Chapter 13

Tao.

"All right. There's no guarantee the danger here can be resolved. Everyone should conserve their strength for now." Lin Hanxuan spoke with a wry smile. Both sides were his good friends, and he did not want Aslan to feel slighted.

"I'm sorry, Aslan. I said the wrong thing just now. I apologize." Yi Junze realized he had been in the wrong and frankly admitted his mistake to the young Lion-kin.

"Forget it. If you want to belittle Orcs in the future, say it in front of me. Don't say it in front of the other students." Aslan raised a lion claw and smoothed the mane atop his head.

Among the female students nearby, Louise stared unblinkingly at Lin Hanxuan with her beautiful eyes, her gaze carrying an indescribable meaning. She did not know why Yi Junze, the Yi Family's favored prodigy, was so close to Lin Hanxuan, nor could she understand why Aslan, who was practically the leader of the Orc students, listened to Lin Hanxuan so readily. At first glance, Lin Hanxuan did not seem particularly capable, and he was even arrogant, yet a single word from him could keep the academy's two most influential figures from turning on each other before his eyes. What kind of charisma was that?

"Oh, Louise, you're staring at Yi Lin Hanxuan again!" A female student beside Louise whispered into her ear.

"I wasn't, Hermie. Don't talk nonsense." Louise hurriedly looked away, pretending to remain calm.

"Don't you think Yi Lin Hanxuan is amazing?" Hermie smiled at Louise's slightly flustered expression. "The ones arguing were Yi Junze and Aslan. One is the Yi Family's second young master, while the other is the leading voice among the academy's Orcs. And from the way Aslan looked just now, he seemed like he wanted to swallow Yi Junze whole. Yet one sentence from Yi Lin Hanxuan made Aslan sit down and Yi Junze lower his head to apologize. That isn't something just anyone can do. Even the academy teachers couldn't manage it."

"Really? I didn't notice." Louise replied guiltily.

"Yes, yes. You were so busy looking at him that there was no one else in your eyes." Hermie covered her mouth and snickered.

"You're still saying it? I clearly wasn't looking." Louise reached for Hermie's waist, preparing to tickle her.

Crack! A sudden sound came from the ground. Without warning, the earth beneath the female students' feet split apart.

"Watch out." The ground beneath Louise and Hermie suddenly gave way, and they were about to fall into the fissure. Qito lunged over and grabbed Louise's wrist, but his other hand failed to catch Hermie.

"Ah~~" The shrill scream drew everyone's attention. Aslan and Hal rushed out one after the other, but Yi Junze was even faster. With a whoosh, he followed Hermie into the fissure.

Imperial Capital──

Emperor Lei Chen, burdened with countless affairs, was seated before a smoothly polished white marble table. White marble could calm the mind and focus the spirit; this stone table had been passed down by Lei Yan, the founding emperor. Yet even if Lei Chen were sitting inside an entire cave of white marble, his mind would probably still be unable to settle.

Lei Chen held a stack of documents in his hand, propping his cheek with his left hand while continuously tapping the documents against the tabletop with his right.

"Your Majesty, what should be done about this matter? Please issue your instructions." Prime Minister Atrien urged from the side.

Lei Chen glanced at Atrien. The old man's face was covered in wrinkles, and when his worried gaze met the emperor's, the prime minister hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to meet Lei Chen's eyes.

"Attendant, bring a chair for the prime minister."

The two documents in Lei Chen's hands contained nothing but bad news.

The first was a report from Lei Xun of the Northwest Legion. The investigation into the disaster area of the Beast Territory had indeed found suspected droppings from the magical beast Sand Tiger, and quite a large amount at that, proving Fields's speculation correct. However, despite the joint investigation team's exhaustive search, they had been unable to find a single active Sand Tiger. They could only infer from the traces of disturbed soil underground that the Sand Tigers had most likely moved en masse toward the center of the Beast Territory.

According to the report, various magic arrays had already begun to be buried underground around the outer perimeter of the central territory of the Beast Territory. They might not easily harm the Sand Tigers, magical beasts known as kings of the underground, but they could at least serve as an early warning. The report also mentioned that the grave disaster in the Northwest Forest had unexpectedly united the Beast Territory's clans, whose relations had once been strained by old feuds, such as the Tiger Tribe and the Fox Clan. The Tiger Tribe had often raided the Fox Clan's territory for property and young women, while the Fox Clan retaliated by using schemes to kill young Tiger-kin. The tension between the two clans had persisted through several generations of supreme commanders without being resolved, yet now some young members of the Tiger Tribe had volunteered to defend the Fox Territory. Naturally, everyone understood why—the Fox-kin Tribe's foremost beauty, Diqi Kaidinla, the widow of the late Fox King, had publicly declared that if anyone could protect the Fox Clan and safely see them through this natural disaster, then no matter who that hero was, either she or her daughter would be willing to marry him. Whether that hero wanted the beautiful widow or the lovely young girl would be his choice.

Although waves of opposition surged within the Fox Clan like the tide, even prompting several old fox elders to advise the queen, the great beauty merely said calmly, "How can you be so certain that this warrior will not be one of our own? Or do you all believe that the Fox-kin Tribe no longer has the ability to contend with other clans? Our clan has always excelled at strategy. If you can be the first to find a way to eliminate"