The two leaders stared at each other in silence, behind Gorven. Brack tensed and took an alert posture.

In the same way as Valin took a step forward, gathering Verth in his palms. The two groups faced each other. But inwardly, even they were a bit surprised, the two of them had come to accuse each other and fight for the Verth Crystal, but both got accused in return.

But there was no time to sit and think when the enemy was at your doorstep. So both simultaneously decided to counter-accuse and prove nothing.

"I know about the Cipher message."

Suddenly, Gorven spoke, his eyes narrowing.

Dresh’s expression changed ever so slightly. "What Cipher message? Has your paranoid brain finally gone astray that you started baselessly accusing people?"

He looked at her for a long minute before shaking his head and sighing.

"The arrangement is over, the one who stands gets the Verth Crystal Formation."

"Heh, just the sweet words from my mouth!"

Behind Gorven, fire ignited. Raising the temperature by almost a dozen degrees at once! Brack moved to the side, as he was unable to bear the heat.

The Verth around Dresh danced as the wind moved with just a wave of her hand; it was sharp enough to cut through the hardest of metals.

...

The large sound of their abilities reached the camps before they could even begin the fight. In an instant, both of the camps shook as roars were heard and the sounds of weapons clinking.

Both of the camps moved. Group A’s fifteen—no fourteen members from the east and Group B’s eleven from the west.

They all swarmed towards the Neutral Zone to fight with their lords, where the arrangement and the agreements had been nullified.

It was chaos; the cross-camp confrontation was unorganized and uneven. The chaos of two groups that had been tolerating each other for years...suddenly discovered that they could no longer hold themselves back.

Old racial tensions and arguments surfaced again as Dresh and Gorven’s clash ignited violent outbursts among their people.

In the supply shelter of Gorven’s camp, Emperal’s eyes snapped open. They shifted to various directions for five seconds. Listening to the camp emptying, footsteps moving toward the perimeter, and the Verth output shifting and changing as the sound of the fifteen cultivators transitioned to war mode.

"Better timing than I expected. This saves a lot of trouble."

Emperal muttered as he slowly stood up, checking the camp again for some irregularities, and he began moving towards the Crystal Formation. Halfway across the Neutral Zone. He passed the dead drop point. Calder’s two-strip mark was already present, but he didn’t stop to read it.

He didn’t have to.

He just kept walking. Gradually, his appearance shifted. From the wolf-blooded scout’s appearance to his usual cold one.

His above-average facial structure, his dark and cold eyes gleamed as he walked deeper towards the neutral formation.

"It’s just the dogs of the Dragon Princess now, once they are finished. There shall be no one standing between the Verth Spring and me."

He muttered as he kept walking, the three hunters of the Dragon Princess had been positioned near Group A’s perimeter when the meeting had blown. Their plan was simple: retreat from the camp, find some clues, form a network, and get the fuck out of this war-laced hole.

The three of them emerged from Group A’s eastern perimeter and moved fast towards the treeline. The first one had a hint of Dragon blood flowing through his veins; he was broad and scarred. Boasting a cultivation of Stage One Verth Wielder, his knuckles were already hardened as the Verth around him moved.

The second was a serpent-blooded female with the same cultivation as the previous one. Stage One Verth Wielder, she was the brains of the group. Her eyes moved fast, assessing her surroundings.

And lastly, the third one was a wolf-blooded male; he had the lowest cultivation, Stage Three Verth Seeker. He was the tracker and scout of the team, the one identifying targets...from a distance.

Which, he did. His ears and nose twitched as he halted, closing his eyes, his ears angled forward.

"Someone is coming!"

He immediately warned the two, who halted at once. Looking ahead, they saw a figure calmly walk out of the Neutral Zone, with an indifferent expression.

"Long time no see, the Ninth Dragon Squad."

He muttered with a smile on his face. Standing at a distance of a hundred meters, Emperal smirked down on them.

Seeing that man, the three’s expressions changed in an instant.

"E-Emperal!?"

The serpent-blooded woman’s eyes went wide when she saw the figure, the rest of the two...even more so.

"Yours truly"

"You are still alive? How could a weak trash like you even survive the borders?" The Dragon-blooded man stepped forward and spoke arrogantly.

Hearing this, Emperal’s lips curved upwards, "Just like your mother survived after spending a night with me."

BOOOM!!

The Dragon-blooded man’s aura exploded outward, and the temperature spiked violently as veins bulged on his arm.

"You bastard, even after getting humiliated like a dog, that arrogance of yours still hasn’t vanished! Let me teach you a lesson today!"

Just as he was about to rush, a slender hand held him back. "Calm down, Reth. He’s just baiting you."

The serpent blood spoke as her eyes never left Emperal, her voice was sharp.

"Smart, but it doesn’t matter. You three have to die here anyway."

Reth ground his teeth in rage.

"Emperal, I am here as the messenger of the Princess," she suddenly spoke, her voice shifting slightly as she adjusted a measured tone.

"The Princess wants you back alive. Come quietly, and who knows, you may even be alive at the end of this farce."

Hearing this, Emperal sighed, "What an exciting offer, I’m almost tempted to join you. But...unfortunately, she made a mistake."

Emperal’s eyes flickered amusingly; the arrogance of the Dragons had always amused him. They spoke as if they were the only worthy ones.

"The Dragon Princess makes no mistakes; it was you who had offended her...somehow."

Emperal shook his head when he heard this, "Alright, enough of this tomfoolery. You guys are just wasting my time now."