Mystical Journey

There were several dozen types of secret techniques under the Martial Prohibition, some stronger and others weaker, but most of the martial artists had memorized all of them, since these things could be traded for Immortal Palace Secret Techniques. Everyone wanted a secret technique that was most suited to them, but it was always difficult for martial artists to find a secret technique that fit them well, and the secret technique offered by the Immortal Palace were extremely numerous, so they would definitely find the one they wanted there.

Lindsay was completely panicked and lost, she was only a twelve-year-old child after all, she might have been at the top of her age group, but when faced with an actual military punk with a gun at his waist, her heart was instantly confused.

"I... I..." She stuttered, at first she wanted to say some tough words, but she just could not form them. The more she could not speak, the more panicked she got, and so she was even more tongue-tied.

"Heh." The man with the cold gaze laughed coldly, and came up to her.

"Master Zhao, why are you still joking around with a child? I know this child as well, she’s the Ocean Alliance boss’ daughter, we’ll inevitably meet each other all the time, so please be patient if there were any misunderstandings or if she was rude in any way." A jolly short and fat man walked out of the riotous crowd, his face all smiles as he greeted the other two with one hand over the other fist. "How about I treat you two sirs to a few drinks at Jade Garden?"

"Fat Lan, you stay out of this matter." The cold-eyed military punk Zhao pushed the fatty away, and walked straight up to Lindsay. "Pretty bold of you, to secretly learn a demonic secret technique under Prohibition!"

Before he finished speaking, he made to grab Lindsay.

Smack!

Lindsay instinctively kicked him, blowing his hand away.

"Oh-ho, you still dare to resist!" The military punk Zhao was instantly furious, and kicked towards Lindsay hard, his foundations were naturally much stronger than the girl’s, plus he was also an expert at kicking, so he instantly calculated a few ways she could dodge, his right leg kicking forth at a strange angle.

"Master Zhao, please let her go!""Master Zhao, she’s just a child!"

Seeing that he was actually attacking her, some of the familiar faces in the crowd instantly reacted, they were all Captain Whitman’s close friends, so there was no way they could just stand by and watch their niece get bullied.

In this chaotic world, most of the people on the jetty were huddled into groups, even if normal people did not go against officials, but they still took pride in justice, and could not help but stand up to stop him.

Bam!

Lindsay was kicked hard in the stomach, and she fell forward onto the ground, in too much pain to get up.

The two men who had pounced out beside her were also kicked far away by the military punk Zhao, and stumbled before they finally steadied their footing, but their faces were pale and they could not catch their breath for a while.

"Serves you right for goddamn interfering with me! Go ahead, block me! Block! Go on blocking!!" The military punk Zhao seemed to have been provoked somewhere else, and was now taking all of his anger out on Lindsay.

He kicked Lindsay’s waist again and again, sending her rolling back and forth as though she were a toy.

The people around them were riotous in the beginning, but they began to fall silent afterward, just standing around and watching him kick her. The few who were brave enough to stand out had been settled by this man in a few hits, and still had not recovered.

"Stop!!" There was an explosive yell from nearby.

The military punk Zhao’s expression grew cold, and he stomped on Lindsay’s head even harder.

Of course he would not kill her, he still wanted to give her to the Immortal Palace in exchange for a secret technique, but it was more interesting to destroy this girl’s face than it was to kill her.

He had gotten used to dominating the streets, and did not think he would nearly be humiliated by this young thing today, plus he had just taken a harsh scolding from his senior officer, so his heart was burning with rage. When he hit her, he immediately started putting more force into it.

Garen walked over to them with Whitman, and just glanced at Lindsay, who was lying on the floor, as well the pale children beside them, sensing that Lindsay was in no great danger. He then immediately moved his gaze to the two military punks.

The situation around them was similar to that of the Huaxia period in China on Earth(1), the crowd gathered around to witness the spectacle were completely numb and expressionless.

But for some reason, when he and Captain Whitman walked over, the gazes of everyone around them were instantly dyed with a hint of respect, including those two military punks.

After some careful observation, he noticed that their fear and respect was not aimed at Whitman, but him.

To be more precise, it was aimed at his shining long golden hair.

Garen had just asked Whitman about the situation here on the East Continent, and the information he got was that it was similar to the Republican era(2).

The place had been split up by regional warlords, as soon as the feudal dynasty collapsed, the foreign allied armies had divided up the profits on the East Continent, and there were settlements from other countries everywhere, becoming an eternal trauma in the hearts of Oriental scholars.

The war from a few years ago and the debts they accumulated had utterly shattered the East Continent’s dream of becoming the strongest country in the world, and had also torn away the veil of mystery and mythic respect that the foreign countries had historically had for the East Continent. They were hit as soon as they went down, the East Continent armies with the soldiers on horseback and their sand cannons were basically weak as lambs in the face of the foreign gunpowder cannons.

After they terribly lost several patriotic wats, the blatant conflicts and division of territories began.

The Yalu Confederation, Weisman, Tulip, and some other middle- or even small-scale countries.

Each of them supported their own representatives and ambitious leaders, doing their best to grab as much profit and supplies as they could by politically manipulating the area.

That was also when Whitman’s family had gone onto the ocean and contacted foreign merchants, doing their business in trade. As locals from the East Continent, they had made contact with many foreigners over the years, and this did improve their standing somewhat. But all that was not as shocking as an actual foreign friend.

Foreigners always looked down on the East Continent, especially ones from the strong countries. For Whitman abruptly brought a young blonde man here, it truly shocked everyone and left a huge impact.

Such pure golden hair could only be found in some of the strongest countries on the other end of the sea. Such as Weisman, such as Tulip, such as the Yalu Confederation...

Those were the three strongest countries...

The military punk Zhao did indeed pull back a little, and looking at the little girl on the floor, he noticed that blood was leaking out the corner of her mouth. Evidently, this was getting complicated.

But even if there was a foreigner here, he still did not want to let go of his long-awaited dream, to get a secret technique that truly suited him. His dream of many years could finally be fulfilled, such an intense temptation rapidly forced down his urge to run away.

"It is a serious crime to secretly learn a Prohibited secret technique! This is the Prohibition from the Immortal Palace, a law supported by the Weisman authorities, you would know that as well, right, sir?" The military punk Zhao thought hard, and forcefully found a wordy excuse for himself. It was just that he was using the local language of the East Continent, so he had no idea if the other party could understand him.

Garen smiled slightly, revealing a mouthful of pearly whites. Beside him, Captain Whitman was prepared to translate for him.

But it was not as though he had done nothing over these past few days on the boat, so as soon as he spoke, it was in fluent East Continent language.

"Prohibition? The Immortal Palace’s Prohibition? What is that? Could you explain it to me?"

"Uh..." The man Zhao hesitated.

"I was the one who taught her the martial arts, do you have any opinion about that?" Garen immediately declared that he was the one who taught Lindsay.

He did not care about any Martial Prohibition, or any warlordism, as the terrifying ruthless killer from the Black Swamp Palace, a legend even in the Totem World, that was even more so in this Secret Technique World with its lower combat level.

Be it the Immortal Palace, or the Demon Gate, if they got in his way, then they had better be prepared to pay in blood.

He was not one of those old-fashioned justice warriors, in order to achieve his own goals, although he was not completely immoral, it was still only natural that he would choose the most effective way to solve a problem.

He stood here and traded useless words with these two, just to express two things.

One, the Whitman family was not extremely close to him, as proven by the question he did not care about Lindsay who was lying on the ground. That was also to prevent that family from getting too involved with his problems.

Two, Garen still thought it was necessary to bequeath a dead person with a few words.

The man named Zhao was already feeling something ominous, his right hand reaching for the gun behind his waist.

But all of a sudden, his whole body gave a jolt, his movements stiff and unable to move. It was not just him, the other man beside him who had come with him had also stiffened, and could not even speak, even his expression did not change. But he could see the same terror and fear in the other person’s eyes.

They could not move at all!

It was as though all the blood in his body would not listen to him.

Demonic arts!! This was demonic arts!!!

No wonder the Immortal Palace declared the Prohibition, such a terrifying martial arts... It was like there was an avalanche in Zhao’s heart, his wariness from before collapsing instantly in the face of extreme terror.

Garen smiled at him slightly.

"What a coincidence, I was just looking for you, come with me. Let’s discuss this properly."

He said a few words to Whitman softly, and led the way directly to a small teahouse outside the crowd. The two military punks followed him quickly, not saying a thing.

"Alright, break it up, everybody, break it up!!" Behind him, Whitman’s subordinate was yelling, and only then did Whitman wipe the sweat off his head, carrying the unconscious Lindsay off to find a doctor.

**************

The three of them sat down on the second floor of the teahouse, taking Garen’s favorite position closest to the window, and nobody dared to take any of the three places around them, the owner forced a smile as he served them a pot of high-quality tea, and then hurriedly rushed downstairs, too afraid to say anything more.

Garen very naturally controlled the blood inside their bodies, taking away their wallets, opening it up and counting the money inside. There were only seven or eight pieces of silver inside, as well as some scattered copper coins, he wondered how much that would buy.

He put them all into one pouch and kept it carefully, tying it to his waist, and then Garen smiled at the two of them.

"Don’t be scared, you will always come across some obstacles in life, this is just a small trial in your lives."

He slowly released the control he had over their faces.

The military punk named Zhao opposite him had a smile that looked worse than if he cried. He was already a hundred percent sure that he had bumped into a person from the Demon Gate that truly hated the Immortal Palace, or perhaps even a demonic martial artist who was wanted by both sides!

"My lord, please tell me if there’s anything you need, we will definitely tell you anything we know, everything we can!"

"Is that so?" Garen smiled slightly.

"Then, please tell me everything about the Martial Prohibition..." The smile on his face grew deeper and deeper.

They dare to declare a Martial Prohibition, prohibiting the White Cloud Gate’s martial arts...

Hahaha... Immortal Palace, how dare you!

Translator’s notes:

A late Neolithic period in ancient Chinese history.

From 1912, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, to 1949 in China.