Chapter 143
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####################
"You dared to challenge me.. I will make sure that you would regret such impudence!" Rong Huan snorted as he stood up furiously and his servant picked up the broken pieces of the teapots on the floor of his carriage.
"I'll let you off for now.. but next time.. hehe.." a hint of savagery flashed in that scheming eyes of his.
...
"I didn't know that my son could be that aggressive." Meng Yue said as they walked by the crowd.
Although she was satisfied by her son's performance teaching those troublemakers a lesson that they won't be able to forget anytime soon, she was still surprised with the whole scene taking place before.
After all, being the mother for well over 20 years, she had never seen even once that her son could turn agressive like that back in the past.
"Umm.. well.." Duan Li scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression, unable to explain it.
Frankly, he himself was not so sure on how he was able to do things like that sometimes. Ever since he merged with his memories from the future timeline, his personality had started to mix together such that, even when expressing the things that he did just now, it seemed to be all too familiar for him.
"What mother said is true.. I'm not like this before.." Duan Li thought inwardly as he agreed with her as well.
Am I developing some sort of a split personality without my own awareness?
That's too scary!
"It's fine, I prefer my son to have a sturdy backbone anyways. Furthermore, against people like those, you need to show them the extremes so that they wouldn't dare to do such things twice!" Meng Yue scoffed.
When the rest of the party heard this, they shivered a little bit.
As expected of the Tyrant of the Jiu Empire!
When most mothers would reprimand their children for acting violent, she on the other hand, had encouraged her son to be doing the extreme side of it instead!
"I could've handled the situation myself, why did you have to intervene?" Shen Murong asked, feeling a little bit disgruntled from being unable to pummel those troublemakers himself.
Duan Li chuckled, "Knowing you, of course I am confident in you being able to beat them. However, don't forget that, even though we are trying to increase our reputation, it isn't through infamy, but rather through being vague.. just like our party name."
Shen Murong creased his brows together as he cupped his chin, pondering the meaning behind Duan Li's words.
Noticing that Shen Murong didn't seem to get what Duan Li meant, Shen Lu sighed and explained;
"What our Lord here meant by that, is that while infamy would make people more wary to not get on the bad side of us, the rumors people would spread about our party would be mostly negative by then."
"However, by pointing out to the masses that there was a mastermind behind that previous mess, even if our Lord here had beaten them up black and blue like that, people are more willing to accept it."
"Furthermore, by letting the mastermind off with a warning in front of everyone else, it showed the magnanimity of our Lord as well. With these two factors combined, people would view things in two different perspective at least." Shen Lu said with a smile, impressed by his Brother here.
Shen Murong nodded after a while, "So, what you are trying to say is that, the two different rumors circulating around at the same time would make it hard for people to judge of how we really are while at the same time staying away from us?"
"Correct. That way, the magic name of our party would once again cast them the illusion that we are, mysterious." Shen Lu answered.
Shen Murong and the others nodded as they finally could comprehend the entire scenario back then.
So it is like that!
To think that the hidden meaning behind their Lord's action would be so deep!
Truly fitting for their name - The Mysterious Party!
On the other hand, Duan Li by the side was just smiling, as if what Shen Lu had just stated was in fact, according to his plan all along. This caused the new recruits to have a deeper feeling of respect and reverence towards him as they were awed by his ingenuity and planning!
However, the actual truth couldn't be any more wrong than that!
He had only answered Shen Murong's inquiry half-heartedly just now, and it was really meant to be a vague answer!
So even if the other party could not understood him, he would just have to chuckle and act mysteriously without saying anything more, and the matter would naturally be resolved just like that.
But who could've thought that Shen Lu had just conveniently filled in that blank answer for him with the latter's perfect 'comprehension' of the intent behind his vague words?
Lol.
To be honest though, it was all because he didn't want his mother to act personally. Otherwise, not only would the crowd be confused that an outsider had suddenly intervened, but if they later found out that his mother was the famous Meng Yue, people would mistook him for hiding under the umbrella of his mother.
In other words, people would start to label and call him as cowards!
For something as such, he would definitely not allow it to happen!
And another reason for him acting out back then was because they had insulted his mother too for being short, and that had him feeling a little bit angry.
So what if my mother is short?!
She is still cute!
...
After entering the hangar, they couldn't help but to marvel on the gigantic transportation vehicle in front of them - the Phoenix Craddle!
This was a very extra-large ship, almost similar to those used in sailing the ocean. But instead of on water, this ship sailed on air!
Thus, it was known as the Airship!
The Phoenix Craddle was the pride of the Jiu Empire, a mothership with its bow ends shaped like the head of a real phoenix, a tell-tale symbol of the authority of the Jiu royal family and their phoenix bloodline!
This mothership measured roughly around 450 meters in length, and could transport up to 10,000 people at max capacity!
However, although this might sound impressive, the Phoenix Craddle that they saw here was just one of the several of its kind being stationed around the Jiu Empire for the purpose of moving large personnel around the Empire quickly!
The largest mothership, known as the Phoenix King, stationed by the Royal Palace, was far more impressive than this one.
Nevertheless, the Phoenix Craddle could still attract the numerous awes and reverence from the onlookers that saw it. After all, these things couldn't be seen flying around on a daily basis, for the single fact that they are very power hungry and costly to operate!
"This version of the Phoenix Craddle isn't too shabby.." Xu Rong commented.
Hearing this, the others turned to her and Fei Longwei couldn't help but to ask;
"You've seen the other version?"
Xu Rong nodded, "En. If I am not mistaken, perhaps the better version of the Phoenix Craddle was stationed near the Southern region."
After she said this, Wei Shang chimed in, "Xu Rong.. can it be.. that you are from of the Xu Clan?" he asked and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"Indeed I am. When I was still young, I remember that I used to play in one of these Phoenix Craddle back when it was just in its early phase of construction." she replied proudfully as she crossed both arms on her chest.
Hisss!
The others sucked in a cold breath when they heard this. This was especially so for Shen Lu!
Back then when he was going through their list of applicants and saw her name, a thought had flashed across his mind that this Xu Rong could possibly be from that famous Xu Clan!
But because a lot of people were surnamed 'Xu', and the Xu Clan was not lacking when it comes to money nor resources as well, for her to put in an application to become a follower of the yet-to-be famous Lord back then, he quickly dismissed the idea entirely because it was just almost impossible for someone of such status and backing to follow behind a nameless Lord!
"Why did she join us?" Shen Lu couldn't help but to ponder on this question, so was some of them as well.
Meanwhile, Duan Li, the Lord in question himself, coming from the humble Xuan Village with no prior knowledge of the Xu Clan, was clueless as to why they were so surprised, thus he asked them.
"Is this Xu Clan formidable?"
The others swerved their head to look at him with yet another shock on their faces.
He seriously didn't know?
Has our Lord been living inside a cave before this?
Meng Yue that noticed their weird expression could only made some dry cough, a little bit embarrassed by her son's lack of knowledge, and so, explained it to him;
Ahem!
"In the Jiu Empire, there are Nine ruling Clans and was also the reason why the capital city was named as the Nine Lotuses City rather than just the eight towns surrounding it."
"The strongest clan is the Jiu Clan, the royal family themselves whom possessed the phoenix bloodline. The second was the Shen Clan, and they possessed the dragon bloodline. After that, is the Xu Clan. While they do not possess some powerful bloodline as the rest, their King serpent bloodline has endowed them with the ability to control fire at will."
"In fact, their mastery over fire was so profound that they work very closely with the top blacksmith clan, the Tong clan! It could be said that while the Xu Clan does not need the Tong Clan to survive, the same could not be said in reverse!"
"In other words, this Phoenix Craddle mothership you see here, was largely possible due to them, as well as other inventions as well." she explained.
"I see.. no wonder everyone was surprised.. it turns out that you are from this Xu clan.." Duan Li said as he turned towards Xu Rong.
He finally came into the realization as the others as well, that with such a powerful background, she still decided to join him?
As for the matter of Shen Murong joining him, that was entirely due to their battle together, but as for her..
What was the reason?
Perhaps due to his curiosity, Duan Li began to scan Xu Rong's figure up and down subconsciously, trying to determine what her real objective was, of which the latter simply blushed without even reprimanding him.
Seeing this, Duan Li's mother seemed to notice something interesting before she smiled.
Oh? Could it be?
Unable to guess Xu Rong's intentions, Duan Li decided to just let the matter go before he noticed something missing.
"Eh? Where is Cucko?" he asked the others.
Cucko had steadily perched atop of his left shoulder all these while, even during the previous incident while maintaining an indifferent expression as its master was punishing the troublemakers.
Where in the world is that chicken now?
When they finally saw the missing chicken, their jaw dropped open.
"T-The chicken is over there.." Guo He pointed up as he swallowed his saliva.
Gulp!
Cucko was seen perching atop of the head of the phoenix statue on the Phoenix Craddle!
And to add spice to this scene, this chicken seemed to be stepping on it with a proud look as it puffed out its chest and opened its wing out wide!
CUUCCK-CUUCCKOOO!!
God damnit! That's the symbol of the Royal family!
...
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
####PATREON####
Visit my patreon to support this novel at www.patreon.com/ramzeyramzo
-PAYMENTS ARE MONTHLY-
Tier 1 (Fans of UIU) = $2.00
-Entitled to basic contents.
Tier 2 (Loyal Reader) = $5.00
-Entitled to early release.
Tier 3 (Noble Reader) = $10.00
-Entitled to early & double release.
Tier 4 (Royal Reader) = $15.00
-Entitled to advance chapters.
Tier 5 (Quasi Aurthor) = $50.00
-Submit one chapter worth story plot with your name on it.
Tier 6 (Half Author) = $200.00
-Submit ten chapter worth story plot with your name on it.
####################
"You dared to challenge me.. I will make sure that you would regret such impudence!" Rong Huan snorted as he stood up furiously and his servant picked up the broken pieces of the teapots on the floor of his carriage.
"I'll let you off for now.. but next time.. hehe.." a hint of savagery flashed in that scheming eyes of his.
...
"I didn't know that my son could be that aggressive." Meng Yue said as they walked by the crowd.
Although she was satisfied by her son's performance teaching those troublemakers a lesson that they won't be able to forget anytime soon, she was still surprised with the whole scene taking place before.
After all, being the mother for well over 20 years, she had never seen even once that her son could turn agressive like that back in the past.
"Umm.. well.." Duan Li scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression, unable to explain it.
Frankly, he himself was not so sure on how he was able to do things like that sometimes. Ever since he merged with his memories from the future timeline, his personality had started to mix together such that, even when expressing the things that he did just now, it seemed to be all too familiar for him.
"What mother said is true.. I'm not like this before.." Duan Li thought inwardly as he agreed with her as well.
Am I developing some sort of a split personality without my own awareness?
That's too scary!
"It's fine, I prefer my son to have a sturdy backbone anyways. Furthermore, against people like those, you need to show them the extremes so that they wouldn't dare to do such things twice!" Meng Yue scoffed.
When the rest of the party heard this, they shivered a little bit.
As expected of the Tyrant of the Jiu Empire!
When most mothers would reprimand their children for acting violent, she on the other hand, had encouraged her son to be doing the extreme side of it instead!
"I could've handled the situation myself, why did you have to intervene?" Shen Murong asked, feeling a little bit disgruntled from being unable to pummel those troublemakers himself.
Duan Li chuckled, "Knowing you, of course I am confident in you being able to beat them. However, don't forget that, even though we are trying to increase our reputation, it isn't through infamy, but rather through being vague.. just like our party name."
Shen Murong creased his brows together as he cupped his chin, pondering the meaning behind Duan Li's words.
Noticing that Shen Murong didn't seem to get what Duan Li meant, Shen Lu sighed and explained;
"What our Lord here meant by that, is that while infamy would make people more wary to not get on the bad side of us, the rumors people would spread about our party would be mostly negative by then."
"However, by pointing out to the masses that there was a mastermind behind that previous mess, even if our Lord here had beaten them up black and blue like that, people are more willing to accept it."
"Furthermore, by letting the mastermind off with a warning in front of everyone else, it showed the magnanimity of our Lord as well. With these two factors combined, people would view things in two different perspective at least." Shen Lu said with a smile, impressed by his Brother here.
Shen Murong nodded after a while, "So, what you are trying to say is that, the two different rumors circulating around at the same time would make it hard for people to judge of how we really are while at the same time staying away from us?"
"Correct. That way, the magic name of our party would once again cast them the illusion that we are, mysterious." Shen Lu answered.
Shen Murong and the others nodded as they finally could comprehend the entire scenario back then.
So it is like that!
To think that the hidden meaning behind their Lord's action would be so deep!
Truly fitting for their name - The Mysterious Party!
On the other hand, Duan Li by the side was just smiling, as if what Shen Lu had just stated was in fact, according to his plan all along. This caused the new recruits to have a deeper feeling of respect and reverence towards him as they were awed by his ingenuity and planning!
However, the actual truth couldn't be any more wrong than that!
He had only answered Shen Murong's inquiry half-heartedly just now, and it was really meant to be a vague answer!
So even if the other party could not understood him, he would just have to chuckle and act mysteriously without saying anything more, and the matter would naturally be resolved just like that.
But who could've thought that Shen Lu had just conveniently filled in that blank answer for him with the latter's perfect 'comprehension' of the intent behind his vague words?
Lol.
To be honest though, it was all because he didn't want his mother to act personally. Otherwise, not only would the crowd be confused that an outsider had suddenly intervened, but if they later found out that his mother was the famous Meng Yue, people would mistook him for hiding under the umbrella of his mother.
In other words, people would start to label and call him as cowards!
For something as such, he would definitely not allow it to happen!
And another reason for him acting out back then was because they had insulted his mother too for being short, and that had him feeling a little bit angry.
So what if my mother is short?!
She is still cute!
...
After entering the hangar, they couldn't help but to marvel on the gigantic transportation vehicle in front of them - the Phoenix Craddle!
This was a very extra-large ship, almost similar to those used in sailing the ocean. But instead of on water, this ship sailed on air!
Thus, it was known as the Airship!
The Phoenix Craddle was the pride of the Jiu Empire, a mothership with its bow ends shaped like the head of a real phoenix, a tell-tale symbol of the authority of the Jiu royal family and their phoenix bloodline!
This mothership measured roughly around 450 meters in length, and could transport up to 10,000 people at max capacity!
However, although this might sound impressive, the Phoenix Craddle that they saw here was just one of the several of its kind being stationed around the Jiu Empire for the purpose of moving large personnel around the Empire quickly!
The largest mothership, known as the Phoenix King, stationed by the Royal Palace, was far more impressive than this one.
Nevertheless, the Phoenix Craddle could still attract the numerous awes and reverence from the onlookers that saw it. After all, these things couldn't be seen flying around on a daily basis, for the single fact that they are very power hungry and costly to operate!
"This version of the Phoenix Craddle isn't too shabby.." Xu Rong commented.
Hearing this, the others turned to her and Fei Longwei couldn't help but to ask;
"You've seen the other version?"
Xu Rong nodded, "En. If I am not mistaken, perhaps the better version of the Phoenix Craddle was stationed near the Southern region."
After she said this, Wei Shang chimed in, "Xu Rong.. can it be.. that you are from of the Xu Clan?" he asked and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"Indeed I am. When I was still young, I remember that I used to play in one of these Phoenix Craddle back when it was just in its early phase of construction." she replied proudfully as she crossed both arms on her chest.
Hisss!
The others sucked in a cold breath when they heard this. This was especially so for Shen Lu!
Back then when he was going through their list of applicants and saw her name, a thought had flashed across his mind that this Xu Rong could possibly be from that famous Xu Clan!
But because a lot of people were surnamed 'Xu', and the Xu Clan was not lacking when it comes to money nor resources as well, for her to put in an application to become a follower of the yet-to-be famous Lord back then, he quickly dismissed the idea entirely because it was just almost impossible for someone of such status and backing to follow behind a nameless Lord!
"Why did she join us?" Shen Lu couldn't help but to ponder on this question, so was some of them as well.
Meanwhile, Duan Li, the Lord in question himself, coming from the humble Xuan Village with no prior knowledge of the Xu Clan, was clueless as to why they were so surprised, thus he asked them.
"Is this Xu Clan formidable?"
The others swerved their head to look at him with yet another shock on their faces.
He seriously didn't know?
Has our Lord been living inside a cave before this?
Meng Yue that noticed their weird expression could only made some dry cough, a little bit embarrassed by her son's lack of knowledge, and so, explained it to him;
Ahem!
"In the Jiu Empire, there are Nine ruling Clans and was also the reason why the capital city was named as the Nine Lotuses City rather than just the eight towns surrounding it."
"The strongest clan is the Jiu Clan, the royal family themselves whom possessed the phoenix bloodline. The second was the Shen Clan, and they possessed the dragon bloodline. After that, is the Xu Clan. While they do not possess some powerful bloodline as the rest, their King serpent bloodline has endowed them with the ability to control fire at will."
"In fact, their mastery over fire was so profound that they work very closely with the top blacksmith clan, the Tong clan! It could be said that while the Xu Clan does not need the Tong Clan to survive, the same could not be said in reverse!"
"In other words, this Phoenix Craddle mothership you see here, was largely possible due to them, as well as other inventions as well." she explained.
"I see.. no wonder everyone was surprised.. it turns out that you are from this Xu clan.." Duan Li said as he turned towards Xu Rong.
He finally came into the realization as the others as well, that with such a powerful background, she still decided to join him?
As for the matter of Shen Murong joining him, that was entirely due to their battle together, but as for her..
What was the reason?
Perhaps due to his curiosity, Duan Li began to scan Xu Rong's figure up and down subconsciously, trying to determine what her real objective was, of which the latter simply blushed without even reprimanding him.
Seeing this, Duan Li's mother seemed to notice something interesting before she smiled.
Oh? Could it be?
Unable to guess Xu Rong's intentions, Duan Li decided to just let the matter go before he noticed something missing.
"Eh? Where is Cucko?" he asked the others.
Cucko had steadily perched atop of his left shoulder all these while, even during the previous incident while maintaining an indifferent expression as its master was punishing the troublemakers.
Where in the world is that chicken now?
When they finally saw the missing chicken, their jaw dropped open.
"T-The chicken is over there.." Guo He pointed up as he swallowed his saliva.
Gulp!
Cucko was seen perching atop of the head of the phoenix statue on the Phoenix Craddle!
And to add spice to this scene, this chicken seemed to be stepping on it with a proud look as it puffed out its chest and opened its wing out wide!
CUUCCK-CUUCCKOOO!!
God damnit! That's the symbol of the Royal family!
...
####PATREON#### Visit my patreon to support this novel at www.patreon.com/ramzeyramzo -PAYMENTS ARE MONTHLY- Tier 1 Fans of UIU = $2.00 -Entitled to basic contents. Tier 2 Loyal Reader = $5.00 -Entitled to early release. Tier 3 Noble Reader = $10.00 -Entitled to early & double release. Tier 4 Royal Reader = $15.00 -Entitled to advance chapters. Tier 5 Quasi Aurthor = $50.00 -Submit one chapter worth story plot with your name on it. Tier 6 Half Author = $200.00 -Submit ten chapter worth story plot with your name on it. #################### "You dared to challenge me.. I will make sure that you would regret such impudence!" Rong Huan snorted as he stood up furiously and his servant picked up the broken pieces of the teapots on the floor of his carriage. "I'll let you off for now.. but next time.. hehe.." a hint of savagery flashed in that scheming eyes of his. ... "I didn't know that my son could be that aggressive." Meng Yue said as they walked by the crowd. Although she was satisfied by her son's performance teaching those troublemakers a lesson that they won't be able to forget anytime soon, she was still surprised with the whole scene taking place before. After all, being the mother for well over 20 years, she had never seen even once that her son could turn agressive like that back in the past. "Umm.. well.." Duan Li scratched the back of his head with an awkward expression, unable to explain it. Frankly, he himself was not so sure on how he was able to do things like that sometimes. Ever since he merged with his memories from the future timeline, his personality had started to mix together such that, even when expressing the things that he did just now, it seemed to be all too familiar for him. "What mother said is true.. I'm not like this before.." Duan Li thought inwardly as he agreed with her as well. Am I developing some sort of a split personality without my own awareness? That's too scary! "It's fine, I prefer my son to have a sturdy backbone anyways. Furthermore, against people like those, you need to show them the extremes so that they wouldn't dare to do such things twice!" Meng Yue scoffed. When the rest of the party heard this, they shivered a little bit. As expected of the Tyrant of the Jiu Empire! When most mothers would reprimand their children for acting violent, she on the other hand, had encouraged her son to be doing the extreme side of it instead! "I could've handled the situation myself, why did you have to intervene?" Shen Murong asked, feeling a little bit disgruntled from being unable to pummel those troublemakers himself. Duan Li chuckled, "Knowing you, of course I am confident in you being able to beat them. However, don't forget that, even though we are trying to increase our reputation, it isn't through infamy, but rather through being vague.. just like our party name." Shen Murong creased his brows together as he cupped his chin, pondering the meaning behind Duan Li's words. Noticing that Shen Murong didn't seem to get what Duan Li meant, Shen Lu sighed and explained; "What our Lord here meant by that, is that while infamy would make people more wary to not get on the bad side of us, the rumors people would spread about our party would be mostly negative by then." "However, by pointing out to the masses that there was a mastermind behind that previous mess, even if our Lord here had beaten them up black and blue like that, people are more willing to accept it." "Furthermore, by letting the mastermind off with a warning in front of everyone else, it showed the magnanimity of our Lord as well. With these two factors combined, people would view things in two different perspective at least." Shen Lu said with a smile, impressed by his Brother here. Shen Murong nodded after a while, "So, what you are trying to say is that, the two different rumors circulating around at the same time would make it hard for people to judge of how we really are while at the same time staying away from us?" "Correct. That way, the magic name of our party would once again cast them the illusion that we are, mysterious." Shen Lu answered. Shen Murong and the others nodded as they finally could comprehend the entire scenario back then. So it is like that! To think that the hidden meaning behind their Lord's action would be so deep! Truly fitting for their name - The Mysterious Party! On the other hand, Duan Li by the side was just smiling, as if what Shen Lu had just stated was in fact, according to his plan all along. This caused the new recruits to have a deeper feeling of respect and reverence towards him as they were awed by his ingenuity and planning! However, the actual truth couldn't be any more wrong than that! He had only answered Shen Murong's inquiry half-heartedly just now, and it was really meant to be a vague answer! So even if the other party could not understood him, he would just have to chuckle and act mysteriously without saying anything more, and the matter would naturally be resolved just like that. But who could've thought that Shen Lu had just conveniently filled in that blank answer for him with the latter's perfect 'comprehension' of the intent behind his vague words? Lol. To be honest though, it was all because he didn't want his mother to act personally. Otherwise, not only would the crowd be confused that an outsider had suddenly intervened, but if they later found out that his mother was the famous Meng Yue, people would mistook him for hiding under the umbrella of his mother. In other words, people would start to label and call him as cowards! For something as such, he would definitely not allow it to happen! And another reason for him acting out back then was because they had insulted his mother too for being short, and that had him feeling a little bit angry. So what if my mother is short?! She is still cute! ... After entering the hangar, they couldn't help but to marvel on the gigantic transportation vehicle in front of them - the Phoenix Craddle! This was a very extra-large ship, almost similar to those used in sailing the ocean. But instead of on water, this ship sailed on air! Thus, it was known as the Airship! The Phoenix Craddle was the pride of the Jiu Empire, a mothership with its bow ends shaped like the head of a real phoenix, a tell-tale symbol of the authority of the Jiu royal family and their phoenix bloodline! This mothership measured roughly around 450 meters in length, and could transport up to 10,000 people at max capacity! However, although this might sound impressive, the Phoenix Craddle that they saw here was just one of the several of its kind being stationed around the Jiu Empire for the purpose of moving large personnel around the Empire quickly! The largest mothership, known as the Phoenix King, stationed by the Royal Palace, was far more impressive than this one. Nevertheless, the Phoenix Craddle could still attract the numerous awes and reverence from the onlookers that saw it. After all, these things couldn't be seen flying around on a daily basis, for the single fact that they are very power hungry and costly to operate! "This version of the Phoenix Craddle isn't too shabby.." Xu Rong commented. Hearing this, the others turned to her and Fei Longwei couldn't help but to ask; "You've seen the other version?" Xu Rong nodded, "En. If I am not mistaken, perhaps the better version of the Phoenix Craddle was stationed near the Southern region." After she said this, Wei Shang chimed in, "Xu Rong.. can it be.. that you are from of the Xu Clan?" he asked and swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "Indeed I am. When I was still young, I remember that I used to play in one of these Phoenix Craddle back when it was just in its early phase of construction." she replied proudfully as she crossed both arms on her chest. Hisss! The others sucked in a cold breath when they heard this. This was especially so for Shen Lu! Back then when he was going through their list of applicants and saw her name, a thought had flashed across his mind that this Xu Rong could possibly be from that famous Xu Clan! But because a lot of people were surnamed 'Xu', and the Xu Clan was not lacking when it comes to money nor resources as well, for her to put in an application to become a follower of the yet-to-be famous Lord back then, he quickly dismissed the idea entirely because it was just almost impossible for someone of such status and backing to follow behind a nameless Lord! "Why did she join us?" Shen Lu couldn't help but to ponder on this question, so was some of them as well. Meanwhile, Duan Li, the Lord in question himself, coming from the humble Xuan Village with no prior knowledge of the Xu Clan, was clueless as to why they were so surprised, thus he asked them. "Is this Xu Clan formidable?" The others swerved their head to look at him with yet another shock on their faces. He seriously didn't know? Has our Lord been living inside a cave before this? Meng Yue that noticed their weird expression could only made some dry cough, a little bit embarrassed by her son's lack of knowledge, and so, explained it to him; Ahem! "In the Jiu Empire, there are Nine ruling Clans and was also the reason why the capital city was named as the Nine Lotuses City rather than just the eight towns surrounding it." "The strongest clan is the Jiu Clan, the royal family themselves whom possessed the phoenix bloodline. The second was the Shen Clan, and they possessed the dragon bloodline. After that, is the Xu Clan. While they do not possess some powerful bloodline as the rest, their King serpent bloodline has endowed them with the ability to control fire at will." "In fact, their mastery over fire was so profound that they work very closely with the top blacksmith clan, the Tong clan! It could be said that while the Xu Clan does not need the Tong Clan to survive, the same could not be said in reverse!" "In other words, this Phoenix Craddle mothership you see here, was largely possible due to them, as well as other inventions as well." she explained. "I see.. no wonder everyone was surprised.. it turns out that you are from this Xu clan.." Duan Li said as he turned towards Xu Rong. He finally came into the realization as the others as well, that with such a powerful background, she still decided to join him? As for the matter of Shen Murong joining him, that was entirely due to their battle together, but as for her.. What was the reason? Perhaps due to his curiosity, Duan Li began to scan Xu Rong's figure up and down subconsciously, trying to determine what her real objective was, of which the latter simply blushed without even reprimanding him. Seeing this, Duan Li's mother seemed to notice something interesting before she smiled. Oh? Could it be? Unable to guess Xu Rong's intentions, Duan Li decided to just let the matter go before he noticed something missing. "Eh? Where is Cucko?" he asked the others. Cucko had steadily perched atop of his left shoulder all these while, even during the previous incident while maintaining an indifferent expression as its master was punishing the troublemakers. Where in the world is that chicken now? When they finally saw the missing chicken, their jaw dropped open. "T-The chicken is over there.." Guo He pointed up as he swallowed his saliva. Gulp! Cucko was seen perching atop of the head of the phoenix statue on the Phoenix Craddle! And to add spice to this scene, this chicken seemed to be stepping on it with a proud look as it puffed out its chest and opened its wing out wide! CUUCCK-CUUCCKOOO!! God damnit! That's the symbol of the Royal family! ...
