Aimless Ascension

?Gale could feel the change in the atmosphere the moment the carriage stopped before Stormhold. Although it was all silent there, Gale could sense the natural energy flow in disarray, as if some exceptional battle took place here.

That seemed to be the case as Gale found a good portion of his field in total waste, with burned crops, and the land in devastation.

"Woof!" His eyes moved towards the small white spot running towards him from afar. Gale noticed a bunch of wounded people bound nearer the house, too. The workers hadn't come to work yet, thankfully.

Vale lunged at him after reaching them and started to lick him in the face. After done with him, he moved to Xiaolin and rubbed himself on her.

"Doggie," Rong'er, who woke up from his sleep, said in glee and wanted to leap out of his mother's grasp.

Gale turned to Wang Li, who had a contemplative expression, wondering about the wreckage around here.

"It's safe now," he said, and only then did the woman let go of her child as Rong'er literally jumped at Vale. ｆ𝓇𝘦ℯ𝙬𝑒𝐛n𝐨νe𝙡.c𝑜𝗺

The two little boys ran after one another before Gale confronted Vale. "What happened, boy?"

Vale tilted his head and gestured towards the injured men bound near the house. "Ouu auu, ou ou, woof!" Vale lunged up in a ferocious action as if telling them what he did with them. "Rwrr, WOOF!"

Gale chuckled. "These people wanted to destroy our house, and you beat them up," Gale said as Vale woofed another time. Gale caressed his buddy. "Good job."

"Ouu aau."

After leaving the two women and the child to Vale's care, Gale crept towards the wounded men with a heavy heart. He hadn't thought that the worthless young master would pull up anything after the lesson he taught that day. At least the shadowy assassin Han Xiao had on his back should have some wit to help him understand the scope of things.

But apparently not.

There were six practitioners in total. Two silver rankers and four iron rankers—an extravagant force for this town, to be honest. Looks like the reach of the Han Clan was broader than he expected. Then again, he couldn't imagine people leaving Han Xiao with the leash of these practitioners.

He was petty and easy to aggravate. Nobody could and should take him seriously.

Anyway, these men. Most of them bore bite marks or impact from Vale's tackle. But Gale noticed a couple of them bearing dagger cuts on their ribs and waist.

A frown appeared on his brows as he considered the situation, looking around the surroundings.

Of course, Vale could use a knife if he liked, gritting it with his teeth, but that's profoundly inefficient. And Vale wasn't the type of spirit beast that would like to adopt the human way. If he were like that, he would've morphed into human form at his last breakthrough.

"What will you do with them?" Wang Li asked. Her face bore concerns over the state of the situation. Although his disciple was playing with Rong'er and Vale, her eyes were in their direction, worried.

"I caught another of them a couple of weeks ago," Gale said. "I handed him to the enforcers' office. He's probably free by now with some restrictions on his movement and warnings. If I handed these lots to the enforcers again, then this thing would never stop."

"You don't really want to eliminate them, do you?" she asked, eyes widening.

"Killing them? Nah," Gale said. "Do you know how many resources you need to cultivate silver rankers? True, it will hurt them to lose a couple of silver rankers, but that isn't the answer I would like to give them. Not now, at the very least"

"And what is your answer?"

"Of course, my answer is slavery, just as it always has been," Gale said, laughing brightly. "I might not look like it, but I'm a big contriver of slavery. Only through enslavement can you understand the teaching it gives to people."

Wang Li gave him a sceptical stare.

"In case you're wondering, it's a joke." Gale chuckled. "Though I'm not joking about putting them on a leash and getting them to work."

"Wouldn't that aggravate them more?" Wang Li asked, evident worry in her expression.

"Probably, but do I look like I care?" Gale snorted.

He would like to see what they would do. Send more people after him? He would put all of them on leashes and use them against them.

He wasn't a child playing on the rules of an adult anymore. These people had no clue what kind of hellish situation he had to go through to be here. Nothing they could do could surprise him.

"Anyway, you guys go settle in the house while I take care of them."

Wang Li nodded as she brought Linlin and Rong'er with them. Gale sent Vale with them just in case. 𝙛𝘳𝒆𝒆𝒘e𝗯n𝗼𝘷𝚎𝚕.𝒄૦𝓶

Then he turned his attention to the unconscious wounded men. Although they were bleeding, their superior healing factor was already working.

'Looks like I need to make some slave collar again,' he mused and felt a presence behind him.

"I was wondering when you'll reveal yourself," Gale said, not looking back.

Twilight was in her usual gothic look and eerie presence. The dark cloak covered her entirely save for the purple eyes, standing aloof a respectful distance away.

"Did you help Vale with goodwill," Gale asked, finally turning towards her, "or should I need to recompense you?"

"Goodwill," Twilight said, eventually.

"Were you spying here again, or just around and felt the disturbance?" Gale asked again, knitting his brows.

"I'm free for the commission you mentioned," she said, playing aloof. "I noticed your bonded beast fighting from afar and decided to help, even though he was holding himself well."

"Well, thank you for that," Gale said. Even if Vale could deal with these lots, he would wreck the field in the process. Whereas Twilight was the right person to do something silently. She had dealt with a silver rank personally, or else he would have to refurbish half of the things.