Heavenly Jewel Change

Chapter 41: Fei Li Empire Flying Hill City (2)

After a short while, the entire pot of bamboo shoot dew soup had been polished off by the two of them, in fact Zhou Weiqing had only eaten only one-third of it, and the majority was eaten by Shangguan Bing’er. After finishing the pot, she even licked her lips and sticking out her lovable pink little tongue, as if not fully satisfied yet. She usually ate at the mess in the army camp, which never had such delicious food.

She looked at Zhou Weiqing somewhat abashedly, and happened to see him still chewing away at the dry rations. Instantly, this kind girl’s heart was filled with regret and shame; she was thinking about how she had refused to give him her dry rations earlier, and instead finally eating his good food, and her beautiful face turned turned hot and flushed, as she hung her head in silence.

Zhou Weiqing asked in softly: “Is it delicious?”

“En.” Shangguan Bing’er nodded slightly.

Zhou Weiqing smiled, and continued saying with an alluring voice: “Then in the future shall I always keep preparing it for you?”

Shangguan Bing’er nodded once more.

Zhou Weiqing’s voice sounded out again, with a hint of bashfulness, “Then, since I’m such a handsome fellow who also excels in the kitchen, how about giving me the opportunity to pursue you?”

Because of the previous lines, Shangguan Bing’er almost nodded subconscious, “En…. Ah! No!”

Only then did Shangguan Bing’er realise she had been tricked and leapt up in response, but just as she was about to rebuking Zhou Weiqing angrily, she saw that this fellow had both his hands held up to his head, curled up on the ground, saying with a pitiable expression, “Even if it’s not okay, you shouldn’t hit me!”

Walking over to give him a light kick on his buttocks with her foot, Shangguan Bing’er said exasperatedly: “Who wants to hit you? Time to go.”

They set off once again, and although Shangguan Bing’er still ignored Little Fatty Zhou, but after having the bamboo shoot dew soup, she wasn’t able to put up her cold expression any longer.

“Battalion commander, where are we going to? At least let me have some idea.” Zhou Weiqing asked curiously.

Shangguan Bing’er shot him a glance and said: “ We are going to the Fei Li Empire’s Flying Hill City.”

Zhou Weiqing paused in surprise, he had not thought that Shangguan Bing’er would be bringing him to a place so far away, no wonder she said previously that they wouldn’t return to the camp for months.

Fei Li Empire and Heavenly Bow Empire shared a border, and was to the Northeast of Heavenly Bow Empire. Fei Li Empire was one of the larger empires in the Boundless Continent, and was almost over a hundred times larger than Heavenly Bow Empire, which was a very small country.. Of the various empires in the Western Region of the Boundless Empire, only Bai Da Empire, which was separated from Heavenly Bow Empire by the Kalise Empire, was as strong as the Fei Li Empire.

As for the Flying Hill City which Shangguan Bing’er spoke of, Zhou Weiqing also knew of it. The Flying Hill City was strategically one of the most important cities of the southern border of Fei Li Empire, and in the entire Fei Li Empire, it was also in the top 5 largest cities, and was about ten times larger than Heavenly Bow City, and was extremely prosperous.

Heavenly Bow Empire and Fei Li Empire were on rather good terms, just like the Kalise Empire were closer to the Bai Da Empire. Besides Heavenly Bow and Kalise, there were several other smaller countries close to Bai Da and Fei Li Empires, which separated the two large countries. If not for that, perhaps both of these large empires who had a very disharmonious relation might have already exploded into major war.

“We’re going to Flying Hill City? That is so far! Although our walking speed is very fast, but at the rate we are going, it will take us at least ten days to reach! Isn’t it better for us to take the horse carts from the relay stations? We can reach in around five days.” Although their speed was fast, but they were still unable to compare with galloping horses, as there were special transportation horse carts and relay stations from Heavenly Bow City to Flying Hill City, which would be a lot faster than walking there.

Shangguan Bing’er shot him a stern look, saying: “Taking the horse carts are not free. The cost for one person is two gold coins already. By walking, we at most need to buy some dry rations, both of us added together will spend less than a gold coin.”

Zhou Weiqing stared at her dumbfoundedly, “Battalion Commander, I never thought that you were a little miser. After all, you are one of the pillars of the state, the top genius of the younger generation, our only Heavenly Jewel Master, and also a Viscount of the Empire, your monthly salary should be about 80 to 100 gold coins right, why do you care about a mere 4 gold coins?”

Shangguan Bing’er said: “The best metal alloy has to be used on the knife edge*. As Heavenly Jewel Masters, we require a lot of money to cultivate, the Empire has given us so much to train us up, shouldn’t we be more economical on things that aren’t necessary? Furthermore, you just became a Heavenly Jewel Master, by walking the distance, you can better adapt to using your Heavenly Jewels.”

*TL : Direct translation of 最好的合金都是用在刀刃上 – it means to allocate resources properly

Zhou Weiqing gave a big thumbs up, and shook it at Shangguan Bing’er. She asked questioningly: “What are you doing?”

Zhou Weiqing said with a smile: “Heh, marrying you will really be something happy.”

Shangguan Bing’er’s face turned cold once more, “You are asking for a beating again?”

Zhou Weiqing shifted the topic instantaneously, “Battalion Commander, I made a mistake. Anyway, what are we going to Flying Hill City for?”

Shangguan Bing’er couldn’t help but want to punch him again, this rascal was surely quick to admit his mistakes, but never did change after that.

“We are going to try our luck. I also just got my second Heavenly Jewel, and your first one also does not have Consolidate Equipment or Stored Skills. Our Heavenly Bow Empire does not have any Consolidating Equipment Masters or Skill-Storing Palace, only the larger Empires’ Big Cities have them. Flying Hill City is the closest one to us.”

Listening to her words, Zhou Weiqing’s spirit was greatly inspired, “Battalion Commander, what Skill should i Store? You wouldn’t let me Consolidate a set of armour, what do you plan on letting me Consolidate then?”

Shangguan Bing’er said exasperatedly: “It’s not as as easy as you think. Firstly, whether or not we can meet an appropriate Consolidated Equipment Scroll or a Heavenly Beast to Store Skills, even if we do find a good one, we may not have sufficient funds to get it. As such, I said earlier that we can only try our luck. To us Heavenly Jewel Masters, our Physical Jewel Consolidating Equipment and Elemental Jewels Storing Skills are really too important, only when we have completed these two huge steps can we completely wield our full strengths. However, you must remember our three-point covenant, without my permission, you must not reveal that you are a Heavenly Jewel Master, most particularly you must never let anyone see your Alexandrite Cat’s Eye Elemental Jewel. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, I’ll definitely listen to you!” Zhou Weiqing said immediately. At this time, his mood was really excited, putting aside the success of his own first Consolidated Equipment and Stored Skills, just experiencing all of this was extremely good. As he entered the Heavenly Jewel Master world step by step, the feeling was very wonderful, so much so that he didn’t even feel as tired anymore while moving along.

Shangguan Bing’er looked at Zhou Weiqing whose Alexandrite Cat’s Eye on his left hand was a cyan colour in the day as he made use of his Wind Attribute Heavenly Energy. She sighed lightly and said: “Your talent is extremely good, but, with that also comes great trouble. Your Elemental Jewel having five strong attributes, also means that every one of your Elemental Jewel needs to store five skills, the sheer price of that is something that even the empire cannot support. Furthermore, your Attribute also include the Darkness and Spatial attributes which are the Greater Attributes, as well as that Evil Attribute; all those may require Heavenly Beasts which are more difficult to find in order for you to Store Skills. Your future cultivation route will be a hundred times more difficult than any ordinary Heavenly Jewel Master.”

“The reason that I do not want you to reveal your Alexandrite Cat’s Eye to anyone else is because I’m afraid that when other Heavenly Jewel Masters see your talent, they will want to kill you off early. After all, the more talented the Heavenly Jewel Master, the higher the possibility for them to die at a young age. Unless ……”