East City Park lay at the southernmost edge of the East City District, with the Zhi District just beyond Star Luo City's walls.
The park was open to the public free of charge, but after the upheaval, the entire city had been locked down. It was late at night, too, so there was no one in the park.
That left Long Yue and his three companions free to run wild.
Hua Lantang was the Earl's youngest son. His looks were unremarkable, yet Ye Zhi liked him all the same.
The childhood sweethearts sat in the grass, whispering to each other. The scent of fresh grass mingled with the fragrance of flowers, while above them, the moon shone bright among scattered stars.
Long Yue sat in the park's covered walkway, leaning against a pillar and gazing out over the large artificial lake. Beyond its far end, he could see the imposing southern city wall.
Su Mu sat on the other side, enjoying the night breeze. "Brother Long, how do those two have so much to talk about?"
"That's what couples are like. Didn't your family find you a few noble young ladies, too? You weren't interested in any of them." Long Yue stood up and took off his long shirt and trousers.
Su Mu was a marquis's only son. In noble families like his, marriages were arranged when the children were still young.
Yet Young Master Su insisted on pursuing this thing called love of his own choosing, leaving him without an intimate relationship to this day.
As far as Long Yue was concerned, freely chosen love was nothing but hot air for pampered young noblemen.
If Su Mu actually found a commoner, only to lose half his cultivation in a divorce, he would surely settle down and obediently accept the bride his family had prepared for him.
Splash! Long Yue dove into the water and swam toward the middle of the artificial lake.
Su Mu pursed his lips indignantly.
Brother Long said I didn't have a girlfriend, but didn't he lack one himself?
Long Yue had already reached the middle of the lake.
This was the artificial lake's deepest point, a good distance from every shore. Floating here felt like floating in the cosmos, with the deep-blue, star-filled sky right overhead.
It really was... lonely.
Long Yue had thought about his future, but he had never imagined an unforeseen change like today's.
After the earth shook and the heavens rocked, Star Luo City-and he himself-had somehow appeared in the middle of the wilderness.
And then there had been those words: "You and I shall perish together."
Dai Yueyan had been right beside him, yet he had heard nothing.
Could I be the only one who could hear it? But who had said those words?
If the mastermind could transport all of Star Luo City into the wilderness, who could they possibly need to drag down into death with them? With such terrifying power, who could even qualify as their opponent?
Long Yue had a premonition that his fate had been rewritten at the very moment of that upheaval.
"Aah!" Ye Zhi's terrified scream suddenly rang out from the grass.
Hua Lantang unleashed his Dragon Wolf martial soul and stood in front of Ye Zhi, but his face was deathly pale as he stared in terror at the group of savages that had appeared before them like phantoms.
Before the two stood a group of savages wearing simple clothing and carrying crude weapons, adorned with feathers and animal hides.
Su Mu rushed over and unleashed his Nine-Tailed Fox martial soul. He and Hua Lantang were both one-ring Battle Soul Masters, while Ye Zhi had no combat abilities and could only provide support.
"River."
Long Yue's second soul ring flashed. The once-calm artificial lake seemed to be violently stirred by an enormous, invisible hand, sending a hundred tons of water surging.
The natives stared blankly at the sight, seemingly cowed by that tremendous power.
Long Yue rode the waves, descending from the sky and landing heavily on the ground with a towering surge of water. Two yellow hundred-year soul rings shone around him.
Long Yue and his companions were Soul Masters. Dealing with a group of savages was well within their capabilities... provided their opponents had no powerful Soul Masters.
The radiance of the four companions' five hundred-year soul rings intimidated the natives.
More precisely, it shocked them.
The natives never entertained even the slightest thought of resistance. They turned and ran, wishing their parents had given them two more legs.
Unfortunately, this group of natives had truly rotten luck. They had barely run any distance before colliding with the approaching Security Force.
Leading the force was actually a white mecha, with patrol officers following behind it.
The White Soul Guidance Mecha was a Basic Mecha equipped with a basic energy system. It served as a city's standard security mecha, maintaining public order, and even ordinary people could operate it.
This white mecha stood five meters tall, with a lightweight frame and a bipedal locomotion system. Besides a Soul Guidance Ray Gun, its mechanical arms carried an enormous blade gleaming with cold light.
The Soul Guidance Ray Gun was already trained on the natives.
"Don't move!" The voice from the mecha's loudspeaker thundered through the air.
The natives could not understand the words and did not recognize the Soul Guidance Ray Gun, but they could sense the deadly threat posed by the enormous blade. Thus, they chose humanity's most universal bodily expression of submission-dropping to both knees.
Long Yue stepped forward and asked, "What's going on with these savages? This is the East City District. There's a city wall here. We're not in the Zhi District outside the city."
The white mecha's pilot had been ready to scold the four children for sneaking out to play under martial law, but the moment he saw Long Yue's face, his courage faltered and he lowered his battle flag.
Long Yue, the Imperial Preceptor's disciple, was Star Luo City's notorious Mad Dragon.
Looking farther back made matters even worse.
Ye Zhi, the pearl in the Ye family's palm; Hua Lantang, the Dragon Wolf Earl's youngest son; Su Mu, the Nine-Tailed Marquis's only son.
They were all spoiled young nobles who followed Mad Dragon around, making trouble throughout Star Luo City.
The mecha pilot could not afford to offend a single one of them, so he answered obediently:
"Unfamiliar natives have appeared near East City Park. The Security Force is rounding them all up. We happened to be nearby."
The white mecha had no miniature soul guidance radar, and these natives were running everywhere in blind panic, making them a nuisance to track down.
"Natives inside the city?" Long Yue rubbed his chin and walked toward the captured natives of his own accord.
The white mecha did not stop Long Yue.
In terms of strength, a white mecha was certainly stronger than an ordinary Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster, but its pilot was merely an ordinary person.
If Long Yue wanted to communicate with them, was a lowly officer like him supposed to stand in his way?
"Can you understand me?" Long Yue and the natives babbled at one another, a chicken trying to talk to ducks. Su Mu and the others stood behind him, watching their boss make hand gestures as though he had lost his mind.
"Does communicating like that even work?" Su Mu wanted someone to complain to, but when he turned his head, Hua Lantang was comforting Ye Zhi. The two were pressed close together, whispering.
That bastard forgot his friends the moment a girl came along!
Su Mu looked sternly at the white mecha and the officers, only to find them treading carefully out of fear of his status. He immediately lost interest.
By then, Long Yue had returned to the center of the group. His flurry of gestures had actually gotten to the bottom of what had happened:
"These natives seem to have lived near East City Park to begin with. Our city buildings suddenly appeared and gave them a fright. Some fled into the city, while the rest hid in the park."
"Brother Long, we can't deal with any of this anyway. Better think about how we're going to explain ourselves first." Su Mu pointed toward a purple mecha approaching in the distance. "The headmaster's here."
"So he's here. What's there to be afraid of? It's not like the old man came in person." Long Yue adopted the attitude of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water. He did not care. He had already become En Ci's disciple long ago and could enter Monster Academy whenever he wanted.
Strangely, that old man En Ci had insisted that he wait until level thirty before entering Monster Academy for further study.
What, was my talent not good enough to get me admitted or something?
"Oh? So unless I come in person, you think you can run completely wild?"
The moment Long Yue finished speaking, an aged voice sounded behind him.
Holy Dragon Douluo En Ci appeared in the area with almost no fluctuation of soul power at all.
En Ci happened to be in the East City District investigating the circumstances of several Tang Sect Senior Officials. Seeing the chaos in the park, he had spared it a glance... and sure enough, his final disciple was involved.
Mad Dragon, after all. He was used to it. The boy was Star Luo City's notorious lunatic; finding him at the scene of an incident was perfectly normal.
"Teacher." Long Yue gave a couple of awkward laughs, then familiarly slung an arm around En Ci's shoulders. "Isn't that just me putting you in the most important position?"
Because of his martial soul, Long Yue was almost as tall as En Ci. En Ci gave two grunts. "Spare me that routine. Get back and cultivate. You're coming to Monster Academy with me tomorrow."
"I can enroll now? We should've done this ages ago." Long Yue slapped his thigh. "I thought you wouldn't take me there to enroll until I reached level thirty!"
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