Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 169 - 164 Royal Invitation (5/5)

Chapter 169: Chapter 164 Royal Invitation (5/5)

Zhou Heng immediately thought of a question: why hadn’t the powerful families of Bright Moon Country intervened?

To say that Spirit Cores held no attraction for the powerful families of Bright Moon Country was something Zhou Heng found utterly unbelievable.

It was Orchid Concubine, the "noble-born" heiress of a powerful family, who cleared up his confusion. There were two reasons: First, each country had considerable autonomy, and this was a rule jointly established by the three great families of Bright Moon Country.

Therefore, even the Wind Howl Sect, backing Cold Blue Country, dared not openly violate it, and the same was true for the powerful backers behind the other three countries.

Second, the probability of finding a Spirit Core within that vein was pitifully small.

Nature’s spiritual energy was not evenly distributed, but rather, the closer to the center of the continent, the denser the spiritual energy became, then progressively thinner as one moved farther away.

The Heavenly Dragon Empire naturally occupied the center of the continent, possessing the densest spiritual energy, and only there could Upper Grade Spirit Stone Mines form. The four dynasties were scattered around the Heavenly Dragon Empire, where the concentration of spiritual energy was somewhat inferior, allowing for the formation of Middle Grade Spirit Stone Mines.

By the time one reached Cold Blue Country, it was nearly the end of the continent, with the boundless ocean beyond; the spiritual energy was so sparse that even the presence of Lower Grade Spirit Stone Mines was cause for celebration!

Ninety-nine percent of the time, Lower Grade Spirit Stone Mines did not have the conditions to produce Spirit Cores. Precisely because of this, the powerful families of Bright Moon Country generously refrained from intervening. Otherwise, despite the prohibitions of the three great families, they would have engaged in underhanded maneuvers.

Now, all they needed to do was collect their benefits.

Zhou Heng quickly made a decision. He wanted to explore the mine. After all, there was nothing to lose by making the trip, and if there really was a Spirit Core, wouldn’t that be a huge windfall! With Swift Cloud Radiant Step and the Nine Mystic Trial Tower, if he got hold of the Spirit Core, he could immediately activate his movement technique to flee and vanish without a trace before diving into the tower, leaving no one the wiser.

The news of Ying Bingfeng’s demise would take time to reach Bright Moon Country and even longer for the Ying Family to respond and send experts to investigate in Cold Blue Country. Although Liu Qingxuan could be certain Zhou Heng was responsible, with the Mei Family protecting Zhou Heng, how dare he make a move?

More importantly, he knew that even if he took action himself, it would be difficult to kill Zhou Heng. The kid was just too fast, and with a bunch of Void Shattering Talismans, it was impossible to trap Zhou Heng and kill him with overwhelming force.

As for the Yue Family, they too needed to wait for a reaction from Bright Moon Country’s clans. However, with Mei Yixiang’s strong support, even if they suspected Zhou Heng was behind it, they were probably more inclined to forego revenge.

Zhou Heng suddenly found himself with nothing to do but fortunately, the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion kept sending over various weapons, both ordinary and magic artifacts. He continuously strengthened his body, but spending money like running water, his millions of Spirit Stones were rapidly depleting.

Of course, the benefits were clear. Zhou Heng’s bones had now become as tough and unyielding as a Land Cleaving Realm magic artifact; even without activating the metallic transformation of his Bloodline Power, he could withstand a clash with magic artifacts of his own realm purely with his physical body!

Once he metalized his fists, he could even smash Land Cleaving Realm magic artifacts to pieces, making him truly a humanoid monster!

Furthermore, his physical strength had also increased substantially. At full force, it could enhance his battle power by about ten percent! Don’t underestimate this ten percent increase in battle power. Originally possessing eighty times the Dantian Space of an ordinary Land Cleaving Realm cultivator, this ten percent was equivalent to the strength of eight Land Cleaving experts!

Indeed, wealth aids the warrior, while cultivation is a bottomless pit! Without substantial capital support, how long would it take to reach this level? And if these million lower-grade Spirit Stones were allocated to others for cultivation, how many could accelerate their training immensely?

Zhou Heng touched his head, realizing he was nearly penniless again and needed to find a way to make some money!

At this moment, he actually missed people like Ying Bingfeng. Robbing them was not only personally satisfying but also lucrative, as each of them was quite wealthy. If not for Zhou Heng’s enormous expenditures, a million Spirit Stones could have lasted until his grandchildren’s generation.

He could have relied on selling Moon Beads for a steady income, but that tiger cub called Little Gold was incredibly gluttonous. One bead a day wasn’t even enough for it, so how could there be any left over?

A single Moon Bead could sell for at least two to three thousand lower-grade Spirit Stones, making that little tiger cub an absolute wastrel!

As his bones’ toughness improved, ordinary metals were no longer sufficient to enhance Zhou Heng’s physical strength, and he had to find extremely precious ones. His physical strength had now caught up with his realm, meaning he would need to consume at least the magic artifacts of the Land Cleaving Realm.

But how rare were the Land Cleaving Realm’s magic artifacts! The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was out of the question. Even if such items appeared, their price would be exorbitant, and Zhou Heng’s current wealth was insufficient to compete. However, if he could raid a sect like the Heavenly Star Sect, it would definitely be a bountiful harvest!

If it weren’t for his relationships with Tian Junzi and Xiao Yuheng, Zhou Heng would have loved to sneak into the Heavenly Star Sect right away for a big heist, but out of respect for those two, he forcefully suppressed this tempting idea.

Indeed, debts of gratitude are not so easily incurred!

Zhou Heng thought about it and decided to let Xiao Huoshui and Orchid Concubine each try their hand at the Nine Mystic Trial Tower. Both women were at Initial Separation Third Layer Heaven, and as long as their combat abilities were up to par, each could obtain two rewards for passing the trial.

Neither of the women knew that the Nine Mystic Trial Tower also had this function. Upon hearing Zhou Heng’s explanation, both showed expressions of intense shock—a treasure like this was no small matter! If a large number of Spirit Gathering Realm Martial Artists were to enter and take on the challenge, wouldn’t it become an inexhaustible treasure basin, constantly producing treasures like pills, cultivation techniques, and magic artifacts?

Zhou Heng, however, didn’t think it could continue like this indefinitely. The Nine Mystic Trial Tower had a large number of treasures sealed inside it as rewards when it was created, it wasn’t capable of conjuring items out of thin air. After so many years of being emptied, it was doubtful how much was still left inside.

The two women undertook the challenge at the same time, but to Zhou Heng’s chagrin, they barely scraped through the first trial, and simply couldn’t pass the second one at all. They had strength but didn’t know how to utilize it effectively, and were beaten by the second trial’s monsters so badly they were left floundering.

Zhou Heng didn’t force them. Some people are born with powerful combat instincts, while others grow through the long process of battle. Xiao Huoshui and Orchid Concubine, however, were the pampered type, whose goal in cultivating was more to gain longevity rather than pursue personal strength—how could their combat abilities be strong?

They were typical examples of those who got overpowered by others of a higher level. An even slightly stronger Initial Separation First Layer Heaven Martial Artist could easily defeat them—they were pitifully weak!

At least they had passed the easiest trial and each obtained a reward. Xiao Huoshui got a magic artifact, which was just at Spirit Gathering Realm level; its rank was Fourth Grade, but, unfortunately, it was of no use to anyone.

As for Orchid Concubine, she obtained a "Beginner’s Pill," which could significantly enhance the cultivation level of a Spirit Gathering Realm Martial Artist.

Both rewards were quite lackluster. Zhou Heng suspected this was because the two women passed the trials with great difficulty, and although they received the rewards, the items were of exceedingly poor quality. In contrast, every time he passed a trial at the First Layer Heaven, the rewards were exceptionally generous.

That was fair enough!

Zhou Heng sold the magic artifact and the Beginner’s Pill to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, in exchange for tens of thousands of spirit stones, and finally, he received an imperial edict from the Nangong Imperial Family, summoning him to the palace for an audience.

This was less of an imperial edict and more of an invitation. Zhou Heng was now at the Land Cleaving Realm, with a battle power that was heaven-defyingly strong, undoubtedly the number one person below the Heaven-Opening Realm. He was powerful enough to rule over the Cold Blue Country!

Without even realizing it, Zhou Heng had reached the pinnacle among Martial Artists in Cold Blue Country. Even though people like Nangong Changkong were stronger than him in battle, the idea of suppressing him was out of the question. Such a person warranted even Nangong Hong to tread carefully!

Although there was no evidence, most people guessed that Ying Bingfeng was killed by Zhou Heng! A young master of the Ying Family, his status was immeasurably higher than that of Nangong Hong. Considering his own safety, how could Nangong Hong not treat Zhou Heng with utmost respect?

Otherwise, if Zhou Heng secretly infiltrated the imperial palace and slaughtered him, could Nangong Changkong bring him back to life?

Zhou Heng cheerfully set out, wanting to learn more about the newly discovered spirit stone mine, which was currently classified as confidential, and even Xiao Huoshui was unaware of it.

"Minister Zhou, please have a seat!" Nangong Hong was extremely courteous. Facing a Land Cleaving Realm Expert, his role was not the ruler of a country, but a representative of the Heavenly Star Sect in the secular world, a Land Cleaving Realm Martial Artist, just like Zhou Heng.

Zhou Heng remained calm and collected. With his current strength, even if Nangong Changkong hid in the shadows and launched a sudden attack, he had nothing to fear; he could dodge in time. He was no longer the youth who had just left Origin Stone Town, having undergone bloodshed and life-and-death situations, his disposition and his strength had transformed dramatically.

Nangong Hong sighed inwardly. If he had known of Zhou Heng’s achievements now, he should have tried to recruit him along with Jing Tian back then. Even if he could only recruit one, it should have been Zhou Heng, not Jing Tian!

Alas, any regrets at this point were too late. Their grudge was too deep, maintaining even a courteous façade was fortunate enough.

This summons to the palace was indeed about the issue of the ownership of the newly discovered spirit stone mine. Since the spirit stone mine was right at the intersection of four major countries, they all claimed the mining rights, leading to the problem of how to divide the resources.

—Each country definitely had to get some benefits; otherwise, it wouldn’t be reasonable, but they couldn’t all divide it equally, as that would cause other issues. Eventually, they settled on the simplest idea, to determine ownership by strength.

Each of the four major countries would have a ten percent share in the mine, and the remaining sixty percent would be decided through combat. Each nation would send out six people, divided into six groups to fight. The country that won the battle of that group would take an additional ten percent of the mine.

Heavenly Star Sect had only four Heaven-Opening Realm experts, and even counting An Luochen, that made five. Naturally, they needed to find Land Cleaving Realm Martial Artists to make up the numbers, and Zhou Heng was naturally the prime candidate.

The other three countries didn’t have that many Heaven-Opening Realm experts either, possibly four or five, but definitely not six!

Therefore, as long as Zhou Heng took the group in the Land Cleaving Realm, with his capability he could secure victories in both battles, seizing ten percent of the mine!

It was precisely because of its significant implications that the Nangong Royal Family had to swallow their pride and invite Zhou Heng.