Chapter 19

"Depending on how you look at it, the current situation is both positive and negative. The positive is that Dark Hand left the city before we could begin the process of eliminating them which meant no deaths or casualties for our stronger experts who would have accompanied the city guard and myself. The negative, is that one of our scouts found at the very edge of our kingdom, the demon beasts have begun to organize." the governor told everyone in the room while looking at Timothy.

"So on behalf of Hollow City and this small region of the kingdom, I thank you and so does everyone else here in this room. But, because the Dark Hand escaped and we have lost several experts on our side, I will not be giving you anything else for the information handed over. Also, I am hereby declaring that you will no longer be able to enter into Hollow City and must leave immediately!" the governor said in a calm manner.

"Thank you for your mercy, governor of Hollow City." Timothy bowed down on the floor before turning around to leave. Master Sei explained to him that the governor was a Master cultivator and that him sentencing Timothy the way he did was only because he now knew too much and just escaping with his life was proof that the governor may have lacked proper evidence to receive enough help from the experts present to eliminate Dark Hand until they finally found it on the Patriarch of the Flamed Roots clan.

Exiting the mansion, Timothy had quite a bit of regret in his heart, because if he did not need to leave so soon, he could have gone and purchased many items and potentially figured out a better path where he wouldn't need to rely on Hollow City's economy or experts to continue on his journey.

However, making his way to the gates with two Intermediate experts escorting him and were clearly going to make sure he left the city right away, he saw someone in the corner of his eye. It was actually the expert he came across earlier in the morning with a mixed expression on his face. Timothy noticed that the expert only had one arm instead of two!

"I went along with your information and lost an arm to those enemies of the kingdom. But as mentioned, I would look at what items you wanted to sell to me and allow you to purchase some items as well. Since you are banned from entering Hollow City ever again in exchange for your life, I will be sending one of our finest members to do business with you in a few days from now." the expert told Timothy.

"You do not have to worry about that arm of mine, after losing it, I actually was able to breakthrough into the next level of my cultivation and even learned a new technique. Since you have clearly begun the cultivation path, you should understand even as early as it may be for you, that sometimes you must give up something you normally would think is precious in order to continue forward. By the way, my name is Nathan." he told Timothy before his body turned into a black shadow and hurried off.

And with the promise in hand and guards to escort him, Timothy left the city on a horse he chose to purchase in a stall before the western entrance. He now had no choice but to head back to his township and to hopefully see that his family were safe.

The journey back took an additional seven days, because Timothy ran into several traders on the way back to his township and decided to do some on the spot shopping with them and some trading. By the time he had finally reached his township's entrance, Timothy had acquired an entire two hundred items and artifacts.

With Master Shi's instructions, Timothy decided to purchase a set of basic armor so that he would be a little more confident if trouble were to arise. As for a weapon to use, the sword his father gave to him was still good enough for the time being until he made it to the Intermediate stage of Energy Refining cultivation which would take according to his master roughly another three years.

As he had expected, the township seemed to be in the process of rebuilding quite a few houses that were unfortunately very close to the Flamed Roots clan's mansion. What was interesting, was that the remainder of the township looked as if it had gone through some major improvements.

Jumping off his horse, Timothy scanned the area where the mansion once stood and it was now a grassy looking flat field with not a piece of wood or iron in sight. And so it turned out once the Flamed Roots clan was eliminated completely, as compensation for the destruction of part of the township, the experts left everything alone which allowed the mansion to be used to further upgrade the houses all around the area.

"Timothy?" a voice called from the side where he was now standing and observing those who were working hard on repairing the remaining houses that needed it. Turning around, Timothy saw his mother with tears running down her face standing there as if she had seen a ghost. "It really is you!" she cried out as she ran and hugged him.

Surprisingly to Timothy, the experts who had eliminated the Patriarch and his clan chose to not hide the fact of their dealings in the black market of Bark Kingdom. Hearing from the experts that the kids who were taken and sold into slavery were still not located, Timothy's parents thought that they would never see their son again and were miserable for many days now.

Also hearing Timothy's mother's scream, the nearby citizens saw that Timothy was indeed back and safe. Although they had heavy hearts still for the other kids who were not with him, it could be said that the dark hole in everyone's hearts could begin the repairing process. Just like his mother, Timothy's father was in a very miserable state and refused to work and just sat in their room.