Chapter 136: City and Kingdom (3)

"Well! I can only say that I haven't slept well these past days; otherwise, you might think I didn't want to see you. Seeing you is the only way I can sleep well!" Ye Lang replied. Indeed, he hadn't slept well in those forty-one days—not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

After all, he was on the run. For the previous days, he had substituted meditation for sleep, which naturally precluded dreaming. Later, his nerves kept him in a state of high alert, preventing him from slipping into deep sleep, and thus, he could not enter this dream.

"Hmph! If I find out who made you sleep poorly, I will never let them off!" the girl in the dream gritted her teeth and murmured, as if talking to herself, or perhaps to Ye Lang.

She hated anyone who kept her from seeing him. Even a day or two without him made her unhappy, let alone forty-one long days!

"I can't say..." Ye Lang's words did not surprise the girl; she had guessed as much. She did not mind, however, and began to chat with him.

Perhaps because of their long separation, they talked for a long, long time. In other words, Ye Lang also slept for a long, long time. Ye Lanyu and the others knew he hadn't slept for two days, so they didn't wake him. By the time he finally awoke, it was three days later; he had slept for three full days!

"Ye Lang, did you see the girl from your dreams yesterday?" the Seventh Princess asked with a smile, looking at the dazed Ye Lang.

"I did. She was angry, as expected, saying that since I hadn't appeared for so long, she would ignore me from now on. I don't see how it's been that long—it's only been a month or so. I was on the run during that time, which is why I couldn't enter the dream!" Ye Lang said with a look of innocence.

"A month or more is a very long time for a girl. It's no wonder she's scolding you!" the Seventh Princess said softly, seemingly speaking from her own experience.

She felt the same way. Having been separated from Ye Lang for over a month, she knew how much she had longed to see him. It seemed as though she had never been apart from him for so long since they were children.

"Is that so? But, even after saying she wouldn't talk to me, she had me stay and chat with her shortly after..." Ye Lang said blankly.

"You speak as if it were all real!" The Seventh Princess poked his head, half-annoyed. Seeing him talk about it so earnestly, as if it had truly happened, made her feel conflicted between irritation and amusement.

"It is real!" Ye Lang retorted.

"Alright, alright, it's real! Ye Lang, tell me, how did you create that array, how did you escape, and how did you end up in the city of Mivela..." The Seventh Princess grabbed his hand, looking at him with eager anticipation.

"That..." This wasn't the first time Ye Lang had been asked this; several others had already inquired. Still, since the Seventh Princess wanted to know, he began to recount the tale slowly.

And so, the two sat together in the early morning, talking leisurely—sometimes laughing, sometimes tense, sometimes playful... The scene felt heartwarming to those who witnessed it, filled with a comforting, bittersweet envy. They had been this way since childhood; it seemed nothing had changed.

In the following period, the members of the Ye family arrived at Ye City one after another. Some came unexpectedly, while others, surprisingly, did not show up at all. This gave Ye Chengtian and the others a chance to clearly see where everyone's loyalties lay.

On the whole, the results were quite unexpected; more people had come than they had anticipated—something Ye Chengtian and his group had not factored in.

Although one could not rule out those with ulterior motives, given their current circumstances, there was little to be gained. Ye Chengtian and his colleagues were starting from scratch, intending to accomplish something that others found inconceivable.

This sense of impossibility caused some to lose heart and leave, though they were a very small minority.

Those who remained were the trustworthy ones, the future pillars of Ye Chengtian’s faction. This faction continued to identify as the Ye family, acknowledging that those of the Xiangkong Ye family were also their kin.

A family belongs to everyone; one does not renounce their heritage just because of a split, nor does one stop being a Ye just because they have struck out on their own.

Perhaps this was why the support for Ye Chengtian’s faction continued to grow, eventually surpassing the prestige of the original family head—though that would come in time.

Once everyone had arrived, Ye Yi announced to the group that he would be abdicating his position as head of the family to Ye Chengtian, and that he would no longer recognize the leadership of the Xiangkong Ye family.

While he didn't care about the assets of the Xiangkong branch, he was deeply displeased at having his position usurped. He wanted to make one thing clear to the Xiangkong Ye family: "I am not dead yet!"

As more people gathered, things progressed more smoothly. Ye Chengtian and his group began to develop the city in all aspects. While doing so, they notified Ye Lang’s older brother, his second sister, and other siblings at the First Academy, as well as others, instructing them to come directly there.

However, even without the notice, Ye Lang’s brother and the others already knew; the entire continent was abuzz with the news. Everyone knew that Zhao Yarou had suddenly ascended to the throne as the new Empress and that the Ye family had split into two factions.

This situation led many to believe that it was the beginning of a new era.

They assumed that Ye Chengtian’s faction would leverage outside forces, combined with their own, to seek revenge, plunging the continent into a period of turmoil.

Initially, everyone expected the Ye family to defect to the Vermilion Bird Empire and become its new favorites. It was thought that the Vermilion Bird Empire, which had never been on peaceful terms with the Xiangkong Empire, would assist the Ye family in attacking the newly crowned and still unstable empire.

Yet, no one expected the Ye family to simply stay in a small kingdom, developing it. While this small kingdom was now under the Ye family's control, it seemed too insignificant to most.

Perhaps some understood that even if the Ye family had been ousted by the new Empress, it did not necessarily mean they would seek revenge. Revenge might bring disaster to their ancestral homeland, a prospect they were unwilling to face.

Another source of surprise was that while the Xiangkong Empire was expected to be unstable for a time, the outcome defied expectations. Zhao Yarou used firm, bloody measures to quickly stabilize the country.

All of this seemed to have little to do with Ye Lang, at least in his own estimation, even though he had played a crucial role in the middle of it all.

Time passed, and everything continued on its course. Aside from those changes, life went on as before. In that sense, the matter had finally come to an end.