"So, tell me, what happened in here?" I asked.
"Yes, let's have a seat, please don't mind the shabby look of this house," Wu Fan said.
"I've visited several times, don't you remember, still I'm impressed you kept everything the same," I said as I looked at the simple vases, and few decorations Wu Fan had. He even had a hammer and a pickaxe hung on the wall, these were the first tools I created for him to help me with work.
"Ah yes, the old taste never changes. Wife, please bring us some tea," Wu Fan said.
"It's almost ready," replied Wu Fan's wife.
Soon she came in with a tray and a simple teapot.
Wu Fan took the tray from his wife's hands and poured me a cup of tea while she left the two of us in the room to speak.
"Sir Shen Bao, I don't know what happened to you, but I say life treated you rather well in these couple of years."
"I can't say the same to everyone here, you still haven't told me what really happened here." I calmly said as I sipped the tea.
'Pretty good stuff, simple, no spiritual ingredients, and a good reminder of my humble origins. I like this tea.'
"Yes. So this happened after a few months of your disappearance. Your sons…they came back and claimed that you passed away due to a monster's attacking your caravan, they couldn't retrieve your body and they brought a piece of clothing with blood on it, they claimed it was yours."
'The heck? Where is originality kids, it's like I'm fregging Joseph, I ain't no prophet.'
I shook my head and asked, "Then what happened?"
"Yes, once that happened, the two of them immediately began dividing your territory between them, they ransacked your treasury, increased taxes, and made living in Lucid Springs really difficult for many. A lot of people were dissatisfied and decided to leave. But that wasn't the worst of it…"
Wu Fan took a sip of his tea and said, "Since they had no eyes for management, they didn't pay the people who worked the fields or the River Facilities. This caused people to stop making Steel, Bricks, iron, and ingots, pottery, and a lot of other primary materials that our Lucid Springs became famous for. Trade lessened, no more merchants came and soon."
"I noticed that the water levels were too high."
"Yes, but a while ago, the damn showed signs of breaking and tear, but sadly Xiao Bao and Lu Bao didn't think it was worth investing fortunes of their own gold into repairing it."
"I suppose that they didn't care if people who relied on the river's facilities would be damaged. The dam must have broke and brought down every facility along the riverside with it." I said.
"Yes, it's as if you were there to witness it." Wu Fan said and sighed. His old face looked somber remembering these things.
"The worse was yet to come though when drought hit, and with the dam no longer functional Lucid Springs was no longer the same."
"All of this in a mere two years."
"A lot can happen in two years, and to be more exact it's closer to three years than two." Wu Fan said.
"Still, this doesn't explain the heavy damage on the city," I said.
"Ah yes, this is, well, pardon me, but I think you're the one responsible for this one."
I never thought Wu Fan would ever dare and speak such words to me, but if he did he must have a reason.
Frowning I looked at him, "Explain."
Wu Fan took a deep breath, calmed his thoughts, and said, "Your search for the Immortal Elixir, the one that will allow you to become a cultivator has brought the attention of a very eccentric cultivator."
'So I've heard from the guys at the Demon Lands.'
"That cultivator was promised a lot of gold and materials, and since he didn't receive any, after your disappearance, he was mad enough that he came to the city himself. He wanted to confront you, and after I explained your disappearance and presumable death at the mountain range, he went into a frenzy and began destroying everything."
The old man shuddered as he remembered some sad things, "Many died…including my eldest, older Brother Shen Bao, he killed children, cats, and dogs, and left the rest of us to witness the 'greatness of an immortal' and how one should always make sure to respect such a person and never make empty promises."
I gripped my fists a bit too hard, as my own nails dug into my palms drawing blood.
"Good, good, good…" I said.
"Older Brother Shen Bao, I've been here for a while, and I know everyone who lives in Lucid Springs. From our generation, not even a fraction of them are left, as they didn't survive the rampage. But there are a few more children and new families that are just forming. There is still hope for this city yet, but we're desperately lacking in funds to rebuild it, and I no longer think I'm capable of bringing the city back to its former glory, we need your help brother Shen Bao."
Seeing the desperate look on Wu Fan's face I had to make a decision.
"I cannot help you rebuild the city, as you probably guessed, I achieved my goal."
A look of desperation came and haunted Wu Fan's face, but later a rueful smile was planted on his face, "I'm really glad that brother Shen Bao managed to become a Cultivator again."
"Still, I will make sure, that nothing like this will ever happen again," I spoke.
"How? The might of that cultivator was too much for us to sustain, and if you can't be here, how will we be saved if the same thing happens again."
"Don't worry about that, I'll take care of that, personally. Now tell me where are those unfilial sons of mine?" I asked.
"Ah, yes, as luck had it for them, fate or whatever divine intervention, they were invited to some noblemen's birthday a day before that hellish nightmare came to our city, and since then, after knowing what happened to Lucid Springs, they never came back, we asked them to help support the city and rebuild it several times, but our please fell to deaf ears."
"Good, good, good…" I spoke.
"Now, tell me which city are they in?" I asked.
"Up the north, Tinjin, the city of Steel."
'City of Steel my ass, I was the one providing them with all that steel, to begin with that's why they made a name for themselves.'
"Good, and do you happen to know where they live?" I asked."
They each bought a manor in the city, they are well known you won't have a problem finding them. But what are you going to do once you find them? I doubt they have much coin to give back."
"It's not the coin I need from them, but my duty as a father is to teach my naughty children some lessons when they make trouble isn't it," I said and then stood up.
"Old man," I said to Wu Fan, "I'll be leaving this place for a while, once I come back I'll expect you to round up everyone still in Lucid Springs. Tell them that the City Lord is back and he has presents." I said then put two pills on the table for him.
"What is this?" asked Wu Fan as he picked up the colorful pill with one hand and inspected it.
"That is a new lease on life, eat it, you and your wife, and you'll understand," I said.
Wu Fan took the pill and ate it, and immediately began shaking.
The wife immediately rushed in towards her husband who fell on the ground. And began spasming like a man in seizure.
"What did you do to him! please Wu Fan wake up! Please!" the wife, in full panic mode was trying to stop her husband's shakings.
Then suddenly he stopped, and opened his eyes, immediately afterward, he began throwing up the largest, biggest pile of sludge and impurities I've ever seen.
'Damn, being a mortal sure does come with a lot of problems.'
And soon after he finished retching his life's worth of impurities, he opened his eyes and looked at his wife who was shocked to see her old fully wrinkled husband had regained forty to fifty years of his age.
"What is that?" asked Wu Fan, with a more powerful and robust voice befitting of a man in his forties.
"I have plenty of those, I'll give them to you, like I said I don't have the ability to stay here and rebuild, but I'll make sure to work you for it, that pill just gave you a new lease on life, it is not something godly but it will still increase your lifespan to two centuries at least. That's enough payment for having served me for so long. Now I'll be going to find my children. Take care, I'll come back soon." I said then turned and left the house.
I immediately pulled my flying sword and stood on it, then slowly headed out of the city as many looked at me leaving.
Once again I was hit with pangs of agony and rage. Enough that I almost keeled over, but thanks to a bit of self-control I was able to recoup and suppress the urges once again. I too, a calm and collected breath and headed north, while all that went on my mind was a single sentence.
"Unfilial sons of mine, Daddy is back, and he is going to teach you a lesson."