The Magus Era

The gate of the city was opened. Hao Tao, Tao Sha, and the other elders walked out together. People stood in ordered lines on both sides of the gate and bowed to Suiren. A few of these people were Suiren’s offspring, and their clans were originated from Suiren Family; they politely kneeled on the ground.

”Get up. No need to stand on ceremony…These things are indeed important, but too much would be bad.” Suiren waved his hand and said. Hearing him, people straightened their bodies one after another. Suiren looked at all surrounding people with mild and warm eyes, and his eyes stopped for a few seconds on Man Man, Shaosi, Taisi, and Yu Mu.

Guided by Ji Hao, Suiren and the others came to the headquarters tent. Seeing the Pan Gu bell and the Pan Gu Defense magic formation, Suiren stopped, pointed at the bell, smiled faintly and said, ”Marquis Yao, you’re a good commander.”

Ji Hao grinned embarrassedly. Suiren’s words sounded like a praise, yet Ji Hao didn’t feel being praised at all. On the contrary, he felt like being blamed slightly.

”You’re wonderful, almost like their parents.” continued Suiren.

Shaking his head, Suiren turned around and glanced at the group of warrior commanders, then said in a deep voice, ”You’re brave warriors. You are fighters of the human beings. You are strong men. You wear armors, hold weapons; you fight wild beasts, fight the non-humankind; you protect your own kind. You’re like the eagles fighting in the sky, instead of chickens hiding in your nests and shaking in fear.”

Pointing at the Pan Gu bell, Suiren carried on in that deep yet strong voice, ”This bell is very strong, and this great magic formation is strong as well. This city is safe under the storm and the hurricane, and is very comfortable to live in. Have you been hiding in this city all the time?”

As he chuckled, Suiren walked to Yi Di, pulled out a few arrows from his quiver, nodded and said, ”Hmm, these arrows are really not bad…These are at least ten times more powerful than the ones made by those top-grade master arrow crafters in the Eastern Wasteland, am I right? Where did you get these?”

Yi Di’s face turned dark. He squeezed a smile out of his face and responded, ”Marquis Yao gave us these!”

Suiren nodded and asked, ”Can you make these powerful arrows yourself?”

Yi Di and the other archers even had their faces turned green by now. They turned to Ji Hao together — What a joke! Even Eastern Wasteland masters couldn’t make these spell symbol arrows, not to mention these archers

Suiren turned to Ji Hao. Before he asked any question, Ji Hao hurriedly raised both hands and said, ”I disassembled the spell symbols in a ‘hurricane’ arrow, a ‘volcano collapse’ arrow and a ‘wolf tooth’ arrow with a pre-world supreme treasure. The treasure upgraded those spell symbols groups and automatically made these spell symbol arrows.”

Suiren nodded again, and responded with that deep voice, ”Which means, Marquis Yao, you can’t make these arrows yourself either, right?”

Ji Hao remained silent. Compared with that five-colored cauldron inside his body, his own handcraft was a total mess. Perhaps, the arrows made by Po could be even more powerful than these spell symbols arrows. But Po was not like the cauldron, and he could never produce millions of super-grade spell symbols arrows at a time.

”If that treasure of yours disappeared, can you still fulfill these boys’ needs?” Suiren glanced at Ji Hao, turned back to Yi Di, and continued, ”If one day, Marquis Yao is not by your side, and you don’t have these super-grade arrows anymore, can you still fight?”

The faces of Yi Di and the other Eastern Wasteland commanders around him suddenly turned deathly pale; even their legs began shaking. None of them could say a word.

Suiren then walked to Tao Sha and the other few Taotie Clan elders. Poking those Taotie tooth chains tied around these elders’ waists, he said with a bland tone, ”I think only one Taotie tooth is possessed by Taotie Clan, as the greatest treasure. How many do you have now?”

Man Man raised her own Taotie tooth chain with both hands and responded, ”Three-Hundred and one, including this one of mine!”

Suiren smilingly glanced at Man Man and said, ”You make one or two for the little girl as toys, fine. But you are elders of your clan, and these fake Taotie tooth…Alright, alright, not too many powerful treasures like this existed in the world, and It’s not a bad thing for you to prepare some of these. But look at your armors, your weapons, and everything you are wearing now!”

People lowered their heads and looked at their armors and weapons.

The armors and weapons using by all warriors in this city were productions of Ji Hao’s five-colored cauldron. Those gears were all ungraded and remolded by Ji Hao, and were much better than productions of the other human clans.

”Strong armors can make it easier for you to survive on battlefields; good weapons can allow you to kill more enemies.” said Suiren, ”This is good…The only problem is… did you make these armors and weapons with your own hands?”

”Did those blacksmiths in your clans hammer these armors and weapons over and over again? The spell symbols on these armors and weapons, did those Maguspriests in your clan carve those personally?” Suiren continued in a louder voice.

”Once you are used to these good armors and weapons gained from Marquis Yao with no effort, once you have lost the passion to create better forging techniques and stronger spell symbols, once you think nothing but getting better armors and weapons from Marquis Yao…If one day, Marquis Yao is not here for you anymore, what would you do?”

Suiren walked to Ji Hao, shook his head, and grabbed Ji Hao’s wrist.

”I was going to say more to you, but I had a chance to rethink. I don’t need to say too much to you, and you shall think about it yourselves. Think about what should you do for the future.”

Pointing at the north, Suiren continued, ”In the north, those water-kind creatures are heading south again. Stop them, buy some time for the flood-control troops in Pu Ban City, this is what you should be doing. Staying in this city like chickens, or rushing out, fighting those water-kind things, maybe showering in blood… You choose!”

”I only want you to remember one thing. In all ages, facing all enemies, human warriors never won a single battle by hiding behind a tall and strong wall! The territories we have today, the homelands we are living in, those were all earned by generations of warriors with their swords and blades and hot blood!”

”Are you all cowards now? Are you all afraid of death now?”

Suiren’s words sounded heavy. The faces of all present elders, commanders and warriors blushed instantly.

”Hao Tao, from now on, this army is under your command. I will give you no requirement. I only want you to try your best!” Suiren pointed at Hao Tao, then waved his hand. Following his move, the Pan Gu bell silently and quickly flew to Ji Hao.

Ji Hao took back the Pan Gu bell. Following Suiren’s words, he gathered Man Man, Shaosi, Taisi, Feng Xing and Yu Mu. Other than them, all the others were left in the city, under Hao Tao’s command, even including Yemo Shayi. Afterward, Suiren waved his broad sleeve and sent up a dazzling fiery light, then disappeared with Ji Hao and his friends.