Chapter 394: Attacks that Influence even the Nobility
Hearing the chatter regarding Jian Chen, the influential officials all had flabbergasted expressions on their faces as they stared at Jian Chen one by one in disbelief.
Everyone knew that the King of Mercenaries was named Jian Chen, but those who had personally seen what Jian Chen had looked like were a small amount. No one could have imagined that Jian Chen was actually very young—even younger than the third prince.
In simple math, Jian Chen spent less time cultivating than the third prince, but he was even stronger than him. This led everyone to believe that Jian Chen was a genius of unsurpassed prowess.
The king of the Qinhuang Kingdom boomed with laughter as he looked at Jian Chen with surprise, “Good! Very good! I did not judge you wrongly then. Jian Chen, you are truly a giant among men if you were able to become the King of Mercenaries at such a young age. Your future has no limits, and my son will benefit greatly from being acquainted with you.”
Xiao Han stood within the crowd of people with a look of utter fury at Jian Chen. Biting his lip, he muttered angrily under his breath, “I didn’t think you would be that nonsensical King of Mercenaries. Hmph, it doesn’t matter who you are, I, Xiao Han, will not let you off easily.”
Hearing the mutters of Xiao Han, a cyan robed middle-aged man asked, “Xiao Han, could this be the one that humiliated and injured you yesterday?”
“Correct, uncle Mu Zhaye, you must help me teach him a lesson. Otherwise, this is something I will never be able to swallow.” Xiao Han spoke. Mu Zhaye was an apprentice to his grandfather and was close to him.
Mu Zhaye’s eyebrows creased together as he thought, “I’m afraid it won’t be easy. I had no idea that he would be the King of Mercenaries. Although I do not know of his strength, he surely has to be stronger than the third prince by a good amount. Furthermore, he has earned the favor His Majesty. If I were to act against him, I would earn the ire of His Majesty in return.”
“Uncle Mu Zhaye, he is only so old. Even if the third prince is no match to him, it doesn’t mean that Jian Chen may have used some sort of way to scrape out an unexpected success to become the King of Mercenaries. You could challenge him in public and then humiliate him. As for His Majesty, I will naturally let my grandfather take care of that.” Xiao Han spoke.
Nodding his head slightly, Mu Zhaye spoke, “Fine, I was wanting to test his strength anyways. I’d like to see just how strong the rumors say the King of Mercenaries is.”
After knowing that Jian Chen was the King of Mercenaries, the king’s attitude toward him was far more friendly. On the contrast, when the other princes had heard that Jian Chen was the friend of the third prince, they had all contorted with annoyance. Only two of the younger princes had been able to keep their cool as if the matter had nothing to do with them.
Jian Chen and the king managed to exchange several more words before returning to the crowd. However, at this moment, every single noble and major powers had begun to treat Jian Chen vastly different from before. Charging at him, each one of them tried to get within Jian Chen’s good graces.
That was because in the past, every single King of the Mercenaries had been at the very least a Heaven Saint Master. At the highest, they had been able to make the breakthrough to become a Saint Ruler.
When it came to these people, Jian Chen only politely responded to them without any deeper meaning to his words.
Suddenly, a grand voice could be heard reverberating through the halls, causing all of the noise in the hall to stop instantly.
“Your Majesty, our Qinhuang Kingdom was founded by the military since the ancient past and defended our country with our military might. Today is the birthday of His Majesty, but why is there a shortage of martial might? This humble servant’s hand itches and wishes to compare notes with the King of Mercenaries, Jian Chen! At the same time, I wish to use this show of martial prowess to be the gift to His Majesty. Your Majesty, if you could please allow this!”
Everyone’s head began to turn as they looked at a cyan robed man kneel to the ground as he spoke respectfully to the king.
Hearing this, the king had a faint smile as he introduced Jian Chen to him. “Jian Chen, this is the imperial army captain, Mu Zhaye.”
The king had neither denied nor accepted Mu Zhaye’s request and instead gave the right to Jian Chen. In the end, he too wanted to see just how strong Jian Chen was.
Laughing, Jian Chen strode forward and cupped his hands, “If captain Mu Zhaye wishes to compare notes with this one and put on a show for the king, then let us make this a great present to the king.”
Laughing joyously, the king spoke, “Very well! If this is your answer, then let us all cheer you both on.”
With that, the king and an elder walked out of the halls with the entire crowd following after them.
Within a large open space, everyone gathered around to watch Jian Chen and Mu Zhaye fight and were in an extremely jubilant mood. A fight between the imperial army captain and the King of Mercenaries would definitely be a glorious spectacle. And in everyone’s heart, they had wished to see just who would be the winner of the two. Only a few men had seen the King of Mercenaries fight and so they had a profound smile on their faces as they watched.
Mu Zhaye held his cyan colored pike in his hands as he stared at Jian Chen fixedly. Although Jian Chen was quite young, being the King of Mercenaries did not give Mu Zhaye the luxury of underestimating him.
Jian Chen stood thirty meters away with a smile. Staring at the captain, he spoke, “Captain Mu Zhaye, if you would please start it off.”
Seeing how Jian Chen had not yet taken out his Saint Weapon to fight, Mu Zhaye’s eyebrows creased together with a small glint of fury. In his eyes, seeing Jian Chen barehanded was an insult to him.
Casting a cold glare and a snort, his legs stamped across the ground as he flew toward Jian Chen. At the same time, the pike in his hands began to glow with the wind attributed Saint Force as he thrust it forward.
Jian Chen’s face had a slight smile as his right leg stamped on the ground. A thumb sized stone suddenly shot up before being grabbed by Jian Chen with ease. His hand shook for a moment before the pebble then began to glow with an azure and violet light. The pebble shot straight toward the incoming Mu Zhaye.
“Ding!”
A crisp sound could be heard as the thumb sized stone collided against the tip of Mu Zhaye’s pike. Following the inconceivably strong impact, Mu Zhaye’s arm and pike began to tremble from the force.
Looking greatly shocked, the force of the blow had caused Mu Zhaye to stop for a moment before staggering backward several steps. Both of the hands that were carrying the pike were shaking violently and a small amount of blood could be seen from the web of his hand.
Turning pale with fright, Mu Zhaye turned his head to look at Jian Chen. Despite all of his strength, a pebble thrown by Jian Chen had been able to force him back, this was far too much for Mu Zhaye to accept.
Seeing how a single stone thrown by Jian Chen had caused Mu Zhaye’s hand to bleed, the spectators had gone into an uproar. Each one looked on in disbelief, this display of strength had been nearly as great on their hearts as it was for Mu Zhaye.
“Could this be a battle skill of Jian Chen’s?” Some people began to ask.
Even the king sighed in admiration. He looked at Jian Chen in disbelief for a moment before turning to give a look to the elder beside him.
A single pebble had been enough for the captain of the imperial army to stagger backward. This was more than enough to let the king know that Jian Chen’s strength was far stronger than he initially thought. An Earth Saint Master would not be enough to gauge Jian Chen’s true strength, so he planned on bringing out a stronger person to do so instead.
The elder standing next to the king nodded before walking out, “Jian Chen, allow this old man to try.” Before giving Jian Chen any option, the elder transformed into a blurry image as he charged toward Jian Chen.
Jian Chen’s lips curled up with a faint smile as he pointed outward with a finger, causing an azure and violet Sword Qi to shoot toward the elder.
Knowing that Jian Chen was exceedingly strong, he didn’t dare underestimate him. Forming a fist, he lashed out against the Sword Qi with a rippling amount of fire Saint Force.
The Sword Qi was scattered apart by the elder, but there was an eye catching wound left on top of the elder’s hand.
Looking at the wound on his hand, the elder’s face grew dim. Swiping at the air, the fire element within the world began to congregate around his hand before instantaneously forming a giant sword of fire.
At this sight, Jian Chen revealed a sneer before he raised his right hand as well. The fire elements in the world began to gather in his right hand at a faster rate than the elder and formed a giant sword of fire. No matter if it was color or by temperature, Jian Chen’s sword seemed much stronger than the elder’s.
“He has control of the energy of the world, how surprising is that…?”
“This is the magical power of controlling the energy of the world. Could he have reached the Heaven Saint Master realm…?”
Jian Chen’s act of controlling the energy of the world had caused everyone to turn pale with fright. At this moment, everyone had truly believed that Jian Chen was many times stronger than Mu Zhaye. Even the lords and leaders had their eyes wide open as they look at Jian Chen in silent disbelief.
A Heaven Saint Master wasn’t a new sight to them. However, a Heaven Saint Master this young was something they had never heard of before.
“How… how is this possible? Jian Chen has made the breakthrough to become a Heaven Saint Master?” Even Qin Ji had a look of surprise as he muttered to himself.
The king of the Qinhuang Kingdom let out a breath of air as he slowly calmed his nerves. At this moment, he could feel his heart beating rapidly at this sight. A twenty something year old Heaven Saint Master would surely ripple across the Tian Yuan Continent if news were to get out.
“Is he truly as young as he looks?” The Qinhuang Kingdom’s king spoke with some doubt.