"What explanation do you want?" After finishing his meal, Long Chen wiped his mouth and looked at Yu Qianxue.
"You just came to my residence and ended up locking me in a little dark room for three days. Tell me, what explanation do you want from me?" Yu Qianxue shouted angrily.
"You're locked in a little dark room, what does it have to do with me? Is it because your governance is lax, you deliberately made things difficult for me, and even tried to take my life? Am I not able to fight back?
It's all your responsibility, nothing to do with me. Besides, since we've signed the paperwork, you need to provide me with the martial artist's nameplate. Since you're free today, let's do it!" Long Chen said.
Becoming a training partner for princes and princesses means their combat power is recognized; otherwise, they wouldn't have sacrificed such a precious spot.
After signing the document, the person signed, from an ordinary martial artist, directly crossed over from a warrior to a martial master.
Once you become a martial master, you gain a certain status. With this badge, you can directly join the army without starting as an ordinary soldier—you can reach the rank of captain.
After becoming a squad leader, compared to ordinary soldiers, it's easier to accumulate battle merits, gain more opportunities, and start much faster than others.
"You still have the nerve to ask me to issue you a martial artist plaque?" Yu Qianxue was so angry her brows arched up. Seeing Long Chen's righteous demeanor, she could hardly believe her ears.
"This is written in the documents." Long Chen said calmly.
"Alright, today you're my official sparring partner. We'll have a match in a bit." Yu Qianxue snorted coldly, took out a nameplate, with the words "Martial Master" engraved on the front, the Princess's Mansion image printed on the back, and Yu Qianxue's name engraved on the back.
In other words, this martial artist nameplate had been certified by Yu Qianxue. If anything went wrong, Yu Qianxue would also take responsibility.
"Smack!"
Long Chen took the martial artist nameplate, a relieved smile appearing on his face.
"Thank you."
"Don't rush to thank me. Now that you're my official sparring partner, I have the right to demand you fight me. Someone, activate all eighteen grand arrays of the Princess's Mansion for me." Yu Qianxue said coldly, looking at Long Chen as if she wanted to teach him a harsh lesson and vent her anger.
"Forget it. Your yang energy is greatly depleted right now, your yin fire is rising, your breath is restless, and your spirit is severely exhausted. You're not fit to fight at all. Maybe another day!" Long Chen said calmly.
Long Chen didn't know what the little black room was, but after Yu Qianxue returned, she clearly looked exhausted and mentally unwell. For someone as strong as her, it seemed she had suffered some kind of torment.
"According to the documents, you can't refuse me. Even if I'm not in the best form, I can still beat you." Yu Qianxue said coldly.
"According to the documents, I also have the right to refuse, for example... I wasn't feeling well. Long Chen said.
"Why are you feeling uncomfortable?" Yu Qianxue shouted angrily.
"My period has come. Men always feel uncomfortable for a few days each month." Long Chen shrugged, a bit helpless.
"You... Utterly shameless. Yu
Qianxue was so angry her hair stood on end, and the other guards all stared blankly at Long Chen. How did he come up with such a reason?
"Alright, since you say you're uncomfortable, I'll order you to go watch the front gate for me now." Yu Qianxue's voice was almost shouting.
...
According to the agreement, they became sparring partners for princesses and princes. The princes and princesses were obliged to provide a comfortable training environment, generous income, and relative safety guarantees.
Unlike those guards, this wasn't a true subordinate relationship, but a simple employment relationship. In terms of treatment, they were certainly not as good as those guards, but during employment, besides sparring with them, they could be assigned some simple tasks as long as the employee's character was not insulted.
Outside the imperial capital, there was a garden spanning hundreds of thousands of miles. Inside the garden, ancient trees towered and vegetation grew densely, with countless rare and precious medicinal herbs growing within.
This is a vast pharmacy, a royal property, now under the jurisdiction of Duke Qianxue. In the Vermilion Bird Empire, princes and princesses each have their own businesses. Otherwise, relying solely on royal salaries is not enough to support themselves, let alone cultivate their own power.
The royal family would hand over part of the estate to the princes and princesses to manage, meaning ownership belonged to the royal family. If the princes or princesses made mistakes, the royal family could take them back at any time.
The princes and princesses held the right to operate such businesses, and after deducting national taxes, all the income belonged to the princes and princesses personally.
Because Long Chen refused to compete with Yu Qianxue, Yu Qianxue, in a fit of rage, ordered Long Chen to come to the medicine garden to guard the main gate.
This was humiliating work, but Long Chen gladly arrived. He heard that a spiritual creature lived here called the Lightning Sable, covered in purple fur and possessing a trace of thunderous power. It wasn't very strong in combat but was extremely fast and hard to catch.
They don't harm people, but they often sneak into the herb garden to steal various spiritual fruits. They also have special abilities that can break formation barriers.
If the entire grand formation of the Medicine Garden was activated, these lightning sables wouldn't be able to get in. But if they were fully activated, the consumption would be enormous, and most of the garden's income would be consumed by this formation.
So, to save money, he would send people to patrol and drive away these lightning sables. Long Chen arrived at the medicine garden, went straight in, and picked some rare herbs he saw that didn't exist in his own chaotic space, even resorting to self-theft.
Although there were many rare herbs in this garden—tens of millions of kinds—there were not many that were truly valuable. Long Chen had only picked a few hundred plants, while he had the rest.
After finishing his work, he arrived at the main gate, just about to continue comprehending the Seven-Star Battle Body when suddenly a lightning sable ran up to Long Chen. It wasn't afraid at all, and started chattering at him.
"So this medicinal garden used to be your home?"
What Long Chen didn't expect was that he could roughly analyze the soul fluctuations of the lightning sable.
Before the medicinal garden appeared, this was home to the lightning sables. After the garden was built, these lightning sables were driven away.
They had no choice but to go elsewhere to collect rare medicines with thunder attributes to fill their stomachs. But because the geography was harsh, they had to put in tremendous effort to pick them. They hoped Long Chen could make an exception and let them pick a little.
The lightning sable also said that Long Chen carried the blessing of the seven-colored crane, was a good person, and would definitely help them.
"Bang!"
Long Chen picked up a stone from the ground, broke through the wall and barrier together, and said to the lightning sable:
"Gather your entire family and move as much as you want. It's not mine anyway."
After saying this, Long Chen sat cross-legged in front of the main gate, closing his eyes to contemplate. In less than half a day, Yu Qianxue came running in a rage, just in time to see thousands of lightning sables stealing treasures, and his face turned pale with rage.
"Long Chen, what are you doing?"
"Looking at the main gate?" Long Chen said lazily.
"Look at the gate—these lightning sables stealing rare medicines and you're not even careful?" Yu Qianxue pointed angrily at the frantically fleeing Lightning Sable.
"You want me to watch the main gate, againYou didn't let me look elsewhere, let me ask if the main gate is missing? Is it broken? Long Chen retorted.
"You..."
Yu Qianxue was so angry she almost lost her breath. She felt her blood and energy surging above her head, the world spinning wildly, and she collapsed just like that.