“T-This…” Liu Xiyuan was speechless as he looked at the writhing thirteenth young master on the ground.

Qianye pointed at the young man and asked, “Shall I leave him like this, or what do you want me to do?”

Liu Xiyuan was quite decisive. A certain glow flickered in his eyes as he sighed. “Since you’ve done it, then finish it up.”

“Fine.” Qianye nodded. A beam of incomparably sharp sword energy shot out from the blade, slitting open the thirteenth young master’s throat and effectively ending his life. After concluding his business, Qianye sheathed his sword calmly and said, “I thought you’d come to fight it out with me.”

Liu Xiyuan laughed wryly. “As much as I want to, I know that I’m not that capable. Please wait while I clean things up.”

He turned toward the thirteenth young master’s guards with a serious expression. “Take the young master’s remains back. Whoever dares to make irresponsible remarks, I’ll cut off his tongue! Understand?”

The guard unit affirmed their instructions and sped away with the corpse. They didn’t dare linger about after their brush with death.

Liu Xiyuan had people clean up the traces of blood before inviting Qianye into a private room in the Nightcloud Pavilion. After Qianye had taken his seat, he said, “You’ve fought and confirmed your victory, Stormwind Fury has also dispersed, I think there’s no need to keep on fighting.”

Qianye took a sip of tea. “I just killed the City Lord’s son, does that not matter?”

Liu Xiyuan laughed. “The City Lord has a crowd of wives, concubines, and children, the loss or addition of one makes little difference. Some of them die every year and he can just raise more.”

Although Qianye was confident that the city lord would compromise in this regard, these words gave him quite a bit of a surprise. He only recovered from his daze after a while and said, “The City Lord is indeed a capable and magnanimous person, I’m in awe.”

Liu Xiyuan asked, “I wonder what brings you to Southern Blue? If you can tell me about it, perhaps I can help you.”

Qianye had no intention of hiding things. “I have an old wars.h.i.+p that’s been having trouble moving lately, so I want to renovate it. I came here to buy some kinetic equipment, and even better, some kinetic sails.”

“Our City Lord has numerous connections regarding military equipment. Why don’t you drop by the city lord manor as a guest and discuss your intentions with the lord? That’ll also serve to remove whatever misunderstandings we may have had.”

“Fine, let’s go over then.” Qianye’s immediate response surprised Liu Xiyuan quite a bit. It would seem this person was not afraid of an ambush at all.

Qianye rose and walked out with Liu Xiyuan. Just as he was about to leave the door, he said to Bluemoon, “I’m going to visit the city lord manor and see the City Lord. You stay here and look for goods, just wait here after you’re done.”

“Yes, Sir,” Bluemoon replied. About Qianye heading to the city lord manor on his own, she was conflicted by nervousness and expectation.

She would be free if Qianye were to die there. Additionally, the secret of the Northern Continent was in her hand. One day, she would definitely find a way to pa.s.s through the Eastern Sea and void barriers and arrive on that fertile land.

But she also understood that her own potential and the Highbeards’ power aren’t enough to occupy that place. If the existence of the Northern Continent were to be revealed, the Wolf King, Mask, and Spider Emperor would come to loot the place despite their status. At that point, how were the Highbeards, who didn’t even have a single divine champion, to defend? That was also the main reason why the Highbeards had been wandering the world as mercenaries without a place to call home.

If even the Highbeards couldn’t defend the territory, why was Qianye so confident that he could? Bluemoon pondered many things in secret after Qianye’s departure.

She could find many reasons—Qianye’s combat strength, for instance, was much stronger than his cultivation, and he had many unfathomable methods. But none of that was enough of a reason. In the end, there was only one thought left in her mind: the Pointer Monarch’s successor should be able to cope with such a situation. If he really couldn’t hold out, perhaps the monarch himself would appear. At the thought of this, Bluemoon suddenly felt more confident.

For decades, the Pointer Monarch had occupied the throne of the most powerful human expert. Many of his exploits had become legends, and his name alone was enough to give humans strength and hope.

Qianye, of course, had no idea that the Pointer Monarch had unknowingly given him another endors.e.m.e.nt. He was thinking about how to deal with the Southern Blue city lord. At the moment, he had arrived in the city lord’s manor, slowly enjoying good tea in the guest room, but a single mistake could turn this hospitality into a murderous situation.

Just as he was deep in thought, a friendly-looking fatty walked into the room. He immediately cupped his fists with a smile and said, “Young n.o.ble Qianye, your fame precedes you! I’m Ji Rui, the humble lord of Southern Blue. Please forgive us if there was a lack of hospitality.”

Qianye duly returned the gesture, and the two took their seats after the exchange of formalities. Ji Rui asked his men to withdraw and adopted a serious expression, “Might I ask if Young n.o.ble hails from the Zhao clan in the empire?”

Qianye knew people would find out sooner or later. He had no intention of hiding it, either. “I’ve indeed worked for the Zhao clan before.”

Ji Rui nodded. “There were indeed some misunderstandings between us, but with Thirteen dead, I wonder if we can write it all off?”

“Of course.”

“If Thirteen hadn’t gone to seek you out...” Ji Rui probed.

“Then I would’ve come here to pay him a visit.”

Ji Rui’s smile became even more awkward. He fished out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. “Then it’s a good thing that he did then. I do wonder, what your relations.h.i.+p with the natives is?”

“None.”

“What do you think about us logging in the Black Grove?”

Qianye replied with a smile, “What does that have to do with me? The natives and I only worked together temporarily against a common enemy.”

Ji Rui heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s good, that’s good.”

His plans could continue if Qianye didn’t object to his logging in the Black Grove. That was his true source of fortune and a sure way of obtaining the empire’s support. Comparatively, the Spider Emperor’s bounty on Zhuji and his thirteenth son weren’t all that important.

Ji Rui said in a cautious whisper, “I heard Young n.o.ble did something serious in the empire.”

“It’s nothing much, I merely barged into an imperial military stronghold and killed a general.” Qianye made it sound trivial, but this shocked Ji Rui out of his wits. The city lord knew a lot about the imperial system and was quite sure that a general was equal to himself in both cultivation and combat strength. If Qianye was capable of charging into a heavily-guarded military stronghold to kill a general, it also meant that he could kill Ji Rui inside his own city lord manor.

Ji Rui said with a smile, “Sire Qianye is indeed extraordinary. You make something so big sound so light.”

After hearing of this matter, Ji Rui’s address of Qianye quickly switched from Young n.o.ble to Sire. “I don’t think the empire will just let this be, why aren’t you laying low after coming to the neutral lands? Why would you keep using your own name? This news will bring you trouble once it gets back to the empire.”

Qianye smiled faintly. “What I’m afraid of is that they won’t come. With nothing left to worry about, now is the right time to start a ma.s.sacre.”

Ji Rui was astonished once more. As the lord of Southern Blue, he owned many industries and there were very few people he had to be cautious of. Those he feared most were mysterious people like Qianye who were both strong and reckless. Qianye had even dared to release his true name before so many mercenaries, what else could he be afraid of?

Ji Rui drank a mouthful of tea to calm his mind before trying to sound Qianye out. “Is there anything you need in Southern Blue? Maybe I can help.”

Qianye was waiting for him to say that. “I do need some help, actually. I want to purchase a batch of kinetic sails, but there isn’t enough stock in the city. Do you think you can help me?”

Ji Rui’s eyes lit up and s.h.i.+fted about when he heard the words, “a batch”. He let out a cough and said while pretending to be calm, “Kinetic sails aren’t easy to manufacture. Their prices are high and few airs.h.i.+ps can use them. There’s no way the stores can keep stock. But I do know some friends, and they might have some in-store. If that’s still not enough, we can place an order with the manufacturers. How many sails do you need?”

Qianye merely smiled without saying anything. Only when he saw Ji Rui listening attentively did he raise four fingers at him. The city lord seemed somewhat disappointed. “Four?”

In truth, an ordinary airs.h.i.+p could only use three kinetic sails. Those using four sails could be considered quite large. If Qianye only had one airs.h.i.+p, it would be just right for him to buy four kinetic sails. It was just that such a deal seemed rather small to Ji Rui and he would need to reevaluate Qianye’s value.

Without waiting for Ji Rui to continue his thoughts, Qianye shook his head and said, “No, I want forty.”

“Forty!” The city lord almost jumped to his feet. Fortunately, he was able to maintain his calm and prevent his b.u.t.tocks from leaving the chair.

“I want sails of the largest size and the best quality,” Qianye added.

Ji Rui’s eyes lit up. “Excuse me for saying this, but such sails aren’t produced in the neutral lands. We can only buy them in Evernight or the empire. By the time they’ve been s.h.i.+pped here, the price will be around five thousand gold coins each.”

Qianye nodded. “That’s a reasonable price. I’ll leave these with you as a down-payment.” With that, he produced a small box full of black crystals and placed it in front of Ji Rui.

The city lord’s doubts were dispelled as he opened the container and saw thirty thousand gold coins worth of black crystals. “The stock I and my friends have might barely cover forty sails. I’ll make arrangements right away, the goods will be ready in a week’s time. Where should I send them to?”

Qianye named a certain small town and then got up to leave. Ji Rui saw the guest out personally until he was out of the manor doors.

Qianye hadn’t even said goodbye when he heard a scream from inside. “Return my son’s life!”

An origin bullet shot toward Qianye with a loud bang.