The Rise of the Fallen Prodigy

They bypassed the Commercial Street and walked along the main road of Silvermoon Valley for about half an hour.

After turning out from several corners, a city wall dozens of zhang (a traditional Chinese unit of length) high came into view.

The ancient city wall was entirely built with huge stones. It was obvious that it had endured countless years, showing all the signs of vicissitudes.

This was the first time Liam Smith had seen the city wall of Silvermoon Valley. Although it looked weathered, it was extremely majestic, making people feel a sense of awe.

Looking into the distance, there were dark shadows moving back and forth on the city wall. Perhaps because the city wall was too high, it was not very clear, and only a vague sight of people's heads moving could be seen.

Presumably, they were the guards sent by the City Lord's Mansion of Silvermoon Valley.

At the city gate below, there were also dozens of people in armor, holding long swords and big knives. They were in uniform attire and had serious expressions. These were surely the well-known Silvermoon Valley Guards of Silvermoon Valley.

These warriors were all subordinate to the City Lord's Mansion of Silvermoon Valley. Their responsibility was to safeguard the daily peace of Silvermoon Valley, guard the city gate, and inspect the people coming in and out to prevent lawbreakers from entering or escaping.

The cultivation levels of these Silvermoon Valley Guards were generally average. The lowest was only at the fifth or sixth level of the Refined Gas Realm, and the highest commander was only at the third or fourth level of the Condensate Realm in cultivation.

In Silvermoon Valley, they were not very powerful. At least, any of the three major families could casually send out a stronger team.

However, none of the families dared to provoke them. The reason was simple: they were from the City Lord's Mansion.

The so-called City Lord's Mansion was the place where the real power lay in a main city. Here, the words of the City Lord were the law, and the City Lord was the one who truly had the final say.

The City Lord was personally appointed by the royal family of the Sunshine Federation and represented the entire Sunshine Federation.

The City Lord himself had top-notch cultivation, and with the support of the Sunshine Federation behind him, it was not something that any random one or two families could afford to provoke.

Provoking the Silvermoon Valley Guards meant that there was a possibility of provoking the main residence of Silvermoon Valley. If one were to completely fall out with the City Lord's Mansion, it would inevitably attract the attention of the royal family of the Sunshine Federation. At that time, life and death would be decided by the will of the people in power of the Sunshine Federation.

Hundreds of years ago, there was once an extremely powerful family in Silvermoon Valley. Not only did it monopolize all the industries in Silvermoon Valley, but it also showed no respect to the City Lord's Mansion.

It offended the City Lord over a trivial matter and even sent people to surround the City Lord's Mansion and killed many guards of the City Lord's Mansion.

This incident immediately alarmed the royal family of the Sunshine Federation. The imperial royal family then sent a super expert who completely massacred the entire family within a day, leaving no one or even animals alive.

This event shocked the entire Sunshine Federation at that time. For a while, all the families avoided showing off their power and became extremely low-key in their behavior, as no one wanted to follow in the footsteps of that family.

Since then, everyone has been sparing no effort to curry favor with the City Lord. If any family has a good relationship with the City Lord, it means that it will be the number one family in this main city.

Even if other families are not convinced in their hearts, they will always show respect to the City Lord's Mansion.

Although this incident has been forgotten over the years, the major families still keep reminding their pupils not to provoke the people from the City Lord's Mansion.

At that moment, there were quite a few people at the city gate undergoing inspections and preparing to leave the city.

Naturally, Liam Smith walked up following the crowd.

A young guard stopped Liam Smith, looked him up and down. When he saw the special mark belonging to the Smith family on Liam Smith's clothes, his haughty eyes softened a bit.

He smiled and said, "So you are a pupil of the Smith family. Please go ahead."

Liam Smith was not surprised by this. Although the City Lord's Mansion was powerful and had a strong backer, in this small area of Silvermoon Valley, the three major families also had considerable influence. The City Lord's Mansion sometimes still needed the help of the three major families, so it treated each family with courtesy.

After all, respect was mutual. If the three major families caused chaos in Silvermoon Valley, the City Lord would also have a headache. After all, as long as there was no major incident, the royal family of the Sunshine Federation would not interfere.

On the contrary, the ability of a City Lord was reflected in the peace and order of the main city under his jurisdiction. If a main city was in turmoil all day long, then the royal family, in a fit of anger, might remove the City Lord from his position.

This was also the most brilliant aspect of the royal family of the Sunshine Federation, making the City Lord's Mansion and the various families check and balance each other.

What the royal family of the Sunshine Federation most wanted to see was that the strength of each family and the City Lord's Mansion remained at the same level, so as to prevent any one party's power from expanding and ultimately threatening the existence of the royal family.

After all, the royal family of the Sunshine Federation used to be a powerful family. It was only after eliminating the previous empire that the Sunshine Federation was established. Presumably, they were afraid that history would repeat itself.

"Thank you." Liam Smith clasped his hands slightly in a salute and then walked out of the city.

Outside the city was a desolate area. There was only loess and rocks all around, and there was only one main road facing the city gate.

At this moment, the air was filled with dust, and many warriors had already mounted their horses and galloped towards their respective directions.

Liam Smith squinted his eyes and felt a little annoyed in his heart. It seemed that he was destined to follow behind others and enjoy the feeling of dust blowing in his face.

However, this was Liam Smith's first time leaving Silvermoon Valley, and he was curious about everything around him. There was still a hint of excitement in his heart.

After walking and running for a while along the pre-planned route, Liam Smith came to a small town full of dilapidated walls and broken buildings.

It seemed that the town was quite prosperous before, but it was not known why it had fallen into such a state of ruin. There were still people living in some of the houses in the town that were still habitable.

There were also a few scattered small shops around, and the whole town looked lifeless.

Looking into the distance, dozens of li away from the town, there were overlapping peaks and ridges. The towering mountains of Owen were fully revealed in front of him. No one knew exactly how high the mountains were.

Half of the mountains were already hidden in the clouds. From a distance, they looked like pillars connecting the sky, which was truly amazing.

This was Liam Smith's destination this time—the Cloud-Connecting Mountains.

This was an ancient mountain range that had existed since time immemorial. It was the favorite and frequently visited place for all the warriors in Silvermoon Valley. Most of the goods in Silvermoon Valley came from here.

The Cloud-Connecting Mountains stretched for thousands of li and were the border between the Sunshine Federation and other empires. Here, there were coveted spiritual flowers and exotic herbs, countless cultivation resources, and it was a paradise for warriors. At the same time, it was also hell.

Here, there were countless dangers, both visible and invisible.

Every year, no less than ten thousand warriors died here.

However, the fear of death could not stop the warriors from moving forward. In order to obtain Soul crystals and other cultivation resources, even if the Cloud-Connecting Mountains were a place of almost certain death, there would never be a lack of visitors.

In the world of warriors, the competition was fierce. The law of the jungle was an eternal truth.

Where there was demand, there was struggle. Death meant complete disappearance, while survival meant harvest.

There was no completely safe place in the Liberty Divine Land. Compared with the struggles between people, more warriors preferred the life-and-death battles in the mountains and forests.

Unable to contain his joy, after staring at the Cloud-Connecting Mountains for a while, Liam Smith felt a longing in his heart. Without bothering to rest, he continued on his way.

Just a moment after he started walking, Liam Smith suddenly felt that something was wrong. His heart tightened, and his steps came to a halt.

He casually glanced around but found nothing unusual. He immediately understood that this feeling came from behind him.

At that moment, Alistair's voice rang out in his mind: "Not bad, little guy. You've noticed that something's wrong?"

"Did you already know, Master?" Liam Smith was slightly surprised.

But he resumed his normal pace to avoid revealing anything.

Alistair smiled noncommittally and said, "Of course. There's been a guy following you for an hour."

Liam Smith's face changed slightly, and he asked in surprise, "Someone is following me?"

Alistair was quite calm and said, "Don't worry. It's just a small fry."

"Do you know who he is, Master?" A hint of coldness appeared in Liam Smith's eyes.

"I know, but it's not important to us."

Liam Smith nodded slightly and murmured, "I haven't offended anyone in Silvermoon Valley. Why would someone be following me?"

Alistair chuckled and said, "Little guy, why do you underestimate yourself? Haven't you offended a lot of people in Silvermoon Valley?"

Liam Smith frowned slightly and fell into deep thought.

"Master, is there a way to get rid of the person behind us?"

Although he didn't know exactly who the person behind him was for the moment, he had come here for training this time and didn't want any unexpected troubles. Besides, with his current cultivation level, if someone wanted to deal with him, he was afraid it would cause big trouble. It would be better to shake off the follower if possible.

"Of course. It's a piece of cake." Alistair said proudly.

According to Alistair's instructions, Liam Smith suddenly turned his head and looked back while walking. Although he didn't find the person following him, Liam Smith knew that the other person must be hiding in some corner at the moment.

And now he needed this very moment. Immediately, his figure flashed, and he directly passed through a collapsed alleyway. After a few turns, he disappeared behind several dilapidated houses.

After a few breaths, a young man suddenly appeared at the place where Liam Smith had disappeared. He was sweating profusely, and his eyes kept looking around, with a look of anxiety on his face.

He murmured to himself in confusion, "How could he disappear in the blink of an eye? This good-for-nothing really runs fast."

After staying for a few more breaths and confirming that he had lost the other person's trail, the young man turned around resentfully and headed back the way he had come.

Just then, a person wearing a black robe suddenly appeared in the alleyway.

Staring at the back of the young man who had just left, a young voice came from inside the black robe: "So it's him."

"Hehe, he's not even a clown worth bothering about. Let's ignore him and focus on our own business." An old man's voice sounded immediately.

"Master is right. We can't let this idiot ruin my mood." The figure in the black robe nodded slightly.

After saying that, he turned around and headed towards the Cloud-Connecting Mountains.

The person wearing the black robe was undoubtedly Liam Smith. In the few breaths of time when he got out of the other person's sight, Liam Smith took out the black robe that Alistair had asked him to buy in advance and quickly put it on, successfully avoiding being followed by the other person.

Now that the other person had left, but for the sake of safety, Liam Smith still had to continue wearing the thick black robe and go on his way.

In his heart, he cursed the other person countless times.

Wearing such a black robe under the scorching sun now seemed a bit out of place, but there were always some strange warriors in the Liberty Divine Land who would wear some clothes that others couldn't understand all year round, so it was nothing strange.

This was also the reason why the other person was completely deceived by him.