漫画啦

“Give me your cards,” Jane said to Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha.

Once Jane had their cards, she headed into the store to pick out food. In the City of the Four Kings, resources were equally distributed to everyone by the managers. There was no such thing as “buying”. Everyone had a card and were allowed to take what they needed according to the quotas on their cards.

“So do you think Luolin is the person you’re looking for?” Traveling Buddha asked Xia Fan as they stood outside the store.

“Maybe. After all, he understands your nature, and he’s willing to help us. I’m guessing that even if Luolin isn’t the person I’m searching for, he will be someone who can help us in the future,” Xia Fan replied.

—

It wasn’t long before Jane came out with a basket. The basket was stuffed with the foodstuffs to be used for tonight’s dinner.

The three of them walked along the city’s old and simple roads. Finally, they arrived at a very secluded courtyard extremely far away from the main thoroughfare. There were many flowers planted in the yard; one could tell at a glance that they were very well-cared for. Every plant was in an orderly row, and the flowers on every tree vied with each other in terms of beauty.

Walking along the fence, Jane pushed open a wooden door and invited Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha inside. The living room was small, but it was kept very clean. At the round dinner table sat a thin middle-aged man, wearing a straw hat and sunglasses.

“You can have some tea with Uncle Luolin while I go and prepare dinner,” Jane said to Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha.

She proceeded into the kitchen, and it wasn’t long before the sounds of cooking came from within.

—

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha sat themselves across from Luolin, and the man poured tea for them. It was a floral tea, and while the little white flowers seemed very ordinary, they had a remarkable flavor. Even Traveling Buddha, with his high standards of tea, couldn’t help but repeatedly nod in approval.

The three of them chatted for a while, mostly about what had changed in the outside world and life in the City of the Four Kings.

Xia Fan frowned. He needed to find someone with Yin Yang Eyes, which was an extremely easy trait to see. But Luolin was wearing sunglasses, preventing him from confirming things one way or the other.

After some thought, Xia Fan smiled and asked, “Uncle Luolin, why are you wearing sunglasses inside?”

Luolin shrugged. “I’m wearing sunglasses because I don’t want to scare you. What? Do you want to see what I look like when I take off my sunglasses?”

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha said nothing. Luolin chuckled and then took off his straw hat and sunglasses.

In a flash, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were stunned. It wasn’t because Luolin didn’t have the Yin Yang Eyes, but that Luolin didn’t have eyes at all!

His eye sockets were sunken, bearing two dark red scars. It was like some monster had dug out Luolin’s eyes, leaving behind some gruesome wounds.

Traveling Buddha asked in surprise, “Uncle Luolin, what happened to your eyes?”

Luolin nonchalantly replied, “The price of seeing something I shouldn’t have.”

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha fell silent. Right now, they still couldn’t confirm if Luolin was the person they were looking for. What should they do now?

At that moment, Luolin suddenly said, “When I still had these eyes, I once saw a person. He was a youth like you two, but there was pride in his bones. I suppose you could consider us past acquaintances. I once agreed to help him investigate something. It’s been seven years now, but he never came back to see me.”

Xia Fan was shocked. Drunken Buddha had left home and begun wandering the stars seven years ago!

Could it be that Luolin was hinting that he was that person?

Luolin put his sunglasses back on and sternly asked, “Jane said that you wanted to see me for something?”

Xia Fan nodded. “It’s like this. We’ve just arrived at the City of the Four Kings, and we know far too little about this place, so…”

Luolin chuckled. “So you want to find somebody who does know the city? If that’s the case, you’ve found the right person. Before I was demoted to being a gardener in the City of the Four Kings, I used to work in the God Metropolis as a teacher.”

“A teacher?”

“Correct. The God Metropolis exists primarily to instruct the descendants of the Four Great Clans, so it is home to a massive educational system.”

Traveling Buddha frowned. “They’re already great, so what do they need to learn? So long as they train in the ancestral legacies of their clans, those guys could all become experts who could dominate the stars.”

Luolin shook his head and sighed. “Back then, Ashen Moon had no great clans, only the Four Clans. At that time, a clan called the Skywings suddenly barged in and defeated those clans who thought themselves to be so powerful.

“From then on, the Four Clans became the Four Great Clans, and they discovered the secret of the Skywings. Those Speed maniacs were so powerful because they had grasped the power of Laws.”

Traveling Buddha was stunned. He had probably never heard about the power of Laws, which was why he was so shocked. But Xia Fan wasn’t that surprised.

Traveling Buddha quickly asked, “What are Laws?”

Luolin’s explanation was the same as Bright Pearl’s, saying that Laws were the highest power of the natural world. But what Luolin said next had Xia Fan’s jaw dropping.

“The Four Great Clans sought out a power that could defeat the Skywings, and they finally found this place, a dimension with Law power, the God Metropolis.

“Thus, the Four Great Clans migrated to the God Metropolis, swearing that they would not leave until they had successfully cultivated Laws. Even their servants had to move to the City of the Four Kings so that they could continue to serve the Four Great Clans.

“Everything went smoothly at first, and the Four Great Clans managed to grasp some Law powers. But in the last century, everything suddenly changed.”

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha wanted to hear Luolin say more, but at this moment, Jane finished cooking. When Jane was around, Luolin immediately shut up, so Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha could only quietly eat dinner. At the table, Xia Fan was talkative and smiling, but Traveling Buddha seemed to have many worries on his mind.

—

When dinner was over, Jane quickly cleared the table and cleaned everything up. Luolin called Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha into his study.

It wasn’t a large study, and it was packed with leather bound books. Luolin pointed at the books and smiled. “Although I don’t have eyes, my hearing and senses are particularly sharp. Jane often reads books to me. I’ve put her through a lot over these years. In the future, I hope that she can have a good home.”

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha sat down in the study and continued their earlier topic.

Luolin said, “I was talking about what happened one hundred years ago. A strange energy suddenly entered the Ashen Moon Universe. At first, nobody knew what this energy was, and the people of the God Metropolis were extremely concerned.

“But as the God Metropolis began to change, the Four Great Clans realized that this power, while very evil, could be used by them. Even those who had not mastered Law power could improve themselves with this devilish energy.”

Xia Fan was startled, and exchanged a look with Traveling Buddha.

Strangely, even though Luolin didn’t have eyes, it seemed like he knew everything that Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were doing. He said indifferently, “Just say what you need to say. That person watching the City of the Four Kings isn’t here today.”

Xia Fan was alarmed. It was true that a god-like power that often circled the City of the Four Kings and had once captured the pair had left after nightfall.

Xia Fan replied, “It’s like this. Not too long ago, when Traveling Buddha and I were in the Outer Frontier, we ended up in the Demon Chasm. Although the Demon Chasm couldn’t be considered that big and has been around for some time, but after a long period of inactivity, we ran into Demon Ants. Could the Demon Chasm and the Ant Demons have to do with that power that suddenly intruded into Ashen Moon one hundred years ago?”

Luolin trembled, his expression turning stiff.

After a long while, Luolin sighed. “I understand. The Demon Chasms have existed all this time, but this demonic power that suddenly appeared is going to each of the Demon Chasms in Ashen Moon and awakening them. In other words, Ashen Moon is going to experience a calamity.”

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha didn’t say anything. That was exactly their concern. One Demon Chasm wasn’t a problem, but it could be an ill omen!

Luolin nodded and then shook his head, seeming very worried.

“You two should head to the God Metropolis as quickly as possible.” In the end, Luolin finally made up his mind. “So long as you can see what really happened in the God Metropolis, you should be able to understand what the Four Great Clans are going through right now.

“But you must remember to keep yourselves safe. The Four Great Clans are not what they were in the past. Their desire to defeat the Skywings has turned them into crazed devils, and they’ve mastered an absurd power. Several days ago, when you were about to escape, a god-like power suddenly captured you and rendered you immobile. That was a manifestation of the oddities of the Four Great Clans.”

Xia Fan was puzzled and asked, “Uncle Luolin, what are these oddities you speak of?”

Luolin answered grimly, “Gods and demons mingle, the sun and moon exchange their glows, life and death are reversed, and all things are in a cycle.

“These oddities began one hundred years ago. It has been a very long time since I entered the God Metropolis, so I do not know which phase it has reached.

“Trust me. The secrets of the Four Great Clans, the secrets of Ashen Moon, and even the secrets of the Cosmic Gate can all be found in the God Metropolis. After all, the God Metropolis is not a city, but a mysterious Law dimension!”