Chapter 452: Revealing His Identity
Afterward, the five Imperial Advisors and the king of the Gesun Kingdom entered Lore City, and made their through the streets before ultimately stopping right outside the gates to the Changyang clan. The Black Armors quickly cordoned the area and stood guard to protect the king.
Although the five Imperial Advisors were here, making it impossible for harm to befall the king, the Black Armors still had a job to do.
Standing right beside the king, the commander of the Black Armors, Bi Dao stood with a stony expression as he looked at the Changyang clan. All sorts of feelings could be felt within his heart. He didn’t know what to feel exactly after being told of the news by the king.
The Changyang clan had long since heard that the king was coming. Therefore many of the higher ranking members had already gathered by the gates. Even Chanyang Ba and Chang Wuji were standing at the very front with the elders of the clan behind them. Jian Chen and the aunts were right behind the elders.
“We welcome his Majesty to our Changyang clan. His Majesty truly does bring grace to our clan.” The leader of the clan, Changyang Ba smiled while Chang Wuji stood by his side.
Grabbing the present from one of the Black Armors soldiers, the king handed it over to Changyang Ba and smiled, “This king hasn’t been to Lore City in a long time. Since I had the time today, I decided to pay a visit. I do hope this king isn’t interrupting anything.”
Changyang Ba let out a chuckle as he spoke a few words to the king before looking to the five Imperial Advisors right behind him with a startled look. Hurriedly, he bowed to them and spoke, “This one didn’t think that the honored Imperial Advisors would come by as well, our Changyang clan has neglected ourselves, please, please come in.” To the five Imperial Advisors, Changyang Ba’s face grew even more prudent without daring to be impolite.
Chang Wuji bowed to the five Imperial Advisors as well before speaking several polite words. Then, he invited the group enthusiastically into the clan. If the five Imperial Advisors were to stay as guests within the Changyang clan, it would be a tremendous honor for the Changyang clan.
Even the guards and elders of the Changyang clan all grew excited and happy when they saw the Imperial Advisors come walking into the clan compound.
Seeing how enthusiastic Changyang Ba and Chang Wuji were, the five Imperial Advisors didn’t wish to look rude either. With happy smiles, they returned the polite greetings and spoke with words that were even more polite than the ones they had spoken back at the imperial palace.
Afterward, the king and the other Black Armor soldiers around him followed the five Imperial Advisors past the gates. The king spoke in somewhat of a rush, “Changyang Ba, I’ve heard that Changyang Xiangtian has returned. Where might he be, and if possible, would this king be able to see him? Even though he is my future son-in-law, I’ve yet to see him still, hahaha.”
A faint smile could be seen on Changyang Ba’s face while his heart seemed to glow brighter as he looked behind the elders to Jian Chen, “Xiang’er, come greet his Majesty.”
“Perhaps, it would be more appropriate to call him father-in-law.” Chang Wuji suddenly spoke with a smile.
Hearing this, the king was startled for a moment before quickly letting out a smile while Changyang Ba showed a great big cheerful smile on his face.
The dozen elders quickly made a path through them as the white-robed, handsome Jian Chen came striding forward to bow toward the king. With a small smile, he spoke with neither a servile nor overbearing voice, “Changyang Xiangtian pays his respect to his Majesty!”
Looking at Jian Chen with a serious expression, the king took notice of Jian Chen’s short hair, his handsome appearance, and the perfect balance of his face that no one could complain about. All this was combined with a pale white skin that suited his appearance and caused many females to be jealous—Jian Chen was practically a walking killer of women. With his handsome and determined face, Jian Chen had clearly matured and did not look like a person that could be trifled with.
“Good! Very good!” Seeing his future son-in-law, the king was pleased, and spoke only those three words. As a king, he had seen many people, but even he could tell that Jian Chen was by no means an everyday face. Hearing about him and seeing him in person were two different things. Now that he had met Jian Chen, his evaluation of him had instantly gone up.
“He is truly a dragon among men!” The king sighed in admiration. By his side, Changyang Ba had a prideful smile for his son.
When the five Imperial Advisors saw Jian Chen, they were shocked. Giving each other a look, they immediately strode forward and cupped their hands with them as they spoke, “We pay our respects to the Imperial Protector!”
When the five said “Imperial Protector”, the faces of both Changyang Ba and the king of the Gesun Kingdom instantly froze up. Blankly, they looked at how the five Imperial Advisors greeted Jian Chen and stood there without speaking for a long time.
All of the elders and guards of the Changyang clan and the Black Armor soldiers protecting the king had the same expression on their faces as well. Each one stared at the five Imperial Advisors greeting Jian Chen with stupefied looks.
“Imperial Protector? Just what reason are the five Imperial Advisors from the powerful Qinhuang Kingdom calling Changyang Xiangtian Imperial Protector?” The third aunt Bai Yushuang spoke with surprise. In her heart, shock had completely washed over her.
Jian Chen forced out a smile as he looked at Xiao Tian and the others, “I didn’t think you would be able to find me so quickly.”
Qing Shaofan looked around before letting out a small smile, “Honored Imperial Protector, I hope we did not cause any trouble for you.”
Jian Chen let out a small breath of air, but before he could speak, Changyang Ba’s voice rang out first. “Xiang’er, just what exactly is happening?” Changyang Ba’s voice trembled as he tried to hide the confusion in his words. Everyone had heard Changyang Xiangtian referred to as the Imperial Protector, but none of them could believe it.
The five Imperial Advisors had unexpectedly called his own son an Imperial Protector. Could that possibly mean that the reason why the Qinhuang Kingdom, specifically the five Imperial Advisors, had traveled countless of kilometers to provide assistance to the Gesun Kingdom was because of his own son—Changyang Xiangtian?
At that moment, Chang Wuji and the king regained their consciousness and looked at Jian Chen in shock while also waiting for his response.
Jian Chen hesitated for a moment before he spoke, “Father, we should speak about this in the hall.”
Changyang Ba snapped out of his shock as well and quashed the tremors in his heart. Quickly, he spoke, “Yes yes, let us go to the hall. Your Majesty, honored Imperial Advisors, please follow me inside.”
After speaking, the upper echelons of the Changyang clan, the king of the Gesun Kingdom, and the five Imperial Advisors all walked into the hall. Jian Chen’s mother, and his three aunts originally didn’t have any right to participate in this discussion. However, now that a connection between Jian Chen and the Qinhuang Kingdom had been revealed, they summoned their courage to join the conversation.
Because there weren’t enough chairs for everyone, the elders of the Changyang clan were the first to give up their seats. The elders standing to the side did not speak a single word, instead they stared at Jian Chen with looks of utter shock. In their minds, they couldn’t help but think to what they had just heard. The Five Imperial Advisors had unexpectedly called the fourth master Changyang Xiangtian their Imperial Protector. They could hardly believe such a thing had happened.
Seeing how the elders refused to sit and instead stood by the side, Jian Chen took his mother and sat her down in a chair before sitting in the seat next to her.
“Xiang’er, just what is going on? Are you truly the Imperial Protector of the Qinhuang Kingdom?” As soon as he sat down, Changyang Ba immediately spoke with the question that was raring to escape from his mouth.
“That is correct, father. I have the status of being the Imperial Protector of the Qinhuang Kingdom.” Jian Chen spoke honestly. Now that the truth was out, Jian Chen saw no need to hide the facts.
Changyang Ba’s body began to tremble as his face started to twitch with emotion. He turned his head to the five Imperial Advisors as if looking for confirmation.
The other men within the hall of the compound immediately grew silent at Jian Chen’s words. Their eyes lost their light as they lost themselves in thought. The elders and Chang Wuji were especially affected as shock rode through their hearts. The mysterious Imperial Protector of the Qinhuang Kingdom had in truth been their very own clan member!
The five Imperial Advisors from the Qinhuang Kingdom let out smiles and nodded to verify Jian Chen’s words.
Among the entire group, the king of the Gesun Kingdom was the most astounded and unbelieving. At first, the identity of the Imperial Protector of the Qinhuang Kingdom had been a mystery to him. It had left him struggling to figure out what the actual connection between the Gesun and the Qinhuang Kingdom was, and if it was possible to climb relations with them as if they were a tree. For the sake of thinking about such a thing, he had wracked his mind trying to think of a way to no avail.
He never would have thought that the result would be so theatrical. After expending so much effort, the Imperial Protector he wanted to curry favor with was actually his very own son-in-law. With such a result, the king of the Gesun Kingdom didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Dear son-in-law, you have surprised your entire family.” The king forced a small smile on his face, but knowing that Jian Chen was the Imperial Protector caused him to be incredibly happy. He also started to speak to him with a different tone.
Chang Wuji let out a sigh before speaking gratefully to Jian Chen, “Fourth master, this one had no idea that you had such an important status, our Changyang clan will definitely shine brighter because of you.”
Now that Jian Chen’s identity had been revealed to the entire upper echelons of the Changyang clan, everyone looked at Jian Chen in a new light. Being the Imperial Protector of the Qinhuang Kingdom was more than enough to completely quash a king of a small kingdom like the Gesun Kingdom.