Return!

Chapter 17: Return!

Crimson Wood City,

Zhao Family Courtyard,

The five family heads were conversing about the stranger who owned Blue Wood identity. The boy had appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared as well.

The boy hadn't been seen since that day, and the last people to see them were the three of Cao's siblings. The trio had been interrogated many times, but their responses had been constant. They found Fang Yuan in the middle of a jungle.

Since Fang Yuan owned Blue Wood identity, the same as the head of the five families, the families didn't dare harshly treat Cao's siblings, so they couldn't fully trust whether there was truth in what the three told them.

"Only the City Lord can now tell us about the stranger," Gong Datong sighed. They couldn't find anything about the stranger, so they decided to give up.

Only the city lord, Tang Gonglin, was their hope, but he was yet to return from his journey. Fortunately, the return day was not very far, so the five families would get their answers.

The Wooden identities weren't assigned by the Crimson Wood City but by the Shen Family. They were the overlords of the world, and their descendants were usually the city lords of different cities. There were two higher identity ranks than Orange Wood, and they were Silver Wood and Golden Wood.

Crimson Wood City may seem independent with the lord being a Tang, the descendant of the merchant's leader, but it was only such because of the large tributes the city paid to the Shen family every decade.

The stranger may be a part of the Shen family, despite him telling his name to be Fang Yuan, so they needed to be wary and secret in their actions. That might be the cause of them finding nothing about the boy. But now they have decided to give up and not spend their resources fruitlessly.

Thud!

Suddenly a crashing sound rang in the yard outside the room. The five people didn't have to look to find the reason. Their senses noticed a Zhao family member rushing to the yard and then kneeling.

"Master, the stranger boy has reappeared!"

It was like a thunderstrike in their heads. The five family leaders looked at each other and could only smile helplessly.

When they had given up on their efforts to find the identity, the boy reappeared. It was as if the heavens were playing jokes on them.

But they still calmed down since they were all Foundation Building level cultivators and had lived for more than a century.

"Where did you see him?" Zhao Luzhou calmly asked.

***

After the timer ended, information informing Fang Yuan of the same appeared in his head. The next moment, his consciousness appeared before the portal.

It looked the same as what it had looked like when Fang Yuan saw it for the first time. He then thought of the pocket space and nodded after seeing the tools he had stored.

Since there was a fifty percent chance of him returning to the same place, Fang Yuan decided to carry tools so that he could effortlessly store trees.

He then took a deep breath and returned to where the portal was. He walked inside the portal, and a similar feeling of uncomfortableness appeared.

But it lasted quicker than the last time, and when he saw around him, a broad smile spread across his face.

[The time flow rate between the two worlds is 10 to 1.]

[You can stay here for twenty hours while only two hours will pass in the original world. You will automatically be teleported back to your location twenty hours later.]

The familiar information reappeared in his head. He ignored it in the excitement of the situation.

He had reappeared at the same spot where he had exited Crimson Wood City two days earlier. He couldn't help but punch in the air and jump since he no longer needed to worry about Shengong Linfang's reaction in case he teleported to another place.

Before him, there were numerous Crimson Wood trees. He immediately took out the tools required to root out a tree.

Shengong Linfang had offered an increase of thirty percent if he sold the entire tree. Fang Yuan didn't need to worry about the storage since the former gave him a storage pouch that could carry a complete tree.

To Fang Yuan's shock, the storage space in the broken pagoda could carry storage treasures as well, so the pouch was kept there, and he could take it out at any time.

Fang Yuan didn't want to be greedy, so he took out five trees and stored them inside the storage space. He then bowed toward the trees, thanking them for their sacrifice so he could earn money.

Fang Yuan still needed to return once more to confirm that he would teleport to Crimson Wood City every time. So not knowing when he would return, he decided to pull out extra.

As for why he stopped at five, it had to do with his conscience. Since five trees would provide more than enough starting funds, he decided not to be too greedy.

***

Fang Yuan had remembered the way so he soon found his way back to the market and suddenly found himself being stared at by a couple of people.

He frowned, but then he saw them running in different directions. He was confused about what was happening but didn't dare follow them since he could feel trouble.

Due to his low cultivation, he couldn't see through their cultivation, so he decided to let nature take its course. He had not walked very far when he crossed paths with a familiar figure.

Before bidding farewell to the trio, Fang Yuan had asked for their names and had learned that the three had the same surname. It didn't mean they were blood-related or had the same adoptive parents.

The three came from different families, but since their surnames were the same, they decided to band together and form a group called 'Cao Siblings.'

(Chapter End.)

***

A/N: Please comment on what you think of the chapter and what I can do to improve the story.