"Please be careful," Inside a cozy room draped with sky-blue curtains, the old woman Michael met at the castle talked to a girl in a mirror. The girl's figure slowly faded out of existence after the old woman waved her hand. After the girl's figure vanished, the mirror reflected the old woman's figure. The girl who just disappeared was none other than Rowena Winsotn, the holy maiden, and the old woman Michael met was her maid, Bai Ning. Despite how frail the old woman looked with her wrinkly skin and hunched back, she was an Immortal at level 10. However, she suppressed her cultivation stage to make herself look like a Fusion stage warrior to most of the Skyhall soldiers.

At that moment, Bai Ning resided in a quickly built cabin in an ash field. She was tasked to supervise the dig site where they were supposed to find something that could rival the Dark Lord himself in a battle.

"Do not come back without results, Bai Ning," Bai Ning heard a thunderous voice in her head. She immediately dropped to her knees when she heard the voice. Almost instantly, sweat beads formed on her face, and she remained on her knees for a few long moments. She had only feared three people in her life: the Holy maiden, the Dark Lord, and this mysterious lord of the Skyhall. Bai Ning didn't fear the first two as much as she feared the latter because Rowena and the Dark Lord were still weak compared to her. The same could not be said of the mysterious lord. He could end her and the entire skyhall with a snap of his fingers. Even the great elders of the Skyhall feared him. Luckily for most others, they didn't know such a person existed. Many thought, including the Holy Maiden herself, that Holy Maiden was the highest rank. However, the truth was that there existed someone above the Holy Maiden. The most powerful great elders served him and feared him more than they did the Holy Maiden.

Deep down, Bai Ning didn't want to see this mysterious lord in person. Instead, she was quite happy serving him from the shadows. Bai Ning hoped that the Holy Maiden would bend her knees to this mysterious lord when the time came though Bai Ning didn't think that would happen, judging by Rowena's temperament.

Even after the voice's effect on her faded, Bai Ning couldn't get back to her feet. Eventually, she managed to muster enough strength to stand up and leave the cabin.

Bai Ning heaved a sigh as she strolled toward the wooden door and twisted the golden knob. As soon as the door opened, she was welcomed by an alarming sight. Lightning struck close to her and all around the place again and again. The sky roared as an eternal thunderstorm dominated this realm. Strange sounds erupted from behind Bai Ning, perhaps two beings fighting each other or a collapsing landscape.

In spite of the treacherous landscape, she got the feeling she was not in immediate danger. This place was no walk in the park, but at the very least, she should be able to survive for a couple of weeks.

The men she brought from Skyhall and those who occupied the mother tree were doing typical labor such as carrying crates, erupting tents to survive the thunderstorm, and digging holes everywhere as though they were searching for something. It was tough for Bai Ning to see through the ashen air. The entire place had an eerie crimson-red hue to it. Bai Ning decided to go out there and look at how the digging process was going in person. Cupping the mother tree was just a secondary task. Their main task was to dig up something that the mysterious lord ordered the great elders to do.

With the equipment coming from Skyhall and extra manpower, Bai Ning believed they could find whatever was hiding in the Ash field.

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"You have three weeks," Bai Ning's mind replayed the words spoken to her by the mysterious lord. Initially, when they first arrived at Itonys two months ago, she had no worries or pressure. The mysterious lord rarely bothered to speak to her. But imagine her surprise when the Dark Lord himself came to pay her a visit. Then, all hell broke loose. Something inside the mysterious lord broke after he heard the Dark Lord's name. Bai Ning lived long enough to tell when someone was feeling overwhelming killing intent. She didn't know the history between the Dark Lord and the mysterious lord, but one thing was certain, the mysterious lord had deep hatred toward the Dark Lord.

"Curse you to hell, Dark Lord," Bai Ning cursed Michael under her breath and went to meet the captain of this unit. A few meters away from her, a group of silver armored soldiers was digging the ground using shovels. While another group was carrying an unconscious soldier toward one of the tents.

"Lady Bai Ning," the elven captain noticed Bai Ning and dropped his shovel.

"Captain Fenian, how's the digging going?" asked Bai Ning. Because of the thunderstorm and the howling wind, they had to speak louder than they were used to.

"We are losing more and more soldiers, Lady Bai Ning. The air is getting more and more toxic the more we dig, Lady Bai Ning. I'd suggest we bring more equipment and wait till our scholars find a way to filter the air," said Fenian.

But Bai Ning firmly shook her head.

"Not an option Captain. The order came from the top. If we don't show results to the higher ups in two weeks, it'd be our heads that roll on the table,"

Bai Ning didn't give a damn about the soldiers. As far as she was concerned, they were all expendable.

"At this rate, we won't have enough men to dig, Lady Bai Ning. We have already lost half of our men to the Dark Lord, and many of the survivors fell sick to the toxic air," Fenian raised his voice. Unlike Bai Ning, he cared about his men. Dying came up with being a soldier, but Fenian preferred dying with honor on the battlefield to digging for something.

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"Have they taken the purification pills?" asked Bai Ning.

"They have Lady Bai Ning. But the pills seem to lose their effect when they dig deeper into the ground. Maybe we tell the Holy Maiden about this,"

"NO!" Bai Ning didn't realize she had raised her voice to the point it sounded louder than thunderclaps. The soldiers stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes to Bai Ning.

"Back to work!" Bai Ning ordered the gazing soldiers as they quickly returned to their work.

"Captain Fenian. You are to tell the Holy Maiden about this under no circumstances. She hasn't ascended to the throne of the Holy Maiden yet. If she knew of this and caused a ruckus among the elders, her ascension would be hindered. I don't think I have to explain the politics in Skyhall," Fenian creased his sword-like brows. As much as he hated hiding things from the Holy Maiden, Lady Bai Ning's words made sense to him. Besides, he knew Lady Bai Ning cared about the Holy Maiden more than anyone in the Skyhall. If she thought telling the Holy Maiden about the ash field was not a good idea, Fenian had to obey her order. The only thing that worried Fenian was the lives of his men.

Many thought the Skyhall was a single entity and functioned as one. But it was only half the truth. The reality was that Skyhall was politically scattered into various groups inside. For instance, some believed in and served the Holy Maiden wholeheartedly, like Fenian, while some wanted to change the hierarchy and form a circle of elders. Another group consisted of the most powerful elders who knew about the mysterious lord's existence, and they served him, only him.

"I know losing your men hurts, Captain. But if we don't do this, we will lose way more to the Dark Lord. You saw what he did to those poor souls," Bai Ning sympathized with Fenian while low-key manipulating him using the Dark Lord.

Fenian sighed as he looked around at his men for a moment. He could only feel pity for the men who were digging down as they were ordered without having any idea they were about to die. Rather, even if they knew they would die, they wouldn't disobey their orders.

"It'd be helpful and even reduce the number of casualties if we knew what we are looking for here, Lady Bai Ning,"

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Hearing his words, Bai Ning could only sigh.

"You'd be the first one to know when or if they tell me, Captain. Also, I have another task for you,"

"What is it?' asked Fenian.

"I want you to go to the human tribes in this world and gather as much information as you can about them. I need to know their lifestyle, who or what they worship, and how many people are in their tribe," Bai Ning paused for a second and continued.

"The wood elves are lost cause. We have to stop more people from following the Dark Lord here. If we had natives of this world doing our work, the Dark Lord wouldn't have killed them as he killed our soldiers. He still has a soft spot for his own race, and we should exploit it if push comes to shove,"

"When should I leave?" Fenian asked Bai Ning. He knew he would be more useful in collecting information that could give them an advantage over the Dark Lord than digging holes and looking at his soldiers fall one by one. Subconsciously, Fenian didn't want to be here and deal with the guilt.

"No time like the present, Captain,"

"What if the Dark Lord breaks the deal and comes here, Lady Bai Ning?"

Bai Ning chuckled.

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"He won't break the deal, but he will come here to see what we are up to. In fact, I'd say he's on his way as we speak. You go and get ready to leave, Captain. I'll deal with the Dark Lord,"