Chapter 43: Essence of the Emperor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“What are you? You insolent fool dare compare with brother Yuntian? What a joke!

“Your father? Your glory? All that assumed glory was nothing more than trash, and this talk about how powerful your father was? It took a single strike from brother Yuntian and your father had ended up coughing up blood whilst kneeling!

“Hmph, do you not know this was the most shameful event to have happened to the minor branch of your family? What glory could you possibly be worthy of? Do you still think your father’s reputation is something you can be proud of?”

The young maiden clad in green walked out at this moment as she unleashed a volley of heartless and cold insults!

As she spoke, the young lass was bold enough to unleash her Blade’s Menace to instantly exert an enormous pressure onto Zhou Yan. Thus, Zhou Yan’s entire body trembled as he seemingly felt as if his ocean of Qi was about to shatter like a pane of glass. However, since the young lad had experienced and endured the absolute torture of having his entire soul shatter, this pressure had little to no effect on him.

Zhou Yan stood his ground with a menacing gaze, as he refused to submit.

This young lass was ruthless in her methods. If he had not been baptized by the spiritual energy of the enormous blade, he would undoubtedly end up kneeling whilst coughing up blood at this moment, repeating the same way his father had fallen. It would bring the young lad absolute shame!

This young lass was bold enough to implore such an underhanded method without anyone noticing, and had intended to shame him!

Such scum!

Thus, Zhou Yan’s veins were protruding outward from both his arms as his blood boiled with the flames of rage, the young lad feared nothing even if he was going to slaughter both of these people on where they stood!

However, the young lad knew he would not have such an opportunity to murder the both of them here. That elder was immensely powerful so even if the young lad used Silver Frost and one of the sealed Blade’s Spectre from within Sorrow’s Breaker, it would do little to no harm toward the elder.

“Enough!”

With a single wave of the elderly man’s hand he had broken the tension from the exertion of Blade’s Menace by the young lass. As he was protecting Zhou Yan, his gaze shifted to Zhou Wuzhen and spoke in a cold tone, “The words he had spoken earlier; awakening his Blade’s Menace in a cycle of moon’s time. Is that true?”

“Yes… my Lord… It is true!”

Zhou Wuyan’s expression was slightly displeased and he seemed to be in a depressed mood. However, under such circumstances he dared not to deceive anyone since getting to the bottom of the truth regarding this matter would be an exceptionally easy task to do!

If he truly was deceiving the elder, it would not matter if he was a Lord—had the elder murdered him with a single attack there would be little to no repercussions.

Since the entire situation had progressed to such an extent—one that even he was unable to imagine what the outcome was—the only thing he hoped for was that Zhou Yan would be murdered by someone in the academy!

“If that was the case then this young lad’s natural gift is indeed outstanding.”

As that elder spoke, his gaze shifted to Zhou Yan and said, “If you have an exceptional natural gift it’s only natural for the family to cultivate your talents. However, you’re in no position to disrespect your seniors nor elders. This time, I’m willing to drop this matter since your father had fallen from grace and was unavailable to teach you the basic values of respect. However, after this time I don’t wish to see a repeated offense from you!”

“Yes, Elder.”

Zhou Yan was boiling with fury as this elder who seemed like a good lad had actually sided with that lass!

After using such an underhanded method this elder still sided with that young lass!

If he was unskilled, would this mean his complete utter demise on the spot?

“There’s no need for your dissatisfaction as good as your natural gifts are, it would serve no purpose when you’re dead, hence you’ll only end up as useless trash. Raw strength and power are the most important values!”

“The final stages of the selection would be held later and would be a fight to the death since you’ve fully mastered your Blade’s Essence. It would be such a waste if you were murdered by someone else out there, hence it would not benefit the family.”

“Don’t act arrogantly if you’re without power! A genius who’s dead is no genius!”

“Know your place!”

The casual statements made by the elder himself moments earlier had seemingly offended Zhou Yan as he felt incredibly displeased in his heart.

On the surface, what that elder said seemed similar to a piece of heartfelt advice. However, Zhou Yan was no fool hence it would be impossible for the young lad to not be able to read between the lines of the elder’s words. The final note would always be that the young lad’s father would forever be remembered as a living joke in the eyes of the main branch of the family. Hence, if the young lad had been selected to enter the main branch, it would be an insult to Zhou Yuntian.

This elderly man actually feared Zhou Yuntian!

Although such a possibility was unlikely but after much detailed reflection and analysis, Zhou Yan realized exactly what this elderly man was concerned about.

Since all that young lass talked about was ‘Brother Yuntian’, it was obvious the relationship this young lass shared with Zhou Yuntian was not a normal one.

“As you wish, Elder!”

Zhou Yan took a gentle bow and did not say anything else.

The young lad’s main goal for the outburst earlier was only to show that he was still very much alive and to put a stop to anything Zhou Wuzhen and his accomplices had planned.

Thus, he had achieved that goal. At the very least, even though being Zhou Wangchen’s son was seen as a ‘disgrace’ by others, this young lad had very much proven his own identity!

At least for now, not a single soul would dare to call him a b*stard child!

No child would call its mother ugly, and a hound would never feast on its young! Hence, it mattered not to Zhou Yan if his father had become a living joke to every soul in the world. He would stand by his father’s good name to teach everyone that his father, Zhou Wangchen, was not disgraced by being forced to kneel on the ground as he coughed up blood after being beaten by Zhou Yuntian; instead, Zhou Wangchen had a son named Zhou Yan who had beaten Zhou Yuntian to the extent of forcing him to beg for mercy!

Thus, the young lad had accomplished the first goal he had set before. Any matters after the fact would not be a concern nor would the young lad be bothered by any of it as he would be busy getting ready for the second round of the test of might!

Only by partaking in the test of might, would Zhou Yan be allowed to face off against Zhou Lingyi! Hence, with such an opportunity, the young lad would be able to murder Zhou Wuzhen and everyone she cared about!

Only ones who were close to the victims would be in anguish, but vengeance was often sweet and satisfying for the executioner! Since these people treated him as such and had gone so far as to shame him, it was only fair for the young lad to burn every bridge and to slaughter every single person these people cared about the most. Only then will they know pain and anguish!

The seeds of bloodlust had sprouted in Zhou Yan’s heart.

However, he kept his emotions hidden and remained in an emotionless calm demeanor as he was no longer bothered by the countless skeptical looks nor the gaze of pure admiration by anyone.

It was stated within the Nine-Folds Yin Yang Manuscripts, ‘Bothered not by the powerful, as one should leave the powerful be; for the mountains will still be caressed by the wind. Bothered not by one’s menace, for the moonlight still shines on a wide creak.’ Hence, the young lad was not bothered or affected by the menacing and sinister glare by the couple who stood next to the elder. They were invisible to the young lad.

Standing by Zhou Yan’s side was Gu Yan. He stood silently without saying a word—it was as if Gu Yan was the young lad’s loyal servant.

However, Gu Yan felt extremely emotional by Zhou Yan’s actions—he felt excited and proud of the young lad! At the same time, Gu Yan was burning with the flames of wrath by how poorly Zhou Yan had been treated!

However, Gu Yan was merely holding the status of a ‘servant’ so his abilities were nowhere close to even being a threat to these people. If he made a move to attack these people, it would be a deathwish for him! However, he never feared the grips of death since he was determined to lay down his life in this journey. Still, it would only bring more trouble for Zhou Yan if he acted rashly.

Moreover, since those people knew their place and did not deliberately attack Zhou Yan, hence he had no reason to attack as well.

Thus, he silently stood by Zhou Yan’s side. Even though he too was faced by the cold mocking grin of the couple, he stood his ground.

…

“Alright, since Zhou Yan entered in such haste, then this current test of might would be participated by eleven candidates.”

“The first test would be age followed by the assessment of realms. After that would be the test of enlightenment, and then the main branch of our family’s Qi Column’s assessment! The final event would be a fight to the death!”

Zhou Wuzhen stood next to the lord of the main branch of the Zhou family—he spoke with respect. After he was done speaking he turned around and bowed in servitude, and then sat alongside the lord of the main branch and that couple.

This time, the lord of the main branch of the Zhou family did not hesitate nor refused anything. He gradually walked onto the podium in the academy.

At the same time, the eleven candidates including Zhou Yan slowly walked toward the center of the academy.

…

“It was unexpected that Zhou Yan would have such natural gifts. It seems that Zhou Wangchen would’ve some form of hope now.” A middle-aged man spoke with a smile at a tavern near the academy.

“Father, what are your opinions about me getting into the main branch of the Zhou family, in comparison to brother Zhou Yan’s natural gifts?” A charming and beautiful voice of a young lass spoke next to the middle-aged man.

“Well, to put things simply, you have a twin Qi Column with two segments each. The multiple of two is four, meaning your Qi Column’s ability is stronger than any common-folk by four folds! This means that at your age, you’ve already surpassed Zhou Yuntian.”

That middle-aged man explained with a soft tone.

“Back then, when Zhou Yuntian was your age, he was merely in possession of a single Qi Column of three segments! Twin Qi Columns? Hehe, Ying’er, your natural gifts are the best in the entire city!

“A genius with twin Qi Columns has always existed since the days of old! Based on my observation, this Zhou Yan lad would only have a single Qi Column of three segments. The best this lad could do was shatter the shackles of three whole realms. You, on the other hand, have twin Qi Columns with two segments each!

“All it takes is one more mutation—and it matters not which Qi Column gets another segment—then you would have six segments! However, if both Qi Columns were mutated into three segments each and the multiple of three is nine that would result in nine segments!

“Nine segments are known as ‘Emperor’s Essence’. You have the potential to own the Emperor’s Essence. How would that Zhou Yan lad even compare to you?

“This is the difference between a single Qi Column and a twin Qi Column!

“Hence, it mattered not if there was an extremely rare genius in possession of a single Qi Column with seven segments. That person wouldn’t even come close to being a competition to your twin Qi Columns which has two segments each!

“All it takes is a single drastic mutation from you to form nine segments. That person with seven segments would require two mutations to have nine segments.

“However, a Qi Column’s mutation would get increasingly difficult the further the progress is, and to hasten one’s mutation would require significantly more resources!

“So, do you understand the importance of each segment of the Qi Columns?

“Such a shame for Zhou Yan! If he had twin Qi Columns, I believe that the elder wouldn’t hesitate to send him back to the main branch of the family and keep him absolutely safe. Too bad all he had was three segments. However, these three segments are also extremely rare.

“Do you that lad, Zhou Yuan, and the main reason for his anger? I believe it’s most probably due to his envy over Zhou Yan’s three segments!”

That middle-aged man patiently explained, but as the adorable young lass listened to her father’s explanation, she exclaimed as it seemed this was the first time the young lass had ever heard anything like that.

“I see. That explains why the elder spoils me that much, and why sister Zhou Ting was so envious of me—it was all due to how naturally gifted I was!”

The young lass exclaimed in surprise and excitement.

“Yes indeed. Why do you think the pupils from the other minor branches were brought away but we were allowed to be accompanied by a Blade’s Specter to experience anything from anywhere? This is all due to the special treatment, right? However, keep this to yourself, and do not exclaim it everywhere you go especially since the main branch of our family isn’t as united as you think. You would still need to be careful.”

The middle-aged man spoke compassionately as he drank some ale whilst smiling delightfully.

“Yes father, I understand! So it seems I’m actually that gifted and I was completely oblivious to it! It explains why my training was so easy and smooth. I was unaware of what the Blade’s Menace was before, but now that I’ve awakened it training is becoming increasingly interesting. Father, I have a feeling I’m close to ascension again. I’m very close to ascending into the second rank within the realm of the Blade’s Enforcer.”

The young lass spoke as she chuckled gleefully.

“Close to ascension again? Great! Excellent! Truly impressively fast! Zhou Yan had only spent a cycle of the moon’s time to ascend from the realm of the Blade’s Cardinal to the second rank of the realm of the Blade’s Essence. Although it was without a doubt exceedingly fast but my beloved daughter could awaken both her Blade’s Essence and Blade’s Menace in a cycle of moon’s time and ascend into the second rank within the realm of the Blade’s Enforcer. Just as that young lad had said, your natural gifts have surpassed his by eight streets! Hahaha, this is a delightful description indeed!”

That middle-aged man spoke in pure delight and satisfaction.

He adored his beloved daughter even more now.

“You’re such a meanie father. If brother Zhou Yan had known what you had spoken about him, he wouldn’t be happy about it.”

That young lass spoke.

“I had close ties with his father—we used to drink ale and battle together. When you were a child, we ventured through this city for a moon’s cycle time. Zhou Yan had only spent a cycle of the moon’s time with you, but it was at that time the both of you had formed a bond together! You haven’t even forgotten about him it seems!”

That middle-aged man spoke with a smile.

As the young lass heard what her father had spoken, her cheeks blushed slightly.