Chapter 385: Black Ranking, Black Storm
Chapter 385: Black Ranking, Black Storm
A fleet of carts quickly moved past on this black plain, lifting wisps of faint yellow dust before finally disappearing at the edge of one’s sight.
Xiao Yan was seated cross-legged within a somewhat bumpy horse carriage. The person in front of him was the person in change of the merchant convoy called Duo Ma. This merchant group was indeed not very strong, as he had mentioned. Among them, the strongest person appeared to have the strength of a five star Dou Shi. Of course, as the leader of the guards hired by Duo Ma, that fellow naturally felt somewhat unhappy at Xiao Yan who had suddenly joined them. However, after Xiao Yan had ‘accidentally’ knocked him off the horse carriage with a palm while they were rushing through the journey, he had become much more honest. It was also because of this palm that Duo Ma’s warmth toward Xiao Yan had become much more fervent. It even resulted in him even directly inviting Xiao Yan to sit in his carriage to properly receive him. After all, under the danger of them being robbed anywhere, one would feel much more reassured if there was a strong person sitting among the convoy.
The current Duo Ma had taken out a map, which was somewhat old and yellowed, from his chest pocket. He placed it on the table in front of him and slowly pulled it open. His finger pointed at a red dot and he smiled as he said, “This is our destination, the ‘Black Mark City’. According to our speed, we should be able to arrive by tomorrow afternoon.”
Xiao Yan’s gaze stared intently at the yellowing map. His gaze paused on the dot for ‘Black Mark City’ for a moment before slowly moving along a route upward and finally saw a blue-colored star right in the middle.
“That should be the Jia Nan Academy, right?” Xiao Yan’s gaze glanced at the blue-colored star. His face did not have even the slightest change as he carelessly asked.
“Ah, that is the Jia Nan Academy which is renowned throughout the whole Dou Qi Continent. My daughter is within it. Ke ke.” Duo Ma nodded his head. When he mentioned his daughter, that face of his swelled with pride.
Xiao Yan quietly nodded. He imprinted the route firmly into his heart. After which, his gaze once against swept toward the black-colored region surrounding the exterior of Jia Nan Academy. The black-colored region was divided into quite a number of areas, all of which were different sizes.
“The current ‘Black-Corner Region’ has basically been completely divided by some big factions. Although they still repeatedly fight with and kill one another for territories, there should not be any major changes within a short period of time.” When he saw Xiao Yan’s gaze, Duo Ma, who was a merchant, could naturally understand some of Xiao Yan’s uncertainty. Although he could guess that Xiao Yan should be a new person who had just arrived at the ‘Black-Corner Region’ for the first time , the shrewd him did not mention even a little of this. Instead, he smiling explained the situation.
“The ‘Black Mark City’, which we are currently heading toward, is controlled by the ‘Eight Gates’. The ‘Eight Gates’ is an old faction within the ‘Black-Corner Region’ and its strength is extremely great. It is said that the strength of their leader, Yuan Yi, can be ranked within the top ten of the ‘Black Ranking’ in the ‘Black-Corner Region’. The Great Auction Fair in the ‘Black Mark City’ is also conducted by their ‘Eight Gates’ this time.” Duo Ma’s finger pointed at a small circle surrounding ‘Black Mark City’, which had been carved out as he smiled again while he spoke.
“Black Ranking?” The foreign term caused Xiao Yan to confused as he muttered softly to himself.
“Ke ke, this ‘Black Ranking’ is not very different from the ranking of the strong people in some countries. It is just that the competition for the ‘Black Ranking’ here far exceeds that of other competitions of other empires. This is because, in merely less than two years, the last three positions on the ‘Black Ranking’ were directly taken over. It is said that the three who were replaced them were all strong people at the Dou Wang class.” Duo Ma shook his head and sighed.