People scrambled to see what the commotion that was happening outside was about, what they saw was a young man covered in blood, sat on the ground slack-jawed staring at Hartley in a trance as if he was hypnotized.
Lines of sweat crawled down his forehead, raced over his brows and ran down his jaw, perspiring even in the low temperature outside the castle.
A bushy eyebrow-ed elder rushed forward from the delegates of Sasko and stood in front of the frightened young man, he stared at Hartely with a menacing look.
"You will pay for that," he said through gritted teeth, the man who was about 1.6 meters in height clasped both hands in front of his chest.
The wind in the surroundings swirled around him like a tornado, howling and whipping up the snow in a white funnel-like shape.
"You dare!" came the voice of Commander Genk, his muscles bulged as his broad body turned stone-like, he made his way forward, every step thundered against the ground like an earthquake, sending dirt and snow bouncing up and down on the surface of the floor.
A gleaming two handed sword as big as a door appeared in his hands, the sword produced gust of winds to counteract the elder as he brought it forward like a lumberjack chopping wood.
Dull light reflected off the metallic armor of the guards as they rushed to the area of the disturbance, just as the situation threatened to spiral out of control, there was a blinding yellow flash in the empty space between commander Genk and the elder from the Sasko delegates.
A man who seemed to be made entirely from fire appeared engulfed in a yellow light, the snow on the floor melted away with a harsh sizzling sound, forming a column of steam that rose quickly towards the sky, exposing the cobbled surface of the ground underneath his feet as the heat flashed outwards and over all present at the melee.
Everyone paused for a moment, the soldiers then quickly retreated and cordoned off the area, keeping everyone at a safe distance, a din of discussions broke out.
A chorus of distant voices could be heard vaguely. Commander Genk stood his ground and the bushy hair elder stopped gathering wind elements.
The man surrounded by fire slowly revealed himself as the fire around him gradually dispersed. A man with the look of an experienced warrior appeared, the tall man had a white streaks in his hair and stood in the middle of the fracas separating both sides, looking dignified with his hands behind his back, the man was dressed in white and not a single speck of snow swirling down from the grey sky landed on his robe, his eyes surveyed and studied the scene.
Every single member of the delegates from Sasko sported twisted scowls of hatred on their faces.
"What's gong on? the expert in middle asked.
The young man wearing a dirty green robe stained with blood, sat on the ground while pointing a shaky index finger towards Hartley, unable to get out any words due to his uncontrollable fright.
"This animal butchered a member our group right in front of us, the safety of our group was guaranteed by the prince, we demand equal punishment," the bushy browed elder barked at the new person on the scene.
Hartley was unperturbed, he just stood smiling at the young man, at this point Hartley didn't fear anyone below the saint realm.
"Let me clear this up, elder Xialong," said Commander Genk in a respectful manner, then greeted the man with a formal bow.
Sir Xialong was a half saint representing Prince Jian, he wasn't present at the meeting but he was watching over the surroundings to make sure nothing untoward happened.
Commander Genk shouted for Anguo Chen who immediately forced his way forward.
"Get me a list of the delegates present at the meeting," he ordered.
"Yes sir."
Anguo Chen hurried back into the castle, returning a short while later with the information, he handed the parchment to the Commander.
Upon glancing quickly through the list, Commander Genk smiled at the elder from Sasko.
Commander Genk theatrically counted every member of the delegate from Sasko with his index finger, then counted off the names on the parchment in the same manner.
"Fourteen!"
There are fourteen names on the list, and there are fourteen delegates standing here, whoever that person was, he wasn't on the official list of delegates, for all I know he could have been a spy smuggled in to infiltrate the meeting."
Commander Genk said all this in an accusatory tone.
The faces of those from Sasko went sour, the man that was miserably punched to death was an elder assigned by the young man's clan to protect him at all times.
Just as the commander had said, his name wasn't on the official list of delegates because he wasn't there to take part in the meeting, he was there in the role of a bodyguard to his young master, it was a catastrophic oversight.
"What?" the bushy browed elder from Sasko could not believe his ears.
"If he's not a delegate then his safety wasn't guaranteed by our Prince, we have no idea who the man was or his intentions."
"I think this matter should end here, elder Chenglei have a safe journey." Elder Xialong said these words with a serene expression, as if his statement were the law, turning away before Elder Chenglei could go off on a tirade.
The bushy browed elder Chenglei was so outraged that his hands started to tremble, he couldn't even find words to utter. He grabbed the young man by his collar, hauling him up from the floor, turned and left with the rest of the delegates chasing to catch up to him.
Elder Xialong took a long look at Hartley who showed no sign of being intimidated, the elder then disappeared in a flash of yellow.
"That was a bit reckless," said commander Genk to Hartley, "you've slapped the faces of the people from Sasko yet again and gained yourself another life-long enemy, you have to be careful."
"I'm sorry for troubling you," said Hartley with a formal bow.
"Non-sense," Commander Genk said with a wave of his hand.
"Be prepared to travel to Tivoli with me, I'm sure the Prince will want you there." The big man bid Hartley good bye then boarded his carriage.
Hartley looked back at Baron Hongtian who was watching from the entrance of his castle with a sneer, Hartley gave him a smile in return.
He could tell the man had made no effort in controlling the actions of the delegates, in fact him taking such a passive approach, actively encouraged their bad behaviour.
Hartley boarded his carriage and left.
***
Hartley and Zhi Ruo walked in, arms locked as they moved across the tiled floor in the receiving hall on the first floor.
Zhi Ruo's movements was elegant and ghost-like, making no sound as she lithely moved beside Hartley.
She had finally broken through to the 2nd layer of the xiantian realm. Her skin now looked as tender and supple as a newborn, the red hair beauty smiled at the lustful glances from Hartley.
Qin Li sporting a scraggly beard was looking around the hall in wonder, high windows let a shower of natural light pour onto the grey tiles, chairs and tables huddled together in the corner of the room and a raised platform at the end of the hall had a long table clustered with vases and trinkets.
The manor of House Hartley was finally finished and Zhi Ruo had added all her feminine charms to the decorations.
Knowing that her wedding was coming up soon, Zhi Ruo was as frantically getting the manor looking just right.
Hartley left Zhi Ruo to make decisions about the manor and Qin Li to make decisions about the security, he was in the midst of preparations for leaving the country of Aidonia for the first time.
Hartley spent the next three days cooped up with Zhi Ruo who seem to have more energy than ever.
On the fourth day, he flashed to the Cassia province to meet Commander Genk. The big man had prepared a ship with two thousand troops, ready to make the journey to the affiliate country of Tivoli.