Armipotent

Chapter 969: Life Is a ProblemThe three days break was over. It was time to continue their expedition on Dimensional Tower. In those three days, he managed to solve one of his issues, but another issue came up. Just like people said, life itself was an issue. As long as you lived, more issues would come to you. He experienced it now.        

Tang Shaoyang managed to find a direction for the empire and himself, the purpose of his power and life. He wanted to build the strongest empire on Earth. By becoming stronger, he would be able to protect everyone. It was similar to his original goal where he wanted power to protect the people he loved. The scale was different this time. If before it was a district, this time it was an empire.    

To do so, he needed a strong foundation for his empire. Instead of arbitrarily expanding his territory, he wanted to use the current territory to the fullest, conquering all the territories by completing the Survival Game in each city. When he voiced that, Zhang Mengyao and Li Shuang agreed to completely halt the expansion. The Tang Empireʼs main focus was to conquer the territories, strengthening their force along the way. A clear goal helped him how he wanted to develop the empire.    

Tang Shaoyang solved that one issue, but another issue popped out. It was about Avaʼs pregnancy, the child inside her belly. He was troubled with this because he wanted the child to be born with a father. However, he could not openly admit Ava conceived his child as it would cause great unrest to his people. He thought very hard about a viable way to tell his people Ava was expecting his child without a backlash, but he could not think anything.    

”You seem troubled by something?” Zhang Mengyao noticed her man was in a daze.    

Tang Shaoyang snapped out of his thoughts and glanced toward her. He stared at her for a good few seconds before shaking his head. He also did not know how to tell the situation to Zhang Mengyao even though he knew that he must tell her. There was a fear that prevented him from telling her the situation, a fear that Zhang Mengyao and the other girls would leave him. Avaʼs situation was different from Jasmineʼs. If it was the Malecia Kingdomʼs Queen who was pregnant, he would open it up to the other girls. However, Ava was Revalorʼs wife; he did not know how they would react if he told them about Ava.    

”Nothing,” He shook his head and led the team to the portal. He decided to save the issue for a later date as he had to focus on the expedition.    

After three days of discussion, Tang Shaoyang formed a new team for the Dimensional Towerʼs expedition with him as the leader. The team consisted of five hundred members. He brought a hundred elves with him. Aleesa and Ava were in the group of the elves, leading the elven team. Another hundred of the Moonlight Rabbit with Sylvia and Moonsong leading them. He also brought fifty people from the intelligence division and another fifty from the healer division. Then he also brought another hundred mixed beastmen with Aki the Dark Tremor as their leader. The remainder of a hundred people was Tarrior with Liang Suyin as their leader.    

It was a solid team in Tang Shaoyangʼs eyes. After the first two floors of the Dimensional Tower, he realized he did not need to bring many people to clear each floor. It was not about leveling up but a race that cleared the floor faster. At the end of the mission, they would be rewarded access to the cleared floor. They could grind up for level later, so what mattered the most was the clearing speed.    

Of course, bringing a huge army had its own advantage, but Tang Shaoyang himself was an army. He, alone, was enough to represent fifty thousand if not a hundred thousand people. Along with the spirit, he was a one-man army. That was the reason he reduced the number of the team. On top of that, they were more flexible with the small number.    

The team entered the portal and teleported to the plaza in the tower area. He glanced at Selena, Arina, Liang Suyin, and Lu An, who stood next to him, ”Thereʼs no more preparation, right?”    

”Yes. We can immediately depart into the Dimensional Tower, Your Majesty.” Lu An and Liang Suyin replied almost simultaneously. In front of the public, they addressed him with the official title, showing their respect for the Emperor.    

Tang Shaoyang was about to lead the team to the tower right away, but the group was surrounded by many people. Everyone on the team immediately drew their weapon while Tang Shaoyang observed the crowd. He did not recognize any of them, and they did not wear the Tarriorʼs armor, meaning these people were from the other guilds.    

ʼAre they trying to prevent us from clearing the dimensional tower?ʼ He thought to himself. If a fight broke out, all the involved would get blacklisted from entering the tower by the System. That was the only way to prevent The Tang Empire from clearing the Dimensional Tower. He thought so because the Tang Empire had claimed the first two floorsʼ benefit while the other factions failed to do so.    

”We demand justice!” The chant started from one person, but the chanting was immediately followed by the others. The plaza boomed with the chant of thousands of people.    

Tang Shaoyang was annoyed with all this nonsense. They came out of nowhere and started to chant, ”We demand justice!”. The fierce aura flared out from Tang Shaoyang, sweeping the crowd. The crowd took several steps backward as the aura startled them. From the shock, it changed to fear.    

”If you donʼt want to die, then move away!” Lu An gave the warning to the crowd. It deterred them as they completely stopped the chant, but they did not disperse. They blocked the path to the Dimensional Towerʼs entrance.    

It took a lot of effort for Tang Shaoyang to hold back instead of blowing these people away. Once he attacked them, the consequence would be a one-month ban from the tower. That was something he must avoid because they raced against time. Even though he was confident in his strength, there was a chance he would still fail. The main issue was the puzzle; he had to figure out by himself how to clear the mission on each floor. The time to figure out the mission might take longer than completing the mission itself. The thing happened on the second floor.    

Liang Suyin came closer to Tang Shaoyang and whispered the issue with these people. He understood the meaning behind the chant.    

The people from the other factions had not returned from the second floor, and these people thought their leaders and elite were killed by the Tang Empire. That was the source ”We demand justice!” chant. However, he heard from Zhang Mengyao that they did not encounter anyone from the other factions. That meant even if they were dead, The Tang Empire was not the one responsible for their death.    

”So these people thought we killed their leaders?” Tang Shaoyang muttered and stared at the man who stood in front of the crowd, ”So what if we killed your leaders?” He took a step forward and questioned the man.    

”You!” The man pointed his finger at Tang Shaoyang, but no words came out of his mouth when Tang Shaoyang came to him straightforwardly like that. It was as if it was something normal, killing people.    

”You inhumane monster! How can you regard peopleʼs lives lightly!”    

Tang Shaoyang turned toward the second voice. The one who called him an inhumane monster was a different person, ”Who are you? And which faction are you from?”    

”I am a member of Blue Vest Guild!” The man replied unwaveringly with no fear. He thought he was on the right side, and the Tang Empire was on the wrong side. The Tang Empire was a tyrant they hated.    

”When your guild leader tried to kill my Supreme General in broad daylight, what did you do at that time? Did you try to stop your guild leader!?”        

”What did you try to say? Your Supreme Commander is still alive! Stop with your nonsense accusation, you demon!”    

”Stupid of me trying to use logic against a power-drunk moron,” Tang Shaoyang realized how stupid he was to speak reason with these people, ”If you are not a moron, then you can check the guild member list. If your guild leadersʼ names are still there, then they are still alive, you dumb shit!”    

These people just realized they could do that to check if their leaders were still alive or not. They seemed to open their guild list immediately right after hearing Tang Shaoyangʼs words. They realized their guild leadersʼ names were still on the list, meaning their leaders were still alive.    

”Now you know your leaders are still alive. Move before I start slaughtering you all!” Tang Shaoyang originally just disliked these people, but it changed once they tried to hurt Zhang Mengyao. He regarded them as his enemy, and for sure, he would kill them all if they met outside the safe region. The fact he managed to hold back from killing these people was a feat.    

Hearing the thundering voice, the crowd moved to the side, creating a path to the Dimensional Towerʼs entrance.    

”These idiots donʼt even know the basics,” He cursed under his breath, clear enough for the crowd to hear him.    

They flinched when the gnashing voice entered the voice. When the idiot word entered their ears, their bodies shuddered. The rationality returned to these peopleʼs heads as they tried to create a distance between Tang Shaoyang and the group.    

Tang Shaoyang picked up his pace and reached the entrance. He turned around, scanning his people. His team nodded, a signal that they were ready to enter the Dimensional Tower.