“Luo Yun, summon Zhu Meng. Let’s hear what just happened.”

Luo Yun was just about to execute his orders when the lady said, “Bingfeng, you already promised to ignore mundane affairs. That group is only a couple hundred men short, what’s the point of worrying?”

Luo Yun said, “That group was founded by the city lord himself, many of his old brethren remain today.”

The woman gazed at Luo Bingfeng in silence.

Luo Bingfeng wanted to speak, but he said nothing in the end after glancing at her. He waved at Luo Yun with a sigh, saying, “You can go as well, no need to report if there’s nothing important.”

A helpless Luo Yun performed a salute and left.

Only at this point did the lady reveal a smile. She lifted his sleeves and picked up two pieces of a broken vase from the ground. Following a gentle caress of her hands, the broken pottery miraculously became whole again. She glared at Luo Bingfeng, saying, “Come help me, unless you want to sleep in the rain tonight?”

The roof was duly repaired after a moment of work. The lady glanced at Luo Bingfeng’s expression and, patting him lightly on the hand, offered some words of consolation. “Bingfeng, those brothers of yours have followed you for a long time, but how can people not die on the battlefield? You need to think about yourself. Those people will have no good ending if something happens to you.”

Luo Bingfeng sighed. “I don’t know anymore if all of this is right or wrong.

“Lay low for now, there will come a day when you soar meteorically.”

Luo Bingfeng shook his head. “I’m worried about you. What will you do after I leave?”

The woman smiled gently. “I’ll follow you, easy.” These words were spoken quite lightly, almost as though she were talking about something trivial.

Luo Bingfeng sighed after a long while of silence.

The two returned to their rooms and cultivated in silence. Before they could enjoy an hour of peace, more footsteps echoed on the mountain path as Luo Yun rushed over.

“What now?” Only Luo Bingfeng’s voice reverberated in the air, clearly displeased.

Luo Yun stood outside of the courtyard. “City Lord, we’ve found out about the two people you’re searching for. They’re Commander Qianye and Vice-Commander Ji Tianqing from the Dark Flame Mercenary Corps of Southern Blue.“

“Southern Blue? Weren’t they fighting the Wolf King just now?”

“That’s them.”

“Oh, contact them then. Ask if they have any conditions and fulfill them as much as you can.”

“Yes, sire.” Luo Yun left with a bow.

The lady sighed after the officer’s departure. “There’s really no need.”

“It’s just a negotiation, and it’s fine to exchange if his conditions aren’t overboard. I’m also open to changing my strategy if he doesn’t have a sense of propriety.”

Outside of Tidehark, Qianye was sitting cross-legged atop a stone pillar, his eyes half-closed as he meditated in silence. The view from this place was extremely good as it covered one of the three major roads connecting Tidehark to the outside world.

Qianye suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the end of the road, where a caravan was rolling out amidst a cloud of billowing dust.

In the blink of an eye, there was no one left on the stone pillar.

This motorcade was made up of a dozen or so vehicles, three of which were cargo trucks and the remainder, troop transports. In terms of escort power, one could say that this lineup was far beyond the norm.

The auto-cannon operators on each car were scanning their surroundings with great vigil. They had received bad news before leaving the city and understood that this journey wasn’t going to be peaceful. Tidehark’s interference in the battle between the Wolf King and Southern Blue ended with profits, but the other party had experts among them who might be seeking revenge.

The manager of this company was fairly cautious. He would rather spend money hiring escorts than risk his goods being robbed.

The motorcade had only traveled several dozen kilometers from Tidehark when the first armored vehicle came to an abrupt stop. This sent the cars behind into chaos, and some of them almost rammed into one another.

“What’s wrong?” The captain of the mercenary escort and the manager of the trade caravan jumped off their vehicles and sped forward.

Qianye was standing in the middle of the road, holding his blade in front of him. He was only a couple of meters away from the first armored vehicle.

The driver was clearly a short-tempered person. He glared at Qianye for a while and revved up the engines—this giant steel beast would barrel forward the moment he released the brakes. It would seem this driver intended to run Qianye over.

Qianye revealed a cold smile. He was waiting for the car to ram into him.

The comrade beside the driver seemed more knowledgeable. He frantically grabbed the driver and shouted, “Stop!”

However, he was too late—the armored car burst forward like a fierce bullet and rammed into Qianye’s body. It then bounced back at an even greater speed, cras.h.i.+ng into the car behind it.

From the beginning to the end, Qianye’s sword bearing posture never changed.

All of a sudden, Qianye swung East Peak horizontally after the car was bounced back. The sharp sword energy from that distant slash effectively bisected the armored vehicle. The expression of that glaring driver first transformed into terror and then gradually became blank. A stream of blood seeped out from the gaps in the vehicle body.

The mercenary commander was shocked. He raised both hands and roared, “Stop! Everyone stop!”

These mercenaries might be desperate characters, but they weren’t completely devoid of common sense. Seeing the ease with which Qianye had slashed open the armored vehicle, they knew they had run into an expert they couldn’t afford to provoke. Many people were already laying down their weapons even before the commander’s orders—it was pure folly to challenge a true expert with weapons of their level.

After stopping his subordinates, the leader arrived before Qianye and bowed respectfully. “Why would a powerful character like yourself make life difficult for small mercenaries like us who are just trying to make a living? Please tell us if we have somehow offended you so that we may make up for it.”

The manager also jogged over and, flas.h.i.+ng his company’s insignia, began echoing the mercenary with a smile.

“What? Did Zhu Meng not tell you why I’m here?”

The mercenary leader was startled. “You mean General Zhu Meng? He’s an important character who follows the city lord, how can small fries like us ever meet him? He really didn’t pa.s.s any message to us.”

Qianye broke into a frown, and his eyes turned cold. “So Zhu Meng didn’t say anything after coming back. Fine, leave the cars and you may return.”

The mercenaries heaved a sigh of relief. Money could be earned back as long as the person was alive. The manager, however, was shocked. “Sire, that won’t do! These goods are the lifeline of our company!”

Qianye said calmly. “If you don’t want to leave, then everyone will remain here.”

Shocked out of his wits, the mercenary captain covered the manager’s mouth and dragged him away by force. All the mercenaries disembarked from their transports and stood to the side with whatever they could carry.

Seeing that the mercenaries were quite tactful, Qianye said with a nod, “Bring a message back to Zhu Meng. Since his memory is so poor, let me remind him this: the people of Tidehark will never be safe as long as my brother isn’t released. And one more thing, he and his subordinates better not appear before me again.”

“Yes, yes! I will definitely send the message.” The captain agreed repeatedly as he dragged the manager away.

Qianye rose into the air and whipped out the Mystic Spider Lily. Scarlet flames suffused the weapon as it fired a dozen shots, each striking one of the cars below. The shot vehicles—no matter their type—would explode into a raging pillar of fire. In the blink of an eye, all of the cars had been reduced to ashes.

This time, there was a drastic change in the expressions of both the mercenary captain and the company manager. Their original thought was to send someone to negotiate and reclaim the goods in exchange for a small ransom—of course, the Tidehark experts would take their cut of this money as well. As they saw it, Qianye blocking the road out of Tidehark was akin to courting death. With so many experts inside the city, a random group of them could come out anytime and make short work of this madman.

Who would’ve thought Qianye would be completely uninterested in the money? He simply destroyed the entire caravan instead. This time, both men looked similarly dejected; ten armored vehicles was also a fortune that couldn’t be ignored.

At this point, the company manager stopped struggling and left obediently. He had finally realized that Qianye wasn’t kidding and that he would die if he were to remain here.

A total of three caravans were intercepted between noon and night. In all three cases, the people were driven away and the goods were destroyed.

The news brought back by the mercenaries sent the entire city into a panic. Since Zhang Buzhou’s rise to power, it had been many years since anyone had dared to act so atrociously around Tidehark. The entire city was discussing this explosive news. People were fairly curious—what kind of prisoner was worth stirring up such a commotion for?

Zhu Meng was naturally at the heart of the wind and waves, but he had locked himself within the barracks, not taking a single step out of it. Although everyone in the city was highly curious, no one dared to drag him out and question him. Zhu Meng was Luo Bingfeng’s trusted aide and one of the top experts in the city. He also had control over the army, so no one dared to offend him.

The two other channels out of Tidehark were largely unaffected. As far as the people in the city were concerned, that fellow causing trouble outside was a madman who would be easily destroyed if the city guard were to mobilize.

Another squad left the city at dusk, advancing under the cover of darkness and rolling dust clouds. The escort in this group was more powerful and the goods, more valuable. Just the ten cargo trucks themselves were of outstanding value, not to mention the other stuff.

What set this caravan apart was that half of the mercenary escorts were actually elites from the city guard. Du Yufeng, one of the three vice-commanders of the city guard, was hiding in the squad, ready to capture Qianye as soon as he appeared.

This vice-commander had another reason for taking the field himself—he didn’t get along with Zhu Meng. Not only would capturing Qianye prove the latter’s inept.i.tude, but he could also make use of Qianye to drag the general down. That way, Zhu Meng’s elite squad would land in his hands.

But things developed beyond everyone’s expectations. While the caravan was advancing, a stunning blue light streaked across the night sky and struck the center of the motorcade.

Du Yufeng had fallen.