Mo Li did not hide her frustrations and voiced her concern to Bing Cao immediately, "Why are we wasting our energy dragging this man with us? Senior Cao, he did attempt to take your life…"
The girl quickly fell silent as the chief adviser of Crescent Moon City turned to her. His eyes—still sharp despite exhaustion—met hers with the weight of command honed through decades of service.
"This man has been manipulated without his knowledge," Bing Cao said, his tone grave and deliberate. "I suspect that blood path cultivator killed a close relative of his and refined a vile artifact. He was bound by something not of his choosing."
Mo Li's lips parted, but no words came. She looked down at Hang Feng's limp body, his breathing shallow but steady, his once-fierce features slack with pain. Dried blood caked the corner of his mouth; his jaw hung slightly askew from the blow that had silenced him.
