Chapter 554: Visiting Fei Li! (3)

Translator: Zen Translations  Editor: Zen Translations

Naturally, Shangguan Xue’er could also sense the powerful Heavenly Energy reverberations. Looking at the whirlpool in the sky, she thought to herself that Zhou Weiqing did not lie to her after all; they were indeed cultivating!

However, his wounds had just barely recovered slightly, would cultivating now affect him? Unknowingly, Shangguan Xue’er did not even realise that the hatred in her heart towards Zhou Weiqing had vanished, and she was instead filled with anxiety and worry. Her character was after all quite different from Shangguan Fei’er’s, and the burden on her shoulders was also far greater. Furthermore, she had a psychological barrier and burden due to her sisters falling for Zhou Weiqing first. Every time she thought about what happened between Zhou Weiqing and herself, she would feel extremely weird, as if she were trying to steal her sisters’ man.

Forget it, I shall not think about it any more for now. Shangguan Xue’er returned to her tent and started writing a letter to her uncle, the Emperor of the ZhongTian Empire, Shangguan Tianxing. As for the relationship between her and Zhou Weiqing, she currently just wanted some distance from him. Although she had agreed to marry him, she had not stated a date… at most, she could just refrain from marrying the rest of her life…

…

Time passed just like that, day after day. Zhou Weiqing and Tian’er spent most of their time cultivating; once they entered the deep meditative state, they would almost forget the time outside, usually staying in a cultivation trance for three days or more at one go.

On the surface, they did not have much feeling about that. However, every time a training session ended, both of them were pleasantly surprised to sense the sheer growth in their Heavenly Energy. Another area of marked improvement was in their degree of compatibility, unity and integration.

In this matter, Zhou Weiqing’s improvements were even more obvious than Tian’er. Firstly, he had the Dragon-Tiger Transformation, and his bloodline was even more superior than Tian’er, and his growth was thus faster. Secondly, he was leading force during their cultivation, and his cultivation level was still currently lower than Tian’er’s. With all those factors combined, it was no surprise that his improvement was faster than Tian’er.

Of course, there were some things that Shangguan Xue’er did not know of. For example, after a round of training with the Four Saint Attributes, they would subconsciously have a bout of intimate relations, causing the training to become even more perfect… Of course, that would be the reason if Zhou Weiqing were the one to describe it. If Tian’er were to describe, it would be that ‘a certain person’ would not be able to control himself shamelessly after every cultivation, and would make use of the excuse of ‘completing their training’…

In any case, while they were focused in training, time passed swiftly, and soon a month had passed. The Heaven’s Expanse Palace and ZhongTian Empire had both replied Shangguan Xue’er with a clear-cut answer. By the third week, Zhou Weiqing and Tian’er had stopped cultivating, and started to prepare for their trip. At this point, it was almost time for them to head out.

This time, as they set off for the Fei Li Empire, Zhou Weiqing brought the five hundred men from the First Main Company, as well as Shangguan Xue’er and Tian’er.

He had originally wanted to bring only one of the two ladies, but did he dare do such a thing? Of course not! Otherwise, he would be in big trouble! Left with no choice, he could only bring both of them.

Besides Shangguan Xue’er and Tian’er, after some consideration, Zhou Weiqing also decided to bring Lin TianAo along. The reason was simple, his pure ultimate defense was that powerful, and combined with Zhou Weiqing’s Six Ultimate Godly Light Formation, it would allow him to unleash his offensive capabilities to the max. As for the coordination of outfitting equipment and training which had been Lin TianAo’s primary responsibility, it was temporarily passed to Little Four and Drunken Bao. All this time, both of them had been helping Lin TianAo with the matter, so it was not too difficult for them to take over.

Besides that, there was also Crow and Ma Qun coming along. Originally, Zhou Weiqing had only wanted them to bring fifty elites from each of their individual tribes. However, the final decision was to bring a hundred elites each. This decision was not Zhou Weiqing’s, or even the two of them, but by the two Tribe Leaders. After all, Zhou Weiqing’s safety could be said to be of paramount importance to the entire Peerless Battalion, not to mention the two heirs of the tribes were also going along.

As such, the large party of seven hundred moved out, almost a fifth of the entire Peerless Battalion’s strength. Furthermore, these were definitely the cream of the crop amongst all the elites of the Peerless Battalion. Led by Zhou Weiqing, they struck off towards the Northwest Army camp. After all, they had to return to the ZhongTian Empire in order to reach the Fei Li Empire. As for the ZhongTian Empire, they had already sent word to the Fei Li Empire regarding the diplomatic visit of the Heavenly Bow Empire, showing their support. This was arranged by Shangguan Xue’er and the ZhongTian Empire.

Towards the Peerless Battalion, the ZhongTian Empire was extremely supportive.

The Peerless Battalion had truly shown their power in the fight against the WanShou Empire armies during this year’s border wars. However, to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, what they saw was not just the result of a single border war, but the potential that Zhou Weiqing had.

Before this war, they had already seen the vast individual talent and potential that Zhou Weiqing had. However, after the Peerless Battalion’s showing, they truly understood Zhou Weiqing’s boundless potential was not restricted to his individual strength.

If it were just one person, no matter how powerful he was, he was still a single person. However, Zhou Weiqing’s inborn leadership qualities and unrestrained and creative styles of thinking… that was something that the Shangguan brothers truly admired.

To be able to form such a powerful army from a mere group of ruffians… although a large amount of that was a massive amount of wealth that Zhou Weiqing had accumulated, further supported by the Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor, but without proper command, leadership and his various amazing ideas, none of this could have succeeded.

Even though Zhou Weiqing had not indicated that the Peerless Battalion would join the ZhongTian Empire, even wanting to bring the Peerless Battalion away to the Heavenly Bow Empire, their training methods could still be duplicated! They only needed to do some slight modifications, and the ZhongTian Empire could possibly train a similar, new powerful unit. After all, in terms of wealth, how could Zhou Weiqing compared with the entire ZhongTian Empire! Furthermore, even his creation of the Peerless Battalion had been done with a lot of help from the Heaven’s Expanse Palace.

When Shangguan Fei’er had returned to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, she had been requested to detail the training program of the Peerless Battalion. This was something that Zhou Weiqing did not know of.

As such, when the three Shangguan brothers had received Shangguan Xue’er’s letter, after a simple discussion, they decided to back Zhou Weiqing’s efforts in restoring his homeland.

They had all seen Zhou Weiqing’s immense potential, let alone now with the Six Ultimate Heavenly Emperor Long Shiya behind his back. With all these factors in mind, supporting Zhou Weiqing was an investment that could only lead to benefits, and with no harm to them. Furthermore, they did not even have to expend anything, not even needing to send out any other troops or logistics, as they would not be actually fighting on his behalf, just using their words to pave the way for him. They would allow Zhou Weiqing to fight as he willed, and this would be also another way to further test his potential. As such, to a certain extent, they would continue supporting Zhou Weiqing.

In the recent times, it was not just the northern borders which had broke into war. Even the Dan Dun Empire and the Bai Da Empire seemed to be stockpiling and preparing for something; and the Blood Red Hell seemed to be plotting something. In fact, there seemed to be something brewing up in the entire South.

Normally, the focus of the ZhongTian Empire armies were more towards their northern borders, and they would not want to see problems occurring to the south. With Zhou Weiqing stirring things up there with his Peerless Battalion, who could foresee what would happen in the future? Of course, with chaos came opportunity, and who knew what achievements he could accomplish? After all, before he came to the northern borders, who could have imagined he would build something like the Peerless Battalion?!

As such, the ZhongTian Empire acted swiftly, and in less than a month, all the preparations had been complete as per Zhou Weiqing’s arrangements. The Northwest Army Camp had also received the order that no matter what the Peerless Battalion’s movements were, they would support it. With such an order present, the Peerless Battalion could easily leave and head out to wherever they needed to.

Currently, Zhou Weiqing was mounted upon his single-horned Ghost Demon Horse, with Shangguan Xue’er and Tian’er each to the side of him. Shangguan Xue’er was still with a cold, impassive bearing, while Tian’er would glance towards Zhou Weiqing from time to time. Occassionally, if she looked at Shangguan Xue’er, she would immediately lift her head proudly, giving a disdainful expression.

In their month of cultivation, Tian’er and Shangguan Xue’er had barely spoken at all. Luckily, the two girls were able to control themselves, and at least they did not break into a fight – that was already giving Zhou Weiqing a lot of face. After Zhou Weiqing’s explanation, Tian’er had already learned that it was Shangguan Xue’er, not Shangguan Fei’er. Towards her Little Fatty’s philandering ways, Tian’er was actually the most accepting of it. After all, in the Heavenly Snow Mountain, or perhaps the WanShou Empire, it was a very common sight. The more powerful one was, the more wives or concubines they would have. Even her father, the Heavenly Snow Mountain Lord, had many concubines, though he had only taken one wife, the Entropic Nether Tiger Phelia. At the same time, he would not have any children with his other concubines, using them only to sate his physical needs.

However, accepting was one matter, but Tian’er would not back down on her on position. Besides Shangguan Bing’er who she knew could never be replaced in Little Fatty’s eyes, she would never back down from anyone else. After all, Shangguan Bing’er was Zhou Weiqing’s first woman, and the one he loved the most. Furthermore, her character, her gentleness and kindness, that was something Tian’er had seen and approved of. However, this Shangguan Xue’er was always so cold and impassive, added on to the fact that the two ladies represented the two opposing Great Saint Lands, it was natural that they did not have a harmonious relationship.

Zhou Weiqing had already grown used to that atmosphere between them. Currently, he ignored them both, his gaze landing on the seven hundred Peerless Battalion warriors in front of him.

There was little more to be said about the five hundred men of the First Main Company. These five hundred had gone through countless screenings and competitions, trials and tribulations before they had finally been together as the First Main Company. In the Peerless Battalion, there were always various competitions, duels, discussions and more, both individually and between Main Companies. Those who had constant outstanding performances would eventually be transferred to the First Main Company, and it was truly the elites amongst the elites. They also shouldered the greatest responsibilities on the battlefield.

Amongst the current First Main Company warriors, there were actually more than twenty Heavenly Jewel Masters. Furthermore, all five hundred of them were equipped with Consolidated Wings, and the average cultivation level of them were at the five-Jeweled stage or higher. Of course, that was mainly the Physical Jewel Masters, not the Heavenly Jewel Masters.

Even so, having an average of five-Jeweled Physical Jewel Masters for an entire Main Company, that was already a shocking phenomenon. Under such a circumstance, one could just imagine their sheer combat prowess.

Furthermore, each and every one of the First Main Company soldiers had been issued a Unicorn Heavenly Beast as their mounts. After all, during the border wars, the Berserker Tribe had focused their attentions on capturing these powerful beasts, and had succeeded in capturing a large number. Even though both tribes had taken on the majority of the Heavenly Beasts, there were still sufficient remaining, and naturally the First Main Company had first pick.