Chapter 393, The Ancient Noble Family of the Western Border

Translator: Silavin

 

This area was desolate, with no cities established. There were only two reasons for this.

 

First, Dragon Country was aware of the existence of Ancient Noble Families, and had deliberately allocated the Western Border to the Ancient Noble Families, for them to develop it.

 

After all, a country’s national power cannot be measured by its overt strength alone.

 

Ancient Noble Families were also part of national power, and Dragon Country needed its domestic Ancient Noble Families to grow and strengthen, to counter the other countries’ Hidden Forces.

 

Compared to other regions, the Wilderness of the Western Border had richer Map Resources, but also Higher Level Monsters, making exploration more dangerous. Such a place was perfectly suited for those Ancient Noble Families with deep power, to establish themselves and develop over time.

 

Therefore, Dragon Country’s Three Elders had once negotiated with all known Ancient Noble Families, giving the Western Border to the Ancient Noble Families.

 

With the Ancient Noble Families having arrangements here, they were satisfied and had not emerged to cause trouble for Dragon Country. Even those who knew of the Ancient Noble Families’ existence were few in number.

 

Dragon Country also had a basic policy of not establishing cities in the Western Border to ensure the Ancient Noble Families would not be disturbed by outsiders.

 

Besides the national power deliberately avoiding building cities here, the second reason for the sparse population was that any organisation or Force capable of exploring this place would already know about the Ancient Noble Families.

 

Exploring this place might infringe upon the Ancient Noble Families’ interests, which would likely result in punishment from them, so most would not come to the Western Border.

 

Those who could not reach the level of Ancient Noble Families simply did not have the capability to explore the Western Border.

 

It should be noted that the Monsters here were basically all above Level 80, and Players who could kill such Monsters would be top experts in the outside world.

 

How could such top experts not know why no one dared come to Dragon Country’s Western Border?

 

Occasionally, there were some people with sufficient strength who did not know about the Ancient Noble Families who came here to explore. However, these people numbered only a handful each year. In the vast Western Border, they were like leaves in the ocean, completely unnoticeable. The Ancient Noble Families also could not be bothered to deal with them.

 

Therefore, looking out across the Western Border, it was all Wilderness, with barely any trace of people.

 

But according to Ye Wuxian, there were quite a few Ancient Noble Families in the Western Border. The Ye Family, Huang Family, and Loong Family here were merely Third Tier Ancient Noble Families.

 

Similarly ranked Third Tier Ancient Noble Families numbered at least eight on the outskirts of the Western Border.

 

The further one went into the depths of the Western Border, there were Second Tier, First Tier, and even Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families.

 

Reportedly, Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families could be called Holy Lands, establishing their Family estates in the depths of the Western Border’s Forbidden Zone, where even Fourth Profession Players were merely bottom-tier existences.

 

Of course, these Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families were only mentioned by Ye Wuxian’s Grandfather. She had never met them, and just heard of them.

 

As for whether they actually existed, she was not sure.

 

After all, the Ye Family could only operate on the outskirts of the Western Border, and they had no power to explore deeper Forbidden Areas, so how could they know if there were so-called Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families deeper inside?

 

Hearing Ye Wuxian’s description, Lu Fan could not help but be shocked, [This world is truly vast beyond measure!]

 

He thought he had truly understood this world, but in reality, what he knew was merely a corner of it. [This world had barely a tenth of it explored. Just look at how many Forbidden Areas there are. When all the veils of this world are finally lifted, who could say what would appear? Perhaps these so-called Supreme Tier Ancient Noble Families are mere insects in the grand scheme of things…]

 

Lu Fan knew he was indeed very strong, strong enough that there should not be anyone comparable to him in the known world.

 

However, he still could not lower his guard. He needed to continue growing stronger to face various possible enemies and unexpected situations.

 

For example, those Ancient Gods awakening from their slumber.

 

Along the way, Lu Fan was lost in thought and barely spoke.

 

Ye Wuxian sat beside Lu Fan, and seeing him deep in thought, did not disturb him. She just sat on the Divine Bone Clone looking down at the Western Border she was so familiar with.

The two had ventured about two thousand kilometres into the Western Border, where basically no one could set foot.

 

Along the way, Lu Fan and Ye Wuxian had encountered countless Monsters.

 

Some Monsters feared the pressure emanating from the Divine Bone Clone and chose to take detours.

 

Others did not avoid it and actively attacked.

 

For such Monsters, Lu Fan did not show mercy, directly letting the Divine Bone Clone take action to eliminate them, turning them into Experience Points.

 

So, the journey to the Ye Family was quite smooth, without encountering any trouble.

 

Finally, following Ye Wuxian’s words ‘We’re here’, Lu Fan saw a scene of mountains and rivers appear at the horizon’s edge, about a hundred kilometres away from their position.

 

Among the mountains and waters stood ten extremely distinctive traditional courtyards.

 

These mansions were carved with Dragons and painted with Phoenixes, which Lu Fan had only seen in TV dramas in his previous life.

 

Needless to say, building such a grand mansion in this world would require spending a huge fortune.

 

However, although the mansion was luxurious, it was shrouded in a light blue Protective Barrier.

 

At the same time, a huge opened scroll floated on the Protective Barrier, with the character ‘Truce’ written on it.

 

Moreover, the courtyard clearly showed signs of being slightly desolate and lifeless.

 

This was not reflected in the courtyard itself, but rather an overall feeling of the place.

 

Just like how a residence that was frequently inhabited gives a completely different feeling from one that was empty.

 

[This must be the Ye Family estate.] Lu Fan had the Divine Bone Clone fly to the front of the Ye Family estate, descend, and then he and Ye Wuxian dismounted together, before he recalled the Bone Dragon.

 

“I’m back!” Ye Wuxian looked at the somewhat desolate Ye Family estate, feeling somewhat emotional.

 

She looked at Lu Fan and said: “Before I left, I used the Truce Scroll to seal the Ye Family estate and all its resources. If I remove the Truce Scroll now, the Huang Family and Loong Family will surely know and come to the Ye Family, forcing me to hand over the Ye Family’s resources. Lu Fan, are you really prepared to bear all this with me? If you regret it now, there’s still time to leave.”

 

Lu Fan smiled and said. “I’m already here, do you think I would regret it?”

 

After a pause, Lu Fan coldly declared. “The ones who should regret it are the Huang Family and Loong Family.”

 

Ye Wuxian was not surprised by Lu Fan’s answer; she knew that since Lu Fan said he would protect her, he would not flee at this crucial moment.

 

She smiled, then looked up at the scroll above the Ye Family estate and reached out her hand.

 

Immediately, that scroll responded to her and began to roll up.

 

At the same time, the Protective Barrier covering the Ye Family courtyard was also absorbed into her body.

 

Not just the Ye Family estate, but from afar, over thirty streams of light shot toward them simultaneously, entering her body.

 

These light streams should be the protective barriers sealing the Ye Family’s other Map Resources, preventing the Huang Family and Loong Family from interfering.

 

And now, all seals had been removed, directly announcing to the Huang and Loong Families that the Ye Family had nowhere to retreat and would face all conflicts with them head-on!

 

Silavin: Do note that the author changed the Ye Family to Fourth Tier. So, right now, there are four tiers. But, I’m not comfortable with that. So, I’m going to just make a new tier, called the Supreme Tier after the First Tier.