Chapter 163: Mysterious White Haired Young Lady (3)
Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
Finally, she stopped soliloquizing, and an Evil light flashed in her eyes, catching herself by surprise. In fright, she quickly controlled her emotions, pushing down the Evil aura and it slowly dissipated.
“What method do I have to make this fellow admit it?” Ming Hua pondered to herself, lost in thought.
At the other side, Zhou Weiqing was also struggling in his heart as he walked down the stairs. Shangguan Bing’er had told him before that those Heavenly Jewel Masters who had the Evil Attribute, especially those who had the Demonic Change, were hunted by all the Skill Storing Palaces of all the large Empires of the entire Continent! If he were found out, then even if he were lucky enough to survive, he would have no place left to go, not even being able to return to the Heavenly Bow Empire, and would have to spend the rest of his life hiding.
No, definitely not! Although he did not have much ambitions, his greatest wish was still to strengthen the Heavenly Bow Empire… to let every citizen of the Heavenly Bow Empire be proud to be its citizen!
Taking a deep breath, Zhou Weiqing reinforced the belief in his heart. Towards such a serious danger to himself, he could not afford to be soft hearted. Even if it were Ming Yu’s sister… he could not let her live. He would have to seize the opportunity before she determined for certain that he truly had the Evil Attribute and told someone else… and remove the threat… permanently.
The thick killing intent appeared once more in Zhou Weiqing’s heart. Although he was rather unwilling to kill women, especially one so beautiful like Ming Hua, this would concern not just his own future, but also Shangguan Bing’er’s, and possibly even his own Empire’s fate! He pledged to himself resolutely… Tonight… If Ming Hua dared come home, he would take care of her, otherwise he would not be able to sleep peacefully.
“Zhou Weiqing.” Just as that moment, a rather low voice jolted him out of his thoughts.
As Zhou Weiqing lifted his head to look around him, he found that he had somehow walked himself to the first level of the school building, and Zang Lang was right in front of him at the entrance of the stairs.
“Let’s talk.” Zang Lang’s gaze was low and rather downcast.
“Speak then.” Zhou Weiqing was not in a good mood due to Ming Hua’s issues, and did not want to tangle himself in more further issues.
Zang Lang said: “You are so similar to how I was when I first entered the academy… But at that time, I was far weaker than you are now… not to even mention your abilities as a Consolidating Equipment Master. You know… If anyone had the choice, who would want to become a dog… Become a slave? Who wouldn’t want to stand up tall as a human?”
“However, as a Jewel Master, if we aren’t able to Consolidate Equipment or Store Skills, then we will forever be useless. As such, there are many who have suffered since a young age and aren’t as resolute about keeping their freedom, who will choose to submit to noble families or the Skill Storing Palace, to grow strong and prove themselves. Of course, at the same time, they give up their freedom… And any future accomplishments they have are for their masters to enjoy. However, even though I do not like their choice, nor would I ever do it myself, I would never stop them from making that choice… Because I have no way of helping them…”
Zhou Weiqing said passively: “What is your point in telling me all of that?”
Zang Lang said: “I do not have that ability, but you do! Zhou Weiqing, when you showed your ability as a Consolidating Equipment Master, perhaps you might not have noticed it, but all the other commoner students looked to you with fiery hot gazes. I’m here this time to represent those commoner student seniors who have not submitted to either noble families or the Skill Storing Palace. There are a total of forty four of us… If you are willing to help us like your classmates… we will all swear fealty to you.”
Zhou Weiqing laughed, looking at Zang Lang rather mockingly. “Swear fealty? Senior Zang Lang… are you joking? What is the basis that I should trust that you all will really swear fealty to me? Your choice of me… is merely because I am unable to restrict you… without the restriction of a Darkness Seal… won’t you all be able to leave whenever you want? Do you know how much I have to expend to upkeep more than 40 Jewel Masters? It’s at least 500,000 gold coins right… even my homeland, Heavenly Bow Empire, will not be able to sustain such an expenditure… and such a massive expenditure in exchange for only a simple ‘promise’ of fealty? Do you really think I am crazy?”
Zang Lang started a little, then said angrily: “Zhou Weiqing, you are insulting my honour.”
Zhou Weiqing gave a disdainful humph. “Honour? What is that worth? If I am willing to do something… no matter how difficult it is, no matter the cost to myself, I will still do my best to do it. However, if it is something I am not willing to do… no one can force me to do it. For me, supporting and upkeeping my classmates for free is something I want to do, because I don’t want to see the people by my side be forced into submission to noble families or the Skill Storing Palace. However, I am not running a charity, and do not have any obligation to do so for anyone else. Your simple sentence, just a possibly empty promise, what is the point of it for me? If you want my help, that is also possible… but I need you all to submit to my Sealing. Do you all dare? In that case… what would be the difference from submitting to a noble family?”
Zang Lang took a deep breath… veins bulging out obviously on his bald head as he clenched his fists tightly… glaring at Zhou Weiqing.
Zhou Weiqing walked down the steps to him and said: “I know what you want to say… that us commoner students are in the same boat, and we need to bind ourselves together to be able to deal with the noble students. However, I really do not have any reason to believe you all, to spend millions of gold just for a simple worded promise… This is just not possible, don’t you think so, Senior? You are too arrogant.”
Zang Lang’s tightly clenched fists slowly relaxed… his angry gaze slowly turning confused. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm himself down.
“What are your conditions then?” He said solemnly.
Zhou Weiqing said in a relaxed tone: “Everyone’s thinking changes as they age… promises are never as reliable as bindings. There are forty four of you, and what I want is… forty four followers who are bound by Seals. Senior Zang Lang, I am not a good person, but I am definitely a person who protects his own well. I’m also not afraid to tell you this… I am not even seventeen years old, and I am already a Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Master. Before I graduate, I will definitely be at least a high level Consolidating Equipment Master. And within ten years, I will definitely be a Consolidating Equipment Grandmaster… or even a Zong Stage Consolidating Equipment Master. In the future, I do not know if I can be a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master, but I have at least a seventy percent confidence in doing so. Being Darkness Sealed may be the same, but following a future God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master… I do not need to tell you the benefits right?”
“Wait… You do not need to rush into any decisions… I’m still going to be a student for the next few years. If by the time of my graduation I have yet to reach the level of High Stage Consolidating Equipment Master, you can just treat all that I said as bullshit.”
Zang Lang hesitated. The reason was simple… The words… ‘God Tier’.
In the history of the entire main continent, every God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master have been commanding presences, overrunning the world as legendary figures. And those who followed by their sides were all well known, powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters as well. Although Zhou Weiqing did not state things clearly, he knew that if in the future Zhou Weiqing really became a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master, even Zong Stage Heavenly Jewel Masters might not have the qualification to be his followers. It was only because Zhou Weiqing was currently still relatively far from his goal, but with his talent, it was still quite a high probability. At this moment, Jewel Masters like him… even ordinary Physical and Elemental Jewel Masters, still had the qualification to follow him. It would be a bet, but if in the future Zhou Weiqing truly became a God Tier Consolidating Equipment MAster, these followers who had chose to bet on him early would also become powerful in their own right.
“Zhou Weiqing, if it is just following you in a personal context… then you will have to personally Seal us yourself. Although the Spatial Attribute has some Sealing capabilities, but they are few and far between, and also not comparable to the Darkness Attributes. Even if we choose to follow you, how will you accomplish the Sealing?”
Zhou Weiqing lifted up his hand and patted Zang Lang on his shoulders, saying: “Since I’ve said that, then I can naturally do it. You just think about it for now…” After saying that, he walked out of the door. At the same time, Zang Lang was shocked in his heart.
The reason was simple. He was currently unable to move, a strong sense of being constrained filling his entire body. That dark, cold feeling gave him the chills, causing goosebumps to raise up on his skin, as he felt as if his body was tied up by more than a dozen invisible ropes.
As a Heavenly Jewel Master, Zang Lang naturally knew what that was… it… it was clearly one of the Darkness Control Skills! Wasn’t Zhou Weiqing a Spatial Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master? What about this Darkness Attribute?! Could it be… his Elemental Jewel was of multiple attributes?
In that instant, Zang Lang’s mind was totally blank. Zhou Weiqing’s mocking grin as he left just now was seared into his brain.
Zhou Weiqing returned to his class to meet back up with Shangguan Bing’er and return home. After all, the opening ceremony was now over, and they had nothing left to do in the academy for today. At the same time, he needed to consider his options on how to deal with Ming Hua.
To be honest, what just happened with Zang Lang had been totally spur of the moment. According to his original plan, it was to slowly and steadily influence the commoner students and bring them to his side, and gradually reach his goal. However, after being provoked by Ming Hua today, he felt like he could no longer move at a slow pace.
In the opening ceremony, what he had done might seem crazy, but it was actually something he had thought through and planned. Heavily injuring Ding Chen was a display of his power, a sort of threat and awe-inspiring tool… not just to the other commoner students, but also to those noble students who were thinking of getting him and Shangguan Bing’er to submit to them. It was also a sign to them about his character, that not only was he powerful, he was also willing to go further and not show mercy to those who were against him. This would not only leave a deep impression on them, and also decrease the chances that they would dare approach Shangguan Bing’er.
After that, he had used an arrogant attitude to ask the commoner freshmen students to not submit to the noble families. At that time, everyone had thought he had gone crazy, but dared not open their mouths due to his power. This allowed Zhou Weiqing to show off his power as a Consolidating Equipment Master… which was the key part of his plan.