The Attack of the Wastrel

Hey guys, great news!  Two more top-performing sneak peek Chinese novels licensed from Zongheng have left VIP-only and are available for you to read, each with fifty chapters and a 2/day schedule!  These novels are Yama Rising, translated by Minotauruz (who did the great translation of Demoness' Art of Vengeance) and Star Odyssey, translated by OMA who did Warlock of the Magus World and City of Sin!  Both are veteran and highly capable translators, and I'm excited to bring this to y'all.

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Even if they had not thought about the possibility previously, the disappearance this time was enough to allow the Pan Family to make their guesses about the Black Thorn’s abilities.

After Mao Dingling was captured and locked up, Pan Luming stared right into the eyes of Pan Liwen and asked, “Did you see carefully? Did the girl suddenly disappear?”

“I saw it carefully.” Pan Liwen confirmed. His voice carried his excitement, “Chief Duke, do you think…”

“Whether or not she is, we can give it a try. If she is the descendant of the Spirit Tribe, our master would be happy. He might give us some more Sacred Weapons. By then, even without allying with the other kingdoms, we can control the entire continent.”

The two elders were excited and they chatted among themselves. Pan Yu finally found a chance to cut in, “Elders, I have some information about the girl.”

“She is known as the Black Thorn and she seemed to have appeared from the Xia Kingdom. A few years ago, she appeared in the auction to sell a Spirit Cleansing Pill. I suspected that she was from the Spirit Tribe later and I sent a few assassins to kill her a few times before but they all failed. After the war between the Empire and the Alliance began, she rarely appeared. I heard that she specializes in Weapon Forging and is already a high-grade Earth Level Weapon Forger at such a young age. If she wasn’t from the Spirit Tribe, how could she have improved so much?”

“Furthermore, her skills appear different from the skills other Weapon Forgers in the continent use. Even if she is not a Spirit Tribe member, she must be related to them!”

As Pan Yu explained the Black Thorn’s history to the elders, he felt a sudden sense of realization. Questions that were previously unanswered soon became clear to him.

Pan Luming and Pan Liwen’s eyes brightened as they took Pan Yu’s words in. The Spirit Cleansing Pill, the peculiar forging skills as well as the disappearing act. These methods and skills all belonged to the Spirit Tribe.

“Continue to seal up the palace. I do not believe that she will remain hidden forever! Regardless of whether she is the descendant of the Spirit Tribe, we must capture her!’

At that instant, Gu Lingzhi was leading the thick-skinned Pan Yue through the Inheritance Space. Ever since she rescued him, Pan Yue had shamelessly acted as though the Inheritance Space was his own, refusing to leave. It was only until Lord Fashen appeared that Pan Yue was dragged away and prevented from being a nuisance.

“You are Lord Fashen’s disciple?” Gu Lingzhi, Rong Yuan and Rong Huachang exclaimed in shock.

“Did you guys not know?” Pan Yue rolled his eyes and bitterly said, “If not for Master, how would I be brave enough to stand up against my father?”

From Rong Huachang’s perspective, Pan Yue had been referring to the war. However, Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan knew that Pan Yue referred to his branding of being a slave.

Normally, the slave mark on Pan Yue would bind him to reporting about Gu Lingzhi to the Royal Palace when he met her. How could anyone else be like Pan Yue? How could he stand against his family time and again?

Although Lord Fashen was still a step away from becoming a True God, he could suppress the influence of the slave mark on Pan Yue.

“What should we do now? Lord Fashen, should we head back to the Alliance?” Pan Luming knew about their plans and would increase security around the palace. It would be tough for them to take action again.

Rong Huachang sighed, “We would like to go out now. However, the entire palace is locked down and any slight movement would not escape their eyes. How are we going to escape…?”

“I have an idea to resolve this. Grand-aunt, you can head out anytime you want.” Gu Lingzhi confidently assured.

Zi Zi could pass through any seal and barrier and would be able to help them to escape easily. The only difficulty for her was how she would crush the Pan Family. She believed that the Pan Family members could guess from the events of that day that she was related to the Spirit Tribe. Hence, it might be difficult for her to protect her identity. It was vital for her to accomplish her task before her identity was fully exposed.

“You have an idea to allow us to leave at any moment?” Lord Fashen questioned before he nodded his head subsequently, “Oh yeah, you could even stop the self-destruction. A mere barrier cannot stop you. However…”

Lord Fashen stared at Gu Lingzhi with admiration. The brightness in his eyes as he stared at her caused Gu Lingzhi to stumble backward in surprise. Rong Yuan caught her and steadied her before saying, “Senior, even if you are the pillar of the Alliance, you cannot force us to do anything.”

Rong Huachang also stood in front of Gu Lingzhi in a protective stance as she stared at Lord Fashen hesitantly. Although she did not speak, her body language portrayed her attitude. If Fashen wanted to force the couple to do anything, she would stand by their side.

On the other hand, Pan Yue pouted his lips and sighed helplessly, “Master, can you finish your sentence when you speak? Don’t let people misunderstand you!”

Lord Fashen innocently shrugged, “Didn’t you say before that a man should hold back his words and not reveal everything to keep things a mystery?”

The exchange between the master and apprentice left the bystanders at a loss for words.

Did Lord Fashen not finish his sentences all the time just to add a sense of mystery for them? At that point, their idolization of Lord Fashen seemed to diminish.

Pan Yue was evidently embarrassed by his own master and he nagged, “Master, you can just speak normally. With your status, there is no need for you to leave your sentences unfinished.”

“Is that so?” Lord Fashen asked a rhetorical question. Confidence regained, Lord Fashen cleared his throat and continued, “Princess Consort, you mentioned that you could bypass the barrier and allow us to leave. You have this space-dimension spiritual treasure with you as well. Would it be possible for you to steal the Sacred Weapon?”

“How?”

“No way!”

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan replied at the same time. Gu Lingzhi asked for further details while Rong Yuan directly rejected the request.

“Not so fast.” Gu Lingzhi turned and stared at Rong Yuan with a disapproving look. She softly caressed his eyebrow and reassured, “Relax. I have the Inheritance Space. If anything goes wrong, I can hide inside here again. You don’t have to worry.”

“No.” Rong Yuan remained stubborn, “Winning and losing against a top Martial Artist happens in the blink of an eye. What if you do not have time to run?” Furthermore, a large weakness of the Inheritance Space was that the person would enter and exit the Inheritance Space at the same spot.

“You don’t have to worry about that. I can give her my personal tablet to protect her. This would decrease the damage of a Demigod by half. With the tablet, the attacks would slow down and the Princess Consort would have sufficient time to hide.”

Rong Yuan calmed down at Lord Fashen’s suggestion. However, he remained insistent, “It’s still not safe, we should have more safety measures.”

With Rong Yuan’s insistence, Lord Fashen knew that Rong Yuan was only trying to attain more favours for Gu Lingzhi and he could not help chuckling inwardly.

“Rong Yuan, you can even give the water from the Spiritual Essence Spring to others, why would you care about something like that?”

“They are two separate matters. This is a problem of safety.” If he agreed to put his wife in danger so easily, who knew if Lord Fashen would take that for granted? Would he send Gu Lingzhi on future dangerous missions? Rong Yuan had to raise the price of using Gu Lingzhi for a mission to make Lord Fashen think twice about her safety.

Rong Yuan and Lord Fashen proceed to an intense discussion on the mission, with Rong Yuan pressuring Lord Fashen. Even Pan Yue did not dare to argue against his master like that.

“How stubborn!” Pan Yue gave Rong Yuan a thumbs up.

Rong Yuan smirked and dismissed him, “This is nothing compared to what you are capable of.”

Rong Yuan’s statement nibbled at Pan Yue’s open wound as he threatened to expose Pan Yue’s identity in the Alliance. Left with no choice, Pan Yue gulped and praised, “Third Prince is the truly capable one.”

“Of course,” Rong Yuan smugly nodded and continued, “As a husband, I need to do more for my beloved wife.”

Pan Yue laughed softly at Rong Yuan’s reply, knowing that it connected to him too.

Anyone who talked about money and business in front of him was bragging in front of the wrong person. The best merchant in the Alliance was him.

From the moment Pan Yue entered the Inheritance Space, Rong Huachang found that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan treated Pan Yue as an old friend.

How could this be? 

Pan Yue was the rebellious Fifth Prince of the Empire while the other was the respected Third Prince of the Alliance. How did they get to know each other?

Finally, Rong Huachang could not withhold her curiosity any further and she whispered to Gu Lingzhi, “Lingzhi, did you both know Pan Yue previously?”

“Yes.” Gu Lingzhi truthfully replied. She suddenly recalled that Pan Yue’s identity was unknown in the Alliance and she added, “The two of them are princes, isn’t it normal for them to know each other?”

“Is that so?” Rong Huachang remained sceptical. “However, they talk like two old friends. Furthermore, why would you bring him in here? Unless…”

Gu Lingzhi nodded her head silently, “I saw Mao Dingling being surrounded by Demigods of the Pan Family. I was just about to save him when the king of North Qiu Kingdom ordered men to capture Pan Yue. I knew from there that he had helped you guys out and hence I brought him into the space. Unfortunately, Senior Mao was…”

“Don’t blame yourself, no one blames you.” Knowing that there was a high likelihood that Mao Dingling had been captured, Rong Huachang tried to comfort Gu Lingzhi.

Lord Fashen also comforted her, “If not for you, we would have been captured as well. We can just think of a way to save him.”

“Save him? That old man was afraid of death, it is better to leave him by himself!’ Pan Yue muttered under his breath.

“Sigh, what is the point of that? I know that you are angry with him for running off by himself, but I gave him the order to leave with Princess Rong. He did not do anything wrong. You guys cannot hate him nor blame him fully for what happened.”

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