Chapter 474: Diqiu

　　Chen Qing and her troops were able to feel the effects of the disaster on their way back to the city of Xi Liang last night. A scout who was sent out to observe the situation came back and reported the horrifying scene. Chen Qian and her troops were terrified and if they delayed their departure last night, they too would have suffered great damages.

　　Miles away from the city of Xi Liang, Chen Qiang could see Shen Lian and her daughter Xiao Ke was riding the black tiger to come and meet her.

　　Shen Lian and the black tiger joined the troops and stopped in front of Chen Qing.

　　With a cutesy voice, Xiao Ke said, “Mummy~.”

　　Chen Qing did not care about her dignity and went ahead and carried her daughter. She looked at Shen Lian and asked, “Why did you come down from the mountain?”

　　Shen Lian smiled, “I intend to go for a long trip and that was why I brought her down to return her to you.”

　　Chen Qing recalled the incident last night and sighed, “No one will be able to stop you once you have made up your mind. Now that we are free from our great enemy, I don’t think there would be another threats around and I don’t have any other reasons to ask you to stay.”

　　Shen Lian responded, “Although I am leaving, I have tasked a Daoist named Liu Mengde to guard the Xuandu Temple. If you are struggling to make any decisions, feel free to send someone to the temple.”

　　Chen Qing asked, “Where are you heading to next? Over the years, I have been collecting information about extraordinary people. The information are all in the city of Xi Liang, let’s go back together and review it.”

　　Shen Lian placed his hands behind his back and said, “I was about to return to the city with you, and I have something to tell you.”

　　Chen Qing asked, “What is it?”

　　Shen Lian calmly said, “Build a kingdom.”

　　…

　　The city of Xi Liang officially became the Kingdom of Xi Liang. Chen Qing even prepared a letter of credence for Shen Lian to declare their allegiance to Da Xia.

　　Da Xia was the king of nations and any city who wanted to form a kingdom would have to declare their allegiance to Da Xia. If they failed to do so, Da Xia would come and attack them. On top of that, the letter of credence also functioned like a passport for Shen Lian to enter Da Xia. It worked like a credential that declared his purpose of visit.

　　Shen Lian did not depart immediately. He waited until autumn and joined an entourage of traders and left with them.

　　The traders knew that he was the junior master of the Xi Liang Kingdom and they treated him well. After all, the Xi Liang Kingdom was the strongest nation in this thousand miles radius of land.

　　Even if they came from the great Yin Shang and they have traded with the great Da Xia, the traders remained humble and avoided getting into dispute.

　　This entourage of traders did not just consists of humble traders. There were also Qi cultivators who were tasked to protect the entourage.

　　Shen Lian sat in the carriage of the entourage. The carriage was like a sturdy building that was pulled by two giant beasts that was known as the mammoth in the world of Shen Lian’s past life. The beasts were capable of travelling thousands of miles in a day.

　　Just this two giant beasts would be sufficient to destroy a city. But the traders travelled to trade and not to prey.

　　Tianyi, the Monarch of Yin Shang strictly prohibited his traders from provoking fights. Even when they went hunting, they must leave some room for their prey to escape.

　　Tianyi’s benevolence was deeply carved in the hearts of the people. He was greatly respected by the Qi cultivators and everyone, from the ministers to the people, were more than willing to fight for the country.

　　Even Emperor Xia was full of compliments for Tianyi’s benevolence.

　　Shen Lian heard plenty of stories about Tianyi on the carriage. The stories were mainly about his moral and honesty. Occasionally, people would also mention about Tianyi’s strength.

　　Shen Lian was curious about Tianyi. A leader who had the respect of the generals was definitely a bright leader. But not all bright leaders could earn the respect of Qi cultivators who were beyond the mortal world.

　　Shen Lian predicted that Tianyi was a saint from the outside and emperor inside. Tianyi was definitely not a simple figure.

　　The entourage of traders were headed to Da Xia and Shen Lian thought that it would be difficult for him to meet Tianyi. But on the way to Da Xia, rumour has it that Tianyi was summoned to have an audience with Emperor Xia at Diqiu.

　　Diqiu was the capital city of Da Xia.

　　There were different versions of what happened to Tianyi after entering Da Xia but one thing for sure was that the Emperor Xia did not mention when could Tianyi leave.

　　Some said that Tianyi would never be able to return to Yin Shang because in Yin Shang’s growing influence was a threat to the rule of Da Xia.

　　Emperor Xia was a brave and intelligent leader who wanted everyone to submit to him. Therefore, people like Tianyi, no matter how virteous they were, as long as it was a threat to Da Xia, the Emperor would be dissatisfied.

　　Because of Tianyi, the traders felt uneasy and as the insecurities creeped in, everyone started to feel blue and dejected.

　　Without Tianyi, Yin Shang would decline and the traders would lose their source of protection. The wealth of Yin Shang would be root of chaos and the Qi cultivators too would lose a save place for them to cultivate.

　　The only exception on the carriage was Shen Lian and the black tiger.

　　The black tiger crawled under Shen Lian’s feet and slept lazily. It would drool and spit its tongue out from time to time as if it was dreaming about something delicious while Shen Lian would just stand next to the window. They just passed empty wilderness that did not even have an inch of grass. They heard that this place was known as Zhuo Lu, and was a battlefield before this. The lost souls of Zhuo Lu had dispersed but their hatred still lingered around, making it difficult for grass to grow there.

　　After Zhuo Lu, they have entered the territory of Da Xia. Even if they were travelling about a thousand miles everyday, it still took them two years to arrive.

　　Throughout the journey, the traders have collected all sorts of goods and it was also an eye opening experience for Shen Lian.

　　Due to the incident of Tianyi, the traders were uncertain if these goods were able to be sold. They were afraid to hear news about Tianyi being prosecuted once they enter Da Xia. If that really happened, their fate would not end well in Da Xia.

　　The most unique feature of Da Xia was the classification of slaves and the aristocrat. They had no commoners in between.

　　It would be tragic if anyone ended up as a slave as it was almost impossible for the following generations to escape slavery. Yin Shang too had slaves but they also had commoners. The merciful Tianyi gave the slaves a chance to become commoners while Da Xia does not have such opportunity.

　　Yin Shang did not only open their arms to the people of other countries, they also accept slave refugees from Da Xia and made them into commoners.

　　Perhaps this was what Tianyi did that angered the Emperor Xia and the aristocrats of Da Xia.

　　There were twelve aristocratic families in Da Xia. They were the Xiahou’s, Youhu’s, Younan’s, Zhenxun’s, Tongcheng’s, Bao’s, Fei’s, Qi’s, Zeng’s, Xin’s, Ming’s and the Zhenguan’s.

　　The twelve aristocratic families had the most noble blood of human race. It was not the prestige of the family that made them stood out but the nobleness of their own blood. They were born with the ability to tear tigers and leopards, and once they hit adulthood, they would have invincible strength that was as strong, or stronger, than Qi cultivators.

　　The Xiahou family was the royal family of Da Xia. The ‘Xia’ of ‘Da Xia’ came from the family’s name.

　　On the way to Da Xia, they heard that Tianyi was alright and they could trade their goods. Soon, they made it to Diqiu.