Chapter 69

Shen Tianxing has never been this speechless in his life, but it's fine; after all, it's something left by a senior from a thousand years ago, I'll look for it when I have time, Shen Tianxing has a system, lacking this so-called treasure map doesn't matter.

Afterwards, Shen Tianxing opened another box and took out a parchment from it, which marked many places, all of which only Shen Tianxing could recognize.

"This map is over a thousand years old; I understand these characters, but I really can't tell which place is which— the final destination is a place called the Northern Wasteland."

Shen Tianxing asked this casually, mainly because the system is currently upgrading, so he can't ask Hong Yi.

"Northern Wasteland, you mean my ancestor left something there in the Northern Wasteland? How could one possibly go there? That place is not part of the Shenzhou Continent; one would need to sail to another continent, apparently called the Longteng Continent."

I never expected the ancestor to have gone to the Longteng Continent; it's said that from the Shenzhou Continent to the Longteng Continent one first enters a place called the Northern Wasteland, and only after passing through the Northern Wasteland can one reach the Longteng Continent—I don't know what's going on either.

Shen Tianxing felt a black line on his head— this senior's legacy is actually hidden so far away, and he even talks about contending for the world, saying one can go find what he left; isn't this a joke?

"Let this map stay with you for now; I don't have use for it currently, but if I ever actually need it, I'll come to you to get it."

Shen Tianxing instantly lost interest, even suspecting that the predecessor left this just to toy with a latercomer like him, and maybe upon arriving there he'd find nothing at all.

"Are you sure you want to leave the map here? Aren't you afraid I'll bring people to look for it? Then you'll have nothing left."

Wang Dagang probed with a question, and Shen Tianxing smiled and waved his hand.

"If I really wanted to find you, I would have gone long ago; after a thousand years, who wouldn't figure out the place names on this? Besides, this is something your ancestors left, said to be for me, but I don't necessarily have to take it, do I?"

This One, Wang Dagang, has met the lord; from now on I will belong to the lord, willing to follow the lord, to go through fire and water for the lord, refusing nothing.

Wang Dagang suddenly dropped to one knee on the ground, extremely respectfully acknowledging Shen Tianxing as his master, and Shen Tianxing was also dazed.

"What are you doing, Lord Wang? Could this also be the ancestral precept left by your ancestor?"

"What the lord said is correct; the ancestral precept left by the ancestor indeed mentions that if someone from the same place as the ancestor in the future obtains this letter and yet can keep this map, then I will have the Wang family's descendants acknowledge him as their master."

Wang Dagang's words were true as well, making Shen Tianxing even more depressed; over the past thousand years, even if there were clan precepts left, it wouldn't be this serious, would it?

The most helpless part is that the system is upgrading, so I can't ask Hong Yi, yet a Ninth Pin Eighth Layer expert shows up at the door— shouldn't that be too foolish to refuse?

"Lord Wang, don't joke like that; you are a Ninth Pin Eighth Layer expert, nearly invincible beneath the grandmaster, and since the ancestral precept follows me, there's really no need."

The True Eye of Reality remained open, but Shen Tianxing still wanted to test a bit.

"Actually, it's not that; mainly, staying in Luoxia City is too boring— you don't know my daily task is just bearing children, bearing children, and these children are also too hard to teach!"

The problem is I can't just stay put either; my two elder brothers and my younger brother come once a year, and if they find out I've left, they'll give me a beating.

But if I could leave with the lord, that would be a proper affair; even if those three came, they couldn't do anything to me, and they too would have to follow the lord.

Shen Tianxing frowned; this is actually true, four Third-Rank experts— should he take them or not?

"Even if you truly acknowledge me as your lord, I currently can't let you follow me; instead, I'd have you train troops in Luoxia City— if you're willing to do that, then you can acknowledge me as your lord, and of course I'll bring you away later, just not now."

Shen Tianxing had a flash of inspiration— he wanted to recruit 100,000 soldiers, and Luoxia City was just a good place for training, after all, as a governor, Wang Dagang absolutely held sway over Luoxia City.

"No problem, lord; tell me what you want me to do, even if I have to spend all my family wealth, I'll get it done perfectly for you; of course, this One's family wealth is also considerable."

Wang Dagang was quite excited, his promise solemn; Shen Tianxing also knew he wasn't lying, so he naturally nodded.

"No need to be that extravagant; with your current wealth, how many soldiers could you train?"

"If we calculate, it depends on what kind of soldiers we train; if we train elite soldiers, at most we could get fifty thousand; if we train ordinary common soldiers, then over ten thousand is still no problem."

Wang Dagang answered extremely seriously, Shen Tianxing nodded, and at that moment he suddenly understood how the side quest came about.

The Wang Dagang family is the true hidden reward; the so-called side quest exists to create such a connection between Shen Tianxing and Wang Dagang, otherwise even if he knew Wang Dagang, at most they'd share a meal and a drink, and then it would be over.

But now it's different; because Shen Tianxing completed the side quest, his communication with Wang Dagang gained a wholesome outlook, thereby triggering all subsequent chain effects.

"Naturally, training means training elite soldiers; let's do this: train ten thousand, but they must reach the Third-Rank level in the shortest time possible; if your silver is insufficient, come to me anytime."

"Third-Rank, lord, this is a bit difficult; ordinary soldiers wanting to reach Third-Rank at least need some aptitude, but most of those with aptitude have gone to join those Wulin sects."

Generally speaking, those without much aptitude can reach Second-Rank through tendon and bone training, which would already be decent elite soldiers; but to reach Third-Rank, having even five hundred out of ten thousand would be considered many.

Wang Dagang was indeed struggling; Shen Tianxing also felt somewhat surprised, mainly because his soldiers are summoned, so he has no such worries and naturally doesn't know the difficulties of training troops.

"In that case, let's go with Second-Rank; that should be fine, right?"

"That's not a problem, but the time can't be short; at least a year is needed— ordinary people wanting to reach the First-Rank level need at least a month, and then each subsequent level, with maximum effort, also takes a month."

Finally, to go from First-Rank Perfection to Second-Rank takes at least two months, unless a large amount of wealth is spent buying medicinal herbs for them to soak in medicinal liquid daily.

Thus, each Second-Rank elite soldier would consume at least 100 taels, meaning one million taels for ten thousand Second-Rank elite soldiers; this is only the cost needed to raise their Martial Dao Realm.

Moreover, each soldier needs at least one tael of silver per month for military pay, which adds up to 120,000 taels a year; besides that, there's also grain and fodder, military supplies, and equipment— altogether that would require at least several hundred thousand taels of silver.