After waiting for a while, Four said softly, "Boss those two girls are related to the White Clan. Do you think people will think we are associated with them? After all, they have a bad reputation in Port Kiar. We might not get many recruits, this way." Four knew that he was not in a position to reject the two girls. But he could make his stance known to Aile indirectly.
Aile said, "We get paid to do all sort of stuff, no one will pay attention to this."
"But we are very close to them."
Sigh, "Four, do you know that Ellie is Diana's daughter."
Four had a surprised expression.
"She will live with us, so no need to think of her as an outsider and do not make things hard for her. She and Zero will probably live with Diana."
Four came to the realization and nodded, "But that Violet, I do not like her."
Aile chuckled.
Then they waited and soon came a bloodied group. It was the group of royals led by Marquis Andrew. Their number was a third of what they had. Their ally, the white-robed group also had one heavily injured person, and two of them were missing. Everyone else that survived was covered in blood and had an angry countenance. Their expressions were horror-stricken, and they were using everything they had to move their feet.
Aile was tempted to just end them all, but he knew that the royals will just send more people. Their deaths will only bring more people to Port Kiar, and more investigation will be conducted. It would be better to let them be as they will take a long time to recover. A weaken known force was better than strong new force.
They passed, both Hazel and Four were surprised by the extent of damage they had faced. Hazel had observed Duke Andrew and saw the many bruises, cuts and burn marks on him. She thought that she and her people would have been just as injured had they stayed. She looked at Aile and was grateful once more. Four was also happy that his brothers did not have to go through that.
Behind Four who was evaluating the lifeless group, Hazel came to Aile and gave him a tight meaningful hug, and Aile simply patted and stroked her. Not long after, came one of the missing white-robed men from the royal side. He was relatively better as he did not have any outside wound. But he was dragging himself very listlessly.
Seeing that he had an intact white robe, Aile's eyes had a malignant intent, and he swiftly moved towards him.
Aile had detected the fifth stage of cultivation from him, but in his current state, he was in no position to fight. Aile arrived in front of him and tried to end him with a quick chop to his neck.
He just barely dodged it, as he had a lot of experience and was not the same as common fifth stage cultivators of Port Kiar.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" he said with a barely audible voice.
Aile did not reply and went for another blow.
Crack
He used his hand to block Aile's attack, but from the impact, his hand fragmented. This surprised Aile, it seems that this person was weakened from the inside, he then remembered the poison of the flying Milli-Spiders. If he was infected by that, it would make sense to break the bones of such a fifth stage cultivator with a simple strike.
Aile went with another chop to his neck, and with a pulverized hand, he could not dodge.
Ke-ke-Crack
He tried to use his other hand, but in his weakened state, he was far too slow to react.
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He fell down lifelessly. His head was twisted to the side as his lifeless eyes stared ahead. Aile took his robe and drew a fire gathering rune on his chest. After taking everything he had, Aile pushed him down the side of the mountain.
He rolled for a while before reaching a ledge and catching fire. With the intense sun, the burning fire was barely visible. Aile used the Air and Water gathering ruin to clean the robe. Wearing the white robe, he resembled the people that came with Marquis Andrew.
Hazel and Four realized Aile's plan, not only was he planning to kill the old man from the White Clan, but he was also planning to blame it on the royal group, wearing their attire.
He then went back to Hazel and Four. Four did not care about his action. However, Hazel was feeling a little conflicted for a second. Then she hardened her resolve, she knew that Aile was doing this so that they do not face the issues with the White Clan's hunt for them. Noticing Aile's gaze, Hazel came and held his hand to show her support. Aile nodded at her, and they waited for more people.
Soon they were all surprised once again.
Every couple of minutes, a group of one, two or three people would come, and they were all horror-stricken, drained of energy with a zombified expression. They had large wounds that were still bleeding and leaving a trail of blood as they moved towards Port Kiar. They were the group from the White Clan's side.
Aile immediately realized the problem, he had noticed the disregard for each other between Hunter and the old man. They did not talk or show politeness to each other. On top of that, there was Duke White's son. The group had three leaders, possibly only Hunter would care about the people, and the others would just use them as cannon fodder.
The fact that they did not come as a team meant that the people felt they would be safer going alone rather than following whoever had the leading position. Clearly, in such a situation Aile and the others observed many worst wounds and fewer people going towards Port Kiar.
Not long after Aile saw the old man who was injured, carrying Arnold by the back of his clothes towards the ridge. They were still very far, but they would arrive soon. He was in better shape than many. Aile wore the black robe on top of his white one.
Four said, "Boss, are you not going as the royal's ally?"
"I am, but would it not be more convincing if they found that out accidentally during the fight?"
Aile then looked at him and said, "Four, you stay hidden and do not come out."
Hazel asked, "What about me?"
"Just show yourself, but do not interfere in the fight." She was disguised, so no one will know who she was. But nonetheless, if she was standing there with her cultivation, it would stop other people from interfering if they showed up.
"Ok."
It did not take very long for the old man to arrive close to where Aile was at. Aile knew that a surprise attack would not work on someone at the 6th stage and above of cultivation, because of their natural awareness after activating their spiritual sense.
After reaching the 6th stage, the natural awareness of people increased by a large margin.
Aile blocked the old man's path.
"Get out of the way!"
Aile replied, "But I was just waiting for you."
The old man had his vigilance heighten.
"Do you know who we are?"
"It does not matter, I just want that fortuitous encounter that you stole from me." Aile knew that if he found so many useful things in the journey, someone at this old man's level would definitely have found a better one. This is a good enough excuse to start a fight and prevent it from ever linking to him, Hazel, and Sara, even if he kills this old man.
The old man's countenance became grim, "Were you following us?"
Aile chuckled inside, his plan worked, "Maybe, maybe not... I just want what belongs to me."
Aile's words made the old man enraged, but he had to stay calm because he had Arnold with him. He could not allow any harm to befall on Arnold.
The old man released his 6th level of cultivation pressure and focused on Aile. Aile's spirit surmounting cultivation was a passive type, it would give him more resistance in such a situation. As he was very close to the 5th stage, the pressure of a weakened sixth stage had no effect on him.
Aile then just attacked the old man. He was kicking and punching at the critical and deadly locations of his body, his neck, heart and lungs. If he managed to dodge and was about to counterattack, Aile would aim at Arnold, forcing him to remain on the defence.
As he was already drained, this defensive fighting made him more tired. He was also making mistakes as he kept on getting enraged at Aile's shameless fighting style. Every time he calculated and got ready for the offensive Aile would make use of the dead weight Arnold to make him stay on the defensive.
This was just the same as him receiving a beating with no way to retaliate. The angrier he got, the more mistakes he made, giving Aile more opportunities to hurt him an in some occasions humiliate him, like slapping him. This move did not really hurt him, but the disgrace maddened him making him slip evermore.