When the sky darkened, all seventeen chefs collapsed from exhaustion.
They were cultivators themselves, and though their cultivation was not high, it was the first time they had ever been brought to their knees by wielding a large ladle.
It was too tiring.
…
For a full two days, the Oriental Estate was left to the Qin family army's revelry.
Until the morning of the third day.
"Drink, drink, drink."
The synchronized sounds of drills startled Chen Fan awake from a deep sleep.
He opened his eyes, a smile forming on his face.
…
The Qin family army had indeed not disappointed Chen Fan.
Many people, upon rising from hardship to paradise, tend to lose their way.
The Qin family army did not. Their two-day rest was treated as a holiday, and on the third day, their regular drills resumed.
Chen Fan paid no mind to these matters.
His divine sense spread out, and after a casual glance at the drilling troops, he summoned Lan Kuang.
"City Lord."
Nowadays, the only title for Chen Fan was City Lord.
Mister, Senior… were no longer applicable.
Chen Fan took out the Enlightenment Stone and all the items he had won in the bet at Sacred Mountain that day, handing them to Lan Kuang. "Give these to Hong Si and tell him to use them as he sees fit, but with one condition: to restore everything as quickly as possible."
"Yes."
As Lan Kuang departed, a piece of iron appeared in Chen Fan's hand.
This item was also won at Sacred Mountain.
He had studied it before but had found nothing.
When he had retrieved the other items earlier, he had seen the iron piece and had been fiddling with it.
The iron piece still showed no reaction.
An ancient aura emanated from the iron piece, filling the room.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Chen Fan, who had just lain down, sat bolt upright.
His gaze swept across the room for a long time before he frowned slightly. "Did my eyes deceive me?"
Impossible.
Would a Half-step Supreme Being have his vision fail?
But… I really saw characters just now.
"Is it you?"
He lowered his head and looked at the iron piece.
Thinking about what he had just done, besides rubbing it, he hadn't done anything else.
He tried rubbing the iron piece with his finger again and again.
"Eh?"
Characters reappeared. Dafeng Novel Network
This time, his finger did not stop.
Within the room, characters materialized out of thin air. There were not many, only three.
"What is this?"
He didn't recognize a single one of these three characters.
They were too ancient, and each character was extremely complex.
The first character was manageable, composed of over thirty strokes. The character… resembled the shape of a mountain.
If it were truly a mountain, it wouldn't be very tall, but the surrounding environment was quite intricate.
The second character had about fifty strokes, and it was difficult to describe what it looked like.
The third character was the most terrifying. The dense strokes numbered well over a hundred, and its shape was hard to pin down; at one moment it looked like an animal, and at another, like a person.
"What on earth is this thing?" Chen Fan pondered for a long time but could not figure it out.
In the end, he had no choice but to temporarily commit these three characters to memory.
Perhaps someone would recognize them later.
Were these truly characters?
When broken down, they were strangely shaped and did not resemble normal strokes.
Another puzzle.
Ultimately, he had to push this matter aside for now.
He would think about it when he had time.
He continued to rub the iron piece, but there was nothing further.
It seemed that only these three characters, which didn't look like characters, existed.
…
He got up and walked out of the room.
Without looking at the Qin family army, Chen Fan had already vanished from Wenlan City.
Wenlan City had been very lively recently. The roads leading to Wenlan City were bustling with traffic.
On a certain national highway, a luxury car was speeding towards Wenlan City.
"Boom!"
A figure descended from the sky.
Its descent was like a meteor.
But as it landed on the highway, the meteor's speed instantly sharply reduced, and it landed on the road with a light touch.
The speeding vehicle immediately slammed on its brakes, averting an impending car accident.
The driver was skilled and managed to stop the car after a few spins.
Then, a person got out of the car.
"City Lord?"
The man was about to kneel.
Chen Fan nodded slightly but stopped him from kneeling.
The man's body trembled slightly, a hint of fear in his eyes, but he suppressed his fear and spoke, "May I ask why City Lord is blocking my way..."
"What is your name?"
"Your subordinate's name is Austin. My ancestors have lived in Wenlan City for generations, and I have never committed…"
Chen Fan waved his hand; this was not his primary reason for coming. He pointed to the car. "What is inside the car?"
"Ah?"
The man was startled, his face full of confusion. "There's nothing inside, just some household sundries."
Sundries?
Chen Fan thought for a moment. "Could you let me see the items inside?"
"Of course."
The man quickly turned and opened the trunk. Several large cardboard boxes were filled with miscellaneous items.
The man moved aside, and Chen Fan stepped forward.
After casually rummaging through a few boxes, Chen Fan pointed to one of them. "May I see the contents of this box?"
"Certainly."
As the man spoke, Chen Fan had already reached into the box and, after a bit of searching, pulled out a painting and unfurled it.
This painting depicted a pattern.
"It's so similar."
This pattern was remarkably similar to the first character that had appeared on the iron piece.
Just moments ago, as he had been thinking about the characters, he had suddenly had an inexplicable feeling. Following that feeling, he had arrived here.
This feeling was very peculiar, and Chen Fan did not understand what was happening.
Now, holding the painting in his hand, Chen Fan increasingly felt the extraordinary nature of those three characters.
"This painting..."