Chapter 298 - 244: A Sudden Golden Wind Rises, the White Tiger Shakes the Mountain City (Part 2)

Chapter 298: Chapter 244: A Sudden Golden Wind Rises, the White Tiger Shakes the Mountain City (Part 2)

The head of the Petitioning Drum was a third larger than even the biggest Paradise Dragon Bed in Baihua Tower!

Thirty people could lie on it side-by-side with room to spare.

What was even more astonishing was that the enormous drumhead had no trace of a seam.

It was made from a single, complete hide.

What kind of Exotic Beast could have a hide this massive?

Huang Li, who was nearly fifty, hadn’t seen this drum in a long time.

Seeing it again, he was still mesmerized, staring blankly for several seconds.

After collecting himself, he pulled a vial of Blood Marrow from his robes and gently poured it onto the drumhead!

SWISH!

The Blood Marrow vanished almost the instant he poured it out.

It was absorbed faster than parched earth outside the city that had endured a year-long drought.

The drumhead had absorbed the Blood Marrow.

VMM!

The face of the drum trembled lightly.

Decades of accumulated dust and debris were shaken loose.

The thick layer of grime on its surface dispersed.

The Petitioning Drum was restored to its original appearance.

The black drumhead was as clean and smooth as silk, its color like the deepest night sky. Starlight fell upon it, yet it didn’t reflect a single gleam.

’It’s alive!’

’It really is alive!’

The piercing screams of Third Master Huang still echoed in his ears.

Huang Li dared not delay. He immediately pulled out another vial of Sixth Grade Blood Marrow and sprinkled it onto the black drumhead.

Like beads of mercury, the Blood Marrow danced upon the drumhead.

Then, it vanished in an instant.

An eerie, blood-red light flashed across the drumhead.

He blinked, thinking he must have seen it wrong.

DONG!

The Petitioning Drum sounded without being struck.

Huang Li, a Senior Sixth Grade expert, was caught off guard and sent tumbling by an invisible shockwave.

But strangely, the sound of the drum wasn’t loud, and it couldn’t have traveled far.

’How is this supposed to wake the entire city’s experts?’

Huang Li got to his feet. Paying no mind to the dust on his clothes, he immediately poured another vial of Blood Marrow onto the drum.

DONG!

The drum sounded again, neither loud nor soft.

But the moment it sounded, he felt a vibration, clutched his heart, and let out a muffled groan.

A long-forgotten rhyme surfaced in his mind:

The Petitioning Drum needs not be struck.

One toll awakens the Fifth Grade.

Two tolls startle the Sixth Grade.

Three, four, five tolls—and the Seventh and Eighth Grades will lose their lives!

’So, it was true.’

’I can’t let it sound again.’

Panting heavily, Huang Li retreated step by step, moving out of the Petitioning Drum’s range.

All across the city, every Sixth Grade expert opened their eyes in the dead of night.

"Did something happen?"

Tang Wen opened his eyes in confusion and crawled out of his tent.

’Hm? Someone’s here.’

In front of the stone house next to him.

Supreme Elder of the Black Water Gang, Elder Zhang, was standing there—he didn’t know since when. "The Petitioning Drum... The Petitioning Drum has sounded. Wake your maid and come with me."

’The Petitioning Drum?’

’But I didn’t hear anything...’

’No, wait.’

’A moment ago, it felt like something affected me. My heartbeat was erratic for an instant.’

’But there was no malice in it. It seemed it only wanted to wake me.’

A moment later, Tang Wen and Li Zi followed Elder Zhang out of the underground area and onto the plaza above.

Above the plaza stretched a vast, boundless river of stars.

Looking up, they could see dark figures soaring through the air, heading toward the western city wall.

Elder Zhang said, "I must stay and guard the gang. You go and see. If it looks like the city can’t be held, return immediately and inform me."

Tang Wen and Li Zi thought they had misheard. "Can’t be held? Is it that serious?"

The City Lord of Ganshan City is a Fourth-Grade Divine Power Realm expert. How could the city not be held?

Elder Zhang gazed west, his expression grave. "This Petitioning Drum... in all my memory, it hasn’t sounded for at least forty years. It only sounds when we face a great crisis. Otherwise, it’s useless even if you try to strike it deliberately."

His words sounded incredible, but the old man had spoken with such gravity that Tang Wen and Li Zi dared not tarry. They set off at once, rushing toward the western city wall.

Along the way, they saw several familiar faces from the gang—some Sixth Grade, some Extraordinary.

As they neared the city wall, Tang Wen looked up.

A figure wearing an Iron Crown was hovering in the air above the wall.

Li Zi clicked her tongue and sent a voice transmission to Tang Wen, "That person... that must be the City Lord. It seems something big really has happened! Elder Zhang wasn’t exaggerating."

’The City Lord?’

It was the first time Tang Wen had ever seen him.

He had a lean figure and was dressed in black training clothes, his hair casually tied back, and a pair of cloth shoes on his feet.

There was nothing remarkable about him, and he projected no astonishing aura. If anything drew one’s attention, it was the Iron Crown on his head.

A rusted Iron Crown.

If one didn’t know his identity, they wouldn’t think anything of it.

But he was the City Lord—why would he wear a rusted Iron Crown?

Li Zi watched as she ran, her gaze also fixed on the Iron Crown.

Tang Wen just assumed she found it strange as well.

But a few breaths later, she sent another transmission, her tone grave. "In my Thief Sect, a very strange saying has been passed down—orally, and only to the current Sect Leader."

"About the City Lord?"

"Yes. An old senior of the Thief Sect said it before he died: only the City Lord wearing the Iron Crown is the *true* City Lord."

Tang Wen’s heart stirred. He transmitted back, "It sounds like that Iron Crown is very important."

"Mhm. They say the City Lord is only ever chosen from one of the three great families of the Inner City. There’s no grand ceremony, and the family doesn’t even celebrate. That Iron Crown is the only symbol of the office."

’That really is strange.’

"Has Ganshan City changed its City Lord before?"

"Yes, about ten years ago."

’Something feels even more off.’

The two moved quickly and soon arrived at the base of the city wall.

There were no torches for light; experts could all see in the dark.

The top of the wall was packed with figures—a gathering of experts as numerous as clouds.

Behind them, more Sixth Grade and Extraordinary experts were continuously rushing over from within the city.

"With so many experts, not even a single soldier from an army of a hundred thousand cavalry could escape," Li Zi said, looking up at the towering city wall.

"A hundred thousand cavalry would make enough noise to be heard for dozens of miles. Come on, let’s go up over there!"

Tang Wen spotted the people from the Black Water Gang: Gang Leader Shui Qianjun, Shui Yun, Aunt Lian, and Vice Gang Leader Zhao were already on the ramparts.

No one stopped them.

The two quickly ascended the city wall.

They looked down and were instantly stunned.