Chapter 861: Suggestions
The werewolves below trembled in the face of the Wolf King’s fury, and no one dared speak a single word. The king’s eyes were bloodshot and he was clearly on the verge of an eruption. In the end, he suppressed his anger and said to the shaman, “Seek the ancestors’ will tonight.”
The shaman’s expression shifted somewhat, but he didn’t dare retort at this moment. “I’ll do my best.”
The Wolf King then left the great hall with a harrumph.
All the werewolves dispersed thereafter, glancing at the shaman with eyes of sympathy. It wasn’t easy for a werewolf to communicate with the will of the ancestors. Even with the help of the tribal totem, the price involved was significant. To borrow their power was even more difficult.
The previous great shaman’s assassination affected the tribe deeply. The successor was much less capable and was only pushed into the spot because there was no better candidate.
There was a special inheritance ceremony between shamans. A great shaman would, by means of a certain ritual, transfer part of his power and comprehension to his successor. This handover never took place since the last great shaman was assassinated by Qianye, consequently reducing the power of every new shaman thereafter.
…
Normally, mercenaries would look for work after completing a mission, checking to see whether there were merchant caravans returning to Southern Blue. Being two of the most flourishing human cities, there was never a lack of merchants traveling between them.
Frost Wolf was fairly proficient in this regard. By the time Qianye had dispatched the three-family alliance, he had already formed a new caravan and was ready to leave.
After Qianye’s return, he performed a routine check of the goods being shipped. Quite unexpectedly, the customer was one of the biggest weapon companies in Seagaze. The steward was a chubby, half-bald man with a shiny forehead.
Full of smiles, he immediately jogged over to Qianye’s side and said, “This journey is surely safe with you taking the field personally. My name is Zhuan, Bao Zhuan, you can ask me if you have any questions about the goods.”
This steward’s name was quite auspicious, and he was fairly slick with his words, the type every merchant manager would favor.
Qianye walked over to the car and jumped onto the carriage, gesturing for the laborers to open it up for inspection.
The vehicle was full of all kinds of origin gun components and staple raw materials, mainly alloy ingots. Qianye scanned the goods with his perception and jumped onto a different truck after finding nothing wrong.
There were evidently fewer goods here. In truth, only the lower crates were filled with merchandise, while the rest were empty crates disguised to look the same. Bao Zhuan especially requested Qianye to remain on this car.
The man’s candid nature gave Qianye a good impression of him. He asked the workers to open the boxes to check its contents.
The crates were sealed with an origin wave array that required a complicated procedure to open. Opening them up revealed rows upon rows of origin guns.
All of them were finished products, emitting fairly strong origin power fluctuations at the level of grade four or higher. The two crates together made up at least thirty guns—no wonder the chubby Bao Zhuan was nervous.
These origin guns were standard assault rifles, but their muzzles were much larger than the standard size. Finding them somewhat familiar, Qianye picked one of them up for careful inspection.
The origin arrays installed on the enlarged muzzles were simple but durable—these arrays had only one effect, and that was to increase firepower. The uncomplicated use of materials and additional reinforcement allowed their lifespan to exceed the usual standards of the neutral lands, almost closing in on the empire’s.
At the same time, these guns were fairly close to grade-five in terms of firepower despite being only grade-four, only losing out in range and special effects.
That being said, most battles in the neutral lands were sudden, chaotic melees.
Hence, range wasn’t as important as firepower. Sacrificing some range to boost firepower to grade-five was actually a powerful upgrade in this range.
The value of this batch was comparable to that of grade-five firearms, perhaps even higher. The reason being that their consumption was at grade-four standards.
The gun in Qianye’s hand exuded a vague sense of familiarity, be it in terms of style or origin array. He disassembled the gun and, as expected, found a hand-carved bullet insignia.
Qianye’s breath accelerated briefly before slowing down. “Steward Bao.”
Bao Zhuan approached him, saying, “Just call me Lil’ Bao.”
Qianye was stunned. He really couldn’t address this bald man nearing his fifties as “Lil’ Bao”. Showing the origin gun to Bao Zhuan, he asked, “Steward Bao, where did these guns come from?”
“Are you interested in these weapons, Sire? No problem, I’ll represent the company in selling to you at a steep discount. We’ll only take a small fee for labor.”
Qianye shook his head. “No, I want to know where it came from and when these goods were manufactured.”
“Sire, are you interested in the firearm trade?” Bao Zhuan asked cautiously.
“I have no interest in the business, only this batch of guns.”
Bao Zhuan seemed to have understood. “These guns are new goods, reportedly from Tidehark. Such guns have never appeared in the market before, so our company bought them all out after an executive in Tidehark discovered it. Reportedly, they’re from the city lord’s own weapon factory.”
“Very good.” Qianye tossed the gun back into the crate. “Let’s set out, we won’t rest along the way.”
“Okay!” Bao Zhuan seemed fairly spirited as he prepared to set out. Less time on the road meant less danger. Some exhaustion was nothing compared to safety. How could there be such a powerful escort during normal times?
The only risk was the Wolf King’s retaliation, but news of the battle in the city had spread. It could be said that Qianye had awed all of the families with one battle. The Wolf King would need to send more men over if he wanted revenge.
Hence, a swift journey meant that they were more likely to get away from this retaliatory episode. The only thing Bao Zhuan wanted was to get the goods delivered. He had no interest in other matters since the Wolf King’s revenge was targeted at Qianye.
Amidst the steward’s yelling, the caravan drove out of Seagaze and advanced toward Southern Blue in a majestic manner. There were many eyes on the caravan during its departure, expressing all kinds of emotions—including killing intent. Yet, none of them really dared to take action from the beginning up until the end.
The caravan left Seagaze and wound its way over the vast horizon. Only at this point did those prying eyes fade away grudgingly.
Within Seagaze, there was a group of old men gathered in a teahouse with two hundred years of history. The decor of the room was simple, natural, and elegant. There were no gaudy embellishments, and the furniture was made of natural wood or stone materials, carved according to their veined patterns. They were works of art in and of themselves.
There were only a couple of teapots on the table, not even fruits, and the single cup in front of each elder was filled with clear, jade-colored liquid. Outside the chamber, there were two beautiful maids preparing a new brew, cautiously following an established procedure to open up the tea boxes.
The two tea boxes were locked with arrays and couldn’t be opened without origin power. Surprisingly, these two maids were rank-five in cultivation.
The origin arrays on the box worked to maintain the internal environment of the container. It was difficult to preserve tea in the extreme environs of the neutral lands—the highest quality leaves would change taste after just a short period of exposure.
With even the box so valuable, there was no need to talk about the tea inside.
Hence, despite the lack of snacks, the wisp of lingering fragrance in the tearoom was enough to soothe one’s spirit.
Those capable of enjoying tea here were naturally extraordinary people. The leading elder among them wore an imposing expression, the deep creases on his forehead exuding an aura of might, almost as though they were carved with blades. That was the Xue family’s current clan lord, Xue Fulun. The other old men were of illustrious backgrounds as well, most of them either clan lords or grand elders.
It could be said that the words of the dozen old men could and would decide the direction of Seagaze City.
A thin old man sitting across Xue Fulun said gloomily, “Third Master Xue is a great loss!”
Xue Fulun’s expression was unsightly. “Can’t help it that his skills were inferior.”
The thin old man spoke again, “I heard that not only did Third Master Xue not receive reinforcements, but he was also stabbed in the back by one of his own. That was the reason he had fallen. I wonder what that was all about?”
Xue Fulun replied expressionlessly, “It’s just hearsay, not trustworthy.”
“Is that so? Then I must be overthinking it, haha!” The old man’s satisfied laughter contained some implications, causing Xue Fulun to turn livid for a brief moment.
This thin elder was the Wang family’s grand elder. In terms of seniority, he was half a generation higher. The Wang family was ranked second in Seagaze City, right after the Xue. Throughout the years that the Wolf King had been suppressing the human race, the Xue family had suffered the most pressure. Although the Wang had also sustained some losses, they suffered much fewer casualties.
As the saying goes, a mountain cannot be home to two tigers. The Xue and Wang families seemed friendly on the surface but were actually competing all the time in private.
Now with the death of Third Master Xue and his lineal descendants, in addition to Xue Ding’s betrayal of the Wolf King, the gap between them and the Wang family was growing closer than it ever was. That was also why this grand elder felt that he had found the opportunity to stir up trouble.
This was a display for the smaller families to see, notifying them that the power balance in Seagaze was about to change.
The head of a smaller family said, “Are we going to let that Qianye leave?”
“What else can we do?”
The clan head from before replied, “All of us can work together! If we move out in full force, we’ll surely be able to detain him. Letting such a person go is like releasing a tiger back into the mountains.”
[1] Zhuan means “Earn”.