In just a few months, the Iron Cloud City that used to be one of the many small insignificant cities in the Sky Lion Kingdom has now become one of the richest and influential cities within the Kingdom.

Merchant shops littered both sides of the streets of the city as a huge amount of people gave rise to a bustling atmosphere. The streets were extremely s.p.a.cious; other than horse carriages, there were also other domesticated demon beasts pulling on merchant carts.

To think that Iron Cloud City could be prosperous to this extent. Just building the city walls, as well as the marbled streets would need to expend an untold amount of wealth and manpower. The shops and inns on the streets were neither simple nor unsophisticated, they all looked extremely affluent

Right now, the city was the complete opposite of what it was a few months ago. Not only the city has economically flourished, but it has also politically changed as well.

Before, the city used to be ruled by the four big families such as the Zong Family, The Meng Family, The Su Family, and the Ma Family.

The Su Family used to be the strongest while the Ma Family was the weakest and the poorest. However, now the entire city was governed by one family and that was the Ma Familly, the weakest of the four.

Well, the former weakest because now the Ma Family has become so strong that the combine power and wealth of the other three families couldn"t even compare to a quarter of the Ma Family"s wealth and power.

Not only that, but the Ma Family also has become a true n.o.ble family as the King of the Sky Lion Kingdom himself has personally conferred the t.i.tle of Duke upon Ma Wen, the head of the Ma Family.

Iron cloud City and the surrounding small cities were now considered as Duke Ma Wen"s dukedom. In order to help Ma Wen, the King had even exempted him from fifteen years of taxes and personally send some people to help him with everything.

And all of these changes happened because of Ma Tu"s friends.h.i.+p with Ling Chen, the son of the Heavenly Demon Venerable.

As for Ma Tu, after his father had become a duke and the ruler of his own domain, he was forced to marry ten women already by his father. Not that he was complaining.

As if that wasn"t enough, every day there would powerful n.o.bles that would come knocking on the Ma Family"s door to propose marriage.

Some of them even fought each other and saying that their daughters were better, prettier and even had the bigger b.o.o.bs.

In just a few months, the Ma Family had become the most famous and influential family in the entire Kingdom.

However, despite their fame and wealth, over the past few days, the Ma Family"s mansion was filled with a certain somberness.

The reason for that was because of the incoming war between the Yan Empire and the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Unlike the other n.o.ble families, they got all their fame and wealth due to Ma Tu"s friends.h.i.+p with Ling Chen, the young master of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

They weren"t some neutral family like the other n.o.ble families. One could even say that their livelihood was tied up to the Heavenly Demon Sect. The moment the Heavenly Demon Sect lost that war, the same n.o.ble families that used to kiss their b.u.t.ts would be the first one to slaughter them to prove their loyalty to the Yan Empire.

As such, if they wanted to keep the same status, the Heavenly Demon Sect had to win that war.

At this moment, In the main hall of the Ma family"s mansion, a middle-aged man sat on a big chair while facing a young man.

The young man looked like he was 17-18 years old, and at first glance, anyone would know he was no ordinary person due to his luxurious clothes and expensive jewelry.

If Ling Chen was there at this moment, he would have recognized that young man with a single glance because he was none other than Ma Tu. As for the middle-aged man, he was the head of the Ma family, Duke Ma Wen

From the look on their faces, one could tell that they were discussing something serious due to the solemn expression on their faces.

"Father, I"ve already decided and you can"t stop me. I"ll take a thousand men with me and go help the Heavenly Demon Sect chop those Imperial dogs." Ma Tu said with a determined look on his face.

Ma Wen frowned and said: " Son, I know that you want to help your friend, but what can a thousand men that haven"t even broken through the Martial Master do? Our little force is not even strong enough to be considered as an appetizer for them."

He also wanted to help the Heavenly Demon Sect but unfortunately couldn"t. Even the Sky Lion royal family that was considered as the strongest family within the kingdom couldn"t compare to these two behemoths, let alone them.

"But father, what can we do." Asked Ma Tu with a helpless look on his face. Ma Tu knew that even if he used all his family"s strength in this war, it would still be like dropping a pinch of salt into the ocean. However, he didn"t want to give up just like that. He wanted to help his friend.

" Son, all we can do is wait here and pray that the Heavenly Demon Sect will emerge victorious from that war." Answered Ma Wen with a powerless look on his face as well.

They both wanted to help the Heavenly Demon Sect, however, they were too weak to do so.