Stellar Transformations

by I Eat Tomatoes

  In a short while, Xiang Guang has appeared in the imperial study. A hawk-like hook-nosed man dressed in black is respectfully standing on one side.

  “Yang Li is in charge of the 3 Eastern region counties, right?” Xiang Guang asks coldly.

  “Yes, Your Majesty.” The hook-nosed man replies respectfully.

  Xiang Guang suddenly stands up, stares at the hook-nosed man and says: “Integrate all the intelligence about Qin De then let me know. Also, increase the supervising force in the 3 Eastern region counties. I don’t believe he only has 600,000 troops. You must investigate and ascertain what tricks he has up his sleeve. Yang Li has only found out so little info after so many years. He’s really useless. From now on, let Zhen Xu have charge of the entire secret service in the 3 Eastern region counties. Transfer Yang Li back.”

  “Yes!” The hook-nosed man gets down on 1 knee and says.

  “You can go.” Xiang Guang dismisses him with a wave of a sleeve. The hook-nosed man bows then disappears directly in the imperial study with shaking movement of his body.

  Xiang Guang looks forward but his mind is thinking about something else.

  “If I don’t investigate and ascertain everything about Qin De, I won’t be able to sleep and eat well.” Xiang Guang has a recurring nightmare in which he is killed by Qin De. What he is worried about the most is that Qin De discovers that past incident so he wants to wipe out the Qin clan. However the Qin clan has been controlling the 3 Eastern region counties for several hundred years and therefore, to Xiang Guang, it is a deep-rooted problem which he cannot eliminate simply as he wishes.

  At the moment, Xiang Guang’s tactic is to investigate Qin De clearly. If Qin De gives any indications of rebellion, he will mobilize the entire kingdom’s forces to destroy the Qin clan. If Qin De is still unaware of that past incident and does not rebel against him then this matter will be over.

  “This idiot Yang Li is completely useless. But Zhen Xu will surely find out everything. Qin De, you better not know about that incident. You should know your place as East Vanquishing Prince. If you really want to rebel, then …” Xiang Guang’s eyes radiate ferocious cold rays of light.

  Chapter 10 Rock Within Rock (2)

  Beside a small lake in a wood on Mount Dong Lan,

  “It’s been 10 whole days.” Qin Yu is resting his back against a huge rock. Holding a blade of grass in his mouth, he looks at the lake in front of him with a powerless expression on his face.

  Qin Yu is now 18 years old. For 10 whole years from age 8 to age 18, his body continuously improved and transformed. After obtaining the Meteoric Tear, he improved especially fast, like a meteor leaping through the sky. However, some time ago Qin Yu discovered that his progress started to slow down. And for the last 10 days, he has rarely seen any improvement.

  “It looks like … I’ve finally reached the peak of my Houtian level!” Qin Yu suddenly bursts out laughing: “At the peak of the Houtian level, other people have 700 to 800 jin of strength in one arm. Today, with 300 jin of weights on my body, I can still lift a 1400 jin object with one arm. If I take off the weights, perhaps I’ll be able to lift even 1500 jin.”

  Agility … Compared to his strength, his agility is even at a higher level. Relying on the body-maneuvering skill he created himself, he can even neutralize the wind resistance at his fastest speed. If Qin Yu moves with his entire power, his whole body will become a blur. Those with insufficient power will not even be able to see his silhouette.

  Strength, agility, sensitivity, body’s resistance, Qin Yu has reached an inhuman level in every aspect.

  In terms of strength alone, even Xiantian experts are far inferior to him. However, if Xiantian experts use the Xiantian internal energy in their bodies, it will be difficult for Qin Yu to defeat them. Those who have Xiantian energy are Xiantian experts. In spite of everything, they belong to the Xiantian level. Xiantian and Houtian are essentially different.

  “After breaking through the peak of the Houtian level, I should be at the Xiantian level. But I practice external techniques. What must an external practitioner do to reach the Xiantian level?” Qin Yu whispers. For the moment he cannot come up with any solutions. After all no one has ever reached the Xiantian level through body training.

  Suddenly a resounding eagle cry rises. Then the sharp whizzing sounds of an incoming gust of wind reach Qin Yu. A huge black eagle descends from the sky and lands beside him.

  “You’ve arrived, Xiao Hei. This time you unexpectedly went out for 3 whole days. Brat, I even thought you’d forgotten me!” Qin Yu strokes the black eagle’s ‘crown’ cozily and says. Only he can stroke the black eagle’s ‘crown.’ Other people simply cannot touch it.

  The black eagle is even one size larger than 2 years ago. It reaches 2 m in height by merely standing. Once it spreads its wings, Qin Yu can even turn his body round while lying on the back of the black eagle. The ‘crown’ was pure golden in the past, but now there is a tint of red in it, which makes it look like a flame.

  The black eagle looks at Qin Yu resentfully and even flaps its wings hurriedly. As soon as Qin Yu sees this he laughs. He and the black eagle have been together for so many years so he can totally understand the meaning of every expression in the black eagle’s eyes.

  “Alright, alright, you haven’t forgotten me. I misunderstood you, okay?” says Qin Yu laughingly.

  Only now does the black eagle nod its head. Qin Yu cannot help giving a laugh.

  “Xiao Hei, come, I haven’t fought you for a long time. Let’s spar.” As Qin Yu is saying, his body instantly charges toward the black eagle. He turns his hand into a claw and grabs at the eagle.

  The black eagle gives a shake of its big head as if it is in a jolly mood. With a wave of its wing, it easily blocks Qin Yu’s blow. When Qin Yu’s eagle claw smashes on the black eagle’s wing, it unexpectedly makes a noise which sounds as if it has just hit steel. Qin Yu’s fingers are even stronger than that Eagle Claw King’s, yet the offensive force of his fingers cannot hurt the black eagle.

  “Your black feathers are already even comparable to black iron.” Qin Yu retreats a step. Seeing that his fingers’ powerful offensive force could only leave a mark on some outermost feathers, he cannot help feeling powerless.

  The black eagle’s feathers are shiny black and extremely sharp. It wings are covered in a thick layer of feathers, but Qin Yu’s fingers’ offensive force could not even break a small area of the feathers, therefore it can be imagined how terrifying the black eagle’s defense is.

  The black eagle shakes its head proudly while flapping its wings in a disorderly manner.

  “Don’t be cocky. It looks like I’ll have to use this one move.” Qin Yu quickly takes off his black iron arm guards and leg guards and the black gold undershirt. He immediately feels light as if his entire body is a swan feather.

  The black eagle’s defense is awfully strong but its offence is even more shocking. Those 2 claws can even break black iron into pieces easily. They are definitely comparable to extremely good Xian-grade weapons. But the defense of Qin Yu’s body has difficulty withstanding even black iron weapons, not to mention the black eagle’s claws.

  “Ha-ha, are you ready to be plucked?” Qin Yu’s whole body starts to move like a flash.

  Yes, his only solution -- use speed!

  The black eagle’s speed in midair is fast. Its agility on the ground is also pretty good. But compared to Qin Yu, who has extraordinary agility, it is still a bit slower. However, only after taking off the 300 jin of weights did Qin Yu become faster than the black eagle.

  Whizz!

  With a push of his feet, Qin Yu’s entire body turns into a blur. As soon as his feet touch the surrounding trees or rocks, he changes direction extremely fast. When he reaches his fastest speed, it looks as if he is attacking the black eagle from all directions at the same time.

  With a wave of its wings, the black eagle starts to move extremely fast as well. It can also change direction very easily with
a wave of the wings. The eagle’s body is designed entirely for the sake of speed so the wind resistance it experiences is minimized.

  One man and one eagle are attacking each other extremely fast.

  “Taste my Vigorous Diamond Finger!” Qin Yu’s forefinger pierces the air like a sharp arrow and hits the black eagle’s chest hard. This is his strongest finger force but it can only damage a small area of the feathers, while there is a thick layer of feathers on the black eagle’s chest.

  The black eagle seems to be very angry. It unexpectedly redoubles its speed. In an instant, only various blurs can be seen at the site of the fight.

  “Whoa, have you gone mad?” Qin Yu shouts loudly. His speed has also reached its limit. Using the Seven North Stars Moonlight Dance, he looks like a dancer in the moonlight. He easily moves extremely fast beside the black eagle while attacking it nonstop with his hands. Even though the black eagle’s speed is fast, every strike it executes is spotted very early by Qin Yu. This is because the basis of Qin Yu’s body-maneuvering skill is to make use of wind forces, but every time the black eagle attacks the winds automatically change, which is also detected by Qin Yu.

  Suddenly --

  A resounding eagle cry rises. The black eagle has finally gone mad.

  “Hoo hoo ~~~” It flaps its wings extremely fast like crazy. In an instant, a typhoon seems to have started at the site of the fight. All of the nearby trees are bent toward the ground by the wind. Then, with several “clack” sounds, some branches are continuously broken. Naturally, this terrifying wind speed adversely affects Qin Yu’s movements.

  Qin Yu gives a smile.

  “Still the same old move.” Qin Yu’s body rushes northward very fast. Having fought each other frequently, he and the eagle are extremely familiar with each other’s techniques. Therefore, upon encountering this skill of the black eagle, he wastes no time rushing to a place.

  The rocky forest!

  The rocky forest’s name says it all. This is a place where rocks stand in great numbers. However, because this place have gone through several great fights between Qin Yu and the black eagle, all of the smaller rocks have already been blown away or broken into pieces. Now there are only some huge rocks which weigh several thousand jin left.

  In the rocky forest,

  Qin Yu is shuffling back and forth in the rocky forest easily. The black eagle is chasing him like a black thunderbolt. In terms of speed alone, the eagle is actually just a bit inferior to Qin Yu. But it is much less sensitive than him. Qin Yu can easily change direction while moving. Even if he is running eastward extremely fast, he can turn westward in an instant.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! ……

  Qin Yu continuously attacks the black eagle with different forms of hand strikes including knife hand, fist and spear hand while the eagle attacks him using a combination of its beak and wings. Those sharp claws, however, are not used to attack because, after all, only by flying up can it attack Qin Yu with the claws. But if it flies up, Qin Yu will not be able to do anything other than get attacked passively as he cannot fly, and the fight will become boring.

  “Bang!” The black eagle makes a wave of a wing. After Qin Yu dodges the wing, it smashes on a huge rock on one side. Because the hardness of the eagle’s wings is really excellent, that wing actually shatters the huge rock.

  Qin Yu suddenly throws a palm strike at the eagle’s neck but the eagle flashes away with a movement of its wings. Qin Yu’s heavy palm strike then fiercely hits a huge rock. Naturally, that huge rock is broken into pieces by this palm strike because, whether in terms of force or in in terms of toughness, Qin Yu’s palm strike is even more formidable than that of the Iron Sand Palm expert among the 8 great external experts at that time.

  A man and an eagle keep fighting this way. It is really unlucky for the entire rocky forest because they blow up various huge rocks wherever they go to.

  “Hah!” Uttering a loud shout, Qin Yu suddenly shoots up into the air then strikes down toward the black eagle. At this moment, the eagle is resting its back against a huge rock and basically has no way to dodge. But with an easy movement of its wings, it, unbelievably, moves away sideways several meters. Qin Yu’s heavy palm strike therefore hits the huge rock the eagle was resting its back against.

  Boom!

  The rock is shattered, but Qin Yu stops moving.

  “Xiao Hei, let’s stop.” When Qin Yu’s palm strike hit, he felt something wrong because there was an intense reaction from this huge rock. There were also reactions when he shattered other huge rocks before, but they were nothing special. However, this huge rock’s reaction was really so tremendous that even his palm tingled.

  Hearing Qin Yu’s shout, the black eagle also comes to see in doubt.

  “This … what is this?” Qin Yu looks at the flaming red rock before him in astonishment. No, it should be called a crystal rather than a rock. Can a rock which radiates flaming red rays of light still be called a rock?

  Who could have thought that after a 10,000 jin huge rock was shattered there would be a flaming red crystal inside? This crystal is very large, almost half as tall as Qin Yu, and is a near perfect cylinder. To be exact, it is a rod, only that this rod is much shorter and thicker than normal rods. It is as thick as a human thigh.

  Qin Yu holds this crystal with both hands and feels that it is warm.

  “Oh, so heavy.” He is amazed to discover that the crystal is unusually heavy. He immediately exerts the strength of his hands. Suddenly, with a low shout, he lifts the flaming red crystal up. Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head at once: “Oh my goodness! Who could’ve thought such a small cylinder would weigh about 2000 jin?”

  Chapter 11 Forging Grandmaster (1)

  “What is this thing actually?” Frowning, Qin Yu examines the flaming red crystal in his hands carefully. “This crystal is unusually heavy and even radiates flaming red rays of light. The crystal itself is also warm.”

  Qin Yu has seen quite a lot of treasures in the princely mansion and has also read many books at Misty Villa so there are only few treasures on the Qian Long continent he still does not know about. However, when it comes to this flaming red crystal, he has absolutely no idea what it is.

  Qin Yu drops the flaming red crystal. It causes a bang as it falls on the ground. Obviously it is shockingly heavy.

  “Let’s test its hardness first. This crystal is so heavy, moreover, that rock-shattering palm strike of mine couldn’t break it, so it should be very hard.” Qin Yu forms a claw with his hand then executes the Eagle Claw Art technique. He fiercely grabs at the flaming red crystal.

  A loud metallic noise rises. The flaming red crystal does not get even a scratch.

  “Ss ~~” Qin Yu takes a deep cold breath. He feels the 5 attacking fingers tingling. That claw strike was executed with his entire power yet he could not even scratch the crystal therefore it is easy to imagine how great its hardness is. Qin Yu frowns and thinks. Suddenly he turns around and says: “Xiao Hei, you come and test how hard this crystal is.”

  Xiao Hei shakes its head a couple of times in excitement. With a wave of the wings, it flies up then dives down. Using those sharp claws it grabs at the crystal ruthlessly.

  A loud metallic clatter rises again but the crystal still does not get even a scratch. Xiao Hei lands on the ground and gives Qin Yu a wink, looking very disheartened as if it feels aggrieved because its claws have been defeated.

  Qin Yu is dumbstruck. Only after a long time do his eyes glitter with excitement: “Ha-ha, I struck it rich. I struck it rich. Xiao Hei’s claws can even tear black iron easily like paper. Their hardness can match Xian-grade weapons’. Since even his claws can’t break the crystal, it’s at least a precious forging material. Well, let’s test again with the Yuchang sword.”

  Whizz!

  Qin Yu makes a wave with a hand. A shaft of black light flashes by, hacking fiercely at the flaming red crystal. A clang is heard. Holding the Yuchang sword in his hand, Qin Yu looks at the flamin
g red crystal before him in excitement: “Such a huge piece of first-class ore is definitely a priceless treasure. Perhaps it can even be forged into high-Xian-grade weapons.”

  The Yuchang sword is a low-Xian-grade weapon.

  Ores have to undergo many complex processes to be finally forged into weapons. But weapons are much harder than the ores they are made from. For example, the meteorites from which the Yuchang sword was forged would definitely not be able to withstand the chops made with the sword. Even the Yuchang sword cannot leave a mark on this flaming red crystal therefore its hardness must be at a shocking level.

  Not even middle-Xian-grade ores can remain unblemished after being chopped at with the Yuchang sword, then how can this flaming red crystal?

  “This is high-Xian-grade ore or perhaps … even better.” Qin Yu’s eyes shine. It is simply impossible for normal people to imagine how much a martial art expert craves for a first-rate weapon. Qin Yu, of course, has been dreaming about an absolutely excellent weapon.