Volume 7, 5: Tragedy of Lin’s Family

Volume 7, Chapter 5: Tragedy of Lin’s Family

This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat, Masadeer, and StellarAshes.

Daylight and Void were just about to plead to Kaiser on behalf of Lin Jiyun and others, but Kaiser spoke first,

“Although I don’t know what exactly happened, it looks like the person they’re trying to kill is probably in a high position. Hundreds of Bandits seemed useless to this guy’s quest for revenge.

What’s even more puzzling is that this guy said they bought the monster, and White Snake must have cost a lot of money. Why did he use money to buy a monster instead of just hiring the Shalong Hall to assassinate the man instead?”

Everyone looked puzzled, and Kaiser continued, “So it leaves only two possibilities. First, Lin Jiyun didn’t have enough money to order a hit. The second, and worst case scenario; his enemy is so powerful that Shalong Hall didn’t want to mess with him, and denied the job.”

“Anyhow, if we were to help this guy with his quest for revenge, we will probably have to put in a lot of effort, and perhaps end up opposing the strongest powers of this world. Are you guys mentally prepared?” Kaiser raised his eyebrows, and lazily waited for everyone’s answer.

However, everyone glared at Kaiser, because they could not believe what he had just said. Wasn’t he the person who hated trouble and helping others the most?

“Kaiser, you… if you really don’t want to help them, it’s probably fine. At least we wouldn’t go look for the leader, and it counts as fulfilling Lin Jiyun’s request.” Daylight said with a stutter and a frown.

“What are you talking about? I already said I’d help.” Kaiser glanced strangely at Daylight.

“You’re really going to help them?” Void’s jaws dropped, “Are you sure you’re not trying to use them as bait or something?”

Kaiser immediately jumped up, “Damn! I’m trying to help them, and you guys actually dared to question my compassion for them?”

‘Compassion?’ Daylight and Void both looked suspiciously at Kaiser.

“Tsk! What are you staring at me for? Whatever. I thought I’d be merciful for once, but then everyone starts doubting me. Hmph! Forget it then, I won’t help.” Kaiser grunted, then sat down with his legs crossed on the master seat of the house.

Seeing Kaiser like this, Liola’s mouth twitched a little. He knew very well Kaiser wasn’t going to stop helping. Instead, he was waiting for Daylight and Void to apologize to him. Kaiser is someone who isn’t willing to back off.

Daylight and Void looked at each other, then they both walked up to Kaiser. Daylight said first, “I’m truly sorry, Kaiser, I shouldn’t have doubted you. I really am sorry.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Void hereby apologizes to you, Kaiser, please think of something to help these three.” Void said anxiously.

Since they both apologized, Kaiser sat up lazily. He murmured as he asked Daylight to wake Lin Jiyun and others, “You guys are forcing me to think again. Sometimes I really wonder if your large heads are really watermelons in disguise.”

Void smiled in embarrassment. For some reason, it became a habit for him to ask Kaiser what to do when he didn’t know. He was another victim of the ‘When you have a problem, ask Kaiser’ infectious disease.

Daylight carefully woke Lin Jiyun and others up. Seeing their bloodied faces, Daylight felt frustrated again since he didn’t know healing magic.

Lin Jiyun slowly opened his eyes and was briefly at loss, when he suddenly remembered he was begging someone. He forced his body to get up to kneel in front of Kaiser again.

Daylight held him still. Lin Jiyun began to struggle again, so Daylight yelled, “We already planned to help you, so don’t kneel anymore.”

Hearing what Daylight said, Lin Jiyun was stunned, and looked towards Kaiser. He saw Kaiser pouted then nodded. This slight nod made Lin Jiyun and his brother so happy, they began to cry. The scene of three grown man hugging each other and crying made everyone else have goosebumps.

“All right! Now quickly tell us what exactly happened, and who is your enemy?” With his hair standing up, Kaiser immediately stopped the three from giving them any more goosebumps.

Lin Jiyun wiped away his tears in embarrassment, and began to retell the past. “My father was the previous Martial Arts Alliance Leader’s most trusted advisor.”

Void widened his eyes and asked, “You are Lin Jizhi’s son?”

Lin Jiyun nodded, and Kaiser prompt him to continue.

Lin Jiyun’s tone grew heavy, “More than a year ago, an Assassin organization, Shalong Hall, had released the healer Anise under heavy pressure from all factions of Martial Arts. But before long, Shalong Hall’s top Assassin Silver Moon kidnapped the healer Anise.”

Kaiser and Daylight both restrained themselves from looking at Liola, praying in their heart that, when the story ends, Liola wasn’t going to end up being Lin Jiyun’s nemesis.

Hearing the past made Liola look a bit depressed.

‘In the eyes of the others,’ he thought, ‘I was someone who had “kidnapped” Anise?’

“Shalong Hall declared to the public that Silver Moon had betrayed them.”

Lin Jiyun said with a frown, “In order to save Anise and prevent any more danger caused by an uncontrollable Assassin, the Martial Arts Alliance Leader at the time decided to personally pursue and kill Silver Moon.”

“No one had predicted Silver Moon’s power to be beyond everyone’s imagination. Even with the combined force of the Assassin organization and the entire Martial Arts world, they were not able to kill him, and he was able to escape for nearly a month.” Lin Jiyun sighed deeply, “Silver Moon even brought an ordinary woman with him. What kind of terrifying power did he have…”

“Don’t tell me the person you want to kill for revenge is the Assassin, Silver Moon?” Kaiser finally couldn’t hold it anymore and asked, so the suspense could stop killing him and his companions.

“No, Silver Moon is already dead. Didn’t you know?” Lin Jiyun asked back with a strange expression on his face.

Uh… how could they answer? Kaiser said calmly, “We’re from a land far away, and we’re not familiar with what happens around here.”

Lin Jiyun thought briefly, and concluded the demons they had indeed weren’t from around here, so the possibility they were from really far away was the truth.

He nodded then continued, “I also participated in the pursuit, and saw the Martial Arts Alliance Leader’s duel with the Assassin Silver Moon.”

Kaiser and others’ faces suddenly darkened.

“Though my father did not allow me to get close to the fight to watch, but even from afar it was amazing. Jiyun had never thought two of the top fighters’ duel could result in hundreds of meters of barren lands.”

Liola thought about that fight, and kept breathing deeply.

“But the Assassin Silver Moon didn’t seem to want to fight, nor did he seem to want to kill. Even after the Alliance Leader used the move ‘Extinction of Heaven and Earth’, he was still not able to kill the Assassin. Instead, while the Alliance Leader was trying to recovering from expending all his energy on his attack, Silver Moon used the opportunity to get away. With his speed, nobody could possibly catch up to him.”

“Hey! What does this have to do with your enemy?” Kaiser asked impatiently.

Lin Jiyun seemed to have sunken into his memories, and said with red eyes,

“What follows was, that old thief Xin Jietian attacked the Alliance Leader when he his Ki and stamina level was low. His ambush was successful, and the Alliance Leader was killed in one hit. My father was in serious shock, and told me to leave immediately while he tried to hold Xin Jietian off. But my father was an advisor, and couldn’t possibly stand up against Xin Jietian.”

When he got to this point in his story, Lin Jiyun started to choke on his words.

“After I ran home, when I was just about to tell everyone about Xin Jietian, the news came that my dad and his accomplice had betrayed the Martial Arts Alliance and killed the leader. No matter how I explained, nobody would believe Xin Jietian was the real murderer!”

“What followed was the massacre of my entire family. Rumor said it was because Shalong Hall was unhappy with my dad working with their traitor Silver Moon… Of course, it was false accusation. The murder was none other than Xin Jietian.”

Lin Jiyun raised his head and let out a crazed laugh, “Sadly, I was out when it happened, drinking to numb my pain, and I even passed out on the way home. I escaped death twice, and I really don’t know if the heavens are taking pitying on me or punishing me, haha.”

“Eldest brother! This is the chance heaven gave you to seek revenge for your entire family.” Wong Shujun saw Lin Jiyun’s acting strangely, and began to worry. So he started to trying to comfort him.

Lin Jiyun stopped laughing, and looked at Wong Shujun thankfully, “Second brother, you are the only one who didn’t believe in Xin Jietian, and helped me escape. As a result, you had to run with me into these Bandit Mountains.”

“Stop talking about this, eldest brother, we are brothers.” Wong Shujun said in a slightly blaming tone.

At this time, Kaiser asked Void calmly, “Who is Xin Jietian.”

Void’s expression hardened. He forced an answer, “He was the right hand man of previous last Alliance Leader, and the current Alliance Leader.”

Although Kaiser had already knew this might happen since the only reason for him to kill the former Leader was to usurp his position. But hearing his assumption was right on the spot, this unfortunately news darkened Kaiser’s expression.

Daylight saw Kaiser’s face, but his eyes had turned red after hearing Lin Jiyun’s story. He yelled at Kaiser, “We must help brother Lin with his quest for revenge and seek justice. We need to expose Xin Jietian’s shameless conspiracy.”

“Wow, damn, he’s already attached to brother Lin.” Kaiser murmured.

“Kaiser, do you have any good plans?” Daylight asked anxiously.

“None at the moment.” Kaiser said honestly.

Seeing Daylight and Lin Jiyun’s downcast faces, Kaiser added, “Anyhow, we’re going to the Martial Arts Symposium, so we might as well bring this guy.”

Lin Jiyun frowned, “I’m afraid Jiyun could not appear in the Symposium. I am still a wanted criminal in the Martial Arts world.”

“Just wear a mask.” Kaiser said with ease. Worst case scenario, they could just use a Dragon to escape. He didn’t believe the Alliance Leader could fly; even if he could, could he outfly a Dragon?

Lin Jiyun saw Kaiser and others didn’t seem to care much, thinking perhaps their powers were amazing, and they really could help him right the injustice. Worst case scenario, he thought, was for him to lose his life, the life he should have already lost twice. Lin Jiyun solemnly nodded.

“By the way, can we go rob some people?” Kaiser asked with a very serious face.

Void and Daylight both hung their heads low, both looking guilty.

Before Lin Jiyun left, he organized the Bandits, and left Wong Shujun in the leader position to command the Bandits.

When Daylight and Void went with him out of curiosity, they noticed the Bandits really were so poor, their clothings were rather ragged. Both of them had gotten soft… and gave them all their money. Therefore, five people and two glutton Dragons did not even have a single cent in their names.

* * *

To make it to the Symposium, they rode Flames. As soon as Void heard they had to fly again, his face froze. Liola, on the other hand, held onto Baolilong so it wouldn’t get angry again. The reason for all this was they had no money! Therefore, when they arrived at Living Sky City, they could only stare at the door.

Standing at the gate to the city entrance, and Baolilong yelled it was hungry, but they couldn’t do anything. They weren’t even able to pay the fee to enter the city, which cost pennies.

The guards also looked at them in disdain, and the people in line to enter the city were also laughing at them.

Kaiser glared at those laughing, and yelled, “What are you laughing at? Never seen someone who got robbed?”

This made the people laugh even louder. But if they really knew the truth that they donated all their money willingly to the Bandits, they might laugh so hard to the point where their jaws might fall off.

Money really did kill heroes. Kaiser stood there with a long face, and tried to think of every possible way to make money, but then heard a yell from afar.

“Daylight?”

As soon as he heard his name, Daylight turned around to look at the source of voice and noticed Yulie and others.

Auyan Dri looked surprised, and Yulie looked happy. She hurriedly walked up, and began to chatter, “How did you guys get here faster than us? I thought you might not even make it to the Symposium.”

“Because we were afraid we might not make it, so we flew over.” Daylight answered honestly.

“Flew over? Oh.” Yulie remembered those two terrifying demons, “So why aren’t you going in? Are you waiting for… us?” When she said the last word, Yulie seemed to blush a little.

“Did you already annihilate those Bandits?” Auyan Dri laughed.

Daylight was slightly stunned. Kaiser, however, quickly joined the conversation,

“We’re merciful people, so why would we kill them ruthlessly? Especially since those mountain ranges are called Bandit Mountains. You ran in willingly, could you really blame them for robbing you?”

Having heard such a response, Auyan Dri looked awkward, and turned his face away to ignore Kaiser. He then started to talk to Daylight,

“May I dare to ask, the… beast, what was it?” Auyan Dri stuttered as he tried to figure out a name to call the two large creatures. He thought it to be inappropriate to call them monsters in front of them.

“Dragons. Mine is a Fire Dragon. Li… my second brother’s is a Sacred White Dragon (Lightning Dragon?).” Daylight answered.

“Dragon?” Auyan Dri looked puzzled. To him, Dragons were a legendary creatures and often the symbol of Royalties. Daylight calling those two monsters Dragons made Auyan Dri unsure of how he should respond.

Then, as the Sacred White Dragon, the little guy yelled loudly in dissatisfaction, “Baolilong is hungry! Meat meat, Baolilong wants meat meat!”

Daylight looked uneasy again. In fact, he knew Flames was also very hungry. The little food he had in the Bandit’s cottage hardly filled his own stomach, let alone a Dragon. Because Flames was a bit older, it didn’t throw a tantrum and wasn’t as impatient as Baolilong. Daylight felt very guilty to have his own Dragon go hungry.

“Since the child is hungry, then let’s hurry in and eat.” Yulie immediately suggested.

As soon as Yulie said so, Daylight and his companions all laughed bitterly. Yulie blinked, wondering what she had said wrong, and hesitantly asked, “What? You guys aren’t going in?”

“Uh…” Daylight touched his head with embarrassment, and said honestly, “We couldn’t pay the entrance fee.”

Yulie widened her eyes, and asked strangely, “Is the entrance fee to Living Sky City expensive? Or are these guards trying to rip you off?”

“You can’t talk such nonsense!” The eavesdropping guard immediately protested loudly, “If our entrance fee is the second cheapest, then no one would be the cheapest. We didn’t rip these people off either. Everyone here can testify.”

The crowds yelled, agreeing the guards didn’t rip them off at all.

Yulie felt a bit embarrassed. She immediately took out a bag with coins, and asked to the guard, “How much is the entrance fee? I’ll pay for all of us.”

The complacent guard raised his chin and said a number. Yulie heard the number and it was indeed very cheap. Her face blushed even more. She quickly paid and beckoned everyone to enter the city.

Auyan Dri smiled at Daylight, and gestured for him to go in, “Allow me to be your host this time to thank you for rescuing me and my sister in the Bandit Mountains.”

Being poor and having Kaiser’s eyes burning behind him, Daylight knew if he dared to say it was a Knight’s duty or the like and reject Auyan Dri’s help, Kaiser would definitely barbecue him alive and feed him to the hungry crowd.

“Then sorry for troubling you.” Daylight had no choice but to smile as he accepted.

Auyan Dri courteously answered, “No trouble at all.”

Everyone then entered Living Sky City, which was dubbed the largest city other than the Imperial City, and it was also the city where the Martial Arts Symposium was held.

The city roads were very wide, it was spacious enough for five horse-drawn carriages to travel in parallel. There were many people on the streets, many of which carried weapons and yelled loudly. There were also many peddlers on the side of the road trying to advertise their goods.

Restaurants could be found with every few steps they took, and there were no shortage of places to stay either. The whole street seemed very lively.

Auyan Dri didn’t seem to like the noisy environment, and walked hurriedly. Yulie, on the other hand, seemed very interested in the things the peddlers sold, and she often stopped to look at them.

After waiting a few times, Auyan Dri finally said, “Sister, it is already past noon, and Daylight still hasn’t eaten yet.”

Yulie reluctantly put down a carved wooden box she held in her hands and followed behind everyone , not stopping to look at things again.

Daylight thought it was a bit strange. Auyan Dri said they were going to eat, but he didn’t seem like he was going to stop any time soon even after passing so many different restaurants.

However, since it was Auyan Dri who invited them to a meal, Daylight didn’t say anything and simply followed. After walking for quite a while, the streets they were in seemed a bit more quiet, and the pedestrians on the street seemed more scarce, and they seemed more refined with more elegant clothes. The shops around them also seemed more elegant.

Auyan Dri stopped at one of the inns. The inn seemed to be especially large. It was surrounded by stone walls, and the gate was large enough for a carriage to go in unhindered.

The gate was made entirely of carved wood, and its deep red color looked like it wasn’t painted, but instead the wood’s original color. It also faintly gave out a pleasant scent.

Auyan Dri gestured for everyone to go in. As soon as they did, the maids on the side immediately bowed, and greeted them. Judging from their gestures and looks, these maids weren’t just ordinary inn maids.

Auyan Dri said a few things to them. The maids bowed and led everyone past the reception area. They walked out of the hall, and into a small garden. It had a small trail people could walk around, and both sides were lined with pink flowers.

There were also a small, artificial lake far away, and some white flowers were blooming within the lake. The strange large garden also had a few Chinese gazebo scattered about. The maids led Auyan Dri into one of the gazebos, and opened the door to let the guests in.

Auyan Dri beckoned everyone to sit down, and smiled as he said to Daylight, “We are still waiting on a guest. She’s the Yulie’s senior sister apprentice. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Yulie’s senior sister apprentice? Doesn’t it make her yours too?” Daylight asked curiously.

Auyan Dri felt a bit uneasy hearing Daylight calling Yulie’s name directly, and forced a smile, “No. She is from Wave Faction. The Sun Faction has always been close to Wave Faction, and we often call each other sibling apprentices.”

“I understand…” Daylight nodded with a smile.

The maid from before came in, and she was followed by a long line of maids, with each of them carrying two plates of food. When all the maids placed dishes on the table, which was large enough for twenty people, it had almost completely filled the table. There were twelve large containers of food, two of which were soups.

“I asked them to bring the twelve classic dishes they have here. In a moment they will come with the other twelve and some desserts.” Auyan Dri smiled.

Seeing so much food, Daylight was shocked. In the year he had been in the Overlook, there were probably two, three dishes at most per meal. In the end, they had to fill their stomachs with rice. Even when Lee San Niang cooked their farewell meal for them, it was only six dishes.

There were only two people on Auyan Dri’s side: him and Yulie. There were more people on Daylight’s side: five people and two Dragons (Of course, on the surface it looked like six people and one Dragon).

How could they possibly finish twenty four dishes plus desserts? Unless Auyan Dri had somehow already knew how much Baolilong and Flames could eat? Daylight was a bit suspicious.

“Oh right, Daylight. For your… Dragon, I asked for ten kilograms of their best beef. I don’t know if it’s enough?” Auyan Dri asked. Since it was just a small Dragon, it should be enough. However, he had no idea how much a large Dragon would eat.

“Could we get some more?” Liola suddenly opened his mouth, and added, “The more the better.”

God knows Liola had to use Ki to grab a hold of Baolilong, whose eyes had almost turned blood red from being so hungry.

Auyan Dri didn’t notice Liola until now. Compared to the sunny Daylight, Liola’s quietness didn’t seem to draw much attention.

Auyan Dri suddenly remembered, out of the two demons, one of them seemed to be controlled by the silver-eyed man before him. He became cautious of Liola, but on the surface he still appeared to be courteous.

He said leisurely, “Then, let’s get another fifty kilograms of barbecue beef.”

Auyan Dri was eager to see how Liola was going to feed the monster.

One of the two maids standing at the door immediately bowed at Auyan Dri, and headed to the kitchen to get their orders ready.

“Everyone, please help yourselves.” Auyan Dri gestured with his hand.

Liola almost couldn’t hold Baolilong back. To not let Baolilong commit an atrocity on the table, Liola decided to grab two dishes with mainly meat in them and placed them on the ground. Baolilong immediately charged at the food, and its chubby hands were grabbing food and stuffing its face.

Auyan Dri and Yulie were both stunned when Liola took the plates. But the look of Baolilong eating completely froze them.

At this time, someone else at the table also dug in. Since he couldn’t just take away the plates, Kaiser used chopsticks and a spoon at the same time. He grabbed both drum sticks of the Rotisserie Chicken, and a third of the Fish.

Almost every dish was abused in a similar manner by Kaiser. The dishes were originally so beautiful that no one wanted to eat them. However, in an instant they looked so appalling, no one dared to touch it.

Nevertheless, Daylight, Liola, and Void didn’t seem to mind. Lin Jiyun, with his face covered, probably hadn’t had a full meal for God knows how long, so he would never care whether the food looked good or not. They all began to eat, because if they didn’t hurry they might have nothing to eat but plates.

After Liola took a few bites, Baolilong began to grab the seams of his pants, with two empty plates next to it. Going against Kaiser’s murderous gaze, Liola calmly picked up another two plates and placed them on the ground for Baolilong.

There were only eight dishes left. Judging from Baolilong’s speed, it was going to be six soon. The crowd’s eating speed increased once again. Seeing the food on the table was vanishing at the speed of light, Auyan Dri and Yulie were in shock, and the maids at the door were also scared and ran off to tell the kitchen to prepare the next twelve dishes.

With sweat running down their foreheads, the maids finally managed to deliver the sixty kilograms of beef for the Dragons as soon as the twelve dishes on the table vanished. They then helped set up the second set of dishes on the table.

Without the hungry Dragons robbing them of food, they finally slow down their eating speed. Auyan Dri and Yulie began to taste a bite of every dish.

For the upper class Auyan Dri and Long Yulie, they ordered so much food not because they could eat them all. They were only going to take a bite out of every dish, and had no plans to actually finish them. Coincidentally, this was perfect for Daylight and others. Had it not there been so much food, they would’ve had a hard time feeding Baolilong and Flames.

* * *

After having eaten just about enough, Auyan Dri asked as he looked at the mask-covered Lin Jiyun, “I have been very curious. This man seems to be a new addition? I don’t remember seeing him before.”

Daylight hurriedly said, “Yes, he just joined us. We just agreed to help him with something, that’s all.”

Auyan Dri thought it was strange, but Daylight had already concluded his sentence with “that’s all”, which meant it was probable Daylight had no intention of clarifying. Naturally, Auyan Dri wouldn’t bluntly ask again. He glanced at the masked man just one more time before moving on.

“Is this little child eating a bit too much?” Long Yulie had already been full for a while, and she settled her attention on Baolilong. Seeing the child eating more than its own body weight, Yulie was worried it might die from eating too much.

Liola glanced at Baolilong, and said quietly, “Baolilong, save some for Flames.”

Baolilong, who was sitting on the ground, had all sixty kilograms of meat next to it, and was happily chewing.

Hearing papa say so, Baolilong looked at the pitiful Flames next to it, then unwillingly split its stack of meat into half and gave half to Flames. Flames almost burst into tears, it rushed up to the meat and started to stuff itself.

Auyan Dri thought it was strange how such a small child could eat so much. The child’s hair color and eye color were also strange. White hair and pink eyes… Auyan Dri suddenly had an epiphany.

‘White and pink? That monster last time seemed to also have pink eyes…’ Auyan Dri suddenly began to panic.

“Senior brother apprentice, what’s wrong?” Long Yulie asked in a caring manner. She had rarely seen him panicking like this.

When Auyan Dri didn’t know how to respond, the maid at the door respectfully said, “Mr Auyan, the guest you’ve been waiting for has arrived.”

“Auyan Dri! Did you treat my junior sister apprentice well? If you’ve been bullying her, you are dead!”

As soon as her voice could be heard, she arrived into the building like a gale. Her attire was similar to Yulie’s, with a long whip on her hips. Both of them were wearing bright red clothes, but they didn’t seem vulgar. Her skin was also snowy white. Along with her proud appearance, her image was burned into everyone’s eyes, like a bright flame.

“Hmm? How come there are so many people?”

The woman asked, and at the same time browsed through the unfamiliar crowd. When she saw Liola, the woman froze.

At the same time, Liola had already been completely stunned when he saw this woman come in. Judging from their expressions, they had already met before, but neither had ever imagined they would run into each other again.

This woman was someone Liola was very familiar with. She was the person the Martial Arts World called Long Yandie, the person closest to Anise; her sworn younger sister.