Chapter Twenty-Four: The Homecoming Ceremony

The grand Homecoming Assembly was finally being held with the expected fervor.

On the very evening when Gu Linglong’s injuries had healed, Uncle Cai came to inform everyone that the assembly was about to begin, and that the residents wished to invite the City Lord and the heroes to attend.

Qiu Feng declined the invitation on the grounds of ill health.

In the end, the group was reduced to Gu Linglong, Li Chengzhu, and the Yuan brothers, while even Xiaoying had vanished without anyone knowing where she had gone.

“Could that girl be too shy and hiding somewhere?” Li Chengzhu asked in a low voice as he walked with Gu Linglong hooked on his arm, ignoring the murderous glares the men along the road kept shooting his way. At the same time, he wore a genial smile and nodded politely to the city’s young women like a proper gentleman.

“Who told you to tease her for no reason?” Gu Linglong, also all smiles, used two fingers to mercilessly torment the tender flesh on the inside of Li Chengzhu’s arm. “And you were even winking at other people!”

“Hey, hey, having you at home is enough for me.” Li Chengzhu casually bumped his elbow against Gu Linglong’s chest, causing her face to flush bright red and lending an even more charming air to her already lovely features.

Amid the cheers lining their path, the four from the battle team took their seats in the arranged places. With the divine fireworks erupting in the sky in a thunderous blaze of color, the Homecoming Assembly officially began.

The residents of Rainbow City had learned quite a bit about Gu Linglong’s hometown from Uncle Cai, and this time they had even gone to the trouble of staging the event according to the customs of Earth.

The central square of Rainbow City was the venue for the assembly.

First to appear was a dance troupe. These female cultivators, said to have organized themselves voluntarily, all possessed exquisite figures and flawless beauty, so stunning that Li Chengzhu and Yuan Mu nearly bulged their eyes out. Yuan Sen was even worse off; with no cultivation at all, he was already flushed crimson and breathing hard.

When had this thousand-year-old virgin ever seen so many women in such thin robes dancing so gracefully before him?

This was truly an extravagant display. Li Chengzhu cast a cool, sidelong glance at the unfamiliar cultivators seated high above as well.

To have female cultivators devoted to the Heavenly Dao come out and dance for everyone, dressed so lightly—there was no doubt they were trying to flatter someone in Rainbow City’s battle team.

Sitting one place away from him, Yuan Mu was currently smiling broadly, nodding along as he chatted with a cultivator beside him.

Li Chengzhu grabbed one of the spirit fruits before him and bit into it fiercely.

When the dancers had finished and the seats quieted once more, a cultivator unexpectedly and shamelessly took the seat originally left for Xiaoying, the one to Gu Linglong’s right.

“City Lord,” the cultivator finally got to the point.

“Please speak freely, fellow cultivator,” Gu Linglong replied with a slight smile.

Li Chengzhu, seated on her left, could not help but prick up his ears.

“It is like this, my lady.” The cultivator lowered his voice. “A vein of amethyst jade has been discovered two hundred li west of the city.”

“Really?” Gu Linglong could not help but brighten with excitement. “That is excellent news. When was it found?”

Amethyst jade was an indispensable supplementary material for refining tools. To discover such a natural vein in the wild was a great boon for the cultivators in the city.

The cultivator hesitated before saying, “Three months ago. It was originally discovered by people from my Chen family, and by regulation we were required to report it first to the local city lord. But since you, my lady, had gone to the Red Rock Plateau, I made the decision on my own to begin mining first, intending to wait until your return before dealing with it properly. However... the Weng family from the southern city insists on getting involved and demands an equal share of the mining rights with my Chen family.”

“I see.” Gu Linglong grew somewhat troubled. On the expedition to the Red Rock Plateau, the Chen family from the west of the city and the Weng family from the south had each sent ten cultivators, yet not a single one had returned. Gu Linglong already felt she had slighted the heads of those two families, and now this matter had arisen as well, leaving her in a difficult position.

“Linglong, according to the rules, who do these mining rights belong to?” Li Chengzhu could not help but interject. Although he did not think much of amethyst jade, he certainly could not stand by and let his own people suffer a loss.

“They belong to me,” Gu Linglong said softly. “In the Immortal Realm, there are regulations that all mining rights for mineral veins, spirit herbs, and immortal fruits within the territory under a city lord’s jurisdiction belong to the city lord. But seventy percent must be turned over to the Heavenly Court.”

“Huh? There’s such a thing?” Li Chengzhu hastily swallowed the spirit fruit in his mouth and let out an exclamation. So the title of city lord was not merely for show after all.

If one happened to be city lord of a wealthy and prosperous metropolis, would that not mean becoming unimaginably rich?

“And this is?” the cultivator asked Gu Linglong with feigned ignorance.

This fellow had already annoyed him by suddenly jumping in to stir up trouble. Judging from his cultivation, he was only at the late Deity Transformation stage. If not for the fact that he seemed to have an unusual relationship with the city lord, he would already have been slapped across the face.

“Hmph.” Li Chengzhu set the half-eaten spirit fruit on the table and cast a cool sidelong glance at the cultivator. “A sixth-rank general of the Immortal Realm’s cultivator army, Li Chengzhu!”

A sixth-rank general?

The cultivator named Chen Lin trembled all over. How many meritorious deeds would one need to earn such a rank?

The gazes of everyone seated on the cushions fixed on Li Chengzhu in disbelief.

Li Chengzhu basked in the envious looks with great satisfaction, then suddenly scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Though, I threw away the identity token.”

At this moment, Li Chengzhu himself was full of regret. Why had he tried so hard to act impressive? Keeping it around as a prop to intimidate people would have been fine enough—why throw it away?