Unsealing Emptiness

390 Bloody Town.

Feeling the torrent of jubilant emotions surrounding him, Ozul shook his head.

These were herded towards the northern cities to hunt the Wild Beasts, but he wondered just who would be hunting who. Weren’t they the ones being treated like sheep?

At the same time, he also had a few expectations. While he had hunted in the forests to look for Cores, they weren’t anything special. He wanted to see what type of Wild Beasts really roamed these lands.

The landscapes on the borders of the kingdom were many times more dangerous. It wasn’t easy for the soldiers to clear out the Wild Beasts in those areas.

As they traveled by foot, it took them two days to reach the northern cities. They weren’t allowed any sleep or rest. Most of them didn’t need it anyway, but the process was weighing on some’s psyche.

The soldiers of the Prince all kept their distance and didn’t utter a single word. The atmosphere had kind of become dull, much to Ozul’s liking. The wild man hadn’t said much to him afterwards.

After a while, even Rose stopped paying any attention to him.

Only the Prince’s eyes bore into him every once in a while, making him wonder if he was being monitored or something.

By this point, there was no doubt left in him that the Prince knew something. While the latter might think that he was being discreet, he didn’t know that Ozul had the uncanny ability to feel emotions.

.....

...

The Imperial Prince could hardly believe it when he came to see that the Dragon Hatchling he had seen in the market just the day before was also present at his recruitment camp.

Their kingdom was special in this regard that the Dragon Hatchlings were brought into this Realm in their land. And since he was the Imperial Prince, the only brother of the King, he was privy to inside information.

He knew the exact details of the group of Hatchlings who hadn’t accepted the offers of ‘those’ people and chose to roam on their own.

However, even he had to admit that if he hadn’t seen that portrait of the kid, he wouldn’t have recognized him in the middle of the crowd. He exuded no aura at all!

‘Did he not yet start cultivation?’ he had questioned in the market but he let the matter go back then.

‘Those’ people had strictly advised everyone not to harm the Dragon Hatchlings if possible.

He knew that even if he tried anything, there might be one of ‘them’ nearby to stop him.

If Ozul was to know what the Imperial Prince thought, he would definitely be shocked because he was absolutely certain that there was no one nearby to stop anyone.

At the start, the Imperial Prince had only come to glance at the ‘recruits’, but seeing the familiar face, this time with his whole gang, he changed his priorities. He would judge for himself whether that kid was cultivating or not. The others in his group were using the Spiritual Tool to diminish their aura, but they couldn’t rid of it completely. It only hid their cultivation base.

It was only Ozul who seemed entirely washed off of the Spiritual Essence. It made no sense that he hadn’t started cultivating when even those with him had already started.

‘How did they get those Spiritual Tools?’ He had wondered again, ‘Did they find a backing?’

He had denied that assumption since he believed that these Dragon Hatchlings were here to find the backing that was the Blue Lion Kingdom. They must have had a lucky encounter, the Imperial Prince reasoned with himself.

There was no rule that he couldn’t use the Dragon Hatchlings for his own gains. He was looking for capable people to join under his banner, and he couldn’t ask for anything better!

These were the Dragon Hatchlings! People considered having the potential to topple the power balance of the entire Realm!

The Imperial Prince thought that this group had finally realized that they had made a mistake rejecting the offer from ‘those’ people, and now they were desperate for resources.

It just so happened that while not as abundant as offered by those people, he still had enough resources to make normal cultivators drool in envy.

‘I may not be able to keep them forever, but I’m going to milk the cow while I can at least...’

The man who was already in the Origin Realm was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected someone of that strength to apply. He would have to verify that man’s background. Other than that, he didn’t see anyone use in the crowd of over a hundred people.

The Imperial Prince wasn’t a man of swallowing greed. Even at this time, he could get the throne from his brother if he so wanted, but the throne wasn’t in his interests. He only wanted to reach the next stage of his cultivation journey.

Throughout the journey to the northern cities, he kept a close eye on the group.

Now that they had already arrived, he would confirm with his own eyes the almost-notorious reputation of these Dragon Hatchlings.

. . .

Ozul wanted to sleep, but they were made to walk for days straight.

If it weren’t for the Imperial Prince here, he might have done something about it. He didn’t want the latter to get any more suspicious than he already was.

Those soldiers around them were barely at the initial stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, so if the people wanted to, they could have easily made a ruckus and left. But just like Ozul, the presence of that man in silver armor kept everyone at bay.

Soon the dilapidated houses appeared on the horizon.

It was once again beginning to darken, so the eerie silence surrounding that place manifested as an image of an abandoned town.

The Prince and his commander slowed their pace as the rest was forced to follow.

The commander narrowed his eyes as if scanning the houses in his view, “I sense no life from the town, Your Highness.”

“Oh, you missed that one. There is life... albeit a wretched one,” his face morphed into a crescent as he pulled the reigns on his horse, making it run forward.

By this point, the sharp encirclement around the new recruits had loosened a little as the soldiers put their focus on the surroundings instead. Meanwhile, most of the crowd was busy chattering amongst themselves.

Ozul noticed very few of them were alert. In case someone attacked them now, most of them would die not knowing what happened.

*Boom!*

Everyone heard a loud noise coming from the deserted town as they watched a large chunk of flesh shoot in their direction in a parabolic trajectory.

A second later, the flying thing dropped near the commander’s horse as the Imperial Prince also appeared beside him. His horse was seen running back in the distance.

“Your senses have dulled,” the Prince commented, as the commander immediately got down from his horse to come to his level.

“I will do better next time, Your Highness.”

The Prince nodded as he once again eyed the new recruits. His gaze landed on a specific person.

He eyed the commander who understood his gesture and turned around towards the recruits, shouting, “This right here,” he pointed towards the blob of flesh, “is-... was one of the Wild Beasts from our reports. It was a Black Horned Fox. As you noticed, even I failed to sense its presence in that town; so you are warned of their presence. Be prepared, you will be fighting many of these here.”

By that time, the horse of the Imperial Prince had come back as he hopped on it again and they resumed their journey, straight into the heart of the deserted town.

The soldiers dispersed and all followed the commander more closely.

All those people suddenly had a feeling of freedom. It felt as if it was finally time to prove their worth. Some had already started stretching their arm muscles.

Entering the town, they started to notice the dark red puddles on the streets and the bloodstained walls of the houses. It hadn’t been long since the massacre happened.

“Did that Black Horned Fox alone did all of this?” Zier muttered in disbelief. Amidst the chatter of the people, his voice was blurred into nothingness.

However, as if answering his question, the commander shouted, “This is the result of a Wild Beast wave. Even a couple of them could have killed all the humans, but when there are almost a hundred, even the bones don’t remain.”

They didn’t stop and continued marching at their original pace until they were almost out of the town.

The terrain ahead was slowly turning rocky as a thick mist limited their sight.

‘It even dulled my senses,’ Ozul thought with a bit of apprehension.

There was a thick layer of Spiritual Essence laced in that mist. He was sure that even the Imperial Prince would have been affected a little.

At least for now, he wasn’t worried. Although dulled a little, his senses were nowhere nearly as affected as the others.

“Beyond this hill should be the territory marked by the Black Horned Foxes! Keep up your guard! If you die here, no one is going to stop for burial and mourn for you!”

The commander shouted one last time before heading into the mist.

Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears of many as they felt a safety bubble in the presence of the Imperial Prince.

‘I have a bad feeling...’ Ozul muttered to himself as he also walked into the mist followed by his group, the wild man, and the woman named Rose.