121 The western hills

After exiting his private cultivation room with a smile Hartley was greeted by a glum faced Zhi Ruo, tension clearly written on her beautiful features and bags under eyes as if she was standing in the hallway for days.

The smile melted from Hartley's face as he rushed to her and held both her hands in his asking "What's going on?"

Seeing the worry on his face Zhi Ruo pulled herself together and smiled weakly, and after a long pause she said.

"The eldest prince has declared me an enemy of the kingdom, he has issued my execution order with immediate effect. The men sent by viscount Sanzu brought a message two days ago that the prince is mobilizing an alliance of 5000 men backed by a saint and a half saint."

"Oh." was the only answer Hartley could muster. Unknowingly Hartley had been locked away fro 10 days.

Zhi Ruo looked at Hartley with a frightened face then started to stutter "I....I....I..should..."

Before she could finish Hartley quickly grabbed her and brought her into his embrace whispering "don't you dare even think of that, there will be no sacrifice on my behalf, we will face them together, come...let me show you something."

Tears started to fall from Zhi Ruo's eyes, she couldn't bare knowing that she had brought a calamity to Hartley and felt the only way to save him was giving up her own life. Knowing that if she sacrificed herself Hartley would eventually venture down the heartless path of vengeance without empathy for anyone.

She closed her eyes and saw flashbacks of the Warika province when Hartley had ruthlessly killed and destroyed the homes of thirty odd common civilians without remorse or care because she was in mortal danger.

As they exited the manor hand in hand the first rays of sunshine peaked over the western hills.The atmosphere was muted not even the usually vibrant children were running around. People went about their business in robotic fashion, most staring at the ground while they dragged their feet across the cobbled roads.

Hartley and Zhi Ruo passed the soldiers sent by viscount Sanzu as they were silently sitting and lounging around looking into space dazed as if they had been sentenced to death. Hartley quietly led her towards the entrance of the manor without even acknowledging them.

Every single soldier wore expressions of gloom on their faces, some even mumbled prayers under their breath. A few harbored resentment in their hearts as they watched the couple walk by, cursing Hartley inside because they had literally been sent by viscount Sanzu to die for this boy.

Most of the soldiers knew the shrewdness of Viscount Sanzu and how the politics of the capital worked, he had basically sacrificed these forces edging his bets on the outcome of the upcoming conflict.

The viscount knew he couldn't be seen to entirely abandon Hartley and the western hills in their time of need, it was because of Hartley that he had been recalled to the capital after all. If Hartley chose to save his own life and give up his wife for execution the viscount would be seen as a benevolent figure giving his full support.

But these soldiers knew from the reports they had heard about the lord of the western hills that that scenario was highly unlikely, the expected scenario was that Hartley would opt to fight to the bitter end and in that case these soldiers would end up being the sacrificial lambs in a game of high level politics.

There was only a one percent chance that Hartley and the residents of the western hills would survive and win if they chose a head on confrontation with the eldest prince's troops. That being the case the calculative Viscount Sanzu had no choice but to show his support just in case Hartley managed to pull off a miracle or was saved by a powerful backer, that wasn't out of the realm of possibility in viscount Sanzu's thinking.

If Hartley died the viscount would still be seen as a good ally, standing up to might of the eldest prince out of pure loyalty, but his position would be weakened in the capital dramatically and there was no guarantee that he would be able to keep his position if Hartley was out of the picture, so he couldn't afford to draw the ire the nobles hell bent on taking down the lord of the western hills..

Sat in a red cushioned chair, the messy haired Commander Genk had a scowl on his face and a bulging vein in the middle of his forehead as he slammed the armrest of the antique chair with his huge clenched fist.

"We need to send support troops now, if we wait any longer there is no way we can reach there in time to make a difference."

The commander was almost shouting with impatience and borderline insubordination.

Sat across from him was Prince Jian who seemed to be taking his time to think over the current matters. He wasn't in a rush to get involved in this situation, everyone in the aristocratic circles were tensely waiting to see what he would do.

With the attitude the commander was displaying in the prince's castle, killing intent filled the room from the experts hidden in the shadows of Prince Jian's office.

The young prince held up his hand calming his bodyguards, he massaged his temples with both hands. "They are sending a saint, commander are you going to challenge a saint?" the prince asked.

Commander Genk's nostrils flared as he tried to hold back his emotions. "Send one of our saints then, the boy has got too much potential to waste it like this." Just thinking about the miracles the boy had performed time after time in Tivoli the commander was unwilling to see him fall so easily at the hands of these petty nobles.

The commander pleaded in desperation. He knew the prince was a cut-throat politician but he didn't expect the prince to not even try and save such an important asset.

Prince Jian was caught in two minds, he could easily send one of his saints but he was thinking of the white iron that he owed Hartley, the value of the white iron might be worth letting someone with great potential fall. How many people with great potential has he seen meet their demise in his tenure, Would this be any different? .....

Bathed in dull sunshine, Hartley stopped on a familiar crest at the entrance to the manor, they stood on the rocky ground and listened to the birds chirping as they watched the trees swaying. Hartley breathed in deeply, the trees and the birds seemed to be immune to the gloom permeating the atmosphere or they just didn't care about the supposed impending doom of the western hills Hartley thought.

Hartley took Zhi Ruo's hand into his, a fond smile brightened her features which still had a dried streak of a tear staining her cheek. A translucent sphere was ejected from Hartley's body and covered them both, Zhi Ruo made a welp and was startled momentarily, almost losing her balance as they both started to float upwards leaving dust swirling beneath them.

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People who were watching the couple nonchalantly walking as if they were on their last tour of the manor squinted their eyes in disbelief, soldiers clad in iron armor swiftly jumped to their feet from their lax sitting positions.

Commoners flocked along the cobble stone roads and stared at the sky, some cupping their palms above their brows as they were blinded by the rising golden sunshine coming over the green mountains. A din of noise returned to the western hills as people burst into frantic conversations all around the manor while calling others to verify if what they were all seeing was true.

The gathering commoners saw the unbelievable sight of the couple standing in mid air and every once in a while a blue light would twinkle and flicker around their majestic god-like figures like a star had risen into the sky in broad daylight.

Even in a world of cultivators where nothing seems impossible this was a miracle in their eyes as they watched the beautiful couple hover in the sky like angels, some watched in awe with tears falling from their eyes.

This raised hope in their hearts, for the past couple of days everyone had resigned themselves to the fate of death after hearing the decree from the eldest prince. These people who used to live a hungry and bare-boned life knew that if they abandoned the western hills and sought refuge in the surrounding fiefs, what awaited them there was only a slow torturous death at the hands of the disgruntled nobles. Even so, a few had already abandoned the western hills and went back to grovel at the feet of their former masters.

In many ways their fates were tied to the lord of the western hills and seeing him floating 20 meters in the sky shook their hearts, it felt like seeing an unstoppable god separating himself from the mortal plane.

The skyline of the entire captial was visible to Hartley and Zhi Ruo, she gulped down a breath of air as her eyes moved around in wonder. "Look" Hartley pointed his chin at the vast stretches of land endlessly meandering below them. He then continued.

"The western hills is but a grain of sand on a never ending beach," he turned his head to look directly in her eyes.

"This is only the beginning of our journey to dominance Ruo, when I asked you to leave the Waltham province with me I told you we were going to make our mark, and to make that mark we will step over the piling and rotting dead bodies of those who dare to stand in our way. No matter who they might be."