As Anwen appeared on a hilltop dozens of kilometers away, the surrounding scenery began to distort as countless black threads wove into a complicated web of energy. Four demonkin elders appeared at the same time, led by that old marquis from before. The man proceeded to watch Anwen with a cold, expressionless face.
Anwen raised both hands helplessly. “You don’t think this is dangerous, do you?”
“That girl is already very dangerous, yet you gave her our clan’s treasure and secret art. This isn’t too appropriate, is it?” one of the elders said indifferently.
Anwen replied, “It’s just an ordinary art and that ring can only be used once. Our clan has no shortage of such things. You don’t need to be so stingy, do you?”
“But Young Lord, that is still our clan’s treasure. Giving it to a lowly human…”
Anwen’s expression sank, and the radiant smile vanished completely. “Your duty is to protect me, not to give me lectures. There’s no need for you to criticize what I do!”
Anwen was furious. His gentle demeanor vanished as a strange aura of might erupted from his body. The demonkin found it difficult to even stand after they were invaded by this aura—all but the marquis had to step backward, some a couple of steps, others five or six.
The elders were shaken, recalling that Anwen’s status as the young lord wasn’t below the Demoness. How could he be ordinary? It was just that he had always been so gentle—cowardly even—adding greatly to the responsibility of his bodyguards. That eventually changed the attitude of those around him.
The old marquis took a step forward to unleash a similar aura, blocking Anwen’s energy and bringing some relief to the other demonkin around him. It was just that the old marquis’ aura was surging furiously with his hair flying about. Only then did he manage to block Anwen’s ancient and mysterious aura. The latter, however, was standing in a leisurely manner without any form of wasted effort, a clear indication of the winner in this confrontation.
The old marquis said slowly, “Young Lord, we had no choice since we have a duty to perform, please excuse us. Your bloodline is truly outstanding, you need only to mature without taking any risks, and you’ll definitely become a great monarch. Why would you keep putting yourself in danger?”
Anwen looked up at the sky in silence. “My ambitions do not stop at being a great monarch.”
The marquis and the other elders fell quiet. The old marquis said after a while, “Since you have such intentions, it looks like we’ve been overthinking things. What’s the Young Lord’s plan now?”
Anwen shrugged. “I’ve finally arrived in the neutral lands. Of course, I have to roam around and experience the area. I’m going to stroll about randomly and see how well that girl is doing her job. Rest assured, there’s no danger and it’s just one day. I’ll meet you guys here at this time tomorrow.”
The old marquis bowed. “Since that’s the case, we’ll wish you good luck regarding your business. We’ll wait here with the airship at this time tomorrow.
“But even an airship without special upgrades will attract hostility from the Throne of Blood. So, we hope you’ll be on time.”
Anwen smiled. “Rest assured, when have I ever broken my promise?”
Nodding, the old marquis swung his hands around. Many layers of geometric lines came together to form a grid around the demonkin, and they all vanished on the spot.
Anwen’s smile became more evident after the entourage was gone. In the end, he laughed loudly at the sky and swaggered off in great delight.
In the blink of an eye, Anwen once again appeared in the nameless valley. The mercenaries there were minding their own business and guarding against one another. Anwen’s faintly discernible figure passed through the crowds, but none of them noticed him—they were all busy laughing, eating, and drinking.
The young demonkin arrived before that fire from before. The flames were still there, but the meat on it was gone and the girl was nowhere to be seen.
Anwen laughed proudly. If something so simple could stump him, he wouldn’t be worthy of being hailed as a young lord. Anwen pointed at his own forehead, gradually summoning two revolving crystals in the depths of his eyes. His line of sight shot through the crystalline body like a tangible object and spread out in all directions.
In just a moment, Anwen could sense the direction of that ring. It wasn’t hard for him to set up a tracking mechanism on the ring; the difficult part was how to hide the fact from the other party. This was the source of his satisfaction. Anwen actually didn’t install anything special on the ring and was merely using his innate talent to track its aura. He was the only one in the entire demonkin race who could perform such a mysterious secret art. Even the demoness wouldn’t have such a power.
Before long, Anwen had found the general direction of the ring. To his surprise, the girl was already dozens of kilometers away and running at incredible speeds. It would seem she had fled immediately after his departure, a sign that she wasn’t going to keep up her end of the bargain.
An intrigued Anwen smiled. His silhouette flickered and vanished from the valley as he chased after the girl’s direction. Her movement speed might be shocking in other peoples’ eyes, but it was merely acceptable for Anwen. He calculated that he would be able to catch up to her within half an hour.
The young demonkin flew across the land. His shadow faded in and out of view, taking him hundreds of meters with each flicker as he shot away like the wind.
The young girl seemed completely unaware of Anwen chasing after her. After running a hundred kilometers or so, she slowed down and began moving about in a small area. It was almost as though she was looking for something.
The smile on Anwen’s face became even more evident. He had a feeling that this young girl would give him a fair bit of surprise. It seemed he had made the right choice by coming to the neutral lands. Anwen didn’t think much about Qianye, just as an eagle wouldn’t give a sparrow a second glance. He didn’t believe, for one moment, that Qianye would stand shoulder to shoulder with him one day.
In a flash, his distance from the young girl had shrunk to ten kilometers. The girl had almost stopped moving at this point, and it was a mystery what she was doing. Anwen slowed down, and his figure turned faint as he slowly approached the girl’s location. He felt that things were getting more and more interesting. He had focused all of his attention on the girl, afraid that he would be discovered. This was the first time Anwen had met someone who didn’t know what sleeping with a man entailed, yet it so happened that she was cruel and ruthless when she was killing. It could be said that she was cold-blooded.
This was the first time he felt that peeping was so much fun.
Anwen was still a short distance from the girl at this moment. He didn’t pick any special path and merely approached at a slower speed. He never noticed that there was someone lying in a giant tree a thousand meters away. The tree itself was completely empty in his perception.
“Oh? What’s this guy sneaking about for?” Qianye suddenly opened his eyes and gazed at the empty wilderness.