Chapter 709: Changes of the Holy Empire (One)
Jian Chen used the Space Gate at Dazhou Kingdom without any hinderance, directly travelling to Qinhuang Kingdom.
This time, the destination for the Space Gate was clearly more accurate the the times before, directly materializing in a region of rural wilderness in the Qinhuang Kingdom.
Jian Chen passed through the Space Gate and arrived at Qinhuang Kingdom. He appeared in an unfamiliar area of wilderness. He looked around before immediately soaring up into the sky, seeing all the terrain in the radius of a few kilometers. Afterwards, he immediately took out a map from him Space Ring and began examining it.
After a while, Jian Chen finally found his directions. He put the map away and fused with the surrounding space, disappearing as a blurry shadow. He hurried towards the royal palace of the kingdom with his greatest speed.
Four hours later, Jian Chen had already traversed several thousand kilometers to arrive at the royal palace. He continued towards the centre of the imperial city without any changes in his speed, to where the palace was.
As soon as Jian Chen approached the imperial palace, he was sensed by the four Imperial Protectors inside. Also, a voice rang in Jian Chen’s ears, “Imperial Protector Jian Chen, please come to the eastern side where the Qinhuang Palace is. We’ll talk there.”
At the same time in the imperial palace, the four Imperial Protectors who were cultivating in the Qin Heaven Palace opened their eyes simultaneously. Three of the people shook slightly and disappeared. Nobody knew where they went.
Jian Chen immediately changed his direction. He turned into an afterimage mid-air, quickly flying towards the east where the Qin Heaven Palace was. This time when he soared into the palace, only the four Imperial Protectors who were Saint Rulers could feel him. He had not alerted any of the Heaven Saint Masters within the palace.
On the east, a total of five hundred elite guards clad in golden armor stood dead-straight outside the Qin Heaven Palace. They were currently guarding the most important part of the royal palace.
Just at this moment, above the open square outside the palace, a figure descended extremely quickly with a blur. He appeared outside the main entrance of the Qin Heaven Palace without any sound or presence at all.
Even though it was like that, the person’s arrival was still discovered by the five hundred elite guards at the very moment it occurred. However, the guards did not reveal any expression of surprise, because they had just received the transmitted message from within the Qin Heaven Palace and knew that the fifth Imperial Protector, Jian Chen, was about to come.
The head guard immediately jogged over to where Jian Chen was. He knelt on one knee and said with extreme respect, “Your humble servant greets sir Imperial Protector.”
“Your humble servant greets sir Imperial Protector!” Behind the head guard, all five hundred guards knelt on one knee in sync and exclaimed with a resonant voice. It was so loud that it had basically spread throughout the entire royal palace, alerting everyone inside.
Within in the study of the palace, the king of Qinhuang Kingdom slowly put down the book in his hands. He looked towards the direction of the Qin Heaven Palace and mumbled, “Perhaps Jian Chen is here?” Shortly afterwards, he placed the book on the table and stood up, exiting the study. A personal guard immediately put the book back to where it belonged before closely following behind him.
The third prince, Qin Ji, also left the Drifting Clouds Palace and stared towards the east where the Qin Heaven Palace was. He said, “The four esteemed Imperial Protectors very rarely leave the Qin Heaven Palace and even if they do come out of the palace, they won’t make such a great disturbance with their temperaments. Perhaps brother Jian Chen has come?” Thinking up to there, a gleam of light immediately flashed in the third prince’s eyes. His gaze was filled with joy, “I heard brother Jian Chen has already broken through to a Saint Ruler from a Heaven Saint Master. I wonder if it’s true or not.”
At the Qin Heaven Palace, Jian Chen commanded the guards to stand, before waltzing into the palace. When he approached the main entrance, the tightly-shut door opened itself.
Seeing that, Jian Chen smiled. With his current strength, he naturally could feel that it was because of a Saint Ruler within the palace.
It was extremely quiet in the Qin Heaven Palace. Crossing over the great sill of the floor, Jian Chen arrived in a simply-adorned guest room. In the centre of the room, four people sat around a round table silently. They seemed to have been waiting for a long time already.
Jian Chen knew that these four people were the venerated Imperial Protectors of the Qinhuang Kingdom. Also, his status in the Qinhuang Kingdom was bestowed by the four of them, so he did not dare to be neglect them even in the slightest. He hurriedly clasped his hands at the four people, “Junior Jian Chen greets the four seniors!” Although Jian Chen currently possessed the same strength as the four Imperial Protectors, he was still filled with gratitude whenever he saw them.
This was because back then when he was still a Heaven Saint Master, if it were not for the four of them granting him the status as an Imperial Protector, perhaps the threat that Gesun Kingdom faced would not have been resolved so easily. Not to mention, he would not be holding the glory of standing on top of one of the eight great kingdoms of the continent right now either.
The gazes of the four Imperial Protectors gathered on Jian Chen at the same time, which were filled with joy and gratification. Although they originally could tell that Jian Chen’s talent was exceptional, the fact that he could become a Saint Ruler in such a short time had exceeded what they had imagined. At this every moment, the four highly-esteemed Imperial Protectors all rejoiced secretly and were glad that they possessed the insight to make Jian Chen an Imperial Protector of the Qinhuang Kingdom back then. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for another Saint Ruler to appear in the Qinhuang Kingdom in such a short amount of time.
“Hehe, Jian Chen, we’re all our own people so there’s no need to be polite. Come and sit.” An Imperial Protector said to Jian Chen was a smile. He was extremely polite because he knew very well that Jian Chen still had a lot of time for growth in his future, and his future accomplishments definitely would not just stop there.
“Jian Chen, sit, sit. It’s already been some time since you became the fifth Imperial Protector of my Qinhuang Kingdom. We’ve never properly had a conversation with you, so we might as well have one now.” Another Imperial Protector invited Jian Chen to sit down with an amiable tone.
Jian Chen smiled at ease. He did not hold back, directly walking to the round table and sitting down confidently in the only remained seat. He began conversing with the four Imperial Protectors.
After a series of conversations, Jian Chen learnt the names of the four Imperial Protectors. They were Qin Yunlong, Qin Qiuzheng, Harry and Saxon.
Of the four, Qin Yunlong and Qin Qiuzheng were members of the imperial family. Although Harry was not a part of the imperial family, he was a native who had grown up in Qinhuang Kingdom. As for Saxon, he was a good friend of Qin Yunlong and Qin Qiuzheng. He had become one of the Imperial Protectors from the invitation of his two friends. Although the four came from different origins, they enjoyed a similar status in the Qinhuang Kingdom and treated each other like brothers, caring very deeply for one another.
Although Jian Chen and the four Imperial Protectors had a great gap in age, they still talked freely. During the conversation, the Imperial Protectors explained some relative information about Saint Rulers to Jian Chen, and also bestowed their knowledge and comprehensions of cultivation to Jian Chen. They hoped that it could help out Jian Chen, as well as develop a better relationship with Jian Chen, for their relationships to become closer.
Jian Chen always maintained a willing attitude to learn as the four Imperial Protectors explained details that were helpful for cultivation and comprehension. Although he was extremely talented, the four Imperial Protectors were still people who had spent many years as Saint Rulers. As a result, their experiences and comprehensions were still great help to Jian Chen, allowing Jian Chen to benefit very much from them.
The conversation between Jian Chen and the four Imperial Protectors lasted for four whole hours before reaching an end. After falling into silence for a short while, Qin Yunlong cleared his throat and said, “Jian Chen, the reason why the four of us got you to hurry to the Qinhuang Kingdom is because we actually have something extremely important to discuss with you.
Hearing that, Jian Chen’s interest was piqued. He understood that the next topic perhaps was the main point of the conversation. As a result, he clasped his hands and said, “”Please speak senior!"
Qin Yunlong thought over it slightly, collecting his thoughts. He then said, “Jian Chen, before we tell you this, it’s best if we describe the distribution of power on the Tian Yuan Continent.” He paused slightly before continuing, “On the Tian Yuan Continent, there are a total of three empires and eight great kingdoms. The three empires are the countries that possess the greatest power on the Tian Yuan Continent. They are not any weaker than ancient clans, and even when compared with ancient clans, they stand among the best. As for below the three empires, the eight great kingdoms, including my Qinhuang Kingdom, stands. What others don’t know is that we eight great kingdoms are actually subsidiary countries of the three empires. As for my Qinhuang Kingdom, we are subsidiaries of the Holy Empire.”