Chapter 52 - Reborn (2)

After three hours, Lance was fully dressed and bathed. He looked out the window, seeing many people rushing toward the central plaza in the capital. It seemed there would be a mass execution. This was the perfect moment to escape. If the emperor had not gone mad with rage, he would not have made the mass execution so large as to thin out his security.

"Leaving so soon?" the woman asked, staring at him. "I was having such fun. It seems you were right about altering that statue. Mm."

"Having hormones is not bad. They can be controlled," Lance laughed. "Thank you for the pleasure of your company."

"Will you ever return to the Pangu Continent?" she asked.

"The day I decide to have it razed and usher in a new dynasty, perhaps," Lance said as he left.

"He's an interesting one, a man with many secrets," the woman said as the two bodyguards appeared. "Did you investigate him, as I asked?"

"Yes. He is registered at the Adventurer's Guild as Lance Wang," one of them said. "D-Rank Adventurer, as it is the highest rank one can apply for without completing any missions whatsoever."

"The crown prince is really dead. His head was cut off, and the families of his security guards are scheduled to be executed any minute now that the sun has begun to fall," the other concluded. "What will My Lady do now?"

"We return home and report to Imperial Father. Now is the time to take over some of the land in the Pangu Continent, as its head, the emperor, is in disarray," the woman said, watching Lance Wang disappear in the distance. "Take note of him too. He will make a nice toy for my grandmother. She has eternal youth as she is a peak Earth Mortal and will be able to uncover the boy's secrets."

"And the reason you slept with the boy?" the bodyguards asked.

"He was hot. His body radiated an ancient power. He might even have a Yin Yang Divine Tattoo," she answered as they packed up and vacated their rooms.

"What a day," Lance said as he approached the city gates.

"Halt! No one is to leave the city during the mass execution by the order of His Majesty," a guard said.

"I was never here. You never saw me. You saw the suspect you were told about on your way home after your shift. Take a three-hour break. You are very tired right now. Your muscles ache, and your eyelids feel heavy," Lance said, using his Light Puppet Art to hypnotize the guard. He went through the gate without much trouble at all.

That day, over eight hundred people were sentenced to death. The emperor, Shen Wukong, had gone mad with rage, and the Song Dynasty lost one-tenth of their rule over the Pangu Continent before the emperor settled down. They eventually took back their lost land, but three weeks had passed, and the killer was as good as gone. Their spies informed the emperor that none of the invading nations had a hand in his son's death.

As Lance had calculated, the second prince had become the new crown prince, and the fourth prince was recalled back to the palace from the front lines. The real reason was for the emperor to allow the existence of an opposing faction to the new crown prince so as to balance the power among his heirs. Lance had reunited with Mei, who was both happy and unhappy when she met the female slave and magical beast panther a few hours before meeting Lance.

"We're finally leaving the Pangu Continent," Mei said as they arrived in a port city and took a commercial ship to the southern continent. "Lingqi, are you sure you're okay traveling with us?"

"Yes. Master Lance saved me from a life of slavery. Who knows what my life would have been like had the crown prince brought me to his palace?" the seventeen-year-old answered. "I also wish to venture into the world. It is best to travel with my savior than on my own. I would be enslaved again because of my beauty."

"That's for damn sure," Mei muttered, as Lance had given her the bracelet he bought at the auction. Lingqi's body was too enticing for her age. Thus, they had bought another disguising magical treasure from the rich caravan they traveled with. It paled in comparison to Mei's, as it could only change one's body shape and the color of one's hair and eyes.

Mei's bracelet could let her be any female of any size and color, to the last detail. Even her spirit energy could be changed to appear as another. Still, it served its purpose to make Lingqi appear as flat as a board. Mei was inwardly jealous of the girl two years older than her. Still, Mei's cultivation was higher, so it didn't matter, as she could protect herself.

"How does it feel to leave the Pangu Continent? You've spent two lifetimes there," Mei asked.

"I don't know. It's all I ever knew. In truth, there was much I didn't know. I didn't know about the Elemental Sovereigns of Darkness and Lightning. I hardly visited a human town before I razed it. All I did was run, hunt, and cultivate. It was just... where I lived," Lance answered. "I have no loyalty toward it."

"I feel sad and excited," Mei said, gazing back at the port city as it disappeared from view. "I feel sad as I am leaving my parents, Guo Lin, and the rest of the clan behind. I feel excited as I feel like a true adventurer, exploring the unknown and foreign."

"Is that how a person is supposed to feel?" Lance asked, Lingqi and Mei looking at him curiously.

"They do not understand who you are or what you've been through," the panther purred through their mental link. As it had become his magical beast, it naturally learned of its master's true identities as some memories entered the panther's mind.

Lance grinned as he stared at the water. Perhaps the panther was right. He did have centuries of memories. He outlived many empires, magical creatures, and enemies. There was no civilization for him to grow attached to. He had only started to experience emotions he thought he had lost since being human.

"Lance seems... different from most people. He's kind of like a sociopath," Lingqi said to Mei.

"No. Not really. His past is complicated. We will be heading to the southern continent, not the eastern continent. You're okay with that?" Mei asked.

"We're adventuring the world, right? We'll see my homeland eventually," Lingqi said. "My dad was from the Pangu Continent. I left home to find him and ask why he left my mother alone. I learned he was dead, as his clan actually kidnapped him but committed suicide because he could not escape before they tried to marry him to another woman."

"That's kind of romantic," Mei said. "He still loved your mother."

"Yes, but he is dead," Lingqi sighed. "So Lance will study the Necromonicon he bought?"

"Most likely. If it can help one gain enough power to ascend, Lance would do it," Mei nodded as the two stared at the panther and Lance by the ship's starboard side. "I can never completely get Lance. He's an enigma. Sometimes he makes progress, but old habits die hard. Just be sure not to do anything he forbids. Death would be a mercy. Trust me."

"Right," Lingqi said as the ship sailed along the wide sea.