Chapter 130: The Shameless Old Miser-King

Wise and deep-thinking figures like the Princess Royal and Arshavin naturally understood the source of this little king’s anger.

The ruins atop the Eastern Peak Summit, the towering columns of smoke and flame within Shampoo City, and this disastrously chaotic king’s coronation ceremony—aside from the involvement of the Cold-Blooded Enchantress Paris—were largely also due to the Princess Royal and “Zenit War God” Arshavin and others. If the Princess Royal hadn’t initially chosen Shampoo City as the location for this confrontation, perhaps none of today’s events would have happened.

Arshavin’s face remained gloomy. Without saying a word, he urged his fire element battle qi to flow, patiently soothing and healing his injuries.

Even if she was slow-witted, the female warrior Susan sensed the icy hostility emanating from Sun Fei. Tightly gripping her sword, she stood alongside Grand Knight-Captain Roman Pavlyuchenko and the surviving cavalrymen, forming a tight protective circle around the Princess Royal. They feared Sun Fei might lash out violently in his anger and harm the Princess. Among them, Grand Knight-Captain Roman Pavlyuchenko felt the most complicated emotions. Just over ten days earlier, during the conflict at the victory banquet, he hadn’t given the young man before him a second thought, not even feeling the desire to strike him. But now, when this same young man stood before him again, Pavlyuchenko shockingly realized he had already lost the qualification to even consider attacking.

In terms of individual strength, Pavlyuchenko was far, far from Sun Fei’s match.

However, as a Grand Knight-Captain, Pavlyuchenko’s strengths weren’t in personal combat; leading troops, breaking enemy formations, strategy, and battlefield tactics were his forte. If given a full two-hundred-man cavalry phalanx under his command, he was absolutely confident he could defeat Sun Fei head-on. But right now… it was best to just bow his head obediently.

The atmosphere became more oppressive than during the fierce fighting moments before.

Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw!

Hundreds of black carrion birds overhead, drawn by the scent of corpses and blood from the Eastern Peak Summit, stubbornly refused to disperse. They let out continuous, grating screeches that frayed everyone’s nerves.

BOOM!

Sun Fei suddenly threw a fist punch towards the sky.

The force from his fist was terrifyingly immense, exploding the air. Amidst the deafening boom, a visible shockwave blast shot violently upwards. The carrion birds hovering in the sky couldn’t dodge in time. Forty or fifty let out mournful shrieks as they instantly burst into clouds of blood mist mid-wail. This palpable killing intent finally made the death-sensitive carrion birds see the reality. They swiftly fled.

Shing! Shing! Shing! Shing!

Terrified, the cavalry and the female warrior Susan drew their longswords, steeling themselves for the worst.

“Alright, that feels much better now… Your Highness the Princess Royal, apologies for startling you!”

Sun Fei’s words made the female warrior and the cavalry exhale slightly in relief. It seemed this lord had finally seen reason. Only the Princess Royal herself hadn’t shown the slightest worry from start to finish. She had apparently long anticipated Sun Fei would ultimately make this choice. Her sky-blue eyes, deep as the ocean’s abyss, caught the sunlight as she offered a rare, light smile and nodded gently. “Your Majesty Alexander. Thank you for today’s events.”

Sun Fei gave a faint smile and said nothing more.

To be honest, from the very beginning until now, Sun Fei had never dared to underestimate this woman.

Although it seemed like he had dramatically rescued the Princess Royal when she was deep in crisis, Sun Fei harbored a strange feeling all along — even if he hadn’t intervened today, the Princess Royal likely had unrevealed trump cards capable of turning the tide. What earth-shattering trump cards those might be, Sun Fei had no idea. But at the very least, throughout the entire ordeal, this frail woman, seeming as if recently recovered from a serious illness, had remained astonishingly calm. Calm to the point she looked like just a casual observer.

Sun Fei switched to [Assassin Mode] and soon cleared away the numerous invisible magic traps strewn everywhere.

The Eastern Peak Summit was now severely damaged. The main structure, the Royal Altar, was completely reduced to rubble. More than half of the massive stone statues symbolizing the glory of Shampoo City’s past kings and heroes lay destroyed. Debris littered everything. Over one hundred soldiers from Shampoo City’s [Iron Army], having received a signal, quickly appeared at the mountaintop. They were led by the king’s personal aide Fernando Torres and the Guard Captain Peter Cech. These were the elite soldiers carefully selected by Brook and Cech for His Majesty, undergoing slow tempering and transformation via the [Hulk Potion]. Each possessed monstrous strength; a single soldier could lift a near-thousand-pound boulder with ease. The cleanup of the ruins proceeded very swiftly, earning Sun Fei bonus points in the eyes of Zenit’s bigwigs. The surviving cavalry nearly choked on their tongues, mouths agape to their ears. They finally understood: Shampoo City’s King was a monster, and his soldiers were monsters too. Given such terrifying might, even if they all banded together, they wouldn’t be a match for just one soldier of Shampoo City.

The handsome old man Best appeared before the Princess Royal, holding an open ledger, wearing a thin, not-quite-genuine smile.

“Your Highness, deepest apologies for the shock you endured during the ceremony… However, Shampoo City’s losses this time are truly immense… And… well, some of the unnecessary destruction was entirely caused by the Imperial delegation… We… heh heh… Might Your Highness consider petitioning the Imperial Finance Minister for some aid… After all, His Majesty Alexander and Shampoo City paid a heavy price safeguarding Your Highness…”

The female warrior Susan and the cavalrymen nearly bit off their own tongues. This old flirt dared to demand compensation for losses from the Princess Royal?

Yet, they were utterly flabbergasted. Faced with this old charmer, whose every move dripped courteousness beyond reproach, suffused with aristocratic elegance, yet clinging obstinately to his ledger like a haggling commoner, even the Princess Royal, famed as a [Female Literary Sage], found herself temporarily helpless. She could neither strike him nor properly scold him. Utterly resigned, her expression was one of pure defeat. She ultimately fared no better than the princes of Shenhua Kingdom. Best, mixing firm demands with honeyed words, pressured her into signing a document committing Zenit Empire to financial aid on behalf of the delegation.

While his father-in-law was scoring such victories, Sun Fei stood before the injured [Zenit War God], Andrei Arshavin, who was currently tending to his wounds.

This famed God of War had truly experienced awful luck today. His meticulously planned ‘Golden Cicada Sheds Shell’ escape tactic hadn’t merely failed; it had been turned against him, exposing him to a sneak attack that nearly capsized him – quite literally burying him in this remote little border kingdom. His reputation suffered immensely. For Arshavin, however, the loss of face was secondary.

This severe injury was nothing less than a devastating blow. The current situation within Zenit’s Imperial Capital was volatile. Emperor Yassin, who had held the Empire’s reins for over sixty years, grew increasingly frail. Arshavin and the Second Prince Domingos were considered the leading candidates among the brothers most likely to inherit the throne. Conflict between them had escalated to white-hot levels. Second Prince Domingos was a formidable opponent, gifted and ruthless, commanding the support of numerous ministers and nobles within the Capital. Facing such a rival, Arshavin’s injury would inevitably be seized upon, creating significant disadvantage within his own faction. If he couldn’t recover soon, the [Zenit War God] would face unprecedented and extreme difficulty in the competition for the Imperial throne.

The problem was, his injuries absolutely couldn’t heal within half a year.

The powerful energy [The Butcher] Sandero blasted into his body, amplified and altered by those two strange rings in his stomach, had become exceptionally fierce and dominant. Despite Arshavin’s prodigious Six-Star Level strength, characterized by his profound, blade-like battle qi, he found it utterly impossible to suppress it. He could only laboriously guide and disperse the foreign power. He had concentrated entirely on healing since being wounded, but the results were minimal. His most significant achievement so far was stabilizing the injury within his body to prevent further deterioration. Driving out that ferocious intruding force was currently unthinkable.

The situation of the purple-clad girl Purple Flame, encircled by shimmering amethyst fire, was similar to Arshavin’s. Her stunningly beautiful face was dotted with glistening beads of sweat, her delicate nose wrinkled slightly in obvious dissatisfaction with the slow progress of her healing.

“Hey, pretty lady! Thanks for your concern earlier!” Sun Fei walked to Purple Flame and smiled, handing her a small purple vial – a [Full Rejuvenation Potion]. “This might help with your injuries.”

Purple Flame looked at him with skeptical eyes.

But seeing that bright, sunny grin – brighter than the overhead sun itself – she hesitated briefly, recalling how she’d warned Sun Fei when the pale-robed assassin ambushed him, and how those severe crater-like wounds healed unnaturally fast. She accepted the faintly warm vial without another thought. Pulling out the stopper, she tilted her head back, exposing her graceful, swan-like neck, and drained the liquid in one swift gulp.

An indescribable, gentle warmth instantly surged within Purple Flame’s body. That ferocious intruding energy, suppressed by this gentle medicinal force, dissolved like snow meeting boiling broth. Vanishing without resistance, it was gone in seconds.

The purple flames flickered, then disappeared entirely back into the girl’s body. She was amazed to discover her grievous wounds were miraculously seventy to eighty percent healed. With meticulous nurturing care over the next couple of months, a complete recovery back to her peak state would follow naturally.

“Thank you, King Alexander!”

The girl Purple Flame gave a slight bow. Perhaps she herself didn’t realize her attitude toward Sun Fei had undergone a significant change – shifting from the initial disdain to one of curiosity and goodwill. Even her form of address had transformed: from ‘barbaric madman’ to ‘King Alexander’.

Sun Fei offered a warm smile.

He turned and strode over to Arshavin. Without a word, he tossed down half a bottle of the [Full Rejuvenation Potion]. Then, mounting the Big Black Dog with his fiancée Angela held securely in his arms, Sun Fei simply left the Eastern Peak Summit.

If Arshavin was truly smart, after today, he wouldn’t bear resentment towards Sun Fei. Quite the opposite, he would likely seek Sun Fei’s favor and allegiance through every possible means. Even the escaped Cold-Blooded Enchantress Paris Hilton and the faction of Second Prince Domingos behind her would undoubtedly dispatch someone to attempt pulling Sun Fei over to their side. The real reason Sun Fei had permitted this Sorceress to flee wasn’t pity for her beauty, nor being moved by the fierce devotion of the [Snow Peak Recluse] swordsman Dani. It was precisely, strategically, for the future safety of Shampoo City.