Chapter 351 Do You Know Zan Rong?

From the start, Ouyang Zen had expected Mark to put forth a proposition regarding the weapon store. After knowing about this Supreme realm expert on the guest's side, he planned to ask for time instead of directly rejecting it. After all, no one in the right mind would offend such an expert.

Little did he expect that Mark would turn out to be a prince of the Phoenix Empire and also related to his prime minister, Lan Jing.

Had Mark would ask for his help regarding manpower and wealth, Ouyang Zen would gladly provide it, although in an indirect manner, as the Eastern Sun doesn't have any relations with this southernmost empire of the Vermilion bird continent.

But, Mark's revelation about his link with the Western Moon kingdom followed by the proposition of an alliance caught him off guard for a moment. He couldn't help but fall into deep thinking, trying to analyze this weapon seller's real motive.

"For what reason has he revealed his real identity? Why did he become a mediator between Western Moon and the Eastern Sun? Are these two things related?"

There are questions in Ouyang Zen's mind but he wasn't close enough to Mark to confront him in a direct manner. So, he had to respond with the reply that was already on his mind from the start.

Mark also agreed to give him three days of time before departing for his next destination.

As Ouyang Zen expressed his thanks, Mark then quickly switched to the next topic by handing a scroll to Lan Jing.

The legendary realm expert took a good look at the contents of the scroll and informed the king, which is procuring rare metals from the eastern sun while selling the spirit beast corpses directly to the palace. Since it isn't a big deal to give him a priority when Mark offered to purchase them at a market rate, Ouyang Zen agreed to it without much thinking.

Once those two things were done, Mark once again surprised them by stating that these two were the only things he had as an agenda regarding this visit.

"Only these two?" Ouyang Zen didn't understand what was going on in Mark's mind. After all, these two weren't serious things and can be accomplished even by talking through communication talisman. There's no need for a personal visit unless there's a deep meaning behind those propositions.

As the king fell into thoughts one more time, Lan Jing opened his mouth, speaking in a bit of favor toward Mark, "Lu Zhen, you sure you don't want to talk about opening your store's branch here and selling firearms?"

"Not anymore," replied Mark as he firmly shook his head in response. He further stated, "As long as the royal palace is interested to buy the weapons from my store, it will be enough for now. As for opening a branch here, I'm confident that it will happen sooner or later and it will be done at the formal request of King Ouyang Zen. After all, the future belongs to firearms."

Lan Jing's question followed by Mark's reply forcefully brought Ouyang Zen back to reality and he saw a trace of arrogance in Mark's tone. He wondered where Mark's confidence is coming from. Is it because of that mysterious expert, Wu Weibao?

If it is, then, in Ouyang Zen's eyes, Mark was too delusional to think a power of a mere individual can change the ways of society. People, whether they are commoners or rulers, don't like change and will try to eliminate the one who is trying to bring it. Hence, this twelve-year-old thinks that Mark's grand ambition will go unfulfilled.

But then again, saying this out loud will only bring nothing but a useless argument between them. Who knows, the argument might even escalate to something worse, which he doesn't want for it was not only bad for the eastern sun but also for the mystery about his adopted sister's past might go unsolved.

Hence, Ouyang Zen kept his mouth shut and simply nodded as if he was agreeing with Mark, although not commenting on whether he would permit the sale of firearms to the public.

However, at the same time, he also knows that there is a possibility of merchants importing firearms from the phoenix empire and selling them to the commoners.

And seeing confidence in Mark, Ouyang Zen realized that perhaps, he shouldn't take this lightly. This resulted in a thought appearing in his head about implementing a law on owning firearms. He decided to discuss with Lan Jing and announce it later on.

After a while, Mark returned to his room and Ouyang Zen returned to the throne hall. Strangely, for the same reason, neither of them brought up the topic of the princess and ended the meeting.

Coincidentally, it appeared that both of them don't want Lan Jing to hear of this matter and they thought of talking about it when the time is right.

And that right time arrived at midnight when Lan Jing was away from the palace.

Before going to bed, Mark was spending his time drawing designs of some of his creations from his past life. While he was in the middle of thinking about the material composition for a cruise missile, the door was knocked on twice.

He stopped his work for a moment and asked who it is, wondering whether it is Song Yue or Lan Ju. However, there was no response from the other side and the knocks continued.

"Hmm?" Mark furrowed his brows after his question went unanswered once again. Putting away his designs back into his storage ring, Mark opened the skill list with his finger almost touching the gravity dome. He knew that the enemy wouldn't knock on the door like this, but still, he couldn't help but become cautious as he wasn't inside his home where he is a god.

He slowly opened the door and found a familiar-looking kid wearing a robe and covering his head with a hood.

"Ouyan…" Mark was about to call him by his name in surprise but the kid put a finger on his own mouth and slowly slipped inside the room, gesturing him to close the door.

As Mark did it while dropping down his guard, Ouyang Zen removed his hood and placed a scroll on the floor before pouring his ether energy into it.

The scroll lit up and unleashed a noise-canceling barrier.

Once the barrier was finished, Ouyang Zen let out a sigh of relief and spoke, "Sorry about that, Mr. Lu. I just need to be careful."

"Uh… okay… So, what is it that you want to talk about that you had to visit my room at this hour and this secretly?" Mark asked him. He was indeed curious about what this kid had to say.

Ouyang Zen then took a deep breath and said, "It is about my sister, Zan Rong. Do you know her?"

Mark took a step back in surprise as soon as he heard that. At first, he wanted to feign ignorance but then the king went on to reveal that during the auction, he heard how Mark had addressed Zan Rong as "Mari" when no one should have known that her real name is Marina Zan.

After thinking about the pros and cons while staring at the kid for a few seconds, Mark came to a decision and spoke, "Very well, I'll tell you what I know about her and her family. But, before that, I need to know how she ended up in this palace."