Adrian directly teleported to the teahouse in order to see the situation. The teahouse is actually quite devastated but he felt something different in a certain area of it. He felt an energy that is reminiscent to life energy but weaker.
The sound of soldiers marching and the occasional spell shots can be heard all throughout. It seems that the citizens are either dead or hiding really well because there are no sounds of screaming people in the city.
“Sirius, help me find the people of this teahouse. That goes the same for you Charon. Saena and Kanlaon will stay guard just in case that we have a lookout for invading enemy soldiers.” Adrian stated via their soul link.
Adrian hurriedly looked for Diao Chan and her crew as he does not know how long the city will last from the attacks of the invading army. He can sense that there seems to be a dragon in the sky. The dragon seems to be the azure dragon of the east since it is using lightning to attack the city.
The city could have had a fighting chance if the Vermillion Bird is still together but it is currently split into two. The only ones who could be blamed by the lack of protection is Chidaide but that old man is already dead. Adrian checked each door or the teahouse to see if there is someone hiding there and maybe point him to Diao Chan’s location.
If Adrian could not find her then he will just return back into the timeline. He did tell her that he would return to the teahouse so they should wait for him to get back. It is not his fault that they chose to flee rather than bunker themselves inside of the teahouse.
All the searching bore fruit early though as Charon found a secret room below Adrian’s room. The entrance is actually below the tea table placed inside the room. Adrian no longer needed to be discreet because time is of the essence so he just tore it up using his hands.
A stairway could be seen so Adrian rounded up all his soulbounds before going down. The way down is not lit but there is a source of light at the end of the tunnel. Adrian saw an enormous empty room with markings of a black butterfly scattered all throughout.
Adrian thought that is weird to have a secret room with nothing inside but black butterfly markings so he used his evil eye. In front of Adrian is actually some sort of barrier with the same butterfly markings. Adrian touched it and is amazed that it looks solid despite it looking more like an illusion barrier.
“It seems that this barrier makes it look like the room has nothing inside of it. It also has traces of the energy I felt that is similar to Life energy.” Adrian stated and proceeded to break the barrier using Nether Soul Strike.
Once Nether Soul Strike hit the barrier, it dissipated like smoke and revealed what it is concealing. About twelve people were huddled in a corner tending to a person with injuries. Adrian recognize the injured person and saw it was Diao Chan.
The black butterflies in the room then flew towards Diao Chan and attached themselves to her dress. She also wore this whole butterfly theme outfit that is much different to what she wore when she greeted Adrian. Adrian commanded Saena to treat her as her aides seem to not have a healer.
At first the aides were wary but then they recognized Adrian as the customer that their mistress took a liking to. Adrian commanded Saena to use her most powerful healing ability that was unlocked when she temporarily reached level 500.
“Saena use Perfect Heal” Adrian commanded.
Saena emitted a brilliant golden light that is even calming to the eyes and radiant to the skin. Diao Chan is hit by this light and her pained face disappeared and regained their color once more. It seems that it would take time for her to wake up so Adrian asked what happened.
One of the aides stated that they were attacked while they were preparing for the evacuation. A giant blue lightning came down from the skies and struck the entire city. The city’s barrier that protected them from large scale attacks broke immediately without even putting up a fight.
When the barrier is broken, the assailants started flooding the city and attacked anyone in sight. The adventurers resting at the teahouse either joined the fight or fled the city. One soldier from the invading forces managed to reach the teahouse and their mistress, Diao Chan, used her magic to protect them.
It seems that she is from a fallen clan called the Heihudie which is a fallen clan. She can use illusions and other tricks like poison but she does lack firepower. She managed to kill the invading soldier at the cost of being attacked.
They retreated to the secret room and Diao Chan used a barrier to conceal and protect them. The only complication is that she passed out after casting the barrier. They thought that their mistress is done for and they were ready to die with her but Adrian arrived.
“It seems that the enemy soldiers are no longer interested in this place because all the belongings are either looted or broken. So you can be assured that they will not search the place anymore. Let us just hope that the azure dragon in the sky will not know of our presence.” Adrian stated.
“Azure Dragon!” All the aides shouted in surprise.
It seems that they were not able to see who attacked them and their faces became pale. They are being attacked by one of the divine beasts in the eastern continent which is the Azure Dragon. The aides told Adrian that it might be the empire devoted to the azure dragon invading them.
“Why isn’t the Vermillion Bird doing anything!?” Diao Chan stated in a weak voice as she regained consciousness.
“Because the Vermillion Bird is currently weak and in a dilemma. Anyways, you are now awake so tell me the coordinates of the area you want to be sent to.” Adrian answered in a roundabout way because he does not want them to know of the Vermillion Bird’s plight.
“Give our respected guest the map so he knows the location that he is sending us.” Diao Chan commanded in a weak breath.
The aide gave Adrian a map with a black butterfly insignia as a mark of the location. It seems to be a forest that is about a thousand miles south from their current location. Adrian could speculate that Diao Chan know of his origins.
Adrian decided not to ask anymore as he will be gone in this timeline anyway. He does not need to speculate much and he is just returning the favor. By the looks of it, a few people surviving will not change the timeline much.
Adrian will just attribute saving a few people to an imp’s mischievous nature. Take it as a whim and the luck of those who encountered him in the past.
“Everyone, do not move from your position or else do not blame me if you get flung somewhere faraway.” Adrian stated that made all the aides group up and clutch each other.
A magic circle appeared below them and the azure dragon felt a large amount of magical energy from the teahouse. The azure dragon did not bother to look at the source in depth so it just launched a big attack towards the teahouse. Luckily, all of them managed to be transported before the lightning hit their location. The lightning attacked only felt charred remains of the teahouse.
They reappeared in a forest covered with mist unknown to the danger that they have safely averted. The group thanked Adrian for getting them out of that situation. Some even wanted to know his name but Adrian just politely declined to give his name. He does not want to get registered in a history book if the people he save even managed to record it. .
“Thank you, my lord. We are eternally grateful to you for helping us. It is not much but please keep this as a token of our appreciation.” Diao Chan stated as she handed a trinket to Adrian despite still being weak as she is being aided by her attendant.
Adrian received the trinket that is shaped like a butterfly that is made of a black crystal. Adrian is told to keep it so that whenever he or his descendants need help in the eastern continent then he just needed to present it to any teahouse. Adrian did not know if he would ever use it considering at present he is banned in the eastern continent.
“I should get going then. I have fulfilled the end of my bargain. I hope we would meet again in the future in much better circumstances.” Adrian stated but it is just for formality and he did not really mean it.
Adrian teleported back and he is greeted with a sight of pure destruction. He did not need to become sentimental at this scene because this is not the first time he has experienced it. He immediately looked for the temporal rift he hid in order to jump back into the present.
Everything would have become perfect if a blue thunderbolt is not hurled towards Adrian and his soulbounds. Adrian is busy enlarging the portal so Kanlaon had to counter the thunderbolt with his breath attack. Sirius charged at the azure dragon to divert its attention from the group.
Adrian picked up the pace because he could feel the great mass of energy from the sky. He could feel his senses telling him that he would be in great danger if he did not escape now. Adrian forcefully opened the temporal rift.
The rift was a bit unstable but it could hold out. Adrian looked back only to see his soulbounds heavily damaged. It seems that a divine beast lives up to its name as a great beast that could pierce the heavens. Adrian immediately sealed all his soulbounds immediately and dove towards the temporal rift.
The dark clouds rumbled and a great catastrophe of lightning showered the destroyed city once more. This time the city is reduced to ashes and the azure dragon left as there are no traces of the powerful energy it detected.
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