Chapter 11

And the moment it appeared, an invisible wave radiated outward from Huang Rong in all directions.

At the same time, as the master of the seal, Huang Rong immediately understood its function.

Then her fair, smooth little face darkened.

Shangguan Shangguan Shangguan Haitang had guessed correctly; the "Kunji Imperial Seal" confirmed Huang Rong's status as the mistress of the harem.

The harem, naturally, belonged to Jiang Sishui.

As for the numerous prospective members of the harem, they were precisely the owners of the various diary instances.

As the mistress of the harem, the Kunji Imperial Seal endowed Huang Rong with corresponding powers and responsibilities.

Power One: Through the seal, she could sense the locations of all prospective members.

Power Two: Any attack launched by any prospective member would be ineffective against her.

Power Three: If any prospective member harbored malicious intent toward her, she would perceive it within a certain range.

As for the responsibility... there was only one: to protect the safety of all prospective members.

In fact, Huang Rong did not need to carry this out personally.

As long as she held the "Kunji Imperial Seal," the object would automatically protect the safety of all the women.

The invisible wave that had just spread out had encompassed all the women within the seal's protective scope.

To give a simple and clear example—

Once Xiao Longnu suffered irresistible harmful injury, the "Kunji Imperial Seal" would form a Qi protective shield around her body.

The defensive strength of this Qi shield equaled the sum of the Qi defensive power of all the women.

Note!

The defense mentioned here refers solely to "Qi defensive power," excluding physical resilience and tactics such as "attacking to defend."

For instance—

If Yao Yue stood still without releasing any Qi, relying only on her physical body, her defensive power would be merely 10.

After releasing Qi to protect her body while remaining motionless, her defensive power would reach 200.

While releasing Qi and simultaneously employing various martial arts to dodge and weave, using attack as defense, her defensive power could even reach 1000.

In that case, the defensive power the Kunji Imperial Seal would draw from her would be 200!

Even so, a Qi shield with such defensive strength was truly astonishing.

With the combined efforts of all the women, very few people in this world could break through their defense.

Upon learning the function of the "Kunji Imperial Seal," Huang Rong nearly smashed it to pieces!

In the eyes of some, becoming the mistress of the harem should have made her happy.

But Huang Rong had originally planned that after meeting Jiang Sishui, if she remained satisfied, she would find a way to monopolize him and make him abandon those messy ideas.

Even if Jiang Sishui did not listen to her, he should not take too many wives.

Yet after obtaining the seal, with a slight sensation, she discovered that the number of targets she could sense actually reached three digits!

This made her somewhat unable to hold herself together.

What was this? Did he really intend to marry all these women?

Then, even as the mistress of the harem, how much favor could she hope to receive?

Huang Rong felt a pang of jealousy in her heart.

"You want me, yet you still provoke other women. It is one thing for me to manage them, but you actually expect me to act as their bodyguard!"

The more Huang Rong thought about it, the angrier she became, and she was about to throw the seal into the sea.

But thinking of the various benefits the seal could bring, she lowered her raised hand, reluctant to let go.

"Hmph! This lady is magnanimous; I shall not discard you!"

Toying with the exquisite, small seal, Huang Rong murmured regretfully: "Pity it can only defend and not counterattack; otherwise, wouldn't I be able to walk sideways across the Wu Lin?"

With a thought, the seal vanished from her palm, turning into a streak of light that merged into her eyebrow center.

Two phoenix light images flashed briefly in her pupils before everything returned to normal.

Suzhou.

Jiang Sishui also received today's reward.

Unfortunately, this time it was only martial arts experience, and even less than yesterday, merely 400 points.

This left Jiang Sishui momentarily bewildered.

How could the rewards be getting worse?!

"Could it be that I misunderstood the diary's rewards, and that the 'Beginner' level Heavenly Art is actually already very powerful?"

Although he had used the "Heaven-Slaying Sword-Draw Technique" to strike Shopkeeper Tie, Shopkeeper Tie was merely an ordinary person and offered no reference value.

Therefore, Jiang Sishui still did not know exactly how powerful that sword strike of his had been.

"Or perhaps, this diary system can actually be upgraded, but I have not yet met the conditions?"

Jiang Sishui suddenly came up with another conjecture.

"Forget it; it is only the second day. I am being too impatient; I will wait and see."

Having no other choice, Jiang Sishui added the 400 points of martial arts experience to the "Heaven-Slaying Sword-Draw Technique."

[Heaven-Slaying Sword-Draw Technique (Heavenly Art): Beginner (900/**

Glancing at the sky, Jiang Sishui took the silver stolen the previous night, lifted his long sword, and went out.

A little less than half an hour later, he stopped before a magnificent building.

Looking up at the hanging plaque, four characters were clearly written upon it—

Central Plains Escort Agency!

Without hesitation, Jiang Sishui stepped forward and explained his purpose to the escort guard.

Upon hearing he wished to hire an escort, the guard immediately reported it and then led Jiang Sishui into the escort agency.

Entering the main hall, he saw an elderly man with a long beard sitting in the seat of honor; upright and imposing, his eyes sparkled with vitality, and every glance he cast exuded an air of dignity and authority.

Jiang Sishui knew this man was the Chief Escort of the Central Plains Escort Agency—"The Central Plains' One Sword" Zhao Zhao Tianhao!

Jiang Sishui dared not show any disrespect; performing the rites of a junior, he said, "Junior Jiang Sishui pays his respects to Chief Escort Zhao!"

Jiang Sishui?!

As soon as this name was spoken, a young girl standing beside Zhao Zhao Tianhao instantly displayed a look of astonishment, her eyes filled with surprise and suspicion as she sized up Jiang Sishui.

Could this Jiang Sishui be that Jiang Sishui?

Or was it merely a case of identical names?

The girl could not be certain, yet her gaze remained fixed on Jiang Sishui, unable to look away.

Jiang Sishui, however, remained completely unaware of this.

Since he currently possessed no martial arts skills, and the girl's gaze held no malice, he was not sensitive to her stare.

Zhao Zhao Tianhao returned the bow, saying, "I am indeed Zhao Zhao Tianhao. Does this young brother wish to hire an escort?"

"Indeed."

"Might I ask what exactly this young brother wishes to have escorted?"

"Myself."

"Yourself?"

"Correct. What I wish to have escorted is none other than myself."

Zhao Zhao Tianhao understood.

Escort agencies protected goods, wealth, and also people; the other party was asking the Central Plains Escort Agency to act as his bodyguard.

His expression immediately turned serious.

Protecting people was not a task the Central Plains Escort Agency had never accepted, nor was it one they could not accept, but generally such commissions were difficult to undertake, as they often implied trouble.

However, the Central Plains Escort Agency had ironclad rules; as long as the conditions for accepting a commission were met, they would never refuse or shirk the duty.

Even if that commission was destined to be perilous!

It was precisely for this reason that the Central Plains Escort Agency was widely renowned throughout Suzhou and enjoyed an excellent reputation.

Just as Zhao Zhao Tianhao was about to inquire for details, Jiang Sishui spoke first: "Chief Escort, please rest assured; this junior has no enemies."

No enemies?