The sound of the wind breaking through the atmosphere, the snow-white figure is like an eagle, floating and landing in front of us, the long sword is horizontal, the proud aura is not angry and powerful, shocking the front of more than a hundred orcs.

  “Senior Fang?”

  “Mr Fang?”

  In the two different female voices, there is the same joy and expectation, in this desperate situation the emergence of a strong rescuer, anyone who looks at the heart will be ecstatic. Just now the sound of shouting in the air, body agile and swift, do not see any stifled place, shows that Fang Qingshu in that big battle in the injury, has been healed, in other words, our more a sixth level experts pressure, although the enemy is more people, but we want to break out of the siege is by no means a difficult task.

  With his back to us, Fang Qingshu never turned back and spoke aloud to the beasts.

  “This is not the time for combat, my friend and sister in law are injured and your leader needs immediate medical attention, so please make a sensible choice.”

  These beastmen would truly be a wonder of the world if they would know what sanity was, for the dignity and fervour of the strong, they would rather die in battle than retreat, however, Fang Qingshu had enough reasons for them to retreat from here.

  Without unsheathing his sword, Fang Qingshu reached out and pointed towards the bottom of the mountain, from this angle, one could clearly see that the foot of the mountain, where the three tribes of orcs were supposed to be camped, was flickering with flames, and the smoke was rising straight up towards the sky, which was extraordinarily obvious at this moment when the sunlight had already come out.

  Needless to say, anyone could see that when the beasts attacked Lou Cheng in force and fought fiercely with the Snake Clan, the camp, which was empty because the main force was out in full force, was also attacked to take advantage of the gap. Seeing that the fire was really not small, you can imagine the fierce battle down there.

  What could have caused all this destruction? Together with Fang Qingshu, who was listed as missing persons, there were also more than two thousand female warriors of the Feather Race, if it was said that they had recovered from their injuries and joined Fang Qingshu in raiding the orc camp, then the destruction caused by this force would be very considerable.

  When the home formation was broken, no matter what race’s army would be demoralised, and the one in front of them was naturally no exception.

  Lacking a leader to command them, and wanting desperately to get back to visit the camp, the orcs quickly announced their retreat.

  Not just withdrawing from the mountains, I think the beasts will soon withdraw their troops from this place. The four major beast clans that attacked here in the first place, the Snake Clan was exterminated, and because of the great power of the Giant Divine Warrior, the three major beast clans also won a disastrous victory, with the Bailan Bears, the Wuzi, and the Chiriths all seriously injured, and the three clans now have no combat power to speak of.

  The female warriors of the Feather Race had more than 2,000 people in this counter-attack, and if they rescued the captives imprisoned in the three races, the battle force would be further expanded. Comparing the two, the Beast Race alliance was in a very unfavourable situation, if Fang Qingshu was added to the mix, the battle that had been fought for months before would be completely reversed in a short period of time.

  It was a pity that Bailan Xiong had fainted, or else his rendezvous with Fang Qingshu might have been an interesting event.

  After the beasts had completely withdrawn, Fang Qingshu still didn’t turn back and walked forward, leaning down and picking up two more complete pieces of armour on the ground, throwing them straight towards the back.

  “Ladies, put it on.”

  It is only now that we wake up to the fact that he never turned around after he showed up, not for the sake of any grandeur, but simply because he didn’t want to be rude, to see Asuka and Yu Hong’s bodies when they were nearly naked, and to honour the etiquette of a gentleman.

  It was as if Feather Rainbow had changed back into the raw young girl she was a few days ago, her face reddening as she hurriedly put her clothing and armour back on;Asuka hid behind me and put on her leather robe.

  Until confirming that the ladies were fully clothed, Fang Qingshu turned back around. After a long time, his face was quite thin and frosty, and his white clothes were slightly yellow, but his eyes were radiant, and there was no longer any colour of injury and fatigue, obviously the serious injuries he suffered in the fierce battle on that day had completely recovered.

  “It’s great to see you all safe and sound, I rushed over after assisting the Feather Clan in rescuing all the captives and seeing that the commotion on the mountain hadn’t stopped, luckily I was in time to be able to help you.”

  Fang Qingshu said, “Just now the atmospheric flow over here was weird and unpredictable, very unusual, there must have been a fierce battle, I was one step late and didn’t get to witness it, can you tell me about the situation?”

  This request is not difficult to say, say easy but also really not easy, because even we ourselves are still a little dizzy, can not say why, I lightly coughed twice, suggesting that the two poorly dressed ladies, not suitable for this side of the conversation, Fang Qingshu how shrewd, immediately understood, led us down the mountain.

  It was a blessing to have a good hand who was good at replying incantations, the flesh wounds of Fei Hong and Ah Xue, healed rapidly, the broken bones and bruises in the body were also greatly improved, it seemed that after a few more days of recuperation, they would be healed. It is no wonder that Fang Qingshu was attacked by Ghost Phantom Xi that day, and his fatal injuries were so heavy that he was able to recover completely in more than ten days after escaping from danger.

  Asuka’s body was still weak, I was duty-bound to carry her on my back, surprised by the aroma and excitement of two bouncy meatballs pressing against my back, then I immediately straightened up and refused Fang Qingshu’s kind assistance, and just greeted Violet and followed behind him together.

  Fang Qingshu led us down the mountain. Instead of going straight to the Beast Race camp, he travelled to a dense forest to meet up with his Feather Race companions, and according to him, he had been hiding here with these Feather Race female warriors to recuperate from their injuries ever since the day when the city of Skaiwagolou was broken.

  “We waited for the time to counterattack, originally scheduled for tomorrow, but today suddenly found that the four major beast clans began to internal strife, which led to an early attack. Before I went up the mountain, we broke into the empty camp of the three clans and set it on fire, rescuing all the trapped Feather Clan subjects, and only after retreating did I go up the mountain to check it out, and the beasts going back at this time won’t help, and won’t change anything.”

  Fang Qingshu roughly briefly described the recent situation of the Feather Clan, as well as this combat operation. Learning that the clan had successfully escaped and that my sister was safe, Feather Rainbow was immediately overjoyed, and even Asuka, who was crouched on my back, burst out laughing with joy.

  But I was left with nothing but a head full of doubts. This dense forest adjacent to the water, foraging for food and water is not difficult, more than two thousand people hiding more than ten days, it is possible, but this place is not far from the beast camp, back and forth, at least been searched a hundred times, is it that all those beasts are blind, or how would a large number of votes in the forest turn a blind eye?

  Moreover, with the severity of Fang Qingshu’s injuries that day, how was he able to survive? And how did he kill his way out? These were all very strange things.

  “At that time, I was hit by the ghostly Xi’s knife, and was also surrounded by the beasts, thinking that I would die here, but I could not imagine that I would suddenly meet my saviour, making me escape …….”

  Fang Qingshu said, “I was rescued here, and after that sporadically came many strands of friends of the Feathered Clan who were lucky enough to escape, and we all stowed away to nurse our wounds until ……”

  As they were talking, two people came this way, and one of them was Yu Ni. The two sisters had their own joy in meeting each other, but Fei Hong’s movements seemed a bit rusty and unnatural, and Fei Ni quickly noticed this and pulled her sister aside to talk. I think there is also a bunch of trouble, just wait and see what happens.

  The other one who came over to this side was clearly Katrina, the raid was successful and she was rescued as well. After some freshening up and dressing, this weathered Feather Clan master has returned to a certain grooming, but the bruises on her hands and feet, like her inner wounds, all need more time to heal, right, she is a very strong woman, I believe that she will be able to lead the clan to stand up very soon.

  “But I still don’t understand how on earth you were able to hide here for so long, the orcs should have been coming on patrol, right?”

  “Yes, but the orcs didn’t see us. All of the orcs that patrolled this forest had their senses affected by the boundary spells laid outside, and went back out of sight.”

  “How is that possible? This is too big a joke, isn’t it?”

  I don’t believe it at all. Technically speaking, this matter is indeed possible, there are spells to create similar illusions in the six major lines of magic, but how strong does that kind of magic have to be in order to lay down a boundary spell that envelops a large forest capable of hiding thousands of people and maintains it for half a month?

  Even if Fang Qingshu was completely uninjured and in his best condition, it was absolutely impossible to do it. To do such a thing, it would only be possible unless it was at the level of the five strongest people ……

  This thought flashed through my mind, and my body shook as I realised who covered the Feather Clan, and who had rescued Fang Qingshu.

  “The benefactor who rescued the severely injured me from the battlefield, saved the lives of more than two thousand of my Feather Race friends one after another, and even planned this counterattack, is a great woman.” Fang Qingshu leisurely said, “In the past, when I fought with the Black Dragon Society on the East Sea, I had several encounters with her, but it was not until this time that I truly admired, the Golden Governor, Li Huamei, is indeed worthy of her name.”

  “Li Hua Repentance?”

  In a surprised tone, I enquired with Fang Qingshu and listened to his account, which clarified the whole thing in general.

  When Fang Qingshu was seriously injured and dying, about to be killed in the crowd of beasts, Li Huamei suddenly appeared and took action, saved him, settled in this forest, and then left again, successively guiding the female warriors of the Feather Race and escaping to this forest. When the crowd had recovered from the shock and returned to their senses, Li Huamei revealed her identity.

  To the Feather Clan, this was a great helper that fell from the sky, but when they asked Li Huamei to come to the rescue, they were refused.

  “I must say that I am sorry. Personally, the people of the East Sea have their own position and cannot and should not meddle in the struggle of the Southern Barbarians, so I can only offer limited assistance without being too obvious.”

  If Li Huamei led the Feather Clan to counterattack and repel the Fire-worshipping Cult, then it would be a frontal provocation to the authority of the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable One, and the two sides would officially form a grudge. Although it was said to be far away, for her who had been fighting alone on the East Sea, it was not cost-effective to have the Fire-worshipping Cult as an additional enemy with a strong and powerful force, and if this resulted in the Fire-worshipping Cult allying with the Black Dragon Society, the resistance that had not been able to become a little more established would have to face a crisis immediately.

  Therefore, she had to be very careful not to intervene directly, but only to cover the defeated troops of the Feather Clan, provide them with hiding places, wait for the opportunity of a counterattack, and float away immediately after everything was over.

  “The Fire Worshipping Sect has been greatly injured after this battle, and it is estimated that it will not stir up any more trouble in a short period of time, so the Feather Race can take the opportunity to relocate and hide, and recuperate.” Fang Qingshu said, “Marshal Li said that she has to rush to do something that is related to the final success or failure of this war, so she left first.”

  What will the Dragon Lady sister go to do? I guess I’m afraid that with the Black Dragon Society is a little bit related, after all, the dragon lady sister this time is with the ghost Mimi Xi all the way to chase to the southern barbarians, the beast tribe thing is over, I’m afraid that there is still a battle between the two of them.

  Thinking about how secretive and hard to defend Ghostly Xi is, even though Sister Dragon Lady’s divine power is unrivalled, I can’t help but worry for her, guessing which direction she would have gone.

  “Marshal Li was invited by me.” Surprisingly, Katrina sighed and said, “Actually, there is one thing that I didn’t tell you guys, when I was looking through the notes of my predecessors, I found that in order to repair the Great Sun Heavenly Mirror, in addition to recreating the mirror surface, I also needed a kind of Qi Roller Essence Gold that was produced in the East Sea. I have - some friendship with Marshal Li, asked her to find on behalf of the search, she promised that she would send someone to send. But fine gold is hard to come by, whether it can be found or not, no one can say for sure, I don’t want to give the clan this false hope, so I didn’t tell everyone, as a result, although the fine gold couldn’t be found, Marshal Li came to her aid in person, which was really hard for her.”

  The crowd heard, all have a few sighs, but only I heard cold sweat. What is that Qikun Jingjin, although I have never seen, but also guessed, must be the dragon lady sister entrusted to me that metal bracelet, otherwise how could it be so coincidental, the big sun heaven mirror sucked off the bracelet, the supernormal ability to launch immediately?

  If that’s the case, then wouldn’t I be the great sinner of this war? If I had taken out that golden ring early on, perhaps the battle would have been ……

  It’s safer to think no more about it, and it’s a good thing no one else here knows about it, so it’s safer to give him a smothering death and exonerate him.

  As the dragon lady sister said, the four big beasts after this battle, all have damage, even if you want to recover face, within a year and a half, there can not be any action, the feather tribe this side seems to have heavy casualties, but all the beasts have been humiliated by the feather tribe female warriors, life is not in the way, only need a period of recuperation, will soon be able to heal over, compared to the four big beasts in fact, than the four big beasts have taken advantage of the advantage.

  Katrina smiled, “War does not have to be fought in style, as long as it can be survived in the end, that’s a kind of victory, we, the women of the Feather Clan, are very tenacious ……”

  There was one thing that Feather Rainbow and I didn’t know. In the past two days, the Feather Clan, which was preparing to launch a counter-attack, had secretly sneaked into the orc camp and made contact with their imprisoned compatriots in preparation for their escape. For the sake of the future, a number of female warriors had opened up their minds and bodies for two days, and by this time they were already pregnant.

  “We have to survive, not only to stand and shake during the struggle, but also to stand up faster than our enemies after the struggle.” Katrina said, “We have damaged many of our good sisters in this war, but it will not be long before a new batch of life comes into the world to infuse new blood into the Feather Clan.”

  Things seemed to be going in the right direction, but where were the Feathers going to move to? The city of Skiva Gloria was in ruins, and rebuilding it would not be easy, so where were they going to settle down, and that was still a big question.

  “I’ve thought about it, the Feather Clan is going to have a lot of difficulties to continue in Southern Barbarians, and there’s no friendly army to support them, it’s not a solution to rush for external assistance every time something goes wrong like we are doing now, I want to leave Southern Barbarians with my clansmen, and look for new horizons in the outside world.”

  Katrina said, “Before Marshal Li left, he once expressed his willingness to accept the Feather Clan as a friendly army, and I want to take my clan to the East Sea to join her, and leave this land of tigers and wolves, the Southern Barbarians, for the time being.”

  Good shade under the tree, Zoroastrianism is so powerful, relying on the back of the ten thousand beasts of honour, the Feathered Clan can not change this, the disadvantage in the southern barbarians ultimately can not be reversed, simply move away from here, to the East China Sea to harbour in the Dragon Lady sister, which is not a bottom of the payroll of the wonderful plan.

  Words here, has been leaning against the stick behind me A Xue, suddenly trembled, opposite the Fang Qingshu also face suddenly sank, I feel strange, a sentence has not yet asked, the chest has become so dull, can not help but be shocked, along with their gaze, to the southwestern sky look.

  Very strange feeling, first a gust of wind blew without warning, quickly multiplied the intensity, set off a sky of wind and sand, blowing people’s breath, chest annoyance, as if it was some ominous omen.

  Raising his eyes to the sky, a good-sized piece of dark cloud, under the gusty winds, lightning and thunderstorms, all appeared along with the dark cloud, obscuring the original clear and bright sun, moving fast towards this side.

  With the strange change, everyone quieted down and looked at the layer of dark clouds without knowing what to do, but only a very few people, realised that something was wrong and sensed the overwhelming power that was contained within the dark clouds.

  “What’s that …… thing?”

  It was really quite an idiotic question, because I had sensed that it wasn’t something, but a person, some person moving this way at a very high speed.

  Is it a warlock? Or a martial artist? How strong must one’s cultivation be to be able to absorb and gather cloud energy like this and ride the wind to break through the air?

  Looking at the purple thunder and golden lightning that lingered around the dark clouds, the sound was horrifying. Since they were coming towards us, these thunder and winds fully symbolised the surging anger and murderous spirit of the people coming. A-Xue’s trembling and weak body leaned against my side, letting me fully feel her fear.

  “Master, who is …… that?”

  I hate to say this name, but looking at the Southern Barbarians, there is only one person who has the power to cause this kind of impact. I turned my head to look at Fang Qingshu and asked, “Brother Fang, if it’s really that old monster, what are you going to do?”

  Fang Qingshu looked up at the dark clouds in the sky and said with a grave expression, “The situation is even worse than the battle that day when the city broke down, it seems that we can only choose between fighting to the death or dying in battle.”

  Well said, but it’s not a matter of choosing one or the other, these two options, one is the process, the other is the inescapable inevitable end. Against an expert of the level of the five strongest, even if all of us combine our efforts, there is no possibility of returning to heaven.

  “It’s really unexpected that this Martial Exalt turned out to be an acute person.” I sighed, “It seems that he received a transmission from the three major beast clans, knowing that the war situation here has changed, and the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable One has personally rushed here to suppress it and deal with it.”

  Turning back to look at -the faces of the female warriors of the Feather Race, after hearing the name of the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable, these female warriors who had fought bravely against the Four Great Beast Races, however, each and every one of them was pale, unable to see half of the courage that they had to fight to the death with their enemies.

  Regardless of which race, in the hearts of the beastmen in southern barbarians, the All Beasts Martial Honour is like a god in the sky, an existence that can never be disobeyed. It is because there is such a big man, humans, elves and other races, only to the beasts of the heart respect, do not dare to easily invade the southern barbarians, is the pride and honour of all the beasts.

  In addition to his authority, his power was even more unquestionable. Ever since he went into seclusion, no challenger who dared to climb the Beast God Peak, regardless of whether they were a martial artist or a warlock, had ever been able to retreat in one piece. Over the past hundred years, to the beasts of the southern barbarians, the wrath of the honourable one is like the wrath of heaven, although the ambition of the strongest is to win against the sky, but no beasts have the guts to challenge this “sky”.

  Now, the news of the four great beast clans’ fierce internal strife had alarmed this Unseen Martial Venerable, causing him to make an exception and leave his secluded residence to personally come and deal with it. Ever since Phoenix Island had evaporated, the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable One had never taken the side of the Feather Clan in their struggle with the Beast Clans, and this time would naturally be no exception. With the current situation, the four beast races had suffered heavy casualties and the Feather Race had the advantage, this was undoubtedly a provocation to the Venerable Master of Ten Thousand Beasts, and with his murderous personality in the past, he would use a lot of killing to maintain his authority while severely punishing the Fire Worshipping Cult’s subordinates.

  From the sky this kind of surging sound, the anger of the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable One, shook everyone on the ground, under the difficult to imagine, when he descended from the sky, the Feathered Clan’s good hard to fight for the chance of life, will be in a very short time to be eliminated by a heavy.

  Neon had emerged from the woods and stood with us, but the crowd looked to the sky, not reassured by the power of unity, but more so by a deep despair that pressed against their chests.

  “Master, I ……”

  Asuka pulled my sleeve, as if she was going to say something, I turned my head back to listen, but at that instant I suddenly saw a golden coloured aura, rising from the ground and shooting diagonally into the dense dark clouds in the sky.

  The light was bright, more dazzling than the thunder and lightning, and after it had disappeared into the dark clouds, the thunderbolt was loud, shaking the nine heavens, and the fierce wind swept out in all directions.

  And after the continuous thunderbolt sound to carry shock, all the wind, thunder, suddenly all disappeared, within a hundred miles of the silence, originally shrouded in the southwest half of the sky of the dark clouds, fade dissipate a lot, more stop in the sky over there, did not continue to drift over to this side.

  The scene was for a moment incomparably strange, and the crowd was in a state of disbelief, when we heard a majestic roar like a deep thunder, which shook our hearing.

  “Nine-headed woman, is that you?”

  “Long time no see, old ten thousand beasts.”

  In response to the loud cry was a long, pleasant, clear laugh that dissolved all the tightness and brought hope to the people on the ground.

  In the ancient mythological era, the Orochi Golden Dragon, known as the strongest of the dragons, was a golden dragon with a total of nine giant heads.

  It was said that the source of the Dragon Lady sister’s power was related to this ancient beast, so in the mouths of some of her enemies, she was given such a title.

  She told Fang Qingshu that she had something to do and had to leave early, so it seems that she was anticipating that the Venerable Master of the Ten Thousand Beasts was about to come in person, so she deliberately left and intercepted the Venerable Master of the Ten Thousand Beasts halfway?

  “You’re just stepping on my ground, are you intent on cutting me down?”

  “So what? I’ve heard that the Southern Barbarians are strong enough to emphasise strength above all else, so let’s not talk about face, let’s see the real thing under the hands.”

  As soon as the two words had passed, a golden light scurried upwards from the ground, turning into a dragon’s shadow, and flew rapidly towards us; at the same time, a strong wind pursued us with its tail.

  The dragon’s shadow deliberately circled around as it passed over us, as if to greet us and say goodbye, after that, it turned to the south, and Strong Wind followed her straight after her, the two of them were so fast that in the blink of an eye, they disappeared at the end of the horizon without a trace.

  The tight situation was not expected to be resolved with such a turn of events, and the crowd looked at each other in dismay, but also could not help but feel a few moments of amusement.

  The Dragon Lady sister lured away the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable, but it doesn’t mean that the Ten Thousand Beasts Venerable won’t come back, even though the strongest people often fight for ten days and half a month, the Feathered Clan is ultimately in danger as long as they don’t leave the Southern Barbarians.

  The feather tribe has already agreed to go to the East China Sea, this time even less hesitation, will need to support the injured to allocate a good care of people, then leave us, start this long road to the East. Most of the feather people have never left the southern barbarians, not to mention the opportunity to contact the outside world, this journey is naturally dangerous, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Katrina asked Nihong temporarily as a guide.

  With so much at stake, Nei Hong had no reason to refuse, Fei Ni agreed in one breath and led the clan on their way, before Fei Hong left, she glanced back at me, with a look that was hard to describe. After the Blood Battle Giant God Soldier was saved, she and I didn’t have a chance to talk, when she was about to leave with the team, there was obviously some desire to speak, but just didn’t have a chance. This situation was the best for me, and I had to leave immediately, and also to the west, otherwise, this woman could come over at any time to seek revenge on me.

  “Brother Blue, there’s something I want to ask you about.”

  Pulling Ah Xue and preparing to leave, Fang Qingshu called out to me and asked, “I haven’t seen Teacher Mao since the war dispersed that day, I wonder if you’ve seen him? Or have you heard from him?”

  It was a difficult question to answer because Mao Yan’an had died a horrible death long ago in the depths of the jungle, and was unlikely to be resurrected to meet him again.

  I stammered for half a second, and Fang Qingshu seemed to sense that something was wrong and frowned, “Is there anything that Brother Lan is having a hard time saying? I’m already mentally prepared, even if it’s bad news, please tell me.”

  Although the words are said this way, but see his eyebrows do not have half a bit of grief expression, instead there are a few points of confusion, I know that he is not prepared for it. What’s more, if I am asked about the cause of Mao Yanan’s death, and this account is put on my head, and Fang Qingshu draws his sword to avenge his mentor, then without waiting for Fei Hong to come to me, I will die here.

  The scene was awkward, but Xue, who was beside him and did not know how to read people’s words, looked up and asked, “Yes, Master, where did Mr Mao go?”

  “This …… this …… Mr Mao he …… he …… “Seeing Fang Qingshu’s gaze gradually turning stern, I couldn’t push any further and said stiffly, “I can only say that, unfortunately, Mr Mao he ……”

  “Not only is he safe and sound, but he’s already back from having a good time! Wow, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

  As I strained to speak and give an account, a long laugh suddenly interrupted me and took the conversation on.

  When we turned around and turned back in unison for that familiar voice, I almost bled to death on the spot for what was in front of me.

  A swordsman with a rather vicissitudinous feel, carrying a wine jug, stood in front of us.

  The first thing that came into view was a pair of black and white thick-soled leather boots, and then a large white ceramic wine pot, tied with a gold silk tapestry decorated with jadeite and topaz, hanging down from his waist, and his eyes travelled further up, finally seeing him wrapped up in a bright red pair of placketed long shirts, with even his face mostly covered by a high raised lapel collar, and his not-so-long hair standing up like a hedgehog.

  The dark, inked glasses hide the gaze, but not the wrinkles on the forehead and the rather grey sideburns.

  In his right hand he carried a rare, huge, thick sword, long enough to rival my height alone, with a back about three fingers thick, and a heavy, ebony lustre all over it, indicating an extraordinary weight.

  Looking at us, he curtailed his smile and hung his head slightly, two sharp gazes, shooting out from above the rounded lenses of his sunglasses, his right hand showing amazing arm strength, effortlessly flicking up the greatsword and resting it on his shoulder, and his left hand retracting into his sleeve, peeking out from his lapel, sweeping gently over his belt.

  With his bold and dashing outfit, he seemed as if he had even more male charisma than Fang Qingshu, and even though he looked a bit different from before because of his wrinkles and greying sideburns, I still recognised him at a glance.

  This man dressed as a swordsman is no other than Mao Yan’an, who died at my hands a long time ago, and whose body should be stinking by now.

  I couldn’t speak with my mouth wide open due to excessive shock, and it was only when I tried to make an effort to make some noise that a ragged officer scurried out from behind Mao Yan’an and gave me a military salute.

  “Master Farrell Wan Rider, I am an envoy from the Kingdom of Alibda, and I have come to the Southern Barbarians by order of His Majesty to deliver an order for you to terminate your current mission.”