The number of Domain Lords that had gathered outside the Iron Sky Kingdom's capital was not the two he had chanced upon during his short exploration of the underground base but was instead three completely unfamiliar Domain Lords that he had never seen before!
Not only that, but the two Domain Lords that he very well knew were part of the conspiracy against Yi Min was nowhere to be seen! If they also showed up, Yi Min and himself would have to deal with five Domain Lords all by themselves!
Maybe I should just escape…?
With such a thought crossing his mind upon seeing the three Domain Lords outside, Xuan Hao honestly had no plan to stay around and fight if it ended up endangering his life…
After all, at the end of the day, he did not really have any form of connection with Yi Min outside of the fact that he had talked with her for a short moment. At most they could be considered acquaintances.
Even if he had to abandon the side quest, it would be better than getting ganged up on by a group of Domain Lords and lose his life!
"Yi Min… Do you have any way to deal with these people...?" Feeling a bit nervous as he was faced with the probability of facing five Domain Lords at once, Xuan Hao could not help contacting Yi Min through his divine sense. Hoping to find out if she had any way to deal with them…
"Hmph! These three are far from enough to pose any threat to me! Even without any help from the formation, I would still be able to deal with these three people!" Hearing the disdainful voice from Yi Min, Xuan Hao could clearly tell that she did not put the three Domain Lords in her eyes at all!
Indeed, worthy of being someone at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm!
Feeling a bit more reassured upon hearing what Yi Min said, Xuan Hao quickly left the alchemy competition to follow after Yi Min who had already made her way over to face the three Domain Lords.
During this time, Xuan Hao also managed to observe the strength of the three Domain Lords standing just a few hundred meters outside the capital city.
Among them, two were around the middle stages of the Domain Lord Realm where he himself was currently at, while the last person should have reached the later stages of the Domain Lord Realm.
Knowing this, Xuan Hao breathed a sigh of relief.
With his current strength, he should be able to face off against someone in the later stages of the Domain Lord Realm without a problem. The only ones who truly posed a threat to him would be someone at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm or above!
At the very least, the only person he knew for certain that should have reached this realm among Yi Min's enemies, was the Domain Lord who had come to help the underground base that he visited a week ago.
But at this moment, both the Domain Lords that he had met in the underground base were missing…
Thinking about what those two might be up to, Xuan Hao could not help but start growing a bit nervous. No matter what it was, he was certain that it would not be anything good!
…
"General Guan… For what reason have the general come to my kingdom?"
Arriving at the city wall, Xuan Hao curiously looked over as he heard this. From the looks of it, the person in the lead outside the city walls was a general and given the generals strength, he was likely a general from the Sky Empire!
Thinking about this, Xuan Hao felt a massive headache was about to show up. Even if he was not the smartest person around, Xuan Hao could still easily see that something troublesome was going on in the Sky Empire and even worse, he was about to be dragged into whatever that mess was about!
"Hehe, Yi Min, I just came here because a demonic cultivator escaped and hid inside your Iron Sky Kingdom! We managed to track the person down to this place and from the looks of it, that person has hidden inside of your capita-"
"So, you want to come in and search for this 'demonic cultivator'? How come I never heard anything about this?"
Interrupting the general from the Sky Empire as she heard what he said, Xuan Hao could clearly feel the pressure excluded from Yi Min increase as she said this.
"Of course, you never heard about it, it happened just recently, and that guy is really good at hiding! We have been chasing him for close to a week now and you can ask around if you don't trust what I'm saying…"
Showing a villainous smile as he said this with a confident tone, the leader of the three Domain Lords remained standing mid-air outside the walls of the city.
From the looks of it, he still knew that he should not enter the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom recklessly. After all, the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom was the core of Yi Min's territory! No one could say for certain just how many traps and other things were present inside the capital to deal with intruders…
"We will see…" Narrowing her eyes upon seeing how confidant the general was, Yi Min took out a transmission talisman before she began contacting someone. Likely to find out if what General Guan had said was true or just a lie he had made up to enter the capital.
After all, at the end of the day, he was still a general from the Sky Empire!
If he was really chasing after some demonic cultivator who had even managed to escape her sense and dodge her formation to hide away inside the capital, Yi Min would have to let him inside.
"Try and see if you can find the demonic cultivator! I will owe you in the future if you can help me out this time around!"
Just as Xuan Hao was prepared to watch Yi Min and General Guan begin another battle of words, Yi Min's voice entered his head as he looked over towards her in surprise.
There was really a demonic cultivator hidden inside the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom! If not, there was no way Yi Min would ask him this…
Not leaving to search for the demonic cultivator immediately just because Yi Min had told him to, Xuan Hao began thinking about what he should do.
On one hand, he could help out Yi Min and find the demonic cultivator hiding inside of the capital. However, this would inevitably anger whatever faction in the Sky Empire that General Guan belonged to!
On the other hand, he could also just ignore what Yi Min had said and just escape the Iron Sky Kingdom while there was still time. Not involving himself in whatever power struggle he had suddenly found himself in the middle of. The only downside to this, was that he would end up angering Yi Min and whatever faction she was a part of in the Sky Empire…
"Hah…" Sighing to himself as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could not help looking over towards the direction of the alchemy competition with some regret. If he had just prevented his disciple from joining the alchemy competition…
No, I can't think like that! Qing Yi should be able to do something like that and improve herself! Even now, she should be attempting to breakthrough and become an Expert Alchemist.
Shaking his head, a bit as he thought about this, Xuan Hao felt that it was not anyone's fault that he was in his current situation where he had to chose who he wanted to fight against in the future.
The faction General Guan was a part of that he had no idea about, or the faction Yi Min was a part of. No matter what he chose, he would end up becoming enemies with one of these two factions fighting for power inside the Sky Empire…
"I will try my best…" having come to a decision, Xuan Hao nodded his head towards Yi Min before leaving to search through the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom for the demonic cultivator.
In the end, he chose to join Yi Min's side!
The reason was simple, Yi Min was by far the strongest person she had seen to date and other than that, Xuan Hao had already had a chance to talk with Yi Min before all of this and already had some idea about her personality.
At the very least, from what he had learned about her so far, Yi Min was a likable person and in his eyes, a far better choice to ally up with compared to General Guan that he had never really even had chance to talk with yet!𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
Other than that, he had no idea if General Guan would even be friendly in the first place! After all, he had already fought with two Domain Lords who were likely from the same faction as General Guan!