After his men opened the wooden box, he saw the "present" in it.

It was a coffin.

A finely crafted coffin.

The coffin was hemmed with luxurious gold foil, decorated with beautiful lacquer paintings. The pattern on the coffin's lid was a black short whip, which was exactly Iron Whip clan's sigil.

Rubaka Bloodwhip stiffened before breaking into a half-sneering smile

"That's it? I thought they would give me something scarier than this." He shook his head. "I was expecting a head, ears or a man's skins... which is how Iron Sand City normally handles this kind of matter. A coffin? The Southernmost Region doesn't need such a frivolous thing!"

The dead here would all be dumped in the desert, buried in scorching sands and eventually reduce to skeletons. No matter how prominent and distinguished he once had been, death made them all equal.

Only people from the north needed those awkward wooden cases.

They seemed to like locking themselves up in this cage of eternity after their deaths.

"The wh.o.r.e of Osha thought this would frighten me?"

Rubaka breathed heavily.

"Perchance she's forgotten how a Sand Nation usually makes threats after being a slave in Graycastle for so long."

Nonetheless, the humiliation made Rubaka's blood all rush to his head.

"Get me the ax!" he yelled.

Soon a clansman entered with a huge cast-iron ax on his shoulder. The hilt of the ax was nearly of a man's height, its glinty black blade as big as a man's skull. Although Rubaka was the chief of Iron Whip clan, his favorite weapon was this giant, heavy battle ax. It worked perfectly for slaughtering desert beasts and beheading his challengers.

Nothing could possibly compete with the absolute power of this ax. Once being hit, the person would die instantly at a single blow even if he was wearing an armor which northerners typically wore.

The ax had also tasted the blood of Osha clan, including women's and children's.

Rubaka had forgotten to tell Drow Silvermoon that those exiles did not make their trip to Endless Cape because he had taken a detour aforetime and arrived there ahead of them. They had all been slashed in the desert.

He did not fear retribution but simply enjoyed killing.

A coffin?

Get lost.

Rubaka coughed out a spittle and howled. He held up the battle ax, aimed at the coffin lid patterned with the iron whip and then gave it a full swing...

"Crack!"

A number of sparks flew off the blade as if it had hit something hard like iron or stones.

The coffin did not split in half as he had antic.i.p.ated. From the vibration of the hilt, Rubaka knew the pretty wooden case was actually stuffed with items rather than being empty!

But it was too late.

Following the sparks, a streak of dazzling light came out of the coffin and soon lit up the entire hall. The lit area expanded immediately as the light spread and flared out.

Rubaka, however, did not see any of these.

When the light flitted across him, his eyes and tongue were torn to bits by the strength of rapidly expanded airwaves. Subsequently, his head, limbs and inner organs were all torn apart...

All the residents in Iron Sand City witnessed an incredible scene when they heard a ground-shaking bang.

Flames and smoke escaped from the bottom of the stonewatch of Rising Sun like raging underground fire; the garden wall was practically wiped out by a giant visible hand. The whole stone castle sprang up abruptly before it collapsed in the heavy smoke.

First, the wall sank, followed by the pillars and the roof. As more stones fell off, more smoke erupted from the ground. In the end, a column of smoke rose out of the crumpled stone castle, soared into the clouds, and then finally blended with the overcast sky.

"A Tower of Babel" seemed to be suddenly erected in Iron Sand City

Thuram in Oasis Tavern also witnessed the explosion. He did not understand what the story Iron Axe had told him earlier exactly referred to until a moment ago.

The coffin filled with snow powder, the weight reduced by the Divine Lady, the flint closely attached to the lid and the lanyard connected to the ceiling... All of these would trigger a roar of thunders no matter how the coffin was opened. Whether by force or through a regular procedure, the explosion was inevitable. Although he had no knowledge of snow powder or lanyards, he understood what a thunderbolt was.

Thuram could imagine how frightful this unexpected thunder was, for the blast, although distant, could be heard somewhere several miles away, and the column of smoke could be even detected at the bloodstained place.

If the coffin was truly the cause of such a horrific scene in Iron Sand City, it was very likely that the chief of Iron Whip clan had already died.

The only thing that Thuram had failed to predict was that Iron Axe actually took action on Iron Whip clan, the fourth strongest clan, prior to the duel, not to mention the vengeance was inflicted in such a blatant way.

"You..." He stared at Iron Axe, who remained unperturbed, in astonishment, failing to articulate his sentence.

Iron Axe explained nonchalantly, "Rubaka Bloodwhip profaned the holy duel back then. He also failed Three G.o.ds' expectation. How can I have a fair fight with a guy who has been disqualified at the Land of Fire? Rubaka and his clan are all cowards. I've never treated them as my rivals since the beginning."

"But... Ironwhip is essentially a big clan..."

Iron Axe shook his head. "That's exactly why I let them die in this way rather than allow them to die with honor in a ring. Plus, Osha clan won't violate Three G.o.ds' rules. Once our rivals yield, we'll lay down our weapons and exempt them from death." He paused for a second and then said, "Think about it. Were you the chief of Ironwhip, what would you do when you're informed that Osha clan has come back?"

Thuram instantly understood what Iron Axe meant.

It was true that a person who had once broken the rule was very likely to commit wrongdoings again. A person who disobeyed Three G.o.ds' rules would cause incessant trouble. Even if he attempted to reverse his defeat eight years ago through a holy duel, he would probably keep hara.s.sing and framing his rivals before and after the fight. It would be better to completely destroy him than constantly having your eyes peeled.

"But... if Rubaka didn't open the coffin or destroy it, your plan would have failed." Thuram blurted out his last question.

"The chief of Ironwhip were in nature aggressive and savage. He liked to destroy and slaughter. It's as easy to read his mind as to read a monkey's." Iron Axes curled up his lips into a smile. "Plus, the coffin full of snow powder was just the very beginning of my plan, an appetizer, so to speak. Even if Rubaka luckily survived, there was much more awaiting him... Now it seems that Three G.o.ds won't protect a traitor."

Thuram shuddered at these words.

He had sworn to Three G.o.ds when he had pledged fealty to Drow Silvermoon and the new Osha clan.

Iron Axe's last sentence was also a warning to him.

"Now we can crack into the business." The mixed-blood patted Thuram on his shoulder, utterly unabashed. "The reason I've picked you is that you know everything about Iron Sand City. People in the oasis told me that there's nothing about the desert that you don't know."

"It's simply because I've been living here for a long time and heard a lot of stories." After witnessing how the watchdog had been defeated overnight and how the explosion had brought upon Iron Whip clan a swift destruction, Thuram showed more respect to Iron Axe, Princess Osha and Graycastle that supported them. "I'll tell you everything that I know in detail."

Iron Axe inclined his head. "Very good. If you want to win the holy duel, you have to first thoroughly investigate your rivals... Let's begin with warriors from various clans and their Divine Ladies."