“Pack up and follow me to Southern Blue,” said Qianye.
Bluemoon nodded firmly and returned briskly to her hut to gear up. By the time she was back, she was her old confident self, shrouded in a renewed brilliance.
Qianye was crouching on the ground, teasing little Zhuji with one finger. The little girl was like an angry cat as she pounced at Qianye’s finger, growling menacingly and flashing her snowy white teeth from time to time.
None of this was out of the ordinary, but Bluemoon was dazed. The duo was simply too fast, so much so that even someone of her eyesight could only see blurred images. Zhuji’s hands would leave numerous afterimages with every move, and Qianye’s finger had long since turned ethereal and fluctuant as he evaded Zhuji’s attacks always at the nick of time.
If Bluemoon had to do this kind of play-training with the kid, she would’ve been struck senseless in mere moments. Additionally, the little girl’s speed was already like the wind and shadows, which meant that her strength couldn’t be underestimated, either. At this moment, she very much suspected whether her head could withstand a slap from her.
“Ah!” Bluemoon couldn’t help but gasp from the suspense.
“You’re here?” Only then did Qianye notice Bluemoon. But in that split second of distraction, Zhuji finally managed to catch Qianye’s hand. The little fellow seemed genuinely angry this time as she opened her little mouth and bit down mercilessly!
“Ah!!!” This time, it was Qianye’s turn to cry out. Even the fire-forged physique was no match for the little girl’s teeth, immediately opening into a lacerated wound from the bite.
Realizing that she was in trouble, the little girl released her bite immediately afterward. Seeing Qianye’s mangled finger, she lowered her head with reddened eyes and unleashed a torrent of bean-sized teardrops. It was almost as though she had become a little cat who had been wronged.
Qianye felt speechless. It almost looked like he was bullying her, but there really was no reasoning with little Zhuji. Feeling quite helpless, he could only rub her head and console her.
Bluemoon approached cautiously and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Qianye activated his blood energy, and moments later, his finger had healed on its own. He picked Zhuji up with one hand and led Bluemoon toward the Martyr’s Palace.
After a while, the massive airship took to the air and, after a gradual turn, flew toward the vast Eastern Sea.
Two days later, Qianye was once again in the southern wilderness. He parked the Martyr’s Palace up near the void, as usual, flew down, and headed toward Southern Blue with Zhuji and Bluemoon.
There were several major cities on the Eastern Sea Continent. All of them, including the main human cities, were places where the land’s wealth converged. It wasn’t wrong to head to them to procure goods. Although Southern Blue was located in the southern wilderness, its lord was a good businessman and the city itself was a transport hub. It was the best supply base for those looking to explore the wilderness. Additionally, the city had reaped a hefty profit from the recent wars and was enjoying a whole new level of prosperity.
Qianye felt a connection of fate with the city, and there was also Zhuji’s matter to settle. So, he chose this place as his first stop.
In recent days, Southern Blue had been overcome by a desolate austerity. People on the streets walked hurriedly with worried expressions. The taverns were still full, but there was no hearty laughter and shouting like before. The atmosphere was extremely depressing as the mercenaries drank with their heads lowered, seemingly lost in worry.
Business was sparse in the weaponry stores throughout the city. The dispirited shopkeepers leaned against the counters of their deserted shops and couldn’t even bother to greet incoming customers.
The weapons store Qianye had walked into was moderately sized, specializing in combat vehicles, truck, and bike parts as well as their weapons. There were also a number of airship parts to be found here, although their source was a mystery to everyone.
Seeing that the staff had no intention of greeting him, Qianye couldn’t help but feel odd. Bluemoon took a step forward and placed her hand on the counter. The shopkeeper looked up to find, not a hand, but a large gun barrel.
Shocked out of his wits and pale, the man stood up straight and said, “What does this Highbeard lady needs? As long as it’s within my power, I’ll get it done satisfactorily.”
The shopkeeper was full of smiles at this moment. The Highbeards made a living as mercenaries. They were incomparably violent but made for great customers. As long as the goods were fine enough, they usually wouldn’t nitpick about the price.
Without stating her request, Bluemoon asked, “What’s going on in the city? Why is it so bleak?”
The shopkeeper sighed. “What else but the trouble stirred up by the City Lord’s son? Reportedly, he provoked an extremely powerful expert and faced a miserable defeat in the south. It has been said that all experts from Stormwind Fury, save their captain, were killed, and the other party didn’t even need a second move in each fight. They seemed to have suffered grave troop casualties, including members of the city guard whom the city lord had assigned to them. If even Stormwind Fury is in such a state, you can imagine how well the other corps were doing.”
Bluemoon wasn’t clear about this matter. “Are the casualties that heavy?”
“Of course! Just think about it, most corps have lost over half their forces, how are they to muster compensation for all those people? Some mercenary corps were simply disbanded.” The shopkeeper sighed. “These people can’t even afford the financial support for the deceased, how will they have the money to shop?”
Bluemoon came to a realization and shot a glance at Qianye. She had a feeling that this matter was related to Qianye, but she didn’t press on with the questions. “Do you have airship engines?”
The shopkeeper became spirited after hearing the true purpose of her visit. “Yes, of course, we do! Our small shop just collected a new batch of engines, and they’re all of good quality! At least eighty percent new!”
Qianye and Bluemoon followed the shopkeeper to their warehouse. There, the man removed the tarpaulin cover and revealed several engines underneath. There were half a dozen of them piled up randomly and two of them even had signs of damage. Clearly, the person who had removed them wasn’t as mature in terms of technique.
Even Qianye could see that these engines were old goods, with the newest no more than fifty percent new. Additionally, they were constructed using an old design and would be considered centuries-old antiques by empire standards. But Qianye wasn’t disappointed—he had come here for information, to begin with, and didn’t hold too much of a hope for finding quality goods.
Bluemoon, on the other hand, seemed to be making a serious selection. In the end, she picked two small engines and made the down payment. The shopkeeper was told to package the goods and that they would come for it two days later.
The shopkeeper was fairly swift when there was business to be done. Qianye hadn’t even left the store when he had already begun washing the engines and readying the boxes.
After walking out of the weaponry store, Qianye strolled along the street and visited a couple of random stores. There were no high-quality goods in these shops, but Bluemoon always picked some parts from every store. She usually went for components that were both economical and reliable, at the expense of size.
Qianye nodded in secret. There was too much space on Martyr’s Palace, anyway, more than enough to fit such unwieldy equipment. Their delicately-crafted counterparts would likely cost more for the same function. Take engines for instance—a half-sized engine would cost ten times more than a full-sized one of the same output.
As the three walked along the deserted streets, the mercenaries along the way would shoot frequent glances, and the number of people paying attention to them only grew as time went by. Upon seeing Qianye, some of the mercenaries turned pale and immediately went the other way with their heads lowered.
At this point, Bluemoon could no longer hold back. “Master, don’t tell me this matter is related to you?”
“A bit.” Qianye smiled.
“And yet you’re showing off like that! Why don’t we put some disguises on?”
Qianye shrugged, saying, “Aren’t we already disguised?”
Bluemoon had nothing to say. Qianye had merely changed his clothes and attached a small mustache. How could this be considered a disguise? The mustache did serve to accentuate his beautiful eyes and grant him a different type of attractiveness, but anyone who had encountered Qianye before could see through this lousy disguise.
Bluemoon couldn’t keep pushing this matter since Qianye was so completely nonchalant about it. She merely increased her engines to maximum output and charged her origin power weaponry.
Realizing her intentions, Qianye said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I want them to know that I’m here.”
“Why?”
“No reason, I just wanted to see their reaction,” Qianye replied calmly. With that, he patted little Zhuji’s head and asked, “Have you recovered? What will you do if the bad guys come?”
“Spit them in the face!” The girl’s canines were visible when she grinned.
“Good girl!” Qianye laughed as he put little Zhuji up on his shoulder and paraded her around the town.
Bluemoon didn’t understand what was going on. She could only sigh in secret, thinking that these two had gone nuts. As they were passing by a certain store, she pulled up her cloak slightly to reveal her left arm, flashing the symbol on her origin gun.
The listless shopkeeper was shocked out of his wits upon seeing the symbol. Bluemoon performed a series of hidden gestures at the shopkeeper, who nodded promptly and thumped his chest with his fist. Bluemoon then hid inside the cloak once more and followed Qianye forward.
The shopkeeper immediately rushed to the rear courtyard. There were seven or eight people lying or sitting around the spacious garden, each possessing formidable aura and ferocity.
“All of you, up! The Shieldmaiden has appeared just now. She wants all tribesmen to assemble and get ready for battle!”
The men were both surprised and delighted. “She’s finally back!”
“Wasn’t it said that she fell in the Earth Dragon’s lair?”
“Bah! Never trust those lowlives!”
The shopkeeper roared, “Enough nonsense, you have five minutes to get combat-ready and assemble at the Roman Street.”
The Highbeard warriors revealed fierce expressions as soon as they heard the words combat-ready. One of them asked, “Who are we fighting?”
The shopkeeper said with a peculiar expression, “The Shieldmaiden says we might have to fight the city guard.”