The morning light pierced the clouds, laying bare the devastation inside the Armament Department's courtyard. Two bodies lay slumped in a corner. The stench of blood mingled with the smell of rust, spreading a sickening sweetness through the chill air.
Li Yuan pushed open the wooden door of Warehouse No. Jia-3 and stepped outside. His face was somewhat pale, the result of forcibly interrupting his cultivation and enduring one fight after another, which had left his qi and blood depleted. But his eyes gleamed with an intimidating light. Deep within their settled crimson-gold depths, the sharpness of Soldier Fiend Energy intertwined with the scorching heat of the Crimson Sun, like a storm that had yet to fully subside.
The few servants in the courtyard had long since fled into hiding, nowhere to be seen. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, Steward Wang stood beneath the eaves of the main hall, his face livid. He looked at the bodies in the courtyard, then at Li Yuan as he emerged. His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't dare utter a word. His eyes were filled with fear and a venomous, "I knew it" resentment.
Li Yuan didn't spare him a glance. He went straight to the cramped side room. He had few belongings: a few changes of clothes, some money, and, most importantly, his insights into the Crimson Sun True Scripture, those mysterious Black Fragments, and the token he had found on the Wolf Fiend assassin.
He quickly packed everything into a small bundle and slung it over his back. Then he left the side room and returned to Warehouse No. Jia-3.
Looking at the wooden door behind which he had spent several days cultivating through Fiend Qi Marrow Quenching, Li Yuan's