“Gang Leader!!”
Shouts of various youths echoed in Li Shen’s ears.
In his courtyard shared by his mother, members of the Weasel Gang Faction were seen crowded together with Yang Su and the rest.
At the front of the groups were the Vice Leaders Li Minhua, Li Bai, and Li Anu.
“What’s up, why are all of you here?”
After his initial surprise, Li Shen approached them.
“Gang Leader, we heard about what happened at the hall and we’re sorry we weren’t there!”
Li Minhua said with a regretful expression, followed by Li Bai who said.
“Yeah, that’s right Gang Leader! If we were there those bastards from the Academy Alliance wouldn’t have dared to challenge you.”
“We would have beaten them to a pulp!!”
“Yeah!”
“That’s right!!”
After Li Minhua and the others spoke the crowd behind them all cried out their agreement.
Meanwhile, Yang Su and the others were off to the side watching this with strange expressions.
Li Shen’s hearing this had his face go dark.
The Weasel Gang seeing this all felt a cold chill go down their spines.
“So why didn’t you come? How can you lot call yourselves the Weasel Gang but left your Gang Leader to fend for himself? What if I wasn’t strong enough and had gotten humiliated? How would the Weasel Gang recover face?!!”
With loud thuds, every member of the Weasel Gang dropped to their knees.
“Please forgive us Gang Leader!!”
Their voice echoed in the courtyard in unison.
“Gang Leader, our parents forbid us from attending your Coming of Age so we wouldn’t cause trouble!”
“Please believe us Gang Leader, it’s not because we didn’t want to come but because our parents prevented us!”
“That’s right Gang Leader!”
“Please calm your anger Gang Leader!”
Yang Su and the other’s faces became even stranger in this situation.
Li Shen snorted at his gang’s pleadings and said.
“All excuses!!
“Aren’t you all weasel men of your own?! How can you allow your parents to prevent you from doing your one and only purpose?!
"Making me look good! If I had entered with an entourage do you think they would have dared try to cause me trouble?!”
Dumbfoundment couldn't even describe Yang Su and the others' emotions.
“Gang Leader please forgive us.”
“That’s right Gang Leader, please forgive us.”
Li Shen looked at them lowering their heads, disappointment prominent in his eyes.
Afterwards, he let out a sigh before saying.
“Fine, I’ll let you lot off this once. Li Minhua, Li Bai, and Li Anu stay here, the rest scram before I change my mind.”
With relieved expressions, all the Weasel Gang members quickly got up and cupped their fists towards Li Shen, they then hurriedly left before Li Shen brought out that accursed stick.
With just Li Minhua and the others, Li Shen headed to a table while asking.
“How is the Fire Divine Spirit Stones excavation coming along?”
“Gang Leader, here’s the batch we’ve accumulated since we last spoke. The excavation is going smoothly, and although there have been some hiccups along the way we’ve managed to handle them.”
Taking the storage ring from Li Minhua, Li Shen sent his perception inside to see a twenty-meter space filled with red shiny rocks. Coupled with the batch he already had, his wealth just quadrupled all at once.
His mouth watered, however, his expression became serious as he asked.
“What kind of hiccups happened? Are the members taking the Fire Divine Stones for themselves?”
Hearing that, Li Minhua and the others hurriedly waved their hands and said.
“No-no-no Gang Leader, who from the Weasel Gang would dare try to steal from our Gang Leader? The hiccups were the branch members of our clan poking their heads around, trying to bribe our members to tell them about the mine.”
“However, they instead took their money and then reported it to us.”
Li Shen nodded in approval of that. That right there was the mark of a true member of the Weasel Gang.
“With our members that have family spread throughout every section of the clan, our influence is nay limitless. So we’ve managed to block their interference quite easily.”
“Hm, good. You three can all leave now.”
Li Minhua, Li Bai, and Li Anu all cupped their fists before turning to leave.
Afterwards, Li Shen turned to Yang Su and the others before asking.
“How have things been since I was gone?”
Lihua was the first to respond.
“A lot has happened. But first, what happened to you?”
She said while looking at his disheveled appearance and tatter clothes.
“Just training that’s all. So, what happened?”
Li Shen wanted to know what she meant by a lot has happened.
He saw the boys look at each other before they turned to Lihua.
Lihua seeing this took it that she had become the reporter for Li Shen.
Wasting no time, she immediately said.
“The events of what happened in the hall have spread across the entire continent.”
“Oh? Are people talking about me and how powerful I am?”
Li Shen rubbed his nose with a look of self-praise on his face.
However, Lihua shook her head.
Seeing that, Li Shen was surprised.
“No? Then what kind of news is going around, aren’t people talking about how the once useless prince is now a talented genius?”
A hesitant expression appeared on Lihua’s face before she said.
“Far from that actually, there are rumors going around that you have a twisted hobby of torturing people with a sadistic smile on your face.”
“What?”
Li Shen's expression froze.
“You’ve become somewhat of a household name actually. Parents are now telling their children if they don’t behave the Second Prince will appear under their beds to drag them to the underworld to eat their flesh ad suck on their bones.”
“So what? I’ve become a demon now?”
Li Shen was completely dumbfounded, just where did rumors like that even spawn from in the first place?
However, he soon gritted his teeth. He knew exactly who was spreading those rumors.
“Those bastards! It’s those disciples that I beat up from the Academy Alliance who’s spreading those rumors right?”
Lihua nodded.
“It’s very likely.”
“Damn it, they couldn’t beat me so they decided to slander me? What are they, immature kids? Just wait till I get my hands on them.”
Li Shen’s palm started to itch as a vicious glint appeared in his eyes.
Lihua then continued to say.
“Another thing that happened is that the Crown Prince challenged Ling Tian to a battle.”
“Huh, Elder brother did? What for?”
That surprised Li Shen quite a bit.
Lihua responded.
“The reason he gave was that no one was allowed to lay a hand on you.”
“Me?”
Li Shen frowned.
‘Was it because Ling Tian slap me back then, did he perhaps find out?’
Li Shen then smiled while shaking his head.
“What’s with him, I didn’t ask him to announce to the world that had happened. I would have dealt with it eventually.”
Turning to Lihua, Li Shen then asked.
“Did he accept brother’s challenge? What were the results?”
Instead of Lihua, Fei Yin was the one to speak.
“Faction Leader, your brother was the one who you could say won. However, Ling Tian’s sword was utterly terrifying.”
Fang Chen, Jun, Mu Fan, and Yang Su all had solemn expressions as they recalled the fight.
It was an intense match-up against two of the most talented geniuses on the Maple Continent and likely in its history. Such fights between them will become legends for later generations to talk about, so them witnessing it firsthand had a profound effect on them.
“That Legacy Disciple from the Profound Sword Sect, Lu Feng, he also challenge Ling Tian right after, but Ling Tian left without accepting his challenge.”
Li Shen remained silent for a moment, then said.
“Is there anything else?”
Lihua then went on to explain a few more things that happened at the hall, that involved conflicts between the various sects from the Star Bound Continent and the Maple Continent geniuses. As well as the news of Ghuanyu’s opposition against his clan spreading across the Continent in waves.
After a minute or two, they left Li Shen alone in the courtyard.
Jun also handed a jade slip to Li Shen before leaving, saying it was from Lu Yue who had departed for the Star Bound Continent.
Sending his perception inside, a message appeared in Li Shen's mind.
“I’ll be waiting for you to come and propose.”
Seeing this, Li Shen smiled.
“What’s with her? The news of our engagement is already out, do I really need to go as far as to make a big deal out of it by going to the Star Bound Continent to propose?”
Placing the jade slip into his storage ring, Li Shen then placed his hands behind his back and stood up.
Looking up at the evening sky, he sunk into his thoughts.
‘A lot has happened.
'Good things I never would expect to happen and things I really wish hadn’t. In this new life of mine, I wonder where I’ll end up? I had a plan to get stronger to eventually leave this place and explore the world. However, that was me holding on to the past unable to enjoy the present.
‘Do I live this life to fulfill my past life's goals, or do I live this life as Li Shen. If it’s the former, I would have to abandon the Faction as catering for them along with my own cultivation is a responsibility that would hinder my rapid growth. I’ll have to be completely focused on finding out why I reincarnated, what this Greed Petal is, and why the God Domain is how it is. That means cutting all the ties I’ve built up until now.’
Li Shen suddenly felt that his hand was holding a knife that was hovering over the strings that attach him to his faction, his family, and his identity as Li Shen.
Should he sever his bonds and go out into the world alone?
His hand lowered, barely grazing those strings that looked so flimsy that with just a brush of the knife, they could be completely severed.
Maybe the Cardinal Sins Goddess was right.
Maybe the him now was too detracted by unnecessary things.
Forming a Faction?
Having friends?
Finding Love?
A Family?
Maybe they’re all shackles that were preventing him from becoming what he was truly meant to be.
'What am I truly meant to be?'
Li Shen’s face immediately darkened.
In the outside world, the Seven Sin Plum Blossom was pulsating on his forehead.
“ENOUGH!!”
A cloud that had unknowingly spread to cover Li Shen’s mind was instantly obliterated.
The Seven Sin’s Plum Blossom multicolored petals danced like they were in the wind.
Li Shen raised his index finger to his forehead, a dark light at its tip.
“I am not your host that you can toy with.”
When Li Shen’s finger touched the plum blossom, its dancing petal came to a stop, returning to its appearance of a tattoo.
The dark ring around it increased its flames as well before they both slowly faded away.
“I’m in no hurry leaving my starter home for good. There are a lot of things I haven’t solved yet. I don’t know how or why that Fire God’s hand is here on this continent, sealed inside that volcano. It has something to do with the Demonic Cult’s Demonic Qi and I’ll get to the bottom of it. And I haven’t discovered the source of the runes from the God Era I found in the Bai Clan. The Hidden Fragmented Realm will open in a year’s time, I’ll enter and see if it has any relation.”
Looking at the sky that gained dark clouds sometime ago, Li Shen thought in his heart.
‘Plus, I’m not willing to give up everything for my greed for power. I’ve lived several lives where I die at an early age, and the one time I survived I lived a life worst than hell. Is it wrong to want a life I never had before?
‘A life where I seek power with my friends? A life where I have a supportive family and a life where I find real love? Is it wrong to want all of these things?
'Am I… being too greedy?’
Li Shen closed his eyes, and soon, a raindrop fell on his cheek and slid down.
Quickly, more and more raindrops fell continuously until he was completely soaked.
Life is never easy.
No matter who one is, or their position.
There will come a time in their life when they question whether the path they chose was right or wrong.
But whatever answer they reached, the past will remain in the past.
You’re alive in the present, and there is a future waiting for you. All there is to it is to move forward regardless of any negative thoughts, of any negative setbacks, just keep moving.
Any doubts or hesitation should be trampled by your determination to overcome any obstacle.
Li Shen open his eyes, a fire of determination was burning in them ever-so brightly making his golden pupils shine. The dark clouds and gloomy weather could not affect his heart.
Slowly turning around, he then went inside.
END OF VOLUME TWO: The First Crossroad
PREVIOUS VOLUME: The Heaven's Ploy
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l