***

The next time Abdin opened his eyes, he was in the middle of the forest.

[You have lost three and a half years of pol. Your cultivation is at 159.]

Abdin sat down and checked his cultivation. Satisfied that everything was alright, he rose to his feet.

He had already decided to replace Biyakis with the castle, and he would now get ready to kill Silver Mask. He hadn't even gotten the chance to fight before they ambushed him.

The emperor of Biyakis, Silver Mask, and Nànata were all allies. That much was proven from the last loop. But there seemed to be more at stake. Some foreign worlds were involved in this... thing.

All along, Biyakis was aware of the undead army that infiltrated the empire. The question was, what were they up to?

The only way to unravel this mystery was to stay alive until the time it would unfold. He could easily discover everything if he could stay alive long enough.

Since his scent had returned, staying at Biyakis wasn't an option.

He immediately decided to go east to Shurein, he had some friends there. He would wait in their capital to see how things would unfold.

It was half a year ride to Shurein on horseback. That was too long. And if he wanted to fly there, he would have to summon his cousin again. But...

Abdin gritted his teeth. Yunus was the last person he wanted to see at the moment. Sadly, given the situation, he needed him.

***

Abdin flew toward Shurein as soon as he melded his soul with that of Yunusu.

It took him four months to reach, despite flying nonstop.

In terms of buildings, Shurein varied greatly from Biyakis. In Shurein, every city was filled with tall buildings. They didn't have a vast land mass like Biyakis, but they bridged that gap with the unique architecture of their homes.

A hundred-story building stood at the center of the capital. This building housed the headquarters of the most influential tribe in the empire, the Shen tribe - the tribe of the emperor. The commoners were never allowed near the building.

Other buildings spread across the capital weren't as tall as this building, but each could be about thirty or so stories high. The height of a building showed how influential its owners were.

Abdin walked through the capital city and found a motel. By now, the Shurein empire had already been in disarray. Soldiers had been stationed all over the city. He wouldn't have been able to enter easily if he didn't prepare a national ID card.

Ura had succeeded in invading Shurein, thanks to the alleged death of prince Nimu at the hands of the Shurein. The two squadrons on the borders had engaged them, and the two armies were already going all out in battle.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The media revealed how Biyakis tried to intercept the Ura army. It was said their army was overpowered. Commander Kininura, according to the news, had fallen as a result.

Following that, Biyakis tried to ally itself with Dadiyan to prevent the war. But then, the remnants of the Dikan empire that suffered at its hands, attacked the Biyakis capital.

That brought everything to a halt.

According to the latest newspaper, after a fortnight of investigations, Biyakis was able to confirm that Dadiyan had a hand in the recent attack on its capital. So they sent an army of mercenaries to take their revenge.

To put it simply, the four major empires on the continent had become war zones in less than six months.

Meanwhile, Silver Mask and others had sent men in search of the man who assassinated thousands of their men.

Silver desperately wanted to know how such a thing happened under his watch. But the culprit had fled to Shurein and there was no way to track him down easily without knowing his identity.

The days passed by slowly and the war among the empires raged on. Surprisingly, it hadn't been as intense as many expected and no empire stood out. All the battlefields had been maintaining a certain level of violence consistently as if they were waiting for something before they could escalate.

One amazing fact was that, for all this time, not a single city had fallen. Two to three months was quite a long time in a war between cultivators. After two months, winners and losers should have surfaced. Especially with how the newsmen had been so enthusiastic about reporting every little thing that had been happening.

Abdin felt that there was something amiss. Had the war been a mere facade to divert people's attention from something?

One day, as he meditate in his room, a knock came on the door.

He walked to the door and opened it.

A young lady stood there, her face partially covered with a veil. An elderly woman in maid garbs stood at her back.

The young woman with a covered face stared at Abdin and frowned deeply. She glared at him for a while before turning around and leaving.

The elderly maid gave him a hasty courtesy before she quickly followed.

Abdin stood patiently and waited.

Ten steps away, the lady pivoted around furiously and returned.

When she reached the door, she shoved him aside and barged inside, using her foot to shut the door with a bang.

The elderly maid shook her head with a bitter smile. She didn't try to go after her, instead, she stood by the door and waited.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Abdin stood before the furious lady. She had removed the veil by now but hadn't stopped glaring at him.

She was fair-skinned and tall. Her eyes and lips looked a lot like Juwaira's. She could have been Juwaira's twin except for her nose which wasn't as long as Juwaira's. But the resemblance was still there.

"Manisa..."

"Shut up you cheat!" She growled.

Abdin sighed deeply. Manisa was the daughter of emperor Shen and also princess Juwaira's half-sister.

Abdin met her when he was in Shurein the other time, seeking information about Juwaira.

Manisa had come of age at that time, and he needed a wife. So, the knot had been tied... Though only three people had known about the marriage.

Emperor Shen and the royalty didn't care much about Manisa, for many reasons. First, Manisa was the daughter of a maid. Second, there were about fifty other children born of maids across the empire.

The maids' royal children had access to the palace grounds and it was the duty of the palace to take care of them. But they could never inherit the throne.

This was why the ruling class didn't bother with them. Everyone had been vying for the likes of Juwaira to inherit the throne and the empire.

Abdin had only been looking for information about Juwaira and the empire, and that had brought him closer to Manisa who was looking for a suitable Dao companion.

After getting all the information he needed, he wanted to stay a bit longer with his wife before leaving for Biyakis. But then, he was running low on cultivation. Only two years had been left of his lifespan and so he fled.

He didn't want to reveal his secret to her and she wouldn't have believed him even if he revealed everything.

So Abdin snuck out one night when she was sleeping and left the young woman behind.

Manisa was furious. It was clear her husband didn't die or get kidnapped because he left a note behind.

Moreover, he had taken her Ayrid necklace with him. Why would he steal if he was committing suicide or something?

"Calm down and listen to me..." Abdin pleaded.