Chapter 92: Empty City, Lies

"How could this be…." The clan chief widened his eyes, looking at the tree before him.

Wang You woke up, looked at this tree, and the morning drowsiness vanished all at once.

"It's just a tree; I thought it was something powerful." Feng Yan said, looking at the tree before him dismissively.

In Feng Yan's view, this thing is no different from an ordinary tree, except that it's bigger.

But the dwarves, upon seeing this tree, all knelt down and performed a most devout prayer, worshipping the tree with the highest rites, extremely sincere.

"The World Tree has reappeared!" the clan chief shouted at the huge book before him, then turned to the dwarves behind him and said: "We have seen the World Tree once again, which tells us that our god has given us the most important revelation: to storm the Wanggong of Li State!"

The people below were very excited, raising their arms and shouting.

"Storm the Wanggong!" the dwarves shouted.

"You can't go!" Chen Hao interrupted them, then tried to stop the dwarves from attacking the Wanggong of Li State.

"Why? This is the god's command! As long as we attack, we will surely win!" the clan chief widened his eyes and questioned Chen Hao.

"Haven't you noticed? Your so-called World Tree has already drained the lake! Look around— the trees are quickly withering!" Chen Hao answered the clan chief, then casually walked up to a tree, broke off a branch, and heard only a crisp snapping sound.

"This is the answer— could this be your so-called World Tree?"

"It's completely devoid of moisture." Feng Yan listened to that crisp sound, then went to Chen Hao's side, took the branch from his hand, walked up to the clan chief, and softly said: "I won't stop you if you want to go to your deaths, but I have already made a deal with your god Aoding—I must free you, and it will be under the Eternal Spear."

"The Eternal Spear! Did he just say the Eternal Spear?"

"Impossible, how could that be?"

The dwarves were underestimating them, and from time to time glanced sideways with the corners of their eyes at the two adventurers before them.

"You, are what you just said all true?" the clan chief, somewhat disbelieving, asked Feng Yan doubtfully.

Feng Yan said nothing, he just walked away silently, and Chen Hao followed him, leaving only the dwarves and the clan chief standing where they were.

Feng Yan walked around the lake; the lake had long been without water, and the silt inside dried up quickly!

"Look at the lake bottom!" Feng Yan exclaimed in shock, almost shouting it out.

Chen Hao followed Feng Yan's gaze; the lake bottom didn't look like it had just dried up, but rather like a lake bottom that had endured drought for a long time.

The lakebed's ground had cracked from drought, the fissures almost wide enough for a person to squeeze into.

Chen Hao and Feng Yan slowly circled the lake's edge observing, then arrived at Lin Xiyan's hut; Feng Yan paused at her door for a moment, as if thinking about something, and finally knocked.

"Early in the morning, why does the air feel so dry?" Lin Xiyan rubbed her eyes, obviously not fully awake, then pushed open the door.

"Ah! Where's the water?" Lin Xiyan jumped at the sight before her, her fatigue instantly replaced by fear.

"I came just to tell you this: the lake's water vanished overnight, and the silt at the bottom is already as dry as a drought." Feng Yan informed Lin Xiyan of the situation patiently.

Lin Xiyan calmed a little, looked at Feng Yan, nodded, and said: "So, what do you want from me?"

Feng Yan didn't know how to answer for a moment; he glanced at Lin Xiyan's eyes, then turned his head aside and said lightly: "Actually, I just wanted to disturb your sleep, nothing special."

"That's just it, you're still the same as before." Lin Xiyan smiled, then lightly punched Feng Yan in the chest.

Feng Yan feigned pain, covered his belly, and said: "My mistake, my mistake—I shouldn't have disturbed your rest, miss."

Lin Xiyan sighed, then said: "Are you really stupid or just pretending? Do you think I'm the type who likes to play games?"

After saying that, she went back into the wooden house; Chen Hao watched her return, then patted Feng Yan's shoulder, wearing a cheeky grin, and said: "Brother, you can do it."

Feng Yan looked at Chen Hao with a puzzled expression and said: "What do you mean 'I can'? I didn't quite catch what you were saying."

Chen Hao looked at Feng Yan again, narrowed his eyes, and said: "At this point, playing dumb won't solve anything."

Feng Yan lowered his head, his voice lacking confidence, and said: "I know, I know— her, or rather her, I can't obtain; one is that I don't deserve to have her, the other is that it's impossible; we can only be friends. I'm afraid that if I speak up, all I'll get is rejection."

Chen Hao looked at Feng Yan; after a long while, he still didn't know what to say, didn't know how to comfort Feng Yan, nor understood Feng Yan's hurt, and could only ask: "Like this, does it hurt?"

"It's painful, very painful—I'm anticipating something on one hand, fearing something on the other; I don't even understand what I myself am doing." Feng Yan spoke with low spirits, head down, then turned to look at Wang You, who seemed unable to keep up with their pace.

Feng Yan walked toward Wang You, came before her, extended his right hand; Wang You looked at Feng Yan, he smiled, and said: "Let's go."

Wang You nodded and took hold of Feng Yan's hand.

Lin Xiyan looked through the window at Wang You and Feng Yan; they weren't speaking, Feng Yan was holding her hand somewhat, while Wang You blushed and lowered her head, and Lin Xiyan, however, smiled.

"You're still not very open, you see— she and I are both girls, aren't we?" Lin Xiyan watched their retreating backs and said.

The dwarves watched Feng Yan, Chen Hao, and their party depart, not knowing where they were going; seeing their backs fade away, they began discussing again how to attack Li State.

They started with discussion, then their voices grew louder, leading to an argument, which later split into two major factions.

One faction supported the attack, the other waited for the adventurers' orders.

The faction in charge of attacking believed the timing was ripe, and with the appearance of the World Tree, now was the best opportunity to attack!

The other faction believed they should wait for the right moment, that the World Tree's appearance was unfounded, and since their god Aoding had not shown up, they should follow the prophecy and continue to obey the adventurers' commands.

The leader of the pro-attack faction said: "I see the adventurers are just a bunch of useless! What have they brought us? Only temporary safety, but how could our dwarf tribe continue like this? We should restore our strength and directly attack Li State!"

The leader of the opposing faction, seeing that persuasion wasn't working, went to fetch the clan chief, but by the time the chief arrived, they had already left, leaving only a reply saying they would return victorious, and they had taken half of the dwarves' forces—500 men.

"Adventurer sir, they have already prepared to leave, to attack Li State." Jin Meng reported the situation to Feng Yan.

Feng Yan and Chen Hao observed the surroundings along the way; the trees all around had withered, some leaves hadn't even fallen yet and remained on the branches—just then Jin Meng caught up to them, reporting the dwarves' situation.

Chen Hao sighed, then looked at the city of Li State, and said: "They're probably going to be wiped out entirely."

Feng Yan remained silent, just quietly watching.

The city of Li State, under the sun's glare, still gleamed gold, dazzling the eyes; and Feng Yan had a premonition: that place would be the burial ground of those dwarves.

"Let's go, we should consider a battle plan— the bounty hunters will probably launch a sneak attack tonight." Feng Yan turned and walked away, then said.

"Your Royal Highness, no, Your Majesty the King— it's not as the Red-clothed Devil said, the dwarves have arrived!" a soldier reported to the king of Li State before him.

"Good!" the king said, then issued a major order: "Notify all troops, retreat entirely, leave an empty Wanggong."

"Your Majesty?" the soldier said, a bit puzzled, raising his head to look at the king.

"No nonsense, just do it!" the king shouted.

"Yes!" the soldier replied, then sent messages to all departments.

Watching the soldier depart, the king continued to order: "You all go out first; no one may enter without my command!"

Yes!

After seeing that everyone in front had left, the Prince clapped his hands, and Yang Xin and Wang Tingwan walked out from behind the king.

The king asked Yang Xin, saying, "Is your play useful?"

Yang Xin smiled and said, "It's useful, of course it's useful."

"Good!" the king said.

Wang Tingwan said nothing, silently gazing at the empty hall before her.

"Then, now we should withdraw from the Wanggong; please enter the urn!" Yang Xin said.

"Good! Everyone come in!" the king shouted loudly; everyone re-entered the palace, then the king ordered, saying, "Convey my order: from now on, everyone withdraw from the Wanggong; without my order, no one may enter; violators will be beheaded!"

Yes!

Everyone began to withdraw from the Wanggong one after another; soon, the Wanggong was empty of people, leaving only the hidden elite.

The Dwarves also smoothly entered the city of Li Guo along the way; seeing all doors and windows tightly shut, they thought the people of Li Guo were merely frightened weaklings, and thus marched straight into the Wanggong.

But, the Wanggong was also empty of people!

The Dwarves looked around, began to feel something was off, but the dwarf beside him said, "I still thought they were people with formidable combat strength; it seems they too were just frightened by our attacks!"

But the leader always felt something was wrong there; he dared not relax, staying vigilant of his surroundings.

Suddenly, he shouted, "Not good! Quick retreat!"