108 Maidens of Destiny

—

The sky hanging above the grassland was beautiful.

The Milky Way belt was like a ribbon stretched across the night sky, countless stars twinkling like gems. Among them, several were distinctively bright. These stars each brought with them a halo of light, some of which glowed a deep crimson colour in contrast to the others.

“Ying Mei, are those strange stars the 108 Destiny Stars you spoke about?” Shu Jing looked up at the sky while feeling a deep sense of awe and admiration.

By the way, the girl’s real name is Lin Ying Mei, Lin Chong is actually her combat title. This definitely brought Shu Jing who was extremely familiar with Water Margin some consolation, at least he doesn’t need to constantly call out Lin Chong Lin Chong…

Leaning against a rock, Lin Ying Mei furrowed her brows, not showing any particular enthusiasm in answering these dumb questions.

“Ying Mei, what are the meaning of those red stars?” Shu Jing was endlessly curious about this world, and was unfazed by Lin Ying Mei’s dismissive attitude.

“Those stars are called Crimson Stars, they represent the stars that have successfully contracted in the Star Duels.” Lin Ying coldly explained.

Shu Jing silently counted at least thirty stars that were red.

“Which star is ours?” Shu Jing continued to observe them for awhile.

Lin Ying Mei looked up, seriously gazing for a moment, and then awkwardly coughed. She actually has no idea which one it was.

“According to what you told me, the Star Duels have began over a year ago, up until now there’s only some thirty contracts have been signed, the efficiency seems to be quite bad.”

“Master, you need to know that these contracts are very serious matters!” Lin Ying Mei frowned at Shu Jing’s nonchalant tone. As if Star Duels Covenants were commonplace occurrences. In reality, these Star Maidens adopt a very long term outlook when choosing their Star Master. These matters pertains to the fate of their entire lives, of course it couldn’t be treated lightly.

The most powerful cultivators are of course the most popular, followed by cultivators possessing formidable weapons or magic, some are also chosen by their innate potential. That’s why there was a saying in Liangshan Continent: “In order to contract with a Star Maiden, one must first conquer her.” Of course there were also cases of Star Maidens falling in love and contracting with common ordinary people, but the chance of this happening was truly small.

Hearing this, Shu Jing frowned. This Star Maiden was almost too honest.

“Could it be that you are afraid I will drag you down?” Shu Jing continued: “Is it possible to annul the contract?”

Lin Ying suddenly opened her eyes and looked strangely at Shu Jing: “Master, what are you talking about?”

“If Star Masters are so important to Star Knights, I don’t want to become a burden for you. Annulling the contract is also no big deal to me.” Shu Jing honestly replied, he originally came from the modern world, these types of slavery contracts did not really hold any appeal to him.

However to Lin Ying Mei, Shu Jing’s words has set off a monstrous storm brewing within her heart. Liangshan Continent is filled with countless star cultivators who would shamelessly employ any method or scheme to sign a contract with a Star Maiden, to be able to contract with the Majestic Star Lin Chong would be something that these Star Masters can only dream of.

Seeing that Shu Jing was speaking sincerely without a trace of deceit, Lin Ying Mei’s cold expression became slightly warmer, but her tone remain rigid: “Master, you are insulting this Lin Chong, contracts are matters of fate. For the rest of my life, even to death I will devote myself to keeping you safe!”

“Since you have already said that, how can I continue to slack?” For better or worse, Shu Jing is still an Air Force military major, cowering behind a girl isn’t exactly what he wants. “It’s better if you teach me how to protect myself.”

Shu Jing’s enthusiasm caused Lin Ying Mei to gently nod, even though Ying Mei has more than once regretted the fact that she has signed a contract with this strange man, currently, her master doesn’t seem to be so useless, maybe one day he could grow to truly take control of her, the Majestic Star. “Your servant understands!”

—

A flash of white suddenly stopped, the young man sitting on the horse looked toward the rolling hills in the distance, his eyes concealing mysterious thoughts. Sitting behind him the red haired girl looked down at the ground and sneered: “The traces are still fresh, the other party shouldn’t be too far away”.

“Qing-er, which star do think this Star Knight belongs to? Xun Hou wondered.

“No matter what star she belongs to, I will burn her up to the point where even her ashes won’t remain.” The girl said in a haughty tone. “Could Master be scared?”

Xun Hou replied with disdain: “I only felt that something was abnormal, why would a Star Knight loudly announce their appearance at Clear Wilderness Highland? The Star Duels have begun, all the weak Star Knights should be keeping a low profile while enhancing their strength.”

“Does Master think that this Star Knight is possibly a Heavenly Spirits Star?” Qing-er smiled cruelly: “If so it would be even better, absorbing a Heaven Spirit would benefit Master’s Star Qi greatly.”

“Basically, this time you shouldn’t waste time with words, when we meet them immediately use the Phoenix Step Tactics!”

“Just to be on the cautious side, immediately use the Phoenix Step Tactics when we meet them and don’t waste time with words.”

“Ha Ha Ha Ha”. The red haired girl laughed loudly, giving him the answer he wanted.

***

After traversing the flat plains of Clear Wilderness Highlands for 10 days straight, they were finally able to see a set of rolling hills creeping like dragons lying in wait; the mountain has a specialty called the “Giant Iron Trees”, these trees were as solid as steel, and they covered the entire hill like an armour. This makes Shu Jing feel like it was an impenetrable fortress, its pressure impressive, this was definitely the Unyielding Wall Mountain – one of the five main great mountains.

Lin Ying Mei has come to the Clear Wilderness Highland with the goal of finding “Relic Blade Sand”. This material, when used to forge weapons, would greatly enhance the weapon’s toughness and strength. Even though the surprising incident of the signed contract happened on the way here, Shu Jing, who didn’t have any real plans due to having only just arrived at Liangshan Continent, was more than happy to just accompany her on her journey.

Just as they were prepared to ascend the mountain, suddenly, a massive fireball screeches towards them.

Lin Ying Mei quickly gathers her star qi and release a blue streak of light towards the fireball, causing it to dissipate.

“Finding you two was definitely not easy”.

A man and woman stood in their way, blocking the path.

Basing on the fluctuations of the Star Qi, the man was definitely not simple, his Star Qi was at least at the Late Stardust stage; these past few days, Shu Jing also gained a deeper understanding of Star Masters and their powers. The capability of Star Masters can be divided into these stages: Stardust, Nebula, Galaxy, Stellar, Oblivion and Annihilation.

The more powerful a person’s Star Qi the more advantage they would have in a battle.

Right now Shu Jing’s Star Qi was only at Early Stardust Stage.

“Do we know you?” Shu Jing carefully said.

Xun Hou glanced at Lin Ying Mei and attempted to evaluate her. However, a startled feeling welled up in his heart when he was unable to see through her strength.

The red-haired girl ferociously spoke: “Who could imagine it really was a Heavenly Spirits Star, why don’t you come and entertain me with a battle.”

“I don’t want to fight with this little sister.” Lin Ying Mei casually said.

“Who did you call little sister?” The girl shouted, her entire body releasing a red aura, her hair and eyes continuously grew redder. On her forehead a star sign symbol appeared, while a dark red sabre suddenly materialized in her hands.

The sabre split into nine parts, overflowing with killing intent.

Blaze Refining Nine Prison Sabre!

“Deviance Star “Red-Haired Devil”?” Lin Ying Mei expression changed.