Chapter 470 - A 'Friendly' Welcome

(MC POV)

I looked down at the city below me.

Like Sun's capital city of Jianye, Mei's capital city of Luoyang was just as big.

But unlike the former, this one looks to be built with practicality in mind in the event of war.

The walls were not only tall and thick but they also had various siege engines mounted on top of the turrets spread out around the wall. Where Jianye's walls were white and pristine, Luoyang's walls were black and menacing.

The city's streets were narrower to allow them to be barricaded and the buildings were arranged in such a way that they get taller the closer it gets to the palace. I can tell that it's to allow archers to be stationed at those buildings and allow them to fire down on invaders even if the city was breached.

The palace itself was a fortress that had its own walls and even a moat and drawbridge. Ballistas and catapults lined the top of the walls and there was at least a good mile of open field in front of the castle, most likely to prevent attackers from getting any cover when sieging the final defense of the city.

They even had some kind of barrier around the city that prevented Practitioners from flying into or out of the city, that's why we're still quite a bit of distance away from it.

It was early morning and we could already see a number of soldiers patrolling and doing their morning routines all around the city. The inhabitants also treated it as though it was something that happened everyday and paid them no attention.

Needless to say, this place was definitely built with war in mind.

"Master, how should we enter the city?" Sophia asked, floating beside me.

"Well, what's the best way to make a statement?"

Akari's ears perked up, looking up at me while being carried in my arms, "Crash through their roof and burn everyone!"

"I would recommend subjecting the entire city to a decade long winter," Shiori suggested nonchalantly.

Thankfully, only I could hear what Shiori and Akari suggested so I simply patted their heads without thinking too much about their 'creative' suggestions.

Sophia tapped her chin, "Perhaps Master should make a demand for some sort of compensation for the troubles they caused?"

I grinned, "Oh, that gives me an idea, follow me."

I dropped down towards the city's front gates where a large number of guards were standing.

All of them immediately drew their weapons the moment they saw me, the ones on top of the walls even pointed their bows at me.

"Who goes there?!" One of them shouted, shifting the tip of his sword to point at my chest.

Sophia landed beside me a second later, looking at the guards with clear disdain, "For a nation that prides itself on strength, their soldiers don't look like much."

I ignored her words and raised my hand in greeting, "Sup? I'm here to meet with your rulers about their sick child or whatever. They're looking for the Miracle Cure aren't they?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you? Don't you know it's illegal to be flying around here?!" The guard roared back.

I raised my eyebrow at the guard's words, "Hmm… I guess they kept the fact that they need the Miracle Cure a secret amongst the higher ups. Makes things a little complicated but no matter."

Ignoring the fact that all of them had their weapons pointed at me, I strode forward towards the city gates.

A group of them quickly moved to bar my way, "Stop right there! Where do you think you're going?!"

I gestured towards the gates, "Into the city, what else? I already told you I'm going to meet the king."

"You've violated the law with your flying! Pay the fine first before even--"

"This is so pointless…" I sighed, snapping my fingers.

The guard's head exploded in a fountain of blood, the body standing upright for a few moments before toppling over backwards onto the ground.

The guards on the walls only hesitated for a second before firing their arrows at me, most likely because their military training took over their senses.

Those arrows bounced off my shield harmlessly, clattering noisily onto the ground at my feet.

I looked up at the archers with narrowed eyes, "You guys were quite forceful in your demands to me, so I don't really have a reason to hold back against you…"

The moment those words left my mouth, the archers who had fired their arrows at me had their heads separated from their bodies by invisible wind blades. One of their heads even rolled off the side of the wall to bounce on the ground in front of me, rolling for a short distance before stopping.

I snapped my fingers again and the group of guards who had chosen to block my way had their eyeballs popped, not in the painless way too.

All of them collapsed on the ground and began screaming, their hands clutching at their gaping eye sockets.

"Well, that's dealt with. Shall we?" I gestured, moving past the still screaming guards.

"Master… I really think that's going rather overboard even for you…" Xun Guan whispered.

"Master is too kind again… They do not deserve a swift death," Sophia sighed, stepping over the corpse that was the first guard.

"Mmm… I would have let them burn for at least a few years, Master…" Akari commented, the red fox following me on my left.

"Divine One should have left such infidels to us to deal with instead," Shiori protested from my other side.

What charming companions I have here, eh?

Yes, yes, Xun Guan, you can stop squeezing me now. You'll be fine, really. Even if they find out who you are, they won't hurt you just because ok?

Our little group stepped through the gates and there was predictably another group of guards standing on the other side waiting for us with their weapons drawn.

"Give yourselves up! We have you outnumbered!" One of them demanded.

Sophia stepped in front of me and rolled up her sleeves, "Let me, Master."

She clapped her hands together before bringing them slightly apart, a ball made of dark matter appearing in between her palms.

The dark matter dropped onto the ground with a soft 'plop' before disappearing into a ground.

A split second later, a black portal opened up beneath the feet of the guards in front of us and demonic hands reached up to drag all of them down into it.

To their credit, the guards did not scream and instead tried their best to break free from the demonic hands' grasps, though whatever they did was futile and they got dragged into the portal anyway.

Soft screams could then be heard emanating from the portal right before it closed, leaving nothing else behind.

"What was that?" I asked, a little curious.

Sophia smiled at me, "I guess you can call it a portal to hell, though that isn't really very accurate."

"Cool. Let's continue then."

"After you, Master."

I led the way forward towards the castle with my small group, now let's see what I should do with that little king when I meet him...