557 The City Lord's Task

A girl in her mid-20s appeared on the outskirts of the Scarlet City. She had long flowing dark hair and wore a black robe made up of silk.

She had a frown on her face as if she didn't want to do what she was here to do.

She flew up to the city walls and saw a few soldiers. "Who is in charge of your city?" she asked.

The guards suddenly fell into a lull of sort and answered her without any thoughts.

'A city lord huh? Let's go see him,' the girl thought and flew through the city to the city lord's manor.

When she reached there, she sent out her spiritual sense to find the city lord.

"Come out!" she ordered directly into his mind.

Fu Wen was surprised when he heard the girl's voice in his mind. He immediately knew that it was a Saint realm expert who had arrived.

He walked out of the manor, and directly went outside. When he saw the person that had called him out, his eyes went wide.

'So young!' he thought as he looked at her. however, she was way too strong to trust her looks to be a direct representation of her age. For all he knew, she could be an old grandma.

"How may I help you, miss?" he asked as politely as possible. He really didn't want to anger this expert.

"I need your help with something," she said. "I need you to get your soldiers to gather some people."

"Some… people?" Fu Wen asked curiously. "May I know who I am to gather?"

"Yes," the girl said. "Go and gather the cultivators that will identify themselves as a player."

* * * * *

After leaving the Elder's hall, Alex left for the alchemy garden to the right. The place where his master was buried.

There were elders staying guard there, and surprisingly one of them even recognized him.

When he asked how he recognized him, the elder said, "I remember, that was the face you used for nearly 3 days in the competition back in the capital city."

'That's right,' Alex thought. The other Alex had indeed used his face to hide from Zexi.

After knowing that it was Alex, they let him enter the place without any hesitation.

Alex walked up the mountain to the place where his master was buried.

Her grave was right next to the Yin Gathering tree, which was starting to look a lot healthy now that the Yang energy from the city was gone.

"Hello, Master," Alex said. "We haven't talked in a long while, have we?"

Alex had a sad smile on his face while tears started building up in his eyes. He wiped the tears and continued speaking.

"I hope you are doing well… in your afterlife. You can rest assured about your killer, he's dead already," Alex said. "Although, I'm sure you wouldn't be happy learning that your disciple died in the process."

"It's just happened on its own, and now I'm free."

Alex then took out her sword from his storage bag. "Here," he said as he stabbed the sword next to her headstone.

"They say we can give you some things to make your afterlife easy. I hope this sword is of use to you in the afterlife, just like it was here."

Alex talked to Ma Rong for a while. After that, he decided to leave. Just as he was standing to leave, he heard something rustle a bit further away from him.

When he sent his spiritual sense to the place, he was a little surprised.

"Senior Green," Alex called out the snake that was hiding in the bushes.  The green snake slowly appeared out of the bushes and looked at Alex.

After Ma Rong's funeral, the snake had decided to stay closer to her, to protect her and the tree she so very loved.

"Are you looking after Master?" Alex asked. The snake hissed while nodding its head.

"I see. Thank you for doing that," Alex said. "Please continue looking after her, and this tree."

Alex then looked into his storage bag and brought out something. "Here, I hope this helps you in your task," he said and handed the snake a Spirit Cleansing Lily.

The snake took the lily and nodded to Alex in thanks.

Alex thanked the snake once again and left the garden. He walked away from the place and went to visit the core disciple's mountain.

He met up with his friends that had somehow by now learned of his survival.

"I should have known. You are not the type to die," Kong Yuhan had said, giving Alex a little chuckle.

He talked to Zhou Mei and Fan Ruogang. Zhou Mei was in a very depressed state. She was still in denial that her beloved masters had killed each other.

All of a sudden, she felt like she was alone. Her sister and Fan Ruogang were taking care of her, but it would take a little longer for her inner wound to heal.

Alex handed them a Spirit Cleansing Lily as well. He had quite a few, so he wouldn't mind giving them to these people who treated him as a friend.

Even though he never experienced their friendship, the memory and emotions were still with him.

Alex also met Wan Li.

"My condolences for what has happened. It is truly a great loss for the sect to lose not only the two elders but also the sect master," Wan Li said.

Alex nodded but kept a solemn face. It seemed after the invasion, Wan Li had somehow lost all of his aggression. There weren't even guards looking after him now.

"Thank you," Wan Li said all of a sudden.

"Hmm? For what?" Alex asked.

"For capturing Black Venom alive, so I could interrogate her," Wan li said.

"Black Venom?" Alex remembered the memory. "Oh right, What happened to her? Is she imprisoned somewhere?"

Wan Li shook his head. "I killed her," he said.

Alex felt stunned for a moment, but in the next moment, he understood. "Did you at least get the information you needed?"

"Yes, I got what I want," Wan Li said. "It turned out that it was the Victorious Snow merchant group that paid her to kill my parents. My parents were starting to get successful, and it was impeding on their business."

"Victorious Snow…" Alex thought for a moment and a memory surfaced once more. "Ah, that fat guy. Huo Tu's father."

Alex remembered the old man from the first-ever auction he visited.

"Do you plan to take revenge against him as well?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Wan Li said as his face overcame with rage, but he calmed himself a bit. "But I can't do it right now. I will need to be stronger."

Alex nodded. "I heard Huo Zemin's first son is quite capable. Not to mention the mercenaries his money could buy. You really have to be very careful, brother Li," he said.

Alex looked at Wan Li's cultivation base which was close to True Lord now.

"Take care of your cultivation base, brother Li. If you cultivate too fast without consolidating your foundation, you will suffer later on," Alex said.

"I know," Wan Li said. "I'm slowing down now."

"I see," Alex said. "Here." He handed him another Lily and told him what to do. after that, he left.

He gave Wan Li all the advice and help he could. the rest was something Wan Li would have to do on his own.

Alex left the core disciple area and walked out of the sect. He wanted to go directly to the Tiger sect, but since the city lord's manor was on the way, he decided to go there first.

He looked around the city. He hadn't been able to experience it before, but now he did.

Should he be happy about it? He would certainly be happier if he was back at home. However, if he was to remain in this world now, he would certainly make the most of it.

'Hmm, what's up with all of these soldiers running around the city today?' he wondered. They were saying something, but Alex was lost in his own world, so he didn't listen.

He reached the City lord's manor, and let them know of his arrival.

He could hear a bit of commotion not far away from the lord's manor and wondered what it was.

The guards relayed the message to the City Lord and soon the city lord himself came running out.

He looked at the youth in front of him with confusion on his face. He was missing an arm, but his face looked different. "You are not him," he said.

"No, it is me, City lord. I just look different," Alex said. "I heard you wanted to see me."

Fu Wen still didn't trust that it was him, so Alex brought out a pill from his storage bag.

"It's the pill that makes someone sweat a lot," Alex said. "Is this proof enough?"

"Oh, it is you," the city lord finally accepted. "Why did you change your look?"

"I just… felt like it," Alex said.

"Come on in, let's talk inside," Fu Wen said and the two of them went into the manor.

"First of all, let me give you my condolences. Ma Rong's death is a tragedy for the whole empire," Fu Wen said. "It is truly a big loss for all of us."

"Thank you, City Lord," Alex said. He could tell that the City Lord truly felt of his master's death as a loss.

"So, let me get to the point. My uncle came here a week ago looking for you. He heard that you were back from where you were taken and wanted to talk to you," Fu Wen said.

"The Emperor wants to talk to me?" Alex asked. "Is he still around?"

"No," Fu Wen said. "After he learned you most likely died in the desert, he returned back."

"I see. May I know what he wanted to talk about?" Alex asked.

"Well…" Fu Wen hesitated a bit before finally saying, "he has two guests from outside the empire that came through the beast's land."

"Hmm," Alex was surprised. "Humans came out of the beast land? Ah, it must've been one of the ones that entered from the Luminance empire."

"You know about the Luminance empire?" Fu Wen asked in surprise.

"I learned a bit about it from the beasts," Alex said.

"Oh great," Fu Wen said. "The two that came out want to go back, but they're scared. You somehow survived there, so they want you to tell them how to survive in there."

"Oh, they want to get back? Wait, so they know how to enter?" Alex stood up suddenly and asked.

"Uhh… I believe so? They said they escaped on their own," Fu Wen said.

Alex's eyes moved around in surprise and a sense of happiness. He finally found a way to go save Pearl.

"I will do it," he said. "Please inform the Emperor of my survival as well as the fact that I will go to the capital a week or 2."

"Are you sure?" Fu Wen asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "I will graduate from my sects in a few days. After that, I will leave."

"Ok," Fu Wen said with a smile. "I will let my Uncle know.

"How's the city doing?" Alex asked. "I hope it's back to being a bit more normal."

"Yes," Fu Wen said. "We finished the repair a few days ago, so it's as normal as it can be after a bandit attack."

"I see," Alex said. "I saw many soldiers outside. You must've upped the security a lot."

"Hmm? Oh no, those aren't for securities," Fu Wen said. "I am just using my soldiers and guards to gather people for someone."

"Gather people?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Fu Wen said. "Someone came and asked me to help them gather cultivators that would call themselves Players."

Alex's eyes went wide all of a sudden. "Players?"