He quickly paid the fee and finally retired into his room for the night. Early in the morning, Adrian was already up and cultivating, though he was anxious to return home, he still decided to take it easy.
After a few hours of continuous cultivation, he left the inn after having a light breakfast. Continuing his tiring walk from yesterday, he finally arrived at the core region of the city after midday.
However, there were even more black robed individuals patrolling the streets than before. This heightened his caution and made him even more vigilant. After a few more detours and roundabouts, he could see the entrance of the Thorne family.
Adrian narrowed his eyes. Everything looked alright. Through the gates, he could see many servants going about their work normally. After observing for a few minutes, nothing seemed amiss.
'Perhaps I'm just paranoid, ' Adrian thought. After spending so long in the mountains where he had to constantly be alert in case of a wild beast attacking him, perhaps he had indeed developed the feeling that everything was out to get him.
The only thing that was out of place was that there were no guards at the entrance of the gates of the estate; aside from that, everything else looked fine.
Adrian felt his apprehension lessen as he continued to survey the surroundings, trying to look for clues. Though everything looked alright, he still hadn't let go of his suspicion.
He didn't fail to notice that those black robed individuals didn't linger near the gates. They only passed by once in a while, leaving it completely unguarded most of the time. It was basically a free invitation to anyone who wanted to enter.
Also, no one from inside the estate seemed to be emerging. They were coming back and forth, going about their businesses but they never came near the entrance, talkless of coming outside.
This fueled his growing suspicion as he decided to wait for a while before making a move. However, his impatience got the better of him. He could only wait for an hour before he decided to enter.
He timed his approach and after waiting for the black robed individuals to pass, he began making his way to the gates of the estate.
Adrian started walking towards his family's house. Immediately he stepped through the gates, the scene around him changed. Countless corpses were everywhere as the thick smell of blood hung in the air. Bodies of soldiers, servants, and even members of the branch families could be found strewn all over the ground. It was a gruesome sight to behold.
As Adrian stood there, shocked and overwhelmed by the sight in front of him, he almost couldn't believe it.
'What was going on? Why were there bodies everywhere? Weren't they all fine just now? As his thoughts spun, he realized that the reason he didn't see any guards outside was because they were all here.....dead.
Adrian's mind suddenly thought of something, formations. That's right only a formation could conceal what was going on here. He suddenly remembered the array of flags he saw when he arrived outside the city. The feeling of dread had already reached its max right now. He knew that something had happened to the Thorne family and whatever it was, it definitely wasn't good.
As Adrian stood there in a daze, he tried to make sense of what was happening. Suddenly, he saw one of the bodies moving slightly. He rushed towards the man who was already near death.
His condition was already dire as several wounds could be seen on his body even from afar. There was a particularly long sword slash that exposed his internal organs. He would definitely die soon if he wasn't treated immediately. As soon as he got close to the man, he realized that it was one of the members of the branch family.
The House of Thorne like most noble families, were divided into the main family and the branch families. The main families mainly consisted of the patriarch's immediate family.
There were only a few members in comparison to the total number of people in the family. But each of these people controlled immense power.
Adrian was one of these people. The number of people more important than him in the family could be counted on one hand. Of course, this was excluding those ancestors who had left the family to wander the continent in search of opportunities or decided to enter seclusion and not bother with the affairs of the family anymore.
The man opened his eyes and saw the blurry figure of Adrian rushing towards him. As soon as he saw him, he could only muster out one word..."demons". After saying that, his eyes closed permanently.
'Demons'...this word rang continuously in Adrian's mind as he tried to figure out the meaning but to no avail. He decided to make his way further inside to check on the situation. He still didn't know the scale of the conflict and thought that everyone else must have gathered in the main family's courtyard.
It didn't even occur to him that something could have happened to his father. What a joke, that was the patriarch of the Thorne family. He was someone who had reached the heavenly immortal realm. Few people on this continent could contend with his father. His father was the strongest person he knew. Besides, it wasn't only his father.
Several of his uncles had reached the earth immortal realm, with a few even having reached the peak of it. They were only one step away from breaking through to the heavenly immortal realm. Their power was something ordinary people could not imagine.
As Adrian made his way to the main family courtyard, he kept thinking about the word demon. He could only conclude that it meant people of the demonic faction. They were the only set of people who could be referred to as demons. But this made him even more incredulous.
'Why would the people from the demonic faction attack the Thorne family?'
'How could they enter this deep into the territory of the Orthodox faction without anyone finding out?'
'And why did this massacre not cause a commotion outside?'
All these questions remained unanswered in Adrian's mind as he made his way towards the main family's courtyard. He could only grit his teeth and ignore the gruesome carnage around him as he rushed to the main family building.