Chapter 708: Neutral Lands (Part 2) [V7C025 – In Life and In Eternal Rest]
“Is that so?” Qianye expressed neither surprise nor anger and merely gazed at the fatty in silence.
The latter began to sweat. He bowed until his back was about to break and said, “General, it’s not that this lowly one wants to trick you out of your airs.h.i.+p. The situation there is indeed somewhat special. Your airs.h.i.+p is noticeably a special imperial model, and I know no ordinary person can fake it or buy it. The only ones who can drive such an airs.h.i.+p into neutral territory are imperial emissaries. It’s really not suitable if you wish to enter quietly as an ordinary person.”
Qianye nodded. “You’re quite the considerate person. What’s your name?”
The fatty replied hurriedly, “This lowly one is Chen Xuan. It’s an honor to work for you.”
“Actually, it’s fine even if I drive the airs.h.i.+p straight into neutral territory, isn’t it? Even if something does happen, it has little to do with you.”
Chen Xuan laughed wryly. “Please don’t joke, sir. This lowly one doesn’t know why you want to go to neutral territory, but even if you committed something in the empire, you still have family and friends over there. If nothing else, the Zhao clan is still on the Western Continent! Why would I sell my life to the empire without any benefits? When your friends and enemies come knocking at my door in the future, I can’t afford to offend them, either! If you drive your airs.h.i.+p in, you’ll have to fight a battle with the guard fleet before reaching your destination.”
Qianye nodded slightly. Regardless of whether the fatty was speaking the truth or not, these words were true. He had long since heard that the neutral lands—with its complex geography—was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Without special status, even imperial s.h.i.+ps would suffer an attack if they were to appear there.
Next up, the fatty explained in detail some of the taboos regarding the neutral lands and made arrangements for Qianye’s upcoming journey. Meanwhile, Qianye’s airs.h.i.+p was sold to Chen Xuan at a discount. Although the base price was set at market value, one could see from Chen Xuan’s happy face that he had earned quite a bit from this transaction. In fact, such high-speed airs.h.i.+ps were limited in production and simply couldn’t be bought on the market. Those in possession of such a vessel were all wealthy and respectable characters.
Most of the money gained from the airs.h.i.+p was used to purchase beast meat. It also came as a pleasant surprise that there was a piece of genuine void beast meat in Chen Xuan’s storeroom.
With over half a day left before departure time, Qianye planned to take a stroll around the town with Nighteye. As for Zhuji, the little fellow couldn’t even open her eyes after finally getting a full meal. So, she opted to stay behind in the room to sleep. The fatty especially arranged for several people to stand guard, but Qianye knew that these guards weren’t so much to protect Zhuji as they were to protect the townspeople.
The town wasn’t very big, but there were numerous stores selling wares from both factions. There was no lack of rare materials on sale, but hardly anything could enter Qianye’s eyes at this point. After a trip around the town, all he bought were pieces of jewelry for Nighteye.
Qianye was struck by a sudden sense of familiarity as he pa.s.sed by a crudely decorated weapons store. Seemingly recalling something, he soon walked in with Nighteye in tow.
This narrow shop was made up of a storefront at the entrance and a small workshop deeper inside. The latter room was tightly packed, consisting of a small workbench, a cabinet of raw materials, and two beds. There was a five-year-old boy dozing off at the front counter, while a short old man with thick gla.s.ses was pounding away at a paper-thin component on the workbench.
Qianye simply waited in silence until the old man had finished working. Only afterward did he speak, “Great Master, we meet again.”
The young boy behind the counter finally woke up and was frightened out of his seat. The old man, however, removed his gla.s.ses and walked over to Qianye. After leaning in for a closer inspection, he said as though he had recalled something, “It’s you?”
Qianye smiled. “It’s me. That ‘bullet’ you made for me back in the year helped out a great deal. But…” Qianye pointed at the extremely crude workshop, “what happened to your trade?”
The old man laughed wryly as he beckoned to the two to sit down. “What else? I offended an aristocratic family, so there’s nowhere else I can live.”
“A wanted order?”
“Of the highest grade.” The old man smiled ruefully.
“How come? You’re only selling things.”
“Someone used my bullet to kill that family’s direct descendant. Those people couldn’t catch the culprit so they bribed the military and issued a wanted order for me. I had no choice but to hide here to escape those hunters. Moreover, I no longer dare to sell those kinds of bullets.”
Qianye sighed after hearing the story. Imperial warrants were easy to issue but difficult to remove. Forcibly canceling a warrant meant a direct confrontation with the family that had issued it. With a bounty on his head, the old man could hardly take a step into imperial territory. Those hunters didn’t just kill dark races for a living—wanted imperial fugitives also made up a good part of their income.
Compared to the last time, the old man seemed to have aged ten years and was already tired after a brief conversation.
Qianye thought of something. “Do you want to head into the neutral lands?”
“Neutral lands?” The old man was startled. He soon shook his head with a wry laugh. “Don’t you know how expensive a single ticket there is? How can I afford it?”
“I happen to be going there, and there’s still room on board.”
The old man finally looked up. “You’re going into neutral territory?”
“Yes.”
“But…” The old man donned a pair of special gla.s.ses and sized Qianye up from head to toe. “It might not be easy to eke out a living there with your current strength.”
“What’s this?” Qianye was curious about the spectacle in the old man’s hands.
“Just a small toy. It’s somewhat more sensitive to origin power.”
Qianye picked up the gla.s.ses and wore them. His vision turned blurry, but the origin power in the vicinity became dazzling. Through these gla.s.ses, Qianye could see the seven origin nodes in the old man’s body even without his Eye of Truth. In addition, he could see no origin power reaction from Nighteye. He himself looked like he had eight origin nodes—the rest of his power had been hidden away by Bloodline Concealment.
“Oh, such a thing exists. Not bad.” Qianye pa.s.sed the gla.s.ses back, and then looked about and picked up a finger-sized stick of alloy. Rolling it casually between his fingers, he quickly turned the piece of metal into a ball.
The old man’s eyes widened!
This was an extremely st.u.r.dy metal used in making origin bullet sh.e.l.ls, yet Qianye had rolled it into a ball with his bare hands. The old man had never seen such strength even among high-ranking champions.
He immediately understood that Qianye had hidden his powers. Also, that quiet girl beside him seemed to have no power at all, but it was the first time the old man had seen that kind of calm demeanor.
After pondering for a while, the elderly craftsman finally made up his mind. “I’ll go with you! Give me some time, I need to pack up.”
Qianye nodded. “Very well, I’ll send someone to pick you up before we set out.”
After leaving the weapons shop and having explored the entire town, Qianye returned to Chen Xuan’s courtyard to wait for the airs.h.i.+p.
A vulgar-looking man entered a side-building of the courtyard, jogged his way to Chen Xuan, and whispered something in his ears.
The fatty was drinking tea at the moment. “He wants to take that old man?”
The man replied, “Yes! Leader, the old man must have some secrets on him. Otherwise, why would Qianye bring that one person among all the others in town? We can’t let that old man leave so easily!”
Chen Xuan’s expression fluctuated a fair bit. Apparently, he was quite conflicted about this matter, but in the end, he sighed. “Let him go.”
The vulgar-looking man wasn’t expecting such a reply. “Leader, are we really going to let him go? This might involve a large sum of money!”
Chen Xuan snorted, “You need to be alive to spend your wealth.”
The man whispered with a cruel expression, “Leader, that Qianye must’ve committed a serious crime in the empire to be hurrying into neutral territory. Why don’t we work together with the nearby towns and take him down? We’ll earn a huge fortune if we hand him to the empire. Maybe we won’t need to do this line of work anymore after this.”
The muscles on Chen Xuan’s face twitched a couple of times. Moments later, he slapped the armrest hard and said, “No!”
“Leader!!!”
Chen Xuan closed his eyes. “No means no. I know better than you just what kind of trash those in the neighboring towns are. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds might not even be my match. Do you really think we can take down Qianye with just numbers?”
The man was about to speak again, but Chen Xuan stopped him with a wave of his hands.
Night soon fell upon the continent. An old airs.h.i.+p took to the air and flew into the vast skies. At the other end of its flight path was a world that existed between the two great factions, a haven for experts and fugitives alike—the chaotic neutral lands.
At this moment, Indomitable was in a state of tension and solemnity. One airs.h.i.+p after the other descended into the city and out came countless wooden-faced officers. Soon afterward, these people boarded the readily awaiting off-road vehicles and swaggered off.
The defensive arrangements around the airs.h.i.+p port were stricter than before, and the number of guards had increased twofold. However, those who looked carefully would find that there were soldiers wearing the insignia of the imperial military in addition to the Zhao clan soldiers—the airs.h.i.+p port of Indomitable was now being co-managed by the Zhao clan and the military.
Yet, not only did the patrolling soldiers from each side not greet those from the other, sparks seemed to fly off whenever their eyes met.
Within the Zhao clan camp, Zhao Jundu was seated with his eyes closed, his face expressionless.
The two generals sitting on either side below him seemed rather furious. One of them said angrily, “These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from the military are too unbridled! They immediately fought for control over the airs.h.i.+p port after arriving here. That aside, they actually dare summon the fourth young master to a court hearing. Just who do they think they are?”
The other person banged the table. “Indomitable was built entirely by the Zhao clan. It has nothing to do with the imperial military.”
“Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were hiding when the fighting was fierce, now they all pop up one after the other.”