Chapter 13: Dragons of Linghua City (Prepare for Impact)I saw it in the distance: A giant stone wall surrounding something. That was undoubtedly Linghua City.

  Today was the third day of our travels and it was lunchtime by now. We arrived only now because of the bandit matter. Otherwise, we would have reached the city on the evening of the second day.

  Continuing to move forward, we were finally standing in front of the gate and saw a long queue. I turned to Zhao Linghua and asked:

  "Is there another gate for nobles?"

  "Yes, Master."

  "Suppose we could enter there?"

  "Yes, Master, tho you could only enter as my subordinate."

  "Not as a guest?"

  "No, Master. They believe that any guest a noble would bring would be another noble."

  "That's arrogant. I didn't expect anything less. Well, then we'll wait."

  They just had to hit my reverse scale. Being a subordinate, even if it was in name only was the one thing I hated. Y'know trauma and all.

  Zhao Lingua seemed to not find my rejection weird.

  After half a day literally, we finally arrived at the gate. There was only one gatekeeper. Guess that's why it took so long. He had full-body armour and held some papers in one hand and a pen in the other.

  "Name?"

  "Yan Zhongming."

  "Excuse me, what?"

  "Yan Zhongming"

  "As in 'hell's final darkness(阎终冥1told ya)'?!"

  "No. As in 'strict and loyal brightness(严忠明)'."

  "Oh, sorry."

  "Don't worry, I'm used to it."

  It was one of the things I couldn't understand. Normally, as far as I knew, in Chinese culture, there was nobody who named their child negatively, yet somehow all of these morons seemingly failed in that common sense. They all immediately thought that it had a negative connotation.

  The guard wrote my name and continued to ask.

  "Age?"

  "15."

  "Twenty lowest-grade Magic Stones please."

  After I gave them to him, he gave me the paper. In the bottom right corner of the paper, I could see a sigil. It was a dragon and a phoenix rising up together.

  "Uhm, isn't that your city sigil?", I whispered to Zhao Linghua.

  "No, Master. Our sigil has the dragon slightly more on the left.", she whispered back.

  "So you took inspiration from this city?"

  "No. Every city has a dragon and a phoenix on their stamp."

  "Orders from above?"

  "No, coincidence."

  With that, the conversation came to an end.

  "Name?"

  The guard now turned to Zhao Linghua.

  Shortly after, we were both in the city.

  "Do you know of any inn in this city?"

  "Yes, Master. There's the Soaring Dragon Inn."

  "Okay. Lead me there."

  "Yes, Master."

  On the way there, we heard some people shouting.

  "Young master Ling Shaotian is facing off against Fang Yuheng!" - NPC 1

  "What, where?" - NPC 2

  "On Phoenix Street!" - NPC 1

  "Which one?" - NPC 2

  "The twenty-fourth!" - NPC 1

  Hearing that, I turned to Zhao Linghua.

  "Oh. That sounds interesting. Let's go there. Meanwhile, expin."

  "Yes, Master. In Linghua City, there are three great families. The Peng family, a Warrior family, the Ling Family, a Mage family and the Fang family, a Warrior family too.

  Simirly, there are the three great geniuses of Linghua City. Peng Yufeng, the young dragon, Fang Yuheng, the hidden dragon and Ling Shaotian, the big dragon.

  Peng Yufeng is seventeen and has reached three cores. Fang Yuheng is eighteen and has reached four circles and Ling Shaotian is eighteen and has reached four circles peak."

  "Wait!", I jumped in, "Didn't you say that the Fang family is a Warrior family? How come Fang Yuheng became a Mage."

  "Apparently, he had no talent for being a Warrior and was therefore kicked out of the family. Then he met a six-circle mage who saw his talent in magic and became her disciple. Thanks to that, he rapidly grew stronger and is now on par with the other two geniuses."

  "Then why is there bad blood between Ling Shaotian and Fang Yuheng?"

  "Before Fang Yuheng's birth, his family made a marriage agreement with a smaller family, but because of being thrown out, the marriage agreement became void and Ling Shaotian took the girl instead."

  'What the hell?! Isn't that exactly like the plot of those generic novels?! Is that guy some kind of protagonist?'

  I was truly shocked, but before I had more time to ponder, we arrived. There I saw a giant crowd. I looked around and decided to jump on one of the roofs to get a better view.

  While climbing I heard a voice.

  "But I have to say, it's truly embarrassing that the heir of one of the three great families of Linghua City has to take the test to be allowed entry into the city's secret realm."

  "I rather think it's embarrassing that somebody titled a dragon fears failing in the test and thus used his family connections."

  "I'm simply better than those vermin taking the test. The outcome would be set in stone the moment I entered the test. Oh, my apologies! It seems like I accidentally called you a vermin. That was obviously an overestimation of your abilities."

  "We'll see in the secret realm."

  "Yes. Assuming you get in, that is. Hahaha!"

  Then they went their separate ways and the crowd dispersed.

  "Zhao Linghua."

  "Yes, Master?"

  "Why is Fang Yuheng unable to procure a recommendation? As a six-circle Mage, wouldn't his master be able to easily get one?"

  "His master is actually banned from entering the city due to an incident, in which she angered the three great families."

  "Oh, tell me more."

  "According to her, somebody tried to grope her while being there, so she caused an explosion and killed them. It is believed to be a lie, as she went from one family to the other without taking a break and every time, right after she entered, an explosion happened."

  "Oh. Well, then let's go."

  "Yes, Master!"

  Soon, we arrived at the inn, took one room with two beds and slept. Ever since she knew my gender, she didn't mind sleeping in the same room, not that she had a choice anyway. I too didn't care, as I had plenty of barriers active during the night.