Pillar of Yita

He looked at the latter sternly again, ”Don’t you start spouting nonsense, I know you’re not the type to speak without considering the weight of your words.”

Sophie thought for a moment and bit her lip before she replied in a low voice, ”That’s because the people from the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team were asking for it. Our people suspect that there’s a Dark Evil God sealed beneath, and those fellows are in cahoots with the cultists, colluding with the thing below. For the sake of protecting our own, I naturally had no choice but to be tough on them.”

The Elementalist girl beside her was taken aback, looking at her with some surprise.

”Colluding with cultists?” Su Changfeng was also startled, and looked at his daughter, ”Hold on, do you have evidence? This matter can be big or small, especially now, don’t joke with your reputation.”

Sophie snorted, ”What do you take your own daughter for, of course, I have evidence.”

After saying this, she played the video sent to her by Fang Hong, which was filmed on the fifth basement level, featuring members of the Blood Oath Alliance summoning a Dragon’s Servant, for the middle-aged man to watch.

It was not a long video, and Sophie froze the scene, then turned to him and asked, ”So, what do you think, you should recognize these things, shouldn’t you?”

Su Changfeng nodded, ”Dragon’s Servants, interesting. How come there are such things underneath Fenris? Has the reach of the Dragon Worship Sect extended this far?”

”The Dragon Worship Sect?” Sophie’s keenness caught something, ”Speaking of which, is the recent incident in Charter City related to the Dragon’s Witch from back then?”

Su Changfeng was about to answer, but suddenly realized something and glared at his daughter, sternly saying, ”Ask less of what you shouldn’t.”

Sophie, her little schemes exposed, stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

Su Changfeng was silent for a moment before he opened the video again, watched it through, and then shook his head, ”Those are the people from the Blood Oath Alliance, right? What does that have to do with the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team?”

Sophie pretended to be surprised as she looked at him, ”What connection does the Blood Oath Alliance have with the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team, you can’t be unaware, can you?”

”These kinds of things can’t be openly discussed,” Su Changfeng shook his head, ”Forget it, you wouldn’t understand even if I explained it. Besides, this little evidence doesn’t prove anything. The Grand Guilds do their share of shady deeds behind closed doors, and your Silver Weslan is no exception.”

”Dad, our Silver Weslan is of course different!” Sophie said, her eyebrows arching slightly, a bit angrily.

”Of course, of course,” Su Changfeng quickly corrected, ”Apart from Silver Weslan, who doesn’t know you stand with honor and integrity?” Seeing his daughter’s displeased expression, he quickly changed the subject, ”But everyone does some sneaky things in private, this little evidence doesn’t prove much. We also know it violates the ’Stargate Declaration,’ but as long as it doesn’t go public, you can’t persuade others to believe that the Jiefulite Red Cloak Team is resolutely against humanity, can you?”

”I didn’t say they were against humanity,” Sophie replied, ”But they did such a thing; I can’t just let my guard down around them, can I?”

”Of course not, they still need to be taught a lesson, alright, let’s leave this matter at that,” Su Changfeng stroked his chin, ”With this evidence, they indeed can’t make a fuss about your guys’ actions against them, after all—they were out of line first—as for the rest, leave it to me to handle.”

At this point, he looked at his daughter, shaking his head, ”You, you’re just too uncompromising when you’re right.”

Sophie just smiled slightly upon hearing this, and didn’t argue.

”Is there anything else, girl?” Su Changfeng asked, ”If not, I should be going. I have plenty of things to keep me busy.”

”Don’t rush,” Sophie quickly stopped him, ”Of course there is. You’re always complaining about being short-staffed, so I have a talent to recommend. How about you check it out?”

”A talent?”

”A Combat Artisan.”

”Oh?” Su Changfeng was slightly surprised, showing some interest, ”Is it that kid from earlier? But I remember you’re missing a Combat Artisan in your team too. You’re not pushing a rejected product onto your old man, are you?”

Upon hearing this, Sophie couldn’t help but look a little irked—who said she didn’t want him? She was very keen, but the guy was stubborn as a mule about not joining the Grand Guild. What could she do? Her father was indeed bringing up the most inconvenient issue.

She said with a straight face, ”You stand aside and just watch, don’t make a sound.”

”That strict?”

”Of course, let me tell you, this guy is a true genius, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

”Oh?” Su Changfeng was slightly taken aback, ”A genius even my girl praises? Then I really must see for myself.”

Sophie nodded and then opened the telecommunication channel.

On the other side, Fang Hong had just hurried back towards the plaza. Glancing behind him, he saw Hilveld and the others following at his heel—as if those in black robes were actually his subordinates. However, those figures had, at Hilveld’s gesture earlier, now pulled their hoods back on.

It seemed they were reluctant to show their faces rashly.

Fang Hong’s gaze shifted back to Hilveld, whose shoulder, although treated, still hadn’t fully healed. Blood continued to seep out from beneath her bandages. She looked pale and was moving so lightly as if a gust of wind could knock her over at any moment—which caused him some concern. Turning to her, he offered support and asked in a low voice, ”Am I walking too fast? Do you need to rest a bit?”

Hilveld looked at him, a sly satisfaction hidden in her eyes, and gently shook her head, ”There’s no need, Lord Captain. What’s more important right now is to race against time.”

Fang Hong nodded, not surprised in the least that Hilveld could discern the existence of this enigmatic third party.

In fact, the Lady Noble had always been much more astute than him; her previous lack of insight was due merely to the limited information she possessed—through the clues he had revealed, she had evidently come to realize the crux of the problem.

But Hilveld didn’t resist him, even going so far as to lean her head against him slightly.

This made Fang Hong feel somewhat uncomfortable, but looking back at the noble lady’s pallid and haggard face, he thought better of it and didn’t have the heart to refuse.

Therefore, he and Hilveld returned to the plaza together. The knights, seeing this, couldn’t help but whistle. Dianmo Ran Qingzhu came running over, his eyes almost popping out in admiration as he looked at Fang Hong.

Luckily, Fang Hong’s skin had grown thick with practice. Pretending as if nothing was happening, he surveyed the scene and realized that the Dragon’s Servants had already been extinguished by the people of Silver Weslan.

Only a few clumps of black smoke-like corpses remained.

Fang Hong counted the bodies—there were as many as seven or eight.

He then turned to the others and asked, ”Where did these things come from?”

”From behind us,” before the knights could reply, Sophie’s voice came through the communicator. She first looked at Fang Hong and Hilveld beside him with curiosity and a trace of awe in her eyes, then said, ”It’s not just these things you should be worried about. You’d better take a look at this.”

With that, she sent a knight over to lead Fang Hong to one side of the plaza.

There stood an obsidian spire, common in these underground ruins, but this one was a bit different—a thin, visible black mist was seeping out from the spire.

Like liquid nitrogen, the vapors hung down from the Spire, slowly accumulating on the ground and forming a sprawling black smoke.

”This is...?”

”These things formed out of this black smoke,” Sophie replied.

”How many of these things are there?”

”Many,” she said, ”especially on the way we came. I sent someone back to check, and the situation there is much worse. I suspect that these kinds of Dragon’s Servants have already filled this ruin.”

Fang Hong was silent for a moment.

Someone was sealing their exit.

What Sophie described further confirmed his suspicions. He then spoke up, ”I actually have some guesses, but before that, I’d like to ask you a question, Miss Sophie.”

”What question?”

”I want to inquire about the Rain Listeners.”

...