Another World: The Failed Magician

As night fell, the once bustling streets fell silent once more.

Apart from two brothels along the street still having lively performances, the rest of the shops had already closed for the night.

At that moment, a slow knocking sound came from the door of an ordinary little house.

The two men inside the house felt a jolt of fear upon hearing the knock. After exchanging a glance, they pulled two short swords from under the table and gripped them tightly.

"Hey! Who is it so late? Can't a man get some sleep?" one of the men said as he quietly walked toward the door.

The man stood quietly by the door, trying to listen to the sounds outside.

But when the man pressed his ear to the door, he heard nothing, as if the knocking had never happened.

After listening patiently for a while and indeed hearing no sound, the man shook his head at the man standing to the side who was holding a short sword.

After seeing him shake his head, the other man also fell into deep thought.

However, at that moment a beam of light suddenly flashed by.

By the time the man realized what was happening, his companion, who had been pressed against the door, was already silently lying on the ground. He tried to make a sound to alert the people in the basement, but at that moment he found himself losing control of his body. He felt his vision suddenly blur. In his last moments, he could clearly feel himself falling into a pool of blood.

In the last moment before his vision disappeared, he vaguely saw a person dressed in denim clothing slowly walking towards the basement.

At this moment, the basement was extremely dark, with only an old oil lamp emitting a faint light.

With a loud bang, the old wooden door shattered. An elderly man dressed in denim rushed into the basement, where seven or eight corpses lay scattered at his feet.

At this moment, deep inside the basement, only a man in black robes sat in place, and the magic circle beneath his feet had lost its luster.

As the old man walked toward the man in black robes, he said, "Now that I've determined your location, how could I not make some preparations? The space here is now sealed off, so neither spatial arrays nor scrolls will be of any use."

"I believe we did a pretty good job, but I don't know where we slipped up," the man in black asked in a low voice.

“You are indeed quite clever, not only taking advantage of this chaotic period but also disguising yourselves as people of the Silver Dragon Empire. But no matter how perfectly you disguise yourselves, once you make a move, you will leave traces. Moreover, you took the lives of Vic and 24 crew members, so don’t think you can pretend nothing happened.” The old man said, pointing his musket at the man in black.

The man in black robes remained motionless even after being pointed at with muskets.

"I'm curious about your purpose," the old man asked.

"If I tell you, will you spare my life?" the man in black robes replied.

"Of course, as long as you tell us everything you know, we guarantee not only that you will be spared, but we might even treat you well."

Upon hearing this, the man in black robes suddenly burst into laughter: "If I didn't know your name, I might have believed you, Executioner Delos."

The old man couldn't help but sigh: "Since you already know, it seems there's no point in talking about it."

"You won't get anything from me." After saying this, the man in black robes suddenly coughed up blood and died on the spot.

……

It was late at night, and the tavern was still noisy. In an inconspicuous corner of the tavern, Lu Xuan and Zhang Yu sat quietly, drinking their drinks without saying a word.

Lu Xuan placed a communication crystal on the table and waited quietly. After a while, the communication crystal lit up, and Lu Xuan quickly picked it up and put it to his ear.

At the same time, a hidden magic circle rose up, and Zhang Yu wisely turned his head away. Although he knew that even if he wanted to listen, he probably wouldn't hear anything.

After a while, the magic circle slowly disappeared, and Lu Xuan put the crystal away.

"How's the situation over there?" Zhang Yu asked.

“Mr. Delos was found, their hideout, but those people still managed to find an opportunity to commit suicide by poison. In the end, our lead went cold again,” Lu Xuan replied.

"But at least we know that another organization is lurking in the shadows, isn't that right?"

“That makes sense, but we know nothing about their purpose, strength, or even their names! If they hadn’t slipped up and been discovered by Mr. Delos, I would still be in the dark. At first, I thought it was the Silver Dragon Empire that did it.”

“That’s normal. I thought so at first too. When those people came to me and asked me to take away your Frunze Academy token, I also thought they were from the Silver Dragon Empire. After all, they still hold a grudge against Dean White for what he did back then. Maybe they just wanted to kill you to vent their anger and take the token to annoy Dean White.”

Lu Xuan rolled his eyes at Zhang Yu and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Anyway, as long as those guys want to take action, they will definitely reveal their weaknesses."

Is there anything else you want to ask me?

"I want to know why you want Li Mengyu to come back to the Loca Federation with me. As far as I know, even her sister is still in the Qingxin Sword Sect!"

"Hmm, let me think... Oh well. You'll find out sooner or later anyway. I'll just tell you everything I know." Zhang Yu took a sip of his wine and continued.

"Before Li Mingxu obtained the Demon Seed, he was already considering sending Li Mengyu to the Loca Federation. According to what he told me, he had some connections with Dean White before, and he felt it would be better to hand Li Mengyu over to Dean White. At first, I thought he was lying to me. But after the incident, I tried to contact Dean White using the channels he left behind, just to give it a shot. I didn't expect to actually get in touch with him."

"Oh, so my mission is actually real. I thought White just made up some excuse to get me here."

"But then things happened suddenly. Li Mingxu and Zhao Qingmei suddenly obtained that demon seed. There was no other way, so he temporarily arranged for Li Mengyu to enter the Qingxin Sword Sect. Later, we felt that Li Mingxu, who was possessed by the demon seed, would definitely want to devour Li Mengyu. So we decided to use this as a plan. We sent Li Mengyu to the Loca Federation while setting a trap in the Qingxin Sword Sect to wait for him to take the bait."

"In that case, whether he comes or not, we won't suffer any losses."

"There's no problem, but does that have anything to do with Li Mengyu not staying at Qingxin Sword Sect with her sister?"

"You should know the relationship between the Qingxin Sword Sect and the Taixuan Sect, right?"

Lu Xuan nodded: "I saw it when I was researching before. What's wrong?"

"Initially, the patriarch of the Qingxin Sword Sect led those people away from the Taixuan Sect to stay away from the imperial court, but with the passing of that patriarch and the gradual decline of the Qingxin Sword Sect, some people began to become restless."

"Some people within the Qingxin Sword Sect want to be like the former sect leader of the Taixuan Sect. They believe that only by leaving these deep mountains can the Qingxin Sword Sect flourish."

"What you said isn't wrong at all."

"There's nothing wrong with that, but those people are too naive. The martial world and the imperial court are both cruel. Success isn't the only path they face; there are also many abysses ahead."

So what happened next?

"After a brief attempt, they suffered greatly and lost a lot in the conflict with other sects. Fortunately, the Grand Elder stabilized the situation and the Qingxin Sword Sect returned to its former state."

"But one day, when Li Mingxu and Zhao Qingmei were passing by a mountain village that had been completely wiped out by bandits, they rescued a pair of surviving sisters."

"Later, Zhao Qingmei took her older sister Li Ruoyu as her disciple, while Li Mingxu became Li Mengyu's teacher. For a long time, all was well, until Li Mengyu was about five years old when it was discovered that she possessed a natural sword physique, and the ambitions that had been extinguished by those people were rekindled."

"A natural sword physique, a terrifying physique that exists only in ancient books, with almost no rivals among those of the same level."

"So they came up with an idea: they wanted to turn Li Mengyu into a weapon, a weapon that belonged only to the Qingxin Sword Sect."

"After undergoing a year of inhumane training, Li Mingxu found an opportunity and, with the tacit approval of the Grand Elder, escaped from the Qingxin Sword Sect with Li Mengyu."

"So that's why Li Mingxu left the Qingxin Sword Sect?" Lu Xuan asked.

Zhang Yu nodded and continued, "Now that the Grand Elder has passed away, there are very few people who are still willing to abide by the will of the Qingxin Sword Sect's ancestor. That's why I don't want Li Mengyu to stay there. That's why I asked you to take her back to the Loca Federation."

"And you? What are your plans for the future?" Lu Xuan asked after a moment of silence following Zhang Yu's question.

"Why are you suddenly concerned about me?" Zhang Yu said in a nonchalant tone.

"Stop pretending in front of me. Cultivating both magic and martial arts is an extremely difficult path. Maintaining a balance between magic power and battle aura within your body is already dangerous enough. In that previous battle, you forcibly raised your battle aura and magic power to the level of a martial artist and a magic master. Zhang Yu, do you even have a trace of battle aura and magic power left?"

"You managed to find out, huh? Well, at least you're safe. And what's wrong with being an ordinary person?" Zhang Yu replied with a smile.

“If you were to simply be an ordinary person, I certainly wouldn’t say anything, but I have a feeling that you wouldn’t choose to do that.”

"Oh? What's your basis for saying that?"

"intuition."

"Don't worry, I want to live a few more years myself. Besides, it's just that I've lost my cultivation, not that I'm dead. Okay, stop with the sentimental talk. You should use this time to plan your route back to the Loca Federation."

"Since you're unwilling to say, then I won't ask. Take care of yourself!" After saying that, Lu Xuan gave Zhang Yu a deep look and left him a few copper coins.

"Hmph! Just a kid who's not even 20 yet, acting like he knows everything. So annoying," Zhang Yu muttered to himself.

Zhang Yu downed his drink in one gulp and glanced at the few copper coins on the wooden table. An angry voice echoed through the night: "Lu Xuan! You don't even have enough for one person's drinks!"

Upon hearing Zhang Yu's roar, Lu Xuan, who was not far away, quickened his pace to leave.

……

At this moment, in the Jade Dragon River of the Eastern Dragon Empire, the river water was churning and the waves were constantly crashing against the banks.

At this moment, the two massive armies stood facing each other on the banks of the Yulong River.

These two armies were the Zhenbei Army and the Zhennan Army.

At this moment, a powerful voice rang out: "You rats of the Zhenbei Army, come and meet your death!"

Suddenly, a figure rose into the air from the ranks of the Zhennan Army, radiating the battle aura of a Martial King.

The Zhenbei Army was used to this scene. A moment later, a Martial King-level expert from the Zhenbei Army also soared into the air, shouting, "You're courting death!"

After saying that, the two revealed their weapons and began to fight in the air, and for a time they were evenly matched.

The soldiers on both sides cheered for their own strongmen.

An old man in bone armor at the front of the Zhenbei Army looked impatiently at the Zhenbei Marquis beside him and said, "No! Is this how you people of the Eastern Dragon Empire fight? It's been three days already, and every day you just insult each other and then find someone to spar with."

Marquis Zhenbei calmly said, "The Zhennan Army and the Zhenbei Army are both pillars of the Eastern Dragon Empire. If we really fight, it will only give the neighboring empires an opportunity to take advantage. This is a situation that neither the Crown Prince nor the Prince of Zhennan wants to see and cannot accept."

"Then you asked me for 20,000 barbarian soldiers a while ago, and you even marched south in a big way."

"The current situation in the empire is like a gamble, with the Prince of Zhennan and the Crown Prince standing on either side. If our Zhenbei Army doesn't march south, the Crown Prince won't be qualified to participate in this gamble. As long as we're here, the Prince of Zhennan won't have the power to overturn the table; he can only obediently play his hand according to the rules."

"Fine! You all have so many reasons. So what are we going to do now? We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"Although I don't want to admit it, this is the situation for both of us right now. We can't do anything, and neither can the Zhennan Army. The real decision on how this matter will go is not up to us."

"Where is it?" the old man asked curiously.

Marquis Zhenbei stopped answering the old man's question and calmly watched the duel between the two Martial Kings in the sky.

"Wow! Marquis of Zhenbei, you're always like this, doesn't anyone beat you up?" the old man said unhappily.

"Shut up!" Marquis Zhenbei replied coldly.

Upon hearing this, the old man swallowed back what he was about to say.

After a while, the old man muttered to himself, "Stingy fellow, he won't even tell me this."

Upon hearing this, the Marquis of Zhenbei rolled his eyes at the old man, wondering how he had become the chief elder of the barbarian tribe. However, he didn't dislike dealing with such a person.