With a gust of wind Hao Xuan landed back near the city gates with Claudia in tow.

"Hey, where are your princesses?" he grabbed the nearest city guard that happened to be pa.s.sing by.

The guard took one look at Hao Xuan and Claudia before pointing them in the direction of the healers.

"Thanks."

With a newfound urgency, Hao Xuan strode through the crowd of refugees until he found Princess Helena talking to one of the Elders.

"Helena, we need to talk," he called out to her.

The Elder swiftly turned towards him with a deep frown while Princess Helena was more surprised than anything.

"Lord Hao Xuan, you're back!" she was beaming.

Hearing her call out his name the Elder's expression became neutral as he turned around and immediately walked away without saying a word.

"Sorry, was that not a good time?" Hao Xuan apologized for b.u.t.ting in but Princess Helena shook her head.

"No it's...nothing that can't wait. How can I help you?"

"Hm, I need to go out of the city again soon but before that I would like to do something about defenses. If another enemy finds us then it's basically all over with the level of protection that we have right now. What does the city have in that area?"

Princess Helena's expression was almost frozen stiff and it was only after that Hao Xuan realized why. They were surrounded by civilians and they were all listening in.

"O-Of course. Please follow me, I'll tell you the all details," she gestured towards one of the empty structures a few tens of meters away.

"Ah, sure."

The trio walked in and Hao Xuan snapped his fingers creating a bubble of Chaos Qi around the entire room before apologizing again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize where we were."

"No, it's not a big deal. They will find out sooner or later," she replied awkwardly, obviously trying not to make him feel too bad.

"So what do you have in store? Any powerful relics? Maybe some great beast slumbering within the depths that could come and protect the city? Some secret weapon that no one knows about?"

Hao Xuan was half-joking but Princess Helena's response quickly dowsed his spirits.

"There is...nothing. The protection array was the only thing we had left."

"Oh. Do you know how to repair it then?"

"...Not at all. It has been there for thousands of years so no one knows anything about it. Grandmother used to say there were a lot of other defensive measures in place and as long as the Grand Priestess stands the city would not fall but..."

"But?"

"But grandmother has not pa.s.sed that knowledge down to anyone, not even me. She still is the Grand Priestess and until she wakes up there is nothing we can do. She is the only one that would have answers for you."

"Alright, let's go wake her up then."

Hao Xuan remembered that the grand priestess had sat outside his room and acted as a guard while he was unconscious but she had been asleep ever since he got back.

From there the trio quickly made their way to the edge of the city near the left stone ridge. Princess Helena threw a few curious glances when she saw him casually take Claudia into his arms as she flew along them but chose to keep quiet.

'None of my business,' she told herself.

They landed on top of the stone stairs and upon entering the room saw two extra figures inside.

One of them belonged to the black wold demihuman named Kart and the other was much too familiar to Hao Xuan.

"Yo, what the h.e.l.l are you doin' here?"

Jin w.a.n.g was leaning over the Grand Priestess when he heard Hao Xuan's voice. Turning towards him he let out a sigh of relief.

"I was waiting for your b.i.t.c.h a.s.s, that's what."

But then he paused and looked at Kart, "No offense."

"???" Kart tilted his head sideways in confusion before walking over to Princess Helena.

"That human showed up a little while ago. He says there is something wrong with the Grand Priestess."

"What?!"

Hao Xuan obviously overheard so he walked over to her side. There was a makes.h.i.+ft bed made out of bamboo-like plants placed behind the giant stone table which took up most of the room.

It looked as if she was sleeping but with just one superficial look Hao Xuan could tell that wasn't the case.

"She had-" Jin w.a.n.g tried to explain but was cut off by Hao Xuan.

"Spiritual backlash. But how?"

Jin w.a.n.g's eyebrow shot up to the sky as he couldn't even hide the surprise on his face.

"How did you know?"

"What do you mean it's right there. Her spiritual energy is a mess. Her soul is all but gone to the point that I can barely feel it. There is foreign energy rampaging inside her body and her vitality is dwindling by the second. If I had to guess I'd say she was channeling a spell and it was forcefully broken."

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