Clean house! The beautiful vice-captain swiftly drew her knife, and from now on we're brothers!

When Lin Yuan cleared away all the ambushes with thunderous momentum and scared Barton into collapsing on the ground, the entire Gloomy Forest fell into an eerie silence once again.

Ayla and her surviving knights stood there blankly, looking at Lin Yuan as if he were a monster.

They had just been through a brutal, bloody battle and were even prepared for everyone to perish.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, all the enemies had turned into piles of minced meat.

And all of this was just because the young man from the East in front of them had waved his fist casually.

This kind of visual impact and psychological shock could simply not be described in words.

After a long time, Ayla finally regained her senses from that extreme shock.

She glanced at the messy ground, then at Barton, who was paralyzed on the ground, shaking like chaff and looking utterly disgraceful. Her beautiful azure eyes were instantly filled with endless anger and disappointment.

She gripped the longsword in her hand and walked towards Barton step by step.

Her footsteps were heavy; every step felt like it was stepping on the hearts of all the knights.

"Barton."

Ayla's voice was cold, devoid of even a shred of emotion.

"Look at yourself now. Do you have even a shred of the glory of a Holy Knight left?"

Barton, paralyzed on the ground, heard Ayla's voice and suddenly looked up. He scrambled to Ayla's feet, hugged her legs, and begged for mercy with tears and snot.

"Ayla! Ayla, I was wrong! I was just momentarily possessed by a ghost!"

"For the sake of the many years we have worked together, please spare my life! I will never dare to do it again!"

"I will tell you everything I know! Please, don't kill me!"

He only wanted to live now; all dignity and status had been cast to the winds.

However, as Ayla looked at his humble and shameless face, the last shred of pity in her eyes vanished completely.

She kicked Barton away, and the longsword in her hand pointed remotely at his throat.

"Shut up! You coward! Traitor!"

Ayla's voice trembled slightly with anger.

"Do you still remember? When we joined the Knight Order, the oath we took under the Holy Emblem!"

"Be a Guardian to the weak! Defend justice! Be loyal to the Alliance! Never betray!"

"Have you forgotten all these oaths?!"

"For your ridiculous power and status, you sold out your comrades! You betrayed your faith! You even aimed your butcher's knife at the allies who came to support us!"

Ayla became more and more agitated as she spoke, and crystalline tears welled up in her eyes.

That was the sound of a heart breaking after being betrayed by the person she trusted most.

"Barton! You betrayed the Knight Order! You betrayed the Oulu Alliance! You betrayed all of humanity!"

"You deserve to die!"

Ayla raised the longsword in her hand, the blade reflecting a chilling cold light in the dim forest.

"No—!"

Barton looked at the raised longsword and let out a desperate roar.

However, Ayla's action did not have the slightest hesitation.

"Puchi!"

A spray of blood shot into the sky!

Barton's large head rolled to the ground, his face still frozen with an expression of terror and unwillingness.

The headless corpse twitched a few times and then stopped moving completely.

Ayla stood proudly beside the corpse, holding the dripping longsword. The cold wind blew her golden hair, and her beautiful face was written with decisiveness and murderous intent.

She had personally cleaned house.

After a brief silence, the surviving knights behind her knelt on one knee in unison.

"Deputy Squad Leader is wise!"

Their voices were full of admiration and support for Ayla.

Ayla slowly put away her longsword, turned around, and walked to Lin Yuan.

Then, under everyone's surprised gaze, she bowed deeply to Lin Yuan, almost burying her head in her chest.

"Lord Lin!"

Ayla's voice was full of sincere gratitude and lingering fear.

"Thank you! Thank you for seeing through the conspiracy of the traitor Barton!"

"If it weren't for you, our Fifth Squad would probably have been wiped out here today! And our friends from Longxia would have been in danger because of our stupidity!"

"This kindness, I, Ayla, and the Fifth Squad of the Holy Knights Order, will never forget!"

Lin Yuan looked at her solemn appearance and just waved his hand casually.

"A small matter."

To him, this was indeed just a small trouble solved in passing.

He paused and continued: "The traitor has been dealt with, but the threat of the Divine Court remains."

"We should head to the headquarters of your Holy Knights Order as soon as possible, inform your superiors of everything that happened here, and then discuss the next countermeasures together."

"Lord Lin is right!" Ayla nodded immediately. Her judgment of Lin Yuan had reached the point of absolute obedience.

"I will lead everyone to the headquarters immediately!"

She turned around and ordered the knights under her command: "Clean up the battlefield! Collect the remains of the fallen comrades! We are leaving immediately!"

"Yes!"

The surviving knights immediately sprang into action.

...

Under Ayla's leadership, everyone left the Gloomy Forest, which was full of blood and betrayal.

After half a day of forced marching, a gigantic city, even more magnificent and spectacular than the "Glory Fortress," appeared before everyone's eyes.

This was the true headquarters of the Holy Knights Order—the Holy City "Avalon."

The entire city was built on a massive floating island, and below the island was a bottomless sea of clouds.

Countless chains shimmering with rune light hung down from the edges of the island, connecting to the ground below, as if it were the City in the Sky from myths and legends.

The main body of the city was a gigantic fortress that fused classical Gothic castle style with future technology.

The towering spires and defensive turrets flashing with energy light complemented each other, full of strong visual impact.

A huge, rainbow-colored energy shield enveloped the entire floating island, emitting terrifying energy fluctuations that made one's heart palpitate.

"Is this... the headquarters of the Holy Knights Order?"

Even Su Li couldn't help but exclaim when she saw this City in the Sky.

This creation, which perfectly combined magic, technology, and architecture, was simply a miracle.

"Welcome to Avalon."

There was a hint of pride on Ayla's face.

She led everyone through a rainbow bridge made of light and entered this City in the Sky.

As soon as they stepped into the city gate, a guard of honor came up to meet them.

Leading them was an old man with white hair and beard, wearing magnificent golden armor, and holding a scepter.

Although he was advanced in years, his posture was upright, his eyes as sharp as an eagle's, and he exuded a powerful aura of standing like a deep pool or a towering mountain. His strength had clearly reached the realm of the Martial God!

He was the current supreme commander of the Holy Knights Order, the Grand Commander—Augustine.

"Ayla, you are back."

Augustine's gaze first fell on Ayla. When he saw the significantly reduced team behind Ayla, a flash of imperceptible pity crossed his eyes.

Then, his gaze turned to Lin Yuan.

His wise eyes, which seemed to be able to see through everything, scrutinized Lin Yuan carefully, and expressions of appreciation and admiration gradually appeared on his face.

"This must be the distinguished guest from the East, Lord Lin Yuan, right?"

Augustine took the initiative to step forward and performed an equal knight's salute to Lin Yuan.

"I am Augustine, Grand Commander of the Holy Knights Order. Welcome, Your Excellency."

His attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, full of the demeanor of a superior.

Obviously, on the way back, Ayla and the others had already reported everything that happened in the Gloomy Forest to the headquarters via emergency communication.

Lin Yuan just nodded casually, as a response.

Augustine didn't mind Lin Yuan's "rudeness" either. He turned to the side and made a "please" gesture.

"Lord Lin, and friends from Longxia, you have traveled a long way. I have prepared the highest standard welcome banquet for you all..."

"No need." Lin Yuan interrupted him directly, "Banquets and such are too troublesome."

"Let's just get straight to business."

Augustine was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Good! Lord Lin is straightforward, just as I like it!"

"Come, take the warriors of Longxia to rest. Lord Lin, Instructor Su, Ayla, please come with me, we will hold an emergency meeting at the highest level immediately!"

Soon, everyone arrived at a circular conference room at the highest point of the Holy City.

At the conference table, the high-level officials of the Holy Knights Order were already seated. They were all commanders of the major Knight Orders, and the weakest among them was at the Peak Huagang Realm.

When they saw this Oriental who looked excessively young, there was a hint of curiosity and scrutiny in their eyes.

The meeting began.

Augustine first announced with grief the news of Barton's betrayal and the heavy sacrifices of the Fifth and Third Squads, and the atmosphere in the entire conference room suddenly became extremely oppressive.

Subsequently, he steered the topic to Lin Yuan.

"Everyone, although we have suffered heavy losses, it is not without good news."

"This Lord Lin Yuan from the Tianshu Base of Dragon Xia Kingdom has, with his own strength, completely wiped out two important strongholds of the Divine Court in Black Stone Valley and the Gloomy Forest. His strength is unfathomable!"

"Now, let us hear what Lord Lin thinks about the next battle situation."

Everyone's eyes were focused on Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan yawned and stood up slowly.

He walked to the holographic map in the center, looking at the dozen or so red light spots representing the Divine Court's strongholds marked by Augustine on it.

He stretched out his finger and tapped lightly on one of the light spots that looked unremarkable in the center of the continent.

"Hit here."

He said indifferently.

"Here?" A Knight Order commander frowned, "Lord Lin, this is just a transit station for the Divine Court. The troops are not many, and the location is not important. Why not attack those large strongholds with heavy troops first?"

"Because you are all wrong."

Lin Yuan shook his head, his tone calm, but it seemed to carry a magic that could see through everything.

"The layout of the Divine Court on the Oulu Continent is like a spider web. Those large strongholds you see are just nodes on the web."

"And the place I pointed to, the Sorrowful Mountains, is the center of this web, where the body of the spider that weaves the web is located."

"Once this place is taken down and their core command center is destroyed, all other strongholds will instantly fall into chaos and become a pile of loose sand. At that time, wanting to clean them up will be as easy as a pie."

Combining the core plot from the original book, Lin Yuan proposed this battle plan of "defeating them one by one, disintegrating the core."

The entire conference room fell into silence instantly.

All the high-level officials of the Knight Order widened their eyes, looking at Lin Yuan, their faces full of shock.

They had studied the Divine Court for so many years, but had only been entangled with those peripheral strongholds, and had never thought that the true core of the Divine Court would be hidden in such an inconspicuous place!

Augustine looked at the map, his eyes flashing with sharp light. He repeatedly deduced Lin Yuan's plan. The more he thought about it, the more shocked he felt, and the more brilliant he thought it was!

"Good! What a 'capture the ringleader first to catch the bandits'!"

Augustine slapped the table and stood up, his face full of excitement.

"Let's do as Lord Lin says! I announce that all troops of the Holy Knights Order will from now on obey Lord Lin's command! Cooperate fully and attack the Sorrowful Mountains!"