Chapter 596: Return to Mercenary City (Two)
Jian Chen’s eyes had lit up when he heard Huang Luan’s suggestion. He did not know just how strong the Saint Ruler was, but if he was able to go toe-to-toe with two other Saint Rulers, then he would definitely belong to the higher echelons of the chart. In the case that a Saint Ruler did help him, then very few people would dare work against him.
“Wait until for the situation to arise first before we call on your ancestor to help us.” Jian Chen smiled. Aside from the four Imperial Protectors from the Qinhuang Kingdom, he had also the ancestor of the Huang family to help him. With those five, Jian Chen had no desire to use them at the wrong moment.
As for Ming Dong’s uncle figure, Jian Chen had no delusions that he would be able to ask for his assistance. The Saint Ruler was very unwilling to complicate himself with any external affairs, and even the priceless tungsten alloy would not be enough to shake his neutrality.
But there had been no leaks of the information at all in regards to the tungsten alloy. Aside from Jian Chen’s group, only the seven leaders and their men had known about it. The excavators had all their storage items confiscated during their time in the mines in order to prevent news or evidence from being spread. Even their movements had been limited to only ten meters beyond the mines.
The Flame Mercenaries had been stationed within the castle of the Bloodmoon Mercenaries whilst all of this was going on. When the seven leaders heard that it was Jian Chen himself who led the group, they had immediately announced their own desires to join the Flame Mercenaries. And now with the inclusion of those seven, the Flame Mercenaries had exploded once more in strength. The entirety of the land that had been the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom was fully engulfed by Jian Chen, and the amount of experts within the land had been plentiful. Aside from Jian Chen, there were nearly a dozen other Heaven Saint Masters included amongst the mercenaries, making the Flame Mercenaries a household name within the surrounding hundred thousand kilometers.
The following days had been calm in comparison to the news from above with the tungsten alloy being extracted methodically. Every day, an abundant amount of the ore would be collected, and the key figures in the operation such as Jian Chen had been all the happier to see it.
“When all of the tungsten alloy is extracted, we’d definitely have enough to use them for our city.” Ming Dong spoke with a quavering voice.
“If this tungsten alloy is to be used to construct the city, then its defensive strength would be amongst the strongest on the continent--even the seven Capital Cities!” Even the normally quiet-spoken Dugu Feng had been filled with an expectant look in his eyes.
“We could even use the tungsten alloy to create a large amount of armor for the elite soldiers to wear!” Bi Lian piped up in excitement.
Everyone had been quick to suggest what they should do with the tungsten alloy, all they needed to do was wait for a definitive number of just how much tungsten alloy had been mined and they could go ahead with their plan.
In the blink of an eye, three months had passed for Jian Chen’s stay in the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened within these three months, and the lockdown on the tungsten alloy had been as strict as ever. The tension from safeguarding this secret had been extremely large on Jian Chen’s heart however,
Early one morning, Jian Chen had only just opened his eyes from his seated position on his bed to look out the window. In his mind, memories of the little fatty he met in Longevity Valley suddenly cropped up out of nowhere.
“I promised to meet him again in a single year after I left the valley. It’s about time that I make true on that promise and visit the valley.” Jian Chen muttered as he stepped out from his room. In the past few months, he had remembered about that fatty several times, but because of the matters on hand, he had to put off the trip until later. But now that there was no foreseeable changes in the extraction of the tungsten alloy, he saw no need to delay the trip to Longevity Valley any longer.
As soon as he walked out from his room, Jian Chen had convened with the others once more to announce that he would be leaving for a short period of time.
“Jian Chen, where are you going? Let me go with you.” Huang Luan asked in reluctance to part away from Jian Chen again.
“I have an important matter to return to Mercenary City for. But I’ll be home soon enough, so remain here in the meanwhile.” Jian Chen shook his head to decline.
A disappointed look appeared in her eyes after that.
“Jian Chen, go quick and return early!” You Yue had been equally reluctant to part with Jian Chen. Despite her reluctance however, she knew that this trip was unavoidable for him.
Nodding his head, Jian Chen spoke, “If nothing happens, I should be home soon.”
Ming Dong walked forward to slap Jian Chen on the shoulder to speak seriously, “Brother, if you need to go, then we will not stop you. But you have to be careful. In the case that the Jiede clan and the Shi family see you, you must head for Mercenary City. They won’t dare touch you there.”
Laughing, Jian Chen replied, “Worry not. I know just how to handle that should the situation occur. But aside from their Saint Rulers, I should have no problem with the rest of their families.”
Out of nowhere, Bi Lian had cropped up around his arm, “Cousin, your little relative has a wish that I hope you can fulfill.” She spoke.
Seeing the coquettish actions of his younger cousin, Jian Chen could only laugh, “Say it then. Whatever it is that you want, your cousin will make sure to accomplish it for you.” For his own younger cousin, Jian Chen was a very doting figure.
Whirling her head to look at the little tiger on Jian Chen’s shoulder, she spoke with a mischievous smile, “Could you leave behind Xiao Bai, I want to play with it.”
The tiger was a very intelligent creature and had understood exactly what Bi Lian was asking for. As quick as lightning, it had jumped over from Jian Chen’s left shoulder to right shoulder to avoid Bi Lian and hugged at Jian Chen’s neck tightly with its paws and eyes that stared vigilantly at Bi Lian.
As if annoyed by what the tiger cub had done, Bi Lian stared at it with her arms at her waist, “Xiao Bai, am I really that scary? I fed you some roasted meat the past few days, and this is how you repay me? You won’t even let me hug you.”
“Mrrrowrrrrrr…..” Xiao Bai had let loose a mournful sound that not everyone had understood. But its paws had only gripped around Jian Chen’s neck even tiger, meaning that it was very reluctant to split with Jian Chen.
“Forget it, Bi Lian. Xiao Bai may as well be Jian Chen’s shadow. You’d have a better chance climbing the ladder into the heavens than to separate Xiao Bai from Jian Chen.” You Yue giggled.
“Bi Lian, this is a request that I can’t help you with. I am not one to force Xiao Bai to do what it doesn’t want.” Jian Chen smiled apologetically.
“Hmph, forget it then!” Bi Lian glared balefully at Xiao Bai in disappointment.
With Xiao Bai on his shoulders still, Jian Chen bade farewell to the rest of the group and left. He had originally wanted to leave Xiao Bai here instead of carrying it over with him since he would have to pass Mercenary City to reach Longevity Valley. It was a trip that did not guarantee security, but the tiger cub had been completely deaf to any words Jian Chen had said to it. Unable to convince the tiger cub, he could only allow for the cub to go with him.
It had been extraordinarily good weather today. The sun was shining bright and not a single cloud could be seen, leaving the sky a boundless canvas of azure.
Flying a thousand meters high into the sky, Jian Chen headed straight for the Dazhou Kingdom so that he could use their Space Gate to reach Mercenary City.
Because of the growth that the tiger cub went through, its sense of smell had improved by several degrees as well. Every so often when Jian Chen flew over a forest, it would just barely be able to sniff out the heavenly resources hidden throughout the verdant plants. Some had been over a thousand years old in age and shocked even Jian Chen. It had been as Rum Guinness had said, the tiger cub would gain the ability to search and find heavenly resources with its own strength.
It took several days for Jian Chen to arrive at the frontier of the Dazhou Kingdom, but as soon as he hit that line, Jian Chen came to a stop mid-flight. Thinking for a bit longer, he immediately flew off in a different direction than before.
Just several hours after he had changed directions, Jian Chen had left the Dazhou Kingdom and arrived at the bordering kingdom of the Zhuya Kingdom. Heading within its borders, Jian Chen flew straight for the First Class city, Walaurent City.
Within the area of the city, Jian Chen touched down onto a relatively empty location and followed his memories through the city before finally coming to a stop right outside a large mansion.
The mansion that Jian Chen had stopped in front of had a giant signboard right above it saying, “Tianqin clan”. These two words had a seemingly magical feeling to them and brought forth a deluge of memories from several years ago. Unable to stop himself, Jian Chen began to replay the memories of when he and Ming Dong first came to this city.
In Waluarent CIty, it had been Qin Xiao that had left the biggest impression on Jian Chen.
“Hey, you there! What are you doing spacing out in front of the gates of the Tianqin clan? Get lost, this isn’t a place you can block the road!” In the middle of Jian Chen’s thoughts, one of the guards had let out a shout and disrupted him.
Waking back up to reality. Jian Chen looked at the burly figure next to him and cupped his hands in a polite greeting, “Would you perhaps know if the young master, Qin Xiao, is inside?”
Stopping in his stride to size Jian Chen up, the guard had taken notice that the robes Jian Chen wore was quite expensive, and the air to him had been unordinary. Immediately growing wary, the guard asked, “Who are you? The young master Qin Xiao is not someone that anyone could see on a whim.”
“This one is Jian Chen, a friend of the young master Qin Xiao.” Jian Chen cupped his hands. Despite this person being only a guard, he had been calm and polite to him.
“What? You’re Jian Chen?” The guard had immediately been surprised to hear that name. Straight away, the expression on his face had changed to have a smile on it, “Ah, so it is indeed lord Jian Chen. This lowly guard must be blind if I could not recognize lord Jian Chen. Please forgive me , lord Jian Chen. The young master Qin Xiao had said before that should lord Jian Chen arrive, we are to bring him straight in.” The guard welcomed Jian Chen within the compound politely while then notifying another guard to report to Qin Xiao.