Chapter 589: The Encounter
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Jia Qingping was a real person, but he was by no means a genius, who reached the Mysterious Realm and ascended to Rank Two, as Jia Huaiyu had put it in his information. In fact, he was as weak as his father, but at least he was luckier than his father. He got help from his uncle, who was a Genuine Immortal, from birth and was able to practice at the age of five. Now he was 22 and a Level Four master, much better than his father.
However, he had been in the Remote Red Star since he was born and had never been anywhere else. His condition was reported to the family by Jia Huaiyu upon his birth. For a variety of reasons, Jia Huaiyu only reported his basic information and did not report his apt.i.tude, physique and any other information of note.
Therefore, there was a man named Jia Qingping in the Infinite Star Sea now. Besides, he came of a decent family and had powerful connections, but no one knew him but the man from the Remote Red Star.
Added to the fact that Jia Qingping, though having no apt.i.tude, had been obsessed with practice and rarely went out, thus, except for the people in Jia Huaiyu’s manor, almost no one knew him. Within the manor Jia Huaiyu was the supreme ruler, so he was not afraid that someone would leak this matter.
Therefore, overnight Zhou Bao became Jia Huaiyu’s nephew, a genius to achieve the Rank Two of Mysterious Realm.
The practice system in the Infinite Star Sea, the Alliance of 13 Realms and the Milky Way Realm was similar to that practiced in the Seven-deity Regions. However, there were a large number of Individual Immortals here, and they were not as mysterious as in the Seven-deity Regions. As a result, cultivation of the Mysterious Realm was divided into nine ranks, three ranks of Pulse-Steadying, three ranks of Blood-Changing, and three ranks of Marrow-Cleansing.
Zhou Bao’s strength was at Rank Two, the second rank of Pulse-Steadying. At this age, he was literally a Junior Master.
His reason for leaving the Remote Red Star was simple. He wanted to try and experience his Divine Fate.
A pract.i.tioner must go out to experience, and a pract.i.tioner who did not go out at all was not a good pract.i.tioner to begin with. Such a person would never have a bright future, at least when practice was concerned.
This was a good and reasonable reason. With the proof that was written by Jia Huaiyu, Zhou Bao faced no suspicion, with neither a simple interrogation nor examination as he reached another animate planet of the Canglan Region.
However, Zhou Bao’s target was not any of the 34 planets of the Canglan Region, but the Pond of Illusive Ripples. This planet was just another springboard.
The first planet he reached from the Remote Red Star, through the Transmitting Formation, was the Blue Sea Star. As its name suggested, this planet was covered by vast oceans. Without stopping, Zhou Bao went on and pa.s.sed through the Transmitting Formation, in the Blue Sea Star, to the main planet of the Canglan Region, the Canglan Star.
Compared to the Blue Sea Star and the Remote Red Star, the Canglan Star was undoubtedly more magnificent, powerful, and prosperous.
The number of Transmitting Formations in the Transmitting Hall was comparable to that of the c.u.mulus Star, and the various interrogations, examinations, and observations here were, by far, more rigorous.
“You’re from the Jia Family?”
Zhou Bao was stopped by a middle-aged pract.i.tioner in front of a Transmitting Formation. He looked at the jade identification card carefully, then at Zhou Bao and then back to the card. “Jia Huaiyu is your uncle, you have been living in the Remote Red Star since childhood, and you haven’t come out to experience it before entering the Mysterious Realm, is that right?”
His skepticism was justified. Going from Level Nine to the Mysterious Realm not only needed a ludicrous amount of both strength, and luck, but also required near endless inspiration. It was basically impossible for a pract.i.tioner to step into the Mysterious Realm without going through unbelievable levels of struggle, and achievement.
“When I entered Level Nine, I had been practicing in the Remote Red Star. There are many harsh environments with many powerful supernatural animals which became my training tools. It was very beneficial, and both served to benefit of my cultivation.”
“Well, that makes sense. There are a lot of tough supernatural animals in that d.a.m.n place.” The middle-aged man nodded, seeming to agree with what Zhou Bao said, but Zhou Bao was startled, “Have the middle-aged man, who is at Rank Seven of the Mysterious Realm, ever gone to the Remote Red Star? Who the h.e.l.l is he?”
“All right, boy, you’re through. You can go. Since you’re from the Jia Family, I suggest you do not rush to train, go back to the Jia Family first. Although they were unfair to your father and uncle, there was no other choice. Even the Canglan Region cannot resist the pressure of Yuelang Cliff, not even trying to mention the Jia Family.”
“Yeah, Yuelang Cliff did put a lot of pressure on the Jia Family, and they can’t fight them. In that case, I’d better not go back and save the family trouble. Don’t you think so?” Zhou Bao replied with a smile. The middle-aged man certainly recognized the strong resentment in Zhou Bao’s tone. He forced a smile, and tried to persuade him, but finally sighed and waved Zhou Bao away.
This was only a minor incident, but it further rea.s.sured that man. When Jia Huaiyu and Jia Huaisheng were banished to the Remote Red Star, the Jia Family was pressured to sever ties with them. This made the relations.h.i.+p with their family deteriorate to the point that when Jia Qingping was born, Jia Huaiyu only informed the family by convention. If it were not for the chance to put Jia Qingping in the family tree, Jia Huaiyu would have refused to inform the family. This showed how deep their feud had become.
Zhou Bao had no intention of interfering in the feud, but since he pretended to be Jia Huaiyu’s nephew, and in order not to show flaws, he had to act as if it mattered to him.
The Transmitting Formation in Canglan Star could lead to many places of the Infinite Star Sea. However, instead of leaving at once, Zhou Bao intended to remain here for some time to inquire for real news. After all, the Canglan Star was one of the 10 main stars in this Star Area. It not only had vast financial power and material resources, but also served as a gathering place for all kinds of information.
The Transmitting Hall was located in one of the five biggest cities of Canglan Star, Dragon Ear City. It was a large city, with thousands of kilometers around. Hundreds of millions of people lived here, including pract.i.tioners and common people. The city was alive with excitement.
However, common people were in the majority, and very few pract.i.tioners had truly reached the Mysterious Realm and the proportion was almost equal to that in the Seven-deity Regions. Furthermore, the so-called pract.i.tioners were mostly people of the martial arts world, the Level Seven experts.
There were five families in Dragon Ear City and they ruled this city. Every leader came from the five families without exception.
The Jia Family was among the five families, but with the departure of Jia Huaiyu, their influence had greatly declined.
Walking along the largest commercial street in Dragon Ear City and watching the vendors along the street, the restaurants, teahouses, brothels and a flood of people, Zhou Bao curled his lips, “d.a.m.n it, there is no urban management here to keep order. It’s really disharmonious. Missing out on such a bonanza!”
He sneered while walking and felt at ease. When pa.s.sing a restaurant, which appeared good, Zhou Bao walked straight into it.
As soon as he entered the restaurant, the mouthwatering aroma of food drifted to him.
“I haven’t had a good meal in a long time. I truly have such a hard life!” The delicious food whetted Zhou Bao’s appet.i.te. About 70 percent of the seats in the restaurant had been taken. Zhou Bao found a corner, ordered some wine and dishes. Whilst helping himself, he eavesdropped on a conversation from amongst the customers.
“d.a.m.n it! Who says the restaurant is the information center? Bulls.h.i.+t!” After listening for a while, Zhou Bao was almost speechless. He had often read in novels that anything confidential could be heard in inns and restaurants. As long as you sat inside for a while, you could even learn the biggest school Leader’s most favored concubine’s underwear color. However, what was the truth?
It was all about useless small household affairs. For example, the man sitting there was mystically whispered about the incest of his neighbor’s father; that man was bragging about how powerful he was to make his fifth concubine pregnant with a third child. n.o.body talked about anything important!
The food and wine tasted good at least.
Zhou Bao gave up on getting news here and ate and drank with ease.
“Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?”
A man came to the table and asked him when he was enjoying himself.
Zhou Bao looked up and saw a middle-aged man with pale skin and no beard smiling at him.
“Venerable Black Turtle?”
Seeing the man’s appearance clearly, Zhou Bao was surprised to find that he was Venerable Black Turtle. He shaved his beard so that Zhou Bao did not recognize him at first.
Besides, the whole temperament of Venerable Black Turtle had changed in an odd way, and he looked like a pract.i.tioner who had just stepped into the Mysterious Realm.
Seeing Zhou Bao’s surprise, Venerable Black Turtle grinned and sat down, “What brings you here?”
“What, that should be my question to you.” His words made Zhou Bao somewhat speechless. The upper levels of the Seven-deity Regions knew why he came here, and Venerable Black Turtle could not have been unaware.
“I know what you’re doing here, but didn’t you come through that Transmitting Formation in the Three Western Regions? Have those guys of the Infinite Star Sea set traps in the Pond of Illusive Ripples for you? Why do you come to the Canglan Star?”
“Nothing can be hidden from this guy, but he knows I came through the Transmitting Formation of the Three Western Regions. He should know that there was something wrong with that Transmitting Formation!”
The thought of this made Zhou Bao’s face contort. “Don’t you know that Qi Miaoyi of the Extraterrestrial Divine Mountain and Ye Qingtian joined forces against me, killed all the pract.i.tioners who guarded the Transmitting Formation, and almost killed me. I’m fine, but there was something wrong with the Transmitting Formation, and it sent me to this fu**ing barren place!”
“I see. It explains it!” Venerable Black Turtle was just taken aback, seeming to have figured out something.