Chapter 1134: The Hidden Power of the Flame Mercenaries

“Yes, master!” The artifact spirit courteously replied. With a wave of his hand, the space within the artifact immediately began to surge. Powerful energy rippled through the entire place, alerting all the magical beasts.

This was the power of the artifact space. As the spirit of the saint artifact, the artifact spirit was like a god in there. He could control everything at will.

A few burly men clothed in magical beast fur or with bare chests were scattered throughout the space, fighting the native magical beasts. They either moved about by themselves or traveled in small groups.

These people had undergone a baptism of blood and tests of life-or-death to become iron-willed warriors. Each and every single one of them radiated with an abnormally bold presence, coupled with the smell of blood. This presence could only exist because all of them had stepped over countless corpses of magical beasts to stand there. All of them knew powerful battle skills, and their strength was almost unrivaled.

At this moment, the surrounding weather began to surge. A mysterious and vast energy filled the skies, sucking away all these people who were dispersed throughout the space.

Jian Chen sat emotionlessly on the throne within the central, majestic hall. Below him, several dozen burly men with the smell of blood suddenly appeared.

“We greet the captain,” The people all knelt down and thunderously yelled out. They were not very surprised when they suddenly appeared there since they had experienced this more than once in the past.

Jian Chen could not help but faintly smile when he saw each and every one of them radiating with fighting spirit and bold presences. He gently said, “Rise, everyone.”

“Yes, captain!” All the people clearly replied in unison, their voices echoing in the surroundings. They all stood up at the same time, looking at the young man who sat above with excitement or calmness.

Jian Chen slowly glanced over the people and said, “Impressive, impressive. Your strength has rapidly increased over these years. My hopes were not wasted. Carl, report the exact details of the group.”

“Yes, captain,” the person who stood at the very front politely responded. He paused slightly to collect his thoughts and continued, “Captain, there are a total of sixty-six people in this group. With the support of heavenly resources and large quantities of monster cores over the past few years, all of us have become Heaven Saint Masters and twelve of us have reached the Sixth Cycle.”

“Good, well done!” Jian Chen was extremely satisfied. These people had cultivated at an extremely fast rate. Over the past few decades, all of them who had been Saint Masters or Great Saint Masters had finally reached Heaven Saint Master. This was a speed that few could rival on the Tian Yuan Continent.

However, this was all because Jian Chen had poured a large quantity of resources into them. He had supplied them with various battle skills, monster cores, money, heavenly resources, and high-quality cultivation methods. They could be described as having enjoyed treatment that only the scions of large clans could enjoy, which was why they possessed their current glorious achievements.

Afterward, Jian Chen pulled out the serpent dragon blood he had obtained from the Mountains of the Sleeping Dragon. He said, “This is the blood from a Ninth Heavenly Layer Saint King serpent dragon. Carl, store the blood in a few wooden tubs so that everyone can bathe in it. It will allow the toughness of your bodies to reach another level.”

“Yes, captain,” Carl rejoiced. He knew extremely well just how much blood like that was worth, so he immediately and carefully put it away. Afterward, he left with a few people.

He returned soon after with a few large tubs that had just been made from felled wood. He then poured the blood into the wooden tubs, taking turns with everyone else to enter the bath of blood.

A violent energy and a portion of the serpent dragon’s essence was hidden within the blood. It was obviously nothing to experts like Jian Chen, but to these people who were only Heaven Saint Masters, there were extremely great effects. Several burly men immediately felt extreme pain all over when they entered the bath. It was so painful that they began to perspire. However, every single one of them clenched their teeth and did not even make a sound.

Jian Chen did not stay here for them to finish their baths. He passed a huge hunk of serpent dragon meat and some divine water of the world to Carl. After talking over some matters with them, he left the artifact space. Jian Chen no longer worried about the problem that some of them could not reach Saint Ruler now that he had the divine water. He anticipated the day when several dozen Saint Rulers would appear in the Flame Mercenaries in the near future.

This was the power that belonged to the Flame Mercenaries. They were experts he had raised personally, so he didn’t need to question their loyalty. They were way different than the foreign Saint Rulers that had joined them.

Jian Chen reappeared by the shore of the spirit sea. After putting away the saint artifact, he constantly looked around and asked, “Zi Ying, Qing Suo, how do we get out of here?”

“Master, someone has set up a few things here in the past. There are two transportation formations hidden here. One of them seems to target the holy water of the spirit sea while the other is made for the entry and exit of people. All you need to do is fly past a certain altitude and you’ll be sent away by the spatial energy. However, before you leave, you should collect some of the water from the spirit sea and the spiritual mud at the bottom off the lake. These items are extraordinary and are filled with spirituality. They may not be materials for forging the Azulet swords, but they can increase the quality of the four people’s weapons,” Zi Ying explained.

Jian Chen became slightly stupefied when he heard that. He began to doubt what he had just heard. He asked, “Zi Ying, you’re actually considering other people. This is ground-breaking! Just who are the four of them that have caught your eye?”

Zi Ying pondered silently. He then said, “Master, there’s a few matters we can’t tell you about too early. You will learn what you need to know later.”

Jian Chen did not pester the sword spirits. He knew they were looking out for him with everything they did.

Afterward, Jian Chen pulled out another large gourd and collected some of the water and spiritual mud. Afterward, he took to the sky with Rui Jin and Hei Yu, triggering the transportation formation hidden in the space. All three of them disappeared.

They discovered that they had returned to the depths of the divine realm when they reappeared. They had all been sent there randomly.

There was no longer anything Jian Chen needed from the divine realm after obtaining the divine water of the world. He quickly flew toward the outskirts. The white tiger, Rui Jin, and Hei Yu had all returned to the artifact space.

Two days later, Jian Chen arrived at the edge of the Soaring Ants’ territory according to his memory. He stood there and gazed at the region, but he turned back into a blur after just a few seconds. He disappeared into the distance in a flash.