Monarch of Darkness

"I have heard seniors talking about how the Golden orb sect is profiting most from this situation", Sarah suddenly spoke again. "Care to explain", Evan looked at Sarah with a questioning gaze. It was obvious to him that Golden orb sect was the most dangerous one here as it was clearly using the Black ridge Kingdom as a pawn. He was confident that the Thousand swords kingdom would never be threatened by a small kingdom like Black ridge Kingdom. 

"Golden orb sect may have less power than the Northpeak empire but it is also one of the most powerful one among the supreme sects. Moreover it has the army of Golden orb kingdom, who are more powerful than any other kingdoms of Northpeak empire. Now that choas has descended to the entire northern region, the Northpeak army is getting more busier than ever to ensure peace. They have no spare time to deal with the army of Golden orb kingdom. It is a great chance for Golden orb sect to fish in the troubled water of Northpeak empire. War between the kingdoms is a best method to weaken an empire. The Golden orb sect is exactly following this method to weaken the Northpeak empire.

Moreover, I have heard a opposing faction is rising among the Northpeak army which is the cause of great headache for current Northpeak emperor. So, he has no spare time to focus on the Golden orb sect", Sarah explained slowly. 

Evan nodded his head as he understood the current situation more accurately but he still had his suspicion on the involvement of Northpeak royal family. Afterall, no matter how powerful the Northpeak empire was, it was still wary of the prowcess of Thousand swords kingdom. That was the reason they decided to keep him as a hostage against any possible misadventure from the old king of Thousand swords kingdom who was also the grandfather of him.

Evan decided to leave this place as he had fulfilled his purpose here. After bading farewell to Sarah, he moved toward the west direction. Sarah looked at his vanishing silhouette in a daze. After some time she murmured, "Will I get a chance to meet you again? I don't even know your name."

....

'Creak, creak, creak', the sound was constantly coming from the horse carts. It was a caravan of merchants consisted of horse carts and wagons. There were people sitting in the horse carts and wagons were being used for goods transportation.

"Little brother, May I know your name?",one friendly looking man asked to the youngster who was sitting quietly in a corner. "Sure, my name is Evan. It is nice to meet with you, big brother", the youngster replied with a smile.

"Oh, are you also going to the border of the Blackridge kingdom?", the middle aged man asked eagerly. The expression in the eyes of youngster flickered slightly but he quickly calmed himself and nodded his head with affirmation.

"Ha, ha..hah, the rewards are really astonishing. We only need to kill some unimportant cultivators of Thousand swords kingdom and we will get great rewards for it. It will never be so easy to earn such rewards", the middle aged man said with excitement. The youngster calmly looked at him without giving any further comment.

The name of the middle aged man was Ramos and he was a rogue cultivator. The youngster was obviously Evan and he was currently with a merchant caravan which was heading towards the border of Thousand swords kingdom. It had been already six days since he was traveling with this caravan and overall it was fourteen days since he parted ways with the disciples of Falling snow sect.

Since the beginning of his journey in the caravan, Evan was listening to every conversation regarding Thousand swords kingdom and by now he had a complete grasp on the current situation of Thousand swords kingdom. 

The situation was far more complicated than his expectation. It was true that Thousand swords kingdom was being encircled by the Blackridge kingdom and the Golden orb kingdom but it was only in open. The number of hidden enemies were far more than what was being shown in surface and every enemy entity was vying for the treasures of Thousand swords kingdom. Now the situation was getting more challenging for the Thousand swords kingdom with the addition of rogue cultivators.

Evan travelled with the caravan for another few days and they finally reached the destination of caravan. It was a border city of the Blackridge kingdom and the city was full of travellers now. There was a huge army deployment in the city but they are turning a blind eye on the surge of travellers.

Evan spread his soul consciousness with cautious and his soul consciousness covered a vast area within moments. If there was any problem, he was ready to withdraw his soul consciousness within a moment. He

noticed many powerful auras within his range but none of them was in nascent soul stage.

After his soul related breakthrough in the Imperial academy, his soul detection range had increased and with his prowcess, he covered almost half of the entire border city. He detected only two cultivators who were at Core condensation realm but what surprised him was the number of Profound transformation realm warriors. There were almost forty profound transformation realm cultivators in this tiny border city.

"Little brother, will you join a hunt party with me?", Ramos who was standing by his side asked. Evan retracted his soul consciousness and looked at the middle aged man for a moment. After a quick brainstorming, he decided his next course of action. "I will follow you big brother", he said with a smile.

Evan idled around for some time in the tiny border city with Ramos and night quickly descended before he knew. He accompanied Ramos to a tavern and there were already many cultivators who were drinking wine silently. He picked a jug for himself and started to observe the people without touching the wine.