The voyage back to the western hills was filled with excitement and chatter, at least for the two youngest members of the group.
Dots of white kept pouring down from the sky, gliding slowly from side to side in its descent to the earth. The icy barrage of snowflakes were still falling, it had not stopped all day.
"How strong do you think the king actually is? He must have been the strongest on the whole continent, right?" Shao Law asked with excitement bubbling in his voice.
"There's a good chance he was, I've never seen anyone control lightning before. It was an awesome display." Fu Jianu dreamily remarked.
A layer of snow was beginning to gather on the crown of her hood.
They both walked in step a few strides ahead.
"I didn't even know that was possible." Shao Law admitted animatedly.
The two youngsters continued their energetic conversation in the waning light of a sunless winter's evening. Traversing the winding, snow laden walkways with ease.
Hartley hugged Zhi Ruo and smiled at the youngsters enthusiasm, almost like an elder watching over his grandchildren.
Zhi Ruo's two front teeth slid over her bottom lip in a teasing half smile.
"You're not that much older than them, you know that right?" She pointed her chin at those in front and said mockingly.
Hartley laughed, his breath misting before him, forming a small cloud of condensation in the cold air.
"Sure I am, at least by ten years." He said, referencing the couple's time spent in the pocket dimension.
Zhi Ruo pouted in objection, "not me, I'm not claiming those ten years. I'm still in my prime."
They both laughed out, trekking through the heavy snow behind Shao Law and Fu Jianu, with Hartley's arm wrapped around Zhi Ruo's shoulder.
After exiting the twisty mountain roads, they came upon a waiting black carriage parked off to the side, the roof covered with snow and the breath of the fidgeting horses visible to the eyes.
"Hello young lord," the driver hailed, rubbing both hands together, hoping the friction would bring warmth to his already numb fingers.
Hartley hailed him back with a wave, nod and a smile, watching as the man who was obviously feeling the effects the weather, climbed up to his driving position.
Hartley and the others shook the snowflakes free from their clothes and boarded the carriage, signalling the driver to be on his way.
It was mostly a peaceful trip back to the western hills, with stories of the king's ascension told and retold by Shao Law.
The carriage ambled carefully forward, leaving wheel tracks and hoof prints, rocking and rolling on the under-developed roads of the north.
Shadowy experts had the carriage under surveillance, carefully keeping their distance.
How could they escape Hartley's awareness? He chose not to make a move, maybe those in the shadows were just planning and not ready to execute.
Hartley smiled to himself, there was going to be a lot of surprises.
...
The next morning the snow had stopped falling, leaving 5 inches of snow plastered over the land.
White ice and grey skies stretched out as far as one could see.
Hartley awoke to the news of nobles ravaging and plundering other nobles all over the capital. By now the news of the king's ascension had spread far and wide.
Nobles from both camps immediately started rampaging across the capital to enrich themselves. Amassing armies by forming alliances and plundering the weak in the neighbouring territories, expelling those unaligned with their factions and increasing their own land holdings.
Multiple lines of smoke plumed into the grey skies across the central areas of the capital, visible from as far as the western hills.
Bright and early on that grey and gloomy morning, a group of men on horseback came to a stop, their horses hoofs' crunching into the deep hardening ice outside the western hills.
Two of the men donned gold trimmed black armour with huge great swords slung diagonally across their backs.
The other two older men wore robes, one black and the other red. A sword and a hammer crossing to make an "X" was the insignia printed on the men's robes and armour.
What greeted them at their destination was beyond their expectations.
Two massive snow-covered walls sandwiched a high metallic gate that was sealed shut.
Situated at the crest of a hill with a road that was deliberately designed to be narrow, winding and long.
It was a classic killing-field design, where a sieging army would lose a huge amount of their forces before even reaching the gate.
The steep incline of the winding road would compel the attackers to travel twice the distance a straight road would have provided.
Bringing fatigue into play in any battle, and as tired soldiers witnessed the inevitable decimation of their comrades, that would bring moral into play.
Only the most disciplined and elite of soldiers could watch friends and colleagues die miserably on a battlefield without losing resolve, most would break down mentally and flee to protect their own lives, shattering the moral of the others, causing chaos.
The entrance to western hills was not only designed to break an enemy siege, it was also designed to break the enemy's spirit.
The four valiant men on horseback looked around in amazement.
Noticing that the maze of giant trees they remembered were all removed, leaving them in the open with no cover in sight, anyone approaching would be sitting ducks outside the walls.
If enough archers were spread across the wall, shooting targets below would be like killing fishes in a barrel. Not to mention how difficult it would be to leverage siege towers up the winding hill.
This was a chilling and unexpected development.
"Choi, isn't this place supposed to be filled with rat-infested hovels?
Wasn't the coal mines of the west, a slum for commoners?
Are these coal mines so valuable that someone would invest this much in fortifying it?"
The man dressed in black rattled off his quick questions in a deep tone of voice, bewildering his comrades who were just as stunned.
Before Choi, the elder dressed in the red robe, could make heads or tails of the situation at hand.
A stern voice came down from the high wall.
"State your purpose for visiting the western hills!"
They looked up the wall to see a soldier dressed in a coat made of white fur and a fluffy white hat that covered his ears. He even had gloves on, gripping a longbow in his left hand.
Again the group was shocked, looking up in a stupor.
Why are the commoners guarding the gate so well equipped?
This lord must have a fortune.
They each had the same thought and came to the same conclusion.
When the nobles under the umbrella of the eldest Prince had told them that this young lord was thriving, they almost dismissed it.
Thinking those guys were eating meat and offering them bones, disgruntled that they had to come all the way out here to the slums.
Turns out there was really a fortune to be made.
The tall slim elder dressed in black had a twisted scowl as his beady eyes looked up the wall.
"You dare to address me like that, you vagabond?"
"Get your lord down here immediately! Tell him representatives from the House of Smiths are on his doorstep."
The man in black screamed like a child throwing a tantrum, releasing a huge pulse of power.
His mount neighed out loud, shuffling back and forth with small steps to keep its balance, the other horses and riders by his side had to do the same by reflex.
"You are lucky that I'm giving your lord some face, or I would have dragged you down from that wall and cracked your skull open with my bare hands."
The man in black added a threat for good measure.
Dozens of archers appeared along the length of the wall immediately, arrows notched and strings drawn tight.
The men below ignored the threat, they were all above the 5th layer of the xiantian realm and the elder was in the 9th.
A few arrows could do them no harm.
...
"Do not stretch yourselves too thin, we can't help everyone, but do what you can."
"Yes my lord." Fu Qian answered.
Hartley was in a meeting with Fu Qian and the security team. The gloom of the morning made the clear windows seem grey and hazy.
They were on the second floor of the manor, fireplace cracking and spitting, the orange flames danced back and forth, providing warmth for those who needed it.
"How's the new batch of xiantians?" Hartley asked Fu Qian.
"Only four achieved the required criteria and were given the elixir." Fu Qian seemed disappointed with his answer.
"That's ok, its better to be careful." Hartley replied.
Hartley did not want to flood the western hills with xiantian experts, even if he had the means to transform his whole army.
He knew that the minds of men could easily change with their circumstances.
Such a secret formula would draw the attention of both princes. They would surely unite to take him down first, before turning their weapons against each other.
Instead of blindly using the elixir, he had given Shao Law the job of recruiting more orphans from the crime guild in the Wawrika province.
Hartley felt the young people from the guild could be moulded, plus they were untainted by the cut throat nature of the capital.
Even though that was still no guarantee of loyalty, it was at least a more likely outcome.
Hartley decided to take a chance on the ones that showed the most commitment to obeying the rules of the western hills.
The last thing he needed was rogue xiantians running amok in his territory.
The good thing was that because of Alrick's elixir, they had just added four more xiantians to their forces.
Hurried footsteps were suddenly heard followed by frantic knocks at the door.
Hartley already knew what the situation was at the gate.
....
The locking mechanism rattled with the clangs of handles being released. A long creak sounded, a small gate cut into the larger one swung inwards.
A handsome young man emerged from the other side, stepping into the snow that had yet to be cleared outside the main gate.
He was followed out by a small group of people, mixed with both women and men.
A pretty redhead lady stood beside the handsome young man at the front.
A scruffy looking older man, sporting darkened puffy eyes like he hadn't slept in days, stood to young man's other side.
Everybody else seemed to melt away in the background like they only came to observe.
White hair, crooked nose, pallid skin and beady eyes, that described the average looking man dressed in black who moved forward on his horse to address the group from ten meters away. The rest of his group stayed mounted and quiet.
He spoke in a tone that seemed too friendly to be an enemy.
"I am elder Zhang Yi from the House of Smiths."
The elder then bowed respectfully to the crowd.
"I come bearing good news, the House of Smiths would like to make the western hills an affiliate of ours under the banner of the eldest prince."
Elder Zhang Yi paused again to see how the spectators took the news.
The blank faces stared back at him with no emotions.
Happy at seeing no protests, he smiled, cleared his throat and continued.
"As you can see, chaos and turmoil has spread throughout the capital, only by allying yourself with a House that's got a saint can you survive the upcoming days, I promise that the House of Smiths will not mistreat you."
The man who had wanted to crack skulls with his bare hands a minute ago, delivered his pitch with an amicable smile like a preacher come to save souls.
Hartley returned the smile, the distinct sapphire colour of his eyes glinting with a shining gleam in the overcast gloom of the morning.
With the smile tattooed to his expression Hartley said. "I don't like you!
You're a snake!
I'll stick to the devil that I know, but if you slither back down this hill on your belly, I promise that you can leave with two of your limbs still attached to your body."
"That's a good deal, you should take it." Zhi Ruo's voice sounded out faintly but clearly audible to everyone.
Hartley flashed the elder a bright smile and waited, it was like him and the elder were discussing some insignificant grievance that could be settled with ease.
Elder Zhang Yi immediately switched persona, his face contorting with rage, eyes bulging wide, exposing the complex network of red veins within.
"You dare!" he screamed, the two words drenched with anger, he could barely find any more words to express himself, the shock these peasants gave him was too much.
The deep snow was blown out from beneath the hoofs of his horse, tremors could be felt reverberating through the earth as the man lost all control of his temper.
"You all deserve death!" One of the armoured men proclaimed as his horse galloped forward, bursting through the cloud of white whipped up by the tantrum of elder Zhang Yi, he unsheathed the massive great sword on his back in a flash, aiming to split the disrespectful lord of the western hills in two.
Contrary to his imagination, the group did not start to scatter in chaos running for their lives.
Instead, the battle hardened group stood their ground.
There was flash producing an explosion of green particles, the scruffy looking man with bags under his eyes, swiftly moved to meet the armoured man, kicking up a trail of snow in his wake.
The huge silver sword left white water-like ripples through the air, the smooth technique of the water elemental attracted the snow that weaved around man and horse like a carapace.
The whizzing sword sliced horizontally at the airborne scruffy man mercilessly.
Qin Li arched his body acrobatically, the green wind elements shimmering and coiling around him whipping up a mini storm.
Another sudden burst of green sent snow spraying everywhere and adjusted his trajectory, sending him gliding pass the massive sword, robe rustling from the wind, twisting from the waist, carrying his full momentum forward to grab the man's throat with his right hand, snatching him from the saddle like an eagle catching prey.
The horse went on blindly and was easily corralled by the security team.
As quick as light, before the startled man could make any adjustments.
Qin Li twisted his right hand with force, a loud Crick! Echoed out.
He landed gracefully with cyclone-like green particles rotating around his body, the quiet limp man still in his grasp.
He tossed him aside like garbage.
The armour plopped to the ground like a deboned fish, ringing out a dull chime like a bell.
Dead!
The ownerless great sword skittered away across the snow-covered ground, coming a stop before Elder Zhang Yi half covered in snow.