1422 Fighting Ones Own Battles Part 1 (2/2)

It seemed that the only thing left to do was to keep searching for temples that the goddess left behind, hampering Saleen's luck before he had a chance to make mistakes in his command.

He didn't intend on becoming enemies with Saleen, but he somehow ended up finding out the secret of the goddess and in so doing acquired a godly item left behind by the goddess. The most vexing thing was being left in that temple, something specifically made to be used against fallen holy masters.

Unable to resist temptation, Van Gogh agreed to sign a contract with the goddess.

He needed to help bring about her resurrection, or his soul would have been made a sacrifice.

The contract needed to be fulfilled within 600 years.

Van Gogh spent several days loitering about Alchemy City, exasperated. The Alchemy City had little to exploit and he'd already wasted a lot of time there. It would have been better if he were to just go out and look for the next temple.

The Floating City flew west. Saleen stopped when they passed by Holy Rock City. He brought his people to the palace to pay a visit to Lex.

They had not seen each other in a long time. Exasperation is the first thing he felt when laid eyes on her again.

Lex had become an empress. While she continued to be as she was without any regard for those extra rules and formalities, behaving as gently as always, she was surrounded by more people who felt increasingly unfamiliar.

Take Jalin, for example. Jalin, a high-status palace minister, was actually a leader of the palace mages.

Ah-ha! The Golden Plains finally got one of their own in the circle of palace mages. Saleen knew it was a trade. It had been difficult getting Safilos to return to Holy Rock City. He had once failed to defend the city and it soon plunged into crisis.

The ones from Golden Plains had been dedicated to preventing Safilos's return, yet Lex had insisted on getting her own way in the midst of opposition. She paid a price for this in secret.

Safilos had long been a thorn in her side. Now she had to help him return to the center of power.

The palace was lined with statues of past Qin emperors, and Lex was surrounded by mages. Saleen lowered his head to look at her face and said, ”Think you can still hold on?”

Jalin couldn't believe her ears. She attempted to say something back, but Saleen put his hand across her mouth to stop her.

”I'm giving you people face just by allowing you to stand around. So do me a favor please and shut up.” Rarely did Saleen speak so harshly.

Jalin's face was concealed by her mask, making it impossible to tell what she was feeling at the moment. She then stepped aside without uttering a word.

Saleen took a casual look at the surrounding mages, some of whom had been in the palace before all this happened. Their relief was palpable from their expressions. The rest stood there glumly, making it obvious they were from Golden Plains.

Saleen unleashed his lightning territory without care, isolating the voices.

He was testing the patience of the Golden Plain mages: None of them would have expected Saleen to do something like that. No telling what would happen next.

Lex was willing to make compromises with them, but that didn't mean Saleen would be willing to do the same. That low-born mage wouldn't hesitate a second to kill someone if that served his purpose. Ironwall City had once been grand and massive, and he made good on his word to destroy the place, a testament to this mage's short fuse.

A fall-out at this stage wasn't something the Golden Plains would want to see happen.

Everyone instinctively turned to look at Jalin, Arbola's student. Since her face was concealed by her mask, all they could see was the red peach flowers on the drooping mask that looked as if it was about to slip off.

She did not give any specific instructions, so everyone was mum.

Lex smiled after seeing Saleen unleashing his territory and shut the sounds from outside. His territory now shrank to a radius of little more than a dozen meters, making it seem solid.

”Saleen, don't try to scare them. They're all puppets,” Lex said lethargically. She wanted to rest her head on Saleen's shoulders but couldn't move a muscle; she seemed to be frozen. The fate of the Qin Empire rested on her. If she got tired of the whole business, there was no one fit to rule the empire.

”Could you still hold on, Lex?”

Saleen was still asking the same question after unleashing his territory. That time, however, was done purely out of concern for her.

”Yeah. Golden Plains is more powerful than Alchemy City and not someplace you could just wreck. I'll take my time dealing with them. I'm sure they'll submit sooner or later.”

”How about just quit being the empress then?”

”Ha! Saleen, you think I like being empress? It was my father who left the place behind and I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. The secret arts I've learned could only be put to use if I became empress. Remember how it was with me back then? I couldn't keep up with your advancement and needed the Six Elements' Space to rise to a level-9 sorcerer. My path was really hard after that, and I had to use that precious gift my father left me. But after becoming empress, my secret arts...”

Saleen was surprised to find something like that taking place. What does becoming empress have to do with training? He was quickly reminded of how gods were capable of absorbing power of faith. The position of empress probably allowed her to absorb some power from her subjects to strengthen herself.

In truth, Saleen already considered Safilos a cutting-edge genius. Compared to Emperor Chanake, Safilos felt inadequate.

That probably was not due to their talents but to their positions.

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