Against Heaven

Chapter 3

With Chun Lan following, the guards no longer stopped Wang Lin. After getting out of the mansion, Wang Lin took a deep breath. There was an extremely wide street in front of him, with different varieties of exotic-looking buildings standing on each side.

While slowly walking down the street, Wang Lin made a shocking discovery. In the city, he had not seen a single male. All of the citizens were women.

His appearance was like that of a crane in a flock of chicken, capturing many glances from the people walking by. They looked at him with gazes full of curiosity and contempt.

What kind of empire was this? An empire of females? Wang Lin had a weird feeling.

Chun Lan saw Wang Lin’s expression and thought that he felt out of place. Thus, she softly whispered to him, “You’ve never been outside before. You need to know that the men in Spring Water Empire cannot leave their houses. This was a rule set by the Spring Water Queen.”

“Spring Water Queen?” When Wang Lin heard that name, his heart was inexplicably filled with hatred.

“Yes. Spring Water Queen, one of the three queens of the Empress Mainland, our Spring Water Empire’s ruler.”

Suddenly, the sky turned dark. A strange-looking octagonal spacecraft descended quickly from the sky. Wang Lin could feel a strong aura locking onto him. The strength of this aura was comparable to the ones emitted from the mansion’s warriors.

Wang Lin stopped walking. He raised his head and stared into the sky with a serious look on his face.

The entire spacecraft was painted black and made of unknown materials. Its length was about a few metres. The entire design was brimming with malevolence.

“The first rule in the Spring Water Empire law states that unfreed men are not allowed to be out in public. The death penalty falls on those who disobey!” An ice cold voice transmitting from the octagonal-shaped spacecraft.

Chun Lan immediately drew out a badge from her clothes, then reverently and respectfully said,”My Honourable, the Xiao Jie in my house owes this man a great favour. He has already been granted the status of a free man by the Phoenix race.” Wang Lin clearly saw that there was a violet flame engraved on the badge.

The aura that was locked onto Wang Lin immediately lifted. Without further ado the spacecraft, which was no longer interested in Wang Lin, ascended into the sky and disappeared into the horizon.

Chun Lan stored the badge within her clothes again. She smiled and told Wang Lin, “Although Heavenly Water City is far away from the Empire’s capital, the enforcers are very strict. Without this badge of mine, you would have been in trouble today.”

Wang Lin looked towards the direction where the octagonal-shaped spacecraft disappeared to. Although he did not show any unusual expression on his face, a turmoil was forming deep inside him. When the octagonal-shaped spacecraft showed up, he could feel an electric shock going through his brain where, once again, an image surfaced.

In the image, the black-clothed man had a grave look on his face while he was surrounded by hundreds of octagonal-shaped spacecrafts. With the wave of his arm, one by one, the spacecrafts turned into dust.

At the same time, the man sarcastically said, “Is this the Cloud Piercing Ship? Doesn’t seem to be anything special about it.”

“Cloud Piercing Ship!” Wang Lin sounded.

Chun Lan was surprised. Filled with curiosity she said, “What is a Cloud Piercing Ship? This is a Spring Water battleship. It is Spring Water Empire’s unique spacecraft, and it can only be navigated by the Honourables.

“The Honourables that you mentioned, is it a title?” Wang Lin digressed.

“You are from Jian Yu Island. So I don’t blame you for not knowing this. Once a person’s soul power grows to a certain level, he or she would be named as an Honourable. According to the attributes of the soul power, they can be further divided into Physical Honourables or Spiritual Honourables.

After that, the Honourables would be elected by the Empire to become the city’s guardians. It’s a pity that I did not have such potential. I do not have any soul power in my body, not even Level 1. The spells that I have mastered are of the lowest rank, Grade E standard. I have a sister who has already mastered Grade D spells and is currently at Level 2 standard.” While talking about this, an envious look appeared on Chun Lan’s face.

Throughout the journey, Wang Lin and Chun Lan talked nonstop. Wang Lin began to have a better understanding of this world. For example, in this world, spell powers can be classified into five grades, from Grade E to A.

Training with spells of different grades would end with vastly different results. Grade E spells can at most achieve a mere Level 3 standard, while Grade A spells can achieve the highest level of soul power.

To Wang Lin’s surprise, the books teaching these spells are actually available at the bookstores.

In addition, the technology in this world was very advanced. Spring Water Empire was the leader amongst the three big empires; especially in machinery.

The illiteracy problem which troubled Wang Lin was also solved during a conservation with Chun Lan.

There’s a device called a card reader, which would be able to assist him in recognising dozen’s of the more popular symbols for the Empress Mainland language.

During their conservations, Chun Lan was also observing Wang Lin carefully. Her previous few encounters with him did not leave her with a deep impression of him. But currently in her eyes, there was a lot of mysteries surrounding this man. He was the first person to sleep with Xiao Jie and was the first to, not only survive, but also gain the status of a free man.

It was common knowledge that getting an ID as a free man at the Spring Water Empire was exceptionally difficult. Now that Wang Lin had gained the ID, Chun Lan couldn’t help but think,

“He has an ID as a free man now. According to convention, it should not be against the Empire’s law to get closer to him now……”

“Chun Lan, the card reader device that you were talking about. Where can it be bought? ..Chun Lan?” Wang Lin looked at Chun Lan strangely, raising his voice.

“Ah…… The card reader device. It can be bought at the bookstore just up ahead.” Chun Lan was stunned as she was not paying attention.

At this point, the two of them arrived at the herb store entrance.

The store was a huge building with three floors. This was Wang Lin’s first trip to the herb store. Initially, he was worried because he was unsure whether the herbs in his memory were sold here or not. However once he walked in, he was relieved to find that all the herbs needed to treat Corpse Flower Poison were available here.

After selecting a few of the needed herbs, Wang Lin additionally picked out a few other herbs. This was to prevent people from correctly guessing the real herbs required for the treatment.

If San Xiao Jie found out about the herbs he bought through Chun Lan, then for her own sake, she better not try to make the medicine herself. Aside from the actual ingredients needed for the cure, the rest were extremely poisonous.

Coincidentally, among the herbs needed to treat Corpse Flower Poison, there was one which was highly toxic. Thus, it would be difficult to guess which herbs were the right ones. Other than Wang Lin, no one else would be able to prepare the correct medicine based on the herbs which he bought.

As he was about to pay for the herbs, the shop owner, a pretty lady in her thirties, gave him a look and said, “The amount of Blue Ant Powder that you require is a lot. I don’t have that much stock here. Could it be switched out with another herb?”

Wang Lin’s expression was unchanged but his eyes gave a look which made it seem like he was smiling when he was not. He gave the lady a deep stare. The Blue Ant Powder was the most poisonous herb among the ones he picked. Although the shop owner seemed casual when she mentioned the herb, it made Wang Lin suspicious.

With such a look from Wang Lin, the pretty lady suddenly felt that he saw through her intentions. She immediately panicked.

“I will take whatever you have.” The look of contempt in Wang Lin’s eyes disappeared in an instance.

After Chun Lan packed the herbs, both of them left the store.

At this time, there was a person coming down from the second floor. She was the old lady, Wang Popo, from San Xiao Jie’s room.

“Have you memorised all the herbs that he picked?”, the old lady asked after giving a soft sigh.

“In total there are seventeen herbs. Eight of them are medicinal, while the rest are extremely poisonous. The herbs the young man picked were very strange. How can they be used to treat Mandara disease? In my opinion, he is obviously going to make poison.” The pretty lady’s eyebrow twitched. The look which Wang Lin gave her resurfaced in her mind. In her heart, she felt that something wasn’t right. “Wang Popo, this man seemed to know what was going on. Take a look at these herbs……”

“This young man is quite intelligent. Some of the herbs he picked were used to prevent us from figuring out the real ingredients. With the medical knowledge you have, try figuring out the ingredients. In regards to the Blue Ant Powder, I think it might be one of the ingredients. Try to add it in and see.” The old lady frowned, with a sense of strangeness in her dark eyes, she thought to herself,

“This 3000-year-old medicine preparation skill was unique to the ancient world. The current number of people with the know-how today are not many. Looks like this young man is quite mysterious.”

Thinking about it, she recalled that Wang Lin was bought from Jian Yu Island by Xiao Jie. The male slaves produced by Jian Yu Island were all genetically engineered and manufactured. Was she perhaps being too suspicious?

Wang Popo sighed. She didn’t want to think about it anymore.

After Wang Lin walked out of the herb store, under Chun Lan’s guidance he reached the bookstore. After spending some time there, Wang Lin and Chun Lan headed back to the mansion, carrying bags of goods.

Once Chun Lan accompanied Wang Lin back to his room, she left. Wang Lin sat down in the room all by himself. He brought out the two spellbooks and card reader device which he bought from the bookstore.

Spiritual Enhancement Technique, Grade E — Basic, Level 3 is the Highest Level.

Spiral Thrust Power, Grade E — Basic

Initially Wang Lin thought that the bookstore would have all the spells from Grade E to A. However, after entering the shop, he realised that they were only selling Grade E spellbooks. Moreover, the books were public editions, which meant that anyone could get their hands on them.

Through Chun Lan, Wang Lin gained a better understanding regarding spells. He learned that the higher the spell level, the slower the training speed.

For instance, if two people of the same capabilities were to train with different spells for a year, one training in Grade A spells and the other trained in Grade E spells. Then the latter would have attained Level 2 soul power while the first would only achieve Level 1.

This was a strange phenomenon, but no one seemed to understand the reason for this.

By using the card reader device, Wang Lin finally managed to read the spellbook given by San Xiao Jie — Hell Raiser Technique, Grade D — Basic.

Looking at the three spellbooks in his hand, Wang Lin began to think. From what he learned, the best spell to learn would be the Hell Raiser Technique as it was a Grade D spell. However, Wang Lin thought he should be careful after making the deal with San Xiao Jie. If he were her, he would certainly modify the spellbook.