Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
When the Fei Li Battle Team resumed their travels, they had changed to three horse carriages, which Zhou Weiqing had ran to the closest town to purchase. In truth, they only numbered eight, and a large horse carriage should have been sufficient. However, since there were four wounded, Zhou Weiqing decided to just splurge a little and buy three. Crow, with her immense weight, and Shangguan Bing’er would share one as the only two females. As for the other two carriages, each held three members, with Zhou Weiqing and Ye Paopao each taking care of two injured companions. This way, they would be able to get sufficient rest during their travels, and also heal faster.
At this time, Zhou Weiqing found that he missed Ming Hua. How good it would be to have a Life Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master with them right now, to help with all the wounded.
Even though the horse carriages were each pulled by four strong horses, the speed of travel was naturally a lot slower than on horseback. By the time they reached the ZhongTian City, fifteen days had already passed, and it was only five days til the start of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament.
In the distance, a large canyon was right ahead, and there were obviously a lot of people crossing it. According to the carriage driver, they were about to reach the ZhongTian City.
Lin TianAo gave the instructions to the carriage drivers to stop all the carriages, and got everyone to get off.
“Boss, are’t we about to reach the ZhongTian City soon? Isn’t it better to rest once we reach the city?” Drunken Bao asked curiously.
Lin TianAo smiled faintly, and said: “Raise your heads and look up, I want to let you all know where the Heavenly Jewel Island is.”
Only then did everyone look upwards, and when they did so, an intense shock impacted them deeply.
They were currently on the main road, and from their position, they could clearly see about a few dozen li away, a huge, thick stone pillar rising up into the sky and disappearing into the clouds. Just with the naked eye, they were unable to truly estimate how huge the stone pillars were, but just standing there seeing sixteen of these huge pillars rising into the sky, it was a rather stunning scene. Even the Little White Tiger, Fat Cat, peeked her head out from Zhou Weiqing’s bosom to stare at the scene, a cold light flashing in her eyes.
That is the ZhongTian Mountain, and it is the greatest landmark of the ZhongTian Empire. Within the sixteen Heavenly Pillars lies the entire ZhongTian City, while right on top of the sixteen Heavenly Pillars is the Heavenly Jewel Island of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. The ZhongTian Empire has always been proud to call themselves the Center of the Mainland, and they indeed do have the right to be proud. Such a miraculous scenery is truly only found here.
“That is too shocking. These huge pillars are like a chain linking the world to the skies, the name of Heavenly Pillar is indeed apt.” Little Four exclaimed in admiration.
Zhou Weiqing stood there with his head raised, thinking to himself. No wonder the ZhongTian Empire was considered the strongest empire in the entire mainland. From the ZhongTian City in the belly of the hill, to the Heavenly Jewel Island at the top, they could be considered the most miraculous places in the world. He felt a greater sense of expectancy towards the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, and couldn’t help but wish they could get into the fight soon. No wonder everyone was so eager to get to the top four! Even if there wasn’t that insane prize, everyone would still be eager to ascend the Heavenly Jewel Island to have a look! What kind of strange sights would they see?
Lin TianAo said passively: “We are about to reach the ZhongTian City, and we have barely a few days left before the tournament starts. I will now proclaim Zhou Weiqing as the temporary team leader, and the tournament matters will be determined by him.”
Zhou Weiqing looked at Lin TianAo in surprise, and he nodded back, giving an encouraging look.
Drunken Bao said: “Boss, that isn’t necessary right? Even if your wounds aren’t healed, there would be no affect on directing everyone!”
Lin TianAo shook his head and said: “No, now that Weiqing is the mainstay, he is the clearest about his own and Bing’er’s powers. I will be at his side to give advice, but I trust that he will not do anything that he does not have confidence in. I think he is very suitable to be the temporary leader.”
After the last dozen or so days of rest and recovery, the entire team was in much better state. However, the few with serious injuries, especially the internal ones, were still not in any shape to fight. Even though Heavenly Jewel Masters had strong physiques, it was still impossible to recover from such injuries in a short period of time.
Lin TianAo nodded to Zhou Weiqing and said: “For the Tournament, each round is held every three days, allowing contestants to have some rest between rounds. From the state of our injuries, it will take at least ten days to recover. Xiao Yan and Drunken Bao are in worse shape, so they will probably take much longer. As such, you will have to lead the uninjured members to get through at least two rounds. This is extremely difficult, but I hope that you will be able to do so. Perhaps, our team can ride on your high personal luck, and we will not meet any tough teams too early.”
Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “There is no point making any guarantees to everyone, but I will definitely do my utmost. Come on, let’s get into the ZhongTian City and find a place to stay, so we can have a good rest.”
In the past few days, although they had been on the road the entire time, but it could be said to be the most hardworking Zhou Weiqing had ever been. Since he had pledged to be the mainstay, he felt a huge weight on his shoulders. Even though his Heavenly Energy had raised up a level to the first stage of Heavenly Shen Energy, he was still after all a mere three-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. From the state of the members of the Heavenly Jewel Academy, he could tell that those who joined the Tournament would likely be at least four to five Jeweled, and perhaps even greater.
Even though it was sharpening one’s spear only just before entering battle 1, it was still good to work hard and improve every bit he could before the fight started.
Although they could already see the Heavenly Pillars, the distance was rather deceptive. By the time they reached the ZhongTian City, it was already late in the evening.
As they finally reached close to the city and saw up close how huge the sixteen thick pillars were; each pillar was at least a few thousand metres in diameter, and the ZhongTian City’s walls were using these sixteen pillars as a base and built around. Without even guessing, everyone knew that this was definitely the largest city in the entire mainland. As they neared it, they could not even see the borders. Zhou Weiqing was extremely sure that even the entire Heavenly Bow Empire was not as huge as this city, which was more than five thousand square kilometres large!
For most cities in the world, farming and other agricultural industries were all outside the city walls. However, this ZhongTian City was just too huge, and even their agriculture industries were within the city! Just the huge, thick wall alone was at an unknown, immense cost, and the entire ZhongTian City was just like a small empire of its own right. The air above the city was currently shrouded in mist, and the sun could only shine in through the sides, and no one could see the Heavenly Jewel Island right high above.
After reaching within range of the ZhongTian City, it was already dark by the time they entered the inner city. The inner city was the heart of the entire city, and just the inner city portion was already much larger than the Fei Li Empire’s capital city, Fei Li City.
When the entire team had settled down, it was already past midnight.
As the temporary leader of the team, Zhou Weiqing had chosen an unassuming looking, small inn for them to settle down. The reason for this was not to save money, but to ensure that they could have peace. Without question, with the Heavenly Jewel Tournament nearing, the entire ZhongTian City was bustling and busy. With the young powerhouse of the world gathering here, they were all rivals after all, and if they met, there was bound to be friction between them. With so many of them injured, especially Lin TianAo, it was definitely not the right time for them to get into any unnecessary clashes. As such, Zhou Weiqing would rather stay in a simple, ordinary inn, allowing his injured teammates to get their required rest. After all, there was still five more days until the Tournament started.
Their first night in the ZhongTian City was uneventful, and the next morning, after everyone had their breakfast, Lin TianAo called everyone to his room. He was the only one who had attended the Heavenly Jewel Tournament before, and it was time for him to inform the entire team about the rules and things to be noted, especially to Zhou Weiqing, who was now the temporary leader.
Lin TianAo looked at his companions seated around him, and said seriously: “The Heavenly Jewel Tournament is about to start. Xiao Yan, Little Four, Drunken Bao, for the first two rounds of the Tournament, you all do not to attend. My wounds are slightly lighter, and I will join Weiqing and the rest to attend. Of course, I will not take any action unless absolutely necessary, lest my wounds worsen.”
“In the entire mainland, there are over thirty Empires, small and large. Out of those, to be able to find and gather at least five young Heavenly Jewel Masters, there are about twenty or so Empires. The entire tournament is split into two sections, the preliminary heats and the finals. In the preliminary heats, all the teams will be split into four large groups by drawing lots. Each group will have a seeded team, which will be consisted of the Four of the Five Great Saint Lands, with the exception of the Heavenly Demon Sect. Of course, to the outside world, the proclamation is that the seeded teams are from the previous champions. Of course, all these years, the top four has always been amongst those supported by the Great Saint Lands. In the preliminary heats, it will be a round robin series. That is to say, in a group, every single team will have to fight with every other team in that group.”
“In the preliminary heats, each group will have the top two teams with the best results advancing into the finals, that is the top eight of the entire Tournament. After which, they will fight once more to determine the top four. The finals between the top four will be held in the Heavenly Jewel Island itself.”
Zhou Weiqing said: “It seems the Tournament is rather straightforward then.”
Lin TianAo smiled and said: “Indeed, it is very straightforward, yet at the same time, extremely difficult. The seeded team in each group usually gets the first in the group to advance, and the other Empires will have to fight their might just to get the second position in the group. Three years ago, we fought for all our might, at the cost of two seniors becoming permanently disabled, before barely making it to the second round. Without question, we were easily beaten in the top eight match. In order to safely enter the second round, we definitely have to beat every other team in the preliminary heats.”
As a notion struck him, Zhou Weiqing said: “Do you mean to say, we will forfeit the match against the seeded team of our group?”
