The Attack of the Wastrel

“Hehe, I am just speaking the truth to save you from wasting your saliva.”

Chu Jiang smiled as he shook his head, really erasing all the polite words that he had prepared beforehand. He asked directly, “Since Fang Yue has put it this way, then I will be shameless and call you Brother Rong. I wonder what you think of our Spirit City?”

Rong Yuan lowered his eyes and thought to himself. He knew that Chu Jiang was not purely asking for his impression of the Spirit City. His answer was going to determine the way the Spirit City treated them. Upon pondering for a while, Rong Yuan lifted his eyes and looked directly at Chu Jiang. He said sincerely, “Lingzhi and I have only been here for a day and cannot say much about it. But if you really want me to say something I would say that the people in the Spirit City are all very sincere and enthusiastic.”

As Rong Yuan spoke he seemed to have flashbacks of the way the residents of the Spirit City greeted and stared at them as they entered the city. His expression was hard to describe in words. Gu Lingzhi reinforced what he said, “The residents of the Spirit City are indeed…enthusiastic.”

They were so enthusiastic they made her want to find a place to hide.

“Hahahaha…” Chu Jiang did not expect their answers to be this. In the past, people’s replies would always be yearning to stay in the Spirit City or praising the bustling city. He had never received this reply before. Freezing for a moment, he then burst out laughing and knocked on the table in front of him, “Brother Rong has not yet spent much time in the city and has not fully understood people. When you get to know them better you will see that they are not only enthusiastic, they are extremely enthusiastic.”

A hint of a smile appeared on Lin Chongyuan’s serious face. It was as if he remembered something as he looked at the two of them with a lot more warmth in his eyes.

Chu Jiang stole a glance at his own master’s expression and knew that the two of them had crossed the first hurdle. As long as they did not act against his master’s wishes, staying in the Spirit City was not going to be a problem.

Because of this surprising answer, their conversation thereafter was a lot more harmonious. Just as the mood was good, Chu Jiang pretended to ask carelessly, “I wonder what are your statuses in the Tianyuan Continent? From your abilities, you all must have had high ranking positions in the Tianyuan continent right?”

“Vice Chancellor, you praise us too highly. It is all due to my elder generation that I am lucky to be born to royalty and that is the only reason I got my status of a prince.”

“Oh? I didn’t know that Elder Rong was royalty.” Chu Jiang raised his eyebrows slightly as he seemed to be interested.

The group that went with them to the Heavenly Lands had yet to hear about the stories of them from the outside world and they listened attentively. Rong Yuan met up to their expectations as he told them a summary of what was happening in Tianyuan Continent currently. After all, he had already said it once to the Langya Troop. As he spoke about it now, it was more exciting than the first time. Everyone in the living room gasped as they heard that Rong Yuan was one of the leaders of the Alliance. After speaking about how they went against the Pan Family’s Empire, the two of them suddenly had the feeling that everyone’s regard for them had improved. Lin Chongyuan’s expression had also become significantly brighter as he looked at them kindly.

“Have you heard of a person called Lin Yu in the Alliance?” As Rong Yuan was taking a break from telling his story and drinking tea, Chu Jiang suddenly interrupted.

“Lin Yu? Rong Yuan frowned slightly as he thought about it, “I don’t recall meeting such a person.”

As they heard his reply, everyone’s faces changed. Rong Yuan was confused, “I thought you have never left the Lost Lands? How would you know of this name Lin Yu?”

No one replied to him as an eerie silence took over the living room. After a while, Chu Jiang then looked up with a torn and troubled look. Looking at Lin Chongyuan, he rationalised, “Maybe…she used a fake name.”

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan immediately understood what they were saying. They must be talking about the young girl that they sent to the outside world a hundred years ago. They exchanged glances and suppressed their surprise, pretending to be confused. Looking at Chu Jiang, they asked, “Vice Chancellor…you know someone from the outside world?”

Chu Jiang gave out a bitter laugh, “This place has been abandoned by the Tianyuan Continent, how can we possibly interact with anyone from the outside world?”

“Then…” Rong Yuan pretended to be completely lost.

“This…” Chu Jiang glanced at Lin Chongyuan and realised that he was still lost in thought from the shock of the news and sighed to himself before forcing a smile, “It is just a name that we saw from a letter that accidentally came into our world from the outside world. We’re merely asking out of curiosity, it is not important.”

“Oh, I see.” Rong Yuan nodded and considerately did not continue asking. From the corner of his eyes, he registered everyone’s expressions before continuing his story.

“…In the seven years of intense war, both sides had a few extraordinary young talents. In the Alliance, the more outstanding ones are Tianfeng Jin, Nie Sang, Yan Liang…”

As Rong Yuan was telling the story, everyone’s mood was clearly not as excited. There was a mutual understanding between them. It was only when Rong Yuan talked about how Pan Luming had connected to the Realm of the Gods and had gotten a Sacred Weapon from the Deity King, Pan Luo and how he wanted to end the war did Fang Yue suddenly slam the table and shout, “This bunch of dogs under Pan Luo. It has been so many years and they are still planning schemes like that!”

As he cursed, the table made of wood broke into four. Fang Yue’s expression stiffened as he lifted the hand that slammed the table. Looking at the broken table, he gave a dry laugh, “Ha, haha, this table is quite weak. How could it have broken under such a light hit?”

He then quickly swept the debris of the table into his Storage Ring. Quickly, he retrieved another table from his Storage Ring and placed it where the previous table once stood. He then sat back on his chair pretending nothing happened.

Wei Lingshu glared at him, “Do you think nothing will happen to you just because you replaced the table? The colour is not the same! The table you broke was made of good quality green grain wood. Do you think yours can replace that?”

“Haha, this is just a temporary replacement. In a few days, I will find someone to replace it with the exact same table.” Fang Yue pretended to be composed. His eyes however, snuck a glance at Lin Chongyuan, clearly worried about Lin Chongyuan’s reaction.

Lin Chongyuan’s original worry had been interrupted by Fang Yue. He threw him a side glance, “Get it in three days.”

“Yes, Chancellor.” Fang Yue replied painstakingly. Everyone was amused by his expression. Sitting beside him, Jin Hao completely lacked sympathy as he touched his Storage Ring and teased, “What a pity. With that one hand, your trip to the Heavenly Lands has been wasted.”

Fang Yue swiped his head away and scolded, “Scram, scram, scram! You only know how to watch and laugh.”

After this short episode, under everyone’s request, Rong Yuan resumed his story. As he reached the part about the Life Whip and how they were chased down by Pan Luo, Rong Yuan skilfully weaved in half-truths in the story, completely hiding Gu Lingzhi’s Spirit Tribe background. He only said how Pan Luo hated them for helping to steal the Sacred Weapon and sent a few Demigods after them. Eventually, due to their carelessness, they accidentally entered the Endless Sea Realm and that was how they got here.

The way Rong Yuan spoke was so mesmerizing, it made everyone engrossed into what he was saying. Even as they reached the end, they wanted him to go on. Chu Jiang pursed his lips, the Tianyuan Continent was a lot more exciting than the Lost Lands.

Rong Yuan modestly replied, “The Lost Lands are not too bad too. It has techniques for training one’s physique that the outside world has never seen before. To be able to enhance one’s skin to have the qualities of gold is simply amazing.”

“Oh that is just some old trick.” Chu Jiang replied courteously. However, there were hints of pride in his voice.

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan had heard from Lu Heng and learned that these techniques were created in the Spirit City and it was only natural for Chu Jiang to have this reaction.

They continued to talk for a while more before Lin Chongyuan, who had been sitting by the side and pretending to hear suddenly said, “Hearing Elder Rong speak, the Tianyuan Continent seems to have a lot of talented young people these days. I wonder if you are able to tell us more about one of the most outstanding ones? It doesn’t matter if it is in Alchemy, Martial Skills or Weapon Forging.”

The eyes of those listening lit up as they could not help the excitement in their hearts. It is no wonder he was their Chancellor. Only he would think of the big picture. Although their First Mistress could have hidden her real name and stop them from finding more about her through her name, they could find out more by other ways.

Laughter filled Rong Yuan’s eyes as he sensed what Lin Chongyuan was trying to do. He played along and described the several talents in each skill. However when he was describing the various talents, he unintentionally left out himself and Gu Lingzhi. As he was talking about others, the expressions of those from the Spirit Tribe changed accordingly and was extremely interesting. It was only until he talked about the last person did their expression turn bad and even look slightly defeated.

“Why? Did I not do a good job telling the story? Is it boring?” Rong Yuan attempted to make fun of them but did not manage to improve their mood. It on the contrary made the direct and pure Lin Rong start to cry as she bit her lips and looked pitiful. It caused Lin Mengyan's eyes to turn red as well.

“What is happening? Even if I didn’t tell it well, it is not so bad that you would cry right?”

“It has nothing to do with you, Elder Rong,” Chu Jiang clarified. Exhaustion was visible on his face, “You’ve come from so far away and even told us so many interesting things about the Tianyuan Continent. You must be tired right? Lin Xiao, aren’t you going to take the two elders to rest?” Turning around to instruct Lin Xiao, Chu Jiang then turned back and smiled, “It is quite late now, I do not wish to delay your rest. Tomorrow morning, I will send someone over to invite you to join the Spirit Essence Awarding Ceremony. I hope that both of you will be able to join us.”

Rong Yuan smiled in response and followed Lin Xiao to the residence for the night.

The place prepared for them was not in the main residence but was a place neighbouring the Chancellor’s Manor. The place had a living room, bedroom, study room and kitchen. There was even a female and male servant.