Chaotic Sword God Chapter 586: Alarming the King

Forcing out a smile, Jian Chen chastised, “Bi Lian, you are thinking a little too simplistically. I am not as invincible as you think I am. In truth, there is a heavy weight on my shoulders.”

With blinking eyes, Bi Lian stared curiously at Jian Chen, “Brother, just what weight is there on your shoulders?”

A sigh escaped Jian Chen’s lips; he did not wished to discuss this problem and thus decided to change the topic. “Bi Lian, although your aptitude for cultivation is lackluster, there are plenty of heavenly resources that could change that. Wait until we come across one, I will buy one for you. You will see that you will find a renewed chance at cultivation.”

“A heavenly resource that can do such a thing would have to be extremely ancient in age. Those are far and few on the continent, and each one of them is almost worth a city’s weight in gold. Only a very robust and flourishing kingdom would have these heavenly resources in stock; a kingdom like the Gesun or Blue Wind Kingdom would never have the chance to obtain. In other words, to come across one would be very rare.” The usually very quiet Dugu Feng spoke.

“Wait until we have the chance to explore. I’ll do my best to go and find if there are any heavenly resources that fit the description.” Jian Chen laughed. As of right now, the amount of gold Jian Chen had could rival a kingdom. The loss of money for the sake of a heavenly resource would not bother him at all.

Even Bi Lian had felt a mellow warmth in her heart and a smile on her face when she saw the care and concern Jian Chen had for her.

With that said and done with, Jian Chen turned his attention to Tie Ta who was currently seated on top of his magical beast mount in stone cold silence.

Knowing Tie Ta’s personality and what his expression meant, Jian Chen could tell that it would still take some time before Tie Ta would finally adjust to survival on the continent.

“Tie Ta, all that you’ve personally seen so far is just par for the course on the Tian Yuan Continent. A continent where the strong eat the weak and where only the strong have the right to speak. To survive, you must be strong; without power, there is no point in any discussion.” Jian Chen explained.

A forlorn expression appeared on Tie Ta’s face when he looked up at Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, this world is far too cruel. I feel as if this is a land where bandits roam.”

“That is an apt analogy; the world has always been like this. Without power, you will only be bullied by another. With power, everyone will fear you and dare not anger you. What just happened in the courtyards of the Griff clan is only proof of that.” Jian Chen laughed.

“Haha, big fellow, you’re already such a big person with a mean-looking face, but your heart is pure — what a twist.” Ming Dong laughed.

Tie Ta’s face reddened when Ming Dong addressed him, but instead of saying anything back to him, Tie Ta chose to remain quiet.

Jian Chen’s eyes looked to You Yue by his side. She wore a white robe that accentuated the refined grace she possessed. It was no wonder that, as a princess, she was said to be beautiful enough to bring a kingdom to its knees.

There was a twinge of guilt in his eyes however. She was his fiancée, but he had no idea how he should treat her. In his mind, he had no idea how to treat Huang Luan either. She loved him and his parents had betrothed him to You Yue, but hadn’t personally thought anything about it. Even now, he still didn’t even know how to approach the question.

Now that he had experienced life on the Tian Yuan Continent himself, Jian Chen had come from his experiences with plenty of enemies. Some of these enemies were Saint Rulers in isolation, and this was an instrumental source of stress — a weight so heavy that it may as well be a mountain on his shoulders. For the sake of improving his own strength, Jian Chen had to throw away any superfluous thoughts on settling down.

All were ants in the eyes of Saint Rulers. This was something Jian Che knew, and he also knew that unless he possesses the strength of a Saint Ruler, he would never be able to hold his footing in the continent.

How could becoming a Saint Ruler be that easy? Even though he had managed to absorb fragments of the mysteries of the world during his stay in the holy lands, Jian Chen still had a long way to go before he would even come into contact with that realm.

You Yue’s face turned slightly red when she noticed Jian Chen’s attentive stare at her. Gingerly shifting over to him like a bashful deer that would tip-toe over to the bush, she whispered to him, “Jian Chen, was there something you wanted.”

As if shaken awake, Jian Chen gave her a glittering smile, “You Yue, this is the first time you traveled the continent as well; are you accustomed to the life of a wanderer is now?”

Smiling sweetly, You Yue replied, “I am rather fond of this lifestyle. Everyday is another day where I get to experience and see something new in the world. There’s just so much to this world unlike the palace. Every day was spent in boredom, looking at the same scenery, and leaving the palace was very troublesome.”

“In the past, I was able to see what the world might have looked like through the books in Kargath Academy. It was these books that made me yearn to travel the continent, and now I can finally see the sights myself.” You Yue smiled in bliss.

“The world may be magnificent, but there are just as many dangers as there are sights. Every place in the world has plenty of risks and dangers that could end up as a fight to the death. Every day is a day that a person will die — a peaceful life is not something that anyone can experience.”

With a slight bitterness to her face, You Yue responded to him, “Jian Chen, your strength is far more than enough to step across the continent as you please. Just what weight is on your shoulders that you cannot put down to enjoy life a little bit?”

“Ai!” Jian Chen sighed. “The weight on my shoulders is something I cannot put down. There are still matters that I must resolve.”

“Just what sort of matters, will you tell us?” You Yue asked out of curiosity.

Jian Chen shook his head, “It isn’t that I don’t wish to tell you, it’s just that there is no benefit in you knowing the matter. Let us stop the chat for now and discuss what plans you might have for the Flame Mercenaries, shall we?”

　　……

The group began to discuss the matters of the Flame Mercenaries as they traveled on the road back to their inn. Although they had subjugated every powerful faction within the Cloud Capital, they were still staying in the inn from before.

At the same time they entered the inn, all the leaders that had just joined the Flame Mercenaries had made it home as well. The very first thing they did was to have someone tear down their signboards and replace them with the name of the Flame Mercenaries.

Jian Chen’s actions flew at incredible speeds around the Cloud Capital. Soon enough, practically everyone had heard and learned about how the equilibrium of power had been completely and thoroughly shattered. In the past, there had been many factions vying against each other, but now, there was only a single faction left. In the three whole days that the Flame Mercenaries had been in the city, they had managed to overcome everyone’s expectations, so the entire city was abuzz with this as their topic of conversation.

When the lord of the Cloud Capital himself heard what had transpired, his body was as stiff as a board. He simply couldn’t believe what he heard — the ten or something factions that had once been separate were now united. With their powers united, they were now stronger than not only the city lord, but most of the factions in the Blue Wind Kingdom — a fact that was completely shocking to think about.

A very serious problem had appeared in front of the lord now. His power as the lord of the city was practically for show now. If the Flame Mercenaries were to try and do something in the city, there would be no way for him to do anything but to stand and watch by the sidelines.

“Just what sort of god is the captain of the Flame Mercenaries? If he is able to unite so many factions together under his banner, just what is he made of?” The lord spoke with narrowed eyes. The robustness of the Flame Mercenaries had caused the man no small amount of discomfort.

“The Flame Mercenaries have already evolved to a point where even I cannot do a thing about them. All that’s left for me to do is to report this to the king himself.” The lord muttered before hastily writing a letter to send off to the imperial palace with the utmost haste.

Nearly half a day later at the imperial palace of the Blue Wind Kingdom, the king was sitting in his study room when he received the letter. Reading it, his face grew more and more solemn, and the further he read, the more his eyebrows furrowed together.

A long while later, the king finally put down the letter with a questioning mutter, “Flame Mercenaries? Just where in the world did they come from? I’ve never heard of such a name, yet they have already subjugated several factions that had Earth Saint Masters in their ranks. That is practically unbelievable.”

The fact that the Flame Mercenaries had managed to accomplish so much by uniting several dozen factions together into one faction was an extremely important issue that made the king very worried.

As if the king had thought of something, his eyes begun to sparkle, “Perhaps there is a Heaven Saint Master within the Flame Mercenaries. Only a Heaven Saint Master would be able to accomplish a feat like subjugating several factions at once.”

Having reached this conclusion, the king’s face grew inexplicably solemn. “Men! Call for master Ku Yun into my study at once.”

Soon enough, an elder with gray robes came striding into the room. This elder was in his sixties and had bright eyes that sparkled brilliantly.

“Your majesty, what matter have you called me here for today?” The elder smiled, but he did not bow to him.

Holding the letter out to the man, the king said, “Master Ku Yun, please take a look yourself.”

Waving his hand, the man floated the letter from the king’s hand and into his own before starting to read it.

Soon enough, the elder’s eyes began to show signs of surprise, “What a mercenary team this Flame Mercenaries is. In three days, they managed to unite over a dozen factions? With a strength like that, why have I never heard of the Flame Mercenaries before?”

“I am quite vexed by this situation. These Flame Mercenaries are most likely a foreign power that immediately sought to subjugate an entire First Class City in one go. Their scheme is very apparent. If we leave them alone in our kingdom to grow, then they will become the bane of our existence sooner or later.” The king spoke in a serious manner.