Wu Wenhai tidak berkata apa-apa. Ia terasa agak meek. Kata-kata itu terlalu kasar. Dan ia tidak tahu apa-apa yang bisa ia katakan.
Tidak dapat disangkal bahwa Nanyuan lemah. Mereka hampir tidak bisa menemukan seorang pun yang berada di Tingkat Langit Terbang di kota ini. Mereka mungkin salah satu dari 28 kota Xia Agung, tapi hanya setinggi satu distrik dari sebuah kota besar.
Tiba-tiba, debu mengangkasa di kejauhan. Seekor cahaya keemasan muncul. Itu adalah suanni, berjalan cepat sambil membunyakan aura yang sangat kuat.
Berdiri di atas tembok kota, Wu Wenhai berseru, "Apakah itu suanni yang disebutkan oleh Li Yunfeng? Seekor Langit Terbang tingkat tinggi dari ras top 100...?"
"Meskipun hewan peliharanya lebih kuat daripadamu. Hahaha."
Kepala Sekolah Tua itu tetap kejam seperti biasa. Wu Wenhai tak bisa berkata apa-apa. Ia sudah terasa meek. Kenapa Kepala Sekolah begitu kejam? Namun, ia masih terpukau. Su Yu benar-benar luar biasa. Dalam waktu kurang dari enam bulan, Su Yu kembali naik di punggung suanni itu.
Tiba-tiba, seorang penjaga kota berseru, "Ada banyak binatang!
Ya. Memang ada banyak binatang. Atau lebih tepatnya, ada banyak bangkai binatang. Su Yu dan kelompoknya bertemu dengan sekumpulan binatang yang sedang mengamok di dekat kota. Setelah membersihkan binatang-binatau itu, mereka memutuskan untuk membawa bangkai-bangkai itu karena sudah dekat dengan Nanyuan.
Semua bangkai itu terikat bersama. Suanni dan banteng penembus gunung bertanggung jawab menggulingkan bangkai-bangkai itu. Itu sebabnya, ketika mereka bergerak, akan muncul banyak debu.
Tidak perlu khawatir akan merusak bangkai-bangkai itu ketika digulingkan di tanah, karena semua binatang itu adalah binatang kuat. Karena baru saja dibunuh, bangkai-bangkai itu tidak akan mudah rusak.
Akhirnya, mereka tiba di Nanyuan. Dengan melihat tembok kota yang runtuh di depan mata, Su Yu bisa melihat seberapa kecilnya Nanyuan dibanding kota-kota seperti Tianshui dan ibu kota. Dulu ia tidak merasakan hal itu, namun ketika ia melihat tembok kota itu lagi, ia bisa melihat betapa semrawutnya tembok-tembok itu.
Namun, ia tetap lebih mencintai Nanyuan. Akhirnya, ini adalah rumahnya yang sejati. Ini adalah tempat ia telah hidup dengan bahagia selama delapan belas tahun. Ini adalah tempat ia bertemu dengan temen-temannya dan guru-gurunya. Ketika mereka dekat dengan kota, Su Yu melompat turun dari punggung suanni dan mencium tembok. Di sana, ia berseru dengan keras, "Su Yu menyapa Wali Kota dan Kepala Sekolah! Saya sudah kembali!"
Ketika pandangannya tertuju pada Kepala Sekolah Tua itu, ia tidak bisa menahan perasaan kerinduan. Dan ketika pandangannya tertuju pada Xia Bing, ia tersipu sekali. Ia bahkan melihat Chen Qinghe, ayah Chen Hao, di sana. Seperti orang lain, Chen Qinghe juga sedang menatapnya dengan senyum bahagia.
"Selama kamu selamat kembali semua baik-baik saja..."
Kepala Sekolah Tua itu melangkah maju dan menepuk bahu Su Yu dengan ekspresi yang rumit. Namun, tak lama kemudian ia memberi Su Yu pukulan kaki sambil tersenambar, "Kenapa kamu kasar? Apakah kamu tidak akan mengundang teman-temanmu masuk? Tunjukkan kebaikan hostel Nanyuan!"
Su Yu tersenambar. Suatu kebetulan, Kepala Sekolah Tua itu terlihat lebih tua dari sebelumnya. Namun, untungnya Kepala Sekolah tetap terlihat sehat. Ia teringat pada betapa seringnya Kepala Sekolah ini berserusahan dengan Pengajar Liu. Kepala Sekolah ini sering menjadi korban dari hal-hal yang dilakukan Pengajar Liu. Pernah ada waktu, Kepala Sekolah hampir menarik jenggotnya karena stres.
Sayangnya, Pengajar Liu tidak lagi di sini. Pengajar Liu kini tinggal di Lapangan Langit-Semua yang teramat berbahaya. Setelah bertukar sepakatu dengan beberapa orang, pintu gerbang kota terbuka perlahan.
Dari atas tembok kota ini, Su Yu memanggil ke bawah, "Istirahatlah sebentar. Misi ini tidak mendesak. Saya tidak akan tinggal bersama kalian. Saya akan pulang ke rumah dulu."
Mereka semua mengangguk dan mengikuti penjaga kota ke penginapan mereka. Pada saat ini, langit sedang mulai gelap. Setelah berkelana melewati malam hari, Su Yu terasa agak lelah. Namun, ia masih bisa berjalan dan berbincang dengan orang lain dengan baik.
Setelah sekian lama, ia menyadari Kepala Sekolah Tua itu ragu untuk mengucapkan sesuatu. Maka ia berkata, "Senior Great Mountain, apakah semua orang sudah pergi?"
Great Mountain tidak bersuara, namun menjawab melalui transmisi suara, "Ya. Namun, aku merasa ada beberapa Mountainsea yang tersembunyi di Nanyuan. Aku bisa merasakan keberadaan mereka, namun tidak tahu posisinya yang tepat."
Su Yu tidak terkejut. Mereka mungkin adalah orang-orang dari Keluarga Xia yang datang untuk mencari reruntuhan.
Memang benar, mungkin ada Sunmoon di sana juga. Namun, itu bukan hal buruk. Dengan kehadiran orang-orang ini, ia bisa istirahat dengan nyaman. Yu Hong dan orang lain tidak akan berani melakukan apa-apa di Nanyuan.
Su Yu terdiam dan tertawa kecil ketika membayangkan apakah orang-orang itu berani menyerang kota jika ia mengaku reruntuhan itu berada di dalam kota.
Kepala Sekolah Tua itu tidak tampak terkejut melihat Su Yu dilindungi oleh seorang ahli tersembunyi. Justru ia merasa lega. Dengan suara pelan, ia berkata, "Sekarang kamu sudah kembali, istirahatlah beberapa hari. Setelah Tahun Baru, kembalilah ke ibu kota untuk melanjutkan studi mu. Jangan membuat masalah. Paham?"
Itu adalah segala yang bisa dikatakan oleh Kepala Sekolah Tua itu. Su Yu telah berubah menjadi seseorang yang benar-benar berbeda setelah beberapa bulan di luar Nanyuan. Ia telah berubah begitu banyak—bukan dari segi penampilan atau kekuatannya, tetapi dari segi sikap dan cara berseraturnya.
Dulu, ketika Su Yu masih di Nanyuan, ia adalah seorang pemuda yang suka membaca buku dan rajin. Ia mungkin kadang-kadang tidak sabar, namun selalu memberikan kesan seorang pemuda yang baik. Namun, semua hal itu telah berubah.
Sebenarnya, ketika Kepala Sekolah Tua itu melihat Su Yu, ia teringat pada pertemuannya pertama dengan Liu Wenyan lebih dari empat puluh tahun lalu. Liu Wenyan pada akhirnya telah berubah menjadi seorang laki-laki yang tidak malu-malu setelah puluhan tahun di Nanyuan.
Su Yu tersenambar, "Tenang saja, Kepala Sekolah. Saya bukanlah orang yang suka membuat masalah tanpa sebab."
Lalu ia mengganti topik dan bertanya, "Apakah ayahku sudah mengirim surat? Saya tidak menerima apa-apa di ibu kota."
"Tidak ada surat, namun dia meminta seseorang untuk menyampaikan pesan lisan."
Xia Bing yang menjawab. "Dia bertanya apakah kamu sekarang sudah punya pacar. Jika belum, dia ingin mengenalkan seseorang. Ada seorang gadis yang cantik yang merupakan putri dari komandan 100 orang yang ingin dia kenalkan kepadamu...?"
"..."
Kepala Sekolah Tua itu tertawa terbahaga. Su Yu tidak tahu harus tertawa atau menangis. "Itu semua?"
"Ya," Xia Bing pun tertawa. "Kamu tidak perlu khawatir tentang dia. Pasukan Penjinak Iblis belum banyak terlibat dalam pertempuran belakangan ini. Para prajurit di garis depan juga akan segera ditarik kembali ke markas. Ayahmu mungkin termasuk dari para prajurit yang ditarik kembali, jadi aman dengan keadaan di sana."
"Dengan kekuatan yang kamu miliki sekarang, kamu dengan mudah bisa bergabung dengan Pasukan Penjinak Iblis atau bahkan Penjaga Naga Tempur. Bahkan Penjaga Naga Tempur akan senang untuk memilikimu. Ini adalah impian tertinggi ayahmu sejak dulu untuk bergabung dengan Penjaga Naga Tempur."
Su Yu tersenambar, "Lupakan. Saya masih seorang siswa."
"Kamu—" Xia Bing tak bisa berkata apa-apa. Dengan tidak berdaya, ia bertanya, "Kamu sudah membunuh banyak Langit Terbang, kan?"
"Ya, aku membunuh beberapa di antaranya," Su Yu tersenambar, "Paman Xia, apakah ada ahli yang tiba di Nanyuan?"
Xia Bing tersimpul diam. Su Yu lanjut, "Orang lain mungkin tidak menyadari ini, tetapi kamu dan Wali Kota pasti menyadarinya. Penjaga Naga Tempur adalah pasukan pribadi Keluarga Xia. Mereka tidak akan menyembunyikan ini darimu."
Xia Bing dan Wali Kota adalah orang yang bertanggung jawab untuk mengatur akomodasi bagi para tamu. Jadi, tidak mungkin mereka akan datang tanpa memberi tahu. Xia Bing ingin mengatakan sesuatu, namun ragu.
Su Yu berkata, "Jangan khawatir. Saya sudah membahas ini dengan Marquis Xia sebelumnya. Mereka di sini karena aku, kan? Mereka sedang mencari reruntuhan itu."
Dengan menyebutkan Marquis Xia, Xia Bing berhenti berusaha dan mengangguk, "Ya, mereka adalah dari Regimen Rahasia. Ada dua regimen utama di Penjaga Naga Tempur. Kita termasuk dalam Regimen Rakyat biasa, sedangkan mereka adalah bagian dari Regimen Rahasia. Regimen Rahasia juga merupakan inti dari Penjaga Naga Tempur. Seorang komandan dari Regimen Rahasia telah tiba."
"Berapa kekuatan komandan ini?"
"Mungkin Tingkat Matahari-Bulan," Xia Bing mengangguk. "Saya jujur, aku tidak tahu pasti. Regimen Rahasia ini kecil, namun semua anggotanya adalah para ahli. Tuan Yang itu datang dengan beberapa bawahannya. Semua bawahannya adalah ahli Mountainsea, jadi aku mengira dia adalah Sunmoon. Aku tidak tahu banyak lainnya. Tapi kemungkinan besar tebakanmu benar."
"Paman Xia, kenapa kamu memberi tahu semua hal ini? Apakah kamu tidak takut akan mendapat masalah?"
Xia Bing tersenambar, "Tenang saja. Kamu tahu ini dengan baik. Karena mereka datang untuk mencari sesuatu yang menjadi milikmu, mereka juga perlu memberitahu kamu. Itu bukan sesuatu yang benar-benar perlu disembunyikan darimu. Prefek pernah berkata bah
Wu Wenhai said nothing. He felt somewhat dispirited. Those words were too mean. And he had nothing to say.
There was no denying that Nanyuan was weak. They could hardly find a Skysoar in the city. They might be one of the 28 cities of Great Xia, but they were only as big as a single district of a large city.
Suddenly, dust rose in the distance. A streak of golden light appeared. That was the suanni, moving ahead while emitting a powerful aura.
Standing atop the city wall, Wu Wenhai exclaimed, "Is that the suanni Li Yunfeng mentioned? A high-stage Skysoar of a top 100 race..."
"Even his mount is stronger than you. Sigh."
The old principal was as mean as ever. Wu Wenhai was speechless. He was already feeling pretty dispirited. Why was the old principal so mean? Nevertheless, he was still overwhelmed by the shock he was feeling. Su Yu was truly impressive. In less than half a year, Su Yu had returned mounted on a suanni.
Suddenly, a city guard exclaimed, "There are a lot of beasts!"
Yes. There were a lot of beasts. Or to be precise, there were a lot of beast corpses. Su Yu's group had encountered a group of rampaging beasts near the city. After dealing with these beasts, they decided to drag the corpses over since they were already near Nanyuan.
All the corpses were strung together. The suanni and mountaindrill bull were in charge of dragging these corpses. That was why they were producing clouds of dust as they moved.
There was no need to worry about damaging the corpses while dragging them on the ground as these were all powerful beasts. As they had just been killed, their corpses wouldn't be damaged so easily.
They had finally reached Nanyuan. Looking at the dilapidated city walls ahead of him, Su Yu could see how small Nanyuan was compared to cities like Tianshui and the capital. He wouldn't feel this way in the past, but when he looked at those city walls yet again, he was able to see just how shabby these walls were.
Nevertheless, he still loved Nanyuan more. After all, this was his true home. This was where he had lived eighteen years in joy. This was where he met his friends and teachers. When they were near the city, Su Yu leaped off the suanni and landed on the wall. There, he greeted loudly, "Su Yu greets the mayor and the principal! I have returned!"
When Su Yu's gaze landed on the old principal, he couldn't help but feel a sense of intimacy. And when his gaze landed on Xia Bing, he became absent-minded for a short moment. He even saw Chen Hao's father, Chen Qinghe, there. Like the others, Chen Qinghe was also looking at him with a joyful smile.
"Everything is fine as long as you're safely back..."
The old principal stepped forth and patted Su Yu's shoulder with a complicated expression. But he soon gave Su Yu a kick before grinning, "Why are you being rude? Are you not going to invite your friends in? Show them the hospitality of Nanyuan!"
Su Yu smiled. For some reason, the old principal looked even older than before. But fortunately, the principal still looked healthy. He couldn't help but recall how this principal would always bicker with his Teacher Liu. This principal was frequently made the scapegoat for the things his Teacher Liu did. There was a period of time when the principal nearly yanked his chin clean of his beard due to stress.
What a pity that Teacher Liu was no longer here. Instead, Teacher Liu was now staying at the incomparably dangerous Allheaven Battlefield. After a short exchange of pleasantries, the city gate swung open. The city guards sallied forth to welcome Su Yu's friends into the city.
From atop the city wall, Su Yu hollered at them, "Take a rest. The mission isn't urgent. I won't be staying with you. I'll be taking a trip back home."
The others nodded and followed the guards to their accommodations. At this point, the sky was starting to turn dark. After traveling through the night, Su Yu was feeling slightly tired. But he was still able to walk and talk with the others just fine.
After a while, he noticed that the old principal was hesitating to say something. Thus, he said, "Senior Great Mountain, has everyone left?"
Great Mountain did not reveal himself, but he replied through voice transmission, "Yes. But I think there are some existing Mountainseas hidden in Nanyuan. I can sense them, but I don't know their exact positions."
Su Yu wasn't surprised. Those were probably the people from Xia Family that were here to look for the ruin.
In fact, there might even be a Sunmoon around. But that wasn't a bad thing. With these people here, he would be able to take a good rest. Yu Hong and the others wouldn't dare to do anything in Nanyuan.
Su Yu felt like laughing as he wondered if those people would dare to attack the city if he claimed that the ruin was inside the city.
The principal did not appear surprised to see that Su Yu was being protected by a hidden expert. In fact, he was relieved to see that. With a soft voice, he said, "Since you're back, take a few days off and rest. After New Year's, return to the capital and focus on your studies. Don't get into any trouble. Do you understand me?"
That was all the principal could say. Su Yu seemed to have changed into a completely different person after a few months away from Nanyuan. He had changed way too much. Instead of his appearance or his strength, his demeanor had changed the most.
Before Su Yu left Nanyuan, he was a bookworm and a refined gentleman. He might be impatient at times, but he would always give off the impression of a refined gentleman. But all of that had changed.
In fact, when the principal saw Su Yu, he was reminded of his first meeting with Liu Wenyan over forty years ago. Liu Wenyan had eventually transformed into the shameless old man that he was after spending forty years in Nanyuan.
Su Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry, Principal. I'm not the type of person to create trouble needlessly."
He changed the topic and asked, "Did my father send me any letters? I didn't receive anything at the capital."
"There are no letters, but he did tell someone to bring a verbal message back."
Xia Bing was the one to answer. He said, "He asked if you're now dating someone. If you're not seeing anyone, he'll introduce someone to you. There is a pretty girl who is the daughter of a 100-man commander that he wishes to introduce to you..."
"..."
The old principal roared with laughter. Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Is that all?"
"Yeah." Xia Bing found it funny as well. He said, "You don't need to worry about him. The Devil Subduing Army has not been involved in many battles as of late. The soldiers on the frontlines will also be rotated back to the headquarters soon. Your father might be one of the soldiers being rotated back so things will be even safer there."
"With your current strength, you can easily join the Devil Subduing Army or even the Martial Dragon Guards. In fact, the Martial Dragon Guards would be glad to have you. Your father's biggest dream has always been to join the Martial Dragon Guards."
Su Yu smiled and said, "Forget it. I'm still a student."
"You—" Xia Bing could say nothing to that. He helplessly asked, "You have killed a lot of Skysoars already, right?"
"Well, I did kill a few of them." Su Yu smiled and asked, "Uncle Xia, have some experts arrived at Nanyuan?"
Xia Bing remained silent.
Su Yu said, "The others might not be aware of this, but both you and the mayor are definitely aware of this. The Martial Dragon Guards is the private army of the Xia Family. They won't hide this from you."
Xia Bing and the mayor were definitely the ones in charge of providing accommodations to the visitors. Thus, it was not possible that those people would come without informing them. Xia Bing wanted to say something, but he hesitated.
Su Yu said, "Don't worry. I talked about this with Marquis Xia before. They are here because of me, right? They're looking for the ruin."
With the mention of Marquis Xia, Xia Bing stopped struggling and nodded, "Yes. They are from the Secret Regiment. There are two main regiments in the Martial Dragon Guards. people like us belong to the Public Regiment while those people belong to the Secret Regiment. The Secret Regiment is also the core of the Martial Dragon Guards. A commander from the Secret Regiment has arrived."
"What's the strength of this commander?"
"Sunmoon Realm, I guess." Xia Bing shook his head and said, "I honestly don't know. The Secret Regiment is small, but all of them are experts. That lord arrived with several subordinates. All his subordinates are Mountainsea experts so I assume that he's a Sunmoon. I know nothing else. But your guess is probably correct."
"Uncle Xia, why did you tell me all that? Are you not afraid that this will get you in trouble?"
Xia Bing smiled and said, "It's fine. You know this very well. Since they're here to look for something that belongs to you, they need to notify you as well. Thus, this isn't really something that should be kept from you. The prefect once said that any individual's fortuitous encounter belongs to that individual alone. Trying to snatch something like that away is the same as thievery. And that is not something Great Xia can tolerate. Thus, even if they do manage to find something, they will need to talk to you about it."
Su Yu smiled, "Is that so? But why didn't they ask for my permission before starting the search?"
Xia Bing didn't know what to say.
Su Yu smiled, "It's fine. Let them do as they wish. I don't care."
Why would he care? He didn't even know if there was really a ruin in Nanyuan. According to the established rules, they would need to share thirty percent of what they found with him. Thus, he was more than happy to have them search for the so-called ruin.
"How many Mountainseas are there?"
"I saw three of them."
Su Yu nodded. So there were one Sunmoon and three Mountainseas in the city. It was clear they attached great importance to this so-called ruin. This city was roughly three hundred kilometers away from Starfall Mountain. That wasn't a long distance. Sunmoons and Mountainseas wouldn't need much time to cover such a distance.
These people might need to head over to the Starfall Mountain to collect the corpses there by the time he was done.
Su Yu took out a merit card and handed it to the old principal. With a smile, he said, "Principal, when Teacher Liu wrote the Lightning Source Blade's willpower text for me back then, you said that I need to repay the school a hundredfold. I can do that now. Please make good use of the money in this card."
The old principal frowned and said, "That was a joke from me and Old Liu. Why are you taking it seriously?"
"I am taking it seriously." Su Yu smiled and said, "It is only natural that I repay the school now that I have the ability to do so. You only need to focus on nurturing more talented juniors. This is nothing for me."
"You are getting more and more confident nowadays, kid." The principal laughed and said, "Speaking of, I need to tell you something. That Old Liu is a total bastard. He only wrote four moves in the willpower text. The remaining five moves are all fake."
"..."
Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "No wonder something felt off. I thought I did a bad job at taking care of the willpower text, but the remaining moves have been fake all along?"
The old principal laughed happily. He had been waiting to say this for a very long time. What a pity that Old Liu was no longer here. He really wanted to see the embarrassed look on that old bastard's face.
Su Yu laughed as well. After a while, he looked at Xia Bing and said, "Uncle Xia, can I trouble you to send my father a letter? Tell him to ignore all the rumors. Just live his life. His son has grown up. Regardless of what I do, I won't regret the choice I make myself."
Xia Bing did not ask any questions. He merely nodded. The old principal also watched on without asking anything.
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