The Pontiff"s eyes never left Jiang Li"s face, his own expression sour, fully showing how displeased he was at the unexpected visitors. However, he was not truly afraid of the other. In his slightly droopy eyes was only annoyance for the unannounced visit, nothing more. "You have come." The Pontiff omitted the next word that he said in his heart, turning to his race"s leaders and saying, "Everyone, stop making a ruckus. He"s a friend."
"Friend?!" The word was enough to freeze the atmosphere of the place as the noisy chatterings and the spells and beams about to leave their casters paused in the air. Dong Lan had to exert his aura as a Pontiff to his fellow fae to stop them from moving for a while. Mohan was also affected, though this male lead had long frozen when he also heard the most revered priest and leader of the race referring to a mere human as a friend. Was the world ending already?
Jiang Li took a chair for himself, leaning his back on it as he met the Pontiff"s stare. In his heart, he was quite annoyed that the other looked so das.h.i.+ng and young. He couldn"t help but comment on it with a sneer, "It seems your race this time allows you to wear the skin of a young man even though deep within you should be as old as an old grandpa."
"I take that as a compliment, old friend." Dong Lan kept the smile on his face. If one would look closely though, they would see his left cheek spasming.
However, even without looking at that, the others in the room were already furious as they couldn"t believe that somebody could be so disrespectful.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d insect!" They began to call Jiang Li names. Of course, only in their minds, as in reality, they couldn"t speak.
The Pontiff continued, "So how about you, Jiang Li? Did you come to me as a representative of humans? Are you even human this time? Or have you already ascended?"
"Yes, I"m still human. No, to your last question," replied Jiang Li. "You"re a seer so you should know I just arrived here. And no, I don"t represent the human faction. It"s not like I plan to stay long this time to warrant a mutually beneficial relations.h.i.+p with them."
Surprise flashed across the chief priest"s elegant face. As for the male lead and the others, they could no longer follow the conversation.
"I see." Dong Lan nodded. "In any case, I"m surprised that you came to see me. What"s your goal this time? It couldn"t be only to confirm that this is me, no?"
The question was met with a disdainful glance. Would Jiang Li trouble himself to travel all the way to a foreign territory if it was only to see the face of a random dude? No. He directly said, "Don"t flatter yourself, Dong Lan. I merely want to who she is this time."
"Oh."The follow up came immediately. "Sorry, I don"t know."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Jiang Li"s face changed and the atmosphere in the place instantly turned heavy and depressing. Apart from the paralyzing magic of the high priest, they also felt like they were getting buried in a thick layer of snow. "I"m warning you, Dong Lan. I hate jokers and liars."
The white-robed fae looked offended. "Do I look like I am joking? Why the h.e.l.l do you think I"m still staying in this world even though I"ve yet to meet my own wife? You want me to say the truth? She"s. Not. Born. Yet. And probably would have a higher likelihood of not ever getting born if I hadn"t hampered the ambition of the fae race."
The Pontiff spoke in Mandarin since he could not let others hear what he just said. Nonetheless, the fae leaders who witnessed his outburst were dumbfounded. What did he say? Why did the usually calm and collected Holy Temple Leader lose his cool?
Jiang Li glared at the Pontiff. However, there was also a hint of shock in his face, finding it hard to believe that this time, the calamity that "she" would encounter was to die a stillborn due to the war between the two races.
Jiang Li then closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
"Fine. Maybe this is already good. I can leave early and go back to my real world to settle everything there."
"Only then can I resume the missions to meet her again."
Opening his eyes, he nodded at the other man. "I understand. I"ll go back now."
It was when he was almost at the doorway to the balcony that Jiang Li heard a voice from behind. "Wait."
Dong Lan contemplated for a few seconds before he decided to rise from his seat. It was not a regular thing for them to have a peaceful conversation so Dong Lan did not want the other guy to easily disappear from his sight, no matter how much he disliked Jiang Li"s face. "Old guy. Before you leave, answer first a few of my questions. What"s your stance in this war? I know you have once reached G.o.dhood so since this is a magic-filled world, you can definitely regain that strength again. Are you planning to join the human"s side?"
Jiang Li knew the Pontiff"s worry, but he just shrugged his shoulders, "I won"t enter as a soldier of the humans, don"t worry."
In Jiang Li"s mind though, he was quite amused. The fortune-teller was wary of him even though this guy was now a part of the race calling themselves offspring of G.o.ds. What an ironic situation.
"I see. Then..." Dong Lan still seemed not done with him yet, switching from fae tongue to Mandarin again. There was a complicated look o his face as he asked, "When you said you"re not planning to stay here for long, is it because you"re intending to return to your… real world?"
There was once a time when Jiang Li was quite idiotic and had blurted out this fact to Dong Lan. After all, they were not always enemies. He was once determined to know the purpose and origin of the guy and had brought up his own origin for a comparison.
But that issue being brought up here did not make Jiang Li happy. While heaving towards the open door, he looked over his shoulder and sent a warning glance at the Pontiff. He also replied, "Your Holiness, I don"t care about your reason for monitoring "her". But even if I leave early, don"t you dare go near "her" or let "her" get into harm. If possible, don"t also pop up to where I"m going. Anyway, for the first request, it should be easy for you, right? Mr. Fortune-Teller."
…
Dong Lan watched as the intruder left as swiftly as when he first arrived. Mohan, the Son of Fate, was dragged away, which he did not prevent as he had commanded the fae youth to monitor Jiang Li in his stead.
"Pontiff." The Supreme General who had played chess against him last night called out to him.
The Pontiff was knocked out of his stupor, finally remembering that he was not alone in this place. He freed everyone else from his magic. "I apologize, Your Excellencies. I only did that since that visitor was a very temperamental yet strong G.o.d. I hope you understand my point."
The various city mayors in the room were respectful of the Pontiff so they did not say a thing upon hearing the apology. However, deep inside, doubts and suspicions were secretly brewing within. Not few amongst them wondered the relations.h.i.+p between the Pontiff and the human expert for the latter to be allowed to call the Pontiff by his real name.
Was there a chance the Pontiff had somehow colluded with the human race?
One of them even entertained this ridiculous thought, which was fueled by the dissatisfaction from seeing a member of a weak race come and go just like that.
Then when this term escaped out of the Pontiff"s mouth, everyone else felt like a bomb had been thrown at them. "G-G.o.d?"
"Your Holiness, h-how could that be?" A female fae stood up from her seat. "That person is just a human! H-he seems strong, but not stronger than anyone else here!"
Dong Lan frowned at the lady city mayor who spoke. "Lady Athanasia, I implore you to stop judging a person by their appearance. And I would like to extend it as a lesson to others in this chamber as well."
He then sat back slowly and shook his head as he explained, "This is something I need to correct in everyone"s mind. That ice expert is no mere human ice expert. His name is James, localized name, Jiang Li. He"s the G.o.d of Ice, from the mythical land of Mu, a haven of human G.o.ds in the Pacific Ocean from several thousand years ago. That place might have vanished, but that person has not."
Dong Lan momentarily paused, then quietly added, "Had I not done what I just did, I might be the only one left alive in this room by him."
Disbelief showed in the faces of those present. Their pupils dilated, rendering their blue sclera to appear more prominent.
In other words, everyone else would have died?
The one called Lady Athanasia, a female leader who took pride in being a descendant of a G.o.ddess from the Greek mythology, shook her head and asked, "But Your Holiness, if somebody like Him is on the human"s side, how come he didn"t come out when we"re conquering their cities?"
To this, Dong Lan impatiently responded, "Of course, he couldn"t pop up on the battlefield to repel us. He was not in this world in the first place. And the affairs of mortals were nothing important for him."
The eyes focused on him widen and their expressions showed understanding. The fae leaders exchanged glances with each other and began to discuss about Jiang Li in a more serious manner. From time to time, they asked Dong Lan.
In actuality, the Pontiff was already being annoyed by the questions. Why did he have to invent explanations for that guy"s existence, huh? He even had to bring up stupid tales from another world. Does everyone here think it was fun to make it sound like a jerk like Jiang Li deserved some veneration?
"The affairs of mortals are nothing for that b.a.s.t.a.r.d since all he cared about is that so-called villainess, and that woman whom my adoptive mother warned me about. Isn"t that why he"s nothing but a selfish jerk?"
Dong Lan formally dismissed the meeting after saying to the incensed fae leaders. "Stop caring about that person. What we have discussed earlier is the priority. I hope Your Excellencies trust in my predictions as these are what would truly decide our race"s fate!"
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