Chapter 284: Solution!
"Uncle, how will I protect myself for a month without you?" Ashen asked, acting innocent and weak in front of Shang Wu.
In Shang Wu's eyes, Ashen was only at the core-formation realm.
He was too weak to protect himself for a month from his perspective.
Moreover, Shang Wu wasn't a fool. He knew that assassins from the other princes would come for Ashen's life.
He needed to come up with a solution for this.
Ashen, on the other hand, knew this. He was just being greedy.
He wanted another emperor realm cultivator as his guard.
Since Shang Jiao had originally promised to him to choose two emperor realm guards, he couldn't bring himself to settle with only Shang Wu.
He knew Shang Wu wouldn't agree with him if he asked directly to keep another guard, and hence he posed this question to let Shang Wu suggest taking another emperor realm guard for a month to protect himself.
Ashen knew that at most Shang Wu would only allow him to keep a temporary emperor realm guard for a month; however, even that was enough.
Ashen could bring that guard over to his own side or at least feed him Scarlet Mind Schine to turn him into his loyal subordinate.
Ashen looked at the conflicted Shang Wu with an innocent smile, asking for protection with his gaze.
Shang Wu, however, remained conflicted only for a moment before he smiled and fixed his gaze on Ashen.
He took out an empty scroll from his space ring, making it float in front of him completely open.
He then closed his eyes as lightning qi flowed out of his body into the scroll.
Next, with a sudden movement, he snapped open his eyes as words appeared on the scroll with a burning smell accompanying the words.
His lightning qi has burnt the words into the scroll.
At the bottom of the scroll was his seal, purely made of lightning qi.
He passed the scroll to Ashen along with a location compass, which he took out of his space ring.
His deep voice then instructed, "Ashen, this is the solution to your problem."
Ashen looked at the scroll and the location compass confusedly.
The location compass was an artifact that will point to the direction of the one it was synchronized to. To synchronize it, you needed to feed it the qi signature of the person, which could only be done by the person himself.
Noticing his confusion, Shang Wu clarified: "This location compass will guide you to my one and only disciple. Give this scroll to him, and he will come to your side. He will protect you until I can accompany you myself."
Ashen gave a nod of understanding; however, his expression carried disappointment and doubt.
Ashen didn't know if Shang Wu's disciple was even strong enough to protect him.
What if he was only a king realm cultivator? Would that even be of any help?
Shang Wu noticed his expression, understanding Ashen's thoughts.
He informed in his deep voice, "You don't need to look so down, my nephew. My disciple is a genius that I acknowledged! He is already at the intermediate stage of the emperor realm. Moreover, he is older than your mother, so do not underestimate him."
Ashen's eyes instantly widened in surprise and joy.
He looked at Shang Wu and inquired, "Then does he also cultivate lightning path like you?"
Shang Wu nodded in response: "Yes. You better remember his name..."
"His name is Lei Tian Hao!"
"Lei?" Ashen's eyes widened at his surname. "He is from the Lei Clan?"
"Hahaha," Shang Wu laughed before nodding: "It's been so long that I forgot he belonged to the Lei Clan. Yes, he is from the Lei clan, and that too from the direct bloodline!"
"What??" Ashen couldn't hide his shock. "Then why is he your disciple? He should have enough resources as it is in his clan."
"Well... that's a long story." Shang Wu hesitated before suggesting, "Why don't you ask him instead when you meet him?"
"But how?" Ashen asked with a tensed expression. "He would be inside the Lei clan; how will I even get this letter to him?"
"No, no. You've got it wrong." Shang Wu clarified. "He doesn't stay in his clan now. He should be living secluded in some cave like me. That's the reason I gave you this location compass."
"Oh..." Ashen muttered under his breath in realization before looking up at his uncle and nodding: "I understand. I am grateful to Uncle for his help!" He cupped his hands respectfully.
~
Back at the inn, Ashen looked at Han Wuji and handed him the scroll, location talisman, and another artifact.
This artifact was used for communication and came in pairs. It was in a hemispherical shape, almost appearing like a bowl without any hollow space.
This artifact was originally a black-colored sphere that could fit in one hand almost like a ball; however, to use it, one had to keep one half of the sphere on him and give the other half to the person he wanted to communicate with.
This artifact was called the communication sphere. It was used by cultivators to communicate with each other in real time; however, letters were still a popular way to communicate due to the limited amount of production of these communication spheres.
Moreover, since they could only be used in pairs, they would become useless if even one part of the sphere broke or went missing.
This artifact used sound qi of a similar wavelength to transfer sound at a high speed, making real-time conversation possible.
It was similar to a phone from Ashen's previous world, however, much more primitive and used a different concept.
Han Wuji looked at the scroll, location compass, and the half of the communication sphere in his hand, waiting patiently for Ashen's order that followed shortly:
"Wuji, here is your next order. You are to use this location compass to find Uncle Shang Wu's disciple, Lei Tian Hao, and hand him this scroll and this half of the communication sphere."
Han Wuji nodded in acknowledgement of the order before Ashen reminded him:
"Also, remember to tell him that Uncle Shang Wu has sent this scroll. He doesn't know me, so he won't meet you if you say my name. He would only respond to Uncle Shang Wu's name."
"I understand." Han Wuji knelt on one knee, cupping his hands. "I shall fulfill this command, your highness."
"Alright, you can leave." Ashen waved his hand, gesturing him to leave.
After Han Wuji left, Ashen also returned to the Zhuji Tribe.
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