The ten assassins launched at Patrick at fast speeds; the leading assassin led the group as he was the strongest among them. They launched with their red Qi-coated blades pointed at Patrick as they emitted extreme bloodthirsty auras, their flashing speeds leaving craters behind them. Patrick stood facing the assassins, his right hand holding the spear horizontally while his left hand was still in his pocket; seeing the incoming assassins, Patrick nonchalantly swung the spear as what happened next caused the space to tremble. The party of Bu Jan and his fellow escorts stood not far as the next scene left them speechless and in stupors; the six guards even unconsciously assumed frightening expressions.
With Patrick horizontally swinging the spear, a slicing sound resonated in the surroundings as the bodies of the ten assassins were sliced in halves; their lower bodies continuing rushing while their upper bodies remained at the spot, the space before Patrick slashed in half as everything in his straight sight was separated by the spear.
The two large mountains forming the valley also halved as the top halves slightly floated over the bottom halves; the trees and other surrounding mountains within a ten-mile radius were affected by the attack as they were sliced into two halves. Seconds later, the halved objects began falling as they caused booming sounds in the surroundings, the top bodies of the ten assassins falling to the ground as their lower halves also fell due to their missing upper bodies.
Seeing the destruction caused by this man, Bu Jan, and the other six bronze armor-wearing guards exchanged looks as they gulped in fright.
'To be capable of slicing the space itself in half, only high-level immortal experts could do that, but he used my 'Lion Soaring Spear', which is an ordinary low-grade weapon. Does that mean my spear has been an artifact all along? That's impossible; no blacksmith in the entire Sky Yun region can forge weapons higher than low-grade; even the city lord's weapon is a mid-level weapon, then does that mean this man used his power to cause that attack?.'
Bu Jan thought as he stared at Patrick with a slightly frightened countenance; if his assumptions are even a tiny bit correct, then this man is a high-level immortal expert with unknown background and strength. But thinking how courteous he acted previously towards this man, Bu Jan calmed his frightening thoughts as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. From the man's mannerly attitude, there is no way he is a bad person, or else he wouldn't have intervened with their matters. The six other guards stood around the carriage as they returned to their conscious selves, their minds in turmoil, trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
"Here, have your spear back."
The seven guards heard Patrick speak as they gazed at him respectfully. Patrick had watched as the sliced space mended itself, with the sliced trees and mountains remaining in destructive states; he spoke as he telekinetically sent the spear to Bu Jan, catching the sent spear with an astonished expression; Bu Jan respectfully cupped his hands and bowed towards Patrick as he spoke.
"I thank senior for showing his benevolence; we will be eternally grateful."
"No need for gratitude; I was returning favors, nothing more. We should continue our journey; it's getting late."
"Senior is right. Everyone mount your horses; the little Miss must have noticed our stop, lets go."
Bu Jan spoke as he ordered the continuation of their trip. With that, the group mounted their horses as they left for the Sky Yun City; on the carriage roof, Patrick lay as he supported his head with his arms with crossed legs. He closed his eyes as the party continued their trip.
Inside the carriage, the three goddesses chatted with the maids as they spoke about the Sky Yun City, the main city within the Sky Yun Region. Noticing that they were continuing their journey, Athena returned the insides of the cart to normal as they could see the destroyed trees and mountains laying around. With everything back to normal, the party headed for Sky Yun City.
After what felt like forty minutes, three figures flew from the distance as they stopped over the destroyed surrounding; among the arrived three was an elder with black beards standing on a hovering long sword, behind the black beard elder were two individuals who seemed to be the disciples of the black beard elder. The arrived group wore green attires with sword emblems hanging from their waists. Seeing the devastating state of the surroundings and some sliced dead bodies on the ground, the black beard elder frowned as he spoke.
"Hmm? It seems some high-level expert used a space technique minutes ago, quite the destruction they caused."
"But Master, isn't the Sky Yun Region a backwater location in the central mainland? How come there is an expert of such caliber here? Isn't that suspicious?"
A boy seeming to be eighteen to nineteen stood on the long flying sword behind the elder as he spoke; the boy had long ponytailed black hair, sharp eyes, and blue pupils, next to the boy was a girl clad in the same green attire, except her dress had a luxurious design. The girl seemed to be seventeen to eighteen; she had a slightly beautiful face and some b-cup breasts. Standing on the long sword next to the boy, the girl spoke charmingly.
"Or maybe it was some experts passing by and happened to kill these people because they tried to attack them, but for the attack to affect everything within ten miles, these supposed experts must at least be Star Sovereigns."
"Hahaha, good! You two are indeed my disciples, such analyzing abilities; it won't be long before you two become core disciples of the Spirit Sword Sect. But forget these ruins; we have urgent matters at hand."
The black beard elder spoke with hands behind his back; although the party of three didn't release their cultivation realms, one could assume they were powerful cultivators from a high-level region bigger and stronger than the Sky Yun Region. The elder and his two disciples flashed from above the destroyed sights as they headed for the Sky Yun Region.
Sky Yun City.
Located in the outermost region of the central continent, the Sky Yun City is a low-ranking city with a hundred square mile circumference; one could consider this entire region as a backwater village in the central continent as they weren't even exposed to the true amenity of the central mainland. The city's insides weren't exceptional; there were multiple buildings and stores with different designs and colors. An estimated seven million people lived in the Sky Yun City; the city was bustling as the citizens and merchants lived their daily lives roaming around.
Four guards patrolled the gates at the Sky Yun City entrance as they inspected the incoming visitors and merchants; the guards wore the same bronze armors Bu Jan's escorting party wore, "Next!" a guard spoke as they inspected the previous individuals, asking the next in line to come forward. Minutes later, the guards finished their inspections as they stood by the gates, one guard speaking after.
"Hey, have you guys heard? rumors are saying that a spirit stone mine was discovered on the Sky Yun territory; there are also rumors that the stone mine is a high grade; some even say it was a golden soul mine, which is hard to find even in nearby regions."
"Yeah, maybe that's why the gates were full today; something tells me a big event is about to occur."
"Huh? hey, look, it's the carriage of the little Miss; looks like she is back from her weekly training."
The gate guards spoke as they saw the incoming party of their little Miss; they quickly assumed professional moods as they stood attentively; but upon closer inspection, the patrolling guards saw a man laying on top of the carriage as he crossed his leg over the other, frowning, the guards slowly held the handle of their swords as this isn't the normal way of things. There has never been a situation where a person laid over the carriage of the little Miss; not even her guards had that privilege, so their reactions upon seeing a man on top of the carriage were reasonable.
In the distance, Bu Jan paced his horse as they reached the city gate; but when he saw the guards reaction, Bu Jan immediately realized they must have reacted because of the man laying on the roof of the carriage; he sent Qi messages to the alerted guards as he calmed their suspicion.
'Stand down; he is a guest of the little Miss.' Receiving the order, the gate guards sheathed their swords as they then cupped their hands towards the carriage, making way as they allowed the party to enter the city. The gate guards peeked glances at the man laying on the carriage as they frowned suspiciously, but they couldn't act as they were ordered to stand down by Bu Jan, the leader of the Sky Yun city guards.
At the deepest area of the Sky Yun City, six individuals sat in a meeting room as they looked towards one man sitting on the high stand; this man was the city lord of the Sky Yun Region, Yun Shin. He had long black hair and a short beard; he wore a grey robe with an emblem hanging from his waist saying 'Yun.'
Earlier today, he had received secret intelligence that there were assassins after his daughter; there was even a True immortal eight-stage expert among them; since then, his mood had been serious as he sat on his chair with an expressionless tone. The men sitting on the lower seats didn't interrupt the silence as they just sat there silent, but among the five other men, one had a calm and refreshed expression as he leaned his back on his seat with closed eyes and folded arms; this man had a rough face with a straight scar line on his right eye.
'Yun Shin, you can't hide it for long, your daughter is already in our hands, but there is no harm in pretending to know nothing; this time, you have no choice but to surrender the golden soul mine.'
The man thought as he slightly smirked. But suddenly, a voice from outside broke the silence in the meeting room; the city lord, Yun Shin, quickly assumed a happy expression because of what was said seconds ago; what he and the other five men heard was "Welcome home, little Miss." The words spoken caused the scar-faced man to frown as he opened his eyes, unfolding his arms as he followed the already dashed out city lord; the other men also followed the city lord outside to welcome the little Miss.
Outside, the carriage stopped in front of the conference building as the six escorting guards stepped forward, saluting the city lord walking down the steps with a smiley expression. Bu Jan also stepped forward, laying his ordinary-looking spear on the ground as he cupped his hands in salute to the city lord. The twin doors of the carriage opened as the two maids stepped out first, helping their little Miss as the little Yun Lan stepped from the carriage.
"Father!"
Holding a snow bunny, Yun Lan rushed to her father as the father and daughter duo hugged, the city lord kneeling to match the height of his daughter as he warmly hugged the little Yun Lan in his arms, suddenly, "Lan'er, you are finally back, mother missed you." a woman's voice sounded in the distance as she rushed to her daughter; the woman wore a long pink dress with a traditional stylish hairstyle. The family of three reunited as the father, Yun Shin, finally calmed his troubled thoughts.
'What!? Was the girl still not captured? Did those people fail to keep their end of the deal? No, that's impossible, then again, the girl is safe, and the guards are...also...safe? So they weren't attacked at all? What is going on?'
Seeing the safe return of the escorting party, the scar-faced man thought as he stood on up the stairs frowning, but he quickly hid his frowning expression as he went down the stairs, speaking after.
"Haha, the little Lan'er is back; how was your training?"
"Uncle Wang!" Yun Lan spoke as she went towards her uncle Wang, hugging him.
"Huh?! Lan'er, what is this you are holding?"
The wife of the city lord noticed her daughter holding a snow-looking animal as she asked, her question drawing the attention of the nearby individuals as everyone looked at Yun Lan, seeing the snow-looking bunny after.
"Oh! This? those fairies gave her to me."
"Fairies? where are they?"
"There, they are right the- huh? Maid Lulu, where are the fairies?"
Yun Lan spoke as she pointed behind the maids at the opened doors of the carriage, but to their surprise, there wasn't anyone there. One maid went to look inside the carriage as she saw the empty seats the three unknown ladies occupied previously; Bu Jan and the other guards naturally turned to where the little Miss was pointing, not seeing the three ladies, Bu Jan quickly looked at the roof of the carriage as he frowned. The next moment, Bu Jan's and the maid's voices sounded as they spoke simultaneously.
"They are gone?"