Chapter 586: Alarming the King

Forcing out a smile, Jian Chen spoke, “Bi Lian, you are thinking a little too simplistically. I am nowhere as invincible as you think I am. In truth, there is a heavy weight on my shoulders.”

With blinking eyes, Bi Lian stared curiously at Jian Chen, “Brother, just what weight is there on your shoulders?”

A sigh had escaped from Jian Chen’s lips; he did not wished to discuss this problem and had thus decided to change the topic. “Bi Lian, although your aptitude for cultivation is lackluster, there are plenty of heavenly resources that could change that. Wait until we come across one, I will buy one for you and see that you will find a renewed chance at cultivation.”

“A heavenly resource that can do such a thing would have to be extremely ancient in age. Those are far and few on the continent, and each one of them worth a city’s weight in gold almost. Only a very robust and flourishing kingdom would have these heavenly resources in stock; a kingdom like the Gesun or Blue Wind Kingdom would never have the chance for one. In other words, to come across one would be very rare.” The usually very quiet Dugu Feng spoke.

“Wait until we have the chance to explore. I’ll do my best to go and find if there are any heavenly resources that fit the description.” Jian Chen laughed. As of right now, the amount of gold Jian Chen had could rival a kingdom, the loss of money for the sake of a heavenly resource would not bother him at all.

And even Bi Lian had felt a mellow warmth in her heart and a smile on her face when she saw the care and concern Jian Chen had for her.

With that said and done with, Jian Chen turned his attention to Tie Ta who was currently seated on top of his magical beast mount in stone cold silence.

Having known Tie Ta’s personality and what his expression meant, Jian Chen could tell that it would still take some time before Tie Ta would finally adjust to survival on the continent.

“Tie Ta, all that you’ve personally seen so far are just par for the course on the Tian Yuan Continent. A continent where the strong eat the weak and where only the strong have the right to speak. To survive, you must be strong, and without power, there is no point in any discussion.” Jian Chen spoke.

A forlorn expression was on Tie Ta’s face when he looked up to Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, this world is far too cruel. I feel as if this is a land where bandits roam.”

“That is an apt analogy; the world has always been like this. Without power, you will only be bullied by another. With power, everyone will fear you and would dare not anger you. What just happened in the courtyards of the Griff clan is only proof of that.” Jian Chen laughed.

“Haha, big fellow, you’re already such a big person with a mean looking face yourself. But your heart is pure--what a twist.” Ming Dong laughed.

Tie Ta’s face had reddened when Ming Dong had addressed him, but instead of saying anything back to him, Tie Ta had instead chosen to remain quiet.

Jian Chen’s eyes had looked to You Yue by his side. She wore a white robe that accentuated the refined grace she had. It had been no wonder that as a princess, she was said to be beautiful even to bring a kingdom to its knees.

There had been a twinge of guilt in his eyes however. She was his fiancee, but he had no idea how he should treat her now. In his mind, he had no idea how to treat Huang Luan either. She loved him and his parents had betrothed him to You Yue, but hadn’t personally thought anything about it. Even now, he still didn’t even know how to approach the question.

Now that he had experienced life on the Tian Yuan Continent himself, Jian Chen had came out from this experience with plenty of enemies. Some of these enemies were Saint Rulers in isolation, and this had been the instrumental source of stress--a weight so heavy on his shoulders that it may as well be a mountain. For the sake of improving his own strength, Jian Chen had to throw away any superfluous thoughts on settling down.

All were ants in the eyes of Saint Rulers. This was something Jian Che knew, and he also knew that unless he had the strength of a Saint Ruler, he would never be able to hold his footing within the continent.

But how could becoming a Saint Ruler be that easy? Even though he had managed to absorb fragments of the mysteries of the world during his stay in the holy lands, Jian Chen still had a long way to go before he could even come into contact with that realm.

You Yue’s face had gone slightly red when she noticed Jian Chen’s attentive stare at her. Gingerly shifting over to him like a bashful deer would tip-toe over to the bush, she whispered to him, “Jian Chen, was there something you wanted/”

As if shaken awake, Jian Chen gave her a glittering smile, “You Yue, this is the first time you traveled the continent as well; are you accustomed to how the life of a wanderer is now?”

Smiling sweetly, You Yue replied, “I am rather fond of this lifestyle. Everyday is another day where I get to experience and see something new in the world. There’s just so much to this world unlike what there is to be seen in the palace. Every day was spent in boredom and the same scenery, and leaving the palace was very troublesome.”

“In the past, I was able to see what the world might have looked through the books in Kargath Academy. It was these books that made me yearn to travel the continent, and now I can finally see the sights for myself.” You Yue smiled in bliss.

“The world may be magnificent, but there are just as many dangers as there are sights. Every place of the world has plenty of risks and dangers that could end up as a fight to the death. Every day is a day that a person will die--a peaceful life is not something that anyone could experience.”

With some slight bitterness to her face, You Yue responded to him, “Jian Chen, your strength is far more than enough to step across the continent as you please. Just what weight is it on your shoulders that you cannot put down to enjoy life a little bit?”

“Ai!” Jian Chen sighed. “The weight on my shoulder is something I cannot put down. There are still matters that I must resolve.”

“Just what sort of matters, will you tell us?” You Yue asked curiously.

Jian Chen shook his head, “It isn’t that I don’t wish to tell you, it’s just that there is no benefit in you knowing the answer. Let us stop the chat for now and discuss what plans you might have for the Flame Mercenaries, shall we?”

……

And so the group began to discuss the matters of the Flame Mercenaries as they traveled on the road back to their inn. Although they had now monopolized every single powerful faction within the Cloud Capital, they were still staying within the inn from before.

At the same time they had entered the inn, every single leader that had just joined the Flame Mercenaries had made it home as well. The very first thing they had done was to have someone tear down their signboards and replace it with the name of the Flame Mercenaries.

Jian Chen’s actions had flown at incredible speeds around the Cloud Capital. Soon enough, practically everyone had heard and learned about how the equilibrium of power had been completely and thoroughly shattered. In the past, there had been many factions vying against each other, but now, there was only a single faction left. In the three whole days that the Flame Mercenaries had been in the city, they had managed to overcome everyone’s expectations and so the entire city had been set abuzz with this as their topic of conversation.

When the lord of the Cloud Capital himself had heard what had transpired, his entire person went as stiff as a board. He simply couldn’t believe what he had heard--the ten or something factions that had once been separate were now united. With their powers united, they were now stronger than not only the city lord, but most of the factions in the Blue Wind Kingdom--a fact that was completely shocking to think about.

A very serious problem had popped up in front of the lord now. His power as the lord of the city was practically for show now, and if the Flame Mercenaries were to try and do something in the city, there would be no way for him to do anything but to stand and watch by the sidelines.

“Just what sort of god is the captain of the Flame Mercenaries? If he is able to unite so many factions together under his banner, just what is he made of?” The lord had spoken with narrowed eyes. The robustness of the Flame Mercenaries had caused the man no small amount of discomfort.

“The Flame Mercenaries has already evolved to a point where even I cannot do a thing about them. All that’s left for me to do is to report this to the king himself.” The lord muttered before hastily writing a letter to send off to the imperial palace with the utmost haste.

Nearly half a day later at the imperial palace of the Blue Wind Kingdom, the king had been sitting in his study room when he received the letter. Reading it, his face grew more and more solemn, and the further he read, the more his eyebrows furrowed together.

A long while later, the king had finally put down the letter with a questioning mutter, “Flame Mercenaries? Just where in the world did they come from? I’ve never heard of such a name and yet they have already subjugated several factions that had an Earth Saint Master in their ranks. That is practically unbelievable.”

The fact that the Flame Mercenaries had managed to accomplish so much by uniting several dozen factions together into one faction had been an extremely important issue that made the king very worried.

Then as if the king had thought of something, his eyes begun to sparkle, “Perhaps there is a Heaven Saint Master within the Flame Mercenaries. Only a Heaven Saint Master would be able to accomplish a feat like subjugating several factions at once.”

Having reached this conclusion, the king’s face grew inexplicably solemn. “Men! Call for master Ku Yun into my study at once.”

Soon enough, an elder with gray robes came striding into the room. This elder was in his sixties and had bright eyes that sparkled brilliantly.

“Your majesty, what matter have you called me here today?” The elder smiled, but he did not bow to him.

Holding out the letter to the man, the king spoke, “Master Ku Yun, please take a look yourself.”

Waving his hand, the man floated the letter from the king’s hand and into his own hand before starting to read it.

Soon enough, the elder’s eyes begun to show signs of surprise, “What a mercenary team this Flame Mercenaries is. In three days, they managed to unite over a dozen factions? But with a strength like that, why have I never heard of the Flame Mercenaries before?”

“I am quite vexed by this situation. These Flame Mercenaries are most likely a foreign power that immediately sought out to subjugate an entire First Class City in one go. Their scheme is very apparent to see. If we let them alone in our kingdom to grow, then they will become the bane of our existence sooner or later.” The king spoke seriously.