Commanding Wind and Cloud

"Are you occupied?" Hayen Brianna tossed the umbrella in her hand, and asked, "What about go for a walk with me?"

Qian Jin looked into Hayen Brianna’s eyes with a puzzled expression. A black metal mask covered her face, making it difficult to see her facial expression clearly. But her pretty eyes were shining with sincerity.

"You don’t look occupied. Come with me! Let’s go out."

As Hayen Brianna turned back, her long black hair fluttered behind her. A light aroma floated into Qian Jin’s nose, which drew a sharp comparison with her identity as a bandit. The unrestrained character, sheer confidence, valiant and heroic bearing, as well her hot figure and light fragrance, composed the unique creature known as Hayen Brianna.

Qian Jin shrugged his shoulder, knowing that he couldn’t go on with absorbing the warrior stone today. If one day his warrior power reached the peak of Level 9 Demon Fighter, he might be more anxious for having a breakthrough, which could impede his progress. Maybe going out for a walk will be better than sitting there wondering in vain.

The bandit, who was responsible for pulling up the floor, bent over the telescope on the wall for a while, switched the wheel and said, "There isn’t anyone outside, so you can go."

Qian Jin walked onto the ground, and had several glances at the telescope hanging on the wall, at which time the bandit laughed with pride, "Guy, you haven’t ever seen such an interesting item, right? You can observe what is going on above the earth when you are underground."

"What’s special about this? Just the reflecting of several glasses." Qian Jin screwed his lips. The library of Qian Family didn’t merely collect the famous figures’ autobiographies and warrior power practicing secrets of primary level. As a library accessed not only by the direct descendants of Qian Family but also their subclans, the vast majority of it was stored with books telling the truth about lives of all walks. Such a simple working principles might be shocking to other people, but to Qian Jin, someone who was forced to read through incredible amounts of books and work hard to make more money for his family, it was nothing special.

The bandit blinked his eyes out of curiosity and shook his head and spoke to himself repeatedly, "How could he know that? It took me a long time to figure it out."

Hayen Brianna opened her large umbrella, under which the two walked amid the downpour shoulder to shoulder. Her curious eyes were fixed on Qian Jin through her iron mask. "It seems to me that you are capable of everything? Not only pharmaceutics and warrior techniques but also obscure things like that."

Qian Jin scratched the back of his head out of habit, "It is the reality of earning a living. I was forced to do so. I also want to be one of those that do nothing but indulge in food and wine, but life hasn’t allowed it."

"You could be living a better life now." Hayen Brianna trod on the muddy water on the ground, looked at the rain and said lightly "You can choose to be a pharmacist. Grandma Medi said that you were a well-rounded Level 7 Pharmacist. You might overshadow many of the few Pharmacy Masters in the Zence Empire who studied level 7 potions."

Qian Jin smiled. If becoming a Pharmacy Master meant choosing a single direction to conduct pharmaceutical research like what most pharmacists did, he might have really exceeded those Pharmacy Masters in the aspect of Level 7 potions.

"Entering the Pharmacist Union with the identity of a Level 5 Pharmacist, you’ll live a good life." Hayen Brianna tossed her body again and looked at Qian Jin, "You can do it as long as you wish."

"No, I don’t." Qian Jin shook his head incisively, "I want to be the greatest warrior! Not for anyone else but my father! Even if I become a pharmacist, a pharmacy master, or a pharmacy grandmaster, I can only guarantee my father a can-do life instead of a proud and glorious one! He has infused with the doctrine that the warriors were the most honored. Now that I can’t change his mind, the only thing I’m obliged to do is finishing his unfulfilled dream! My destiny is becoming a great warrior!"

The breath-taking eyes under the black metal mask were locked on Qian Jin for a while. Then she uttered a light and jubilant smile, "Great! I thought pharmaceuticals had distracted you, but now it seems that you have a very strong will and won’t lose your goal as a warrior due to success in pharmaceuticals."

"What success?" Qian Jin smiled bitterly and shook his head. He even hadn’t reached the primary level in the Adam’s Pharmacy Shop, let alone this so-called "success".

Observing the sincere and casual look of Qian Jin, Hayen Brianna appeared a little puzzled, wondering why a Level 7 Pharmacist couldn’t be called a successful person. However, from Qian Jin’s face, she didn’t read any underestimation, as if he firmly and sincerely believed that becoming a Level 7 Pharmacist was nothing worth mentioning. Then, what level of pharmacist could be deemed successful in his point of view?

Qian Jin walked in silence, listening to the incessant pattering of the raindrops falling onto the ground. He tried to recall the scene when he was fighting with Nila in the downpour the other day. And then his warrior power shivered slightly without being activated.

"Do you know why I helped you?"

Qian Jin opened his eyes and mouth faintly, and wore a puzzled look, "I don’t know."

A cunning smile flashed out of her pretty eyes through the metal mask, "Do you believe in what Grandma Medi and others have said, that I helped you because I have feelings for you?"

"How come?" Qian Jin ground his mouth, and a smile was rippled between his lips and eyes, "If such a thing happened to Cech Flet, I might believe in that. But when it turns to me, I may prefer the rumor that our Emperor has fallen in love with the Demon Emperor Lucifer."

"Cech Flet? The man who is prettier than a woman?" Hayen Brianna shook her head, "A woman might have a crush on him at the first sight. But those who dare to approach him are either extremely stupid, or highly confidently, or are deeply in love with him. Otherwise, it would be humiliating for a woman to be overshadowed by the beauty of the man standing by her side."

"All right." Qian Jin kept nodding his head, "A woman may feel pressured standing by Cech Flet’s side. It seems that being too handsome may not be that desirable."

"Let’s talk about us." Hayen Brianna stopped walking, cast her eyes at the stream which had spilled over the dam and was rushing on in a roaring momentum and said, "I saved the lives of you three, so you have to do three things for me."

"Killing the innocent people..."

"Have you ever seen our team do such things?" The pretty eyes under the metal mask were simmered with dissatisfaction and anger, and a sense of pride, "Though our team is a branch of the Black Wind Bandit Group, we haven’t ever done the things the Black Wind used to do. The two scouts you dispatched last time were killed off by the Tenth Leader, instead of us."

"I’m sorry." Qian Jin lifted his right fist, put it around his heart, slightly bent over and then nodded his head.

Hayen Brianna’s angry look disappeared all of a sudden, and instead, a sense of surprise and praise twinkled in her eyes. Generally, warriors were stubborn, or even little arrogant, especially the Demon Fighters and the above-level warriors who didn’t admit their mistakes. But this person acknowledged his fault and made an instant apology, whose attitude was straightforward and heroically magnanimous.

His honest and sincere attitude in making an apology aroused Hayan Brianna’s respect. She clicked her tongue, feeling that the more she got to know about him, the more she got hold of his unusualness.

"If you think that the things I ask you to do are against your moral code, you can refuse to do so. If I can’t persuade you into accepting it, it will be deemed futile. As long as you manage three things for me, the debt you owe me will be cleared. How about that?"

"I’m just a Level 9 Demon Fighter..."

"You won’t stay a Level 9 Demon Fighter." Hayen Brianna raised her head a little to look over the streams, "I don’t misjudge people."

"I also hope so." Qian Jin’s doubt of Hayen Brianna for her generous help during these days was cleared away. He stroked his chin and said, "It’s not easy to make a breakthrough over a Level 9 Demon Fighter."

"Sure it is." Hayen Brianna lifted his hand and pointed at the rushing torrents, "This stream is mostly running still, but today, it takes on an unexpected surging momentum. As for the rushing rivers which are converged by several dozens of streams like this, who can imagine how torrential it could be? There are a lot of things that are beyond people’s imagination..."

"Rushing...converging..." Qian Jin quivered his body slightly and gazed blankly at the roaring stream. Just then the one hundred and eight energy reservoirs in his body started rotating, after which the warrior power was opened up to rush through torrentially, and then it was stirred to explode! Explode! Explode over and over again!

"No! Having it explode is not the best way." Qian Jin shook his head softly. The warrior connections inside his body were like the main streams, whereas the one hundred and eight energy reservoirs were their tributaries whose pushing force on explosion were constant. And if I can make the energy reservoirs explode like the tributaries...

"I’ll try mobilizing one energy reservoir first..."

Qian Jin began activating his central energy reservoirs by ten cycles, thirty cycles, fifty cycles...one hundred and seventy cycles...until the warrior power of the second energy reservoir was stimulated to rotate uncontrollably under the influence of the first reservoir, just like a windmill which stayed still at first and was then blown by the wind to exert great power.

When the second energy reservoir had gained five hundred cycles, the three reservoirs started to rotate, which, though carried five cycles’ power, produced greater pushing force than before...then the fourth reservoir and the fifth...the energy reservoirs were opened up one by one, making Qian Jin feel that the pushing force formed by the explosion of the one hundred and eight energy reservoirs had become fifty percent stronger than before! And that if he runs into an enemy like the Tenth Leader, he would be able to defeat him with just one move!

Hayen Briann eyes’ were twinkling with admiration under her metal mask. Making a breakthrough at such a time was...

During the short half an hour’s time, Hayen Brianna’s look changed from admiration into surprised, "Such a strong control of his energy reservoirs? Has he controlled his energy reservoirs to such a high level without repeated practice during the past half an hour? It seems that he has to accumulate in all five hundred cycles in each of his reservoirs so as to influence the next one? How long did it take me to achieve that? Three days or five? I remember that when I tried it for the first time, my second reservoir started rotating uncontrollably when the first reservoir had just rotated for one hundred circles..."

"It seems better for the interaction between the energy reservoirs to be aroused later." Qian Jin gave a stop to the explosion of his energy reservoir, and started rotating the first reservoir silently, for five hundred cycles...five hundred and one, for five hundred and three, for five hundred and eight! And then the second energy reservoir started rotating!

"Oh..." Hayen Brianna’s eyes were wide open with shock. Generally, when a bloodline warrior’s bloodline power was opened up, his control of power would be above ordinary warriors, but Qian Jin had reached a speed of six hundred cycles on his second try?

"I know! I’ve got it!" Qian Jin opened his eyes smilingly and made a deep bow at Hayen Brianna, "Thank you."

"I also want to say a ‘thanks’ to you." Hayen Brianna nodded her head feebly, "Thanks for showing me what a weirdo is."

"Weirdo?" Qian Jin examined his body, finding nothing strange, such as having a third hand.

"Weirdo." Hayen Brianna spoke with a louder voice, "You know what? The first time I activated my bloodline power, I tried to control it like you, but every time the first reservoir reached a speed of one hundred cycles per minute, the second reservoir would begin rotating automatically. I spent five days to manipulate the second energy reservoir within five hundred cycles like what you had done for the first time. Was your second reservoir activated on your five-hundredths cycle?"

"Yes! Your reservoir was opened up after only one hundred cycles?" Qian Jin touched his jaw, wondering why did a bloodline warrior like her, who boasted natural advantages since birth, awaken her reservoirs successively within only one hundred cycles? Does it mean that...

Qian Jin patted his forehead hard and got the answer! It was blacksmithing! And practicing pharmaceuticals! The sole task of an ordinary blacksmith was forging the metal into patterns, but Blake’s requirement on Qian Jin was controlling the strength placed in each hammering move. Even the power of casting the hammer against the air should be minutely manipulated. While the mixing of potion was demanding on one’s controlling force, especially the mystic potion! Once a dose of mystic potion was mixed in a wrong way, it would explode instantly, and sometimes, a little negligence might lead to casualties!

Two years’ drilling in the endless world was equivalent to four years’ training in Zence Empire. Coupled with the desperately demanding tasks given by his three teachers, Qian Jin’s controlling power was improved by leaps and bounds, which he himself hadn’t even noticed.

Hayen Brianna put the umbrella into Qian Jin’s hand, and crossed her arms in front of her, making her bosom protrude higher!

"I feel a little cold. Let’s go back."

"All right."

"Hey." Hayen Brianna stood behind Qian Jin for about half in an inch, her arms crossed around her bosom and eyes fixed on Qian Jin. "I feel a little cold."

Qian Jin stopped, placed the umbrella above Hayen Brianna, nodded his head carefully and said, "Yeah, it’s cold outside. Let’s go back."

The pretty eyes under the metal mask were dancing with eerily cold light. Hayen Brianna tightened her arms and said a little harder, "I’m really cold."

"Definitely." Qian Jin kept nodding his head, "So let’s go back quickly and drink some ginger soup to warm up."

Hayen Brianna looked into Qian Jin blankly, arms crossed around her breast. Wasn’t this guy clever just now? I had just talked casually about the rivers and the streams, and he instantly understood the correct technique of warrior power. But why didn’t he get my hint to take off his coat for me when I said I was feeling cold several times and had my arms wrapped in front?

"Oh! Oh oh!" Qian Jin opened his eyes wide, and raised his hand to take off his coat, "I feel a little hot, would you please put it on for me for a little while?"

"Okay." Hayen Brianna’s look changed from surprise to happiness, "Since you’re feeling hot, I will put it on."

Qian Jin couldn’t help sighing, thinking that sometimes it was even harder to talk with girls than studying warrior power.

"I’m still feeling cold." Hayen Brianna lowered her voice a lot, hooked onto Qian Jin’s arm and said to herself, "Now I feel much warmer."

Qian Jin turned his head to look at the bandit by his side, from whom he couldn’t find any traces of the typical atrocious intent of a bandit. Was it proper for her to live in the bandit group where bloody fights were frequently put on and one’s life might be ended anytime?

"I feel tired. Give me your shoulder to lean on." Hayen Brianna said in an imperative way. She then rested her head on Qian Jin’s shoulder and walked with him in silence.

Tired? Qian Jin nodded his head softly, thinking that this kind of tiredness was given rise by mental fatigue. It must be tiring to live in the bandit group, even if she was a bloodline warrior, wasn’t it? And it must be more tiring for her to survive in the bandit group since she wasn’t that type of guy who wouldn’t put off killing or plundering at will, right?

The silent Ruins was like a city in its sound sleep, waiting for people to call it up.

Qian Jin crossed his legs and sat on the bed for four hours. His clothes were completely wet by sweat. It was easy for him to arrive at a speed of five or six hundred circles; however, he couldn’t make further progress. For the entire four hours, he only quickened his pace to one thousand cycles.

"It seems that I have to stop here today since I’ve started feeling numb due to being nervous. And if such stupefaction continues, the outcome of the practice will be worse."

Qian Jin looked at the mage hat in his hand and said to himself, "Let me have a rest and then go into the endless world."

He crossed his legs and sat down for mediation. However, one hour had passed, but no progress was made. Qian Jin uttered a sigh, "There are few people born without any talent for magic like me, aren’t there?"

He had begun practicing meditation since he was young, and even for the days spent in the Four Season Valley, he hadn’t slackened his efforts. However, he made no breakthroughs.

"Those who are good at both magic and warrior skills are really enviable."

Qian Jin lay on the bed, put the mage hat over his face, stopped pondering on the magic thing and came back to the endless world.

"Uncle Blake, I want to find some metal back, since the materials provided here are not enough for me to forge weapons."

"Okay, just go there." Blake waved his pipe and collapsed into his normal blank look.

[Enlak’s Warrior Energy House]

Qian Jin stood outside of the energy house and looked up to the plague hanged on its lintel. He had walked by here numerous times, but he never stepped in before. So he decided to go into the house and have a look.

Level 8 Warrior Energy no longer stood as a barrier. Qian Jin pushed the thick wooden door and saw the fighting practice field decorated with pinewood floor which was spacious and bright in front of his eyes.

The wall facing the door of the fighting practice field was inscribed with a big character of [Warrior] written by a powerful stroke, adding a vigorous sense to the whole interior and making people feel the unyielding mind of the people staying here.

Under the [Warrior] there sat a middle-aged man, whose figure was as slender as a sword. The man slowly opened his eyes and flashed a look as sharp as his sword.

Seeing the sharp look of the man, Qian Jin’s warrior power seemed to have been activated to rotate and explode uncontrollably, a circumstance that occurred when he was confronted with an enemy.