1512 Hidden Water
God Metropolis, in a large garden…

Moon Dongchen was sitting under an awning sulking. He remained uninterested no matter what the female servant beside him cajoled him with, drinking glumly all by himself.

As night slowly descended, a servant suddenly came rushing over, whispering words into Moon Dongchen’s ear that promptly made him blurt out, “What’s that? Big brother’s back? Quick, take me to him!”

Thus, Moon Dongchen tossed the sultry female servant to the side and headed to big brother Moon Dongsheng’s room.

Just you wait, Dragon Dou!, Moon Dongchen thought to himself as he made his way there.

Though he was a mediocre character of his generation, Moon Dongchen was different from the only son, Dragon Dou. Moon Dongchen had a good elder brother that had reached legendary rank despite his young age. He was a famed talent of God Metropolis!

It was just that Moon Dongsheng often spent his days busily training, and he was not often home. Moon Dongchen had waited for three whole days staring at the moon and stars before he finally saw his elder brother return.

Knocking on the door before entering his room, Moon Dongchen immediately let out a pitiful wail, “Big brother, I’ve been bullied! You need to help stand up for me!”

Moon Dongsheng was stunned. He quickly took Moon Dongchen by his hand and got him to sit down beside him. The two siblings shared a very good relationship with one another, and the moment Moon Dongsheng heard that his brother had been bullied, his face instantly darkened, urging Moon Dongchen to explain what had happened.

And so, Moon Dongchen began to embellish his tale, speaking ill of Dragon Dou as well as Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha. His servants quickly certified his claims that the Pang brothers had indeed been hospitalized.

Moon Dongsheng shook his head after hearing the tale. “Brother, you shouldn’t have scared me like that. I had thought you were the one that was beaten up!”

Changing the subject, Moon Dongsheng narrowed his eyes, “But they did indeed go too far, beating the Pang brothers to the point that they were hospitalized. This is nothing more than bullying us of the Moon Clan for having a lack of manpower.”

Moon Dongchen pouted, ‘I don’t care, big brother! In any case, I was bullied, and you need to help me gain back my honor!”

Moon Dongsheng somewhat awkwardly said, “Your big brother is learning from the esteemed elders, so there’s no way I can find time to help fight for you. Besides, though Dragon Dou is an idler, he’s ultimately still a Dragon, and someone from the Four Great Clans. We’ll stir up plenty of trouble if we try to touch him.”

Moon Dongchen was unwilling to just let the matter slide. His face was sullen, looking like he just heard that his parents had died.

Moon Dongshen patted his younger brother’s shoulder and said, “What are you jumping to conclusions for? I said I wouldn’t make a move against Dragon Dou, but that doesn’t extend to his underlings. It’ll be handled once I send some men later to quietly take care of those two people.

“Once Dragon Dou has no more men, you’ll be able to bully him however you want!”

This was not a bad idea, so Moon Dongchen perked right up. He and Dragon Dou were both famous for being ne’er-do-wells. Now that Dragon Dou had risen slightly thanks to having Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha supporting him, Moon Dongchen would be able to properly ravage Dragon Dou once the two were taken care of!

Moon Dongchen gnashed his teeth and hissed, “Heh, you dare snatch Hidden Water with me? I’ll be sure to make you suffer!”

Upon hearing his words, Moon Dongsheng felt shock run through his body as he glanced at his younger brother in surprise and said, “The reason why you and Dragon Dou don’t see eye to eye is all because of Hidden Water?”

Moon Dongchen nodded somewhat foolishly.

Moon Dongsheng grabbed his younger brother by his shoulders with two hands and said in a very serious voice, “My foolish brother, have you forgotten our clan’s ancestral teachings? ‘You must remember that any of the women from the Four Great Families can be touched, except any women who bears the surname of Hidden! You must never touch them!’ Not to mention the granddaughter of that old monster. If you touch her, not even I, your big brother, can help save you!”

Moon Dongchen was nonplussed, “That’s ancient history from tens of thousands of years ago. What’s wrong with having the surname of Hidden? Why can’t we touch them?”

The expression on Moon Dongsheng’s face darkened slightly, almost as if he was angry.

The moment Moon Dongchen noticed the chance, he was frightened and hurriedly promised his elder brother that he would not provoke Hidden Water. Only then did Moon Dongsheng’s expression soften slightly.

…

Ever since they learned that the planets of God Metropolis were splitting every day, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha both had bad feelings about it. The time between the fissions was also decreasing, which was most likely not a good omen at all. Something huge was sure to happen soon!

Unfortunately, the old saying was tried and true: like boiling a frog in warm water, the Four Great Clans had been in control for almost forty thousand years now, and they were long used to the splitting of the planets. None of them thought much of it, and were instead of the mindset that the more planets were split, the more benefits they could reap!

After all, many strange creatures would be born after a split, and they were all creatures that might provide the precious crystals. It was their dependency on the crystals that was helping the Four Great Clans grow stronger and stronger, enough so that they were vaguely able to come into enough power that they could challenge the strength of the entire universe.

After his return from the planet, Xia Fan had devoted his time to studying how he could harness the crystals. Traveling Buddha and he wanted to tap into the power of the crystals, but they had no wish to grow strange horns on their heads. As such, Xia Fan used the techniques and skills that his grandparents had imparted to him in attempts to purify the crystals.

Unfortunately, his experimentations for the last two days had all failed. Xia Fan felt depressed, and so he invited Traveling Buddha to join him on another trip to the planet again. Though at present, the crystals did not seem to be of much use to them, it would be good to accumulate some crystals first. There was no telling when someone might come along and develop a technology to use these crystals, and they could later be of use.

What Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha had not expected was for the foolish son of the local tyrant wanting to tag along as well! He even dressed himself up rather handsomely, with a combed beard and a clean shirt. It did not look as if he was about to go into battle, but more for a date!

“Listen to me. Let’s head to planet 1135, there’s sure to be plenty of good things there! I guarantee we’ll reap plenty of rewards!” the foolish second generation patted his chest and assured Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha.

“I think this kid is acting a little strange today,” Traveling Buddha said to Xia Fan.

Xia Fan could tell that something was amiss with Dragon Dou, but they could not just kill him off. At the end of the day, he was a Dragon, and the backing they had for the God Metropolis.

They had no choice. Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha could only accompany Dragon Dou and head to the stargate that led to planet 1135.

—

Passing through the stargate, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha discovered, much to their surprise, just how incomprehensible the place was. Mountains filled the lands everywhere, and they were not your average hills, but great peaks, each of them at least tens of thousands of meters high. The mountain forests were also densely packed, and exuded a faint sense of danger.

Dragon Dou took out an electronic binoculars and looked around with it. He realized there were few people around and moaned in disappointment, “Strange. Where is everyone? I clearly heard her say that she was coming to planet 1135, so why is there no one around?”

Rubbing his hands, he pleaded with Xia Fan, “You’re fast, can you help me search for someone?”

“Who is it you’re looking for?”

“A friend.”

“This planet is huge, and the land is rugged with mountains. How am I going to find someone when you have no location in mind?”

Unexpectedly, Dragon Dou truly had a spirit of perseverance, constantly pestering Xia Fan until he was completely annoyed, so he furrowed his brow, “Do you have anything belonging to this person on you? Give it to me and I can help you find her.”

Dragon Du gave it some thought and then took out a half-filled bottle of mineral water from his bag. It was evident that it was someone’s leftovers.

“Will this work? She drank half of it, and I stole it while she wasn’t looking. I’ve cherished it since!” Dragon Du somewhat unwillingly handed over the bottle to Xia Fan.

Traveling Buddha and Xia Fan were momentarily speechless. Hearing Dragon Dou’s tone, it sounded like this person he was searching for was a girl. They also remembered that it was also over a girl that Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha had helped fight against that person with the surname of Moon when they had first arrived here. Who was to say it wasn’t the same person?

Xia made a mental note, This person sounds like he’s in love. Forget it, I’ll just help him.

With that, Xia Fan sniffed and noted the scent trace on that bottle. He then shut his eyes and continued to take deep breaths, collecting in all the scents throughout the area.

“I found it. The person you’re looking for is a girl, approximately fifteen to sixteen years old, right?” Xia Fan asked him.

Dragon Dou nodded repeatedly. Xia Fan proceeded to tuck him under his arm while letting Traveling Buddha grab a hold of his shoulder. He then accelerated, heading toward the location the scent was originating from.

The mountain path was hard to navigate, and Xia Fan did not go too fast, merely sticking to a speed of about a thousand m/s. The distance of several hundred kilometers merely took less than eight minutes before they came to a stop at a mountaintop.

A skinny middle-aged man was there, with sallow cheeks, high cheekbones, and a slight beard on his face. He looked very malnourished.

This man was standing on the mountain, using the high elevation to survey the land. The sudden appearance of Xia Fan and others behind him gave him a fright. He was startled after spotting Dragon Dou among them, appearing to be very surprised.

Xia Fan pointed to the sallow-faced middle-aged man and said, “Found her. She’s right there.”