Wayfarer

From afar, Xiao Nanfeng caught sight of the Immortal City of Fengdu.

It was particularly large, with city walls that were three hundred meters tall. Runes were inlaid all over the city walls.

"If this used to be the capital of the divine empire of Dafeng, there must be a huge draconic vein here."

"There was one, but it was long since ushered away by a high-ranking member of the divine empire of Dayin. Only a few small draconic veins persist, serving as a power source for the defensive formation around the city."

"There's plenty of black fog coming from the forests to the east of the city. What a malevolent aura..." Xiao Nanfeng remarked.

"That's where the entrance to the abyss is. Demons appear there during the full moon," Lan Jiguang repeated.

"What do they look like?"

"You had better see for yourself when the time comes."

"Very well. The next full moon isn't too long away, after all. However, why doesn't the divine empire of Dayin deal with the demons here?"

"They've sent cultivators to investigate, but the conclusion was that the price of dealing with the trouble in the vicinity would require immense effort—too much to be worthwhile. However, it isn't as though they could simply ignore the area, so they allowed Immortal sects in the vicinity to try their hand at suppressing the demons from the abyss. Whoever succeeded would be granted lordship over the city."

"And you succeeded in quelling them all with the Earth disciples, Senior Uncle?"

Lan Jiguang chuckled wryly. "It's hardly that easy. Many Immortal sects dispatched strong cultivators in an attempt to deal with the abyss. After all, being a lord of a city within a divine empire provides a considerable amount of fortune. That said, there were simply too many demons here to deal with easily. I met my wife here, a holy maiden of the Shangqing holy land. She brought relics that specifically countered the demons in the area before four Immortal sects, working in tandem, were able to clear them out."

"Oh? Is Yaoguang's mother here, too?"

Lan Jiguang suddenly sounded pained. "The day Yaoguang was born, a full moon rose. A huge number of demons rushed out of the abyss. In her weakened state, she was unable to defend herself and ended up being dragged into the abyss, never to be seen again."

Xiao Nanfeng lowered his head. "My condolences, Senior Uncle."

Lan Jiguang shook his head. "None are necessary. I intend to see her corpse if she's dead and her body if she's alive. She was only dragged into the abyss and may not yet have died. I'll clean out the corruption and find her."

Xiao Nanfeng was silent for a moment. He understood that Lan Jiguang's wife had perished, that he was only attempting to fool himself so as not to be beset by grief.

The group of cultivators flew into the city.

From afar, a number of guards saw Lan Jiguang's group.

"Don't halt them. The lord of the city has returned!" one of them cried out.

"We greet the lord!" The soldiers bowed.

Lan Jiguang nodded, then brought Xiao Nanfeng and his cohort toward a palace built on high ground. Waiting for them there were a number of blue-armored fighters. They bowed upon seeing Lan Jiguang arrive, and a number of cultivators with Taiqing robes immediately stepped forward in greeting.

Lan Jiguang and Xiao Nanfeng landed outside Fengdu Hall.

"We greet the division leader!" A number of Taiqing disciples stepped forward and bowed down.

"Ah, it's Senior Brother Xiao! No, Division Leader Xiao, now. We greet Division Leader Xiao!" A few of the cultivators were surprised and excited to see Xiao Nanfeng.

They were Earth-division disciples who had benefited from Xiao Nanfeng's tutelage while they were all on Taiqing Island, and they were overjoyed to see Xiao Nanfeng arrive here.

Xiao Nanfeng nodded in greeting.

Lan Jiguang turned toward a blue-armored man. "Chang Bing, has anything happened while I was away?"

"Master, everything has been as usual. Every full moon, demons emerge from the abyss, but we beat them back each time."

"Good." Lan Jiguang nodded, then introduced Xiao Nanfeng. "You haven't been back to Taiqing Island for many years, so I don't expect you've met him before. He's Xiao Nanfeng, the current Mortal division leader."

Chang Bing frowned at Xiao Nanfeng and gave him an unfriendly look. "He's Xiao Nanfeng? The fellow who entrapped Junior Sister Yaoguang? To think he would be so shameless as to come!"

The Earth division disciples around gave each other furtive looks. Clearly, Chang Bing was a disciple of particular authority in the division.

Not far away, Xiao Nanfeng frowned. Was someone going to cause him trouble the moment he arrived?

Before Xiao Nanfeng could speak, Ye Dafu hollered, "What's wrong with you? Why are you spouting so much trash? How could you be disrespectful to a division leader? Have you forgotten about the laws of the sect?"

"And who are you to interrupt me when I speak?" Chang Bing demanded, looking at Ye Dafu.

"I'm your grandfather!"

"Insolence!" Chang Bing thundered.

"I'm Ye Dafu, elder of the Mortal division. If you want a fight, I'll be happy to take you on at any time. I'll teach you what it means to adhere to sect laws!"

"Enough!" Lan Jiguang commanded.

Only then did Ye Dafu fall silent. Chang Bing was so incensed that his face was turning a splotch of purple.

"Chang Bing, have you forgotten about the sect's laws?" Lan Jiguang demanded.

"Master, I can't stand what happened to my junior sister!" Chang Bing replied stubbornly.

"Then talk it through. This is no excuse to mock or act so improperly to a division leader, nor a reason to flout the sect's laws."

"I understand, Master! I behaved improperly." Chang Bing frowned.

Only then did Lan Jiguang turn to Xiao Nanfeng. "Xiao Nanfeng, isn't your subordinate overly brash as well?"

Xiao Nanfeng eyed Ye Dafu and smiled. "Ye Dafu was enforcing the law of the sect when he protested my insulting treatment. To be frank, Senior Uncle, I don't think we need to take this so seriously. It's natural to have conflicts of opinion. As long as they're not going against the sect, it wouldn't matter even if they were to fight—all the better to get to know each other."

He didn't intend on chastising his own subordinate when he had done nothing wrong.

"That's right, Division Leader Lan! Chang Bing started it. If he's upset, we can fight! Making such a big deal of things and then hiding behind you—others are going to look down on him, at this rate!" Ye Dafu said.

Chang Bing frowned. "Who started it? Who hid behind Division Leader Lan? I wasn't even talking about you! Why are you making such a big fuss about this?"

"Come fight me, then! I heard that Division Leader Lan has a particularly strong troop of disciples under his command, the Green Battalion. I'd like to see just how strong you are for myself!"

"Come on, then! I'm curious to see what sort of disciples have emerged on Taiqing Island during my absence as well."

"Let's do it!" Ye Dafu rallied.

Lan Jiguang frowned at Xiao Nanfeng. Xiao Nanfeng himself looked taken aback. Ye Dafu did seem quite mad today, didn't he?

"Boss, why don't you take a break and let me give it a try?"

"No, pick me! We decided on the way here that I'd be first in line if there was a fight, didn't we?"

"I hear that the Green Battalion doesn't pull its punches, and Chang Bing's a particularly fearsome fighter. I bet his punches would feel amazing. It's been too long since I've gotten beaten up well. Let me have the spot!"

"Boss, let me have some fun, won't you?"

Ye Dafu's lackeys were muttering mysteriously to themselves.

Not far away, Xiao Nanfeng's face stiffened. He suddenly realized why Ye Dafu had reacted the way he did—he and all his lackeys wanted a beating!

"Xiao Nanfeng, are they deliberately insulting Chang Bing?" Lan Jiguang asked, annoyed.

Xiao Nanfeng made an awkward face. Insulting? No—they were telling nothing but the heartfelt truth!

"They've just returned from the battlefield and may still be feeling the effects of war. I'm worried that they won't pull their punches. Why don't we forget it?" Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Forget it? Xiao Nanfeng, didn't you say that a little fighting wasn't a big deal? I'd like to see just how strong the Mortal disciples you trained are!" Chang Bing declared.

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