Saint Riyal Mendez’s mansion.
The strange assault from earlier by two layer limit experts had left Saint Riyal Mendez in a miserable state.
His entire body was wrapped in layer upon layer of medicinal bandages, resembling a white cocoon resting upon an expensive wooden bed.
Only his eyes and lips remained exposed. The healing salves spread across his wounds released a pungent herbal scent throughout the room, but even the finest medicines could not immediately erase the agony he suffered.
Every so often, a pained groan escaped his lips.
"Aaa... hss..."
Saint Riyal Mendez’s brows twitched violently beneath the bandages. His injuries were not life-threatening, but they had certainly left him in a half-crippled state where even the smallest circulation of his energy made him feel like his meridians were burning up. A lot of bones were also broken.
It was not only painful but also humiliating.
He still could not understand who had attacked him or why they would even bother doing something like teaching him a lesson without any hostility whatsoever.
Suddenly, the doors to his room opened.
A beautiful woman dressed in a luxurious black-hooded robe entered with elegant steps. Despite her graceful appearance, her expression was tense. Following closely behind her was Steward Belmont, whose face was clouded with concern.
The Saint slowly opened his eyes.
"First Madam..."
His voice was weak.
The First Madam of City Lord Kain looked at him with complicated emotions before lowering her gaze.
"Saint Riyal, I hope you are out of harm’s way."
"I can’t be too sure." The Saint sighed lightly as he looked as though he tried to grab the First Madam’s hand but failed, as his hand plopped back to the wooden bed.
"Do you still wish to..." He proved lightly with a faint voice, but his eyes revealed another extreme glint.
"..."
Before she could speak, Steward Belmont stepped forward.
His eyes burned with fury.
"You still have the face to call her that?"
Saint Riyal Mendez frowned, "What do you mean?"
Steward Belmont pointed a trembling finger at him.
"You still dare to ask her that when we don’t even know if your thing will stand up?"
The atmosphere instantly froze.
The Saint’s expression darkened.
Steward Belmont continued speaking through gritted teeth, "You have fallen from grace. You still have your bodyguards, but the fact is that you have offended someone you couldn’t hope to offend. You better leave the First Madam out of this...!"
"Hahaha...!"
Saint Riyal Mendez burst out laughing even though he coughed blood.
His bodyguards hidden in the shadows of the room were about to make their move, but he roared.
"Halt!"
He then turned to glare at Steward Belmont, "Even in this state, I’m still better than you. Also, don’t think the City Lord didn’t know you two were secretly meeting each other behind his back!"
"...!?"
Steward Belmont and the First Madam’s expressions turned pale.
=========
Venerable Knight Lussandra made it back to the Eighth Bastion City.
Even with her verdant wings, it took some time to go back and forth between the two opposite cities because of the grand formation of the Bastion Cities and the Ethereal Lumina Tree encumbering space.
She had almost reached the Second Bastion City but was told to go back to Eighth Bastion City since the chances that the Divine Emperor of Death’s traces remained there were high, according to the Celestial Transcendent who investigated some fatty.
Her face didn’t even wilt from the long journey.
By the time she returned to the Eighth Bastion City, it was only a few hours away from dawn.
Her main body also appeared at the gates at the same time as her, and she fused back into her main body, ready to face the Divine Emperor of Death.
’This time... I won’t miss...’
She lightly clenched her fist as the shape of a bow nearly manifested in her grasp. Recalling the sensation of her bow technique, she released her soul sense into the entire city. It spread from the northern gates to the central area.
Because of the numerous formations within the city, her soul sense felt it was like passing through a swamp, but it kept extending endlessly. It didn’t enter the residential buildings where there were powerful souls present, but surveyed streets, alleyways, public inns, restaurants and various other pathways and establishments in and out of the city.
Her control over soul force was fine as melodious waves, surging forth with a tender touch that didn’t invade anyone’s soul or alert them to any surveillance, as it lacked killing intent and perhaps even contained a trace of the wind’s breeze that felt pleasant. Very few individuals in the city barely managed to sense this soul sense. Even after pondering that there was some kind of expert here, they didn’t exit seclusion to check it out.
At their high cultivation base, it was better to stay inside since an expert above their level coming here meant it must be a search for the Divine Emperor of Death or some other reason that they possibly couldn’t involve themselves in since it involved near-layer-limit experts or even the Realm Master himself.
They stayed put and let the expert do the work.
Venerable Knight Lussandra searched for the traces of the Divine Emperor of Death’s aura, traces of death energy, life energy, and many other factors she knew about him since she had personally talked to him before and even shared a Blood Soul Contract, although she had broken it to end him once and for all.
That failure flashed past her eyes, momentarily making her mind quiver as her huge soul sense net wavered, but only for a moment before it gained stability and continued extending.