Most of the people nodded while Ye Jiao was confused.
What is Spring Island?
Unfortunately, the man didn’t seem to be caring for a little girl as he continued talking. In his opinion, she was just a little kid who didn’t have much importance.
"In less than a week, the Spring Island is going to emerge from Chi Lake. The imperial family is going to the island this time and they’re recruiting a lot of mercenaries to follow after them. Our mercenaries are included, but since we’re worried that we might lack in numbers, we want to open our application for new mercenaries."
Ye Jiao turned her head to Qin Zheng. "What is he talking about?"
"Have you never heard of Spring Island?"
"I haven’t."
"It’s an island that only appears every spring in the largest lake in Chi Kingdom, Chi Lake. The island is surrounded by a thick barrier that will prevent anyone from reaching it. Once every three years, the barrier will diminish enough to let Eon Energy Master above rank 1 to enter the island. Coincidentally, this year is the time when the barrier will weaken," Qin Zheng explained carefully.
Ye Jiao’s eyes shone with interest. This was the first time she ever heard of a peculiar island that could disappear like that.
"What is on the island?"
"it’s filled with treasure and inheritance for those who bear the blood of the royal family."
Inheritance?
Recalling how Qi Huan seemed to be in a hurry to return back, she was sure that it must be related to this island. Qi Huan is the first prince of Chi Kingdom, so naturally, he has the right to enter the island and fight for the inheritance. Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to return back so quickly to Chi Kingdom.
Qin Zheng studied Ye Jiao’s face for a moment. "I had planned on heading to Chi Lake after getting the secret manual. Do you want to tag along?"
"Yes!"
"Why are you so excited?"
"Because I don’t know the way," Ye Jiao admitted directly. "And applying as a mercenary seems to be out of the question."
With her age still 11 and her inability to disguise herself as someone older due to her height, it would be hard for her to apply as a mercenary. She might be able to tag along with other people, but it would be harder without a definite guide helping her to reach the island in time. After all, she didn’t want to be late to reach the island.
Qin Zheng’s lips twitched when he saw the glint on Ye Jiao’s eyes. Her honesty truly made him astonished over and over again.
"Let’s depart now."
"Ok."
The man looked at the two children for a moment but paid no heed afterwards. The two of them concealed their real rank using some kind of means, so unless they utilized their Eon Energy outward, no one would be able to detect that they were Eon Energy Masters. With their age and built, no one will try to suspect them.
As soon as they exited the city, the two of them dashed through the grassland into the north. Chi Lake is located right at the center of Chi Kingdom, making it quite far from their current location. It would take them a few days to reach the lake.
Days passed swiftly and soon they reached their destination.
"The lake is visible from here," Qin Zheng stopped to wait for Ye Jiao. Her overall speed was still slower than him as she no longer has a large amount of Eon Energy from the pill to spare. She had to rely on her own Eon Energy she had in her core.
Tep.
Ye Jiao stopped near Qin Zheng. Her eyes looked at the view before her. The vast lake looked like a sea with how big they were. The light blue surface looked extremely calm as it reflected the sky and the trees around it. There was nothing on the lake, only water for as far as they could see.
"It’s really big."
No wonder that this lake was famous in Chi Kingdom. If one didn’t know better, they would just term this as a small sea rather than lake with how large it was.
Qin Zheng nodded. "It’s like a sea, but you can drink the water."
"It’s not salty?" Ye Jiao asked in astonishment.
"Yes. Why do you think they named it as lake instead of sea? Let’s head to that village. There should be more information regarding the Spring Island there."
"I thought you already have more than enough information."
"Not really," Qin Zheng replied as he started to run with Ye Jiao following after him from behind. "Spring Island is a mysterious Island. Not many people manage to survive after they enter the island and only the Imperial family somehow manage to survive. Given their position, they won’t divulge too much information to the others, though."
Knowing how the Imperial Family worked from her mother, Ye Jiao understood perfectly what Qin Zheng meant. Some information was better kept as a secret to not make unrelated people know about it. Some imperial family members even withheld information when they wanted to take advantage of that particular information.
It was not uncommon at all.
The two of them stopped near the entrance as they could see a long row of people waiting to enter the city. Apparently, the appearance of Spring Island drew a lot of people to come here.
"There might not even be enough room for us inside the city," Ye Jiao commented when she saw the long line.
"It’s obvious."
"We can sleep in the forest if you don’t mind."
"I don’t mind."
On their way here, they had stopped a few times to sleep in the forest, so it was nothing new for them. Of course, they would not say it out loudly because there were a lot of people around them. Soon afterwards, more and more people lined up as they got closer to the entrance of the city.
"I need your identification card," the guards said to the group of people in front of them.
Ye Jiao’s body froze when she heard that. She didn’t have any identification card because the imperial family detested her. The only one she had was the Lu Family’s servant token that she brought with her because it was useful to sneak out in the past.
As it was their turn, Qin Zheng took out a paper from his pocket. "This is for me and my little sister."
"Are you here alone?"
"Our group is in the back. We’re just here to scout first," Qin Zheng said with a smile.
The guard nodded after checking the content. He returned the paper to Qin Zheng and beckoned for the other guards to open the way. "Clear."
"Let’s go."
Following after Qin Zheng, Ye Jiao was curious as to what Qin Zheng showed before. However, it was not the right time to ask, so she scanned her surroundings instead. This city was large and there were numerous tall buildings near her. It was specifically built to allow a lot of people to live in the city.
"It’s even larger than Arena City."
"That’s because every year people will still attempt to try entering Spring Island. This place is modified to contain a lot of people at once," Qin Zheng explained. "There might be some room left. If there’s none, we can just get out of the city and enter again afterwards."
"Oh, right. What did you show them?"
"It’s an identification paper that I took from the assassin that I killed before in Chen Kingdom. He’s from Chi Kingdom, so it’s convenient."
"I see."
Ye Jiao stopped asking as they entered into a large inn.