Stellar Transformations

by I Eat Tomatoes

  Qin De’s heart is in endless pain. He simply cannot stop his tears from streaming down.

  A man does not shed tears easily, only that the heartache Qin De is suffering is too great.

  “Xiang Guang! Wu De!” Qin De suddenly looks at Wu De. At this moment his heart is full of hatred. If it had not been for Xiang Guang and those 2 Xiuzhenists, with his son’s power, how could he possibly have died?

  Disregarding his body’s injuries, Qin De channels his elemental energy very quickly and charges at Wu De while grasping his long sword.

  Seeing Qin De coming at him in such a crazy manner, Wu De, who has been fighting evenly with Fengyuzi, is greatly frightened at once because, at any rate, Qin De is an early phase Jindan stage Xiuzhenist and, moreover, he even has a middle-grade holy weapon. Also, by now Fengyuzi has gone mad too.

  Wu De immediately disregards everything and soars into the sky directly on his flying sword at his fastest speed like a wisp of smoke. His offense is extremely powerful and his flying speed is also not something Qin De and Fengyuzi can keep up with.

  Seeing Wu De fleeing, Qin De is so furious that he suddenly spits out a mouthful of blood. His internal organs have suffered excessively severe injuries.

  “Calm down, Your Highness, please calm down a bit!” Fengyuzi hurriedly restrains Qin De. He knows how seriously Qin De is injured at the moment. However, Qin De’s eyes are filled with an extreme hatred: “Wu De, Xiang Guang, my wife died, and today my son died too! Ah ~~~ Xiang Guang, Wu De! I swear here if I don’t kill you I’ll die unburied!!!”

  “Brother Feng, please take me back. Every plan must be shifted to an earlier date and accelerated. Everything must be ready in a half year. I want to lead 10,000,000 troops to trample the Xiang clan to pieces. I’ll exterminate the Xiang clan then destroy Wu De’s soul!”

  Qin De clenches his teeth. His crimson crazed eyes look very frightening.

  END OF BOOK 3

  Book 4: Stellar Transformations

  Chapter 1: Stellar Transformations

  In the evening, the setting Sun is going down westward. Its light, despite being not dazzling, is illuminating the entire vast ground.

  However, in a courtyard of the East Vanquishing Prince mansion, the atmosphere is obviously gloomy and cold.

  Qin Feng, Qin Zheng, Xu Yuan and Fengyuzi, 4 people altogether, are sitting at a stone table. Qin De, however, is standing with his hands behind his back in the courtyard and looking up at a willow. This courtyard is in the courtyard house belonging exclusively to Qin Yu and this willow was planted here by Qin De and Qin Yu together when Qin Yu was little.

  No one, whether Qin Feng, Qin Zheng or Xu Yuan, has a bit of a smiling expression on his face.

  “Xiao Yu is dead.”

  When Qin Feng and Qin Zheng first knew about this just now, they were simply stupefied. They had never imagined that their 3rd brother would die like this and, even worse, die without an intact body, having been struck into nothingness by a wicked thunderbolt.

  Qin Feng and Qin Zheng still remember their promise.

  They wanted to protect their younger brother, but they will never be able to fulfill their promise.

  “Every plan is to be sped up. In a half year, Zheng’er, can the logistics of materials such as army provisions, armor and weaponry be fully ready in a half year?” With his hands behind his back, Qin De suddenly breaks the silence in the forlorn courtyard.

  Qin Zheng slightly frowns, thinks for a while then says with a nod: “A half year … father, a half year will be enough to fully prepare army provisions and the other materials. But to transport these materials to every army will need some time. If the deadline is loosened a bit, everything will be perfectly ready in 8 months. But if you want me to race against the clock, I can still manage it in a half year.”

  “Um, Xu Yuan, can every step of Plan Flying Eagle be accomplished in a half year?” Qin De continues to ask.

  Xu Yuan thinks for a while then says: “Your Highness, according to the original plan, we should still have 2 years to prepare. Now you want it to be accelerated and everything to be ready in a half year so time will be a bit tight. But because we’ve been carrying it out for the last 10-odd years, if it has to be sped up, a half year will still be enough for us to manage to start the entire plan.”

  “Good!”

  Qin De suddenly turns around and looks at the other people, saying: “All right, I’ll loosen the deadline a bit. In 7 months we’ll launch a full-scale attack. According to the plan, we’ll have to unify the entire Chu kingdom within a half year.” Qin De’s eyes glitter with a shockingly fierce coldness.

  “Yes, father!”

  “Yes, Your Highness!”

  Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Xu Yuan immediately stand up, bow and respond with obedience.

  “Feng’er, you must hurry back to the army immediately. We’ll leave the preparation of armaments and materials entirely to Zheng’er. I’ll be in charge of the overall supervision of the armed forces.” Qin De says directly. “All right, everybody can set to work now.”

  Qin Feng, Qin Zheng and Xu Yuan bow and leave at once.

  “Your Highness, you should rest more and take better care of yourself. Your body is still injured.” Fengyuzi slightly shakes his head and says with a sigh.

  Qin De turns around again and looks at the willow: “Rest? Am I still in a mood for resting? If I don’t trample the 4 Eastern region counties to pieces, exterminate the Xiang clan, kill Xiang Guang and Wu De and destroy their souls, how can I possibly ease my mind and recover?”

  Fengyuzi cannot help giving a forced smile, but he is not too worried either because, with the effective medicines of the princely mansion in addition to Qin De’s having become an early phase Jindan-stage Xiuzhenist, Qin De’s internal injuries will take at most a month to recover completely.

  “I’ll return first, Your Highness. If you have any problems, you can send for me.” Fengyuzi slightly folds his hands and says.

  “Please return, brother Feng. I won’t see you off.” Qin De says calmly.

  Fengyuzi nods then stands on his flying sword and shoots through the sky immediately to leave.

  “We’re going to launch our attack in 7 months. Winthin a half year later, 1,000,000 troops will definitely trample the 4 Western region counties to pieces and exterminate the Xiang clan!” Qin De talks to himself in a low voice. His eyes, however, are filled with a chilling killing intent.

  ******

  “Scram!”

  A loud shout comes out from inside the room. Outside the room, Xiang Guang’s body cannot help shaking once.

  Xiang Guang also feels greatly wronged. As soon as he heard that a Shangxian had returned, he immediately ran over here with enthusiasm, wanting to know if Qin De was dead or not. On the way from the Imperial Palace Xiang Guang’s heart was always excited.

  However, just now, before he could say something, he was already scolded by Wu De.

  “Screw this Wu De. I already gave them the Red Flourishing Pill. Could it be he returned without killing Qin De?” Indignation continuously surges in Xiang Guang’s heart, but he knows one thing -- whatever happens, he must not offend this Shangxian because, after all, this Shangxian is a guardian the Xiang clan relies on.

  The Red Flourishing Pill was the reward for Wu De and Wu Xing killing Qin De. If they have not killed Qin De yet, Xiang Guang naturally cannot but resent them.

  “Your Majesty!” A eunuch beside Xiang Guang immediately bows.

  “Scram!” With a strong wave of a sleeve Xiang Guang pushes the eunuch to one side then tries to say with a forced smile: “Shangxian …”

  “Xiang Guang sonny, today I’m in a bad mood. Don’t disturb me.” Wu De shouts coldly.

  Xiang Guang swallows then forces a smile, saying: “Shangxian, last time, I gave you the Red Flourishing Pill and asked you to kill Qin De for me, didn’t I? I’m wondering if Qin De is dead or alive.” Whatever happens, he still has to ask about this matter.

&nbs
p; Moreover, Xiang Guang does not believe that this Wu De will dare to kill him.

  Bang!

  The door is suddenly pushed open. The 2 panels of the door hit the walls beside them. Loose-long-haired Wu De walks out with a face full of anger. His eyes, glittering with indignation and enmity, are fixed completely on Xiang Guang. Seeing Wu De like this, Xiang Guang is so frightened that he continuously backs away.

  “Don’t mention anything about Qin De to me. Because we agreed to handle this matter, even my martial younger brother died. Why did you still mention the Red Flourishing Pill and Qin De to me? Go the hell away for me! Don’t think that I won’t dare to touch you just because you’re a descendant of the Xiang clan.”

  The air of anger from Wu De puts pressure on Xiang Guang as if it is real.

  He and his martial younger brother were friends with each other for several hunded years. There was a deep affection between them. This time, Wu Xing’s death was really a crushing blow to Wu De. Even worse, the 5 middle-grade holy short knives Wu Xing took in at first were also struck into nothingness by a sudden beam of light in the end.

  This time, Wu De gained nothing and his martial younger brother even died, how can he possibly not get angry?

  “Calm your anger, Shangxian. I will leave right now and won’t disturb you anymore. Calm you anger, Shangxian …” Xiang Guang is frightened out of his wits as he is saying. He immediately runs very helter-skelter away from Wu De’s place with his entourage.

  He turns his head around, looking at Wu De’s residence in the distance. Then, with a cold humph, he hurries back to the Imperial Palace at once.

  ******

  The Immense Wilderness, no one has ever been able to measure its size. The deeper it is in the Wilderness, the higher the density of holy energy is, and the more formidable demonic beasts become. About 100,000 li away from the border of the Wilderness, there is a certain place.

  Of course, compared to the size of the Wilderness, this 100,000 li distance is not a big amount of space. After all, the Wilderness is simply too large.

  At this place, there is a huge lake. On the side of the lake, there is a huge mountain-shaped structure. That structure has only 2 stories and is only about 8 or 9 m high, but it occupies a shockingly large area, which is both longer and wider than 100 m. In this structure, every room is very luxurious. The rooms are even lit with various kinds of lamplight of different colors that have never been seen elsewhere on the Qian Long continent.

  In the spacious entrance hall of this structure, the floor is pure silvery.

  A young man with a wounded stomach, a middle-aged man with white brows that touch his temples and a black eagle are lying on this silvery floor. They are none other than Qin Yu, Wu Xing and the black eagle, who disappeared earlier.

  ______

  Under Qin De’s gaze, the look in Qin Yu’s eyes becomes totally lifeless, his heart no longer beats and his breathing stops.

  “Is this the feeling of death?”

  Qin Yu vaguely remembers Xiao Hei’s wail but he simply cannot utter any sounds. He cannot even move his fingers a bit. However, his soul and consciousness still exist. After his bodily functions stop, his soul starts to shake.

  A basically irresistible sucking force comes from the outside and affects Qin Yu’s soul directly, seemingly wanting to suck his soul away.

  “I’m already dead. Is my soul entering the cycle of reincarnation now?” He simply cannot resist. His soul and consciousness can only feel that this sucking force is potent and overwhelming. His soul starts to float up. Apparently it is about to float out of his body.

  Suddenly --

  A warm stream flows out directly from the Meteoric Tear mark on his chest and enfolds Qin Yu’s soul and consciousness.

  “So warm, just like soaking in the hot spring.” Qin Yu’s consciousness has this kind of feeling. At the same time, being directly insulated from that sucking force by the warm stream, Qin Yu’s soul still remains in his body and is not getting sucked away anymore.

  Because his soul is engulfed in the warm stream, Qin Yu is simply unaware of what happens outside. Even when a flaming red beam of light shoots down from the sky and hits his body, he feels absolutely nothing.

  At the same time, the Meteoric Tear is sending out various clear streams, which are rushing into his wounds nonstop. His body’s injuries are continuously recovering. The stab wound in his heart, however, is healing extremely slowly. But it is gradually recovering nonetheless.

  As every minute or second goes by,

  Qin Yu’s soul keeps enjoying that warmth. It is absorbing that warm stream of energy like a baby. His soul is gradually strengthening and becoming more materialized as well. It has become a seven-colored disc. The colors of the soul are extremely glorious and alluring. At the same time, energy is flashing around the soul nonstop like bolts of lightning. As the soul keeps absorbing that warm stream, those ‘bolts of lightning’ flash more and more powerfully.

  In the blink of an eye, 7 days have passed.

  The huge hole in Qin Yu’s stomach has healed without even a scar. It has taken him 7 days only because the heart is the most difficult body part to heal. His ordinary physical wounds needed just a half day to disappear scarlessly. His heart, however, has taken 7 days to recover.

  Qin Yu’s soul is still enveloped in that warmth.

  Suddenly, Qin Yu feels that warmth disappear. At the same time, a familiar feeling slowly returns. Qin Yu enjoys that feeling very much. It is the feeling of having control over the entire body, which only exists when the soul and the body are completely connected to each other.

  He opens his eyes all of a sudden. At the moment his hands are still stuck in the chest of Wu Xing, who is undoubtedly as dead as a doornail. Qin Yu abruptly pulls his hands out and makes a shake with them at the same time. The muscles of the hands immediately vibrate extremely fast for a short time, forcing all the blood on the hands away.

  “Phew!”

  After a roll, Qin Yu pushes himself up from the floor and looks around. At a glance, he sees Xiao Hei not far from him on a side. Xiao Hei has been staring at Qin Yu in a daze. At this moment, it immediately cries out loud in excitement. The cries of the eagle resound continuously. At the same time, it runs up to Qin Yu very fast and hugs him tightly with its huge wings while chirping wildly.

  “Ha-ha, Xiao Hei, alright, wow, you’re drooling on me.”

  Qin Yu and Xiao Hei start to lark about with each other.

  “Welcome, Master. I never thought that after your heart was penetrated your life could still be saved. Starlet is really too shocked by this.” A crystalline childlike voice rises through the entire spacious hall. Both Qin Yu and Xiao Hei are startled.

  Qin Yu expands his holy sense and discovers that this is a very strange structure, basically unlike those on the Qian Long continent. However, he does not detect any person at all.

  “Who are you?” He immediately says. “Could it be you saved me?”

  “I’m Starlet, but I didn’t save you. It’s you who saved yourself.” That pleasant crystalline childlike voice rises again.

  Qin Yu slightly frowns. He remembers how his heart was punctured by Wu Xing. At that time the Meteoric Tear seemed to send out various clear streams to continuously heal his heart. Even though the healing speed was extremely slow, his heart was still recovering. Also, when his bodily functions stopped completely and his soul was about to be sucked away, a warm stream enveloped his soul.

  “Could it be the Meteoric Tear saved me?” Qin Yu thinks to himself.

  This Meteoric Tear is really extremely miraculous. At least for the moment Qin Yu cannot understand how he is still all right after even his heart was penetrated. It should be known that, even Xiuzhenists who have not reached the Dongxu stage will only die if their hearts are penetrated.

  If a Dongxu stage expert or above is punctured in the heart, his physical body will be destroyed and he will only be able to rely on his yuanying and soul to practice as a
loose immortal. No one has ever heard about anyone who could survive a stab wound in the heart.

  For the moment, Qin Yu does not consider this matter. He organizes his mind a bit and asks: “You’re Starlet? Who is Starlet? Why have you always called me master? Can you explain everything? Moreover, why is the lamplight of this place so strange?”

  Qin Yu raises his head and looks upwards.