“Friend of Qingnian, you are indeed as talented a warrior as he had described,” Jin Buhuan praised.

Then, glancing at the kneeling guards, he shouted, “You disgraceful lot. Get out!”

The guards hastily fled, dragging the corpses on the ground behind them.

Han Wu ignored Jin Buhuan’s praise. Everyone here was a sly old coot. There was no need to feel pleased about a superfluous act.

“I accidentally injured your guards. I hope you’ll forgive me,” Han Wu said, feigning an apologetic stance.

Jin Buhuan dared not call him out as he wanted Han Wu’s help. “I’ve heard about your courageous exploits from Qingnian. It seems you’re the savior that the heavens sent down to rescue us.

“Let’s skip the pleasantries for now. I’m here to officially invite you to join Everlight City’s faction, lead our city’s team, and retrieve the legendary Armament Spirit. Qingnian must’ve mentioned this to you before. If you let me know what you need, I will do my best to fulfill it.”

Han Wu had been waiting for this. His goal in the Divine Weapon Civilization was to obtain the Armament Spirit, and joining the Everlight City was likely the quickest way to achieve that.

“I have three conditions. If you agree to it, I will join Everlight City’s team.”

Jin Buhuan nodded. “State your conditions. What is it that you need?”

“Firstly, I need every single member in the team to listen to my command. I will kill those who refuse.”

Jin Buhuan carefully considered this, then said, “No problem. You have the qualifications to do so with your strength.”

“Secondly, I need an area to train. This is to increase the strength of both my team and me. I need Everlight City to find a suitable location, something like a hunting ground of sorts.”

Having anticipated this condition, Jin Buhuan readily agreed, “I’ve already found a place for you. There’s a zone called Nightglow Mountain, thirty kilometers out of Everlight City. There are plenty of mutated beasts there. They’re yours to hunt if you so wish.”

Pleased with the response, Han Wu outlined his third condition, “For my final condition, I want Everlight City to provide the materials needed to upgrade the Divine Weapons of my teammates.”

Jin Buhuan hesitated. If Han Wu had wanted Everlight City to provide the materials needed to upgrade his own Divine Weapons, Jin Buhuan would’ve been alright with it. However, agreeing to provide materials for his teammates was simply too vague.

The current team was small, but there was no saying how large it would grow. Every new addition was a number of Divine Weapons. Everlight City was rich, but it didn’t have infinite money.

“Young Han Wu, what about this? Everlight City can provide all of the materials needed to upgrade your Divine Weapons. As for your team, we’ll only provide enough to upgrade a single Divine Weapon for each member,” Jin Buhuan suggested. “I might be the city lord of Everlight City, but I cannot agree to such an expense on my own. I will need to discuss this with the other Jin family members as well.”

Han Wu understood his problems, but he also had to consider the benefits for him and his team. After a series of back-and-forth negotiations, the two eventually agreed that Everlight City would provide the materials to upgrade all of Han Wu’s, Qin Shuang’s, and Sun Qingnian’s Divine Weapons.

As for the possible newer members, Jin Buhuan promised that Everlight City would provide the materials needed to upgrade one Divine Weapon per member.

The two were satisfied with the arrangement, and Han Wu agreed to fight for Everlight City. Sun Qingnian was elated when he heard that his calculative father-in-law and his best friend had come to an amicable conclusion.

Thus, Han Wu, Qin Shuang, and Sun Qingnian became the core members of Everlight City’s team. There wasn’t much time left before the legendary Armament Spirit appeared, and Han Wu had to increase the team’s overall strength as quickly as possible.

For that, he prepared an expedition. The rest of the team were the children of the various noble households in Everlight City. Before they arrived, their families had already advised them not to go against Han Wu, as he held the authority to execute them without question.

But the children of the noble household were used to throwing their power around, and that advice went in one ear and out the other. They immediately assumed that their families were lying, so they wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Of these young nobles, Li Ruizhe was the worst, having been spoiled to the point of believing himself untouchable. When he heard an outsider would lead the team, he voiced the loudest complaints.

He refused to let an outsider have authority over him. So, he and his friends concocted a plan to embarrass Han Wu on the day of the expedition.

The day of the expedition soon arrived. Han Wu, Qin Shuang, Sun Qingnian, and Jin Tuantuan reached the rendezvous point on time but saw no one there. Seeing this, Sun Qingnian assumed that their message had stated the wrong location.

The four waited for an hour before the rest of the team members finally arrived.

“Aiyo~” Li Ruizhe crowed condescendingly. “You guys came here so early. Thanks for your hard work.”

The others laughed, refusing to give their team leader any respect. Han Wu simply looked at them with a smile. Those who knew him personally were aware that this seemingly pleasant smile actually foreboded a terrible fate for his opponents.

Jin Tuantuan wasn’t close to Han Wu, but as he was her husband’s best friend, she felt obliged to defend him.

“Do you know what time it is?” Jin Tuantuan scolded. “Why are you so late? Don’t tell me you didn’t know what time we were supposed to gather?”

The group became disgruntled at her reprimand. They knew what time they needed to be there, but Li Ruizhe had called for everyone to be late on purpose, so Han Wu knew his true place in the social hierarchy.

Their families were weaker than Li Ruizhe’s, so none of them dared to disobey his orders. Li Ruizhe and his family held more power over them than an outsider after all.

“Jin Tuantuan, whose side are you on?” Li Ruizhe’s tone turned mocking. “Oh, I just remembered that you married an outsider and are no longer a part of Everlight City.”

While the Li household was weaker than the Jin household, the difference was minor. If Everlight City were truly kicked out of the ranking as one of the top four cities under Divine Weapon City, the Jin family would decline, allowing the Li family to swoop in and take over.

This was the reason Li Ruizhe dared to challenge Jin Tuantuan, the daughter of the city lord. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Jin Tuantuan fumed. “You—You‘re spouting nonsense!”

“You can’t even grow any taller. Why don’t you quickly head back to your husband’s embrace and cry?” Li Ruizhe derided.

The pointed jab at her insecurity brought tears to her eyes. This excessive mockery also pissed off Sun Qingnian, but Han Wu stopped him from stepping forward.

“You’re late,” Han Wu said. “Give me a reason why.”

“A reason? I can just make one up if you need one. My two chambermaids were servicing me late into the night yesterday, so I overslept. Is that a good enough reason?” Li Ruizhe asked, derision in every syllable.

His answer made the others behind him laugh.

Han Wu was practically beaming. “You overslept? That’s not a proper reason for me.”

“Who cares if it's proper or not. I overslept. That’s my answer. What will you do about it?” Li Ruizhe asked, slightly irked by Han Wu’s unrelenting smile.

“Since you like sleeping so much, you can sleep forever,” Han Wu said benevolently.

A flash of light flitted past Li Ruizhe’s throat, and a line of blood appeared. Li Ruizhe held his throat in disbelief. He never expected Han Wu to actually kill him.

His trachea had been severed. No matter how hard he gripped his throat, he simply couldn’t breathe. It didn’t take long for him to die from a mix of blood loss and asphyxiation.

Han Wu turned to the other latecomers. “Who else overslept?”

All of them shook their heads. Their families’ warnings belatedly echoed in their ears. It hadn’t been a threat or a lie to scare them at all! Han Wu truly held the authority to kill anyone who refused to obey him!