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Alas, as the selection time approached, the end to their peaceful days neared.

One week later, in the early morning, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha went to the castle in the center of the city. There was a long line in front of it, made up entirely of the youths who lived in the city. They yearned to enter the God Metropolis and get the chance to learn together with the descendants of the Four Great Clans.

After a long time, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha finally reached the front of the line. They gave their names, received their numbers, and went to the enormous circular drilling ground in the center of the city. There were quite a few people there, several thousand in number, all of them waiting patiently.

At that time, Xia Fan saw that fat elder that had always treated them rather well. He was accompanying a young man as they walked in from the distance. The young man had a face with gentle curves, appearing somewhat like a girl, and he wore an extremely expensive combat uniform. A black dragon had been woven into the combat uniform, savagely brandishing its claws and fangs.

!!

Upon seeing Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan, the fat elder greeted them quickly.

“In a little while, make sure you mind your mouth.” Xia Fan knew of Traveling Buddha’s temper and was worried that he would start trouble, so he whispered at him to remain silent. Traveling Buddha pursed his lips.

The fat elder grinned and introduced Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan to the young man. This man with a rather pretty appearance was called Dragon Dou.

The fat elder boasted about Xia Fan’s and Traveling Buddha’s abilities, and Dragon Dou nodded repeatedly. “So your surname is Buddha? Not bad, not bad. Nine Provinces Buddha once served under my clan’s ancestor. Since you’re here, you can follow Nine Provinces Buddha and serve me. I promise to treat you well.

“I’ve heard of your situation. The ship you were on was probably shot down by the defense system. There’s nothing that can be done about that. The automatic defenses attack anyone that approaches. However, this also might be your good luck.

“Let me preface by saying that the situation in the God Metropolis is very complicated. Although the Four Great Clans are united, it’s impossible for there to not be competition between individuals. Since it was Old Pan who recommended you, from now on, you’re my people, understood?”

…

For Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha, the so-called selection was just going through the motions. The warriors in charge of the selection took one look at their abilities before telling them to go back and wait to enter the God Metropolis tomorrow.

That night, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha went to Luolin’s home. Jane made a good meal, and everyone happily ate and drank. But Jane couldn’t help but be a little sad that Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha would be leaving tomorrow.

Xia Fan smiled and said, “I feel like there’s some conflict between the Four Great Clans. Today, Old Pan came to introduce us to a Dragon Dou, who told us that we would be Dragon Dou’s lackeys once we entered the God Metropolis.

“Now that I think about it, Old Pan was probably so supportive of the two of us because he wanted to recruit us for his master.”

Luolin smiled. “You’ve very clear-headed. Yes, there’s always been conflict between the Four Great Clans. Since Dragon Dou has come to recruit you, it’s just a matter of if you’re willing to be his lackeys or not.”

Xia Fan thought about it and said, “What’s Dragon Dou’s status?”

Luolin replied, “He doesn’t have any status at all, an average member of the Four Great Clans. If he had some incredible status, he wouldn’t have had to come personally to the City of the Four Kings. The truly formidable don’t need to recruit, for people will naturally come to them.”

Xia Fan thought about it some more. “I think it’s fine. Once we arrive at the God Metropolis, we’ll just go around with Dragon Dou.”

Luolin was startled. “The reason?”

Xia Fan said frankly, “It’s very simple. If we are with some formidable character of the Four Great Clans, we’ll find it very hard to move around. But with a mediocre person like Dragon Dou, Traveling Buddha and I will have much more freedom.

“After all, our goal isn’t to stay here, but to find out what the Four Great Clans are up to and then leave.”

When Xia Fan mentioned leaving, there was a crash from the kitchen, as if Jane had accidentally broken something.

Login shook his head. “I will think of a way for you to leave. Your warship isn’t too badly damaged, so it should be repairable, but you can’t rush it. It will take some time.”

…

The next morning, Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan went to the castle. They saw an antique destroyer was docked at the castle’s spaceport. The Four Great Clans had been in seclusion for a long time and had never updated the models of their warships.

Xia Fan followed the crowd onto the ship. This time, between five and six hundred people were heading for the God Metropolis. Several dozen among them had been permitted to study in the God Metropolis, while the rest were servants. The Four Great Clans of the God Metropolis had many people, and many servants were required to serve them.

The destroyer headed off into space. The moment it left the planet’s orbit, it warped. When the warp ended, Xia Fan looked out the window. This area of space was very normal, without anything special, but as the warship moved forward, space suddenly rippled, and the surrounding stars flashed.

Xia Fan knew that this was some kind of hidden dimension. There was some unseen entrance here, and only a ship with the right coordinates could enter there.

It wasn’t long before their surroundings became completely different. This hidden dimension contained an entire star system, with a star, planets, moons, and planetary rings. There were several thousand habitable planets; in terms of star systems, this one was absolutely enormous.

“Law of Gold, activate!”

While no one else was paying attention, Xia Fan covered his eyes, a faint golden light radiating from them. With the help of Law power, Xia Fan scanned the star system. He found that while this star system was enormous, only one planet was developed by humans. The majority of planets were covered in lush forests, and were still in their natural states.

Around twenty minutes later, the warship landed on that developed planet. Although this was where the Four Great Clans had secluded themselves, it was a rather plain city, lacking any tall buildings. Perhaps their defeat at the hands of the Skywings had made them decide that they needed to endure hardship in preparation for their revenge, so they hadn’t built up their residences as anything too ostentatious.

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha followed two warriors into a large hovercar that took them into the city.

It wasn’t hard to notice just by looking around that every member of the God Metropolis wore clothes with a clan insignia on them. Clothes with the image of a cloud belonged to the Ashen Clan, those with a dragon belonged to the Dragon Clan, those with a crescent moon belonged to the Moon Clan, and those with an empty circle belonged to the Hidden Clan.

Those people without any symbols on their clothes were servants or guards.

—

The hovercar arrived at the center of the city, occupied by a building that took up an enormous area. This place seemed to be a school, but there were no signs. Xia Fan only guessed that it was a school from how only younger people were going in and out.

Luolin had said that raising their young properly was the number one priority for the Four Great Clans, which was why the school had the best real estate in the city.

Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were assigned a dorm. Fortunately, it was a two-person dorm, but the facilities were very simple. Traveling Buddha, who was used to living a superior lifestyle, couldn’t help but frown.

“Endure it,” Xia Fan said with a frown. “Have you noticed? All of the descendants of the Four Great Clans we saw on the way here had rather strange energy signatures.”

Traveling Buddha shrugged. “Are you referring to how they had rather heavy murderous auras?”

Xia Fan nodded. “Precisely. Uncle Luolin said that a strange dark energy started to flow into the God Metropolis starting one hundred years ago, affecting the members of the Four Great Clans. I’m thinking that their thick murderous aura was caused by that dark energy.”

“Who cares? I hate this place,” Traveling Buddha muttered.

This young man was starting to throw a tantrum like a child again. Xia Fan truly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when it came to his partner.

The two of them had barely rested and were about to go out and take a walk when Xia Fan suddenly heard somebody call his name.

Walking out of the room, he saw Dragon Dou. He looked very angry, and there was a large bruise on his head.

Dragon Dou pulled up Traveling Buddha, who was lying on his bed, and said, “Hurry! Come with me!”

Xia Fan was startled. “What happened?”

Dragon Dou replied, “There’s no time to explain. Just come with me!”