THE FALL OF THE SMITH FAMILY (2)

In a blink of an eye, it was standing 10 m away from Lia. Seeing what the other small cub had in its mouth, the horned cub had a hint of surprise in its eyes but it quickly disappeared. It then looked at Lia and the three men. Seeing that the three men wanted to attack the white lion cub, it almost jumped out to them but it halted its action because Lia stood in their way. Seeing that Lia, although heavy wounded, stood in the way of the three men who wanted to attack the little cub, the horned cub had a hint of admiration in its eyes.

"What do you want miss Lia? Do you think you can stop us just by yourself? "

"Boss, let us take care of the cub, you take care of that little lady" one of the other two men, the tall and weird looking one said. "Although it's fast, I don't think Little Han and I can't trap and capture it"

Looking at the short Little Han who nodded in sign of acquiescence, the burly Hans nodded and faced Lia. The others took action and pounced towards the little white lion. When they were about to reach it, they suddenly felt like time had stopped and they were stuck in the air. It was not only them, Lia and Hans who were ready to face each other also felt the same. While they were wondering what was going on, they saw a three-meter-tall white lion with a long horn on its head appearing out of nowhere. Seeing it, Hans and his men started sweating heavily. They knew that they had f**** up.

While they were saying their prayers, the white lion walked before the white cub. Suddenly, the vial of blood floated in the air towards it. After examining the blood in the vial, the horned lion looked at the small cub on the ground with affection filing its eyes

"This thing is useless to you little one. It will only serve to pollute your blood"

As if understanding, the white cub nodded its head but it then turned towards Lia and worked over to her and stared at her then it went back to where it came from. The giant lion then turned towards the three men who were already weak on their knees due to fear. Although they did not know but they could tell from instinct that the beast before them was dangerous, extremely dangerous, so dangerous that a mere fart from him could obliterate them. Seeing the lion looking at them, they knew that their end had come. No one could save them even if mother nature tried to protect them it would fail to do so seeing the place they were at.

"So, you vulgar humans wanted to capture the descendant of this king, huh? Humph! Even that old geezer Karl Karson wouldn't dare to commit such a sacrilege but you punks really dares to" Looking at the almost at breakdown men, it sneered in disdain.

The lion then blew the air in front of him. Suddenly, a powerful whirlwind formed and rushed towards the men and they were completely obliterated, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

On the side, Lia, who was watching this scene, was as if she had just witnessed something incredulous straight out of those history books she often reads to pass time. Sending two middle Martial Grandmasters away with just a breath. Even if she didn't know how strong the beast in front of her was, she still could tell that it was strong enough to trample upon all the surrounding countries. Even the Great Cet Empire would suffer high casualties if it were attacked by this tiger which means that this beast was at least of the mythic 9th stage, the Martial Sage stage.

'I'm I fated to die here?' This was supposed to be a festive day. She should have reached home, told her husband and father about the successful acquisition of this 1000-year herb which could help her husband recover his cultivation. Then they would be celebrating her pregnancy and Ray's recovery. But now…'I don't even have any strand of energy left in my body…Ray I'm sorry…' and she passed out.

.....

Roland City

The whole city was filled with the stench of blood. From the city's northern area, a big column of fire could be seen. Wails and cries from the children and the women could be heard. The ground was littered with corpses and burned buildings. Even the tallest building in the whole city, the Holylands Tower was on the verge of falling.

"So this all what the Smith family amounts to? Not much it seems!" sneered a tall and huge bald man standing in front of the former Roland City's Holylands Tower. He was wearing a black suit and armed with two hatchets. By his sides were two men a short bald man in a green Daoist robe with a short sword in hand; and a young man with short black hair and glasses. He was fully dressed in white, except for his black shirt under his vest and his red neck-tie. He was a very handsome specimen, the kind to make women go crazy with a glance. From his body, one could feel the aura of a king. In the whole kingdom he is known as the Seventh Prince and the kingdom greatest talent after Ray Maye's injury. Among the ladies he is known as the 'nation's husband', the dream partner of every young ladies and even some single ladies would fight for his favors. His name is Alan Hildegarde

Before them were a dozens of men and women, young and old. These people were badly wounded, some were even missing an arm or both arms. In their lead was a middle-aged man seeming to be in his late forties. His clothes were dyed red with blood and he was missing his left arm. Although he was wounded to the extent that an ordinary person would have fainted and maybe died many times over just from the loss of blood and the pain, he was still showing a stubborn and proud attitude. Looking at the people before him who were covered in the blood of his family, the middle aged man didn't even let a trace of anger show on his face. Instead, one could see something like disdain, yes disdain towards his opponents. In the whole kingdom, only one man could show such arrogance and pride in the face of doom: Brant Smith, the head of the Smith family and president of the Holylands Group. Next to him stood a young man with above average looks; he wasn't very tall, his features were barely noticeable. Although he wasn't as wounded as the others, he still looked very miserable with tattered clothes. Looking at him one would hardly believe that this average looking man was the former number one talent in the Maldàn Kingdom history, son in law and right hand man of the Director of the Holylands Group, Ray Maye.

"Old fool Roland, do you really think that you would be a match against my family without the help from the Seven Sword Sect and the Seventh Prince? At the end of the day, I am still stronger than you: my strength is higher than yours, my family is stronger and wealthier than yours, my descendants have always suppressed yours. You had to seek for help from stronger entities without whom you wouldn't be my opponent. Long story short: you're trash, trash among trash hahaha"

Bang!

President Smith was knocked over by the short old man from the Seven Sword Sect and his body crashed in the tower's wall.

The Maldàn Kingdom Seventh Prince, Prince Alan, stepped over with a sigh looking at Brant Smith and Ray Maye

"Director Smith, a few years ago I asked for your daughter's hand and you didn't give me face although you knew how much I cared for her, and in fact I still care. But…you handed her over to this cripple of a man. At that time, I told you that you would regret it and now, it seems I was right."

"Regret? What regret? The only regret I have is allowing you to meet my daughter that day by taking her to the Palace ten years ago when she was reticent to."

"Alan, I'm truly disappointed in you. A few years ago I regarded and respected you as my greatest rival, whether in love or in the pursuit of the martial way. I never though you would resort to these tricks."

"*sigh* I regret; I regret not killing you all those times the heavens gave me the opportunity to. But do you really think that Lia would fall in your hands after this?"

Hearing this, the prince gritted his teeth.

"Even with death knocking at the door, you still won't repent. My men are looking for Lia. the saint beast blood should be with her, right? Don't worry, I will find Lia and take good care of her in your place. I will give her al the affection she deserves and more; after all, I owe you this much, my friend" shifting his sight to his men he ordered coldly "kill them!".

A few minutes later, in a room in the now devastated Holylands Tower, the Prince Alan was staring out of a window while holding a purple dress in his hands, his eyes filled with longing. this dress was the dress worn by Lia the first night he met her at the Palace. He started reminiscing about that night.

It was ten years ago, during the eightieth birthday of the king's teacher. He was naturally taking part in the celebrations as the seventh prince and most talented individual in the last two hundred years of the royal family. Although he had already met a lot of beautiful young ladies of influential families and even princesses of neighboring kingdoms and gained their favor thanks to his good looks, background and great talent, he has never been interested in any of them. Of course he had bedded quite a few of them, that was just lust. But all of this changed that fateful night. she was standing by herself in a corner of the palace. she exuded a beauty capable of destroying nations. That beauty of hers was further accentuated by the purple dress she was wearing. Under the moonlight, her appearance was nothing short of an art of work created by God. From the moment he saw her, he decided that only her was fit to be standing by his side as his woman.

He tried to walk over to her but was quickly surrounded by those ugly women. Even him hadn't realized at that time that since he saw her, all those women by his side became ugly to him. While trying to push away those young ladies, he saw her turning around and looking at him with a smile. That smile made him lose his composure. Since young, he had always been praised as someone with a lot of wisdom and a firm will. He had never been defeated by one of his peers in a mental clash but just a smile from her had him completely bewitched.

By the time he recovered, she was already gone. after investing a lot of resources to find her, he finally discovered that she was the President of the Holylands Group most treasured daughter, and one of the kingdom's greatest talent, Lia Smith. Learning about her talent and background made him more eager to court her. But it was then that he met him and thus his nightmare began.

His name was Ray Maye; he was the son of Brant Smith's closest friend. After the death of his friend, Brant Smith adopted him in his family. He grew alongside his children and became childhood sweethearts with Lia. At first, Prince Alan neglected him, since he was just an orphan and there was no record of his martial abilities so he just thought that he was not his, the Seventh Prince of the Maldàn Kingdom-Alan Hildegard, opponent. But he never thought that he would be defeated by his rival without even having the opportunity to fight back. From then on, he had always been in his love rival's shadow. Until one day he was told that someone had attacked his rival and his energy channel had been crippled. At that time, he thought that he finally had the chance to successfully court Lia but his pride had once again been hurt when Lia decided to marry Ray even after he had been crippled. He, the Seventh Prince wasn't even a match for a crippled. His hatred towards Ray Maye and Brant Smith who supported his rival deepened but his love for Lia instead grew to the point of obsession. Thus he decided to ally with the enemies of the Smith to destroy them and take back Lia for himself. But she is not there.

'Lia, I swore that you'll be mine and I'm a man of my word. If you are dead, I will kill your murderer and bring back your corpse to the Palace'

"Let's go!"

Just like that, one of the Maldàn Kingdom's great families, and many of its high-tier talents were killed in a single day. But no one, not even the great seers by the king's sides could have foretold that this event and the appearance of the Lion King would be the trigger to many earthshaking events. And the yet to be born heir of the smith family would be the center of those.