1503 The Blood Battle Pact
The hall became rather chaotic, everyone whispering, clearly shocked by Traveling Buddha’s identity.
The white and plump elder seated in the center waved his hand so that everyone would be quiet, and then began to speak.
“It is clear that Traveling Buddha is Nine Provinces Buddha’s descendant. There is no faking that. After all, we have seen with our own eyes that Traveling Buddha possesses the ability passed down only in the Holy Buddha lineage.
“Moreover, the facts of the matter show that Li Feng was the first to commit a wrong, and these two killed only to defend themselves. Thus, I propose that they are not guilty.”
“Not guilty!”
“Not guilty!”
The other two elders were like puppets, voicing their agreement. It was the hawk-nosed elder’s turn, and while he was unwilling to let Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha go, it was clear that most of the people in the hall didn’t support him, so he could only let the matter drop.
“Haaa…” the hawk-nosed elder sighed, but just as he was about to say “not guilty”, a voice brimming with murderous energy resounded through the hall.
“Hold on!”
Xia Fan turned to the voice and saw a man striding into the hall.
He was in his late twenties, and though he didn’t have the strange little mustache, he looked very similar to the youth called Li Feng that he had killed. He was probably Li Feng’s brother.
The man quickly entered the center of the hall, where he stared with reddened eyes at Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan.
The fat elder frowned and asked, “Li Ning, what is your business?”
Li Ning bowed to the four elders and said, “To pay with one’s life killing another is a matter, of course. While my little brother had thoughts of killing them, thinking is not a crime! And in the end, I only see the result: my little brother is dead! Thus, I want them to pay with their lives!”
The fat elder was a very justice-minded man. Shaking his head, he said, “It wasn’t like your little brother didn’t try to turn his thoughts into reality. Don’t forget that when headquarters asked if there were any survivors, he said that there were none. As I’m sure you understand, this indicates that there was a problem.”
Everyone chattered after hearing the fat elder’s words. They all believed that Li Feng was wrong in this matter. That he had said that there were no survivors was an indicator that he wanted to kill them.
Li Ning was startled, not expecting no one to support him. He looked viciously at Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha, and then he laughed coldly.
“Fine. Since everyone thinks my little brother was in the wrong, let me change my argument. If I want to avenge him and kill my little brother’s murderer, issuing a Blood Declaration, would that work?” Li Ning said angrily.
The enthroned elders and everyone else all nodded.
The fat elder said, “According to the laws of the City of Four Kings, if a relative of yours has been killed, you can naturally declare a Blood Battle. But you must understand that only one person can emerge alive from a Blood Battle.”
“It’s because I understand that I have decided to declare a Blood Battle,” Li Ning replied.
If this was the case, nobody had any objections. After all, it was all legal.
Xia Fan naturally thought that, since he had been the one to kill Li Feng, Li Ning would fight him. Thus, he stepped forward, his head held high.
But to everyone’s surprise, Li Ning suddenly pointed at Traveling Buddha and resentfully said, “Just you wait! In another three days, you’ll be dead!”
Traveling Buddha was just, “…”
…
A suite in the castle…
Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha had been locked up in the room and weren’t allowed to go out. The people of the City of Four Kings were actually rather friendly, providing them decent food and living conditions.
“Why did he end up choosing you?” Xia Fan frowned as he looked out the window.
When they were being sent to the room, Xia Fan had heard from the guards that Li Ning and Li Feng both had demon-type abilities. Li Feng was the Sand Devil, while Li Ning had the even stronger Water Devil.
As the saying went, water and fire showed no mercy, while no one had ever said that about sand. Water abilities used the soft to overcome the hard, so the ability was particularly formidable.
Traveling Buddha’s ability was the Battle Buddha Golden Light, and what was the nature of that ability? It was an extremely tough and hard ability, which just so happened to be countered by water-type abilities.
This battle would be a tough one, and Xia Fan was very worried for Traveling Buddha.
But Traveling Buddha was sitting next to a table and brewing tea, smacking his lips as if he was enjoying himself. He didn’t seem worried in the slightest, truly reaching a mastery of blissful thoughtlessness.
“What’s there to worry about?” Traveling Buddha nonchalantly said. “There will be a solution when the time comes. In three days, I’ll go and have a fight with that Li Ning guy.”
The door opened, and a young maid servant walked in. Her name was Jane. She had her hair braided and an amiable smile, the type of girl that was very likable.
“I’ve come to deliver your food,” Jane said to Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha.
Traveling Buddha was a young master, so he didn’t react, but Xia Fan gave her a sunny smile. “Jane, could you sit for a while? I have some questions I would like to ask you.”
Jane put down the food tray and sat between Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha. Mischievously tossing her golden braids behind her, she straightforwardly said, “Okay! Ask any questions you have, though I warn you that I don’t have much time.”
Xia Fan smiled and said, “I just want to ask you about this city. We came here by accident and know nothing about the area.”
Xia Fan gave Traveling Buddha a look, and Traveling Buddha very willingly offered her a cup of tea. Jane took a sip and exclaimed in surprise, “How fragrant! This tea is excellent! In all my long life, I’ve never had such good tea!”
Xia Fan seized the chance to say, “If you like it, you can come any time to drink some. But my question just now…”
As if realizing what was going on, she said, “Oh! This place is called the City of the Four Kings, and it consists of the four royal lineages and their servants.
“The four royal lineages are Ashen, Dragon, Moon, and Hidden. As for their servants, there are many families among them. As for an orphan like me, since I don’t know who my father is, I don’t have any surname, so I can only work in the castle.”
Jane’s simple words left Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha dumbfounded!
Ashen, Dragon, Moon, and Hidden put together were Ashen Dragon Hidden Moon!
Truly, one could rush around looking for something only to have it delivered to one’s door. Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha had inadvertently come across the land of the Four Great Clans!
Xia Fan frowned, noticing something odd in Jane’s words. He curiously asked, “From what I know, the four clans you mentioned should be the four founding clans of Ashen Dragon and Hidden Moon, so they should be known as the Four Great Clans.”
Jane hastily waved her hands. “No, no. The Four Great Clans had their family servants, and the servants were granted the privilege of carrying the same surnames as their masters. This city is home to the servants of the great clans, the servants of those servants, and their descendants.”
After this question, Xia Fan finally understood that the stewards, servants, and bodyguards of the Four Great Clans had been allowed to use the surnames of their masters, which was considered a supreme honor.
Their descendants lived in the City of the Four Kings!
This matched what he knew. Drunken Buddha wanted him to find someone who knew the inner workings of the Four Great Clans, and this city was home to the servants of those four clans. That person was highly likely to be here, it was just that Xia Fan hadn’t found him yet.
——
It wasn’t long before Jane left. She still had work to do.
Before leaving, Jane said that when she came tomorrow with breakfast, she would bring Xia Fan some strawberries so that he could experience their freshness, and Xia Fan agreed with a smile.
Jane didn’t like the chubby Traveling Buddha that much, but she liked Xia Fan’s cheerful demeanor.
Once Jane was gone, Xia Fan fell into deep thought. It was naturally important to find the key person that Drunken Buddha had spoken about, but it was even more important to get Traveling Buddha through the decisive battle in three days.
After all, this was a warrior who controlled a Water Devil. How could Traveling Buddha deal with such a powerful opponent?
Casting his gaze at the nonchalant Traveling Buddha, Xia Fan thought to himself, ‘If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have brought Traveling Buddha with me.’