39 A means to an end (1/2)
A carriage laden to capacity rumbled on through the dark night, the creaks and squeaks of the protesting carriage bringing the now weary-looking merchants continued towards the Waltham province. Hartley still held his position a hundred meters behind. Lou Tai and Qin Li flanked the carriage on both sides
When they were 2 miles from the Waltham province, there came the loud rumblings of horse hooves coming in their direction, Hartley could now sense several xiantians approaching at a fast pace through the forest. He flashed forward and rejoined with the group... Approaching on the main road was a squad of fully armored soldiers and alighting from the forest were some elders and core disciples of the Lou clan that Hartley didn't recognize.
”What happened, are you guys ok?” a tall man in a suit of shiny armor that glistened under the faint moonlight inquired as he rushed ahead of the squad to inspect the occupants of the carriage. The merchants with blood shot eyes had a look of relief as they all competed to recount their experiences at the bandit camp and pointed out Hartley as the young lord who had saved their lives.
The man came over to Hartley and bowed respectfully,”I am Chen Xia, the captain of the guard unit assigned to the Baron's estate” Hartley returned the greeting after the man introduced himself, at this point the elder from the Lou clan hurried over saying ”Lou Rylai made a serious report about the suspected use of dark arts in the cosmos region.”Lou Tai then confirmed ”I think so too, the man had an evil aura, the likes of which could give one nightmares.”
”Thank you for saving our merchants” said the Chen Xia, then added ”time is of the essence we need to head to the Cosmos region to investigate and gather the evidence. The Baron will contact you later” The Lou clan elder shook his head in silent agreement.
The patter of horse's hoofs sounded again and faded into the dark night as Chen Xia left with a majority of his soldiers accompanied by the Lou clan members, he assigned six soldiers to escort the wagon and the team back to the Lou clan for debriefing.
At the building at the foot of the Stella mountain, a roomful of people were gathered on the third floor, Lou Ang was seated and still mumbling gibberish, several people had tried to communicate with him since he returned but up to this point he has not spoken one cohesive sentence..
Looks of pity and sympathy could be seen in the eyes of those who had interacted with him, those who had experience could tell that his soul was injured. It would take an expert at the Saint realm with treasured medicines that didn't often appear on the mortal plane to heal him.
Hartley had no such pity for him, it was a lucky break for Hartley and the others that the cloaked man was attracted to his evil soul, it gave them forewarning of what the man was capable of.
Lou Rylai sat quietly in a chair as her eyes constantly flashed towards Hartley, she hadn't known him before this mission but the youth's bravery in front of the devil had impressed her to no end.
Present in the room were the representatives of the Baron's estate, they had spread parchments, ink and a quill on a table and prepared to take notes. Lou Chang, Lou Chingham and other elders in black cloaked robes were presiding over the debrief, they took their positions in the center of the room looking over the crowd.