Dark Moon Era

In early autumn, Starstay City was beautiful. The Mirage Fire tree, a mutated species of the maple tree from the old civilization, would be in full bloom and the beauty of the tree was astonishing.

Moreover, Starstay City was full of Mirage Fire trees.

The morning sun in early autumn was never as hot as the summer, and with the slightest light, the Mirage Fire tree would reflect a crimson red glow, similar to a burning flame.

Based on the different colors of the Mirage Fire leaves, the reflection would appear in different shades as well. They were soft and beautiful as though the sunset had been cut down and placed in the city.

The whole city was also filled with the scent of the Mirage Fire. The unique scent from the tree would only appear in this particular season. As fragrant as orchids and as sweet as honeysuckle, it smelled faint yet lasting. What a pleasant season autumn was!

“Lalalalala!” Higan was delighted. Both her fair legs were swinging in the air as she hummed an irregular melody. She loved the evening sunset, and in this particular season, due to the reflection from the Mirage Fire, it felt like evening all day long, even from the morning. She was intoxicated by the scene and strange tranquility filled her heart.

It was a really heartwarming scene.

Higan put her hands out. Between her fair slender fingers, the morning sun and the glow from the Mirage Fire beneath the Floating Domain shone together. She tilted her head and smiled, her eyes curving up like a crescent moon. Her lashes were so long that morning dew practically hung from them. She was really overjoyed.

A group of young men was waiting for the morning training in the empty space in front of the Sky Castle and every one of them was infatuated by that figure sitting on the edge of the castle.

Everyone knew whenever the sun set, a particular scene would appear at Sky Castle, which was Queen Higan sitting on the edge and gazing into the twilight until the sky was full of stars. No one would have expected to see her early in the morning during the Mirage Fire season.

Even though it was the deepest desires of the young men that could never come true, they would not want to miss the sight of her.

Holding the newspaper in his hand, Wei cleared his throat and startled the infatuated young men.

What’s this? Gazing at the queen early in the morning and forgetting everything about the training? Do they know how precious time is?

With that in mind, Wei tidied his uniform. He was still wearing his deep navy uniform with a buckle that vaguely formed a dragon in the ancient Huaxia style. The buckle stated his identity: the Imperial bodyguard.

It also meant that he could get close to Queen Higan openly and deliver the necessary news.

Soaked in her own happiness, Higan did not respond to Wei’s arrival at all. He stood aside quietly since he was used to her cold shoulder. Despite being able to see her almost every day, he was never truly within her sight.

“My queen, here’s today’s newspaper. There’s news about Young Master Long on the third page. He arrived in Ximi City yesterday, and he can probably make it back to Starstay City in less than five days. He will arrive two days earlier than expected.” Wei regretted it a little after updating his queen since he had a feeling that he would somehow offend Young Master Long.

Young Master Long might want to surprise the queen, hence he raced back to the city.

With that thought in mind, Wei suddenly felt nervous. He knelt down on one knee and said toward Higan’s back nervously, “Young Master Long must have been traveling day and night to reach Starstay City earlier than expected. He must miss Your Majesty a lot, hence the anxiety. He’s looking forward to surprising you, my queen. I daren’t skip Young Master Long’s update, but I also boldly ask of you, my queen, to feign ignorance, so that Young Master Long can have the element of surprise.”

Wei’s forehead was covered with sweat when he finished begging to the extent that even his back felt a little wet.

Higan did not say anything. Instead, she signaled with her finger and the newspaper flew into her hands. She glanced over it and said softly, “Fine.”

Wei heaved a breath of relief. He did not dare stay for another minute because he might offend the queen with his presence. Therefore, he expressed his desire to leave and quietly retreated from the roof.

Is he coming back early? Higan wanted to flip the newspaper, but a single glance at the portrait captivated her attention. She discarded the thought and moved the paper closer to her face.

The front page title was written in bold: ‘Dragon Army Returns? Son of Late Leader, Tang Feng, Identified.’ It was a piece of trivial news she did not care for.

On the contrary, her eyes were fixed on the portrait that accompanied the article. It was a young boy with dark hair. His messy bangs slightly covered the brows but his face was clean and his facial features were delicate. His eyes were dark and his lips were slightly pressed together when the picture had been captured.

“Why does he look a little sad?” Higan’s finger softly stroked the portrait. Her eyes somehow started to grow teary.

Higan did not care or feel curious about why she would resonate with the sad person in the portrait. She did not know the young man at all and did not have any memories about him, yet she felt affected. She allowed her tears to roll down as though she sensed the loneliness, sadness, and depression. Her eyes were glued to the portrait.

Somehow, she then started to mutter the name repeatedly, “Tang Ling, Tang Ling…Tang Ling?”

Suddenly, she uttered softly, “Collect all the newspapers from today.”

At the same time, Wei had walked down to the second floor of the Sky Castle and Higan’s meek and dreamy voice entered his ears. “Collect all the newspapers from today.”

“Could that be Higan’s real voice? Did Young Master Long’s return move her this much?” Wei’s heart inevitably felt a little sour.

It could not be helped. Those two were made for each other and it was within expectation that the queen’s feelings for Young Master Long would increase by the day since it was only a matter of time.

…

At Prinale Academy in Migan City.

The first of September every year was the traditional admission day for the new students, but no one would report to the academy on the day itself. Instead, the students would report to the academy half a month or even a whole month earlier.

It was the early autumn and Prinale Academy was completely fired up despite being the first day of September. It was extra lively that day due to the explosive news that spread throughout Migan City like wildfire.

‘Mad Lion Appears. Does The Leader Of Dragon Army, Tang Feng, Have A Son?’

‘Tang Feng’s Son Has Escaped. Will The World Change Because Of This?’

‘Dragon Army Reappears. The Agnes Family Of Safety Sector No.17 Is Wiped Out Overnight.’

What else was more explosive that the reappearance of the Dragon Army and the son of that legendary man, Tang Feng? Nothing!

Anyone above 20 years old would remember how the Dragon Army had once swept the world by astonishment and how that legendary leader had created miracle after miracle.

Even though there were many teenagers below 20 years old in the academy who were born after the glorious years of the Dragon Army, the people that lived in the city were not uninformed swines, unlike the people of Safety Sector No. 17 that knew almost nothing about the Dragon Army. After all, Migan City was a safety city and was the highest administrative unit in the world.

Quite the contrary, the young men in Migan City had grown up with the legends of the Dragon Army and the adventures of Tang Feng.

However, of course, these stories were more or less altered artificially for the worse. Details were distorted and ill intentions with obscure meanings filled the gaps in the story. Nevertheless, it did not affect Tang Feng or the Dragon Army’s famous reputation since the people had their own opinions about this as well.

“Tang Ling? Is Tang Feng’s son named Tang Ling? From Safety Sector No. 17? This is really interesting,” said one of the young men reading the newspaper loudly when he walked across the garden of the campus.

Another young man beside him said, “What’s so interesting about him? I don’t think he can live outside for a year. Don’t forget that he…”

The conversation was quite heated, hence the two of them did not notice a troubled-looking young man dozing off on the bench in the garden.

When one of the two young men said that Tang Ling might not survive for more than a year, the troubled-looking young man bolted up from the bench and beat the talkative one before snatching the paper from the other.

“Who the hell are you? You are dead meat!” The young man who got punched was angry, and so was the other man whose newspaper was snatched. The two of them dished out punches and kicks at the offender.

They were rather powerful since they had been training for quite some time, so the force of their punching and kicking was at least the strength of five bulls.

The young man who had snatched the newspaper away was no match for them, so he did not fight back at all. He allowed the punches and kicks to hit his body. Meanwhile, his hand was shaking as if he longed to read the article in the newspaper.

The Agnes family had been wiped out and Tang Ling had escaped!

“Is that so? Did he escape? Did Tang Ling really wipe out the entire Agnes family?” Yu’s hands were trembling violently. Even though he was getting a beating, his lips curled up into a faint smile.

…

At the Apollo Mercenary Training Camp.

A buff young man with a sun tattoo on his chest was tied up on a wooden pillar. His eyes scanned around and he saw nothing but the vast desert beyond the camp. The golden sand reflected the blinding sun and one’s eyes would feel pain and tear up if one stared at the sand for too long. The sun was never stingy with its hot sunlight, especially above the vast desert.

After a while, this young man started to look dehydrated. His lips were dry and beneath the dried skin were bloody scabs.

“Yo, Orston, are you gonna submit or what?” A young man in a battle uniform mocked as he slowly walked to the young man named Orston tied up on the wooden pillar.

Ptui!

Orston spat, but due to his dehydration, nothing came up. Still, the disrespectful action made the mocking young man respond with a whiplash on his body.

With that, another bloody whiplash mark was added to his buff body.

Orston did not show pain. Instead, he laughed out loud. “Hahaha, you are the one who lost! You! The newspaper clearly states that Tang Feng’s son has escaped!”

Pak!

The whip lashed his body again.

“You only came in half a year earlier than me, lost to me in a fight, and wanted a rematch because you were embarrassed. But can it change the facts? Just you wait. I’ll become stronger than you and I’ll beat you beyond recognition, so not even your mother will recognize you when I’m done. I will win the fight and tie you up on this pillar. I won’t release you for a night and a day, and I’ll whip you as hard as I can a hundred times. After all, that’s the maximum number of penalties allowed, isn’t it? I hope by then, you will still be alive, you little piece of sh*t.” Orston verbally attacked the mercenary young man and the whip landed on his body non-stop.

According to the rules, the winner of the fight had the right to whip Orston 70 times.

“Will Orston die?”

“Maybe. There have been cases of people dying after a week in the camp.”

“But he seems vigorous with his scolding. Shouldn’t he be fine?”

The mercenaries who were watching Orston being whipped were discussing, but no one deemed it wrong. That was the rule in the training camp. Anything could be solved with a fight and the winner had the right to punish the loser.

Compared to this, the news about the Dragon Army was really shocking, second only to Tang Feng having a son. It was not the usual reappearance though. The Dragon Army had almost wiped out a safety sector and Tang Feng’s son had wiped out a family that sided with the Stardust Council.

What did it mean? The Dragon Army was making a comeback and the son of Tang Feng, that kid, Tang Ling, was not some John Doe either. What would the world welcome in the future?

The mercenaries were never afraid of chaos. If the world was at peace, they would have no reason to exist anymore.

Apollo’s mercenaries were soldiers trained by the system. They had their own pride and wished to join battles that could change the world. They were unlike those on the black market who were registered as mercenaries but never had the vision to do something great. Those were just untamed soldiers, and strictly speaking, they should be known as a combination of bounty hunters and wandering hunters.

“Gonna give in?” The young man whipping Orston was a little tired since using up all his punishing right in one go under the hot sun was really exhausting.

“Give in? Hahaha…” Orston was also at his last breath, but his eyes were filled with a sneer as he looked at the young man and enunciated word for word, “You’ll never know how powerful my brother is, and I’m the one who will fight by his side one day. Why the hell would I give in? What kind of garbage are you talking about?”

“You piece of sh*t!” The young man had used up his punishing rights, so he could not hit Orston anymore. He looked at Orston with a grudgeful gaze, “Who the hell knows who the f*ck is your brother?”

“You don’t need to know because you don’t have the right to know,” Orston whispered so that only he could hear himself. He raised his head up to the sky and a lonely eagle soared across the sky, reminding him of Tang Ling.

The eagle must have its kind waiting for him, did it not? Just like Tang Ling!

…

The explosive news spread like wildfire with the unique method of the Purple Moon era. In just three to five days, every corner in the world knew about it. The smallest safety village also had administrative officers that knew about the news. Even a large scale Drifter group got the news eventually.

Tang Ling’s name was somehow uttered by millions of people when they looked up into the sky in a daze.

Tang Ling, a nobody from the settlement, became a world-renowned figure, and it had only been a little more than three months since he left the settlement.