Chapter 186: Chapter 162: Developing Forces, Part 2

By the time the three noble families came to their senses and tried to seek out their alliance of nobles, they suddenly discovered that those nobles... had long since sided with the Lord.

...

From the captured mercenaries, Ling Xiao learned some news. They were actually from the Zichuan Empire and belonged to a very famous mercenary corps—the "Divine Wind" Second-level Mercenary Corps. It had over twenty thousand Sword Masters, more than three thousand Great Sword Masters, hundreds of Mad Sword Masters, and dozens of Demon Sword Masters. It also had eight Elders, all of whom were at least Tier Three Demon Sword Masters, and the corps commander was a Martial Artist at the Sword Sect level!

As for which tier of Sword Sect... not even the mercenaries knew.

None of the captured mercenaries knew who had hired them. The only Mad Sword Master leading the group had died in the chaotic battle—likely at Meng Li’s hands!

There were still some inside men in the city, people from the three great noble families. It was just their bad luck. Even the famously resourceful Patriarch of the Li Family, Li Nan, had thought Ling Xiao’s doom was sealed this time. Over five thousand powerful mercenaries against the two-thousand-strong Lightning Legion—it should have been a piece of cake!

At the time, they hadn’t known a Sword Sect expert would appear. Otherwise, the three noble families might have rolled up their sleeves and jumped in to claim some of the glory! If they had, they would probably have been completely wiped from the map of Penzes City by now.

"The Divine Wind... a Second-level Mercenary Corps?" Ling Xiao’s eyebrow twitched as he muttered to himself, "They won’t just let over five thousand of their men perish, will they? Good, because I’m not ready to let this go either!"

Uncle Fu said with a solemn expression, "You must never underestimate the strength of a mercenary corps like that. They are very powerful! But has the Crown Prince gone mad? How dare he collude with a foreign power? If His Majesty the King found out..."

"Even if His Majesty the King found out... it would still be the same!"

Ling Xiao sighed softly. It seemed neither the Crown Prince nor the Southern King, the Second Prince, wanted him to live a peaceful life.

’Fine. If they won’t let me live in peace, then they won’t be living in peace either!’ Ling Xiao thought.

The frenzied looting brought Ling Xiao over three million gold coins in direct profit and more than ten million gold coins worth of supplies! It was a refreshing spring quenching the thirst of Penzes City’s increasingly strained finances.

With this money, the families of the four hundred-plus fallen brothers of the Lightning Legion each received a pension of one thousand gold coins. This was an unprecedented event in the history of the Lanyue Empire. One thousand gold coins was equivalent to one million copper coins; an ordinary family could never save that much in a lifetime. As for the living, every soldier who participated in the battle was given five hundred gold coins! In other words, this one expense alone cost over a million gold coins! 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

This incident caused Ling Xiao’s fame to skyrocket in the south. People in almost every southern city came to know of the new young Lord of Penzes City who treated his private soldiers like brothers. There were even rumors that all of Viscount Lingxiao’s private soldiers were practicing an Earth-level Sword Skill...

As a result, more and more people came to Penzes City to pledge their allegiance to Ling Xiao. However, Ling Xiao was officially only allowed to have three thousand private soldiers, a number that already exceeded the limit for a Viscount. With many factions now paying attention to him, it was best not to do anything that could be used against him.

Therefore, most of the people who came to serve Ling Xiao were sent to Mo Qing. In any case, Penzes City was preparing to expand. The city walls were already nearing the end of their lifespan, and having witnessed the power of a Beastman’s Komodo War Elephant, Ling Xiao never believed Penzes City’s current walls could withstand more than a few hits. So, having more manpower was still a very necessary thing.

After a period of recovery, and with the help of some Spirit Medicine refined by Ling Xiao, Uncle Fu was unexpectedly showing faint signs of breaking through to become a Tier Two Demon Sword Master. He had been training arduously every day recently.

As for Meng Li, after receiving and consuming a Vantia Holy Fruit, he had actually broken through to become a Tier Three Demon Sword Master in one go!

This... was simply a miracle!

Even Ye Zi, who had always been annoyed with Meng Li, had to admit that the guy was a genius at cultivation! To advance from a Fourth-tier Mad Sword Master to a Tier Three Demon Sword Master was something no ordinary person could do. The excruciating pain from the expansion of one’s meridians during a breakthrough was enough to kill a normal person!

And yet... he had actually endured it! Aside from Uncle Fu, Ling Xiao finally had another decent expert under his command!

Feeling the gap between her and others widening, Ye Zi finally resolved to train hard. Fortunately, many people had come to pledge allegiance to Ling Xiao recently. After a screening process, many talented individuals were indeed found and assigned to various departments, freeing up a lot of Ye Zi’s time.

With Meng Li, a Tier Three Demon Sword Master, handling intelligence work, things were basically well in hand. Therefore, Ye Wen Ni also began to train with frantic dedication.

Ling Xiao cultivated daily and was also showing faint signs of breaking through the Mid-Foundation Establishment Stage to enter the Late Foundation Establishment Stage. This made Ling Xiao very excited; such a rapid cultivation speed was unimaginable in the Cultivation Realm.

However, one thing left him feeling rather helpless. Many people, including Uncle Fu, were quite optimistic about his strength. After all, he was a young man who had just entered adulthood and could repel a Sword Sect expert with a single sword strike. Wasn’t that enough to be proud of?

But Ling Xiao knew his own difficulties. ’This move of mine is fine for a one-on-one fight. I could even stand a chance against a Sword Sect expert,’ he thought. ’But the problem is, how many opportunities like that will I get? After I use the move, I can only rely on my physical body. I’m left completely drained of Spiritual Power, both from my body and my mind. How could I dare to use it carelessly?’

Over a month had passed since the Blast Flame Lion King festival. During this time, everything in Penzes City was developing in an orderly fashion. This included Huangpu Yue, who hadn’t left and seemed to be planning on staying for a while. Although she was still living in the Viscount’s Mansion, she had begun to manage her clan’s local business with greater intensity. She also appeared to have a considerable degree of freedom within her clan, which was evident from the four Demon Sword Master attendants by her side.

Although those four Demon Sword Masters had four very tacky names—Ah Da, Ah Er, Ah San, and Ah Si—each of them was incredibly powerful!

There were rumors that they were Tier Three or Tier Four, but it wasn’t until Meng Li, who had just been promoted to a Tier Three Demon Sword Master, got an itch to spar with them that the truth was revealed: all four of them had actually reached the strength of a Tier Five Demon Sword Master!

Ling Xiao even began to suspect the Huangpu Clan had too many experts, to use four Tier Five Demon Sword Masters to protect one girl! Even if Huangpu Yue’s business talents were world-altering, Ling Xiao still thought it was overkill.

However, Ah Da and the others were more interested in sparring with Ling Xiao. A young man who could repel a Sword Sect expert with a single strike—how strong must he be? Sparring with him would surely be a great help in improving their own strength. But Ling Xiao never agreed to it.

’Are you kidding me? Without using "Fleeting Light, Skimming Shadow," I’d have no chance against a Tier Five Demon Sword Master. And if I did use it... the Huangpu Clan would definitely come after me with everything they have,’ he thought.

The Huangpu Clan truly lived up to its reputation as one of the Lanyue Empire’s greatest merchant clans! And Huangpu Yue really deserved her reputation as the number one talent in the business world in thousands of years. With just a little guidance on the clan’s local business, the shop that was originally making only half the sales of the one in Cameron Town managed to surpass it in just over ten days!

Ling Xiao was finding Huangpu Yue’s business acumen more and more valuable, because he was increasingly short on cash.

Just then, an invitation from the Southern King arrived at the Viscount’s Mansion.

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