Jiang Yi returned to the castle. He thought about it for a while and felt that the Qilin Empress’s actions were out of place with her identity and status.
She loved He Nongying so much; He Nongying’s status in the Heaven Domain was definitely one of the highest. However, why would this kind of heavenly prodigious lady not be able to find a suitor?
Even if he was the first young man that He Nongying had brought back to Qilin City, that wouldn’t warrant the Qilin Empress’s personal intervention to test him, right? She could have just found anyone to test his character; why was Qilin Empress so anxious?
Thinking about this further, Jiang Yi decided that he was going to leave!
He had stayed here for six days; much time had passed, and there shouldn’t be any problems in the Nine Yang City already, right? Jiang Yi deliberated for a moment, looked for He Da, and asked, “Could you inform Young Mistress Nongying that I am prepared to leave for Nine Yang City?”
He Da didn’t dare to probe further as he hurriedly went to find He Nongying. An hour later, he came back, nodded, and said, “Young Mistress has said that if you wish to leave, she will not keep you. However, you’d best teleport to the Nine Tripod City first before finding a way to Nine Yang City. Furthermore, she asks you not to enter Nine Yang City but head directly to the Nine Yang Valley outside the city to join the Nine Yang Army. There might still be Dao Clan formidable martial artists within the city.”
“Sure!”
Jiang Yi couldn’t wait to leave the Qilin City; who knew if the Qilin Empress still wanted to test him further. He Da brought Jiang Yi out; he didn’t bring Jiang Yi to the city plaza but to a castle in the backyard.
This castle had more than ten side halls; each of them had a Teleportation Formation. He Da brought Jiang Yi to the second Teleportation Formation to the left as he took out a command token, looked at the guard, and said, “Activate this Teleportation Formation and teleport this young master to Nine Tripod City.”
He Da also presented an interspatial ring to Jiang Yi, saying, “Young Master Jiang, this is the Nine Yang Region’s information and map. Young Mistress had asked me to pass these things to you.”
Jiang Yi took them quietly as he entered the Teleportation Formation, cupped his hands, and said, “Please convey my farewells to Young Mistress Nongying; many thanks!”
Buzz!
The Teleportation Formation lit up as Jiang Yi disappeared in a flash of light. After waiting a moment, a woman’s figure dressed in jade-colored clothing walked out from a side hall; it was He Nongying.
She looked at the Teleportation Formation as she sighed and said, “The Nine Yang Army is the most powerful in the Heaven Domain. However… it also has the highest death rate. Jiang Yi, whether you’re a worm or a dragon, it would be made known during your time in the Nine Yang Army and if you can survive.”
Auntie Shuang came out from that side hall as well as she looked at He Nongying worriedly. Auntie Shuang sent a voice transmission: “Young Mistress, this can’t be. You have finally found someone passable; you’re letting him leave? You deign to accept anyone that you do not find pleasing as well. If this continues, your body and soul spirit might explode sooner or later…”
“Keke!”
He Nongying grimaced as she shook her head and murmured to herself, “My body can only be taken by someone I love. Since it is someone I love, how could I harm him? This is my life; it had been preordained the day I was born. It can’t be helped!”
…
If the journey from the Long Region to Qilin City was the furthest Jiang Yi had ever been teleported, the journey from Qilin City to Nine Tripod City was around half that amount of time. When Jiang Yi’s feet finally touched the ground, his entire body weakened as he collapsed onto the ground, dizzy, and unable to sit cross-legged.
Hoo-Hoo!
He huffed and puffed as his head kept on spinning; he was almost about to spew out white foam.
It took a full fifteen minutes before he opened his eyes. However, once his eyes opened, he was unceremoniously held by the neck and thrown to one side as he tumbled a few times on the ground.
Jiang Yi glanced over and realized that it was a soldier who had flung him. He didn’t even bother kicking up a fuss as he sat on the ground cross-legged to recuperate. After yet another fifteen minutes, he grudgingly managed to recover as he sent out his divine senses.
After his divine senses swept the vicinity, Jiang Yi felt very glad he had not teleported directly to Nine Yang City. He had appeared in the city plaza of a huge city; there were people everywhere and at least ten thousand troops. Many martial artists were sitting cross-legged in the city plaza, with all sorts of weird war chariots coming and going. It was extremely boisterous.
Without even guessing, Jiang Yi knew that there were definitely scouts from all the various clans in the Nine Yang Region in this city plaza; he wondered if anyone recognized him? All the scars on his face were now gone. Though there were still red marks on his face while his hair was let down; he looked quite different from before. He also wore superior-grade battle armor and gloves. If someone didn’t know him personally and hadn’t detected his soul spirit aura before, they probably wouldn’t be able to identify Jiang Yi easily.
However, if he had teleported straight to Nine Yang City and there were Dao Clan Lion Dragon Army formidable martial artists present, they would instantly be able to identify him. Although it was forbidden to attack someone else within the city, the Dao Clan could always say that Jiang Yi was a spy and have the Nine Yang Army capture him. It would be easy for them to deal with Jiang Yi subsequently.
Jiang Yi entered the State of the Union of Heaven and Man as he sensed his surroundings. He finally relaxed slightly. He had not realized any divine senses locking onto him. There probably weren’t Dao Clan disciples in the Nine Tripod City, and no one was suspicious of his identity.
“Let’s go!”
It was very dangerous remaining in the city plaza. Jiang Yi intended to head to an inn to source for information and decide on his next step. He slowly rose as he headed out into the city and he pretended to look about with curiosity as he tried to observe if anyone was following him.
“This is the Nine Yang Army? It is indeed different; these soldiers are much more ferocious and imposing than the Dao Clan soldiers.”
Jiang Yi’s gaze swept on the Nine Yang Army soldiers guarding the Teleportation Formations. These Nine Yang Army soldiers were at least God Thearch-equivalent. They all wore black battle armor and held onto black long spears; they were very striking and made one’s heart skip a beat. It seemed as if they had some unique aura to them.
“Baneful aura!”
Jiang Yi soon realized what it was. These Nine Yang Army soldiers must have frequented the battlefield as their bodies emitted a faint baneful aura; it could not be hidden and thus had this special effect.
“Eh?”
The city plaza was vast; after walking for tens of thousands of feet, Jiang Yi found a huge stone stage ahead. A huge, thousand-foot tall statue was on it. When he had sent out his divine senses before, he had not sent them this far; he had just discovered this statue.
“Could this be the Nine Tripod City Lord?”
The statue was back-facing Jiang Yi, and he couldn’t see the statue’s face. As his divine senses swept about the statue, it suddenly lit up and flashed. Jiang Yi’s soul spirit was as if severely wounded as he collapsed and tumbled. A few people nearby saw this as they smirked, kept mum, and continued on their way.
“What powerful restrictions; this statue cannot be analyzed using divine senses?”
A few minutes later, Jiang Yi groggily recovered as he huffed and puffed. Seeing the constant smirks he was getting from others, Jiang Yi actually grew curious. It was just a statue; even if it was the Nine Tripod City Lord’s statue, there wasn’t a need for such powerful restrictions to protect it, right?
Jiang Yi crawled to his feet as he walked towards the statue speedily. He soon walked to the front of it as he raised his head to look at it. At that moment, his body suddenly shivered as his soul spirit once again felt as if it had been struck by lightning. Jiang Yi’s eyes were filled with astonishment and disbelief!
The statue was that of a white-haired old man holding a sword. However, the funny thing was the statue did not have a face to it. More accurately, the face was extremely groggy and couldn’t be seen clearly. Only a pair of eyes was clearly visible.
The statue’s eyes looked into the far distance. They were filled with love, compassion, and warmth. Although it was but a statue, eyes with such a wealth of emotion were actually carved into it!
This wasn’t the main point. The crux was… Jiang Yi had seen this pair of eyes before! He was dead certain about that.
This statue was the mysterious elder in the Fire Dragon Sword. When he saw this pair of eyes, Jiang Yi suddenly felt affection for the statue as it was very familiar.
“My Lord, can I ask…?”
Jiang Yi paused for a moment and abruptly grabbed hold of a God Thearch passing by. He pointed at the statue as his voice quivered and asked, “Who is this Lord?”
“You do not know?”
That God Thearch looked at Jiang Yi as if he was a fool. He then looked respectfully at the statue, bowed slightly, and said, “He is the hero of the human race, the most prodigious talent of us all. He is the most powerful Heavenly Thearch in history; the Nine Yang Heavenly Thearch!”
Boom!
As if struck by sky thunder, Jiang Yi fell flat on the ground. Although he already had his suspicions when he saw the statue, he still couldn’t accept it. He had actually inherited something from the Nine Yang Heavenly Thearch; he held onto the Heavenly Thearch’s weapon that could rally the entire human race.
