Chapter 153 – Florida Man Identifies His Immigrant Employees as Floridian to Escape Charges from Immigration Police
Leo couldn't stop laughing. He jerked the flightstick to the right and pulled, flying the bus around. The vehicle turned around and reset its course back to the parking lot.
The parking lot was drowned in the sea of flame. But from Leo's perspective, he saw a runway. As cultivators fueled their flying ships with essence stones and spirit stones, the explosion caused a chain reaction.
The rocket's flame ignited all spirit stones and essence stones as if they were gasoline. The fiery fire lit up like beacons, showing Leo the hidden runway in the middle of the burning parking lot.
Leo brought the bus back. As he had learned the distance from the previous landing attempt, he pulled back the throttle and decelerated the vehicle as soon as the wheels touched the ground.
The bus quietly slowed down and completely stopped in the middle of the burning parking lot. The landing was successful.
Leo widely grinned as he was proud of himself, but that smile didn't last long. He gazed outside the front windshield and saw the raging flame.
The only reason the bus wasn't caught on fire was because of its mysterious upgrades and Leo's system. Had it been normal buses, it would have been charred black.
Looking at the carnage outside, Leo let out a long sigh. He mumbled to himself.
'If I open the shuttle door, the flame will get inside. I'm fine on my own, but those girls will complain about the excessive suntan. Well, I guess I have to move the bus further.
Leo changed the driving mode to a land vehicle and gently stepped on the gas pedal. The bus slightly jerked because of its abnormal engine. Fortunately, it wasn't as fast as Leo's Ferrari.
The bus traveled further. It left the burning area and reached the walking street, where commoners and cultivators usually used them for their carriages. As they were for road vehicles, the sidewalks and the stone road were sturdy enough for Leo's bus to travel.
Leo noticed the small road. He drove the bus to the side until the entire bus was out of the road. After parking the bus on a sidewalk, Leo informed his people.
"Attention, passengers. Your freaking battle bus has landed. Pack your belongings and come to the lobby. We need to discuss how we will proceed next."
Leo had never attended the local gathering event or tournaments. Thus, he needed the opinion of the experts. He wondered if Xu Nuan or Tiger Swordsman knew the procedure.
Xu Nuan, Tiger Swordsman, Cat, Esen, Taxi, Ricardo, Gao Yan, and the girls came out from their rooms and gathered as ordered. The boys sat at the bar counter while the women gathered at a coffee lounge.
Seeing how the crowd gathered, Leo got out of the driver's seat and walked toward Xu Nuan. He asked her.
"So, ma'am. What's next? Should we head straight to register our arrival first or should we book a hotel or something?"
Xu Nuan snickered as she predicted that Leo didn't know the details. She explained the next steps.
"We only need to report our arrival at the royal palace and seek an audience with the emperor. We introduce our contestants to him first. After that, the emperor will assign us a place to stay for the night in the palace. Tomorrow morning, the emperor will send someone to guide us to the tournament area. Well, only if we're invited."
Xu Nuan paused to give Leo a meaningful look. She affirmed him.
"Lord Florida Man, did we get an invitation?"
Leo shrugged, "A suspicious guy by the name of Tang Xuan invited me here."
"Do you have an invitation letter?"
"…"
Leo's expression changed. He didn't remember receiving anything of the sort. However, he still had a scroll map that Tang Xuan had drawn for him.
"Will this do?" Leo brought out the map of the imperial palace and the location of the event.
Xu Nuan had a wry smile on her face as she nodded.
"Well, this scroll has the signature of Chancellor Tang. Although this isn't the right invitation letter, this will do."
"Is it?"
Leo was relieved. With this scroll, his group should be able to enter the palace.
"Welp, let's go then. We'll leave the bus here to head to the palace. Xu Nuan, you lead!"
"…Yes, senior."
.
Leo and his crew got off the bus. As they had agreed, Xu Nuan guided them to the city. Leo locked the bus and followed her, pretending to be one of the followers.
Ricardo, Taxi, and Cat still maintained their humanoid physique. Even though Cat had tree roots instead of legs, Xu Nuan covered them with her personal array spell, creating an illusion that Cat had human legs.
With Xu Nuan's lead, they reached the checkpoint without a problem. But when they got there, they ran into traffic.
Cultivators ignored the checkpoints and flew in and out of the city in chaos. Loud shouts and the commotion on the ground buzzed.
"Water element user! Is there any water element user?!"
"The Ouyang Clan and the Situ Clan are under attack! Someone wages war against them! RUN!"
"Anybody has a healing pill?! Anybody?!"
Several groups of cultivators from the Situ and the Ouyang Clan tended their wounded members and the survivors from Leo's raid. Some were burnt while many lost a limb.
Everything seemed depressing and tragic at a glance. However, many onlookers sneered at them. Even commoners who had been queuing to enter the city didn't hide their disdain.
While everybody observed the injured, Leo's sharp hearing sense picked up some hushed noises of gossiping commoners far away.
"Suit them right. I wish all Ouyang die a painful death!"
"Yeah. That group robbed my village last month and abducted my neighbor's 15-year-old daughter. When the father went to ask for their daughter back at the Jianghu Alliance, they killed him!"
"Look, mom. Remember those guys? They came to our house a few months ago and stole my piggy bank and daddy's money!"
"The likes of Ouyang and Situ are all crooks. What great clan? What is the Jianghu Alliance? They all are a bunch of kidnappers and murderers. I have to pay them 20 pieces of gold every time I accidentally look at their faces. Can you believe that?"
"Death is too easy for them. Keep crying and suffer more, Situ bastards!"
The public opinion was against the two clans. Hearing the gossip, Leo was surprised.
'What kind of evil deeds did you do to make them hate you so much?! So, when they get so powerful, they go ape shit and ooga-booga their way to the top? Oh, right. When people are too focused on muscles, their brain cells can be underdeveloped.'
Leo nodded and crossed his arms, thinking that he understood everything.
While eavesdropping their conversation, the queue proceeded smoothly as the guards stopped checking their tokens and origins. They allowed the travelers to freely enter and leave their city.
.
.
After passing the checkpoint, Leo's group came across the main road of the Cauliflower City. However, instead of being greeted by a wealthy town, Leo found a massive field, full of small barracks and fences of military camps. However, no one stayed in the camps.
500 meters away in front of Leo was another array of walls and a checkpoint. The main road led them there.
Xu Nuan introduced the area, "This is the military gathering area, Lord Florida Man. Normally, the imperial army set their camps here. But since they are hosting a tournament event, their army moves elsewhere to avoid complications."
Leo frowned as he couldn't understand the local's behavior. Had he been in the emperor's shoes, he would have ordered his troops to fortify the city as there would be more visitors.
"Why are they leaving this place empty? Why not fortify this place in case of mishaps? Aren't there many visitors today and tomorrow?"
Xu Nuan bitterly smiled, "I used to think like that when I first visited here many years ago. When the tournament starts, you will understand."
"What? Will there be some hotshots ruining the party?"
"…More like, they are preventing collateral damage from wild elders and cheaters, sir."
"Cheaters?"
"…You will see. Cheating is common in the tournament, and there will be big fights."
"…"
Leo scratched his head, wondering if the local cultivators were stupid. As it was just a sports event, Leo couldn't figure out why they needed to cheat.
.
.
After passing through the empty military field, Leo's group reached the outer city's checkpoint.
This was the real gate of the Cauliflower City. A hundred cultivators stood tall on the walls, looking down on the traveling commoners and the visitors.
Leo's group quietly followed the road and stopped in front of the gate. One of the guards stopped them.
"Halt! This gate is for cultivators and visitors from authorized sects and clans. Show me your affiliated token!"
Leo paused as he never distributed or created a token for himself. He glanced at Xu Nuan, and the latter nodded at him.
Xu Nuan fetched a token from her robes. It was the emblem of the Amazonian Sanctuary. Improvising, Xu Nuan introduced her group.
"We're participating in the tournament tomorrow, sir. Can we pass?"
The guards checked the token and sensed its aura. He widely grinned.
The Amazonian Sanctuary was a regular in the seasonal competition. They always sent their tamers to fight for the emperor's rewards. They won several times, and a few of their disciples ended up becoming consort of the imperial officials.
"Ah, the fairies from the Amazonian Sanctuary? Welcome. But… I haven't heard that you are accepting men. Why are those people with you?"
The guard stared at Gao Yan, Taxi, Ricardo, Tiger Swordsman, and Leo.
"Who are they? Are they your servants?"
"Oh, they're…" Xu Nuan paused to look at Leo's face as she ran out of ideas. She also asked Leo to improvise with her eyes.
However, Leo disliked lies. He coughed and introduced his group.
"We're Floridians!"
"Huh?"
Xu Nuan, Tiger Swordsman, Gao Yan, and the guards stared at Leo's face in disbelief.
Leo repeated, "We're Floridians from the Florida Domain! We have been invited to join the tournament. Let us through!"
"…"
The guards looked at each other as they were confused. None of them had ever heard of the term "Florida" before.
While everybody didn't know what to do, the gate guard captain jumped down from the wall and stood in front of Leo. As he was 2 meters tall and wearing full plate armor, he towered over Leo.
"Show me the invitation letter!"
Leo snorted and tossed him the map scroll that he got from Tang Xuan. The captain received it and opened the scroll to look.
Upon seeing the map and the signature of Tang Xuan, he deeply frowned.
"Is this your invitation letter?"
"Check the signature, boy. Chancellor Tang invited me here."
"…"
The guard captain gave Leo a meaningful look. Then, he emitted the aura of a nascent soul cultivator, summoning a dao avatar of a giant boar.
Leo found the captain cute. He smirked, "What now? Do we fight?"
The guard captain shouted, "Release your dao avatar and show me your aura. Only soul formation cultivators can pass!"
Leo raised his eyebrows as he found the guard captain stupid. He glanced at the other elders.
"He's saying I'm weaker than the soul formation whatever."
Tiger Swordsman snickered as he could still see Leo's rainbow aura, "Please don't mind the lowly soldier, my lord. He is still young and naïve."
"Hmm."
Leo shrugged as the comment was fair. He then closed his eyes and whispered to his cells.
'Show off a little. When I say little, I really mean LITTLE!'
All blood cells of Leo flinched for a moment before they resumed their tasks. Only one of them sacrificed their essence to enhance Leo's aura.
RUMBLE
Instead of making Leo's aura more visible to cultivators with a weaker foundation, Leo's rainbow aura shot up to the sky and created an aurora. His dao avatar also came out and transformed into a giant, looking down on every person in the Cauliflower City.
"…"
The guard captain looked up and sweated profusely. He could finally sense Leo's Qi and aura.
"…You may pass, senior."
"Mhm. You should have done that earlier."
Leo smiled at the guards. Then, he turned around to affirm his people.
"Our domain will be called [Florida Domain] from now on. If anybody asks, tell them that you're Floridians, okay?"
"…"
"Oh, about the ID tokens, I'll make you a new one when we get back. It's going to be a lot better than one of those pieces of firewood."
The guards retreated and made way for Leo and his people to enter. Leo took the lead and waltzed into the city.
The elders and the disciples looked at each other and wryly smiled. They mimicked Leo's shrug and his walking posture. Just like that, a group of black-suited men and women entered the city safely.
