The Baruch Empire’s southwest area. Within the valley amongst a chain of mountains.
This was an important base for the Dawson Conglomerate. In the past, there had been many people stationed here, but ever since Linley had killed the Grand Warlock, Yale naturally had stopped the practice of shipping slaves to this location, and thus the number of people stationed here was lowered as well. These days, there were only a few thousand people present, mostly responsible for trading activities.
Night had descended.
The Dawson Conglomerate employees who worked here now had much easier lives. At night, many men would get together to drink deep into the night, with them only wobbling home in small groups of two and three.
“During the past year, life has gotten so much better.” A muscular young man, reeking of wine, said loudly. “A few years ago, in this valley of Mt. Swallow, each day was like hell. Damn…”
“Right. Back then, I didn’t even dare to go out at night. Too many people died. I don’t even know how many corpses I had to dispose of.” A middle-aged man with curly golden hair, thinking back to the affairs of the past, couldn’t help but sigh with amazement.
Those days, over ten thousand corpses had to be shipped away on a daily basis.
The employees who lived and worked at this branch of the Dawson Conglomerate within the valley always felt as though they were at the psychological breaking point.
The three men, walking shoulder to shoulder, suddenly realized to their astonishment that they could no longer move. The space around them seemed to have solidified, causing them to be unable to move at all. They were so frightened that they wanted to open their mouths, but they could not. The three of them all stared with round eyes, terrified.
From within the darkness a human figure wrapped in a black robe appeared before them.
Seeing this mysterious black robed man, all three felt their hearts shake. They somewhat understood…that the reason they couldn’t move and couldn’t even open their mouths was the result of the actions of this mysterious man in black.
“How long ago did this canyon cease trading in slaves?” The black-robed man’s low, gravelly voice rang out. “Speak, but don’t shout too loudly. Nobody will be able to hear you. In addition, if someone shouts loudly and irritates me, I’ll kill him.”
He swept the three men with his dark, cold gaze. The three men’s forehead and back were utterly drenched with sweat. To their astonishment, they found that their mouths could move again.
“Speak.” The mysterious black robed man said.
“Half a year ago.” That golden-haired, middle aged man was somewhat more mentally disciplined. The other two were scared speechless.
“Half a year ago. Half a year ago, did something happen? Such as a battle?” The black robed man asked.
“Yes, there was a major battle.” The muscular youth came to his senses as well. He hurriedly said, “Half a year ago, late at night, two Saints battled, causing the ground of our entire valley to shake, and even many buildings were damaged.”
“The ground shook?”
The mysterious black robed man seemed to have thought of something. “Continue. Describe what happened that night in detail to me.”
The youngster with inch long short hair added, “We were all present. At first, we didn’t notice the battle, only that the ground was shaking, followed by buildings exploding. We were so frightened that we ran outside, at which point we discovered that in the air above the valley, two experts were battling. One was a Dragonblood Warrior, while the other was a black robed person. Oh, right. He wielded a black sickle. That sickle was so enormous, at least ten meters long.”
“Right. It was very long, and then we saw it transform into nine of those black sickles.” The muscular youngster added.
They didn’t know that those sickles were created from the Grand Warlock’s spiritual energy, because at that time, it was dark. Although there were torches on the ground, they were only just barely able to make out the scene. They did, however, clearly see the enormous black sickle formed from spiritual energy.
“Sickle?” The mysterious black robed man was silent for a while.
“And the results?” The mysterious black man continued.
“The battle happened too fast. We only saw that the black robed man was turned into a pile of mincemeat, and then the Dragonblood Warrior fell to the ground. It was the Dragonblood Warrior who won. Our Lord Chairman then ordered us to go back to our homes, and then the Lord Chairman stayed with the Dragonblood Warrior for a very long time.” The muscular youth stuttered.
The mysterious black robed man immediately asked, “That Dragonblood Warrior, was his name Linley?”
“Right. It should have been Lord Linley. Lord Linley is on very good terms with our Lord Chairman.” The golden-haired, middle-aged man said.
“Very good.” The mysterious black robed man nodded in satisfaction. “I am very satisfied with your answers.”
The three men let out secret sighs of relief.
“Crackle…” A very soft sound. The bodies of the three men instantly crumbled into three piles of dust.
“He really did die.” The mysterious black robed man was extremely angry. “He actually died, and before he finished refining the Gold Soul-Pearl he promised me.” The black-robed man was Beaumont, whom the Grand Warlock had promised to help fuse a Gold Soul-Pearl for.
“Linley?”