The kid in question was quietly standing in the middle of the road, his left hand holding what appeared to be a deep wound on his right shoulder given the blood oozing out from between his fingers and under his palm, his legs trembling as if standing up for this bit amount of time was taking a huge toll on his already destroyed body.
His facial features were bland and both of his eyes were dark and gloomy. His body was thin and his skin had the special paleness of a kid the age of their lady.
He looked like such a normal and quiet youth on normal days. To think that he was going through such harsh times made the coachman and the few guards around the carriage frown, pity displayed in their eyes.
'Horse my a**, how can I accomplish the system's mission if I ride the opposite way of your destination,' Yone sneered as he gazed at the coachman wearing clothes of a seasoned guard.
He also never wanted to appear this pathetic and act this way, but the system's mission was too tempting for him to decline it, hence he had no choice but to adapt and employ a few means to get inside this carriage.
For example, he cut his body in several spots that didn't inflict severe injuries on his internal organs and jumped from a tall tree without using any Qi to shield himself, all of that just to have this appearance.
Even though the pain was too intense and it might even risk his life if things went wrong and the carriage refused to take him in... the rewards were worth the risk! And Yone was satisfied with the reactions he got from the guards.
Thinking up to that point, Yone spoke, tears flowing out of his eyes like a miniature fountain that suddenly burst out from the depths of an ancient mountain.
"Impossible, how can I in this bloody state, ride a horse in this dangerous jungle filled with bandits and ferocious beasts towards the city," Yone cried out in pain, his voice filled with fear and hate.
He felt that he was being wronged and the people of the carriage wanted to kill him on purpose.
"How can you be so heartless, sending me to my death, please don't be this cruel, I promise I mean no harm and I'll follow your every order and even become your servant if needed," Yone knelt on the ground as he pleaded, tears flowing out of his cheeks and dropping on the back of his palms.
The five surviving guards and Kim wore ugly expressions on their faces as they heard the kid's words. For a moment, they even believed that they were heartless monsters who were about to kill off this kid in order to clear the road and start their journey.
The coachman, in particular, didn't know how to answer, his mouth opened and closed a few times yet no words came out, he didn't know how to react to the kid's words.
'Did Albert really want to get rid of him by sending him to his death with a horse?', The coachman thought, his heart ached from that thought and the potential cruelty of their leader,' No that can't be possible, our leader is a kind man who always took care of his men and everyone associated with him in the clan.'
'But he also knew about the kid's injuries, and also about the potential dangers lurking in the snow lake forest, yet he asked him to head there alone in such a heavily injured state to the city.'
The coachman and even the five guards around the carriages riding on their horses couldn't help but have similar thoughts, they then looked at the carriage's cabin waiting for a response.
The kid's pleading cries right now were way higher in volume than his earlier words, hence given the distance, everyone should have heard his words this time around, and the people in the cabin aren't an exception to this.
Albert's face inside the cabin couldn't help but twitch in an unsightly sight.
A moment ago, he was trying to help a kid out and save his life, yet in the next second, he was called a cruel person by that same kid.
But after he thought it over, Albert felt like the kids words made sense.
If his injuries were indeed severe like his coachman described, than going to the city by himself on a horse without any defense is akin to sending him to his death, and anyone with a simple brain would take it that way.
'Aghh, why am I having a hard time dealing with a single kid,' Albert scratched his head in annoyance, at this moment, he really wished he was one of those cruel individuals born with demonic nature, if that was the case, he would have killed off this kid and moved on to his destination already.
Unfortunately, after just coming out of a deadly battle that he got saved from by sheer luck, he is here stuck in the middle of the road once again, and this time, he was trying to find a solution to save a random kid who cut their carriage's road off.
Albert vowed to ask for a few years of seclusion from the clan leader after this mission to focus on his cultivation and attempt to break through to the Qi condensing realm.
After all, If he is stronger and can control the situation back in Lake City, the clan leader wouldn't be forced to order him to ask their ancestor to intervene.
At the thought of their ancestor, a drop of hope mixed with sadness flashed past Albert's eyes as he glanced at his lady's figure.
Their ancestor was a peak Qi condensing realm cultivator who led their clean to great fame and power at his peak, they reached the top of second-ranked clans and were so close to joining the first rank clans.
Counting on that huge momentum of success his clan maintained, their ancestor seized the opportunity and asked them to take care of everything on his behalf for a few years as he attempted to break through to the bone-tempering realm.
His confidence was beyond the roof!
He gave his son, who got appointed as the acting clan leader, the exact location where he would attempt his breakthrough inside Snow Lake Jungle and instructed him not to disturb him unless the clan was on the verge of destruction.
Unbeknownst to their ancestor, the moment the various sects and clans heard about his seclusion they immediately began operating a tight formation on their businesses and resources to reduce their growing influence and power.
Unfortunately for the Albon Clan, the kingdom did not interfere in the suppression of the rising second-ranked clan and let it happen while watching from the sidelines, even adding fuel to the fire here and there.
In a mere couple of years, the Albon clan facing the tight formation and attacks of different clans and sects from various directions lost control of several resources and even a few of its main elders got killed, resulting in the clan falling from its top second rank to the top third rank.
In the third year after their ancestor Leo Albon left for seclusion, the clan situation was so bad that it was on the verge of collapsing and was about to face destruction at any given moment.
Hence, as a last resort, his son Matheo called one of the lowest-ranking elders under him and asked him to go and plead with his daughter to their ancestor.
'Patience is key, this is just a crisis in our clan's rise to become a first ranked that will soon be overcome,' Albert reassured himself as he called out helplessly.
"Kim! help him to our cabin, I'll take care of his healing and protection till we reach the city."