The Invincible Dragon Emperor
Chapter 22: Guest Warrior

In the wildness, Lu Li was madly running along with Lu Ling on his back. He did not feel anything about what happened, but now when he thought about it, Lu Li felt chilly and trembling. He had killed three men. He had killed for the first time, so now, he felt overwhelmed.

Lu Ling did not try to help Lu Li get over his feelings. Any warrior would have to go through this stage. Lu Li had to resolve this matter by himself. As a matter of fact, even though Lu Ling had taken on a quiet exterior, she was just still a vulnerable girl, so it was hard for her to really calm down.

The brother-sister pair continued running about along the mountain trail. As they expected, the journey was a quite a safe one. The two had been rushing for about more than six miles without encountering any Xuan Beasts or beasts.

“Take some rest. There is a river over there. Go get washed up and changed, or else, how can we get to Wu Ling City?”

Lu Ling suddenly said. Lu Li came to his senses and rushed towards the stream. He put Lu Ling down at the river bank and started rubbing and washing his face with the cold water.

Lu Ling took a suit of clean clothes out of the bundle. While handing them over to Lu Li, she spoke in a soft voice, “Do you feel upset and disgusted? This is a must-experience process for Wu Dao. This is the intense cruelty in the Northern Desert. Once you enter the gate of Wu Dao, there is no turning back. Either you rapidly rise or you will be killed and buried in the wild. There is no other way. Today, if you hadn’t killed them, it would be us who are dead!”

Lu Li sighed. Turning around, he put on a forced smile and nodded. “Sis, I understand. Don’t worry about me.”

Lu Li took off his robe, jumped into the stream and cleaned himself. After that, he took the clean clothes and robes over and put them on. Lu Ling wiped the little blood stains off herself. Looking to the northwest, she said, “Let’s go. We need to hurry to Wu Ling County as soon as possible. We will be much safer once we are in the county.”

Di Ba was outside the Ice Abyss. Even if he were to go after them as soon as he got the news, he could not catch up with them in such a short time. Nonetheless, they could never be too careful. Di Ba now was the External Clan Patriarch of the Zhao Family. They needed to head towards Wu Ling County to join the Liu Family right away.

Liu Family was the Overlord of the Wu Ling County. When Lu Li joined the Liu Family, Di Ba had to give it a second thought before he could hurt Lu Li. Besides, Lu Li was close to awaken his Bloodline and cultivate Xuan Energy. By then, Lu Li would definitely be valued by the Liu Family. Unless Di Ba wanted to be hunted down by the Liu Family, he dared not to get Lu Li into trouble.

On the thought of this, Lu Li was somehow relieved. Carrying his sister on his back, Lu Li quickly moved forward. It was safe along the way. There was no Xuan Beasts or just regular beasts, so it seemed that the Beast Upheaval had been basically suppressed down.

…

The distance between Di Long Tribe and the Wu Ling County was about 31 miles. The mountain road was not a friendly to trek. Luckily, Lu Li was fast. He made it to the outside of the Wu Ling County at afternoon.

Lu Li had been in Wu Ling County for several times. Whenever he harvested some Miraculous Materials [1] after killing Xuan Beasts or regular beasts, he would sell them in Wu Ling County. So he was familiar with the county.

Wu Ling County was a county town, governing more than a dozen small towns and hundreds of tribes with a total population of more than a million within about a 300 miles radius. The city wall and moat was enormous that could cover an area of about three square miles, with high city walls on the outside. County Guardians were standing on the walls at that moment. They looked quite majestic in the black fighting armor of the Liu Family.

There were a couple of County Guardian Forces outside of the county gate to check on pedestrians going in and out of the county. Lu Li put his sister down and took her hand then started to go inside of the county.

“Hang on!”

Lu Ling took a white veil from the bundle to cover up her face. Her extremely beautiful face once caused her trouble and cost her a leg. She did not want to make any scenes in the Wu Ling County.

“Halt!”

Two officers walked by. They looked at Lu Li with doubt and alert. “How come there is such a strong smell of blood on you?”

Even though Lu Li had cleaned himself, but there was still a strong hint of blood coming off him. These guardians had been fighting for years, so they could tell once they smelled it.

Lu Li made a bow with hands folded in front and replied, “Sir, I killed some beasts on my way here and got some blood on me. My name is Lu Li. Sir Liu Wu and Lady Yi both know me. Even my saber was given to me by Lady Yi.”

Lu Li handed over his saber. One guardian looked at it and had commanded the officers to lower their guards. There was a mark of the Liu Family on the saber. Also, Lu Li knew Liu Wu and Lady Yi by their names, so there should not be a problem.

Taking his saber back, Lu Li asked after some thoughts, “Sir, is Lady Yi in the County now? She told me to ask for her when I get here.”

“Lady Yi?”

The guardian force frowned and shook his head. “Lady Yi had brought someone to go with her to the Ice Abyss. She is not here now.”

“Too bad~”

Lu Li began to worry because Lady Yi was not there. How could he join the Liu Family? Without joining the Liu Family, when Di Ba brought someone with him to kill them, how could he defend?

“Let’s go inside first.”

Lu Ling gently said. Lu Li had to take her to walk into the Wu Ling County. After they entered, Lu Ling said, “No force can be used in the Wu Ling County. This is a rule set by the Liu Family. So, it is safe inside… but, we need to stop and get into the Liu Family anyway. If you could join the Liu Family now, it would be the most desirable.”

Lu Li knew where the Liu Family was located—in the biggest mansion in the center of the county. He agreed and quickly walked with Lu Ling accompanying him. After a while, Lu Ling opened her mouth again, “Lu Li, if you can join the Liu Family, you need to be a Guest Warrior and you should not join the External Clan.”

“What?”

Lu Li scratched his head in bewilderment. He could not make out what Lu Ling was saying.

Lu Li had some knowledge of the Big Families. These Big Families in the Northern Desert, whether it was the Liu Family, Zhao Family or Lu Family, they all had identical structures.

Big Families were basically all made up of Internal Clan, External Clan and Guest Clan.

Internal Clan included warriors of the same family who had the most resources and power. They were the backbone of the family. External Clan was made up of warriors recruited from the outside. Liu Wu and Patriarch Hong were all part of the External Clan. They depended on the Liu Family, worked and fought for the Liu Family, and collected corresponding salary and resources based on their strength, status and resources.

Then there was the Guest Clan. They were all Guest Warriors in the guest Clan. On the surface, they belonged to the family, but they were quite liberated in their actions. They did not have to run errands for the family and they only need to move in critical times.

But Guest Warriors had a very low status in the big families and could get very little salary or resources, unless the Guest Warrior was particularly powerful.

The reason why Lu Ling wanted Lu Li to be a Guest Warrior because they could come and go as they wish at all times with no restrain and control from the family. They could even leave the family at any time and join other families.

On this sole reason, not many Big Families would devote many resources into training Guest Warriors. What if they suddenly moved to another family after they were trained and became qualified without saying so much as a goodbye? What if they were to join an enemy family?

Guest Warriors had a very low status in the Big Families. If Lu Li were to join the Liu Family and only be a Guest Warrior, then the Liu Family would not take him seriously and would let him train alone. Moreover, when something were to happen to Lu Li, for example, Di Ba were to take his life, the Liu Family would not bother to intervene.

Lu Li and Lu Ling had done a killing spree in Di Long Tribe. What they were seeking in Wu Ling County was an asylum from the Liu Family, but now, Lu Ling desired Lu Li to be just a Guest Warrior. How could he not be confused?

“Sister…”

Lu Li meant to explain, yet Lu Ling waved her hand and said, “You don’t have to explain. I can see what is troubling you. You must remember that any Big Family or powers you join from now on, Guest Warrior is your only choice. You cannot join the External Clan. The reason is that—you have more important things on your hand, so you cannot stay for a long time in these families and powers. Also, these are actually just some small families for you, and they don’t deserve you rendering your service to them.”

“Don’t deserve me?”

Lu Li was yet again stunned. Wasn’t he just some nobody? It was more than good enough that the Liu Family was willing to take him in. Now, how could Lu Ling go so far as to say that they didn’t deserve him? The great grand Overlord of the Wu Ling County, the Liu Family, was just a small family according to Lu Ling?

“Yes, they don’t deserve you!”

Lu Ling nodded in all seriousness. After a moment of silence, she continued, “You have an unusual identity. These small families are not qualified for you to work for them. I will tell you the details later. Now, let’s go to the Liu Family first.”

“Unusual?”

Lu Li scratched his head and had gotten more confused. But it was not a good time for him to pursue the answer now. He moved forward with doubts and confusion in his mind.

Every block in the county was bustling. On account of the Beast Upheaval, it was not peaceful inside, but the Super Families had taken actions, and it was said that the Beast Upheaval was suppressed so the chaos had stopped.

Walking through all kinds of blocks for a bit more than an hour, Lu Li had finally led Lu Ling to the north side of the plaza in the center of the county. A majestic and luxurious mansion stood in front of them.

“Move, authorized personnel only!”

The two Liu Family Escorts guarding the gate immediately told them to leave on seeing the shabby clothes Lu Li and Lu Ling were in and the fact that they were not warriors.

Lu Li stepped forward, made a bow with his hand crossed in front of his chest and replied, “I am Lu Li. Lady Yi said I could ask for her in Wu Ling County. She said she could recommend me to join the Liu Family and this is a saber given by Lady Yi.”

Lu Li handed over the saber. The escort took a look at it and then brought it back to Lu Li. Waving his hand, the escort said, “Lady Yi is away now and she will be back in three days. Come again after three days.”

“Three days?!”

Lu Li became anxious because after three days, Di Ba could have brought people and hunted them down in Wu Ling County.

…

[1] Ling (灵) “something about supernatural being”, Cai (材) means “materials”