Chapter 177: False

Fengling suddenly grabbed his wrist: "Bad! If the seal is destroyed it will trigger a chain reaction; the knights under Duke Huo Ke are on their way!"

Before she finished speaking, the distant horns rose and fell in succession.

Robin keenly noticed that the sounds came from three different directions, the nearest being less than a kilometer away.

"Leave?" Fengling had already unfolded a teleportation array.

Robin shook his head, planted the New Tang Sword into the ground: "It's too late. Moreover," a fighting spark flashed in his eyes, "just the right chance to test the sword on them."

When the first squad of guard knights burst through the forest, they beheld a scene they would never forget.

Robin stood atop a gray‑robed knight, the back of the New Tang Sword braced on his shoulder, radiating a light unique to Robin, his eyes full of mockery.

"What is this—" the leading gray‑robed knight's voice trembled, "an Order Force Field?!"

Responding was Robin's eerily calm voice:

"Welcome to my territory."

The ground beneath Robin rippled with golden, wave‑like patterns, centered on the New Tang Sword, and the space within a hundred meters abruptly solidified.

The charging guard knights froze in their sword‑wielding stances, even the falling leaves hovered three inches before their noses.

Fengling's pocket watch suddenly ran backward; she flicked a grain of Sand of Time from her fingertip: "Three minutes."

"Enough." Robin chuckled, the blade lightly pricking the gray‑robed knight's shattered mask.

When that face, scarred with star‑shaped marks, was revealed in the moonlight, Fengling gasped; it was the royal guard captain who should have died twenty years ago.

What on earth is Duke Huo Ke plotting?

Or perhaps the royal family is scheming?

The New Tang Sword suddenly emitted a dragon's roar, and Robin's figure split within the force field into twelve afterimages, each assuming a different opening stance.

The first afterimage thrust forward, piercing the breastplates of five knights;

The second afterimage slashed horizontally, and six fine steel swords snapped in response;

When the twelfth afterimage returned, the thirty‑person vanguard had all knelt, each bearing a through‑wound on the left shoulder, having precisely avoided every vital point.

"Now." Robin's true form appeared behind the squad leader, the tip of his blade pressing against the seventh vertebra, "Tell me, what exactly does Duke Huo Ke want to do?"

The leader's pupils suddenly dilated, and a web‑like blue light shimmered beneath his skin.

Fengling's complexion changed abruptly: "It's a memory seal! Retreat quickly!"

"Boom!"

The self‑destruct blast was compressed by the Order Force Field into a two‑meter‑diameter energy sphere, which Robin cradled with one hand, his right arm's dragon scales flickering faintly.

From afar came Duke Huo Ke's snarling laugh: "Devourer knights, are you satisfied with this gift?"

Fengling's pocket watch suddenly split open: "Something's wrong! These knights are living bombs!"

As if confirming her words, the bodies of the second wave of charging knights swelled simultaneously.

Robin's mouth curled into a manic grin as he forced the energy sphere straight into the New Tang Sword: "Then let's see who can kill faster!"

Whirl‑patterned markings appeared on the blade, and a terrifying suction formed a vortex.

Fifty bodies about to explode were drawn toward the blade's tip, and at the moment of contact turned into pure streams of energy.

Robin's right eye became a vertical pupil, and crystalline dragon scales surfaced on his neck.

"Are you mad?!" Fengling flung a chain of Sand of Time around his waist, "Over‑consumption will accelerate dragon‑transformation!"

But it was too late to stop it.

After devouring fifty knights, the New Tang Sword erupted with stellar brilliance, and Robin swung a world‑piercing slash toward the direction from which Duke Huo Ke's voice came: "Found you."

Where the blade's light passed, space shattered like fragile mirrors, revealing Duke Huo Ke, hidden behind a magical barrier ten li away.

The raven emblem on his chest suddenly exploded, turning the death puppet into ash amid its screams.

"Cough, cough." Robin suddenly dropped to one knee, spitting blood that glittered with golden starbursts.

Fengling's sealing Rune crawled beneath his skin, barely suppressing the rampaging Dragon Blood.

From afar the long blare of horns sounded, and the third wave of the guard arrived bearing a siege‑class Arcane Cannon.

Just as the Arcane Cannon's charging glare was about to burst, countless Bauhinia flower petals suddenly drifted down from the night sky.

Each petal adhered precisely to the cannon's body, instantly corroding the gilt‑forged barrel into honeycomb‑shaped holes.

"The 'Withering Kiss' of the Bauhinia Flower Organization," Duke Huo Ke's roar suddenly caught in his throat, "you dare meddle in my affairs."

The Bauhinia Flower Organization is a secret underground group active in the Western and Northern realms; its power is mysterious, rumored to include Third Tier strongmen, so both the Knights' Guild and the Round Table Council turn a blind eye to its existence.

Primarily the organization conducts illicit commerce, never threatening the nobles' overt interests; coupled with its formidable strength, no noble wishes to provoke it.

An ivory folding fan pressed against the duke's back heart, Lady Aishar's voice lazy with a smile: "Darling, you're disturbing my guests."

The crack in Fengling's pocket watch suddenly seeped silver light, resonating with the sky‑full of Bauhinia flowers into a teleportation array.

The last thing Robin saw before darkness engulfed him was Duke Huo Ke's twisted visage.

The other half of the raven emblem on his chest was being ground into powder in Lady Aishar's palm.

"So the master of the Bauhinia Flower Organization is you," Duke Huo Ke said coldly, not turning around, yet after so many years sharing a bed he could not mistake the voice.

"I never intended to reveal myself; it's just that you've been too ruthless lately," Lady Aishar folded her fan, and her whole body slipped into the shadow behind her.

Inside the Bauhinia Flower Organization's secret bunker.

"Snap!"

Lady Aishar's slap sent Robin sprawling onto the carpet, his gilded vertical pupils forced back into human form.

"What a trouble‑seeker; if I hadn't promised Mei Lin Da back then, I would have saved you."

Fengling smiled as she approached: "Madam, this fellow is still useful; he's already become an Order Knight."

Lady Aishar's pupils narrowed slightly, surprised as she looked at the already fainted Robin.

"This guy really knows how to surprise! No wonder Mei Lin Da values him so much; such a young Order Knight, even on the Bavel continent, is a prodigy."

Duke Huo Ke's manor study.

Trash! the duke kicked over the crystal ball, shouting, "That bastard, how did he become an Order Knight, how old is he!"

The advisor kneeling on the ground trembled as he lifted a memory crystal, stammering, "but but according to the battle footage, he really is using a complete order force field."

Bullshit! the duke tore open his collar, revealing the throbbing star marrow crystal at his chest, "I sacrificed thirty thousand slaves to gain false order power, what does he rely on?"

His words were cut off abruptly.

The duke suddenly recalled that snowy night twenty years ago, when the Northern Territory Grand Duke was nailed to the gallows.

It is said that he laughed madly to his death, claiming his bloodline would eventually tear apart the false starry sky.

Go to the dungeon. He crushed the crystal in his fist, "Bring that old cat here; it's time to ask what exactly he stole from the Northern Territory all those years ago."

(End of chapter)