"City Lord, there are people from above!"
The chief manager hurried over.
Sikong Jian's eyes lit up. "How many people are here?"
"One!"
The chief manager lowered his head and whispered.
"What?"
Sikong Jian's eyes widened. "Say that again?"
"It's … one person …"
Before the chief steward could finish speaking, Sikong Jian strode into the reception hall.
He urgently needed to know who this person was and what order he was here to deliver.
If they were to defend and wait for reinforcements …
Then, Ancient Path City was basically doomed.
There was a middle-aged man sitting in the guest hall.
He was leisurely drinking tea.
When Sikong Jian saw this person, shock flashed across his eyes.
He could not help but feel puzzled. Why was Elder Hou Tian, who was ranked sixth among the six great guardian elders and was best at hiding himself, here?
"Your subordinate, Sikong Jian, greets Elder Hou Tian!"
He had doubts in his heart, but he did not dare to be negligent. He bowed respectfully.
"You've all been waiting anxiously, haven't you?"
Elder Hou Tian was thin and frail. One could even say that he was bony.
His eyes were sunken deep into his eye sockets.
He gave off a sinister feeling.
However, those who knew him well knew that he was quite amiable, which was completely different from his appearance.
"Elder Hou Tian, it'd be a lie to say that we're not anxious. The White Tiger Army is about to arrive. We don't even know if we should fight or retreat. Everyone's panicking."
Sikong Jian sighed. He did not have much status in the Vermilion Bird Sect.
However, he was still a city lord.
The key was still the city lord of a border city.
Elder Hou Tian could be said to be his superior's superior.
The Sikong Family was also on good terms with Elder Hou Tian.
Therefore, he wasn't very restrained.
"Don't worry, the sect won't make any stupid decisions. I'm here to tell you to retreat. You'll just be courting death if you stay here."
Elder Hou Tian had a cold expression and did not smile.
However, he might as well not smile.
When Sikong Jian heard this great news, the gloominess he had been feeling for the past few days was instantly swept away.
"Elder Hou Tian, then we'll leave Zhang Xing to —"
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Elder Tu Tian.
"Don't ask too many questions. Don't ask about things you shouldn't know.
Go ahead and do your work. "
When Sikong Jian left Ancient Dao City, he did not see Elder Hou Tian.
He knew that Elder Hou Tian was definitely not here to tell them to evacuate.
As for the deeper purpose, he had some guesses in his heart, but this had nothing to do with him.
When Zhang Xing led his army into Ancient Path City, there were only a few ordinary residents and some old, weak, sick, and disabled servants of the various large clans left.
Elder Hou Tian was a member of the Beggar Gang, who had a walking stick and was so hungry that his eyes had turned green.
He pretended to be weak as he watched Zhang Xing's army walk past him on the street.
Their main focus was on Zhang Xing and his guards.
A few days later, Zhang Xing's army passed through here.
Elder Tong Tian also disappeared from Ancient Dao City.
"Zhang Xing's remaining troops are between seven to eight million.
They didn't find a single Vermillion Bird captive.
His guards were increased to two hundred.
No one can see through his cultivation realm. It's very mysterious. "
This was the truest information that Elder Hou Tian had seen.
Through this information, he quickly found out how powerful Zhang Xing's army was.
It was so powerful that it was shocking and terrifying!
He had sacrificed less than three million men in exchange for the lives of more than 15 million Vermillion Bird soldiers.
This could no longer be called a war. It could be considered a one-sided massacre.
Although the White Tiger Army soldiers' morale was high, they definitely did not possess such great combat strength.
There had to be a reason behind this!
Elder Hou Tian was determined to find the reason. He would not return to report to the sect master.