214 – Subduing Artais
No matter how many times Yang Feng trained in the virtual reality battle cabin, but the sense of danger and urgency he experienced was far less than that of an actual battle. After all, in the virtual reality battle cabin, Yang Feng knew that he could revive no matter how many times he was defeated. On an actual battlefield, however, you could end up like Belinda if you were to get distracted.
Artais’ private soldiers repeated the same trick, sending lime and sand as well as nets toward Yang Feng.
When the sand and lime touched Yang Feng's life force cover, they were jolted away. Faced with the level-3 secret treasure Sword of Light in his hand, the special nets were also ineffective.
“Web!”
“Arcane Projectiles!”
“Drowsy!”
“…”
The Apprentice Wizards clenched their teeth and cast level-0 spells with all their might, sending them toward Yang Feng.
Once the offensive level-0 spells slammed onto Yang Feng's life force cover, they immediately collapsed. The cobwebs that emerged from thin air were also broken by a strike from Yang Feng’s sword. The power of the level-1 spell Drowsy was greatly reduced after passing through Yang Feng’s life force cover before being dispelled by Light of Intervention covering his body.
After crossing a sea of blood, there was suddenly a clearing in front of him. Yang Feng appeared in front of Artais.
Without hesitation, Artais threw the sword in his hand aside, knelt on the ground, looked up at Yang Feng, and pleaded: “Master Ian, I have something to say! I’m willing to have all my subordinates put down their weapons and surrender to you! Please listen to what I have to say! Please cast a soundproofing spell and listen to what I have to say. If you still want to kill me after listening to me, then you can do as you please!”
Yang Feng smiled faintly and silently recited an incantation. A strange magic fluctuation shrouded him and Artais, completely cutting off the sound of their conversation to the outside world.
Artais said in an orderly manner: “You’re a hero on a great endeavor in the Red Earth Wasteland, Master Ian. You’re bound to become a legendary master and leave your mark in the annals of history. You’re a mighty being, a being in the light. If there is light, then there must also be darkness. I wish to rely on you and serve you. I wish to become your shadow in the darkness and help you deal with things that you find inconvenient to deal with yourself! I wish to help you spread your light all over!”
“I’m a baron of a small family in the Morrince Empire, I’ve been in the Rydgex City for many years and have a lot of influence there, and I have an over 1,000-strong private troop at my back and call. If you have the money, then I can recruit thousands more warriors. You subdued me and all these forces are yours now. I can be your ears as well as your dagger. So long as you spare my life, you can get a loyal dog treading for you in the darkness. I know that it’s difficult for you to believe in my loyalty right away. However, Wizards have countless means and you should be able to find a way to control me. I volunteer to be controlled by you! Please spare my pathetic life, Sir!”
Yang Feng raised his brows. It was the first time he met an aristocrat without integrity, who would degrade himself in order to survive. His killing intent gradually subsided after listening to Artais.
The Red Earth Wasteland was extremely impoverished, it lacked people, money, supplies, it lacked everything. Besides, the Red Earth Wasteland was surrounded by the Morrince Empire, Elven Empire, Beastman Empire, and Titan Empire. To build and then keep the city, Yang Feng needed to have the support of many forces.
Although Artais was despicable and shameless, vicious and merciless, and had no integrity, but he was a capable person, nevertheless. Yang Feng lacked such a capable person.
He flipped his hand and a vial of Liquid-Metal Nano-Robot Elixir appeared in his hand. He said indifferently: “This is a magic elixir. When used, your body will be destroyed bit by bit from inside out and you’ll die if you think about betraying me. By then, not even the gods will be able to save you.”
Without hesitation, Artais grabbed the vial of Liquid-Metal Nano-Robot Elixir: “Master, thank you very much for granting me this elixir!”
As if having a life of its own, the vial broke away from Artais’ right hand, lifted itself into the air, and pricked his arm.
Artais was slightly startled and his body swayed. He immediately restrained himself from catching the vial and watched as the elixir was injected into his body.
Yang Feng snapped his fingers after Artais was injected with the Liquid-Metal Nano-Robot Elixir.
In an instant, the Liquid-Metal Nano-Robots stimulated Artais’ aperture points and extremely powerful life potential surged inside Artais’ body.
Artais suddenly erupted with formidable qi, promoting to an official Knight.
Artais flattered in excitement: “Thank you very much for granting me such formidable strength, Master. Your capability is simply unfathomable, you’re like the embodiment of a god treading in the secular world!”
Yang Feng gave Artais a meaningful look. According to the information sent back by the Liquid-Metal Nano-Robots, Artais wasn’t as excited as he appeared to be.
Artais' strong point wasn’t his cultivation base and military strength, but his aristocratic identity, cunning head, and tremendous influence. Under his design, Gerald and Belinda were respectively killed and captured by him. If he hadn’t misjudged Yang Feng’s strength, he wouldn’t have been defeated.
Artais’ mind shivered slightly after receiving Yang Feng’s meaningful look, yet his expression was still that of excitement, looking like a loyal dog.
Yang Feng said indifferently: “A new city needs a lot of supplies. I need people, weapons, foodstuff, and water! Send half of your men to the Rhine River to fetch water! The rest is to help me get the supplies I need. In addition, I want you to build me a huge intelligence network in the four empires. I want to be the first one to know about anything that happens in the four empires.”
Artais thought for a while and said: “Master, the elves of the Elven Empire live all in the Elven Woods. No human is allowed to enter the woods. The only window of opportunity for humans to trade with them is via the Ancient Green Forest City. It's very hard to get a hold of intelligence on those sharpears. As for the other three empires, so long as there’s enough money, building a huge intelligence network won’t be too difficult.”
The Elven Empire was extremely exclusive. It was entirely confined to the Elven Woods. It was somewhat isolated, with the only point of contact with the rest of the world being the Ancient Green Forest City.
There, elves sold their special products to and purchased a variety of supplies from humans.
Humans could only come across a lot of elves in the Ancient Green Forest City.
However, the Ancient Green Forest City was heavily defended and had 100,000 elite elven troops stationed. There, experts were as common as clouds.
Anyone attempting to hunt elves in the Ancient Green Forest City would be hung from tall ironwoods and exposed to the elements once caught.
Outside the Ancient Green Forest City was the Ironwood Corpse Forest. In the Ironwood Corpse Forest hung over 30,000 dessicated corpses. These were the bodies of slave hunters, half of which were humans and the other half were beastmen, half blood beastmen, other races, and even half blood elves. The 30,000 terrifying, dessicated corpses served as a warning to the outsiders not to hunt elves. Every year, however, there were desperate scum taking chances before being added to the Ironwood Corpse Forest as corpses.
“Money is not a problem!” Yang Feng tossed Artais a storage ring: “Use these to establish a huge intelligence network. As for the Elven Empire, establish an intelligence network in the Ancient Green Forest City.”
“This is a space ring!!” Artais' mind shook when he received the storage ring. In the Feisuo Plane, only greater aristocrats like earls and dukes could possess a space ring. Such a lesser aristocrat like Artais, who had only heard of space ring, had his heart jump wildly and was extremely excited upon receiving one.
Artais’ consciousness entered the storage ring. Suddenly, his eyes surged with excitement: “100,000 magic energy stones! Such a big sum! Worthy of a Great Wizard! No, even among Great Wizards, few could compare with him in terms of riches. Looks like I’m on the right side!”
In the Feisuo Plane, these 100,000 magic stones could easily be exchanged for over 80 million gold coins. 80 million gold coins could not only easily cover Artais’ losses, but also let him establish an extremely formidable intelligence network.
Artais revealed a flattering smile, saying: “Thank you for your trust, Master. I will serve you with my life. I won’t let you down.”
Yang Feng said: “Rise!”
Artais swiftly climbed onto his feet: “Yes! Master!”
Yang Feng waved his hand and lifted the soundproofing spell.
Artais said loudly: “Everyone, listen, after listening to my pleading, the mighty Great Wizard Ian finally showed great mercy and agreed to let us live. Now, retreat immediately! I, Artais, will compensate you for your losses!!”
Artais’ private troops breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at the beautiful elves with some reluctance, yet in the end, they still didn’t dare to go against Artais’ orders and left with him. They were scared of Yang Feng. Nearly 200 people fell to Yang Feng’s sword, yet he himself was untainted even by a speck of dust. Such a powerhouse gave rise to despair in their minds.
In this place, only Yang Feng and the 300 beautiful elves, who were tightly tied down, were left.
The atmosphere had become a bit weird.
Dread and vigilance flashed past Belinda’s eyes as she watched Yang Feng.
If the 300 pureblood elves were to be sold in the human territory, they were sure to go for a sky-high price. Karina, in particular, was a peerless beauty of the Krossdale Family. If she was offered to an emperor of a human empire, you could definitely acquire the title of earl along with a territory and become a genuine aristocrat.
Using these 300 pureblood elves, you could exchange them for money, beauties, aristocratic title, authority, and territory in a human empire. It was difficult for a human not to get tempted.