AGM 0073 – Cultivating Assiduously
Qin Wentian’s countenance remained placid. He knew that to Luo Qianqiu, he was merely regarded as an insect, easily extinguishable.
Luo Qianqiu only wanted the Blood Ember Fruits. In his eyes, the fruits were already his. As for Qin Wentian, it didn’t matter whether he lived or died. Killing or not killing Qin Wentian no longer served any purpose.
As Qin Wentian secretly concealed the Goldem sword in his sleeves, the faint traces of a smile could be seen upon his visage. Previously, Qin Wentian didn’t bother to care whether Luo Qianqiu was truly a monstrous talent of the Emperor Star Academy. But now, he did.
The humiliation that he suffered today, in time, he swore he would repay it ten-fold.
“Junior Brother.” Luo Huan shouted. Qin Wentian shifted his gaze over to her. He was smiling at Luo Huan, as though he had already forgotten about the things that occurred earlier. He knew that even if he were preoccupied with the events earlier, nothing would come out of it unless he eroded Luo Qianqiu’s base of power.
“Many thanks to Senior for your help.” Qin Wentian respectfully thanked Lin Hua, who was standing in the air.
If Lin Hua hadn’t appeared, he would have definitely killed Luo Qianqiu. Regardless of whoever was his opponent, he would never show mercy to those who wanted to kill him.
However, if he truly killed Luo Qianqiu, troubles of great magnitude would be sure to follow. Lin Hua’s appearance prevented that from occurring, which was why Qin Wentian thanked him. In any case, what Qin Wentian needed to do now was to raise his level of cultivation as soon as possible.
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony with me. Make sure to work hard.” Lin Hua smiled as he nodded his head at Qin Wentian before soaring through the air and leaving.
“Senior Sister, could I request your help regarding another matter?” Qin Wentian looked to Luo Huan and politely stated.
“Between us, there’s no need for you to be so courteous.” Luo Huan linked her arms with Qin Wentian’s.
“I wish to meet with my Sister Qin Yao, does Senior Sister have any way to arrange this?” Qin Wentian inquired.
“Your sister is currently in the Royal Academy, but I will see what I can do. I’ll update you once I have any news.” Hints of contemplation could be seen in Luo Huan’s eyes as she pondered over the problem. After all, she did have some connections in the Royal Academy.
“Thank you, I will have to trouble Senior Sister then.” Qin Wentian smiled.
“Right, just leave all this to me. You should focus on increasing your strength as rapidly as possible.”
“Understood.” The corners of Qin Wentian’s mouth lifted into a smile. Embedded within that smile were traces of frivolousness and anticipation. Luo Qianqiu, Orchon, the Knight’s Association…With so many ‘companions’ waiting for him, how could he not be motivated?
He, Qin Wentian, was most willing to accept all and any challenges.
All of this, factored together, would be the reason pushing Qin Wentian to relentlessly seek after strength.
After returning back to their dorms, Qin Wentian used a few days’ worth of time to stabilise his cultivation base. The lingering effects from the consumption of the three Blood Ember Fruits still remained. Qin Wentian closed his eyes,and resume his cultivation, wanting to fully utilise all the beneficial effects obtained from the Blood Ember Fruits.
In his free time, he would visit the Divine Weapon Pavilion, forge some Divine Weapons and retrieve his Yuan Meteor Stones from Francis to aid him in his cultivation. After all, to train in the Spirit Refinement Method, one would require astronomical amounts of Yuan Meteor Stones.
Similarly, Fan Le behaved as if he were possessed. These few days, other than assiduously cultivating, he would also go to the Heavenly Star Pavilion as well as the Astral River Hall.
———-
Dreamscape of the Dreamsky Forest, in the City of Illusions.
In a vast open space, two people were currently battling. One of them were wearing the long robes of the Knight’s Association, while the other was clad in a simple, unadorned white robe. However, the face of the latter was concealed behind a fiery-red, kirin mask, that gave off a baleful and domineering aura.
“Ka cha.” A crisp sound rang out as the one wearing the robes from the Knight’s Association had one of his arms broken. The pain was so excruciating that rivulets of cold sweat involuntarily ran down his forehead.
Despite this, the one in the white robe had no intentions of easily sparing his opponents. His arms flickered, causing the manifestation of a dragon claw that landed upon the other arm of his opponent, breaking it forcefully within a split second.
“Who are you, and where are you from?” The member of the Knight’s Association roared as he was filled with an ambivalence of rage and terror. He was from the prominent Knight’s Association of the Emperor Star Academy! How dare this person torture him like this!?
“Ka cha……” Two echos of that same crisp sound rang out continually, as both of the legs belonging to the member of the Knight’s Association were broken. He fell helplessly onto the ground. The body of the white robed man flickered as he disappeared from sight.
Some moments later, the figure of another member from the Knight’s Association appeared. Seeing his comrade lying helplessly on the ground, tortured by the pain of his broken limbs, a cold light radiated from his eyes as he asked, “Who did this?”
This was purely torture, a cruel punishment. Only those in the Dark Forest who harboured deep grudges of hatred would do this.
“I have no idea, he was wearing a mask.” The body of that person shuddered involuntarily as pain of his broken limbs coursed through him. “Kill me first.”
“Right.” The other member heaved a spear and nodded nodded. He swiftly ended his comrade’s misery.
Qin Wentian was currently sprinting through the City of Illusions, his movements akin to a Garuda in flight, incomparably graceful. His face was concealed behind a mask.
In the Dreamsky Forest’s dreamscape, with his features concealed, as long as he met a member from the Knight’s Association that was within his capabilities to handle, he would swiftly mete out brutal punishment.
Qin Wentian would never forget that day when the body of his good brother Fan Le was pierced by countless Astral Spears. This ‘brutal revenge’ of his was just the beginning.
The sprinting Qin Wentian halted his steps when he arrived at a circular stone platform. He then stated, “How long do you plan on following me? Why don’t you show yourself?”
In the shadows of a nearby building, an exquisite figure with clearly defined contours appeared. It was actually a woman! However, her face couldn’t be seen as well, because like Qin Wentian, her features were concealed behind a mask.
“I’ve seen the way you fight. Your Dragon Subduing Fist and your claws attacks are pretty powerful.” The girl spoke with a bright and crisp voice as she walked towards Qin Wentian.
“And what about it?” Qin Wentian calmly replied.
“I wish to test myself against you, to see how fast you truly are.” As the sound of her voice faded, her body exploded into motion. She dashed towards Qin Wentian, unleashing palm strikes filled with tyrannical gale force that were capable of tearing apart the void.
Qin Wentian continuously stepped on the ground, his movements filled with poise and grace, as his whole body flickered, transforming into shadows.
“Pfft.” The girl coldly snorted. She flipped her palm, mimicking the slash of a sabre, and slashed across the entire space. Her speed was extremely swift as well; both of them possessed extraordinary movement techniques.
As the battle continued, astonishment filled her heart. Each and every one of her palm strikes would miss their target by a slight amount. Every time, it look as though her attacks would succeed, Qin Wentian would dodge it just barely, always at the last moment of danger. His body movement techniques had already reached a pinnacle of sorts.
Abruptly, an Astral Soul was released, filling the entire space with a storm of gale winds. With a light shout, the strength of the girl’s palm strikes were further augmented by the windforce as it exploded forth towards Qin Wentian. Qin Wentian’s pupils narrowed. He could feel that the surrounding space about him was locked by a strange force, so there was no way for him to dodge this incoming strike. Without a choice, he unleash a strike of his own, as draconic roars filled the skies. Instantly, following the strikes’ collision, Qin Wentian borrowed the force from the attacks to retreat. Soaring backwards in controlled momentum, he moved with an incomparable grace.
“What’s the use of dodging?” That girl coldly exclaimed. Executing her movement techniques as well, she explode forth with the force of a raging hurricane, wanting to draw Qin Wentian together inside the storm of gale winds. Instantly, she appeared by the side of Qin Wentian, as she struck out with her palms strikes that were augmented by the force of the gale winds.
Qin Wentian’s reflexes were lightning-fast, and his body transformed into shadows, executing the Garuda Movement Technique to its limit to dodge the palm strikes at the last possible moment. His fist also exploded forth, aiming directly for the face of the girl. Did the girl really think that he had no strength to attack?
Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the savage fist lights descending on her. “Not bad, let’s spar again tomorrow.”
As the sound of her voice faded, the Dragon Subduing Fists had already killed the girl, blasting her out from the dreamscape. At the same time, in order to execute his strike, Qin Wentian had no way of avoiding the girl’s last palm strike, and he too was blasted out of the dreamscape.
“Hu……” The Dreamsky Forest. Qin Wentian woke up and drew in a huge mouthful of air. His body was slumped on the ground. The pain he felt was still vividly clear in his mind.
Removing the mask from his face, Qin Wentian sat up.
“5th level of Arterial Circulation, Storm-type Astral Soul, along with powerful innate techniques and skillful body movement techniques, I wonder which academy she hails from.” Qin Wentian murmured to himself. That battle with the girl proved tremendously helpful in training his Garuda Movement Technique. That was why he did not use his Divine Energy-enhanced palm strikes to finish the girl off early into the fight.
Standing up and leaving the Dreamsky Forest, Qin Wentian continued his cultivation.
On the second day, Qin Wentian appeared in the City of Illusions to continue tempering himself and to hunt members of the Knight’s Association. When he arrived at the circular platform region, that girl from yesterday was already there.
“This time around, you won’t be so lucky.” That girl exclaimed, as she instantly dashed towards Qin Wentian. Apparently, the two of them were using each other to temper their movement techniques. Eventually, after a period of time had passed, Qin Wentian unceremoniously executed his Revolving Sea Imprint palm strikes, killing the girl in the dreamscape.
During the following days, the girl came to spar against him countless times. And every time, it ended in the defeat and death of the girl. However, it seemed as though she didn’t mind at all. It was because she could feel rapid improvements in her innate body movement techniques. However, what made her depressed was that the rate of improvement by the fellow in the kirin mask was even faster than her own! Despite his disadvantage in cultivation levels, he could successfully kill her every time.
To Qin Wentian, this was also another form of training. Without fail, he would duel the girl everyday at the circular platform. Fighting against an opponent with a stronger level of cultivation naturally had its advantages. Other than honing his movement techniques, he could heighten his combat abilities as well. Besides the girl, Qin Wentian spent his time challenging the other students in the dreamscape as well, and after a period of time, many people knew that in the City of Illusions, there was an extremely powerful kirin-masked fellow armed with ruthless techniques.
——
In the Royal Academy, there was a similar Dreamsky Forest. This was none other than the forest the elder from the Emperor Star Academy had created.
At this moment, in the Royal Academy’s Dreamsky Forest, a particular girl was removing her mask and stomping her foot on the ground, full of unwillingness.
“Bastard.” Once again, Mu Rou was blasted to death by Qin Wentian. Cursing in a low voice, she exclaimed, “The kirin-masked fellow, doesn’t he know how to treat girls?” Every time, even before she had a chance to speak, he would smash her to death.
“What happened? Did someone torture our lovely lady Mu Rou?” A voice laughed. The owner of the voice belonged to another girl, whose features were similarly concealed by a mask. Both of the two girls removed their masks at the same time, revealing two lovely-looking ladies underneath.
“Damn you. But still, that fellow’s movement techniques was unfathomably powerful. Even I couldn’t even touch him.” Mu Rou sighed in depression.
“Is that so? Seems like I’ll have to pay him a visit tomorrow. I want to find out for myself who exactly was it that caused our little Miss Mu to be unable to forget about him.” Chu Ling teased.
“Do you truly have that much free time? I thought your clan instructed you to take care of the Qin Clan’s Qin Yao?” Mu Rou pouted as she exclaimed.
“A woman that betrayed her clan, Qin Yao has already chosen to become one of the candidate for the Crown Prince’s wife. What a joke.” Chu Ling stated disdainfully.
“You can’t say such a thing about her. She’s actually quite pitiful too.” Mu Rou sighed.
“You can say that in this place, but it’s better for you to not repeat those words outside.” Chu Ling warned, as Mu Rou lightly nodded her head. She naturally understood the meaning behind Chu Ling’s words.