Stellar Transformations

by I Eat Tomatoes

  The assassins are divided into gold card, silver card and copper card. Copper card assassins are the ones who can kill middle-phase Houtian experts. Silver card assassins are the ones who can kill peak Houtian experts. And gold card assassins are the ones who can kill Xiantian experts.

  The 2 great systems Inner Net and Outer Net of the Heavenly Net have enabled the organization to become an extremely terrifying entity. The Chu kingdom, the biggest kingdom on the Qian Long continent, has no more than approximately 100 Xiantian experts altogether but the Heavenly Net’s Outer Net already has over 20 gold card assassins. As for the Inner Net, no one knows how many gold card assassins there are in it. But no one doubts that the Inner Net’s experts are very fearsome.

  This is the Heavenly Net, an assassin organization with more than 1000 years of uninterrupted history and more influence on the Qian Long continent than any of the 3 big dynasties has.

  Because his own name has appeared on the mission board of the Heavenly Net, Hao Tan is worried.

  ‘‘Are you ready?’’ says the silvery-masked man indifferently. Hao Tan immediately focuses his entire attention on the silver card assassin before him. His internal energy starts to circulate at a very fast speed. In an instant he is ready to deliver the most powerful strike.

  The corners of the silvery-mask man’s mouth slightly curve up all of a sudden. He is smiling.

  Afterimages!

  2 afterimages of the silvery-masked man’s entire body unexpectedly appear all of a sudden. One afterimage is ahead of the other. One is on the right hand side and the other is on the left. In a moment, a strong gust of air has reached Hao Tan’s face, causing his hair to flutter up. Hao Tan cannot help narrowing his eyes.

  “What a frightening speed!” Hao Tan is startled. Only by concentrating energy in his eyes can he barely see the man’s shape. Unable to see anything else, Hao Tan starts to attack the shape in front of him madly. The various silhouettes of his legs spread all over the air and attack the whole body of the silvery-masked man.

  “Ah!’’ Hao Tan suddenly feels an acute pain in his right foot. He cannot help uttering a miserable shout with his eyes protruding. At the same time he hears a clack sound of bones being broken while his whole body is sent flying. It subsequently smashes fiercely onto a wall on one side of the street.

  The silvery-masked man’s frosty voice rises: “Your speed is still alright, but your explosiveness is too bad!”

  In a mere moment, the silvery-masked man actually broke Hao Tan’s right ankle directly.

  “Humph.” With one hand Hao Tan props himself against the wall and stands up. He looks at the silvery-masked man in front of him with hatred: “Your fingers are really strong. Your speed is also very fast. Too bad they’re not enough for you to kill me.’’ Hao Tan could feel how strong the enemy’s fingers are. They even broke the defense of his internal energy in a grab.

  “Really?” The corners of the silvery-masked man curve up again. At the same time, his body becomes a blur and creates another afterimage.

  Hao Tan immediately opens his eyes wide like 2 balls. His entire body’s internal energy is completely activated. He stares at the silvery-masked man with all of his attention: ‘’It doesn’t matter if my lifespan will greatly decrease, I must execute this one strike.’’ There is a hint of ruthlessness in Hao Tan’s eyes. His face becomes pasty at once.

  The silvery-masked man seems to also notice Hao Tan’s changes but he continues to attack.

  “Soul-Destroying Claw!”

  Hao Tan suddenly shouts loudly. His whole face becomes savage. His 2 claws attack the silvery-masked man before him at an extremely fast speed. The speed of the claws has reached a terrifying level. There are even various black streams of energy between the 2 claws which connect them to each other.

  Both of them have excellent claw techniques but it seems Hao Tan’s Soul-Destroying Claw is more freakish. In terms of speed, he is inferior to the silvery-masked man. He cannot even touch his enemy, but …

  “Gotcha!” A black stream of energy has unexpectedly tied the silvery-masked man’s hands up in front of Hao Tan, who has become extremely excited: ‘’Ha-ha, I can see that you’re fast. But even if you were faster, would you be as fast as my Soul-Destroying Silks? Your 2 hands have been tied up, now prepare to die. Ha-ha, huh? Why aren’t you using internal energy to resist?’’

  Hao Tan looks doubtfully at the silvery-masked man.

  ‘’You got excited to soon.’’

  A shaft of black light flashes by.

  ‘’How … can?’’ Hao Tan’s eyes pop out of his head then he falls down powerlessly with a loud thud.

  “That claw technique was really fantastic. It even generated a silk-like kind of energy.” The silvery-masked man takes off his silvery mask. He is an unfamiliar man. This man’s body suddenly stirs repeatedly while emitting cracking sounds. The body unexpectedly becomes taller and his face also starts to change.

  After a short while, the silvery-masked man who is about 1.75 m tall has changed into 1.8 m tall Qin Yu.

  If someone saw this scene, they would surely be extremely shocked. Just now Qin Yu used the Appearance and Bone Changing art, which can be considered the peak of disguising arts. By means of controlling the muscles and bones of the whole body, the Appearance and Bone Changing art allows the user to alter his face and height.

  Generally, only Xiantian experts can manage to change their appearances thanks to Xiantian energy, which means, in the eyes of other people, the Appearance and Bone Changing art can only be used by Xiantian experts.

  However Qin Yu has been trying hard to control his entire body’s muscles and bones since he started training as a little kid. He has been training for 8 years and, moreover, has often been absorbing internal energy into his flesh and bones, therefore the flexibility and toughness of his whole body’s muscles and bones have reached a shocking level. Depending on his muscles and bones alone, Qin Yu can still change his appearance.

  ‘’Evildoers will cause their own violent deaths!’’ When Qin Yu has taken Hao Tan’s head, his body shoots up into the air. There seems to be something high up on one side. It is none other than Xiao Hei. There is a small box on its body. Qin Yu puts the head into the box then sits down on Xiao Hei.

  ‘’Xiao Hei, let’s go!’’ Qin Yu warmly pats Xiao Hei’s neck.

  Xiao Hei immediately utters a happy cry and soars into the sky.

  Sitting on Xiao Hei’s back, Qin Yu looks down at the boundless ground below then looks up and feels the strong winds of the late night.

  Following the great battle that day, Qin Yu determined to practice outside through fighting. His targets were mostly some evildoers. After a period of time, Qin Yu joined the Outer Net of the Heavenly Net and became an assassin named Liu Xing! The targets of the missions he has chosen were all evildoers who had provoked the fury of both Heaven and men.

  In this way, firstly, he can eliminate some scums and, secondly, he can practice real close-quarters combat techniques as well.

  ‘’Xiao Hei, after turning in this mission, we’ll return to Misty Villa directly. Let’s go!’’ says Qin Yu laughingly. Uttering a cry, the black eagle speeds up greatly at once and flies eastward like a beam of light.

  Chapter 3 Secrets (1)

  The East Vanquishing Prince mansion in Yan City today is decorated with lanterns and streamers. It is only the early morning at the moment but there is already heavy traffic on the outside of the mansion. Rich and powerful people, aristocrats and noblemen from every part of the whole Chu kingdom all exchange cordial greetings then enter the mansion carrying their gifts and invitation cards.

  Today is the ceremony of adulthood for Qin Yu, the third son of East Vanquishing Prince’s.

  In terms of importance, there is very little difference between a ceremony of adulthood and a wedding ceremony on the Qian Long continent. Compared to them, a birthday is not important at all. When Qin Yu celebrated his 10th birthday, some people in the princel
y mansion only congratulated him a bit. However, to prepare for his ceremony of adulthood, invitation cards were sent out extensively. Even the Chu emperor may attend it. 8 years ago, when the ceremony of adulthood for Qin Yu’s big brother Qin Feng was held, the Chu emperor Xiang Guang personally gave him his compliments.

  In the morning, the 3 brothers Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin Yu come to the outside of Qin De’s room together to send their father their greetings. Among the 3 brothers, the big brother Qin Feng is the tallest, about 1.9 m. His body has an air of chilliness and his face rarely has a smiling expression. Only when he is with his brothers can he smile. Qin Zheng and Qin Yu are nearly as tall as each other. Their heights are common.

  ‘’Your son pays his respects to father.’’

  As soon as the 3 brothers see Qin De, they kneel down and greet politely.

  Looking at the 3 sons before him, Qin De feels delighted because they are all handsome and refined. His eldest son Qin Feng chose the path of martial arts. Not only is he a general in the army, he also became a Xiantian expert last year. His name has become known very quickly. There are no more than 100 Xiantian experts in the whole Chu kingdom so to become a Xiantian expert at the age of 23 is an extremely outstanding achievement.

  His 2nd son Qin Zheng is better than even Qin De in such areas as governance, politics and so on. Today, his 2nd son is in charge of nearly all the matters of the 3 Eastern region counties, whether important or simple.

  As for his 3rd son Qin Yu … Qin De casts a look at Qin Yu. Seeing Qin Yu, Qin De cannot help feeling a bit guilty in his mind.

  ‘’No matter how he practices external techniques, at best he can only reach the peak of the Houtian level. Since he can’t become a Xiantian expert, his path is a dead end after all.’’ Qin De secretly sighs. In Qin De’s view, his 3rd son Qin Yu will not have much chance of success even if he worked harder.

  ‘’If he can reach Zhao Yunxing’s level, even though it isn’t the Xiantian level, his offensive force will be as good as that of an early-phase Xiantian expert. What a pity it will take him 30 years to reach that level. Until now Yu’er has been training for 8 years, so there are still 22 years to go.’’

  Too bad, Qin De does not know that Qin Yu’s flesh has been absorbing internal energy and that he has been improving fast, much faster than Zhao Yunxing’s estimation.

  ‘’All of you stand up first,’’ says Qin Du with a smile. Then he looks at Qin Yu and says: ‘’Yu’er, today is your ceremony of adulthood, a big day of your life. After this day you’ll be an adult and, whatever happens, you’ll have to strive to face it on your own.’’

  ‘’Don’t worry, father.’’ Qin Yu nods and says with a smile.

  Facing his life alone? Qin Yu has been soaring in all directions on his black eagle alone for 3 years. Thanks to the speed of the black eagle, he has roamed around nearly the entire Chu kingdom. Having experienced many things, Qin Yu has already gained his own understanding of life.

  ‘’All right, there are already many guests outside at the moment, all of you follow me to greet them.’’ As Qin De is saying he goes out first. The 3 brothers Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Qin Yu also go out after him.

  Today, the East Vanquishing Prince mansion is extremely noisy. Every aristocrat, nobleman, and also magnate and the like comes forward to congratulate. These people of course show absolute respect for East Vanquishing Prince in front of him. However, there are still 2 other princes with the same level of authority as East Vanquishing Prince. One is South Vanquishing Prince and the other is North Vanquishing Prince.

  South Vanquishing Prince Mu Lan of the 3 Southern region counties personally congratulates Qin Yu. North Vanquishing Prince Shangguan Hong of the 2 Northern region counties also congratulates Qin Yu personally. The 4 Western region counties are under the complete control of the Xiang royal clan. This time Emperor Xiang Guang does not come personally. Instead, he let his own younger brother Xiang Shuo congratulate Qin Yu.

  Qin Yu does not know how many tables have been set for the feast and how many guests there are in the end. But he knows one thing, that is, the gifts he received have filled 2 whole rooms, and therefore he can imagine how large the number of the guests is. After all, this is the ceremony of adulthood for a son of East Vanquishing Prince’s.

  After a noisy day, late at night, the princely mansion is very quiet because all of the guests have left.

  In a secret room,

  Qin Yu has never entered this secret room. It is already after midnight at the moment. There are only 5 people in the secret room: Qin De, Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Qin Yu and Xu Yuan. Except for Qin Yu, who has a doubtful expression on his face, the other people all seem to know something.

  Qin De first goes to an armchair and sits down then he waves his hands and tells the other people: “Everybody sit down first.’’ Qin Yu and the other 3 people also sit down around the long table. Xu Yuan, who is still holding a folding fan, slightly smiles at Qin Yu.

  ‘’Father, what do you let me come here for?’’ asks Qin Yu. At the moment his mind is still in a fog.

  Qin De calmly nods and says: ‘’Yu’er, haven’t you always been wondering what your father is doing and what plans I’m carrying out? Indeed, I’ve been concealing quite a few things from you. Today you already turned 16 so I’ll tell you some secrets.’’

  Qin Yu’s eyes immediately brighten.

  He knew early that his father is carrying out some plans. He has also been wondering why Qin De has never told him anything. Now, having heard his father’s words, he realizes there seems to be many things he himself does not know about. But today his father has finally decided to tell him about them.

  ‘’Yu’er, do you know that in the history of the Qian Long continent there was once a dynasty which unified the whole Qian Long continent?’’ Qin De asks Qin Yu.

  Qin Yu says with a smile: “This goes without saying. A long time ago, the Qian Long continent had always been in a state of fragmentation. It was not until 3000 years ago that the whole Qian Long continent was brought into a state of unprecedented unity. It was none other than the Qin dynasty which unified the whole Qian Long continent. Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng’s famous name is still reverberating like thunder, only that the Qin dynasty was too short-lived. 100 years after its unification of the continent it fell to pieces. Then the Ying clan of the Qin dynasty was eliminated completely.’’

  Qin De slightly nods and says: “The 1st secret I’ll tell you today is ... our Qin clan is made up of Qin Shi Huang’s direct descendants!”

  Qin Yu only feels as if his head has been struck by a series of thunderbolts. For the moment he was dumbfounded.

  Only after a long time has Qin Yu become a bit more clear-headed. He looks at his father in disbelief then looks at his big brother, second brother and Uncle Xu Yuan. But all of these people are all looking at Qin Yu. He totally understands the implication in their eyes.

  “Shouldn’t Qin Shi Huang’s direct descendants have the last name Ying?” Even though Qin Yu is somewhat stirred, he still asks.

  Qin De shakes his head and says with a sigh: “After the destruction of the Qin dynasty, people in the whole world tried to eliminate the Ying clan, how could we still dare to use the last name Ying? We changed out last name to Qin also to prevent us from forgetting that Qin Shi Huang was our ancestor. Yu’er, you may know that our Qin clan’s heirloom internal technique wasn’t called the Ancestral Dragon Art originally, but it was called the Shi Huang Ancestral Dragon Art. Yu’er, remember that the blood flows in the veins of the Qin clan’s people is the same as Qin Shi Huang’s.” Qin De’s eyes radiate sharp rays of light.

  Chapter 4 Secrets (2)

  Qin Yu’s mind is in turmoil uncontrollably.

  In the mind of every person on the Qian Long continent, Qin Shi Huang represents supremacy. Not only did he unify all the lands, his personal power also reached a very high level. In both controlling power and personal power, Qin Shi Huang reached his limits and no one coul
d even remotely compare with him. Now Qin Yu has just discovered that he himself is actually a descendant of Qin Shi Huang, how can he not be shaken up?

  ‘’Yu’er, as a descendant of Shi Huang, you mustn’t forget the glories of the Qin dynasty. Yu’er, do you know how Shi Huang died?’’ asks Qin De while staring at Qin Yu.

  Qin Yu recalls what he has read in books and says: ‘’Qin Shi Huang’s internal energy was extremely profound. It is said that he reached the Shangxian level. In theory he would’ve lived more than 1000 years but later he was killed by Xiang Yu, the West Chu Conqueror and a peerlessly powerful man. He was also the 1st emperor Xiang Yu of our Chu dynasty.’’

  ‘’Yes, it was Xiang Yu, the Conqueror of West Chu.’’ Qin De’s eyes radiate dazzling rays of light. “The 4 Western region counties were all strongholds of the Xiang clan. It had been running them for more than 1000 years. It got rich thanks to the 4 Western region counties and started to fight for the control of all the lands. Among Shangxian-level experts at that time, Xiang Yu was known as the number one. The West Chu Conqueror Xiang Yu killed our ancestor. If Shi Huang had not died, how would our Qin dynasty have possibly been destroyed? But…”