Some people had already begun to feel fear.
In this world, as long as one wasn't part of the demonic factions, there was no one who didn't fear the Darknight Hall.
"Tch! Look at how scared you all are! Don't panic, the Divine Attendant Palace still exists! If the remnants of the Darknight Hall really dare to appear, the Divine Attendant Palace definitely won't stand by and do nothing. But if those two traitors from the Thousand Faces Sect really are connected to the Darknight Hall, then they absolutely cannot be allowed to live!"
"Everyone, go back and inform your own rulers. Each country must closely monitor those two traitors from the Thousand Faces Sect! If they're discovered, capture them immediately! Their shape-shifting ability must never fall into the hands of the Darknight Hall! Otherwise, the consequences will be endless! The entire continent might truly suffer another massacre because of them!"
The reputation of the Thousand Faces Sect and the background of Emory were far worse than she had originally expected.
Setting aside whether the rumors were true or not, Elara didn't really believe Emory would be capable of committing those bloody acts.
First of all, when those three third-rate countries in the northern part of the continent were destroyed a year ago, Emory was already locked up in the back courtyard by the original Elara in Plumera.
If Emory truly had that kind of power, he wouldn't have been caught by the original Elara with the help of the Wei guards and locked in the backyard, suffering for over two years. Later, when she first negotiated with him, he was already so tormented that he had nearly lost the will to live.
Elara listened to the people's discussions below while noting down some of the slightly more reliable information. At the same time, she gave a mental command to the Puppet Soldiers scattered inside and outside the royal capital of the Geranium Kingdom, ordering them to quickly search for any traces of Emory.
Half an hour later, after Elara had gathered a good amount of "grudges and feuds" between the Thousand Faces Sect and the various forces of the continent from the conversations around the bulletin board, the small animals outside the northeastern city walls finally reported Emory's presence.
Elara called out to Wei Eleven, Wei Thirteen, and Wei Fifteen, telling them to continue gathering information from the foreign guests. Then she took Wei One and flew toward the direction where the animals had detected Emory.
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Outside the royal city of Geranium Kingdom, in a northeastern village that had already been slaughtered and was covered in blood and corpses.
Emory, who had changed his appearance, stared angrily at the dozen Blood Garment Tower assassins slowly approaching him.
"This place is so close to the royal city of Geranium Kingdom. All the powers of the continent are at the Banquet of a Hundred Nations. How dare you slaughter these villagers without even blinking an eye."
Among the dozen assassins, the leader was a man with most of his face covered.
While secretly signaling to the assassins behind him, the man gripped the knife at his waist and slowly closed in on Emory, his voice hoarse.
"This is all your fault. As a remnant of the Thousand Faces Sect, we can't tell your transformation techniques apart, but we did take your mission, so we'd rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one slip away."
"Even if the Geranium Kingdom finds out about the deaths of these villagers, once they know you, a remnant of the Thousand Faces Sect, appeared here, all the blame will fall on you. What does it have to do with us."
The leader sneered darkly, and now the distance between him and Emory was less than ten meters.
He gripped his dagger and gave another signal to the assassins approaching from all directions, then suddenly vanished, stabbing at Emory from a tricky angle.
But when the dagger landed on "Emory," there was no human figure, only a pierced rattan leaf.
"Damn it."
The Blood Garment Tower assassins usually spoke little during missions, especially those not ranked high. Their main focus was completing each mission.
But the people of the Thousand Faces Sect, though not strong in combat, were extremely good at escaping.
They not only had countless disguises, but also used illusion techniques and light footwork brilliantly.
He had intended to talk more to distract Emory, then close in by surprise, but this Thousand Faces Sect remnant had already fooled them with an illusion technique.
The assassin looked at the pierced rattan leaf in his hand, cursed under his breath, and led the others up the only mountain path outside the village in pursuit.
"Though the Thousand Faces Sect remnants can use illusion techniques, each time it consumes prepared materials and a lot of internal energy. We've been chasing him for a whole day. His supplies should be nearly depleted, and he's already at the end of his strength."
"There's only a steep cliff on top of this mountain. Even if he reaches the peak, it's still a dead end. Keep chasing. We must catch him tonight."
"Otherwise, either he dies, or we do."
"Yes."
A dozen figures instantly turned into shadows and sped up the only mountain trail.
...
On the mountaintop,
Emory was gasping heavily.
Ever since he found out yesterday that Brother Mo had been captured and brought to the Banquet of a Hundred Nations, he couldn't resist going out to find him.
He knew it was likely a trap aimed at him, but he still had to go.
Other than his master who raised him, there were very few people he trusted in this world.
Only a few fellow disciples and the man who once saved him, Scholar Fu, were people he dared to rely on.
Brother Mo, like Master, had been with him since childhood. They were his closest kin.
No matter how difficult the current situation of the Thousand Faces Sect is, no matter how many false accusations, blame, injustice, and massacres they have suffered since childhood, Master and Senior Brother always protected him.
Even when that incident happened within the sect because of him... he was forced to bear the crime of being a traitor to the Thousand Faces Sect, but his Master and Senior Brother always stood behind him.
They never doubted, punished, or blamed him.
Only when he could no longer stay in the sect did they give him enough money to survive and risked a lot to send him out of that place filled with danger and suffering.
They gave him the chance to escape all the way to the southwest corner of the continent, to Plumera.
So even if he knew it was a trap, he had to go and investigate.
He had been away from the sect for too long.
He didn't know what it had become now, and he was even more worried that after he left, that person would completely wipe out Master and Senior Brother.
But he still carried the name of a criminal, so he couldn't return easily.
That was why he wanted to follow Elara on this journey and try to gather some information before making any plans.
He didn't know whether that person had already guessed he wanted to return to the sect and deliberately spread the news of Senior Brother being captured to lure him out.
But when he disguised himself and secretly snuck over, the assassins from the Blood Robe Tower were already lying in wait near the "bait."
They even had a method given by that person to identify him.
As soon as they noticed his presence, it didn't take them long to recognize him.
They immediately started chasing him and kept up the pursuit for nearly a full day and night.
But Emory still did not regret going to investigate in person.
Because the "bait" they used to lure him had a body disguised as his Senior Brother, though the body was fake, the identity token it carried was real.
Every disciple of the Thousand Faces Sect wears one of these tokens from a young age.
It is closely tied to their ability to freely change their appearance and is essential to their survival.
Even in the most desperate moments, they would never easily part with it.
Yet those people had Senior Brother's identity token in their hands.
There could only be one reason—his Senior Brother had truly been captured by them.
Emory was filled with pain and anger when he saw the token.
Senior Brother was even better at disguises than he was.
How could he be caught so easily?
Someone from the Thousand Faces Sect must have betrayed him.
That person... do they really intend to destroy the Thousand Faces Sect completely before they're satisfied?
While he was lost in painful thoughts, he had already reached the top of the mountain.
But the end of the mountaintop was a broken cliff.
Emory looked at the deep and dark abyss, like a direct path to hell, and couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
After being chased for an entire day, he no longer had the energy to pay attention to his surroundings.
Earlier, he had run up the mountain without thinking, desperate to escape.
He didn't expect that he had chosen a dead end for himself.
He raised his hand and checked the few useful items he had left.
After a full day of running, all his internal strength had been drained.
He could no longer use light footwork to fly off the cliff.
Most of his escape tools had already been used up.
Only the items for disguise and transformation remained.
But with the assassins from the Blood Robe Tower and several other factions hunting him, he had no way to return to the capital of the Geranium Kingdom.
Besides, Elara and the others were still in the capital.
If he returned and his identity was exposed, it would drag them into danger as well.
He didn't dare go back.
If he randomly found a crowded place outside the city to disguise himself, even if he used a new method to trick the identification technique given to the Blood Robe Tower, he still didn't dare take that risk again.
Otherwise, the consequences would be like that village at the foot of the mountain, which had been completely slaughtered.