Chapter 365: Chapter 364: Chaotic Empire
After departing, Yi Tianyun swiftly headed for the Celestial Dragon Continent. The Celestial Dragon Continent was situated right next to the Earth Realm Continent, so it was quite close. It wouldn’t take him long to arrive.
’I wonder what Ren Zhirou’s situation is now...’
He recalled the previous chain quest. Having gotten a taste of the rewards, he knew the experience from these quests was extremely high. If he could see it through to the end, he was certain to receive an astonishing reward. He briefly checked the quest, and the details appeared.
"Hidden Chain Quest: ’Help the Empire Goddess’. Completion Reward: fifty million experience points, one million Madness Value, Ren Zhirou’s Favorability +200, and the ’Imperial Guardian God’ title. (Note: A quest where you can choose how to help, which will influence the balance of power.)"
This was the quest he had accepted earlier, and he was now ready to complete it. However, the system offered no instructions on where to go or what to do. He could only continue this quest by finding Ren Zhirou.
Although he had no directions, knowing his destination was the Celestial Dragon Empire was enough. He was confident he could find her by going there and searching.
As he flew, he quickly reached the Celestial Dragon Continent. This land was much more abundant than the Earth Realm Continent, and its Spiritual Power was also considerably denser. It was on the same level as the Netherworld Continent; both empires had been established in places with exceptionally rich Spiritual Power.
However, when he arrived in the region, he found it to be far more chaotic. As he flew along, he could see numerous bandits robbing and plundering. In a fit of anger, he descended to help, eliminating the bandits and bringing a moment of peace to a nearby village.
"Thank you, great hero! Thank you for your help..."
Villager after villager knelt before Yi Tianyun, tears streaming down their faces. Their entire village’s possessions and people had been on the verge of being stolen away.
"It’s alright. I have a question—is it always like this here? Does the Celestial Dragon Empire not manage this at all?" Yi Tianyun frowned. He had heard this place was rather chaotic, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
"The Celestial Dragon Empire is in utter chaos right now. How could they have time to manage us way out here? Sigh... it’s us common folk who suffer."
"That’s right. The Celestial Dragon Empire is in a state of internal turmoil. They used to send soldiers to manage the surrounding areas, but now, no one comes to help anymore."
"We’re planning to migrate to the Earth Realm Continent. We can’t survive if we stay here any longer."
They all shook their heads, having lost all hope in the Celestial Dragon Empire. Staying here would only lead to a dead end. They were constantly being robbed by bandits, making it pointless to accumulate anything.
’Looks like the situation is indeed dire.’ Yi Tianyun nodded, then turned and flew away. ’Forget about expecting the Celestial Dragon Empire to help me. They’ll be lucky if they don’t collapse entirely.’
He then passed through several cities, most of which seemed to be in order. They were populated by Cultivators, so public order was well-maintained. As for the common people outside the cities, however, it was a different story. Without any cultivation base, they could only suffer being bullied.
’The situation isn’t great, but at least it’s not so chaotic that it’s uninhabitable.’ Yi Tianyun chose a city and descended. He wasn’t in a hurry to go to the Imperial City just yet. First, he needed to scout out the situation in the Celestial Dragon Empire and see what the details were; he wouldn’t get much information from those small villages.
Looking up, he saw that the city was quite large. A plaque hung above the gate, inscribed with the words: Dragon Tail City!
Just as he was about to enter the city gate, a guard immediately blocked his way. The guard’s gaze was cold as he said, "The entrance fee is ten taels of Spirit Stones!"
"Ten taels of Spirit Stones?" Yi Tianyun frowned. That was a steep price. Although it wasn’t a problem for him, ten taels of Spirit Stones was a bit too expensive under these chaotic circumstances.
"If you can’t pay, then scram! Still hesitating over ten taels of Spirit Stones!" The guard grew impatient seeing Yi Tianyun dragging his feet.
Yi Tianyun took out ten taels of Spirit Stones and tossed them to the guard. After catching them, however, the guard sneered. "Price just went up. It’s fifteen taels of Spirit Stones now. You’re still short five taels!"
A cold glint flashed in Yi Tianyun’s eyes at the sudden price hike. He said nothing, simply taking out another five taels of Spirit Stones and tossing them to the guard.
"Not bad, not bad. Quite obedient. Go on in!" The guard smirked and gestured for him to enter.
Yi Tianyun walked right in without arguing with the guards at all. After he was gone, the two guards exchanged a smirk.
"Heh heh, these greenhorns. You just have to scare them a little, and they’ll cough up an extra five taels of Spirit Stones. We’re going for drinks later!"
"Exactly. It’s chaos out there. You think they dare refuse? This is our turf. If they’ve got a problem with it, they can stay outside!"
The two of them roared with laughter, their eyes full of smug satisfaction.
"Hey, kid! What are you looking at? Twenty taels for you!" the guard snarled, glaring at a young man who was preparing to enter.
"What? Twenty taels? The last guy paid fifteen taels at most..."
"I said twenty taels, so it’s twenty taels. If you don’t like it, stay out!" the guard sneered.
"I... I..."
The young man took a step back, intimidated by the guard’s glare, and decided to just obediently pay. But just as he was about to take out the money, there was a sudden THUD! The two guards cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, completely paralyzed and unable to move.
This scene made the surrounding people jump. The two guards had been sent flying out of nowhere, and by the looks of it, they were seriously injured.
Seizing the opportunity, however, the onlookers quickly slipped into the city. They didn’t dare to linger, lest they get caught up in the trouble.
At the same time, on the other side of the city wall, a figure materialized. It was none other than Yi Tianyun.
"Consider those fifteen taels your medical expenses," Yi Tianyun said with a faint smile. Anyone who provoked him was bound to meet a bad end. But this incident revealed something to him: even a seemingly stable city was having a hard time.
’These guards are far too arrogant, hiking up the price on a whim. They’re completely taking advantage of the chaos outside to arbitrarily raise the fee. They raise the price on anyone who looks at them wrong, daring people to stay outside. But to save that little bit of money, you could die out there and not even know how it happened.’
He then found a tavern, ordered some fine wine, and sat down to drink by himself. A place like this was the best location to gather information. With so many Cultivators coming and going, it would be easy to overhear some news.
He had only just sat down when he immediately overheard a few snippets of conversation.
"The Imperial City is in chaos right now. I heard the Empire’s princess has returned, and it’s causing the two major factions to nearly come to blows."
"The Empire’s princess is back? You mean that Goddess from back then? What’s the point of her suddenly returning? Her brother is already dead. What power could she possibly have left?"
"I’m not sure about the details, but there are still quite a few factions on her side. The situation doesn’t look good for her, though. After all, the one with the most prestige right now is the Dragon Chancellor. If the Empire’s princess hadn’t returned, he would’ve already become the Great Emperor."
"So by coming back, isn’t she just asking to die?"
"Isn’t that the truth? The Dragon Chancellor runs everything now. For this princess to return, wanting to become the Empire’s Goddess and lead the entire Empire... isn’t that just a slap in the Dragon Chancellor’s face? I doubt she’ll live much longer."
"Shh! Not so loud! If someone overhears, I’ll be dragged into this with you!"
Yi Tianyun’s brows furrowed. ’No wonder Ren Zhirou’s brother never came to find her,’ he thought. ’He’s already dead...’
Comments