Chapter 548: To the Ruler of the City
The city ruler Yun Li was very shocked to hear what Jian Chen said. Originally he had thought that Jian Chen didn’t even make it to Mercenary City. Very few Great Saint Masters were likely to survive to join the Gathering of the Mercenaries. Not only did Jian Chen say he had participated, he survived.
“What a fortunate kid!” Yun Li thought to himself, but the emotions on his face did not betray his thoughts as he continued to smile. “Hahaha, that is only proof of your strength. If you were able to make the journey to Mercenary City, then you must have benefitted greatly from the experience.”
“There was indeed bountiful experience gained, but it’s not worth mentioning.” Jian Chen courteously replied.
As Yun Li continued to chat happily with Jian Chen, his eyes began to observe Kai Er and the other three every so often. According to his senses, he was more than capable enough to see the massive transformation the four of them had undergone. Startled, he thought to himself, “Peak Great Saint Masters! They’re that strong? But how? They were barely middle Great Saint Masters before Jian Chen came back. What prompted this sudden breakthrough? How did they become as strong as me so quickly?”
He tried not to think about Kai Er and the other three. Instead, he tried to talk o Jian Chen about more important topics before leaving in a hurry.
After Yun Li left, Qingfeng sneered. “That Yun Li is an unsavory character. He helped the Defiance Mercenaries grow in secret before, does he think we don’t know that?”
“That’s right, at the time of the collapse of the alliance, the One-armed Warrior had just arrived in Wake City with some of his followers. If it weren’t for Yun Li helping them, the One-armed Warrior wouldn’t have so easily gained strength.” Charcas spoke venomously with clear signs of hostility between him and Yun Li.
Jian Chen’s eyes flashed with an icy light for a moment as he listened, buy without another word more, he turned to Kai Er, “Let us go to the Dohre clan.”
The Dohre clan once possessed some name to it in Wake City as one of the majors power before. When their previous head of the family Weiss left the world, the Dohre family was left with his son as the acting head. When they left the Flame Mercenaries, their power in the city had taken a huge loss in strength and authority since Weiss had been their only Great Saint Master.
Riding the Class 3 Magical Beast mounts, Jian Chen and the six others arrived in front of the gates where the Dohre family resided. The four mercenaries had led the way. The Dohre family no longer displayed the same glorious splendor they had in the past. The ancient-looking doors were closed shut and leaves were scattered everywhere. Even guards weren’t seen anywhere, making the area look rather desolate and abandoned.
A moment after Kai Er knocked upon the ancient-looking doors, they began to open to reveal a white-haired elder. Clearly recognizing Kai Er, the elder immediately gave a smile and greeted him, “So it was you, lord Kai Er. Come in, come in please.” Hurriedly opening the door, the elder began to welcome him inside.
“Hurry up and call out Weiji. Tell him the captain of the Flame Mercenaries has returned.”
“The captain of the Flame Mercenaries!” Stunned, the elder looked at the men riding the magical beasts outside the doors and snapped back to awareness. “Ye-yes! I will go retrieve the lord!” Having said that, the elder stumbled back into the interior of the compound.
Pushing open the doors the rest of the way, Kai Er said to Jian Chen, “Captain, please come in!”
Dismounting from his mount, Jain Chen strolled into the compound.
At that moment, the newly informed Weiji came hurrying on over along with two females. The acting head of the Dohre clan, Weiji, was also the only son of Weiss.
“Weiji pays his respects to the captain!” Weiji was no stranger to Jian Chen and immediately bowed to him.
“This one pays her respects to the captain!” The middle-aged woman followed Weiji’s example and bowed down to Jian Chen with panic. Only the child that looked several years old continued to stare at Jian Chen with wide open eyes.
Jian Chen’s gaze softened as he looked at Weiji. Smiling, he said, “Weiji, this must be your wife and child!”
“Yes, captain! This is my wife and child!” Weiji was nervous in his response to Jian Chen. When his father had passed away from battle, he had taken the initiative to leave the Flame Mercenaries. Now that the captain had returned and had personally come to visit, Weiji was more than nervous and afraid that Jian Chen came to condemn them.
Amicably, Jian Chen smiled at Weiji, “Weiji, please relax. I came here today for a social visit only. No matter what is said, your Dohre family was once members of the Flame Mercenaries. Your father died for our Flame Mercenaries, his services and achievements will never be forgotten to us!”
Weiji could only sigh in relief having heard those words. At the mention of his deceased father, his eyes began to tear up.
“Weiji. When I wasn’t here in the past, the Flame Mercenaries suffered greatly. Now that I’ve returned, the Flame Mercenaries will not be stop its development. Will you be willing to rejoin the Flame Mercenaries? The achievements your father worked hard to achieve for us will be remembered by me as if you had done the same. I will do my best to help make you grow stronger.” Jian Chen continued.
Weiji hesitated for a moment. Looking at his wife and child, he shook his head. “Captain, I truly wish to apologize, but this one has no ambitions for greatness or power. I only wish to protect the remaining pieces of stability and giving peace to my family instead of spending me time around the continent. I have no desire to throw away my life for a struggle that could claim it at any moment.”
Jian Chen let out a sigh. “That is fine too. If you wish to live in peace and stability, then I won’t force you out of it. Your father dedicated his entire being to my mercenary group, and even sacrificed his life for it. Even with his departure, I will remember his achievements and reward you for them in his place.” Jian Chen retrieved several Space Belts he had prepared beforehand from his Space Ring and handed them over to Weiji, “Inside these are a few coins and monster cores. In place of your father, I will give them to you. Take them, and I hope that in the future I can count on your assistance once more.”
Misty-eyed and emotionally affected, Weiji’s hand trembled as it accepted the Space Belts handed to him by Jian Chen. When he had learned that the captain had returned, Weiji feared that he would be tortured by the group, and had been nervous as a result. It had been beyond his wildest dreams that Jian Chen did not blame him or rebuke him, and had instead handed him a present of money and monster cores.
“Ma… many thanks to the captain for his charity!” Weiji exclaimed.
Smiling, Jian Chen replied, “Although your father has left, it should be my responsibility to look after his offspring. In the case that your Dohre clan comes across any trouble, then seek out the Flame Mercenaries. On that note, I will bid you farewell from here!” With that said, Jian Chen turned around to leave, and got on his Class 3 Magical Beast mount.
Traveling on top of his mount in no hurry, Jian Chen felt the snowy-white tiger cub still sleeping in content against his chest as it digested the resources in its body.
Jian Chen slowly rubbed the furry head of the tiger cub sleeping against his chest. With the large amount of heavenly resources the tiger cub had been fed, the cub had grown exponentially stronger, and had already reached the same level as a Class 4 Magical Beast.
Ming Dong, Kai Er, and the others followed Jian Chen from behind. They had learned of the tiger cub Jian Chen had a long time ago, but everyone had thought that Jian Chen was merely raising it to be a cute pet; therefore, they paid it no attention.
“Kai Er, you received a Class 5 Magical Beast cub, just who in the world stole it?” Jian Chen suddenly asked.
Kai Er hesitated for a moment, prompting Qingfeng to speak up for him, “We had many of our men fan out and search the city, but we never found any clues of who might have committed such an act. The same evening the cub was stolen, we had our men watch the city gates. If any person had been seen carrying a cub out of the city, we would have been notified. Even several days later, not a single piece of information was reported to us. No news of the one responsible was reported, so we all figured that the Class 5 Magical Beast cub had already been snuck out of the city, escaping into any possible direction.”
“The Golden Tiger King’s cub carries an unforgettable story with our Flame Mercenaries.” Jian Chen sighed as he thought back to the past and what had transpired back then.
Confused by the look of Jian Chen, Kai Er asked, “Captain, what type of relationship is there between the cub and our mercenary group?”
“Hatred!” Jian Chen stated with his eyes closed.
Kai Er and the other three still remained confused. Although they had joined the group for a decent amount of time, they were still unclear of what had happened to the group in the past.
“Captain, just what in the world happened with the tiger cub to cause such hatred?” Qingfeng asked curiously, but no answer had been given to him.
Having received no response, the group of four had taken note that Jian Chen was unwilling to respond to them. Thus, they could only obediently close their mouths without any further questions.
Suddenly, Jian Chen’s eyes flew open as he began to radiate a tremendous amount of killing intent. “Come, let us head to the city lord’s mansion!” He growled.