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| ← Ch.682 | Ch.684 → |
Compared to the Boundless Mainland, the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland was much smaller. It was probably only 1. 5 times the size of the Fei Li Empire and was much smaller compared to the Zhongtian Empire. This was the reason why people from the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland placed so much importance on the ocean compared to those from the Boundless Mainland. Because of this, people from the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland were significantly better at navigating the ocean.
Heavenly Jewel Masters were divided into different sects in the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland. However, unlike the Great Five Saint Lands from the Boundless Mainland, the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland only had one great sect which was the the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. With it as its backbone, the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland had managed to unify the entire continent 1, 300 years ago. There were no splintering of countries, and a small number of Heavenly Jewel Masters were even at the mercy of the palace.
Because of this, things were fairly simple on the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland. Everything was decided by the Heavenly Palace of the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland. Neither the people nor the countries had any objections. However, even though this allowed the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland to flourish and prosper, they eventually became complacent and a little lazy in terms of their development because of the lack of competitors and adversaries.
As expected, Zhou Weiqing was uninterested in any of that. The most useful piece of news he managed to obtain was a way to join the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland.
The Mysterious Heavenly Palace was at the highest level of existence on the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland, and there were only two ways to get in. The first was to go through a selection process by the Mysterious Heavenly Palace before the age of ten and if the candidate was chosen, only then would they be allowed entry to the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. Then, the candidate would have to go through multiple rounds of screening in the palace. At this point, their cultivation talent and progress of awakening the Heavenly Jewels were all taken into consideration, and only the truly outstanding youngsters would have an opportunity to join the ranks of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace.
Other than this, there was still another way for a person to join the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. It was also one of the differences between the Five Great Saint Lands of the Boundless Mainland and the Mysterious Heavenly Palace of the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland. Perhaps, it was due to the fact that there was only one Saint Land in the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland, so there was no need for them to fear infiltrations by their enemies. Because of this, the Mysterious Heavenly Palace also recruited unaffiliated cultivators. Of course, they would only recruit the very best. For this reason, the Mysterious Heavenly Palace would hold a Mysterious Heavenly Selection annually.
The talent selection would be held in every major city in the Mysterious Heavenly Empire. The top three unaffiliated cultivators from each major city would successfully enter the Mysterious Heavenly Palace in the end to participate in the final match. The number of unaffiliated cultivators that could join the Mysterious Heavenly Palace every year was not fixed but instead, determined by one's strength and potential.
The first requirement for the recruitment was age. Usually, the palace would only recruit those who were below the age of thirty to join the outer palace of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. These people would have to work their way up from the bottom, slowly accumulating merit while learning the Mysterious Heavenly Palace's Jewel techniques. If one showed outstanding potential and passed the numerous tests from the palace, then they would be promoted to the inner palace.
Of course, the age limit did not apply to those who were at the Heavenly King-tier or above. Anyone at this level who wanted to join the Mysterious Heavenly Palace would have to go through a different assessment. As to what the assessments were, nobody on the ship knew the answer to that.
Without a doubt, Zhou Weiqing's and Bing'er's age meant that they had no other choice but to go for the second option.
To the Heavenly Jewel Masters on the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland, being able to join the Mysterious Heavenly Palace was not only a great honor but also a great source of monetary benefits. All the disciples in the inner palace of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace had unrestricted access to Consolidated Equipment sets and Heavenly Jewel Stones. Even the disciples from the outer palace would get numerous benefits as well.
All of the Storing Palaces on the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland were owned by the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. One could easily imagine just how powerful the Mysterious Heavenly Palace was. If a new emperor wanted to ascend the throne, even he would need the approval of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace.
Zhou Weiqing and Bing'er's goal was to obtain the Spatial Teleportation Stone. After obtaining the information about the Mysterious Heavenly Palace, he was quite certain that he would have to declare war against the entire Mysterious Heavenly Mainland! It seemed like he had underestimated the difficulty of obtaining the Spatial Teleportation Stone.
However, Zhou Weiqing managed to come up with a good solution. In any case, he would have to join the Mysterious Heavenly Palace before he could put his plan into action. As the saying goes, a person in a favorable position gains special advantages. He needed to infiltrate the palace to have a greater chance of success. Otherwise, they would not even know where the Spatial Teleportation Stone was located.
The last leg of their journey to the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland was uneventful. Perhaps, it was because there was a Heavenly King onboard presiding over the ship. As long as they did not come across the Devilish Black Tortoise again, it was unlikely for the ship to encounter any danger.
Zhou Weiqing was an easy-going man, while Shangguan Bing'er was a beautiful girl. In just a short time, they managed to blend in with the Heavenly Jewel Master crew. The elevated status of a Heavenly Jewel Master was the same on the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland; a normal crewmember would not dare to show any disrespect towards them.
The ship was given the name The Pearl, and it was owned by Master Gu Yu. However, Master Gu Yu was not a part of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. Instead, he was the patriarch of one of the few powerful clans that were not part of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace on the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland.
Of course, they were still under the governance of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. Otherwise, they ran the risk of being wiped out. This time, they had reaped quite a bountiful harvest from the sea. Their main purpose was to search for precious gifts to send to the Mysterious Heavenly Palace so that the children from their clans would have a higher chance of entering the inner palace during the selection.
On the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland, instead of battling it out physically or comparing wealth and resources to demonstrate their superiority, clans competed by seeing whose disciple had a higher position in the Mysterious Heavenly Palace. Such a peculiar situation would never happen on the Boundless Mainland.
At first, Master Gu Yu had the intention of recruiting Zhou Weiqing and Bing'er into his sect. However, the moment he saw Zhou Weiqing's Immortal Deity Technique, he immediately changed his mind. After all, which clan would be willing to train a person who might die at any moment during his cultivation?
Therefore, when Zhou Weiqing looked for Master Gu Yu and asked for his help to write a recommendation letter for him and Bing'er so that they could join the Mysterious Heavenly Selection, Master Gu Yu happily agreed to it.
Zhou Weiqing performed very well on the ship. Every time they came across middle-level sea beasts, he would help the other Heavenly Jewel Masters without any hesitation. Not only that, he politely rejected all the rewards that were offered to him. The reason he gave them was that he wanted to repay the life-saving debt that he owed them. With his appropriate conduct, nobody was suspicious of him. Even Master Gu Yu was happy to do him a favor by writing him a letter of recommendation. After all, it was not impossible for Zhou Weiqing to fully cultivate the Immortal Deity Technique. And if by chance, he really managed to cultivate this technique, he would probably be monstrously strong.
Little did he know, Zhou Weiqing was already monstrously strong back on the Boundless Mainland which was far larger than the Mysterious Heavenly Mainland.
The ship continued to sail for another month before they finally saw a dark coastline ahead of them.
After a long time on the sea, even the Heavenly Jewel Masters could not help but cheer out loud the moment they saw the coastline. The fact that they were able to return safely with their lives intact after sailing the treacherous and uncertain sea was truly a cause for celebration for everyone onboard.
Zhou Weiqing held Bing'er's hand while he stood on the deck. He was also looking at the distant coastline. At the moment, his heart was filled with heroic pride as he thought to himself excitedly, "Yes! Here we come, Mysterious Heavenly Mainland!"
After another hour, The Pearl finally reached the port. The instance the ship docked, the port became lively from the crowd around the area.
"It feels good to return alive." Gu Yu's voice rang out from behind. Zhou Weiqing turned back to look at him and happened to see the Heavenly King Master slowly making his way towards him.
After spending quite some time with him, Master Gu Yu left quite a good impression in Zhou Weiqing's mind. Even though this elder was a little strict, his temperament was mild. Right now, he was at the Heavenly King-tier. Although there was no hope for him to make a breakthrough to the Heavenly Emperor-tier, he was still considered a powerful master in Mysterious Heavenly Mainland.
"Master, even though you have such a strong cultivation base, you're afraid of the sea as well?" Zhou Weiqing chuckled as he asked.
Master Gu Yu laughed and then replied, "How can I not be afraid? Well, pardon me for saying something so disrespectful, but even the Palace Master of the Mysterious Heavenly Palace would be prudent and cautious if he heads out to the sea."
Curious, Zhou Weiqing queried, "Even people from the Mysterious Heavenly Palace would head out to sea?"
Gu Yu nodded his head as he replied, "Of course! The ocean is an endless treasure vault. I heard that many years ago when the Mysterious Heavenly Palace was newly established, they managed to hunt down a Dreadfiend Sea Naga that was badly injured for unknown reasons. Because of that, they benefited immensely from its body. This kickstarted the Mysterious Heavenly Palace's establishment, allowing the palace to finally achieve where it is today after many years of development."
Smiling, Zhou Weiqing suddenly announced, "Master, I'm afraid we'll have to bid you goodbye for now."
Gu Yu nodded his head."Have a safe journey. If you fail the Mysterious Heavenly Selection, you're always welcome to join my clan."
"Thank you, Master." Zhou Weiqing bowed to him again. He held Bing'er's hand before the both of them disembarked from the ship.
Gu Yu's two disciples were standing behind him when Zhou Weiqing and him were talking. One of them suddenly chimed in, "Teacher, I find Zhou Weiqing a little peculiar. He doesn't seem to really care about anything around him."
Gu Yu smiled and nodded in satisfaction."The fact that you noticed this means you've improved a lot. Let alone you, even I could not completely see through this young man. His origin is certainly not as simple as he made it out to be. Still, it's always better to make an additional friend rather than an additional enemy."
Of course, Zhou Weiqing was unaware of Gu Yu's appraisal. After leading Bing'er off the ship, they finally made their way out from the swarming crowd.
A ship that sailed out to the deep sea like The Pearl would definitely be filled with a lot of treasure as long as it returned safely. The crowd was mostly made up of traders who were interested in buying valuable goods from the ship so that they could sell them.
After they left the crowd of people behind, Zhou Weiqing continued to lead Bing'er directly into the port city.
"It feels great to be able to step on solid ground again!" Zhou Weiqing and Bing'er felt like it had been ages since they experienced solid ground as they reveled in the rich smell of earth.
"I feel like staying at this Mysterious Heavenly Mainland forever without worrying about anything else. Nobody knows us here, and there's neither necessity nor trouble that I need to solve here!" Zhou Weiqing exclaimed out loud.
With a faint smile on her lips, Bing'er looked at him as she asked, "Are you really willing to do that?"
| ← Ch. 682 | Ch. 684 → |