There was no explanation, not even a polite "Sorry to have kept you all waiting."
The members of the Dayuan delegation looked displeased, but they knew this was Yanmen Pass, not the Dayuan grasslands where they could ride roughshod over everyone. They could only suppress their dissatisfaction and follow Xu Jiuling into the Governor-General's Office.
Their leader was Helian Shan, Dayuan's Duke Who Guards the Nation.
He had lived for more than thirteen hundred years, and his cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul peak. He had long commanded the Dayuan Kingdom's most elite Red Hoof Demon Cavalry and held immense standing within the kingdom.
Even the current King of Dayuan had to address him respectfully as Duke Helian.
Helian Shan stood nearly ten feet tall. His long, graying hair was woven into more than ten thick braids that hung over his shoulders, and several bronze rings adorned his beard. He had a hooked nose, deep-set eyes, and a hideous old scar on his left cheek.
He wore a black demon-wolf-hide robe, and the curved saber hanging at his waist was nearly seven feet long. Three fourth-tier demon beast cores were set into its scabbard.
After entering the great hall, Helian Shan stood in the center for several breaths without receiving any response. He could only take the initiative and press his right fist to his chest.
"Helian Shan, Dayuan's Duke Who Guards the Nation, pays his respects to Great Jin's Northwestern Governor-General and Protector of the Western Regions on behalf of our sovereign."
Qing Chen still did not respond, and the atmosphere in the hall grew somewhat oppressive.
Yet Helian Shan remained standing steadily where he was.
Only after a full quarter of an hour did Qing Chen chuckle. "So it's the Duke Who Guards the Nation. Should I, the