Chapter 1238: Chapter 1238 - Capítulo 1238: 1223: Two-Month Death Order
Capítulo 1238: Chapter 1223: Two-Month Death Order
On the morning of the second day, after Lord Xitian confirmed the antidote was effective, Ye Zhen almost left Xitian County with Zhao Zhong at the fastest speed possible.
Ye Zhen was well aware that he had almost taken away more than half of Lord Xitian’s collection, and if it weren’t for the support of Marquis Xingqing, Lord Xitian would have likely launched a full-scale war against him.
Marquis Xingqing was named Ji Tao, and his father was Prince Yangling, Ji Liu, both members of the Great Zhou Royal Family.
The Great Zhou Empire has an exceptionally long legacy, with its royal family numbering in the billions! It can be said that if you throw a brick in a major city of a state or county, you could hit three to five members of the royal family.
However, the father and son of Marquis Xingqing are not just any ordinary members of the royal family. The current Holy Emperor of Great Zhou, in some private occasions, even addresses Prince Yangling, Ji Liu, as uncle.
The father and son of Marquis Xingqing belong to that small portion of the royal family with the purest bloodline, hence they hold immense power.
For some reasons, Prince Yangling, Ji Liu, is only a first-grade prince, but not the top-tier Prince of Political Affairs. Nevertheless, his influence is still immense.
Marquis Xingqing’s title was initially only a third-rank marquis, but he has forcefully relied on military achievements to elevate his title to a first-grade marquis.
Of course, how much of this military achievement is due to others’ support is hard to say.
Yet this power is genuine without any falsehood.
Prince Yangling, Ji Liu, holds a fiefdom of three states and fifty-six counties, all of which are middle upper-grade states and counties. For certain reasons, he hasn’t established an enfeoffed nation, but the fiefdom isn’t much different from one.
Compared to his father, Marquis Xingqing, Ji Tao’s fiefdom is much smaller, totaling seven counties and half a state. What does seven counties and half a state entail?
Each county spans millions of miles in radius, and the size of each county is almost equivalent to the True Spirit Domain on the True Profound Continent, meaning Marquis Xingqing possesses seven True Spirit Domains!
Moreover, the richness of each county under Marquis Xingqing’s command is ten to several dozen times that of a True Spirit Domain, with over a hundred billion citizens under his rule.
In comparison to Xitian County’s military strength of 300,000, Marquis Xingqing commands a terrifying force of two million soldiers!
According to Zhao Zhong, should Marquis Xingqing wish, dispatching just one elite ten thousand man army could annihilate Xitian County’s 300,000 troops.
This is the real reason Lord Xitian is extremely wary of Marquis Xingqing.
The Great Zhou Empire has vast territories and numerous enfeoffed nations, and wars between the enfeoffed nations are common, with conquests and annexations being nothing unusual.
Logically, with such an expansive fiefdom and abundant talents under his command, Marquis Xingqing shouldn’t be short of people.
But as Zhao Zhong put it, the reason Marquis Xingqing took a liking to Ye Zhen was because of Ye Zhen’s Yimu Spiritual Communication Technique ability, which, if used well, could decide the outcome of a war.
Of course, Marquis Xingqing would never take Ye Zhen to the Human Demon Battlefield, for there, with Ye Zhen’s current strength, he would merely serve as food for the Demon Clan.
Just a month ago, Marquis Xingqing set up a bet with his old rival Marquis Anling regarding military achievements.
The bet was on their command abilities!
To see who had more leadership talent and better command skills.
After much discussion, they deemed deploying troops to attack different enfeoffed nations unfair, and ultimately decided to appoint the same number of troops for a real battle. The first to annihilate the other’s troops would win.
For this reason, the two set several conditions for the bet.
The number of combatants was set at ten thousand. To better highlight command ability, all ordinary soldiers’ capabilities were capped at the vein forging realm, and the cultivation of the major generals could not exceed the Dao Entrance Realm.
Both, thrown into heated debate, placed heavy bets on the outcome, though Zhao Zhong didn’t specify how heavy.
But if Marquis Xingqing won, it would save him a century of effort; losing, however, would render a century or two of struggles futile.
Therefore, both paid great attention to this bet, and throughout the past month, Marquis Xingqing continually assembled soldiers and leaders from his forces to enhance his troops’ strength within the rules.
And Ye Zhen, unexpectedly discovered as a treasure by Marquis Xingqing, might just be the key to absolute victory if used well.
This is why Marquis Xingqing supports Ye Zhen.
Throughout the journey, Zhao Zhong rambled on with many tips for Ye Zhen, such as mentioning how Marquis Xingqing loves talent but abhors deceit. As long as the Marquis is happy, many things become a word from him, and so on.
All this chatter was Zhao Zhong’s way of justifying the spoils taken from half of Xitian County’s gains.
It must be said that the Primordial Continent is vast indeed.
According to Zhao Zhong, if they returned to Qingyang County, where Marquis Xingqing resides, by normal flight, it would take at least half a year at best!
So Zhao Zhong directly led Ye Zhen to the nearest ancient teleportation formation, and after paying a hefty fee, they teleported to six counties away from their destination, Qingyang County.
With many twists and turns, Zhao Zhong then led Ye Zhen through a rather private small teleportation formation, and after two days, they arrived directly at a military camp in Qingyang County.
Within half a quarter-hour, Zhao Zhong took Ye Zhen into Marquis Xingqing’s Mansion and met Marquis Xingqing Ji Tao on a boat within the mansion.
Marquis Xingqing, Ji Tao, was leaning against the side, holding two extremely beautiful young girls, his large hands moving up and down inside their thin clothing, eliciting restrained sounds akin to a cat’s purr from them.
Seeing Ye Zhen approach, Marquis Xingqing had no intention of stopping his actions; instead, he became even more vigorous.
“Hmm, that cultivation technique of yours is quite good, and… you seem fine too, much better than those kowtowing worms under me! It’s just that your strength is a bit lacking!” Saying this, Marquis Xingqing casually took out a token and tossed it to Zhao Zhong, shouting, “Zhao Zhong, you’re authorized to use the treasures in the secret vault. You have two months to raise this boy’s cultivation to the Peak Ninth Stage Establishment!”
“Two months?” Ye Zhen was taken aback, instinctively thinking he misheard!
Beside him, Zhao Zhong was equally stunned but knelt down to accept the order, “This old servant accepts the order and will ensure Captain Ye’s cultivation reaches the Peak Ninth Stage Establishment within two months!”
“Mm, go now!”
“If, within two months, this boy’s cultivation hasn’t reached the Peak Ninth Stage Establishment or he gets trained to death or becomes a fool, then your thousands of clansmen can accompany my bet to the grave!” At that moment, Marquis Xingqing’s voice became extremely cold, and the life and death of over ten thousand people seemed to hinge on this crossroad.
Kneeling on the ground, Zhao Zhong shuddered, touching his forehead to the ground and gritting his teeth, “This old servant will not fail the Marquis’s trust!”
With a casual wave, Zhao Zhong hurriedly pulled Ye Zhen back a few steps before turning to leave.
Glimpses of the painful, lingering moans specific to young girls and the sounds of flesh colliding emanated from behind.
As they left, Ye Zhen bit his lips tightly, his face looking somewhat grim.
He went to such lengths to finally meet Marquis Xingqing, yet this Marquis only glanced at him without even asking a question.
Ye Zhen understood that it wasn’t because the Marquis looked down on him, but rather, it was indifference—a disregard.
Would a mighty elephant bother to greet an ant?
No!
In Marquis Xingqing’s eyes, Ye Zhen was that little ant!
Here, Ye Zhen once again realized two words—strength!
Without strength, one is but an ant!
Now, Ye Zhen’s goal was to strive to enhance his own strength!
“Senior Zhao, can you really raise my strength to the Peak Ninth Stage Establishment in two months?” Ye Zhen turned, puzzled.
Zhao Zhong coldly chuckled several times, “This old servant doesn’t have that ability, but with the treasures in the Marquis’s vault, there’s a good chance! Provided you can survive it, that is!”
“Survive?” Ye Zhen was somewhat puzzled.
“Heh, Captain Ye, to raise one’s cultivation from the Initial Stage Fifth Realm to the Peak Ninth Stage Establishment in two months is truly an act against the heavens! It requires not only various heavenly materials and earth treasures but also requires you to withstand it and have a tough life!
This old servant once trained a batch of Iron Guards for the Marquis, and within half a year, the Iron Guards’ cultivation all reached the Peak Ninth Stage Establishment from the First Stage Establishment, but of the thousand who underwent training, only four hundred and thirty-two survived!” Zhao Zhong chuckled darkly.
“In half a year, nearly half died?” Ye Zhen was utterly astounded.
“So, Captain Ye, you better pray…” At this point, Zhao Zhong’s expression suddenly became intensely bitter, giving himself a harsh slap, “Why am I so unfortunate, ending up with such a burden? If you get trained to death, other clansmen dying is one thing, but my tiny bloodline, that would be completely severed!”
Here, Zhao Zhong’s expression suddenly turned indeterminate, changing drastically until it became terrifyingly sinister, like a living ghost.
“No choice, for the sake of my tiny bloodline, I might have to resort to that terrifying method!” Muttering, Zhao Zhong turned to gaze at Ye Zhen with an exceptionally sinister look.
Under this gaze, Ye Zhen couldn’t help but shudder!