Before Elara upgraded, she was already able to handle Blood-robed Tower's Heaven-rank Fifteen on her own. Now that her overall strength had increased, these Blood-robed Tower members in front of her seemed like slow and weak little chicks. Without needing anyone else's help, Elara took care of this entire squad in under a minute.
Then the same disguise trick happened again.
Elara threw down the bodies of several guards from the Shuitian Kingdom, making it look like they and the Blood-robed Tower members had killed each other.
After completing the disguise, she thought for a moment and decided not to discard the body of the Shuitian leader.
She wanted the Blood-robed Tower to be completely framed for this. So she would throw the body of the Shuitian Kingdom's leader into the Blood-robed Tower's base to make the accusation airtight.
After taking care of this group of assassins hiding underground, Elara, Prince Yu, and Prince Leland's underground journey came to a successful end.
This trip underground was originally just to gain experience and see if there were any leftover divine artifacts to collect. They didn't expect to obtain various divine vein blessings and divine scrolls through "various means," far beyond what they had anticipated.
They had already gained far more divine treasures than expected.
Especially Elara, using the underground map that Gareth had previously shown her with the "map tracker," she was almost certain that the core of this divine ruin was the "central palace" she had passed through.
She had already taken everything valuable from the area with the most treasures in the "divine ruin."
There wasn't much point in staying there any longer.
Once the major factions fighting in the cave realized what was happening, they definitely wouldn't let them go.
It was better to return now while the other forces were still busy searching, fighting, and exploring, and finish the framing plan. That way they could change their identities and appearances sooner, return to their homeland, and leave everything behind. While the Jingshi Kingdom and its allied states were still entangled with the divine ruin, they could rush back and start their planned northern campaign early.
After discussing together, everyone quickly agreed with Elara's idea. Using the underground map Gareth had just shown, Elara led everyone away from the main forces and chose a completely different secret underground exit than the one they entered from.
After all, the entrance they had used was definitely being watched by the major factions waiting outside.
Forces like the Shuitian Kingdom would surely be among them, and since Elara was still carrying the Shuitian Kingdom's leader's corpse, she had no intention of asking for trouble.
On top of that, their group was carrying many divine treasures. If they returned by the same path, those guarding the entrance might hold back for now because of the delicate balance, but they would definitely send people to follow, ambush, or rob them, bringing endless trouble.
So Elara didn't plan to go back the same way. She used the hidden exit marked on the map.
As they moved, she also used the Puppet Soldiers and Gareth to send a message, asking them to take Wenbin, Emory, and the others out of the Geranium Kingdom's capital. They were to change identities and become a new merchant caravan, then wait for Elara and the group on the road.
...
The hidden exit on the map was connected to a dark river inside the mountain cave.
But since this underground site had long been discovered by the Geranium Kingdom and its backers, the hidden exit was likely known by them too, and they may have already set up an ambush.
So Elara didn't leave through the dark river exit directly. Instead, three kilometers away from the river mouth, she found a thin wall and a small cave dug by a pangolin. She summoned more pangolins to expand the small cave, then led everyone out through it.
Sure enough, there were no hidden enemies lying in wait around the newly dug exit.
Finally back on the surface, they immediately headed in the direction they had agreed on with Gareth.
As they silently passed by the dark river exit, they found that it was already heavily surrounded and blocked by forces from the Geranium Kingdom and its backers.
If other factions discovered this exit and tried to leave with their treasures, they would definitely fall into the hands of the Geranium Kingdom and its backers.
Hmph, the Bloodflame Lord let out a cold snort and threw aside the heavy secret report in his hand. These past days, just dealing with this mess had already cost him a lot of effort. It was all because those useless fools under him were too incompetent, they couldn't even handle such a small matter properly.
With a sinister thought, he considered picking a few people out to kill as a warning, so the rest of these idiots would stop causing trouble. Just then, an urgent voice came from outside the hall.
"My Lord! My Lord! Something bad has happened!"
The Bloodflame Lord was most annoyed by such reports lately and responded in a tone full of impatience:
"What stupid thing have they done now?"
"G-General Huo Yan of Shuitian Kingdom… he died in the secret prison of our Blood Garment Tower's Geranium Kingdom branch!"
The Bloodflame Lord paused, and a fierce look gradually appeared in his eyes, his voice becoming even colder:
"Didn't I already give strict orders that no missions are to be accepted during this period?"
"N-No, it wasn't that!" the assassin reporting the news lowered his body even more. "No one has dared to take assassination missions recently. But somehow, General Huo Yan of Shuitian Kingdom appeared mysteriously in the secret prison of our Geranium Kingdom branch! The subordinates have investigated it, but no one saw how he was locked inside!"
"Fools! We've been framed and you didn't even realize it!" The Bloodflame Lord, who had just been restraining his fury, erupted instantly.
Once again, it was the branch of the Blood Garment Tower in the capital of Geranium!
All the recent trouble with the Blood Garment Tower came from this branch!
The Bloodflame Lord's grip on the armrest tightened. Because of the "Faceless Twin Heroes" incident that happened in the Geranium imperial city, too many forces were drawn there to investigate. So he had already transferred most of the important things from that branch.
The top-ranked assassins were either reassigned to handle the various investigations or sent to the Underworld Vault to search for treasure.
The Blood Garment Tower's branch in the capital of Geranium Kingdom had basically become an empty shell. He originally intended to use that empty shell to deal with all the investigations from the major powers. He didn't expect someone to exploit that and plant such a huge scandal on him!
Especially since he had previously accepted missions from Shuitian Kingdom. His Blood Garment Tower was an assassin force, and now that a general of Shuitian Kingdom had died in the secret prison of his branch, once this was discovered, he wouldn't be able to explain it away no matter what!
"Go! Seal off the news immediately! And destroy the body at once! If anyone dares leak even the slightest word, execute them by a thousand cuts!" the Bloodflame Lord's voice sank as low as it could go.
Shuitian Kingdom must never learn of this!
But as soon as he finished speaking, the assassin kneeling below him said in a trembling voice:
"B-But My Lord, the people of Shuitian Kingdom are already at the gates! They said— they said that someone from our Blood Garment Tower killed their men and stole treasure below the Underworld Vault! They found signs of a fight between our assassins and their soldiers inside, and someone even claimed to have seen a Blood Garment assassin carrying a man who looked very much like their general into the Geranium imperial city… They are now blocking the entrance! They demand that we hand over the Shuitian Kingdom general and all the divine items they lost, and they want an explanation from our Blood Garment Tower…"
"What?!" With a crack, the armrest under the Bloodflame Lord's right hand was crushed again. His beautiful, fierce eyes twisted with rage as he glared viciously at the man below.