Chapter 003: The Night

Although the days in the northern lands were not short, they were not long either. After a brief cycle, darkness covered the land.

The city gates of Ruijin City had been closed, and the civilian districts within the city had no lights. Only the noble district in the eastern part of the city was brightly lit.

Old and new carriages kept arriving and departing in front of the city lord’s residence. Several well-dressed servants stood there, smiling continuously. Their backs ached from bending over repeatedly, but among those who came were all important figures from Ruijin City. No matter how reluctant they were, they had to put on a good show.

Moreover, these important figures seemed to have gone mad tonight—each of them was dressed as if it were a festival. Even the noble ladies, who rarely appeared in such occasions, wore gorgeous evening gowns. A few of them, ignoring the cold night wind, had put on summer clothes, revealing large areas of pale skin as they trembled slightly.

The servants were dazzled. When did they ever get the chance to see such things?

Though they had long known that an important person would attend the banquet that night, they had no idea who it was—something even these lowly servants could not know.

Suddenly, a commotion came from behind them. Lord Gabriel approached the door, holding a magnificent walking stick in one hand and stroking his curved mustache with the other, surrounded by several guards.

Everyone who saw the city lord bowed in greeting along the way. It seemed he was in a good mood tonight. After greeting several nobles, he even, unusually, greeted a merchant he usually disdained.

A moment later, Lord Gabriel arrived at the door, and the servants quickly bowed.

He nodded slightly and waved his hand, asking, “Has the group from the Northern Legion arrived?”

One servant hurriedly replied, “Your Lordship, Captain Carol of the Northern Legion has not arrived yet. Shall we go invite him?”

“No need,” Gabriel waved his hand. “High-ranking people usually like to be late. The slower they arrive, the longer others have to wait, which only serves to prove their status… This trick is useful everywhere… You don’t need to do anything. Just wait here with me.”

Surprise flashed in the servants’ eyes. Who could be someone important enough to make the city lord come out personally to greet them, and even prepare to wait?

On the other side of Rui Gen City, at the entrance of the inn where Du Fan and the others were staying. A brand-new carriage hung behind two tall horses. Captain Carol personally rode beside the carriage, looking anxious. After waiting for a while longer, he couldn’t hold back and said, “Why hasn’t Young Master Du Fan arrived yet? Someone go check.” One of his subordinates obeyed and was about to enter the inn when, suddenly, Fei Lei rushed out from inside. He approached Carol and whispered, “Young Master ordered that he go check the area near the city lord’s mansion first. The carriage can move slowly; he will return soon.” Carol frowned slightly and asked, “Then Young Master…” Fei Lei gave a strange smile and said, “You’ve only known our third young master for a day, so naturally you can’t understand his thoughts. I’m quite close to him, but even I can only guess roughly what he’s doing. But you don’t need to worry… Our third young master is certainly not the kind to do anything foolish.” Carol smiled faintly and said, “That’s true. I was overthinking it. Then we’ll be leaving. I leave the defense of this inn to you, Lord Fei Lei.” Fei Lei nodded slightly and retreated to the entrance of the inn. Carol waved his hand, and along with the cavalry behind him, he rode slowly toward the city lord’s mansion. With the creaking of the wheels, the empty carriage followed behind. The night was pitch dark; although areas with lights were fairly bright, those without light were utterly dark. In the darkness, Du Fan moved through Rui Gen City. Moments later, he appeared on a main street just a few meters away from the city lord’s mansion. His figure disappeared completely into the darkness. Even though people passed by him, they noticed nothing unusual. Du Fan watched the city lord’s mansion gate from afar. After a while, he frowned and vanished again. When he reappeared, he was already on the roof of a residential house. He listened for a moment before suddenly kicking through the window on the top floor of the house. He rushed inside and casually threw out a silence barrier magic scroll, which wrapped around the small room, sealing out all sound. Inside the room, there was a huge bed. Under red candles, a man and a woman were entwined, their heavy breathing filling the air with an obscene atmosphere.

But Du Fan’s appearance shattered this atmosphere. The two lovers, like frightened rabbits, immediately separated. The man said nothing, while the woman let out several screams. However, due to the effect of the silence magic, those sounds couldn’t escape the room, so no one else could hear them.
Du Fan was amazed by the man’s skill—being able to pull away in an instant. What kind of technique was that? He glanced at the man’s genitals and immediately understood; with that length, it wasn’t impossible to act even a few seconds faster.
In the dim candlelight, the two couldn’t see Du Fan clearly. Amid her screams, the woman suddenly spoke through tears, “My lord… my lord… I thought I’d never dare again… It was this bastard who seduced me… I didn’t mean to…”
The man trembled and pointed at the woman, “You wench! It was you who said the master would be at a banquet tonight, so you asked me to come… Now what…?”
Du Fan initially didn’t want to deal with them, but their quick conversation piqued his interest. He cleared his throat and said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m not your master.”
Both the man and woman froze. The man mustered courage and crawled out of bed, holding a delicate dagger. He pointed at Du Fan and demanded, “Who… who exactly are you? What do you want?”
Du Fan gave him a meaningful look and said, “Your thing isn’t long enough to be useful to me, and it’s ugly too… Now get back into bed. Otherwise, even without your master showing up, I’ll hang the two of you at the city gate right now.”
As he spoke, Du Fan casually waved his hand—without any obvious movement—and the dagger in the man’s hand turned into powder.
The man was stunned. With a scream, he hid back in bed, and the two hugged each other, trembling slightly.
Du Fan waved his hand again, and a small fireball appeared at his fingertips, revealing their faces clearly. The woman was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, not only pretty but also curvaceous, drawing even Du Fan’s attention. As for the man, he had a handsome face, resembling a pretty boy.
Du Fan extinguished the small fireball in his hand and said, “Go on… act like I’m not here…”
After that, he walked to the window and gazed outside, right at the main gate of the city lord’s mansion.

Although the man and woman knew they were no longer in much danger, they had no mood to “continue”; they simply hugged each other, trembling continuously, yet afraid to make too much noise, able only to shake uncontrollably…

A middle-aged man with a fox-like appearance came into Du Fan’s sight. Du Fan observed him carefully, constantly reasoning in his mind. He stood there for half an hour but saw no other movements from the middle-aged man aside from occasionally touching his beard.

Pride, arrogance, hypocrisy, excessive confidence…

Du Fan finally made up his mind. It seemed he hadn’t underestimated this lord of Gabriel City. Observing first tonight wasn’t entirely useless—at least if this lord wanted to cause him some trouble, he could make him suffer greatly in return.

With a soft sigh, Du Fan removed the magical barrier in the room. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something, turned back to look at the two people on the bed, and said, “By the way… you’ll both forget what happened tonight on your own, right? I don’t need to kill you?”

The man and woman nodded so hard their necks almost broke.

Du Fan smiled faintly and said, “I like smart people, so I’ll spare your lives. But if anyone finds out about what happened tonight, I won’t mind wiping them out. I’m sure you know that for people like us, it’s not difficult to figure out your identities.”

The man and woman nodded even faster.

Du Fan placed his hand on the window frame. Before leaving, he suddenly whispered, “By the way, madam, if you’re going to have an affair, pick someone with better assets next time… It’s useless to judge a man by appearance alone. If your husband can’t satisfy you, does this pretty boy think he can?”

With a laugh, he vanished in an instant.

The man and woman in the room looked at each other. The man was pale. After hesitating for a moment, he reached out to grab the woman’s waist.

The woman shuddered, as if coming to her senses. She turned around and slapped the man, shouting, “Useless wretch! You dare seduce me with your one-minute worth? I must have lost my mind to stay here instead of attending the banquet and play this game with you. Get lost… I’d better go to the banquet and find some real men…”