025: Encounter

Without hesitation, Arthur and his party went deeper into the wilderness. They galloped their horses in full speed, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.

Entering the arid wasteland, they were welcomed by strong gales coming from all directions. Luckily, Hui Ying's shield array could be used while they were riding the horses. Thanks to her, they all able to keep their pace steadily.

However, Arthur was a bit concerned regarding the reason why the wolves beast left their suitable habitat and went all the way to a place which has quite extreme temperature change during the day and night time.

'It would be quite unimaginable if there is a beast that able to corner those wolves. Even for the Beast Lords themselves, it would take at least a day or two to beat them. Unless…'

As his train of thoughts going back and forth, he heard a faint noises of a battle not far ahead.

"Master… I can sense three strong individuals battling two high rank beast on the valley." Hui Ying notified him about something that he was really worried about.

'Tsk! Don't tell me that these gale is caused by their fight.' Arthur frowned, from the residual qi alone, he could tell those three were cultivators, 5 Star Realm Warriors at the very least.

"Let's find a spot where we can have a good surveillance on them."

"Then follow me, I know the perfect spot!" Yin advanced into the front.

She took the lead and led them to the vantage point of the valley so they were able to overview everything. She was indeed a great geologist after all, just by her first glance, she was able to draw a rough map of the whole region inside her mind.

Before long, they have arrived at the cliff side of the valley. Just a view hundreds meters below them, a wide range area of the forest was turned into a horrific battleground.

Dozens of knights were dead, and there were only two high rank knights and a bald middle aged man in a priest outfit, wielding a golden staff on his right hand and a grimoire on the left.

Meanwhile, two ferocious wolves beast were on the opposite side. One of them has shiny black fur while the other one donned in brilliant white fur. The beast seems like protecting a strange floating object behind them.

The fight was so fierce, even the wind blast from their attacks was enough to uproot a huge tree in a single swing.

"Let's hide and surpress our Qi. It would be very dangerous if the beast caught our presence." Arthur dismounted from his horses, and commanded the horses to prone as well.

They hid themselves in the bushes. With Hui Ying's shield array, they were able to hide their presence almost completely.

"No! that's the heavenly artifact! I have to get it while there is chance!" Ming's curse acted again and almost blown up their cover.

Arthur reacted quickly and pinned down the troublesome Young Master's head into the ground while he mounted his back to subdue his recklessness.

"Let go of me you lowly peasant!" Ming tried to freed himself, but there's no avail since Arthur was way stronger than him.

The silver haired man unsheathed his sword, brandished it towards the young master's neck.

"Be silent… Or I shall behead your head myself and feed it to my familiar."

Arthur's threat wasn't for a joke, he was dead serious since he was so close with his objective.

The foolish young master back to his sense once he felt a droplets of blood on his neck. "I understand. Could you please let me go? It's hurt."

"Good! Hui Ying… can you tie him up and shut his mouth for a while? It would be so wasteful if I have to spill his blood right now." Arthur sheathed his sword back to its scabbard.

"Gladly!" Hui Ying took out some ropes to tie him up on the tree as well as shutting his mouth with a cloth to prevent Ming losing his mind all over again.

Yin felt sorry for her young master, however, she understand that it has to be done for his own's sake.

Alas, Arthur able to analyze the situation calmly while he waited for a window of opportunity.

***

The knights were indeed so powerful, their attacks looks so heavy. One of them used a sword and shield as the vanguard. The other one used a long spear to deal damage.

Meanwhile, the priest took the charge as their commander and giving them a constant buff every once in a while to maintain their pace.

"Keep them busy! I will cast my magic!" The priest took a backstep.

"Roger!" answered the two knights.

The book on his left hand opened the pages by itself, a golden light soon covered his entire body as he recite the magic spell.

"O, Lord in the Heaven, please grant this mortal body thy holy light to purge all evilness upon this land-"

The wolves realized that the priest was about to cast his ultimate spell, the white wolf pounced forward, trying to stop the incantation. Meanwhile, the black wolf roared aloud, creating a destructive soundwave to all directions.

However, the knights' defenses and counterattacks were as strong as a mountain, as fast as the lightning strike. It was really clear that their equipment were cladded with Divine Blessings.

With a quick succession, the white wolf's chin was stabbed by the spearman, straight. On the other hand, the black wolf's neck was slashed by the swordman. Not too deep, but enough to render it's howling attack useless.

"I won't let you do that, hehe!" said the spearman.

"No howls for you, hellspawn!"