Chapter 929
Chapter 929: An Arrogant Man Who Changed His Attitude
Leader Jin was not originally named Jin.
However, because when he was a mercenary in his early years, his face was disfigured and his teeth were entirely shattered, which he later replaced with an entire row of golden teeth. He also accidentally won the appreciation of the Chief Executive under Country Lord of Zhi Feng’s command and became the leader of the guards in duty. Hence, the name ‘Leader Jin’ was made.
T/N: ‘Jin’ means gold in Chinese.
The day after tomorrow would be the Country Lord of Zhi Fen’s 88th concubine’s birthday celebration.
Leader Jin was very busy at the moment.
He commanded the servants arrogantly on the street, making those struggling citizens move faster in loading all the meat and alcohol they needed into the car.
Although Leader Jin was in charge of the preparations this time, he was only a second-class guest outside the palace. Despite not being a VIP in the palace, this was still an important position. In order to achieve that standing however, Leader Jin paid 10,000 gold to the Chief Executive and his son, two Gold-level treasures and four beautiful slave girls who were still virgins.
With great effort, of course there would be great rewards.
When Leader Jin successfully won this important role, countless businessmen complied with him and the guards who used to have no deep friendship also secretly kept paying homage to him, hoping to get a share of this rank.
Although Country Lord Zhi Feng was known to be a dear who favoured all of his concubines, he especially loved the concubine in the 88th room the most.
It turned out that this favoured concubine of his was always in the top 5 ranks in terms of favour. Besides the main wife and another two equal wives that ranked a little higher than her, she was actually the next-in-line when it came to ranking. However, it was kind of strange— his beloved concubine who was named ‘Zhu Guang’ didn’t seem to like the number 5; instead, she really enjoyed the number 88. To make her happy, the Country Lord Zhi Feng killed off every single concubine after the 87th one so she could have a taste of the 88th seat that she so enjoyed. One could definitely see from that sact how much the Country Lord Zhi Feng adored and loved her to no end.
In the Green Willow City, besides the birthday celebrations of the country Lord himself and his 1st wife, Lady Zhu Guang’s birthday celebration was the next grand event. It was three years ago when he encountered the beautiful Lady Zhu Guang and he had always treated her well like she was his treasure. He wanted nothing more than to envelop her in his loving arms each and every day.
The beautiful lady’s smiles and frowns would determine the mood and emotions of the Country Lord himself.
If it weren’t for the fact that his first wife was bestowed by the Domain Emperor himself, paired with the fact that she came from a rather major family in the Heavenly Splendour Territory that made him unable to break off the marriage, the Country Lord of Zhi Feng would have divorced her long ago and move up his beloved concubine’s ranking.
“Lead Jin, Leader Jin, Leader Jin…”
When Leader Jin heard someone call him, he turned around and found the man that had taken risks in his early years but unfortunately didn’t get along that well with— it was the Flame-Eyed Man, Jin Yun. Although he hadn’t seen him for nearly ten years, of course he still recognized this former companion. However, he saw his former companion dressed like a hunter with animal skin draped over his back. His face also seemed like he had been pounded into a pulp. There was no need for explanation— he knew that the Captain of the Hei Ling City guards probably ran into some sort of trouble and had no one else to rely on, hence, offering himself up to him for service. If it was someone else, Leader Jin wouldn’t even bother to reply to him, but the Flame-Eyed man was still quite strong. Not only was he a formidable guard, he was good at racking his mind and played the role of the intelligent strategist previously when they were still teammates. Besides, when his life was in danger in his previous team, Jin Yun did help him out before. The most important part was, as a dignified person, Leader Jin thought that he had to accept some pleas from his former friends or teammates every once in a while to further emphasise his success over them.
He thought to himself and a smile appeared on his face. Pretending not to recognize this Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun, he faked puzzlement and asked, “You… You are..?”
The former Captain of the Hei Ling City gates, Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun, naturally knew that this guy was pretending to be confused in order to humiliate him.
But in order to complete his task, he had to hold back his anger.
He hurried forward and saluted respectfully, “Leader Jin has risen to the high ranks. With such an important position, perhaps you forgot about this old friend of yours. I’m Jin Yun, the one who went on the collecting task in the periphery of the Wind-Stopping Swamp.”
Leader Jin heard it and patted his forehead. As if he remembered something, he shouted, “Hey, hey! Truly, how can I forget about my old friend! It’s all this stupid brain’s fault; it becomes useless when we get old. I couldn’t even react for a while! Tsk tsk tsk, Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun, you were the deputy leader at that time— handling logistics, inquiring about the intelligence arrangement plan, being multi-talented and equipped with unparalleled wisdom and sight; how could I forget you! It’s just your outfit that made me momentarily confused. Deputy Leader Jin Yun, weren’t you assigned to a good role in the Hei Ling City? How did you end up in such a sorry state?”
“I-cough, I resigned,” Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun indeed escaped the roles of a guard as he spoke with sweat dripping off his head.
“So it turned out to be a resignation…” Leader Jin laughed coldly in his heart. Leader Jin thought that he was clearly fired from his job, so what was he trying to hide? He’s still insistent to keep some of his dignity despite resulting in such a horrifying state! Naturally, with Leader Jin’s personality, although his heart was snickering and condescending, his facial expressions revealed none of that. He reached out his hand to touch the former Captain of the Hei Ling City guard’s animal skin as he let out a sigh, “Still, living in freedom remains the best. Busying yourself from the break of dawn to the brink of night and being unable to make time for anything else is way too agonising. You are the one who can walk freely to enjoy pots of good wine and have good meat, whereas I can no longer rid myself of this role. If I keep at it for a few more years, I will be able to retire like you guys and enjoy the life of freedom!”
“Leader Jin, you have been promoted to a high rank and you bear an important position for the Country Lord, so it’s normal for you to be busy,” Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man spoke with a smile, wishing to slap this guy to death.
“The Country Lord’s matters were all major events. Brother, I am also fighting for my life. If I neglect a task, my head may fall off one day,” Leader Jin was very elated, hoping that he would continue praising and never stop for three days and three nights straight.
“Yes, of course, the Country Lord’s matter would definitely be important…” Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man, had no choice but to agree.
“Deputy, what is the purpose of your visit today? You just entered the City I assume, so I don’t think you had your meal yet, have you? With big brother here, how could I ever let you suffer the pain of dealing with hunger? Since you’re in Green Willow City, let’s head to this old man’s place! You don’t have to be afraid anymore, I’ll be the judge for you no matter what sort of scenario you got yourself into. I can’t say much of anything, but as long as I, Leader Jin, have a bowl of rice to eat, you will never feel hungry! Let’s go, we’re going to go to the best restaurant in the Green Willow City to indulge in some fine wine. Not mentioning anything else, I think I can still bear the cost of getting a good, virgin girl for you too,” Leader Jin became more arrogant by the second as the entire street could hear his words with much clarity. Under the countless gazes of awe and envy, his face gleamed as his body trembled, exuding an aura of proudness.
“Actually, I am here today to plead for Leader Jin’s help in one aspect,” Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man, endured the embarrassment. In order to complete the task, what’s wrong with being humiliated by this guy?
“If it’s not important, let’s eat first. No matter what happens, I can’t let my brother go hungry, right? Let’s go, we’ll talk about it at the celebration. Deputy Jin Yun, let me tell you— now that you’re with your brother, you don’t have to worry about anything else,” Leader Jin felt exhaled and raised his eyebrows, feeling as if the bad luck that he encountered at the start of the year drifted away along with that puff of breath.
His heart bore slight pity; if only Jin Yun had offended him back then, he would have taken the opportunity to step on him a couple of times in an act of public revenge through humiliation. However, back then, the Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun didn’t treat him badly at all and even saved his life in a small way.
Forget it, he was happy enough to be able to flaunt his success in front of the person that was flashier than him back then. The Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun probably never thought that the almost useless mercenary back then would one day rise to this position— to the point where Leader Jin would offer a helping hand when he was at his worst. Haha, he must be feeling the shame and gratitude at the same time!
The Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun whispered to him the purpose of this trip, “The thing is, Leader Jin, I’m leading a small Council of Commerce and that group wants to take advantage of Madam Zhu Guang’s birthday celebration to enter the Country Lord’s mansion to convey their respect and intentions. I hope Leader Jin can help me out; there will not be a shortage of obedience and rewards.”
This kind of thing was not very difficult for Leader Jin.
That was because the Country Lord of Zhi Feng wouldn’t ever reject the entry for Commerce Councils.
At most, it would be a matter of where the guests were to be seated. If the Council of Commerce came from a high-standing, it was not impossible to be classified as a VIP.
But the person who came to beg was his old friend Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun. Leader Jin’s face portrayed his distress when he heard it, so he waved his hand in embarrassment, “Deputy, I’m not trying to make things difficult for you, but it will be hard to solve this matter. You are my brother, so I naturally want things to go well for you, but just listen to your brother on this one because there is a certain difficulty to this. Although your brother is the one arranging the celebration, the main source of responsibility lies in the Palace. Getting a spot in the Palace is hard because there’s Commerce Councils from both in and out of the Zhi Feng Country that are vying to get a spot. That would practically be me going up against death! It’s not that I don’t want you to help you; it’s just too difficult.”
Even if it was not difficult in the slightest.
In order to humiliate Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man, Leader Jin also had to pretend that what was being asked of him was intensely difficult to handle.
He wanted this failure of a friend to plead and beg him endlessly. It would be best if he would kneel for him and sob while doing so as well.
Leader Jin could see that this Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun had fallen to such a pitiful state where anyone could start to gang up against him. If he didn’t use the chance to give him a good kick in the face, he would have felt like this was a wasted opportunity.
“We will definitely not make things hard for you, Leader Jin!”
A clear voice resounded not far from the two of them.
Leader Jin turned his head and saw that there was a quasi-Heaven Level guard with sharp eyes, who accompanied a handsome Young Master dressed in silver armour as the two of them walked over. From the perspective of Leader Jin in the Country Lord’s Palace, it was obvious at a glance that this Young Master was simply a dragon among men. If nothing else, just by looking at his outfit, he could tell that he was an extraordinary being.
On the surface, the young man seemed like an ordinary warrior.
In fact, just by looking at a certain ring on his hand, it could be seen that he was deliberately making himself low-key as he hid his true power and dressed as an ordinary warrior.
It was a Holy-level ring, but Leader Jin didn’t know what sort of special skill was used to cover up the brilliance and the aura. This ring was called ‘Rain Flower’, which was a very rare find. It was said that the ring was part of a set of five in the Heavenly Splendour Territory— namely Cyclonus, Wind-Stopping, Wandering, Cloud-Crossing and Rain Flower. The first two were owned by the Hurricane Country Lord and the Zhi Feng Country Lord as they were bestowed by the Domain Emperor. The latter three precepts were slightly inferior, but they were all Holy Level treasures. It was said that collecting the five rings would provide mysterious functions.
Back then, in order to reward his younger brother, Feudal Lord of Hei Ling City, for his great deeds in capturing millions of slaves and assembling an army of 300,000 people, he awarded the ring to him in public.
There was also a saying that it was the Feudal Lord of Hei Ling City who begged so hard to be granted that reward under the pretence of ‘strengthening their brotherly bond’.
The Country Lord of Zhi Feng had no choice but to give in to him.
Precisely because of that, it became one of the three things that the Country Lord of Zhi Feng regretted the most. Ever since he gave the ring to his brother, he knew that he would never be able to gather the five rings and uncover what sort of mysterious power they held.
Therefore, Leader Jin would deeply remember the appearance of the Five Holy Rings.
Unexpectedly, today, he saw this Rain Flower ring in the hands of a strange man. Of course, a treasure like this was definitely not something that ordinary warriors could possess. If it was owned by an ordinary warrior, that man would have been killed and the treasure would be taken away in less than a day. This noble young man dared to wear it generously, proving that he was indeed an indescribable figure.
“Who is this Young Master?” Leader Jin naturally did not dare to treat this noble man with the same attitude he treated Jin Yun.
“The president of our Titan Commerce Group,” The pathfinder thief Feng Ji beside him quickly introduced the Third Young Master of the Yue Clan who was dispatched.
“Leader Jin, the Deacon of the outer affairs of the Country Lord, and the Head of preparations for Mrs. Zhu Guang’s birthday celebration,” Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man, who stood there pretended to introduce his former friend to student Yue Yang.
“So it turns out to be Leader Jin…” Yue Yang imitated the tone of Leader Jin just now, who was about to sneer and humiliate the arrogant guy. Who would have thought that this guy was all talk and no bones because Yue Yang watched Leader Jin bow deeply towards him. His butt was now higher than his head as he bowed even deeper and spoke, “This humble one deserves to die, I was unaware of Young Master Titan’s glorious arrival and visit! Please forgive this humble one!”
“Then, the matter of attending the birthday celebration?” Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man, was convinced by the authority Yue Yang had over this once arrogant man.
Although this guy’s character was not good, his smoothness and insane reaction speed to all sorts of situations in life were really not comparable to ordinary people.
Of course, it’s not bad to keep an eye on the strong to observe their words and expressions. At least he could see that Master Titan had specially put on the tentative Rain Flower ring, so at the very least, he wasn’t born with a useless pair of eyes as they proved to be functional.
Leader Jin patted his chest and gave words of guarantees, “This matter is covered by me. If Master Titan cannot sit on the VIP seat, my head will be chopped off for the Young Master to sit on as a stool!” He took a closer look. Around them, there were several mercenaries with good strength forming a protective circle on the street. It seemed that there were more than a dozen high-ranking powerhouses secretly guarding them, making him even more convinced that this Young Master Titan was a famous disciple.
After Feng Ji got Yue Yang’s signal, he quickly stuffed a Heaven Ranked Level 1 Red Wolf King Magic Crystal in the arms of Leader Jin, who became even more delighted to the point where he almost didn’t kneel down and kowtow to Yue Yang.
Leader Jin then left to make the necessary arrangements for the birthday celebration.
Flame-Eyed Jin Yun asked suspiciously, “Why did we have to get an invitation from him?”
Yue Yang smiled, “When you’re playing chess, sometimes you need patience and sometimes you need to be stupid. But when the stupid becomes a master, you can reap the rewards.”
After he finished speaking, he left, completely ignoring the Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun who seemed to deliberate between understanding his words and not comprehending anything. Feng Ji waited for Yue Yang to turn around and leave before he punched Jin Yun’s head, “You bastard, what did I tell you before? Any questioning is forbidden because the only thing you have to do is to execute, execute and execute! By the way, just now, as the welcome was not warm enough, in order to show my concern and love for you, a newcomer, I decided to warmly welcome you again!”
The Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun rolled his eyes, “Damn, who decided this kind of welcome ceremony? You’re going to hit more? If you continue, I’m going to fight back, okay?”
Feng Ji knocked Jin Yun to the ground with a punch before he stretched out his legs and kicked him, smiling happily, “You don’t need to know who set rules for the welcome ceremony, just understand one thing— as long as newbies join, you can welcome them ruthlessly. Do it just like the way I’m welcoming you; you don’t know how long I’ve waited for this day- Shit! You’re really fighting back.Fine then, I won’t be polite anymore either!”
After a violent beating, the Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun stretched his legs as he almost died.
Feng Ji, the man who kept laying punches and kicks on him, was so tired that he stuck out his tongue and panted.
Beating people was hard work as well, wasn’t it?
“Crap, if there is another newcomer joining, I will beat him to death!” Jin Yun, the Flame-Eyed Man, gritted his teeth with hatred. He felt that if this tradition and this welcoming ceremony ended here, it would be the saddest thing in his life. Therefore, no matter what and no matter how, this tradition must be inherited and carried forward!
“That’s right, the fine traditions must be inherited!” Feng Ji gasped for breath and kicked the Flame-Eyed Man Jin Yun again, who fell to the ground.
“You’re still hitting me?”
“You must have been daydreaming; of course I’m going to! That day I was surrounded by a circle of Heaven Rankers who beat me up for approximately 20 minutes; they might continue once we get back, to be honest. If I don’t get my revenge, wouldn’t that be a loss for me? Accept fate, kid, I’m going to beat you up for sure! But because you’re rather frail and weak, I’ll be separating the times I best you and do it on more occasions!”
“Damn, you introduced me to this group because of your desire for revenge…”