A tall young man in a black robe interrupted the conversation. Unlike the scholarly Long Tian, he looked rougher and meaner. Bulging muscles seemed to want to rip out of his slim black clothes. A hunk of muscle rushed forward to give Long Tian a hug.
The maid stared at the huge Feng Huan hugging a near-malnourished Long Tian, finding the scene quite comedic.
“That’s enough, Feng Huan. Anymore, and I might suffocate to death.”
Long Tian pushed Feng Huan away. Laughing, Feng Huan asked with an inquiring eye.
“What new thing is brewing inside that brain of yours?”
Long tian blushed, knowing his friend had guessed his motive.
He passed him a small piece of parchment.
Opening the small parchment, Feng Huan was dazzled by the array of details.
“Why is it that every other time you come, you bring with you a nonsensical machine design?”
“It's called a piano, it can play music.”
"What? Music? with this?"
Feng Huan glanced at it once more, swiftly abandoning any thought of comprehending it's mechanisms. He had tried to understand a couple of these in the past and had already learned his sweet lesson.
“Alright, I will send it to Uncle Han for manufacturing.”
Long Tian brought out another piece of paper, adorned with the insignia of HuaXia Premier Bank at the top. Noticing the check, Feng Yuan frowned hard.
“Daring to bring out such a thing in front of me,. Are we not friends anymore?”
“I already owe you too much. And I recently got a payment off my paper.”
“ I will be the one who has to pay you from now on. Have a look.”
Feng Huan smiled enigmatically as he handed him a purple envelope. Long Tian was puzzled as he stared at the insignia of the HuaXia empire, bringing out a yellow paper from inside.
.
.
.
"18th February,
HuaXia Calendar Year: 9302
From:
Wang Liang,
Chief,
Central Office of the Medicine Control Committee.
HuaXia Empire.
Sir Long Tian,
We have reviewed your newest drug, namely ‘registration number #0984920139’, for the infectious disease outbreak "Rexinous Oramica". It has been proven to be effective in all 2 phases of clinical trials and, hence, shall be allowed as a viable treatment for this disease. You are therefore the patent holder for this drug and shall have permission to create it by yourself and any other accomplices of your choice."
.
Long Tian looked at the patent registration form in surprise.
"But, its been less than 6 months since I applied. Then ho-"
"What am I here for?"
Long Tian felt immensely grateful to Feng Huan. Last time, Feng Huan had pulled through a lot of strings in order to publish his paper in Natural Anomaly as well. And with this...
“If you are so grateful, make me your brother-in-law. How about it?”
Long Tian smirked at his cheeky joke
"Well, if you can beat the imperial prince, I have no objection to it."
*Cough cough*
Remembering the fierce imperial prince, Feng Huan quickly gave up this notion.
"Forget it, there are plenty of fish in the ocean."
Long Tian laughed at his friend who cowered at the name of imperial prince.
“Marchioness Mei invited you guys for Long Yu’s 18th birthday. Be there on time.”
Feng Huan smiled derisively, throwing the invitation to the side.
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“Obviously, how can we miss the illustrious Long Yu’s 18th birthday banquet?”
Long Tian knew that this friend of his did not care much about socializing and would probably hole up to cultivate here instead.
“I will be performing.”
Feng Yuan raised his eyebrows at his friend's declaration, his amber eyes scanning Long Tian suspiciously from head to toe. From his understanding, Long Tian hated any and all sort of unnecessary attention.
“Oh? This is rare. Which one of the Noble Madames are you trying to impress? You did not even tell me. It seems like our decade long friendship is just for show.”
Feng Huan felt a death glare and swiftly stopped joking.
“Alright alright. Why so serious? I will be there.”
….
….
….
After a while, Long Tian looked at the time, preparing to leave.
“It’s past 8.00, I got to go. Apollo is not with me today."
“Alright, I will drop you off.”
“No need”
“My friend, what if a girl kidnaps you? How am I going to explain it to your dad?”
Long Tian scoffed.
“Will he even care?”
The vibrant sodium bulbs in Feng Estate accentuated the shadows around Long Tian that seemed to twist and turn as he walked on the pitch black road.
Feng Yuan stopped joking and stared at the desolate back of his friend. He knew very little about the Long family dynamic, mainly because Long Tian refused to talk about it. But from the bits and pieces he had gathered from outside, it was evident that Long Tian was enduring a period of hardship.
Sighing, Feng Yuan brought out a key from his robe and pressed on it.
*Peng*
A door on the left of the black building gently slid open.
Emerging from within was a shiny charcoal-black vehicle reminiscent of cars, the primary difference being that there was no windshield, or any of the upper components. However, it still looked harmonious due to its sleek and classy design.
The shiny, sculpted curves above the headlight added a touch of elegance to the majestic vehicle, while the silver wheels reflected the yellow lights of Feng Estate, creating a dazzling sense of beauty.
“Quasar M5!!!”
Long Tian's pupil widened at the sight.
“Yeah, only fifteen of these beauties were made. I snagged one through luck. I will let you ride her tonight.”
He received a disgruntled look from Long Tian for his snarky remark.
“Why does everything that comes out of that mouth sound dirty?”
Feng Yuan only showed off his canines, flashing an innocent smile.
“Go on”
As soon as Long Tian mounted the driver seat, the Quasar M5 sprang to life.
The interior and edges of the quasar lit up with a hazy blue interface, accentuating the shiny charcoal black. Glowing tires and a jet engine at the back further added an aura of otherworldly beauty, casting a mesmerizing hue on the pitch-black road.
*Whirrrrrrrrrrrr*
The jet engine gently whirred as a blue flame burst out.
***
The driver was still waiting outside, dozing off.
*Ting*
A small noise woke him up
“You can go back.”
In a groggy state, he saw a bluish-black vehicle taking off as its glowing blue wheels slowly turned parallel to the ground, gently propelling the car above the ground.
That’s
The jet engine on the back roared with bluish flames, leaving a blue trail. In just a few seconds, it was no longer visible in the blue night sky.
He stared enviously at the car as it got further and further away. However, he knew better than wish for such a car, it ran on spirit jades, something he only had seen from distance.
He finally looked at the source of the noise that had woken him up. A shiny gold coin was sitting in front.
Huh?
He hurriedly put his hand inside his pocket, bringing out a bunch of silver and bronze coins. Another larger gold coin sat among the silver and bronze coins.
Seeing the two coins in his hand, he got a bit emotional.
He bowed deeply in the direction of the car.
--------------
The car quickly passed through the bustling city landscape. The shiny yellow street lamps below looked mesmerizing from above.
Despite going so fast, the pressure from the wind did not hurt their faces. The automatic windshield formation on the Quasar protected it from the outside environment, even at the height of a kilometer above the ground.
“Turn off the windshield.”
Long Tian frowned as he stared at this friend puzzlingly.
“You want to send me to the grave this early?”
“Oi Bastard, you forgot what we of the Feng are known for.”
Long Tian paused. Right, they did have that audacious “Masters of the Wind” title.
Turning off the windshield, Long Tian felt no difference at all. Soon, the air started going faster and faster, until it was fast enough to blow his hair away.
“Nice, ain’t it?”
Long Tian smiled and nodded in acknowledgement.
Eventually, they reached the largest tower, standing right in the middle of Nasaqer.
Its ancient white stones were weathered by the passage of time, as it's large, slim silhouette rose majestically, like a sword pointing towards the heavens.
It was the Church of the God of War, Bellathor.
But more importantly, it was their usual hangout place. Usually, they would come up here and look at the bustling Nasaqer.
As for whether making the church a hangout space was blasphemy or not, they barely cared. The regional chief priest had sent a few written complaints to Marquis, but it was to no avail.
Eventually he gave up, as they were not causing any harm.
They sat down above the large clock and started making imaginary plans about how to dominate Raoqen in the future. Well, it was mostly Feng Huan rambling nonsensically and Long Tian nodding.
“How about you focus your research on drugs? I am not telling you to focus entirely on drugs, you can do your stuff on the side with Haider, while you overlook another team of researchers.”
A serious Feng Huan locked his gaze on Long Tian.
“You can take over the drug market in HuaXia. You could do whatever you want and thrive. Why are you getting mistreated in this small province of Nasaqer?”
Long Tian shook his head as he looked at the bustling golden cityscape. The people and vehicles below looked like microbes as they hustled on the pitch-black roads, the yellow sodium lights reflecting on their busy silhouettes.
“My friend, cultivation is not all there is to it in this world. The empire is no longer as stringent as before under His Majesty Zhi Yan. Do you not see the potential?”
“But that’s not what I want.”
Long Tian replied as his eyes moved up, moving towards the large black walls in the distance, surrounding the entirety of Nasaqer.
“Hmph. I trust that you will eventually manage to find a way to awaken. However, if Venerable White Dragon Fenxafir does not approve of your awakening, your act would be considered akin to blasphemy.”
“I have a plan.”
The brown eyes of Long Tian burned with conviction as they moved up towards the distant moon.
The blue sky of Raoqen looked similar to the one from Earth, except it only had a dwindling number of stars.
*Ting Ting Ting*
The large clock below them rang 9 times.
*CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU*
As soon as the sound of clocks stopped, another loud, otherworldly noise blasted their eardrums, causing Feng Huan to stare up in surprise as well.
The sparse blue sky, with only a few stars, rippled like water as a double-winged creature with a small tail appeared in the sky. It’s body, which gleamed with myriad stars, quickly got larger and larger, soon encompassing the entire sky.
The sky now looked similar to the one from Earth, full of stars and constellations that gleamed brightly.
However, there was one exception.
The moon was missing.
““The illusory Ray of Yin””