A Chaotic World

Lu Tianzi saw the look in Uncle Ye's eyes, and instantly knew that Uncle Ye was not going to accept no as an answer.

However, neither was Lu Tianzi prepared to reveal everything about himself.

He had to admit that Uncle Ye had been exceptionally kind to him, providing him with food and shelter even though they were not related in any way. On top of that, Uncle Ye was also the one who introduced him to the field of herbalism.

That newfound knowledge was what allowed him to defeat Nanhong Wuze, and thus ensure that he was able to advance this smoothly.

Furthermore, despite Uncle Ye's apparent dislike for Gong Shengjie, he had still tried his best in helping Lu Tianzi to resolve their differences.

Not just that, but Uncle Ye's wife and daughter had always treated Lu Tianzi kindly as well, as thought he was truly part of the family.

In return, Lu Tianzi had also already started to consider Uncle Ye's family as his own relatives.

But at the same time, Lu Tianzi also knew that his current situation was far too precarious to risk any possible slipups.

From the past few days of interaction, he had come to understand just how much respect Uncle Ye's family had for Ivory Rock City's leaders. That could also be seen from how, just like everyone else, they had readily abandoned their day's work to attend the naming of the Holy Guardian for Yan Bingren.

Between their relationship with him and their love for the City Lord, Lu Tianzi was actually unsure of which side they would stand on.

Thus, it would definitely be better for Lu Tianzi not to say the truth.

Being grateful to Uncle Ye had no bearing whatsoever on whether Lu Tianzi should tell him the truth. In fact, by hiding the facts, Lu Tianzi could even spare them the agony of having to take sides.

Having made his decision, Lu Tianzi started to weave his tale.

Apparently, Zhanyuan had joined the Ivory Rock Martial Academy since he was young. With a decent level of talent, he had managed to attain quite a bit of achievements on the road of cultivation.

However, as time passed, he slowly started to tire of the endless road of cultivation. Even though he could feel himself getting stronger by the day, he also realised that all he was doing was selfishly taking up the city's precious resources without giving anything in return.

Thus, Zhanyuan finally decided to drop out of the martial academy, trying to become a worker to earn his keep instead. That way, he could at least directly contribute to his beloved Ivory Rock City!

Unfortunately, his attempt at hunting had been a complete failure on the first day. And that was also when he bumped into Uncle Ye, who readily took him in.

"And the rest of the story is as you know it," Lu Tianzi concluded.

Upon finishing the entire story, Lu Tianzi turned to look at Uncle Ye, who now bore a completely different expression. The previously solemn look on Uncle Ye's face was now completely replaced by one of anger!

"What a pity. You are still too young after all. Your decision was not just reckless, but also extremely myopic in nature!" Uncle Ye chided.

"Even though you did not appear to be contributing towards Ivory Rock City, just the fact that you were growing stronger was actually already beneficial. After all, the time to repair a roof is when the sun is shining. Ivory Rock City might seem to be safe now, but just like what happened earlier, we never know what is going to happen. It was good that the demons backed off this time. But if one day, the demons decided to truly attack the city, then these leech-like martial artists whom you speak of would be the only ones able to stand up for us! By giving up on your road of cultivation, you are essentially depriving us of one more potential saviour in the future! That is not just selfish, but also stupid!"

Lu Tianzi was stumped for a moment upon hearing that, but he could only stay silent in response. There was nothing he could say that would serve to ease the situation at this point.

As he stayed silent, Lu Tianzi watched as Uncle Ye step forward to slam a hand down onto Lu Tianzi's shoulder.

Pat-!

Uncle Ye's palm landed firmly onto Lu Tianzi's shoulder, grabbing onto it firmly.

"Even though I say that, I know that you chose to do what you did only because you truly loved this city. And for that, I am proud of you!" Uncle Ye tightened his grip on Lu Tianzi's shoulder to give it a good squeeze before walking off. "Now, let us go home."

At this moment, Lu Tianzi felt a slight ache, but it was not at his shoulder.

His body had already been greatly nourished by Spiritual Essence, and such an action from a mere non martial artist would not be able to hurt him one bit.

However, this defence did not extend to his heart.

Uncle Ye had truly treated him as family, even to the extent of feeling proud of him for having the right moral standing.

However, all that Lu Tianzi could deliver was a lie.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi truly felt bad for lying to Uncle Ye. But there was nothing he could do about it.

The only way he could make it up to Uncle Ye was to get stronger even faster, so that he could finally free Ivory Rock City from the grasps of the deceitful Hu Yuanbo!

Despite having encountered demons, Uncle Ye and Lu Tianzi were still among the firsts to return to the city.

In fact, it was likely due to having encountered the demons that they returned this quickly. After all, the encounter resulted in them running straight for the South Gate without rest!

After the duo returned, it took almost an hour before the stream of returning workers finally slowed down. Many of them had been working at a distance, and had to walk all the way back by traversing the rough forest terrain.

But it was only at nightfall did the South Gate finally close once more, freeing up Cui Zhenghao to leave his post.

It was the same for the gate master as well, only that the gate master's job did not end there.

After leaving the South Gate, the gate master hurried to the Officials District at the other end of Ivory Rock City and delivered a full situation report to his superior.

And this superior in turn passed on the report to his superior, who finally sent it up to the Lord of Ivory Rock City, Hu Yuanbo himself!

In a large room within the City Lord Manor, five men sat around a long table, with Hu Yuanbo seated on the main chair at the far end.

These four men were the four District Heads of the city. Together, the five men in the room made up the pinnacle of authority within Ivory Rock City!

It was extremely rare for the five of them to be meeting this late in the day, but today was an exception.

For the first time in Ivory Rock City's recorded history, they had actually suffered an attack by the demons!

This was something that had deeply shocked the populace.

Because of that, the City Lord had called for an emergency meeting with the four District Heads in order to discuss the countermeasures to be taken.

Dressed neatly in a noble's robe, Hu Yuanbo leaned back comfortably in his chair while he patiently waited for the other four men to finish going through the situation report.

"Of the hundreds of workers that had left the city this morning, ten percent of them did not return to the city by dusk…" Gong Tiesha read out the contents of the paper with a deep frown.

Of the people in the room, he was the one most affected by the current situation. After all, as the District Head, he had to answer directly to the people in the Workers District!

With their friends and family missing, the people were not going to be easily appeased!

"That means dozens of workers have gone missing in a single day…" an old man commented from beside him.

This old man was the second oldest in the room, Wen Ping, District Head of the Academic District. Only Hu Yuanbo had lived longer than him.

But due to Hu Yuanbo's higher cultivation realm, he still looked to be vibrant with vitality, looking like a middle aged man. In contrast, Wen Ping wore a head of white hair, and his face was filled with wrinkles.

"You might have been in your Academic District for far too long to realise that not everyone needs you to teach them simple mathematics," Gong Tiesha snapped in irritation.

"Hoh, look at how anxious our dear Head of the Workers District is! You must be really worried about how to face your people tomorrow!"

At his age, Wen Ping no longer got triggered as easily as before, and Gong Tiesha's reaction only served to amuse him further.

Gong Tiesha merely harrumphed in anger before turning to Hu Yuanbo, "So what does City Lord Hu suggest we do?"

Hu Yuanbo was not flustered at being posed a question all of a sudden, answering without a moment's hesitation. "I naturally have some ideas. However, I would like to first hear out your suggestions."

Bang-!

Cui Yuanping slammed his fist onto the table.

"I say we just go out there and slaughter those demons like livestock! We have hidden for long enough, and have now amassed enough military power. Now is the best time to let them know that we are not to be trifled with!"

"Hoh, you think we can beat the demons?" Wen Ping asked in amazement.

"My men are not afraid of mere demons!" Cui Yuanping raised his voice.

"If you say so," Wen Ping let out a snicker, causing Cui Yuanping to frown.

"All right, calm down. Wen Ping, you should stop agitating them as well," Hu Yuanbo tapped the table to gain everyone's attention. "Xucheng, what do you think?"

This Xucheng was naturally the last person in the room, and he was the District Head of the Officials District.

Due to the nature of the Officials District, this also meant that he had the highest standing among the four District Heads, and was the person whom Hu Yuanbo trusted the most.

Rui Xucheng did not hesitate before speaking, "In my opinion, the loss of the workers is not the main issue here. Th-"

"What did you say?" Gong Tiesha interrupted in irritation.

"Let him finish," Hu Yuanbo shot a glance at Gong Tiesha, causing the District Head to back down.

Rui Xucheng cleared his throat before speaking once more, "As I was saying, the loss of the workers is not the main issue. The main problem we will be facing is the hit to Ivory Rock City's reputation as the Holy City. This might cause the populace to lose faith in us, and that will make it more difficult to implement any future measures."

"And what are you suggesting?" Hu Yuanbo asked.

"I suggest that we ban workers from exiting the city for now. This way, we can at least remove soft targets from the demons, and that might prevent them from acting again. Meanwhile, the military will investigate the cause of the demons' attack since they would be strong enough to defend themselves outside of the city," Rui Xucheng answered.

"Ban workers from exiting the city? Do you know how that will affect Ivory Rock City's resource management?" Gong Tiesha snorted.

"Oh stop exaggerating the importance of those lowly workers! It is winter now so they won't be able to get much anyway," Wen Ping mocked. "Or are you saying that the military would not be able to complete the investigation anytime soon?"

That last line drew the ire of Cui Yuanping, who turned to stare at Gong Tiesha.

"Tch!" Gong Tiesha crossed his arms and leaned back without further complaints.

"Enough from you people," Hu Yuanbo shook his head in disapproval.

These men of importance were acting too much like kids for his liking. This was the result of having been in power for too long, and thus they had started to subconsciously think that everything should go their way.

"We will take Xucheng's suggestion for now. The rest of you will make the necessary arrangements by tomorrow and we will discuss again at noon," Hu Yuanbo swiftly decided. "Meeting adjourned!"

"Yes, City Lord Hu!" the four District Heads, despite their differences, dared not show Hu Yuanbo the slightest bit of disrespect.

After the four of them left, only Hu Yuanbo remained seated in the room, his eyes closed in deep contemplation.

In his head, he was thinking about the two servants who were sent to deliver Yan Bingren to the demons. After heading out that night, the two of them had never returned.

Initially Hu Yuanbo had thought that they might have encountered a wild beast. It might even be the same wild beast that killed the demons' entourage the week before when Lu Tianzi was failed to be delivered to them.

However, now he had drawn a completely different picture in his mind.

After all, this attack by the demons was more than enough to show their clear intent in breaching the agreement!

Since they were capable of doing such a thing, then it was not surprising that his servants never returned.

They had probably already ended up as food for the demons!

Damn greedy bastards!

Hu Yuanbo clenched his fist in anger.

It looked like he would have to talk to that damned Nanbai Zhaoyu to find out exactly what he wanted from doing this!