There were reasons for Sui Xiong’s visit to Keane Hill. Wanting to revisit the place was one of the reasons, but the main reason was to help them resolve their troubles.

  In recent months, Baron Keane had met with an extremely difficult problem. This problem was way beyond what they could handle—or rather, it was way beyond what they could resolve at a relatively low cost, so they called for help from the Church of the Void Mask.

  It was said that sending a team of elite clergymen, coupled with the help of one to two Legendary Masters who would help keep the situation well under control, should be enough to solve this problem. However, after a long period of quietness, Sui Xiong was struck by a sudden inspiration and wanted to return to this territorial land that he had once poured in countless efforts to establish. So without telling anyone, he secretly transformed into his earthly appearance and came here.

  At the moment, sitting within Keane City, he was in quite a complicated mood—Crick Keane’s life was also a part of his life. Crick’s deep affection for this piece of land and its inhabitants was also passed down to him. Looking at how this city that he had been apart from for so long, seeing how prosperous it still was and how it was still following the path he had set for it at the very beginning, he was gratified. Yet at the same time, he felt a deep sense of responsibility.

  “Maybe…… I should have come back more often to see it all these years……”

  Long-lived people often encountered this problem. The extreme extension of life expectancy and the extreme length of cultivation had led to their lack of understanding for mortal time. For instance, it was normal to spend two to three years just to carry out a large-scale military exercise within the Sanctuary. The process would start from the decision to organize one, and then to the design and building of a formation. Then it would come to the planning and preparation of both sides to formally start the war and eventually would conclude with the aftermath of the war. And all of these things, to Crick Keane, who was the commander in chief of the Oracle army, were nothing more than entertainment to pass the time.

  Sui Xiong had not wanted to return just to look into the situation because, in his view, this was no pressing matter. With a Legendary Master like Romon around, Keane Hill could be described as being as stable as Mount Tai. Even if Romon was just a second-rate Legendary Master who had attained a breakthrough from the limit of a civilian post, yet regardless of being second-rate or not, he was still a Legendary Master nonetheless. To a mere baronet, he was more than enough.

  Not long ago, because Mage Damwade was sealed as a god, after both sides had some detailed discussions, he unknowingly realized that 20 years had passed by quietly. Many old friends had passed away, and the remaining ones had all aged. If he had delayed any further, perhaps by the time he revisited this place, he would not be able to find a single familiar face.

  \r \r \r

  He was touched right away. Then upon some investigation, he realized that Keane Hill was curtly facing quite a big problem and was in great need for help. Therefore, he left a clone of himself to oversee matters within his God Kingdom, changed into the look of “Sui Xiong” so that nobody would recognize him, and then quietly made his way here.

  Looking at the familiar yet changed streets, he felt a tinge of emotion. A sizable part of it was lamenting on how time had passed, but most of it was a sense of pride.

  He must have left a mark on the roads he once treaded upon, and in less than ten years, he had left a deep mark on this territory. This mark had not diminished over time, but rather, it had become a riverbed that flowed along with the river of time, becoming even more profound.

  Just like on Earth, there were Chen Sheng, and Wu Guang from ancient China who had both staged a revolt but failed and died as a result. The entire process, in fact, took a very short time. However, their cry of “Kings and marquises, prime-ministers and generals; such men are made, not born—everyone is born equal” had since been pointing out the way forward for the Chinese nation. It led generations of people in their fight against tyranny, lasting through generations of change in dynasties, as well as establishing the world’s one and only “rebel culture.” These things were all going to continue to exist.

  In the eyes of many Westerners, the Chinese did not place importance on blood lineage at all. The Westerners pointed out that the Chinese had a tradition of using “no pressure,” which was savage beyond words. Yet to the Chinese, those people who had been specifically bullied to the point where they were on the brink of death and yet were not putting up any resistance, were completely wasted lives. They were a complete disgrace to humans—what difference were they from dogs!

  All of these things, in fact, originated just from that one cry……

  Crick Keane’s contribution was certainly not as great as that of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, yet even with the Void Mask’s Republic of Northwest blocking it from the front, Keane Hill was still a place that aroused the attention of many. Relative to its remote location, and with it being a wonderful kingdom that had gods commanding its operations, this territory that was situated in a densely populated area of the Duchy of Thunder was evolving and improving bit by bit under the watchful eyes of its people. As of the present day, its entire process of improvement had been documented by the people concerned over its progress, and they compiled it into a book. Almost every aristocrat on the continent who aspired to boost his own territory to a prosperous land would place a copy of this booklet, commonly known as Keane’s Treasury of Knowledge on his study table, frequently studying and learning from it. The degree of diligence they showed was comparable to that of the Earth’s white-collared worker when they studied the Carnegie Book Series.

  Judging from the situation in recent years, the overall influence had been relatively positive. More and more enlightened aristocrats were gradually starting to identify with, or at least partly identify with, the governing concept that Crick had put forth. Also, the living conditions of the people in many other places were gradually improving.

  On the other hand, there were also many aristocrats who showed hostility towards Crick’s philosophy. These aristocrats had dismissed his concepts as fallacy and heresy and felt that this set of governance strategy was completely contrary to their fine tradition. There were even people who believed that his governance strategy paid no respect to their ancestry and was as good as a rebellion.

  The former group mainly consisted of the emerging aristocrats. They had shallow roots, but it was just like how it would be easier to make a U-turn with a smaller boat. So long as they could quickly strengthen themselves, other matters were not worth them being over-calculative. The latter was naturally those established aristocrats, especially those in the major league. They had deep roots, extensive power, and were not the least bit interested in this slight benefit. However, they were very wary of the emerging aristocrats, so they spared no effort in suppressing their growth.

  The differences in governance strategies were a good reason for suppression. It was apparent that where the issue at hand revolved around was how a territory should be governed—a battle was inevitable. The most immediate impact of this battle was the trouble that Keane Hill was currently facing.

  Whether or not it was to suppress Keane Hill, no one knew, but not long ago, the Duchy of Thunder adjusted the territories under the command of aristocrats and conferred a new Viscount to a territory somewhere near Keane Hill. This Viscount was originally a baron without an actual territory under him. With a group of mercenaries and his family’s private army, he was fighting species from the Marsh populations, like the Lizard Man, at a place near the Great Marsh, which was northwest of the Duchy. Recently, he ran into a streak of extremely good luck and made a meritorious contribution, and thus his title rose one notch up the ranks. He even gained an actual territory—his territory was in the south of Keane Hill. It included a large mountainous region and a small plain, with a total of one manor and three villages.

  As far as this land was concerned, this Viscount was in fact, just about the level of a baron. However, he commanded an army that was not at the level of an ordinary baron. His military strength was even stronger than most barons, and thus he was considered a formidable adversary.

  Originally, Anna Keane did not see this new neighbor as an enemy, yet who would have known that after this guy arrived at his territory, he was constantly getting into conflicts with Keane Hill. It seemed as though he had taken the wrong dose of medicine. Borrowing the power of her husband, Stephen Carter’s family, Anna carried out some investigations and was surprised to learn that this Toon Samat was a diehard follower of the second son of the Thunder Lord. And this second son of the Thunder Lord was none other than the radical representative of the young generation of the traditional aristocrats.

  In other words, the purpose of sending this Viscount Samat over here, was in fact, to deal with Keane Hill. And this Viscount Samat was indeed very capable. He was a high-level Order Warrior, a mutant of the Sacred Warrior who was not so strict with the requirement of belief and whose combat power was more inclined towards group warfare. He also believed in the God of Aristocracy. Under his command, there were at least four high-level adventurers and two mysterious figures from the capital.

  Not only that, he had an army of around 200 men, all of whom were elite warriors that had received at least five years or more of training, with no less than ten years of actual combat experience. There were even several unique talents that he had brought over from the Great Marsh…… because they were hidden, for the time being, their identities were unknown.

  The most troublesome thing was one of his special spoils of war—a magic altar that was transformed with totem poles obtained from one of the tribes in the Great Marsh.

  Natives of the Great Marsh generally believed in ancestral spirits, and the totem poles were where the ancestral spirits lived. After years of worship, an ancestral spirit would transcend worldliness and attain holiness. This was likely to be the highest grade of altar material to be found in the world. That altar, constructed out of the totem poles as raw materials, had incredible power. So long as there was a high-level pontifex overseeing the altar, it could even be inextricably involved in a fight with Mr. Romon.

  And this was the reason why Keane Hill was disadvantaged. Although the losses were small, they were still very worrying. As Mr. Romon had suggested, they sent out a letter of help to the Church of the Void Mask.

  The Church of the Void Mask sent more than 20 church knights. They were the “Steel Giants,” and Gerald was their leader. This troop of knights had powerful strength, and their leader, Gerald, even had a green dragon as his mount. The moment they arrived, the situation stabilized.

  However, while it was not difficult to win against Samat with this strength, it was still not enough to truly resolve the problem that Keane Hill was facing.

  As for Sui Xiong himself, he was here to help them resolve this problem once and for all……