The night was quiet, yet Upper Yard was alive with sound.
The cries of nocturnal birds, the chirping of insects, and the low growls of wild animals were completely different from the monotonous atmosphere of Angel Island. That was precisely why God's Army loved this place so much.
Legend had it that the ancestors of the people of Angel Island came from the moon. They were supposedly lunar natives, which meant these winged people were, in a sense, genuine extraterrestrials. According to the legend, their flying ship had run out of fuel on its way to the Blue Sea, forcing them to make an emergency stop here.
Of course, it was only a legend. No one knew if it was actually true.
Still, if you thought about it carefully, maybe there was some truth to it after all.
Either way, no one here was interested in digging into that history. For now, they were simply the Angel Tribe, the Skypieans.
Meanwhile, at the Shandian settlement, powerful warriors stood guard despite the late hour.
The settlement itself was nothing more than a crude mountain camp, but the warriors stationed there were anything but weak. Their faces were painted with colorful camouflage, feathered hats adorned their heads, and they carried lethal weapons on their backs and in their hands.
Even in the dead of night, the Shandians remained vigilant, constantly scanning their surroundings.
Their war against God's Army had dragged on for four hundred years. That constant vigilance was carved into their very bones.
History had taught them the same lesson countless times: let your guard down, and you invite death and destruction.
Suddenly, a faint sound broke the silence.
A figure wearing a red robe patterned with clouds appeared outside the Shandian settlement, his head completely hidden beneath a hood.
"Stay alert! Intruder at the gate!" a Shandian guard shouted, blowing a whistle.
Torches immediately flared to life throughout the settlement. The vigilant Shandians quickly grabbed their weapons, aiming them at the stranger standing before the entrance.
"Who are you?!" a Shandian on the watchtower shouted down.
"You Shandians owe me a favor."
The red-robed figure pulled back his hood, revealing a cold, expressionless face. His stern features, imposing aura, and the concentric rings in his eyes immediately sent a chill through the guards.
The atmosphere grew even tenser.
Faced with the stranger's bizarre declaration, the Shandians were momentarily stunned into silence.
The standoff dragged on. The red-robed man made no further move, simply standing at the entrance and waiting for their response.
Soon, the chief and Raki appeared on the watchtower, looking down at him.
"Raki, is this the man?" the chief asked gravely.
His question instantly brought back memories of the powerful man who had spared Wyper and the others that day.
"No. He doesn't look like him," Raki said, carefully studying the red-robed man for several moments before shaking her head in confusion.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. That person was much younger, and his aura was completely different from this man's." Raki nodded firmly. She couldn't have mistaken them, their faces, builds, and presences were all wrong.
"Stranger, you've come to the wrong place. We don't know you," the chief shouted down.
"You Shandians owe me a favor," the red-robed man repeated in a low, flat voice. He raised his head, exposing his cold, imposing face.
Monster Monk Doro.
The red-robed figure was none other than the Deva Path Rojen had dispatched.
Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind swept through the camp.
The Deva Path vanished from the Shandians' sight. In the very next instant, he materialized directly in front of the chief, Raki, and the elder warriors.
"Now is the time for you to fulfill that favor."
The Deva Path's sudden movement immediately put the Shandians on high alert.
"Back off!" One of the Shandian warriors stepped forward, pointing his weapon at him.
"You are the woman from that day. You should remember me," the Deva Path said, ignoring the warrior's threat and looking directly at Raki.
His words made Raki's eyes widen in disbelief. "You... You're that captain?"
"Yes and no," the Deva Path answered indifferently.
His strange, ringed eyes swept across everyone present, making the Shandians' hearts tremble instinctively. This man was terrifying.
The chief quickly recovered from his shock and exchanged a glance with Raki. "Sir, you look completely different from that day." He took a deep breath and waved off the warriors standing protectively in front of him.
"My main body is occupied elsewhere. Naturally, I am handling things here," the Deva Path replied coldly.
"Main body?" Confusion flashed across the faces of the chief and Raki. They had no idea what he meant.
"Do you still remember that favor?" the Deva Path asked once more.
A faint trace of killing intent bled into the air. Unlike Rojen himself, whose aura was usually restrained, each of his Six Paths puppets carried a heavy stench of death. Their very existence revolved around destruction, giving them an eerie, terrifying presence.
"Of course we remember," the chief answered quickly. "What is it you require? Tell us. As long as it is within the Shandians' power, we will do our best."
"Very well." The Deva Path nodded. His gaze remained cold, but the killing intent quietly faded. "I want to know where Shandora's treasure is hidden."
That single sentence made every Shandian freeze in place.
---
At the same time, on Birka, not far from Angel Island,
"BOOM!"
A tremendous thunderclap echoed across the night sky, startling many who had already gone to sleep. The thunder rumbled continuously overhead for several moments.
"Is it going to rain? What terrible weather..."
People grumbled in their beds, rolling over and pulling blankets over their ears before drifting back to sleep. The thunder continued for over ten seconds before finally fading away.
Outside the gate of a luxurious estate, a young man wearing a shirt and jeans suddenly materialized.
"Crackle, crackle!"
Lightning danced wildly around his body. It was an astonishing sight, he looked almost like a Thunder God descending from the heavens, wrapped in raging electricity. His cold eyes and blazing lightning gave him a contradictory yet intimidating presence.
'Knock, knock, knock!'
The young man raised his hand and knocked on the gate. As his fingers struck the wood, blue arcs of electricity crackled across the surface, sending up wisps of black smoke. It seemed he still couldn't fully control the lightning surging through his body; once unleashed, it simply ran wild.
The heavy knocking continued, but no one inside seemed to hear him. Nobody came to open the gate.
'Knock, knock, knock!'
The young man kept knocking. He struck the gate twenty-three times before footsteps finally echoed from inside the courtyard.
'Creak.'
The gate creaked open, and a sleepy member of the Angel Tribe peered out.
The moment he saw the young man engulfed in blue lightning, he snapped wide awake. His pupils shrank, sheer terror filling his eyes.
"E-Enel?!"
"Good. Looks like you still remember me."
"I've come today..."
"To return all the pain you once gave me."
"To you."
(End Of This Chapter)
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