Terran Guardian

Late at night, in the lobby where the entrance of the Eternal Life Alliance was temporarily located, several people headed by Hongyi had gathered. Everyone's expressions were a little ugly.

"Hall Master, the city is now searching for us. If we delay this further, our hiding spot will be exposed," 

The old man said in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Hongyi's expression was cold and a green glint flashed in her eyes.

"Since they are searching the whole city, the Imperial Court has made up its mind. Barbarians are indeed just Barbarians! They couldn't even achieve something this simple! Now that assassination of Nie Xu was unsuccessful, we have alarmed the snake instead!" 

Hongyi knew the events, including what had occured last night in the Government Office.

Currently, there were only two forces in the city that could control the monsters.

One was the Eternal Life Alliance.

The other was the Barbarians.

Hongyi and the others did not act rashly. Meaning, it was obvious who attacked the Government Office.

Until now, Hongyi doesn't even know how the Barbarians failed.

Likewise, she also didn't want to know why the other party failed.

Right now, Hongyi only knew that the consequence of the Barbarian's failure to assassinate Nie Xu caused herself and the others to be at risk of being exposed at any time.

In terms of strength, she was not afraid of most people in Jin City.

However, the Black Tiger Army was extraordinary. With the elites in the army, even if she wanted to compete, it was not an easy task.

"If they killed Nie Xu, everything would have been easy. The Government will be in shambles. The situation in the city would not be easily quelled by the Black Tiger Army."

"With the failed assassination, not only did it not cause the city confusion, on the contrary, it made the Government more vigilant."

"Now that the entire city is being searched, the responsibility rests entirely on the Barbarians."

The man's voice is cold.

He was dissatisfied with the black-robed man.

Hearing that, Hongyi's tone was indifferent: "It is no longer necessary to hold anyone accountable. Although the Black Tiger Army has not searched for us, it is only a matter of time. So the problem now is how to retreat."

Although the Eternal Life Alliance could hide in the city if they were careful, that was just because the Court didn't take it seriously.

If they really wanted to investigate the situation in the city as it was now, it was not a big problem to find them.

Of course, it's not so easy to investigate the whole city every time, because many things will be involved.

Everyone had their own secrets after all.

If the Imperial Court was allowed to conduct a thorough investigation, it was equivalent to exposing everyone.

So once or twice was okay.

A thorough investigation would not only cost a lot of human power and material resources, it would also not be good in terms of winning the people's hearts.

If it was not for the monster attacking the Government Office, in the eyes of the people of the Eternal Life Alliance, the Black Tiger Army wouldn't have been determined to check the entire city.

However, it was too late to think about this now. 

What they should do was to be practical about how they should retreat, before they were exposed.

"If we retreat, then Jin City may not be in chaos." The old man frowned.

"If there is no chaos, with the strength of the Barbarians, it is not certain if they will capture Jin City easily. They will probably expend a lot of manpower. Taking a step back, if the Barbarians can't even break through Jin City, what qualifications do they have to enter the Central Plains?"

"If that is so, the Barbarians are not qualified to cooperate with the Eternal Life Alliance."

Hongyi sneered.

She didn't want to retreat from Jin City unless she had to.

The promises given by the Barbarians made the Hall Master of the Eternal Life Alliance very excited.

Alas, it was a pity that the situation had been destroyed by the other party and it was no longer possible to disrupt Jin City any more. The only thing that could be done was to retreat from Jin City. Otherwise, they would be surrounded by the Black Tiger Army and be very likely to be wiped out.

Even Hongyi was not certain if she could compete with thousands of elites of the Black Tiger Army.

Hearing this, the man and the old man stopped talking.

Hongyi continued: "You guys go out and inquire about the situation. See how the Black Tiger Army is deployed. We will find another opportunity to retreat. We can't stay any longer in Jin City."

"Should we inform the Barbarians?"

"Let them die!"

Hongyi shook her head, with killing intent in her eyes.

If it wasn't for the cooperation between the two sides, she would have gone over already and screwed the Barbarians' heads.

• ווו

In the city.

Even though it was the middle of the night, it was still bright.

All of the elites of the Black Tiger Army were scattered. In almost every five steps, there would be one post, which included every street and any searched place into the scope of the blockade.

As for the people in the city, under the call of the Government and the effect of the curfew, they all stayed in their own residences.

The Cultivators, who searched during the day, were currently working with the Black Tiger Army to narrow the scope of the search, step by step.

"Now there are only three areas left in Jin City that have not been searched."

Zhong Chi, who had completely changed his appearance, was where the Black Tiger Army was stationed and drew a few circles on the map spread out in the middle.

It was the location distribution map of Jincheng.

This kind of map was generally in the hands of the Government Offices.

Nie Xu said: "If the monsters are still in Jin City, then they are hiding in these three places. Is there any news from the Heavenly Inspection Guard?"

"According to the news from the Heavenly Inspection Guard, the monsters should be hidden here and here."

Zhong Chi focused on two locations.

One was in the North of the city and the other was in the West of the city.

Shen Changqing and others also set their eyes on the two circles.

Immediately after, Zhong Chi said: "After the investigation of the Heavenly Inspection Guard, we can basically confirm that the monsters in Jin City, except for the Eternal Life Alliance, the remaining party is from the Barbarians. There is a high probability that they are Barbarian Shamans."

"Barbarian Shamans?"

Shen Changqing looked puzzled.

Barbarian Shaman.

He was hearing it for the first time.

Zhong Chi patiently explained: "The Barbarian Shamans are a group of powerful people amongst the Barbarians who have mastered mysterious powers, similar to the Great Qin's Demon Suppression Division. The difference is that the Barbarian Shamans are extremely mysterious and can control certain monsters."

"Last night, according to the Heavenly Inspection Guard's information, the monster that attacked the Government was controlled by a Barbarian Shaman."

"The Barbarians had long wanted to attack the Great Wilderness Province, so they sent men to sneak into Jin City just to weaken the city's strength."

"If Lord Nie died last night in the hands of the monster, then today's Jin City will be in chaos."

Hearing this, Shen Changqing gained some superficial understanding of Barbarian Shamans.

Obviously, Shamans were similar to Cultivators. The difference was that Shamans could control monsters.

After Zhong Chi explained what a Barbarian Shaman was, he paused and continued.

"There's not only a Barbarian Shaman in Jin City, but there's also traces of Barbarian Shamans in other places. Now, the cooperation between the Barbarians and the Eternal Life Alliance is no longer a big secret."

"When Barbarians conquered a city, they shared part of the plunder to the Eternal Life Alliance." 

As this was said, the area became silent.

A faint killing intent was lingering in the air.

Chu Ding's face was as gloomy as water, and his voice was cold.

"Did the Heavenly Inspection get any more news on the situation?"

"In two days, the Barbarians broke the gate of the Great Wilderness Province and also broke through the three cities. A large number of people were displaced, but a considerable number of people died under the control of the Barbarians. Several of them, numbering hundreds of thousands, were sacrificed to the Eternal Life Alliance—"

Zhong Chi became silent.

Even if he didn't say what it was, the others understood what would happen to the people given to the Eternal Life Alliance.

"Damn those Barbarians!"

"That damned Eternal Life Alliance too!"

Chu Ding slammed his palm down, shattering the handrail. He was furious.

At this time, Nie Xu also showed anger on his face. But compared to Chu Ding, he was relatively restrained.

"The Barbarians came prepared this time. The monsters distracted the attention of the Court, which the Barbarians used to gather their strength and attacked the Great Desolate Province in a big way."

"Now, the Barbarians have divided their forces, of which about 120,000 are coming to Jin City."

"Judging from the news of the Heavenly Inspection Guard, the Barbarians will arrive tomorrow at around midnight. Even if it is later, it will not be too late."

Zhong Chi said in a deep voice.

Hearing this, Chu Ding suppressed his anger and looked at the other side.

"Does the Heavenly Inspection Guard have any definite information on the 120,000 Barbarians?"

"The one leading the 120,000 Barbarians is Merba. This person is known to be born with divine strength and has a notable reputation among the Barbarians. Merba appeared in the past, when the Barbarians attacked the Great Desolate Province."

"Later, the Barbarians threatened a sect, and then there was a Grandmaster in that Sect. The result was that the Grandmaster was beheaded by Merba."

"Therefore, according to Heavenly Inspection Guard's speculation, Merba's strength is roughly around the middle stage of the Grandmaster Realm."

Zhong Chi said.

Mid Stage Grandmaster Realm!

Shen Changqing's heart slightly sank.

He had never heard of Merba's name, but judging from Zhong Chi's words, the other party was obviously a very formidable opponent.

However, Shen Changqing has never really fought against a Grandmaster, so he was not sure how powerful a mid stage Grandmaster was.

"You are talking about True Monarch Heng Jiang of the Hundred Rivers Sect?"

Nie Xu seemed to have heard of it before and  uncertainly asked.

Zhong Chi nodded: "It is True Monarch Heng Jiang. The Hundred Rivers Sect used to be a major faction, and True Monarch Heng Jiang was a genius; reaching the Grandmaster Realm under forty years old. I thought that the Hundred Rivers Sect would surpass the past in his hands."

"But I didn't expect it to be destroyed by the Barbarians. Merba's strength is very strong, and the Barbarian's strength is not weak. Judging from the current strength of Jin City, it is difficult to resist the Barbarian Cavalry."

"Does Lord Zhong have any ideas?"

"I suggest that it is best to evacuate the people in the city first, so that even if Jin City is destroyed, it will not suffer too much loss."

Zhong Chi paused after saying this.

"However—"

"Before this, we still need to find the monsters in the city and destroy them!"

Hearing this, the eyes of several people all fell on the map.

[T/N: Listen to my lofi songs Spotify (click me) while you’re reading, working and/or studying. It helps me out]