Chapter 012: Good Luck on Your Journey

Xue Lan was filled with doubt. Colonel Paulsen was the defender of Mordor City and could be considered Brandon’s top military commander. Over the years in Mordor City, she had deliberately tried to get closer to this Lord Paulsen. Yet Xue Lan knew he was nothing but a weakling. It was incomprehensible why the capital of the northern province would appoint such a person as its defender.
Could it be that Lord Paulsen was just pretending to be foolish most of the time?
Seeing the expression on Xue Lan’s face, the man in black smiled again and said, “It seems Miss Xue Lan isn’t in a good mood! Brothers, help Miss Xue Lan make a decision! Otherwise, she might never be able to decide in her lifetime!”
The four men in black immediately rushed forward into the crowd.
The already terrified men let out shrill screams.
Xue Lan’s face turned pale. Ignoring everything else, she tried to retreat, but before she could take a few steps, the man in black who had been blocking her reappeared. He raised his long sword diagonally, pointing it at Xue Lan’s throat and asking, “Miss Xue Lan, what do you intend to do?”
“Get away from me!” Xue Lan took a deep breath suddenly, a determined glint in her eyes. Then, she raised the dagger in her hand. Silver light flashed from it, as if the dagger could no longer bear her combat energy, emitting a mournful buzzing sound.
Xue Lan vanished from her spot in an instant. When she reappeared, she was already behind the man in black. Waving her dagger, a sinister smile appeared on her face.
The man in black finally showed an expression of disbelief. By now, it was too late for him to block. Although he didn’t know Xue Lan’s rank, even if there was just a one-level difference, if she was determined to fight to the death, his ability to withstand a final counterattack was far from enough!
Her strike was like a meteor, slashing toward the man in black. If that blow landed, the Templar knight would likely be split in two.
But just then, with a whoosh, a figure suddenly emerged from the depths of the jungle. It seemed someone pushed the man in black aside, then gripped a sword and swung a powerful half-moon slash to meet Xue Lan’s attack.
“Clang—”

A sharp cry, so piercing it seemed to cut through one’s eardrums, appeared from them. Even the Temple Knights fighting nearby showed expressions of pain. At the point where the dagger and long sword collided, a sudden intense light burst forth, so bright it made it nearly impossible to open one’s eyes. A violent shockwave spread out from that spot; those with weaker skills were blown into the air by the force and then crashed back down hard!

Their screams were already drowned out by the general wail.

Within the light, a silver glow appeared. The weapons in both men’s hands developed countless cracks at the same time. As the cracks multiplied, they finally shattered with a “crack.”

Xue Lan suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, flying several meters backward before hitting a large tree. She spat blood again before barely managing to stabilize herself.

The suddenly appearing man, however, easily maintained his balance. Even so, blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. He seemed to smile faintly and said, “Miss Xue Lan is truly formidable. It seems we all underestimated you. Your strength must be at level seven already, right?”

Xue Lan slowly stood up straight. She glanced around with a sorrowful expression. Most of her servants were unharmed, but several had fainted due to the impact of the intense battle, with blood slowly flowing from their seven orifices—clearly a fatal outcome. After watching for a moment, she let out a bitter laugh and said to the man, “So you’re Paulsen, right? Lord Paulsen, I never expected you to be so ruthless in killing, despite your usual cowardly appearance! What do you plan now? To kill us all at once and then report back to your governor, Brandon?”

The man in black called Paulsen smiled slightly and said, “Miss Xue Lan, you misunderstand. I’m not here to take your life. I only want the five heads around you. Don’t overthink it… Is that enough?”

Mid-sentence, he turned to look at his men, speaking to them instead.

Those men glanced at the ground and said, “Enough!”

The man in black chuckled and said, “Good. Then let’s leave. Good luck to you, Miss Xue Lan!”

With that, he waved his hand sharply, and almost all the men in black left in an instant.

Xue Lan stared in disbelief at what had happened. Suddenly, she sat down on the ground, spitting out more blood with a “waah” sound.

A servant lying on the ground struggled to get up, speaking in a hoarse voice, “Miss Xue Lan, are you… are you alright…?”
Xue Lan gave a bitter smile and said, “I’m fine, just a bit dazed. Though I don’t know why they retreated, if we don’t leave now, we might not survive. My last move used up all my combat energy. If they chase after us again, we won’t even have the strength to fight back. Tell them to walk if they can, and carry those who can’t. As for those who sacrificed themselves… leave them there. We really don’t have time to deal with them.”
The servant sighed softly, knowing this was the best option at the moment. Against those men in black, they had no chance of resistance. Now that Miss Xue Lan had repelled them, what was the point of delaying?
Xue Lan looked around, puzzled. Was that man really Paulsen? If not, then who could it be? Could it be Du Fan? No, that’s impossible. Du Fan didn’t care about himself at all; he wanted Young Master Aldas, and rather than killing him, he preferred to destroy him completely. Would such a person do something like this at a critical moment?
But if it wasn’t him, then who? Who else?
Almost at the same time, Ferre suddenly stopped in his tracks. He frowned and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
A few Temple Knights beside him said, “Lord Ferre, you…”
Ferre shook his head slightly and said, “Don’t worry. I’m fine. I just retracted my combat energy to avoid revealing my identity at that critical moment, which caused a minor injury. Otherwise, with Miss Xue Lan’s skills, she wouldn’t have been able to hurt me in that state.”
One of the Temple Knights asked, “That’s good. But Lord Ferre, is our task really just to do this?”
Ferre nodded and said, “Yes. What we need to do is slowly eliminate everyone around Miss Xue Lan, time after time. If I’m right, she used that last move and now probably has no combat energy left. The tasks ahead will make things extremely easy for us. As long as we continue following Young Master Du Fan’s plan, I believe another day should be enough to finish everything.”

“Well then,” Ferre suddenly smiled slightly, “since we no longer need to take action, Selina, according to Young Master Du Fan’s plan, everything from now on depends on you. Kill dozens of civilians who can’t fight back—don’t even try to tell me you can’t bring yourself to do it!”
Selina snorted and said, “Just dozens of civilians? I’ll kill them one by one for you to see!”
Ferre nodded and said, “Good. Well, the time is almost up. Miss Xuelan should have set off with her people by now. Go now. Remember, kill everyone who seems unable to travel on their own. After all, how can Miss Xuelan’s journey be delayed because of this? Even if we have the patience, Young Master Du Fan doesn’t!”
Selina sneered and said, “Do you really need to talk so much?”
With that, she pulled out the long sword stuck in the ground and dashed into the depths of the jungle.
Watching the direction Selina disappeared into, Ferre slowly shook his head. He wasn’t quite sure about Du Fan’s last order—was it really necessary to make Selina stain her hands in blood for this?
The Temple Knights around him saw that there were no outsiders present. One of them hesitated for a moment before suddenly whispering, “Lord Ferre, I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“We are Temple Knights. Why do we have to do such… such cruel things?”
“You call it cruel?” Ferre sighed softly. “Never forget that those people wanted to kill Young Master Du Fan. Is it wrong for Young Master Du Fan to seek revenge?”
“But…”
“There is no but…” Ferre smiled coldly. “We are all Temple Knights after all. We must remember that Young Master Du Fan is a White Robed Priest. We just need to obey his orders. There’s no need for you to worry about being too cruel. Let me tell you… those guys are all heretics! Never forget that behind Oldas is Roland Academy!”