Chapter 1424: Chapter 1424: 1409: The Arrival of the Angel

Chapter 1424: Chapter 1409: The Arrival of the Angel

In the void, after handing over the full ransom to Ye Zhen on the spot, ostensibly, the Blue-scaled Dragon King waved his hand, leading the Water Clan to retreat to a clean state, but in reality, the Blue-scaled Dragon King immediately hid within the clouds of the void.

Then, he stared intently at Ye Zhen, who was holding the storage rings filled with ransom and war reparations.

When Ye Zhen glanced around the void and turned to walk back, the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s eyes narrowed, his gaze like a hawk about to strike its prey, firmly locking onto Ye Zhen’s figure.

But to the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s utter astonishment, when Ye Zhen walked into a patch of grass, he suddenly dissipated, and the storage rings in his hand fell into the grass.

“It’s indeed an illusory body!” The Blue-scaled Dragon King gritted his teeth and looked on with regret, grateful he hadn’t acted rashly.

Suddenly, the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s expression froze, as the storage rings that had fallen from Ye Zhen’s illusory body into the grass vanished into thin air.

In that brief moment, they disappeared without a trace.

This method was nothing short of miraculous.

As a sinister smile appeared on the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s lips, his divine sense moved slightly, and instantly, the positions of several Divine Soul tracking marks clearly appeared within the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s Divine Soul.

The benefits of the Blue-scaled Dragon King are not to be taken lightly.

Earlier, the ransom storage rings he handed over had all been imprinted with his exclusive Divine Soul tracking marks.

The purpose was to seize the opportunity to capture Ye Zhen’s true body.

Once Ye Zhen was captured, the Divine Soul Restriction within his son Ao Zheng could be released in the shortest possible time, and he wanted to let the world know that the convenience of the Blue-scaled Dragon King is not easily exploited.

Almost instantly, the Blue-scaled Dragon King locked onto the location of those storage rings, but the location was rather peculiar.

It was underground!

And it was rapidly escaping further into the ground.

“This guy is skilled in the Earth Escape Technique?” The Blue-scaled Dragon King’s expression turned incredibly angry.

Although escaping underground could hide from his pursuit, chasing underground would cause too much commotion. If it provoked Ye Zhen and he tortured his son again or demanded another extortion, it would be troublesome.

For now, the Blue-scaled Dragon King decided to track carefully. He couldn’t believe that Ye Zhen could stay underground as a burrowing animal forever.

But before the Blue-scaled Dragon King could take action, his eyebrow twitched, and all the tracking marks on those storage rings shattered!

With this, he completely lost his target.

Standing there dumbfounded for a moment, the Blue-scaled Dragon King slowly pursued the retreating army of the Water Clan, “Hmph, Ye, don’t give this king a chance, or I will make you wish you were dead!”

“Zheng’er is controlled by him with a Divine Soul, so a large-scale assassination won’t work! It seems the only option is to send elite individuals to capture him opportunistically!”

“Since the Water Clan isn’t working, how about the Human Clan? Or other Demon Races?” The Blue-scaled Dragon King sneered.

……

Even though the terrifying suffocating sensation of being locked onto by the Blue-scaled Dragon King disappeared, Ye Zhen still raced underground for over a thousand miles before daring to emerge.

The Blue-scaled Dragon King of Realm King Realm Ninth Stage Peak, comparable to the Dao Realm, was indeed terrifying.

Ye Zhen knew this guy would never let him leave so easily. Sure enough, Ye Zhen found tracking marks on the storage rings he took.

Fortunately, Ye Zhen’s four-colored Innate Soul Light was powerful enough. Otherwise, if it had been someone else, even if they found the tracking marks, they couldn’t break them.

Casually sending Fengg Jiumo a message to return to the city, Ye Zhen silently returned to North Sea County.

However, upon returning to North Sea County, Ye Zhen did not immediately show himself.

Having struck the Blue-scaled Dragon King for a hefty sum, and still holding the Divine Soul Restriction of his son Ao Zheng, there was absolutely no way the Blue-scaled Dragon King would let him go.

Ye Zhen anticipated that the Blue-scaled Dragon King would certainly do everything possible to capture him, and by any means necessary.

Ye Zhen felt that for years to come, he would need to be cautious even while sleeping.

Moreover, he absolutely couldn’t rest in his County Governor’s Mansion.

Bear in mind, the widely-networked old specter that is the Blue-scaled Dragon King, can summon unimaginable forces. Who knows what kind of beings they would send to deal with Ye Zhen.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Ye Zhen was targeted just by showing himself publicly once or twice.

Ye Zhen felt that his future days would be difficult, fraught with constant worry and anxiety.

Just thinking about those days gave Ye Zhen a tingling sensation on his scalp; the Blue-scaled Dragon King’s extortion wasn’t easily dealt with.

To ensure a peaceful cultivation life, Ye Zhen felt that hiding underground was the best choice.

The earth could provide Ye Zhen with the best protection, at least allowing him to sleep soundly.

With this thought, Ye Zhen circled underground in the County City of North Sea and found a suitable place to precisely create a Silent Chamber underground for himself.

A blast of Heavenly Thunder Spirit Fire surged forward as Ye Zhen got a general idea of the situation in the silent chamber underground.

Yet, thinking about this gloomy life without a sky, not even a breeze of fresh air, Ye Zhen felt somewhat depressed.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Ye Zhen: why should he stubbornly defend the County City of North Sea?

If he stayed in the County City of North Sea, even hiding underground, the agents sent by the Blue-scaled Dragon King could still find traces.

If he left the County City of North Sea, no matter how skilled the agents sent by the Blue-scaled Dragon King were, it would be in vain.

Upon careful consideration, Ye Zhen found the feasibility of abandoning his fiefdom in North Sea County to be quite high.

First of all, the military and political leaders of North Sea County were all under his control, with unmatched loyalty.

Currently, the flood problem in North Sea County has been resolved, and the main task is post-disaster reconstruction and recovery of production.

In this area, Ye Zhen was not proficient, but considering Governor Qiao Fu’s ensured loyalty, he should be able to handle this task well.

Let alone Governor Qiao Fu’s over one hundred years of experience in governance, which was indeed honed through practice. Ye Zhen believed giving him a general direction would ensure success.

In military terms, with the floods gone and no massive invasions by the Demon Clan, leaving it to County Captain Tang Biao presented no problem.

Moreover, with the assistance of trusted allies like Gu Tieqi and Liuu Feng, there were absolutely no issues.

The Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy wouldn’t face issues in the short term; the current sole mission is reconstruction, which does not concern Ye Zhen much, and can be left to Feng Jiumo and Niu Er.

Under such circumstances, Ye Zhen thought he could leave North Sea County for a few years without a problem.

Additionally, Ye Zhen had previously seized a few pairs of mother-child magic conches from Dragon Prince Ao Zheng. These mother-child magic conches from the Water Clan were extremely convenient for emergency communications.

No matter how far the distance, as long as it was within one realm, sound transmission was possible.

However, even within the Water Clan, such level mother-child magic conches were exceedingly rare, and the usage method for each pair was different.

If Ye Zhen hadn’t captured Dragon Prince Ao Zheng and obtained two pairs of complete mother-child magic conches from him, plus the method of usage due to his control over Ao Zheng’s divine soul, there would be no solution even if they had the conches.

With these mother-child magic conches, they could also urgently contact Ye Zhen if there was anything beyond handling.

“I can prevent the agents of the Blue-scaled Dragon King from finding me, avoid danger, and cultivate and tour at ease; it’s like killing three birds with one stone. That’s it!”

Quickly, Ye Zhen made up his mind.

However, since he was leaving, he firstly needed to set the general strategic planning for the future of North Sea County. Only then could he comfortably entrust its governance to Governor Qiao Fu and the others.

This was a long-term plan. Ye Zhen hid underground, designing back and forth for three days, before finally setting it.

Subsequently, Ye Zhen summoned Governor Qiao Fu, County Captain Tang Biao, Feng Jiumo, Liuu Feng, Gu Tieqi, Niu Er, and other trusted allies for a secret meeting in the military camp.

Though it was said to be a meeting, in reality, it was Ye Zhen giving instructions.

Ye Zhen first briefed about the current situation, then respectively laid out the goals in military, political affairs, and the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy aspects.

In military, Ye Zhen gave County Captain Tang Biao a very straightforward goal—expand the number of soldiers in North Sea County to at least 600,000 within five years!

Simultaneously, he was fully to cooperate with Governor Qiao Fu in taking in refugees, especially the undocumented residents of Cow Heart Mountain, and refugees from often flood-prone surrounding counties, all could be settled.

If the population of North Sea County exceeded 20 million within five years, then Ye Zhen wanted County Captain Tang Biao to expand the army to a million.

As for the equipment of the soldiers, that was not an issue for Ye Zhen.

“Sir, even if the population of North Sea breaks over 20 million, expanding to a million is still very challenging. Barely achieving it may affect the livelihoods in North Sea County…”

Before County Captain Tang Biao finished, Ye Zhen handed over a storage ring containing five million High Grade Spiritual Stones and 700,000 sets of spirit armor weaponry.

Seeing the five million High Grade Spiritual Stones, Tang Biao said nothing more. As long as there was enough military budget, not to mention an army of a million, even increasing to two million was possible.

Five million High Grade Spiritual Stones, equivalent to one billion Mid-grade Spirit Stones, was enough for the military budget for five to six years for one million army, not to mention it was supported by the County Governor’s Mansion.

Having established the tone for military expansion, the civil matters became much simpler.

The main task was developing livelihoods and fully enhancing population. Similarly, Ye Zhen allocated five million High Grade Spiritual Stones to Governor Qiao Fu as funds for reconstruction and relief assistance.

Regarding the Heavenly Patrol Department, it was even simpler.

Leave everything to Niu Er and Feng Jiumo; Ye Zhen would just allocate the funds!

Ye Zhen believed, given enough funds, these two could surely rebuild the Second Route Wind Patrol Envoy in the shortest time possible.

After discussing many other details and emergency measures, deciding on countermeasures, yet before Ye Zhen could conclude the meeting, a subordinate reported.

An envoy from the heavens has arrived!