Chapter 205 Day Three · Freedom
The Shadow Sting Army’s request for alliance may not be made out of good intentions. Moreover, Kunlun City meant unknown danger. Between good and evil and right and wrong, there were always different stances and plots. Battles, intrigues, and dirty tricks appeared indistinctly in the on-again, off-again cooperation. In the general trend, Invincible Realm experts were nothing but nonentities. Li Tianlan believed that only the most potent self was the most trustworthy.
He understood this truth very early. But wandering through the storm, seeing it with his own eyes, and even experiencing it, he felt a little uncomfortable. After he came out of the primeval forest at the border, what he needed to fit in with was more than the colorful world outside. Everything in the Dark World also required him to explore and to acquaint himself with them.
In a sense, adapting to the latter was even more significant and vital than adapting to the former.
That was the path he was destined to follow.
For the rest of his life, everything in the Dark World was destined to be the main melody of his life; the sudden storms, the silent thunder, the unknown intrigues, as well as the killing intent behind smiles.
He must wander in this circle where there was no good and evil, and even no morality. Furthermore, in this circle, the stance was the only thing he could use to distinguish the enemies from the people on his side. Whether advancing triumphantly or keeping a low profile, he had to figure out the essence through appearances. Step by step, he acted cautiously as if treading on thin ice while carrying the whole Li family on his back and charging toward the summit of the Dark World.
The word “life” was of great weight. In his life that seemed magnificent, unspeakable fatigue and arduousness were the essential cornerstones that supported the Li family’s future glory.
That was the requirement of general trend and destiny.
Wang Zhaoliang from the Shadow Sting Army had gone.
Li Tianlan’s eyes were deep. He looked at his gradually blurred back and remained silent for a long time.
He was watching Wang Zhaoliang.
While behind him, Deep Dream was watching him too.
At this moment, Li Tianlan seemed different from before. The ethereal and drifting sense of reality seemed to disappear gradually in him. He stood there quietly, but he seemed distant with a heavy heart.
Restrained.
He restrained all his sharpness and emotions to an extreme. There was vague danger in his composure.
Deep Dream stared at Li Tianlan blankly and sighed softly.
Sigh City was small, and there were not many top assassins inside, but each one of them was a character who was famous in the Dark World. Their strength was unquestionably powerful. Similarly, their cohesiveness was also well known.
It was a force that appeared mysterious to the outside world. Within it, however, seniority wasn’t valued.
Deep Dream, Sunset Shadow, Cool Breeze, Drifting Cloud, and several other assassins.
They would show respect when facing Tribulation and Governor Situ Cangyue, but they didn’t really feel that they were too high to reach. Be it the Lord of Shadow or the Hidden God of Zhongzhou State, they were very close to them and were within reach. That feeling...
Just like... It was like they were one.
Whatever they wanted to do, the Governor would do it for them.
They would also go through fire and water for the Governor to do whatever she wanted to do.
No one seemed to have ever cared about the goals and purposes of Sigh City since it was founded, with the addition of top assassins. Sigh City seemed to have none of these things. This force existed aimlessly and almost seemed aloof, but it meant something to them.
They were assassins who released their killing intent in the darkest corners in the purest way. When their killing intent was exhausted, they chose to go home.
Were killers homeless?
What a joke!
The snow-covered land on Mount Taibai was the most sacred pure land in the hearts of everyone in Sigh City.
This was Sigh City; a city of assassins without rules, purposes, goals, or seniority, separate but united. It was a warm force that blossomed in a mysterious and cold corner. So when Governor Situ Cangyue announced that Li Tianlan would become the Young Governor of Sigh City, every top assassin offered their support without hesitation.
They didn’t bother to think about what that meant, because they would support Situ Cangyue in whatever she wanted to do.
Just like in the old days, Situ Cangyue supported them in whatever they wanted to do.
No matter how complicated things were, within Sigh City, they could be reduced to the simple logic of doing what someone wanted to do.
Looking at the back of Li Tianlan, Deep Dream had a complicated look in her eyes.
She didn’t know how much the 19-year-old youth in front of her was shouldering, but she knew that this Young Governor was not destined to be as simple as Sigh City. His inner complexity and entanglement had long become an obsession, deep into his bone. They would not be purified; on the contrary, the whole Sigh City would undergo some unexpected changes with his participation.
As the top assassins who had been active in the outside world in recent years from Sigh City, Deep Dream and Sunset Shadow were actually well aware that this kind of change, which was bound to take place, was not what all members of Sigh City liked. In Li Tianlan’s hands, Sigh City would surely become something else. But this was the first time in years that Situ Cangyue wanted to do something, and in any case, they had no reason not to support her.
No matter what she wanted to do.
“Young master, the aim of the Wang family of Beihai should be intelligence. There was something fishy about Wang Zhaoliang when you mentioned intelligence a moment ago.”
Deep Dream remained silent for a while, suppressing her confusing and disturbing thoughts. Then she said in a low voice.
Li Tianlan was now the Young Governor supported by the entire Sigh City. No matter what would happen in the future, now that she had made her choice, Deep Dream must put herself in Li Tianlan’s shoes.
Li Tianlan nodded. When Wang Zhaoliang came up with the idea of information-sharing, he felt there was something fishy about it, so he tentatively mentioned it. Although Wang Zhaoliang covered it up well at that time, there was something unusual about it.
What exactly did that mean?
The Wang family of Beihai had clearly detected the ‘special channel’ of Samsara, but Li Tianlan was not sure what they had noticed, whether it was the mysterious ally around Samsara, or they were just trying to investigate Samsara’s intelligence agency through some clues.
East Island was extremely sensitive to Zhongzhou State, the Wang family of Beihai, and the forces that had their foundations in the West. Now that the Wang family of Beihai had already noticed that, the so-called goodwill Wang Zhaoliang showed today could easily turn into outright hostility in the next second.
“None of these forces is simple. Even when they smile at you, it makes you uncomfortable.”
With a self-deprecating smile, Li Tianlan turned to go down the hill and said, “Let’s go back.”
Deep Dream followed Li Tianlan closely. She was indeed a beauty. At her most mature age, her every move had very enchanting temptation. The faint smell of perfume circled Li Tianlan. Without him noticing, Deep Dream’s voice grew soft and charming. Walking beside Li Tianlan, she whispered, “The Dark World is full of intrigues and murderous intent. That’s a fact that cannot be changed. Most of the battles are not something that ordinary people can cope with. We’re assassins, but we’ve always been pure. We just kill people, and we basically run as far away as we can from any intrigue.”
She paused, as if hesitating, but she still opened her mouth coquettishly and giggled. “Of course, we are not that clean. But I’ve been walking around for years, and I know a lot about how to avoid conflict after I’ve killed someone. Young master, do you want me to share it with you?”
Li Tianlan seemed to stop, but he immediately returned to normal. His expression was calm, but his eyes were deeper and deeper. He cast Deep Dream a meaningful glance. Noticing that she was a little bit flurried, he suddenly smiled and said, “Do you know what I was thinking about?”
“Eh?”
Deep Dream uttered a syllable doubtfully, but her mind was at sixes and sevens. She kept thinking about the meaning of the way Li Tianlan looked at her.
What she had just said was not a warning, but an admonition, and also something that contained her selfish motives. However, she was a pretty woman, and it should not have offended Li Tianlan if she tested him with such a tender and charming tone. But somehow there was always something uneasy inside her.
“I was thinking...”
Li Tianlan added with a chuckle. “From now on, most of our enemies or friends will come from the Dark World, to be specific, the forces in the Dark World, such as the Wang family of Beihai, Kunlun City, some foreign behemoths, or some special agencies in our country.”
“This circle is very complicated. It’s so complicated that whether the entrants are brilliant or ordinary, as long as they enter this circle, they have to struggle to survive cautiously. Strong as Wang Tianzong, who ranks first on the Divine List, has to behave cautiously as he is leading the whole Wang family of Beihai. The all-encompassing circle of force and wisdom, intrigue and betrayal, life and death, war and stance is too big and too complex. Can anyone really stand aloof in such an environment, Deep Dream?”
Deep Dream forced a smile, her face a little pale.
“There is nothing in this world that can represent everything. It is not even force and wisdom but prudence that guarantees one’s survival. That’s the Dark World in my heart.”
Li Tianlan slowly walked over the land under his feet. His tone was neither indifferent nor passionate, and the plainness in his tone revealed the repression that could not be dispersed. “This is also my path. Wang Zhaoliang allied himself with me, so I would subconsciously think about his deep purpose. He reminded me to be careful about Kunlun City. Thus, I would think about Samsara Palace and the trump card of Kunlun City. I also wanted to grasp the mentality of the Wang family of Beihai. As a result, a quite interesting question just occurred to me.”
“I’m destined to meet different people and plots in this cruel and gloomy world in the future. What will I be like in ten or even twenty years?”
His voice grew deeper, and the glow in his eyes was more restrained.
“Will I be a Heavenly Son? An ambitious person? Or... a bunch of bones?”
“You won’t be a bunch of bones.”
Deep Dream spoke automatically and firmly. It seemed that Li Tianlan just sighed with emotion, but his words were enshrouded in mist. Deep Dream didn’t know if she was overthinking. But she had just tested Li Tianlan, and now she heard these words, she could not but take them as Li Tianlan’s answer to her.
In this regard, Deep Dream had to make a clear statement. Li Tianlan’s voice was flat, but she could feel growing pressure in his words. When they got along with each other previously, Deep Dream saw Li Tianlan’s calm and ethereal apart, as well as his seriousness and sharpness. In such a sunny morning, however, she clearly felt the well-disguised gloom buried deep in Li Tianlan’s heart.
She tested him just now merely to show that Sigh City still liked the previous attitude of standing aloof from worldly strife.
But Li Tianlan spoke of an attitude that he was not destined to stay out of the disputes in the future.
Deep Dream didn’t know what would happen if she stuck to her guns. But thinking of the meaningful glance that Li Tianlan just cast her, she felt cold groundlessly.
At this moment, Deep Dream was in a trance. If the Young Governor with changeful moods who joined Sigh City was destined to change the city of assassins, then what she had just said might make her the main force of changing Sigh City.
But she had no choice.
“No one dares to hurt you, because Sigh City is your backer, Young Master. No one in Sigh City will allow anyone to hurt you.”
Deep Dream said calmly.
Li Tianlan glanced at her with a smile and whispered, “Really?”
Deep Dream felt colder inwardly, her voice bitter. “Time will tell.”
“Well, time will tell.”
Li Tianlan nodded. “I can’t give you a definite answer. Perhaps only time can tell us this answer. But I can tell you that I grew up working hard to make my family and friends free and happy.”
Deep Dream was slightly shocked. She never expected that, behind his somber reply in which killing intent was almost palpable, she would finally get such an answer.
To make my family and friends free and happy?
“What is freedom?”
Li Tianlan went down the hill and looked up into the sky.
As far as the eye could see, white clouds floated in the sky, wandering through the sunshine and keep shifting.
“Freedom... You can do whatever you want, naturally.”
Deep Dream pondered for a moment before speaking softly.
“No.”
Li Tianlan shook his head calmly. At this moment, there was a strange glow in his eyes.
He chuckled and said insipidly, “In my opinion, the so-called freedom means that you can refuse to do what you don’t want to do.”
Deep Dream seemed deep in thought. The answer seemed to be the same as his whole being.
Restrained yet wild.
“Tell me the secret news you have heard.”
Li Tianlan stopped and simply lay down on the grass, looking up at the blue sky and white clouds above him. His voice gradually became light. “What are the Wang family of Beihai and Kunlun City plotting?”
“It’s not a plot. They are working together to push something.”
Deep Dream was thinking seriously. The previous Sigh City indeed behaved like an individual immortal who didn’t care about any worldly affair in the world of mortals. It did not care about the things between superpowers and the overall situation of Zhongzhou State. Although Deep Dream had heard a few words, she did not think about them carefully at all. “Back then, when I returned to Mount Taibai from the Snow Country, Gu Qianchuan and Wang Jingwei came to Sigh City together. They seemed to want Her Highness to support one of their proposals. Currently, the two seem to be gearing up to boost the Special Warfare System’s voice in Zhongzhou State...”
The news was not much better than nothing. Li Tianlan shook his head and asked casually, “Who is Wang Jingwei?”
“The head of the military staff.”
Deep Dream added simply. “One of the core figures of the Wang family of Beihai.”
Li Tianlan’s pupils contracted slightly.
Wang Jingwei was the top leader of the military staff of the best headquarters among the four headquarters of Zhongzhou State. In the entire military, he was a real power holder and even the one who had most of the say. In the chat with Ning Qiancheng, Li Tianlan also knew that Ning Qiancheng’s father Ning Zhiyuan, Commander of the Eastern Theater of Operations, craved this position most for the time being. Although the two posts shared the same level, the former was the quickest way to advance to the rank of marshal.
Such a military real power holder joined hands with the second in command of Kunlun City and went to Mount Taibai in an attempt to promote the right to speak of the Special Warfare System in Zhongzhou State. How did it work specifically?
And what did this have to do with him?
“It is said that Kunlun City had this kind of movement many years ago, but the proposal didn’t pass at that time. The strongest objection at that time was from the Wang family of Beihai. Now it seems that the Wang family of Beihai no longer adheres to the original opinion.”
Deep Dream shook her head. She did not know what the specific plan was, but at that time, Situ Cangyue said something violently, which mentioned the Li family, and finally, she rejected the requirements of the Wang family of Beihai and Kunlun City. Therefore, it could be seen from that even if the proposal wasn’t made all because of the Li family, at least the Li family was also a vital part of the reason. Now that Deep Dream had seen Li Tianlan, she was increasingly convinced of her speculation.
“Recently...”
The muscles on the corners of Li Tianlan’s eyes twitched. He thought for a while before asking, “When exactly?”
“Late May and early June, perhaps? I forget the exact time.”
Deep Dream seemed to be a little embarrassed. “I basically don’t pay much attention to the domestic affairs of Zhongzhou State. I stayed less than one day on Mount Taibai before going to Bili State.”
Li Tianlan fell silent.
The period from late May to early June coincided with the time when he first met Wang Tianzong in Huating.
What was the relationship between them?
“It’s okay.”
He said faintly, after a moment of silence.
The combination of the Wang family of Beihai and Kunlun City to promote the status of the Special Warfare System in Zhongzhou State was a good thing for anyone inside the system. Although Deep Dream speculated that there was something against the Li family, at least so far, Li Tianlan hadn’t seen its harmful effects on the Li family. Furthermore, it was bound to happen after the final battle in Changdao. When he returned to Zhongzhou State, it was not too late to sit and watch the clouds rise and fall inside Zhongzhou State.
“At the very least, in this final battle, the proposal jointly promoted by the Wang family of Beihai and Kunlun City has little to do with us.”
He slowly said.
“Hmm.”
Deep Dream nodded. “At present, we should be most wary of Kunlun City. Wang Zhaoliang’s reminder has a profound meaning, Young Master. If Kunlun City has a trump card in East Island, what do you think that could be?”
“How do I know?”
Li Tianlan smiled, but there was not the slightest smile in his clear and gentle eyes. “I only care about what they want to do now.”
If he looked closely at the list of elites that Kunlun City had sent to East Island, the weirdness was almost apparent. It was true that its input was way too little. As the promoter of this plan, with this list alone, it would not only be hard to get approval from the top, but it would also upset many of the empire’s special warfare agencies. Such a small input made it unworthy of being the power center of the Special Warfare System of Zhongzhou State.
Wang Zhaoliang’s reminder was very timely and very consistent with common sense.
Under normal circumstances, it was a perfectly normal thing that Kunlun City invested more power in the national plan this time than the Wang family of Beihai and Sigh City did.
But at least for now, everything in Kunlun City was perfectly normal. If they invested more than the Wang family of Beihai and Sigh City did, what resources could they invest in the dark?
And what would the resources and people in the dark do after his identity as the heir of the Li family got exposed?
Li Tianlan pressed his lips together, his eyes cruel and cold.
If this reminder came from Samsara, and Wang Zhaoliang didn’t give a clear explanation for it, it could only prove that currently, Samsara still hadn’t caught the resources secretly invested by Kunlun City in East Island.
“If they wanted to hide it from everyone and secretly invested, at least the resources couldn’t be too conspicuous. I guess they are only a small number of implements, people, or some intelligence. Kunlun City... What could they invest in?”
Li Tianlan narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself.
“It couldn’t be intelligence.”
Deep Dream directly shook her head. “Because of the Wang family of Beihai, the development of Kunlun City in East Island is not smooth, so they cannot get useful information. As for the implements... Kunlun City has no murderous weapons, and they are not as good at making weapons as Dongcheng Clan or the Wang family of Beihai. It’s equally impossible.”
“So, is that manpower?”
Li Tianlan whispered.
“Manpower... Several masters of Kunlun City have followed Gu Qianchuan to northern Europe, and some have remained in Zhongzhou State. The masters in their headquarters are mysterious, but there aren’t many real masters. Humph, in the entire Kunlun City, Gu Xingyun and Gu Qianchuan are barely men. Other people can’t influence the overall situation...”
Before Deep Dream could finish, Li Tianlan rose abruptly.
“Men?!”
He looked at Deep Dream with burning eyes, his eyes brighter and brighter.
At this moment, without any reason, he suddenly thought of his first meeting with Gongsun Qi.
At the same time, he thought of the reminder from the Dongcheng Clan.
Gongsun Qi once said that initially, another youth in Zhongzhou State was supposed to join in the battle against East Island. However, someone stopped the youth, and the man who stopped the youth had already arrived at East Island. Gongsun Qi reminded him to be wary of that man.
Dongcheng Clan reminded him to guard against Phoenix Pavilion.
Wang Zhaoliang also reminded him to be careful.
Jiang Shangyu told him that Phoenix Pavilion had close ties to Kunlun City.
Deep Dream said that only Gu Xingyun and Gu Qianchuan were barely men in Kunlun City.
Then... What if it was a woman?
Li Tianlan’s heart throbbed. He felt as if he had caught something, but something was missing.
“Deep Dream!”
He looked at Deep Dream and solemnly asked, “Have you heard of Phoenix Pavilion?”
Deep Dream shook her head vacantly. Before she could speak, a sexy, crisp voice suddenly sounded behind her. “I’ve heard of it.”