His plan to recruit Xu Zimo had, by this point, completely fallen through.
Zhou Xun stepped forward, her voice pressed very low.
No one knew whether she was speaking for him to hear, or to herself, or perhaps to the people behind her.
"Whether this man is a blessing or a curse for us Embers is truly hard to say."
Tuoba Tao looked in the direction where Xu Zimo had vanished and stayed silent for a good while before slowly speaking.
"Whether blessing or curse, leave that aside for now. At least our goodwill has been offered."
"As for how things end up, let Lord Seeker of the Way decide. An existence on this level is far beyond what we can handle."
A hint of self-mockery colored his tone.
He had harbored thoughts of recruitment before, but looking back now, it seemed rather like he had not known the height of heaven or the depth of earth.
Someone like Xu Zimo had never taken him, an Embers protector, seriously at all.
Only after that figure had completely sunk into the horizon did Tuoba Tao withdraw his gaze and turn toward the subordinates behind him.
He instructed, "Search Green City thoroughly. For now, we'll use this place as our base."
"It will take at least a few more days for news of Green City's fall to spread throughout the Federation, and it will take time for those powerhouses to rush over. The gap left to us is still fairly ample."
Everyone answered in unison.
After leaving Green City, Xu Zimo unfolded the map in his hand.
This map had been given by the Embers Organization, and it marked the general directions of various places across the Federation. However, the Federation was simply too vast, so the map only sketched out