Li Yu sat near the damp entrance of the hidden cave and watched the afternoon shadows stretch across the forest floor. He took a slow breath and was pondering his next move regarding the captive mercenaries held in Oakhaven. Since there were other people involved, the situation had gotten more complicated. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He detected Faen returning and then a sudden rustle of leaves broke the peaceful silence. Faen stepped through the concealed entrance and leaned heavily against the cool stone wall. Her breathing was ragged and her usual clothes were torn in several places. She was clutching her left shoulder with a trembling hand while a dark purple stain could be seen on her flesh and it was spreading..

Li Yu stood up from his meditation spot and quickly crossed the cavern to support her weight. He guided her to a soft patch of moss near the dying fire and helped her sit down while probing her external condition.

"What happened in Oakhaven?" Li Yu asked with a serious tone while examining her wounded shoulder more carefully.

"I went back to scout the center plaza just as you instructed," Faen reported through gritted teeth. "I wanted to find where the Nightfall Corps members were being held since I was already there so we could plan our next moves. The enemy forces were staying right out in the open and they did not seem worried about retaliation at all. Prince Darian was personally overseeing the camp alongside his guards and the other mercenaries; he wasn’t even trying to hide it."

Faen winced as Li Yu carefully peeled back the torn fabric to reveal a blackened handprint bruised deeply into her flesh. The wound was festering and looked to be rotting from the inside out.

"One of his people spotted me lingering near the perimeter," Faen continued her grim tale. "They tried to surround the alleyway and get me after I tried to escape. I was able to evade their initial net but he had a veteran expert guarding that I didn’t detect and the older man struck me with a palm technique right before I managed to break through their lines. I was just able to barely escape into the forest."

Li Yu narrowed his eyes as he sent a thin thread of his spiritual sense into her body. He quickly detected a vicious venom spreading through her meridians that was radiating from that palm print. The toxin was actively devouring her natural energy and causing the surrounding tissue to rot.

"The palm attack carried a very potent poison but I am sure you already know that by now." Li Yu diagnosed while placing his hand hovering just above her injured shoulder. "Hold still Faen. This might sting for a moment but I need to destroy the venom before it reaches your core."

Li Yu summoned two distinct opposing forces as he channeled his Destruction Qi into the wound first. The violent and consuming energy isolated the foreign poison and aggressively devoured the poison without harming her actual flesh. It was an incredible display of control over the destructive laws to ensure only that only the venom was eradicated.

As the dark purple hue began to fade from her skin, Li Yu immediately followed up with a surge of vibrant Life Qi. The warm green light bathed her shoulder and rapidly repaired the destroyed flesh and damaged cells. The soothing energy chased away the lingering pain and stabilized her condition. As the treatment was near completion, Faen let out a long sigh of relief and relaxed her tense posture.

"Thank you, Li Yu," Faen whispered while rolling her healed shoulder to test it.

"I am sorry that you got hurt doing something I asked. You just need to rest your body now, I will handle the rest." Li Yu instructed while pulling his hands away. "Your Qi reserves are depleted from fighting off the poison during your escape so make sure to take some pills as well."

Li Yu turned toward the cave entrance and his expression grew cold. Hearing that Faen was ambushed and injured firmly solidified his decision to kill Prince Darian and his forces. If he had any hesitations or thoughts about whether or not he should, those thoughts were destroyed alongside the poison.

The noble had now directly harmed two people under his care and such actions demanded a lethal response. However, he knew he also needed to be careful with his execution. He wanted to assassinate the prince in a specific way so the Kingdom of Solaria would not trace the act back to him or cause any trouble for his companions later down the road if possible.

As he stood there formulating a subtle scheme, his senses that he had casted out at all times while they were staying here flared with a sudden warning. He sensed three distinct presences approaching their hidden location. The path was a direct line towards them, not the path that someone passing through the area would take. They had tried to suppress their hostile auras but Li Yu was able to sense them.

"It looks like they followed your trail back here, Faen," Li Yu noted while summoning a dense layer of Qi around his body. "Stay inside the cave and guard Morrigan, be careful as well."

Li Yu did not wait for the pursuers to reach them, he decided to take the initiative and end things quickly. He tapped into his spatial understanding and executed a Void Step.

His physical form blurred and vanished from the cavern entrance. Li Yu materialized outside and appeared ten meters behind the three tracking cultivators. They wore the dark crimson armor of the Bloodied Fangs and reeked of blood. Two of the men were at the Half King realm of cultivation while the older man leading the trio radiated a strong Paragon aura.

Li Yu recognized the older expert from Faen's description of her attacker. It was Elder Draggo, the one that had injured her while she escaped. It would seem that they had somehow followed her back here or perhaps they had let her go to track her here. Li Yu resonated with the Koi soul residing within and used a technique he hadn’t used in a long time.

The radiant Koi soul swam through the waters and let out a soundless bellow that shook the spiritual world inside him. Li Yu channeled that energy and unleashed Death's Roar directly at the three unsuspecting targets.

An invisible cone of soul force erupted from his position, slammed into the backs of the three cultivators and washed over their souls. The attack carried no physical weight and produced no audible sound in the physical world but its effects were absolutely devastating.

The attack simply erased the souls of the two at the Half King realm from existence. The bright flames of their consciousness were snuffed out like candles in a hurricane before they could even register what had happened to them. Their armored bodies dropped to the forest floor like puppets with their strings cut with only their momentum taking them slightly forward before coming to a stop.

Elder Draggo possessed a much stronger mental foundation due to his Paragon realm. The older man did not die outright but the force of Death's Roar shattered his spiritual defenses and caused blood to pour from his eyes and ears. Draggo staggered forward while clutching his head in agonizing pain and couldn’t draw upon any of his strength. He managed to spin around wildly to face his unseen attacker.

Li Yu was already closing the distance when he managed to turn around. Li Yu had already taken out his glaive into his hands and utilized the momentum of his sprint to swing the curved blade in a brutal horizontal arc.

Elder Draggo tried to raise his arms to defend himself but his disrupted Qi failed to form a proper barrier or any defense at all. The glaive sliced cleanly through his crimson armor and severed his torso in half, along with his soul. The ruined body collapsed onto the damp earth alongside his dead subordinates.

Li Yu stood over the corpses and quickly took their storage rings. He secured the loot inside his own ring before summoning a sphere of his bright orange natal flame. He tossed the fiery orb onto the remains and mixed a trace of Destruction Laws into the blaze as well. He had done something similar to clean up after harvesting a beast for its meat and other useful parts but was now applying the same principles to these corpses.

The intense heat and law rapidly burned the bodies and their crimson armor into fine gray ash. The evidence of the encounter was erased from the forest floor in a matter of moments. He returned his glaive and walked back through the illusion array to return to his group.

"They sent a tracking party but I dealt with them," Li Yu announced as he stepped into the cavern. "However, their disappearance will eventually raise alarms back at the enemy camp. It is time for us to move our location after Borum returns."

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A few minutes later Borum returned from his intelligence gathering trip and was informed of what had happened. He nodded and carefully scooped Queen Morrigan into his large rocky arms while Li Yu walked over to Faen and offered his shoulder to help support her weight as they exited the damp cave.

They quickly traveled swiftly through the dense woods and navigated the uneven terrain to reach the opposite side of Oakhaven. They found a deep rocky canyon concealed by towering stone pillars and decided to establish their temporary hideout within the narrow crevices. Once they settled Morrigan onto a flat boulder, Li Yu looked down at the recovering queen.

"I need to go into the town and help your people," Li Yu stated with a serious tone. "But the mercenaries do not know my face. Do you have anything specific that the Nightfall Corps would identify as yours right away so they know I am acting on your behalf?"

Morrigan nodded weakly and reached a hand toward her neck. She unclasped a delicate silver necklace adorned with a dark crescent moon pendant. She then reached into her inner robes and retrieved a heavy jade square etched with intricate runic patterns.

"Take this necklace and my official stamp," Morrigan instructed while handing the items over to the young man. "I have never let anyone else hold these items before today. My captains will recognize these tokens immediately and they should follow your commands."

Li Yu accepted the items and secured them safely inside his storage ring for later. He stood up and looked out toward the distant smoke rising from the town of Oakhaven.

"I tried to come up with a discrete scheme," Li Yu confessed to the group with a slight shrug. "I wanted to find a tricky way to make it look like another mercenary group attacked the prince so the Kingdom of Solaria would not investigate us. But my mind cannot think of a flawless plan and we don’t have time now either."

He summoned a sharp smile and looked at Borum. "So instead, I decided we are going to approach this problem the Zhan way. We will just use brute force, shatter the front door, kill everyone that resists and rescue the prisoners."

Borum grinned and pounded his heavy earthen fists together. He loved the simple and direct strategies the best as long as they had the strength to perform them.

Li Yu turned to his injured scout. "Faen, you are still recovering from the poison. You will stay here in the canyon and guard Morrigan just in case any stray patrols wander past the pillars. Borum and I will handle the rescue operation."

Faen nodded and set up the concealment array disks that they had. She then took up a defensive position near the entrance of the crevice and kept her eyes locked on the horizon while meditating to recover her condition further. She wouldn’t be able to help in this attack but she had her own role to play.

Li Yu and Borum left the safety of the canyon and marched directly toward the bustling town with haste. They did not bother to hide their approach or stick to the shadows. When they reached the outskirts of Oakhaven, Li Yu stopped and pointed toward the central plaza where a large crowd of crimson armored troops had gathered.

"You are going to cause a massive ruckus at the front gates," Li Yu instructed his towering companion. "Use the name of our old group, tell them you belong to the Obsidian Hammers."

"What is my motivation for attacking them? It will help to give more for those watching in the town to remember." Borum asked while rolling his thick shoulders to loosen the stone joints.

"Tell them you came here seeking bloody revenge because the Bloodied Fangs recently killed a rival mercenary group that contained the secret lover of your leader," Li Yu fabricated a ridiculous but dramatic backstory on the spot. "Just be loud and draw every single eye toward your position. I will slip into the holding area from another direction and free the hostages."

Borum let out a booming laugh and charged forward, from Faen’s description, the forces here were within the levels he could handle if he was just fighting to survive. Worst case he could draw back, the only threat they knew about was taken care of by Li Yu earlier. The earth golem stomped his heavy feet against the cobblestone streets and caused the nearby buildings to tremble with every step and as he reached the edge of the central plaza, he roared as loudly as he could.

"Hear me you cowardly dogs of the Bloodied Fangs!" Borum bellowed with a voice that echoed across the entire town. "I am the vanguard of the Obsidian Hammers! You pathetic weaklings slaughtered a mercenary group last month and killed the beloved concubine of our mighty leader! I am here to claim your blood as payment!"

The crimson armored guards standing near the barricades turned around with stunned expressions. ‘They didn’t kill anyone last month, what is he talking about?’ Many of them thought.

Regardless though, they had killed and attacked plenty of groups and people in their lives, they weren’t going to question the accusations. They all quickly drew their weapons and formed a defensive line while a captain stepped forward.

"Halt your advance you foolish beast!" The enemy captain shouted while pointing a spear toward the golem. "We are currently conducting official business. If you take one more step toward this plaza we will execute the Nightfall hostages we hold in the center!"

Borum did not slow his charge at all. He summoned a thick layer of hardened rock over his fists and laughed mockingly.

"I do not care about your meaningless hostages!" Borum roared while leaping into the air. "I am here for revenge and your blood will satisfy my leader!"

Seeing that the towering monster was attacking for entirely different reasons and cared nothing for their political leverage, the Bloodied Fangs had to pivot in their strategy. The captain ordered his troops to move more men to defend the front lines against the rampaging golem. Dozens of guards rushed forward to intercept the heavy strikes of the Domain King elemental and kill him.

While Borum occupied a good number of the main forces and drew most of the attention toward the front of the plaza, Li Yu was already making his move in the shadows. He had scanned the entire town with his spiritual sense during their approach and pinpointed the location where the surviving mercenaries were being held.

He bypassed the chaotic skirmish and arrived at a reinforced courtyard located behind the plaza. Several intricate suppression arrays pulsed with dark energy to keep the prisoners weak while a dozen guards were still around but their focus was on the battle happening at the front. Li Yu did not waste time with stealthy assassinations. He summoned two of his swords and sent them darting into the courtyard.

Whispering Frost and Pale Extinction flew through the air like streaks of lethal lightning. The swords bypassed the defensive formations and slaughtered the twelve guards in a matter of seconds. The crimson armored men collapsed to the ground with their heads severed before they could even sound an alarm. Most of them had been from Core Formation with their immediate leader in the area a Divine Transformation expert.

Li Yu stepped out of the shadows and walked toward the center of the courtyard where thirty battered and bruised mercenaries sat bound in heavy iron chains. They looked up at the black robed youth with wary eyes. They had seen that he just killed everyone here but that didn’t mean he was there for them. The group had just heard that they were attacking for a completely different reason and he was just as likely to kill them to silence everyone about their attack.

"Who are you?" A rugged man covered in fresh scars worked up the courage to ask while trying to stand up against the weight of his chains.

Li Yu did not answer with words as he figured that it didn’t matter what he said, they would never believe just his words anyways. He reached into his pocket and held up the stamp and the silver crescent moon necklace for all the prisoners to see.

The rugged man looked at the items and recognized them immediately as his hostile expression melted a bit into one of shock. The other mercenaries murmured in disbelief as they recognized the personal items belonging to their missing leader.

"Morrigan sent me to bring you out of here. Either believe me and live or don’t and die here" Li Yu declared with a calm voice.

He sent his natal flame towards the arrays etched into the stone floor and burned all of the disk, flags and other things he could see that would create the array. The dark energy dissipated and the oppressive weight vanished from the courtyard as he directed his swords to carefully slice through the iron chains binding the prisoners.

"You are free," Li Yu announced as the chains that were also suppressing their cultivation clattered to the ground.

These mercenaries were seasoned veterans of the northern provinces and they did not intend to simply run away and hide. The members who were severely injured were quickly helped to their feet by their comrades while the fighters who were in relatively good shape began picking up the weapons dropped by the dead guards. A fierce light of vengeance burned in their eyes.

"We fight our way out!" The scarred captain ordered his people. Li Yu nodded his approval.

‘Looks like the people that Morrigan had recruited were all tough warriors.’ Li Yu thought.

Li Yu then led the charge out of the courtyard and used his swords to kill any hostile forces that he found. He ran through the narrow streets of the town with his swords flying every which way around him. The Celestial Star formation expanded outward and slaughtered any crimson armored troops rushing out to reinforce the plaza or were heading towards the front to fight the rampaging golem. Blood painted the cobblestones as the Zhan way of brute force proved highly effective at dismantling the enemy camp.

Li Yu searched the chaotic battlefield to locate Prince Darian and end the core threat once and for all. He would deal with the aftermath afterwards and figure out what he should do about the Kingdom behind the prince. Li Yu carved a path through a dozen more guards and stepped into the main avenue leading to where he is detected a stronger aura, where he believes the prince to be.

Before Li Yu could pinpoint the exact location of the prince, a vast shadow suddenly fell over the bustling town. The sounds of clashing metal and screaming soldiers faded away as everyone looked up toward the sky. A large and heavily armored airship descended from the clouds and hovered directly over the central plaza. The vessel flew an unfamiliar banner and bristled with power..

A booming voice projected from the deck of the imposing airship and rattled the nearby buildings.

"Cease your fighting immediately!" The voice demanded with overwhelming authority. "We are here for the head of Prince Darian and we will destroy anyone who stands in our way!"