A man wearing azure black clothing walked into Stronghold City.
He looked up and glanced at the nearby battle causing a bit of upheaval.
Stronghold City’s guards were rapidly heading towards the battle location. The fighters were all ultra experts that had reached the high class dominator rank. These types of experts were capable of dealing a fatal blow to a city, so the guards had to stop them in time.
The surrounding people were in a state of panic, and were fleeing in different directions. Only this azure black-clothed man calmly looked around. He simply didn’t make much of it.
When the man stepped into the city, a man and a woman were waiting for him. When they saw him, they immediately went up and respectfully saluted.
“Senior He Cang.” the two of them knelt.
"Where’s Young Lady Ning?” calmly asked He Cang.
“Deep in Quiet Forest. The protectors there wouldn’t let us enter, so we could only wait in Stronghold City.” responded Wo Shan.
He Cang glanced at Wo Shan and his eyes suddenly turned cold. He said: “So you just went and told Young Lady Ning’s location to Zheng Wu and Kang Ruodong?!”
Wo Cang felt the coldness and killing intent radiating from He Cang’s body. He was frozen in place.
Wo Cang realized his death was imminent. He immediately chanted an incantation, summoning a peak dominator rank Gale Colt.
The adjacent Luo Yi didn’t know what happened. She looked on with confusion at Wo Shan who suddenly summoned a soul pet to flee.
He Cang coldly harrumphed. Without even needing him to give an order, the shadow under his feet suddenly became malevolent and extended a long black blade out of thin air!
Wo Shan’s movements were very fast and he was riding on a demon. In the blink of an eye, he had charged a few kilometers outside of the city.
However, the long blade held in the hands of He Cang’s shadow was able to limitlessly extend.
“Hu!!”
With one slash, the long dark blade chopped straight down the forest path outside Stronghold City. The blade was able to completely take up the entire several kilometers long path!
“Shua!!”
A clean and agile sound rang out. Wo Shan’s body, after he managed to flee a few kilometers away, was chopped into two halves. Even the peak dominator rank demon he was riding on was split apart by the long dark blade!
There was no fresh blood spurting out. Instead, both halves of its body transformed into black smoke that dissipated!
On the path, there were at least several thousand people coming and going from the stronghold. These several thousand people all simultaneously felt the enormous long dark blade descend onto their heads.
However, these several thousand people were left unscathed. Only the escaping Wo Shan and his demon were cut into two halves, dissipating in black smoke!
A person with a peak dominator rank had died so miserably!
“Senior… Senior He Cang…” Luo Yi’s face was pale as she stood next to He Cang,
He Cang was undoubtedly strong. However, she never expected Senior He Cang to personally kill Wo Shan without even saying anything.
The powerful darkness creature slowly melded back into the shadow under He Cang’s feet. He Cang didn’t even glance at Wo Shan. He stepped forwards and calmly said: “He sold out Young Lady Ning to people who have harmed the young lady.”
Luo Yi finally came back to her senses and hastily followed He Cang.
“Senior He Cang, did something happen?” softly asked Luo Yi.
“This was my failure to do my job. I was taken advantage of by Zheng Wu, that bastard. Young Lady’s powers weren’t actually completely lost…” said He Cang.
He Cang shouldn’t have told the subordinate most deserving of his trust - Zheng Wu - about his feelings and pity for Ning Maner. He shouldn’t have agreed to the idea Zheng Wu had given him even more. All of this was a ruse, and Zheng Wu had used him…
And He Cang had only realized this a long time after Ning Maner had left.
After learning about this plot, He Cang had thrown away his position in Wupan City and came here as fast as possible.
“Zheng Wu? Isn’t he your subordinate extremely deserving of trust?” asked Luo Yi.
“That was in the past.”
……
Deep in Quiet Forest.
The Three-Eyed Wind Eagle flew in the direction of the invaders. It passed through the desolate land. The forest that had been destroyed into a mess appeared.
However, before it even appeared in Quiet Forest’s inner area, a few blade wing creatures appeared in front of the Three-Eyed Wind Eagle!
Blade wing creatures didn’t belong to Quiet Forest. When the Three-Eyed Wind Eagle saw this group of blade feather species pass through the sky and block its forward route, its eyes immediately turned sharp and serious.
Ning Maner, sitting on the Three-Eyed Wind Eagle’s back, instantly went pale. These people moved too fast. They also seemed to know she was going to go to the Messiah Tree’s remains and had set up a trap beforehand, leaving her with no path of escape.
“Young Lady Ning, we meet again.” a voice rang out from the blade feather species.
Ning Maner looked on, and her clear eyes were filled with anger and hatred!
It was the leader of the group that had pursued her last time. The black cloth on his head and his protruding cheekbones had left an incomparably deep impression on Ning Maner.
“It was him who killed Big Lion!” Ning Maner’s eyes were red.
Every night when she was wrapped in a nightmare, she would always see this face which would fill her with extreme anger despite her fear.
Ning Maner’s heart was innately pure and had no trace of killing intent. However, when she saw this person again, killing intent instantly flared!
And his Poison Teeth Beast!
Big Lion and many of the other Quiet Forest Protectors had perished at the hands of this savage Poison Teeth Beast. The tragedy of Lin City’s Heaven Boundary Monument was vivid in her mind!
Before she left Quiet Forest, Ning Maner didn’t even have a notion of “hate”. But now, she hated nothing more than the black cloth man in front of her!
“Hand over the Messiah Tree seed. Accounting for your current status as a Ning Family member, I won’t make it hard for you.” Kang Ruodong stepped on a Blade Feather Demon with flickering sharpness as he slowly approached the Three-Eyed Wind Eagle.
“I truly don’t have the seed!” said Ning Maner.
“If it wasn’t for my master paying attention and discovering a little girl, you, among the escaping protectors of Quiet Forest and told me to chase you, wouldn’t I have been tricked by that old tree?! Hmph, those experts dug up the interior of Quiet Forest and still didn’t find the Messiah Tree Seed. So if it’s not in your hands, whose else hands could it be in? Obediently hand it over and I will immediately leave. If you aren’t willing, not only will you suffer from the most painful torture, I won’t leave a single one of these creatures that are still adamant on protecting this place alive!” said Kang Ruodong.
The Messiah Tree Seed was the only descendant of the Messiah Tree. If one was able to obtain it, he would be able to nurture a Messiah Tree child pet.
Then, when the Messiah Tree was in infancy, one would be able to sign a soul pact with it and have it completely serve him!
The Messiah Tree had sufficient spirit, xuan, and immortal charm to raise an enormous empire or dynasty. It was a god tree. If all of this nurturing energy was given to a single person, this person would have the most powerful strength in this world!
If that happened, how insignificant would the immortal rank be then?
There wasn’t a single expert who wasn’t moved by the Messiah Tree Seed. Kang Ruodong’s master was the same, just like those human leader experts who had committed the past crime and were hiding in the large factions!
“Don’t wait until your pitiful protectors all die before your hand over the Messiah Tree Seed while sobbing to me. Hand it over now and I can guarantee their lives. You should also be able to tell that these laughable Wind Eagles simply can’t match up to my subordinates. Quiet Forest is too weak now.” Kang Ruodong swept his eyes at the distant fight in the sky and threateningly spoke to Ning Maner.
Ning Maner turned around and discovered that the skies were already drifting with countless broken feathers and drops of blood. More and more Wind Eagles were dropping from the sky…
Ning Maner’s heart was dripping blood and she clenched her fist. She had never thirsted for power more than now!
Ning Maner knew that Kang Ruodong wouldn’t believe anything she said. The Three-Eyed Wind Eagle also realized he couldn’t face this many Blade Feather Demons and the Poison Teeth Beast, which could kill Big Lion, alone.
The Three-Eyed Wing Eagle tilted its wings and abruptly sped up. Sweeping up a surging storm, it fled to the side!
The Three-Eyed Wind Eagle was a protector, and its entire species assumed the responsibilities of protecting. Even if their entire species was slaughtered, it couldn’t allow Ning Maner to fall into the hands of these greedy humans!
“Chase it!” Kang Ruodong ordered the subordinates behind him.
The Three Eyed Wind Demon was very fast and his strongest soul pet, the Poison Teeth Beast, wasn’t a wing type creature. Although it was extremely strong in battle, in the air, it probably wouldn’t be able to catch up to the Three-Eyed Wind Eagle.
The Three-Eyed Wind Eagle continuously passed through wind currents to speed up. Its current goal was to take Ning Maner away from here. As for its own species members, it had no choice but to stop itself from turning back to look.
“Uncle Wind Eagle. Put me down. Take your species members and flee from this place.” said Ning Maner.
The Wind Eagle species was the last protector species in the entire inner Quiet Forest. If they were slaughtered, Ning Maner would have no more family to speak of.
There were already many, many protectors that had sacrificed themselves for her. She didn’t have the heart to face an imminent second tragedy.
The Three-Eyed Wind Eagle didn’t respond. Its sharp eyes stared ahead and its wings didn’t stop beating.
Protecting the Messiah Tree in itself was a mission about protecting a species. Their protection had failed in the last battle because they were too weak and they had let the final Messiah Tree disappear from this world.
They couldn’t let this protection fail, nor could they just run away!
To the proud Wind Eagle species, since there was no point in living if they couldn’t do their job as protectors and protect the Messiah Tree and Ning Maner, why not just perish in battle!?
They would absolutely rather perish in this holy and unprofanable soil and let their souls wander the skies of the Pure Land than meaninglessly live in a world without the Messiah Tree and Ning Maner!!