Chapter 231

Chapter 231: Taixuan Thunder Saber and Awards from the Imperial Court

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn

It was a silent and moonless night with only scattered stars, forming a brilliant starry river across the sky. The way it gleamed gave the impression of countless blinking eyes overlooking the heaven and earth.

Junior Leopard stood in the deep valley where Xue Wuya once captured him, wearing a complicated expression.

“Is this the starry river I saw in my previous life?”

This was a bit of a funny thing to him. In his previous life, he often heard of the Milky Way as a child, but he had never seen what it was exactly.

Mostly, what he saw was the Big Dipper. Whenever he was bored in the evening, he would look up to the sky and fixed his eyes on the Big Dipper.

He hadn’t seen the Big Dipper since coming to this world. Without the asterism, the sky here wasn’t vastly different from the sky in his previous life. Perhaps, he didn’t notice any besides the starry river that spanned the sky.

“Interesting. This world also has the 28 constellations and the same names as the earth, but there’s no Big Dipper. Wonder how they classify the constellations. Now I’ve also become one of constellations in the sky!”

Junior Leopard lied in the valley in Misty Mountain, the exact same place where he killed Xue Wuya.

10 years had passed by. Junior Leopard didn’t think he would still have a connection with Xue Wuya after killing him and leaving this godforsaken place as well as gaining profits from him.

Everything was beyond his expectations. He didn’t expect to form a connection with Xue Wuya after 10 exact years.

Xue Wuya was also one of the 28 constellations in the Immortal Palace.

Wang She, the Chief of the Tian Long Taoism, was one. So was Xue Wuya, the expert in Blood River Sect of the Dark Sect.

Based on these two aspects, it was obvious how much power lied behind this unknown Immortal Palace.

However, this was not what he should be thinking about right now. He was collecting the Flickering Light Evil Qi. After practicing the Space Division Skill, a sudden interest brought him here. Those two places were close to each other. Based on his current power, he could arrive in several days. The surrounding poisonous insects and fierce beast wouldn’t be an issue to him.

The only thing that disappointed him was he still didn’t get to see that little thing this time.

The Space Division Skill was incredibly powerful and formidable but also gave rise to thoughts of cutting more spaces.

He could achieve the first effect of the Space Division Skill, though the space covered would only be within a 1,000-feet circumference. If he wanted to maintain it, he would have to consume much of his energy, making it a great burden to him. If he didn’t have to worry about energy consumption, he could form a small barrier within a 10-feet radius. It could be useful to scare off others but useless in actual combat.

The second effect was what he valued most. It was actually his idea to cut a patch from real space to be his own independent space. After practicing the Space Division Skill, he could divide real space as much as he liked. After all, space could recover by itself and it didn’t matter how much space he could take.

His idea was too simple and he was also being too greedy. The truth was the successful practice of the Space Division Skill still didn’t give him the ability to divide space without restraint.

That was because the divided space needed to connect with the spirit. It was the only way it could be controlled and used. Otherwise, even if he could divide space into many pieces, they would disperse in the endless hollow like hydrogen balloons.

Moreover, space should connect with the spirit instead of the divine thoughts. If his divine thoughts could be connected, he could divide some and even send out his thoughts because his Carefree Skill had been practiced into a Divine Rush Object state. At most, he could divide 18 thoughts. What was more, even if those thoughts were destroyed, he could produce new thoughts again after his divine thoughts recovered. If the divine thoughts didn’t reproduce, the thoughts wouldn’t die. Meanwhile, the stronger his divine thoughts became, the more thoughts he could divide. When he could divide 81 thoughts, he could reach the next state of the Carefree Skill. It was certainly beyond his imagination now. Being capable of diving 18 thoughts while in the initial phase of the Divine Rush Object, his divine thoughts were far stronger than that of ordinary experts. In the future, even if he wanted to increase another thought, he needed to accumulate much more powerful divine thoughts.

It was a pity that the space divided using the Space Division Skill didn’t connect with his divine thoughts but directly bound to his spirit. Divine thoughts were only a key to the space.

Thus, even though Junior Leopard had much stronger divine thoughts and large numbers of thoughts, they could only act as keys. Their bond with his spirit meant he couldn’t divide additional space. He could only increase his cultivation and wait until his spirit become stronger to expand the capacity of his existing space.

Now, the size of his space was just enough to contain his two large hammers.

There was no more space for other things.

But that was enough to satisfy Junior Leopard, very much so.

At least, he didn’t need to be vexed about those two large hammers any longer. He could just bring them wherever he went.

“Now that I’m carrying the two hammers with me, who would still dare to cause trouble for me? Isn’t that right, Little Du?”

Junior Leopard patted Little Du’s head with a smile.

“Hu, hu!” Little Du stuck out its tongue, licking Junior Leopard’s hand intimately. Its eyes flickered, looking more intelligent than before. Of course, its body was also much smaller.

That was right. In the past, it was as big as a calf, but it was now the size of a small Pekingese dog. Its silver skin was clean and shining. When it bared its fangs, it gave off a chilling light. If it didn’t widen the mouth, nobody would believe it to be an evil beast of spiritual intelligence.

Little Du could indeed be regarded as an evil beast. Its drastic change started from that Buyan Gerel.

Once, when Junior Leopard fought Buyan Gerel, the latter knocked Little Du unconscious. That caused Junior Leopard to bombard the unfortunate Buyan Gerel to death. Surprisingly, its fist intent neither faded nor vanished completely. Instead, most of it was absorbed by the comatose Little Du. Little Du fell into a deeper sleep and wouldn’t wake. If not for Junior Leopard’s deep connection with Little Du in their hearts telling him that, he would have worried about it for a long time.

Because Little Du was deeply asleep, Junior Leopard had to visit the remote prairie by himself. He was planning to bring Little Du with him so it could grow through fighting in the prairie.

Now Junior Leopard thought it was fortunate he didn’t bring Little Du there. Otherwise, perhaps it would just be a burden to him after encountering Dark Lord Mie Chen in the Devil Valley.

There wasn’t any use bringing up all these now. It just came to him when he saw Little Du.

It had been three months after he returned from the Immortal Palace. In that time, besides going home once, he spent almost all his time here to practice the Space Division Skill.

The wide-awake Little Du was his companion. While he practiced, it became the tyrant of the place and was also reponsible for supplying him with food.

After absorbing Buyan Gerel’s fist intent, Little Du was stronger and smarter than before. In Junior Leopard’s eyes, it was now akin to a 12-year-old child except it didn’t have the ability to talk. With its companionship, he didn’t feel fretful.

“Little Du, what do you think about this place?”

“Wu, wu, wu!”

“Haha! You think it’s good? I think so too!” Junior Leopard patted Little Du’s head and sat up. “This place is really nice. If I feel tired someday, I’d go clean up the cave outside and live inside. That should be pretty nice!”

“Wu, wu, wu!”

“You also want to live inside? Okay, I’ll build a lair for you and have you stay with me!”

“Wu, wu, wu!”

“Okay, okay, okay. Your lair will be a good one without a leaking roof,” Junior Leopard said, smiling.

With the increase of Little Du’s spiritual intelligence and his spirit, their connection became closer and stronger, and their relationship better than before. When he had nothing to do, he would chat with Little Du. Thanks to their spiritual connection, it could express its feeling through a voice understandable to him even though it couldn’t talk. The three months they spent here sharply improved the friendship between the man and the wolf.

“That’s enough. Little Du, stop thinking about that. Your master has many things to deal with. How can I live in seclusion here leisurely?” Junior Leopard patted Little Du’s head. “Sleep now. We’ll be returning tomorrow I’ll be preparing for my duel with that little girl!”

He didn’t take the duel against the girl from the Meng Family seriously at first. Meng Qingrong may be a talent rarely seen in over 100 years in the Meng Family in Ningzhou, but she was nobody compared to Junior Leopard.

As the madman who dared to mess with Dark Lord Mie Chen and also escaped unscathed, he had the confidence to face any foe in this world.

However, that didn’t include the stranger in the thunder he saw the other day. He wasn’t a person on the ground but in the heaven.

Meng Qingrong may be a talent and the Meng Family in Ningzhou may exert great influence, but they couldn’t be stronger than Dark Lord Mie Chen and their force couldn’t surpass the Palace of Destruction Demon.

However, he couldn’t help raising his guard after receiving a particular news recently.

The duel this time had attracted great deal of attention in the martial arts world. Now, things were set over in the northern area. The numbers of martial arts masters in Northern Yuan had been dwindling, either killed by experts from the Central Plains or seeking refuge with other influences in the Palace of Destruction Demon and the Kun Lun Gilding Roof. The two greatest schools had obviously reached a certain tacit agreement and made compromises. There was no problem for the Northern Yuan masters to get to the territories of both schools for protection. They were taken in on the premise that they wouldn’t go against Great Jin anymore, even assisting Great Jin when it was to conquer the prairie.

Two-thirds of those in the martial arts world had acquiesced helplessly while the remaining became horse thieves and bandits in the prairie. They became mere horse thieves and bandits after losing the backup force of Northern Yuan troops for their schools.

With the fame and influence of Northern Yuan, some well-known experts like the Four Wolves were hunted down by the experts Great Jin sent. Some were killed, while others escaped. It would be hard for them to see daylight again. Therefore, such horse thieves and bandits could only provoke small troubles and nothing major. At the same time, they were a lot less attractive to those of the martial arts world in Great Jin. They were just like homeless dogs, so it was unnecessary to dedicate too much energy to deal with them.

Thus, the martial arts world in Great Jin had long turned their focus away from Northern Yuan toward something else.

It was the duel between Zhou Bao, an Elder of the Wu Family, and Meng Qingrong, the young master of the Meng Family in Ningzhou!

It was a duel that had been agreed on two and a half years ago. Meng Qingrong, the most outstanding martial arts master in a hundred year in the Meng Family in Ningzhou, had left home to gain experience and met Zhou Bao, who was the Navy Commander of Jiang City. A fire sparked between them, leading to a violent fight that started a thousand-year legend in Jianghu.

In that fight, Zhou Bao, who had Level Four cultivation, not only defeated Meng Qingrong but also killed a Level Seven expert sent by the Meng Family to protect her in secret.

The fact that a Level Four person killed a Level Seven person pushed him to stardom, making him a true legend in Jianghu.

Later, Zhou Bao of the Wu Sect showed his excellent performance in the war against Northern Yuan. Though he didn’t make many achievements, each battle he took part in was breathtaking and unbelievable.

While escorting the food and fodder, he killed the Level Eight expert Buyan Gerel, one of the Four Wolves of the prairie. He went deep into the prairie and returned with a half-dead Wang She, the chief of the Tian Long Taoism who was hunted down by Wan Li, one of the three Grandmasters.

Rumors had it that Junior Leopard rescued Wang She from Dark Lord Mie Chen and also cooperated with Wang She to injure Mie Chen severely, even digging out one of Mie Chen’s eyes.

Though Junior Leopard’s previous exploits were amazing, this rumored fight was enough to dwarf them all.

The martial arts world and Jianghu were always filled with rumors and what the pugilists often said was there was no smoke without fire.

Even Junior Leopard hadn’t really taken out Mie Chen’s eye, but it was Wang She who admitted that Junior Leopard had saved him. Thanks to that, the Tian Long Taoism owed Junior Leopard a great favor.

Thus, there was little suspense about the fight.

No one would think Meng Qingrong would win. Junior Leopard’s strength was there for everyone to see. With the celestial device, he could fight directly with a Level Eight expert and bombard him to death.

As for Meng Qingrong?

Even if she was a genius who had the Meng Family, a powerful thousand-year family, backing her up, she couldn’t close the gap in their strength.

Moreover, Junior Leopard wasn’t a mere disciple who only had the Wu Sect in Yunzhou as his backer anymore. There was also the Tian Long Taoism.

Having saved Wang She’s life, the Tian Long Taoism had publicly shown their support to him. With this, the Meng Family could only battle it out with Junior Leopard through a real duel rather than pressuring him using their family influence.

Now, Junior Leopard’s victory was considered a sure bet in Jianghu. Of course, there were also several people with a fluke mind betting on Meng Qingrong.

Junior Leopard wasn’t concerned about all these rumors in Jianghu. Neither success or failure meant much to him. Besides, he was even willing to throw the game if the Meng Family offered favorable enough conditions. Regretfully, as a result of the support of the Tian Long Taoism, the Meng Family didn’t dare to bribe him. He was rather disappointed about this.

Junior Leopard wasn’t a person who paid much attention to the outcome. He cared only about his cultivation and practice in the future. He didn’t want to be too concerned about worldly things like victories and defeats.

Even so, there were others who did. The Wu Family, in particular, were very concerned and looked for information through various channels. All these naturally was relayed back to Junior Leopard.

Now, Junior Leopard knew Meng Qingrong like the palm of his own hand. He knew everything including when she was born, the number of meals she had a day, her favorite color, the clothes she liked the most, the martial arts she had once learned, those that she was good at, her dueling experiences, her opponents, as well as the movement that caused her victory or defeat.

What shocked him the most was the intel on the number of times Meng Qingrong went to the bath and restroom. These were all provided to him by the Wu Family. But he believed they weren’t capable of getting such detailed information based on their influence. The Tian Long Taoism must have secretly backed them up.

If one knew the enemy and knew himself, one need not fear the result of a hundred battles. It was somewhat nonsensical to learn about such details.

Even so, he didn’t stop them from collecting such information. Being in Jianghu, there was nothing he could do. His position wasn’t the same as several years ago. He couldn’t change such wicked behavior, only adapt himself to the dusty world.

Recently, a particular intel had caused him to be vigilant. It was a piece of information the Wu Family had always wanted to find out but failed to so.

It was information about Meng Qingrong’s celestial device.

Junior Leopard had the strength to bombard experts to death, rescued Wang She from Dark Lord Mie Chen, and also possessed a celestial device.

With all his advantages, Meng Qingrong should inevitably have one or two impressive tools if she wanted to duel with Junior Leopard.

Her ability?

With these three years, if the Meng Family had spared no expense, they would have fostered her into a Level Seven expert. But was a mere Leven Seven expert enough to fight with the monster-like Junior Leopard?

Wasn’t Dragon Granny a Level Seven expert? Three years ago, Junior Leopard had bombarded her to death. He even killed Buyan Gerel, a Level Eight expert, and fed his opponent’s fist intent to his pet.

Under such circumstances, was there any use even if the Meng Family pushed Meng Qingrong to the Level Nine realm at all cost?

What about pushing her to Level Eight?

The Meng Family didn’t have such an ability.

The Meng Family could promote a Level Four expert to Level Seven if they spared no cost and wasted the expert’s future prospects. But fostering a Level Eight expert was not something an influential family like they could do. It wasn’t something the Tian Long Taoism could do either, nor the Sect of Flame, the Mingyi School, the Lone Kill Palace, and the Kunlun Golden Roof in Northern Yuan.

It was a recognized fact that a Level Seven expert couldn’t defeat Zhou Bao. Even if Meng Qingrong was forcibly promoted to be a Level Eight expert, she had little chance of winning.

Hence, a defeat wasn’t too big of a deal. If the Meng Family didn’t want to lose so badly, they only needed to put some effort in other aspects.

What other aspects?

A celestial device! They could bring out even a magic weapon or an Ancient Treasure!

In the war against Northern Yuan, there were two things that shocked the world. The first was the annihilation of Northern Yuan. The country had a history spanning over 10,000 years and had a firm presence in the northern prairie. It had advanced shoulder-to-shoulder with the Central Plains, occasionally bullying the tribesmen from the Central Plains. What was undoubtedly shocking was its defeat and loss of its nation and people. The second was the force of the Ancient Treasure.

Not even unparalleled experts in the Mysterious Realm had the power to retaliate under the force released by the Ancient Treasure. It was believed that anyone from the martial arts world witnessing scene would have received a great shock, giving rise to a strong frustration and helplessness. They also became so dispirited that their cultivation had no progress. Though some didn’t see it for themselves, they shared the same feeling after hearing about it.

The Clear Glass Jade Bottle, an Ancient Treasure, brought too great a shock to those from the martial arts world. Naturally, not many knew much about the ancient treasure.

An Ancient Treasure was also used to easily subdue an expert in the Mysterious Realm. Then there was Junior Leopard who continuously killed two Level Seven experts using a celestial device. What if Meng Qingrong also had a celestial device of her own?

Then that meant she hadn’t lost total hope for victory.

In terms of family origin and background, Junior Leopard was far beneath Meng Qingrong. If he was lucky enough to gain a celestial device, why couldn’t the young master of Meng Family get one?

It was a common assumption that Meng Qingrong would use her celestial device in the duel, but no one knew what would the device be.

Even with the influential Tian Long Taoism trying their hardest to learn about Meng Qingrong’s celestial device, they got nothing. They barely found out that it was a celestial device with great power.

That was right. The Tian Long Taoism had confirmed that Meng Qingrong owned a celestial device three months ago. It was said to have strong offensive force, but the intel didn’t specify how powerful it was.

That was what Junior Leopard’s main concern. It was one big deal to lose, but losing his life would be too heavy a loss.

“How troublesome! The Meng Family is a large household. Even if it’s hard, it’s not impossible for them to get a celestial device. If they really want to kill me and get two more devices for the girl, wouldn’t that mean I’m out of luck? Forget it. I can’t control the Meng Family, but I can improve myself. I still have some time. Maybe I should try and get promoted to one level higher!”

Junior Leopard didn’t know the opponent’s strength and could only improve his ability. Through his experiences in Jianghu, he came to learn an important lesson. There was no use for benevolence and righteousness in Jianghu, only ability. Since that he could not control his opponent’s strength, he could only enhance his own.

…

…

Tiger City, Bohai County, Ningzhou City.

The Ningzhou Governor Mansion was in the regional city of the Tai City in Nanyang County, not in the Bohai County.

Compared to solemness of the Nanyang County, the Bohai County was booming with commercial development. It was also home to the thousand-year Meng Family, also the first family in Ningzhou City. The Tiger City was also the home to their ancestors.

The Meng Family in Ningzhou was one of the biggest families with power and influence, with a legacy of 3,000 years inherited by its current generation. 3,000 years ago, the family gained fame in the Tiger City, though the city wasn’t named that at that time. It was just an ordinary centralized town then, like the Qingyang Market in Yunzhou or worse. It was just a street about hundreds of meters long with several small shops. It was thus called the Small Shop Street and villagers called it the Little Shop.

Nobody would have expected the town to evolve into a city 3,000 years later. Though it was neither the biggest nor richest in Ningzhou City, it was the most significant city of them all: the Tiger City!

The city named after the patriarch of the Meng Family named Tiger Meng. He had been an attendant in a grocery store in the Small Shop Street.

The city was now a thousand times larger compared to 3,000 years ago. Only one thing remained unchanging: the city was always tranquil and elegant because Tiger Meng liked tranquility.

The city was located by a river connected to the Bohai Sea at the foot of Mountain Ya. The city was a seaside city.

“Shi’an, is this really fine for Qingrong? I’m worried she won’t be able to take it!”

25,000 meters away from the old Meng Family residence, a gentle and soft voice rang out in a yard. Over the course of the past half year, the voice had asked this question many times but each time the reply was the same: only a sigh.

This time, there was something else the person received in reply besides a sigh.

“I know you’re concerned about Qingrong but there’s nothing we can do. There’s only half a year left until the three-year agreement. If she fails to master the Taixuan Thunder Saber in this time she won’t have any chances of winning the duel six months later!”

“Why must she win? Does it matter if she loses?” The person’s soft voice became agitated. “You’re well aware of the strength of Zhou Bao of the Wu Sect. Never mind a Level Eight expert, even Dark Lord Mie Chen suffered great loss in his hands! So what if Qingrong loses? Why must Qingrong master the Taixuan Thunder Saber? Why must she defeat Zhou Bao? And even if she succeeds in mastering the Taixuan Thunder Saber, it doesn’t mean she can kill Zhou Bao!”

“You’re right. Even though she succeeds, she doesn’t have much of a hope to win. But even if she loses, she shouldn’t bring shame to our family. If you want to blame someone, then blame Qingrong for being unfortunate enough to be born in our Meng Family and to encounter that monster Zhou Bao while gaining experience outside.”

“But…!”

“That’s enough!” The voice suddenly became firm. “It’s almost time for the imperial court to offer their awards. It’s a once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity to destroy Northern Yuan and every influential family intends to make a fortune out of it. If we want to get enough fortune, we must show our complete strength. Martial arts masters and experts from our family had already made great contributions and won enough honor, promising us better awards than other families. But if Qingrong fails to show our family’s strength in this duel, it’ll most likely affect the imperial court’s evaluation of us and our benefits. I can’t let it happen as the head of the Meng Family!”

“You’re the Family Head but you’re also Qingrong’s father!”

“That’s enough talk. Ruyu, go back and have a rest. I believe Qingrong will successfully master the Taixuan Thunder Saber.”

…

…

Taixuan Thunder Saber?

Awards from the imperial court?

Zhou Mansion, Qingyang Market.

In the newly established hall, Junior Leopard crushed the letter he had just received to smithereens.

He had received the letter as soon as he came back from the Misty Mountain. The letter detailed how the Meng Family in Ningzhou had Meng Qingrong refine the wizard weapon, the Taixuan Thunder Saber, so she could win.

It was a wizard weapon, not a celestial device.

Though, in essence, the wizard weapon was a kind of celestial device, but those from the martial arts world tend to regard it as an independent system, like the Flying Sword.

Like a celestial device, a wizard weapon could also be refined and controlled. Based on Meng Qingrong’s ability, she could refine by blood at most and barely reach a level where she could control the weapon. It may be amazing to ordinary folks in the martial arts world, but not worth a mention forJunior Leopard.

After all, his other identity was none other than a sword practitioner, and a strong sword practitioner with a Flying Sword of Earthly Rank who had entered the Immortal Place at that.

Therefore, he was somewhat relieved after receiving the intel. Fortunately, it was a wizard weapon instead of some eccentric celestial device. Even if this Taixuan Thunder Saber possessed a strong power, he had no fear and believed he could handle it with ease.

The second news was what intrigued him the most.

The imperial court would reward those who had made contributions to the war conquering Northern Yuan.

The conquest of Northern Yuan wasn’t only the work of the imperial court of Great Jin. It was also the result of the concerted effort from the influential families and the entire martial arts world. As a smart imperial court, it wouldn’t miss the opportunity to reward and win hearts.

The rewarding should have happened even earlier but was delayed due to a large number of contributors. But everyone knew it would also be the largest rewarding in history once it happened.

Junior Leopard also understood the reward would also include him, and a large portion at that.

Though he didn’t make many moves this time, only twice, but it was enough to surpass the merits of most people.

Not everyone could defeat a Level Eight expert in the prairie and deliver the rations and forage to the front line safely. Not everyone could go deep to the front line and rescue a Level Nine expert with perceptible breathing from Dark Lord Mie Chen, one of the three Grandmasters of Northern Yuan.

Initially, he didn’t care for the reward but couldn’t help becoming intrigued after reading the intel. That was because his award wouldn’t be ordinary. He would also be given a land besides an official position and wealth.

This time, the imperial court was actually awarding him the fief!

…

Eight thousand words.