Chapter 1155.1: Hero City (Part 1)
The man portrayed in the painting with armor and a golden spear was, of course, Sirius. This was an unmistakable fact because right in the sky two wide-open wolfish eyes could be seen gazing at the world below; very similar if not identical to the Wolf Emperor's Domain in Bai Zemin's possession.
In reality, Bai Zemin only revealed that he might be the man portrayed in the wall art after a lot of consideration and extremely careful thoughts.
To begin with, leaving aside Xian Bao Bao whose mind was simple and innocent, Bai Zemin believed that he could trust everyone present; Shangguan Bing Xue, Wu Yijun, Xian Mei'er, Angelo, Eleanora... At this stage it could be said that the fates of all of them were tied to his in some way or another.
Then, there was also the fact that the Bible God, Archangel Gabriel, Archangel Uriel, Werewolf Leader Lethar, Vampire Leader Nikolay, Zombie Leader Salazar, Lucifer, Eternal Phoenix, and other Higher Existences were already suspicious of the fact that Bai Zemin might be the reincarnation of the Heavenly Wolf Sirius.
Finally, the current situation was really strange.
The sea creatures were definitely not very friendly towards land creatures; particularly towards humans. But this was reasonable considering they were aware of the past history... And yet, however, the Eastern Sea King suddenly decided to ally with humans and angels? Bai Zemin was more prone to believe that everything he had been experiencing so far was nothing more than a daydream of his rather than believing that there was no agenda in this whole strange situation.
...
The rest of the walk to Xian Mei'er's room was silent, mostly with the majority of them thinking about what they found out just now.
Wu Yijun was worried about Bai Zemin's mental state as she thought all this must have been quite a shock to him. On the other hand, Shangguan Bing Xue was trying to understand the others' thoughts to protect him from possible backstabbing.
Angelo and Eleanora were undoubtedly the most confused. It would probably take them some time to process all the amazing information they had just obtained, but they certainly knew that they needed to make important decisions soon... If Bai Zemin was really the reincarnation of the legendary human who not only stopped the advance of the Atlantis Empire but also slayed the figure with the best chance of becoming Emperor recognized by the Soul Record then it was impossible to stay the way they were now.
Only little Xian Bao Bao kept humming happily, occasionally pointing out images of the wall or presenting extremely ancient and valuable vases along the way.
Approximately 5 minutes later, Xian Mei'er finally led everyone to her chamber and closed the door behind her.
The room was very large as not only did it have a large bed covered by a translucent pale blue canopy as well as small nightstands, there was also a large old wooden closet ot cabinet in the corner, three expensive-looking couches, and even a small square glass table right in the center of the three expensive-looking couches where there were sweet snacks that didn't look too different from what the humans ate on the surface.
The Seventh Princess asked everyone to sit down as she made her way to the large cabinet. Opening one of the larger doors at the end disclosed all the equipment needed to brew tea or coffee, and after 2 minutes she managed to brew a pot of red tea.
"Sorry, I'm not very good at this kind of stuff." She apologized as she handed the teapot to her little sister.
Xian Bao Bao poured tea for everyone with an excited smile, "This is the first time I've poured tea for anyone. Usually, it's the palace maids serving me tea but I don't have anyone to serve it to!"
As princesses, it was only natural that Xian Mei'er and Xian Bao Bao had no experience in such things as making tea or serving guests. However, the fact that they were both giving their best was far more appreciated compared to the best tea in the world.
After a minute or two, she looked at Bai Zemin much more calmly than before and nodded as if she finally understood how it was possible for a First Order soul evolver to kill a monster like Thao Zhi who was a general of the legion of mages of the mighty Forgotten King.
"I think a lot of things are starting to make sense now."
Bai Zemin took a sip of tea, and while it couldn't compare to the tea brewed by Wu Yijun's mother Sun Ling, it wasn't as bad as he initially thought. He set the small cup down on the small porcelain saucer and thereafter placed the whole thing on the glass small table.
"What do you mean?"
Xian Mei'er explained: "I always found it weird that my Royal Father suddenly changed his mind. Not only did he never again give me any opportunity to show my leadership abilities, but he practically took me away from any position of power to the point where I am nothing more than an ornamental princess... Except for my 100,000 soldiers that I have in hiding, all the other sea creatures that were under my control now follow my father."
Although Xian Mei'er was a royal family member, she was just a princess no matter how strong or talented she might be. Unless she gets crowned as queen, the current ruler could easily take away her minions.
This was because unlike humans, sea creatures had a respectable hierarchy. The king of each kingdom had some sort of artifact that granted them control over all the creatures in their kingdom since their voice would weigh more; even Xian Mei'er and the other princes/princesses were not completely free of this.
Bai Zemin couldn't help but look at Xian Bao Bao after hearing Xian Meier's words, but as if this Seventh Princess knew his thoughts she shook her head.
"Don't worry. Bao Bao has the best relationship with me since her mother passed away when she was still a baby."
Unlike most normal blood siblings among humans, the royal family siblings in the sea races got along worse than dogs. Plotting against each other, secretly killing each other, mocking each other, etc... Only the Seventh Princess who only sought peace and the innocent Ninth Princess who was too young to understand many things in the world got along like a normal family from the surface.
Bai Zemin nodded silently to show his understanding.
"After you left that day to stabilize matters in your realm after Earth's abrupt evolution, Royal Father began to delegate more important and mentally strenuous tasks to me. In spite of that, I was happy because I was finally seeing an end to so many internal wars." Xian Mei'er smiled bitterly as she recounted the events of the last few months, "But a little over a month ago things changed. I was practically pushed aside, and sometimes I even felt that Royal Father was looking at me with a touch of murderous intent. It was only five days ago that I learned something that made me think."
It turned out that 5 days ago, Xian Mei'er accidentally discovered her father the East Sea King having a conversation with a human-like man about two or three meters tall, golden eyes, and the bearing of a true ruler. Even Xian Mei'er was surprised at that moment to see her father acting like a lamb in front of that man.
"It has to be that Dragon God." Wu Yijun frowned and a clear flash of annoyance shone in her eyes, "That old lizard doesn't get tired? Does he have so much free time? Why doesn't he go back to his cave or whatever?"
It was rare for Wu Yijun to curse someone so one could only try to imagine how sick she was of Long Tian and his actions always targeting Bai Zemin.
"Most men are like that. 99.9% at the very least." Shangguan Bing Xue commented casually.
As far as she was concerned, few men had the qualifications to receive part of her friendship and only one in all the cosmos was worthy of her heart. As for the rest? They were all lustful and greedy creatures; particularly those who occupied high positions of power, because when someone more outstanding appeared, they immediately lost all that false elegance.
Angelo didn't know if he was being praised or cursed so he decided to choose the more pleasant option. Since he was here and they were allies they could at least consider themselves friends... right? He smiled bitterly.
"If that's the case then isn't it obvious what's going on here?" Eleanora lazily leaned back on the couch, which guaranteed her already exceptional seductive beauty another touch of beauty as she said with a sneer, "Basically, the fish king of the East Sea heard from the mouth of the lizard god the fact that Bai Zemin is probably the reincarnation of the man who defeated the Forgotten King and crushed the sea race billions of years ago. Then, frightened, the fish king began to plan and ally with others to take down the threat."
"My father is not a fish king, he is a merman king!" Xian Bao Bao corrected her.
Eleanora leaned forward, and with a gentle smile, she said softly, "Little mermaid, it doesn't matter if it's fish, merman, or shrimp... The fact that your father is willing to kill your big sister for the few words of a stranger and a legend older than your grandfather is true."
"Eleanora, you... She's just a little girl you know?" Angelo really didn't know what to do with this girl.
"What? She'll know the truth sooner or later so we might as well set the matter straight right now to avoid big pains tomorrow." Eleanora grimaced as she realized that everyone was looking at her with weird eyes, "Forget it then, it's my mistake then... I admitted it, isn't it okay now?"
Although Eleanora was being disrespectful and even a bit heartless with her words, the truth behind every single thing she said was an undeniable fact to anyone with half a developed brain.
Xian Mei'er forced a smile and nodded, "It's okay... What she said is true after all."
While it was true that Xian Mei'er was not extremely close as was the case with the rest of his siblings and him, the feeling of knowing that the one who brought her into this world could suddenly become his enemy was not particularly pleasant.
Bai Zemin was going to suggest killing the East Sea King, something that with his current strength was as simple as waving his hand; in fact, Shangguan Bing Xue could easily do it. Even Wu Yijun with her Abyss Demonic Flower and the World Tree Heart fragment could have a good chance of victory over the East Sea King who had entered the Fourth Order just about half a year ago.
But, seeing the little Ninth Princess biting her lip and clenching her fists on her knees with teary eyes...
'This weakness of mine for little children will one day end up putting me in real dangerous situations.' Bai Zemin sighed in his heart.
'We'll find a way for your father to coronate you as Queen after dealing with the other problems. Once you have the ruler artifact in your possession, even if he is a Fourth Order soul evolver he will have to obey you."
Xian Mei'er was naturally more than willing to go along with Bai Zemin's plans, but was it really that easy?
"Bai Zemin, although I don't doubt your strength and I definitely believe you can defeat my father, capturing him is a separate matter. No matter what, he is a powerhouse above level 200 with many treasures to save his life." Xian Mei'er sighed with a bitter smile, "Besides, I'm afraid he might give the Power Key to control some of Hero City's weapons to my older brother the First Prince. He is his favorite now, it seems that my older brother Xian Luo somehow managed to forge an alliance with the Army of Heaven."
"That explains the close relationship between Xian Luo and the church..." Bai Zemin muttered to himself.
After a few seconds, he smiled and his eyes flashed disdainfully as he slowly said, "As for the matter of Hero City... Heh, leave it to me. Once we're there I'll be the one to decide who lives and who dies!"
Actually, had it not been for Lilith's reminder several days ago when they were still in Europe during the meeting with the leaders of Earth and the Higher Existences, Bai Zemin might have forgotten that in his storage ring he had something of utmost importance for what was to come.
It was that little item that had been gathering dust until now that would make him the strongest in Hero City and, just maybe, help him get total control of the city!
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