Chapter 158: Welcome Back

Everyone fell silent. This matter concerned future interests, and no one dared to speak out rashly. "I, I agree!" Suddenly, a noble spoke up. Instantly, all eyes turned toward him. The man had originally wanted to shrink back, but seeing everyone staring at him, he gritted his teeth and stepped forward. "I agree!"

"Oh, it's Count Bicke!" Truman chuckled. "If I remember correctly, your fiefdom is not far from Normania, is it?" Bicke's mouth twitched. This little bastard had a really sharp tongue, but what he said was the truth, leaving him unable to refute.

"Lords and gentlemen, we are all part of the Grand Duchy. Now the Duchy is in trouble; if we do not pull together to weather this storm, how can we shoulder the great responsibilities of the Duchy in the future?" Bicke said with a solemn expression, then looked aside. Immediately, a close friend chimed in, "Indeed. The state bestowed fiefdoms upon us, allowing us to enjoy glory and wealth. Now is the time to give back to the country. I have two thousand private soldiers in my territory; we will form a support corps to assist the General!"

"Easily said!" everyone muttered silently to themselves.

"Does anyone else have a different opinion? It's fine, take your time to think it over. In any case, once my father fails to hold them off and Guchilong's army drives straight in, nothing can be undone," Truman continued to chip away at everyone's resolve.

"Fine. We are willing to contribute our private soldiers to form a detachment, march to the border, and resist the foreign enemies together!" Boairui said in anguish. The current situation left no room for hesitation; any later, and it truly would be too late!

"Then there is one remaining question: who will go to invite the Queen to return?" Miki asked.

"Lord Miki should go," Boairui sighed. "Lord Miki's wife is a close friend of Her Majesty the Queen, making you the most suitable person."

"Very well, I will go, but I cannot guarantee at all whether Her Majesty the Queen will be willing to return," Miki said earnestly.

"Everything rests upon Lord Miki!" Although his heart was bleeding, Boairui forced a smile.

"Alright, since it has come to this, I will do my best to welcome back Her Majesty the Queen. With her here, the Duchy of Leighton will surely prosper." Miki glanced around at the surrounding nobles. "Please, my lords, gather all your private soldiers upon returning so that we may properly form the volunteer corps. This is a critical moment of life and death for the country; any delay or concealment will be treated as treason. Please bear this in mind!"

The crowd felt a jolt of alarm. Their petty schemes were instantly snuffed out by Miki's words, and they nodded helplessly. Once Miki had spoken thus, it would be troublesome if they were caught slipping up. Besides, as long as they kept their lives, wouldn't they have a chance to recoup their losses later?

"My lords, I leave this in your hands!" Miki bowed deeply and then turned to leave.

"Lord Truman, we will take our leave as well. Everything in the imperial capital is entrusted to you," Duke Boairui said gloomily.

"Understood. I hope everything goes smoothly," Truman said. The nobles nodded and departed.

"Old foxes!" Watching the departing figures, whose faces looked as though they had just lost both parents, Truman barely managed to hold back his laughter. "Gell is truly a talent, but where has that fellow gone now?"

In the dark night, a carriage sped swiftly through the gloom.

"Where are you planning to go?" Suddenly, a pure white sphere of light illuminated the sky. The carriage stopped immediately, as its occupants could already sense the danger.

"L-Lord!" A blood-soaked priest crawled out from the carriage and dropped to his knees.

"Oh, in such a sorry state?" Beneath the sphere of light, a crimson-robed priest stood with his hands behind his back, smiling faintly.

"I am sorry, My Lord, I have let you down." The kneeling priest raised his head—it was none other than Gerald, who had fled during the chaos. To think he would turn up in such a desolate place.

"Sorry? There are plenty of things you have to be sorry for. To flee in the face of battle, abandoning a full hundred Templar Knights just like that—do you still have the face to say you're sorry?" A ferocious expression appeared on the crimson-robed priest's face!

"Hmph, let's head back first. The matter is not yet over, so prepare yourselves mentally. This incident has blown up on a massive scale, and I may not necessarily be able to protect you!" The crimson-robed priest finished speaking, turned around, and vanished into thin air. Gerald collapsed limply to the ground.

"Your Majesty!" Miki bowed respectfully to Reixina. "You have suffered."

"Alas, the time has come after all," Reixina said to Miki, who had caught up with her. "Thank you for your hard work."

"Not at all. Compared to Your Majesty, I am much more fortunate." Miki smiled cheerfully at Reixina, then caught sight of Lady Fir beside her. "Long time no see, Lady Fir."

"How is my father?" Fir asked with a trembling voice.

Miki sighed and gently shook his head. Fir swayed and directly fainted.

"My Lady! My Lady!" Bella hurried forward to catch Fir, calling out softly.

"Where is Gell?" Reixina asked anxiously. "Is he alright?"

Miki nodded. "Gell is fine, but Mora is dead."

"Sister Mora." Reixina collapsed onto the ground as well. "They're all dead."

"More often than not, many things are simply beyond our control, aren't they?" Miki sighed, reaching out to help Reixina up. "Your Majesty, please take care."

Reixina looked at Fir by her side and let out a gentle sigh.

"Where is Gell? Wasn't he with you?" Reixina asked further.

"No, Gell left. I thought he had come after you," Miki said.

"No, when we left, he only told us to slow our pace and didn't follow us afterward."

"Perhaps he returned to the academy," Leighton interjected from the side.

"Then I'll go back to find him," Reixina said.

"No, Your Majesty the Queen, you have more important things to do now. You cannot let down Gell's good intentions."

"But, but once we go back, when will I ever be able to come out again?" Tears welled up in the corners of Reixina's eyes. "Why? Why?"

"I am sorry, I cannot answer that for you," Miki sighed.

"Let's return to the imperial palace. Since everything is already a foregone conclusion, I will try to accept it all," Reixina sighed.

Beside her, Fir slowly regained consciousness. Reixina stepped forward and grasped the girl's hand. "Sister, come back with me."

"Yes, I want to go back and see my father." Having regained consciousness, Fir appeared remarkably calm. She gently squeezed Reixina's hand. "Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to go back and send my father off."

"We are family, aren't we?" Reixina said, her eyes red.

"Gray, you're back!" Leila, having just returned to the academy from outside, spotted the person she had been longing for, though his complexion seemed rather poor. "Are you alright?" Leila stepped forward to steady Ye Tian.

"What, trying to take advantage of me while you have the chance?" Ye Tian joked playfully.

"You jerk!" Leila glared at Ye Tian. His face looked completely pale, yet he still had the energy to spout nonsense. She really wanted to sew his mouth shut with needle and thread.

"Wait, Gray, are you really okay?" Leila suddenly recalled that Gray was usually quite timid; how had he become so daring after going out on a trip?

"Don't you recognize me?" Ye Tian smiled, a faint blush rising to his cheeks. "Or do you not like me looking like this?"

"No." Leila blushed. No matter what Gray looked like, she probably couldn't hate him. "Are you really okay? Why do you look so severely ill? Should I find a priest for you to take a look?" Leila asked with concern.

"No need. If he looked at me, he might just kill me instead," Ye Tian chuckled. "Alright, I'm truly fine, just worn out from the journey. You know how it is—being a major household's steward isn't easy. I wasn't even at the job long before I got dismissed."

"That's true. Being a steward isn't easily done well. It's better to come back; at least you won't have to suffer grievances here, right?" Leila comforted him. "Where is Lady Fir? Didn't she come back with you?"

"She'll probably be staying there for a while," Ye Tian thought aloud. "Right, I need to get some good sleep these next two days. Please don't disturb me, okay?" He yawned. "Too many things happened these past couple of days; I'm exhausted."

"Things happened? What happened in the imperial capital?" Leila asked eagerly.

"Don't ask, I'm not entirely clear either. In any case, it's nothing good. News should be spreading over in a couple of days." With that, Ye Tian leaned close to Leila's ear and said, "Help me back, will you? I have no strength left."

"You have no strength, yet your mouth is still so foul!" Leila thought herself into a fit of anger. Ye Tian chuckled foolishly and walked back together with her.

"Good night!" Ye Tian flopped comfortably onto the bed.

"Honestly, if you want to rest, at least take a bath before sleeping!" Leila stepped forward to help Ye Tian take off his shoes.

"Then I'll gladly do it if you accompany me in the wash," Ye Tian grabbed Leila's hand as she reached to unbutton his clothes.

"Gray, I'm angry!" Leila stamped her foot.

"Alright, alright, my bad. I really am sleepy; everything else can wait until I wake up. Good night!" Ye Tian closed his eyes, and a snoring sound immediately began.

"Hmph, go ahead and pretend!" Leila angrily pulled her wrist free, tucked the quilt in for Ye Tian, watched him quietly for a moment, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly, and slowly turned and left.

As soon as Leila departed, Ye Tian opened his eyes and leaped up, quickly locking the door. *Puff!* Following closely, Ye Tian spat out a mouthful of blood, which blossomed into a striking red flower upon the wall.

"No way, the backlash is this severe?" Ye Tian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and muttered in frustration.

"I'd better regulate my breath first!" Ye Tian sat cross-legged on the bed, brought his hands together into a mudra, slowly circulated his internal energy, and began to adjust his breathing.

Half a day later, Ye Tian opened his eyes with a bitter smile. The internal injuries he had sustained were far more severe than he had imagined.

The pill Ye Tian had swallowed back then was called the "Heaven-Stealing Pill." Named as such, its effects were naturally astonishing, and it was precisely what had allowed him to run amok among the Templar Knights. However, the backlash of its effects was no joke either. If not for possessing another "Heaven-Mending Pill," Ye Tian feared he would already be a cold corpse by now.

The Heaven-Stealing Pill creates gods, while the Heaven-Mending Pill brings back the dead! These two miraculous elixirs of the martial world had been successfully refined only twice in the entire life of the legendary Pill King. Ye Tian possessed no shortage of rare elixirs and medicines, but even putting them all together, they fell far short of one percent of these. They were meant as his life-saving trumps, yet he had used one so carelessly.

However, Ye Tian felt no regret. Without those two peerless miraculous pills, he would never have been a match for a hundred Templar Knights. Ye Tian understood his own limits well enough. "If only I had mastered the Human Scroll of the Nine Dragons Zhou Tian Art," he sighed.

For the first time, Ye Tian felt a sense of chill regarding his own capabilities. Although he disliked practicing martial arts, most of these supreme martial arts had been forcefully crammed into him by a bunch of old monsters. Consequently, he had only ever practiced a superficial layer to please those old fogies; everything else took second place to the old master.

"I want to become stronger!" Ye Tian thought to himself inwardly. This was a world that spoke the language of strength; without absolute strength, nothing you wanted to do would ever succeed.

He took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, cast aside all distracting thoughts from his mind, and began to recall the essentials of the Human Scroll.

The Nine Dragons Zhou Tian Art was divided into three scrolls: Heaven, Earth, and Human. Each layer was harder than the last, and Ye Tian had yet to finish cultivating the Human Scroll. Part of it was laziness, and part of it was sheer difficulty. The foundation of each layer was so agonizingly slow that he often wondered if the reason no one had ever mastered it was simply that practitioners died of old age before finishing the Heaven Scroll. *Well, that's entirely possible.*

The room gradually filled with a tyrannical, oppressive aura—an unyielding majesty. The aura of dragons was not easily controlled. The sight of Nine Dragons reaching the heavens was something Ye Tian dreamed of seeing, but for now, if he wanted to elevate his strength, he still needed to cultivate it step by step. The road ahead was long indeed!

"Gray!" Few people ever visited Ye Tian's dormitory, but those who did were the girls that the male servants dreamed of winning over. True to form, the academy's most troublesome little demon, Lady Acanara, had arrived.

"Gray, come out! I'm angry!" Lady Acanara was very angry today. She had holed up in the library to read, but she couldn't focus at all; her mind was entirely occupied by a certain mischievous scoundrel. When she came out for some fresh air, she heard the guards saying that Gray had returned—and that Leila had even helped him back!

Instantly, Lady Acanara's anger flared to the heavens, and she came straight to Ye Tian to settle accounts. Strangely enough, however, Ye Tian had locked his door!

"Damn jerk!" Acanara reached out to pull out her wand, but thought better of it. Breaking down a male servant's door in broad daylight—even as wild as she was, she couldn't bring herself to do something like that. Public opinion was a fearful thing!

With an angry kick, Acanara prepared to leave, but suddenly she felt a formation beginning to activate within the room. "Where did a formation come from?" Acanara thought in confusion. "Oh no, Gray, what are you doing? The formation can't take it!"

*Bang! Crack, crack, crack, crack!*

A crack suddenly split across the previously sealed door, and a wave of turbulent energy surged outward. Immediately after, Acanara heard the sound of shattering crystal—it was the sound of the formation collapsing!

"Gray, hurry up and come out! What are you doing?!" Acanara panicked, hurriedly casting a shield spell upon herself as she prepared to force her way in.

*Bang!* Ye Tian's door suddenly burst apart, and a blast of air blew Acanara flying backward quite a distance. *Thud! Slam!* Acanara stared blankly from afar at Ye Tian's doorway. The formation she had spent a great deal of effort drawing was completely ruined.

"Ahem, why is there so much dust?" Ye Tian ran out, covering his mouth with his clothes, his body covered in plaster dust.

"Gray!" Ye Tian suddenly heard an eerie voice from behind, causing him to shiver involuntarily. Mechanically turning his head, he met the furious gaze of the young girl.

"Morning!" Ye Tian greeted her awkwardly.

"Spare me! Spare me! Lady Hero, spare my life!" Shrieks from Ye Tian suddenly echoed across the campus. Following that, everyone watched as a man and a woman ran continuously, the female chasing while casting various spells—wind bullets, ice spears, wind blades, flame sabers, and the like—hurling them all toward the male.

The male, naturally, suffered terribly. Seeing the barrage of spells filling the sky, he could only抱头鼠窜 (flee with his head in his hands) while begging for mercy from time to time.

"Sigh, another pitiful fellow!" Recognizing the pair of man and woman, the onlookers quickly scattered to avoid accidental injury, leaving the poor guy feeling utterly depressed. Was there really no one willing to step in and mediate?

In the end, the man was still overwhelmed by the barrage of spells and collapsed beneath a tree on campus, looking as miserable as one could possibly be.

"Sigh, serves you right for daring to provoke the female devil." People shook their heads and hurriedly walked away, sensing that the female devil was in a particularly foul mood today.

"Well, Lady Acanara, have you vented your anger yet?" Ye Tian was planted headfirst into the ground like a inverted turnip, looking as carefree as could be.

"Hmph! Let's see if you dare waste my hard work again!" Acanara strode forward and gave Ye Tian a fierce kick. "What were you doing anyway? You blew up the formation I drew!"

"Didn't do anything!" Ye Tian scrambled up with a cheeky grin. "I was just sleeping."

"Go on, keep making things up!" Acanara's eyes were filled with distrust. "Right, the guards told me you were injured. Where are you hurt? Let me see."

"Heh heh, when it comes to healing, you can't compare to me." Ye Tian stood up and dusted himself off. "I'm fine, just didn't rest well recently. A couple of good days of sleep will fix it." He added, "What do you want to eat? I'll go make it, and then I'll get back to resting properly."

"I want lots of things! I'll eat whatever you make!" Acanara tapped her lips with her finger and said, "I want something light!"

"Deal, light food it is today!" Ye Tian rolled up his sleeves and headed toward the kitchen. At that moment, Acanara suddenly grabbed his clothes.

"What's wrong?" Ye Tian turned his head.

"Welcome back," Acanara said softly, lowering her head.

"I'm fine, I'm back!" Ye Tian was stunned for a moment, then reached out to pat the girl's head. "Let's go, we'll eat our fill today!"