Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
Every Jewel that a Jewel Master raised required a certain amount of Heavenly Energy, and for Heavenly Jewel Masters, the requirement was four levels of Heavenly Energy as compared to the three for ordinary Jewel Masters. As such, even though Tyrannical Bear was at the six Jeweled Stage, his Heavenly Energy was only at the eighteenth level. In comparison, Zhou Weiqing was a Four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, and his Heavenly Energy was at least at the sixteenth level, the fourth level of the Heavenly Shen Energy stage. In addition, his boost was all purely strength, and at a greater percentage. As such, in terms of just his Physical Jewel boost, he already held the advantage over Tyrannical Bear.
Zhou Weiqing raised both his hands, blocking Tyrannical Bear’s fists as they smashed down. In that moment of impact, the entire stage shuddered along with the massive crash.
Zhou Weiqing stood there, unmoving, while Tyrannical Bear staggered back four steps before finally regaining his balance. His face changed as he exclaimed: “Heavenly Jewel Master!”
In truth, Tyrannical Bear’s cultivation level and power were pretty decent, coupled with his inborn superhuman strength, it was no exaggeration that he claimed to have the bloodline of bears. As a six Jeweled Physical Jewel Master, he was already considered one of the top dogs in the army. However, comparing strength with Zhou Weiqing would definitely put him at a disadvantage.
Seeing Zhou Weiqing’s Four Heavenly Jewels, Tyrannical Bear was not the only shocked one, as everyone stared with their eyes wide open and jaw agape. Even in the ZhongTian army, Physical Jewel Masters and Elemental Jewel Masters were relatively common, but Heavenly Jewel Masters were not common at all. Furthermore, Zhou Weiqing was still a Four Jeweled, Lower Level Zun Stage Heavenly Jewel Master. Facing the six Jewels of Tyrannical Bear, the audience which original did not have much hopes for him had their expectations totally overturned.
The two company Leaders from earlier were perhaps the most shocked. In truth, as a Four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, Zhou Weiqing could at least be at the Company Leader level once he joined the army. Furthermore, as long as he displayed any hint of leadership qualities and military capabilities, his promotion speed would be extremely quick. More importantly, Zhou Weiqing looked so young, at most slightly over twenty years of age. Such a young Heavenly Jewel Master… what sort of potential did he have in the future? No one could know for sure how strong his cultivation level and power would grow to!
In the army, personal power and strength was one of the key factors for promotion.
Zhou Weiqing looked at Tyrannical Bear with a faint smile and said: “Are we still continuing?”
Tyrannical Bear did not reply Zhou Weiqing, instead charging towards him once more. One could lose a fight, but face could not be thrown so easily. If he stepped down just like that, he would be looked down upon and no longer have any face in the army.
Tyrannical Bear’s two thick arms were like two huge poles, smashing down towards Zhou Weiqing once more. If one likened his previous strike to a testing blow, then this was definitely him going all out.
Without question, Tyrannical Bear knew that with his power, he had no chance against a Four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. Even so, he did not want to surrender just like that, and if he could hold on against such an opponent for some time, that would be of great satisfaction to himself.
Alas, Zhou Weiqing did not plan on tangling with him for too long. Today, his purpose of coming to this Duelling Corner was not just for a simple Intermediate Competition victory. Since the Duelling Corner was a chance for him to gain rank quickly, he would definitely seize this opportunity and not let it slip from his fingers, as he needed to gain rank within the ZhongTian Army as quickly as possible; only then would he be able to carry out his plan.
*PENG* Once more, without any flourishes or extra actions. This time, Tyrannical Bear staggered back even further, more than an entire metre, along with a massive clash. This time, Zhou Weiqing followed along with a quick step forward, his right palm striking out onto Tyrannical Bear’s chest, causing him to fly all the way to land outside the stage.
This Stage was after all for competition purposes, not life and death fights, and they were not allowed to use weapons, let alone Consolidated Equipment. Undoubtedly, that greatly restricted Tyrannical Bear’s power as well, otherwise if Zhou Weiqing was hiding his own Consolidated Equipment and Stored Skills, it would take him some time and effort to defeat Tyrannical Bear at his full power.
Tyrannical Bear had just lost like that, and more so, losing in a fight of Strength, what he had always been famous for.
In truth, for Tyrannical Bear to be defeated by Zhou Weiqing was not something to be surprised about. After all, even though he was born with a supernatural strength, compared with Crow from the Gold Crow Tribe, it was like the difference between heaven and earth. Even Crow could not match Zhou Weiqing in pure physical strength, let alone Tyrannical Bear.
With great difficulty, the Company Leader judge recovered his poise and proclaimed: “Zhou Little Fatty, Victory.”
Zhou Weiqing said: “If possible, I would like to continue. Didn’t you say that if I get five consecutive victories in the Intermediate Competition, I can be promoted to the Company Leader level? I would like to try my hand at it. I don’t think we need to draw lots, isn’t there six more Intermediate Ringmasters? Let them come one by one, I don’t need to rest.”
In the first place, he had not used any Stored Skills or Consolidated Equipment, and the usage of Heavenly Energy was very minimal. Even if he had used more, with the recovery rate of the Immortal Deity Technique, it would be easy for Zhou Weiqing to continue fighting quickly. This was of course not even counting the Devour Skill.
Zhou Weiqing’s voice was not very loud, but with some Heavenly Energy, his words spread throughout the entire building. In order to gain rank quickly, he did not care too much about offending others anymore. Furthermore, having been in the Heavenly Bow Empire army before, he knew that in the army, it was not wrong to be arrogant, as long as you had the strength to back that arrogance up. Zhou Weiqing did not know if their rules allowed him to fight five Intermediate Challenges in one day, so he decided he might as well use some arrogance to provoke the other Intermediate Ringleaders, allowing him to get his five fights.
“Allow me.” A delicate voice rang out, and in the next instant, a figure appeared onto the center stage.
When he first heard that voice, because it was a female one, Zhou Weiqing was given a fright. His first reaction was that it was Shangguan Fei’er going crazy. However, when he saw the lady on the stage, he let loose a hidden sigh of relief. It was not Shangguan Fei’er after all.
The young lady on the stage was not dressed in the ZhongTian army uniform, instead wearing a tight fitting attire. With a head of pale green, short hair, she was a picture of beautiful, spirited valiance. She looked to be in her mid twenties, slim and athletic figure, with her skin a wheat colour with a healthy glow that showed she spent much time in the sun. The sleeves of her clothes were rolled up currently, revealing her shapely arms, though her hands were gripped in fists at the moment, a she looked coldly at Zhou Weiqing, like an angry lioness.
“Zhou Little Fatty right… you will regret humiliating Tyrannical Bear like that. I am his Battalion Leader, and I will personally wash away the insult that you have awarded our Battalion. Come on then, I am the top Intermediate Ringmaster in the entire Sixteenth Regiment; if you can defeat me, you have no need to continue fighting in the Intermediate Competition, and I can make the decision to reward you with twenty gold coins and give you a direct promotion to Company Leader.” As she said that, a shimmering faint white light appeared around her.
Four Sets of Heavenly Jewels appeared around her wrists, with the Agility Dragonstone Jade and the Fire Attribute Star Rubies, a rather classic fire and agility combination.
For a Battalion Commander to already be that of a Four Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, that was something almost unimaginable in other smaller Empires, especially since this Battalion Commander was a young lady.
Looking at her, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but think of Shangguan Bing’er. At that time, wasn’t she also his Battalion Commander?
“Bro Zhou, shall we begin the fight then?” The Company Leader that was the temporary judge asked Zhou Weiqing.
Hearing his words, only then did Zhou Weiqing recover from his stupor. Looking towards the valiant young lady Battalion Commander, he smiled faintly and said: “May I ask, this beautiful lady Battalion Commander, what is your name?”
She replied with a cold humph: “My name is Shen Yi.”
“Shen Yi? (Godly Doctor)1” Zhou Weiqing repeated in surprise.
“Hmph! It is 依依不舍 (Yi Yi Bu She)‘s 依 Yi. 2 Aren’t you very arrogant? Stop wasting time, do you want to fight or not?” Without asking, Shen Yi already knew from that surprised tone that Zhou Weiqing used that he had misunderstood her name. He was not the first, and would definitely not be the last to do so, as such, she quickly corrected him.
Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “Alright, let’s go then!”
As the judge announced the start of the fight once more, Zhou Weiqing’s fifth fight in the Duelling Corner started.
Facing Shen Yi, Zhou Weiqing knew that he could no longer fight as casually and do as he pleased so easily. After all, she was a Heavenly Jewel master; even though he was confident in fighting a Heavenly Jewel Master of the same cultivation level, since she was also at the Four-Jeweled Stage. However, he would not be careless; after all, a Heavenly Jewel Master was very different from ordinary Jewel Masters; who knew if she had any secret skills like himself? He had seen too many Heavenly Jewel Masters lose due to underestimating their opponent; just in the Heavenly Jewel Tournament alone, hadn’t so many lost to him and his teammates due to underestimation? As such, Zhou Weiqing would never make the same mistake.
Striking the ground with the tip of her feet, Shen Yi’s slim figure flew towards Zhou Weiqing, both her hands blazing with red flame as she struck out towards him.
This was the superiority of a Heavenly Jewel Master, with their bodies boosted by the Physical Jewel, while still able to use their Elemental Attributes against their enemies. Facing such a strong, powerful fire attack, even if Zhou Weiqing’s strength was much greater than his opponent’s, he would not receive the blow directly so easily. After all, he was not invulnerable, and would be injured by such powerful flames.
Since he had chosen to reveal his Wind Attribute, he would need to act like a proper Wind Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master. Facing Shen Yi’s attack, Zhou Weiqing suddenly retreated in a burst of speed; with the boost of the Wind Attribute, his speed was as fast as Shen Yi’s. At the same time, two green lights lit up around his arms, and they formed an indistinct-looking, sharp green blade of light along each arm.
Shen Yi’s first attack did not successfully strike Zhou Weiqing, but that was not the end of her attack. With a jerk of her hands, the two balls of fire left her hands and flew towards Zhou Weiqing, right at the same time as the green light consolidated into the blades.
Facing these two orange-red fireballs that were clearly far beyond the ordinary low rated Fireball Skill, Zhou Weiqing remained calm. A simple wave of his arms in midair, and the two green blades of light crisscrossed. A strange sight happened next, as the two fireballs seemed to split apart like tomatoes, sliced neatly into four, dissipating into the air.
“What Skill is that?!” Seeing her powerful fireballs destroyed so easily, Shen Yi was left stunned.