Return to purple leaf city

Liang Chen made his way to Purple Leaf City without any delay because he knew his friends by now would have been worrying about him and wondering what happened to him that they had not heard from him for close three months, and Liang Chen too was homesick.

Upon arriving at the gates of the city Liang Chen knew he would have difficulties in entering the city. Purple Leaf City was the second largest city in Zhou and was guarded round the clock by the personal army of the marquis. 

They made sure they identified anyone who lived in the city or was going and leaving the city and this was done by badges. Permanent residence badges were given to those who lived and owned property within the city basically those who intended to build a life there while there were those who were given visitor badges; people who came to the city for many reasons such as missions, and business to name a few.

The prizes for each of the badges were different. Liang Chen himself in the past had a permanent residence badge but during his escape from the karil snake, he had lost it along with some of his other belongings. Now Liang Chen faced a problem of how to enter the city—nevertheless, he will have to open this box to find out how to solve this problem.

He approached the gates looking very confident hoping to not be stopped but he knew things didn't go his way when he heard a call from the top of the wall

"You there, stop"

Then he saw a man jumping down dressed in military attire. The man took a good look at Liang Chen and then spoke

"Sir, can you please take out your badge for me to see"

Liang Chen was very embarrassed because he knew that this man had discovered that he tried to sneak in without presenting a badge.

"I'm sorry I can't"

The man frowned but did not lose his temper immediately so he continued asking 

"Do you have a badge"

"Not right now" was Liang Chen's response and just when the guard was about to flare up he heard 

"I had but I lost it on a mission outside the city"

"Are you a permanent resident here?"

"yes"

"Okay then, come with me to meet my supervisor and see if we can verify that claim but I have to warn you that there will be punishment if you are lying"

"No problem"

Liang Chen was quite relieved, he had thought that this was going to be a big issue but thank the stars he caught the attention of a reasonable guard so he followed the man without complaints.

The man took him and entered a small office by the side and asked Liang Chen to sit while he went into a room to report to someone, A few minutes later the man came and invited him in. There he met a man with a very stern face who did not even bother to make small talk with him and asked directly 

"State your name, where you live, and what you do in the city, and after verification if what you have said is true it will be an easy process to give you a new badge, do you understand?"

"yes"

"My name is Liang Chen and I am a member of the Blood Saber Gang as well as a member of the Hunter's Association I live in the north district. I am sure Chief Ouyang will be able to confirm my identity"

When the two other people in the room heard what Liang Chen said they looked at each other with slight confusion and surprise but their reaction did not escape Liang Chen's notice so he inquired 

"Is there a problem?"

They both shook their heads in refusal but even if Liang Chen didn't trust this response what could he do if they didn't want to answer. 

"How long has it been since you last came to the city?"

"About three months"

The two men nodded their heads with a knowing expression as if they just come to a sudden understanding of why this man was so clueless/

They told Liang Chen to wait while they verified and after about thirty minutes they returned and gave Liang Chen a badge that looked exactly like his old one and then he left.

Entering the city Liang Chen looked at the place like someone who had been gone from his home for years. The city was very vibrant, full of life, and brightly lit. Liang Chen had almost forgotten this feeling after living in the wild for so long with demonic beasts being the only living creatures he often saw there. While the wild was very quiet except for the occasional booms of demonic beasts fighting, this city was buzzing with noise.

Liang Chen did not choose to go home right away, he could not get rid of the looks the guards gave him after he told them his identity. He wanted to gather some information so as not to be walking around the city blind if he was in some kind of trouble and where better to gather information than a tavern so he went to the nearest one he could find.

He entered, chose a table went and sat down, called the waitress over, and ordered some food and drinks. As he was eating many conversations were being had on many tables around him but none of this was of any interest to him or could explain the behavior of the guards so he just sat there in silence minding his business and eating his food but soon another conversation caught his attention

"Say brother, do you think the blood saber gang is going to survive this?"

"No way. The blood saber gang is done for unless they give up this city and relocate"

"Don't underestimate them after all they have been one of the big three within Purple Leaf for a very long time"

"That's true but it is just one of the big three while it is now fighting against the other two"

Liang Chen furrowed his brows wondering what could have happened to make the other two gangs join hands in an attempt to destroy the Bloodsaber gang. He was nervous to get back as soon as possible but he wanted to get a clear image of everything first and continued drinking in silence while the discussion continued

After a few minutes, the two men changed their topic of conversation but Liang Chen had not gotten all the information he needed so he called the waitress over and asked her about what was going on between the three gangs. When he noticed her hesitation he slipped a spirit stone into her hands. When the girl saw it her eyes shone with a bright light and she started explaining.

It turns out that a few days ago a problem occurred between some members of the Blood Saber gang and the Tiger Fang gang which led to a bloody fight in which both sides lost members. At first, everyone thought the problem would just end there but who would have thought that not a day later the Tiger Fang gang and the Silver Wolf gang would both declare that there is no longer a place for the Blood Saber gang within Purple Leaf City and the blood saber gang should sign over all its assets to the two gangs. Like everyone would expect this started a huge fight, Nobody knew what the Tiger Fang gang had promised the Silver Wolf gang for them to go this far. After a few days of fighting here and there within the city, many people had died and from the sound of it, Liang Chen knew that the blood saber gang was losing badly.

Just as Liang Chen was in deep thought the door to the tavern was suddenly barged in and three men carrying the mark of the Tiger Fang gang entered fiercely, Looking at Liang Chen they spoke to him

"Liang Chen, long time no see I heard you went missing some time ago, seems that was just a rumor. Anyway too bad that you chose now of all times to return"

"Shin tu, what is the meaning of this?"

"Have you not heard? By my father's order, all members of the blood saber gang found within the city are to be executed on the spot"

"So you and your bunch of riff-raff came to kill me? How stupid"

Liang Chen continued "It will be your most stupid and last decision. I heard you have killed a lot of people from my blood saber gang recently"

"Hahahahahahaha you are right and I am sure you are going to be next so stop wasting your breath trying to frighten me"

As their conversation was going on all the customers within the restaurant got up and started leaving the place one after another. They did not want to be caught up in whatever was going to happen here.

Liang Chen did not bother talking anymore and immediately he noticed that the restaurant was clear of innocents he  made his move.