Dao Lao quickly counted roughly. There were about sixty riders ahead. The Elven cavalry showed no emotion on their faces, making it difficult for Hao Yun to discern whether they were friend or foe. However, soon after, these riders cooperatively formed a semicircular formation in front of Hao Yun and Dao Lao. Blocking the route for Hao Yun and Dao Lao to enter the forest, they also created a flanking position, ready to launch an attack at any moment.

After the cavalry took their positions, sharp and piercing whistles came from the sky behind Hao Yun and Dao Lao. Compared to Dao Lao, who was seasoned in battle, Hao Yun was naturally taken aback by the oppressive feeling of the cavalry and the sudden whistling. Hao Yun hurriedly covered his ears, instinctively cringed his neck, and turned to look up at the sky. Then, he saw several giant birds swiftly diving towards them.

Seeing this, a chill ran down Hao Yun's back, and he immediately raised his Speed and Passion Blade in a defensive stance. Dao Lao also swiftly reached out and conjured his long staff out of thin air, closely watching the diving giant birds, ready to fight at any moment.

However, when these giant birds swooped down to a few meters above Hao Yun and Dao Lao, they suddenly lifted their bodies and forcefully flapped their huge wings, pulling their entire bodies upwards abruptly, suspending themselves directly in the air about two meters above Hao Yun and Dao Lao. The birds' maneuver caused a strong gust of wind on the ground. For a moment, dust mixed with grass, mud, and sand flew around, making it difficult for Hao Yun and Dao Lao to open their eyes and see clearly.

Facing so many enemies upfront while unable to open his eyes to see their movements, Hao Yun, whose combat experience was close to zero, felt a bit panicked for a moment. Fortunately, at this moment, Dao Lao's voice came from his consciousness: "Hao Yun, don't panic! Your protective shield can provide you with protection at any time, even if the opponent wants to attack you, they won't succeed! Stay still where you are! I'll protect you!"

Hearing Dao Lao's voice, Hao Yun felt much calmer, and a warmth arose in his heart. Despite Dao Lao often appearing disdainful and even scolding him for no reason, at this critical moment, Dao Lao still thought of protecting Hao Yun's safety at the first time. Even though Hao Yun was Dao Lao's assistant, when it came to protection, it should be Hao Yun protecting Dao Lao.

So, Hao Yun followed Dao Lao's instructions and stayed still, trying to restore his vision while holding his Speed and Passion Blade horizontally in front of his chest for defense, ready to respond to any sudden situations.

Soon, the strong wind around them dissipated, leaving only a soft breeze that seemed to be generated by giant fans, along with the flapping sound of wings. At this moment, Hao Yun's vision finally returned to normal. He quickly looked up again to locate the position of the large birds. Then he saw that the several giant birds were still hovering above their heads.

However, these giant birds were just hovering there and had no intention of attacking Hao Yun and Dao Lao. They seemed to be waiting for Hao Yun and Master Gu's vision to return to normal. Then, they would change the way and frequency of flapping their wings again so that they could land steadily in front of Hao Yun and Dao Lao. Although these giant birds had no intention of attacking Hao Yun and Master Gu, after landing in front of them, they let out several sharp screams towards them. It seemed that they were demonstrating to Hao Yun and Master Gu, warning them not to act rashly.

It was only at this moment that Hao Yun finally saw the appearance of the giant birds in front of him clearly. The appearance of these giant birds was very similar to the extinct prehistoric giant eagles on Earth, except that their heads, bodies, and claws were all clad in shiny silver armor, making them look even more intimidating.

Additionally, Hao Yun also noticed that each giant eagle carried an Elven warrior fully armed with a crossbow on their backs and a large curved sword. However, the helmets worn by these Elven warriors were different from those of the riders. The helmets worn by these Elven warriors were not only fully enclosed heavy helmets, but also the face masks on the front of their helmets were fully enclosed, completely hiding their eyes, nose, and mouth behind the face mask, making it impossible for Hao Yun to distinguish the appearance and gender of these Elven soldiers.

As this was the first time Hao Yun had encountered fully armed combat personnel, even though he knew he had decent strength, he still doubted whether he could deal with these Elven soldiers. Hao Yun looked at the cavalry in the direction of the forest, then at the several giant eagles blocking their retreat to the cliff. He nervously swallowed a dry spit and asked Dao Lao, "We've been surrounded, what should we do now?"

Dao Lao showed Hao Yun to stay calm and reminded him that they were outnumbered, so they must not act rashly. Then, Dao Lao began to observe the current situation. After the intimidating giant eagles howled at them for a few times, they tilted their heads curiously and stared at them, not making any intimidating moves. As for the riders, they formed a semi-circular enclosure about ten meters away from Hao Yun and Dao Lao and stood still, staring at them.

"It seems that they don't intend to conflict with us. Perhaps, this army was specifically dispatched for the battle that occurred on the slope. We just had the misfortune of encountering them." Dao Lao said. Because he confirmed that the other party had no intention of launching an attack, Dao Lao's tone at this time was also slightly eased.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"According to the system display, the combat effectiveness of these soldiers is average, nothing to fear. Moreover, their luck levels are only at level one or two, indicating that they have not been affected by the mold spirit energy. So, we don't need to worry about how much threat they pose to us. As long as you keep the protective shield in a ready state, these Elven people will never be able to harm you." Dao Lao continued.

Hao Yun nodded to indicate his understanding. At the first encounter with the cavalry, he immediately commanded the system to switch the defense function from standby mode to continuous activation. Of course, besides being defensively prepared, according to the method taught by Dao Lao earlier, Hao Yun quickly scanned the Elven warrior closest to him using the system.

Then, Hao Yun shared the results of his scan with Dao Lao, saying, "Judging by the bright silver armor worn by these soldiers, as well as the patterns on the armor and the two cross-shaped symbols on the scapula, these soldiers should be the kin of the Elven warriors who died in battle. And, if our guess was correct, they should be from the Light tribe of Elves."

"Hmm, I suppose so. And, they didn't immediately attack us, which does indeed align with the style of creatures who advocate white magic," Dao Lao said with a somewhat playful tone.

"So, should we greet them? After all, this continuous standoff isn't getting us anywhere. And they don't seem inclined to initiate a greeting themselves," Hao Yun suggested.

Dao Lao nodded in agreement with Hao Yun's suggestion. At the same time, Dao Lao also indicated that he would take care of greeting the beings from the other world. After all, he had rich experience in this regard. Hao Yun just needed to continue holding a defensive posture in place so that he could respond to any sudden changes.

So, with a friendly expression, Dao Lao took a step forward, cleared his throat, and prepared to break the somewhat tense situation by speaking first. But before Dao Lao could speak, a gust of wind suddenly appeared above Hao Yun and Dao Lao. The two immediately looked up. Then, they saw a giant eagle had flown above them at some point and was swiftly descending towards their location in the same manner.

As the giant eagle landed neatly in front of Hao Yun and Dao Lao, a female Elven creature, dressed in a black robe with slightly purplish-blue skin and long emerald green hair, smiled as she jumped off the eagle's back.

"Hehehe, you're much faster than I imagined! Hehehe, I thought those old fogies in the Spirit City would have to calculate the possible consequences of their actions multiple times before daring to send someone to capture me! But, why did they only send you two? They really underestimate me, don't they?" The Elven woman had a very sexy voice as she spoke, full of disdain for the Spirit Realm.

Because Hao Yun's system contained basic personal information about Elinor, he recognized her identity at first sight. This Elven woman was none other than Elinor herself. However, compared to the personal information provided by the system, Elinor in person was obviously more beautiful.

However, upon seeing Elinor in person, Hao Yun was not impressed by her beauty. Just like the first time he saw a photo of Elinor, he felt no closeness to her. Moreover, besides feeling a sense of prideful distance from Elinor, Hao Yun also sensed a hint of charm and danger from her crescent-shaped smiling eyes.

Although Hao Yun had recognized the Elven woman in front of him as Elinor, he still restrained himself and asked, "Elinor? Are you Elinor?"

Elinor nodded politely in response to Hao Yun's question, "Yes, I am Elinor, Elinor Adagua, the incarnate guardian of the Elf planet. Ah, thank you both so much! For the sake of a little girl like me, you two gentlemen had to come all the way to the Elf planet. I really feel a little guilty about it! Hehehe."

After speaking, Elinor also pretended to clasp her hands together, with her right hand outside and her left hand inside, lowering her gaze slightly and slightly bending her body to perform a courteous salute to Hao Yun and Dao Lao.

Seeing this, Dao Lao also clasped his fists and bowed insincerely in return, "Hahaha! No trouble, no trouble! I'm called-- uh-- you can call me Master Dao! This young brother is my assistant, named Hao Yun, you can call him Master Hao. I'm just acting on the orders of Judge Yan, and I hope the soul guide can forgive me!"

Dao Lao didn't hide anything, coming forward to state his purpose directly. Of course, Dao Lao also intentionally concealed his and Hao Yun's true identities. First, to prevent any potential mold spirit energy from being alarmed and fleeing prematurely; second, Dao Lao wanted to test Elinor's understanding of his and Hao Yun's actual situation.

However, Hao Yun still questioned Dao Lao about this, asking directly if revealing his name wouldn't expose their true identities and startle the mold spirit energy. Dao Lao assured Hao Yun that he could relax. Because Hao Yun had only recently joined the ranks of the soul guides in the Spirit Realm, for Elinor, who had been hiding due to her wrongdoing, there was no possibility of her knowing Hao Yun's identity.

As for the title of Master Dao, Dao Lao admitted that this surname was quite common in the underworld, and there were many priests referred to as Master Dao. Since Dao Lao had never met Elinor in person, and no one had mentioned him in front of Elinor, naturally, she would not know his true identity. This was also why Judge Yan had requested Dao Lao to investigate the mold spirit energy here and apprehend Elinor.

While Dao Yun followed Dao Lao's lead in greeting Elinor with courtesy, he also noticed that Dao Lao performed the gesture of clasping his right hand around his left fist while bowing to Elinor. Since the Huaxia region where Hao Yun came from also had a similar gesture of clasping hands, Hao Yun had previously learned about the ways of performing this gesture. If the left palm was placed over the right fist, it was called "Jibai," indicating humility and reason; if it was the right palm over the left fist, it was called "Xiongbai," with a very obvious hostile meaning.

So it was easy to see that although Dao Lao appeared to be respectful in greeting Elinor, he was actually indicating to Elinor that his intentions were not very harmonious.