"Get lost!!! Useless trash!!! All of you are useless!!!"
A violent and overwhelming pressure burst out from the top of the main hall behind him like a raging flood. The assassin kneeling below immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, and his whole body collapsed to the ground.
After a while, the Blood Lord finally managed to suppress his anger and took a deep breath. His voice was extremely sinister as he said:
"Go! Find Master Yan! Tell him to take the Divine Vein Gift in his hand and investigate for me! Find out who was bold enough to frame my Blood Robe Tower! I want that person to be torn into pieces and repay the blood debt with blood!"
The same situation also happened to Jingshi and its affiliated nations.
Especially since Jingshi was just a second-rate small kingdom, far weaker than the powerful second-tier force Blood Robe Tower. After it was discovered that their people had ambushed Louhanze in the underground treasure site and dealt a fatal blow to the leading general from Louhanze, all the divine items on Louhanze's side mysteriously disappeared as well. Jingshi and its affiliated forces on the surface were immediately surrounded by the forces of Louhanze.
Facing Louhanze, a strong second-tier major power in the central region of the continent, Jingshi was in total chaos. Up until now, they had not received a single report from their own forces. All they had heard were insults, ridicule, and accusations from Louhanze!
Jingshi and its allied forces were scolded until they were dizzy and disoriented. Other than firmly insisting that such a thing could not possibly have happened on their end, they acted extremely cautious. They endured Louhanze's rage and questioning. Even though they were being scolded like worthless grandchildren, they could only endure it silently, not daring to argue or talk back, afraid that any misstep would provoke Louhanze's wrath and truly get them labeled with such a huge crime, which might lead to lasting grudges or even the destruction of their country.
And while both of these powers were being framed and overwhelmed with trouble, Elara, Gareth, Prince Yu, and Prince Leland had already regrouped. All of them changed clothes and appearances, disguising themselves once again as an ordinary merchant caravan, and began rushing back toward the southwest borders of the continent.
Time went back to when Elara led the group out from the underground of Dìzàng not long ago.
Inside the Blood Robe Branch of the Geranium Kingdom's imperial city, before the people of Shuitian Kingdom arrived, the body of the general from Shuitian Kingdom, which had been locked deep in the prison, had already been moved to another secret base.
In the base, a middle-aged man held a glass orb about the size of an adult's palm.
He placed the orb on the forehead of the corpse, and murmured softly, "The one who killed him... the one who killed him... the one who killed him..."
The orb flickered with a faint glow, but after only two seconds, the light completely dimmed, and the orb returned to its calm state.
The middle-aged man froze at the result, and not believing it, tried again for a while. But during his repeated forced investigation, the orb let out a faint cracking sound, with a fissure forming at its center.
The man's expression changed instantly. He quickly picked up the orb and said in shock and distress, "Go! Tell His Majesty immediately! The person who killed the Shuitian Kingdom general is at least blessed with a medium or higher level cause-and-effect shielding divine vein! My lower-medium grade tracing divine orb not only failed to track the killer, but even got damaged in return!"
"Tell His Majesty, if we want to find the real culprit, we'll most likely need to ask Master Xun of the Yellow Spring Hall!"
"Yes!"
...
On the other side—
After disposing of the body, Elara and Uno first stopped at a hidden forest outside the imperial city to change clothes. They also destroyed the fake human-skin masks on their faces. Under the dark night sky, they flew westward for half an hour and finally reunited with Gareth, Prince Yu, and Prince Leland.
In the caravan, everyone who had entered the hidden area had already changed their appearances and outfits. The whole caravan now looked like an ordinary merchant group. Prince Leland and his guards had also switched to new human-skin masks, so even if they encountered people from the Gladiolus Kingdom, no one would recognize that the one dressed as a simple merchant was actually their crown prince.
Rejoining the main group, Elara finally let out a breath. Her body, tense ever since entering the secret place, finally relaxed a bit.
She returned to the carriage and changed into more comfortable clothes, then used the hot water prepared earlier by Mr. Gong to quickly wash up before stepping out of the carriage.
After Elara, Prince Yu, and Prince Leland entered the hidden place, the "caravan" from Plumera had been managed by Mr. Gong.
Mr. Gong's management skills were undoubtedly exceptional. As someone from a major merchant clan, he had handled the caravan in a neat and orderly manner after Elara left.
Even though he didn't know where Elara, Prince Yu, and the others had gone, and she hadn't left any clues, his keen intuition and insight told him that she must have gone to do something highly secret.
So, he didn't ask questions, and simply focused on carrying out the tasks Elara had assigned. He even quietly prepared all the supplies in advance. When Gareth came to him, he immediately ordered the whole team to move. First, he sent someone to the place Gareth mentioned to pick up the disguised Emory and the others, and then picked up Wenbin at the city gate.
Then the whole group followed Gareth and quietly left the Geranium Kingdom's imperial city, heading toward Plumera in the southwest corner of the continent.
After Elara finished changing clothes and stepped out, Mr. Gong stood quietly by the carriage with his eyes lowered, giving her a full report of everything that had happened while she was away.
"In addition to the business matters, the two young masters you were to receive and their companions are already in the group. The young master and his senior are in one carriage, now disguised as guests of our merchant caravan. Young Master Wenbin didn't want to take the guest identity, so he assumed the role of caravan guard."
Emory was now pretending to be addressed as "Young Master Cong." After hearing this, Elara smiled and patted Mr. Gong on the shoulder. "Not bad. You've done very well."
Mr. Gong paused slightly under the pat. A few seconds later, he responded in a soft voice, "Yes, Master. You praise me too much."
After Elara exited the carriage, she first looked toward the carriage where Emory and his senior Morin were staying.
The small window on the side of the carriage had already been opened when she returned, revealing Emory's disguised eyes.
His senior, Morin, had recovered quite a bit these past few days after taking the medicine Elara gave him. However, he still got tired easily and was now asleep in the back of the carriage.
When he heard Elara return, Emory, who had been on edge, finally relaxed. As his eyes met hers from afar, his breath paused slightly and his heart skipped. After confirming that Elara was unharmed, he hesitated whether he should get down and thank her in person. But from the corner of his eye, he saw Gareth, Prince Yu, and Prince Leland walking toward her.
Emory's grip on the carriage curtain tightened slightly. In the end, he did not get down but instead bowed from a distance, then withdrew back inside, planning to speak with her once she was free.