Chapter 341: Into the Armory
Hearing the elder’s words, Jian Chen grew even more interested in the holy land. He wanted to know just what was inside that made every Saint Ruler crazy for it.
“Senior, could it be that the holy lands contains one of the legendary Saint Tier Battle Skills?” Jian Chen couldn’t help but ask.
The elder only replied with, “If the holy lands only had a Saint Tier Battle Skill, then it was named rashly. There is indeed a Saint Tier Battle Skill within, but that is only one piece of the whole. Don’t ask anymore about the matter, I won’t be able to tell you anymore.”
The next step of the path was rather silent as Jian Chen followed the elder to a small pavilion. It was only a hundred meters in circumference and was ten meters tall. The entire building was made from bamboo and had a few scars on its surface, showing the toll time had done to it over the years. On top of the pavilion doors, a simple board was hung above with the word “Armory” written in fancy calligraphy.
Jian Chen looked at the pavilion with some shock. He didn’t think that such a small pavilion would be where the “Armory” with the Heaven Tier Battle Skill would be stored–there seemed to be no sort of security here.
“This bamboo must not be an ordinary type of bamboo for it to not be rotten after so long. If it wasn’t, then there would be no way for it to withstand years of rain and wind.” Jian Chen thought.
The elder who had been leading Jian Chen to the pavilion suddenly stopped right in front of the door as he looked at it strangely. “This building has existed for countless of years. It was created when the founder of Mercenary City, Mo Tianyun personally decided to do so. To our Mercenary City, this place is a sacred place that is not lesser than the holy land.”
Jian Chen immediately felt a sense of veneration for this place as he looked at the building once more in a new light. This building right in front of him had been personally built by Mo Tianyun and so there was definitely a special meaning to the building.
“Ai, the years have been ruthless.” The elder let out a mournful sigh before going silent. Turning to Jian Chen, he spoke, “This is where all of the secret manuals are stored. I could only guide you here, the rest will have to rely on you.”
“I thank the senior!” Jian Chen cupped his hands.
“Creak!” Suddenly, the doors to the pavilion opened on their own, revealing the dim dark light inside. Another voice could be heard from within.
“Jian Chen, hurry up and choose your prize. Also, take off your shoes, it is forbidden for dirt to be tracked into the armory.”
Hearing the warning, Jian Chen was momentarily taken back. He hadn’t thought that he would have to take off his shoes in order to enter the armory. Although he found the request to be weird, he did not hesitate and placed his shoes on the ground outside before entering the small pavilion.
The interior of the armory was exceptionally bright. Not a single speck of dust could be seen on any of the rows of bookshelves. Books weathered with age and simple materials were stacked on each shelves. These shelves themselves were quite mysterious as there was no wear or damage to them. Each one of the books on the various bookshelves were made from the hide of a magical beast and each were several inches thick in width with pages.
Taking a look around, he quickly came to see a gray robed elder carefully cleaning one of the many bookshelves diligently as if each book was a treasure that required an earnest cleaning so that no dust would remain.
Standing quietly behind him, Jian Chen spoke no words to the ordinary looking elder. By his appearance, the elder seemed as if he was incapable of any type of martial arts, but Jian Chen knew that he was no ordinary man. With an armory filled with Heaven Tier Battle Skills, there was no way the guardian to this place would be that simple.
Almost as if the elder hadn’t sense Jian Chen’s arrival, he continued to concentrate wholeheartedly on taking each book out from the bookshelf before carefully cleaning each page. As soon as the book was clean, he would put it back and move onto the next book.
The elder did not let Jian Chen wait for long. The moment he finished the entire bookshelf, the elder turned about and started to walk toward Jian Chen.
“This one is Jian Chen, I greet the senior!” Seeing how the elder was turning toward him, Jian Chen hastily cupped his hands together.
The elder continued to walk forward without looking at Jian Chen for a moment before speaking, “The Heaven Tier Battle Skill is in the upper levels, follow me.”
“Yes, senior.” Jian Chen hurriedly followed the elder.
“You’d best be careful and not damage any of the items in here.” The elder spoke with a calm expression, but there was an unmistakable amount of power radiating from him.
Promptly responding to the elder, Jian Chen knew that the entire pavilion was filled with things that this elder was especially fond of. If he were to cause just the slightest amount of damage, then there would be a major headache for him.
Jian Chen carefully followed behind the elderly man through the pavilion. His footsteps were especially light since he didn’t dare step too heavily.
Not too long later, Jian Chen found himself with the elder on the highest most level. There was only four bookshelves here, but each one differed with the amount of books. Some had a few hundred, some had only a few dozen.
Suddenly grabbing a thin book, the elder handed it to Jian Chen, “This book has descriptions of both Heaven Tier Battle Skills and Heaven Tier Cultivation Methods. Take a look and then take your pick.”
Taking the book from the elder, Jian Chen began to flip through the pages. Indeed, what the elder said was correct. The book was a catalogue of every single Heaven Tier Battle Skill or Cultivation Method. This was especially surprising for Jian Chen, since he was able to see hundreds of battle skills and cultivation methods. He became tongue tied when he began to read through the list.
A Heaven Tier Battle Skill was a treasure to the current world. Each one was worth an immeasurable amount of money, but in this armory, Heaven Tier Battle Skills were almost as common as rice. If the sheer amount of these battle skills were to be announced to the world, then the entire continent would be shocked.
“Senior, with so many Heaven Tier Battle Skills, has no one tried to steal them before?” Jian Chen asked suddenly.
The elder gave a look of disdain as he heard those words, but he refused to say a word.
At this point, Jian Chen suddenly realized that he had asked an extremely foolish question. Mercenary City had no one that would covet these battle skills and at the same time have the ability to steal them.
With no more questions, Jian Chen began to look for a Heaven Tier Battle Skill and Cultivation Method.
A moment later, Jian Chen finally decided on a battle skill and cultivation method. Without any further words, the elder walked to two different book shelves and took out two books before handing them to Jian Chen, “These are the items you want.”
Taking the two books with quivering hands, Jian Chen couldn’t believe that the two objects that he had just been given were a Heaven Tier Battle Skill and Cultivation Method.
Jian Chen had chosen the Heaven Tier Battle Skill called the “Nine Cloud Movement”. This was a Battle Skill that anyone could learn and did not require a specific attribute Saint Force or any other strict conditions.
The Nine Cloud Movement had a total of nine forms, with each form many times stronger than the one before. It was rumored that the very final form was capable of breaking the heavens and shaking the world.
Leaving the armory, Jian Chen followed the elder that guided him earlier back to where they had come from.
On the way, the elder spoke to him, “The holy lands will open in three days. By that time, someone will come get you, so it would be best for you not to leave Mercenary City before then.”
“Yes, senior.”
Without any further delays, Jian Chen and the elder returned to the halls where a single Space Gate was open for Jian Chen to walk through.
When he saw this Space Gate, Jian Chen felt a flutter of apprehension in his heart. Could it be that he wasn’t in Mercenary City and was actually within a pocket of space?
Without any more hesitation, Jian Chen crossed through the Space Gate and found himself back within the plaza of Mercenary City. The only difference now was that the large arena was nowhere to be seen, leaving behind a giant flat piece of ground.
The multitude of people that had occupied the area before had long since vacated the area so not many people were in sight. Despite the competition having only been finished two hours ago, the announcements for the top ten had already been announced by a large white banner in the sky with everyone of the top ten combatant’s names written in a fancy manner.
The number one person was Jian Chen with Zhar in second place and Ming Dong in third.
“Ai, look! The number one person from the Gathering of the Mercenaries, Jian Chen…!” Suddenly, a youth discovered the existence of Jian Chen and cried out in excitement.
Hearing the youth’s shout, everyone in the area suddenly turned around to look at the white robed Jian Chen. Envy, jealousy, and admiration adorned the faces of everyone staring at him, and plenty of pretty, young females didn’t bother to hide their eyes of adoration.
Jian Chen was a handsome person with a handsome face, and so he was definitely a person that could lay claim to a girl’s heart with his appearance. Right now with the glory of being the King of Mercenaries along with the recent show of his strength, he had already become the shining white knight for most girls.