Chapter 343: The Matchless Heavenly Enchantress
By now, the inn that Jian Chen was residing in had a long red banner waving overhead. Written on it in fancy calligraphy was a single line of words not only congratulating Jian Chen for becoming the King of Mercenaries, but it also notified everyone this inn was the inn he was staying at. Not only did it praise Jian Chen, but it also served to be an advertisement for the inn, improving its reputation. The owner of the inn had valiantly waived all of Jian Chen’s expense and treated him as if he were the king of a nation. This type of respect was completely new to Jian Chen, and many times he thought that he had swapped lives with someone else.
The Gathering of the Mercenaries was coming to a close, making the topic of Jian Chen being the King of Mercenaries an extremely popular one. Since the owner of the inn proudly stated who was staying at his inn, the entire Mercenary City had learned that Jian Chen was currently residing at the “Take a Smell” inn. Many people began to draw close in hopes of observing Jian Chen or with some other goal in mind; therefore, many of them had reserved a room in the inn to stay closeby.
In short, the shrewd owner of the inn had transformed his inn into an almost legendary one within Mercenary City.
With his identity and his place of residence revealed, Jian Chen encountered many people arriving at his room, offering all sorts of invitations. In the end, Jian Chen couldn’t help it anymore and barred his room shut. At the same time, he notified the owner that he required a few days to cultivate and did not want to be bothered. He forbid anyone from disturbing him, else he would move inns.
The owner of the inn had been terrified by Jian Chen’s words. It was with great difficulty that he managed to have such a deity stay at his inn. How could he let Jian Chen leave so easily? With that, he immediately agreed to Jian Chen’s request and had some of the hired hands blockade the entire area for Jian Chen so that no one would be able to enter. Even a Heaven Saint Master was forbidden access, after all this was Mercenary City, meaning not a single person would dare retaliate.
Within the confines of his own room, Jian Chen poured all his efforts into understanding the Illusionary Flash. Although he had already grasped the basics of it, he hadn’t mastered the introductory steps. The Illusionary Flash was exceptionally profound and was even more complex to understand than the Heaven’s Stolen Fortune. After a few days, Jian Chen had made very little progress, but with his speed he still managed to make a significant advancement.
As Jian Chen’s comprehension of the Illusionary Flash grew deeper and deeper, he began to feel that if he were to truly master the battle skill, then he would be able to flash forward large distances at a terrifying speed.
Three days passed by quickly. A member of the Mercenary City ruling party came forward to find Jian Chen before respectfully asking him to come out.
Jian Chen followed the youth to a plaza near a palace like building where he met another resolute looking middle aged man waiting for him.
“Honored Jian Chen, I, Elder Feng, have been commanded to guide you, please follow me.” The middle age man spoke respectfully as he led Jian Chen to a Space Gate.
“Honored Jian Chen, you must travel through this Space Gate to get to the other side, the elder is waiting for you.” The man spoke.
With a word of thanks, Jian Chen stepped through the Space Gate. Jian Chen already had a good understanding of Mercenary City, so when he heard that he needed to travel through a Space Gate, he no longer found it strange since he was used to it already.
With a flash of light, Jian Chen arrived on the other side of the Space Gate where a garden filled with sweet smelling flowers could be seen. Fifty meters ahead, two white robed elders were sitting there playing chess.
Jian Chen recognized both of the elders. One of them was the elder who had provided all of the tokens at first and had been the referee for the finals. The other member was the elder who had been cleaning the armory.
Taking a look around, Jian Chen realized that he was standing in an ocean of flowers where countless of butterflies could be seen floating around. The place seemed as if it was a rare paradise on earth. Aside from the two elders, there was no one else around.
Jian Chen had no idea what he should be doing, so he walked toward the elders slowly with light steps. Finally arriving close to the chess playing elders, Jian Chen waited patiently for them to finish without a word.
The two elders had serene looks on their faces as they concentrated completely on the chess game while completely ignoring Jian Chen’s existence.
After waiting for almost two hours, the two elders finally finished their game with helpless expressions.
“So it was a draw again? Elder Hui, it seems that even after deciding on a chess game, a decision was still not easily made.” The elder who had been in the armory laughed as he began to place the chess pieces back in a box.
The one called Elder Hui had a bitter smile on his face as well, “That’s right, while we don’t have much to decide between when it comes to winning or losing, it is still a tough choice.”
Quickly, the two elders cleaned up the area before standing up. The elder who had been in the armory, cleaning, looked up at the sky, “It’s about time for us to go.”
Elder Hui nodded his head, “Then let us be on our way, youngster, follow us.” He directed his final words toward Jian Chen.
“Yes, senior!” Jian Chen hurriedly cupped his hands in response. The two elders had to be Peak Heaven Saint Masters at the very least, especially the elder who had been a referee. Many times Jian Chen had fleeting thoughts that he was a Saint Ruler. To such a person, Jian Chen was but only a small dragonfly.
Hearing Jian Chen call him senior, Elder Hui laughed, “Youngster, you are called Jian Chen, correct? You may call me the Thirteenth Elder. As for the other elder, you may call him the Eighth Elder. There is no need to call us seniors.”
“Yes, elders.” Jian Chen cupped his hands hastily. At the same time, he had been shocked to hear that there was at least eighteen elders within Mercenary City.
Following the two elders through the flowery world, Jian Chen finally arrived at another large Space Gate several kilometers down the road.
At that moment, Jian Chen found himself in a desolate area where a large sacrificial platform could be seen with thousands of memorial tablet. By the platform, there were already eight people who were staring absentmindedly at the tablets.
From the eight men, there was a single middle aged man, a forty year old woman, an elder who looked to be a seventy or eighty year old grandmother, and the rest were all quite elderly themselves.
It was as if the eight people had returned to their original state where their presence had been held back. Each one looked quite ordinary and did not have a single characteristic of being unique in any way.
“These eight are the elders of Mercenary City, each one of them holding a decisive amount of power.” The Eighth Elder spoke.
Growing serious, Jian Chen took a look at each one of them to confirm their identities.
“The way to the holy land will open in an hour, wait for now. Aside from us elders, there are still a few men from Mercenary City that haven’t arrived yet.” The Thirteenth Elder spoke as he and the Eighth Elder both walked toward the platform where the memorial tablets were.
Without a word, Jian Chen followed behind with a strange look at the memorial tablets and a curious mind.
At this moment, a sound could be heard from a long distance away as a cyan robed woman with a zither could be seen flying rapidly toward Jian Chen and the rest.
The woman was quite tall and her hair shined on her cotton robes. Her clear and bright eyes could be seen shining in a way as if they could steal souls. Her fingers gently and tenderly caressed the strings of her zither. With each step, her slim waist swayed to the side gently. Although her appearance was not yet clear to see, the light radiating from her could only indicate that she was a matchless beauty that could cause nations to fall at the blink of an eye.
The woman gently walked toward the elders from Mercenary City, “This woman has come to greet everyone.” The woman’s voice was extremely charming and bewitching almost as if it was the music from the ninth heaven instead of being from the secular world.
Hearing the woman speak, Jian Chen instantly grew muddled in the head. he had never heard such a beautiful voice before. It was an unspeakable sensation that shouldn’t exist in this world.
Hearing the voice, the other elders slowly turned around before cupping their hands with a smile, “It has been fifty years but the Heavenly Enchantress still remains as beautiful as ever.” One of the elders said.
The cyan robed woman smiled, “Fifteenth Elder is too kind.”
“Heavenly Enchantress, it has been fifty years. You look even more beautiful than before.” The middle aged woman spoke as she looked at her with a breath-taking eye.
“Haha, the matchless Saint of the zither, the Heavenly Enchantress. A beauty that would bring the moon to shame and can captivate even the birds and beasts. The fairy of the Tian Yuan Continent with beautiful grace. With one word, hundreds of flowers grow ashamed of themselves.” One of the elders laughed.
Hearing this, the other men had small smiles on their faces as they too began to praise her.
“Heavenly Enchantress? Saint of the zither? Could it be that this woman is the very same Heavenly Enchantress spoken of by the second miss of the Tianqin clan?” Jian Chen thought with shock as he looked at the stunning woman with a great wave of emotions running through his heart.