone, not needing to ask for a discount, and the boss had automatically given one. Zhou Weiqing was rather proud of himself. As for the boss thinking such a sly idea came from Shang Gong Bing Er, he didn’t care. After all, safety first was his motto.

“Boss, do you have any completed products made out of titanium alloy? Preferably for defence.” Zhou Weiqing had never heard of being able to get titanium alloy at the price of 6 gold coins per kg, as far as he knew the usual price was 10-12 gold coins per kg. Since he would be going onto the battlefield in the future, he wanted to prepare as much as possible.

“You’ve asked the right person, I have a set of internal armor made out of titanium alloy, and stitched together with the sinew of the heavenly beast Magic Tenacious Snake. It’s light but extremely durable, definitely more than enough for archers.” As he said that, the boss walked to the back of the counter and took out a silver shining internal armor.

Zhou Weiqing grabbed it in his hands and shook it open. It was a half-body armor, able to cover the entire top half of the body up to the hands. It was so extremely light, less than 2kg in weight, that was the benefit of the titanium alloy.

Zhou Weiqing was euphoric to see such an item, “Great, this is great, I want this. I estimate that this should be slightly more than one kg, but boss don’t worry, I won’t let you suffer a disadvantageous loss, I’ll count this as 2 kg. Here’s another 12 gold coins.” As he said that, Zhou Weiqing grabbed 12 coins and laid them down on the table at lightning speed.

The boss stared aghast at Zhou Weiqing, “Officer Sir, this… this… You can’t count it like this! It took 2 experienced blacksmiths more than half a year to complete this, not to mention the cost of the sinew of the Magic Tenacious Snake.” He had priced this internal armor at 60 gold coins, which was nearly 20 years of an ordinary soldier’s salary.

Zhou Weiqing widened his eyes in surprise, saying with an honest expression on his face: “Boss, didn’t you say it was 6 gold coins per kg earlier? You also said you won’t be charging me for the service. I’m buying this as a gift to our Battalion Commander, you wouldn’t be so stingy right? You should have sincerity when running a business ah! How about this, if you really need to increase the price I can’t argue, but I don’t have enough money at this time, after I gift this to our Battalion Commander, I’ll get her to reimburse you the remaining amount, is that okay? After all, our Battalion Commander is a pillar of our state ah! For her safety, I’m giving up the pay that I have saved for a few years, I really have nothing left already.” As he continued his story, this despicable rascal gave a look of pity and and with tangled emotions.

TL: Someone give that kid an Oscar!

“This… this…” Upon hearing that this was a gift for Shang Gong Bing Er, the boss had a bizarre expression on his face. Meeting up with Zhou Weiqing really made him feel like weeping but he had no tears, and he finally gave up with a sigh, “Alright alright. Since it’s for Viscount-sama, then I have nothing to say. But officer sir, do remember to look for me next time when you have any other bulk orders!”

Zhou Weiqing was laughing in his heart, and didn’t dare to stay any longer, “Thanks so much! I’ll come back later tonight for the hat. Oh yes, please add layers of cloth around the hat so that it looks just like a normal hat, if possible make the brim of the hat larger so that there will be more protection.” After saying that, Zhou Weiqing grabbed the internal armor and left, feeling so pleased with himself.

After leaving the blacksmith, Zhou Weiqing turned around a corner into a quiet alleyway. He then took off his outer uniform, and wore the body-fitting internal armor. Although it was still a little large for him, but the elasticity of the sinew was very good, so he could tighten it a little, and after putting back his uniform, the internal armor was unnoticable.

“Such a great item ah! Sigh, unfortunately titanium alloy is unable to conduct Heavenly Energy, and is also unable to be enchanted with any further attributes, otherwise in addition to its unique qualities, its price would be sky high. Zhou Weiqing sighed with feeling. Titanium alloy had a lot of great points, but it was not perfect and had its own flaws as mentioned. Those flaws alone made it so that it was not a prime weapon for Jewel Masters, thus lowering the price.

After settling his things, Zhou decided to head towards the Stars Forest to retrieve a treasure he had hidden there. That was the most valuable thing he had in the thirteen years he had lived.

……..

Just as Zhou Weiqing was joining the army to become a cunning archer, in the Palace of Heavenly Bow Empire, another nervous atmosphere was prevalent.

“Father Emperor, please don’t be angry. It’s all my fault.” Princess Difuya was kneeling down in chagrin, sobbing.

In front of her, a middle aged man of around forty dressed in a gold robe was pacing back and forth, a golden crown on his head, his complexion as clear as jade, the aura of a man used to be in power was tangible in the air, causing the servants around to barely be able to breathe. At this moment, his brow was furrowed and his eyes were full of anger. On hearing Princess Difuya’s words, he stopped suddenly and shouted in anger: “Let me tell you! If Weiqing is alright then that’s fine, but if he really died from your actions, you will have to accompany him in death!”

When Difuya had returned to the palace earlier, she became more and more afraid as she thought about what happened. After a while, her reason finally overcame her fear, and she told her father, Emperor Di Feng Ling, what had happened. At first, she kept swallowing her words haltingly, but as soon as Di Feng Ling heard that it was regarding Zhou Weiqing, he immediately called the guard Niya over for questioning, until he finally got all the details straight. As soon as he knew the truth of the matter, he flew into a rage, and immediately sent the 4 Life Elemental Jewel Masters to go with Niya to find Zhou Weiqing and heal him.

Difuya stared in shock at her father. She had not expected Zhou Weiqing to have such importance in her father’s heart.

“Father Emperor, he is just an official of yours, but I’m your only daughter!” Di Feng Ling had one son and one daughter, the daughter of course was the 16 year old Difuya, and she also had a younger brother. Di Feng Ling was a great and illustrious leader, and after having a son and ensuring his health, he decided not to have any more children. The reason was simple, he did not want his children to end up fighting over his throne in the future, so he would just groom his only son with all his effort instead.

Di Feng Ling said in anger: “You still know you’re my only daughter? In the past, at our borders with the Kelise Empire, if not for Zhou Big Bro risking his life to save me, using his body to shield me from the enemy arrows, you would not be alive right now! At that time, Zhou Big Bro was hit by 26 arrows, and it took the combined might of our 4 Life Elemental Jewel Masters a whole month to be able to rescue his life. For the past 20 years, Zhou Big Bro has risked his life countless of times, shedding blood and tears in his deeds of valour over countless battles. Without him, there would be no Heavenly Bow Empire, and would you be a Princess then? As a member of the royal family, you aren’t putting any effort into improve our empire, instead always daydreaming about a prince charming riding into your life. Let alone today Zhou Weiqing probably saw you by accident or coincidence, even if he peeped on you on purpose, so what? You are his fiancee, to put it in blunt ugly terms, even if he …. you, it’s also nothing. But you… you actually attacked him, and with your Elemental Jewel skill. I can tell you that I’m not joking, if Weiqing really dies, you will have to accompany him in death, else I can’t answer to Zhou Big bro.

Difuya was really afraid now, especially since Di Feng Ling had twice said that she would be buried together with Zhou Weiqing, she knew that her father had made up his mind no matter how much she didn’t want to believe it.

“Your Majesty.” At this moment, 5 people entered the room, bowing to Di Feng Ling. It was the 4 Life Elemental Jewel Masters he had sent out.

“How is it? How is Weiqing?” Di Feng Ling asked worriedly.

The leader of the Life Elemental Jewel Masters said respectfully: “Do not worry your Majesty, we did not manage to find Viscount Zhou, but upon careful examination of the area, we found his footsteps leading away. We can conclude that Viscount Zhou managed to leave safely.”

Di Feng Ling’s brow furrowed, “How is that possible? Weiqing is an ordinary person without Heavenly Energy, enduring a blow from a Fire Elemental Jewel, I’m afraid…”

The Jewel Master said: “Viscount Zhou is Admiral Zhou’s son after all. Perhaps, the admiral gave him some defensive items that could save his life.”

Di Feng Ling’s expression finally eased up, and he turned to Difuya and said: “Get up, follow me to the Admiral’s mansion to apologise to Weiqing.”

At this point, how could Difuya dare say anything in contrary? Although she was scolding Zhou Weiqing in her heart, but she still got up and followed her father, feeling like she was being wronged.

........

Of course, Zhou Weiqing did not know what sort of trouble he had brought to the capital city. The next dawn, he had an enjoyable breakfast in his inn before shouldering his longbow and heading towards the army camp.

[blinki]

Only 3 chapters, and this novel is one of my favorites. MC is THE KING hahaha. Korendir thank you for translation. You sure had a good eye to pick this one. Thx..

[billybuton]

Yeah... The MC is F***ing amazing... too bad it's only around 300+ chapter...
Let's hope all trough 300+ chapter The MC is still with the same personality....

Great Work Korendir.. Hope for more and fast release..he..he..he..

[korendir]

Thanks for the encouragements guys

Yeah he is one of my favourite MCs too character wise - its been a long time since I read it so I can't totally remember exactly what happens later on, I'm now re-reading as I translate along.

I wish I could speed up the process too, but of course RL comes along, plus his chapters are really long =p I should be doing 2 per week usually if nothing crops up.