"No, one isn't enough to go around. We need two: one for the radicals and one for the conservatives!"
"Thump, ding-dong, tie him and that girl up!"
"You should at least ask the girl if she's willing!"
Qingchen was speechless...
Can't the Knights have a decent guy among them?!
Luckily, Yangyang couldn't understand what the old guys were saying, otherwise the two of them would have been stuck in an awkward situation.
Qing Chen ignored the old guys and jumped off the bear's back to gently place the flowers in front of Li Xiurui's grave. The grave was originally on a cliff in the green mountains, but the old guys moved it here.
The old folks erupted in protest: "Why give him flowers but not us? You're being unfair!"
"We've treated you so well, and you still can't treat everyone equally!"
"Go quickly and pick a bunch for each of us!"
Qing Chen took a deep breath and looked at the hundreds of tombstones... How long will it take to pick them all?
At that moment, a deep voice appeared: "Quiet, I have something to ask him."
In an instant, Qingchen's world suddenly became quiet, and not a sound could be heard anymore.
Qing Chen asked curiously, "Who are you?"
"Qin Sheng".
Qing Chen remained silent.
In the history of the Knights, there are three people who cannot be ignored: Ren He, Ren Xiaosu, and Qin Sheng.
There can be no other knights, but there cannot be no these three. The first two are self-evident: one is the founder, and the other is a god.
Qin Sheng, on the other hand, was the first person to create a new era with the Breathing Technique when the knights were at their wits' end. Without him, the path of the knights would have been cut off long ago due to the appearance of the Forbidden Sea.
This is the true leader of the post-Knight era.
"What do you want to ask?" Qing Chen asked.
Qin Sheng's voice came with the sound of the wind: "How many apprentices do you have now?"
Qing Chen answered honestly, "As for knights, there are only three: Li Ke, Hu Xiaoniu, and Jinguji Maki."
"Li Ke has passed the test of conscience. It is said that he recently challenged the second life-or-death test and is now challenging the third. He is making rapid progress."
"Hu Xiaoniu has just completed the fourth life-or-death challenge, but he took the path without breathing techniques. He can only be promoted to A-level after completing all of them."
Today, the Hu Group is doing everything it can to help Hu Xiaoniu complete his challenge, with enormous financial and material resources dedicated to serving him alone.
If someone wants to practice diving, they'll buy a diving venue; if someone wants to practice skydiving, someone will buy an entire training base for them.
The world's best coaches have all been gathered around Hu Xiaoniu by the Hu family, so he doesn't have to worry about anything; someone will naturally take care of everything for him.
These coaches each earn an annual salary of 10 million, but unfortunately, they will now live under Hu's surveillance, as Hu wants to ensure they do not leak secrets.
But most importantly, Hu Xiaoniu did this not for his own sake, but to pave the way for the upcoming massive reserve of knights.
It can be said that Hu Xiaoniu is a pioneer on the path of knights in the world of the table. He wants to pave a fast path for his junior brothers and sisters to advance and summarize all his experiences.
Qin Sheng asked, "What about Jinguji Maki? Why is it a name from the Kamishiro side? You need to remember, there is no possibility of reconciliation between my Knights organization and Kamishiro. We must fight to the death."
“I understand. Three knights of the past died at the hands of Kamishiro,” Qingchen nodded. “Jinguji Maki is a rather special case…”
"Why is it special?" an old man asked.
Qingchen sorted out his thoughts and recounted the story of Shinguji Maki.
A descendant of the Genji clan, a born Onmyoji, whose blood can counter the Onmyoji's shikigami, and who has passed the Heart-Searching Realm...
At this moment, the old men all fell silent.
Much later, someone suddenly said, "After passing the Heart-Questioning Realm, she can still bring along a shikigami. Doesn't that mean our Knights Organization will have another demigod-level Onmyoji Knight? The Onmyoji's physical weakness is their biggest weakness, while we Knights are the strongest warriors among all superhumans... Moreover, her blood can suppress shikigami!"
Qin Sheng suddenly said, "The Age of Gods is over."
These four words resonated deeply.
The old men beside the World Tree suddenly shouted, "Hahaha, the Age of Gods is finally doomed! Bring the little girl to us, we want to teach her ourselves!"
Qing Chen stood there expressionless, thinking to himself, "These old guys have existed for hundreds of years, how come they still have no composure at all..."
Or perhaps, they simply haven't spoken to anyone outside the forbidden land in far too long.
After Li Shutong and Qingchen left, they could only wait anxiously for Qingchen or Li Shutong to return, just like parents and elders waiting for their children to return home for winter vacation.
They've been lonely for too long, so they've all become chatterboxes.
Qing Chen suddenly said, "Ahem, everyone, don't be too happy yet. She is not a time traveler."
"What the hell?"
"Are you panting like that?"
Qin Sheng asked, "Why didn't she become a Time Traveler?"
Qing Chen explained, "It was that senior surnamed Yan who sent her to the surface world to become a beta tester. According to the clues, it seems that she only needs to go to Osaka to become a Time Traveler, but... she is too young, and I don't want her to get involved in the conflict now."
The old men were stunned.
So this was the person Yan Liuyuan chose?
“You’re right,” Qin Sheng replied calmly. “Let her grow up slowly in the surface world first. The Knights Organization doesn’t need a little girl to fight.”
Qing Chen could sense that this former leader of the knights possessed the pride and principles unique to knights.
Oh no, the word "principle" should be crossed out.
Wasn't this the one who kidnapped the Buddha back then...?
Knights don't need principles...
Qin Sheng said, "It seems you are indeed much stronger than your master. He spent so many years finding only one disciple, while you found three in just a few months. Of course, don't be arrogant. In our most glorious era, twelve knights fought together. You only have three now, far from that level. So it would be best to leave one child for us, in case..."
Qing Chen raised an eyebrow. Why did the style of the conversation suddenly change?
He took a deep breath and said, "I have another plan right now."
"What plan?"
“Train a group of knights,” Qing Chen said calmly.
"A batch? You've got some nerve!" someone said.
"Are you planning to train five or six at once?"
"If we can really train five or six, it will be close to our most glorious era. Don't be too harsh on him."
“That’s right. If it really works out, there will be nine knights, including a few demigods. That’s definitely enough for the Age of Gods.”
After a long silence, Qing Chen suddenly said, "It's not five or six, it's very likely fifty or sixty..."
Silence fell over Forbidden Land No. 002.
Chapter 668, The Forbidden Pact
"Do you know what you're saying?" Qin Sheng asked solemnly. "Even at its peak, the Knights Organization had no more than 12 members."
Another person said, "We understand and appreciate your desire to make us happy, but as the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Please don't lie to us."
Qingchen asked Dingdong to take Yangyang and Zard to eat fruit, while he sat down in front of Qin Sheng's grave.
To outsiders, this forbidden land was merely a place where warm breezes blew by. Qing Chen seemed to be talking to himself, saying something: "You all don't believe I can understand, but what I do is use the Kashima family's Long Life Heaven as a training aid, and then use rewards to attract Time Walkers to participate in gradual training, tempering their character time and time again, making them resilient enough to climb towering cliffs..."
Qing Chen: "Among these people, there are those like Chen Zhuoqu who are destined to be winners, and there are those like Hu Jingyi who, though dull-witted, are as hard as a rock. These are all buried gems, and now I have unearthed them."
After he recounted his actions at the Timewalker Academy, Forbidden Land 002 fell silent once again.
After a long silence, Qin Sheng said, "You're right about one thing. This is probably your master's mistake. He used to say that he wanted to find a child with extraordinary talent, but a knight... doesn't necessarily need any talent. What we need is a will as firm as a rock."
For ordinary people, even if they eat nine Longevity Fruits, the sheer cliffs and green mountains are still an insurmountable chasm.
The first 300 meters rely on physical strength and skill, the next 299 meters rely on perseverance and spirit, and the last meter relies on courage and determination.
No matter how you look at it, talent is not what the knight values most.
What Qingchen needs to do now is simply to select the fifty or sixty students who are the most hardworking and persevering from more than 60,000 students...
To be honest, the old guys' imaginations are a bit lacking. They can't imagine what kind of organization would be qualified to be a match for knights if there were fifty or sixty A-level knights, plus two or three demigod-level knights who might appear.
This kind of power can sweep away anyone it encounters!
Moreover, with Whale Island at its disposal, it wouldn't be difficult to create another one or two hundred A or B-rank knight messengers.
The treasures that Chen Yu and Li Bingxi kept hidden away are now being produced in unlimited quantities by Whale Island.
That's cheating!
That's not reasonable!
At this moment, Qin Sheng said to Gu Dong, "Next, I'll trouble you, Gu Dong, to help Qing Chen find all sorts of rare plants. Find any one of the six forbidden lands under your control that can be of any help to humans, and have him transplant them to the Whale Island in the surface world."
This is the attitude Qin Sheng is expressing.
Another old man said, "I remember there was a kind of fruit in Forbidden Land 002. Eating a few of them could completely enhance your reflexes. What was it called again?"
"How would I remember? I'm lying on the ground, I don't need to eat this stuff. You'll have to ask Dingdong and Gudong."
Gudu said from the side, "These are 'early summer' fruits, you need to eat 9 of them."
Another old man asked, "Do we have any other fruits here?"
Gudu added, "There is also a plant called 'Wenhan'. You can soak its leaves in water and drink the infusion nine times to help resist the cold."
"Quickly, quickly, bring them all to Qingchen!"
However, an old man poured cold water on Qing Chen's enthusiasm: "But, you're tempting them with rewards, isn't that going against the original intention of a knight?"
Then another voice said, "What the hell do you know about 'original intentions'? Didn't I lure you out with a sports car back then? You're talking to me about 'original intentions'? You were so lazy back then. To get you to take on the life-or-death challenge, I had to promise you a new car for every challenge you completed. Now you're talking to me about 'original intentions'? Don't you have a conscience? It wasn't until you took on the life-or-death challenge four times that you finally turned over a new leaf."
The older man muttered to himself, "Master, please give me some face."
Qin Sheng said, "The original intention of a knight is truthfulness and sincerity. To face oneself truthfully and to remain sincere to the world. Truthfulness means being unpretentious, unaffected, unhypocritical, unpretentious, and not bound by worldly standards. Sincerity means having a heart as bright as the sun and moon, being honest, frank, and passionate."