Chapter 589: Unrestrained Expansion
A short winded cough came from Ku Yun’s mouth as the blood drained from his face.
The other man paled considerably when he saw Jian Chen pierce straight through Ku Yun’s chest. With a loud shout, a large amount of his Sword Qi began to fly out to strike down the countless pieces of rubble flying at them. Then, with his Saint Weapon hoisted overhead, the man flew to attack Jian Chen to save Ku Yun.
Jian Chen turned to look at the man with a cold smile appearing on his lips, “Was it you that told me to come on out? Don’t even think about leaving here today alive.” Jian Chen pulled out the Origin energy sword from Ku Yun’s chest and shot toward the second man like a bolt of lightning.
“Clink!” Upon contact with the azure and violet beam of light, the Saint Weapon of the other Heaven Saint Master let out a cracking sound. A piece of it broke off. Against the azure and violet Sword Spirits, the Saint Weapon of a Heaven Saint Master may as well be as strong as a roof tile.
“Pfft!” With his Saint Weapon damaged, the elder was seriously injured and spat out a mouthful of blood as well.
Jian Chen’s hand did not slow down after the first blow. He swiftly moved his wrist to deliver his second slash with a speed like lightning. Under the powerful muscles of his arm, the sword traveled so fast that only the reflection of the blade was seen. Before the other man could even understand what was happening, the Origin energy had stabbed into his forehead. It pierced out the back of his head, extinguishing his soul and killing him completely.
“Ba La!” Ku Yun howled in grief and sorrow when he saw his friend pierced through the head. He knew that the Blue Wind Kingdom had lost yet another Heaven Saint Master.
With the Origin energy stabbing straight into Ba La’s head, his spirit was utterly vanquished. The light in his eyes vacated and his body started to drop back down to the ground.
With hands as quick as his eyes, Jian Chen palmed Ba La’s Space Ring before turning back to speak to the anguished Ku Yun. “I was planning to kill you, but I think I’ll spare your life. Go back to your king and tell him that it’d be in his best interest to not interfere with the matters of the Flame Mercenaries. If he refuses to listen, then do not blame me for what happens next.” Even as he spoke, the Origin energy formed by the azure and violet sword spirits faded from sight.
The muscles in Ku Yun’s face twitched irregularly as he stared down this youth in front of him with a mixture of fear and shock. Even his voice quavered when he delivered his next line, “The war between the Gesun Kingdom and the Blue Wind Kingdom is finished, and we’ve doled out hefty compensation already. There is neither grievances nor hatred between you and Ba La. What reason did you kill him for?”
“A loose tongue causes plenty of troubles. You should remember in the future that less is more. Leave now, and don’t forget to tell your esteemed king what I’ve told you.” Laughing, Jian Chen turned to descend from the sky back to the inn.
Still in mute shock, Ku Yun remained floating in the air, desolately looking at the dead corpse of Ba La. Down in the streets, his corpse had not moved at all other than from the still-spreading pool of blood. A crowd of people had formed around the corpse, and not a single one of them could believe what they saw.
Dropping down from the sky, Ku Yun took Ba La’s corpse with him and immediately left the Cloud Capital.
When they arrived in the Cloud Capital, the two of them had made an aggressive entrance. In the end, only one of those men left the city alive.
With the battle between Heaven Saint Masters finally finished, the entire city was left as still as a ghost town. Mercenaries and merchants alike stared at the sky in mute shock and disbelief even though not a single Heaven Saint Master remained.
A dozen figures were already running to the spot where Ba La had landed with as much speed as they could muster. Just barely stopping around the bloodstained spot, each one of them revealed a sluggish expression on their faces.
Included in this group was the lord of the Cloud Capital and several of the other leaders of the strongest factions. What was unknown, however, was what was running through their minds at that moment.
Jian Chen had already returned to the inn and onto the bed he had been sitting on before. The only difference this time was that a hole could be seen in the ceiling above him.
Ming Dong and the others were already back in the room, so when Jian Chen descended, Bi Lian came flying past the doors to greet Jian Chen excitedly, “Wow! Brother, you’re amazing! Even the two Heaven Saint Masters of the kingdom were beaten by you.” Bi Lian spoke. She looked up to Jian Chen with great big eyes of adoration. A single person being able to defeat two Heaven Saint Masters working in tandem without a single scratch was essentially an undefeatable entity to her. She was exuberant in her worship for Jian Chen since he had been able to prevail against two Heaven Saint Masters by himself without being hurt at all. A feat like this was practically on the same level of an unbeatable being.
Something like this was more than enough to make her realize in this moment that her older cousin was a far stronger person than she had initially thought.
“Wrong, he killed one and injured one. If Jian Chen didn’t let that second one live, then neither of the two would have left this place alive!” Ming Dong corrected her.
Bi Lian was even more elated to hear what Ming Dong said. She rated Jian Chen higher on the pedestal now.
Even You Yue by Jian Chen’s side revealed a slight tint of infatuation in her eyes. However, she looked up at the hole in the ceiling above Jian Chen and softly said, “Jian Chen, perhaps we should change rooms since you put a hole in the ceiling.”
Jian Chen looked up at the hole he had created with an embarrassed smile, “Yes, perhaps I should change rooms.”
Looking back at the ruined ceiling, Jian Chen gave an embarrassed smile, “Perhaps we should.”
Not a single person within this room had bothered to pay attention to what was happening outside of the room. Thus, they were unaware of the pandemonium that was happening right now. The hottest topic in the city was about the fact that the captain of the Flame Mercenaries had successfully beat back two Heaven Saint Masters sent from the kingdom all by himself, and the fact that he had managed to kill one of them while injuring the other was something that everyone clearly witnessed. With that said, practically everyone within the city was in an uproar.
Having witnessed this sight, news of what transpired in the sky above the city spread throughout the entire kingdom with great speed. Within practically half a day, every nook and cranny of the kingdom would know about this ground-breaking news. The leaders that stood on top of the Blue Wind Kingdom would take this news seriously and would later send out their strongest to verify the truth of the rumors.
With everything said and done, the the Flame Mercenaries would cement their position within the Blue Wind Kingdom. The fact that the Flame Mercenaries had been able to subjugate an entire First Class city was enough to have the eyes of many on them, but the fact that this new situation had happened made everyone terrified at their strength.
Within the palace of the Blue Wind Kingdom, Ku Yun held the dead body of his companion Ba La within the halls where the king sat. Slowly, Ku Yun narrated what had happened to them both in the Cloud Capital while also describing Jian Chen to the king.
As soon as the entire story was recounted to him, the king sighed. In that sigh, he seemed as if to have aged years in a single moment.
For a while, the king was quiet before he finally spoke once more. “As we are powerless to stop them, it is pointless to even try anymore. Ai, our Blue Wind Kingdom had already grown weak because of the war. With this happening, our power is doomed to drop even further.”
……
Several days later in the Cloud Capital, a long procession of people passed through the gates of the city. Every single banner that was flown around this group displayed the exact same emblem of a circular sphere of fire.
This group of people all belonged to the Flame Mercenaries.
The Flame Mercenaries of today were definitely on a whole different scale than before. In the past, it had been a single person, but now, it had expanded to over five thousand people, becoming the strongest group of mercenaries within the Blue Wind Kingdom. Their cumulative strength was more than enough to contend with any other faction in the kingdom.
Leading the group at the very front was Jian Chen, Ming Dong, Tie Ta, Dugu Feng, You Yue, and Bi Lian. Each one of the six were seated on top of their own magical beast mount, but this time, they were no longer riding a Class 3 Magical Beast. They were now seated on top of a Class 4 Magical Beast. All of their mounts had been graciously donated by the heads of the faction they had just recruited.
By now, every single person had accepted their newfound status in the group and were now earnestly working for the Flame Mercenaries as a whole. Having a powerhouse like Jian Chen as their support wasn’t an easy thing to find, and by joining the Flame Mercenaries, they could earn the chance to win the Earth Tier Battle Skill they had always dreamed of. They could even get a Heaven Tier Battle Skill that even Heaven Saint Masters would drool over. These three factors combined were a tremendous temptation to them. Even if the heavens were to drop a meat pie in front of them, it would not be as alluring. If anyone were to tell them that a Heaven Saint Master was capable of absorbing life from them, they would not care.
All in all, they were not regretting their new way of life. Most felt delighted to greet this change and did not feel displeased at all.
“Captain, where will we go next from here?” Zhan Tian asked from the side.
“Tianlong City isn’t too far away, let’s go there.” Jian Chen replied.
In a short few days, the Flame Mercenaries had experienced a period of expansion with no restraint. Just like that, a First Class city had found itself annexed into the Flame Mercenaries, exponentially increasing their power.
After the entire matter with the Cloud Capital ended, the Flame Mercenaries possessed about three hundred thousand members and almost a hundred Earth Saint Masters, leaving the Blue Wind Kingdom practically desolate of it stronger population.
The Blue Wind Kingdom had no solution for the growth of the Flame Mercenaries. They had no one to stop them. They had no way to even try. All the king could do was sit within the halls of his palace with a miserable expression as he watched the Flame Mercenaries grow stronger and stronger while his kingdom grew weaker and weaker. By the time the strongest factions of the Blue Wind Kingdom had heard what Ku Yun had told the king, they were all absolutely convinced that the captain of the Flame Mercenaries could not be angered at any costs. For that reason, none of the factions came forward to stop the expansion of the Flame Mercenaries, and some of them had even prepared themselves to be annexed into the group as well.