Chapter 307: Chapter 24: Heading North along the River
Nanlan River is the longest river in the Southern Yanfu State of the Eastern Emperor Realm, originating from Luo Hui Mountain in Central State, crossing the dense Twilight Forest, meandering from within Diancang Mountain Range, and finally joining the briny sea on the western coast of Southern Yanfu State.
Most of the merchant fleets trading in Southern Yanfu State do not like to navigate through the Nanlan River.
The reason is that it winds through the Diancang Mountain Range far too much, almost three times the distance than the almost straight trajectory of the Crooked Maiden River to the east.
However, due to the Qilin and Vermilion Bird Clans being in a hostile stance lately, several stretches of the Crooked Maiden River have been blocked off by the Qilin, forcing many merchant ships to detour through the Nanlan River to transport goods.
Long Long, accompanied by Long Hu, had blended into the merchant fleet headed to Central State while casually gathering information about the current situation in the Eastern Emperor Realm from the sailors.
The Eastern Emperor Realm is a whole continent, divided into four states by two mountain ranges in a cross shape.
Of these, the Azure Dragon controls Eastern State, the Vermilion Bird controls Southern State, the White Tiger controls West State, and Xuan Gui controls North State.
These four races, whether in terms of overall strength, population size, or competing with High Rank combat power, could crush any other clan, hence they were referred to as the “Four Emperors”—this nickname was coined by Long Long, as there was no such term as “Emperor” among the Demon Race, who were still practicing a feudal system.
In feudal terms, the four great states of East, West, South, and North are more or less equivalent to four duchies, controlled by the Great Lords.
Within each duchy, numerous city-states of varying sizes stood tall, ruled by the smaller lords (i.e., the common Demons) under the Great Lords.
The large Demon Clans ruled vast territories, then subdivided them for smaller clans to manage, with the smaller clans having the obligations to tribute and respond with troops to the larger clans, oddly similar to medieval Europe on Earth.
Beyond these four great nobles, there was also the Qilin Clan, which had resided in Tai Yi Lake at the center of the continent for generations.
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Having garnered the support of the Azure Dragon and Xuan Gui, as well as the verbal submission of the White Tiger Clan, the Qilin Clan thus claimed the title of “King of Ten Thousand Clans,” nominally leading all Demon Race clans in the Eastern Emperor Realm.
“So, Long Long, the ‘Four Emperors’ you mentioned are actually all inferior to the Qilin, right?” Inside the cabin, the little fox lying on the carpet racked his brain and analyzed.
“Not quite,” Long Long shook his head, “According to the descriptions from the sailors onboard, the Qilin Clan is just a slightly larger Demon Race.”
“The so-called ‘King of Ten Thousand Kings’ is most likely just a title concocted specially by the Azure Dragon and Xuan Gui to push the Qilin to the forefront to counter and contest the Vermilion Bird Clan of the south.”
“Your meaning is, the Qilin need the title of ‘King of Ten Thousand Kings’ to ensure they can draw benefits from the entire Eastern Emperor Realm,” Long Hu’s little head spun quickly, “and the Azure Dragon and Xuan Gui need someone to stand in front for them to bear the brunt of the Vermilion Bird Clan’s attacks.”
“Exactly,” Long Long snapped his fingers, “I guess there must be a really incredible immortal big-shot within the Qilin Clan.”
“Cooperation must be built on a foundation of equivalent strength. Since the Qilin Clan as a whole is not on par with the four great clans, they must have an advantage in high-end combat power, thus protecting the title of ‘King of Ten Thousand Kings.’
Long Hu’s little face showed a thoughtful expression, and he suddenly asked:
“Long Long, does status have to be built on a foundation of strength?”
“Of course,” replied Long Long.
“Why is that?” Long Hu asked.
“Because the world is vast, filled with all kinds of creatures,” Long Long explained patiently, “With different beings come disagreements and conflicts.”
“When facing conflicts and disagreements, how should they be resolved? Some hope to speak through rules, others hope to handle them with morality. But there will definitely be some beings who neither want to follow rules nor wish to be constrained by morality… They don’t want to talk reason at all, they only want to use violence to clear away all who do not submit.”
“The only thing that can solve them is stronger violence… Regardless of whether they recognize it or not, as long as all are killed, there will be no more conflict.”
“So, whether it’s rules, morality, or anything else, they all have their limitations.”
“Only strength can solve all problems—or, more precisely, the maker of all problems. Strength is the absolute panacea.”
“So that’s how it is.” Long Hu nodded seriously, “So as long as I have enough strength, I could turn the tables and bully you instead, right, Long Long?”
“That’s right,” Long Long replied earnestly, “As long as you are stronger, you could even make me kneel down and call you ‘mom’ or ‘grandma.’”
As he spoke, he suddenly pulled the small fox into his arms and began to stroke its tail.
“But right now my strength is greater, so I can bully you… Quickly call me ‘good brother’!”
“I won’t!” Shivering from the stroking, the little fox stubbornly resisted, “Go to hell!”
However, the feeling of her tail was irresistibly pleasant, fluffy, soft, and extremely large – one could bury their face in it and just suck on it.
Long Long had to groom her fur every day, and since there wasn’t a comb on hand, he had to use his fingers instead.
“Just call out ‘good brother, spare me’ and I will let you go,” Long Long said with a smile.
“No, no, no!” The little fox squinted her eyes (it wasn’t clear whether from comfort or pain) and her small paws spread out weakly, revealing her tender pink pads, yet her cries continued, “How can you bully me like this and still face my mother?”
“Your mother told you to listen to me, not to talk back to me!” Long Long placed his hand threateningly at the base of her tail and warned, “If you don’t obey, I will yank off your tail!”
“Wuu!” The little fox was visibly frightened.
Because recently, Long Long had tricked her by claiming he had a secret technique that could pluck off a fox’s tail, leaving behind a bare bottom.
“Good brother, please spare me!” she called out reluctantly.
“Hahaha!” Long Long burst into laughter. In a moment of inattention, the little fox broke free from his grip, leaped onto his shoulder, slapped his face with her tail repeatedly, and then jumped onto a nearby crate and vanished behind the pile of goods.
“What’s all this noise?” The door to the cargo hold was suddenly flung open, and a face with deer antlers peeked out, calling, “Long Long, time to get to work!”
“Alright!” Long Long immediately stood up.
This deer-antlered individual was the owner of the merchant ship, known as “Giant Horn.”
Even though he looked a bit odd, he was a genuine True Lord with a cultivated Demon Core.
Long Long arranged to work on the merchant ship in exchange for passage north for himself and Long Hu.
He left the dim cargo hold and came up to the deck, where he started working alongside the sailors.
The sailors were mostly low-rank demons with intelligence similar to that of human children. They did physical tasks like lifting heavy objects, raising and lowering the anchor, and couldn’t even steer, forcing the captain, Giant Horn, to do the work himself.
Now that Long Long was there, he could at least take turns at the helm, which saved Giant Horn a lot of energy.
As Long Long stepped up to the helm, he casually asked:
“Captain, how long until we reach the nearest city?”
“Puliqi City is twelve li away,” Giant Horn said as he sat down on the ship’s gunwale and took a swig from his gourd of liquor.
“Puliqi City?” Long Long, holding the wheel, asked in surprise.
“That’s Bird Clan language, it means something like ‘City of the Southern Wind’,” Giant Horn replied, “Bird language is always chirping and tweeting, and besides, the city has an awful lot of toilets. You’ll see when you get there.”