Chapter 144: Recruit Talents
Luo Yunshang and Chen Dasheng’s faces turned pale again as they stared at Xiao Qingwang’s stomach. They looked as if they were about to vomit.
“What’s wrong with you two? I feel something is not right here!” Xiao Qingwang narrowed his eyes and said, “Yunshang, tell me, why do you keep staring at me like that?”
Luo Yunshang’s lips parted slightly, and she stammered, “Thi-this… I… I…” She quickly turned to Yunxiao and asked for help with her eyes.
Yunxiao’s forehead was covered with tiny beads of cold sweat. He made himself laugh and then said, “It’s nothing! Why do you have to look like that? To us who pursue martial arts, all things in the world can be made into spirit medicines. Zhou Chuan is dead. I’ve refined him into a pill with the cauldron.”
“Oh, so he’s dead! Good!” Xiao Qingwang said lightly. But all of a sudden, his pupils constricted and his face turned extremely pale. Staring at Yunxiao, he said in a trembling voice, “Wh-wha-what did you say? You refined Zhou Chuan into a pill? Whe-where is the pil…pill…Where is that pill now?”
He turned slightly and saw Luo Yunshang and Chen Dasheng stare at his stomach with a strange look on their faces. That immediately sent a chill down his back. His stomach began to tumble, and his face turned livid. “Young Master Yun, the pill…the pill you gave me just now…”
Yunxiao broke out in a cold sweat when he sensed the killing intent pour out of the man, and he could not help but slowly step backward. With an embarrassed smile, he said, “Well…ugh…As I said, all things in the world can be made into spirit medicines…”
“WHAT! How could you give me something so disgusting to eat?”
Xiao Qingwang exploded, and Yunxiao’s miserable screams could be heard very soon, accompanied by the sound of someone throwing up.
When they returned to Yanwu, Meng Wu and her brother hurried out to greet them. Luo Yunshang and Chen Dasheng looked normal, Xiao Qingwang’s face was extremely pale, and Yunxiao’s face was all black and blue, with bruises around his eyes.
“What happened to you, Young Master Yun? Are you alright? Who beat you this bad?” Meng Wu felt her heart ache, and she quickly took out some medicines to nurse his bruises.
Xiao Qingwang’s face grew dark as he snorted.
“I’m fine. I just tripped and fell,” said Yunxiao hurriedly.
Suddenly, Li Changfeng rushed through the door and came in front of Yunxiao. “Are you alright, son? I heard that you went to kill two Martial Kings! It scared the daylights out of me!”
“You are too bold, boy! You should have waited for us!” Li Chunyang walked over as well, his face angry. When they came back from the capital, they were told by Meng Wu that Yunxiao had gone to kill two Martial Kings. That frightened them instantly, and they rushed out of the city at once to look for him, but to no avail. They had just come back from the search.
Darkthunder ran beside Yunxiao and rubbed its head against his shoulder.
Li Chunyang frowned as soon as he saw Yunxiao’s look. “Your face…”
“It’s nothing, I tripped and fell!” Yunxiao hurriedly explained. As if he did not want them to keep asking about that, he said, “Grandpa, Dad, how was the mission?”
Li Changfeng beamed at the question as he laughed and said, “Haha! It was done flawlessly! All ten former city lords and over six hundred officials in the court spat out everything they had taken. In the beginning, a dozen or so families tried to fight back, but after I searched and confiscated their properties with force, the rest tucked their tails between their legs when I visited them.” He took out a storage bag and placed it on the table. “Hehe! I’ve listened to you and mainly asked for Primordial Stones. Here are two hundred million gold coins and six million medial-grade Primordial Stones.”
Everyone was startled. That was equivalent to sixty thousand superior-grade Primordial Stones!
A cold sweat broke out of Yunxiao’s forehead. “Dad, did you just rob Tianshui’s treasury? Didn’t Qin Yue order you to be hacked to death?”
“Hehe! What nonsense are you talking about? His Majesty is a reasonable man. He even helped me collect debts from some guys,” Li Changfeng said triumphantly.
Only then did Yunxiao smile. “With this wealth, things will be much easier. What about you, Grandpa?”
Li Chunyang laughed. “I rushed back first. Master Zhang Qingfan and Master Xu Han will be here tomorrow.”
“Great!”
Exulted, Yunxiao slapped a hand on the table and said, “Everything worked as I’d expected. We are too weak, and we have made too many enemies in a short period. If we can’t grow stronger as fast as possible, Yanwu will soon be wiped out.”
His words rendered everyone speechless. ‘We’ve made too many enemies because you kept offending others, and those you’ve offended are all existences we can’t afford to offend!’
Li Chunyang could not help but feel strange as he looked at Yunxiao’s bruised face. He walked to the side and gave Xiao Qingwang a light push as he asked, “What happened to my grandson’s face, Qingwang?”
There was a flicker of anger in Xiao Qingwang’s eyes as he said, “Hmph! You’ve got yourself a good grandson!”
The snub confused Li Chunyang, then he saw Chen Dasheng chuckling at the side. He walked over hurriedly and grabbed his arm as he asked the same question.
Looking at the anger in Xiao Qingwang’s eyes, Chen Dasheng held back his laughter and gave Li Chunyang a brief account of what happened.
“Ah!” Li Chunyang felt his stomach tumble when he heard that. Trying his best to not laugh, he said, “So, Qingwang has broken through and become a nine-stars Martial King? Congratulations!”
“Hmph!” Xiao Qingwang gave a fierce snort as he turned and walked away sulkily.
After seeing Xiao Qingwang off with his eyes, Li Chunyang choked back his urge to vomit and said aloud, “You’re so cruel, boy! How could you refine a man into a pill and make him eat it? If I were Qingwang, I would definitely flay you bit by bit!”
Yunxiao laughed. “I’m tired, and I need to meditate in seclusion for a while. Meng Wu, bring these Primordial Stones to Jia Rong at once. Ask him what difficulties he still has, and tell him that I need him to finish the construction of the three arrays as fast as possible.”
When he had finished, he went back to his room.
After the battle, he was exhausted, and his sword Tigertooth was also seriously damaged, even though it was only the first time he had used it to fight someone. It was all because he used it as a hacking knife. But, it did not matter, as he himself was an alchemist, and he could repair it at any time.
It was the reason why all warriors cherished their mystic weapons so much, because once their weapons were damaged, they would have to provide a large number of materials and beg some alchemists to repair for them.
Yunxiao took out the Cauldron of Five Elements from his ring and transformed it into the form that was half a meter tall as he placed it in front of him. With a look of nostalgia in his eyes, he gently caressed it with a hand and said, “In my previous life, I didn’t regard you as something important, and had given you to someone as soon as I had refined you. I didn’t expect you to be the first one to return to me in this life. If I had known this, I would have carved a few more powerful arrays in you. What a pity!”
He sighed, then sent several incantation seals into the cauldron. Streams of five-elements power immediately emanated from the vessel and enveloped him. In the blink of an eye, he was brought inside the cauldron and began to slowly recuperate.
The Cauldron of Five Elements was a more versatile mystic treasure he had refined, with its full power comparable to the fighting strength of a peak Martial King. Although Yunxiao could use it with ease, he was still limited by his cultivation base and could not exert all its power.
Wrapped in the light of five elements, his body began to slowly recover.
The next day, he appeared in front of everyone with great spirits.
There was already a sea of people outside the City Lord Mansion, all warriors who came to join Yunxiao. There were also many onlookers, who wished to see what exactly was the City Lord of Yanwu up to.
“Why are you all making so much noise? Shut your mouths now!”
A furious shout rang out of the mansion. A few moments later, Li Changfeng walked out of the front door, dragging the reluctant Darkthunder with him. He swept the crowd with his divine sense, spreading his aura of a Martial Lord out in all directions and drowning all voices.
“We were told to come today to sign up, but we’ve not seen even a soul, and there is no preparation outside the City Lord Mansion at all! Are you cheating us?” A Great Martial Master shouted. With so many people here, he was not afraid to stick his neck out.
Li Changfeng glared at him and bellowed, “What did you say? When did the city of Yanwu cheat anyone? When we said today, it will be today. It’s just that it’s still early and my son, the City Lord, is still sleeping. When he wakes up, he will naturally come to greet you all!”
“Oh, the City Lord is this man’s son. Wait, the sun is already up now, and he’s still sleeping?”
“Did the City Lord ever pay any attention to us? I thought he wanted to recruit talents, and yet he’s still sleeping now? Don’t you think this is too disappointing?” shouted another man.
Li Changfeng shot the man a glance and growled, “What disappointing? Everyone has his own schedule. My son is born to get up late, what’s your problem with that? It is the strength we want in our talents. If you want to join Yanwu, you will need to obey Yanwu’s rules, and you must obey orders, not act according to your own way.”
He was a general in the army, so he naturally had the air of a general when he talked. When that was combined with his strength of a Martial Lord, he could easily make many people shut their mouths.
‘He’s right! I’m here for the recruitment, and of course I need to conform to the rules. And since they are willing to pay me so well, naturally they want me to obey and act according to them.’
With that in mind, the crowd calmed down.
Yunxiao was amused when he heard that. He finally walked out of the mansion, but he was immediately shocked by the sea of people. The whole mansion was surrounded by layers of men that he could not count, and even the few nearby streets were packed with people lining up.
Wu Zishi was stunned by the sight as well. He had no idea from where all these people came from. He had spent his whole life in Yanwu, and yet he had never seen so many people in the city before. And when he sensed the aggressive aura emanating from them, he was so scared that he hid behind the door and did not dare to go out.
Yunxiao immediately ordered someone to bring a few tables out and draw a restricted zone in front of the door, then put Meng Wu and her brother in charge of the registration and reception.
Then, he put a wooden armchair at the front door and sat leaning on it as he said coldly, “Line up if you wish to sign up. Those who cut the queue or violate the rules will be disqualified immediately!”