Chapter 512
Chapter 512: The Personal Arrival of a Saint Ruler
Even the Imperial Protector in the room felt qute indignant after listening to Qing Shaofan’s story. “The Sect of Dragon and Tiger knew that Jian Chen was an Imperial Protector for our Qinhuang Kingdom and still dared to attack him. This is simply an act against our Qinhuang Kingdom. Qing Shaofan, you acted appropriately. We of the Qinhuang Kingdom must protect the millennia of honor our country has built up. We will simply not allow anyone to challenge or make an enemy of our Qinhuang Kingdom. You may leave first. I will go discuss with the other three.”
“Yes, honored Imperial Protector, Qin Shaofan will be taking his leave then!” Qin Shaofan spoke respectfully before bowing with his body and leaving the room with a light step to his feet.
After Qin Shaofan had left, the doors had abruptly opened, revealing a white robed middle-aged looking man that slowly walked out.
The middle-aged man didn’t look past forty years old, but his hair was completely white. There was nothing to hold his hair up, so his hair hung freely over his shoulder like a silver waterfall.
The man’s face was stalwart. His pitch-black eyes contained a depth similar to the stars in the night sky. They seemed to hide even the world itself, but from the light in his eyes, it was as if there was another expansive world to be seen in there.
This middle-aged man was one of the Imperial Protectors of the Qinhuang Kingdom, Qin Yunlong. Qin Yunlong was a member of the imperial palace and had been the king for the kingdom a thousand years ago. Not long after he had abdicated the throne, he made a breakthrough to reach the paramount realm of a Saint Ruler. From then on, he hide himself away in the Qin Heaven Palace where very few had seen him.
After Qin Yunlong exited his room, he walked toward the other palaces. Passing through the drawing room at the center, several maids could be seen chatting there.
As a maid within the Qin Heaven Palace, their statuses were among the highest in the Qinhuang Kingdom. There weren’t many things to do in the Qin Heaven Palace aside from cleaning and any other everyday affairs. The Imperial Protectors spent all their time within their rooms cultivating, and aside from anything major, they would never come out. Some of the maids had gone tens of years without hearing the voice of one of the Imperial Protectors.
When Qin Yunlong appeared without a sound right in front of these maids, they immediately halted their conversation to stare at Qin Yunlong in brief amazement. Even their most basic manners had been forgotten at that moment.
Although some maids had been in the Qin Heaven Palace for many years, they had never personally seen the Imperial Protector before. There were very few people aside from them that would visit the Qin Heaven palace since not many people had even the right to do so in the first place. Even the guards on the outside would never dare enter the palace without something serious to report. So when this middle-aged man appeared in front of the maids, they were stunned for a good while. Ever since they had been hired to come to the Qin Heaven Palace, they had never seen a stranger enter it.
Not paying attention to the maids, Qin Yunlong walked toward the gates. As he approached the gates, they swung open without a sound.
Seeing Qin Yunlong disappear past the gates, the maids finally regained their wits. Thunderstruck, one of the maids let out a low gasp, “Dear heavens, he… he… he can’t be the honored Imperial Protector, could he?”
Hearing this, the other maids immediately became as pale as a sheet. “I didn’t think that the honored Imperial Protector would actually come out. It’s all over, we didn’t greet him at all. This isn’t respectful to the Imperial Protector at all! In the case that the honored Imperial Protector is offended, that’ll be a capital offense for all of us.”
……
Outside the Qin Heaven Palace, the imperial guards standing watch at the gates saw Qin Yunlong and were stunned as well. However, they immediately shaped up. They knelt down on their knee, “This petty officer pays his respects to the honored Imperial Protector!” The captain guard boomed first. He had already watched over the Qin Heaven Palace for a hundred years, and the last time he had seen the Imperial Protector Qin Yunlong had been at least fifty years ago. He knew full well that this person in front of him was one of the paramount Saint Rulers of the Tian Yuan Continent.
“This petty officer pays his respects to the honored Imperial Protector!”
The moment the imperial captain had mentioned “honored Imperial Protector” every single imperial guard standing watch over the Qin Heaven Palace immediately knew who this Qin Yunlong was and knelt down to the ground.
“There is no need to be so polite, rise!” Qin Yunlong rose both palms up, causing several hundred imperial guards to feel an immovable pressure come up from beneath their knees, bringing them up.
Qin Yunlong traveled through the imperial palace, and with each step he took, he traveled a few dozen meters. In a flash, he arrived at the other Qin Heaven Palace.
When he entered the Qin Heaven Palace, three elders had already gathered at a table. These three elders all had their hair tied up in a crane style, and aside from this, they were not that unordinary looking. Each one of them was extremely common in appearance — just like an ordinary elderly man. On the side, there were several maids trembling in fear as they poured tea.
Qin Yunlong didn’t even greet anyone there. He instead walked straight to his magnificent throne at the table.
“Elder Qin, what matter did you call us three here for?” One of the elders spoke. His voice was quite high pitch as if he was speaking from a horn.
Qin Yunlong thought for a moment before speaking, “It primarily pertains to Jian Chen.” After that statement, he told the other three elders what Qing Shaofan had told him.
“I may have heard of this Sect of Dragon and Tiger before. They were established a few thousand years ago, but that Saint Ruler they have only made the breakthrough a thousand years ago. From what I know, they only have one Saint Ruler. Yet, they still have the cheek to act against our Qinhuang Kingdom.” An elder spoke.
“Hmph, a single Saint Ruler still dares offend our Qinhuang Kingdom. It seems in the thousand year peace for our kingdom, there have been several factions that have seen fit to remove us from their eyes.”
Qin Yunlong spoke, “What do the three of you propose we do about this?”
“Jian Chen has a talent that exceeds all else. There is no one else in history who has been able to reach the Heaven Saint Master realm at such a young age as he did. With access to the holy lands, there is no need to debate if he will become a Saint Ruler, he may very well become a Saint King. Thus, he holds a very important position in our Qinhuang Kingdom. If the Saint Ruler of the Sect of Dragon and Tiger dares act against him, then we cannot just sit idly; otherwise, Jian Chen may very well hold us complaint.”
“I agree with that. No matter if we deal with the Sect of Dragon and Tiger as a way to protect the honor of the Qinhuang Kingdom or as a substitute for Jian Chen’s response, we must all see this through in person. Do you all agree?” Another elder spoke.
Qin Yunlong chuckled, “I was a member of the imperial palace of the Qinhuang Kingdom, and this matter concerns the prestige of my Qinhuang Kingdom. There is no way I could not do anything. Harry and I will be all that’s needed to go.”
“That’ll do. With you two, there’ll be nothing to worry about even if the Sect of Dragon and Tiger has outside help. When will you two set out?”
“It is best not to delay matters, we will leave now.”
……
Afterward, Qin Yunlong and Harry called in Qing Shaofan. He led the two Saint Rulers to the Space Gate to leave the Qinhuang Kingdom.
In the center of the imperial palace in the Heavenly Eagle Kingdom, there was a fist-sized hole in the middle of a large clearing. In that hole was another fist-sized crystal.
Just at that moment, a multi-colored light came flashing out from the previously ordinary looking crystal. After that flash, the space above it began to ripple and twist before gradually forming a three meter high doorway.
When the Space Gate formed, Jian Chen and the other twelve individuals immediately sensed it. Flying into the middle of the palace at high-speeds, they came to a stop right in front of it. After the Space Gate had completely stabilized, one was able to clearly see the scene within the space — the imperial palace of the Qinhuang Kingdom.
Qing Shaofan and two Imperial Protectors from the Qinhuang Kingdom stepped through the Space Gate. The Space Gate then winked out of existence after they crossed.
“We pay our respects to the honored Imperial Protectors!” The twelve Imperial Advisors bowed in salute. They were all of the Qinhuang Kingdom and knew of the first four Imperial Protectors of the Qinhuang Kingdom.
Jian Chen stared curiously at the middle-aged and elderly man behind Qing Shaofan. Although he knew that both of them were Saint Rulers, his heart did not feel anything out of the ordinary. This was because he had seen this type of existence many times before. The first had been those dozen elders back in Mercenary City, and then the mother of the white tiger cub, Rum Guinness. Then, there was the old Ape King of the Spirit Apes. All of them were of the Saint Ruler realm.
After seeing so many Saint Rulers, Jian Chen had gradually grown insensitive to them, and no longer felt as excited as he had the first time he saw one.
The eyes of the two Saint Rulers gathered on Jian Chen before the elderly one smiled, “You must be Jian Chen!”
Jian Chen cupped his hands together, “This one is Jian Chen, I pay my respect to my seniors.”
“Jian Chen, there is no need for the politeness. I am Qin Yunlong, the 173rd generation king of the Qinhuang Kingdom. By my side is Harry, although he is not of our kingdom, he is my best friend.” Qin Yunlong smiled, speaking to Jian Chen as if they were on equal standing. In the eyes of the Qinhuang Kingdom, Jian Chen was the future pillar of the kingdom. Although there was currently four Saint Rulers for the Qinhuang Kingdom, they would not live forever. One day, there would come a time for their lives to end.
Seeing how amiable and approachable these two Saint Rulers were, Jian Chen gained a very nice first impression of the two.
Words of greeting and conversation were made promptly afterward before the two Saint Rulers moved to the crux of the problem. “Jian Chen, the two of us already know about the aggressions of the Sect of Dragon and Tiger. Our Qinhuang Kingdom will certainly not leave matters at this. You can lead the way, and we will meet and deal with that Saint Ruler.”