THE RISE OF THE DRAGON.

184. TAN XIAO - JING.

After entering the city, UI YONG JIANG headed straight for the first tavern he could find.

He bought a horse after leaving the canyon, so he kept it in the barn. He remembered TAN JADE LIN was from one

of the three big families in ES CITY, the TAN family, so he might not need a device to find it.

UI YONG JIANG did not head there directly, he knew it would not be easy to see JADE LIN because he could not

just get into the family compound. He planned to go and check the general situation of the family first,

since the Emperor was chasing after YONG WE, the chances of him chasing JADE LIN were also very high.

‘Void, you will sneak into the JADE LIN complex tomorrow. When you find him, give him this letter.’ He handed the letter to Void.

He also gave Void one of the devices to give her, the contents of the letter did not say much, only

it said JADE LIN should come see him if he could. But if he can't, he should reply to the letter so he knows what to do.

He stayed in the INN room for some time before going out to get food for them,

after obtaining their food, he immediately began cultivating. He was already very close to breaking through to the Sixth stage of the Origin Plane after he understood

and increase the level of the darkness element, so he hoped to increase his strength while he was in the ICE CITY.

Next day.

He headed to the city accompanied by Void, who was hiding in his robe rather than lying on his shoulder as usual.

The VOID being on his shoulders was something the Emperor's people were probably already aware of, so he didn't want to take any risks.

He walked through the busy streets of THIS CITY, towards the TAN family complex. It took him almost an hour to

get to the complex located in the southern part of the city. Looking at the complex gate, it was not difficult to know that it belonged to

big family. UI YONG JIANG estimated the complex to be about eight hundred square meters, which

he said it was quite small given how much space large families need in other small towns.

An inn was across the compound, so he headed there for a drink. If anything happens in the city, especially to the TAN family,

this is the best place to find out. With a robe covering half his face, he stepped into the inn.

He walked to the empty seat by the window on the right side of the inn, from there he could see the front gate of the family beautifully.

‘I count on you Void,’ He said to Void after sitting down.

After getting the green light, Void disappeared. UI YONG JIANG gave him the device so that he could easily find JADE LIN.

He ordered a bottle of wine before looking across the inn, hoping to get something interesting from

conversations of people sitting nearby. But unfortunately, even after nearly twenty minutes, he did not

getting useful information from the people there, most of them talk about their personal lives.

Without doing anything, he could only switch to Void.

‘Hey, did you find it?’ She asked.

After a few seconds of waiting, Void replied, ‘No, there are more guards here than there are in that Mayor's compound,’

‘Which mayor?’ UI YONG JIANG asked, a little lost.

‘The person you stole his wine from, you know, who betrayed the empire,’ Void replied.

‘Oh, that one. I completely forgot about him. But, why were there so many guards in the compound? There must be something going on.’

‘Yeah, I heard some guards talking about the Emperor who sent some people here a few days ago ..’

Void told UI YONG JIANG everything he heard from the guards speaking.

According to the guards, JADE LIN's father sent the men away, saying that,

he's not in the compound. Being the head of a large family, the Emperor's people did not mind much, either,

‘That explains the high number of guards,’

‘No, actually, just before the Emperor's people came, one of the TAN family members was almost killed, an Elder to be exact,’

‘Well, that too. Do you use the device? Since it shows the light is here, it means he is clearly in the mansion,’

‘Or maybe he dropped that wooden thing before leaving,’

‘Yes, that too. Try to find it quickly, you are a small black cat with extraterrestrial elements, passing some people will not be difficult for you.’

‘Not, I just delayed because I saw something sparkling,’

Hearing the reason Void had not yet reached JADE LIN, UI YONG JIANG nearly spewed out the drink he had just gulped.

‘Do you take it?’ He asked a question that he knew would give him a very clear answer.

Since the Void stopped because of something sparkling, then of course he would take it.

“No,” replied Void hastily. His hasty answer only proved to UI YONG JIANG that he accepted it.

‘You lied, give it back now. We did not steal the goods from our friend's house,’ UI YONG JIANG directly reprimanded him.

‘But it's his father's house, not his,’ Void tries to justify himself.

After a few seconds of being scolded, Void finally agreed to return it. UI YONG JIANG didn't think he would

give it back, but there's no harm in trying. If he were there, then there might be

the hope in the Void to return it, but with the Void alone, the chances were low.

UI YONG JIANG waited for a few minutes before contacting Void again, to his surprise, though,

Void said that he was already at the place where the JADE LIN light point was on, but he was unable to find it.

‘Hmm, she should have known this was the only way for me to contact her, so even when she left, she would

pick it.’ UI YONG JIANG thought as he rubbed his head slightly depressed by the missing JADE LIN.

If he is unable to find JADE LIN within the next week, then he will risk going to his family compound.

He did not plan on leaving this city until he was sure that JADE LIN was safe. Void's back, please,

and UI YONG JIANG went on to ask him about the situation at home, and also whether he returned what he took.

Four days passed with UI YONG JIANG going to the same inn in the TAN family complex every day, he would also send Void to sneak into the mansion

to see if he could find something useful, but all their efforts always almost ended in the same way.

But UI YONG JIANG had gotten an overview of the relationship between the three families in the city. The TAN family is currently clashing with one

of the other two families due to a newly discovered mine that sits between the confines of the two families' properties outside the city.

The TAN family was the first to find it, but they were unable to prevent the LIM family from knowing it. There is no family that

agreeing to share the mine because it was something extremely valuable, especially for the LIM family who were a blacksmith family.

The third family in the CITY remains neutral on the matter, just like the Mayor's residence. They both waited to see the outcome of the struggle between the two families.

‘Can you see JADE LIN's father as long as you enter the mansion?’ UI YONG JIANG asked the Void who was about to sneak into the TAN family once again.

‘No, he never goes to the mansion every time I go,’ replied Void.

‘While, I've never seen him get out of the complex or come back. Does this mean he's traveling?’ UI YONG JIANG asked as he rubbed his chin.

‘No, the guards always say he left in the morning,’ Void said.

‘Alright, I think I should sneak into the complex later tonight,’ UI YONG JIANG quickly made up his mind.

He usually came to this inn as soon as it was opened, the workers had already started looking at him with suspicious gazes.

But since no one had come to disturb him yet, he planned to leave before that happened.

‘If only I could find a place to stay close,’ thought UI YONG JIANG while drinking wine on his desk.

As he spoke to Void, he suddenly felt someone approaching him.

Raising his head, he saw a young woman who seemed to be about the same age or perhaps a little older walking towards him.

She had short black hair that was just slightly below her ears, brown eyes with a pretty face.

The young lady was five feet ten CM tall, with an hourglass figure. All eyes were on him as he approached UI YONG JIANG's desk.

Behind him was a small entourage consisting of two young men and two more young women,

but nothing is as beautiful as her. The group of five was dressed luxuriously in long trousers and long shirts.

The young lady in front wore a silver shirt with a gold embroidered design on it, while in black pants.

UI YONG JIANG guessed that they were most likely from influential families in THIS CITY.

He waited patiently for them to walk past him, but to his surprise, the young woman stopped in front of his desk.

“If you don't mind, may I join you?” The young lady asked in a crisp and soft voice.

“Oh, sure,” replied UI YONG JIANG after looking around, before gently asking, ”

“You don't have to worry about them, they will get their own seat,”

The young lady waved from her group before sitting on a chair opposite UI YONG JIANG.

The four of them headed to the table behind UI YONG JIANG's desk and to his surprise, the couple sitting there left as soon as they saw them coming.

“You must be new here?” The young lady asked as she gestured for the waiter to come.

UI YONG JIANG nodded before taking a sip of his wine. He does not feel any form of hatred

from the young lady in front of him, so he decided to cheer her up because he was bored as well.

“Sorry to ask, but can I see your face?” The young lady asked with a curious expression.

“No,” reply UI YONG JIANG straightforwardly.

The young lady looked at UI YONG JIANG strangely, not expecting him to be so straightforward with her answer.

“I TAN XIAO JING, and you?” The young lady extended her hand across the table to shake hands.

UI YONG JIANG was surprised when he heard him say his name.

‘He has the same last name as JADE LIN, hmm, maybe he can help me.’ He thought as he extended his hand to shake his hand.

“YONG JIANG,” reply UI YONG JIANG.

He felt it was inappropriate to tell this young lady her real name because he was not one hundred percent sure she was from the TAN family.

“It's nice to meet you, JIANG,” XIAO JING replied with a faint smile.

UI YONG JIANG nodded before focusing on his drink, since he was still here, he decided to order some food.

As UI YONG JIANG was waiting for his meal, he learned from XIAO JING that this place actually belonged to the TAN family.

They engaged in a casual conversation with XIAO JING being the one who spoke the most.

After he finished eating, UI YONG JIANG asked him the question he wanted to ask as he walked towards him.

“Why are you approaching me?” He looked straight at the young lady.

“Nothing, I just want to know why you came here for the past four days, are you from the LIM family?” XIAO JING asked with a playful smile.

“Family LIM? I don't know who they are,” UI YONG JIANG replied calmly without showing any reaction.

“Oh, that's good then. But coming here every day seems a bit suspicious, don't you think?” XIAO JING asked with the same expression.

“I like wine here,” replied UI YONG JIANG.

As UI YONG JIANG spoke to the young lady for the first time, he called out to Void.

Since he claimed to be from the TAN family, maybe Void might have seen him in the mansion. The appearance of XIAO JING

changed his plan. Instead of sneaking into the TAN family tonight, he might as well have Void tail him.

“OK, may your day please JIANG,” XIAO JING said before standing up.

He gestured to the others in his group before saying to UI YONG JIANG, “I've taken care of your food and wine, so you don't have to worry about that.”

“Oh,” reply UI YONG JIANG relaxed.

His casual answer irritated the young women, as well as the young men of the group. They gave him a look of disdain before walking out of the inn.

‘It looks like I will save the money I should have spent today,’ thought UI YONG JIANG while chuckling.