Sovereign of the Three Realms

The atmosphere became very harmonious once the two were open and honest to each other. One had to say that Wei Jie was quite an amazing young man. He reminded Jiang Chen of the fourth prince Ye Rong of Skylaurel Kingdom. However, fourth prince Ye Rong was ultimately just the prince of a secular kingdom. His knowledge and bearing were leagues away from Wei Jie’s. Moreover, Wei Jie was a little more aggressive than Ye Rong. This aggressiveness wasn’t of the arrogant and despotic kind, but the kind that was unafraid to shoulder responsibility when something came up. Now that he recalled Ye Rong, Jiang Chen found that he missed the Skylaurel Kingdom quite a bit. There was also the Precious Tree Sect. I wonder how they’re doing?

He had sent Ye Chonglou back to the Precious Tree Sect ahead of time, so the sect should have been prepared to deal with that calamity. If Ye Chonglou had gone back and prepared everything ahead of time, there was a high likelihood that they had avoided disaster. Jiang Chen guessed that the Precious Tree Sect must have dealt with the situation already. Otherwise, the Eternal Celestial Capital and the Ninesuns Sky Sect would have used the Precious Tree Sect to threaten him with already. The fact that he hadn’t encountered such a dilemma meant that the Precious Tree Sect was at least safe for now.

“Brother Jiang, I have heard of what happened in the Myriad Domain. Everyone knows that the Eternal Celestial Capital is hunting for you. However, I heard that they are sure that you will come to Veluriyam Capital, which is why they had laid many ambushes along the path to the Capital. May I know why?” Wei Jie asked curiously.

Since Jiang Chen had decided to be open and honest with Wei Jie, there was naturally no need to hide this from him, not to mention Jiang Chen still needed to borrow House Wei’s strength to inquire about Gouyu and everyone else’s whereabouts.

“I’ll be frank, young master Wei. Controlled by the Eternal Celestial Capital, the Great Scarlet Mid Region invaded the Regal Pill Palace and kidnapped many of my sect’s disciples. Later on, they sold those captives to the Veluriyam Capital. They knew that I would come to save them, which is why they attempted to ambush me along the way.”

Wei Jie looked a little moved when he heard this, “Were they really sold to Veluriyam Capital? Is this news accurate?”

Jiang Chen nodded, “This news is absolutely accurate.” Not only had he heard this from Gong Wuji, Jiang Chen had also gone to the Great Scarlet Empire to inquire about this personally. He happened to hear the same thing right from a prince of the Great Scarlet Empire himself.

Seeing how certain Jiang Chen was, Wei Jie replied with a very serious expression, “If they really were sold to Veluriyam Capital, then it will be quite difficult to save your people.”

“What do you mean, young master Wei?” Jiang Chen asked.

“Veluriyam Capital is a free land, and slave trade is absolutely forbidden. In reality, there really aren’t many factions who have the ability to conduct slave trade in Veluriyam Capital. The problem is that those who do are very tough nuts to crack.” Wei Jie’s tone was also gravely serious when he spoke of this.

Jiang Chen said, “Young master Wei, if this troubles you and House Wei, then there’s no need to get involved in this. If you can help me check which faction it was who bought my people, I will think of a way to do the rest myself.”

Wei Jie hastily said, “It’s not that I’m afraid of trouble, but that these forces just aren’t easy to deal with. Let’s talk about this once we get back to the capital of Veluriyam Capital.”

Although Jiang Chen was feeling afire with anxiety, he knew that this wasn’t something that could be dealt with in a short time.

“Brother Jiang, you mustn’t act recklessly and use brute force to resolve this matter. If you use brute force in Veluriyam Capital, then the matter will take a turn for the worse and get completely out of hand. The Eternal Celestial Capital may not be able to harm you despite your offenses, but the troubles you will face in Veluriyam Capital will be ten times as worse if you offend a powerful force.” Wei Jie’s tone was serious, and he absolutely didn’t look like he was being an alarmist.

“Don’t worry, young master Wei. We can only make the rescue by ruse. It will be best if I can just trade for them. I don’t mind spending twice, thrice or even five times the price if I can just buy them.”

Wei Jie nodded, “We will plan accordingly once we get back home, but before we do that, it’ll be best if you don’t reveal your identity so as to avoid alerting the enemy. For now, you are still Pill King Zhen Shi. Also, if the Eternal Celestial Capital and the Ninesuns Sky Sect learn that you’ve successfully made your way into Veluriyam Capital, they might send assassins to come after you. Although Veluriyam Capital forbids other forces from behaving atrociously on their lands, there will always be blind corners where light can’t reach.”

“Mm, my first priority is to rescue my people.” Jiang Chen naturally knew what was first order. It was still a problem of strength in the end. Why would he have needed to hide like this if he had sufficient strength? If he possessed sufficient strength, the Eternal Celestial Capital and the Ninesuns Sky Sect wouldn’t have dared to do anything to him.

A few days later, Jiang Chen and House Wei’s group smoothly returned to the central city of Veluriyam Capital. Jiang Chen was astounded by the prosperity and style of Veluriyam Capital as he stood outside the gates of the central city and stared at the legendary Capital from afar. It wasn’t that Jiang Chen hadn’t seen the world before, but that Veluriyam Capital just stood out too much as compared to the other cities of Divine Abyss Continent. Compared to Veluriyam Capital, Tai-ah City, Great Scarlet Mid Region, Prospering Dragon City or Myriad Peoples City all looked like insignificant villages.

“Do you see that, venerable pill king? That building that stretches into the clouds is the Veluriyam Pagoda. Legend says that it enshrines and worships the ancient Veluriyam Emperor’s empyrean decree and his empyrean relic. The light of the Veluriyam Emperor has blessed the Veluriyam Capital with a hundred thousand years of fortune…”

Jiang Chen followed Wei Jie’s finger and looked to the horizon, seeing a tall pagoda of glass that stretched into the clouds amidst the endless expanse of the city. Rainbow light glowed from the pagoda’s body, illuminating the entire Veluriyam Capital with its radiance. This made Veluriyam Capital looked like it was enveloped in a sheen of solemn, divine light.

“Come on, let’s go in,” Wei Jie waved his hands and walked towards the city gate.

“Halt!” They were stopped by a city guard.

Wei Jie frowned, “What’s going on? Have the rules of Veluriyam Capital change while I was away for just a few days? Since when did we start blocking a ninth rank aristocratic family from entry?”

The city guard obviously recognized Wei Jie, and he cupped his hands in greeting, “Apologies, young master Wei. Please come down from your horse before you enter the city. I’m doing this for you, and not because I want to make your life difficult.”

Wei Jie looked surprised, “What do you mean?”

That city guard captain sighed softly as his face became overshadowed by sadness for an instant, “Young Lord Fan had passed away, and the entire city is in mourning. All flights and horse riding is temporarily forbidden. Everyone must walk in and out of Veluriyam Capital.”

“What? Young Lord Fan…” Wei Jie turned incredibly pale as he blurted out, “When did this happen?”

“Just yesterday,” The city guard captain shook his head and waved him off, “Go on in, young master Wei. Keep a low profile when you head home and don’t act brashly.” The city guard was actually giving him pointers out of goodwill.

The shock on Wei Jie’s face lasted for a long time before he finally nodded and cupped his hands, “Thank you for the reminder. I’ll treat you to alcohol when I come by again.”

The city guard captain forced a smile on his face, but said nothing in return. It was obvious that the death of Young Lord Fan had cast a pall across the entire Veluriyam Capital. Wei Jie’s feelings immediately turned downcast as he led his horse, lowered his head and entered the city. Even the normally high profile Lord Seven followed behind the group docilely and walked towards House Wei’s residence with low profile.

House Wei’s status in Veluriyam Capital was quite high, and the place they lived in was a very prominent location as well. It took them two hours of walking before they finally arrived at House Wei’s residence. House Wei’s residence had an incredibly large garden and looked extremely luxurious. It looked uncommon at first glance. House Wei had actually put a banner of mourning over their entrance due to the passing of Young Lord Fan as well.

“Who is this Young Lord Fan, and what is his background? How prominent is he to have the entire city mourn over his death? To think that even a ninth rank aristocratic family like the Wei Family would be in mourning for him!” Although Jiang Chen had questions in his mind, he didn’t voiced them out loud.

He entered the garden along with the rest of the group. House Wei didn’t make noise even though they were happy to see the return of their young master. It was obvious that no one dared to disturb this atmosphere of mourning.

“Qixia, please help prepare a place for our venerable pill king. Remember, it must be of the highest standard!” Wei Jie instructed Lord Seven. At the same time, he turned to Jiang Chen and said, “Venerable pill king, I shall be visiting my seniors first. Please forgive me for any slights that I might cause you during this time.”

They had had a tacit understanding to call Jiang Chen the ‘venerable pill king’ since they didn’t wish to reveal his identity at the moment. Lord Seven thought that the young master was hoping to retain this venerable pill king in their family, so he did his best to serve Jiang Chen without any hesitation. When he was done arranging a place for Jiang Chen, Lord Seven commented, “Please call me anytime you want if you need anything, venerable pill king.”

“Thank you for going to this trouble, Lord Seven,” Jiang Chen smiled faintly.

“That’s the way it should be. I shall not disturb your rest any longer, venerable pill king.”

After Lord Seven had left, Jiang Chen looked around and sighed in admiration. Even their guest room looked like an entirely different world. This guest room had several rooms and a relatively big garden. Everything looked very peaceful and calm. In a place like Veluriyam Capital where every inch of land was worth precious gold, the fact that House Wei could spend this lavishly showed that their status indeed very high.

When he was done familiarizing himself with the place, Jiang Chen returned to his room and finally let out a sigh of relief. After being hunted for such a long time, he could finally spend a night relaxing. He wasn’t worried that the Eternal Celestial Capital would chase him all the way to this place. Judging from House Wei’s lordly appearance alone, he knew that there was no way the Eternal Celestial Capital would dare cause trouble in this place even if they somehow tracked him to Veluriyam Capital.

“Miss Huang’er should’ve entered the city as well. Once she sees the markings I left along the way, she will meet up with me then.” Jiang Chen wasn’t worried about Huang’er. He sat cross legged and began meditating for four hours. Then, he sorted out his thoughts over the past few days. Everything had happened too quickly since the Myriad Grand Ceremony. He’d nearly had no time at all to put everything in order. Four hours later, Jiang Chen was just about to stand up when he suddenly heard a series of footsteps coming from outside.

“Brother Jiang,” It was Wei Jie’s voice.

“Young master Wei,” Jiang Chen opened the door.

“Forgive my negligence, brother Jiang. I visited my seniors and we chatted about some things. I’ll go out tomorrow and ask for the news for what you seek first thing in the morning.”

Jiang Chen nodded, but changed the subject, “Young master Wei, who is Young Lord Fan? What kind of person is he to have the entire city mourn for him? Is he the young master of Veluriyam Capital itself?”

Wei Jie’s face became overshadowed with sadness as he sighed softly and nodded, “Although he isn’t the only young lord of Veluriyam Capital, you aren’t wrong for calling him the young master of Veluriyam Capital.”

“Oh?” Jiang Chen looked curious.

“Young Lord Fan is Emperor Peafowl’s proudest true disciple, and Emperor Peafowl is the leading emperor out of the seven emperors of Veluriyam Capital. Young Lord Fan was exceptionally talented and powerful, and even rarer was the fact that he’s extremely noble minded even though he was still very young. You can say he is a genius favored by heaven. Veluriyam Capital has many young lords, but Young Lord Fan was commonly acknowledged to be the genius with the highest chance to inherit the position of city lord of Veluriyam Capital. What a pity…”