Three days later, Helios City;
At the entrance of the capital city of Eastern Sun, which lies on the northern coast of the southern province of the kingdom, an army of about three to four hundred soldiers was on standby with each one having a rifle in his/her hand while their general was staring at the sky in anticipation in order to proceed with the orders came from above.
As the soldiers were staying in this position since morning without any movement, some of them became busy scolding Mark in their hearts.
The sun is on their head, they didn't have any food or even water, and their legs were about to give out. However, not one of them dared to speak or even move from the spot for the orders from a King are absolute. Because of that, even the nearby citizens who gathered on the sidelines out of curiosity couldn't leave either as it would be disrespectful to their king.
And then, finally, when a majestic raven with two pairs of eyes appeared in the sky, some became excited to see these important royal guests while the others sighed in relief that they won't have to stand in the sun any longer.
Looking at the kingdom's Supreme General and the guests standing behind him, General Li Jun, the third strongest soldier in the royal army, ordered the soldiers, "The royal guests are here. Begin…"
*bang* Bang* bang* bang*
The loud shots of rifles reverberated in the surroundings as a part of this ceremony invented by the king, specifically for Mark as a sign of respect for his firearms.
Of course, that doesn't mean those weapons will be sold in the Eastern Sun kingdom. The king doesn't want civilians to possess them at any cost as he believed it would cause chaos. For now, it is just for the usage of military personnel only.
Mark wanted to convince the kid and change his opinion. It is one of the reasons for his visit. However, he cannot appear as someone who was seeking something from the Eastern Sun. After all, his status has changed from a while ago.
Right now, Mark is in the Supreme realm. Even though he doesn't possess an adequate amount of ether particles, he was confident that he can crush anyone below the immortal realm with his eyes closed. Theoretically, he is probably the strongest human on the planet. Naturally, he felt that he was in a higher position compared to the king.
As a result, staring down at the rifle army in a calm manner, Mark gave a nod, "Your king really knows how to welcome a guest, General Li."
This comment made the supreme general frown in displeasure as he doesn't like the fact that someone is talking about his king in such casual speech much less acknowledging a weapon seller like Mark.
However, he was quick to hide his emotions, not intending to offend the supreme realm expert on Mark's side. In the end, he simply forced out a smile and thanked this royal guest.
As the beast went past the crowd, General Xianjun dismissed the crowd and followed them to the royal palace on a winged horse.
Soon, Mark reached his destination and was welcomed warmly by Lan Jing and 12-year-old Ouyang Zen (the king of the eastern sun) in person. Along with them, there was also Princess whose past was connected to Mark's past life, although at the moment, she appeared to be distracted by a tiny squirrel playing on her palm.
After the usual greetings and introductions are finished, everyone was led to the royal guest rooms to rest. But, there was no talk happening at a later time of the day too.
For two days straight, forget about important meetings between Mark and the king to fulfill their respective agendas, Mark and Ouyang Zen didn't even talk in private.
Instead, the weapon seller from the phoenix empire just enjoyed the privilege of being a royal guest, spending his time with Song Yue as they toured around the capital city.
Fortunately, it wasn't as if nothing important happened during these past couple of days.
For Lan Jing, Mark's visit turned out to be fruitful. When he saw the zheng in human form, his legs actually shivered and his speech stammered while addressing the guests.
Lan Jing later told Ouyang Zen that the guest is someone anyone in the kingdom shouldn't dare to offend no matter the cost. The king thought that it is because the person named Wu Weibao is too powerful for them to handle. But, the real reason was that he was afraid of the zheng.
Surprisingly, Lan Ju asked for a meeting with Lan Jing in private and ordered him to assist Mark in reviving the sect branch if he wants to repent his selfish actions for running away.
Lan Jing had planned to take his grand-nephew to his home and would never support the revival of the sect branch at Kunyu mountain range. However, at the same time, he also knew that he cannot fulfill his mission with Lan Ju against him.
Hence, for now, he promised the zheng to support the Lan Sect branch's revival and he will do that. But, when the time comes, he won't hesitate to go back on his word.
However, on the third day, he finally became aware that the current Mark is vastly different from the one he met a while ago.
The time was around two in the afternoon. Song Yue and others left for their respective rooms after having a delicious lunch while Mark asked for a private meeting with Lan Jing and Ouyang Zen to discuss the matters.
The king obliged his wishes and went on with the meeting.
As soon as all the servants were dismissed from the meeting chamber and Lan Jing went on unleashing a noise-canceling barrier to protect their conversation, Mark's first action was to reveal his real identity to the twelve-year-old kid.
Looking straight into the eyes of the king of the eastern sun, he spoke in a serious tone, "King Ouyang, before we speak about other things, let me reintroduce myself in case Prime Minister Lan Jing didn't tell you my secret."
As the kid's expression changed to that of curiousness, Mark continued to speak, "I'm a bit quite ashamed to say this but I'm the son of Emperor Shang Fu and Queen Consort Lan Jingyi."
"Lan Jingyi?" The Eastern Sun's king furrowed his brows and immediately turned his head to look at his prime minister. The latter nodded in response and said, "Your Majesty, Shang Zen is my grand nephew who inherited the Blizzard Pegasus of our clan."
"It's Lu Zhen, Mr. Lan," corrected Mark right away with a disapproving look. He further added, "From the moment I was thrown away by Lan Jingyi and swapped with Shang Wei, I ceased to be a member of the imperial family. At the moment, I'm nothing but the grandson of late Lan Gengxin."
Ouyang Zen stared at him for a few seconds and nodded as he quickly absorbed the shocking information, "okay, that was unexpected but why you are telling me this? What do you want from me?" He asked the weapon seller directly while wondering whether this weapon seller would ask his help to reclaim the throne of Phoenix Empire or something.
In response, Mark surprised him once again with his reply, "Soon, I will be engaged to the princess of the Western Moon kingdom. I wish to form an alliance between your two independent kingdoms."
"What did you say?"