Chapter 131: The King's Deal

"Sir, I have already found Lord Feng Yan's location!" Jin Meng reported to Chen Hao.

Chen Hao nodded, indicating that he understood.

But Chen Hao still had a major problem: earlier, Feng Yan had been snatched by that pterosaur; now he doesn't recognize himself? Could he have lost his memory?

"Tch!" Chen Hao made a soft sound, then said: "What a cliché plot—having to restore Feng Yan's memory without knowing anything at all?"

Jin Meng stood there, watching Chen Hao grumble, waiting for him to finish before adding: "By the way, that girl wasn't seen, nor was the other female adventurer, but a man and a woman walked into a courtyard, and Lord Feng Yan beat the courtyard's owner half to death and even crippled one of his legs."

Hearing this, Chen Hao suddenly perked up, hehe-laughed, and said teasingly: "This is interesting—is Feng Yan still that overly honest type? Only after losing his memory would he do something this cruel in the game? Ah, I'm actually looking forward to what happens to him next."

"What about that man and woman? Are they still in that courtyard?" Jin Meng asked.

"It's fine; we'll just slowly follow behind Feng Yan to watch the show. After all, we have no powerful weapons—our spears are merely copies of the Eternal Spear, and we don't even know how many times they can be used. So we'll covertly observe and wait for the right moment to strike."

"All right, we'll do as you say, sir." Jin Meng replied.

The two raised their heads, fixing their gaze on the sky; at that moment, the morning sun had just risen, emitting light.

As the sun in the sky began to rise, the temperature gradually increased; Feng Yan listened to the king's request, then glanced at the officials' eyes, and finally nodded.

"All right." Feng Yan agreed to the king's request.

The officials secretly rejoiced, feeling that the continent's best treatment of adventurers was not without reason—when it came to the final crunch, only they could accomplish what the nation itself could not.

The officials' doubts vanished completely; then the king waved his hand, signaling all officials to leave. The populace knew the king was about to bring out the nation's supreme treasure to hand over to Feng Yan.

But they knew this was not something they should be curious about.

Some matters are beyond one's right to know; even if curious, one must not investigate their truth, or the outcome will be merely death.

"All right, ministers, you may withdraw!" the king issued the order; as the ministers slowly departed, they gently closed the door.

"You too, step down!" the king commanded again.

"Yes!"

As the guards also began to slowly leave, the vast palace courtyard was left with only Feng Yan and the children, the king's personal bodyguards, and a few trusted aides.

"Children, this is your nation's secret; you should avoid it for now." Feng Yan softly warned the children.

The children nodded, and under the escort of two guards, they were sent to a secret sleeping palace.

"All right, you can bring it out now." Feng Yan looked at the king and said.

Only seeing the king gesture, the guards emerged holding a red silk box, which they placed before him.

The king lightly took off the necklace around his neck, looking at the white jade pendant in his hand—a small axe, its blade faintly reddish, appearing somewhat bloody yet exuding an aura of dominance.

The king gently inserted the necklace from his hand into the box's lock, turned it three times lightly, and finally heard a click; then he lightly opened the box and, presenting it toward Feng Yan's gaze, respectfully said: "My lord, you surely have a way."

Feng Yan frowned, his face looking utterly wretched, making him feel this matter was quite troublesome; before him lay the so-called Power Kingdom's supreme treasure—only the axe blade remained, while the handle had rotted beyond repair, appearing as if it had endured ages.

"Only the blade remains? What about the handle?" Feng Yan asked deliberately.

"Well..." the king's expression was extremely grim, as if he had something hard to speak of.

"Then, I'm afraid I can't help!" Feng Yan said calmly, turning to leave.

The king watched Feng Yan's steps slowly depart the palace, his heart beginning a fierce struggle; the ancestral teachings clearly warned that descendants must not let outsiders outside the royal family know of this object's existence, otherwise it would trigger another unification of the entire continent, and at that time, all of Power Kingdom's civilization and royal authority would fall into the hands of the strongest.

"Ah, forget it, I'll still say it!" the king muttered softly to himself, then grabbed Feng Yan to stop him.

"Wait! I can tell you the story of this supreme treasure—it is all of Power Kingdom's secret, our true origin!"

Hearing the king's shout, Feng Yan halted his steps.

"Have you decided?" Feng Yan asked calmly, his back to the king.

The king could not see Feng Yan's expression, but the national treasure in his hand was already completely ruined; facing Feng Yan's silent refusal earlier, he knew the person before him was not easily fooled—he had already deceived him with half-truths, and if he wanted to request this person's help this time, he must offer genuine sincerity.

Or, the conditions to move this person.

"You seem to be scheming something in your heart," Feng Yan sensed something off and questioned the king.

"No, I'm just thinking about how to tell you about our nation's affairs, or rather the origin of this national treasure—after all, it is a story belonging to our nation, a legendary tale." The king quickly put up a defense, beginning to explain to Feng Yan.

"I said before that between us there should be sincerity; otherwise, any cooperation—or rather, your one-sided wishful cooperation—would be pointless, for that is your matter."

Feng Yan bluntly uttered that sentence; the king visibly panicked, on one hand struggling to maintain royal decorum, on the other desperately trying to retain Feng Yan, after all, this concerns the ancestral injunction, which must not be meddled with.

Feng Yan, while feigning composure as he walked slowly without looking back, secretly imagined in his mind the king's flustered transformation into strength, which brought a smile to his face and a teasing expression.

"I guess you can't hold out much longer, Your Majesty the King." Feng Yan, seeing the gate still a dozen meters away, suddenly quickened his pace.

"Wait a moment!"

The king's soul, soul repeatedly interrogated, even the faces of his ancestors appearing before him, glaring angrily, yet still could not shake his decision.

"I can tell you!" the king said solemnly.

At that moment, Feng Yan's left foot had already stepped out of the gate one pace, about to walk outside, when hearing those words he turned back, smiled at the king, and shouted: "This is the wisest decision you've made—now, hand it over to me!"

The soldier holding the box came before the king, knelt at his feet, and the king bent down to take the box into his hands; upon seeing the supreme treasure in his grasp, his heart suddenly felt at ease.

The king smiled; in this warm sunlight, the sun's brilliance shone upon his face, making him feel warm, while the treasure inside the box also began to gleam.

The king watched Feng Yan approach step by step, expecting him to gradually restore the brilliance of the nation's treasure, thereafter letting the entire continent once again march toward unification, with himself as its ruler!

"So, when do you plan to give it to me?" While the king was inattentive, Feng Yan had already come before him.

"Please!" The king handed over the item in his hand, then cautiously asked: "May I dare ask for an approximate time? After all, this is our living treasure; it cannot disappear for too long."

"Rest assured, once it's done I will notify your people to come retrieve it; but before that, I need a place I fancy."

"Where is that?" the king hurriedly asked.

"Come with me!"

As a group followed Feng Yan as he began to leave the palace, Chen Hao watched Feng Yan walking ahead, heading toward a certain place.

"Sir, it looks like Feng Yan should return there again." Jin Meng reported to Chen Hao.

Chen Hao nodded, looked at the pair of soldiers, and thoughtfully said: "This guy, after losing his memory, differs greatly from his former self."

"Sir?" Jin Meng felt puzzled, yet seeing Chen Hao's spear in hand, he formed a rough idea.

When Jin Meng was about to tell Chen Hao his idea, Chen Hao signaled him not to speak out, then himself said: "Your plan is perfect, but now it cannot be used, because we still don't know what the other two are thinking."

"And what about the contents of the deal between that king and Feng Yan?" Jin Meng added.

"The most important thing now is to know where those two people went, whether they made some deal with certain people, and then think of a strategy. Although your plan is perfect, everything must be on the condition that Feng Yan regains his memory!"

"Listening to Chen Hao's explanation, Jin Meng became a bit confused. Why would we need Feng Yan's power? Clearly, we and Chen Hao have some weapons that have fought against Feng Yan's Black Long Sword."

"What we should be wary of is that this continent is slowly changing. Since the last time the Red-clothed Devil produced those things, Profit Country has ceased to exist. On our map, all the countries' continents are slowly drawing together, even the river channels are beginning to converge."