There were no more encounters, but the constant walking made it seem far longer than he’d assumed. With two breaks on the road, they managed to make their way to the city by evening. They started to move the moment the sun came up and still, it took long.

In just a few more steps, the city would be in sight.

Running was always an option but none dared to do so, for it was essential to persevere their stamina in case they ran into another pack of Aural Beasts.

“Well, that was better than expected,” said Gary casually with his usual smirk and shrugged, “I suppose I’ll skip town soon. Too many enemies.”

He’d lost someone who’d been a friend of his for years and that was how he reacted? Skipping town and saving his skin? No mourning or anything of the sort?

“Aren’t you supposed to be some sort of bully? Why are you afraid?” asked Adrian.

“I am, but I don’t like my odds one against what? Fifty? Tim could manage. He was at the Flesh Refinement Layer and he was one nasty guy. I’m not,” said Gary.

Timothy was the son of a former Steel Fang member who’d died during a hunt, and Adrian could see how his father had died. This was a dangerous profession to have, and he’d seen it first-hand. If not for his quick-thinking, he may have been killed out there. And that was why he’d been cultivating for over ten years.

“Everyone else? I remember him having a bunch of goons,” asked Adrian.

“Goon? That’d imply we worked for him. Obviously not. He was just a convenient vanguard for us wayward kids. Easier to bully others when you have a short-tempered and big guy as the face of your gang,” said Gary and raised both hands slightly, then pointed at himself with both of his index fingers, “Just look at me. They won’t be afraid of me if I give them a mean glare. But they’d shit their pants if Tim give them that. That’s how normies work.”

They were walking in groups of sorts.

Rather, they were separated with a slight bit of distance now that they were in the clear. There were no beasts this close to the city so it was safe to separate, but back in the forest or the plains, they were closer.

The Titan and his people were at the forefront, almost on top of the small hill that would give them a perfect view of the walls: Adrian had come here quite a few times after visiting the Shadow’s tomb.

It was a beautiful view from there and he could never get bored of it.

Then there was everyone else, following them while Adrian, Gary, and Emma made it a point to walk slower to get behind them.

Emma didn’t like being near peasants, apparently. Especially the nasty bunch, one that she assumed Gary wasn’t due to his current attitude, but Adrian knew otherwise.

Everyone stopped at the top, admiring the view, no doubt. But when the first one stepped back and started tumbling down toward them, Adrian realized something was late.

He caught the one tumbling down, saving him from a long fall. It was a thirty-degree slope that spanned for at least a furlong in length. So he’d have been rolling for a long time unless he managed to stop himself.

“What happened?” asked Adrian after he pulled him up.

The lad shook his head slowly and let out a breath, “Look at it yourself.”

Adrian placed him on his feet and dashed up to the top of the hill and stared down at the walls of the city, now flooded with beasts, all of them Aural, without a doubt. They were oversized, which was apparent even from such a distance away.

The walls weren’t meant to weather assault but to stop stragglers from wandering into the city without paying the fee. Anyone that passed through or entered it would have to pay the fee if they weren’t permanent residents, in which case they’d have been noted by the guards.

With a height of only ten or so meters, it couldn’t stop some of the beasts from jumping over it, like the wolves they’d first fought or worse yet, anything that could fly.

But that rule didn’t apply to Cultivators or Nobles.

“Well, I suppose I’m skipping town earlier than later,” said Gary and shook his head.

“We need to call for help,” said Emma and stared down at the army of beasts below, and he felt her shudder.

They’d covered an expanse of land that was at least a mile in both length and width with their bodies, and if he counted, he’d find more than a million. Some were larger than the others and some were smaller, making the count too difficult to calculate.

More than a million Aural Beasts and that’d mean they’d need at least five hundred thousand Body Refinement experts in the best-case scenario, and they had nowhere that many.

If there were more than a thousand, it’d be a miracle.

“The mirror,” said Adrian, “But they won’t make it fast enough and none of us can fly. The city is lost.”

“No, Lord Cranford is in Solitary Cultivation. The Titan can make it to their estate within an hour if he moves at his fastest and isn’t held up,” said Emma and turned to the Titan, “It’s an order. Summon Lord Cranford. It’s a matter of utmost urgency.”

“I’m guessing I get a handsome reward if I succeed,” the Titan said and raised an eyebrow, “Ye know, since it’s the fate of the entire city we’re talking about. It connects the land of four nobles, after all.”

“You will most certainly be knighted by the Crown,” said Emma, gritting her teeth, “Now, do it.”

“No can do. I’m a mercenary, not an honorable man in the least,” said the Titan quietly and appeared right in front of Emma, then squatted down so their eyes could meet, “And I have no qualms about killing an arrogant little Noble when the scenario is perfect. Emma Beaumont, a hero who threw away her life to protect the city, who fought against a horde of Aural Beasts with bravery that not even the knight orders could harbor. And his fateful fiancé Adrian Anderson, who too, died as a hero.”

“Y-you’re threatening me?” she stuttered.

“Well, ye did cut off my daughter’s hand,” said the Titan, “And no one can do anything about it. Even if they could, they wouldn’t care.”

“You dare?” she growled.

“Stop it. I’ll pay,” said Adrian and put himself between the two, hands outstretched, “I don’t have anything on myself but get me to a treasury, and you’ll see a handsome pay. The city’s burning. If my father is dead, I’m a very wealthy man.”

“Ah, the son of a mercenary. Ever the diplomat,” the Titan said and stood back up, “Very well. I’ll do it.”

“You threatened me. Do you understand what this means?!” shouted Emma, “I’ll have your head on a pike!”

“And ever the arrogant noble brat that can’t read the mood, aren’t you?” asked the Titan, and he clenched his fist.

Adrian could see the Qi around the Titan’s arm get sucked into it as if he was planning to use a Qi technique. And no one could do anything about it.

Emma was too stubborn.

“Father,” said Diana as she walked out from behind the Titan, her knife in her hand. She twirled it in her one good hand and spoke, as she walked toward them, “Let me do the honors.”

“This is treason,” said Emma and stepped back, finally.

“Skylar Alcott is one most worthy of the title of honorary knight,” said Adrian loudly and stepped in between Emma and Diana, “He delivered an urgent message to Lord Cranford in times of peril, saving it from certain destruction. For it, he is to be handsomely reimbursed by both the Crown and the nobles that call Azure Pavilion City their home.”

“And what was that?” asked the Titan.

“The letter she’ll be writing to the Imperial Capital after all of this is settled,” said Adrian.

Emma opened her mouth but he turned around and with all his might, swung his hand to hit her with a backhand blow to the cheek, sending her tumbling to the ground.

“Gary, cover her mouth,” said Adrian.

“She doesn’t seem all that willing,” said the Titan, this time eerily silent as well.

“She will be,” said Adrian and turned away from her, whose mouth was being covered by Gary, against whom she was doing her best, but failed.

Adrian knew that Gary was an annoying guy to fight against. He’d seen the lad hold back Tim, and Emma couldn’t be much stronger than Tim. They were at the same layer, after all.

“And what proves that?” the Titan asked as the Qi around his fist started to dissipate, “Why should I believe ye?”

“My word is my bond. I’m a merchant at heart, Mr. Alcott,” said Adrian and took a step forward, then another, with each sentence, a small smile on his face, just as he was taught, “I know to honor my promises. That’s the first thing my father carved into both my flesh and my mind. And more importantly, I know how the world works. How royalty thinks. And I know you’re an asset. One that they’d rather do with than without. What’s the word of a mere daughter of an Earl compared to someone on the level of the greatest knights in Cultivation? Think about it.”

Diana was almost next to Adrian, and he raised an arm, barring her advance.

“Stop,” said the Titan quietly.

“She’s Emma Beaumont, dad. She’ll have you executed, no matter what,” she turned to her father and reasoned.

“Stop!” roared the Titan, making Diana jump and stop where she stood. Then he turned to Adrian and spoke in his softer, quieter, and more importantly, eerier tone, “I have your word, then.”

Adrian had the urge to step back, to wince, to react.

But he didn’t.

He had to be calm, or at least have the guise of a calm man.

So he raised his hand to a level it’d be comfortable for the Titan to hold it.

“Merchants seal their deals with handshakes and pen on paper. I’m afraid we don’t have the luxury of the latter,” said Adrian and tilted his head slightly sideways, “This will be my second deal, and I assure you, the first one has gotten his end of the bargain.”

His first deal was extortion, one involving the Shadow.

It was a lie, but merchants had to learn to lie as well. Lie with a straight face, like it was natural. Being natural was good. It made others easy, and that was when the snake lunged for the neck.

Adrian was trained to do just that for years.

The Titan took his hand and they shook thrice.

“Now then, I assume you have your end of the bargain to deal with, Mr. Alcott,” said Adrian softly, the smile still present on his face. He showed a few of his teeth as well, to prove that he was confident. He slowly turned to Emma, for show, and added, “And I have mine.”

Gary was trying her best and Emma didn’t have the luxury of using her sword, for her hands were being held behind her back by one of Gary’s while the other one covered her mouth. He was sitting below on top of her, a knee on both her wrists and the other hand holding her mouth while keeping her head in place.

“Dad!” shouted Diana.

“Be quiet,” growled the Titan, pointed a finger at her, gave her a stare with intense eyes, and stormed away with impressive speed. It was difficult to follow him with his sight, making him look more like a blur.

“She’s not thinking straight,” said Adrian and gave Diana a fake smile, one that he didn’t think she could see through.

“Dad’s gone but he never told me anything about killing you,” she hissed.

“He wouldn’t like that, I assure you. If you’re half as afraid as I think you are of him, you’ll stop right there,” said Adrian, eyeing the dagger in her hand.

Fighting beasts was one thing but fighting another human… that sickened him.

Diana tightly clenched the dagger in her hand, gritting her teeth, but she put it back into its sheath and turned around begrudgingly after giving Emma a glare.

He had to calm down a rabid beast now.

“First up, I’m very sorry,” said Adrian after he gestured for Gary to release her.

Within a moment, Emma hopped back to her feet in a single motion and summoned her sword in that same motion, and she held it against his neck.

She had anger issues.

“I saved your life,” said Adrian, hands raised up. He could see Gary making his way a fair distance away, which was over thirty meters and that was when he realized there was a red bruise on Emma’s face, “You’d have been killed back there.”

“Saved from a peasant by a peasant,” she growled and pushed it closer into his neck, digging into it and leaving a small cut there. Then she spoke with a scrunched nose, “Who do you think I am?”

Adrian closed both eyes and grit his teeth, more a reflex than a reaction.

“The one that decides my fate,” said Adrian slowly, as if tasting each word, “Do to me what you will after this is over. I won’t resist as long as you don’t kill me.”

Testing the waters, he slightly moved a leg forward, slowly.

She didn’t react.

He stepped forward and put a thumb and an index finger around her saber from the side without the edge, mouth slightly open, and he slowly spoke, “If you want to punch me, do that. If you want to stab me, do that. But not now. Now, we have to survive and we have to save the city.”

Emma gulped and pulled the saber away from him, and she let it dissipate into her Spatial Ring.

Just when he started to think he was free from her wrath, she lunged forward.

Adrian’s eyes widened and he tried to step back, but he couldn’t. Not in time, at least. And that’s when he realized that… nothing hurt.

Her arms were around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug, almost choking him to death but she let go just before he did.

“Your word is your bond,” said Emma and gave him a wink, now with her usual small but fake and confident smile.

That was more like it.

“Again, I am very sorry. I’ll make it up to you by… giving you something from that place,” said Adrian and paused for a bit, and then added, “Something you’ll like very much.”

Women liked jewelry… right?

There was that fancy Spatial Ring in the Shadow’s tomb and giving it to a Noble shouldn’t hurt too much. No one would question it.