164 Black Moon Saint. (1/2)
Li Yang and his group arrived at another city only three days after they had slipped away from the group belonging to the Earth Rendering Empire. The city they reached was located at the edge of the pine forest that they had ended up in after forcefully interrupting the spatial array that the group from the Earth Rendering Empire was using to move around.
The city itself was a bit more normal compared to what Li Yang and the others were accustomed to, especially when they thought back to what Wasteland's Wall looked like. It was filled with a large variety of wooden or stone houses and the entire city was only surrounded by a half-meter tall fence that only served to show where the border of the city, and thus its laws, lay. There were a few groups of guards clad in full-body armor bearing the mark of the Shadow Emperor sect that patrolled along the fence, but they were walking lazily while chatting, not really bothering to keep an eye on their surroundings, clearly fully accustomed to peace and calm.
Li Yang and his group were able to enter the city with no more than a cursory glance from the guards, their gazes only lingering a short second longer on Langshen before they continued moving. The roads of the city were rather spacious and had been neatly flattened before being paved with a layer of some brown fabric that felt like hardened rubber. The houses at the outer edges of the city were placed without thought, as if people had just arrived and decided to settle down, but the deeper into the city you walked the more orderly the placement of the houses would become. The sheer number of people that the group saw on the streets could only be called staggering, there were especially many people walking around with excited looks as they curiously inspected their surroundings.
There were signs plastered all over the city for directions to various popular locations, a few colorful and extravagant shops and restaurants placed along the sides of what appeared to be the main road in the city. Young men and women stood next to the entrances of these venues, occasionally calling out to passerby's and trying to entice them to come in for a visit. Li Yang's group was called out to especially often, causing Zhao Feng to come to a quick realization as they walked through the city without aim.
”A tourist trap, huh? That at least means that there is something here capable of attracting travelers, the travelers also ought to make it easy to get our hands on information from the rest of the place.”
Once the group came to the realization, it became much easier to understand why they would place so many signs and directions all around the place. Considering how dangerous the cultivation world was, most places that could attract travelers would also involve either a dangerous zone or a bloody battle for whatever resources could be found there. But it was evidently rather peaceful here, so Li Yang guessed that it was unlikely that whatever was used to attract people could be used for cultivation.
While they were aimlessly walking through the city, Li Yang would occasionally give the base of his stomach a tap or two, looking as if he was calculating something. But what he was actually doing was reminding Jinwu and Shenlong to stay put, it had been far too long since the two of them got to come out and play so they were getting antsy now that they had woken up.
But as there was not yet any way of telling if their forms had been seen during Li Yang's earlier rampage, he was not yet comfortable with letting them out so they would have to stay cooped up for a bit longer. As the group was walking they also caught wind of the newest rumor that was sweeping through all the information channels that could get a hold of it, the Black Moon Saint. Listening to some of the rumors as they stopped for a bite to eat after a day and a half, Li Yang had no idea how he was supposed to react.
”He swept in just as the army of death was about to reach the city walls, facing the brunt of their attacks with his frail body to protect the city behind him. He commanded the great sky whale and the eagle born of the sun and the moon to rain their fury down on the attackers, utterly decimating them! And then the Saint himself took action to defend the city, his night-like hair dancing in the flames as his obsidian eyes shone with furious vengeance! A single wave of his hand reversed the sky and the earth, a black moon appearing in broad daylight and swallowing everything around it, returning all creation it could reach to naught. The Saint then left with the envoys of the Earth Rendering Empire, but his majestic moon had already seared itself into the retinas of all who saw it, branding it inside their minds!”
Li Yang wasn't sure if he should laugh or bury his head in his hands, it had only been a few days but not only had the news of his actions spread, but they had also been twisted so heavily. If he could take any solace from being talked about like that, then it would be the fact that it showed that their actions before leaving had been effective. They hadn't been able to erase Jinwu and Shenlong's existence as living beings, but they at least managed to twist and distort their appearances by a fair bit, the same also held true for Li Yang's appearance. Zhao Feng drank some spicy tea that they bought from the shop whose terrace they were resting on, smirking a little as he listened in on the rumors.
”Hey, you gotta look on the bright side in all this, you finally got the Saint title. And all you had to do to get it was twist the memories of everyone involved, I'd call that a bargain!”
Zhao Feng would not miss this opportunity to tease Li Yang with one of the few things he had never received, even if they included his past life, the title of saint. But that was only to be expected, Li Yang's personality wasn't exactly suited for a title like Saint, even his previous Monarch title had been something of a stretch. Li Yang scoffed and turned his head away, leaving the dirty work to someone else.
”Go nibble at his ears for a bit.”
A faint light flashed out from Li Yang's abdomen the moment he finished his words, Jinwu and Shenlong finally getting to leave his dantian. Since their appearances had been distorted so heavily in the minds of others, he decided that it would be fine to let them out, he just had to make sure that both of them stayed small so that others wouldn't be able to take too good of a look at them. Jinwu and Shenlong flocked around Zhao Feng and started to snap at his ears and hair, forcing him to wave his arms around to keep them away while berating Li Yang
”Oy, that's...Ow, fuck! That's cheating! face me like a man!”