Head Warden's Past

2 hours earlier...

Arthur was rushing through the city skyline, jumping from buildings to buildings towards the Wu mansion but just then.

*Ting*

He felt a tingling sensation in his mind as new memories started flooding his mind, a shadow clone was destroyed.

He halted his steps mid air and landed on a nearby roof.

"The head bandit is dead... " He muttered

10 more minutes earlier...

Arthur's clone was disguised as a prison guard,

'It's been quite some time but they still haven't shown up yet' the clone wandered the prison castle, lost in his own thoughts.

The reason why the clone was here was to keep a close eye on the head bandit because ever since Arthur captured him while saving the jiang li party, he searched the head bandit's memories before handing him to the gaurds.

[AN: Remember when Arthur casted a Genjutsu on the head bandit while choking him to half death.]

In his memories, Arthur saw something very shocking in there.

A man, wearing the same old black oni mask was sitting in his high throne, surrounded by green fire in an obsidian hallway, his minions prostrating themselves at his feet.

He ordered the head bandit who was quivering at his feet in his hoarse voice "Capture them"

That was the same oni masked man who attacked the escort king and killed him but why do they want to captured jiang li and feng li? That was the mystery which made Arthur accept feng li's invitation to his carriage so that he can stay close to them and catch the culprits behind all of this when they decide to go for feng li again but contrary to his expectation, nothing happened.

It was almost too quiet that is until now...

....

The shadow clone disguised as a prison gaurd was making his round towards the head bandit's cell, acting all natural in order to not stick out as a sore thumb.

As he moved closer to the cell, the moonlight revealed the corpse of the head bandit to a shocked clone.

"Shit! I was careless" He immediately dispelled himself.

Back to Arthur who upon receiving this information, immediately kamuied himself to the prison castle.

He now stood in front of the bandit's corpse, a thousand questions revolving inside his head like who killed him?Why?When?

Lost in these questions, that's when the head warden noticed Arthur's presence and opened his golden hawk like eyes.

"Intruders"

.....

Back to the present

Arthur sucked in the old warden inside his kamui dimension while leaving a roaring head warden behind.

Inside the kamui dimension, a space vortex appeared and spit out the old warden towards the grey ground of his dimension.

*Thud*

The old warden fell on his butt as Arthur appeared from another space vortex behind him.

Upon feeling Arthur's presence, the head warden immediately went for the run.

"It's pointless" Arthur whispered.

*Activating master key* the system alerted.

Arthur joined his hands together and felt himself being one with the dimension, he then slowly separated his hands causing the ground to broke up into countless square blocks and then he separated his arms which caused the countless blocks to split in half, creating a deep, dark ravine for who knows how deep which was quickly forming towards the running old warden.

"Oh heavens! " the old warden exclaimed in bewilderment upon seeing that unbelievable sight, the formation of the ravine was catching up to him so he immediately formed a mudra with both of his hands and golden light surge from within, a giant Golden tiger jumped out from his chest

"Li clan secret arts: Golden monarchy! "

He rode the golden lion gallantly and immediately increased his speed by 10 folds, leaving behind the ravine and Arthur in dust.

"Hahaha" The old warden laughed in free spirit but arthur wasn't entertain.

Arthur thrust out his right hand in a grasping motion and pulled back his hand towards him.

The old warden with his lion suddenly halted, they could feel the entire ground tilted towards the sky like a steep plateau! They tried their best but gravity pulled the old warden and his lion back towards Arthur, both of them fell from the sky as Arthur had managed to invert the sky and the ground!

[AN: Imagine the scene from Doctor Strange 1 where they were chased by Kisillius in the mirror world]

"What on heaven's name!!!" The old warden mind was blown away as he couldn't believe what was happening in front of his eyes.

"Such power..." He blankly stare at the ground as he was falling towards Arthur,

*Slap* he slapped himself out of his daze and formed another mudra, the lion suddenly sprout out 2 gigantic 12 feet long golden wings and flew away from Arthur.

"You still got some spunk, huh" Arthur mocked and swipe his hand towards the left. The countless blocks flew towards the sky and merge together forming multiple giant flying block islands.

"Try dodging this" Arthur smirked and slammed his hand towards the ground.

The floating islands started falling towards the old warden and his flying lion like asteroids in a dooms day scenario.

"This is ridiculous" He replied in horror as he tried his best to steer his golden lion away from the oncoming slaught of the falling islands or asteroids.

One after another, he narrowly escapes the asteroids but he was soon reaching his limits.

"It's endless! " He cried in frustration as he barely managed to escape from a falling island but just as he escape from it, another one emerged from his right.

"Oh... " A defeated voice escaped from his mouth as he finds himself nowhere left to run.

*Booom*

The island crashed into the lion and came crashing down towards the ground.

The old warden along with the lion were buried inside the mountain of debris.

Arthur clenched his hand into a fist, the debris transformed into 2 giant rings and held the old warden captive.

*Ugh* the old warden mourned and slowly open his eyes and the first thing he saw was the crimson eyes of Arthur.

"You will tell me what I want to hear" Arthur whispered and put him in a Genjutsu.

"Tell me the connection between moryo and the head warden" Arthur asked.

The old warden, hypnotised and in a daze slowly answered to Arthur.

"A few months back, our intelligence report told us that the Wu mansion had secretly commission something very important to the Royal escort agency of escort Lord, Our Head warden, being a close friend to the escort Lord immediately went to his friend trying to investigate on this matter"

The old warden paused as if he was struggling against Arthur's Genjutsu.

'They were friends....? ' Arthur was beyond perplexed and stood in daze for a few seconds but then he remembered the rage in the head warden's voice when he lied that he was from the escort Lord's escort agency.

"And? " Arthur asked in urgency.

"I don't know much but sir head warden told me that it had something to do with the Famed Demonic general moryo, alarmed, sir head warden strictly told sir escort king to not accept this request and immediately tried to contact the heavenly sect alliance but to no avail. It was as if they were ignoring us.

When we thought we will never hear back from them, a message suddenly arrived to us telling the escort Lord to deliver the package to the Holy swan sect.

Following the orders, the escort Lord decided to accept the request. Sir head warden, knowing that his friend won't back down from it and he won't be able to openly help him due to politics so he decided to secretly hire some extra golden realm cultivators as aid for sir escort lord.

Everything was going according to plan and we bid sir escort Lord farewell... " the old warden again suddenly stopped talking.

"Keep talking dammit! " Arthur had lost his calm as he felt that he was very close to the truth of this mystery.

"But then we heard the news that some mysterious group had attacked the Royal escort agency at the night wing forest, upon hearing that news, sir head warden immediately abandoned his post and rushed towards the night wing forest with his army without giving any prior information to the clan.

The road to the night wing forest passes through the heart of the city and the City Lord's mansion so the city Lord inevitably saw our movement as a sign of coup and immediately dispatched his Royal troupes. Our route was immediately blocked and we were surrounded by the Royal troupes yet sir head warden refused to budge an inch as he yelled his friend needs him but the commander of the Royal troupes didn't believed us.

And soon we were engaged in a bitter dead lock as both party refused to budge even the slightest and just before the Royal troupes and us were about to engage in combat and declare the start of a civil war, the city Lord and our Li clan's patriarch appeared in the sky and ordered us to stop.

A Royal decree was immediately declared condemning the head warden as a criminal who tried to create unbalance and ordered the elite troupes to immediately capture him.

Helpless, the head warden was captured yet he pleaded to save his friend but it all fell on deaf ears.

The Royal court hearing was in 3 days as sir head warden himself remained detained in prison, the entire city condemned him yet the only thing in his mind was the safety of his friend... "

"Continue... " Arthur said while closing his eyes, deep in his thought as he already knew what happened to the escort Lord as he remembered his warnings in the bone forest.

"During the court hearing, sir head warden told everything truthfully about the Wu mansion escort mission and pleaded the city Lord to help his friend. The Wu mansion new patriarch was immediately summoned to the court and asked if our head warden was saying the truth. The Wu mansion new patriarch strongly denied those accusations and such, the Royal court hearing was delayed for another few weeks and sir head warden remained in captive.

I still remember the days when I visited him in the city Lord's prison, his eyes were dull as he always asked a single question.

"Any news of my friend? "

My answer was always a no as his back faced towards me,

maybe he was hiding his saddened expression upon hearing my reply.

But i could tell...

As time passes by, his face started losing its brilliance as the hope inside his eyes that his friend was still alive was dwindling.

One day the li clan patriarch came for a visit, sir head warden beg the patriarch to send the night owl recon squad inside the dark wing forest and he agreed.

After 4 days the recon squad returned and informed everything they find to the patriarch.

Sir head warden upon hearing the night owl's return, waited impatiently for the patriarch and the news they brought.

I still remember that day...

The prison cell gate opened as the patriarch and the city Lord approach sir head warden and bowed towards his direction.

Perplexed and shook, sir head warden asked what was going on.

"I am sorry" the city Lord replied in melancholy as the patriarch brought out a blue and green broad sword from his storage bag and laid it down in a gold and silver tray respectfully with both of his hands.

"No... " sir head warden fell down on his knees as tear started rolling down his eyes...

It was his friend, the escort's Lord's sword...

"No survivors remained" I told him, my voice cracked up and shaking.... "

Arthur finished hearing the old warden's story, lost in deep thoughts. The head warden's words reverberating inside his mind.

'How do you know that name?'

'Fine, it was indeed me... But i can't tell the reason behind it unless you answer me first.'

'Do you take me for a fool!? Nobody in the escort agency possess your levels of power!!!'

.....

Evening

The head warden was standing restlessly inside his office when he heard someone knocking on his office door.

*Knock-Knock*

"You may come in" he replied as an officer came in with a report.

"Still no information..." the head warden asked while holding his pen.

"Yes sir... " the officer's voice trailed off.

"Understood... You may go now" the head warden turned around, trying to hide his face.

His tall and proud stature draped in melancholy.

The officer saluted and went outside his office.

The head warden after seeing the officer leave his office, turned around revealing his saddened expression.

"Where are you my old friend? " he muttered softly.

As he turn towards his desk, he could see an envelope with a symbol RB beautifully inscribed on it.

"Where did it appear from? " the head warden quickly grab the envelope and opened it up.

After reading it...

"Hahaha" joyous laughter echoed throughout the building as the head warden wipe a tear from his eyes, not from sadness but from happiness.

"What a unique fellow" he spoke with a smile because the letter read;

"To the grumpy old head warden,

I steal from the rich and distribute it to the poor yet your richness was in the form of loyal friendship and companionship. I couldn't possibly steal it and distribute it to my fellow poor countrymen as I don't possess such divine powers but still I pray that a person rich in friendship like you do it for me. Not as a request but as a favor.

Don't worry as your friend is now back at his home, both safe and sound.

Robin Hood. "

[AN: Heavenly sect alliance is an alliance of the top righteous sects in the world which keeps the demonic cultivators in check. ]