hapter 62 Five Great Saint Lands (2)
“No, I won’t let go. Princ.i.p.al, you want to get rid of me, if I let go you will throw me out.” Zhou Weiqing cried as he held on stubbornly. This rascal’s physical strength was after all extremely high, and furthermore, such an advantage, any extra second was a huge advantage!
“Let go of me, I’m not getting rid of you, really! I’m not throwing you out.” Even with Cai Cai’s usual strong demeanor of a tough woman, she was almost on the verge of tears. That rascal’s strength was so high, holding her so tight, and when he tightened his hands, she didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, but his hands were already at her b.u.t.tocks.
“Really?” Zhou Weiqing lifted his head, his hands still locked tight, as he looked at her with a hopeful look.
“Of course it’s real, let go of me now!” Cai Cai’s face was already beet red.
Although Zhou Weiqing was rather reluctant in his heart, he finally let go. After all, he was afraid that if pushed past the limit, Cai Cai would just use her power and smash his head.
Zhou Weiqing let go of his arms, clambering up slowly and saying ingratiatingly: “Thank you, thank you Princ.i.p.al.”
As he let go, Cai Cai staggered back a few steps, her legs a little weak as she leaned on her desk to prevent herself from falling.
“You… You…” Cai Cai pointed at him, caught rather speechless. She felt like beating him up, but knew that he had just been showing his emotions of not wanting to leave the academy. As such, she had a stomach full of anger which could not be expended. The area where he had grabbed was aching a little, and the thing that angered her the most was that rascal had two streaks of blood down his nose, and even her robes were stained with some.
“What’s up with your nose?” Cai Cai said angrily.
Zhou Weiqing looked up with an innocent look on his face, saying: “Just now, just now, I struck my head on your legs. Right there.” As he said that, he still pointed to her legs, as if he were about to go forward and point it out personally.
“Stand right there, if you touch me again I will kill you.” Cai Cai’s breathing was rather unsteady as she headed back to her seat, keeping her distance from Zhou Weiqing and preventing him from seeing her legs again, before she finally settled back down.
Zhou Weiqing was grinning to himself secretly. This Princ.i.p.al Cai Cai seems to be even more voluptuous than Ming Hua! He thought to himself. If Shangguan Bing’er were to be described as a beautiful flower on the verge of blooming, Ming Hua would be one which has just bloomed, and Cai Cai would be one which had bloomed and at the peak of its beauty… A ripe fresh fruit. That hug earlier also somehow reminded him of Xiao RuSe, after two years of not meeting her, he imagined that she must have also blossomed well.
After a short period of panic, Cai Cai calmed down. However, the warmth she felt towards Zhou Weiqing earlier had already evaporated, and she said coldly: “Zhou Weiqing, the academy isn’t expelling you, and we are just sending you on a mission out of school in order to protect you. The period of time will be three months, and you will return after that, still a student.”
“Mission? What mission?” Zhou Weiqing asked curiously as he looked at her questioningly.
Cai Cai said: “This is actually a mission of utmost honour, and if you manage to provide any significant contribution, then not mentioning the over dozen n.o.ble families you have provoked, even if you anger my father the King, I can still help you withstand it! Have you heard of the Five Great Saint Lands?”
Zhou Weiqing shook his head blankly as he said: “No, what is that?”
Cai Cai explained: “The Five Great Saint Lands are basically the top five strongest powers in the land. This includes the Top Valley of the East – Pa.s.sion Valley, the Top h.e.l.l of the South – Blood Red h.e.l.l, The Top Evil of the West – Heavenly Demon Sect, and the Top Mountain of the North – Heavenly Snow Mountain. Last of all is the Top Palace of the Central – Heaven’s Expanse Palace. These five make up the Five Great Saint Lands, and all of them have the top powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters in the entire continent. More importantly, all of their Heavenly Jewel Masters have their own specialities. Amongst them, the strongest would be the Heavenly Snow Mountain and the Heaven’s Expanse Palace. The Heavenly Snow Mountain’s power is the most obvious, as it has fought against the Heavenly Demon Sect, Pa.s.sion Valley and Blood Red h.e.l.l all by itself and still managed to hold its own. However, each of the Five Great Saint Lands govern themselves, and they do not have much to do with each other. As for the Heaven’s Expense Palace, it has always maintained its neutrality, and will usually keep from mixing itself in others’ fights. It is situated in the strongest Empire in the entire Continent, the ZhongTian Empire, on a floating island right above the Empire, known as the Heavenly Jewel Island. In truth, it is because of the Heaven’s Expense Palace’s existence that prevents the Heavenly Snow Mountain from supporting the Wan Shou Empire from starting a war to conquer the world.”
“Wait a minute, Princ.i.p.al, what did you just say? Floating island?!” Zhou Weiqing exclaimed in surprise.
Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Yes, it can be said so. In truth, it isn’t actually floating in the air. It is a huge mountain, but a very strange mountain range. It is almost five thousand metres tall, reaching the clouds, and takes up a huge amount of land ma.s.s. However, the center of the mountain is totally empty, with the top part being supported by sixteen ‘pillars’ of various mountain tops ranging across the entire land ma.s.s, making it seem as if it were floating in mid air. Hence, it has been called an Island, and was then given the name of Heavenly Jewel Island.”
“The names of the various Five Great Saint Lands were actually given by themselves, and they are actually just the five top strongest groups of Heavenly Jewel Masters. Each of them have some extremely powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters, and as such they have quite a transcended status in the entire continent.”
Zhou Weiqing said curiously: “Surely it can’t be that the Five Great Saint Lands can actually match the various empires?”
Cai Cai gave a scornful humph and said: “How can that be possible? The power of an individual person is ultimately limited. Even a twelve-Jeweled, G.o.d Level, Heavenly Jewel Master would not be able to totally fight against an entire Empire by himself. However, although they do not have the strength of an entire Empire, but it is undoubted that they do not lack of any powerful Heavenly Jewel Masters, powerful beings that could individually effect great changes like killing a general in the midst of an army. As such, even the royal families of the various Empires will not be too willing to offend the Five Great Saint Lands. At the same time, each of the Five Great Saint Lands also have some connection to the empires that they reside in, and in times of need, they also act as the protectors of that particular Empire. The most obvious example would be the Wan Shou Empire. The Heavenly Snow Mountain is just known as the Heavenly Mountain in the Wan Shou Empire, and they can often influence the decisions of the Wan Shou Emperor. With the Heavenly Snow Mountain being the enemy of the other three Great Saint Lands, and the Heaven’s Expense Palace being a neutral party, this has formed a scene of all five Empires being in a strange balance.”
All of a sudden, a look of surprise entered Zhou Weiqing’s eyes as he exclaimed: “Princ.i.p.al, since you have described the Five Great Saint Lands in such detail to me out of the blue… could it be that this mission you mentioned has something to do with them? I… I’m just merely a three-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master, just a small fry. How could I have anything to do with anything so grand…”
Cai Cai said exasperatedly: “You sure think grandly. Who do you think you are, to be able to influence the Five Great Saint Lands? As you have guessed, your mission does have some connection to the Five Great Saint Lands, and the reason why I introduced them to you is just to let you have some knowledge of them, lest you throw our academy’s face.”
By now, Zhou Weiqing’s curiosity had been sparked. From Cai Cai’s tone of speaking, he guessed that the mission shouldn’t be too difficult. However, being connected to the Fie Great Saint Lands, it was likely to do with many powerful beings, how could it be easy?”
“Princ.i.p.al, what exactly is this mission? Please reveal some details, so at least I have some preparation in my heart.”
Cai Cai said: “Amongst the Five Great Saint Lands, although the Heavenly Snow Mountain seems to have an equal power to the Heaven’s Expense Palace, its ranking is still second the Heaven’s Expense Palace. This is because the Heavenly Jewel Island does not only contain the Heaven’s Expense Palace, but it is also the place where all Heavenly Jewel Masters dream of going. On the Heavenly Jewel Island, it has all sorts of precious materials and treasures like ores and herbs, many of which are absolute top end items for Consolidating Equipment Masters like yourself. It can be said that, all Consolidating Equipment Masters would dream of going to the Heavenly Jewel Island, and it is one of the places where they can advance…
Zhou Weiqing’s eyes lit up and he said: “Does that mean the Heaven’s Expense Palace often recruits some High Level Consolidating Equipment Masters?”
Cai Cai’s eyes showed a helpless look as she said: “It’s not just as simple as some Consolidating Equipment Masters… In fact, it can be said that maybe half of the entire Continent’s of the high ranking Consolidating Equipment Masters are all in the Heaven’s Expense Palace.”
“That is also one of the reasons why its ranking and status is so high. There are only three ways to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. The first is to be a Consolidating Equipment Master who has reached the Grandmaster Rank, and they will be allowed to bring a single Follower to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. As long as they join, they have an extremely favourable treatment, being able to use their own Consolidating Equipment Scrolls to exchange for the various materials available on the Heavenly Jewel Island. Since making high level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls is the key for the Masters to improve and rank up, you can imagine how many of them are attracted by the favourable conditions to join. Furthermore, the Heaven’s Expense Palace has the power to be generous, and the most important condition for them is that they do not restrict the freedom of those Consolidating Equipment Masters, who can leave whenever they want to. As such, in the Consolidating Equipment Master world, the Heaven’s Expense Palace is like their background supporter, and can be said to be the most respected place amongst all the Consolidating Equipment Masters. This reason alone has forced the other four Great Saint Lands not to offend the Heaven’s Expense Palace, as it is also one of the places to easily find Grandmaster and above Consolidating Equipment Scrolls.”
“As for the mission that you will be going on , it actually has to do with another method of entering the Heavenly Jewel Island. Besides the first method I mentioned, there are two more methods. One of which is to get a special permit to enter. This is extremely rare, and usually only for those High Level Zong Stage and above Heavenly Jewel Masters might be able to get one of these permits. The last one is the only way for low level Heavenly Jewel Masters or even Elemental Jewel Masters to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island! That is the great Heavenly Jewel Tournament that is held once every three years.”
Zhou Weiqing said curiously: “Heavenly Jewel Tournament?”
Cai Cai nodded and said: “The Heavenly Jewel Tournament was first created to give the various Empires a chance to have some of their people enter the Heavenly Jewel Island. There are just two restrictions for partic.i.p.ants of the Grand Tournament. First of all, the partic.i.p.ant has to be below the age of thirty, and secondly, the partic.i.p.ant has to be a student of one of the Academies of the Empire. Including the Wan Shou Empire, there are a few dozen Empires in the entire Continent, but there are barely a few truly strong ones. The Heavenly Jewel Island will reward the top four Empires of the Tournament, with each of the attendees getting a plaque. With that plaque, one is able to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island three times. At the same time, the Semi-Finals of the Tournament is held in the Heavenly Jewel Island, so the attendees from the top four Empire will already be enter it that time, which isn’t included in the three times of the plaque. More importantly, this Heavenly Jewel Plaque is not linked to a particular person, and anyone holding it is able to enter the Heavenly Jewel Island.”