Yang Wu didn't feel much by abandoning his "hometown," even though he knew he no more had the heart to return to that place where so many of his emotions feel intertwined. He had chosen to leave and not return until his heart was calm enough.
The carriage he was on was indeed fit to be a royal carriage, it was as comfortable as a carriage could be. The food and wine served by the servants during the trip were gorgeous too. But as one of the prices, the size of the convoy wasn't small.
The eyes of the servants were full of fear, but Yang Wu could understand. The news of his actions of a year before had already spread far, and many knew there was a "monster" like him in that world.
After a long trip, Yang Wu finally saw the Ling State's royal capital on the horizon. It was famous as the biggest city in the surrounding States, causing envy and greed to many.
Yang Wu grinned suddenly and said to the envoy, "Boy, you can go alone for now. Say to your king that I will go to him after a while."
The envoy was scared by his words, but there was nothing he could do except see Yang Wu jumping off the carriage.
Yang Wu entered the city without many problems, but he knew he was being constantly observed by many eyes. He ignored them and chose an inn to stay.
Although he agreed to come to the capital, he didn't trust the people there. He had to gather some information by himself before deciding his next steps.
"The king?" the owner was surprised and spoke in a low voice, "Lower your voice when speaking of him, he doesn't like when people talk behind his back."
"Oh??" Yang Wu raised his eyebrows and put a silver coin on the table, "During this last year, did he act strange?"
The owner swiftly accepted the coin and answered, "Not really, just a few rumors of him being obsessed with the rumors of a "monster" out there somewhere."
"What do the people here think about those rumors?" Yang Wh asked with interest, putting another coin on the table, this time a copper one.
"Many believe, many don't," the owner grinned with the easy income, "I think the sudden death of Duke Sun inside his own army, not by poison but by his neck being crushed, is strong evidence of evidence of the existence of this "monster." But whatever it is really an inhuman being remains to be proved."
Yang Wu thanked him and left for his room, knowing the owner was going to get severely questioned by the many eyes outside.
"Obsessed with my existence?" Yang Wu muttered, "Was he planning on poisoning me when my guard lowers enough?"
During the trip he never lowered his guard, always checking if the food and drinks had poison. But he know some cunning people were not in a hurry to execute their plans.
"Whatever," he shook his head and took a nap on his bed, but always with an ounce of instinct woken.
Outside, the owner was indeed questioned by the people from the palace, but he just said the truth and suffered nothing. He was then confused about Yang Wu.
Yang Wu spent the next days touring the city, trying to see if the king was someone with short patience. But he was never bothered by anyone, to his satisfaction.
When a week passed, he choose to finally enter the Royal Palace. He was received as a noble, much to his amusement.
"Welcome, mighty one," the envoy from before received him the same way, kneeling on the ground, "His Majesty the King is waiting for you."
Yang Wu grinned and lifted the envoy from the ground, "I don't like when people kneel to me, but I do like when people are truly humble."
The envoy was full of cold sweat, afraid of offending Yang Wu. He swore, "I will never kneel again in this life!"
"Not even to your king?" Yang Wu asked holding his laugh.
The envoy panicked but had to proceed and take Yang Wu to see the king.
Yang Wu teased the envoy a few times during the walk, but it just calmed the envoy. He finally understood that the "monster" wasn't as scary as the rumors depicted.
Entering the main hall of the palace, Yang Wu was surprised that only two people were waiting for him. One was the king and the other the Queen, they both sat on their respective seats.
The king's throne was big, the biggest one Yang Wu had ever seen in his three lives. It had many animals engraved on its wood. Lions, tigers, deer, and... dragons.
"Your Majesty the King and Queen!" the envoy kneeled on the ground, or rather, on the luxurious red carpet covering half of the great hall, "I brought His Mighty One, Sir Yang."
"His Mighty One??" Yang Wu laughed out loud, not caring about posing as an "expert" or whatever, "That's a new title for me!"
The King and the Queen exchanged quick glances. They are both old but still had a trace of the beauty of their youth. But the most prominent thing was their royal aura, which was enough to suppress a commoner's intention.
Yang Wu looked at the King with interest, he had a big white beard and long white hair, and his old age seemed to add a sharpness to his eyes.
"Excuse me for my lack of manners," Yang Wu greeted, "But I guess that to be King and Queen of the most prosperous State under the Li Empire one needs to be broad-minded."
"You don't need to follow the same rules as the commoners under my throne" the king got up from his throne and walked towards him, "It's a pleasure for me to meet you face to face." He then offered a shake of hands to Yang Wu.
Yang Wu refreshed and shook hands with him but never lowered his guard.
"Your fame as a great King is heard even in foreign lands, so it's an honor for me to be able to shake hands with you," Yang Wu praised with politeness, "But I have always been a straightforward person, you got what I mean?"
The king smiled and explained, "I invited you because I was curious about the rumors of your great strength. That's my sole intention, and I will certainly not make you unrewarded."
"That's great," Yang Wu nodded and asked with narrowed eyes, "But is the King of such a great State truly unaware of other people like me?"
"If you mean people of inhuman strength, I'm not unaware of rumors of people with powers similar to yours," the King answered while caressing his beard, "But none of those rumors have been proven to be true yet. You are the first."
"Well," Yang Wu was surprised and asked further, "What kind of rumors are those? Can you elaborate?"
"I can," the king agreed, "but shall we take a seat first? My old bones are weak."
"Please, excuse me for my rudeness," Yang Wu nodded and lowered his head, "I was unaware of your difficulties."
"Hahaha!" the king seemed happy to hear that, "Let's head to a better place, my favorite garden. But are you okay with me bringing my wife with me?"
Yang Wu looked at the Queen and noticed she had a similar expression to the King's, they are full of curiosity rather than fear.
Yang Wu more or less began to understand their behavior, but it was still too soon for him to conclude anything.
The trio, alone and without any kind of guards and escort, went to the garden mentioned by the king.
"I was initially named Li Yuan by my mother," the king began a new conversation in front of a beautiful peach tree, "But because I turned king, this name is rarely mentioned. I'm always addressed as Ling Yuan, isn't it ridiculous?"
"Why is Your Majesty belittling yourself?" the Queen spoke for the first time, "You are Li Yuan, and also Ling Yuan."
"I can understand Your Majesty," Yang Wu said, "Are you ridiculing the fact your first name, and thus your original life, is disregarded because of your current position?"
"The mighty one is wise," the king laughed and kissed his queen on the cheeks, "I never wanted to be a king."
"Please don't call me by this strange title," Yang Wu smiled bitterly, "Can I live as long as the earth and the sky? Can I overturn it and make it stable again?"
"Are you interested in literature?" the king asked with surprise, "But it's fitting for your wisdom to be as high as your strength."
"Humans like to elevate others," Yang Wu looked into the king's eyes, "Because this way their own material body wouldn't seem as inferior as reality shows it to be."
The king opened his mouth but said nothing for a while.
"You want to live longer?" Yang Wu asked without redundancy, "That's the reason you asked for my presence, right?"
The king picked a flower and handed it over to his Queen, saying, "Even the most beautiful sky, darkens."
"And even the most beautiful flower withers," the Queen continued his speech in his place, handling the flower with gentle care in her hands.
"But which living being don't grow their heads towards either the immortal earth or the eternal sky?" they asked Yang Wu, with curious eyes and expecting a satisfying answer.
"You are right about this," Yang Wu pointed to the trees and flowers around, "They grow towards the sky."
He then pointed to his legs, "Just like us."
The king nodded but before he could speak Yang Wu said, "But who said the sky is eternal? And who decided the firmament of the earth would be forever?"
The king and queen had nothing to say, for this was the first time they heard about that question. It was simply common sense that the world was forever.
"Otherwise?" the king asked, "If the sky can pass away, why would it still be where it is?"
"That's a mystery," Yang Wu smiled and shook his head, "But I find it wiser to not ask questions not fit to our nature as mortal beings."
The king and queen looked at each other and sighed.
"Is it worth living a little longer?" Yang Wu asked, "In front of Eternity, what is the difference between hundreds and thousands?
"Is this world..." he asked again with vicissitudes filling his eyes, "That good of a place to live?"
"You got a point!" the king laughed suddenly, dispelling the somewhat gloomy mood, "But just as the short-lived herbs try to live on as long as possible, why is it wrong for us to seek a bit more?"
"We agree with this!" Yang Wu also laughed, "Since it's not wrong, why not?"
The Queen was visibly confused by Yang Wu's words but didn't ask further.
"Then, can you help us with this vain desire of ours?" the king asked, "Thanks to your enlightening words, I won't be too disappointed if you can't."
Yang Wu thought for a while and looked at the old couple, he suddenly thought about how he was dated with old couples and smiled.
"Sure, why not," Yang Wu agreed, "But not yet, I just have a good impression of you two, but not enough trust."
"I really like your straightforwardness," the king was immensely happy and kissed his wife again, this time on the mouth, not caring about Yang Wu's presence.
"But I'm really interested in your treasured vault," Yang Wu interrupted their lovely time with his greed, not caring about it, "I came here for it, not to see you two kissing each other."
"Haha," the king laughed awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Sir Yang."
Yang Wu nodded, "It's better to just call me Sir, I'm indeed older than you both combined."
"What?" the couple was deeply shocked.
"Let's go," Yang Wu didn't give them time to ask more about his lifetime and began to walk outside, "I'm really curious about the treasures inside that vault." He never intended to hide his greed, but he also never meant to take too much of the treasures there, he was just testing Ling Yuan.
But the king never changed his expression, he was actually happy Yang Wu was interested in his treasures, otherwise he would have nothing to offer.
The treasure vault of the Ling State was not big, because it was meant to store only the most valuable treasures. It was located underground, like most treasure vaults.
The king and queen seemed to not be afraid of Yang Wu, as they never asked for knights to go with them. But Yang Wu knew well it was just because they are afraid enough of his power that they didn't try to intimidate him, but rather tried to show utmost goodwill.
"There were only about a hundred treasures inside the vault," the king said as he unlocked the huge iron door, "Each of them has at least the value comparable to the State's yearly income, but many are as valuable as a whole minor State."
Yang Wu was a bit impressed with the Ling State's richness and understood why it had the strongest army among the vassals of the empire.
"That's right, I almost forgot to ask you something," Yang Wu asked as they entered the vault, "Why did you let that duke be for so long?"
"Are you talking about Duke Sun?" the king raised his eyebrows and explained, "At that time, the empire was messing with us, so we had no time to deal with them. Are you interested in knowing more? It would be a long one."
"Nah!" Yang Wu immediately refused, "What is fun about talking about dead men?"
"Aren't you interested in the empire?" the king asked back, looking carefully at Yang Wu's expression.
"A bunch of corrupt and incompetent people," Yang Wu gave his evaluation, "After the peak, comes the fall. They are close to their demise."
"Are you implying..." the king was about to ask something but Yang Wu shook his head and the king understood.
"Do you want me to introduce each treasure?" the king asked as he looked at the gorgeous room, full of golden carvings and wood works as decoration.
"No, I know what I need," Yang Wu refused, "But if you want, you can keep up with me. Perhaps I will teach you something if I find something I want."
The king and queen smiled and followed him closely, but always in silence.
Yang Wu began to wander the vault, there were valuable swords, jade, huge pieces of precious stones, meteorites, and many kinds of historic treasures.
He was pleasantly surprised by his discoveries. He found a total of twenty treasures useful to him in that vault, he simply couldn't block a smile from coming to his face.
Of those twenty treasures, half were meteorites, full of hidden cosmic energy. Four were colorful jade, full of the energy of the five elements. Three were pieces of cold elemental iron, which the people of that world were unable to identify. Two were pieces of scorched blue wood. And the most valuable treasure, a piece of earth's nectar, which the people of that world named as "ancient mysterious amber."
Yang Wu suddenly asked himself, 'With such resources, I find it hard to believe that this world has no people with strength beyond a simple mortal's scope.'
"I'm sorry for being so greedy," he asked for forgiveness, " But I really need those things."
The king's heart was bleeding, but he still squeezed a smile and said, "All is worthy!"
Yang Wu looked at him deeply and asked for a chest for him to put all the treasures. Soon after, a servant came with a wheeled chest for his convenience.
"You have a heart!" Yang Wu patted the king's shoulder and said, "Since I'm getting something from you, I will give you something in exchange!"
"You mean..." the king's eyes shone, "How to live longer?"
"Hahaha!" Yang Wu laughed, "Not even I have the wondrous ability to surely increase a mortal's lifespan, but I know how you can try to live longer!"
The king wasn't dissatisfied with this, and said, "I thank you for your willingness to part this knowledge to us."
Yang Wu accepted his thanks and asked for a quiet room for him to stay. He needed to sort and use his gains immediately, his body was full of the urge to grow stronger.