Chapter 55 Wei Canglan (1/2)

The Great Zhou Institute class ranking exam was over. This year’s class ranking exam however had caused some pretty big ripples in Great Zhou City. The most enthusiastically discussed amongst them was the extraordinary performance of their prince. The prince rumoured to be incapable of beginning channel opening cultivation had used his six channel strength to obtain an overwhelming victory over Qi Yue, whom had relied on the Channel Breaker Art to reach eight channels…

The spread of this news caused numerous gasps of surprise. For the very first time, Zhou Yuan had begun to gain some reputation for himself in the Great Zhou Empire without relying on his status as prince.

…

A long break followed the class ranking exam. For Zhou Yuan however, there was no relaxation after victory and his daily training routine continued.

It was just as he had said to Qi Yue. In Zhou Yuan’s eyes, the latter was not much of a threat at all. Qi Yue had merely been a small pebble on Zhou Yuan’s path to growing stronger.

After kicking this pebble aside, Zhou Yuan’s gaze turned back once again to a more distant goal.

A month later.

The inner chambers of the royal palace.

Zhou Yuan walked into the chambers and looked behind the desk at Zhou Qing, “Father, you were looking for me?”

Zhou Qing lifted his head with a smile and replied, “How has your training been recently?”

Zhou Yuan responded, “Pretty good. I should unblock my seventh meridian channel soon.”

He had diligently training around the clock for the past month and the seventh channel was now in sight.

Zhou Qing nodded in gratification. Looks like the class ranking exam victory had not made Zhou Yuan lose himself to joy and slack off on his training.

Zhou Qing could not help but sigh and say, “It was really all thanks to you. If not for you, the Great Zhou Institute would not have escaped Qi Manor’s claws.” Recalling the class ranking exam still caused him to be a little on edge.

“As a subject of Great Zhou, it is only natural for me to do what I can.”Zhou Yuan smiled.

The smile on Zhou Qing’s face grew even wider. Soon after, he slowly said, “We may have been able to stop Qi Manor this time, but they will not give up.”

Cold light was revealed in Zhou Yuan’s eyes as he said, “Father, Qi Manor is a tumor to Great Zhou. To strengthen Great Zhou, this tumor must be destroyed.”

Zhou Qing nodded. “I naturally desire to eliminate Qi Manor at all times, but they are currently no weaker than the royal clan. If we were to go to war with them, both of us will surely suffer huge losses. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Zhou Yuan was a little startled.

Zhou Qing continued in a soft voice, “Unless the great general will firmly stand on our side and help us deal with Qi Manor.”

“Great general? Wei Canglan?” Zhou Yuan’s heart shook. It was obvious that he had heard of this individual before.

Zhou Qing lightly nodded. “The three strongest factions in the current Great Zhou are us, the royal clan, Qi Manor and the great general’s faction.”

“Great general Wei is also an Alpha-Origin expert and the Canglan army under him is one of the three strongest armies of Great Zhou.”

As for the other two armies, one was the royal clan’s imperial guards and the other was Qi Manor’s King Qi Guards.

“Father, could great general Wei have thoughts of rebelling?” Zhou Yuan frowned.

Zhou Qing shook his head. “Back then, great general Wei stood at my side even against Great Wu. He is not the kind of person who would entertain thoughts of rebellion. Truthfully speaking, it is I who let him down.”

At this point, Zhou Qing’s expression dimmed somewhat.

Zhou Yuan curiously asked, “What happened?”

Zhou Qing stood up and pointed at a map of Great Zhou hanging on the wall behind him. On the north-west part of the map was an area called Canglan County. Next to the county was a sprawling large black mass akin to an abyss.

Zhou Qing pointed at the black area on the map and asked with a serious expression, “Do you know of this land?”

“This is… Blackwater?” Zhou Yuan’s expression changed a little. Blackwater was well known in Great Zhou as a vile land populated by countless savage Genesis Beasts. No empire was able to occupy this region, allowing many independent practitioners to gather there, forming numerous factions of varying sizes.

These factions would poke at Great Zhou’s borders from time to time, plundering and slaughtering. No crime was beyond them.

Zhou Qing elaborated in a heavy voice, “Blackwater’s most powerful faction is known as Black Venom City and its lord goes by the title Black Venom King. He is a very infamous Alpha-Origin expert.”

“Back then, the Black Venom King invaded Great Zhou but was stopped by great general Wei. In retaliation, the Black Venom King besieged Canglan County and although he was pushed back in the end, great general Wei was struck by the Black Venom King’s secret technique, Devil Miasma Poison.”

“Although great general Wei was tortured by the poison, he was after all an Alpha-Origin expert and was ultimately able to suppress it. But no one could have expected what happened next. Great general Wei’s only son, Wei Bin, was afflicted by the poison at birth. He has been paralyzed and bedridden till this day and is constantly tormented by the poison.”