True Martial World - Chapter 97: The pinnacle of Lian Chengyu’s life

From Zhou Kang onwards, each demonstrator would jump off the white jade stage after finishing demonstrating their cultivation technique. They would then find any rock they didn't like the look of and send a punch towards it, smashing it to piece as a demonstration of their strength. There were all types of rocks everywhere around the arena, from granite with normal hardness to black ironstone of extreme hardness!

The weaker ones would smash granite rocks, while the stronger ones would smash black ironstone. Some of the elites of the Tao tribal clan could fracture three-foot-wide black ironstone with one punch!

Although it was implied that it was not a test of the power of a fist technique when Zhang Tan mentioned that the lack of a uniform standard, the contestants were secretly competing amongst themselves. The target they attacked could express the limits of their strength

As the end of the line of participants was reached, the black ironstone sizes that were broken became larger, making it more competitive!

This aroused the crowd to cheer as they shouted with excitement.

"Next, Lian Chengyu!"

Zhang Tan shouted again. It was finally Lian Chengyu's turn!

"Young Master Lian is sure to win!"

"Young Master will live for many generations, he will unify the wilderness!"

When Lian Chengyu came to the stage, the members of the warrior preparation camp who were jostling in the crowd began to shout. Ever since Zhao Tiezhu was taken down, the members of the warrior preparation camp fought to become the number one henchman under Lian Chengyu. These warrior preparation camp members could not do well at the kingdom's selection, but among normal people, they were a lot stronger. So even in a crowd of ten thousand people, they were able to squeeze to the very front and cheer on Lian Chengyu.

One of them was extremely good at sucking up to Lian Chengyu; Yi Yun did not know his name, but every time he saw him, he would subconsciously label him as "Zhao Tiezhu the second".

This time, "Zhao Tiezhu the second" shouted so loud, that even Lian Chengyu felt uncomfortable. The words "for many generations, he will unify the wilderness" was fine when used in their own territory, but to shout that in the Tao tribal clan, at the selection's public venue was ridiculous!

Indeed, the surrounding people of the Tao tribal clan began to laugh.

Lian Chengyu coughed dryly and stood on the stage, ignoring the members of the warrior preparation camp. He closed his eyes in concentration and began to perceive the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

This white jade stage was a Jin Long Wei treasure; hence, there was an extremely dense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi on the white jade stage!

"It feels great!" Lian Chengyu took a deep breath and began demonstrating his cultivation technique, which was of course "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist"!

It had to be said that Lian Chengyu's "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" was extraordinary!

When he performed "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", he would stir the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, forming into an invisible air flow, sending them wafting in all directions.

The demonstration of an expert was obvious.

Many of the Tao tribal clan elders that stood by the platform had teasing smiles on their faces, but when they saw what unfolded in front of them, they slowly wiped it off their faces. After all, Lian Chengyu could be considered a talent for someone his attainments despite growing up in a small tribal clan.

Lian Chengyu's "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" was a complete version as well.

Technically, Yi Yun was also a student of Yao Yuan, despite only secretly learned from him. Many things were not taught by Yao Yuan publicly but were taught privately to Lian Chengyu. This was not because Yao Yuan had meant to keep them secret, but rather that Zhao Tiezhu and company would not have been able to comprehend those things even if he had taught them publicly.

But even if Lian Chengyu managed to demonstrate a complete version of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", to Yi Yun there were multiple flaws in his demonstration!

Yi Yun's "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" came from Lin Xintong. It was, of course, a complete version and also the truest version of the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The drawn pictures were more profound than the normally inscribed versions.

Just Lin Xintong's "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" manual alone was priceless, not to mention Lin Xintong's commentary in the manual.

Lin Xintong was an extremely serious girl. Every understanding she had from browsing through the 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' manual was written down meticulously. Yi Yun benefited much from it because Lin Xintong was standing on a completely different level.

Yi Yun could guess that Lin Xintong came from some superior sect or ancient family clan.

Lin Xintong's understanding of 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' also represented the profound ancient family clans. How could a tribe in the vast wilderness compare?

As Lian Chengyu demonstrated "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist", Yi Yun began to carefully count all the imperfections in Lian Chengyu's movements.

Although Lian Chengyu's every move looked perfect in the eyes of many, Yi Yun was still able to find faults in them.

Up to this point, Yi Yun had already counted twenty-eight flaws.

It was hard to imagine that, even with Lian Chengyu's high-speed movements, Yi Yun was able to catch every flaw in his moves sharply. This was also because Yi Yun was getting stronger and his senses were getting sharper.

If Yi Yun was to battle Lian Chengyu in a death match, then Yi Yun could exploit Lian Chengyu's flaws and defeat him!

By spotting the twenty-eight flaws, it meant that Lian Chengyu was no longer a match for Yi Yun in a direct battle.

"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!"

At that moment, Lian Chengyu's body was emitting the sounds of exploding bones.

And after that, "Peng! Peng! Peng!"

Like a strong bow being pulled, this was his tendons shouting in unison!

The essence of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" was to train the bones and tendons. The aim of "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist" was to train a warrior’s body to the point of having dragon ribs and tiger bones.

So having the bones and tendons sound was the most important symbol of having mastered "Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist".

"Ha!"

With a large shout, Lian Chengyu jumped off the white jade stage and hit a black ironstone the size of a roller.

"Ka-cha!"

With a tremor, the black ironstone shattered!

Lian Chengyu's fists were numb, but his eyes were filled with excitement.

He succeeded! He had achieved optimal performance. That punch was also Lian Chengyu's maximum attack power. His every move could be said to be perfect.

Lian Chengyu was satisfied with himself. He retracted his reddening fist and loosened his fingers. With a smile, he looked at the crowd and landed his eyes on Yi Yun.

His eyes indicated a hint of provocation.

He may have lost to Yi Yun at the preliminaries, but it was natural for him to exceed Yi Yun in the semi-finals. Yi Yun was only strong in Spirit, but Spirit was just an empty show of strength. In a real fight, one needed real skill and strength!

Although the semi-finals did not compare their strength, it was not much different to comparing cultivation techniques!

Lian Chengyu knew that Yi Yun's cultivation technique was the 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist'. Although Yi Yun had another 'Elephant Swallowing Technique', it was a mystic technique that aided in cultivation, but it wasn't a cultivation technique, so Yi Yun could only demonstrate 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist'.

Previously, everyone would display the strength of their 'Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist' and attack a piece of black ironstone to test their destructive power.

If Yi Yun wanted to stand out, he naturally had to showcase his fist technique's' power to obtain that impossible first place.

But how much destructive power could Yi Yun's fist technique have? Could he even shatter a black ironstone the size of a face basin? He might even have to hit a granite rock.

To Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun's level was at most at the peak of the Meridians realm. This was already an overvaluation. Even if Yi Yun was at the beginning stages of the Qi Gatherer realm, so what? Yi Yun's fist technique was obtained through improper channels. It was a question if Yi Yun could even perform the complete set of Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist having secretly learned from Yao Yuan, so how could his performance be brilliant?

Lian Chengyu descended from the stage.

The order of the semi-finals was according to the rankings of the preliminaries. Those who were ranked at the top in the first round were naturally the last to perform on stage.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 16 – Human Village

“Your Majesty! We’ve finished researching Taming!” After Zhao Fu gave those orders, Bai Shan ran over with an expression of joy on his face.

When Zhao Fu heard this, he felt quite delighted. After waiting for so long, the Research Workshop was finally showing some results. He nodded and headed over to the Research Workshop, and there, he saw a few Scholars and a new stone stele.

When the Scholars saw that Zhao Fu had arrived, they respectfully retreated to one side. Zhao Fu walked up and placed his hand on the stone stele, and some information was transmitted to his mind:

[Tamer]: F+ grade Military. Description: Receives the ability to tame wild beasts. Effect: Receives skill [Taming].

Seeing this, Zhao Fu brought two villagers to change their profession to Tamer and then ordered people to catch some wild ducks and geese to tame.

Right now, the Great Qin Village severely lacked people. There were many things to do, so they had to use many of the Goblins to make up for their lack of people. As for exploring the crack, they were waiting for the stairs to be constructed before going in again.

After going west of the Great Qin Village, Zhao Fu went to have a look at the newly-constructed Gnome Village. The Gnomes all lowered their heads respectfully and retreated to one side. Zhao Fu found five Mechanics Scholars and instructed them to start researching ballistae.

After returning to the Great Qin Village, Bai Shan came up and asked, “Your Majesty, what would you like us to research next?”

Zhao Fu had almost forgotten that the Scholars didn’t have anything to do now that they had successfully researched Taming. There were simply too many matters to take care of, and Zhao Fu started to feel somewhat overwhelmed. After he thought for a moment, he replied to Bai Shan, “Start researching teleportation channels!”

Teleportation channels were absolutely necessary. If the Great Qin Village could successfully research teleportation channels, they would make going from village to village more convenient, and Zhao Fu also needed to be able to visit a main city. Right now, they had nowhere to spend the money they had earned, so he wanted to go to a main city to see what they could buy.

After receiving his orders, Bai Shan took his people and returned to the Workshop to start researching.

At this moment, someone came up to report that they had discovered a Human Village about five kilometers north of the Great Qin Village.

Zhao Fu immediately took some people to have a look. He wanted to determine if it was an ordinary village or a village of bandits. However, no matter what it was, Zhao Fu wanted to gain some more villagers from this village. Relying on the summoning each day was too slow, and the Great Qin Village greatly lacked villagers.

An hour or so later, they arrived at the Human Village. They stood on higher ground and looked down at the village, and Zhao Fu inwardly muttered, “Outlander villages can’t compare to human villages at all.”

 For defense, the village had thick wooden boards as walls, and there were people on alert patrolling around. As soon as there was an enemy attack, they would immediately sound the alarm. The guards were also densely gathered because their village was in the wilderness. Because of this, they were constantly surrounded by danger, so they had to focus on defense.

The village had around 400 people. There were around 60 elderly and children and around 160 women. The other 200 or so people were men, making the village seem more like an ordinary village than a bandit village. Moreover, most of the guards had leather armor and iron sabers, so the village was much more prosperous than the Great Qin Village. After all, the Great Qin Village was still using weapons made of Iron Wood, and the soldiers only had 10 or so sets of leather armor.

Most of the soldiers were Militia, but a few of them held bows and arrows and a few others held shields, though they did not have the corresponding profession. Archers, Shieldbearers, and Cavalry needed to be researched or unlocked when a village leveled up. Intermediate Villages could unlock Shieldbearers, Advanced Villages could unlock Archers, and Towns could unlock Cavalry.

Right now, those who were holding bows and arrows and shields were relying on their own efforts and skills. They did not have the profession stats or skills, making them half as effective as those with a profession.

If Zhao Fu could conquer this village, he would be able to instantly gain the numbers he needed for the Great Qin Village. However, if he brought his people and attacked, he would be facing solid defenses and enemies with twice his numbers, so he would definitely lose many of his soldiers and most likely suffer defeat.

It seemed that they would not be able to take care of things through fighting, so Zhao Fu turned and said, “All of you go and hide for now. Bai Qi and I will go negotiate with them!”

Zhao Fu and Bai Qi headed to the entrance of the village, and the guards immediately called out in a loud voice, “Who are you people?”

Bai Qi was about to reply, but Zhao Fu signalled him to stop and said, “I’m the Village Chief of the Great Qin Village, a nearby village, and I’ve come to visit your village. Could I trouble your Village Chief to meet with me?”

The guards immediately went to report this matter, and after a while, the gates opened as a fair-skinned youth walked out and smiled at Zhao Fu, cupping his hands respectfully as he said, “Father invites you in!”

Zhao Fu returned the courtesy, after which he and Bai Qi followed the youth to a building. After walking in, they saw a white-bearded elder sitting down. When the elder saw Zhao Fu and Bai Qi, he stood up and smiled as he gestured with his hand for them to sit down, and the serving ladies brought some tea.

“I never thought that this village would receive such distinguished guests. I apologize for our poor hospitality,” the elder said apologetically.

Zhao Fu calmly smiled as he replied, “Village Chief is too courteous. Our village has not been here for too long, and we’ve only just discovered your esteemed village and come to visit. We’re quite late in doing so, so we hope you don’t hold this against us.”

The Village Chief felt quite surprised. “This old man was feeling quite curious why a village had suddenly appeared near us. So you’ve only been here for a short period of time. In the wilderness, dangers lurk everywhere, and it’s hard to find a place of safety.”

Zhao Fu nodded and was just about to say something when a youth walked in with a serious expression, reporting, “Village Chief! The Wild Wolf Village’s people have come demanding food again.”

The elder’s expression became serious and apologized to Zhao Fu and Bai Qi before leaving with the others.

“Your Majesty!” Bai Qi said as he turned to look at Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu nodded and they followed the Village Chief outside. They saw 10 or so vicious-looking people standing there, and a big, dark-skinned, and ugly-looking thug roared, “Damn old man, hand over your food!”

The fair-skinned youth became furious and was about to step up to say something but was held back by the elder, who ordered, “Give them the food!”

The villagers complied with the elder’s commands and brought out 10 or so sacks of food and placed them at the entrance of the village.

The thug laughed with satisfaction after seeing so many sacks of food and called out, “You’re quite a smart one, damn old man.” After speaking, the thug ordered the others to carry the sacks of food and left. noveltranslationweb.blogspot.com

When the fair-skinned youth saw them leave, he coldly harrumphed. Zhao Fu went up and asked what had just happened, and the situation was explained to him by the Village Chief.

This village was called the Li Family Village, and the Village Chief was called Li Youcai, while the fair-skinned youth, his son, was called Li Wen.

The Wild Wolf Village was a bandit village about eight kilometers away from the Li Family Village. The Wild Wolf Village had around 300 people, but as a bandit village, it essentially did not have any women, elderly, or children, and most of the 300 or so people were men. They were all bandits, rogues, and thugs, and they had quite a decent fighting force.

If the Wild Wolf Village wanted to attack the Li Family Village, with their solid defenses, the Wild Wolf Village would still lose many people. The Li Family Village was also afraid that the bandits would pillage and destroy their village, so they had maintained a non-aggression pact. However, the Li Family Village needed to hand over a certain amount of food every month.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 15 – Refined Martial Soul

This Skeleton Swordsman was much faster than normal Skeletons, and it did not seem to be clumsy at all. Instead, it was quite agile and appeared right in front of Zhao Fu and Bai Qi in a few moments. Bai Qi quickly blocked the path to Zhao Fu and unsheathed his sword, meeting the Skeleton Swordsman in battle.

Facing Bai Qi, the Skeleton Swordsman slashed down with its sword.

Bai Qi lifted his sword to block the Skeleton Swordsman’s strike, after which the Skeleton Swordsman brought its sword back and savagely slashed at Bai Qi numerous times. Clanging sounds continuously rang out as the Skeleton Swordsman and Bai Qi fought. The Skeleton Swordsman was completely focused on offense and had no regard for defense at all.

After blocking the Skeleton Swordsman’s attacks a few times, Bai Qi started to become familiar with the Skeleton Swordsman’s attack patterns. As the Skeleton Swordsman slashed downwards, Bai Qi pivoted his body, his sword covered with a trace of sword qi, as he slashed upwards.

Bang!!

The Skeleton Swordsman was sent flying six or seven meters away and fell to the ground. However, only a few of its ribs were broken, and it still seemed fine. It twisted its bones and slowly started to stand up.

At this moment, Zhao Fu launched a blood-colored fireball at the Skeleton Swordsman. An explosion sounded out as the Skeleton Swordsman was once again sent flying.

However, after falling to the ground, the Skeleton Swordsman once again twisted its bones and started to stand up. Zhao Fu was about to release another Hell Fireball when he realized that he would not be able to fire them that quickly, so he chose to use normal Fireballs.

An orange-colored fireball flew towards the Skeleton Swordsman, hitting it when it was about to stand up again. This time, however, the Skeleton Swordsman did not stand up again, and it was instead blasted into a pile of bones.

A blue tongue of fire flickered within the pile of bones, and after walking up to it, Zhao Fu saw its information:

[Refined Martial Soul]: After using it, one can obtain one or more skills that the owner had during his or her lifetime.

So it was a Refined Martial Soul. After seeing this information, Zhao Fu understood that Refined Martial Souls were things that were created during someone’s lifetime when he or she practiced a skill to the point that it fused with his or her soul. After the owner became an Undead, anyone who killed him or her would be able to obtain that skill.

The difference between this skill and a normal skill was that one would only be able to fully grasp normal skills through a lot of practice. However, after using a Refined Martial Soul, one would gain a skill that they would become proficient in immediately.

The Skeleton Swordsman was clearly a melee profession. Zhao Fu knew that he was not suited to melee battles and his stats made him more suited for Magic, so he gave the Refined Martial Soul to Bai Qi.

He then looked curiously at the rusty sword and picked it up.

[Taiqing Sword]: Grade: Blue, Stats: Strength +1, Description: A Gold grade weapon that became rusty after over 10,000 years, becoming a Blue grade weapon.

“What? This was a Gold grade weapon before?”

Zhao Fu felt quite shocked. Who would have thought that this rusty sword, which looked almost useless, had previously been a Gold grade weapon? It was only because of the passage of time that it had fallen to Blue grade and become so rusty.

There weren’t even any Gold grade weapons in the market, and a Silver grade weapon was worth thousands of silver coins. At the very least, Gold grade weapons were worth hundreds, if not thousands, of times more than Silver grade weapons. At the minimum, Gold grade weapons would be worth 1,000 gold coins.

Even though 1,000 gold coins did not seem like much, in the Heaven Awaken World, 100 copper coins were worth 1 silver coin and 100 silver coins were worth 1 gold coin. Thus, 1 gold coin was worth 10,000 copper coins and 1,000 gold coins would be worth 10 million copper coins. Based on the current exchange rate of $10 in the real world for 1 copper coin, at the very least, a Gold grade weapon would be worth $100 million. However, currently, even if someone had $100 million, all he or she could do was dream about buying a Gold grade weapon.

Zhao Fu looked at the Taiqing Sword with pity while feeling quite curious. Why did a random Skeleton have a weapon that was once a Gold grade weapon? Zhao Fu said, “Bai Qi, fuse with that Refined Martial Soul and see what sort of skill you receive.”

Bai Qi nodded and closed his eyes, pressing the Refined Martial Soul against his chest. The blue tongue of flame slowly fused into his body, and after a while, Bai Qi opened his eyes and said happily, “Your Majesty! I received a B grade skill: Qi Slash!”

“What? A B grade skill?” This caused Zhao Fu to feel quite shocked.

When Zhao Fu thought of how powerful his D- grade skill, Hell Fireball, was, he could only imagine how powerful a B grade skill would be. Zhao Fu became even more curious as to what sort of place this place was.

Zhao Fu and Bai Qi raised their torches and advanced. A few minutes later, they encountered another skeleton lying on the ground with a blue tongue of fire in its head. It raised its rusty saber and twisted its bones, about to stand up.

Zhao Fu immediately launched a Hell Fireball at it, sending it flying.

The Skeleton soldier was about to stand up when Bai Qi rushed up and unleashed his new skill, Qi Slash.

A wave of white sword qi burst forth from the sword, slashing into the Skeleton soldier’s chest.

Bang!

The Skeleton soldier was sent flying backwards by more than 10 meters. Its body instantly collapsed, fragmenting into tiny pieces of bone. This Skeleton soldier did not have a Refined Martial Soul, but it dropped its large saber, which Zhao Fu picked up.

[Hundred Mountain Sabre]: Grade: Blue, Stats: Constitution +1, Description: A Gold grade weapon that became rusty after over 10,000 years, becoming a Blue grade weapon.

Indeed, this was yet another weapon that had once been a Gold grade weapon. Just what was this place? Zhao Fu felt more and more curious.

Filled with curiosity, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi continued exploring. They encountered a few more Skeletons, and after killing them, they obtained two more Refined Martial Souls, and their weapons were also all weapons that had been Gold grade weapons in the past that had become Blue grade weapons due to the passage of time.

After obtaining the two Refined Martial Souls, Zhao Fu used one that had been dropped by a Skeleton Archer and received the C- grade skill ‘Rock Crushing Arrows’.

This place was like a treasure trove. Here, they could obtain many Blue grade weapons and good skills. A Blue grade weapon was worth between 100 to 1,000 silver coins, while this sort of weapon, which used to be a Gold grade weapon, could be sold for around 300 silver coins.

In this expedition, they had obtained six weapons and three Refined Martial Souls. Just Bai Qi’s B grade skill was worth more than 10 gold coins. Altogether, the things they had obtained were worth roughly 31 gold coins, which was 310,000 copper coins.

Zhao Fu couldn’t help but feel delighted after gaining such a haul. He had wanted to continue with Bai Qi, but as they progressed, they discovered more and more Skeleton groups. Smaller groups had five or six Skeletons, while larger groups had 20 to 30 Skeletons. For the sake of their safety, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi decided to leave for now.

……

After returning to the surface, Zhao Fu ordered his people to hide this place and to construct a set of stairs so that large numbers of people could enter in the future.

Following this, Zhao Fu took the six rusty weapons to the Smithy and asked if they could be repaired.

When Wang Dawu took the weapons and examined them, he looked incredibly shocked, but there was also a hint of pity on his face – such good weapons had fallen to such a state. After looking over them, Wang Dawu nodded and said, “I can give them a simple repair, but I need materials.”

This made Zhao Fu feel quite awkward. Right now, most of the Great Qin Village’s weapons were made of Iron Wood, and they barely had any iron weapons. Zhao Fu immediately sent people to look around to see if there were any open-pit iron mines nearby.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 14 – Skeleton Swordsman

After a few hours, they had dug down around 10 meters and found a 100-meter wide cavern. There were many small tunnels connected to this cavern, and they looked like rooms. Because of the massive crack from above, a third of the cavern had collapsed.

Zhao Fu found some Gnomes cowering with looks of terror on their faces. When the Gnomes saw Zhao Fu and the people he had brought with him, they obediently put down their weapons and knelt on the ground, signaling their intention to surrender.

“Respected lord, thank you for accepting our surrender and coming to save us,” one of the elderly Gnomes said with an expression of gratitude.

Zhao Fu had been quite annoyed at the Gnomes, but when he heard what the elder said, he decided to let it go. Since they had become his subordinates, he wouldn’t hold it against them anymore, so he said, “You can all rise!”

Seeing that Zhao Fu was not angry at them and seemed to have forgiven them for their earlier resistance, the Gnomes let out a sigh of relief and stood up.

Zhao Fu was quite interested in the Gnome’s barracks, so he went there first. There, he found two Profession Change Stone Steles. They were:

[Gnome Crossbowmen]: F grade Military. Description: Gnomes that use crossbows as their main weapon. Effect: Receives skill [Crossbow Mastery]

The other one gave Zhao Fu a very pleasant surprise:

[Gnome Mechanics Scholar]: E grade Military. Description: Gnomes proficient at mechanics. Effect: Receives skill [Mechanics Research]

This profession was for creating large mechanical weapons. A weapon that Zhao Fu had always wanted to make was the ballista, an extremely powerful, cold weapon.

The destructive power of a ballista was more than 10 times that of a normal bow. When facing such a weapon, most people could only step back in deference. Even though Zhao Fu wanted to create one, all complicated things in the Heaven Awaken World required blueprints. Even if he knew how to create one in the real world, without a blueprint, he would not be able to create one in the Heaven Awaken World.

However, this problem was resolved because of the Gnome Mechanics Scholar profession. Of course, apart from ballistae, there were many other large-scale cold weapons. It was just a pity that the limit of the Gnome Mechanics Scholar profession was five people.

After having a look at the Barracks, Zhao Fu went to their Storehouse. Apart from food, the Gnomes had a little less than 1,000 copper coins and had no silver coins. With a village of this size, it would be quite difficult for them to kill anything that could drop silver coins.

After walking out of the Storehouse, Zhao Fu looked around the 100-meter wide cavern and said, “This place won’t be able to last, so you should move above ground. We’ll give you some basic protection.”

The Gnome elders immediately agreed joyfully. How could they refuse the opportunity to be protected by people many times more powerful than them?

Zhao Fu went to the Gnome Village’s Village Hall and looked at the white cube hovering in the air. He stretched out his hand and two options appeared: [Destroy] and [Relocate].

Destroying a village allowed one to gain 10% of the village’s current EXP, but one would only gain a broken City Heart – the white cube in the air – and it could only be used to upgrade the grade of other villages.

Five broken White grade City Hearts could upgrade a Normal grade Village to Blue grade; 10 Blue broken Blue grade City Hearts could upgrade a Blue grade Village to Silver grade; 30 broken Silver grade City Hearts could upgrade a Silver grade Village to Gold grade.

There was no limit to this method of upgrading, and no one knew just how high one could upgrade their village. However, what was certain was that the higher the grade of a village, the more difficult it would be to upgrade it. If a Gold grade Village wanted to upgrade to a Legendary grade Village, it needed 120 broken Gold grade City Hearts as well as a Legendary grade item.

This was incredibly difficult – after all, Gold grade Villages were not as common as cabbages, so most people would only be able to upgrade their village to Gold grade at most. It would be virtually impossible for them to upgrade to Legendary grade or above.

On the other hand, if one chose to [Relocate] the village, one would still gain 10% of the village’s current EXP and would be able to use the City Heart once, but the village’s EXP would fall to 0. Advanced Villages would become Primary Villages, and Advanced Towns would become Primary Towns.

The Gnome Village was still just a Primary Village, so there wasn’t much to worry about.  Zhao Fu decided to [Relocate] it.

The City Heart shined with a faint white light that covered the entire village, and the basic structures started to slowly disappear.

“System Announcement! The Great Qin Village has obtained 120 EXP!”

By now, the Great Qin Village had accumulated more than 1,000 EXP, and it was about 3,000 EXP away from leveling up to an Intermediate Village. Zhao Fu looked over at the City Heart, which no longer gave off a white light and instead silently floated there.

Zhao Fu picked it up and looked at it:

[City Heart]: Grade: White, Race Restricted To: Gnomes

Humans could not use another race’s City Heart to create a village, nor could other races use a human City Heart to create a village. Moreover, if a village was occupied by a different race, it would not gain new villagers. As such, Zhao Fu always left the corresponding race in charge of its village after the village surrendered.

Zhao Fu handed the City Heart to the Gnome elders and told them to move closer to the Great Qin Village when they rebuilt their village.

After leaving the cavern, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi looked around the large crack.

The crack was about 17 meters long and was 50 or so meters deep. Because it was so deep, sunlight did not reach the bottom, so it was quite dark below. However, they could barely make out what seemed to be orderly roads made out of brick.

“What do you think?” Zhao Fu frowned as he asked Bai Qi.

Bai Qi replied with a serious expression, “Your Majesty, I feel that this large crack isn’t simple.”

Zhao Fu fell deep into thought. Since this crack was so close to the Great Qin Village, if they did not investigate it and there happened to be something dangerous within it, they would not be able to react in time if anything happened. Zhao Fu didn’t want to leave a ticking time bomb by his side, so he said, “I want to go down and see what’s down there.”

Bai Qi immediately replied worriedly, “Your Majesty! Let me come with you.”

Zhao Fu nodded and told his people to prepare some ropes and torches before he slowly started climbing down.

An hour or so later, Zhao Fu and Bai Qi arrived at the bottom and found that there was a passage made of brick that was 10 meters wide and 4 meters tall.

It was quite dark, so Zhao Fu and Bai Qi lit their torches and walked towards the passage. As they walked, their surroundings became darker and darker. If it wasn’t for their torches, they would not have been able to see their fingers even if they were right in front of their faces. It was deathly quiet around them, and the atmosphere became quite strange.

Suddenly, creaking and cracking sounds could be heard. Zhao Fu waved his torch around and saw a slowly swaying Skeleton Swordsman that had blue tongues of flames in its head and a rusty sword.

The Skeleton Swordsman turned to look at Zhao Fu and Bai Qi with its hollow eye sockets and saw that they were two living beings. It howled and raised the sword in its hands as it rushed towards them.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 13 – A Surprise

Zhao Fu did not have a good impression towards any of these large families, nor did he want to get involved with the Ying family, so he did not plan on seeking the Ying family out.

After looking through the information on the Heaven Awaken World forum, he found a pleasant surprise. Someone had drawn a rough map detailing the layout of China and the surrounding countries. Zhao Fu looked southwest of China: that was where he was going to go after leaving China.

Following this, Zhao Fu stopped looking at the news and entered the Heaven Awaken World.

“Your Majesty, it’s good that you’re here. One of our villagers was injured by an Outlander. Luckily, Bai Qi was able to capture a few of them,” Li Si reported as soon as Zhao Fu entered.

Zhao Fu was quite surprised. The villagers all stayed around the Great Qin Village and didn’t go too far, and Zhao Fu had sent people to patrol the surrounding region. There should be no danger, so where did these Outlanders come from?

Feeling quite confused, Zhao Fu followed Li Si and found Bai Qi.

Bai Qi was currently ordering people to use ropes to bind a few Gnomes. They were a bit taller than Goblins and were quite skinny. Their skin was gray-black, and they looked quite ugly.

“Bai Qi! What’s going on?” Zhao Fu walked up and asked.

When Bai Qi looked over and saw that Zhao Fu had arrived, he cupped his hands respectfully as he explained, “Your Majesty, our villagers were picking wild fruits when suddenly a few Outlanders appeared and used crossbows to injure our villagers.”

After saying this, Bai Qi ordered one of the soldiers to hand Zhao Fu a small crossbow. Zhao Fu took it and saw that it was quite elaborate. There were no blueprints for this kind of crossbow, so it was impossible to make them.

“Did you get much out of questioning them?” Zhao Fu asked.

Bai Qi shook his head as he replied, “Your Majesty, because we speak different languages, we haven’t been able to get much information out of them. However, I’ve already sent people to investigate the place where these Gnomes appeared.”

Just at this moment, someone came and reported that they had found a hidden tunnel.

Hearing this, Zhao Fu took a few people and went to the hidden tunnel. It was about one meter tall, and there was tall grass hiding it, making it quite difficult to find.

They also brought the Gnomes with them, and they all had ugly looks on their faces as if this place was very important to them.

Seeing this, Zhao Fu understood that the Gnomes had been hiding in there. However, Zhao Fu did not dare to rashly enter: they did not know how many Gnomes were inside and the tunnel was only one meter tall, so they could only enter one at a time, which was quite dangerous.

Zhao Fu chose a Gnome and ordered to have him whipped. As the whip struck the Gnome, it immediately lacerated the Gnome’s skin, causing it to howl. After a few moments, Zhao Fu received a system announcement.

 “System announcement! Gnome Dorje has surrendered to you. Would you like to accept?”

When Zhao Fu heard this system announcement, he chose to accept and ordered to have him brought over to him. Right now, the Gnome’s Loyalty was only 10, but Zhao Fu did not mind. What he wanted was not his loyalty but the ability to understand his language.

“How many Gnomes are there in your village?” Zhao Fu asked.

The Gnome felt quite conflicted, but he saw that the ferocious-looking soldier was about to whip him again, he said, “Respected lord, Dorun village has 96 villagers. 46 of them are soldiers and the rest are females, elderly, and children.”

“So they only have that many people. No wonder they don’t dare to live above ground.”

Zhao Fu nodded and said to the Gnome, “I’ll release one of you. Tell them that I don’t want to harm any of you, but all of you must submit to me.”

The Gnome nodded and walked over to the other bound Gnomes and talked to them in his language, communicating Zhao Fu’s intentions. Zhao Fu then chose one of them and allowed him to enter the tunnel.

“Shieldbearers, surround the tunnel. Be careful of any crossbow bolts at any time!” Zhao Fu ordered as the wait began.

Time gradually passed, but after an hour, no Gnomes came out to surrender.

Zhao Fu’s expression darkened, and he said to Bai Qi, “Looks like the Gnomes don’t intend on surrendering. Go and prepare some hay to smoke them out.”

Bai Qi nodded and gave the order to prepare hay and to start burning it at the tunnel. The dense smoke slowly drifted into the tunnel, but soon, it was no longer able to enter – it seemed that the Gnomes had blocked off the tunnel.

“These Gnomes!”

Zhao Fu coldly harrumphed and ordered his people to block off the tunnel before asking if there were other secret passages that led to the Gnome Village. Most Gnomes did not know about these passages, and only a few elderly Gnomes in the village knew. As such, even if they dug their way in, the Gnomes could still escape through other tunnels.

Facing this sort of situation, Zhao Fu was not completely helpless. He called over 10 Goblin Warriors – now that he controlled two Goblin Villages, his forces now had 10 Goblin Warriors because each Goblin Village could have five Goblin Warriors.

After calling the Goblin Warriors over, Zhao Fu ordered them to use their massive stone hammers to smash the ground where Zhao Fu believed their village to be in order to collapse their tunnels and bury the Gnome Village. In a few days, they could take care of the corpses.

Of course, the Gnomes could dig new tunnels, so Zhao Fu ordered the 10 Goblin Warriors to immediately smash any tunnels as soon as they were discovered. That way, the Gnomes would not be able to escape.

Following this, Zhao Fu locked up the captured Gnomes. Because the Gnome that surrendered had incredibly low Loyalty and might escape at any moment, he was also locked up. However, Zhao Fu still treated him decently by giving him enough food and water because he surrendered. As for the other Gnomes, they could go hungry for a few days.

After returning to the village, Zhao Fu, Bai Qi, and Li Si started to discuss the information that Zhao Fu had gained from the Heaven Awaken World forum.

BOOM!!

Suddenly, a massive explosion sounded out, causing everyone in the Great Qin Village to become quite shocked.

Zhao Fu quickly came out and took some people over to where the explosion had come from. He saw a dazed few Goblin Warriors staring at a 10 meter long by 50 or so meter deep crack. Cold air could be felt from the crack, giving off an eerie feeling.

“What’s going on?” Zhao Fu asked the Goblin Warriors.

One of the Goblin Warriors grunted back a string of words that meant that they had just been following Zhao Fu’s orders by smashing the ground with their hammers. One of the Goblin Warriors had struck down with all of his might, and it had someone done this.

“System announcement! Dorun Village has surrendered to you. Would you like to accept?”

Zhao Fu’s train of thought was cut off by the system announcement. He thought to himself, “Looks like they had to suffer a bit before they were willing to submit.”

Zhao Fu accepted and told his people to start digging.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 12 – Heaven’s Pride Rankings

Zhao Fu brought the Great Qin Village’s soldiers as well as Logue Village’s Goblins to surround the little village. This Goblin Village only had 70 or so Goblin Soldiers, and the rest were female, elderly, or young Goblins.

“Logue! Go and persuade them to surrender.”

Adding on Logue Village’s Goblins, Zhao Fu’s overall forces completely surpassed this village’s forces. What’s more, he had all sorts of professions, so it would be incredibly easy to capture this village. However, it would be better to conquer it without any casualties.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Old Logue respectfully replied to Zhao Fu, replying just like how the Great Qin Villagers did. He then walked up and said in a loud voice, “You have been surrounded and have no chance at victory. Surrender now, and don’t make any needless sacrifices.”

However, just as Old Logue finished speaking, the Goblins within the village started to furiously clamor, and they looked as if they were cursing at Old Logue. Because they weren’t Zhao Fu’s people, there were no translations, so he could not understand what they were saying.

Zhao Fu frowned and asked Old Logue, “What are they cursing at?”

Old Logue nodded and replied, “Your Majesty, they’re saying that I’m the scum of the Goblin race and a disgrace to all Goblins for attacking them together with the cunning humans.”

Zhao Fu coldly harrumphed in reply. Since the Goblins weren’t willing to surrender, Zhao Fu would have to act. Zhao Fu looked at Bai Qi, giving him the signal.

Bai Qi yelled, “Arrange the formation! Prepare the fire arrows!”

The Shieldbearers lifted up their shields and walked forwards with the Infantry following behind them. The Archers in the third row lit up their arrows and drew their bows in unison.

“Fire!”

As the command sounded out, the fire arrows were loosed into the air. The fire arrows were not aimed at the Goblins; rather, they were aimed at the houses. Instantly, the wooden houses caught on fire, causing the village to fall into chaos.

Immediately afterwards, arrows started to rain down and hit the Goblins. When Old Logue saw Goblin after Goblin fall, he felt quite joyful that they had surrendered. Otherwise, this would have been the outcome for Logue Village.

By now, the Goblins within the village had no other choice but to charge the encirclement.

When the Archers, Zhao Fu, and Old Logue saw a wave of Goblins charge out of the village, the Archers orderly shot at the Goblins while Zhao Fu and Old Logue released Hell Fireballs. What surprised Zhao Fu was that two basketball-sized blood-colored fireballs appeared when Old Logue raised his wooden staff, and they gave off a fearsome aura.

Following this, Old Logue waved his staff and the two blood-colored fireballs shot out, falling into the wave of Goblins. Because the Goblins were grouped so densely together, the two fireballs sent ten or so Goblins flying. Five or six of them became a bloodied mess, and they did not look like they could live for much longer.

The fireballs that Old Logue cast came from practicing that skill to its limit. Zhao Fu rejoiced that he had not chosen to attack Logue Village back then. Otherwise, with Old Logue and the blood-colored altar, his forces would have been heavily wounded.

However, none of this was important right now. Zhao Fu’s Hell Fireballs were not as devastating as Old Logue’s, and they only blew away seven or eight goblins.

At this moment, Bai Qi led the Shieldbearers and Infantry to rush up and force the Goblins back.

“Logue! Ask them again if they want to surrender.” Zhao Fu said to Old Logue when he saw the fear and panic in the Goblins’ eyes.

Old Logue walked up and loudly said, “Now that you’ve seen the esteemed Majesty’s might, surrender now; His Majesty won’t treat you unfairly.”

Many Goblins had instantly died, and when the surviving Goblins saw the ferocious soldiers in front of them and the large fires behind them, they realized that they would either be burned to death or killed by the soldiers. Moreover, since Old Logue seemed to be doing quite well, they felt that Zhao Fu would not treat them poorly. In the end, they put down their weapons and knelt on the ground.

“System announcement! Jean Village has surrendered to you. Would you like to accept?”

Zhao Fu smiled. He understood that Outlanders would only submit to the strong. After displaying enough strength, they would naturally surrender.

 “You have accepted Jean Village’s surrender. You have received 50 Achievement Points!”

“Bai Qi, I’ll leave things here to you. Take some people and extinguish the fires; I’m going to go out for a bit!” Zhao Fu realized that he had not exited the Heaven Awaken World for almost one day in the real world, so he left the matters here to Bai Qi.

Bai Qi nodded and took some people to extinguish the fires. Following this, Zhao Fu left the Heaven Awaken World.

Even though Zhao Fu could eat and fill his stomach in the Heaven Awaken World, it did not affect his status in the real world. Zhao Fu still needed to eat in the real world, or he would starve to death.

After Zhao Fu’s mind returned to his body, hunger assaulted his entire body and mind. He sat up from his bed and decided that he wanted to have something different for a change after eating fast food from downstairs for the past few days.

However, when Zhao Fu opened the door, a white-haired elder wearing a suit appeared before him. When Zhao Fu saw the elder, he remembered that the elder was the Li family’s butler, so his expression became cold as he asked, “What do you want with me?”

The butler did not mind Zhao Fu’s attitude and said, “Sir wants you to return to the Li family. No matter what it is, the Li family will compensate you and your mother.”

 “Compensation?”

Zhao Fu felt enraged when he heard this. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he asked, “What can compensate my mother’s death? What can compensate my mother’s pain? What can compensate all of my mother’s tears?”

“I won’t go!” Zhao Fu replied coldly.

Seeing how Zhao Fu looked, the butler sighed and said, “Alright! However, I hope that you’ll be able to control your emotions and not do anything contrary to the Li family’s interests. Otherwise…”

The butler did not continue, but Zhao Fu knew what he meant. If he went against the Li family’s interests, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

Zhao Fu’s heart felt incredibly cold. He had wanted to abide by his mother’s last words by not making any trouble for the Li family because he didn’t want his mother to feel pained in the afterlife. However, they had come to threaten him. Yes, he did not have the strength to retaliate in the real world, but after the real world was devoured, as long as the Great Qin Village grew, it was not certain who would kill who.

However, the butler had reminded him out of kindness, and Zhao Fu nodded to indicate that he understood.

Following this, the butler left. Zhao Fu went to one of the fast food takeaway places and bought a meal. After getting home, he ate while reading the Heaven Awaken World forum on his computer to see if there was any news and to observe the current situation in China.

By now, many powers had entered the Heaven Awaken World, and they had started creating factions. There was also something called the Heaven’s Pride Rankings. Everyone on the Heaven’s Pride Rankings was a dragon or phoenix, and those on it had extraordinary statuses with powerful families behind them.

Number 1, Great Xia’s inheritor… Si Ji!

Number 2, Great Shang’s inheritor… Di Wutian!

Number 3, Great Zhou’s inheritor… Ji Shenming!

Number 4, Great Han’s inheritor… Liu Ye!

…………………………………………….

Out of these four people, two were enemies. The Heaven’s Pride Rankings were currently based on the family’s power; the most powerful families were also the oldest. According to this ranking, Great Qin’s Ying family should have been fourth, but the Ying family did not receive the Great Qin’s legacy, so they were currently desperately looking for Great Qin’s inheritor.

The Lord's Empire - Chapter 11 – Bloodline

The next day, Zhao Fu summoned 15 new villagers and an A grade villager. Zhao Fu arranged for him to change his profession to Scholar. Now, the Great Qin Village had 110 residents, 47 soldiers, and 4 Scholars.

Furthermore, after cultivating for the past few days, Zhao Fu’s cultivation was now at Stage 0-1.

Name: Zhao Fu

Title: None

Profession: Demon Priest

Achievement Points: Commoner (53/200)

Race: Human

Age: 21 (100)

Stats: Strength: 8, Intelligence: 11, Constitution: 7, Agility: 9

Special Power: [Weak – Demon’s Power]

Cultivation: Stage 0-1

Cultivation Technique: Great Qin Mantra

Skills: Hell Fireball, Basic Sword Technique…

Equipment: Iron Sword…

After looking at his stats, Zhao Fu went to the Research Workshop. In order to research Taming, Zhao Fu had given one of the buildings to the Scholars and had caught a few wild rabbits and chickens for them to study.

“How was elder Bai’s research been coming along?” Zhao Fu asked one of the elders with white hair. The elder’s name was Bai Shan, and he was the first B grade villager that the Great Qin Village had summoned.

Bai Shan was holding a wild chicken and turned to look at Zhao Fu, a look of delight on his face as he replied, “Your Majesty, we’ve made great progress. We’ll definitely have Taming researched within 3 days!”

When Zhao Fu heard this, he felt at ease and went to the farming area. Surprisingly, apart from the Great Qin villagers working there, there were also some female Goblins helping.

Li Si came over and explained, “Your Majesty, the Goblin Village has very few Goblins who can fight right now, and they are severely lacking food. Logue and I agreed that the female Goblins who have nothing to do could come work here in exchange for some food.”

Zhao Fu smiled and nodded. He felt quite satisfied when he that saw the Great Qin Village was developing in an orderly matter. Luckily, Zhao Fu had Li Si to take care of things, or he would have been inundated with matters, causing him endless headaches.

Zhao Fu didn’t have much to do, so he summoned Bai Qi and a group of soldiers and brought them to patrol around the Great Qin Village.

……………………………………………….

In the real world, the entire Li family in Beitang City was incredibly pleased because its bloodline had received the Great Tang Empire’s legacy.

The Great Tang Imperial Family bloodline had become an incredibly large clan after so many years, and it was split into a few different branches, one of which was in Beitang City.

Within a villa’s hall, a few elders were sitting on a sofa. Beside them sat a middle-aged man named Li Zhe, who had a small goatee, and a beautiful woman. The woman was Li Zhe’s current wife, Zhang Shuyun.

Some other people were also inside the hall. They were all part of this branch of the Li family, and their gazes were all on the handsome youth in the hall.

The youth looked like he was twenty years old, and he had a steady and calm temperament. He gave off an air of maturity that exceeded his age – this was Li Zhe’s second son, Li Baiqing.

Li Baiqing and his father Li Zhe were different types of people. Li Baiqing did not have any of his father’s pompousness, and he handled things in a calm and mature manner. Li Baiqing was also quite talented, and he was one of Beitang City’s Three Geniuses. Adding on his handsome appearance, he was someone who all the girls in Beitang City dreamed to be with. What was especially important about him was that he had obtained the Great Tang Empire’s legacy.

“Who would have thought that so many of our family members would fail, but Qing’Er was able to succeed and obtained our ancestor’s legacy. This is our family’s great blessing,” an elder with a ruddy face said as he laughed heartily.

Hearing his words, everyone else nodded in agreement. A pleased look appeared on Li Zhe’s face; even though he wasn’t capable, his son had brought him much face.

“Grandpa! Our ancestor’s legacy is actually quite easy to obtain. As long as you maintain your focus and don’t let yourself be tempted by external things, you’ll pass the trial,” Li Baiqing said with a humble and mild tone.

The elder laughed, “Alright, Qing’Er, you don’t need to be humble. Right now, none of the Li family members are even half as good as you. Fame follows merit, and we attach a lot of importance to you. We’ll give you all of our resources so that you can develop well and bring glory to the Great Tang Empire.”

Li Baiqing nodded earnestly, and he understood just how heavy the burden he shouldered was. He also understood that this was the wish of his family’s ancestors – rebuilding the Great Tang Empire – and that he had to complete it.

Following this, the family gathering concluded. The elder was sitting in a room and said to his white-haired butler, “Have you investigated the matter I left to you?”

The butler nodded and handed some documents to the elder.

The elder took the documents and scanned them before saying in surprise, “Who would have thought that my illegitimate child would actually be somewhat capable. That brat, Li Zhe, fathered two good sons!”

“Go find him and ask him to join the Li family. After all, he has our bloodline, and we might be able to use him in the future,” the elder said to the butler.

The butler paused before saying, “Sir! This might be quite difficult – after all, that year…”

When the elder heard this, he sighed and said, “Back then, that brat, Li Zhe, acted quite excessively. How about this: ask him what he wants. The Li family will try to satisfy and compensate his mother and him.”

The butler hesitated before asking, “And if he doesn’t agree?”

The elder thought for a moment before replying, “If he continues to refuse, just let him be for now. However, if he dares to obstruct Qing’Er’s path, we’ll have to kill him.”

The butler nodded and then left the room.

Elsewhere, in a simple and unadorned room, six elders sat on chairs facing each other. One of the elders roared in anger, “All of the members of our family, the Ying family, have entered the Heaven Awaken World, but none of them received our ancestor’s Legacy Trial. If they failed the Legacy Trial, that would just mean that we are useless, and we wouldn’t have anything to say. However, they didn’t even have an opportunity to attempt it!”

“Isn’t it obvious? Someone has already obtained the Great Qin Empire’s legacy!” An elderly woman calmly replied.

“What? The Great Qin Empire’s legacy was taken by an outsider?” The elderly man who originally spoke loudly roared.

The skinny elder couldn’t keep listening and said, “Old Jiang, can you calm down? What do you mean by outsider? How can someone without the Great Qin Imperial Family’s bloodline obtain our ancestor’s legacy? It must be that the bloodline has been spread outside of the main family after thousands of years.”

The plump old man sighed, saying, “It’s virtually impossible to find out who has obtained the Great Qin ancestor’s legacy. I hope that he reveals something so that we can find him in the Heaven Awaken World.”

The other elders all looked quite restless but decided that there was nothing they could do about it.

…………………………………………………………

In the Heaven Awaken World, Zhao Fu once again gathered his soldiers because he had discovered another Goblin Village. There were not many Goblins in this village, only around 160 Goblins or so, so Zhao Fu and his soldiers would be able to capture it easily.