Chapter 23 – Making Profits and Returning Home
Within the darkness, Jing Qiu was currently experiencing a very special feeling.
Before, under the pressure of the Demonic God Emissary, she had already given come to terms with dying. Yet, unknowingly, the ever-ordinary Xue Ying suddenly came to her rescue, displaying shocking strength in battling and killing the Emissary! Then came the suicidal Lu Huai Ru, who had decided to drag everyone within the Hall down with him. At this point, her life was threatened again, as she was being used as a shield for Si Bai Rong.
And yet again, she was saved.
Within the darkness, buried under the numerous rocks, Jing Qiu was experiencing hundreds of complex emotions.
Peng! With a loud bang, Xue Ying used his arm’s strength to lift the shield above him, pushing away the countless rocks.
“Let’s go.”
Xue Ying wrapped his hand around Jing Qiu’s waist before explosively leaping up and away. At the same time, with the shield in his other hand, he smacked away everything blocking their way.
One would think that this way, with one hand hugging onto a beautiful female mage’s waist, he would certainly feel lovely. However, in reality, because of the frost armour that had been enveloping Jing Qiu, the feeling of hugging her was really ordinary – cold and hard, and completely uncomfortable.
Boom! Landing on top of the debris, Xue Ying let go of Jing Qiu.
“You best be careful. Even with the collapse of the entire Great Hall, there is the possibility of debris falling again. That frost armour of yours should always be kept on.” Xue Ying swept a glance across the surroundings. Everything was in crumbles, excluding the inner castle’s first and second level’s pillars, which were currently holding up several of the stone floors above them.
Should any of the supporting pillars move, or should the walls be tilted the slightest bit, the delicate balance would break, causing the collapse of the entire ceiling. Regardless, occasionally, some rocks would still fall.
These were undoubtedly harmless to any powerful Knights, though the same could not be said for the physically weak mages. Thus, it was extremely important for them to have defensive spells protecting their bodies.
“En.” Jing Qiu nodded. “You…”
Sou. Xue Ying was already far away from her, his long spear digging through the debris, in search of corpses.
However, under such explosive power, even the now dead Demonic God Emissary would become paste. After all, this kind of explosion could easily kill any Silver Moon Knight. If under no protection, regardless of whether it was Tang Xiong, or the Demonic God Emissary, or Lu Huai Ru, their bodies would be so fragmented that nobody would be able to recognise them. It was the same case for Si Bai Rong.
“I’ve found all of their belongings. Let’s go.” Xue Ying walked towards Jing Qiu.
“Alright.” Jing Qiu nodded, then both headed outs of the inner chambers. With the collapse of the entire Great Hall and of the upper levels, Jing Qiu and Xue Ying had an easy time navigating their way out of this place.
Even if the roads ahead were blocked, with the strength of a Legend ranker, Xue Ying would easily open up a path.
“Dong Bo Xue Ying, thank you,” Jing Qiu said gratefully, “Thank you for saving me. If you weren’t here, I’d have definitely died.”
When considering the previous disastrous situation, even if Xue Ying chose not to save her, it would have been perfectly reasonable and understandable.
“It’s nothing. To me, such an action is simply a small matter. To you, however, it meant living or dying.” Xue Ying’s eyes had a glint of cold as he spoked. “I just never would have thought that Si Bai Rong could be so shameless.”
A knight holding a mage as a shield?
That was a first for Xue Ying.
“I, too, never thought he could do such a thing.” Jing Qiu did not hold anything against Bai Rong. After all, he had died from the explosion. “Dong Bo Xue Ying, do not worry. I will take everything regarding Si Bai Rong’s matter to my grave. As for anything regarding this mission, I will keep it a secret as well.”
After all, Jing Qiu felt that Xue Ying hiding his true strength until the very last moment was his own business. Thus, she had no reason to blabber about it to others.
Xue Ying gave her a smile.
“Ah, your leg is bleeding!” Jing Qiu suddenly realised that there were some bloodstains on Xue Ying’s leg, caused by the explosion.
“Haha, the bleeding has long stopped. Even the blood has dried up. This is an insignificant flesh wound!” The stronger a Knight’s body, the faster its healing rate. Even now, no wound nor scars could be seen around the supposedly wounded area.
The two of them walked side by side out of the castle.
The male in black, the female garbed in azure and covered by an external layer of frost armour.
“It’s Liang Yong.” After walking for a while, they finally saw his body. After all, the entire inner castle had an area of up to 1-2 miles. The explosion had only destroyed the basement, also affecting the first and second levels of the inner castle. Still, in the end, the octagonal shape of the inner castle had remained unaffected, including the hallway where Liang Yong had died.
“At least his whole body was left intact,” Xue Ying said.
……
The two of them exited the inner castle. They finally reached the courtyard, frozen by Jing Qiu’s frost spell. The ordinary soldiers had long ago escaped from this place.
Xue Ying looked upwards, spotting the flying-ship with his terrifying vision, even amidst the dark skies and at the distance of a few hundred meters.
“Come on down,” Xue Ying shouted out, his voice reverberating across the silent dark sky.
Hu—
In the skies, the silver flying-ship, on constant surveillance, responded and came flying down towards Xue Ying.
“Just you two?” The Dragon Mountain Manor’s two members of personnel came walking out, asking, “What about the rest? Si Bai Rong?”
“They died,” Xue Ying said whilst taking out three important storage treasures, “This armband belongs to Liang Yong, the other protective band belongs to Si Bai Rong, and this ring is Tang Xiong’s. Please take these and return them back to their families!”
“All of them died? What exactly happened?” The two Dragon Mountain Manor’s members of personnel were shocked. One of them took the three storage treasures from Xue Ying. Within Dragon Mountain Manor, such cases were a norm, where people died and their storage treasures were retrieved to be given back to their families. Over time, these actions had turned into an unwritten rule. Even though most of the stored treasures were returned, there were still cases when those partaking in the same mission took away some of the deceased’s items.
The knight from Dragon Mountain Manor looked at Xue Ying, then accepted the fact as it was.
Even if they had taken away some of the extremely precious treasure, there was no evidence!
In reality —
Xue Ying hadn’t taken a single item from the storage treasures of the three deceased knights. Liang Yong’s armband had been actually found within Si Bai Rong’s storage treasure! If not for Xue Ying, it was very likely that Liang Yong’s storage treasure would have been snatched away by Bai Rong.
‘I actually thought that Si Bai Rong had a lot of treasures… Who could have known that he was so poor!’Xue Ying thought silently to himself. Having searched the storage treasures carefully, he understood that Tang Xiong was even richer than Bai Rong! Apparently, the big ‘Si Clan’ was very strict in financial matters. A cowardly young master who was not willing to venture out by himself hadn’t received much.
He who had such a rich-looking appearance, didn’t have deep pockets after all! Instead of depending on others, why not rely only on himself, tempering his character through many life and death experiences, just as Tang Xiong did?
Of course, the total value of the three deceased’ treasures could hardly compare to even the slightest bit of the Demonic God Emissary’s!
‘This Emissary… is seriously rich.’ Each time he recalled what he had seen, he felt astounded.
How could he know the story behind this Demonic God Emissary and the circumstances of how he had come to be? Xue Ying couldn’t possible know that it was only after he had killed a Legend ranker with strength comparable to his that the Emissary could obtain the two huge space storage rings.
‘I, Dong Bo Xue Ying, was previously extremely tight on gold. Yet now, I guess one could say that within the entire Azure River County, I’m one of the top ten richest people,’ Xue Ying thought to himself. ‘Only several other Legend rankers could compete with me in terms of wealth. En. En. This time when I go back, I shall buy some protective equipment for my brother, and give him these powerful spell scrolls from the storage treasure.’
Spell scrolls were spells that could move the heaven and earth, although they required the guidance of a mage. Knights could never utilise these scrolls by themselves.
Of course, in front of a Legend ranker… a Legend ranker who comprehended the realm of ‘One with the World’… such a person could control the forces of nature, and thus, such spell scrolls would not be able to display their might at all.
Only another Legend ranker or a Transcendent could threaten someone of the Legend rank!
‘Let me improve the protection of my Snowrock Castle as well. En. I should also buy a good staff for that girl You Yue.” After so many years, this was the first time Xue Ying felt so rich. Acquiring the treasure from the Demonic God Emissary who had lived for so many years, was obviously worth so much more than any other Legend ranker’s wealth in an ordinary clan.
“It’s Lu Huai Ru who wanted everyone to die with him, causing the explosion that caused the entire castle to collapse. You will understand when take a look,” Jing Qiu said succinctly.
“Bent Tai Town’s Dragon Mountain Manor will be dispatching someone to take over this area. Let’s bring you two back to the county city first.”
“Alright.”
Xue Ying and Jing Qiu nodded, then headed up onto the flying-ship.
It was only on top of the flying-ship that Jing Qiu finally dropped her frost armour. She looked towards Xue Ying, who was sitting cross-legged at the moment. “Xue Ying, when we reach the County City, are you preparing to go straight back home?”
“Yes.” Xue Ying nodded.
“Which part of Azure River County do you live in?
“Water Rites Town’s Snowrock Castle. Mage Jing Qiu is always welcome to visit my small territory.” Xue Ying laughed.
“Water Rites Town?”
Jing Qiu lightly nodded.
Within the pitch-black skies shrouded by night, the flying-ship advanced in the moonless night. As the wind blew faintly, Jing Qiu felt a little upsurge in her heart. It was only a moment later that she slowly calmed down from the previous adrenaline-filled battle. What had happened today would be forever etched into her mind.
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