With an angry snort, the wood elf turned his head resentfully toward the direction Cloud Emperor and the others had fled.
"It's just as well that they've left. Gather the clansmen nearby, and we'll capture them ourselves. They were once the most powerful noble family in the Vias Commercial Federation of the Western Continent. Their foundations and connections will be useful to Her Majesty's next plan."
"Capture them alive, and Her Majesty will be pleased. Perhaps we may even receive a reward from her."
The wood elves exchanged glances. An elderly elven mage wiped at his beard, which had been burned to a ruin, then raised his hand and launched a head-sized green orb of light into the sky. The green sphere, more dazzling than the sun rising in the east, shot several thousand meters into the air before bursting into a radiant glow more splendid than the morning clouds, reflecting vast swathes of green light beneath the dawn sun.
Cloud Emperor, who had been racing ahead at full speed, suddenly turned back. Looking at the dazzling green radiance covering several miles, he let out a heavy breath. "Those damned long ears... Canglong, how much farther to the sea?"
Yun Canglong gazed north and swallowed hard. "Five hundred li. If nothing stops us, we can reach the shore within two quarter-hours."
"Then charge!" Cloud Emperor swallowed another red pill. Purple qi surged around him, sweeping up everyone at his side as he dashed north at top speed. The Great Wilderness Marsh rapidly fell behind him. Everywhere he passed, villages that had once been prosperous but were now utterly destroyed, burned into ruins and still billowing black smoke, appeared before his eyes.
This was Black Spirit Empire territory, the settlement grounds of those fortune-seekers from the Western Continent. But when the