When the gladiator fight was over, Tang Shaoyang recalled all the spirits back, and the field was empty right after, leaving Tang Shaoyang, Zara, and Viona. When Tang Shaoyang stood up, the dirt chair disintegrated into the dust. He walked toward Viona, knowing well that the woman was exhausted. Not physically exhausted, but mentally exhausted. Four hours of battle was enough to wear out her mental as he had once experienced when he fought the zombie horde when he was mentally exhausted instead of physically exhausted.
"Let's go back to the city." Tang Shaoyang was not going to do anything with Viona, not her condition now. The city in his mouth was not Yoram City they captured early, but Astium City. "What are you doing, girl? You will be returning to Astium City, not Yoram City. So you can use your feet to walk."
Viona's face turned red from embarrassment. She was about to hop onto the angel as she thought they would be returning to the main camp with the others. She secretly glanced at Tang Shaoyang and found out the latter was merely shaking his head. It was a hilarious event for sure.
"We will rest in Astium City tonight and will regroup with the main force tomorrow morning." Tang Shaoyang walked toward Astium City, followed by Viona and Zara. Viona was so embarrassed that she did not realize the knight's dead bodies were gone. Tang Shaoyang had taken care of the bodies during the fight.
The west gate of Astium City was still wide open with no one around. The civilians were too scared to go out because of the knight. "Where should we sleep?" Tang Shaoyang realized that they had no place to sleep tonight. "Wait… If the knights are ditching the city, the lord castle should be empty, right? Should we go there instead?"
Tang Shaoyang expanded his [Spirit Eyes] to find the lord's residence. It was so easy to find the lord's residence. He just needed to find the biggest house in the city. Sure enough, he found the biggest residence at the city's center. The roads in the city were empty. No one roamed around, including the civilians and the guards.
"They truly want to abandon Astium City." Tang Shaoyang muttered in a low voice as he found out the lord's residence was empty. He scanned the residence through Spirit Eyes and found no one inside. "You can rest here. I am going to go patrol a little longer."
He did not wait for Viona to respond to him as he flew to the sky. Viona looked at the disappeared figure in the sky and let out a sigh. "I am prepared for something, but it seems he does not have interest in me." She muttered in a low voice before entering the residence. She was an ex-noble, so she was familiar with this kind of residence and easily found a room for her to sleep.
"You are not going to sleep with her?" Zara flew next to Tang Shaoyang and asked. She looked at the figure who had just entered the big residence. "What are you talking about? If she does not get enough rest, she might die in the main battle." Tang Shaoyang looked around the city with Spirit Eyes. "Let's do the clean-up. Some knights still run around in the city."
"So this is why you don't recall me back?" Zara said with a disappointed tone. She thought she would do something with Tang Shaoyang tonight, but she was asked to kill the remaining knights in the city instead. "I am not in the mood for that." He shook his head as he pointed his finger toward the north. "You go there, and I will go in the opposite direction."
Just like that, Tang Shaoyang spent his remaining night killing the knights. He sat on the east gate when he finished cleaning up, looking at the sun slowly rising. "I am going back to the Spiritual World." Those were Zara's last words before she disappeared.
Tang Shaoyang swayed his feet in the air as he looked at the approaching force. "They are here." He hopped down from the twenty meters wall and headed toward the incoming force. "Who are you? Kneel and raise your hands up!" The vanguard noticed Tang Shaoyang and raised their swords toward him.
Tang Shaoyang was speechless as his own subordinates did not recognize him. But then again, he had not shown his face in front of Vice Marshal Allan's knights yet. 'I can overlook this, I guess," He was about to call the General, but the beastmen followed the knights.
The beastmen slapped the knight's backhead and knelt toward Tang Shaoyang. "We greet the Great Lord." The five beastmen who came to check the situation knelt in front of Tang Shaoyang. Realizing the knights did not kneel along with them, the Gator Beastmen turned his head and sent a sharp glare. "What are you doing? Greet your Lord, you impudent knights!"
They were from Gator Tribes, so they recognized Tang Shaoyang. The first thing Goldien did after joining the empire was to share what the Emperor looked like. Goldien did not want one of his tribesmen not to recognize their Lord and disrespect him later. If that happened, the Gator Tribe would face extermination.
The knights snapped out of their dazes and knelt toward Tang Shaoyang. "We greet the Great Lord." Even though they were confused, the knights followed the Gator anyway. From how the beastmen acted, the man was someone in a high position.
"Rise." Tang Shaoyang waved his hand. The gator and the knights stood up as he looked toward the gator. "Lead me to General Goldien."
"Yes, My Lord." The Gator responded swiftly and respectfully. "Please follow me, Great Lord." Just like that, he followed the gator to the main camp. They arrived in front of the camp, and the gator was about to call the Generals, but Tang Shaoyang waved his hand. "It's okay. There's no need for you to inform them. Good job and return to your post."
"Yes, My Lord." The gator bowed his head and left the camp as Tang Shaoyang entered the camp.
"I told you guys not to disrupt us when we are in-" General Arsi was about to reprimand the intruder but stopped midway when he saw Tang Shaoyang. He knelt and placed his face on the ground.. "I apologize for my disrespect, My Lord. Please punish me!"