Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
“I am not acquainted with Lan Ting Yu nor have any relationship with him,” Yang Kai slowly explained. He had only heard about ‘Lan Ting Yu’ from Yue He and the Proprietress. Back when Yue He first saw him, she had also shouted out the name ‘Ting Yu’.
“But, you look so alike.” Some people remained consumed by a sense of disbelief.
Yang Kai did not say anything else; after all, he had already expressed his point to them clearly. Judging by the current situation, it would seem that Lan Ting Yu had not only visited this place in the past but was also acquainted with the people here. Why else would they have mistaken him for Lan Ting Yu when they first saw him?
[And, that City Lord…] Yang Kai observed the City Lord’s expression, secretly thinking to himself that she must have held deep feelings for Lan Ting Yu. If not, she would not have been this agitated. [Lan Ting Yu sure was popular. First, there was Yue He, and now, there’s this City Lord. Not to mention, the City Lord lives in the Blood Monster Cave Heaven. Tsk! Tsk!]
All of a sudden, he was reminded of the Wooden Token that the Proprietress had given to him. At the time, she mentioned that it was a favour. It would now seem that the Wooden Token was most likely connected to the people here.
She had also hesitated to say anything and looked a little helpless when she handed the Wooden Token to him. Her reaction seemed to be related to the current situation. She probably expected the situation to turn out this way if he came to this place. It was just that this place was so well hidden. If Yang Kai had not been chased or coincidentally obtained the map, he would not have stumbled upon this place. Various coincidences had come together to allow him to come here and meet the people in front of him.
“This Queen has embarrassed herself in front of you, Honoured Guest. Please forgive me.” The City Lord was naturally not an ordinary woman though. Although she had been emotionally shaken upon meeting him, she quickly recovered her composure after confirming that he was not Lan Ting Yu. It could be seen just how firm and steady her will was. For a woman to have such strong mental cultivation, it was no wonder that she could sit on the throne of the City Lord
“You’re too polite, City Lord.” Yang Kai nodded lightly and asked, “May I know your names?”
“This Queen’s name is Mo Mei. I am the City Lord of Abundance City!” The lady answered. Following that, she introduced the other four people to him. These people were the Elders of Abundance City. The female Elder was called Mu Qian Xuan, the middle-aged man was Pang Duo, the old man was Gong Yang Xi, and the slightly chubby man was called Jin Yuan Lang, “There are five Elders in Abundance City. The last being Tan Luo Xing. I believe you’ve met Elder Tan already.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help coldly snorting. It was that very Elder Tan who had repeatedly slandered and accused him of being Emerald Thunder City’s spy. That was what caused the huge commotion in the first place.
“Where is Elder Tan?” Mo Mei suddenly asked.
Lady Jing replied, “I noticed that Elder Tan seemed to be injured earlier. He is probably treating his wounds right now.”
While speaking, she snuck a glance at Yang Kai. If she had to be honest, she had been extremely shocked to see the scene of wounded lying all over the ground when she arrived on the scene just now.
City Lord Mo Mei nodded lightly at those words.
Pang Duo then asked, “Little Brother Yang, how do you know about Lan Ting Yu if you are not acquainted with Brother Lan?”
Yang Kai answered, “Lan You Ruo, Yue He, and I are close acquaintances. It is through them that I learned about Lan Ting Yu’s existence.”
“So that’s how it is!” Pang Duo immediately understood the situation.
Jin Yuan Lang asked, ““How is Brother Lan doing now?”
Yang Kai turned to look at Jin Yuan Lang with a slight frown. Based on what he heard from these people and what he understood from their actions, it was likely that Lan Ting Yu, the Proprietress, and Yue He had come to Abundance City together and obtained that Wooden Token. Furthermore, City Lord Mo Mei seemed to have fallen deeply in love with Lan Ting Yu here.
Unfortunately, this was the Blood Monster Cave Heaven. Outsiders would be forced to leave once the time limit was up, so there was no way for them to send word of what happened later to Abundance City. In other words, these people had no idea that Lan Ting Yu had died a long time ago.
Worried about how City Lord Mo Mei would react, Yang Kai was not sure whether he should tell them the truth. He pondered in silence for a time before deciding that honesty would be best here and explained, “You might not be aware, but… Lan Ting Yu died a long time ago.”
As soon as the statement came out, Mo Mei’s body shook violently. Her emotions that had just stabilised became disordered again. Pang Duo and the others glanced at her worriedly while Mu Qian Xuan quickly said, “Our condolences, City Lord. Please restrain your grief!”
Mo Mei lowered her head so that her hair obscured her eyes and cast a dense shadow over her face. They could not read her expression. Nevertheless, she slowly raised her hand and said, “It’s fine. I had a feeling that was the case. Why else would he fail to return after so long, unless something had happened to him? He promised to bring us out of this place back then after all.”
Seeing how she forced herself to remain strong and endured the pain even though it felt like thousands of blades were slicing her heart, the Elders felt sad too; however, they did not know how to comfort her. It was not just Mo Mei of course, the rest of them had also speculated that something had happened to Lan Ting Yu. It was just that they never received any news from the outside world, so they continued to hold on to that glimmer of hope. Now that they knew the truth, even that glimmer no longer existed.
“Were you all very close to Lan Ting Yu?” Yang Kai asked after observing them.
Pang Duo replied, “To tell you the truth, Little Brother, Abundance City was founded with the help of Brother Lan. If not for Brother Lan, we all would have perished long ago under the claws of the Monster Beasts. It can be said that Brother Lan is our saviour.”
“Is that how it is?” Yang Kai was astonished. [No wonder the Proprietress claimed that the Wooden Token was a favour. It turned out to be a favour indeed. Abundance City was only established with Lan Ting Yu’s help. That’s one heck of a favour!]
Yang Kai secretly guessed that Lan Ting Yu and the Proprietress encountered these people from Abundance City when they entered the Blood Monster Cave Heaven back then and forged bonds of affection and friendship with each other. They later helped the people here to establish Abundance City and promised to find an opportunity to bring them out of the Blood Monster Cave Heaven. It was just that fate had other plans. After Lan Ting Yu left the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, the Heaven-defying opportunities he obtained made him the target of various Cave-Heavens and Paradises. These opportunities eventually cost him his life. Needless to say, he never returned to this place again.
Over a thousand years had passed since then. That was why these people had mistaken Yang Kai for Lan Ting Yu when he first came here. It was also why Tan Luo Xing was so shocked and blurted out, “Why did you come back here after so many years!?”
Upon considering all this, Yang Kai suddenly felt as though things were not adding up so he hurriedly asked, “Has Elder Tan Luo Xing ever met Lan Ting Yu in the past?”
Jin Yuan Lang nodded, “Of course. Elder Tan and the rest of us here can be considered the earliest residents of Abundance City. When we first arrived at this place, there were only a few dozen of us. It was only after so many years of progress that we reached our current scale.”
Yang Kai wrinkled his brow, “That’s strange. If Elder Tan is acquainted with Lan Ting Yu and mistook me for him, why did he insist on slandering and accusing me of being a spy from Emerald Thunder City? He tried to kill me as soon as he saw me. If not for the fact that I have some skill, I would be nothing more than a corpse by now.”
[I don’t even know where Emerald Thunder City is located.]
“Something like that happened!?” Pang Duo was surprised.
Mu Qian Xuan pondered in silence, but a moment later, she glanced in Mo Mei’s direction and heaved a heavy sigh without saying anything. Similarly, the others seemed to understand something and their expressions became ugly.
Qu Hua Shang suddenly whispered from behind Yang Kai, “Junior Brother, it seems that Elder Tan regarded you as a love rival.”
Realisation dawned on Yang Kai after listening to her words. Everything made sense if that was truly the case. Tan Luo Xing was in love with City Lord Mo Mei, but Mo Mei only had eyes for Lan Ting Yu. It was just that Lan Ting Yu failed to appear after so many years, leading Tan Luo Xing to believe that he still had a chance with her.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai happened to arrive at this place at this time and had his Wooden Token taken away by Fan Wu Xin. Only one such Wooden Token had been issued by Abundance City throughout history. It was something that Lan Ting Yu took with him when he left. Only a dozen or so people knew about the existence of this Wooden Token, and out of all the people who knew about the situation, many had died over the years. Mo Mei and the five Elders were the only ones left who knew about the origins of this Wooden Token.
When Tan Luo Xing saw the Wooden Token, he naturally sought to investigate the situation thoroughly. In the end, he saw Yang Kai and mistakenly assumed that Lan Ting Yu had returned, sparking a murderous impulse in his heart. He immediately tried to kill Yang Kai while the latter was bound by the restraints of the Firm Yuan Nail. Who would have learned the truth if he destroyed the corpse and removed all evidence?
It was Tan Luo Xing’s bad luck that Yang Kai was not bound by the restraints of the Firm Yuan Nail at all. Yang Kai wounded him with a single palm strike. Afterward, things spiraled out of control until there was no turning back.
“Jing’er, summon Elder Tan here at once. I have something to ask him.” Mo Mei’s expression was filled with rage.
Jing’er bowed, “Yes!”
Immediately afterward, she flew out of the City Lord’s Mansion to search for Tan Luo Xing.
Pang Duo glanced at Fan Wu Xin, who had followed along, “Deacon Fan, I heard that you were the one to bring Brother Yang, and his companion back.”
Fan Wu Xin quickly replied, “That’s right. A few days ago, my men and I were guarding the Grand Array portal when we suddenly noticed a figure approaching, as though searching for something. Worried that it might be a spy sent by Emerald Thunder City to collect intelligence, I led my men to attack and capture this Senior Brother and Senior Sister. I can now see that it was all just a misunderstanding!”
While speaking, he cupped his fist at Yang Kai and Qu Hua Shang to express his apology, secretly afraid. It was fortunate that Yang Kai had been injured at the time and lost most of his combat capabilities. Fan Wu Xin could not have brought his men back safe and sound otherwise.
“What happened afterward?” Pang Duo asked again.
Fan Wu Xin immediately recounted what happened in detail. When he saw the pattern on the Wooden Token, he felt that it was very similar to the symbol of Abundance City; thus, he took possession of it and went around asking about it. To his surprise, nobody knew about the Wooden Token. Tan Luo Xing came looking for him after hearing the news and later took the Wooden Token and headed straight for the dungeon.
What followed was a huge commotion. Tan Luo Xing had issued an order for all the cultivators in Abundance City to besiege Yang Kai, in the name of killing a spy. Consequently, many people were wounded by Yang Kai.
Upon hearing that Tan Luo Xing had repeatedly accused Yang Kai of being Emerald Thunder City’s spy, the expressions of the Elders became rather ugly. Even if they ignored the fact that the City Lord and Lan Ting Yu were deeply in love with one another, Abundance City was first established with the help of Lan Ting Yu and the others.
Therefore, everyone in Abundance City essentially owed their lives to Lan Ting Yu. Tan Luo Xing had been blinded by jealousy and acted foolishly. As one of the five Great Elders of Abundance City, his actions undoubtedly repaid kindness with enmity and brought shame to them all!
“Where is the Wooden Token now?” Mu Qian Xuan asked.
Fan Wu Xin replied, “With Elder Tan.”
Mo Mei interjected, “The Wooden Token is not important. We only gave Ting Yu a Faith Token back then because he and the others helped to establish Abundance City at the beginning. Abundance City owes the bearer of the Wooden Token a great favour. Yang Kai, you are the one who brought the Wooden Token here. If there is anything you need, please speak freely. Abundance City will not refuse as long as it can satisfy your demands.”
