For the small sects that had lost their leaders, Ren Baqian appointed some of their remaining members as Baihu.
He had given them an excellent opportunity, and their future was now out of his hands. If they failed to attain the Earth Wheel level, then this rank would be their upper limit.
The upper limit of an Earth Wheel level expert would be the Qianhu rank.
Ren Baqian felt satisfied after settling the appointments. He went to look for the empress to request for a few loyal winged cavalry warriors. The incident had reminded him that things wouldn't go as smoothly if one didn't possess sufficient power. Furthermore, Earth was his headquarters. He couldn't delay consolidating his power there any longer.
Out of a few dozen terrifying winged cavalry warriors, Ren Baqian picked out the three fiercest-looking ones.
The men from the aboriginal tribes typically had ferocious looks, but the winged cavalry was on an entirely different level. This was in part due to their fearsome presence and in part due to the scars that lined their bodies. The three that Ren Baqian picked had looks that would scare off anyone standing within 100 meters.
With their fear-inducing faces, terrifying scarred wounds, and s.h.i.+ny bald heads, these men stood tall at 180 centimeters and weighted more than 300 pounds. They looked like overly jacked up Tarzans.
Ren Baqian imagined that the old him would have fled from them on sight.
A large red stamp on top of their heads would make it difficult to differentiate them from livestock.
Ren Baqian presented the three of them to the empress and sent them away. He later called them back after the empress had finished her dinner.
"Stand over there and grab one another's' arms. Stay completely still," Ren Baqian ordered. The three of them obeyed his commands with puzzled looks.
Ren Baqian stood there and watched as the three scary-looking brothers held onto each other… What a beautiful sight.
"Stand still and don't move," Ren Baqian reminded. He walked up and placed a hand on one of their shoulders.
The air around them seemed to whirl as they suddenly found themselves in a completely different environment.
The three burly men were dazzled by their new surroundings.
The moon, the courtyard, and the building they were in, all it had disappeared. The three of them were shocked to find themselves in a house that was luxurious beyond their wildest imagination. The floor was as smooth as jade, and the walls were made of an unknown material. Strange items could be seen in almost every corner of this place.
"Princ.i.p.al Ren… This is?" The three of them looked around, clearly confused.
"The celestial realm!" Ren Baqian teased.
"Where is the celestial realm?"
"The realm of the G.o.ds!" Ren Baqian snapped in annoyance. The people of Dayao had a concept of the G.o.ds, but not of other celestial beings.
"Sir Ren… What are you scolding me for?" one of the winged cavalry warriors asked indignantly.
"Scram!" Ren Baqian shouted, unable to tolerate his complete lack of wit.
"This is another country, one that is far away from Dayao. This place can only be reached by using the Hearthstone," Ren Baqian said.
"Oh!" The three of them nodded while taking in their surroundings. They had an implicit understanding that Ren Baqian would bring them back to Dayao since he was the one who had brought them here.
Going abroad was a rare opportunity for them, so they definitely had to take a good look. Only then would they have the right to brag when they returned to the other world.
"Sir Ren, what's this?"
"A television!"
"And this?"
"Air conditioning!"
"What about this?"
"All of you, go sit down in that corner. I'll come back down after changing my clothes," Ren Baqian snapped impatiently. He left the three winged cavalry warriors in the living room area and went upstairs to change.
The sound of gla.s.s shattering rang out through the house before he could even put on new clothes.
Putting on fresh clothes, Ren Baqian headed down to see the mess that they had created.
"Who smashed my gla.s.sware?" Ren Baqian glared at the three of them.
"What's gla.s.s? I couldn't even tell that there was something there…" a winged cavalry warrior mumbled while scratching his head.
The other two nodded vehemently in agreement and said, "It really looked as if there was nothing there."
He knew that attempting to teach this bunch of knuckleheads everything about Earth would be a waste of his time and effort. Ren Baqian shook his head and decided on the spot that he would hire a home tutor instead.
"Sit down! I'll brief you guys on what's happening!" Ren Baqian said as he pointed to the sofa.
Creak… The sofa groaned under the weight of the three men…
Boom!
The three of them had lightning fast reflexes. They stood up right as the sofa collapsed.
"Sit on the floor!" Ren Baqian shook his head.
"Her Majesty told you to listen and take orders from me, right?" Ren Baqian asked flatly from the couch.
"Yes! We'll listen and obey Princ.i.p.al Ren's commands." The three of them immediately stood up and bowed.
"Sit. This place is different from Dayao." Ren Baqian waved. "We are very far away from Dayao, so far away that without the Hearthstone, you could travel a lifetime and still not return. I've told you guys this before. However, there is one more thing: the three of you will be living here from now on."
"Oh? What about the military? What about Her Majesty?" The three of them jumped up in shock.
"Sit down. This is one of Her Majesty's external imperial residences, and we need guards here as well." Ren Baqian pointed to the floor.
"Ah!" With that, the three of them sat down.
"It won't just be the three of you. There'll be others as well. Eventually, we will implement s.h.i.+ft changes so that you can return back to Dayao," Ren Baqian explained.
Ren Baqian had intentionally chosen those without families of their own.
Aboriginals had particularly long lives. Ten years was nothing in comparison to their entire lifespan.
Furthermore, ten years here was only three years back in Dayao.
The three of them relaxed after hearing Ren Baqian's words.
Wasn't this simply performing guard duty? Although it was a step down from their killing duties, Her Majesty's words were final, so they would obey Princ.i.p.al Ren's orders.
"This place is extremely important, 10,000 times more important than Great Xia, the Yun Nation, or any of the other nations that you know of. The three of you will slowly understand why. By sending the three of you here, Her Majesty is placing her absolute trust in you. I hope that you will not disappoint her," Ren Baqian said in a severe manner.
"Don't worry Sir Ren, we will not let a single enemy escape alive. Anyone who dares to trespa.s.s on this land shall die!" the three of them swore, looking thoroughly moved by his words.
"There will be no killing! I'll address this issue in a while and teach you who to kill and who you absolutely can't kill." Ren Baqian felt a headache coming.
He spent the entire afternoon explaining Earth's situation to them. How much of it they could retain was beyond his knowledge.
"I'll be finding a teacher for you guys. Remember, all you have to do is listen to his explanations about this place. Do not answer if anyone asks anything regarding Dayao, Great Xia, the Yun Nation, or the Chen Nation. Let me know immediately if there's someone probing for information," Ren Baqian warned them repeatedly.
"Understood! Our lips are sealed!" they declared with a smile.
Ren Baqian nodded his head. He had absolute faith in this regard.
After that, he ordered 60 servings of food through the phone. Ren Baqian was well aware of their nutritional requirements.
He then called Shen Feng and requested several sets of extra large oversized clothes as well as a tailor.
The three winged cavalry warriors sat in front of the television with trepidation while watching an atomic bomb's devastating explosion.
It looks like the atomic bomb is indeed the one true ruler of Dayao. Ren Baqian thought back to the first time the empress had watched the same scene and chuckled.
Ren Baqian cherished these memories of her first visit.
It was a pity that the empress was becoming more and more of a homebody.
Just as Ren Baqian had imagined, the three winged cavalry warriors had devoured every last bit of food that was delivered, yet they didn't look fully satisfied.
The next morning Ren Baqian found the three of them excitedly watching the fifth movie of the "Transformers" series.
He had shown them how to operate the remote control to watch movies and picked out the first "Transformers" movie before he went to bed.
To think the three of them had also continuously watched all the sequels through the night. "Transformers" are to men what romance movies are to women.
Still, Ren Baqian knew that they probably would have watched anything for the entire night as well.
He proceeded to order 70 servings of breakfast. Ren Baqian felt that he needed a chef.