Dual Edicts

The geographical layout of the Newin River territory is famously described as “A lone city gazing upon the azure sea, a single river piercing three mountains.” This refers to the Newin River, which stretches for a thousand li from north to south, cutting through three mountain ranges before emptying into the sea near Durkes City on the eastern coast.

Though the sea breeze was cool and gentle, the Hidden Boa Mountain, winding along the coastline, blocked most of its refreshing touch, earning Durkes City the moniker of a “scorching oven” in mid-August. Currently, under the direction of territorial officials, the city's residents toiled under the blazing sun, sweating profusely in their efforts to expand the city. Even the elderly and children seeking respite beneath large trees felt a cloying heat rising from deep within, beads of sweat glistening on their foreheads.

His Excellency, Earl Francis, the Lord of the City, also had a fine sheen of sweat on his brow at that moment, but a wipe of his hand revealed it to be chillingly cold… It was all cold sweat.

Just seconds earlier, Du Chen had been buried in official documents within the Lord's Manor's office, penning the final, crucial directives on the dossiers Porter had already processed… a mere few words: “Approved, Francis!”

But at that very moment, *thump-thump*, someone knocked on his desk!

“Just leave the documents here. Also, tell Harry that the dam construction schedule can be delayed. It’s too hot; let the laborers avoid the heat first…” Du Chen, assuming it was Porter, his chief steward and personal secretary, said without lifting his head. Then, he finally glanced up.

Upon seeing the person knocking on his desk, Du Chen’s eyes widened in utter shock. “Heavens…”

Standing directly before him was a man!

A man completely naked, bare from head to toe, without a stitch of clothing!

And with golden hair, blue eyes, a handsome face, and a robust physique… it was another Du Chen! A vivid,百分百 (one hundred percent) living Francis!

Instantly, Du Chen felt a rush of cold sweat.

*Myself, streaking…*

The other Du Chen wore a stone-faced expression, utterly devoid of emotion, standing rigidly opposite the desk. For a long while, he didn't move an inch. In Professor Jamison’s words, this was “body art,” standard body art, perfect body art showcasing the standard male physique!

After a moment of stunned silence, Du Chen rose and peered at the “himself” before him, tentatively asking, “Fifth Brother?”

The other Du Chen’s lips were tightly sealed, yet a voice echoed in Du Chen’s mind, as impudent as ever, making him want to kick his backside. “Heh heh, it’s me!” Du Chen let out a sigh of relief, no longer in a hurry to question Fifth Brother’s unusual appearance. He rolled his eyes at Fifth Brother. “Since you’re back, Constantine must surely have been captured alive, right?”

“Indeed! The moment he was escorted into the Lord’s Manor just now, your good deed was officially completed! And yes, the third Bagua has fully opened!”

“Fully opened? Why don’t I feel anything? And where’s Eleventh-Floor Assistant? He…” Du Chen no longer needed to undress to check. With a sweep of his Primordial Spirit and Divine Sense, he realized the eleventh lotus blossom on his gluteus… was gone!

“Don’t bother looking. Eleventh-Floor Assistant is invisible; even you can’t see him! I’ll explain in detail once I’ve figured out the combination of the third Bagua!” Fifth Brother – the other Du Chen – clumsily, like a zombie hopping with stiff knees, turned and sat on the desk. He cracked a stiff, very rigid smile. “Thanks to you, with the third Bagua fully opened, I can now use Old Five’s softened body to manifest outside, but as you can see…”

He shrugged. “For now, I can only appear like this, barely better than a vegetable! And I can’t speak; I can only communicate with you via Divine Sense! My strength is also appallingly weak…”

“So, a clone, but tragically weak! Far too weak!” Du Chen could tell that while Old Five’s appearance had changed, its essence remained that soft, pliable thing, devoid of any offensive power. However, no ordinary person could hope to strangle it to death either!

Du Chen stared at Fifth Brother, who was sprawled carelessly with splayed legs, and tentatively asked, “You can transform into a human, but you can’t conjure some clothes? When you came in just now, didn’t anyone…”

“So what if I was seen? Heh, am I afraid to be seen?” Old Five lifted his head, jutting out his neck stubbornly. Then, his form sagged and shrank, returning to its soft, pliable state. “Don’t worry, I crawled in like this and then transformed! Oh, right, there are some things I absolutely must tell you; listen carefully!”

His tone grew serious. “With the third Bagua fully opened, your strength is in a precarious state – an Eight-Star Battle God is no match for you, but you’re still no match for a Nine-Star Battle God. So, be mindful in battle! Also, I now strongly suspect that the Bagua on your gluteus aren’t true Bagua at all; at most, they merely possess the *shape* of Bagua!”

“The Bagua aren’t Bagua? What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not entirely sure either, but the fourth Bagua has already begun to bloom. I sense from the restlessly stirring Twelfth-Floor Assistant that, starting from the fourth Bagua, the Precious Scroll will likely undergo a major transformation, and that transformation is… well, let me study it some more before I tell you!”

*Thump!*

Du Chen punched Old Five, flattening his form!

“If you don’t understand, just say so, what’s with all the useless chatter! Two things: First, since you can now manifest outside, to differentiate, I’ll give you a name… Dus! Second, hand over the Gold Voucher for the ten thousand Gold Coins I gave Constantine!”

“The voucher is in the Precious Lotus Scripture; you can retrieve it along with Constantine later! Dus… heh heh!” The Chinese-descent Old Five pondered for a moment, swaying his body. “Not bad, a good name!”

In the common tongue of the Aethelgard Continent, Dus was indeed an elegant and memorable noble name!

But Du Chen immediately shouted to the outside, “Harry, tell Young Master Alex, for lunch today, we’re having… shredded tripe!” (The word for “shredded tripe” in Chinese, ‘dù sī’, is a homophone for Dus.)

Du Chen uttered the word ‘dù sī’ in the common tongue of the Aethelgard Continent… Old Five, in any case, didn't understand the true meaning of his name!

After inspecting the changes in his body in the secret chamber, Du Chen received the Lotus Sacred Artifact from Deboning, carefully examining Constantine, whom Dus had sealed within with a time-stasis spell. He touched his nose and chuckled.

Following this, Du Chen retrieved the Gold Voucher from the Precious Lotus Scripture, carefully tucking it into his robe as if it were a treasure… Previously, Du Chen wouldn't have cared much for ten thousand Gold Coins, but not anymore. Especially recently, he was practically on the brink of destitution!

Expanding a city, constructing a dam, funding new army training… The eight hundred li of the Newin River territory seemed to be a bottomless pit for funds everywhere. Du Chen’s fortune of millions was now almost at rock bottom. Money, money, money! At this moment, Du Chen wished he could steal Lanning’s national treasury!

Alas, the rule that one must not harbor wicked thoughts while performing good deeds meant that if Du Chen were to use stolen treasury funds for good, it wouldn't count as Merit!

Therefore, seeing ten thousand Gold Coins now was more pleasing to Du Chen than seeing ten thousand beauties!

In the secret chamber, Deboning completed his mission and then let out a long sigh. “To think, a titan like Constantine I would fall to such a state!” As a peer among The Master-level experts, he deeply understood Constantine’s unwillingness, but still coldly asked, “Young Master, when do you plan to secretly execute Constantine? Before that, I will carefully extract all the valuable parts from his Sacred Dragon form… the dragon bones, crystal cores, dragon heart, and so on!”

Du Chen raised a single finger, wagging it at Deboning, a smile playing on his lips. “If I had wanted to kill Constantine, I would have had you do it in the Great Wilderness…”

Deboning was startled. “Young Master, you won’t kill him? He caused the deaths of over a thousand of your people!”

“Why Constantine sought the Star of Turaam, I don’t know, nor do I wish to anymore!” Du Chen turned, staring at the map of the Three Continents on the wall, his fingertip lightly tapping an island in the Grand Delta Sea. “Someone will kill Constantine, but before that, His Excellency, the Sacred Dragon, still needs to perform a good deed for me!”

Deboning followed Du Chen’s fingertip, his gaze also falling on that island. “Eye of Heaven Forest? Young Master, do you mean to…?”

“A long, long time ago, I heard a saying – ‘To cease conflict is the highest good, immeasurable.’ ”

“Young Master, you must think this through carefully; this is already a dispute between gods!” Du Chen’s resolute gaze made Deboning shake his head slightly. “When do we depart for the Eye of Heaven Forest?”

“No rush. We cannot actively escort Constantine to the Eye of Heaven Forest; that way, no secret would remain safe!”

Du Chen walked with his hands clasped behind his back towards the secret chamber's passage. “It’s very strange; logically, they should have arrived by now, but why haven't they?”

*Arrived?* Deboning was utterly bewildered.

It wasn't until half a month later that he finally understood what his Young Master was waiting for – on the first day of the ninth month, two gleaming golden scrolls were simultaneously placed on Du Chen’s desk!

One came from Mount Miglio, stamped with the seal of Samuel, the Dragon God, Lord of the Myriad Dragons! It contained only one sentence, a supremely domineering one: “Francis, it is reported that you have harbored Chris Andy, the son of the traitor Constantine of our clan! My King has previously proclaimed throughout the Three Continents that anyone harboring Constantine and his affiliates shall be considered a mortal enemy of the Dragon Clan. You are hereby ordered to immediately proceed to the Eye of Heaven Forest and confess your crime!”

The other came from the Papal Curia’s Holy Mountain, personally penned by Pontiff Sama IX, an eleven-level Battle God and a living god. Its tone was unusually cordial: “Francis, favored child of God! Upon seeing my personal letter, you must surely have also seen the Dragon God Samuel’s edict.

Samuel considers Constantine’s rebellion years ago a lifelong humiliation. Now, unable to find Constantine, he will undoubtedly vent his wrath upon you and Andy!

I, the Incarnate Representative of the Gods, have done my utmost to exempt you and delay this matter for a long time! Alas, Samuel is obstinate and self-serving, forcefully issuing this edict… Francis, my child, come to the Eye of Heaven Forest! This edict, penned by Sama IX.”

At the end, there was a small line of text: “Your teacher, Zigurd, is also here!”

Porter, Harry, Deboning – all of Du Chen’s trusted confidantes gathered around the desk, staring at these two edicts.

Du Chen looked left, then right, and suddenly curled his lips into a smile. “I wondered why the matter with Andy only flared up now. So His Holiness the Pontiff was helping me delay… He must be trying to curry favor with that completely non-existent, mysterious Master behind me, eh? Heh heh! Well, this works out; he hasn’t appeared in a long time!”

“Francis, how can you still be smiling?” Porter’s fine brows furrowed slightly. “The Dragon God intends you harm; one could say the situation has reached a critical juncture of life and death!”

“If I don’t smile, will the Dragon God then *not* want to deal with me and Andy?” Du Chen smiled even more brightly, placing both scrolls into Porter’s hands. “Porter, my brother, since you took care of Constantine, can you give me another idea, one that lets me take care of the Dragon God? Ideally… I’d only need to play a tune to make the Dragon God prostrate himself!”