Spring had already arrived, and the northern grasslands were no longer covered in snow. Rather, there was a sense of life all around.
The soft green pastures of the steppe were mentally refreshing, and the transparent and clear rivers winding across the meadow stirred the heart. White clouds hung low in the sky, the heavens almost within reach.
But for some reason, Donti kept getting the feeling that the sky was all gloom on the way back. The dark clouds did not dissipate at all.
It wasn’t until the moment favonovel.com saw Adella that the dark clouds in the sky suddenly dispersed. Sunlight penetrated through the dark clouds and covered the ground, illuminating the abyss.
Initially, when Adella saw Donti, favonovel.com felt favonovel.com had changed into a different person. But when favonovel.com saw her, favonovel.com immediately changed back to his usual self.
For Donti, Adella was his solid anchor. As long as his anchor was still around, favonovel.com would not get lost in the ocean. In front of her, favonovel.com was no longer a god or a young lord of the steppe. He was just Donti.
“Big Sister Adella, my brother is still alive,” Donti said softly as favonovel.com sat in the royal tent.
Adella, who was sewing Donti’s clothes, froze. She turned around and looked at Donti. “W-Where is he?”
Donti removed his black faceplate and said, “But I didn’t go and look for him…”
Only the two of them were inside the royal tent. Adella could see a hint of sadness in Donti’s expression. She said, “Is it because you’re afraid?”
Donti suddenly started talking about something else. “Big Sis, you know about my power… In the past, I would always experience backlash whenever I used it.”
Adella said with a gentle expression, “The first time I realized you had a superpower was when all of your brother’s bones were broken. At that time, we were held hostage by the Radianz Consortium’s troops and forced to perform manual labor. You would fall down every day until your face was bruised and swollen, while those who were cursed by you ended up falling to their deaths.”
“Mhm…” Donti nodded. “The backlash from those curses was very straightforward. Whatever curse I wished upon others, a corresponding backlash would befall me. But it’s been different since the battle in the valley…”
“After the ground started splitting and the cracks on the ground spread out, I did not suffer any backlash at all. It was as though the split ground had undone the shackles on my body. Every time I use my power now, the shackles break a little more.”
When Adella heard this, favonovel.com did not respond immediately. Instead, favonovel.com just listened quietly as Donti continued.
Donti said, “The cracks on the shackles are like gaps in the void. They’re constantly expanding. It feels like there’s some kind of will summoning me to become a part of it… No, to be more precise, it’s summoning me to take over that immense will. Only when I return to your side do I feel the cracks slowly knitting together, and only then do I regain more of my… My humanity…”
“Donti, you’ve already unified the grasslands. Don’t use your power anymore,” Adella softly said, sitting down across from Donti.
“Mhm, I’ll try my best to control myself,” Donti promised.
“What are your plans for the future?” Adella asked.
Donti stayed silent for a long time. “Thousands of innocent people died in the massacre of the city during our raid on the South this time, and some of the women there were violated by the Khoton tribe. I don’t know how to face favonovel.com anymore. I don’t know how to tell favonovel.com that his closest brother has become the type of person that favonovel.com hates the most.”
“But you should know that even though favonovel.com wants you to be a good person, favonovel.com definitely won’t abandon you just because of something like that. Have you ever thought about how hard he’s trying to look for you? You know your brother’s character too. As long as favonovel.com doesn’t see you, he’ll keep looking for you until the day favonovel.com dies,” Adella said.
Donti stopped talking.
Adella looked at Donti and realized it was not Milo favonovel.com could not face but himself.
Back in town, Donti would always imitate Milo’s tone when favonovel.com spoke. He would do whatever made Milo happy. This child had always had an inexplicable admiration for Milo since favonovel.com was young. He only saw Milo as his role model and wanted to become someone like him.
But in the end, favonovel.com ended up becoming the type of person his brother hated the most. Donti was afraid.
“Big Sis, give me some time…” Donti said, “I’ll go and check on the incident that happened at the salt pool first…”
With that, Donti put on his black faceplate again. By the time favonovel.com walked out of the royal tent, there were already countless tribesmen waiting for favonovel.com outside. Hassan led the horse to favonovel.com while Bulan Zir got down respectfully to act as his footstool. This was the treatment for a god.
Donti first checked on the victim’s injuries.
Nearby, Bulan Zir confirmed, “They’re all slash wounds, and it was likely inflicted by a heavy sword. The force of the slash was so great that it almost cut the victims in half. Their ears were also cut off like it was for some ritual.”
Donti nodded and said, “Are there any survivors? Did you see who killed them?”
“No, only these 12 people went to the salt pool to harvest salt. All of them are dead,” a tribal chief said.
Kirghiz Yan knelt next to the corpses. “The slash wounds are all inflicted on their front sides, so it shows that no one tried to escape. They’re the bravest warriors of the steppe. Master, should we head north to take revenge for them? I, Kirghiz Yan, am willing to be the vanguard.”
“Let’s give our warriors a sky burial first,” Donti said calmly.
Afterwards, a few hawks flew down from the sky and landed next to the corpses as though no one was around.
The surrounding tribesmen all knelt. To the nomads, if the corpses of the deceased could get eaten by the hawks, it meant their souls would gain entry to the sky realm.
But for sky burials in the past, the deceased would always have to be taken out into the grasslands where they would have to wait for up to seven days. It was never as magical as what was happening in front of them right now.
To those present, this was a funeral Donti had personally arranged for his tribespeople. It was a baptism by the gods.
Donti spurred his horse towards the salt pool as several hundred warriors rode close behind him.
When they arrived at the outer perimeter of the salt pool, Donti could already see the bloodstains ahead.
In the vast whiteness of the salt pool, the purplish-brown bloodstains were extremely eye-catching. Donti asked, “Were the corpses found here?”
“Yes, Master,” a nomad answered.
“Have any of you seen those people from the north in recent years?” Donti asked.
“No.” Bulan Zir shook his head. “Actually, the ones who were most active in the northern territories should be our Bulan tribe, but we’ve never seen them before.”
“That’s strange then.” Donti said, “Why did those people suddenly come south, and they even got so close to our territory too?”
At this moment, a black figure appeared at the salt pool out in the distance. Hassan instinctively moved forward and led his men to stand guard in front of Donti.
Donti watched from his horse as the other party slowly approached. Then favonovel.com said calmly, “They’re here…”
