Chapter 988: Tie Ta’s Identity

Jian Chen struggled to calm down even a long time after the path lord of carnal desires left. His heart was heavy, and even his face sank.

He had never thought that the path lord of carnal desires would follow him secretly to Mercenary City. If it were not for Xiao Ling, probably no one would have realized that the path lord of carnal desires was secretly surveilling him.

“Looks like the human Saint Emperor has yet to give up on the Winged Tiger God,” growled Rui Jin. He immediately understood what Jian Chen was worrying about when he saw Jian Chen’s grimness. As a result, he comforted him, “Brother Jian Chen, you don’t need to worry. As long as the two of us are here, the human Saint Emperor can’t harm you.”

“Brother Jian Chen, the two of us will block him for you if he dares to attack. Don’t worry,” Hei Yu also comforted.

Jian Chen’s heart warmed up when he heard the two of them speak and he responded politely.

Afterward, Rui Jin and Hei Yu looked toward the huge barrier in the sky. Seriousness and curiosity filled their faces. They truly struggled to believe just how powerful the protective barrier of Mercenary City was with what they had just witnessed. Just a mere strike was enough to scare away a Saint Emperor.

Xiao Ling then looked toward Rui Jin and Hei Yu after repelling the path lord of carnal desires. She said after some thought, “The two of you are magical beasts. Master said to not let magical beasts Class 7 and up in, but since you’re big brother’s friends, Xiao Ling won’t chase the two of you away. However, don’t make trouble in here.”

Although Rui Jin and Hei Yu could not see Xiao Ling, they had heard her voice clearly. Their expressions immediately changed and they began to look around. They tried to find the speaker, but they found nothing even after searching for quite some time.

“Who is it!? Who is the one talking!?” Hei Yu called out. He revealed a rather ugly expression, as it was just too terrifying that he could not find the speaker with his current strength.

Rui Jin also became stern. He became filled with caution toward the hidden person.

Jian Chen hurried to explain as he saw how nervous Rui Jin and Hei Yu were. The barrier spirit of Mercenary City was no secret to a few hermit clans, and almost everyone relatively experienced on the Tian Yuan Continent knew about it. Only Rui Jin and Hei Yu knew nothing about it as they had just come out from the artifact space and were limited in their understandings of the Tian Yuan Continent. It was fine if Jian Chen told them about Xiao Ling’s existence.

Although Rui Jin possessed some knowledge due to the inherited memories that had been passed on with each generation as a Golden Divine Dragon, Mercenary City still had not been founded when the artifact space sucked in Ru Jin’s ancestor. The barrier spirit had not been created yet, so he knew nothing in regards to this.

The two of them became shocked when they learned about the barrier spirit. They sighed in surprise and said, “I never thought that the barrier spirit of Mercenary City would have such a lengthy life. No wonder she can repel the path lord of carnal desires so easily.”

Jian Chen did not reveal the fact that Xiao Ling was a spirit of the earth. He did not want too many people knowing about that.

At this moment, more than ten tremendous presences began to radiate from the center of the city. A group of experts hurried over with the grand elder Tian Jian at the forefront.

Xiao Ling created a huge disturbance throughout the entire city when she used the barrier’s power to repel the path lord of carnal desires. As a result, it attracted all the high-ranking members of Mercenary City.

“Jian Chen, you’ve come.” From afar, Tian Jian noticed Jian Chen and smiled gently. At the same time, he quickly glanced past Rui Jin and Hei Yu who stood beside him. Interest flashed through Tian Jian’s eyes.

Tian Jian knew that Jian Chen was close with the barrier spirit so he asked Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, do you know what happened just then? Why did the power of the barrier suddenly surge?”

“It was the path lord of carnal desires…” Jian Chen explained what had happened Tian Jian’s face sank slightly right after he heard everything, and he said, “I never thought that the path lord would come to my Mercenary City. Looks like he didn’t suffer enough last time. But we have the protective barrier, so he can’t enter no matter what.”

Jian Chen and Tian Jian conversed some more, before being taken into the independent space by Tian Jian through a special technique. It was the space where the divine hall floated, while Rui Jin and Hei Yu were left behind in Mercenary City. He did not bring them along.

Arriving in this somewhat familiar space once again, the feeling it gave Jian Chen was worlds apart from the previous times. As his strength increased, he could feel how wondrous the technique used to carve out the space was with more and more clearly.

Jian Chen floated in the space as he faced the divine hall he had seen many times. He did not know the origins and strength of the divine hall before, but now, he could tell from a single glance that it was also one that was made bya Saint Emperor. He could even feel a great pressure from it vaguely as if it stood like a mountain. It was suffocating.

Tian Jian smiled and he explained when he saw Jian Chen staring unblinkingly at the divine hall, “This divine hall is one of the most valuable treasures of Mercenary City. It was personally created by the city lord all those years ago. It’s extremely tough, such that even Saint Emperors can’t break through it.”

“Once upon a time, there were some disagreements between my Mercenary City and the ten protector clans. All ten protector clans sent out all their people, resulting in over twenty Saint Emperors arriving. Only our Saint Emperor grand elder fought them, using the divine hall to suppress the ten protector clans. He had even succeeded in heavily injuring over a dozen Saint Emperors.”

“The divine hall before you is different from other divine halls. Other divine halls created by Saint Emperors have no other external uses other than being tough, while the divine hall before you was created personally by the city lord. Other than its supreme defense, it possesses an extremely great power in combat. It can deal with Saint Emperors.” At this point, Tian Jian’s face sank and he sighed gently. “Although the divine hall is extremely powerful, the requirements for controlling it is great as well. You need to be a Saint Emperor, while there are no longer any Saint Emperors in my Mercenary City. Otherwise, just it will be enough to repel the Beast God Continent’s invasion. The divine hall has already sat here collecting dust for thousands of years. I have tried to control it during that time, but all my attempts have resulted in failure. I succeeded once, but it was only the fusion with my soul and it separated very quickly again.”

Jian Chen also felt pity regarding this matter when he heard about it. It was basically torture for such a powerful divine hall to exist but with no one able to use it.

Tian Jian sighed deeply before dismissing his emotions. “Ming Dong and your friend Tie Ta is cultivating inside the divine hall. Jian Chen, please come with me.”

Jian Chen followed Tian Jian into the divine hall. They passed through countless palaces, before arriving in a large hall.

Jian Chen spotted Ming Dong and Tie Ta as soon as he entered the hall. They sat on the ground cultivating. He struggled to remain calm, becoming rather emotional.

Both Ming Dong and Tie Ta’s strength had increased greatly after so many years of not seeing them. Just by their presences alone, Jian Chen could tell with a single glance that Ming Dong had reached the peak of Heaven Saint Master, while Tie Ta was even more powerful. He was at the Third Heavenly Layer of Saint Ruler.

However, Jian Chen felt puzzled when he saw Tie Ta’s huge, burly body, his golden skin, and the imprint of an axe on his forehead. Tie Ta’s changes were just too great in these years. Jian Chen had almost failed to recognize him.

“Ming Dong’s talent is extremely good, and he has been working arduously on his cultivation in the past few years. That’s why he could reach the peak of Heaven Saint Master at such a young age. However, the chasm between Heaven Saint Master and Saint Ruler is not that easy to cross. He has already stagnated at his current level of cultivation for a few years now.” Tian Jian’s tone was positive even though he was nonchalant. Ming Dong had not become a Saint Ruler yet, but his current accomplishments could already be described with the word ‘earthshaking’.

Tian Jian then looked toward Tie Ta and his expression became mixed. He said, “Though Jian Chen, your friend’s identity is quite complicated. If I hadn’t brought him to Mercenary City in time back then, he probably would have been taken away by the protector clans.”

Jian Chen’s expression changed slightly when he heard that. He could not help but think back to the matter of Tie Ta’s golden blood. “Senior Tian Jian, just what is Tie Ta’s identity? And what connection does he have with the protector clans?”

Tian Jian stared deeply at Tie Ta and said steadily, “He’s the war god of the Hundred Races, an existence similar to that Aergyns who surpassed Saint Emperor in the ancient times.”

“What! Tie Ta- he’s- he’s- he’s actually…” Jian Chen mind rumbled as if he had been struck by a bolt from the blue, completely stunned in that moment. Deep shock and disbelief flooded his entire mind.

The young man from the countryside who studied at Kargath Academy in Lore City back then actually possessed such a terrifying identity. He was actually the war god of the Hundred Races. This was something that even Jian Chen struggled to believe.

Tian Jian sighed deeply and continued, “It does sound extremely absurd. It’s very hard to convince people but that is the truth. Tie Ta is indeed the war god of the Hundred Races.”

“In the ancient times, a great war had once erupted between the three of the four great races, with only the sea realm not taking part. The Hundred Races were chased out of the Beast God Continent and had once tried to invade our Tian Yuan Continent under the lead of Aergyns. We suffered defeat after defeat and many predecessors from the ten protector clans died in the hands of the war god. If it weren’t for the strongest human who appeared out of nowhere in the most crucial moment, defeating the Hundred Races all by himself, Tian Yuan Continent would probably no longer belong to us humans. As a result, the protector clans have an extremely deep hatred for the war god of the Hundred Races. If they knew that Tie Ta was the war god, Tie Ta would definitely fail to escape death. They would avenge their predecessors on one hand, and remove a supreme expert of the Hundred Races and thus a future threat on the other hand. Our current continent no longer has an expert like Mo Tianyun. If the war god matures successfully and decides to lead the Hundred Races to invade the Tian Yuan Continent again, what power do we have to stop the war god?”

“Back then, when I discovered Tie Ta’s identity, I definitely wouldn’t have saved him if it wasn’t for his relationship with you, because it would bring on an apocalypse for the Tian Yuan Continent if the matter wasn’t handled correctly.”