Walking down the familiar path of the Land of Dreams, Shin felt as if he was transported back in ti. Before the Black Masks completely had their way with the unfortunate city, the Main Hub was a bustling tropolis with thousands of smiling faces going about their everyday lives. Vendors would push their carts and sold sugary refreshnts for the masses while rickshaw drivers would offer their ferrying service. However, now that the original residents of the Main Hub had been thoroughly wiped clean from the face of the earth, the town seed rather empty in comparison.
Nonetheless, due to the trendous amount of coverage that was given towards the international Summit, legions of reporters, rchants, and even ordinary bystanders had flocked to the empty Land of Dreams, making it almost as compact as it originally was.
"There are so many people here..." Elrin whistled in wonder. She had personally witnessed the desolation, the pure death that the Black Masks had left in its wake. Yet, now there were thousands of n and won roaming the streets of the Main Hub. "Makes you wonder if a massacre really happened here."
"Elrin... You and I both know that it happened... You shouldn’t joke about it." Shin lightly chided the white-haired girl. They were both one of the first people present to witness the necrosis of the Land of Dreams.
"I’m not joking. Just surprised that’s all." Elrin stuck her tongue out in an adorable manner. "Also, I need to take my mind off the constant stares." With a brilliant smile, Elrin lightly moved her head to point to the side of the road.
Currently, Shin was part of the procession that the Himl Empire had sent to the Land of Dreams. Their first order of business was to pay respects to the fallen of the Main Hub at the monunt that was erected at the centre of the city. Hence, they were forced to parade through the crowded streets where hundreds of journalists, rchants and even regular civilians gathered.
"Look! That’s the Young Drake Duke, Eikyo!" One female spectator that travelled from the Himl Empire exclaid. When he heard his na being called, Eikyo turned to the woman and gave a gentle wave. Almost instantly, the young girl cried out in great fervour.
"Tsk... Show-off." Kanari muttered under her breath. Kanari’s advisor had been poached by the suave young man through his superficial charms, making her feel extrely aggravated whenever she saw him using it on soone else.
However, her anger wasn’t able to last for long...
"Isn’t that Kanari?! The Witch in the south?" One man quickly identified the black-haired beauty among the hundred-odd cortege that the Himl Empire had sent.
"Holy shit! You’re right! Black-hair with ruby-coloured eyes and a beauty that was otherworldly! It can only be Kanari Saniela!" Another onlooker agreed with the man’s conjecture. "To think I would get to witness the beauty of the Witch in the South first-hand! The arduous trip here is well worth it!!!"
At that mont, all of the spectators that had gathered to witness the Himl Empire’s procession had diverted their attention to the gorgeous young woman, whose face had turned entirely vermillion. She was just blaming Eikyo for using his looks to charm others, yet she was the one under the microscope from the entire public!
Stifling their laughter, Shin and the rest of the group did their best to keep a straight face as they closed in on the monunt. Six granite pillars, each representing one of the major powers that were attending the Summit towered over the rebuilt Main Hub. The Himl Empire, Kori Federation, Lantis Republic, Blacksmith’s League, rcenary Guild and the Healer’s Association all claid one of the pillars with their own crests, marking the first ti that all of the major powers had co together in unity.
In mory of those who had fallen, every single resident’s na that had perished in the massacre had their nas engraved on the six pillars, and it had beco preserved with a thick layer of mana coating. Never eroding, never degrading, the nas will be forever protected, so long as the monunt stands.
The Blacksmith’s League, who were the ones responsible for constructing the monunt, had taken it one step further as well. Should the monoliths be ever placed in danger, a trendous energy barrier would deploy out automatically, protecting the monunt from any form of danger.
Stepping forward to pay his respects, Shin marvelled at how sophisticated the structures given with the little ti that the Blacksmith’s League had to construct them. When Spirit Immortal Dream terminated the lives of the millions of her country, the remnant engineers and scientists all banded together with an older organisation that had a history of tal-working to form the Blacksmith’s League. The Blacksmith’s League functioned more like an association where talented craftsn from all over the world could join without leaving their country’s affiliation, allowing them to grow with relatively little political influence. Hence, throughout the years, the Blacksmith’s League had grown to beco the most technologically advanced entity in the entire world.
No other organisation in the world could possibly hope to contend with the technological ingenuity that the Blacksmith’s League had. Not only did they create the infamous Deus Citadel, but the majority of all modern weapons were also being produced and sold by them. They were even the only entity that could create the highest tier of Spirit Tools, the Immortal-grade.
"So pretty..." Emma comnted.
"You’re right. It really is quite gorgeous." Shin ruffled the poor girl’s short hair. For the first ti, he began to really comprehend how significant the Summit really was. The three superpowers were finally ready to set aside their differences for the sake of battling the nace that was the Black Masks. There was never an instant in the entire history of mankind where all powers of the world stood together on one side.
’The Land of Dreams? This place should be renad as the Land of New Beginnings.’ Shin smirked. The Black Masks had burnt the city down, but it had risen from the ashes to beco the location that birthed the alliance of the world’s nations.
Looking at the thousands of nas that were engraved onto the six pillars, Shin felt a burning surge of desire rise up from the pit of his stomach.
’I swear that I’ll avenge all of you!!!’
The Himl Empire procession continued to pay their respects amidst the constant stares of the onlookers. While so reporters and commoners ca just to see the n and won of the convoy, there were so peculiar faces mixed within the spectators.
"The Himl Empire is finally here." One tall, well-grood man muttered out. Donned in a pale-blue vestnt, the man appeared to have a posh background, which made it strange for him to appear within the crowd of peasants. "I wonder which ones are talented... Junior Sister Bingying do you know anything?"
"My guess is as good as yours, Senior Brother Taiyi..." ijing Bingying bitterly replied.
The procession from the Lantis Republic had arrived just two days before, and they had already settled down in Deus Citadel. Since the Summit couldn’t formally begin until all parties were present, the younger mbers from the Lantis Republic decided to go incognito and explore the Land of Dreams as well as spy on the procession sent by the Kori Federation and the Himl Empire.
Yesterday, when the Kori Federation arrived, Jingyu Taiyi had done the sa thing and dragged his peers down to the monunt, much to the dismay of ijing Bingying. Unlike the standard dignified behaviour that the mbers of the Jingyu Clan usually displayed, Jingyu Taiyi was sowhat childlike in nature and loved to break the rules for his own entertainnt.
"Hmmm, that girl right there! The pretty one currently putting her flower down! Don’t you think that she’s strong?" Taiyi ignored the annoyed expression that ijing Bingying had and pointed straight at Kanari.
"What makes you think so?"
"Well, she’s pretty like you! So that ans she must be strong right?"
"Just how did you even co to that conclusion..." ijing Bingying rubbed the area above her eyebrows to quell the headache that her senior was giving her.
While her cultivation level was superior to Jingyu Taiyi, the youth was considered to be the frontrunner to inherit the Jingyu Clan in the future. Perhaps the strongest among the Eight Clans of Water, ijing Bingying had to ensure that she maintained a good relationship with this scion, no matter how screwed up his head was.
"Hehe, all pretty girls are strong! That’s the rule!" Jingyu Taiyi smiled so hard that ijing Bingying could see his molars.
"Although I don’t want to further your misunderstandings, you’re right for this instance." The young girl frowned. "That’s Kanari Saniela, the Witch in the South. She’s considered to be the most talented cultivator in the entire Himl Empire."
"See? You did know sothing!"
"No, I don’t know much. I only recognise her because her features are so well-known. In fact, it’s weird for you to not know her." ijing Bingying shot Taiyi a strange look as if asking how could he know so little about soone as renowned as Kanari. "The heiress of the Highgarden Duchy, the girl reached the Spirit Apostle realm when she’s just twelve-years-old. Not only that, during her introduction to High Society, the girl challenged Spirit Core fighters and trumped them every single ti."
"That amazing?" Jingyu Taiyi snapped his head back to the black-haired girl with awe in his eyes.
"Yeah... If not for her young age, Kanari Saniela would have undoubtedly attained the Luminary status. Right now, she’s only sixteen, and they say that she’s on track to beco a Spirit Spectre before the age of twenty-one. Honestly, she’s a freak." ijing Bingying gave her brutally honest opinion. "In my opinion, she’s not only the most talented cultivator in the Himl Empire but also the most talented cultivator of our generation."
"Wow, you actually rate her so highly!"
"If you paid attention to the world’s news, perhaps you would feel the sa way..." ijing Bingying sighed at her senior’s ignorance. Now that he had pointed out Kanari from the crowd, the young woman’s eyes were now firmly affixed on Kanari’s slender body that would ignite ire from any woman that existed on the planet.
However, after a brief period of observation, ijing Bingying found her gaze moving towards another target.
’Hmmm? That boy...’
"Is there sothing wrong?"
"Senior Brother Taiyi... Look at the boy standing next to Kanari."
Although he was confused at the sudden change of topic, Jingyu Taiyi obliged and focused his attention on the black-haired boy that was talking heartily with the ethereal beauty. While he had a charm of his own, there wasn’t anything visually special about the lean youth.
"What about him?"
"Don’t you think that he looks awfully similar to Junior Brother Linji?"
"Now that you ntion it..." Jingyu Taiyi’s smile disappeared as he fell deep into thought. A combination of black hair and azure eyes was extrely rare, especially among the citizens of the Himl Empire.
Perhaps, there was only one bloodline guaranteed that their descendants shared that exact physical attribute...
"He really does look like Junior Brother Linji. Rather, he looks more like the younger version of the Longyu Clan Master."
"You’re right... The resemblance is uncanny..." ijing Bingying felt as if a thunderbolt had struck her cranium as Taiyi pointed out how similar Shin looked as compared to the current Longyu Clan Master. If she didn’t know better, Bingying would have assud that Shin was the Clan Master’s illegitimate son!
’A mber of the Longyu Clan in the Himl Empire? There’s no way... Wait! Maybe it’s that!’ As if coming to so sort of revelation, ijing Bingying nearly scread out in terror. From what she had heard, any bloodline that the Longyu Clan had outside of the Republic had been wiped clean!
’Should I tell Linji?’ ijing Bingying considered the possibility of informing the Longyu Clan about her hypothesis. ’No... It’s not confird. If it turns out to be false, it would just be alarming the Longyu Clan for nothing.’
After a short ntal debate with herself, ijing Bingying opted to look the other way. For now, there was too little information for her act.
’Either way, we will et him in the Citadel. That would give more ti to gather information about him.’ Although Bingying didn’t even know the na of the black-haired boy, he had sohow made his way onto her list of people to investigate. ’Let’s just pray that I’m wrong and it’s just a coincidence...’
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