"What? I don't think so. You're going to tell me what you're doing, or I will report what I just saw to Miss
Hannah. Are you stealing the ethereal crystals, Captain?" Rocky asked with a mischievous smile on his
face.
"You, idiot! Miss Hannah specifically asked me to do this!" Ramon commented angrily but tried to
maintain his voice lowered.
"Wait. Miss Hannah was the one who asked you to take the crystals away? What the hell is going on?"
Rocky asked as he instantly felt that something shady was going on.
"Mind your own business, brat! If I were you, I would just do my job well. Now, get out of the way,"
Ramon warned sternly.
"All right…" Rocky's eyes narrowed, but he decided to let the matter go at the moment. Then, he went
to the sidelines and continued to observe Ramon.
After all of the ethereal crystals in the wagons were sucked into the Spiritual Treasure Sachet, Ramon
returned to the side of Hannah's carriage and informed, "Miss Hannah, I already finished the task. I'm
leaving now and I've asked Eliseo to take the command. If an ambush occurs, they will protect you with
all their strength."
"Go ahead. You need to leave now," Hannah briefly replied.
Then, Ramon quickly checked the surroundings before he walked into the dark.
Hearing the conversation between Ramon and Hannah, Rocky had no clue what the ambush meant,
but he certainly knew that they might be running into some trouble.
'It seems that something interesting is about to happen. I need to be prepared,' Rocky thought to
himself as he let out a faint smile.
About an hour later, the guards continued their journey and they soon entered the Night-wolf Gorge.
The Night-wolf Gorge was infamous because of the dangers that lay within it, and it was known that a
notorious group of robbers commonly brought misfortune to those who passed this place. The terrain of
the gorge had several twists and turns, and the road was surrounded by cliffs on both sides. Thus, it
had become an easy target for the Robber Regiment to set up an ambush. Especially when it was late
at night, these robbers could move freely as if the area was the back of their palm.
Before Ramon left, he strictly instructed Eliseo to be on high alert at all times. He had to pay attention
to his surroundings in case there was a potential emergency.
Finally, they were already about to get out of the gorge, but they didn't encounter any trouble.
With this, the guards breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little. However, just as they thought that
they wouldn't come across any mishap, they suddenly saw that under the cliffs beside the road, several
black shadows that looked like house lizards flew down along the cliff at such an incredible speed.
In no time, the whole team of guards was surrounded by the group of men in black. Upon closer
inspection, the clothes of these men were marked with daggers, which was the symbol of the Robber
Regiment.
"Dear friends, we are the guards of the Sword Spirit Sect. We just want to quietly pass. Please do not
be too hard on us." Eliseo appeared to be in his early forty's and he had already worked as a guard for
more than ten years. In his years of experience, he had to test the other party's reaction and motive
first, so he directly told them their identity.
"We're not going to make trouble for you, but you have to leave the ethereal crystals to us." A figure in
white suddenly walked out in front of the group of men in black. It was pretty dark but they were sure
that the figure was petite and dainty. It was obviously a woman, but from the spiritual aura that she
emitted, they knew that she should be at the seventh grade of the Spirit Realm, making the guards a bit
panic-stricken.
"I'm afraid we don't have what you're talking about. We are just escorting our lady back to the Sword
Spirit City," Eliseo said politely, doing his best not to agitate the robbers.
"Stop messing around! Should I rephrase what I said? Give me the ethereal crystals or you're going to
be in lots of trouble!" the woman in white shouted sternly.
"I already told you that we don't have them. If you don't believe me, you can check it for yourself."
Hearing this, the woman in white narrowed her eyes and immediately gestured to one of the men in
black. Then, the man instantly leaped forward and landed on the wagons to inspect them. He
eventually opened the boxes that originally contained the ethereal crystals but saw that they were all
empty.
After inspecting every wagon, the man in black immediately rushed back beside the woman in white
and whispered to her ear.
"Where are the ethereal crystals? Don't think that you can outsmart me." The woman in white was also
surprised when his underling told her that he didn't find any, but she was sure that they were just
tricking their group.
"As I said, we don't bear any ethereal crystal. You've already checked everywhere and found nothing,"
Eliseo replied as his tone gradually became serious.
"Oh? So, you're really going to make a fool out of us, huh? I've told you that you can leave without
encountering any trouble if you just give us what we want, but this is how you want to play this out?
Fine, then," the woman in white snorted coldly.
"Don't threaten us. Aren't you afraid of offending the Sword Spirit Sect?" Eliseo finally lost his patience
and snapped back.
"Humph! Your measly sect is nothing before us! I assume that you won't hand the crystals over no
matter what. So, don't blame us for what's going to happen next! Take their lady! Let's see if they will
still act all high and mighty afterward," the woman in white commanded firmly, gesturing her men to
make their move.
"Spread out! Protect our lady!" Seeing that they had no choice but to fight back, Eliseo immediately
issued the order to safeguard Hannah.
In an instant, all of the guards surrounded the carriage, where Hannah stayed put, in order to protect
her thoroughly.
On the other hand, the members of the Robber Regiment also encircled the guards and started
attacking them.
Most of the guards of the Sword Spirit Sect were at least at the third grade of the Spirit Realm.
However, the members of the Robber Regiment were far more powerful, so they easily gained the
upper hand. Soon enough, the guards' defenses were suppressed, and it wouldn't take long before
they were overwhelmed.
At the same time, Rocky, who had been hiding behind the carriage all this time, suddenly sneaked into
Hannah's location.
"You! What are you doing here?" Hannah asked, extremely surprised to see him at this point.
"Shh! Not so loud," Rocky said as he pressed his index finger against his lips.
"I asked you what you are doing here," Hannah said as her delicate face showed a frown.
"Don't worry. I'm here to protect you, Miss Hannah," Rocky said as he dismissed her suspicious
attitude.
"What? I don't need your protection. It is the guards' job. Now, get out of here," Hannah refused with a
hint of contempt in her voice.
"But Captain Ramon asked me to protect you." Rocky didn't have a choice but to mention Ramon's
name to make her listen.
"Really?" Indeed, he got her attention, but the lady was still apprehensive.
"Yes, he is very worried about you, so he strictly instructed me to protect you when the situation got
worse. Even if I have to go through fire and water, I needed to obey his command!" Rocky said with a
firm attitude.
"Ha! I don't think so. With your strength, you might even not be able to protect yourself! How can you
protect me then?" Hannah replied condescendingly.
"Well, it actually depends on whether you believe me or not," Rocky said with a confident smile.
"What are you talking about? Do you have a plan? Why should I trust you?" Hannah asked with
obvious hesitation.
"Their sole purpose is the get the ethereal crystals, and these robbers are going to use you to get
them. It just simply means that their plan won't succeed if they fail to capture you," Rocky explained
calmly.
"Yeah, I get that. But what will you do? They have us surrounded," Hannah remarked.
"I have a way to get you out of their encirclement," Rocky replied with a smirk on his face.
"Are you certain? How are you going to do it?" Hannah couldn't help but ask as she still harbored some
doubts.
"I've got to confirm first. Miss Hannah, are you going to trust me whatever my plan is?" Rocky stared at
Hannah as his expression became rather serious.
Hannah fell silent because she was still reluctant to agree.
"Miss Hannah, we don't have much time left. Do you want to see all the guards outside die one after
another? Their lives depend on you. And you should also know that those robbers won't stop until they
get what they want! So, what's your decision?" Rocky said as he put tremendous pressure on Hannah.
"Okay, fine! I'll trust you no matter what," Hannah finally agreed. She understood that if she didn't
cooperate with Rocky right away, what he said might actually happen sooner or later. Thus, she had no
choice but to go along with his plan.
"I apologize that you have to go through this." Then, Rocky immediately moved close to Hannah and
held her tight.
"Hey! What are you going to do?" Hannah was quite stunned and her petite body was gradually curling
up out of nervousness.
Rocky just grinned impishly and quickly lifted her up before she could even react.
Meanwhile, the barricade formed by the guards had already been broken by the robbers. Just as two
men in black were about to sneak into Hannah's carriage, Rocky suddenly rushed out with the lady in
his arms. Under the watchful eyes of all the people present, he easily broke through the encirclement of
the Robber Regiment and dashed straight ahead into the dense and dark forest.
Everyone was left dumbfounded as they witnessed this. Rocky moved too fast that no one was able to
react in time. Before the men in black could even chase after them, Rocky and Hannah had already
disappeared without a trace.
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