Heavenly Jewel Change

“You two planned it all beforehand right? I never expected that Second Brother would make such a decision.” Shangguan Tianyang gave a faint sigh even as he said passively. 

Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “I knew our act would not fool Uncle’s eyes.” 

Shangguan Tianyang shook his head and said: “This has nothing to do with fooling me or not. Although you all have planned it out very well, I was still able to see that the actual fight was not faked. Tianyue had indeed lost, even if he released his Legendary Set as soon as he came out, he would not be able to beat you in the time for an incense stick to burn. Weiqing, you are truly far stronger than I had dreamed. From today onwards, in the entire Boundless Mainland, you have a spot amongst the powerhouses.” 

Shangguan Bing’er stood at the side, looking at them questioningly. In a low tone, she said to Zhou Weiqing: “Why do I not understand what you both are talking about?” 

Zhou Weiqing laughed once more and said: “I will explain to you in detail later. Uncle, since you have also seen that the fight is real, don’t go back on your words!” 

Shangguan Tianyang gave a bitter smile as he said: “Your threat was effective after all. Rather than let you run off and elope with these three precious nieces of mine, I might as well agree in a straightforward fashion and let you all be happy. However, you must remember what you said. Out of the three of them, no matter who has the first child, he or she must be become the heir to the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. It looks like this old fellow here will have to toil for a few dozen more years.” 

Zhou Weiqing said laughingly: “That is no problem. Uncle, that is called able people should do more work.”

Shangguan Tianyang’s expression grew serious once again as he said: “Alright, so this matter is fixed, and I will settle it. However, you will need to begin to return and settle your own issues soon. In the year that you have left, there have been many changes in the entire mainland, some not small at all.” 

Zhou Weiqing’s expression changed. “My Heavenly Bow Empire…?” 

Shangguan Tianyang waved his hand and said: “Do not worry, your Heavenly Bow Empire is fine, and all is normal. Their progress and development is pretty good. The reason why Xue’er and Fei’er aren’t here is because they have gone to assist the fight in the Heavenly Bow Empire. Currently, the majority of the old territory of the Heavenly Bow Empire has already been reclaimed, and your armies are currently outside the Heavenly Bow City having a standoff against a combined army of Kalise and Bai Da Empire forces. However, they have not started their attack yet… and it will be a good time for you to return as soon as you can, to take care of it.”

Hearing his words, Zhou Weiqing heaved a sigh of relief. “Then… when you said there were great changes in the mainland, what were you referring to? Could it be… the WanShou Empire has some large actions again?” 

Shangguan Tianyang sighed and said: “If it was the WanShou Empire, we would not be so afraid. Although the WanShou Empire is extremely powerful, there is still us and the Fei Li Empire, Bao Po Empire to hold out against him. It is nearly impossible for them to succeed in actually breaking through and entering our inner territories. The real problem has come from within!” 

“The Dan Dun Empire has made their move?” Zhou Weiqing said with some surprise. 

Shangguan Tianyang nodded. “Not just made a move… but a huge move. The Geritimo Empire has been wiped out totally.” 

“What?!” Hearing those words, Zhou Weiqing couldn’t help but be caught by surprise. Although a portion of the Geritimo Empire had indeed been invaded and seized by the Dan Dun Empire, the ZhongTian Empire had intervened to mediate soon after. The Dan Dun Empire had also gone silent after that, without any other movement. However, now that the Geritimo Empire had actually been destroyed, that could only mean one thing… the Dan Dun Empire no longer cared about the opinions of the ZhongTian Empire, or perhaps one could even say they stood opposed to the ZhongTian Empire!

It had to be known, the Geritimo Empire was one of the large and powerful Empires in the Boundless Mainland, and its total strength would not lose to the Fei Li Empire. For them to be totally wiped out in such a short period of time, one could imagine how powerful the Dan Dun Empire had grown… definitely enough to challenge and begin to threaten the ZhongTian Empire. 

“Does that matter include the involvement of the Bai Da Empire?” Zhou Weiqing asked what he was most worried about.

“Yes, indeed. Not only that, the situation is already very clear.” Shangguan Tianyang’s eyes clearly showed his worry. “Almost at the same time as the Geritimo Empire was destroyed, the Bai Da Empire made a declaration that they would be changing their name to the Bai Da Kingdom, and they would now be part of the Dan Dun Empire as a vassal state. It can be considered that these two large Empires have officially joined forces, with the Dan Dun Empire at the head. Furthermore, since they have now occupied Geritimo’s territories, their total landmass would now surpass even our ZhongTian Empire. Currently, they are invading and swallowing up the various smaller countries between themselves and our ZhongTian Empire, and are thus continuously growing larger and stronger.” 

Zhou Weiqing could only stare with jaw agape as he listened to Shangguan Tianyang’s words. He had never imagined that in just a mere span of a year, so many important changes would occur. The Dan Dun Empire could be said to have risen so rapidly, using a brutal and tyrannical force to forcefully unite the entire south of the Boundless Mainland. 

“Hasn’t the ZhongTian Empire done anything regarding this matter?” Zhou Weiqing said with disbelief. 

Shangguan Tianyang gave a bitter smile as he said: “The majority of our forces are on the northern border. Even if we move them out, we can only protect ourselves, and not those smaller Empires. My greatest worry now is that once the Dan Dun Empire has finished conquering the South, they will turn their attentions to us. More importantly, they can seize the opportunity of the annual winter attacks of the WanShou Empire to launch a surprise pincer attack on us. If that happens, I’m afraid that even our ZhongTian Empire will be in serious trouble.” 

What he did not mention was that if not for the fact the situation in the mainland was so grave, perhaps he might not have agreed so quickly to the marriage between Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Xue’er… perhaps even rejecting it. However, in such a critical moment, the ZhongTian Empire truly needed the aid of the Heavenly Bow Empire. It had been growing stronger all this while, and was in the perfect position to tie down the southwestern forces of the Dan Dun Empire. If they lost this important ally in this time, then the ZhongTian Empire would have its back and belly exposed to their enemies. 

Zhou Weiqing furrowed his brow slightly as he said: “It looks like I have to rush back to the Heavenly Bow Empire.” 

Shangguan Tianyang nodded and said: “Weiqing, in terms of military manpower, our ZhongTian Empire is currently facing the situation where we are exposing our elbows when we fasten our jackets [1], and we are unable to help you on that end. However, in terms of resources and supplies, you do not need to worry at all. I will get Tianxing to ensure that the supplies will flow continuously to you in a steady fashion. I hope that you can begin your move as quickly as possible. Not just to save your family, but also to act out in the southwest region. If you have any conditions, you can ask for it right now.” 

After some thought, Zhou Weiqing shook his head and said: “I do not have any conditions, but I would like to have Bing’er, Fei’er and Xue’er remain by my side. Only when they are close to me can I feel at ease. Furthermore, I have already reached the Heavenly King stage. If I fought against the Bai Da Empire, I’ll need your help to interfere with the judgement of the Heavenly Jewel Masters in the continent.” 

Shangguan Tianyang nodded and said: “That is no problem at all, naturally I will handle it. After all, the Blood Red Hell has shown signs of that Destructive Attribute energies, and it might possibly be related to the Nether Realm. In terms of public opinion, you do not need to worry. However, you must be careful. The Blood Red Hell will definitely not sit back, and they will also send powerhouses after all of you. In this matter, I will also be unable to give you any support. Currently, more than half of our ZhongTian powerhouses have already been mobilized to the southern borders to prepare to faceoff against the Dan Dun Empire. That will be our main battlefield, and we cannot afford to make any mistakes there.” 

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly, saying: “As long as I am able to use my full strength, I have absolute confidence.” 

Shangguan Tianyang said: “With the current situation, even if I wanted you to hold back, it is impossible for us.” 

Zhou Weiqing replied: “In that case, we will leave the Island as quickly as possible and return to settle things as soon as possible. Do not worry, in less than a month, we will definitely launch an attack against the Kalise and Bai Da forces.” 

Shangguan Tianyang smiled in return. “It doesn’t really have to be that quick. You two have just returned, let Bing’er, Tianyue and her mother have a few days of reunion before you leave.” 

Zhou Weiqing grinned wickedly as he said: “I’m sure that my dear Father-in-Law is currently unable to focus on his daughter. It is better that I leave soon, otherwise my mother-in-law might suddenly appear to ‘visit’ me. After all, this time I have played the role of the villain.” 

Hearing his words, Shangguan Tianyang couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement. “Well, it isn’t like you didn’t gain a great benefit yourself from playing the villain right? In any case, it is good to see my brother’s family get back together again, and at least I can rest easy in that matter.”

Zhou Weiqing smiled as he said: “In that case, we will take our leave now.” His heart was truly eager to go home. With his forces ready to siege his homeland and reclaim the most important Capital City, to complete the revival of their Empire, his feelings were definitely very complicated. No matter what, the most important thing now was to rescue his family.” 

Holding onto Shangguan Bing’er’s hands, they bade farewell to Shangguan Tianyang before leaving the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. This time, Zhou Weiqing did not hold back, hugging Shangguan Bing’er in his embrace as he soared into the skies, flying to the southwest and to his home. 

“Little Fatty, did you plan all of that out with my father?” Shangguan Bing’er was no fool, and after listening to the discourse between Zhou Weiqing and her uncle, she could already guess what had happened. 

Zhou Weiqing chuckled and said: “It can be considered as that, though the details of the plan was a little derailed by the changing circumstances. Do not worry, I am finally your official husband, how could I possibly dare to truly hurt your father? He did sustain some injuries, but those were more self inflicted than naught.” 

Originally, when Zhou Weiqing met up with Shangguan Tianyue, both of them had exchanged words via voice-transference. Of course, no one else had noticed that.

This cunning ruse of self-injury to regain Tang Xian’s favour was a plan concocted after the father and son (in-law) duo’s discussion.

Shangguan Tianyue knew about Shangguan Tianyang’s original intentions for Zhou Weiqing. However, he did truly care for the youth and placed high importance on him. More importantly, do not forget that he was a father! On the surface, for Xue’er to inherit the Heaven’s Expanse Palace and become the future Palace Master was a great honour, making her one of the most important person in the entire world. However, Shangguan Tianyue was extremely clear what was most important to a woman. 

As such, he would rather risk some unhappiness from his brother and still informed Zhou Weiqing of some issues. 

After that, all that had happened was naturally part of their plan. However, Shangguan Tianyue did not expect that Zhou Weiqing’s true power was already more than sufficient to actually fight equally with him. 

When they had first started fighting, Shangguan Tianyue had been prepared to take it easy on him. However, as Zhou Weiqing displayed his full power and held the upper hand, up until the end Shangguan Tianyue was already defending with nearly all his strength. Alas, he had already lost the first strike opportunity and was too far on the back foot, especially since he had not even used his Consolidated Equipment, thus losing to Zhou Weiqing in such a seemingly easy fashion. 

[1] Literal Translation, basically means they have several difficulties in coping on their own