Chapter 86 - Enemy Attack

Hykal shook his head and took a sip of hot milk. "Hey, no need to thank me. This was nothing."

Sitting opposite from him, Cassius felt as if a weight had been lifted off his chest. Ever since he had that eerie feeling of being watched a week ago, he had been anxious about when the massacre would occur.

According to the original timeline, the Wind Elephant Sect's team would be ambushed five days after the exchange tournament, right as they arrived in East Sea County by train. The original Li Wei's memories were vague and filled with scenes of death, ferocious fighting, and blood everywhere.

It seemed only Li Wei managed to escape. However, things were different now. The Wind Elephant Sect was leaving on the third day instead of the fifth. Surely that would alter the subsequent events.

That experience of being watched filled Cassius with such a profound sense of unease that as soon as the opportunity arose, he expressed his concerns and suspicions to the elders and the sect master. However, it didn't seem to have much of an impact because all they did was advise everyone to be more vigilant.

Cassius felt helpless, but he refused to give up. The train to East Sea County would take seven or eight days, which gave him a week to convince the Wind Elephant Sect's higher-ups to change their attitude. Even if they still had to go to the Eastern Exchange Tournament, they could take a different route or travel with multiple sects for safety. There was still hope that the outcome would change. After all, hadn't he already altered many things during his first rewind?

Now, as a core disciple and an eighteen-year-old genius who had broken through to the level of a pugilist, his status and voice carried much more weight with the Wind Elephant Sect's higher-ups. If push came to shove, it wouldn't be too hard to force the team to make adjustments even if he had to be unreasonable.

But before that, Cassius had to send his teacher back home first. Lisa was already quite weak and he could see distinct strands of white in her originally black hair. If they really encountered an accident on the way to the Eastern Exchange Tournament, then...

Cassius couldn't bear to imagine such a scenario.

Perhaps one would say that it was just a past that didn't exist anymore—a predetermined shadow. The massacre of the Wind Elephant Sect had already happened, and Lisa was a ghost from history. What was the point of being so sentimental?

Because humans are inherently sentimental creatures, and Cassius was a living person with feelings. He wasn't a cold, violent machine that only sought power.

This piece of time-travel may be history to others, but these were all his real personal experiences. He joked and played around with his brothers, felt the weight of Lisa's expectations and care, and was even showered with praise from the crowd in the arena.

This wasn't a game to Cassius. It was a chapter of his life, albeit a special one. The current Cassius wasn't cold-hearted enough yet since it was only his second time-travel. Perhaps after a few more years and a couple dozen more time-travels, he would turn into a cold machine, willing to do anything to become stronger.

Pushing aside the strange thoughts in his mind, Cassius downed his hot milk in one gulp. He pushed open the wooden door and went to grab his luggage. An hour later, there were several black carriages lined up at the estate's entrance, with drivers in raincoats occasionally calming the horses. The black horses snorted and pawed at the ground.

"No need to see us off. We're leaving." Sect Master Belon waved to the masters of several sects who had come to send them off. These were the sects that had recently reached cooperation agreements with the Wind Elephant Sect. Clearly, the Wind Elephant Sect's outstanding performance in the Beiliu County Exchange Tournament had already borne fruit.

Recently, many originally neutral small and medium sects had been showing goodwill toward the Wind Elephant Sect with some even wanting to exchange disciples or teachers so they could learn from each other.

Without anyone realizing it, the Wind Elephant Sect's status had been elevated. Originally on the same level as the Golden Fist Sect and Black Crane Sect, the Wind Elephant Sect was beginning to approach the status of the Singing Water Sect. While, yes, comparing different sects' renown was a hollow measurement, the Wind Elephant Sect was different. It was accumulating strength through the production of a large amount of Lanxin Grass. It only needed a bit more time before it would make a substantial breakthrough.

Several large carriages swayed on the open road. Cassius and his four senior core disciples were squeezed inside the rightmost carriage, with his master Lisa sitting next to him. Their carriage was actually already quite spacious compared to the one next to them, where ten ordinary elite disciples were crammed into one carriage.

Two minutes later, everything was ready. The driver snapped the reins, and the black carriages shuddered forward, gradually accelerating. Splashing through muddy puddles, they moved farther away. Since the train station was in the western suburbs, the convoy had to cross the entire Beiliu City. A hazy mist of rain enveloped the rainy and foggy cityscape.

Raindrops fell through the heavy clouds, splashing onto the gray street. Tall buildings emerged in and out of the rain, with chimneys like cannon barrels pointing straight into the sky, the smoke mingling into the rain. It was a scene exactly like one would expect of the industrial revolution.

The carriage wheels rumbled forward, leaving everything behind. Finally, at around ten in the morning, the Wind Elephant Sect's convoy arrived at the western suburb station. Since the western suburb station was newly built, the area around the station hadn't yet developed into a neighborhood. The station stood alone, at least one or two kilometers away from the outskirts of Beiliu City. Holding umbrellas over their heads, the Wind Elephant Sect members waited on the rectangular platform for the train that would arrive in half an hour.

In a corner of the platform's edge, two solitary figures were talking.

"Listen to me, Teacher. Go home and take good care of yourself. When I return, I'll bring you good news from the Eastern Exchange Tournament."

Lisa had a smile on her pale face. For a moment, she seemed twenty years older, and looked like a nagging sixty-year-old lady. "Come closer, let me fix your clothes."

Cassius took two steps forward. Because he was so tall, he had to bend down slightly so Lisa could reach his collar.

"Chin up, chest out, look sharp and don't slouch." Lisa patted Cassius's chest and smoothed out the wrinkles on his clothes.

"Yes." Cassius obediently straightened up.

Lisa stood on tiptoe to straighten Cassius's messy collar and tucked the silver watch chain back into his chest pocket. "Don't lose this."

"Don't worry, I won't," Cassius assured her. He studied Lisa's graying hair without a word. "I'll come back from East Sea County with good news."

"That would be ideal." Lisa smiled. She took two steps back and nodded in satisfaction. "Very handsome. Alright,

cough, cough

... I should head to the other platform." She coughed twice and made to step away.

Cassius's eyes widened as he was suddenly hit with an intense sense of danger that surrounded him from all directions, like raging flames of murderous intent.

Boom!

A muffled thunderclap roared like a cannon, and gray rain poured down furiously from the sky. It looked like it was about to collapse. He turned abruptly to look around.

Surrounding the station under the pouring rain, a large group of black-cloaked figures rushed in with menacing and terrifying auras. The leader suddenly stopped and looked up. Underneath the hood, a pair of greedy, evil, blood-red eyes gleamed from within the shadows, and like cold arrows, etched themselves into Cassius's heart.

"Enemy attack!!!"