The Attack of the Wastrel

More than seventy years flashed by at one glance.

To an ordinary person, seventy years would be their entire lifetime. However, to a high-grade Martial Artist, seventy years was only a tiny part of their lives.

During these seventy years, the alliance led by the Xia Kingdom and the alliance led by the North Qiu Kingdom each had their own victories. Under the influence of the war, the continental structure had undergone dramatic changes. As they were surrounded by the Endless Sea Realm, the northern half of the Continent was bound by the power of the Xia Kingdom’s alliance while the southern half was occupied by the alliance of the North Qiu Kingdom. Both sides occupied half of the Continent.

Not only had the structure undergone changes, but numerous young talents had also emerged during the confrontation between the two sides.

The most notorious of the Xia Kingdom’s Alliance was obviously Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan. One of the two was hailed as the person most likely to become a True God while the other was a woman who had qualifications that were not inferior. They took only seventy years to reach the peak stage of a Martial Sage. This led everyone to think that her cultivation was based on the accumulation of Spiritual Medicine and it was not possible for her to become a top Martial Artist. Some even thought that Gu Lingzhi was more likely to become a True God than Rong Yuan.

As for the other talents with weaker reputations, they were geniuses who have emerged from the Royal School.

The most noticeable one was Qin Xinran who had freckles on her face while looking shy and weak.

This woman who looked totally incapable of violence won the reputation of being second only to Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan. The number of men who had interest in Qin Xinran, could form a round around the Continent. After she violently punched a few people who tried confessing to her, not many dared to confess afterwards.

Another worth mentioning was Tianfeng Jin. This woman from the declining Tianfeng Clan, who had a cold-hearted temperament and merciless strategies against enemies, had also won a reputation that was not less than Qin Xinran.

She had slightly more suitors than Qin Xinran as they would at least not be beaten up. However, their affectionate confessions would be frozen by the cold stares of the other party. In the end, they were all chased out. Only when they saw the plight of Qin Xinran’s suitors did they begin to feel a little comforted in their hearts.

As for the precious daughter of the Ye business, Ye Fei, she was married to Wu Yue, who was actually Pan Yue in disguise, upon her graduation. Despite many years of marriage, she was like Gu Lingzhi, unable to bear any children. Only Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan knew that before settling the slave stamp, Pan Yue would never allow a child to be born while bearing the fate of a slave. He did not want his offspring to live under the control of others.

The wedded Ye Fei had a slower speed of cultivation than others now without the intense atmosphere of the Royal School, but she still had a key position in this battle. As the previous head of the Ye Family had already passed on the entire business to Ye Fei, she held onto one-third of the economic transactions.

Other than the few people who were good friends with Gu Lingzhi, Yan Liang, Xin Yi and the rest of the graduates from the Royal School had made a name for themselves during the battle.

In addition, graduates from other schools such as Song Ze, Wang Xiaohu and the others did not show any sign of weaknesses. They were reputable in their respective areas of defense.

At the highest headquarters of the Xia Kingdom’s alliance.

“Are there any notable movements from the North Qiu kingdom?” Ye Fei asked anxiously after returning.

“Yes.” Gu Lingzhi’s expression was a little dignified, “I guess that the North Qiu Kingdom no longer wants to drag this battle on.”

“No matter what ploy the North Qiu plans, I will just kill any that comes!” Qin Xinran shouted as she whacked the table.

All these years of slaughter have unleashed the wildness in her bones. When she did not speak, she still had an obedient look. Once she opened her mouth, however, she could definitely make a bunch of people disillusioned.

“Tsk, if the North Qiu Kingdom was so easy to deal with, why would we be taking so long to determine a winner? We should not be too confident with our words.” An Ningxi sneered.

Qin Xinran heard and glared at her fiercely, “Are they too difficult to deal with such that you want to retreat? Extinguishing your might with that pathetic ambition, no wonder you did not improve an inch after so many years.”

“You…Let’s fight if you even have the guts to!” An Ningxi roared.

“Let’s fight then, I’m not scared of you!” Qin Xinran mocked and sprang forward.

Gu Lingzhi developed a headache upon seeing this scene. The two of them had never interfered with each other when they were still at the Royal School. Who knew that once Qin Xinran graduated and came over, it did not take long for her to capture the affections of many men with her appearance and strong sense of character? Among the suitors included the love interest of An Ningxi. The rivalry was also formed at that point of time.

Whenever the both of them showed up at the same place, it was inevitable for a confrontation to occur. In order to avoid the fight and ruin their plan, Gu Lingzhi could only speak up, “Xinran, come back, I have something to talk to you about.”

Qin Xinran heard and paused. She stared at An Ningxi with reluctance before leaving.

“I will let you off this once, but I will teach you a lesson next time.”

An Ningxi was so angry that she wanted to return a good scolding. However, she was stopped by Gu Lingzhi’s persuasion.

“Enough. You are both the representatives of our alliance so don’t make a fool here and let the North Qiu Kingdom’s spies have a good laugh.”

At this moment, the people participating in the council meeting began arriving one after another. An Ningxi then cooled down and sat on her designated seat in preparation for the council meeting.

Rong Yuan was the one who led the battle against the North Qiu Kingdom. Only a few mistakes were made in the course of struggle against them over the years. Coupled with Rong Yuan’s incomparable popularity among the hearts of the people, he became one of the high-level superiors within the alliance that had the right to speak.

Other than him, the rest that had the power to speak is no less than the strong representatives of the Xia Kingdom. Many of the small countries had lost their land during the war and became subsidiary countries of the other nations.

The place where they were holding the meeting for the Xia Kingdom’s alliance was the small parliament hall that belonged to the Xia Kingdom.

Seeing that most people were already present, Rong Yuan, who had been silently sitting in the main seat, finally said, “Okay, everyone has arrived, I’ll keep this short. I believe that you can all guess the agenda behind today’s meeting. The North Qiu Kingdom’s alliance is about to take action.”

“What actions? Feel free to request for any resources. The Ye Family would be incumbent,” Ye Fei spoke boldly without waiting for Rong Yuan to finish speaking.

Rong Yuan paused for a while and smiled at her, “Not yet. If there is a need for it, I would definitely help myself.”

“Oh, then…” Ye Fei retracted into her chair with some disappointment. Ever since she found out that Pan Yue had a stronger ability to rake in money than her father, the business had transformed from being the top ten in the Xia Kingdom to the largest firm in half of the entire continent, within just a decade. Every time she failed, her partner would be able to earn back double of what was lost within a short time. She was then committed to finishing the entire Ye Family’s fortune.

“You all knew that when the alliance was initially formed, many of the countries held unfathomable thoughts. According to the information I’ve received, the North Qiu Kingdom’s alliance had recently wanted to activate the spies buried within our alliance and send us a heavy blow!”

Using the shortest words to send out this thrilling news, Rong Yuan leaned back onto the chair and took a good look at everyone’s expressions.

Those who were called by him to attend the meeting were all people he believed in. Among them were outstanding graduates from the Royal School as well as young talents who graduated from the other schools in Daxia. The purpose of him releasing the news was to let them be psychologically prepared. Because next, he was about to disperse these people throughout to cooperate with the local forces on eradicating the toxic spies left by the North Qiu Kingdom.

“Your Highness, let’s go straight to the point. Simply instruct us on what to do,” Wang Xiaohu spoke. He was no longer the immature youth during his boyhood and had already become a tall and upright young man. Only the bright smile remained that could remind you of the boy that once fought with Gu Lingzhi at the top of the Snow Mountain for the Yuli Snow Lotus.

Rong Yuan tapped his finger on the table and looked at him with amusement, “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll sell you?”

“How is that possible?” Wang Xiaohu smirked and scratched his head, “There are people here that are more valuable than me. Selling me wouldn’t be worth it.”

“That is uncertain. There are quite a few girls now in the alliance that would like to marry you. Someone would definitely be willing to pay a high price for you.” Gu Lingzhi joked.

Seeing Wang Xiaohu’s face flushed red because of her words, she turned away and laughed with satisfaction.

Strange to say, Wang Xiaohu was almost two decades old but still had such a shy character. To think that she initially assumed that this boy would be as dark as Qin Xinran, he was actually very pure and innocent.

Lovingly glancing at Gu Lingzhi’s giggling face, Rong Yuan coughed and continued, “Although I would not sell you all, I would have to send you all to your deaths.”

“Death?” Upon listening to this word, everyone immediately sat upright and stared at Rong Yuan.

Afraid that Rong Yuan’s words were too direct and would scare off them, Gu Lingzhi quickly explained, “It’s not really to die, but there is a slight chance of it happening.”

This explanation might as well remain unspoken…

Everyone rolled their eyes. Ever since they began the war with the North Qiu Kingdom, they had come close to death multiple times. They were not afraid of death but rather, dying without any value.

Seeing that everyone’s faces were dignified and had no signs of timidness, Rong Yuan felt gratified. They were all pillars of the Xia Kingdom. There were less than twenty young talents in the entire alliance within the past few decades and the Xia Kingdom accounted for more than half of them. With a flourishing reputation, they had to shoulder heavier responsibilities than others.

Looking at everyone's urging gazes, Rong Yuan slowly explained his plans.

“You should know by now that Lingzhi managed to retrieve many treasures from the North Qiu palace. This led the pawns planted by North Qiu Kingdom in the other countries to be eliminated in advance and have their plans greatly undermined. Thereafter, countries such as Dayin and Anyuan have sworn allegiance to the North Qiu Kingdom and formed the Empire of today. But the countries that were crookly associated with the North Qiu were not just that few. Some have already lurked into our alliance…”