Condemning the Heavens

"I also would like to say that he is a person of significance to the prophet from the center of the continent who just left. If the prophet finds out that you killed his, uh, special friend, right after he had left, do you think that he will just stand by and watch? Do you think you and your family can shoulder the extinction of our country?"

The more this person spoke, the more worried everyone else became, and they started looking at one another with hesitating looks. Was Xue Wei truly that dangerous? Not because of himself but because of his background? That could not be right, as they were all noble-born members of the capital. They were used to being the ones above all others, but now they had to lower their head to someone who was not even on their level?

Some were unhappy with this; others were unreconciled. All of them understood that this person who had appeared out of nowhere was exaggerating, but everything he said were possible situations. It was no secret that Xiao Lei doted on his nephew – even the noble-born from the capital knew this – and that killing Xue Wei would incur his rage.

Although no one knew how Prophet Lan would react if Xue Wei was killed, there was a chance that he would fly into a rage, as it was rather obvious that he had been very fond of this youngster.

And the Crown Prince had also displayed his stance at the banquet a few days back. He would protect this youngster if he had to, so if Xue Wei died he was likely to be the first to execute the ones behind it to appeal to Xiao Lei.

Thinking of all these things, the faces of the men who had blocked Xue Wei turned pale, and their limbs trembled slightly, but they had mounted the tiger and it was not easy to get off again.

"Xue Wei crippled my cousin when he had done nothing wrong! In the middle of the streets of the Inner City, my cousin came riding casually, minding his own business when suddenly this Xue Wei attacked him, only to get crippled by his own panicking horse."

"He must have used some sort of forbidden technique to assault his horse and then caused this so-called accident to occur!" the cousin spoke with a loud voice, and from time to time people would glance at Xue Wei to see how he was taking these accusations, yet Xue Wei just stood still, leaning on one leg and having his arms crossed over his chest as a small smile played on his lips.

Xue Wei understood that he did not have to defend himself this day. The person who had jumped in had to be one of the Crown Prince’s followers whose task was to ensure that life was as simple for Xue Wei as possible, while making the latter know that he could thank the Crown Prince for this calmness in his life - this was also why his helper had mentioned the Crown Prince as one of the first protectors of Xue Wei.

Xue Wei had to admit that the Crown Prince was doing rather well. He was skilled and quite shrewd to come up with such a plan, but Xue Wei had a better impression of him because of it.

"It is a shame I cannot openly support him since it will show where my uncle puts his allegiance, and I cannot do that for him," Xue Wei muttered to himself. The Crown Prince was someone he had come to respect and acknowledge. He knew how to conduct himself and how to reel in people.

"Oh well, there is no reason to stick around anymore," Xue Wei continued. While the two people who were facing off against each other began another round of verbal sparring, Xue Wei slipped off to the side and left the two to do what they wished to do.

He then made his way into the tent that sold medicinal plants and other items that could help improve one’s cultivation base.

Looking around, Xue Wei started to consider what to do. "I cannot make herbal concoctions any longer," he sighed. "I am not sharing baths with a whole group of men, and it’s not very convenient to sit in a concoction in the middle of the shared bathroom.

"Since that is the case, then I have to focus on herbs that can be consumed directly. I haven’t consumed any medicinal herbs directly since it is limited how much of the energy I can absorb from each plant, but now it seems that I do not have much of a choice."

Xue Wei went to the counter and contemplated for a moment longer before he started speaking to the patient clerk that was in charge of this medicinal plant tent.

"I would like to buy ten Rising Mountain Dewflowers and five stalks of Corpse Grass."

"Please wait a moment," the clerk said with a nod of his head. "That is one thousand and fifty contribution points."

"The Rising Mountain Dewflower costs a hundred contribution points each, whereas the Corpse Grass costs ten contribution points a stalk."

Xue Wei nodded his head and handed over his plaque where his contribution points were recorded in. Moments after, the clerk handed it back together with a few jade boxes of the most common jade make and placed it all in a few paper bags.

Having received the items, Xue Wei cupped his fists and turned around to leave. He had no reason to stay in the middle of the tent city any longer. Instead, he needed to return to his own tent and start consuming the medicinal herbs.

Xue Wei took a different route on the way back to his tent. He smoothly avoided the big group of people that had been arguing about him and managed to return to his tent without any problems.

"So, Rising Mountain Dewflowers raises one’s cultivation base. The energy within it will be converted into Qi that one can claim as one’s own."

"Unfortunately, it is impossible to consume much of the medicinal properties within the herb because of the nature of human bodies. There is one other option though, to withdraw a bit more energy from each of the herbs, and that is to eat it together with a bit of Corpse Grass."

"Corpse Grass cleanses the body, but it also mildens the medicinal properties of other herbs, which is why it is used in so many medicinal formulas. Eating a full stalk of Corpse Grass is too much and will prove detrimental to my foundation, but half a stalk of Corpse Grass alongside one Rising Mountain Dewflower should let me bring out half of the medicinal properties within the plants."

Xue Wei had gotten used to talking with Lan the last two weeks, but now he realized that he was all alone, yet he still spoke to himself slightly while getting ready to consume the medicinal pills.

Xue Wei sat down with his legs crossed and his palms resting in his lap, one Rising Mountain Dewflower in one hand and half a stalk of Corpse Grass in the other.

He then steadied his breathing slowly, closed his eyes, and found inner calm. He felt how his entire body slowly relaxed; all his muscles, which usually were taut and ready to spring into action at every moment, were now soft and relaxed.

His breathing became steady and deep, and his body became heavy. It was not before he reached a stage just before entering a trance that he lifted the two herbs to his mouth and bit the petals of the Rising Mountain Dewflower and stuffed the half a stalk of Corpse Grass into his mouth.

He felt how the flowers at first were coarse to chew on, but as he chewed on them, he felt them turn into a liquid stream of energy that entered through his throat and into his meridians.

His entire body felt hot. Not a burning hot but a pleasant sensation. The Qi was white in color, yet as it roamed through Xue Wei’s meridians and ended in his dantian, he could see with his inner eye how it gained an azure gleam.

"The azure color must be because I am studying the Azure Dragon Scripture," Xue Wei mused. "Everyone else I have seen have white Qi, and the Qi that I consumed from the Rising Mountain Dewflower was also white. I guess the Azure Dragon Scripture truly is as rare as Uncle and Lan said."

Having consumed one Rising Mountain Dewflower, Xue Wei felt a rise in his cultivation base. It was not amazing, but it was still rather good considering that this improvement had come about due to eating just one medicinal plant.

"I shouldn’t eat more plants until I digest this fully," Xue Wei decided. "If I get too much outside energy without integrating it perfectly, then my foundations will become unsteady, and that is something I cannot afford to do."

"I can consume one herb a day, but since I already consumed the herb for today, I guess it is time for me to contemplate the Kick of Forgotten Kings."

Xue Wei began cultivating the Kick of Forgotten Kings. The first night was spent contemplating on the ability, and after that he spent every day at the martial arts training field practicing the ability on the Black Gold dummies.

At the start, not many were interested in his training, but as time went on and they realized how magnificent the attack was, more and more came to watch him train.

Xue Wei did everything he had been taught by Lan when training, and soon he was capable of fully controlling the ability.

It was not before then that the other people in the Genius Camp realized that Xue Wei was a force to be reckoned with. The second and third layer Earth Warriors were all worried that now that he had learned such a strong skill, his next aim was to challenge them and take over their spots in the rankings.

Fortunately for them, Xue Wei did not seem to have this in mind, and instead he went to find the commander.

"Commander, sir," Xue Wei greeted the commander with his fists cupped. "I have learned a new skill and would like to train it against real enemies. Could it be possible for me to use a few enemies in the arena?"

"A few?" the commander asked with surprise. Usually, one of their geniuses would only fight one opponent in the arena at a time, but it seemed that Xue Wei had something else planned entirely.

He nodded his head, "I fought one before, but now I would like to fight a few stronger experts. I need to challenge myself. And if I want to truly gain some experience, then I have to go through life-and-death battles. There are no forests anywhere close to the camp where I can go and hunt Fierce Beasts, so my only option is to fight in the arena."