Xuanzang and the young gentleman exchanged a glance. Both smiled at the same time, each feeling a fondness for the other.
Uchiha Shin also walked over to join them.
"May I ask your name, sir?" Xuanzang asked with a smile.
The young man smiled. "My surname is Li. My name is Erlang."
Li Erlang. Uchiha Shin looked at the young man. He appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, carried himself with extraordinary bearing, and was clearly not from an ordinary family.
Xuanzang had said earlier that the longsword in Li Erlang's hand was not something even prominent aristocratic clans could possess. It was likely something only a member of the imperial family could own.
Uchiha Shin took another careful look at Li Erlang. Could the man before him be Li Shimin, the newly enthroned King of Tang?
He did not dare be completely certain of that guess, since he had never met Li Shimin before.
No matter what, though, there was a high chance that this man was Li Shimin.
"To encounter two men of such talent within the Tang Dynasty is truly the Tang Dynasty's good fortune," Li Erlang said to Uchiha Shin and Xuanzang with a smile.
"Second Brother Li, what were you doing at that tavern earlier? Were you also investigating the demons?" Xuanzang asked.
"I was originally fighting demons in Chang'an. Later, I heard that many young boys and girls in the cities north of Chang'an had vanished overnight, so I left Chang'an and came here to investigate," Li Erlang replied.
Xuanzang smiled. "I knew we were fated to meet. No wonder I felt such familiarity the first time I saw you, Second Brother Li."
The three of them talked as they traveled toward Chang'an.
Uchiha Shin was not overly worried about the situation at