Xuan Xian looked at the grim expressions of the two in front of her, and she suppressed a shudder coming down her spine.

Not Ling’er too. First Zhu De, and now Ling’er… Mommy cannot live without both of you

With hesitating words, she asked, “Is…”

She took a deep breath as if reassuring herself, and then she continued.

“Is my little girl going to be alright?”

The two who are hovering around Ling’er turned around and looked at her full in the eyes. When Kairos saw her pale complexion, he remembered what happened, just a while ago, when he brought her the news of Zhu De’s death.

At that time, Xuan Xian only managed to pick herself up because of Ling’er, and because her little boy would have wanted her to live. To lose a child a second time, would be too cruel.

“Madam, the situation is just as young master thought. I have confirmed that your little girl was tranquilised during her kidnapping. There are traces of anaesthesia in her body, and unfortunately, she is born extremely susceptible to it.

Her unique constitute caused her body to lose the ability to regulate temperature and ought to have killed her already. But fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, fate took a strange twist, and it seemed as though the chilly early spring chill has seeped permanently into her and she went into shock instead.

However, for now, her condition should not worsen, and we have all the time to remove the drugs from her body.”

When Xuan Xian heard that, she breathed a sigh of relief. “After the remaining anaesthesia is removed, then everything will be alright?”

Kairos shook his head slightly, his concerns still on his face.

“There is more than just this.

We will require several rare herbs to completely drain it out of her. A…and…

It seemed to me that her spirit has been broken by the fright, and she has hidden deep within her mind.”

It was a bad bodily response to being drugged, complicated with both the mental abuse and physical hurt from being thrown into the cold weather.

Although Kairos spoke gently, the world seems to spin for Xuan Xian, and the mother had to hold on to the wall to keep herself from falling down.

Helena who was a mother herself understood. She wept with her in an embrace.

Kairos who is looking on, saw how the two ladies are tightly holding the little girl between their arms, and he seethes with anger.

The body may mend soon enough with the right treatment, but to recover the mind will be tricky. And, the frost that seeped in is permanent indeed.

Through gritted teeth, Kairos declared, “Madams, I can tell that Ling’er’s condition has stabilised. And for her trauma, we will find a way to treat it for sure.

Please excuse me. There is someone I must meet. I will make the Devilheart family pay dearly for this transgression. ”

The boy turned and promptly left the room.

Upon his young shoulders bear an incredible weight, perhaps more than most adults in Saint Empire. For him and his friends to survive in Saint Empire, and to take responsibilities for people lives, Kairos had been forced to mature rapidly within a short amount of time.

In this area, he had learned one important life lesson.

The value of one’s life lies not just in any single person, but the collective sum of everyone who knows you, who cares for you, and…. whose spirit dies along with you.

For a man to truly die alone is a rare thing…

What happened to Ling’er was a wake-up call for Kairos.

He strolled into the magistrate office with his face as black as a storm and left just as quickly after he received a bundle in his hands.

Carrying the oversized thing back, he rushed back to his office with the same deathly expression as before.

Those that saw him dare not block his path.

Going straight to Xuan Xian, Kairos passed the bundle to her saying, “If you want to get back at those who hurt Ling’er, you’ll need this.”

She looked perplexed because within that package are several swords quite unlike what the young master had previously created.

Each of those weapons is shaped somewhat like a prong, with two different blades, side by side. One of the blades is attached with a seal stone, just like the one Calculus has revealed during the trade fair and the other engraved with a powerful fire rune, similar to the one Kairos used.

In between the blades lies a tiny crystal. Testing it out for a while, Kairos had discovered that it is used to control the weapon between the sealing effect or the rune, but never both.

“Young master, is this your new creations?” Xuan Xian asked with uncertainty. Weren’t the items that he created previously already capable of both effects?

“No, these are the latest weapons that the Devilheart made with Hope’s research and I want you to place them at all corners of our shop to sell them.”

“Sell the enemies’ weapons?” She almost shouted with outrage. Now that the identity of the captors of Ling’er is found out, she has considered the Devilheart family, to be her enemies.

“Yes, sell them. Oh, and remember to place them next to my creations so the customers may compare,” he said with a smile.

Xuan Xian looked at the young master with confusion on her face. It was evident that the curve on the young boy’s lips lacked any humour. No, instead of a smile, it was a fierce predatory grin. But still, she did not understand how doing this would help.

However, the boy continued, “Tell the staff to carefully introduce these weapons we took from the Devilheart, and do not mind if a demonstration is needed. In fact, encourage any such requests from our customers.”

When Xuan Xian finally nodded to his words, Kairos left with a wide smile.

“This will start the ball rolling. Devilhearts, this will just be the interest. Once I am back, you will have more to lose.”

When Kairos told the Trade Federate’s Grand Elder Feng that the Devilheart and the Hope families fear him. He had meant it.

But unfortunately, it seems that they are not yet afraid enough if they thought they could touch one of his own.

Afterwards, Kairos returned to his office and softly closed the door behind him, dropping down into his chair. A soft, leather-bound, roller that came with the purchase of this shop. It was meant for an adult’s body and far too big for him.

He had to sit at the edge just to reach the desk, but it did not slow him down from his work.

Taking out rolls of paper, he neatly tore them into strips and started scrawling madly on them.

Each time a piece was finished, he would roll it tightly and drop it into a small cloth pouch.

As he worked, he was softly muttering.

“I suppose… the best defence really is to attack until your enemies fear you!”

This time, he had been careless and almost lost Ling’er, a family member.

Next time, there will be no next time.

Afterwards, he called for Lyla.

He spoke gently to her regarding the things to come, and what she should be concerned about, then he passed her the small pouches.

For the next few days, Kairos gave out several orders to ensure everything is to his satisfaction.

He could not stay in the shop for long; He still has to find his missing brother, Jones.

Once every urgent matter attended to, he must leave.

During this period of rest, Jim had not been idling either. He was given one of the cubic fruits to cultivate with, and after eating it, his internal Ki surged dangerously.

Its life force was too pure, and it quickly converted into his own power. In a few days, his cultivation shot up from Peak E, jumping three minor stages into Peak D.

If his classmates could see this, they would weep themselves to bed. Such progress overturned the countless practice and ceaseless training to become stronger. The years of suffering and the constant fear of dying or amounting to nothing… they were actually all for nought!

Just buy a Snowdrifts’ fruit and ta-dah!

It was enough to make his peers question the meaning of life should they know.

Luckily, Jim had been much too absorbed in his delight to realise the potential heartache and mayhem he could create… otherwise…

Of course, this kind of chain breakthroughs is dangerous and tend to leave many underlying problems for the practitioner in the future. Fortunately, the cubic fruit is such a high-level spirit treasure that it wouldn’t leave Jim with any side-effects. And, his previous battle experience ensured his Dao will stay unwavering on his Martial Path.

As the ancients said, without money, don’t try to be a cultivator.

Jim hopped over to Kairos’ side with a broad grin on his face.

The latter felt the change in his presence instantly, and his eyes widened with surprise. Kairos had not expected there to be much progress.

Though he watched how his disciples broke through to A rank and will continue to do so under the fruit’s effects, he had not expected that the life force in the fruit contained such strength.

This is made even more shocking for the boy himself had also consumed the fruit, but he only increased a single minor stage from Mid D rank to Peak D. Yet Jim stood here with an entire rank’s improvement, and not only that, the fruit has not been completely absorbed. It will continue to help him in his cultivation for the near future.

Once again, Kairos felt that his cultivation is at a bottleneck. Oddly, he is the only one among them that could not raise up the ladder without fulfilling some cryptic requirements.

However, it is not all that bad for his cultivation to be stuck.

Because of the excess energy of the fruit pooled within his Dantian, he could draw it out to heal his wounds and survive the near-lethal injuries. Moreover, because he had not fully assimilated the fruit’s essence, it overflowed from his Dantian and slowly refined his flesh, gradually making him much stronger than before.

Now, just by using his physical prowess, he is confident that he is a good match against another of his rank.

The two prepared for their upcoming trip, gathering the members of Snowdrifts living in Saint City, indent many new pills and poisons from Helena, acquiring the necessary food and clothing, and even purchasing some expensive talismans.

The guys came over to his shop excitedly see their leaders.

Without further ado, Kairos asked urgently of their aid, “Guys, I need your help.”

“Sure thing, boss!” John replied with a chirpy smile without even hearing the rest.

“Anything for our red commander” Long bowed his head politely.

“What do you need us for?” Silvers asked while digging his nose like a hooligan.

“Haha, Captain, you are so popular,” Jim laughed.

“Well, ahem… This time, I came with bad news.”

He kept silent for a second and almost immediately, they reverted to a similar mental state that they had during the ten days siege. When their leader is speaking seriously in this way, they know that grim things are ahead.

“Jones is missing,” he said.

When they heard it, everyone was alarmed. To them, Jones is the very person who charged through eight rooms full of Orcs and saved their lives. A loud chattering of questions filled the room, but Kairos waved off their questions, for now, and then asked, “I will require manpower to find out where he went. And because I am uncertain who we are up against, this could turn into a perilous mission.

You guys should know how powerful Jones is, so for people that could capture him without stirring up anyone’s attention, will surely be tough opponents. Many of you have families that need you to take care of, so I will leave it to you to decide if you want to join in.”

Although he asked for volunteers, the others did not seem to need to think it through.

“Just give us the command, and we will follow your lead, whatever it is!” Sasha answered with such passionate fires blazing in her eyes, and with her figure gallantly shining before them that everyone else imagined her as a young hero from the fables for a moment.

The rest nodded in agreement.

“We had already considered our lives forfeited when the Orcs sieged us. It is you and your brothers that had kept us alive all those while. Just say the word and we won’t even flinch in death.”

“Whoa… whoa, calm down everyone, no one is telling you to die. Hahahaha… hah…ahaha…,” Jim said fondly. They can all tell that he is incredibly proud of them who became part of the Snowdrifts, and he tried to cover up his embarrassment with laughing.

“You laugh too long,” Kairos said, then knuckled Jim on his head, “Keep it within three seconds! And, let’s set off the moment you guys packed. Try to finish your preparations quickly, and most importantly, do it secretly. In fact, get whatever you need through Xuan Xian, the madam knows what to do.”

Jim, who is rubbing his sore head added in, “Remember that it is better to be careful than sorry, so make sure you guys are well prepared. See you guys there tomorrow!”

Currently, within Snowdrifts, there are about a hundred members and around twenty lives within Saint City.

All of them joined without exception, the companionship they forged in blood cannot be understated, and the very next day the Snowdrifts set off.