Chapter 210 – Southern King
Although Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows didn’t know that Meg was a Rank Six magician, just the fact that she was Green’s grand-daughter was enough for her to be prideful.
Green’s importance within the Buda clan was something known by most on the continent. If it weren’t for Green and Meirin, then the Buda clan would have been extinguished long ago. Due to this, after he heard that Meg was Green’s grand-daughter, Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows’ tiny feeling of dissatisfaction within his heart vanished.
Zhao Hai looked at Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows and said, “Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows, I have told you my ident.i.ty. This means that I regard you as one of my people. You have pledged a blood oath, which means you cannot betray me in this life. I do hope, however, that you can become one of my genuine confidants.
“I am not afraid to tell you that although I drank the Water of Nothingness, I am still a Divergent Warlock and I also have a way to resolve the toxin. In the future, I will revitalize the Buda clan. So long as you help me, I won’t mistreat you. But if you only want to work and not strive hard on my behalf, to become aloof and act slippery, then don’t blame me for being impolite.”
Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows bowed and said, “Young Master, please feel relieved. I, Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows, had vowed to follow you. I will naturally help Young Master.”
Zhao Hai nodded. He turned towards Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows and said, “Come with me.” Standing up, he walked out of the room.
While Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows didn’t understand what Zhao Hai was doing, he still followed him. Before long, he walked outside and saw a large number of undead. These undead were zombies, and Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows knew that they were undead from their stiff facial features. Some of the zombies were wounded, yet there wasn’t a drop of blood flowing from them. They all just stood there with wooden faces.
Each of them held one or two corpses. Zhao Hai looked at several corpses, which were the dead black magicians. He cast his Spirit Trap technique[1] and turned the black magicians into high-level undead. Then he cast the Bone Forging technique[2] and turned the mercenaries into low-level undead[3].
Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows still couldn’t understand what Zhao Hai clearly meant, or why Zhao Hai had made him observe this. Zhao Hai smiled and put all of the undead into the s.p.a.ce.
Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows saw rays of light flash in the courtyard before all of the undead vanished. While he was in a daze, the undead reappeared with major changes.
Zhao Hai’s previous skills, whether they were the Spirit Trap or Bone Forging technique, both turned the corpses to skeletons. The undead taken out were now zombies, and the wounds of the previous zombies had already been restored. This startled Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows.
Turning towards the three black magicians, Zhao Hai said, “You three, what are your names?”
One of the zombie black magicians immediately stepped forward. It bowed and said, “Young Master, I am called Lycra[4]. These two are my junior disciples, Trey[5] and Mike[6].”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Come with me. I have matters I need to ask of you.”
After saying that, he turned around and walked back towards the villa. Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows was shocked after seeing the three black magicians.
Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows had seen zombies before. When he was working as an a.s.sa.s.sin one time, he’d had to cooperate with a black magician. The black magician’s summoned creature was a zombie, but the black magician’s zombie wasn’t as intelligent as Zhao Hai’s zombies. They simply didn’t look like the general kind of zombies. If not for their wooden expression and the fact that their eyes didn’t wander, they would have seemed like ordinary people.
Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows suddenly understood what Zhao Hai wanted him to see when he’d asked him to come out. These zombies appeared similar to humans, and they definitely didn’t have an issue in loyalty. They wouldn’t be aloof and act slippery. Zhao Hai was telling him that if he dared to laze about and take his status for granted, then there wasn’t a problem in turning him into a zombie.
As he thought this, Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows’ heart couldn’t help but start. He looked at the zombies, then at the villa Zhao Hai had just walked into. Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows couldn’t help but s.h.i.+ver. He didn’t dare to hold such ideas and lightly stepped up behind Zhao Hai. As he stood there, he became as well-behaved as those undead.
Zhao Hai saw Shue of Ten-thousand Shadows’ reaction and gave a faint smile. He didn’t say anything more to him and instead asked Lycra, “Lycra, whose subordinate are you?”
Lycra bowed and said, “Answering the Young Master, we are subordinate to the Southern King, Boric Aksu[7].”
Lycra’s answer was unexpected, causing Zhao Hai and Green to freeze. They hadn’t thought Lycra would actually be Southern King Boric’s man.
One could say that Southern King Boric had a lot to do with the Buda clan’s origins. The Southern King was part of the imperial clan, and it was said he was of the direct bloodline of the founding emperor of the Aksu Empire.
The founding emperor of the Aksu Empire had twenty-one children, but only two were said to be direct descendents born of the founding emperor and the empress. The first direct descendent was the founding emperor’s third son and became the Aksu Empire’s King, while the second was the eleventh son of the founding emperor, the first Southern King.
Since the Aksu Empire’s founding emperor liked his eleventh child very much, he had wanted to pa.s.s the throne to him. Due to the opposition of the empress and the ministers, however, he was required to pa.s.s the throne to his third child. But since the emperor considered the eleventh child to be the emperor, he gave the southern area of the Aksu Empire to him and t.i.tled him the Southern King. This was an hereditary function, and was thus inherited by his blood.
After many years of development, the King in charge of the southern areas then became an independent King. He had an army of several hundreds of thousands. Since they bordered a powerful nation, the continent’s first power, the Rosen[8] Empire, they were involved in numerous skirmishes from time to time. As such, the army’s battle efficiency was formidable. This situation gave the previous Aksu Empire Kings heart disease[9].
Originally, the Aksu Empire’s previous King wanted to deal with Southern King Boric. Thus, he had made up an excuse in order to give the Buda clan a fiefdom within Boric’s territory. He wanted the Buda clan to become a nail that stuck securely within the south. What he hadn’t expected was that soon after he died, the Buda clan would be pushed into the Black Waste and their territory returned to Boric.
While Green had always thought that the death of the previous King had some unclear relations.h.i.+p with Boric, their present situation had a very clear and definite relations.h.i.+p with him.
Now that they’d heard Boric’s name, Green’s complexion couldn’t help but change, and killing intent appeared around him. Zhao Hai’s complexion didn’t seem well either. Although Zhao Hai himself didn’t know much about the matter, it was Adam who had some impression of it. As such, Zhao Hai also knew of it.
Turning, Zhao Hai and Green both looked at one another. Besides killing intent, they both saw shock on the other’s face. This issue had some relation with the Southern King. It wouldn’t be easy to solve anymore.
“Since you are a subordinate of the Southern King, how come you are helping the Markey Dell clan?” Zhao Hai asked. “In the end, how is this matter possible?”
Lycra replied, “Answering the Young Master, we are subordinates of Boric, but so is the Markey Dell clan’s Carlo. Carlo had entered the Aksu Empire not so long ago and has joined with Boric to increase his wealth. The matter this time was Boric saving Carlo. Boric sent us to help Carlo deal with the Young Master along with the a.s.sistance of Shadowless Sword[10].”
Zhao Hai guessed that Shadowless Sword must have been the piercing sword using a.s.sa.s.sin. Unexpectedly, these four had been Boric’s men.
Green pounded the table. With a gloomy voice he shouted, “Good, Boric! Also good, Carlo! We truly have destiny with one another. Even up till now, you actually won’t let us off.”
While Zhao Hai had an ugly expression, he wasn’t too agitated. He turned towards Green and said, “Grandpa Green, don’t be too excited. Boric doesn’t know he’s dealing with us this time around, otherwise, he wouldn’t send Rank Eight experts. Instead, he’d definitely send Rank Nines in order to fish us out.”
Green snorted and sat back down. Zhao Hai turned back to Lycra and asked, “Lycra, do you know how many other experts are under the influence of Boric and have become his subordinates?”
Lycra said, “Boric currently has many experts under him. There are about a hundred Rank Eight experts and five Rank Nine experts that I know of, with the addition of Carlo’s influence. There are also a few mercenary groups that I am unsure of. This time, if we didn’t agree to cooperate with Carlo, then I’m not sure he’d even tell us about Carlo’s ident.i.ty.”
Zhao Hai nodded. What he’d just been told was in line with Boric’s style. He waved his hand, allowing Lycra and the others to draw back. Turning his head to Green, he said, “Grandpa Green, we must tell this matter to Laura and Evan. This opponent is too strong, and we must find a way to change our methods.”
Green nodded. “Boric isn’t easy to deal with. He’s a villain that seeks revenge for the slightest grievance. Our Buda clan’s current situation was all due to him. Since we have killed many of his subordinates today, he will certainly not give up. We need to prepare ahead of time.”
Zhao Hai nodded. “We should help with the preparations. Oh, right. I’ll send a letter to Laura and tell her of this matter. We’ll then see what kind of reaction she’ll have. If things don’t work, then we will have no choice but to make a temporary compromise.”
Green nodded. He was truly sad after hearing of Boric’s strength. Boric had five known Rank Nine experts. Adding in the hundred Rank Eight experts, and such strength was greater than the Purcell clan by a hundred times. Even if they combined with the Purcell clan, they wouldn’t be comparable with Boric. Moreover, Boric had won the allegiance of many surrounding aristocrats, and each of these aristocrats had strength one couldn’t underestimate. In such a case, they could only come to a compromise, and this depended on the Purcell clan.
The Purcell clan, after all, was still an aristocrat of the Aksu Empire. Perhaps they wouldn’t wish to go against Boric. If the Purcell clan withdrew, then the possibility of them winning would be nil. Only then would they make concessions. Not only would they draw back, but they feared that Laura would have to retire.
Thinking about such matters, Zhao Hai felt frustrated. They had made many improvements at this time, but they suddenly found themselves up against an untouchable figure. This feeling was truly rotten.
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL’ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
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-Please check out the Editor’s footnotes, thanks.
Footnotes:
[1] 困灵术 – Kùn líng shù. Trap. Spirit. Technique/Method/Art. ↩
[2] 锻骨术 – Duàn gǔ shù. Forging. Bone. Technique/Method/Art. ↩
[3] The difference between low and high is intelligence. High level undead have greater intelligence while low ranking are the equivalent of fodder troops. Everyone should be Rank Seven though. ↩
[4] 莱卡 – Láikǎ. ↩
[5] 特雷 – Tè lé. ↩
[6] 麦克 – Màikè. ↩
[7] 南方王博里奇阿克苏 – Nánfāng wángbólǐ qí ākèsū. Nanfang = South Direction. w.a.n.g = King. Boliqi = Boric. And akesu is obviously Aksu, the same as in Aksu Empire. ↩
[8] 罗森 – Luō sēn. Could also be Rothen, Lawson, Rozen. You get it. Rosen sound nice though. ↩
[9] Not, like, literally. Well, maybe literally. Politix… ↩
[10] 无影剑 – Wú yǐng jiàn. If you’ve noticed, 无影 are the same two characters used before in Night Shade (夜无影). As said in that description, the name of Night Shade could also have been Night Shadowless, but since the name didn’t sound right, we changed it to Night Shade. In this, the term Shadowless Sword was fine, so we left it as is. Shade Sword also didn’t sound right, so…