It wasn't just Huan Lo who was shocked when she heard this, but Shun Long and Liu Mei as well.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, Huo Weiyu shook his head as he continued

''Like I said, this is just a rumor. At least I don't think that anyone has ever seen an SSS-rank mercenary in our Silver sword city.''

Nodding his head, Shun Long clasped his hands after thanking the old man, before he and Liu Mei walked towards the huge bulletin board in the back.

After taking a look at the D-rank and the C-rank missions, Shun Long noticed that most of them required the mercenaries to act as bodyguards, or help the merchant guilds to safely escort their carriages outside the Silver sword city, while the rewards ranged, from 100-300 spirit stones for D-rank mercenaries, while the C-rank missions mostly ranged from 500-800 spirit stones.

Of course, there were also missions that asked the mercenaries to kill magic beasts, or find rank 3 medicinal herbs as well, but these were usually more time-consuming.

Looking at the young man next to her, Liu Mei asked curiously

''Do you want to take on a mission?''

Shun Long shook his head as he smiled at her, and holding her hand he replied

''Let's find a place to stay for now. I still need to enter seclusion and advance my strength. After that, we can see if there are any good missions.''

''Mhm.''

Liu Mei nodded as the 2 of them then left the Mercenaries' Association.

A few hours later, Shun Long and Liu Mei were still touring around the southern part of the city, when they saw a big inn in the distance.

A large signboard with the words 'King's courtyard' was hunged above the inn's gates.

After walking through the inn's gates, Shun Long and Liu Mei saw a tall middle aged man in white robes, walking towards them.

The man had brown hair and dark green eyes, that were accentuated by his sword-like eyebrows. His hawk-shaped nose along with his 1.9m(6.2ft) tall body, gave an intimidating feeling to the people around him.

Standing in front of the black panther, the man only flinched once, before he turned his head to look at Shun Long and said with an emotionless look on his face

''Welcome to the King's courtyard. I am the inn-keeper Deng Zixin.

If you are looking to rent a single room, magic beasts are not allowed in our inn. If you want to rent a courtyard however, then you are allowed to come inside.''

Shun Long stared at the middle-aged man in front of him before he said

''We will rent a courtyard then.''

The brown-haired middle-aged man seemed to have heaved out a sigh of relief as he then said

''Very well. A small courtyard costs 200 spirit stones a month, a medium-sized one costs 300 spirit stones, while a large one costs 400 spirit stones a month.''

Shun Long nodded his head, as he took out nearly 2000 spirit stones from the 'Stone of Time' and said

''We will rent a medium-sized one, for the next 6 months.''

The middle-aged inn keeper, happily accepted the spirit stones, before he led Shun Long and Liu Mei towards a relatively large courtyard.

After cupping his hands, the man then left, allowing Shun Long and Liu Mei to have a look at the courtyard.

There was a large main room, over 200 square meters wide, and 2 guest rooms 100 square meters each.

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Every room was furnished luxuriously, with a king-sized bed, couches, tables, and many other decorations.

Looking at Shun Long who had paid nearly 2000 spirit stones for the courtyard, as well as 200 more earlier for their meal, a warm feeling spread through Liu Mei's heart, before she took out 2000 spirit stones from her spatial ring and shoved them in Shun Long's hands as she said in a soft voice

''Shun Long, actually, I also have around 20.000 spirit stones as well. You don't have to pay for everything by yourself.''

Shun Long laughed lightly, while he felt a contented feeling inside him after seeing Liu Mei's actions, as he then said with a smile on his face

''Don't worry, the Dao King in the 'Vermilion realm' seemed to like me very much, as he gave me a lot of spirit stones before I left.''

He then pushed open the door of the main room, and after entering inside, he sat on one of the meditative cushions on the floor. Taking a look at the green-robed young woman in front of him who had turned her eyes to the white meditative cushion opposite to him, Shun Long then said with a smile on his face but a serious look in his eyes

''Liu Mei.''

Seeing that the peerlessly beautiful girl in front of him had just taken her white veil off as she turned her attention to him, Shun Long continued

''I will not stay in the Silver sword city forever. I don't know how long I will stay here yet... perhaps 6 months, a year, two, or maybe even more... but the day will come, that I have to leave.''

Liu Mei's beautiful black eyes were staring at Shun Long in shock.

She didn't understand why he would have to leave in the future, nor why he would bring this matter up all of a sudden.

Her voice had turned weak, sounding almost like a whisper, as she asked

''Is it... because of the Dao King from the 'Vermilion realm'?''

Her black eyes seemed to have lost part of their luster, as she weakly stared at the young man in front of her.

Shun Long shook his head as he then said

''A small part of it is about him, but there are also other things that are related to me.''

Looking at the dejected look in Liu Mei's eyes, Shun Long took a deep breath, before he uttered 2 simple sentences

''Come with me! I want you to be my woman.''