The armored horses were galloping at great speed on an old and ancient road. At that moment, two horses were gradually slowing down. Lin Feng looked around. Milky white smoke was could be seen coming from some chimneys in the distance. Surprisingly, they had come a small village. It wasn’t that small either.
In the Continent of the Nine Clouds, cultivators were respected and had the power but there were many ordinary people who didn’t have a spirit and who couldn’t practice cultivation.
“Lin Feng, we have arrived at the border region of Duan Ren City.” said Liu Cang Lan to Lin Feng pointing at the city.
“We finally arrived.” thought Lin Feng seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the city.
The Chi Xie armored horses were extremely fast but as before the Xue Yue Country was still as vast as ever. Therefore, they had required six days to arrive in this city which was situated in the north of the country.
Duan Ren City.
“This road is weird. Everything is open and accessible. Anybody could attack and destroy it.” said Lin Feng to Liu Cang Lan.
“They don’t even think about that.” replied Liu Cang Lan indifferently which made Lin Feng shiver.
They didn’t think about that?
In this city, it seemed like there were only ordinary people. They could easily be killed by even weak cultivators.
“Lin Feng, do you know how huge our continent is?”
“I’m not sure.” replied Lin Feng shaking his head.
“The Continent of the Nine Clouds is extremely vast and has many countries. There is the Imperial Country of Yu and our country, the Xue Yue Country, which is inside Xue Yu.” said Liu Cang Lan slowly and then continued: “Xue Yu has thirteen countries amongst which four of them are extremely large.”
Lin Feng was stupefied. He had never heard of Xue Yu. Thirteen countries… and the Xue Yue Country was inside Xue Yu… Lin Feng didn’t really understand what that meant. He didn’t know what these territories looked like on a map.
“All of our countries are interconnected. There are agreements in place and our Xue Yue Country also respects these agreements. We wouldn’t attack each other. However, in case that something like that happened then the weak would probably become the prey of the strong. Being strong is one of the most important rules in the Continent of the Nine Clouds.”
“However, every ten years, the thirteen countries choose the most outstanding disciples of their country and organize the Great Competition of Xue Yu. The Great Competition of Xue Yu consists of battles between these disciples. It is said that the winner can win an incredible amount of wealth and items. Besides, the winner has the opportunity to go to a mysterious and secret location to practice cultivation. ”
“The Great Competition of Xue Yu… a mysterious and secret location!” Lin Feng was shivering. Maybe Luo Xue and Chu Zhan Peng had joined the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue for that exact reason. Lin Feng was wondering if there was a correlation between what Liu Cang Lan was saying and the fact that these two high officials had chosen to study at the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue.
“Nonetheless, there are some countries who wish they could become extremely strong and annex other territories. This is something that is made possible during the Great Competition of Xue Yu. Everything always comes down to power. If they manage to annex other territories, it means that they would gain power and have access to a greater number of outstanding talents. Many countries wish they could become the Imperial Country.
“I see.” Lin Feng would have never thought that countries would fight each other in the frame of a great competition.
“You should be able to understand now why they destroyed the Yun Hai Sect. That is why they are trying to put all their best disciples into one place: the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue.” said Liu Cang Lan. Lin Feng slightly nodded. They had built the Holy Courtyard of Xue Yue because they needed more outstanding disciples and they needed to greatly increase the strength of the disciples in the country.
“They want to kill me because the sphere of influence of my army is too large. They destroyed the Yun Hai Sect because they want to unify the country under one banner. The other sects have been magnanimous but at some point, the Imperial Clan will probably start paying more attention to them and their fate will be the same as that of the Yun Hai Sect.” said Liu Cang Lan while sighing.
Lin Feng was feeling angrier and angrier. They definitely had their prey in sight.
“General, get down from your horses and come drink some water.”
At that moment, there were two people who had come from the village and one of them was a woman. She was the one who had shouted these words to Liu Cang Lan.
“General, your hair………..”
“No time. We are in a hurry. We cannot stop.” replied Liu Cang Lan to the woman while smiling. At that moment, many people were coming out of their houses and looking at Liu Cang Lan. Their eyes were filled with respect and admiration. Lin Feng was looking at Liu Cang Lan the same way.
The masses had always feared the army but these ordinary people were looking at Liu Cang Lan with respect and affection. He had managed to win the hearts of the people.
Lin Feng found it unfortunate that they weren’t in the previous world. Lin Feng thought that a person like Liu Cang Lan could have become one of the most important people in his previous world. He could probably achieve great things.
At that moment, another small town appeared in front Lin Feng.
“General, you came back.”
“Quickly, open the gate.”
Many people, when they saw that Liu Cang Lan had come back, looked excited. A short moment after, a multitude of people came to the gate.
“General!” shouted the crowd loudly. They all knew that the Yun Hai Sect had been destroyed and that their general had left to the Imperial City because of those events. They were terrified by the idea that their general would maybe never come back. They were thus very happy to see him return safely.
When Liu Cang Lan saw all those people, he took a few deep breaths. His heart was filled with joy. These people were his people and their lives were in Liu Cang Lan’s hands.
“I came back.” said Liu Cang Lan. He then urged his horse onwards and galloped into the town at full speed. He was moving so fast that the wind around him created whistling sounds as he passed through the air.
Lin Feng’s Chi Xie armored horse was closely following Liu Cang Lan.
This town wasn’t exactly big and was only a small part of the territory. Liu Cang Lan lived in another region of the city near another gate.
Liu Cang Lan hadn’t arrived yet but there was a silhouette on a horse was coming towards him. She was urging on her horse fowards using a whip. She was wearing fire-red robes.
“Father!” Liu Fei’s eyes were red and full of tears.
Not many people understood why he had gone to the Imperial City. Liu Fei didn’t understand clearly either.
When she heard that her father had come back, she rushed over to see him with tears in her eyes. Liu Fei was worried about her father and thought that he may not return alive.
“Fei Fei.” said Liu Cang Lan. He seemed to be a very affectionate father as he looking lovingly at his daughter.
Liu Fei looked at her father and a few seconds later, said: “Liu Cang Lan, you’re finally here. How could you be so stupid!”
“Eh!” A soldier next to Lin Feng was surprised and couldn’t help letting his shock escape his mouth. Liu Fei was really rude!
Immediately after, Liu Cang Lan smiled in an even more affectionate way. It was a wry smile though. After all, he was indeed really stupid sometimes.
“Alright, Fei Fei, I’m here, are you not happy that I have returned?”
“You are feeling happy that you have returned but I am still not happy.” She said galloped towards her father and said: “Father, promise me that you won’t do something like this again in the future.”
“I won’t.” said Liu Cang Lan while shaking his head. He then pointed at Lin Feng and said: “Fei Fei, you can thank him. He’s the one who saved your old father from making a mistake which he could not come back from.”
“Huh?” Liu Fei looked at Lin Feng. That young man’s robes were full of dirt because of the long journey they had taken to get here. Besides, his bronze mask looked terribly evil the more that one looked at it. The Qi emanating from his body was very strange as well.
“Father, who is this young man?” said Liu Fei while looking at Lin Fen with a perplexed face.
Liu Cang Lan laughed and said: “Don’t you recognize him?”
Liu Fei was stunned. Recognize him? She didn’t know anyone who went around wearing a bronze mask!
Lin Feng smiled and said as a joke: “What? Can you not even recognize your boyfriend?”
When he finished talking, he took off his mask. When Liu Fei saw his face, her lips started to tremble. She was overwhelmed with all different kinds of emotions but eventually a huge smile which was filled with warmth appeared and covered her face.