"I am Du Ran from the Du Family, Young Master Lu!"An elderly at the n.o.ble Lord Realm walked over with a young man. The former cupped his fists to salute to Lu Li and said.
Lu Li was still throwing up. He threw up so badly that he even spat out bile. The young man standing next to Du Ran disdain Lu Li. Du Ran threw him an angry glance and the young man started to behave politely.
"Du Ran?"
The leader of the Hall of Peaceful Heavens looked at Du Ran, casually cupped his fists and coldly continued, "You are a patriarch of the Du Family. It is not within your power to do anything at the Cloud City. It is our rule that anyone teleported from the Northern Desert must pay us Xuan Crystals. Since Patriarch Du Ran is here, I will give you a 50% discount as a gesture."
Half off was still 150 million Xuan Crystals. Yu Huashen could afford it but it would be so humiliating. If Ming Yu and he were not at the n.o.ble Lord Realm, they might suck it up. But they were quite upset that a warrior of the Eternal Realm could bully them so.
Du Ran seemed to be advanced in age with his white beard and hair. He smiled mockingly and replied, "The Hall of Peaceful Heavens is deliberately disgracing us, huh? Tai Hong, mind your actions. We may come to meet again in the future."
Tai Hong smiled coldly and said, "Will you give me the Xuan Crystals or not? If not, I will take them down!"
"You?" Ming Yu finally lost control of his temper. Angry qi and energy surged from him, enveloping the surrounding area. Tai Hong was short of breaths because of the pressure.
Powerful warriors had their dignity and characters. If Tai Hong were more powerful than them, they might be able to push their anger down. But Ming Yu could crush any warrior of the Eternal Realm. How dare such a puny warrior be so arrogant?
"Hmm!"
A cold humph suddenly came out. It exploded in the Soul Pond of Ming Yu like a thunder. The killing intent from Ming Yu died down immediately. He looked pale and blood was spilling out from his mouth.
"Xuan Skill, soul category!"
Yu Huashen was nervous. A warrior that could hurt Ming Yu with a humph must be one at a higher realm than Ming Yu and that understood Xuan Skill of the soul category.
"Tai Rui!" Du Ran’s expressions grew awful. He shouted, "Don’t cross the line!"
The mystery man didn’t make an appearance. He just said in a cold voice, "If you don’t give the Xuan Crystals, then we will take you down. Kill anyone who dares to make a move."
"Alright, fine, you win!"
Du Ran was quaking with anger. The ring on his hand glistened. He took out another ring from it, threw it to Tai Hong and said, "We will remember this and we will see to it that you shall pay for this. Let’s go."
Du Ran winked at Yu Huashen and Ming Yu. Yu Huashen hurriedly helped Lu Li towards the outside of the plaza. There parked two carriages onto which they boarded. They rushed out of the city.
Lu Li finally stopped vomiting after they were out of the city. He looked better after he closed his eyes and rested for a while.
"Buzzing!"
Du Ran took out an Iron-armored s.h.i.+p when they were outside the city. The four went on and flew toward the south.
"Young Master Lu, I am sorry!"
Du Ran cupped his fists and apologetically said, "The Cloud Island is the territory of the Hall of Peaceful Heavens. They are at the same level as the Du Family, sixth-rank. Their Hall Master is more powerful than our Family Patriarch. Also, they have a talented disciple who reached the peak of the n.o.ble Lord Realm when he was only 40 and he can make it to the Human Sovereign Realm at any minute now. That is why they are acting so arrogantly…"
Lu Li forced a smile and said, "This has nothing to do with you, Lord Du. Yu Huashen, do you have Xuan Crystals? Give it back to Lord Du."
"No, no need, Young Master Lu, you don’t need to!"
Du Ran waved his hand and said, "Du Zheng is my cousin and he told me to treat you well and straighten out some matters for you. We are the ones in the wrong now that you have been bullied. Just take the Xuan Crystals as a way of me saying sorry. Also, it’s not a lot for the Du Family. Please don’t refuse."
Du Ran was very sincere so Lu Li didn’t want to let him down. Lu Li cupped his fists and looked at the young man next to Du Ran and asked, "And this is?"
"Oh, this is my grandson, Du Lun!"
Du Ran introduced. Then he stared at Du Lun and ordered, "Du Lun, salute Young Master Lu."
Du Ran stood up casually, cupped his fists in a random way and said, "Greetings, Young Master Lu."
"Um, nice to meet you, Young Master Du."
Lu Li nodded slightly. Clearly, Du Lun was looking down on him probably because he was at a low realm and lack the manners of a young master from a distinguished house.
Lu Li didn’t mind it bit. He turned to Du Ran and asked, "Lord Du, where are we heading? Also… can you give me a map of the Central Plains?"
"Sure."
The ring on Du Ran’s hand lit up as he took out a map. He explained, "We are now above the Cloud Island and flying towards the Dan City of the Central Plains where our headquarter is at. Young Master, please spend some time in the Dan City and then we will take you to the largest city in the northern Central Plains, the City of Delicacy. You will take the large Iron-armored s.h.i.+p of the Chamber of Delicacy and fly to the City of Heaven’s Roar. There, you need to take another Iron-armored s.h.i.+p before you can arrive at the Mystic Armor Region."
Lu Li glanced at the map and had gained a cursory understanding of the Central Plains. The City of Delicacy was the major city at the northern Central Plains, and City of Heaven’s Roars was the major city for the northeast of the Central Plains. They were both territories of Royal Families.
Lu Li asked after some thoughts, "Lord Du, I hear that the Du Family is one of the four overlords of the northern part of the Central Plains. Is the City of Delicacy one of the four as well?"
Du Lun put on a mocking smile while Du Ran forced a laugh and said, "Young Master, you only know half the story. The four overlords story is just gossip. I’d rather call us four insignificant bosses. The real overlord of the northern Central Plains is the Pavilion of Delicacy, a Family of the eighth-rank. Du Family is only at the sixth-rank. How dare we to compete with them?"
Pointing to the map, Du Ran continued, "The entire northern Central Plains is the sphere of influence of the Pavilion of Delicacy, a Royal Family. Du Family, the Hall of Peaceful Heavens, Qin Family and the Hall of h.e.l.l are the four most powerful forces under the reign of the Pavilion of Delicacy, which is why we are called the four overlord. At the northern Central Plains, the Pavilion of Delicacy is the supreme and we are just four dukes under an emperor."
Lu Li understood. Yu Huashen already had some knowledge of this situation here. Ming Yu was the only one confused and he asked, "Is there not seventh-rank Family or force?"
"There was!"
Du Ran replied, "Hundreds of years ago, there were two of them, but then the two forces burst into a war. Eventually, one of them was destroyed while the other one was reduced to a sixth-rank one due to heavy casualties, aka, the Hall of Peaceful Heavens."
Lu Li was shocked. He asked, "The Pavilion of Delicacy is not doing anything?"
"Ha, ha!"
Du Ran smiled, stroke his beard and said, "Young Master, you don’t know about the Central Plains. The 12 Royal Families are the supreme emperors of the Central Plains. As long as they are not angered, then they will not worry about any fights happening between the families in their control. Also… even when outside forces fight against their forces, they still won’t do anything. As long as their interests remain intact, no civilians are killed and their rules are not broken, they will not interfere."
"Um…"
Lu Li and Ming Yu looked at each other, not knowing how to respond. It was acceptable that the 12 Royal Families wouldn’t do anything when their own forces fought against each other. But they still wouldn’t take an action when outside forces attacked theirs?
It was like when Xu Chen attacked the Blood Evil Island, it was okay that the Bai Family didn’t do anything. But when the Yu Family attacked the Blood Evil Island or the G.o.d-down Island, the Bai Family must take some actions. Otherwise, who would be convinced by the leaders.h.i.+p of the Bai Family?
"The Central Plains is more messed up than I thought…"
Lu Li sighed. So it would seem that Teleportation Formation was the safer way, but where could he get so many Xuan Crystals?