Returning to Flowing River City

After quickly regaining his natural attitude perhaps due to his martial art passive skill « Calming Heart », Min Li shooked his head and said, “As I’ve said, we still don’t know if my ability can allow others to travel to the other world.” as stared at Little Black Rose without diverting his eyes.

It was still hard for him to believe that she was still alive even though she was currently standing in front of him. He was afraid that she might disappear all of sudden.

“I don’t mind taking the risk.”

Seeing Little Black Rose’s determined eyes, Min Li sighed and said, “Alright… You are still as stubborn as ever.” as he gave up the idea to convince her.

Even if Min Li was Little Black Rose’s master and the one who had created her, changing her stubbornness was simply impossible; It was like finding a fish swimming in the sea.

And in fact, the support character’s personality wasn’t determined by the player himself. Apart from one distinctiveness of oneself such as one’s timidity, one’s obstinacy, one’s tenacity, and so on. Thus, Little Black Rose’s shyness, facial expression, and body corpulence were given by Min Li but the other aspects such as her stubbornness or her diligence wasn’t a characteristic that he had chosen; it was randomly generated by the game system.

When one of the City Council officials was about to insist on the matter of assigning more people to protect Min Li, the latter then unexpectedly declared, “It’s decided then. Little Black Flower is going to accompany me to the other world. Her alone should be enough.” as he left the conference room followed by Little Black Rose, without leaving them the chance to speak.

The room then became silent as no one could oppose the city lord’s decision. His authority was above anyone else on Immortal City and no ones dare to overstep this boundary. But it doesn’t mean that these people couldn’t think on their own; they were all lost in thought as they were looking for a good idea.

But then, a surprising plan came into the manager of the City Council, Du Ming once he recollected Min Li’s narration as he muttered, “He did say that his duty on The Ancient Realm was to improve the condition of the city. Doesn’t this mean that our city lord needs someone who’s skilled in city management? In addition, ‘improve’ also meant that he needs to defend the city, so we can also justify the pretext of sending a troop of soldiers with him.” in a loud tone enough for the other City Council officials to hear his approach.

The assistant city manager, Wu Guanyu clapped his hands and suggested, “Yeah, right! What a good idea! Manager Du Ming, you should take your son and convince him. You are our representative and it’s should be your task. As for Du Yang, I believed that he is qualified enough to help our city lord. During this time, we’ll select our first-rate soldiers to accompany him.” as he looked into Du Ming’s eyes. He was indicating to him that it was a big opportunity to let his son win the city lord’s support.

Of course, Du Ming wasn’t stupid as he had guessed Wu Guanyu’s thought. After all, he was the one who formed him from A to Z since he was still new on the City Council. And with a nod, he replied, “Thanks everyone for your trust. I’ll try my best to convince our city lord.” with an appreciative smile as he looked back at Wu Guanyu.

Clueless to the discussion between the City Council officials, Min Li left the City Council’s building and asked to Little Black Flower, “Little Bla— Xiao Hua, do...you know where are the other support characters?” but he stopped his sentence halfway once he suddenly remembered how he used to call her after arriving Soaring Sword became a death game.

Little Black Rose also known as Xiao Hua shook her head, showing a dejected expression and said: “I’m sorry, master, but I don’t know the whereabouts of the other support characters.”

Min LI nodded his head as he thought about his other support characters; Celestial Light, known as Tian Guang, Celestial Sword, known as Tian Jian, and Celestial Sage, known as Tian Shen. They were the four support characters, including Little Black Rose, known as Xiao Hua who accompanied him during his life on Soaring Sword until Xiao Hua’s death.

After her death, he had separated from them and the last order he had told them was to defend Immortal City. Since then, he had never met them again and had never intended to meet them until he was going to leave Soaring Sword. The reason for such behavior from Min Li was because of the intense loyalty they had towards him to the point of willingly sacrifice themselves for his life; He didn’t want them to end to lose their life by protecting him. Xiao Hua had died because of this reason and he didn’t want to suffer from this again.

“Maybe this is for the best.”

Min Li muttered as he smiled mockingly when thinking about his actual strength; he couldn’t allow himself to be a burden to them. This was one of his principles and it’ll always remain as one of them. In reality, if he had a way to convince Xiao Hua to stay in Immortal City, then he won’t even hesitate once.

“Let’s quickly go to your pet house before we go to the other world.”

Xiao Hua’s pet house was the place where she kept her magical beasts. It was one of her hobbies to take care of them and since she could also create a blood contract, Min Li intended to borrow one of her magical beasts for himself as they not only could help him in a dangerous situation, but they could also help him to grind experience points and scout an area as well. He had thought that it was a good idea to make a bloody contract with one of them since the advantage was that he could summon and recall them as much as he wanted.

After having chosen the magical beast and having completed the bloody contract, Min Li said, “Thank you, Xiao Hua, for lending me one of your magical beasts.” with a sorry look in his eyes.

“Everything that is mine, is yours as well, master.”

Xiao Hua seriously said. This made him realize once again how much loyalty she had towards him as the heavy pressure to become stronger fell into his shoulders. It was one of his obligations as his master to their shield when they are in danger, but this was what he couldn’t accomplish with his current strength.

Observing the self-blaming Min Li, Xiao Hua couldn’t help but sigh as she muttered, “Carrying on your shoulders all the burden of the people you care for is a facet of your personality that hadn’t changed at all.” in a low tone barely audible so that Min Li couldn’t hear what she’d said.

Oblivious to Xiao Hua’s current thought or the words she’d said, Min Li summoned the portal and ordered, “Allow me and Huo Ying to enter first. You go after he returned there.” in a serious tone.

“My lord, please wait a moment!”

Following Xiao Hua’s nod, Min Li was about to enter but the voice of an old man stopped his movement. Looking at the direction of the voice, Du Ming and a young man were running towards him.

Noticing the young man behind Du Ming, Min Li’s eyebrows frown as he stated, “I already told you that only Xiao Hua is enough.” as he emphasized the word “only” in a strict tone.

Du Ming and the young man knelt on the ground. Du Ming then looked at Min Li with a determined expression and hurriedly said, “I—I know that my lord is unwilling to bring others with him, but I beg you to listen to my explanation.” before lowering his head into the ground. His head was low enough to inhale the dirt from his nostrils.

Watching Du Ming’s shivering body, Min Li felt wronged. He seemed like a tyrant who was mistreating a poor elder. His serious look turned into a more sympathetic one. Without any choice, he sighed while blaming his good-hearted attitude and said, “I’m listening.” as he started to reconsider his arrangement to relieve the man’s uneasiness.

“My lord, from what we’ve heard regarding your circumstances, we’ve decided to appoint you the qualified candidates to fulfill your task more efficiently. This one is my son, Du Yang and one of them. I believe his experience in the City Council can greatly help my lord.”

Hearing the word “candidates” in the plural, Min Li probed: “Excepted him, there are other people as well?”

“Yes! Since improving a city not only require city management but also defensive operation, we’ve selected 35 qualified candidates including a blacksmith, an alchemist, an enchanter, two scouts, and a small group of soldiers.”

Du Ming panicked once he ended his sentence. Especially when he thought about the soldiers as he had guessed that Min Li was worried about Immortal City’s defense being weakened due to them. But it was only 30 soldiers including the commander which was the reason why he especially accentuated the sentence “a small group of soldiers” during his explanation.

After a long and careful reflection, Min Li finally broke the silence and said, “Alright. Once they arrived, we’ll depart.” as he had considered of having more helping hands.

Although it helped him to have more helping hands, the other factor which influenced Min Li was, in fact, that he hadn’t acted a good city lord until now. When Soaring Sword became a death game, he had to admit that he had considered the city and the people living there as NPCs even though he had realized afterward from the support characters he had created that they were humans with their own thoughts. Accepting the request of the City Council was a means for him to atone to his crimes to disregard them as human beings back on Soaring Sword.

“We won’t change what I’ve mentioned to Xiao Hua. I’ll go first with Huo Yang and once he returned, then you can enter.”

Everyone respectfully nodded their head after hearing Min Li’s explanation as an anticipated expression could be seen on their eyes.

Henceforth, he summoned the portal and entered with Huo Yang, his magical beast. And soon after passing to the other side of the portal, he saw Huo Yang’s body leaving the portal. Yet, right after leaving the portal, the magical bast immediately returned to the portal, and a few seconds later, returned once again with the people he had decided to bring with him.

From this point, he had already concluded that it was possible for the people from The Dream World to come over this world.

Staring through the window inside his bedroom, the brilliant moon reflected in Min Li’s eyes. But instead of admiring this beautiful night sky on his sight, he was worried about something — Is this night was still the night after he had entered The Dream World or the one after the day he left it?

Sweats started to appear on Min Li’s forehead as he thought about the second hypothesis; If this was truly the case, then how could he explain his absence the entire day? How could he explain the arrival of these people? And finally, how was he going to explain his unexpected increase in strength?

Min Li shook his head to clear the bad feeling he had as well as his current thoughts.

“There is no point in thinking. I can only get the answer tomorrow.”

Only a few seconds had passed but Min Li’s mind was already as calm as the river’s water following its course. Instantly calming one’s mind; it was one the advantage as well as the disadvantage of his martial art passive skill « Calming Heart ». But he was totally unaware that this was the reason why he could calm himself in any circumstances.

After thinking for a long time, Min Li ordered to Xiao Hua, “Bring these people outside the city without anyone within Flowing River City noticing you. Once you find a good location to camp, sleep for the night and come back tomorrow during the daytime. When you come, try to convince the patrols in front of the city’s entrance that you have important business with me. I’ll take care of the rest.” as he meticulously explained his plan.

Xiao Hua nodded his head once Min Li finished his explanation. And in less than a breath of time, the people in front of him disappeared from his sight; This was one of Xiao Hua’s skill. As a specialist in camouflage and assassination, her occupation was one of the most feared and the most admired one — a ninja.

Now that Xiao Hua departed from his bedroom, Min Li’s eyes indicated him how tired he was. Considering that he didn’t sleep since he had transmigrated on Zhao Li’s body, in addition to the exhausting day whether it was on The Ancient Realm or The Dream World, it won’t even take him less than a few seconds to sleep.

Unknowing of the incoming terrifying and spectacular development caused by the people Min Li had brought with him, the concerned slow-witted young man slowly moved towards his bed as he lied down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Somewhere on The Ancient Realm, a well-dressed young woman was looking at the shooting star that had suddenly appeared on the sky. After she had made her wish, the young woman looked into empty space as if she was absorbed by something. Then, a startling expression appeared on her clear and delicate white face, and followed by a pleasant smile, she faintly muttered, “Even in my wildest dreams, I had never expected once for you to appear in this world, Fiery Spear.” as the many pleasant memories inside her mind started to resurface.

“Big sister, did something good happened?

Hearing the familiar high-pitched lady-like voice next to her, the white-dressed young woman shook her head as she erased the face of the man she once deeply loved.

“Nothing, don’t worry.”

Resuming her walk, the well-dressed young woman left her little sister behind her. The never-ending path in front of her gave her the same impression as her current goal — an eternal trial on her journey to unveil the mysteries left by the deities.