Chapter 205: Leaving Huang Village
With the addition of Ming Dong, Jian Chen could no longer be considered the newest addition of the Flame Mercenaries. In the past, his strength had been insufficient, but now that he was a Great Saint Master and had the assistance of the violet and azure Sword Spirits, even if he were to run across an Earth Saint Master, he would be able to fight them. So slowly, he was building up the strength of the Flame Mercenaries.
Next, Jian Chen stayed at the Huang Village for another two days. In those days, he went around saying his goodbyes and prepared to leave the village.
In the wooden house, Ming Dong continued to recover his strength. He looked at Jian Chen who was leaning against the wall. “Jian Chen, when I’m fully healed, I will leave Huang Village and if you have not returned, I will look for you.”
Jian Chen muttered to him, “I’ve used up all the herbs in my possession so all that’s left is for you to slowly heal. By my estimation, you’ll fully recover in a month. For now, I’ll be leaving to take care of a few personal matters. I’ll be back in a month, so for now, just rest up.” Taking out a Space Belt and eight Class 4 Monster Core along with a few purple coins. “If you heal up and I’m not back yet, then cultivate with these. With your talent and these Class 4 Monster Cores, your strength will shoot up quickly. If I don’t come back for a long time, feel free to leave by yourself.”
Seeing Jian Chen hold out those eight Class 4 Monster Cores, Ming Dong’s face became startled. Class 4 Monster Cores were very costly, and so he had never used one. Just thinking about how he had almost lost his life over a Class 4 Monster Core had traumatized him a bit. So when Jian Chen had brought out so many Class 4 Monster Cores for him to cultivate with, he felt that he couldn’t comprehend such generosity .
Taking a deep breath and calming the raging emotions in his heart, his hand shook as it reached out to grab the items offered to him. With a complex look, he said, “Words of thanks won’t suffice here, but in short, I, Ming Dong, will remember your kindness.” Ming Dong was a person who remembered his dues. Jian Chen had saved his life and then gifted him so many precious items, so in Ming Dong’s heart, he had resolved to follow Jian Chen with determination. He knew that were it not for Jian Chen, he would not have been able to see the afternoon sun ever again. Plus, Jian Chen was already a Great Saint Master at such a young age; that spoke plenty about his cultivation talent. To follow such a person would be no loss at all.
After planning things out with Ming Dong, Jian Chen didn’t stay in Huang Village and immediately left the village he had stayed in for the past few months.
Huang Village was very far from any other place and had mountains surrounding it, meaning there were very few people about. Following the instructions of Rosco and the village elder, he headed out in a certain direction out of the mountain ranges.
As time went on, Jian Chen had come across a multitude of villages like Huang Village. In these mountains, there were plenty of them.
While walking, Jian Chen committed the path back to Huang Village to memory. He didn’t want the path to be lost to him, since he wanted to meet back with Ming Dong after he finished with his personal matters. To find such a small village within the continent would be extremely difficult. So in the case that he would forget the path, he tried his best to remember every detail.
There weren’t any wild beasts in the mountain range, and magical beasts were rare as well. With that, Jian Chen could stroll through the mountain ranges for a day without seeing more than 2 Class 1 Magical Beasts.
This mountain range was exceptionally large, and Jian Chen didn’t know if he was still within the Blue Wind Kingdom after falling off the cliff and into the river.
Jian Chen continued to walk until the sky grew dark where he stopped by an open plain. In the night, the cliff of a nearby mountain hung overhead while the moon’s light scattered down and illuminated the area.
Walking just a little farther, he met a group of mercenaries within the cover of the night. There was an encampment of twenty tents with a small campfire lighting up the sky in the middle of it.
Slowly walking toward the group of mercenaries until he was within a hundred meters of them, Jian Chen didn’t bother to conceal his footsteps, so the sounds of his walking and the rustling of the grass had instantly alerted the mercenaries.
“Who’s there?!” A voice called out loudly and woke the sleeping mercenaries. Immediately, the previously calm campground went into an uproar as a large group of men came charging out and surrounded Jian Chen.
Because the moonlight was right behind Jian Chen, they could only make out his figure, but upon seeing only a single person, everyone’s face loosened up a bit.
“Who are you, state your name!” A mercenary called out to Jian Chen.
Jian Chen stopped just twenty meters away from the group of mercenaries that surrounded him. “This one is only a mere traveler who has lost his way, perhaps you could spare a map?”
The mercenaries all looked at him with a strange face of surprise before another mercenary spoke to him, “Where are you coming from and where are you heading to.”
Jian Chen hesitated for a moment before replying, “Before I ask my question, could you possibly tell me, is this still the Blue Wind Kingdom?”
The group of mercenaries were now looking at Jian Chen with an absolute look of shock.
“Correct, this is the Blue Wind Kingdom.” A built mercenary responded.
Upon hearing that he was still in the Blue Wind Kingdom, Jian Chen had a look of excitement on his face, “That’s good. This one, looking for the Class 3 Wake City. If anyone here has the directions, this one will be very grateful.”
“What, you’re going to Wake City?” A person asked in surprise. Like the others, he was staring at Jian Chen with a strange look.
Seeing the expression on everyone’s face, Jian Chen was suspicious, “Is there a problem?”
“There’s no problem, haha. As it is, we’re heading to Wake City as well; we didn’t think that we’d meet someone else headed in the same direction.” A person laughed.
“Since all of us are heading to Wake City, you should come with us. There’s still a decent ways until Wake City, and the road is still dangerous, one more person is one more person to rely on after all.” The sturdy looking man laughed with a friendly expression.
“The captain’s right. There’s still a long road until we reach Wake City, if you go by yourself, it’ll be quite dangerous so it’s best to go with us.” A forty year old man spoke to Jian Chen.
Jian Chen hesitated for a small moment before nodding his head. “That’s fine then. If everyone doesn’t mind, then I’ll share the road with you. It’s quite fortunate that I’ve met you. I’m not familiar with these roads, so I would have been lost.”