Yes, he was a hundred percent sure Dresh and Gorven would be standing right above the formation with a stick in their hands.

But he had no choice. Instead of sitting in the cave and thinking endlessly, Emperal thought of going for the bold move.

Looking at Calder, he smirked. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, just a few more seconds. I’m almost fully prepared to become a snake soup."

Calder said, his face twisted. He was obviously scared beyond words.

"Heh"

Emperal merely let out a chuckle, looking up. His body began to glow lightly; in the next second, pure Verth burst out from his body. Feeding the formation.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Calder felt an invisible force grip around him.

And then, their vision blurred.

...

Outside the formation, Gorven and Dresh were still standing. Intently eyeing the arrays.

But even their patience was slowly running out. They couldn’t wait for the little guy forever.

"Did he die there?"

Gorven couldn’t help but ask, to which Dresh merely shook her head.

"The person who could unlock this formation right under the noses of two Verth Shaping practitioners...is not an ordinary man."

Even though their people had stopped fighting, they stood behind their respective leaders. Their previous mighty numbers had dwindled down, albeit in low quantities.

"Gorven, how did that brat even infiltrate your camp?" Dresh questioned curiously, because no matter how she saw it...it just seemed impossible given this paranoid bastard.

"Appearance-altering pill," Gorven snorted, but even he himself was not fully convinced. That guy had stayed here for six whole days. And there wasn’t a single flaw in his acting; they were fooled—genuinely fooled.

"Oh? It seems they might have kidnapped one of your fellow scouts," Dresh chuckled, further annoying Gorven.

"Woman, you talk as if your brilliant mind didn’t get conned a day ago. So sit down."

The moment his words echoed, the air around Dresh changed significantly.

"What did you just say? You muscular ho—!!!?"

Before she could complete her sentence, both of them snapped their heads towards a certain direction.

A few miles away from the neutral ground, a few mighty auras spiked high.

"What!?"

Gorven’s eyes widened the moment he felt that aura; it was unmistakable.

The VoidClaw Dragon Clan!

At first, Dresh stood frozen...unable to believe what she was feeling. One of the four clans of the Dragon Council.

She immediately signalled her people to get into a safe zone.

"No! It’s not enough; if a war breaks out, I can flee by myself. But my subordinates would definitely die."

Seeing that the auras were still approaching, Dresh turned back and shouted.

"Retreat and regroup into the Elven borders!"

Hearing her orders, the men and women wasted not a single second. They all hurriedly scurried back.

But there was a single man who didn’t move. Valin looked at Dresh with hard resolve in his eyes.

"Leader, it is...dangerous for you too."

Dresh immediately shook her head when she heard that, "No, don’t worry about me. They only have a single Verth Shaping Expert. I can escape by myself, now go and handle the rest of the team"

Valin sighed and looked at Dresh’s figure one last time before nodding and darting off in the direction where the rest of the cultivators were heading.

Only after they had left did her eyes turn sharp, "Gorven, you fool! Do you not realize what you have just done? Even 50-50 is a pipe dream for us!"

"Shut up, woman! I myself am seeing them after a decade. It wasn’t me who informed them."

Gorven immediately denied, and Dresh was silent for a moment. Because she really didn’t detect any lie in that tone of his.

In fact, he himself was tense. Let alone informing and summoning them, he can’t even dream about letting the prize be given to another person.

Looking closely, there were three of them.

Whoooosh!!

The members of Gorven looked in awe when they saw how they arrived without announcement.

Three figures descended from the treeline’s northern edge and walked towards them at a leisurely pace.

The leader was obviously distinct from the other two men who were following closely behind.

Dragon-blood, common purity, which was evident when one saw that the scale texture along his jaw and neck was fully visible without any expression.

Dresh narrowed her eyes when she saw the tall, lean man walking confidently ahead. His eyes were cold violets that screamed Voidclaw blood flowing in his veins.

But it was his cultivation that suffocated the masses below.

Verth Shaper Stage Two.

A powerhouse, he could even be considered an assistant for a powerful Elder in any clan.

Behind him were two of his subordinates, but unlike his overwhelming cultivation and bloodline purity, they were a notch down. Both were Stage Two Verth Wielders, respectively, walking behind their leader with calm steps.

A few seconds later, he arrived a mile away from the Neutral area...aka the formation. His eyes narrowed when he saw Dresh standing there arrogantly. But for now, there were far more important matters to address.

Looking at Gorven, he spoke, "I am Cassel, the voice of one of the Elders in our clan, who is also a member of the Dragon Council."

He spoke calmly, but his words were anything but ordinary.

"Dog of a Direct Elder? Now this will be a bit troublesome," Gorven muttered.

It wasn’t the strength he was worried about; it was the implications and consequences. The Voidclaw Clan had a significant seat in the information network of the entirety of Draventhar. If they willed it, they could do some really ugly things, and no one would even know.

But Gorven’s lips curled ever so slightly.

"Greetings, Cassel. Based on your expression, I assume you already know who I am. Let me ask you, are you here for this unknown Verth crystal? If yes, unfortunately, my friend, you are...too late."

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Gorven?"

"Exactly what I said."

Cassel frowned alongside his subordinates. He vanished from his place and landed directly above the formation’s eye.

His eyes widened when he saw that the concealment array was...solved.

"N-No way! Someone really solved one of the most complex formations laid down by the Grand Elder himself!"