Chapter 1198

"If I join, will I still have my freedom? The kind of freedom where I can regularly go out and challenge other experts. If there's nothing going on, of course I'll take on the duty of protecting you!"

"Haha, that little bit of freedom naturally comes with it, but with your current strength, you're still not quite qualified to protect me!" Young Master said with a light laugh.

"Then what level do I need to reach to protect you?" Iron Fist was a bit baffled — on one hand recruiting him, on the other not needing his protection, so what was the point?

The thoughts of rich people really are strange.

"At least above seventh-tier. With my sponsorship, you'll step into that realm very soon!"

Even without sponsorship, Iron Fist could step into that realm very soon. How could someone with such battle will stop at mere fifth or sixth-tier?

Yong'an had taken a liking to this very point about the three of them before making her move to recruit them. In the imperial palace, experts were as common as clouds, but the core team belonging to her, Yong'an, truly had only a handful of people. Staying in an increasingly chaotic imperial palace, she needed a few trusted confidants!

"Then I'll join!" Iron Fist agreed directly.

Fierce Tiger, seeing this, considered for a moment and then nodded as well.

"Then I'll join too. Although I lost the match to Iron Fist, I'm not convinced. I want to beat him!"

"Good, I'll arrange for you to live together so you can spar with each other conveniently!" Yong'an was also happy to see this. Being able to have two fist-path experts at the same time, she was already very satisfied.

Now it all depended on Heavy Sword; she didn't know what he was thinking.

"I need a lot of sword arts to comprehend my sword dao. If you have sword art manuals to give me, I'll join." Heavy Sword said in his usual flat tone.

"It's a deal!" Yong'an was practically about to laugh out loud.

She hadn't expected all three of them to join. Today was simply her lucky day.

"I have a question." Heavy Sword suddenly asked.

"Speak."

"Why are only the three of us here? Where's the blacksmith?"

In theory, the blacksmith Lin Cheng had won the championship. Wouldn't he be even more worth recruiting?

Compared to him, the three of them were losers who hadn't even made it into the finals.

"That guy won't be recruited by me so easily! Maybe in the future." Just mentioning Lin Cheng made Yong'an grind her teeth in anger. His identity file was actually at a higher level than hers, and he was an important talent of the empire personally approved by her father the Emperor, possessing a series of special privileges.

This made it impossible for her to keep digging into Lin Cheng. For people their father the Emperor had his eye on, even if these children of his had intentions, they could only befriend them.

The night passed without incident.

Before noon the next day, the referee delivered Lin Cheng his prize — a great earth refined iron core weighing twenty jin. This kind of refined iron core was said to affect the surrounding geology once buried in the earth, continuously producing iron ore. It was truly rare.

Lin Cheng hadn't expected Young Master to send him such a rare ore, but even such a rare ore hadn't caught the system's attention, nor could it be used to repair the canyon.

This left him somewhat disappointed.

After lunch at noon, the giant ship was also about to reach Mo Li Dock. All the crew on board were organizing in an orderly manner, doing the final inventory of the goods transported on this voyage, to be unloaded all at once after docking.

Lin Cheng and the others, unable to wait any longer, stood by the giant ship's railing gazing into the distance at Mo Li Dock. They were finally almost there.

After disembarking and traveling onward to the empire's gateway, Boulder Fortress City, they should be able to arrive before nightfall. Once they reached Boulder Fortress City, everything would have to start anew........

Lin Cheng had already begun looking forward to his new life.

As one of the empire's economic centers, the empire's gateway Boulder Fortress City was bound to become the place where he could spread his wings and make his name!

A few hours later, the giant ship slowly sailed into Mo Li Dock. The crew and passengers had long been unable to wait.

The martial artists had finally reached the dock. Their purposes, more or less, were similar to Lin Cheng's — preparing to spread their wings and do something big in Boulder Fortress City.

The crew, meanwhile, could finally get some rare rest. After this voyage, they should get a day off. They had already been working continuously for over a week beforehand and truly needed a good rest.

"Prepare to drop anchor, lower the gangway and prepare for landing."

"Yes! Already docked, gangway opened."

Arrange for passengers to disembark in an orderly manner; the rest prepare to unload cargo.

Boulder Fortress City was less than half a day's journey from Mo Li Dock by carriage.

For Lin Cheng and the others riding mechanical wolves, it was a journey of only two or three hours. Approaching Boulder Fortress City, Lin Cheng and the others passed a locally famous scenic spot and, attracted by the many tourists there, stopped.

According to the locals, before arriving at Boulder Fortress City, not stopping by Boulder Mountain to take in the grand majesty of Boulder Fortress City would truly be a pity.

Boulder Fortress City was built leaning on two tall mountains, with a history of over a thousand years. It was said to be traceable back to before the founding of the empire. At that time, Boulder Fortress City was not a fortress, merely a city built against the mountains.