Chapter 163: The Battle for City Lord

“Hey! Don’t hit the face, you know? Kun Sang, you little punk, that’s not playing fair!”

The Dragon Soar camp was bustling with laughter as both their members and a few guests from Molan City watched the two young men brawl. Everyone had cheerfully cleared a huge space for them to fight.

To prevent these two—who had gotten serious and started using their abilities—from destroying the hard-earned, well-maintained concrete ground, three of Dragon Soar’s earth ability users quickly laid down a thick platform of sand, forming a large circular arena for the fight.

The three earth users worked together seamlessly, reacting so quickly that the sand ring was already forming beneath Pei Yu and Kun Sang’s feet as soon as they started. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time they’d done this—Dragon Soar’s people must spar like this in camp all the time.

Green vines shot skyward, twisting into cages bristling with sharp thorns.

Golden light flashed in Kun Sang’s hands, his razor-sharp blades slicing through the green cages, shredding vines and leaves that fell all over the ground.

Pei Yu, despite his loud, unruly shouting, moved with deadly precision—every attack was a killing blow. The black thorns on his green vines looked extremely poisonous, clearly meant to take someone out.

Kun Sang didn’t hold back either. His golden needles and blades were all lethally sharp, each strike aimed to pierce right through.

Yun Qimu and her three companions, who had come out for a post-meal stroll, watched in amazement.

“Uncle Pei’s going all out? Did someone come to Dragon Soar looking for trouble again, or did Uncle Pei run into an old enemy?” Yuan An’s chubby face was gleeful—if Pei Yu’s big mouth could get shut up for a few days, he’d be even happier.

“I don’t think so. Look at how happy Dragon Soar’s people are—they’re cheering and clapping like they’re watching a circus act. Doesn’t seem like someone’s here to cause trouble or an enemy showed up. It’s probably just an old friend.” Yun Qimu analyzed with a smile, her tone confident.

“Hahaha, Miss Yun is exactly right. That’s a distinguished guest from Molan City we invited.” Kui Hai, seeing Yun Qimu, Wu Xingyu, Yuan An, and Yun He walking over, greeted them warmly and started introducing the people beside him.

Pointing to the tall, imposing, and strikingly handsome man at the front, he said, “This is our leader, Zhong Teng.”

Yun Qimu’s eyes curved with delight as she followed his gaze. What a presence—mature, cool, and full of masculine charm, completely different from Zhong Qiu, that pretty boy who couldn’t even lift a chicken. Still, their similar features made it clear they were brothers.

She sized him up, eyes full of admiration.

Exile Star might be a trashy little planet, but it sure had its share of high-quality men. Not to mention Mo Xie and Wu Xingyu from before—even Pei Yu, if he’d just shut up and dress properly, could barely make the cut.

Handsome faces, strong abilities—the true marks of quality men.

Dragon Soar’s Zhong Teng definitely fit her standards, even a notch above Pei Yu.

Not bad, not bad. Someone like this would make a perfect poster boy for their Earth Village.

Thinking this, Yun Qimu’s smile grew even brighter, her appreciation for Zhong Teng deepening.

It wasn’t until Wu Xingyu beside her gave a dissatisfied cough that she snapped back to herself. She smiled graciously at Zhong Teng, showing not a hint of embarrassment at having stared at him for so long. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Wu Xingyu’s cold, dark eyes swept over Zhong Teng, sizing him up as well. Then he gave a soft snort and nodded with a haughty air, acknowledging the greeting.

Zhong Teng, usually stern and unsmiling, kept his face stiff as he nodded back in return.

But in his heart, he was thinking, This guy’s even prettier than a woman.

His gaze dropped—good, there was an Adam’s apple. Still, he remained suspicious, eyeing Wu Xingyu as if wondering if this was the latest interstellar disguise tech.

Wu Xingyu, growing impatient under his stare, shot back a glare as cold as ice, sparks practically flying.

If one of them were a woman, sparks would be flying for sure.

Yun Qimu glanced between the two, finding Wu Xingyu’s reaction a bit odd—she’d never seen anyone who could get such a rise out of him.

“Ahem.” Seeing the tension in their stares, Kui Hai quickly stepped in, worried they’d start fighting like Pei Yu and Kun Sang, and their camp plaza wouldn’t be big enough for that. He hurried to change the subject, introducing the guests from Molan City.

This time, Molan City was led by Huan Linyuan. With him were Hailang, an ice ability user and just nineteen; Ming Xiao, a C-rank light ability user, frail but sharp-minded; Kun Sang, an S-rank metal ability user; and Ming Mu, the S-rank decomposition ability “mad scientist.”

All of them were Mo Xie’s closest subordinates.

As for Lin Zhengyang—Mo Xie’s former adjutant and now Molan City’s deputy lord and actual manager—he hadn’t accepted Zhong Teng’s invitation this time.

With Chaos City in turmoil and opportunists lurking, he felt a stronger sense of responsibility than Mo Xie, who was off searching for land to grow Molan. Lin Zhengyang naturally wouldn’t leave the city at such a time—he had to stay and hold the fort.

Besides, Lin Zhengyang had sent five capable A-rank ability users to help Zhong Teng, making a team of ten.

But even with these ten, Dragon Soar still didn’t have enough people for the competition.

Each faction only needed to send thirty people to the Hunt, and that should’ve been easy for Dragon Soar. But just before Lin Qiu announced the Hunt, Dragon Soar had run into a once-in-a-century berserk beast horde while out scavenging, leaving many of their brothers seriously injured and still recovering in camp.

Some even died on the spot, devoured by the beasts.

That left them short-handed.

At first, Dragon Soar thought it was just a freak accident. But not long after, bad news came from Red Lotus Stronghold—their leader Yi Beiming had been ambushed by a traitor, gravely injured, and even suffered a backlash from a Gu worm.

And almost at the same time, Lin Qiu of Bloodthirst announced the City Lord Competition: all factions in Chaos City could participate, just send thirty people to hunt in Senmu Swamp, and whoever’s team brought back the most would win the title of City Lord.

The timing was just too suspicious—right after both Dragon Soar and Red Lotus, the only factions that could rival Bloodthirst, suffered major setbacks. It was hard not to suspect that Dragon Soar’s beast horde “accident” and Red Lotus’s betrayal weren’t accidents at all.

But with no proof that Lin Qiu was behind it, both factions could only investigate in secret, keeping up appearances for now."