C44 (1/2)
Long Chen walked slowly under the moonlight. Li Tang followed silently behind him.
When the horse that Long Chen was riding saw that Long Chen had arrived, it pulled back the reins that were tied to the tree. The reins were stretched out straight, the horse's hooves were trampling on the ground, its eyes were wide open, and it was panting heavily.
Long Chen looked at the horse and their gazes met. There was no change in Long Chen's eyes, only dead silence. Amidst the dead silence, there was only loneliness.
There was no killing intent. The horse was no longer struggling as violently as before. It looked at Long Chen and was indeed frightened by the killing intent from earlier.
”Brother Long, over here.” Li Tang opened his mouth as he turned around. Li Tang raised his arm and made a gesture of greeting. Long Chen walked in the direction Li Tang pointed in. Led by Li Tang, Long Chen went to the place where Uncle Zheng and Wen'er sat.
Li Tang took out a square stamp from his bosom. Before Long Chen could see it clearly, Li Tang's hand formed a seal, and the square stamp pierced into the blue stone beneath the old Liu. The green stone shone with a layer of azure light.
In front of him was a hologram, which displayed the entire scene of the village outside. Not far away from his body stood a huge rock, on top of the huge rock was the word ”Li”, a strange sense of pressure exuded from the character, it did not hide that powerful, domineering aura, and it was unknown how high the cultivation level of the person who carved the character was.
In the distance, rows upon rows of buildings surrounded a huge palace like stars surrounding the moon. Compared to the huge place, there weren't many people here, but there weren't a few either.
At the top of the golden palace, there was a large golden pearl that emitted a gentle light, which provided light to this place. There weren't many trees here, only a few ancient trees that surrounded the palace.
A river like a jade belt divided the houses on both sides. On the river were several bridges, on which people were passing by. Occasionally a woman would stand on the bridge with an oil-paper umbrella in her hand, gazing off into the distance, lost in thought, like a poem or a painting.
Everyone here gave off a depressing feeling. There were no playful children here, and those who had just learned how to walk began to practice martial arts. Those with talent began to absorb Qi.
He smiled bitterly, as if he had seen through Long Chen's thoughts, ”Brother Long, it's not that I don't want to save the villagers outside, but you should know the person wearing the bamboo hat. You should know his strength, we do not have the strength to save him, and I know that saving a life is better than creating a Level 7 Pagoda, but if we were to save them, my Li Clan's tens of thousands of people would have to accompany them in death. Brother Long should understand what is heavy and what is heavy.”
Long Chen clenched his fists and did not speak. After a long time, Long Chen said in a low voice, ”It's not your fault. It's my fault.” Li Tang forced a smile. ”Brother Long, this way please.” The space behind him distorted as he spoke. The few people who had gone to bury the villagers all came in and nodded at Li Tang.
”Brother Long, those villagers have been buried.”
”Thank you.”
A figure flew over from the sky. It was a burly man with silver armour and a silver cloak trailing behind him.
”Young master is back.” When he approached, Long Chen saw that it was a red-faced man. His eyes were like bronze bells, his face was surrounded by whiskers, and his lips were slightly thick.
”Uncle Yuchi.” The man smiled and patted Li Tang's shoulder, ”It's good that you're back. When I heard you were trapped by the Tiger Wolf Guards, I didn't even have time to react before I left with my men. You want me to stay here and watch the house?”
”Yuchi Jing!” The space behind Li Tang twisted as the old man Yuchi Jing called Old Dog Chen walked into the space. The corners of Yuchi Jingjing's eyes twitched as he smiled awkwardly. ”Old Brother Chen, I was just talking about you when you came back.” Old dog Chen snorted and said to Li Tang, ”There are sentries outside.” Li Tang nodded. He turned to face Long Chen and raised his arm. ”Brother Long, this way please.” Long Chen nodded and walked in that direction.
”Hey hey hey, Brother Chen, who is that young man? Why did the young master bring an outsider in?” Yuchi Jin asked as he grabbed Old Dog Chen's sleeve. Old dog Chen lowered his head to look at the sleeve being held by Yuchi Jingjing, who hurriedly let go.
”Don't ask what you shouldn't ask.” With that, Old Dog Chen walked away, leaving behind a trace of respect for Tang Wulin's back. Curling his lips, Yuchi Jingjing followed behind Li Tang.
Similarly, the outside world couldn't see inside, and through Li Tang's explanation, Long Chen also understood that they were in the world inside that large limestone, that this was the so-called ”one flower, one world”. As for the origin of the stone and the other aspects of Li Tang's life, Long Chen didn't ask for any explanation, nor did he ask anything further. Along the way, everyone greeted Li Tang with great respect and called him Young Noble, while Long Chen, who was also curious about the place Li Tang had brought in, smiled back to everyone.
”Brother Long, please don't take offense. This place is its own personal space. Normally, people from the outside world rarely go out, not to mention the people from the inside. Therefore, it's hard to avoid curiosity.” Li Tang explained.
”It's fine.” He was very clear on the personality of the person who could make Li Tang act in such a manner while addressing him as brother. Even though he was just a youth, he was still very shrewd and confident, and although he wasn't that old, he still felt ashamed of himself for being so tactful at his age. Seeing Long Chen's lukewarm reply made him even more curious about Long Chen's origins. He and Old Dog Chen had always been at odds with each other, so he couldn't hear much from Old Dog Chen's mouth. He could only eagerly follow behind Li Tang and Long Chen and guess Long Chen's identity based on his brief conversation with Li Tang and Long Chen.
”Uncle Yuchi, please invite Uncle Qin and Uncle Li over.” Li Tang paused for a moment, then turned back to look at Yuchi Jing. Yuchi Jin stared blankly for a moment, then laughed and flew away.
”Brother Long, please forgive me. The villa clearly says that outsiders are not allowed to come in. Therefore, I must inform the elders of my family of the matter of bringing Brother Long in.” Li Tang said apologetically.
Long Chen nodded and didn't say anything else. His purpose in coming here was very simple. One was to wait for Jing Lin to come find him, and the other was to recuperate.
Under Li Tang's guidance, Long Chen arrived at the palace he saw the moment he entered. The palace was huge, situated on a flight of steps made from jade bricks, the eight jade pillars supported the palace in eight directions, the carving on the jade pillars could not be seen clearly, the plaza outside the palace was surrounded by jade, and in the very center of the plaza, there was a jade pillar erected on top of it, and if one did not look at the picture below, they would not know what kind of map it was. Long Chen glanced at the picture formed from top, and stared at the jade stones covering it.