166 A March Across a Tedious Plains 5 (1/2)

As it turned out, the mysterious humanoid figure that had captured An Fei's attention since the beginning of the day was no more than a simple farmer.

When An Fei silently followed its movements and closed the gap of distance, she noticed a rough tunic of fabric and a common iron hoe attached to the back.

Clutched around both arms was a cluster of grass, with a rope of twine coiled around the center of the strands.

The farmer appeared to be a youth in his late teenage years, the aura exuding from its body clearly revealing the naivety, ambition, and rampant emotions of a budding youth of his generation.

His steps were careless and unrestrained, and his frame revealed the back of a youth no more than the age of seventeen.

Wherever the lad stepped, the young girl would follow from a distance of a hundred meters.

The youth's feet pounded on the sea of grass with heavy, rhythmic stomps filled with a powerful but unrefined strength, dispatching a clear imprint onto the soft earth of the fertile plains.

The young girl's pace, on the other hand, was light-footed and silent, the only audible disturbance being a muffled rustling of grass.

The youth didn't realize that he was being tailed, instead whistling as he marched on his path with extreme confidence.

Thus, the misshapen group traversed through the plains towards a major clearing, one that replaced the sea of grass with a large wall of grey stone.

The stone walls stretched a total length of five hundred meters long, and towered fifteen meters into the air.

In an environment as the fertile plains, such a construction was of mentionable feat, but to the young girl who had been desensitized to the forest whose trees towered dozens if not hundreds of meters into the air… the walls were nothing more than stubs on the ground.

Roughly crafted stubs, for as the youth drew near, An Fei noticed numerous cracks running through several of the stones, some at critical areas of the walls.

At several points of the wall near the ground, were gates of iron and copper bars, with numerous men standing on either side of the opening.

Though she couldn't see the circumstance regarding the other walls that formed the perimeter, the wall before her sported several streams of men not unlike that of the youth fifty meters ahead of her.

”A medieval castle?”

An Fei murmured, the pair of scarlet irises twinkling with an interested gleam. The young girl ducked into a nearby shroud of grass to obscure her presence, her heart beating quickly with a tinge of anticipation.

”Xiao Hei, how do you presume we get past the guards of the gate? Do you think that following the youth will do?”

Caw.

A muted croak escaped the beak of the little raven, its crimson eyes flickering with a crafty gleam.

There, before An Fei's inquisitive glance, the little raven braced itself on its claws, and a violet bead of spiritual essence began to coalesce at the tip of it's beak.

”Xiao Hei?” The young girl raised an eyebrow in confusion, her eyes narrowing at the odd phenomenon occurring directly atop her shoulder.

The violet bead was no bigger than a mung bean, seeming inconsequential amongst the large sea of grass that encircled them on all sides.

However, An Fei could discern a threatening sensation throbbing at the base of her heart with each fluctuation of the small bead, as though a cold hand had gripped her soul.

It was cold.

Incredibly cold.

The girl clutched at her heart with her left hand, her eyes twitching at the uncomfortable sensation that surged through her body.

She consoled the trembling fox with her other hand, her fingers running through the seven fluffy tails.

”Xiao Hei…” the young girl whispered in concern.

”Is this going to be –”

ROAR!

The bead erupted into a storm of invisible light, the strands of spiritual essence compressed into the form of a tiny bead allowed to break free and rampage throughout the atmosphere.

As the violet bead exploded into numerous streams of light, a beast's roar erupted from the farther regions of the plains.

From the species, An Fei couldn't discern what creature was responsible for such a cry.

Nonetheless, the sudden roar was enough to paralyze her body for a brief moment, the storm of numbness descending onto her limbs and abdomen with an uncontrollable might.

…and if she was affected by the little raven's special trick, of which she wasn't even the intended target, then the others in the vicinity…

”Run! Call the garrison!”

”Guards! Guards! Quick!”