Chapter 922

Chapter 922: Not One Of Us Shall Be Unaccounted For

The City Lord of the Golden Sun City, named Feng Ji, was a powerhouse of the Cat Clan that was merely a Quasi-Heaven Ranker.

With this strength of his, if he were to be stationed anywhere else but the Heavenly Splendour Territory, he would have been killed instantaneously by the Bandit Group’s Leader. However, among the nearby cities, his strength was considered to be one of the strongest— ranking in one of the positions of the top five. In the Heavenly Splendour Territory, the closer the City Lords were to the area of war, the stronger their respective Country Lords were. The City Lords in the outer second and third rows who did not directly participate in the war were mostly below the Heaven Rank. There were even leaders that were merely at the 6th Level of the Earth Rank.

Initially, Feng Ji wasn’t the City Lord of the Golden Sun City.

He was an adventurer who came to Heavenly Splendour Territory to cultivate. However, because the former City Lord of the Golden Sun City died in battle, the Captain of the guard and the butler who took over passed away in battle one after another. There was no one who could take on the responsibility of the City Lord, so he took the initiative to take over the Golden Sun City.

Adventurers like him who succeeded the City Lord’s position were not uncommon in the Heavenly Splendour Territory.

Although the strength and qualifications of the City Lords in the periphery of the Heavenly Splendour Territory are not high, there were still a few vacant City Lord positions and no one was willing to take over those messes. For example, there was the Yang Ti City that was located not far from Golden Sun City. Due to the lack of minerals, poor land and the natural disasters, the civilians who have been taxed heavily were all starving. Hence, no one wanted to take over the position in that area. The Country Lord sent a small garrison of troops to manage the city, but they were barely maintaining law and order. It was even more welcomed for the larger business groups out of the area to send a representative and take over the position of the City Lord. Strength was not that important, but the new leader must have the readiness and the ability to take on the matters of war. Other than that, the higher-ups did not interfere with any actions of the lower ranked City Lords.

It could be said that places like Golden Sun City and the Yang Ti City, which were on the periphery and lacked special items to boost their poor economical rate, have long been forgotten by the higher-ups.

“How am I going to make so much food appear out of nowhere? I have no way to do so!” Feng Ji was roaring angrily at his butler, Sha Tong, “It’s not that I don’t want to help those civilians, there is just no way to help! The last seeds have been handed over to them, but how was I supposed to know that they were already fried by the profiteers? I don’t know! I don’t know a thing about agriculture and I don’t know how to nurture plants; I used to be just a mercenary who had three meals a day and never let my family go hungry… I never wanted to be some sort of City Lord— I just wanted to help out Ai Cao’s hometown a little! But if you’re going to ask me to magically form seeds for the public, I can’t. Do you think I’m a God or something? You of all people should know what sort of state my treasury is in— the final influx of funds have been given to those profiteers in order to buy those damned seeds. Now that the seeds were already fried and are currently unable to sprout, am I the one to blame for this? Well, do whatever you like from now on, I have had enough!”

T/L Note: Just wanted to say that I felt his frustration and I’m sure some of you do too; This has got to be one of the most impactful things that I have translated in over 100 chapters. This guy is my fav character now

“My Lord, if there is no food, I dare say that within a month at the latest, half of the people in the Golden Sun City will starve to death!” The butler Sha Tong grimaced. He knew of the troubles of the City Lord well, but who else was he to ask for help? And what can he do besides asking for help? After all, Feng Ji was the City Lord— the strongest person in the City.

“I don’t know what to do!” Feng Ji shouted, “I myself have been frugal. I have been hungry for three months and I haven’t had a full meal in that same timeframe. There is no way for such a useless City Lord to go on ruling, so just choose a new City Lord. Whoever wants to take over can do so, because I have no ability to ensure that a hundred thousand people’s hunger can be sated!”

“This…” Butler Sha Tong sighed.

The butler knew about his conflict because even he didn’t have the ability to ensure that the hundreds of thousands of civilians could be fed.

The shortage of food was not a sole problem that the Golden Sun City was facing alone as it was a crisis faced by the entire Heavenly Splendour Territory. Except for some of the wealthier places in the Heavenly Splendour Territory, most of the other areas were left to fend for themselves in poverty.

The war caused too many of the strong and hard-working men to die on the battlefield. Now, most of the people left in the peripheral areas were the old, the weak, women and children. In addition to the necessary garrison personnel and the seriously wounded or disabled, any adult, regardless of gender and race, would be transferred to the military camp in the combat areas for intensive training as long as they had some sort of combat power. Then, they would be sent to the battlefield to fight in the battle between the Domain Emperors.

As the remaining grains were running out, without seeds and crops, the next harvest would accumulate to zero.

And about a month later, all the grass, roots, bark and livestock would be eaten up as well. Finally, hundreds of thousands of starving people would face the same tragedy as the most intensively famine areas in the Yang Ti City.

Yi Zi Er Shi[1]… Sha Tong saw these tragic scenarios happen more than once.

T/L Note[1]: In the Song Dynasty, not sure if it really happened but I wouldn’t doubt it. The war caused poor families to watch their kids starve to death. Unable to eat their own kid, they’d exchange the bodies with another family’s as they ate each other’s children

Could it be that the Golden Sun City would also become a dead place full of bones and corpses that lasted for thousands of miles?

“My Lord, there is good news; there is good news!” Ou Ba, the poorest grain merchant in the world, rushed in with a flushed face and directly bumped Sha Tong, the starving butler, to the ground.

“A businessman? It’s a miracle that there are still businessmen who are willing to come to a poor area like ours,” Sha Tong didn’t have time to get up as he directly grabbed Ou Ba’s leg and asked.

“Where is the businessman?” Feng Ji was also very welcome, but after asking this sentence, he put on a bitter face, “We have run out of money.”

“Not money; they don’t want money!” Ou Ba shook his head and waved his hands excitedly.

“There are businessmen who don’t want money?” Feng Ji couldn’t believe it. If businessmen didn’t love money, then all the sows in the world would start to climb trees!

“Yes, that’s right! They don’t want a single gold coin from us, and no, they don’t want magic crystals either. To be honest, no one would want our low-quality magic crystals even if they were presented for free… You can’t imagine what the scene was like just now. The merchant group came to us with fifty boats of grain and ten boats full of wine. My God, if those goods can enter the war zone, I think it’s possible that the Emperors would start to fight for it till their heads break and bleed… I’m done blabbering. Yes, let’s get back to the deal— they don’t need our money because they only need all kinds of weapons that were recovered from the battlefield!” Ou Ba was a little confused when he spoke with joy.

“Are you stupid? We are at the periphery, not the war zone, how could there be any weapons here? Besides, those are contrabands and traders will all be killed!” Sha Tong denied the possibility of such a transaction.

“Yes, you are right, but what I want to explain is, what do they want the weapons for? The Electric Flower Ores. They don’t want the normal weapons as they are all just a bunch of scraps. But using the Electric Flower Ores, we can obtain large amounts of food! City Lord and Butler Sha, think about it— fifty boats. Every boat is about a few hundred metres wide! As long as we are able to get them, preventing the deaths of the entire City is completely possible!” Ou Ba hurriedly explained clearly.

“I’ll say Ouba, keep your voice down. The Electric Flower Ores are things that the Domain Emperors themselves personally forbid us to obtain….” Sha Tong felt that his heartbeat at this time was beating like a drum, but he did not deny the fact that he was moved.

Was there anything scarier than starving to death?

No!

Instead of grasping onto the final slivers of life as he starved to death, it was better to fill the stomach first and be a full-fledged ghost!

Ou Ba felt a little relieved when he saw Sha Tong, a die-hard loyalist, start to waver and quickly struck while the iron was hot, “We are not striking a deal, City Lord; we are expressing our hearts to the distinguished guests. As a testimony of friendship, we give them a small gift and the other party generously returns the food we urgently need. Even if the higher-ups know of the news, I believe we will not be severely questioned. After all, there is a shortage of food everywhere, so even the Country Lord will be facing his fair share of troubles.”

Feng Ji thought that this idea was not a bad idea.

He was just worried about the limited amount of Electric Flower Ores’ sufficiency to exchange mountain piles of food.

In any case, it was better to stabilise the other party first; if they leave and take the boats with them, then everything will be over.

The three decided to take the risk, so they dragged several other extremely poor merchants in the city and went to visit the head of the business group together. Anyway, this transaction was a cursed transaction. They would live together and die together— no one should be left out from that rule!

When he saw the fifty grain boats, even Feng Ji, the City Lord of the Golden Sun City, couldn’t help swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

Holy smokes, if only I weren’t a City Lord. If I was just a mercenary like before, I’d be able to snatch a good serving for myself without the process of business exchanges.

At the very least, the risks would be lesser than agreeing to this cursed transaction.

When he saw that the guards on the other side had five Heavenly Rankers guarding the cargo, he was so frightened that his body went weak. Good God, even if he actually tried to rob them, he wouldn’t be able to keep his Cat skin! But it was logical— without a few Heaven Rankers to guard the fifty boats of grain, it would be hard to get through the central battle zone as well. However, where did this Titan Commerce Group come from? To have five Heaven Ranked powerhouses to act as bodyguards, this commerce group was not inferior to the top ten positions among all the commencing groups and councils.

“Are you the City Lord? Then, I won’t waste our time. Our request is very simple— as long as you guys can hand us the Electric Flower Ores, we can provide you with seeds in addition to the food supplies!” Bao Gu stated his position in this transaction. That is, as long as they were able to provide the Electric Flower Ore, they couldn’t care less about everything else.

“Seeds?” Feng Ji’s heartbeat accelerated when he heard this. In the Heavenly Splendour Territory, seeds were definitely their lifeblood. Everything could be scarce, but seeds should never decline in quantity!

“The purity of our Electric Flower Mine is not high and the Country Lord would come to collect it once every three months, so the inventory is insufficient.” The butler Sha Tong lowered his head.

He had to.

Because he could see it now with much clarity. The other party was a super luxurious business group and he was afraid that they would not care about the small inventory of the Golden Sun City.

As long as the grain ships were driven into the war zone, the Domain Emperors would compete for the trade of the Electric Flower Ores.

Although it was forbidden by the Domain Emperors, there were exceptions to everything, right?

Such a luxurious and rich super business group could usually get the terms of the special approval of the Domain Emperors… “Well, it’s true that we really don’t like the fact that the inventory is only filled with small amounts. We want an abundance of the Electric Flower Ores— an insane amount!” When Fat Toad Jia De said this, Feng Ji, Ou Ba and Sha Tong were almost desperate. They were thinking about pleading, but the fat Toad Jia De waved his hand and proposed a plan, “Otherwise, we will invest in mining here. You are responsible for providing labour and we will provide food. We’ll allow you to exchange wages for food and at the same time, we can also assist you plant some seeds. In return, you have to send as many people as you can to mine the Electric Flower Ores. As for the purity, you don’t need to worry about those.”

“No problem, the thing we have in abundance here is manpower!” Ou Ba, afraid of Feng Ji and Sha Tong’s hesitation, agreed first of his own accord.

“Golden Sun City might as well be given to you because I am an incompetent City Lord. Besides, any one of you is stronger than me. You can send someone to be the Golden Sun City’s Lord and do whatever you want…” Feng Ji felt that he was useless. As a dignified City Lord, he was even starving, let alone owning one of the full-plated gold body armour that the opposing group’s bodyguard had on.

He took off the Ring of the City Lord, the only token of identity for a City Lord and forced it into Jia De’s hands.

Then, he held Bao Gu’s hand, “Captain, can I be an escort here with you?”

This guy’s shocking behaviour made Bao Gu and Jia De stunned.

I didn’t know that such a thing was possible.

Sha Tong and Ou Ba also screamed like resentful women, “City Lord, you can’t abandon us. If you leave, what will we do in the future?”

Feng Ji waved his hand, “Stop, stop, I’m no longer your City Lord. To be honest, I’m fed up with this damn City Lord position! I don’t have that ability and I don’t like to worry about the food and drink of hundreds of thousands of people. When I became this City Lord, I never had a day of happiness! Even when I was at my most dejected state before, I was never as poor as I am now and I have never been as starved as I was now. If I would starve to death because of my City Lord position, why the heck am I still here then? Why don’t I try to become an escort or someone’s guard? At the very least, I won’t be starving to death!”

“Boy, you are not qualified to be a bodyguard!” Zhong Guan and the others’ stomachs hurt from their excessive laughing. There were so many who dreamed of being a City Lord, but now, it was such a joke to see that there was a starving City Lord in front of their eyes.

“My strength is not really considered better than the average warrior, but I have good specialties and talents. Although I can’t grow food, I am good at reconnaissance and tracking!” Feng Ji quickly fought for it.

“The problem is, although I am the Head of the Commerce, there is still a master above me,” Bao Gu smiled, “It will be futile unless you can get the master’s permission. So many powerhouses wanted to try out the position to be a guard. There were even Heaven Rankers of the 4th Level, but they weren’t qualified. Besides, besides your ability, your loyalty also mattered. To be honest, I doubt your loyalty because you are able to just give up the position of the City Lord like that once you encounter hunger!”

“You have a master?” Feng Ji was going to be stupid. What was the origin of this commerce group? Was the master of the Heaven Rankers a Country Lord or something? Or was the master of an even higher existence?

“The master said that if you can find a way to cross the Wind-Stopping Swamp, then you can temporarily be employed as a guard for a three-month trial period.”

Yue Yang was on the luxury yacht as he sent a Heaven Realm Female Draconian from the to pass on the message.

Although Feng Jii was reluctant to be a starving City Lord, it seemed that there was a problem with the devotion of his loyalty. But if they looked at the situation from both sides, this Cat Clan guy wasn’t half bad. If it were up to any other City Lord, would they also go along with the public’s starvation amidst famine? At the very least, it can be proved that Feng Ji did not exploit the civilians for wealth. He might not be qualified to bear the position of a City Lord, but there should be no problem in exerting his specialties as a guard for the expedition team.

Moreover, it was indeed better to let people like Bao Gu and Jia De take over the Golden Sun City compared to his own competence.

In the mountains near Golden Sun City, the reserves of the Electric Flower were pretty good, but it was difficult to mine.

The problem here was that there was not enough manpower and technology to initiate mining, which resulted in its low production capacity. If the Thunder Fortress had the technology to mine the Call of Thunder Ores, coupled with a large amount of manpower, the Electric Flower Ores might not be sufficient to become a weapon for the elite soldiers on the battlefield, but it was enough for Yue Yang to refine the Beast Bracelet.

“Wind-Stopping Swamp is a dead place!” Feng Ji’s facial expressions changed greatly when he heard this.

“We don’t want cowards!” Fat Toad Jia De gave a sharp retort.

“Who are you calling a coward! You still found the right person. If you had asked another, I’m afraid that they wouldn’t have agreed to do so. Even if I once escaped the Wind-Stopping Swamp, I’m only 30% positive that I will pass… You don’t know, but It’s too terrifying. It’s a dead place that cannot be crossed. In addition to strength and experience, the most important thing you have to have while crossing the Wind-Stopping Swamp is none other than luck!” Feng Ji bowed to the Female Draconian in the sky who was still waiting for an accurate reply. His eyesight was not bad, so he knew that the status of this Heaven Realm Female Draconian was stronger. At the very least, her rank was higher than several genuine guards of the Heaven Rank. Feng Ji’s attitude was very respectful and his words were also very sincere, “If you want me to pass the Wind-Stopping Swamp, I will need to find someone in another place— not one of us shall be unaccounted for.”

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This translation is presented by Nocturne Translations.

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[TL note]:

At this point there’s more new characters that are emerging so I’m kind of making the glossary instead of referring to it. I’ll try my best to provide them as accurately as I can, so let me know if any of the names seem awkward or don’t flow all that well!

At any rate, enjoy the chapter! Hope you guys have a great day/night ahead of you!

-Sterling