Diao Ling

Since arriving in the barren, backward, filthy Outpost County, Xiulunte's itinerary had been delayed again and again. The soldiers of his legion had already been stationed there for three days, yet he still had not set foot on the Savage Ancient Plains to bring back the heads of the tribal chiefs as an offering to the Great Pope.

Since making his name, this was the first time Xiulunte had suffered such a huge loss in Outpost County. When he woke up, not only had the house collapsed around him, but all the accompanying warrior attendants had been wiped out. What angered him most was that the culprit had not been executed at once. Instead, through sweet talk, Allen had become a devout believer of the Supreme God.

How could the notoriously vicious Xiulunte swallow such an insult?

Eager to regain his dignity, Xiulunte had long discovered that the Wolf Cavalry had entered the Great Wilderness. Using joint training as an excuse, he had transferred away the Rock First Legion guarding the border.

His scheme had almost succeeded. He had believed that as long as the Behemoth Wolf Cavalry abducted Dina, he could emerge midway and rescue her.

If the Wolf Cavalry took care of Allen for him, all the better. If they failed, he would personally strike amid the chaos.

Unfortunately, things did not go as he wished. So many Wolf Cavalry troops had actually failed to take even tiny Outpost County, and even the Behemoth's powerful Bearmen of Behemoth had died on the spot.

Still, a mistake had led to an unexpected gain. Xiulunte, who had thought he could never again catch Allen's weakness, learned from two ascetics of the Holy See that Domain Power had appeared at Outpost County's north gate.

Domain Power was a force only a Saint-level Mage could possess.

Within a domain, the caster was a god, capable of anything and free to grant life or death.

The two ascetics had ruled out the possibility that either of the continent's two Saint-level Mages had been present. In the end, they reached a conclusion as shocking as raging waves: after a thousand years, a divine miracle had once again appeared on Saint Cassis.

Xiulunte summoned Wood and cross-checked the situation from both sides. The two ascetics could then confirm that a divine miracle had indeed descended.

A human could not possibly kill a Behemoth Strongman Bearman barehanded without using Battle Aura, especially when so many present had witnessed the manifestation.

The final conclusion disappointed everyone greatly. The miracle had not been caused by the descent of the Supreme God, nor by the descent of any False God from Saint Cassis Continent. Only gods from other worlds would use power resembling a domain.

The two ascetics, who were highly learned in theology, told Xiulunte that divine miracles on Saint Cassis Continent had been commonplace during the high-magic age ten thousand years ago. Back then, magic elements filled heaven and earth, and everyone could study magic.

But even after descending, a god could not do whatever they wished or control everything. Such a god might wave a hand and flatten a town, or plunge it into raging tides and blazing flames, but could not make it suddenly vanish into the wind, alter the memories of its residents, or erase its existence.

It was like a human observing an ant nest. To the ants, that human was a god.

If the human casually poured down a basin of cold water, it would be a stormy sea to the ants.

If the human casually lit a flame, it would be a towering inferno to the ants.

But it was absolutely impossible for that human to enter the ants' nest, because in any plane, one had to obey the inherent rules of all things. Not even gods were exempt.

Even if a god entered an ant nest, there was only one way: becoming an ant as well, though at most a larger ant than the rest of its kind.

That giant ant might breathe fire, spray water, or even beat up a big rat, but it would still have the form of an ant. It could not use an ant's form to do things only a human could do.

Allen's situation at the time was extremely similar to the scenes of other gods descending as recorded in books. The time freeze caused by Domain Power had left everyone present mentally dazed. Wood in particular, who cultivated Holy Light System magic, had sensed a disturbance in the magic elements between heaven and earth—a disturbance that made him tremble with fear.

In the end, Xiulunte and the ascetics reached the same conclusion: Allen, lord of Outpost County, was the "Child of Chaos" upon whom an otherworldly god had bestowed a miracle.

That was also why Xiulunte had led troops without authorization to surround the Old Castle, swearing to kill Allen.

Xiulunte greatly enjoyed the feeling of holding the power of life and death. Especially when a light wave of his right hand made countless lives scatter into the wind—the sight of rivers of blood and heaps of corpses left him intoxicated.

Unfortunately, damned Outpost County always produced all kinds of unexpected situations that left him speechless.

Xiulunte lightly waved his hand, but the archers' arrows did not fly into the Old Castle, because the shrill neighing of a fierce horse drew everyone's attention.

A bald, burly man charged recklessly into the Earth Dragon Legion's infantry formation and was immediately surrounded by soldiers.

Seated atop a gigantic rearing horse, Rockhammer wore a thoroughly helpless expression.

Allen cried out speechlessly, "The blacksmith shop owner?"

Sakre looked puzzled. "Master craftsman Rockhammer?"

Big Babylon rubbed his own shiny bald head. "What a round, shiny bald head!"

Dina said, "Uncle from the blacksmith shop!"

Old Butler Leisi said, "Where did this idiot come from?"

Sakre's four lackeys said, "We're doomed!"

Asuo, the messenger holding a sword, roughly dragged Rockhammer off the horse and shouted, "Who are you?"

But after Rockhammer dismounted, Asuo was so frightened that he hurriedly backed away two steps. Rockhammer stood out like a crane among chickens, two heads taller than ordinary soldiers and almost as huge as a barbarian.

Sweat beaded across Rockhammer's bald head. Pointing toward the Old Castle, he said weakly, "I brought something for the lord!"

"What is it?" Asuo took a red paper package from Rockhammer with a show of bravado.

Rockhammer gave an honest smile. "Oil refined from a Shalu Beast. It's for maintaining weapons."

"Where did this idiot come from? Get lost." Asuo kicked Rockhammer's thigh, but Rockhammer did not budge in the slightest. Asuo fell flat on his backside.

A few soldiers eager to flatter their superior then shoved and kicked Rockhammer aside.

The honest Rockhammer gave Allen inside the Old Castle a helpless look.

Asuo ran over to whisper a few words to Xiulunte. In his good mood, Xiulunte did not hold it against him. He looked at Allen again, a cruel smile curling across his lips, then raised his right arm and gave the order to attack.

Yet the archers still did not react. A woman in black robes and a veil ran out from behind the many legion soldiers. With just a few leaps, she crossed the infantry and archers, arriving before the Old Castle as if no one existed. Turning around, she revealed a soul-stealing smile, then lightly leaped again and flew over the Old Castle gate.

Sakre struck with lightning speed, his sword thrusting straight for the veiled woman's brow.

The veiled woman showed a contemptuous smile. Her body flashed around Sakre like a ghost, and she knelt on one knee before Allen before lifting her veil.

A face overflowing with charm appeared before everyone. Fine lines at the corners of her eyes added the allure of a mature woman, while her large peach-blossom eyes stirred hearts and souls. Her skin was so smooth and delicate it seemed ready to drip with water.

Allen's eyes kept sweeping across her upper body. Based on years of experience, he concluded that she was at least a 34C.

"Kingdom Guard, ordered by the Grand Duke to protect you in secret. Diao Ling greets you here." After speaking, the black-robed beauty even tossed Allen a flirtatious wink.

Allen said, "Hello, beautiful!"

Dina said, "Vixen!"

Sakre said, "What ghostly footwork."

The four lackeys said, "We're doomed!"

Old Laixi said, "The owner of the Forbidden Fruit Tavern?"

The four lackeys suddenly understood. "Oh..."

Dina looked at Old Butler Leisi with utter disdain. "Uncle Leisi, at your age, you still go to that kind of place?"

Old Laixi gave an embarrassed chuckle. "I heard about it from others."

Diao Ling did not care in the slightest and said coquettishly, "It's only my hobby!"

Allen finally understood and rolled his eyes speechlessly. "So you're a madam with girls. Doesn't Old Yue care? Outpost County doesn't even have a vice squad to crack down on this stuff."

Diao Ling blinked her alluring peach-blossom eyes seductively. She did not understand what Allen meant at all, but she did not care either. The Second Young Master had always been strange and erratic since childhood. Perhaps the Grand Duke, his father, had beaten his brains loose when he was little.