Chapter 283: Storm! Mutual Annihilation?

The gods no longer favor him!

Upon hearing these words, the Temple Knight was slightly startled.

Because Baomanzhu Sect's words meant the Slo family had been abandoned!

After his surprise, the Temple Knight's face was filled with deep confusion.

Instinctively, the Temple Knight felt that a storm might be brewing within the Church.

At this moment, he recalled an event from half a month ago: Baomanzhu Sect had received an order from Church Headquarters demanding expansion of the Temple Knights and Temple Army.

The Hilin Kingdom had enjoyed peace for a long time—why suddenly expand the Temple Knights and Temple Army?

In his confusion, Baomanzhu Sect's voice sounded again:

"Send word to the Slo Bishop—tell him to fend for himself!"

As soon as this letter was sent, the messenger delivered another.

"Master, another magical secret letter!"

Baomanzhu Sect took the letter, opened it, and began reading.

After the first magical secret letter was burned, once it reached the recipient, the paper lost its magic and became merely an ordinary specially-made sheet—effectively a one-time-use letter, with exceptional secrecy; interception was virtually impossible.

After reading it, Baomanzhu Sect told the Temple Knight: "Headquarters demands doubling the Temple Knights again. You are to oversee this. I must travel to Headquarters for a meeting. Remember: recruit any Knight of Two Ranks or higher, regardless of whether they've been formally ennobled."

Double again!

The Temple Knight was about to speak, but Baomanzhu Sect raised a hand with an Expression Turned Solemn: "If Yan Country only targets the Slo family, ignore it—the Royal Family has already dispatched an envoy mission to Yan Country."

With that, Baomanzhu Sect departed, rushing to attend the Church Headquarters meeting as quickly as possible.

The Temple Knight was stunned by Baomanzhu Sect's few words—instinctively, he felt a great storm was about to break!

Outside the Slo family's territory, few onlookers had gathered yet.

From Sir Hawk's territory to the Slo family's lands was nearly two hundred li.

The Winged Ones' long-distance flight speed was not fast—only seventy to eighty kilometers per hour, significantly slower than many birds—but during combat dives, they could burst into great speed.

Two thousand Winged Ones spread across the sky like a carpet; as they flew in massive formation, they stirred considerable commotion on the ground.

At such a great distance, the commoners who had previously gathered could not possibly arrive in time; some nobles, unwilling to miss this grand spectacle, spurred their horses hard toward Sir Hawk's territory.

At this moment, several nobles had already arrived around the Slo family's territory.

The Hilin Kingdom's messenger birds flew much faster than the Winged Ones, so these nobles, having received word, rushed over to watch the spectacle!

Inside the Slo family's castle, the old Earl's face turned ashen as he tore the letter in his hand into shreds!

Baomanzhu Sect's reply contained only four words:

"Fend for yourself!"

Fend for yourself!

The handwriting was not even Baomanzhu Sect's own!

The old Earl never imagined he would one day receive such a letter!

Someone actually dared to throw these four words at him!

"Master, what do we do? The Yan people are almost here!"

The old steward's face showed signs of panic—he regretted not forcibly taking the old Earl away!

"Baomanzhu Sect should have reported this upward; given his status, he wouldn't dare send me these words after being dragged down with me."

The old Earl forced himself to calm down and analyzed:

"So this must be the Church Headquarters' stance—we've been abandoned!"

The old Earl took a deep breath: "Food supplies on the market have been steadily decreasing since last month, causing prices to rise continuously. Iron prices have also skyrocketed—not just in our kingdom, but in neighboring Hutton Kingdom as well. Our trade caravans there saw them openly recruiting large numbers of soldiers."

The old steward stared at the old Earl, wondering why, at this critical moment, the old Earl was speaking of these things!

The old Earl looked at the old steward: "Do you know what this means?"

The old steward froze—he was still anxious about Yan Country and hadn't processed the old Earl's words.

But his mind turned, and he could deduce many problems.

A massive reduction in food supply meant someone was hoarding grain; large-scale hoarding drives up prices and destabilizes order—if the Slo family had done this, they would have long faced Church punishment!

Yet the mastermind behind the scenes has not been punished; aside from the Royal Family and the Church, no third party seems capable of such power!

The Royal Family and the Church already possess enormous grain reserves—why hoard more now?

Additionally, iron prices have skyrocketed, indicating massive iron consumption—what uses the most iron?

Not farm tools—but weapons and equipment!

Connecting this with Hutton Kingdom's situation, a terrifying thought rose in the old steward's mind.

The old Earl stared at him and voiced the terrifying thought in the old steward's mind:

"War is coming!"

War!

After speaking, the old Earl gazed out the window—a dark line had appeared on the horizon; only when numbers reach a critical mass does such a sight occur!

That must be Yan Country's aerial forces.

War is coming!

But their end will come first!

After being abandoned by the Church, even the cunning old Earl now felt powerless.

"Master, they've arrived!"

The old steward said.

The old Earl said grimly: "I will meet them in the Golden Hall. The nobles outside probably think I'm surrendering—they're waiting to laugh at me. But I, Slo, will never surrender!"

He fixed the old steward with a sharp gaze and said:

"In the Golden Hall there's a forbidden-tier magic formation I purchased years ago at great cost. The moment they enter and it detonates, no one below the forbidden tier will survive. After their Grand Magister dies, there will still be two thousand winged folk in the sky. Time is too short — we can't muster more warriors. Take the young master and the others into the underground passage and hide for a while. No one knows about that passage but you and me. The winged folk definitely won't find it."

"Master!"

The old butler heard his words and was shocked — the old Earl was preparing to perish together with the enemy's Grand Magister!

The old Earl went on: "These two thousand winged folk can't stay in the Hil Kingdom forever. Once they leave, take all the treasure buried underground, bring the children to the Horton Kingdom. If the Horton Kingdom gains the upper hand in the war to come, present half the treasure to the Horton King, tell them about the situation in Yan Country — I believe they'll be interested in Yan Country!"

The old butler suppressed the surging emotions within him and asked: "Master, what if the Hil Kingdom gains the upper hand?"

The old Earl shook his head: "Although I don't know exactly what happened, that situation — it shouldn't happen!"

Having finished speaking, the old Earl strode toward the Golden Hall.

"Sister Mengying, they've raised a Bai Qi!"

High in the sky, Mia spotted the Slo Family's castle from afar. On the castle at this moment, a great big Bai Qi was fluttering in the wind.

Their arrival caused the nobles gathered outside the Slo Family castle to watch the spectacle to look up one after another. Recalling the terror of this winged-folk force, even these onlooking nobles couldn't help feeling a twinge of unease in their hearts!

But the winged folk paid them no attention at all, passing straight through them and flying above the castle.

The winged folk carrying the Slo Family's blue-robed administrative officer loosened his grip, and the fellow plummeted from the sky screaming, landing right in front of those nobles and giving some of them quite a fright!

At this point, every single person who had set out for Sir Hawke's territory was dead!

Mengying considered for a moment and said: "Mia, let's go down and take a look!"

Mengying and Mia landed on a broad platform on the second level of the Slo Family castle. There, two warriors of the Slo Family were vigorously waving a Bai Qi, signaling to them.

This castle currently only had a thousand warriors garrisoned within it.