AGM 173 – Scheme
On the battlefield, hovering in the air, Orchon’s father had an expression of extreme agony on his face.
Orchon’s talent could be considered several times above average; in the Ou Clan, he had been one of the few talented youngster who was truly worth nurturing, and yet now, he was actually felled by Qin Wentian. He would never forget that his younger son, Orfon, had been killed by Qin Wentian as well.
The green vein on his forehead throbbed visibly, as his killing intent soared to its limits.
“That useless Janus.” Orchon’s father silently cursed. Janus, who had been Orchon’s personal teacher, had an extremely close relationship with him. He had secretly provided a large amount of cultivation resources to Janus, and as long as Janus succeeded in the assassination of Qin Wentian, he would arrange Janus’s escape as well as provide him with abundant rewards.
However, Janus had failed, which in turn caused the death of Orchon today. He couldn’t help but to blame himself; if he had attached more importance to Qin Wentian back then, regardless of the cost, he would have arranged for Yuanfu cultivators to assassinate him long ago.
Currently, Qin Wentian was invincible in the realm of Arterial Circulation. If anyone wanted to kill him, they could only do so by using Yuanfu experts, but Chu Tianjiao wasn’t willing to disrupt the thin line of balance that quickly.
Despite their advantage in numbers, the Royal Academy suffered defeat after defeat everywhere. Most of them were equal in strength with the other formations of the Emperor Star Academy and would require quite a lengthy period of time to finish them. However Qin Wentian was different; as long as he saw a slightly stronger formation, he would immediately head over to destroy the students there. He was unstoppable, and if that was the case, the defeat of the Royal Academy would come sooner or later.
Upon seeing this happening, Orchon’s father was secretly happy in his heart. He whispered, “Your Highness, if Qin Wentian doesn’t die, it’d be extremely tough for us to obtain victory.”
Chu Tianjiao cast a glance at Orchon’s father. Naturally, he could tell what Orchon’s father was thinking. After a few moments, his gaze flickered as he shouted out a command, “Disperse.”
As the sound of the command rang out, the students of the Royal Academy were in full retreat. Having seen their opponents retreating, the spirits of the students belonging to the Emperor Star Academy soared even higher. With the taste of victory in their mouths, they chased after their opponents seeking to kill them, but despite of this, they were still clear-headed enough to know when to stop. After all, there were still numerous Yuanfu cultivators around. If they went too far, no one knew what would happen.
Eventually, both camps retreated to their original positions. Copses lay strewn about in the middle of the battlefield, their blood dying the ground red.
Although the two sides only clashed for a short period of time, the casualties already amounted to over 80 deaths. This was the cruel reality of war.
On both sides, there were many with reddened eyes. Those who died out there earlier were all their friends. Not so long ago, they just gathered together and had been making merry, but to think that now they all became ice-cold corpses. Only now did they understand the cruelty of reality. In the future, if they wanted to become stronger, they would undoubtedly have to experience things that were even worse than this.
Qin Wentian stood in front of the crowd belong to the Emperor Star Academy, raising his head and shifting his gaze to those Yuanfu cultivators standing in the air. The cold arrogance in his eyes was tinged with a terrifying demonic killing intent.
The students in the Royal Capital were all young people. Initially, this place was supposed to be a heaven for those seeking to cultivate, but now, because of the fight for power, it had become a battlefield where the students were slaughtered in cold blood.
Chu Tianjiao and the rest similarly stared back at Qin Wentian, as murderous urges flickered in their eyes. Qin Wentian was already on their list of ‘to-be-killed’ targets. The reason why they couldn’t do so was because of their fear of the reprisal actions the Emperor Star Academy would take.
“Retreat.” Chu Tianjiao coldly hollered. At his command, those from the Royal Academy began to withdraw.
“Return to the academy.” Ren Qianxing commanded, and those from the Emperor Star Academy also started to withdraw.
Although the Emperor Star Academy won this clash, nobody felt at ease. On the contrary, everyone felt as though they had the weight of a mountain on their back, their hearts all filled with heaviness. This was merely the beginning of the war.
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In a hall within the Royal Academy, Xiao Lan, Chu Tianjiao, as well as those from the Ye and Ou Clan were all gathered there.
Xiao Lan’s fingers drummed on his arm rest, but he had an extremely heavy look upon his countenance. Naturally, he was exceptionally unhappy with the results of the previous clash.
“I don’t wish to stay in Chu for too long. At most, within three months, the Emperor Star Academy must be ours.” Xiao Lan’s faint voice seemed as though he was giving out a death command that must be accomplished at all cost. To obtain the secret hidden within the Emperor Star Academy by the Azure Emperor, the first step was for the Emperor Star Academy to submit to them. If they refused, destruction was the only remaining way left. However, he didn’t have the time to stay here for so long.
He still had many formidable opponents waiting for him within the nine main states. If he remained here for too long, the cultivation of his opponents may outstrip him by miles when he returned. If that was the case, that would be extremely shameful.
“Young Master Xiao, I don’t think there would be anyone that could match Qin Wentian in the Arterial Circulation Realm.” Orchon’s father said, “If we want the Emperor Star Academy, we have no choice but to win the battle with our Yuanfu cultivators.”
Xiao Lan was unperturbed when he heard the suggestion. He turned to Chu Tianjiao and asked, “What are your thoughts on this?”
Chu Tianjiao was silent for a moment before he replied in a low voice, “I will find some extremely powerful Arterial Circulation Realm cultivators from our military and insert them into our Royal Academy before engaging in Arterial Circulation warfare again.”
“And if you still failed to be victorious?” Xiao Lan asked again.
“If that’s the case, we would have no choice but to engage them with Yuanfu cultivators.” Chu Tianjiao calmly spoke. The Yuanfu experts were all talented elites of Chu. If he could avoid the battle at the Yuanfu-level, naturally he would avoid it. Because once the war started, the overall strength of the Chu Country would surely suffer.
“Qin Wentian, he…” Orchon’s father was as though he wanted to intentionally remind Chu Tianjiao.
“If a Yuanfu cultivator killed Qin Wentian, the Emperor Star Academy would surely not sit back and do nothing. And if we infuriated Gongyang Hong, who’s going to bear the brunt of his displeasure?” Chu Tianjiao murmured as he stared straight back at Orchon’s father. He naturally understood what Orchon’s father was hinting at.
Chu Tianjiao also wanted Qin Wentian’s death, but he had to thoroughly consider all possibilities from different perspectives before making his move.
“We do not need to kill him.” Someone from the Ye Clan spoke. He was none other than Ye Liuyang.
“Old Ye, what do you have in mind?” Chu Tianjiao asked as he shifted his gaze to Ye Liuyang.
“There must be secrets hidden on Qin Wentian’s body. We could capture him alive. Even if we fail, the Emperor Star Academy and Gongyang Hong wouldn’t be infuriated. If we succeed, we won’t kill him. With him in our clutches, the Emperor Star Academy would surely restrain themselves from shooting the rats for fear of breaking the vases, and we would then be able to enjoy an advantage. If Gongyang Hong came and demanded Qin Wentian back, we could just release him then. But during this period of time, it will be sufficient for us to accomplish many things.”
Ye Liuyang had a scheming expression on his face, causing Chu Tianjiao’s eyes to brighten as he laughed, “Good plan! But how should we proceed?”
Ye Liuyang swept a glance at Chu Tianjiao. From the serene-looking expression on Chu Tianjiao’s countenance, he understood that Chu Tianjiao had long wanted to capture Qin Wentian alive. He was just waiting for others to make the suggestion. The meaning behind his actions went without saying.
The relationships between Qin Wentian and the Ye and Ou Clan was extremely bad.
“The Ou Clan will take the lead while our Ye Clan will assist.” Ye Liuyang spoke as he and Chu Tianjiao turned their gazes towards Orchon’s father.
Orchon’s father could only silently cursed their craftiness in his heart while maintaining a cordial expression on the surface. “Okay.”
“Since we have decided, you all can discuss and proceed with the plan.” Chu Tianjiao laughed, “No matter whether this succeeds or fails, I won’t make things difficult for the people of both your clans.”
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After returning to the academy, Qin Wentian immediately began his cultivation. The
intense battle earlier had exhausted the energy stored in his body at an astonishing rate, so he used Yuan Meteor Stones to replenish his strength while condensing his Divine Yuan Energy simultaneously. When he finally recovered his strength, he could feel that his arterial pathways had seemingly undergone a change, as though they had somehow expanded. It was very obvious that fighting so intensely in such chaotic battles would stimulate his cultivation base, thus steadily increasing his strength.
In his heart, Qin Wentian was still extremely worried since his strength was still insufficient. If he was at Yuanfu, whereby his Arterial Pathways transformed into a spiral, the Astral Energy within his body would changed to a liquid state as the form of his Yuanfu (Yuan Palace) was completed. The consumption of the Astral Energy he expended in the battle would be negligible that it was not worth mentioning.
At the Yuanfu Realm, the Astral Energy within one’s body would be transformed into a liquid state. Every droplet of Yuan liquid contained an immense amount of Astral Energy.
At the same time, a Yuan Reservoir would form within one’s body. As the Yuan Energy droplets filled the reservoir, one’s storage of Astral Energy within the reservoir could be said to be almost limitless, never to be exhausted.
According to the level of one’s cultivation, the stronger a person grew, the larger the Yuan Reservoir would expand, thus enabling more Yuan Energy droplets to be stored within. And once the cultivator stepped into the peak of Yuanfu, the Yuan Reservoir would transform into a Yuan Ocean. From there, one could nurture their Astral Soul within the ocean and eventually condense an Astral Nova.
As to what comes after that, Qin Wentian was not very clear. Maybe it would be similar to what he saw in the memory fragments of that tiny Astral Being where the countless mighty existences standing outside of the Qin Heavenly Divine Sect could manifest actual terrifying constellations, but was that the realm after Heavenly Dipper? Qin Wentian couldn’t be sure. Qin Wentian was wondering, how strong exactly was his damn old fogey? He should have been at a level so terrifying that was incomprehensible to the current Qin Wentian.
Thinking of this caused Qin Wentian to be slightly depressed. His dad was an extremely powerful paragon, but look at him now, struggling with setbacks at every corner. However, Qin Wentian also knew that true experts only reached where they stood now because they had their feet firmly planted on the ground, moving forward step by step, armed with nothing but determination. He believed that he would reached that level sooner or later.
After finishing his cultivation, Qin Wentian went to the Divine Weapon Pavilion once again. He wasn’t worried about his own safely as he knew that Yuanfu experts from the Emperor Star Academy would protect him from the shadows.
An Liuyan personally received him herself. Qin Wentian then summoned several weaponsmiths to aid him in creating Divine Weapons as he inscribed the Divine Imprints onto them at a crazy speed.
Today, those weaponsmiths who witness Qin Wentian in action, were all stunned into silence. Before this, they had heard many rumours about Qin Wentian, but today, after seeing his skill, they were truly impressed, almost to the point of reverence.
In the entirety of Chu, not many powers could afford the materials needed to create so many Divine Weapons. However, An Liuyan unceasingly accommodated his every request. Qin Wentian could only silently note down this favour in his heart.
After returning to the Emperor Star Academy, Qin Wentian and the Elders disseminated the Divine Weapons to the more prominent students in preparation for their second clash against the Royal Academy.
And eventually, the second clash soon started, occurring at the same battlefield as the first.
This time round, there were even more people on the side of the Royal Academy; their numbers were about twice that of the Emperor Star Academy, grandiose and majestic, emitting a fearsome pressure. Those Yuanfu cultivators stood in the air, looking down from above as their killing aura permeated the air.
Qin Wentian stood there on the ground. He could sense the unfriendly gazes of hatred staring right at him. Raising his head, he looked up in the air and saw killing intent flickering in several pair of eyes.
Xiao Lan calmly glanced at Qin Wentian; the expression in his eyes was like someone looking down upon an ant-like existence. He, who came from one of the factions of the Nine Mystical Palace, naturally wouldn’t put Qin Wentian in his eyes. Since Qin Wentian spurned the opportunity he offered him, it meant that Qin Wentian’s ending was already decided. If not for the deterrence of the Heavenly Dipper Sovereign, he would have sent people to finish off Qin Wentian long ago.
In his eyes, although Qin Wentian’s talent could be considered pretty good, he didn’t know how high the Heavens were. Not only that, in front of those superior to him, he also didn’t know his place.