“Explanation?” Luo Lang raised his eyebrows and laughed his heart out. The ethereal sight brightened up the eyes of everyone who was lucky enough to see it. In their eyes, the entire world suddenly turned radiant and bright.
Suddenly, Luo Lang flicked his right hand out of everyone’s vision. Following that, a dazzling white gleam flashed by the eyes of the spectators
The purple cloaked elder, who was the target of the dazzling white gleam, quickly backed up a few meters in one step.
Suddenly, a purple cloth slowly drifted down to the ground. Looking at the cloth, it was obvious the source of the cloth was from the elder.
At that moment, Luo Lang was already holding an unsheathed sword in his right hand, the sword that had cut the elder’s sleeve.The purple cloaked elder narrowed his eyes when he saw his sleeve on the ground. He slowly raised his head with a cold look in his eyes. “The Four Heavenly Kings…”
He was one of the enforcers working under Lord Zhen. Before he came here, Lord Zhen had already informed him to be wary of the Four Heavenly Kings working under Lord Gen.
They and the guardians of the past Lord Gen were familiar with each other and they all knew each other’s bottom lines, so rarely would there be any quarrels. However, they had never met the new Four Heavenly Kings. Although they had heard from their subordinates about their appearances, the images they had in their minds were still blurry, not to mention knowing their temperaments or bottoms lines. Lord Zhen was telling them to be wary because he was afraid they might make a mistake and cause a scene with these four. After all, in this battle royale, they were allies. If there were any quarrels, it wouldn’t be beneficial for either of them.
They were quite cautious in the beginning. However, no matter how cautious they were, they wouldn’t know that among the Four Heavenly Kings working under Lord Gen, there would be someone who actually had the appearance of a young woman. It was even his dumb grandson who disturbed that person. One mistake could perhaps spiral into creating a rift between the two groups.
Why was the purple cloaked elder so sure of Luo Lang’s identity? Individuals at their level could easily sense the strength of someone just from that one move. The purple cloaked elder knew very well that this ethereal beauty standing before him wasn’t any weaker than himself. Being a stranger who was no weaker than him, along with the fact that he was part of the Four Heavenly Kings, the name ‘Handsome Heavenly King’ floated into his mind clearly.
“How’s that for an explanation?” asked Luo Lang as he smiled beautifully.
The purple cloaked elder’s eyes twitched. That beautiful smile invoked the feeling of fear within him. It was clearly a pure smile, but he could sense danger… much danger.“I’m sorry, it’s our fault.” In the end, the purple cloaked elder decided to concede to not blow up this misunderstanding. Plus, Lord Zhen had already told him to not mess with them. In reality, a big part of the reason why he was being so much like a doormat was because being around Handsome Heavenly King made him feel uneasy.
“If that’s the case, then all is good.” As he said that, Luo Lang’s right hand shook slightly, and the sharp sword in his hand disappeared like smoke.
A glint of fury flashed past the purple cloaked elder’s eyes. In the end, he chose to suppress his anger that was caused by Luo Lang’s flippant behaviour and turned around to leave.
‘It’s fine. It is fine. There is still a lot of time for my revenge in the future. There is no need to be in a hurry.’
Luo Lang watched as the purple cloaked elder left in a calm manner. Then, he calmly turned his head to the left. Just as he did that, a figure appeared beside him. Zhao Jun.
“You offended him,” Zhao Jun spoke of the obvious fact.
“Why would that matter?” Luo Lang glanced at him indifferently.
“Being totally not cute. In the past, you were never this temperamental.” Zhao Jun shrugged.
“In the past? Did I even have the chance to show this side of me?” Luo Lang snorted coldly. “It was all handled by Xie Yi…”
After saying that name, Luo Lang felt his heart ache. That was the truth. In the past, he would just focus on training while those annoying matters around him would be given to Xie Yi to handle. After being saved by Boss in the military academy, it seemed that he wasn’t put in any troublesome situation because of his looks? Even if there were, Xie Yi would have resolved it for him before he could say a thing.
Back then, he felt Xie Yi was just being a good brother. He knew what he hated and helped him resolve it beforehand. Now that he thought about it… Were those only just things a brother would do?
Luo Lang felt his thoughts were in chaos. Ever since Xie Yi said he liked him in his last moments, it turned Luo Lang’s world upside down. Now whenever he thought back to how they spent time together in the past, the things he took for granted now felt as if there was something more to them.
“Forget it, if I can’t make heads or tails of it, then I just won’t think about it.” Luo Lang shook his head and tossed aside those messy thoughts. “I’ll wait until Xie Yi returns and clears up everything.”
Ever since he returned to the Lawless Lands, Boss had been hinting that there was a possibility that Xie Yi might not have died. This possibility definitely brightened up Luo Lang’s dark and gloomy mind. Although Ling Lan also said after that it hadn’t been confirmed yet, Luo Lang still completely trusted Ling Lan’s words. He was sure that Xie Yi was alive and would definitely come back to them.
“You’re right…” Zhao Jun thought of the Xie Yi, who was always around Luo Lang, and nodded in agreement.
It was just that he never expected them to ever be so helpless in a situation, so much so that Xie Yi had to sacrifice himself to turn the situation around. Luckily, Boss told them that Xie Yi should be fine, otherwise, he would have wanted to return to the Federation, barge into the military headquarters and force them to give him an explanation.
Zhao Jun wanted to say some more, but a sudden energy burst alerted him.
He and Luo Lang looked at each other and vanished almost simultaneously. Similarly, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran followed suit.
In the next second, the four of them stepped onto the frontlines of the battlefield simultaneously. They stood in a fan-shaped formation behind Ji Ming and the other guardians.
In front of them, 12 other people stood on the opposite side of them while staring at them with emotionless gazes. The 12 people were seemingly split into two groups of people, as two distinctly different coloured uniforms were within the group. One group donned themselves in all black, while the other group wore some mildly blinding rainbow colored uniforms.
Knowing that the four of them weren’t familiar with the Lawless Lands, Ji Ming quietly explained it to them. The group in all black were six out of the twelve magistrates working under Lord Li, while the blindingly colorful ones were six out of the twelve succubi working under Lord Demon.
Six succubi? After hearing those words, the four of them couldn’t contain their wry expressions. Just think about it. Six men, wearing such bright colored clothing and calling themselves succubi… It indeed could make people shudder at the thought.
“Are they only sending these twelve?” Tang Ningyu was still the best at controlling his wandering thoughts and was the first to ask Ji Ming about the battle.
“Who knows.” Ji Ming shook his head. “It’s possible that it’s just a smokescreen for their real plans. Or it could be just the twelve of them.”
“Actually, the problem isn’t that. Look behind the twelve of them.” Ji Ming pointed behind the colourful group of people.
They saw many human-like figures standing motionless there. Despite it being far away from them, they were still able to see them clear.
“Those are mechas,” Zhao Jun’s eyes froze for a moment. With his calculation, he guessed that there were probably no less than 5000 mechas.
“Yeah, you actually thought this battle royale would involve us?” said Ji Ming. “It’s still mostly based on the mecha battle. We are just here to supervise those mechas. At the same time, it will be convenient for us to resolve any issues with others.
“Only 5000 mechas?” The combined force of two lords only amounted to this much? For Zhao Jun, who had experienced many battles with each of them involving hundreds of thousands or millions of mechas, this wasn’t anything worth his while.
“This is just to probe the power of each side,” Ji Ming looked at Zhao Jun annoyedly. “The rules only allow for 5000 mechas to fight. If a real battle royale actually starts, how could there be only this little mechas? Plus, these 5000 mechas are all chosen by the two lords and all elite operators. Their proficiency with mechas topped all of their peers.”
“There actually rules for how many mechas are allowed…” Zhao Jun felt that this type of battle was just like playing a game. It didn’t feel real at all. The rush of bloodshed and slaughter wasn’t there for him.
“It is the promise made between the 13 Lords, and it must be followed. Other than that, everything else is real,” Ji Ming said calmly. When he first entered the Lawless Lands in the past, he also believed this was just a game or show. However, after experiencing countless battles and seeing countless people bleed and die, he realized that it was only considered a game for the 13 Lords. However, for those working for them, each battle was fought with their lives on the line. No one knew who was going to return alive.
After seemingly understanding the meaning behind Ji Ming’s words, Zhao Jun, who was originally nonchalant, had a more serious look on his face.
“I just don’t understand. If the 13 Lords are in a harmonious relationship with each other, why do they need to start a battle royale every year and needlessly waste their subordinates’ lives?” Tang Ningyu, who was listening from the side, asked as he frowned. He couldn’t accept this way of governing. It was as though other than the 13 Lords, everyone else were no different than ants.
Ji Ming didn’t answer. As a spy, he knew very well why that was the case. They were doing it to make a show for the other nations. However, whether these shows were for the benefit of the Lawless Lands or for something else, he didn’t know.
“It’s probably to sow seeds,” Mu Chaoran thought for a moment and replied.
“Sowing seeds?” Luo Lang looked towards Mu Chaoran with a perplexed look on his face.
“Although being cut off from the rest of the universe, basically stunting its growth, it still managed to ensure outsiders from taking over,” Mu Chaoran spoke out what he was thinking. “We’re born into uncertainty and die in peace. These words although don’t fit the situation on the Lawless Lands, it still has merit to it. Without outside danger, people would devolve into something like cattle, causing people in the Lawless Lands to lose their savagery and terrifying battle potential. Aren’t the nations in the center of the galaxy most afraid of the Lawless Lands’ battle potential? Once they lose that… the Lawless Lands will lose everything.”
“Without pressure from the outside, in order to maintain the battle strength, they could only start these needless battles between themselves.” Mu Chaoran’s words also enlightened Tang Ningyu. Tang Ningyu then followed up, “Through periodic battles, the battle strength of the people of the Lawless Lands could be preserved. It could also let them evolve and advance in the battlefield, eliminating the weak and preserving the stronger.”
Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu’s words shocked Luo Lang. Was that the truth behind it all?
The 13 Lords started many wars not only to put on a show for the nations in the center of the galaxy. They were also doing this to sharpen the fangs of the Lawless Lands?
“That explanation makes sense,” Zhao Jun said plainly. “Otherwise, there would be no way to explain it.”
“But, in the end, aren’t they just killing each other?” asked Luo Lang. Was that actually a good reason for these battles? Luo Lang, who always followed his own instincts, wasn’t comfortable with the decision the 13 Lords had made.
“Yeah, no matter how good the reason, it’s still fighting and killing amongst themselves.” Mu Chaoran’s expression was somewhat ice cold. When those in power make such decisions, they would usually do it without any remorse.
