Chapter 287: Space Gate
The flying magical beast rose several kilometers into the air at a rapid speed while the Grand Elder followed close behind on his own. He was there to protect them all in the case that a flying magical beasts went out of control. Although this was not a common occurrence the majority of these riders were members of the Tianqin clan and were the future of the clan. There was no way the Grand Elder would want them to come across an accident.
Sitting on top of a flying magical beast, Jian Chen’s expression was quite complicated. His mind couldn’t help but think of the Hua Yun Sect who had forced him to run away from his home. At that time, it was Chang Bai who was the one who drove the flying magical beast from Lore City.
Then, he thought of his extremely loveable mother Bi Yuntian and his elegant flower like second sister Changyang Mingyue. Then there was also his sturdy eldest brother Changyang Hu and the ever so dignified father and leader of the clan, Changyang Ba. Each one of their images suddenly burned brightly within Jian Chen’s mind as well as a few other fragments of memories from his time in the Changyang Mansion.
“Hua Yun Sect!” Jian Chen clenched both of his fists tightly in anger. he had been forced to escape from the Gesun Kingdom because of them; it was unfortunate that the Hua Yun Sect had so much power within the kingdom and had at least two Heaven Saint Masters enlisted within their ranks. This had made even the royal family of the Gesun Kingdom unable to help him and the Changyang clan unable to do anything.
“Hua Yun Sect, just wait for me to return, I, Jian Chen, will return to right this. These years have made me into a wanderer with no home. This debt, I will return unto you!” Jian Chen’s eyes flashed with a terrifying amount of power. He knew that while he was an Earth Saint Master and had the Sword Spirits with him, no Earth Saint Master could threaten him, but Heaven Saint Masters were something Jian Chen would have trouble against.
Each realm after the Earth Saint Master realm was like crossing the endless ocean to attain a new height. The difference was like the heavens and the earth themselves and could not be easily described.
The amount of Saint Force within a Heaven Saint Master was a terrifying amount. They could use it to support themselves as they flew several kilometers into the air to travel and never ran out. It was only if they had gone through a long and intense battle that their Saint Force would start to feel the effects.
Jian Chen continued to sit on top of the flying magical beast as the wind flew past his ears, sounding like a clap of thunder that affected everyone’s ears.
On the way, several groups of men flying on their own flying type magical beasts could be seen not too far away. Each one of these men were strong powers within the Zhuya Kingdom, and each major group had a single Heaven Saint Master following behind to offer protection. These Heaven Saint Masters and the Tianqin clan’s Grand Elder bade a polite greeting as if they were good friends with each other before continuing on with their journey together.
Not everyone who wanted to go to Mercenary City had access to a flying magical beast. On the ground far below, countless groups traveled on magical beasts or on foot in great numbers. Each group numbered over a hundred while the dust behind them was kicked up, causing the scene to look as if there was a large dirt colored dragon below.
Half a day later, everyone had finally left the borders of the Zhuya Kingdom. With another day’s time, they finally arrived at the kingdom that had the Space Gate called the Dazhou Kingdom.
“I’ve heard my father once say that there was a time the Dazhou Kingdom was in a golden age where its strength was strong enough to be great friends with the Three Great Empires. The Space Gate was then left behind by the unbelievably strong Protector of the Realm. However, when the Protector of the Realm left, the Dazhou Kingdom began to slowly decline before becoming an obscure and small kingdom like it is today.” Qin Xiao explained to Jian Chen.
Jian Chen could only sigh at the absolute power a strong cultivator could have. He had no idea that even an extremely strong kingdom would slowly decline after the loss of a strong cultivator.
While the Dazhou Kingdom had declined, the amount of territory it had remained the same. It took a good part of the day for the flying magical beasts to finally approach the imperial city of the Dazhou Kingdom.
The murmur from the people riding on the magical beasts began to grow louder as they approached the city. Jian Chen could see that there were at least ten Heaven Saint Masters flying together behind them. Aside from that, there was still another Heaven Saint Master riding on a flying magical beast, but he had been harder to discover.
These men were from different kingdoms and regions where they represented different factions of power, but each one of them was planning to head to Mercenary City.
The Tianqin clan’s group was led down to the outside of the imperial palace by the Grand Elder. Then, a single armored person came out to greet the Grand Elder with a cordial greeting before ushering everyone inside a courtyard to rest.
“The Space Gate will open in two days, these next two days you can rest easily, but don’t wander off. This is still the imperial palace of the Dazhou Kingdom, if you cause a disturbance, the clan will not be able to protect you.” The Grand Elder warned everyone before leaving.
Tian Zhou glared icily at Jian Chen before snorting and turning to walk out of the room. Although he had desperately wanted to teach Jian Chen a lesson, he was in the imperial palace just like Jian Chen, so he didn’t dare cause trouble now.
Qin Xiao walked up to Jian Chen’s side and spoke with some concern, “Jian Chen, Tian Zhou will be participating in the Gathering of the Mercenaries, in the case that you come across him, please be careful.”
Jian Chen nodded without saying a word.
These next two days were relatively peaceful as the entire Tianqin clan all behaved themselves while resting within the courtyard provided to them by the imperial palace. Not a single one of them left the courtyard in fear of causing unneeded trouble. Although the Dazhou Kingdom was stagnating, the kingdom was still capable of making the other kingdoms feel fear.
Two days later, the Tianqin clan followed the Grand Elder out of the courtyard and between the giant pavilions of the palace before finally stopping in front of a large piece of ground.
There was already a large amount of people gathered here. At the very least, there were upward of a thousand men all densely gathered within this piece of ground.
Jian Chen tilted his head, he could faintly see a heavily encased area that spanned around a hundred meters in circumference and had plenty of people stopping right in front of it.
“I’ve heard that the Protector of the Realm left this barrier many years ago. It’s so extremely big and even after so many years, no one has been able to break it…”
“Rumors say that when the Dazhou Kingdom was in a war, a Saint Ruler stealthily snuck into the Dazhou Kingdom in order to strike at this barrier and take away the Space Gate. Unfortunately even with all of his strength, he wasn’t able to even dent the barrier and could only retreat in defeat.”
“The Dazhou Kingdom’s Protector of the Realm was extremely strong. He has long since stood at the apex of the Tian Yuan Continent, the barriers he could make are unbreakable to any Saint Ruler.”
“I’ve heard that the Dazhou Kingdom’s Protector of the Realm had reached the pinnacle a long time ago, when he disappeared, he must have been trying to make it past the final bottleneck. Seeing how it’s been several hundred years, it seems that he was defeated before he could make that breakthrough…”
“The peerless Protector of the Realm has long left this world, what a shame. How unfortunate for this type of expert to leave the world.”
The people all around them began to talk among each other as they talked about the barrier. Many of them could only sigh as they looked at this particular barrier in respect and adoration.
“For even a Saint Ruler to not be able to break apart this barrier, just how strong was the Dazhou Kingdom’s Protector of the Realm?” One of person whispered in disbelief.
Suddenly, the entire crowd went quiet as if everyone had simultaneously shut their mouths. Following the silence, five white robed elders suddenly came dropping down from the skies gracefully. From this, Jian Chen felt as if these men were immortals descending down onto the mortal plane.
These five elders walked over to five different points on the barrier before a five star array began to grow brightly on the ground.
At this moment, one of the elders in the middle cupped their hands, “It has been fifty years since the last time. Today we meet once more, and next, we will be employing a secret method to temporarily close the barrier to the Space Gate. Everyone will be able to travel to Mercenary City afterward. The way to use the Space Gate should be familiar to everyone, so we shall not spend anymore time explaining it.”
Afterward, the five elders began to open up the barrier.
One by one, men began to slowly move forward into the large ripple of energy that was the Space Gate. Just like that, each one disappeared from sight.
Quickly came the Tianqin clan’s turn. At this moment, Jian Chen could finally see the Space Gate that was hidden at first by the barrier. The Space Gate was three meters tall and the energy that was moving around the Space Gate was strong enough to distort the space around it. The area didn’t seem very stable and the light was shining out in intense rays with a mysterious glow.
Underneath the Space Gate was a mysterious matrix with several Class 5 Monster Cores at certain points of the matrix. Each supply point of these monster cores had supported the Space Gate when it opened.
This was a type of portal that allowed one to travel through space and linked two different places, and could be used to cross over the endless ocean.