The crystal-rich island chain was quite a distance away from the heart of Rejuvenation. Moreover, the imperial family’s influence didn’t extend to these faraway isles, making it difficult to manage the chain.
“No wonder Tritalent thirsted after this place. It’s not too far away from their core islands. Closer to theirs than yours, honestly. The owners.h.i.+p of this place couldn’t have been terribly clear before, could it?” Jiang Chen asked with a faint smile.
Imperial Prince Huo coughed in half-laughter. “Several thousand years ago, n.o.body owned these islands. When Rejuvenation first got our hands on them, we only wanted to turn some of them into a place like Winterdraw. Alas, our formation level was insufficient at the time to succeed.
“Afterwards, when we stationed some men here, they noticed that there were spirit stone veins in the rock beneath. We kept this secret for a few centuries, but the veins we found were hard to excavate, and we didn’t ever get a good chance to do so. I’m not sure why news got out within the last decade. Now the factions all around us are eyeing it with hunger. My brother is worried if it’ll attract even stronger factions here. What will we do then?”
“Rejuvenation doesn’t have a neighboring stronger faction, does it?”
“You could say that about us before,” Imperial Prince Huo sighed. “Rejuvenation was between a third and a second rate faction back then, and we almost made it to the latter. We had a way to go compared to the fellows at the top obviously, but… well, after what Polylore did to us, we lost a lot and downgraded as a result. Even the likes of Tritalent can bare their fangs at us now.”
Jiang Chen smiled slightly. The reason for that was tangentially related to him, but the majority of the blame lay with Rejuvenation. Or rather, their flattery had been misplaced.
“Whether you’re third or second rate, you’ve managed to survive so far. You’ll get the chance to thrive before long. Some factions bloom and wither in the blink of an eye. There’s not much point to their transient radiance,” Jiang Chen remarked with some emotion.
“You’re right, young lord. Maybe it’s just not time yet for Rejuvenation. We were a bit too hasty. If we had another few centuries, we would have stabilized among the other second rate factions. We could then progress from there… a vastly more conservative path.”
After experiencing what he had in the last few years, the imperial prince was a much more collected individual.
“Okay. Let’s go down and take a look. You own the islands still, yes?” Jiang Chen confirmed.
“For the time being,” nodded Imperial Prince Huo.
Suddenly, Jiang Chen’s expression s.h.i.+fted a little. A strange smile curled at the corner of his mouth. “You might’ve spoken too early. Not necessarily anymore.”
The imperial prince looked confusedly at the young man, who waved dismissively.
“Let’s go see what’s going on over there.” Jiang Chen’s senses were much sharper than Imperial Prince Huo’s. His G.o.d’s Eye could see several hundred miles out.
There were many airboats parked outside the islands, in numbers much greater than was possible for Rejuvenation. The vessels certainly weren’t friendly, in that case.
When they got closer and the imperial prince could see for himself what was happening, his expression became increasingly grimmer.
How could this be??
“Are there any other powerful factions around Rejuvenation?” Jiang Chen asked coolly. “A capable second rate faction, for example?”
Imperial Prince Huo searched his mind for answers.
“Young lord Jiang Chen, there are none stronger than Rejuvenation within thirty thousand miles. There is one in fifty thousand, there is one. In seventy thousand, another. The rest are over a hundred thousand miles out.”
“What faction do these airboats belong to then?”
Imperial Prince Huo broke out into a cold sweat. He was utterly perplexed. How could something so shocking have happened over only a few days?
Foreign airboats parked in their waters! And Rejuvenation didn’t know a thing about it!
Sneaky and underhanded tactics indeed!
The prince tried to make out any distinctive markings, then shook his head. “These airboats have been painted black in disguise. I can’t tell where they’re from.”
“They’re flat-out robbing you in broad daylight then.” Jiang Chen laughed softly.
Imperial Prince Huo was greatly ashamed. They had promised they would give half of the spirit stone veins here to young lord Jiang Chen. Clearly, their guarantee had been an untimely one.
If the spirit stone veins weren’t theirs anymore, what would they have left to give?
The prince was furious, horrified, and terrified. Furious and horrified at how these brazen invaders didn’t seem to care for Rejuvenation in any capacity, and terrified about how angry the young lord would be if they couldn"t fulfill their end of the bargain.
Rejuvenation’s problem had just been resolved, and Tritalent had suffered considerable losses before surrendering. What if the young lord decided to cut them all down for not upholding their oath? There was nothing anyone could fault him for, if he did that.
Imperial Prince Huo’s lips trembled. The blood drained out of his face.
“Young lord Jiang Chen, I really didn’t know about what’s happening here. I’m sure my brother is the same way. Please give us a little time. I will go back and call for reinforcements right away. We absolutely must take these islands back!” he declared with some exasperation. This was a slight against his entire family!
Jiang Chen frowned, then waved a hand in dismissal. “Call for reinforcements now? You’ll waste a ton of time going and returning. Let’s take a look ourselves. These marauders are certainly audacious. I own half of this place. Their very presence disrespects me, does it not?”
Imperial Prince Huo felt his heart calm just a little. Young lord Jiang Chen’s att.i.tude gave him hope. Though he was angry, he was only angry at the invaders. If that was the case, these people were in for a beating.
No matter where they were from, were they worthy of standing up to the young lord? So what if they were one of the top second-rate factions from a hundred thousand miles out?
Even the first rate House Xiahou of Eternal Divine Nation had suffered a devastating loss. All of its forces and holdings had been wiped out.
The imperial prince almost felt that no one in Myriad Abyss could oppose the young lord.