As the sun rose, the group woke up and had a hearty breakfast. Though the scene of gory slaughter from the previous night was still vivid in their minds, in front of a hungry stomach they forgot everything. The little girl looked at the food with her beautiful black eyes and licked her lips. Her face had dried and covered in the dirt and her clothes tattered. Her small body looked sick and dried eyes were heartbreaking.

Everyone sat on the mattress and brought fruits and breads and sandwiches that Ayaan had prepared. They ate and laughed, however, the little girl remained sitting, not daring to extend her hand towards the breakfast, only licking her dried lips with her tongue.

Ayaan looked at her behavior and passed a fruit to her. The girl looked at him and hesitated for some time and then took the fruit from his hand with a fast speed, as if it would disappear. Wasting no second she devoured the entire fruit in just two large bites.

"Hic~ Hic~"

The fruit stuck in her throat, and she hiccuped furiously. Ayaan smiled and passed the water. The girl gulped water hurriedly, only then she sighed in relief. "You don't need to eat like this. The fruit won't run away anywhere." Rebecca said to the girl and pinched her cute cheeks lovingly.

The girl blushed when she heard Rebecca's words and spoke the first time. "Those people didn't let me eat for many days. So I wasn't able to control myself." The girl replied, her face pained when she remembered her memories.

Ayaan patted her head and said like a big brother. "You don't need to fear anyone from now." he paused for a second, "you can eat as much as you want."

The girl looked at Ayaan's smiling face and felt even more emotional and remembered her father who would also feed her by his own hands. In the end, tears fell from her beautiful eyes. Everyone looked at her pitiful face but no one stopped her from crying. Sometimes it was better to wash the pain with tears.

After eating everyone stood up and settled the saddles of their horses. As always, Ayaan and Akash sat on a single horse while Noor dragged the little girl with her. She found her very pleasant to look at. Isobel, Rebecca, and Leafwhisk rode their own horses. Leafwhisk was injured; so their speed reduced as a result.

If they were travelling normally, they could have reached Shadow City by evening. However, now they needed to spend one more night in the wilderness. Though Ayaan could travel in the night, Leafwhisk wasn't in a pleasant condition.

In the meantime Noor asked the little girl's name. She was called Ifre. She also told about her father and village. She was a single parent child, and her mother died while giving her birth. Her father Hephorus was the leader of the Goldenleaf Village and very kind. He loved to help others.

When Ifre was born, her body glowed with an orange light and everyone knew she was no ordinary child. When she was two years old, she had already become the Novice Fire Mage. She was just seven years old and was already Senior Mage. Her father Hephorus was the only Senior Mage in the entire Goldenleaf Village. Her talent shocked many and her name became famous in the entire region. Everyone knew that in the Goldenleaf Village, a genius fire mage had born.

However, just a few days prior some people clad in silver armours invaded her village. Her father asked them the reason behind what they were doing but another party penetrated his chest with the javelin. After that they slaughtered every single villager, leaving only Ifre alive. She cried when she saw her family and friends dying. However, no one heard her pleading.

Ayaan and his group heard her story and felt sympathy for the little girl. However, the thing which already happened can't be rewound. Ayaan treated the little girl like his little sister. He wasn't completely heartless after all.

As the suns rose from the south-east and the north-east, the group resumed their journey. Around noon they saw a city. They were at the higher altitude while the city was in the downward; the mountains surrounded from every direction; the greenery spread in all about; the mountains casting enormous shadows over the city. So that's why this city was called by the name Shadow.

There was a river flowing by the city as well; it was around two kilometers away from the city. Though Ayaan didn't know if he guessed correctly. He was far away after all.

Ayaan ate his lunch with everyone and descended from the mountain slowly with his group. The city looked beautiful from the height. Though they couldn't tell if this beauty was hiding something cruel, or vicious. As the saying goes: the forest that looked green and beautiful from afar, is the most dangerous.

The group arrived in front of the city and saw a group was standing at the entrance. Even soldiers were sucking up to these people, talking politely. Ayaan saw a few of them were Early Embryonic Realm Cultivators while others were just Core Realm. His gaze rested for a second on a man who was at the Middle Stage of the Embryonic Realm. The guards on the entrance were just a low level Core Realm Cultivators. Not a worth second glance.

As Ayaan noticed those people at the entrance, they also observed him. Most especially, they observed his women… Ayaan saw their eyes and knew that some more suicidal maniac had appeared, and he would be glad to send them to their maker if they dared to provoke him.

He walked towards the entrance, and guards blocked his path. Ayaan took out ten pieces of silver and threw them at those guards. "This is the entrance fee. Do you have any problem?" Ayaan said.

"N-no problem." The guard replied as he grabbed the silvers. Everyone knew that ten bronze were enough to let one person enter the city, but this guy gave them ten silvers—worth a thousand bronze. That was an enormous sum for these poor guards. To Ayaan this wasn't worth much, he had gotten many gold pouches from those soldiers he had slaughtered the previous night.

Ayaan nodded and proceeded with everyone. "Wait a minute." Ayaan turned towards the owner of the voice and saw a man with a huge build. His body was covered in a silver armour and on his chest printed an eagle tattoo while his face was ordinary; he had bushy brows and brown hair. The man was at the middle stage of the Embryonic Realm.

"Do you want anything?" asked Ayaan and curled his lips in a weird angle.

The man smiled at Ayaan's question and also curled his lips. "Yes," he said. Then turned towards Leafwhisk. "I want that woman."

"And I want that silver-haired beauty." Another man said, pointing at Noor.

Two more men spoke, looking at Rebecca and Isobel with a heated gaze.

"Boss, can you let us enjoy after you are done with them?" one of the Core Realm Cultivators said with saliva dripping from his mouth.

"Sure." The Boss replied, still looking at Leafwhisk with a heated gaze.

All the girls turned red from fury, especially Leafwhisk. How dare these lowly slaves dard to talk about her like that? And as they were about to move Ayaan stood in front of them. "Let me handle this." He said and turned towards the so-called Boss.

"One breathe," he said. "You have one breathe time to cut one of your hands as an apology or prepare to die!"

Everyone turned speechless. Whether it was the guards, or the boss or his subordinates. Everyone looked at Ayaan blankly for a breath and burst into a peal of lighters. "Hahaha, I have seen many crazy people but never someone like him." One man said.

"I know right? He is the most antic piece I have come around for years." Second person replied.

"Who would have thought that someone would have the courage to talk with a boss like this? Even Mayer would talk with respect to our boss." someone else said.

"Who does he think he is!?" another man sneered.

The Boss looked at Ayaan mockingly and sneered. "Punk, I wanted to just take those women at first, now leave your arm behind as well. You have one breath of time."

Ayaan looked at the man disdainfully. "The time is over." he said and disappeared from his position. The Boss looked stunned when he saw Ayaan's action and prepared to block his attack. However, the attack never came to him.

"Puchi!"

"Plok!"

"Thud!"

The boss heard a weird sound from behind him. He turned hurriedly and saw a heart-clenching scene. All those people who had spoken, or those people who wanted to take his woman were lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood. All of their heads had been separated, and their limbs with their heads. One could see a deep hole in their stomach, from which their guts and innards fell out. The nauseous stench wafted around.

As the man called Boss saw such a scene, his face turned pale. His body shivered, and he had the urge to flee, but his legs didn't listen to him. Though he was one of the strongest people in the city, he had never seen such a gory scene. In the end he couldn't control himself and vomited.

In Ayaan's group everyone was looking at the scene nonchalantly. Only Ifre had fallen unconscious again after looking at the corpses, and Akash was holding her by waist once more.