For a moment, warmth filled the whole family, and the courtyard was gentle and peaceful.
After comforting his parents, elder sister, and brother-in-law, Wang Yuan gently returned his sleeping nephew to his sister's arms.
The last trace of softness faded from his eyes, replaced once more by stern gravity.
In a lone city amidst troubled times, nothing was more unforgivable than betraying one's lord at the crucial moment and opening the gates to let thieves in.
The moment the master of Savage Bear Martial Hall opened the city gates, he had doomed the entire city's defenses and caused the deaths of countless Panshi disciples and innocent civilians.
There could be no leniency for such a crime.
"Father, Mother, Sister, Brother-in-law, rest peacefully at home."
"The remnants in the city have yet to be purged, and the chief culprit has yet to be punished. I'll be back shortly."
Wang Yuan instructed them softly, then turned and strode out of the Courtyard House.
The streets had long since been thoroughly cleared by the Black-Armored Cavalry, and order had returned.
Before long, the cavalry escorted over a brawny man in utter disarray, his face covered in dirt and his legs weak.
It was the master of Savage Bear Martial Hall.
After opening the city gates and betraying the city, he had intended to blend into the chaotic troops and flee amid the disorder.
But the Black-Armored Cavalry's screening was exceedingly strict, and with thirty deathsworn searching the entire city, he was captured alive within moments and brought straight here.
By now, the Savage Bear hall master no longer possessed the savage arrogance he had displayed when opening the gates and offering up the city.
Only boundless terror remained. Pressed to his knees by the cavalry, he trembled from head to toe.
Upon the