AGM 0030 – State of Affairs

Under the careful observation of Mo Qingcheng, Qin Wentian’s countenance gradually began to regain its color. Despite this, he still remained unconscious.

The snowy dog laid on the ground beside Qin Wentian, but intermittently, it would hop right up into Mo Qingcheng’s embrace, causing a smile to constantly breakout on Mo Qingcheng’s visage; this little fellow was just too adorable.

“Nolan, can you guess what type of demonic beast he is?” Mo Qingcheng questioned curiously.

“Who knows. Maybe it’s just a common wild beast that’s unable to cultivate.” Nolan replied

“How could there be such an intelligent wild beast? Still, you have a point; this fellow is just so small.” Mo Qingcheng smiled brilliantly — the radiance of her smile caused even Nolan to be slightly dazed. “Wow, you’ve been in such a good mood these past few days. Even I’ve never seen you smile before.”

“Well, there’s no one else around anyway.” Mo Qingcheng shrugged her shoulders.

“How about him?” Nolan pointed to Qin Wentian, “You even hugged him previously.”

The cheeks of Mo Qingcheng involuntarily blushed, as they became tinged with the color of rosy red. She rolled her eyes at Nolan, following which, her gaze began to linger on the features of Qin Wentian as she added, “But still, he can be considered quite good-looking.”

“Ye WuQue is good looking too, but why have you always ignored him? Anyway, there were rumors saying that Ye WuQue entered into a marriage agreement with someone from the Sky Harmony City today, so he should already know that he doesn’t have the slightest bit of hope in winning your heart.” Nolan curled her lips slightly as she added, “Oh yeah, the Sky Harmony City is close to us — the Ye Clan’s annihilation of the Qin Clan should’ve been almost completed.”

Mo Qingcheng let out a sigh for the Qin Clan.

“Someone’s coming.” At that moment, Mo Qingcheng suddenly spoke, “He should wake up soon, it’s time for us to leave.”

After which, Mo Qingcheng walked out of the straw house as she spoke to the snowy dog that was still in her embrace, “Little fellow, are you willing to come with me?”

The snowy dog looked at her and licked her face a couple of time, before it leapt out of her embrace, returned back to the entrance, and squatted there while looking at her.

“Okay, I shall not force you. Since you like him, just stay by his side.” Mo Qingcheng smiled helplessly as she left with Nolan. The snowy dog gazed at her back as she left, as if it was somewhat reluctant to part with her.

Shortly after Mo Qingcheng and Nolan left, there were indeed people approaching — three youths, two guys, and one girl.

“Ohhh, what an adorable little fellow.” The girl ran towards the snowy dog. However, the snowy dog seemed to have no interest in the girl, as it turned it’s back to her and entered the straw house.

“Brother, there’s someone here who’s fainted.” The girl, upon discovering the unconscious Qin Wentian, took out a flask of water from her belongings, and fed Qing Wentian a mouthful of water.

“Yan`er, just ahead of us is Sky Harmony City, let’s not find needless trouble. We’ll rest here for a day before proceeding.” One of the travel-worn youths, who was fully covered in dust, stated. In order to rush to the Royal Capital, he’d already ridden to death a few horses, and right now, was preparing to enter the Sky Harmony City in order to purchase better horses before travelling again.

“Understood.” Despite the girl sticking out her tongue, she was extremely good looking.

“Cough cough.” At that moment, Qin Wentian coughed twice, as he opened his blurry eyes. A beautiful countenance floated into his vision.

“You’re awake.” Liu Yan broke into a gentle smile as she discovered that Qin Wentian had awoken.

Qin Wentian sat up and, other than discovering the fact that his body only had a minimal amount of strength, found that he was basically fine. Not only that, he felt as if he’d even broken through, and had stepped into the 8th level of the Body Refinement Realm. However, there wasn’t the slightest bit of astral energy within him currently — the burden that had been placed on his body had been too immense — controlling the gigantic body of the demonic ape had been akin to wanting to take his own life. Luckily, he had broken through his limits, and had regained consciousness.

“No wonder Uncle Black told me to only use that star-shaped object when my life was in absolute danger.” Qin Wentian silently stated in his heart. It could still be considered that he’d gained a blessing from a disaster, breaking through to the next level. Although, he didn’t know that the reason for him breaking through to the 8th level was actually because of the pill that had been fed to him by Mo Qingcheng. That was also the reason behind his rapid recovery. If it wasn’t for that, his body would need at least another two to three months before it could recover.

“Thank you for saving me.” Qin Wentian thanked the youthful female. It was very obvious that this was a case of mistaken identity.

“No problem, it was just a simple matter. Is this little dog yours? He’s so adorable.” The youthful female smiled. Only now did Qin Wentian realise that there was a little white and furry puppy beside him. Upon seeing that Liu Yan was about to hug it, the puppy hurriedly jumped into Qin Wentian’s embrace.

“Liu Yan, it’s time for us to leave.” The voice of one of the youths drifted in outside of the straw house.

“Okay.” Liu Yan replied, as she said to Qin Wentian, “This puppy is extremely intelligent, no wonder it’s been waiting for you. Since you’re already awake, I should get going. My name is Liu Yan. If there’s a chance, let us meet again in the future.”

After saying that, an extremely sweet smile broke out on the face of Liu Yan, before she turned and left.

“My name is Qin Wentian.”

Standing up, Qin Wentian walked out while holding the puppy in his arms, only to see Liu Yan waving good bye to him. Not only that, he also noticed remnants of boiled spiritual herbs that were still emitting a lingering smell.

“Many thanks.” Qin Wentian, looking at the back Liu Yan, lowly intoned, while far off in the forest, two pairs of eyes were currently observing Qin Wentian — they were none other than Mo Qingcheng and Nolan.

“Okay, we’ve confirmed his safety, however, it seems as though he thought that the one who saved him was the girl earlier. Do you want to reveal yourself and set the facts straight?” Nolan laughed as she looked towards Mo Qingcheng.

“Let’s leave.” Mo Qingcheng smiled, as she turned and departed.

Only Qin Wentian and the snowy puppy remained at the straw house. Qin Wentian curiously regarded the snowy puppy in his embrace; all the fur on it’s body was white, and it was extremely soft to cuddle against, just like a bundle of cotton. Its beautiful eyes revealed a hint of intelligence, as the puppy inclined its head, and curiously regarded Qin Wentian as well.

“You’ve been waiting for me?” Qin Wentian felt a this was a little bizarre.

The eyes of the puppy narrowed into slits, as if it was laughing at him, causing Qin Wentian to gasp silently in his heart — was this puppy able to understand what he was saying?

“It’s time for me to cultivate, you’d better go back to your home.” Qin Wentian gently spoke to the snowy puppy, only to see the puppy persistently leap back into his arms whenever he tried to put it down.

“Fine, since you don’t wish to leave, you can temporarily follow me.” Qin Wentian bitterly smiled as he sat down cross-leggedly. Placing the puppy on the ground, he started his cultivation. He desperately wanted to know the current state of affairs inside of Sky Harmony City, but he still had to recover his strength first in order to ensure his own safety.

Astral Light cascaded down from the 5th Heavenly Layer, and fell onto the body of Qin Wentian. The human body was a vessel that was capable of storing Astral Energy — the higher the cultivation realm, the more Astral Energy the body could contain. The Body Refinement Realm consisted of using the Astral Energy to temper one’s four limbs and bone structure, so as to increase one’s strength; after the cultivator stepped into the Arterial Circulation Realm, he could fully stimulate his body’s acupoints, and tap into his potential. He could clear the pathways of his meridians and energy channels, store Astral Energy within all of the acupuncture points in his body, and hence, be capable of emitting immense power during battle.

Night soon approached. Qin Wentian felt that his whole body was extremely comfortable — he’d never felt this well before. His state of being was even more comfortable than when compared to before the time when he’d been injured; it was like his whole body was filled with strength. The reason for this was because, other than breaking through to the 8th level of the Body Refinement Realm, the medicinal pill that Mo Qingcheng fed him aided him immensely as well. Of course, Qin Wentian didn’t know that he’d just consumed a top grade medicinal pill of the second level.

Standing up, Qin Wentian contemplated his surroundings. This place seemed to be the forest that was to the west of Sky Harmony City. He’d once ventured here during his childhood years together with Qin Chuan and the rest for hunting. Naturally, he’d still recognise the surroundings.

After cleansing himself in the creek nearby, Qin Wentian departed, while the snowy puppy followed closely behind him, causing Qin Wentian to exclaim in astonishment.

—————————-

Although it was the middle of the night, the streets of Sky Harmony City were lit up as bright as day, with huge lanterns placed in all directions. Despite the time, the streets were still bustling with activities. Most commoners would choose this timing to gather in inns, talk about the past, discuss the current heroes of their time, and enjoy drinking to their heart’s content.

Qin Wentian halted his steps as he passed by an open-space wineshop as he heard voices drifting out of the shop, discussing some things that he wanted to know.

“The Qin Clan is in dire straits now. The Patriarch of their clan, Qin Wu, as well as their clan leader, Qin Chuan, have been captured, and been escorted to the Royal Capital. There’s also news that they are currently detained in the prison, and will be executed at any moment. Even if they can escape execution, if they land in the control of the Ye Clan, I’m sure that they’d be played to death.

“Don’t be certain too fast, the northwestern troops are already camped outside of Sky Harmony City. I heard that they intended to mobilise their forces and rush towards the Royal Capital tonight, and according to reliable news, it’s not just the northwestern troops. Out of the eight main garrisons of our Chu Country’s frontier troops, three of them have broken camp and moved, causing the area they were stationed at to become emptied, and invoke panic and anxiousness in the hearts of people.”

“How could they be so audacious?” someone exclaimed in shock.

“Audacious? Previously, they all had close connections with the Wu King. Now that the Royal Capital has trained its sights upon the Qin Clan, who knows when it would be their turn. However, at the very least, they were smarter than Qin Clan. They maintained their alliance, and didn’t do what the Qin Clan did – forsaking their military authority, and thus be banished to Sky Harmony City. Even though the Emperor was wary of their power, he knew that the alliance of the eight frontier troops had a power that couldn’t be easily suppressed. If not, if it leads to internal warfare, then the Chu Country may suffer heavy repercussions, by facing attacks from other countries that are close to it.”

“This time around, the three allied garrisons that are moving towards the Royal Capital, are purposely hoisting the flag of the Royal Emperor, while claiming that the Emperor was misled by members of the Ye Clan, and that he wrongly executed loyal ministers. As long as the three allied garrisons continue to exist, Qin Wu and Qin Chuan will still have hope to survive. But if they’re defeated, the Emperor will have no more scruples, and will immediately order the execution to be carried out.”

“I didn’t think that after the Wu King had shaken the world, there would still be a event of such commotion in the Chu Country. However, the defeat of the three garrisons is only a matter of time — I’m afraid that they won’t be able to hold out for about three years. And after the Qin Clan produced a Wu King, they produced another genius – Qin Wentian. But within three years, I’m afraid that even Qin Wentian wouldn’t have sufficient power to save them yet.”

“Speaking of Qin Wentian, he is indeed a hard to come by genius. Were it not for him summoning that demonic beast and killing Ye Mo, the direct line of descendants of the Qin Clan would have been broken there and then. How would the Qin Clan have had sufficient time to wait for the reinforcements of the northwestern troops. Not only that, the second in command, Qin He, wasn’t lacking resolution. Despite breaking a leg, he still commanded the Qin troops valiantly alongside the commander from the northwestern troops, and in the end, he even resolutely made a decision – to expel Qin Wentian from the Qin Clan.”

“Although on the surface that might look cold and unfeeling, in reality, that could be said to be a brilliant plan. By casting Qin Wentian out, they’ve severed the relations between the Qin Clan and him. Qin Wentian won’t have any more connections with the rebellion staged by them. This way, Qin Wentian can safely enter the Emperor Star and focus on his cultivation. And with the strength of the Emperor Star Academy, Qin Wentian will definitely be protected. This was a last, desperate, gamble by them. Severing Qin Wentian from the Qin Clan, so as to allow him to cultivate in peace — gambling on the fact that he’d have enough power to save Qin Wu and Qin Chuan before the allied forces of the three garrisons were defeated.”

“Right, the Qin Clan have placed the last of their hopes on Qin Wentian. In anycase, in this cultivation-oriented world, only those with immense, tyrannical strength, are able to control fate and destiny of the world. As long as one has enough power, what is a mere Emperor? With sufficient power, just a single world can cause blood to flow like river — after all, personal strength is the only thing that matters in this cultivation-oriented world.”

Lost in their thoughts and discussions, these people rambled on, while fantasizing between themselves about being one of the chosen sons of heavens — wielding immense might and controlling the destiny of those who lived in the world.

Qin Wentian who was to the side, after hearing this information, felt an unknown emotion begin to emerge in his heart.