Stellar Transformations Book 9

by I Eat Tomatoes

  Even if Qin Yu died after that explosion, his body should remain. Why not even his corpse can be seen? Could that explosion have reduced his body to ashes? Hou Fei does not believe in this possibility.

  Drip, drip!

  One drop of blood after another slowly falls on the ocean surface from his hands. This is because he is clenching his fists so tight that his fingernails have pierced into his palms. Hou Fei, however, does not feel anything and exerts even more strength in his fists.

  ……

  In Prince Yu’s Mansion of the Qin dynasty,

  “Father.” Qin Zheng bows and says to Qin De.

  Qin De raises his head to take a look then immediately forces a smile and says: “So it’s you, Zheng’er. Recently, is the border between the Ming dynasty and our Qin dynasty still calm?”

  “It’s calm. The Ming dynasty is now very well-behaved. Right, father, Xiao Yu has to undergo a tribulation, doesn’t he? I wonder if he’s succeeded by now. Have any messages been sent back?” Qin Zheng asks Qin De.

  “There’s been no message, but he’ll definitely succeed.” Qin De says very firmly.

  “Um, he’ll definitely succeed.” Qin Zheng says with a nod.

  Despite saying so, both of them are not totally confident at the bottom of their hearts. Before Qin Yu returns, it is simply difficult for them to rest easy.

  ……

  Miss Li’er and her lady-in-waiting, Xue’er, are chatting. Even though they are chatting, Li’er suddenly falls into a trance.

  “Milady, are you all right …?” Xue’er shakes Li’er’s arm and asks, her big eyes widening.

  “Ah.” Li’er wakes up at once and says hurriedly: “It’s nothing. It’s nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

  Xue’er says with a mischievous wink: “Tee-hee, you were thinking about the Prince, weren’t you?”

  “Nonsense.” Li’er says with shyness and anger, but her face cannot help slightly reddening.

  “I talked nonsense. I talked nonsense, all right?” Xue’er says laughingly. Li’er gives a smile, but she is wishing in her heart: “Big brother Qin Yu, please don’t have any accidents. You must successfully go through the tribulation and return safely.”

  ……

  Hou Fei is sitting with legs crossed on the water surface waiting quietly. His face is impassive as if it is carved out of rock. “Bang!” A noise suddenly rises. At the same time, water is splashed in all directions. The calm ocean surface quickly starts to undulate.

  Hou Fei’s eyes, which have been closed all the time, suddenly open and look straight at the source location of that noise.

  He sees a silhouette appear vaguely amid the scattered water spray. That familiar figure, that familiar smile and that familiar look!

  “Big brother!”

  Hou Fei stands up abruptly.

  “Fei Fei.”

  Qin Yu smilingly arrives at Hou Fei’s side with a movement of his body. Now Hou Fei is so excited that his eyes redden. Suddenly he hugs Qin Yu tightly: “Very good, this is very good. I even thought that you …” He stops all of a sudden.

  “Tell me. Where did you hide?” Hou Fei says to Qin Yu. He has quickly resumed his normal appearance with one hand on his hip and the other hand keeping the black stick rested on his shoulder.

  “Hide? I didn’t hide.” Qin Yu says laughingly.

  “You didn’t hide? How is this possible?” Hou Fei curls his mouth. “Big brother, you should know that I turned the area within several thousand li of this place upside down to carry out a search. I even thought that the last thunderbolt and Di Nai’s suicide attack had destroyed your body and soul completely.”

  “How could your big brother possibly be so useless?” Qin Yu says laughingly. But then he restrains his behavior: “Fei Fei, it was really very dangerous this time.”

  Recalling the 6th thunderbolt he faced and Di Nai’s self-explosion, Qin Yu is still a bit frightened.

  That strange 6th thunderbolt was perhaps the most powerful 6th thunderbolt in history. Even though Qin Yu has not seen all of the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations in history, he still believes so in his heart mostly because this 6th thunderbolt was really too strange and unbelievable.

  Generally, 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations of divine beasts are all much stronger than those of Xiuxianists and Xiumoists.

  Hou Fei’s and Xiao Hei’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulations were already extremely formidable. However, in the beginning, the tribulation cloud of Qin Yu’s 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation absorbed an exceptionally large amount of lightning, much larger than Xiao Hei’s and Hou Fei’s. The most important thing is … the first 5 thunderbolts were not very powerful and were even much weaker than the first 5 thunderbolts of Hou Fei’s and Xiao Hei’s tribulations and the remaining energy was concentrated entirely in the 6th bolt.

  What to make of this?

  It looks like Heaven intentionally tormented Qin Yu by controlling the energy of the 6th thunderbolt. If the thunderbolts had become stronger gradually in order of appearance by a given percentage, he would definitely have been able to resist them safely. But this 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation of Qin Yu’s saved more than half of the first 5 thunderbolts’ energy for the 6th thunderbolt.

  “Murder, this was simply murder.”

  When Qin Yu thinks about this, he too cannot understand. Could it be Heaven was jealous of him?

  Di Nai’s self-destruction in the end really made Qin Yu’s situation go from bad to worse. After he had lost the Flaming Sword, the Flaming Gloves, the 12 talismans and the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation, the thunderbolt’s power had been weakened a lot. Even though his hands were blown to pieces and his arms were scorched black, the thunderbolt would have only seriously injured him at most, nothing more.

  However, Di Nai’s flying sword pierced through his chest. Additionally, Di Nai’s yuanying exploded beside him, which unexpectedly resulted in a huge hole in his chest.

  The place of the explosion happened to be right next to the place of the Meteoric Tear.

  Qin Yu will never forget that splendid, full-of-vitality light which appeared after he had been blown into the water. Under the assistance of the Meteoric Tear, he restored his damaged body back to normal. At the same time, he also achieved the Nine Meteors Unification at one stroke, thereby breaking through the Meteor stage to enter the early Core stage.

  “This time I was really lucky to survive the tribulation, extremely lucky.” Qin Yu says with a sigh.

  If the thunderbolt had been a little more powerful or if he had been without the Six Origins Defensive Wood Formation, that thunderbolt would absolutely have been able to blow his body to pieces, in which case, not only would his body have been destroyed, the 9 golden meteors in his dantian would probably have exploded too.

  If his body is shattered, can the Meteoric Tear still protect his soul? Qin Yu does not know the answer.

  “Big brother, that mixed hairy bird, sis Li’er and your father have all messaged me a good several times, asking me if you’ve succeeded or not. I could only say … you hadn’t undergone the tribulation. I’ve been stalling for time, you know.” Hou Fei says laughingly. Now he has also become relaxed.

  When Qin Yu thinks about his relatives, his mind is struck by a thought. He then says laughingly: “Let’s go, Fei Fei.”

  At the moment, there is only a golden ball the size of a table tennis ball in his dantian. This golden ball’s stellar energy is even purer and also much more vigorous than that of the original golden meteors.

  A stream of golden stellar energy runs through Qin Yu’s entire body. He immediately turns into a golden rainbow, flying straight north.

  “Big brother, you’ve lost your holy weapons but why are you still so fast?” Hou Fei is astonished.

  Qin Yu’s 2 holy weapons were both shattered completely during the tribulation. Theoretically, without a holy weapon, Qin Yu should be slower than black-stick-riding Hou Fei. But … after
reaching the early Core stage, he can fly as fast as Hou Fei can just by riding on the air.

  “Fei Fei, now I don’t have a holy weapon. When I’ve forged another one, I’ll let you know my real speed!”

  While talking to each other, Qin Yu and Hou Fei fly towards the Qian Long continent.

  ……

  When Qin Yu gets back to Prince Yu’s Mansion with Hou Fei, a large crowd is waiting for him, including his father Qin De, his big brother, his 2nd brother, Li’er, who has been worried all the time, Fengyuzi and Xu Yuan.

  In order to calm everybody down, Qin Yu does not tell them about all the dangers during the tribulation and only reveals part of the story.

  ……

  The hall of Prince Yu’s Mansion is certainly luxurious, magnificent and richly ornamented with dazzling decorations.

  At the moment, a sumptuous banquet is being held in the hall. It has been prepared only to celebrate Qin Yu’s success in passing the tribulation. The attenders at the banquet are none other than those who are closest to Qin Yu such as his father, brothers, Uncle Xu and so on.

  Moreover, there is a special guest -- Uncle Lan.

  “Big brother, there’s something strange about this affair.” Xiao Hei, who is dressed completely in black and has the form of an eagle-headed man, says coldly with his arms crossed before his chest. “There’s no such strange 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation in my memories. All Xiuzhenists know that each thunderbolt of a heavenly tribulation is more formidable than the previous. But the difference in power is only that much. It can’t be too extreme.”

  “However, your 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation unexpectedly had very weak first 5 thunderbolts and concentrated most of its energy in the 6th bolt, making this one terrifyingly powerful. This … this is simply an impossible thing and shouldn’t have happened.”

  Hei Yu’s sharp eagle eyes are flashing nonstop. Nobody knows what he is thinking.

  Hou Fei nods his head.

  The others do the same, except for Li’er, who is pondering while frowning deeply, and Uncle Lan, who is frowning slightly.

  “My 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation was so strange. But let’s forget it. What could I do when Heaven dropped such a tribulation on me? I could only take it on. Don’t think about it. It’s useless to think about it. Come, let’s drink a toast!” Qin Yu raises his goblet and says smilingly to everyone.

  “Li’er, why don’t you raise your goblet?” Qin Yu looks at Li’er.

  She is startled then looks at him. Qin Yu is entranced by that look in her eyes.

  Is it sincere, remorseful or loving? He unexpectedly cannot discern her look. He cannot help giving himself a smile of derision. Loving? Perhaps he has thought too highly of himself already.

  “Big brother Qin Yu, did Di Nai come with a sneak attack while you were going through the tribulation?” Li’er looks at him with no trace of a smile on her face.

  “This …” Qin Yu temporarily does not know what to say.

  There is a hint of anger in Li’er’s eyes: “Big brother Qin Yu, I know it’s your father who should say these words, but I must say them. Undergoing a tribulation is extremely important and dangerous. You can be careless with other things, but you must not play with going through a tribulation. Though you wanted to kill Di Nai, you shouldn’t have made use of the tribulation. You must know that if you had made a mistake, you would most probably have failed to pass the tribulation.”

  Hearing such words from Li’er, Qin Yu however feels his heart warm up.

  “Don’t worry. Later I won’t do the same thing.” He says firmly while looking her in the eye.

  “It’s good that you won’t.” However, Uncle Lan says.

  “Xiao Yu, it definitely wasn’t accidental that your 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation was like that this time. Other people’s tribulations aren’t like that, so why was yours? There must be some reason. When your 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation was already like that, your 9-from-9th Heaven Tribulation surely won’t be so simple either. Later on, you must be careful when you go through a tribulation.”

  “Yes, Uncle Lan.” Qin Yu always listens to Uncle Lan’s words with absolute sincerity.

  Uncle Lan says again: “I know that some time later you’re going into the Chaotic Astral Ocean to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion …”

  “How did you know, Uncle Lan?” Qin Yu is shocked because only those experts at that time know the location of the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion and he has never told Uncle Lan about it.

  “There’s no need for you to ask about this. I also know that a jade sword lets 2 people go. Your Stellar Tower can send 2 people. I think you and Li’er should go. You’ll definitely benefit a lot from her going with you.” Uncle Lan says indifferently.

  Qin Yu is extremely shocked in his heart: “Uncle Lan, Li’er can’t protect herself …”

  “Don’t worry. She’s got a protective magic treasure of my clan. Any expert weaker than an immortal can’t hurt her. You’ll only need to take good care of yourself.” Uncle Lan says without delay.

  Chapter 12: New Weapon

  When Uncle Lan already said that Li’er has a magic treasure which makes it impossible for any expert weaker than an immortal to harm her, even though Qin Yu is shocked, he does not doubt that she has such a formidable protective magic treasure.

  This is because in his heart he finds Uncle Lan and Li’er to be fairly mysterious. He once inquired about them, but they both just smilingly consoled him, saying that he would eventually know one day and that the right time had not come yet.

  Their clan? Qin Yu has already reached the point where he is not surprised when he sees those strange magical powers of Li’er’s. It should be nothing unusual that such a mysterious clan as hers has such a protective magic treasure.

  Therefore, in the end Qin Yu agrees on this matter. He and Li’er are the two members of the Stellar Tower who are going to enter the Chaotic Astral Ocean to open the Nine Swords Immortal Mansion.

  ……

  In the capital of the Qin dynasty, there is a huge storied building inside the back garden of Prince Yu’s Mansion. It is none other than Lei Mountain House.

  In the Weapon Forging Chamber on the first floor of Lei Mountain House,

  Qin Yu is sitting still with legs crossed and eyes closed. In front of him is a huge 8 Diagrams furnace. Deep blue flames are shining inside the furnace. The whole Weapon Forging Chamber is hot like a stove, except for the vicinity of Qin Yu, which is still very cool.

  On his right hand side, there is a pile of at least nearly 100 crystals. Moreover, all of them are top-grade crystals!

  Qin Yu opens his eyes and takes a look at that pile of crystals. His eyes are filled with amusement: “Master was really a bit much. He got that storeroom more than half of which was filled with various unused top-grade crystals but he made it so that I could only remove that restrictive spell after reaching the Core stage.”

  More than half of Lei Mountain House’s storeroom was filled with top-grade crystals. There were so many of them that their number was simply shocking, being at least over 10,000. Qin Yu always coveted them a lot.

  Only after going through the 6-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation and reaching the Core stage did he gain the right to use these crystals.

  “In the past, because I didn’t have many top-grade crystals, I couldn’t forge excellent holy weapons. Now that I’ve got so many top-grade crystals, I should make … an ultimate top-grade holy weapon.” Qin Yu murmurs to himself.

  The Stellar Transformations absorbs the energy of the sun, moon and stars so its flame is extremely hot. In the beginning, this Stellar Flame was already light blue.

  It should be known that generally the flames of Xiuxianists and Xiumoists are light red in the beginning.

  From being light red, they will become red, dark red, and then light blue, blue and deep blue. These 6 stages correspond with the 6 stages of practice, Jindan, Yuanying, Dongxu, Kongming, Dujie and Dac
heng, respectively.

  Qin Yu’s internal flame is like that only because of the Stellar Transformations technique’s peculiarity.

  At the Nebula stage, it was light blue. Then it became blue. At Qin Yu’s current level, it has become deep blue. However, someone who uses the holy sense to tell a light blue Stellar Flame, a blue one and a deep blue one apart will see that they are actually not much different from each other in strength.

  The early, middle and late phases of the Meteor stage all have a so-called blue flame but in fact the color of the flame gradually becomes deeper as the practitioner improves. At the early Core stage, the color of the flame is only a bit deeper than it was at the late Meteor stage.