On the Way to Cactus

"Do you know Windyce, are you friends?" Lee was full of fear towards Rissan.

Rissan was old, but absolutely a fighting master, even a fighting grandmaster. His darts were accurate and powerful and his fighting skills were simple but efficient. Even Tang, who was always fearless, was extremely docile in front of him and did not dare to resist. Also, He's even a good doctor, saved Lee's life.

"Friends?" Rissan sneered and said no more.

"Rissan, you are so great, I am so weak. You must teach me your unique skills, so I can protect myself," Tang ran over and grabbed Rissan's leg.

His baby face, mighty body and his words made everyone feel sick.

Rissan secretly exerted force and threw Tang out.

"Where we are?" Lee asked.

"There is actually a gathering place for robbers nearby, so we asked them to vacate a few rooms for us," Barry said.

They even robbed the robbers.

Lee remembered it was Barry and Bell who killed three of his guards several days ago. There was real hatred between them. But his fate was in the hands of their master, who saved his life.

"Why did you save me?" Lee asked.

"I want to make a deal with you. But not now," said Rissan, "Now your mission is to go to Cactus and take Danny's Buddhist relics. You have to hurry up, time is running out."

Rissan was right. Lee felt he needed a couple of days to recover, which meant they would make no progress in nearly ten days. He had already realized the dangers in this trip to the Big Desert. And he didn't think they would have much luck in Cactus.

Lee felt tired. He just wanted to have a good sleep again. He closed his eyes and fell asleep soon.

"If you can come back, we will meet in Falling City," Rissan said to Tang.

"Would you really not consider teaching me a few tricks?" Tang begged again.

"Haven't you already learned my most important life-saving skills?" Rissan asked back.

Tang's smile was rigid.

The same day, Rissan left with Barry and Bell.

Tang remembered that Rissan took the power token away.

"Son of bitch, if I see you again, I will beat you into a bastard," Tang cursed. Rissan was not here, it was time to show his toughness. But then he sighed with sadness.

When they first came to the Big Desert, they were confident with high morale. Tang believed that they were unstoppable. However, up to now, just Lee and he were alive, and Lee still needed time to recover. The missing guards were likely killed by these white-robed men.

Tang had a rough guess. The white-robed men were divided into two groups to find Lee. One group firstly met the missing guard group and killed all of them. They got the information from the guards that Lee would go to Gady. At that moment, they did not think they could solve the reunited guards because they were outnumbered. So they decided to tell Anthony the news, who must lurk in Gady for a long time and already get the Baron's faith. From their perspective, it was best to kill Lee on the way. But they failed. So next was Anthony's attack. Lee survived and became alert, deciding to leave as soon as possible. Then all the white-robed men gathered together at some point, and followed their trace. Finally, the fight broke out. Rissan's intervention, however, changed everything. All the white-robed men died.

Tang was not very smart, but he thought the person behind these white-robed men should be Zero or one from the royal family.

Tang shook his head and told himself to not think of it anymore. The prime thing to do now was to wait for Lee's recovery.

Eight days later, Lee and Tang set off to Cactus. There was no leisure for them to explore the Big Desert anymore. They just followed the safest and quickest route on the map.

They met more and more caravans and travelers on the road after keeping forward for more than half a month. They rested briefly in an oasis for a day and then continue on their way.

According to historical records, the Big Desert was not as desolate as it was today before the White Dynasty. At that time, the land was fertile and had abundant water resources. Many tribes here burned forests to cultivate fields. As the population grew, more food was needed, so the tribes continued to increase their activity of burning forests. This cycle repeated itself, and by the start of the White Dynasty, only mere trees remained on the land. The wide area was completely deserted. The prototype of the desert had already taken shape.

Lee looked at the lifeless desert, and he could not imagine the scene with dense trees and widespread flowers in the past.

Lee recovered completely, but he sometimes had a headache. It should be the side effect what Rissan had said. 

Lee could not help but consider Rissan's words. The old man was really dangerous and strong. It seemed that he was acquainted with Windyce. But why he never heard from Windyce about Rissan. He was the strongest fighting master Lee's ever seen. Lee did not think there was someone in the City of Victory having the ability to beat Rissan.

He should be very famous when he was young.

"What kind of deal does he want to make with me?" Lee asked himself. He considered a lot on the way, and found that his only point interested Rissan was his relation with Windyce. In addition, Rissan did not return the power token to him!

Tang suddenly remembered something.

"General, what should we do if we meet Baron in Cactus? You know, we wrongly killed Lina," Tang asked.

"That is a problem," Lee frowned, "Although we haven't met yet, it seems like we are already his enemy."

"Yeah, his only relative died." Tang said.

"Now that things have happened, we can't let him go. If possible, we'd better solve this problem in Cactus," Lee said without hesitation.

Tang nodded. He knew that the mercy to enemies would be cruel to themselves. If Baron comes back to Gady and knows the truth. He will certainly seek revenge on them. He could easily get information from Mark. Then he may sneak into the City of Victory, ready to launch a fatal attack to them. The hidden enemy will make them unable to sleep well.

"Let's hurry up. Hope he is still in Cactus," Lee said determinedly.