High Above

There was a steady and soft sound of footsteps on the stairs, and a young man wearing a moon-white alchemical robe and the Iron People officer standing behind him slowly appeared in front of the waiting people.

He has a slender figure, and is obviously the type who stays in the alchemy laboratory all day long, rarely going out twice a year, and his appearance makes everyone present feel stunned. For a while, they can't figure out why. Will they come to this gloomy and dilapidated castle of Ryan - are they here to listen to the speech of the ascendant who calls himself Lord Ryan, or are they going to attend some of the most elegant noble banquets?

This is a temperament that can change the atmosphere of a scene in an instant.

The white-haired boy stood at the upper half of the stairs, his green eyes looking down at the president of the chamber of commerce, the shop owner, the captain of the guard and the tax collector with different expressions. These people could be said to be the most powerful people in Ryan City except the lords. The largest group of people are now gathered here with uneasiness, waiting for his next speech and remarks.

"I am Ian, your new lord."

Ian said simply, the invisible fluctuations brought up the moist breath, echoed throughout the castle hall, and made several sublimators change their expressions - they felt that the movement of their source matter began to stagnate. This was a sign of strength far greater than Their higher Ascendants show signs of their own degree of control over the surrounding psychic fields.

——This young man who looks like he has just reached adulthood is actually already a second-level ascendant? !

How could He De, the leader of Leian, have such a genius as the leader? !

Before they could react from such surprise, Ian's next words stunned them: "I don't know how Baron Ryan manages you, but my temper is very bad, especially since I am actually in Ryan." An Ling saw grain merchants stocking grain during the war."

"Xilin, stand up."

The young man's voice sounded nice, but the indifferent and cold feeling, mixed with the cold and damp feeling in the entire castle, made everyone present feel a shiver.

The grain merchant named Xilin who was named by Ian suddenly felt a chill running down his spine. He swallowed and originally wanted to explain something before moving forward, but other businessmen, officials and local families standing around him The clan leaders all took a step back.

This middle-aged man, who looked generous and even a little fat, stood alone at the front of the hall.

"You are a spy from the Flying Fire Land."

Ian said simply and sentenced him to death. The young man's eyes lit up with a water-colored halo that represented spiritual power: "Don't quibble, because I have already seen this."

"You purchased most of the cheap food in Le'an before the mountain people rebelled, and the empire's aid was provided by you alone. This is the reason why Le'an City is trapped in a food shortage. Ordinary people don't have enough to eat and are in panic all day long. .”

"Without you, Ryan City would not have fallen into chaos."

"It's unfair, sir! I'm really not a spy! I just didn't expect that the people who wanted such a large food order were from Feiyandi. They pretended to be other chambers of commerce. I only guessed it later..."

The obese middle-aged man immediately knelt on the ground, bowed to Ian who was still standing on the stairs, and cried bitterly: "I am absolutely loyal to the empire, and I have orders to prove it..."

——How stupid.

This sentence flashed through the minds of not only Ian and Scott, but also everyone else present.

He actually thought that if a noble and ascendant wanted to deal with him, what kind of evidence would he need?

He actually thought that he could escape with his life just by crying and wailing for mercy.

It seemed that it was the young lord's appearance that made him undeservedly lucky.

"Scott."

Ian softly called his adjutant's name, and the Iron Civilian officer walked down the stairs. He pointed his charged rifle at the grain merchant who was still kowtowing desperately.

He didn't have any cruel expression, nor any excitement. He just obeyed the order and pulled the trigger, as naturally as breathing.

Before dying, Xilin raised his head and struggled to say one more word for mercy - he wanted to say that he could give all the food he had stored, all his wealth, and even the channels of the Flying Flame Land to this lord. Let him get greater credit.

But in the end, all that was left in his retina was Ian's long hair and a careless profile.

A dazzling stream of light filled everything, followed by darkness.

His head disappeared. A golden-red pit appeared on the ground.

"I'm glad there's only one spy, which means I only have one person to execute today."

Ian smiled and walked down the stairs, raising his hand in gesture.

The soldiers of the White People in the castle moved out their seats, while the young man Shi Shiran sat on the main seat, looking at the people who all had their heads lowered, swallowed their saliva, and did not dare to say a word.

He said calmly: "Remember, stockpiling food during war is an absolute capital crime. All bulk purchases and sales of resources in the territory must be reported to me or the future city hall in advance."

"If you don't follow this rule, you will die."

"Can you understand?"

"Ming, I understand, sir!"

At this moment, no one dared to look down on Ian because of his appearance. Rather, it would be better to say that Ian's handsome appearance was not in line with the atmosphere of Ryan City, and even gave them an extremely bone-chilling sense of fear.

It was a feeling of being aloof and not caring about their thoughts at all, just like the people in the sky.

"very good."

On the seat, the white-haired boy nodded. He crossed his legs and put his hands on his knees: "At least your attitude is okay."

"But that doesn't mean you can satisfy me."

The smell of fear is spreading.

In the continent of Terra, the rule of the Ascendant nobles is both gentle and cruel.

Moderate because in a place like Terra, if the Ascended One has no special hobbies, does not conduct crazy research like the Academy of Gnosis, and has no interest in torturing his own territory.

Then most of the Ascended Lords live their own small lives. Apart from hunting, they try to find children. They are laissez-faire about the development of the entire territory and have an optimistic and encouraging attitude.

They don't care about the offenses of their subjects, and they just laugh at some conflicts and common interests - no one will die because their cat accidentally breaks a plate, or begs for food from them. , scolding and scolding, right?

Even that request might be a bit greedy, but so what?

They don't care about this little thing, as long as it doesn't prevent them from obtaining further potion materials.

There are many such gentle lords and nobles, and it can even be said that they are the template for most of the small nobles on Terra who are getting along.

The coolness is very simple - most nobles who have their own ideas and plans are extremely cool and intolerable in the eyes of ordinary people.

Because in essence, sublimated people do not need the people to support themselves. Having a territory is a channel for obtaining resources, but this does not mean that they will distort their ideas too much for this channel.

——If you don’t do it, others will. If your family doesn't do it, then let my family do it.

If a brand new lord comes to his unfamiliar territory, he will be dissatisfied with the local squires and merchants who are uncooperative - if such fools still exist on the continent of Terra - and think that the other party is not worthy of him. Words of patience.

Destruction will be as swift as sunlight.

For example, a small and wealthy city that was once located on the Haga Peninsula, whose main industries were olives and cattle ranching, welcomed a new lord sent by the empire because the previous generation of lords died.

The local families and chambers of commerce have become quite wealthy due to years of business, occupying almost all the resources in this town, and are quite arrogant in believing that they have the technology to make wealth, and the lord should accommodate them and cooperate with them, otherwise , the wealth of this wealthy town will not be open to him.

If it were on Earth, this might not be surprising - officials don't fight with local officials, no matter how big a noble they are, they must cooperate with well-known local families to rule their territories stably.

But Terra was different.

When the new lord came to this town, he was shocked to find that he was even politely refused to build a training ground for practicing swordsmanship, and he was vaguely disdainful when he wanted to build a swordsmanship school to teach his skills. , no matter what he does, there seems to be an invisible force resisting him.

He became a little angry.

Two days later, the leaders of the chamber of commerce and family patriarchs were hung on wooden poles for crimes such as 'corruption' and 'rebellion and collaboration with the enemy', and were used as living materials for the lord to practice his sword.

Because he was a very skilled swordsman, they cried for two weeks before dying.

So, is this swordsman lord a very rough, cruel and unscrupulous person?

It may or may not be the case.

In the eyes of outsiders, the great swordsman Elachi Dek is a famously generous lord. He exempts all those who have settled in his territory for more than ten years from paying taxes, and his usual residence is just a small handmade tent. , usually practices his sword in the tide on the coast, catches fish when he is hungry, and drinks sea water when he is thirsty.

He even conducted free Ascension tests for children of appropriate age in the territory, taught some highly talented children how to practice swordsmanship, and trained more than ten Ascension swordsmen in the past thirty-five years.

All are free.

Because he is too lazy to accept the silver coins used by ordinary people, he will only accept the sublimation materials with a nod, but he will also give advice on the opponent's sword skills.

Of course, the original small town famous for its olives and calves has long since disappeared - the great swordsman didn't care about these things at all.

All that exists today is the famous swordsmanship town of Dirkling.

Most of Terra's lords actually don't care what kind of industry their territory has. In the final analysis, they just want to do what they want to do in their own place - it's best if the territory has help, but it's okay if there is no help. that's it.

Just like Ian is now.

It's just that Ryan happens to have the industry he wants to do, which can save him a lot of time.

"My family's Chamber of Commerce will arrive soon. Maybe the day after tomorrow, maybe three or four days later, but the longest is this time. You know what I mean."

Ian watched calmly as the middle-level members of the Ryan Territory in front of him began to suffer from trances, hallucinations, flash memories and other symptoms under the influence of the fear potion. He said in a soft tone: "I don't need you. To be honest, all of you do. Being dead will make it easier for me to move my people here."

"But I'm not a demon after all, and I'm not that bloodthirsty." Ian raised his hand, and he took the charged rifle from Scott's hand.

After turning over this excellent alchemy weapon and looking at it, the young man held it with one hand and pointed it at the people who bowed their heads slightly and broke out in cold sweat: "So as long as you are obedient enough -"

Zhi——

The scorching light swept across everyone's heads and burned part of their hair.

Then Ian's voice came out: "You can live."

"That's it. Be prepared to connect with my family's chamber of commerce. Come out with the charter tomorrow. If you don't do well enough, don't do it. Get out and leave the position to other people with potential."

Having said this, the white-haired boy seemed to have thought of something. He turned his head and looked at the former captain of the Ryan Guards: "By the way, there is you."

"Gul Tiesen...Baron Ryan's original confidant and the captain of his escort team - in the end, he joined forces with the Xuanfeng Department and called the other party orthodox without any instructions from the empire..."

Ian spoke at a very slow pace, with neither a deliberately long drawl nor a short pronunciation. His mere soft voice was enough to attract attention and even attract him.

But when Gul Tiesen was called by such a voice, the brown-skinned and gray-haired mountain man with a poor complexion was already trembling all over, and cold sweat continued to slide down his spine.

He is a first-level ascender, a warrior in everyone's eyes, and a former confidant of Baron Ryan... That's why he understands that if a second-level ascender, especially the driver of the black armor during the day, If you want to kill yourself, you probably only need a thought.

He felt as if he had been locked by the muzzle of the charged rifle.

The good thing is that most of the sublimated people have some intelligence, otherwise, they would not be able to condense the source seeds.

Therefore, after the warning signal sounded for a moment, he did not hesitate, knelt on the ground and shouted: "Disband!"

"Sir, I will disband the former Leian Guards! I, I will go back and become a civilian!"

"No! I leave Ryan Territory! I exile myself, and I will never come back!"

Ian looked at the mountain man captain with some surprise, who reacted very quickly.

"Um."

He nodded thoughtfully, and then handed the rechargeable rifle that he was about to shoot back to Scott.

The boy crossed his arms, nodded with a smile and said, "Smart people can survive."

"Tomorrow morning, I will hear the news about the disbandment of the original Leian Guards - for the sake of your reaction speed, you can take away a few people you think are suitable."

"I understand! I will take those people away!"

Kneeling on the ground, the mountain leader could only see the spotless boots of the white-haired boy. He even felt the residual warmth from the previous shot of the rechargeable rifle and the smell of the ashes of the cylinder...

His heart was filled with anger, fear, fear and rejoicing... His hard work over the years was ultimately in vain, and he had to leave the Ryan Territory with some thorns in his side... His entire life's family fortune was going to be in vain. Everything has to start from scratch.

But...at this moment.

But he didn't dare to have any hatred for Ian, only an uncontrollable sense of relief and gratitude.

——At least he didn't kill himself. He could literally kill himself with one shot. No one would stop the young lord, and he had indeed committed a crime worthy of death.

At least, he is still a first-level sublimator.

In this case, there is still a future.

Everyone else watched this scene in silence.

They also felt fearful, confused and at a loss... The foundation they had worked hard to build throughout their lives was destroyed by a few words from the young man in front of them, becoming a stepping stone for the future Baizhi Chamber of Commerce... How hateful, how terrible. !

but……

If it were such a lord - if it was such a patron...

"Then just listen to him."

"At least more reliable than the mountain people."

"He is stronger than Baron Ryan - only such a young Ascendant genius can bring stability at a time like this, so that he can have a good life in the future."

"Finally, there is a lord who is strong enough... The past six months have been thrilling, and maybe I can finally live a normal life."

This is what everyone is thinking.

No one thought this was strange.

No one thought there was even the slightest bit of abnormality in what Ian did.

Because he is indeed very strong, because he can kill three second-level people in ten minutes, and because he can single-handedly destroy the city while driving armor - he has the power to decide the life and death of disloyal people like them.

This is Terra.

This is the system of nobility and lordship in Terra.

That's the convenience... and the tragedy of Terra.

"Let's go back."

There was nothing to be happy about. After being silent for a while, Ian clapped his hands to signal the end of the conversation: "Tomorrow we will open the warehouse to put grain. I will smell the fragrance of wheat coming from every house in Leian City at noon. Just from Xilin's Get it from the Chamber of Commerce. If it’s not enough, you can make up for it yourself.”

"If you can't mend it, I will cut off your flesh. I will do what I say."

The young man's blue eyes were as warm as water, but whether it was the middle-level people in Ryan City, Scott behind him, or even the other White People soldiers in the hall, they all saw something in this look that made them shudder. But it feels inexplicably reassuring.

As Ian once said to Master Gosei.

In this Nanling, which is filled with Warcraft, natives, aliens and all kinds of poisonous monsters, in this primitive and wild pioneer land - no one will appreciate any leader who is warm, gentle, gentle and all-rounded.

They just need... It can even be said that they can't wait for a leader who is strong enough, ruthless enough, ruthless enough, and single-minded enough to lead the team to move forward steadily, implement his own will, and win success.

——As they wished, Ian came.

Therefore, the Ryan Territory is peaceful.

After all the middle-level people in Ryan City left the castle, Ian closed his eyes and meditated for a while.

"Scott." He said, "I'm going to take a rest. You can assign the team's duty rotation."

"Yes." Scott, who had always stood behind Ian, looking like a sculpture, said seriously: "Are there any other instructions?"

"No more." At this moment, Ian showed a tired but more real smile: "I'll just take a nap here for a while. On the contrary, it's you, not the sublimator. Remember to arrange more rest time for yourself. Tomorrow You have a lot to do."

Scott nodded quickly, and he also showed a hearty smile: "I will."

Scott quickly went to direct the rotation.

And Ian also sat there and slowly closed his eyes.

He did not sleep or rest.

At this moment, the young man's consciousness sank into the virtual realm, preparing for a daily meditation exercise.

Then, he realized that the battle he experienced during the day actually brought him... something unexpected.