sonovelo Chapter 657: Jiuguan City
Chapter 657: Jiuguan City
chapter 657: jiuguan city
chu liang returned to silver sword peak, only to see xiaoyu'er rushing out in a panic. as soon as she spotted him, she called out anxiously, "big bro chu liang, someone's looking for you!"
"hmm?" chu liang was puzzled by her appearance. someone's looking for me?
stepping into the pavilion, he was met with the sight of a bloodied figure sprawled on the ground. liu xiaoyu and chu yi knelt beside him, hurriedly tending to his wounds.
nearby, di nufeng stood with her arms crossed, inspecting the scene with a bored expression. she mumbled aloud, half to herself, "two strikes, yet neither hit the mark. all force, no finesse... oh, one on his back too? even worse. what a pity."
the wounded man couldn't hold back and said weakly, "esteemed senior, are you actually hoping i don’t make it...?"
chu liang stepped forward with a reassuring smile. "brother ji, don't take it to heart. it's just her work habit."
he recognized the gravely injured man. it was ji lingfeng, the eighth young master of the ji family.
"i wouldn't dare," ji lingfeng replied with a bitter smile. "i'm already grateful you saved my life."
"how did you end up like this?" chu liang asked.
"i'm working as a seal-holding official in the imperial supervisory bureau now..." ji lingfeng answered.
"you're already a seal-holding official?" chu liang was stunned by the first sentence. "you haven't returned home all these years?"
"i haven't." ji lingfeng gritted his teeth. "i even bought a house in the capital of yu."
"what?" chu liang blinked in surprise. "don't tell me... you and the ninth young lady are still competing over that bet?"
"hah, of course," ji lingfeng let out a cold laugh. "this is nothing. she's even married into the great astral sect."
chu liang froze for a moment, struggling to process what he just heard.
the two of them ran away from home, and it escalated to one buying a house in the capital of yu and the other getting married?
chu liang couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of reward awaited the winner. would it be a guaranteed ascension to the ninth realm or the title of head of the ji family?
what drove you two to keep this up for six years? was it just an inexplicable desire to win?
but no matter what, chu liang had to admit... the members of the ji family are truly impressive.
ji lingfeng let out a slow breath. "recently, the rebels from mount mang in the southern regions have risen in revolt. you might have heard of it. i went to investigate but ran into them. they have immense cultivation power. they injured me severely, and i barely escaped by relying on my invisibility ability. even so, my wounds were too severe, and i lost consciousness. when i woke up... i had no idea how i ended up here."
"it was the brothers from red cotton peak," chu yi chimed in. "they were out delivering goods and found elder brother ji on the roadside. senior brother chu, big bro lin bei recognized that elder brother ji is your acquaintance, so he asked them to bring him to the silver sword peak for treatment."
...
"this airship is truly luxurious," ling ao remarked with genuine admiration.
lin bei chuckled. "even with just the wealth he had six years ago, chu liang would still be the richest man on mount shu today."
after taking over the management of red cotton peak, chu yi claimed only a small portion of the profits, leaving the bulk in the public account. when chu liang returned, chu yi readily handed over the fund records without hesitation.
when chu liang checked, he realized that after six years of sleep, his fortune had grown beyond measure.
but since red cotton peak needed funds for operations, the money was still circulating there. he wasn’t in a hurry to withdraw it. he also planned to donate more for disaster relief this time.
"i am not interested in money," chu liang sighed from behind them. "honestly, my happiest days were when i was doing missions and earning a few dozen sword coins.[1]"
the three of them stood on the deck of the lianglong, flying towards jiuguan city. ling ao’s bangs fluttered wildly in the wind.
"..." ling ao and lin bei exchanged glances.
ling ao’s expression practically screamed, why do i feel like punching him? maybe i should stop restraining myself and just give him a punch...
lin bei’s expression said... what are you even talking about? i can’t see clearly. you’re only showing half an eye. how am i supposed to understand that look...
"i'm guessing you two must have lived quite well these past few years?" chu liang remarked. "lin bei, you've become the fragrant tiger, and ling ao... you've grown your hair out again."
judging by ling ao’s habit of cutting his hair whenever he faced setbacks, he must not have encountered much failure in recent years.
"heh," ling ao chuckled. "i just broke through to the sixth realm last year. but among our peers, my progress is considered slow. senior brother xu, for example, is already at the peak of the sixth realm."
he glanced at chu liang and added, "it's such a shame. if your cultivation hadn't been delayed these past few years, you wouldn’t have fallen behind the others."
although ling ao also practiced the cultivation legacy of the dragon scale, the dragon breath within him was faint—far weaker than even ordinary draconic beasts. as a result, he could barely sense the dragon god mark on chu liang.
that was the nature of draconic bloodlines. the more a draconic descendant or cultivator drew power from the bloodline, the greater its hold over them. while ling ao could activate divine abilities through the dragon breath in him, his cultivation relied primarily on his own efforts. his dependence on the dragon bloodline was not as strong, which was why chu liang's presence had little effect on him.
consequently, ling ao had no idea how powerful chu liang was. he saw chu liang as nothing more than a cultivator at the fourth level of the fifth realm. for someone his age, chu liang wasn’t weak, but compared to the brilliance of his past achievements, it was hard for ling ao not to feel a sense of regret at how things had turned out.
chu liang was once such a dazzling presence, but i’m stronger than him now...
"yeah." chu liang nodded in agreement, not bothering to explain. "these six years have really set me back."
1. author is roasting a billionaire who said "i am not interested in money, because my happiest times were when i was a teacher making rmb 91* a month." refer to link. ☜