Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
“With the Solidified Dragon Spirit merging with your original Demonic Change State, it has had an unbelievable benefit to your body, and even more, it does not have any clash with the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formations. Adding your ‘Hate Ground no Handle’ Legendary Set… all of these together, even I am not certain to what degree the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts can bring you to.”
As he spoke up to this point, Long Shiya’s words turned grave and earnest. “Furthermore, these Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts were created by your Master, me. However, your talent is not below mine at all… don’t you think you can have the ambition to further improve it? I believe that the future of the world is in your hands. In less than twenty years, I doubt that anyone in the entire Boundless Mainland will be a match for you. The target I have set for you is to reach the Heavenly King Stage before the age of thirty, Heavenly Emperor before the age of forty. Beyond that… that will depend on yourself.”
Yes, Master. I will definitely not disappoint you.” In Long Shiya’s eyes, Zhou Weiqing could see a deep affection and appreciation. He knew that although his Master often made fun of him, saying he was stupid or things like that… in truth, he was extremely satisfied with him.
At the same time, although Zhou Weiqing did not speak of it, it did not mean he did not know how well Long Shiya treated him. For his sake, his master had spent so much time and effort to bring him all the way here, spending all the time here with him protecting him as he Awakened his Solidified Dragon Spirit. For his sake, his Master would even bring him up to the Heavenly Snow Mountain… he knew that although Long Shiya seemed to be dismissive of the Heavenly Snow Mountain, how could he not know the danger of doing so? It was the strongest powerhouse in the entire world after all!
For him, Long Shiya had even sacrificed his own reputation, going against his own conscience to grab Little Witch for him. Although these past few days Zhou Weiqing had been fully caught up in testing his body’s new limits as well as training, and he had not had time to think about his emotions, feelings or relationships. However, everything else aside, even if it were just for his Master’s reputation, he could not possibly abandon Little Witch. After all, he had been the one who had stolen her virtue, conscious or not.
Amongst all of Zhou Weiqing’s teachers, the one he had spent the least time with was Huyan Aobo, the longest time, Mu En. However, the one who had truly touched him the most was Long Shiya. In truth, his feelings for Long Shiya now were more like father and son, and this newest teacher of his was not nearly as strict as his father’s steel-like personality.
As such, Zhou Weiqing might have only spoken a very simple sentence, a simple promise. However, that pledge was filled with his determination. He would not let Long Shiya down, no matter what. Otherwise, how could he be worthy of all that his Master and all that he had done for him?
In the subsequent time, Long Shiya started officially teaching Zhou Weiqing about all the profound secrets of the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts. Just the theory alone took him more than a day to pass on, and what followed next was personally teaching every technique and trick to the entire Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, helping Zhou Weiqing structure his own personal Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation.
It was far more difficult to construct Zhou Weiqing’s personal Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation than Long Shiya had expected. Originally, when he had constructed his Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation, due to his six Attributes all being elemental in nature, it was relatively easier to stabilize. Although the Light and Darkness attributes were stronger than the other four Attributes, they were opposing in nature, allowing them to form the two apex of the formation to maintain stability.
However, for Zhou Weiqing’s situation, it was different. What were his six Attributes? Wind, Lightning, Darkness, Spatial, Demonic and Time.
Of the six Attributes, besides the Wind Attribute, the other five were not ordinary at all. The Lightning Attribute was considered a ‘mutated’ Attribute of sorts, while Darkness and Spatial were all Greater Attributes, while Demonic and Time were Saint Attributes. It was definitely not easy to find a balance.
Without finding a right balance, a Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation that belonged to Zhou Weiqing could not be constructed. Yet, that balance point was just too difficult to find.
The Time and Demonic Attributes might both be Saint Attributes, but unlike the Light and Darkness Attributes, they were not polar attributes that could play off each other. Instead, they could be said to have no relation at all, and could not be used as apex points. It was the same case for the Spatial and Darkness Attributes.
For a time, even Long Shiya was stuck, totally at a loss.
In that critical moment, suddenly inspiration struck Zhou Weiqing. He finally thought of something… since their situation differed so much between him and Long Shiya, perhaps their actual Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation had to be different as well. After some serious pursuing of that line of thought, he came up with an idea.
Long Shiya’s Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation was an equilateral hexagon, and the idea that Zhou Weiqing had would have his own formation taking a different shape… a star-shaped hexagon of two triangles stacked upon the other.
Why two triangles? The reason was naturally because of the word balance once more. Within Zhou Weiqing’s Six Attributes, there were two Saint Attributes, two Greater Attributes, and two relatively ‘normal’ Attributes.
Since there was no way to apply a balance from the Attributes themselves, with no link between any of his Attributes, Zhou Weiqing decided he might as well keep them separated. The Lightning, Darkness and Demonic Attributes in a group to form the first triangle, and the Wind, Spatial and Time Attributes together in the second group to form another triangle.
This arrangement was not at random as well. Simply put, the Demonic Attribute and Darkness Attribute did share some commonalities, and the Time and Spatial Attributes did so as well.
As for the Lightning Attribute, since it came from the Dark Demon God along with the Darkness and Demonic Attributes, he decided to put them together. Similarly for the Wind Attribute, it was what he often worked together with Spatial and Time Attribute for Consolidating Equipment Master work, and that was a tentative relationship at least. Once the six Attributes were separated as such, the each of the two triangles could form a balance within themselves. Once the two triangles were stacked together to form the star-shaped hexagon, the center would automatically form an ordinary equilateral hexagon shape as well, allowing the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation to fall into place neatly.
When Long Shiya heard Zhou Weiqing’s idea, he was so surprised that his jaw almost dropped. Although he did not know if this could work, he was certain that just from theory alone, this had a high probability of working.
The most important thing for the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts was balance, and since Zhou Weiqing had found his own balance between his six Attributes, it was definitely worth giving it a shot. In Long Shiya’s own experiments, his personal Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation had to be an equilateral hexagon before it worked… but his attributes were very different from Zhou Weiqing. Who was to say that Zhou Weiqing’s star-shaped hexagon could not succeed? Perhaps, it might even have a better effect?
As such, the master and disciple pair started a fresh round of experiments.
Despite being unfamiliar with the entire process, Zhou Weiqing had Long Shiya guiding him from the side, even using his own Heavenly Energy to guide in the process, and it was much easier to form the basic structure in such a case. Even so, they experienced failure after failure. The reason was simple – forming the two triangles were simple, but when stacking them together, it had to be perfectly precise. Even with Long Shiya’s help, it was not easy for Zhou Weiqing to do so.
“Master, do you think we can actually succeed?” After yet another failure, Zhou Weiqing finally said, dejection and unreconciled vexation in his eyes.
Long Shiya glanced at him and said: “Do not ask me. Ask yourself. In this world, nothing is impossible. It is just a matter of how much we are willing to put in, what price we are willing to pay when doing something. Originally, when I first came up with my Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Arts, I did not have anyone to teach me, and I could only slowly structure my personal Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formation at a painstakingly slow speed, fumbling my way in the darkness and slowly perfecting it. Did you think it was easy even forming an equilateral hexagon formation? It took me five years of my life, working full time on it, to finally complete it. Compared to me, you have far fewer wrong paths to tread upon. If you are going to give up just after a few days, then perhaps you are not worthy of these arts after all.”
Zhou Weiqing’s heart gripped in stern warning, and he bowed, saying: “Master, I am wrong. Let us continue.”
Long Shiya nodded. The most satisfactory part about Zhou Weiqing was that he would not dwell on things, able to listen to other’s opinions and suggestions.
The six Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Elemental Jewels swirled around Zhou Weiqing’s left wrist, glowing brilliantly. Zhou Weiqing took a deep breath and centered himself once more, focusing hard as the wings spread out behind his back, beating gently. The various Attribute Heavenly Energy in the atmosphere also swirled around, welling into his body.
Abruptly, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes lit up. With a slight flick of his left hand, the six slowly spinning Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Jewels sped up, floating up into the air, each of them undergoing a different change.
These few days of tough training was not without any results. At least, to this beginning procedure, Zhou Weiqing was already extremely familiar.
The Six Alexandrite Cat’s Eye turned into different colours, according to the various Attributes. The rubellite representing Wind, Emperor Sapphire representing Lightning, the chrysoberyl cat’s eye representing Spatial, black opal for Darkness, and lastly an unknown grey gemstone that represented the Demonic Attribute and a translucent, almost transparent gemstone representing time.
The Six Elemental Jewels glowed brilliantly in their respective colours, floating before Zhou Weiqing.
No matter Physical Jewels or Elemental Jewels, to any Heavenly Jewel Master, they were their most important Personal Power Jewels, and could be said to be part of their own bodies. Forcing their Personal Power Jewels to leave their bodies like that was quite a dangerous act; not only did it require a large amount of Heavenly Energy to do so, it also required sufficient spiritual energy to control it.
Under the control of Zhou Weiqing’s will and Heavenly Energy, the six Elemental Jewels slowly split into two groups, forming two triangles; with each group floating in front of Zhou Weiqing on either side. Currently, his brow was matted with sweat, which poured down the side of his face as he was in full concentration.
Very slowly, very carefully, Zhou Weiqing started moving the two groups simultaneously to the center, right in front of him. Floating above was the single triangle, and below the other in reverse. Soon after, the two slowly floated towards each other.
In truth, the success or failure of the formation was all in a single key instant. Besides his own control, there was a measure of luck involved as well. Not only to maintain the balance between all six Elemental Jewels, but also for the six Attributes to actually form the Six Ultimate Skill Manipulation Formations and start operating at the same time in unison.
The process of forming the structure was actually not complicated at all, but success was definitely not easily achieved. In the past few days alone, Zhou Weiqing had already tried more than a hundred times. Every time, he always felt like he was about to succeed, but it always resulted in failure at the last possible second. Such a feeling was extremely terrible indeed, each and every time a continued blow to his confidence.
However, having just listened to his Master’s lecture, Zhou Weiqing’s faith had been renewed, and conviction blazed in his eyes once again. As the two triangles came together slowly, one could sense the various different fields of energy each of the six Elemental Jewels were emitting, and the forced warping as they approached each other.
