As they galloped along, besides for the sake of Crow who needed to continuously change horses due to her weight, they did not take many stops to rest, spending most of their time on the road. Dou Dou did not complain about suffering; as long as she could have food in her mouth, she was willing to do anything without objection. Truly a naive young lady indeed.
Zhou Weiqing suspected that if one day he sold her off, perhaps she would still help me count his profits. 1
…
As compared to their journey from the Fei Li City to the ZhongTian City, this time, their return trip took almost less than half the time. By the time the Fei Li Battle Team returned to the Fei Li City, they were all tired and covered in the dust of travel.
They stopped outside the city gates, vaulting off their horses before turning to Zhou Weiqing.
Zhou Weiqing said: “Big Bro, you all head back to the Heavenly Jewel Academy first before coming to the Fei Li Military Academy to look for me.”
Lin TianAo said: “I shall not head back, I’ll follow you.” He was actually rather worried about Zhou Weiqing. Although the young man had not said anything about Tian’er leaving, Lin TianAo could clearly tell that it had affected him a lot as well.
Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly as he shook his head, saying: “Big Bro, you head back. It is good to carry through to the end once you begin; since the Heavenly Jewel Academy has groomed you for so long, you should go back once to give a final accounting. Do not worry about me, I am fine. No matter how much pain I am in, so what? Things have already happened, and Tian’er has already left. There is no point in moping about in the past, and all I can do is to ensure I do my best for the future. Rather than focusing on the pain, I will do what needs to be done. I will be fine, I’m heading back to my academy first.” As he said that, he passed the reins in his hands to Lin TianAo, before pulling Dou Dou along as he strode through the city.
He was definitely not trying to take advantage of Dou Dou… It was just that after these last few days of, he was now afraid of her getting lost in such a large city.
“Boss?” Xiao Yan said to Lin TianAo with a querying lilt of his brow.
Lin TianAo nodded and said: “Come on then, let’s head back to the Academy first.”
As he walked along the familiar roads of the Fei Li city, Zhou Weiqing’s frame of mind was vastly different from when he had previously been here. The current him was definitely much more mature now.
At this point, Zhou Weiqing truly understood what Mu En had meant when he had said that men had to experience some things personally before they could truly grow up. Mu En… teacher… are you all still alive? Are all you teachers from the Heavenly Bow Unit still all right?
Although logically speaking, he was clear that with the demise of the Heavenly Bow Empire, it might also mean the death of his teachers. However, in his heart, he still hoped that they would all be alive and well.
The large door to the Fei Li Royal Family Military Academy was as quiet as normal. Besides the time of the year when they were enrolling new students, this place always had a silent, serious and imposing air about it.
Once again, he had returned to this place, but Zhou Weiqing’s feelings were extremely different, as if he was in a different time and place, and that he no longer belonged here. More so, he felt rather helpless; he no longer had the time to win over the classmates and even fellow schoolmates in this Academy as he had planned.
Originally, when Zhou Weiqing had entered the Fei Li Military Academy, he had come up with an entire set of plans. In coming here to study, learning was actually of secondary importance, and his priority had actually been to make use of his own talents to attract and recruit other outstanding talents for the Heavenly Bow Empire. That had indeed been his plan, and it had been working thus far. That was the reason why he had started acting in such a high profile manner and attracting so much attention since he entered the Academy; and he had definitely started achieving his goals.
However, it now seemed that it was too late for him. After leaving for several months, he had actually gone through the entire Heavenly Jewel Tournament and even won the final championship. This could have been the best tool for him to continue recruiting talent, alas the Heavenly Bow Empire had fallen, and he had no time to continue staying in the Academy.
“Big Bro Little Fatty, I am hungry.” The naive young lady Dou Dou tugged on Zhou Weiqing’s sleeve. Although she was twenty three years old, and mature physically, her mental disposition was still that of a young girl. Zhou Weiqing had used a bag of potato chips to cheat her into calling him Big Bro.
Zhou Weiqing retrieved a bag of almonds from his Spatial Ring and passed it to her, and she immediately quieted down, digging into the almonds with gusto. Although she loved eating, she was actually not picky; as long as she had something to eat, it was all great. Of course, if it were something extremely tasty, she would immediately give Zhou Weiqing a happy smile, and if it didn’t taste as good, she would have a sad look on her face, though she still continued eating. Even stranger, even though she ate so much everyday, she was still slim, as if she would never grow fat.
“Little Miss Muddle, come with me.” Zhou Weiqing beckoned to her as he entered the Fei Li Military Academy.
It was still in the morning, and the students were all in their respective classes; and the main square was empty and quiet. Zhou Weiqing went directly into the main building; Principal Cai Cai had been good to him, and since he was back and not planning on continuing in the Academy, he had to give this beautiful young lady principal a notification at least.
Little Miss Muddle 2 was the nickname that Zhou Weiqing had given Dou Dou, mainly because she was so naive and blur to such an unbelievable state, and he had experienced it a lot in their journey back. Sometimes, they were rushing along, and she disappeared into the forests around, or even getting lost after going to the toilet. Calling her a little miss muddle, Zhou Weiqing already felt he was being so polite. Currently, she was following behind him obediently.
Entering the school building, Zhou Weiqing was just about to lead Dou Dou up the stairs when the bell for the end of class rang out.
As class ended, the students rushed out of class in a mass. The Commoner Class One’s classroom was on the first level, and the first to rush out of class was Kou Rui. He was about to rush to the main square, before he saw Zhou Weiqing standing there and skidded to a stop.
Rubbing his eyes hard, he realised that he was not seeing things, and with a loud whoop of joy, he charged towards Zhou Weiqing.
“Boss!”
Zhou Weiqing was startled by Kou Rui’s sudden cry, and before he knew it, he had been enveloped by a big hug.
Kou Rui’s cry was indeed loud, and instantly the rest of the Commoner Class One students’ attention was drawn. Like bees to honey, they swarmed forward, and as they saw Zhou Weiqing, cheers and cries rang out as they surrounding him, almost blocking the entire main building entrance.
“Boss, you are finally back! You are now the hero of the Empire Ahhhh! The Champion of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament! We have all heard about it, that you were the one who led the Fei Li Battle Team to win the champion of the Heavenly Jewel Tournament!” Kou Rui exclaimed as he stared at Zhou Weiqing with an excited look on his face, grabbing his arm tightly as he shook it wildly.
Our Little Miss Muddle Dou Dou was hiding behind Zhou Weiqing, munching away on her almonds as she looked around at everything around them with wide eyes, rather confused.
“Boss, if I knew you had gone to join the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, I would have followed along to sneak a champion for myself, how great that would be! Boss, let me tell you… I have already reached the second Jewel stage, it’s time for you to help me make another Consolidating Equipment Scroll! Heh heh.” That large figure of Ma Qun seemed even larger than Zhou Weiqing remembered. He was indeed huge, towering over the rest of the students, and even though he was on the outskirts of the encircling students, he could easily spot Zhou Weiqing.
Yan Zhexi was standing beside Ma Qun, and he gave a disdainful humph as he said: “With your powers, you still dream of joining the Heavenly Jewel Tournament?”
The rest of the class was also chattering away; with Zhou Weiqing’s return, the entire Commoner Class One was boiling with excitement. It could be said that all of them were in an overly excited state.
For the past few months that Zhou Weiqing had left, all of the Commoner Class One students had been working and studying with all their might, and also focusing especially hard on their cultivation. With the money and Consolidating Equipment Scrolls that Zhou Weiqing had left behind, all of them had at least gotten one piece of their own Consolidated Equipment. Let alone for a commoner class to have such a sight, even in the noble classes, that was something that could barely be seen! After all, not all of the nobles were Jewel Masters. Indeed… for an entire class to all have at least one Consolidated Equipment, the Commoner Class One was the first.
It could be said that the current Commoner Class One had a rather unique position in the entire Academy. After that time when the noble class had been beaten up by them, the aftermath from that, as well as the warning by Ye Paopao and Zhou Weiqing before they left from the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, none of the noble students dared to take revenge on the Commoner Class One.
Furthermore, in terms of direct strength, none of them were a match for the Commoner Class One anyway. This year’s Commoner Class was truly one of the strongest freshmen in the history of the Fei Li Military Academy, and the person who had given them that honour was Zhou Weiqing.
In fact, it could be said that without Zhou Weiqing, there would not be the Commoner Class One of today. It was he who had used his own power and strength, talents and abilities, and even money, to help the Commoner Class One to gain confidence, more importantly, to be able to stand up straight and tall in the academy. Even Principal Cai Cai had commented that this year’s Commoner Class One would definitely grow into talents in their own right, and perhaps into the future pillars of society.
From Zhou Weiqing, they had learned how to respect themselves. Only when one has self respect, can they start to earn other people’s respect. Self respect, self improvement, self reliance, confidence. This was what they had slowly learned from Zhou Weiqing, even after such a short period of contact with him.
This was especially so after learning that in this year’s Heavenly Jewel Tournament, the Fei Li Battle Team had surpassed all expectations to clinch the championship, and more so, Zhou Weiqing had actually been of vital importance to that. In that moment, their feelings for Zhou Weiqing had grown from gratitude and respect to almost the idolizing stage.
Zhou Weiqing had finally returned, and from his bearing and countenance, he seemed more mature and stable. In the eyes of his fellow classmates, their class leader was even greater than their teachers.
The Commoner Class One had just finished with their class, and as they headed out, it wasn’t just the students, but also the teacher who had just been teaching them. Coincidentally, the one teaching them had just been their teacher in charge, Ming Hua.
Seeing Zhou Weiqing, Ming Hua’s eyes were complicated. Not long ago, she had received news from the Heavenly Demon Sect, and that her instructions were to fulfil any requests that Zhou Weiqing wanted, no matter what it was, and to support him. Seeing those words, even if that little rascal forced her to do it with him, those superiors above would not do anything about it, and would be delighted instead.