Heavenly Jewel Change

As the gold flash of completion appeared and disappeared swiftly around Zhou Weiqing’s hands, almost nobody noticed it. After all, most of the surrounding audience were focused on Yun Li, who seemed the much stronger Consolidating Equipment Master, watching his flowing motion as he created Scroll after Scroll.

Only Qin Feng and Shangguan Bing’er noticed Zhou Weiqing’s second scroll’s completion, especially the vast disparity in speed between the first and second. Both of them started, their faces changing. Before they could react, another gold light flashed, and Zhou Weiqing’s third Consolidating Equipment was complete.

In terms of being pleasing to the eye, Zhou Weiqing’s actions were definitely not comparable to Yun Li’s, which was smooth like flowing water. Instead, his was rather stiff and somewhat robotic. However, in terms of speed, he had shot way above Yun Li, completing an scroll seemed to be just going through the motions, without needing any gathering and focus of spirit. Not only did it greatly conserve his spirit, it also was unbelievably fast.

Shangguan Bing’er’s hands flew to her mouth, while Qin Feng’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets. At this time, he suddenly felt that the unbelievably arrogant words of Zhou Weiqing’s signs were not arrogant or exaggerated after all.

The current Zhou Weiqing was like an assembly line, churning out Consolidating Equipment Scrolls. His face was expressionless, his eyes narrowed in concentration, and his hands were in a steady rhythm as sheet after sheet of Consolidating Equipment Scrolls were completed in his hands, the gold light signifying the completion constantly lighting up. The constant flash of gold light was just too frequent, and soon attracted the attention of some of the audience. As more gazes turned towards Zhou Weiqing, their eyes remained frozen upon him, even the boss of shop 76, Zhou Changxi.

Yun Li was currently deeply immersed in the creation of Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, his entire body, mind and soul engrossed in the process as he grew more adept with each completion. As such, he was not aware of anything else around him. Before long, he had completed his twenty fifth scroll. In his heart, he was still thinking that he should start looking for other Consolidating Equipment Masters to compete in such a way. Under such stress and pressure, he could clearly feel that his technique was improving, in such a vast amount that normally was only accompanied by a huge amount of experience. Of course, even if he looked for others to compete with him, he wouldn’t place such a heavy bet.

After completing his twenty fifth scroll and placing it at the side, Yun Li gave a small sigh of relief. In his mind, Zhou Weiqing should be much slower than him, and he did not feel any sense of urgency. Lifting up his head towards Zhou Changxi, he said: “Bro Zhou, could I get some water please?”

Alas, when he lifted up his head, he immediately realised that the atmosphere around him was extremely weird. Furthermore, Zhou Changxi, who was standing close by, seemed to not even hear his words, his eyes transfixed on the opposite side. It wasn’t just Zhou Changxi, as everyone around was staring dumbfounded and dazed at the other side, many of them revealing looks of disbelief.

Yun Li’s heart sank suddenly, and he hurriedly turned to look as well. When he did so, he just happened to see a flash of gold light, and Zhou Weiqing placed a completed scroll at the side. Not only that, he clearly saw a stack of completed scrolls there, more than double what he himself had completed.

This isn’t possible! That was the first notion that appeared in his mind. He almost slammed the table and walked off, but he quickly stopped when he saw Zhou Weiqing creating his next scroll.

It was a machine-like movement with seemingly nothing to praise, yet what made Yun Li’s jaw drop was the sheer speed of his movement. In barely the time it took to take ten breaths, another flash of gold light appeared around the Consolidating Paper once more, and yet another Scroll was completed.

By this time, Yun Li did not even bother continuing creating his own Scrolls. Standing up suddenly, he strode towards Zhou Weiqing’s side. He could not believe his own eyes, could not believe that Zhou Weiqing’s speed could actually reach such an unbelievable pinnacle. Although they were only creating Mid Level Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, Yun Li was sure that even Zong Stage Consolidating Equipment Masters would not be able to create them at such speeds! This totally overturned all his knowledge about creating Consolidating Equipment scrolls… the knowledge and experience that he had immersed himself in for more than sixteen years!

Zhou Weiqing’s creation continued. This time, Yun Li saw it clearly. Zhou Weiqing’s motions were fast, but he still managed to intricately pause at the areas which required it. Although it did not have a smooth, flowing feel to it, the truth was that it was successful! Yet another scroll was completed.

No matter how much he did not want to believe it, the truth was displayed in front of his eyes. Yun Li had already expended much of his spirit, and now he felt his brain go dizzy. He wished that he was dreaming, yet it was so clearly displayed before his very eyes. He suddenly thought that perhaps agreeing to this bet had been the worst decision of his life.

This young man in front of him had a strange method of creating Consolidating Equipment Scrolls, a method he had never even heard of before. If he had to describe it, there was only one word: Insane! 1

Zhou Weiqing’s creation method naturally did not consume much spirit, and he knew that Yun Li had come to his side. In the middle of creating his next scroll, he was still able to look up and smile at him.

Six Scrolls per minute, this was Zhou Weiqing’s absolute limit. From the time it took from the completion of the first scroll to the last scroll, he had taken less than half an hour.

Putting down his brush, Zhou Weiqing noticed the deafening silence around. After packing up the completed scrolls and stacking them neatly, he looked up once more towards Yun Li and gave a confident smile. “Bro Yun Li, how is it? Have you already completed your set?”

Yun Li did not even return to his seat. After all, he had only finished 25 Scrolls. At this moment, his face was deathly pale, looking at Zhou Weiqing with a strange expression on his face. His lips were tightly pursed, and his hands gripped tightly in fists. After a moment, he finally let loose a sigh.

“I have lost. Although I do not know why or how exactly I have lost, I have to admit it. Can you please tell me how you did it? In my nearly twenty years in the Consolidating Equipment Master world, I have never seen or heard of anyone who can create Consolidating Equipment Scrolls at such a speed. That is already beyond the realms of common logic.”

Zhou Weiqing smiled faintly and said: “I’m afraid that sometimes common logic isn’t always accurate. If I told you that this is an innate talent of mine, do you believe me?”

Without hesitation, Yun Li said: “I believe you. Looks like I have underestimated the people of the world. I sincerely apologise for tearing your sign early. I admit that you truly have the potential to become a God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master in the future.”

The moment Yun Li said that, there was an uproar in the surrounding crowd. By now, the audience had come to their senses from the shock, and their looks at Zhou Weiqing had all changed. Originally, there had been barely about twenty to thirty people watching the start of the competition, but the number had now grown to almost sixty! This was quite a huge number, after all the people who could enter the Trading Center were mostly Jewel Masters, each of whom had paid the membership dues! Under normal circumstances, it was nearly impossible for so many people to gather in front of a shop. However, none of them felt that this had been a waste of time. Not only had they witnessed an epic battle between two Consolidating Equipment Masters, the rare opportunity to actually see them at work, and even more so, they had witnessed the birth of a miracle!

When the words ‘God Tier’ came out of Yun Li’s mouth, some of the younger Jewel Masters were eager and itching to sign up. If they could become a Follower of a future God Tier Consolidating Equipment Master, that was an absolute honour. This would be the same in the entire Boundless Mainland, no matter where they were.

Hearing Yun Li’s words, Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily and said: “Thank you Bro Yun Li, however, losing confidence is not a good sign just before a fight. Our bet is after all being a Lifetime Follower. Bro Yun Li, if you lose confidence now, you will have already lost half the battle.”

Yun Li took a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, they were filled with an unprecedented fighting spirit. In a solemn voice, he said: “Before the final result is out, none of us can say who will win. Come on then, let’s see what your second competing topic is?”

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Very well, we can always exchange pointers after this duel is over. As for the second competition, it shall be our creation ability. Each of us shall take out a design that we believe is the toughest we have, and we will create each other’s design, and use that as a comparison. We do not have to succeed, but whoever is closest will win.”

Yun Li’s eyes narrowed and he said: “You want to fight based on our teachers?”

As soon as Zhou Weiqing gave the topic, Yun Li had understood the underlying meaning. Every Consolidating Equipment Master had a few designs that they were unable to create yet, mostly from their teacher, school or clan, and it was usually what they were working towards as well. As such, when Yun Li mentioned competing teachers, it would mean comparing who had the higher quality design. The higher ranked and quality the design, the tougher it would be to complete, perhaps not even being able to create the Consolidating Ink. In that case, it would be an even higher chance of winning.

Yun Li drew a deep breath, a light shining in his eyes. Zhou Weiqing suddenly had a bad feeling, as he could see a massive confidence suddenly fill Yun Li’s eyes. Hmmm… Could this fellow also have designs for a Legendary Set? Zhou Weiqing thought to himself. If that were true, he could be in trouble! After all the third round would be Yun Li coming up with the topic! However, after a split second of panic, he calmed down once more. After all, even if they both had Legendary Set designs, as unlikely as it seemed, the worst case scenario would thus be a draw. If he then lost the 3rd battle, the overall result would still end up as a draw.

Just as Zhou Weiqing thought his way through that, Yun Li said solemnly: “What if we both aren’t able to even create the Consolidating Ink?”