He scratched his forehead thoughtfully and then removed a sheet of paper from his bag of holding and handed it to her. "Some people may come and claim this land to be their farmland. Show them this paper. It is proof of my ownership from the village head. Drive them away if they pester. But don't kill them."

He turned to go, but Juwaira, who was still dumbstruck from his earlier request to marry her, stopped him. "I can't marry you. I don't mean disrespect or anything. You are noble and powerful, I just don't want to get married. You surely have other things you want. I need you to kill her. Having this tattoo stamped on me makes me feel like I'm in bondage."

Abdin turned around and shook his head. "You don't have anything I need."

He was already halfway to his room when she ran past him and blocked his way. "I will... marry you." She forced herself to say. "But the marriage won't be consummated forever. Agreed?"

"Agreed, " Abdin replied without hesitation.

Juwaira frowned at his quick response. The goal of the proposed marriage immediately dawned on her, and that made her feel more abashed.

"We should keep the marriage thing aside until the need arises," Abdin said. "I will pay the dowry beforehand if you want."

Juwaira nodded.

The two people made a promise to get married. A marriage of convenience, or in other words, a contract.

He was already on his way when he remembered something and quickly turned around and whispered something to her before he left. The young woman stood with her mouth wide open and her eyes glued to his retreating back.

Abdin returned to his room and resumed his meditation, leaving the castle temporarily on her watch.

***

He was oblivious to the amount of time that had passed before he awakened to find his core filled with a bright glow.

The glow gradually dimmed and everything returned to normal. There were new pol years apart from the ones he started the meditation with.

[Congratulations. You have gained twenty-seven years of pol after nineteen days of meditation. Your overall cultivation has increased to 126 years. Now remains 39 years for your demise.]

He checked the ayrid watch on his wrist and found he had indeed spent nineteen days locked up in his room. However, gaining more than twenty years in just nineteen days was worth it. This was something that would shake the entire Biyakis when the news got out.

As he rose higher in cultivation, the years also needed more ki and would need a longer amount of time to cultivate. But that would only encourage him to try harder.

Now, what might have happened to the castle in his absence?

He had spent nineteen days locked up. One problem was most lands were owned by someone. The forest he was currently in belonged to a small village called Duna. Over the past few days, the villagers must have seen the mist and consequently the castle. The common villagers weren't the problem. The cultivation sect overseeing them was the problem.

Before he went into meditation, he had left the certificate of ownership of the farmland with Juwaira and had whispered what she would do when the villagers came. The princess was civilized and clever, so she wouldn't wake him if it wasn't anything beyond her control. She would try to show her usefulness any chance she would have.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

He stood and stretched his sour limbs before he left the room. On his way out, he removed the protective charms which served as a shield against spiritual sense and intrusion. There was a big black charm that would summon a glowing wall if an intruder tried to break in. There was also a booby trap charm to deter any intruder who scaled the first.

Abdin was certain that Juwaira and her team wouldn't do anything stupid. But he must be on his guard because of people like Laluri.

His spiritual sense arrived at the gates, welcoming the sound of metal on metal. He extended his sense further beyond the walls of the castle, where he saw burning arrows raining down upon the city gates and walls.

Meanwhile, he had arrived at the staircase and was scrutinizing the gates from inside. Not a scratch. And that was what he expected. In all his travels around this continent, he was yet to meet any cultivator capable of breaking open the gates.

He turned his spiritual sense toward the top of the wall. Juwaira, Denyanu, and almost everyone in the castle were up there. None of them seemed hurt but they were all breathing hard.

Juwaira climbed down the foot of the stairs to meet him. She had felt his presence with her spiritual sense.

She stood a few steps away glaring at him with her hands on her hips. "Your prediction was wrong," she said accusingly.

Abdin frowned. He had whispered some predictions to her on what might happen while he was in meditation. It would be a surprise for him to be wrong since they weren't just any predictions. He had simulated everything more than ten times.

"You said the villagers from Duna will come in three days, and that they would return two weeks later with people from Will of San."

Sure, that was what he whispered to her.

From the castle to Duna was a three to four days' journey. When the villagers tried and got denied entry to the castle, the next thing they would do was to alert the sect in charge of them. That sect was Will of San. From Duna to Will of San was a seven-day trip. So it would take three days before the villagers of Duna arrived, and three days to return and tell the village chief of their experience. The chief would then send a message via ayrid to Will of San - as far as Abdin knew, the chief was rich enough to send such a message no matter the cost - and it would take about ten days for the dispatch from the sect to arrive on their doorstep, that's if they immediately agreed to come.

"Well, it was just an estimation," Abdin said.

The lady shook her head. "Seven days. It took a mere seven days for Will of San to come knocking at our door."

Abdin furrowed his brows. That was... fast. Unless Will of San knew about the castle before Duna, which would be strange. Even if someone from the sect espied the castle, it would still take some time before he could return to relay the news. And it would take time for the sect to send an observation team. Seven days was too short. Unless a core formation expert that could fly was involved.

Laluri's face came to his mind at that moment. It wouldn't be a surprise if the woman knew someone at Will of San. She could send them a message via ayrid to alert them of what was at stake. And the sect wouldn't be the only organization she would contact, there was a chance she had contacted her kinsmen in Nánata and alerted them of the castle and the bountiful ki it held.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt the need to quickly do away with the woman.

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to take care of her. At least, the enemy outside should be dealt with first.

He took the rest of the stairs up the wall and looked over.

There were about twenty rows of soldiers waiting outside the castle. Each row had at least fifty men. Some fifty cultivators stood to watch ahead of the army.

The cultivators were all mounted on their horses, which was enough to make Abdin's mind a bit at ease. Seeing a mounted cultivator meant he wasn't yet a core formation expert. Core formation experts needed no mount since they could fly and walk in the air.

There was also a man among them whose cultivation evaded Abdin. There was not a trace of pol in the man's body, but Abdin was sure he was a cultivator. He wore a silver-colored mask and a long robe made of leather, which didn't look like battle attire at all. His was the only horse without a saddle or a bridle. It didn't help that his eyes were not visible; his mask covered everything as though he needed no eyes to see.

Abdin stared at him for a while before he turned to the other side. A few among the footmen were without any cultivation. From their attire, it was likely they were from Duna, while the riders were from Will of San.