Chapter 122: Separation

When the glow subsided, the air in the cave grew cooler. Ignoring it, Yan looked at the symbol because the goat had disappeared, but the tortoise had not.

"So it can make only one living being disappear at a time, but multiple nonliving objects." Luna flipped the sand clock. The sand began to fall again, but Luna glanced at Yan, then at the guards and soldiers.

"Would anyone like to try and see what happens with the symbol?" she asked.

Her words were not clear, but everyone understood what she meant. The people around looked at each other and took steps back.

"I will go," Yan looked at the tortoise that slid away.

"But..."

"I am stronger than anyone here. No one is more suited to this than me," Yan reasoned.

"No, it's not about being stronger. What if you die immediately as soon as the symbol activates?" Luna worried. Earlier, Leo had said they had won the war because of Yan, and she knew she could not let him take the risk.

"I don't think I will die," Yan said, his voice firm.

"My first mission when I joined Han Defu's troops was to confront Shin troops in this same forest," Yan said.

Then he paused.

"How do you think they entered the forest?" Yan lifted his head a bit.

"The possibilities are endless. However, they prepared well and had weapons."

"I believe they used this same portal," Yan explained.

"You mean... those things that disappeared, and Commander Leo, are currently in the Shin Kingdom?" Luna asked.

"Probably, but it's not certain where this leads to or what happens after the glow. I will only know when I go in."

"However, the previous incident suggests that there is a high chance I will be transported somewhere, and I won't die."

"Then why has no one ever found it before? Why was the forest not investigated?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Yan said.

They waited. The sand clock was flipped again.

At the same time, the sun's rays began to recede, and the light in the cave began to fade as the cave grew darker and darker.

When the sand in the upper bulb had almost emptied again, Yan stepped forward and walked toward the symbol.

His silhouette was barely visible due to the low light, and he did not look back after he stepped on it. The black light immediately engulfed him.

Then his surroundings changed. The cave disappeared, and in its place Yan found himself in a dense forest, with trees reaching to the sky.

Unlike Noir, where it was about nighttime, here it was midafternoon. The harsh sun rays illuminated the trees.

Yet there was something common. He was still standing on the symbol, but the one standing in front of him was...

"Maa."

But Yan's eyes were not on the goat. They were on the man behind the goat.

"You are finally here," Leo said.

"Where are we?" Yan asked.

"I don't know, but somewhere in a forest of Mia Kingdom." Leo pointed to the bodies lying on the ground.

The armor of the troops had a sunflower symbol, marking them as Mia troops.

"When I first came here, I noticed the bodies, but I did not investigate immediately. I touched the symbol and noticed that someone had damaged the symbol here."

"Then I moved around. The bodies here have marks of wind qi. This was definitely done by General Hecta," Leo said.

For readers checking the source, this reproduction was not authorized. The author's official posting contains the chapter and supports their work.

"She might have damaged the symbol as well."

"Then I flew up and searched for several hours for any further leads, but except for the bodies of Mia troops scattered around, I could not find anything."

"Then it was about evening. I came back only to find a goat kicking wooden trunks and chewing swords while standing on a bunch of other stuff on the symbol."

"I cleaned it up."

"Then sometime later, you appeared," Leo explained.

"Mm... Is it you guys who damaged my teleportation portal?" Right then, they heard a voice.

Leo froze while Yan stared at Leo's back.

A girl who looked no older than thirteen stood just behind Leo. She wore a black dress, and her long black hair fell to her waist. Her eyebrows were sharply defined.

Then she disappeared.

And then appeared beside the goat and placed her hand on the goat's head. "Is this your pet?"

"Maa."

"Who are you?" Leo unsheathed his sword from his waist and pointed it at the girl.

"Me?"

The girl glanced at Leo. "They call me Space Witch Tsumi."

Right at that moment, Leo noticed that he could no longer move, not even a fraction. He felt as if he had become a statue.

"Don't be afraid. I am not here for revenge. I was amused when I felt that one of the portals I made in my early years had been damaged, so I just came to check," she said.

Her eyes darted between Yan and Leo. "Well, would you like to go back?"

"Yes," Leo replied.

"I can send you, but I will send only one of you back. One of you has to stay here. Decide who it will be. And don't ask me why I will send only one person. That's my wish."

"Maa," the goat said, showing its presence as well.

"I will stay," Leo said.

"No, you can't," Yan said.

"I will give you two minutes. Decide among yourselves," Tsumi said.

Then Yan noticed that Leo could move again, but Leo did not attack Tsumi. He turned toward Yan and said, "She is a Hegemon who wields the Space Letter."

"Yan, do you know? The gap between a Hegemon and a Core Formation cultivator is like the gap between the sky and the ground."

"We can't fight her, and she seems to be a reasonable person."

"I will stay. You go back. I need to look for General Hecta," Leo said.

"No, you can't," Yan said in a loud voice.

Leo raised his brows as he stared at Yan.

"If it really was General Hecta who arrived here before us, she is not here. She might have already left this place and might be on her way back to the military,"

"There is no point in you staying here searching for her while the army at Golden Eagle City remains leaderless," Yan said.

"The army needs you. You go back. I will stay," Yan said.

"I disagree. The army needs General Yan more than it needs Liar Leo," Leo reasoned.

Yan stayed silent for a minute and said, "You have said before that I have become a target."

"It's dangerous for me out there, don't you want to protect me?"

"The safest place for me is not Noir, but Mia."

"It's better for you to go back," Yan defended.

"The time is over," Tsumi's voice cut through the conversation.

Leo and Yan looked at each other.

"So, who is going to go back?" Tsumi asked.

Leo and Yan still stared at each other. The six months of training they had done after the truce, the reunion during the second war, the confession Yan had made, everything echoed in their silence.

"I promise I will be back by becoming stronger," Yan said.

Leo took a breath and turned to Tsumi. "I will go."

"Okay. Stand on the symbol," Tsumi said, running her hand through her hair.

Leo stepped forward and stood on the symbol. The symbol then shone with black light.

Leo looked at Yan. "Come back soo..." Then he disappeared.

Then Tsumi turned to Yan.

At the same time, far away, in the capital of Noir, Ebonreach.

King Xia Shin sat on the throne as a few ministers sat on chairs placed along the sidelines.

Wooden torches were lit on the walls and pillars, lighting up the room.

The King kept his expression calm while the ministers kept their heads down.

Before the King, a messenger stood holding a letter.

"News from the borders of the Mia Kingdom: General Lifen, despite being injured, returned to the war and is holding against Wai Chen of the Mia Kingdom."

Minister Shian stood up and laughed. "Good, good."

Every other minister present there looked at him.

"Ahem! My bad. I was overexcited," Minister Shian coughed as he sat down.

"General Lifen is doing well. I will reward her with one thousand square feet of land in the capital," the King declared.

"Your Majesty! That's too much..." one opposed.

"Shut up, Beru. It's not," another argued.

"Next news," the King said.

The court went silent.

The messenger took a deep breath.

"As you are already aware, General Hecta went missing."

Everyone in the room kept their heads down.

"While the battles at the Eastern Front with Shin were not over, we had a few losses..."

He paused.

The King stared at him.

"But recently we had a big victory..."

The King's eyes lit up.

"Yes, that's how it should be," Minister Shian stood up from his seat again.

Other ministers started chattering.

After continuous bad news after bad news from various fronts, today they had received two pieces of good news.

"Silence," the King ordered.

The courtroom turned silent again.

"The army credits the victory on the Eastern Front to General Yan," the messenger said.

"General Yan? Who is that?" The King stood up from his chair.

"Well, it's an informal title given to a soldier."

"A private soldier of Han Defu Unit," the messenger concluded.

"Why do they credit the victory to him?" King Xia Shin glared at the messenger.

"About that, the letter mentions that he single-handedly killed the major commander of Shin, Genie, despite being a major realm lower than Genie."

The ministers took a deep breath.

"Not only that. It was said that he deflected several arrows into enemy troops and dismantled a cultivator cavalry unit all by himself."

Silence spread in the courtroom.

Listening to the stories, the King smiled. "Launch an investigation, get every bit of information on the incident and this person, also prepare for my departure, I will judge him myself."

That day, the name General Yan reached the capital and would begin to circulate throughout the kingdom.