To be honest, Xin Lan and Hua Lin Yu were rather agreeable guests in that regard. Even though Hua Lin Yu was curious about meeting the king he also wasn’t somebody who would bother a person needlessly. Since he had seen him and gotten a first impression, he didn’t mind leaving either. Anyway, there were certainly many interesting things to see in the spiritual beasts’ capital city. Why would he want to sit in a room all day and look at some uncle?

Thus, the two of them soon followed Wu Ya out of the throne room and started to make their way through the capital city.

There was indeed quite a bit to see. Just like any capital city in the mortal realm or the immortal realms, this one was a bustling place as well. There was one big market halfway from the main gate to the palace and vendors lined the main streets that led on two axes through the city. Other than that, there were stores everywhere, teahouses and restaurants, and even a fighting arena in the north of the city.

When they arrived there, Hua Lin Yu’s eyes went wide. This was something that he hadn’t seen before. He looked up at Xin Lan habitually, waiting for him to explain.

Xin Lan looked over and faintly raised his brows. “The spiritual beasts value strength as do the dragons. In the past, we had something like this in our cities as well. No matter whether that was the capital city or any of the other big ones. Even small towns could have a makeshift arena.

“Inside, you would fight for ranks among your peers, trying to make your name known. Winning in a row of fights would gain you a lot of prestige. In a society like ours or that of the spiritual beasts, that is important.”

Hua Lin Yu nodded slowly but he didn’t fail to notice that Xin Lan had said ‘in the past’. Clearly, this wasn’t the matter anymore. Pondering for a bit, he couldn’t help but inquire further. “So, why aren’t the dragons doing it anymore?”

Xin Lan narrowed his eyes, thinking back to those times and how slowly, this tradition had fallen out of favor. “Most likely, there was too much war. We were constantly fighting with outside enemies, where would we have had the leisure time to fight each other like this?

“Each injury you got in the arena was one that might cost you your life against the demons. There were only a few that had the luxury of being able to do something like this. Everyone else would just save their strength and release it on the battlefield instead.” Naturally, there had still been fights for training purposes but it wasn’t the same as in the arena.

In this place, there were no rules. Killing your opponent was still alright. If you really had a feud with somebody, this was the perfect place to take them out. He should know. He had certainly done that once or twice in the past.

Naturally, Xin Lan wouldn’t tell Hua Lin Yu that. His fiance probably only had a rough guess about the things he had really done in the past. And he didn’t feel the need to make it any clearer to him. With how Hua Lin Yu had grown up, it was likely that he would have a problem if he knew these things. Thus, he’d rather keep silent about them and just tell him some interesting tidbits about what else had gone on in his life. The full truth … what did it matter?

Hua Lin Yu didn’t notice that Xin Lan was keeping anything back and was just amazed once again just how much his fiance knew about the world. It seemed that being old really paid off sometimes.

He took a long look at the exposed half of Xin Lan’s face, wondering if, in the future, he would also be like this. But in any case, even if he was, he was afraid he still wouldn’t be able to compare to Xin Lan. After all, in the time that he spent catching up to him, wouldn’t Xin Lan already learn a lot more things? Clearly, there was no way to ever be as amazing as him.

Xin Lan raised his brows, not quite sure what was going on. “What’s the matter?”

Hua Lin Yu lowered his head, actually feeling a little shy in front of him. “It’s nothing. Nothing at all.” He hurriedly turned away and rushed over to Wu Ya’s side, motioning into the arena. “Can we take a closer look?”

Wu Ya looked from Hua Lin Yu’s slightly reddened face over to Xin Lan who seemed quite puzzled and felt like he had once again been pulled into the love affair of this couple. He rubbed his neck, wondering if maybe this was the moment to say that he just remembered that he needed a snack to fill his stomach and rush away.

In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to do that in front of Hua Lin Yu’s expression though. Thus, he looked at the arena, his gaze becoming a little complicated. “Actually … maybe it would be better to stay outside.” This arena wasn’t just meant for the fights. And spectating from inside really wasn’t what people usually did. Even if somebody went in there, it would usually just be for one reason. And that … Wu Ya glanced at Xin Lan and felt that he definitely couldn’t let Hua Lin Yu go in there. “To be honest, if it was your lover fighting that might be something different but if it’s some unrelated people, you’d better not step foot in there.”

Hua Lin Yu was confused and looked over, noticing that while there were two people fighting inside, just one person stood at the edge of the arena, watching them with a smile. Finally, when the winner inside was decided, she went over to that person at the side, scooping her up into her arms.

Watching as the two of them gave each other a resounding kiss, Hua Lin Yu suddenly felt that he understood. Yes, maybe going in there really wouldn’t be a good idea.

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